Karen Guldberg, Programme Director of Web Autism, and I are running a workshop at the
3rd International Autism Conference: “Developments in Autistic Spectrum Disorders” in Cardiff on the 22nd and 23rd of April. We will be demonstrating the ReacTickles software on laptop computers and the interactive whiteboard and giving delegates the opportunity to experiment with the ReacTickles Creativity Box.
TAG Learning have started a blog where they share news, tips and local resources for use with your Inspiration applications, including ReacTickles.
There is also an Inspired community on Facebook where you can share your ideas.
This was the first ever UK workshop on OpenFrameworks, a cross-platform C++ library for creative coding, and an opportunity to experiment with building new systems for interaction that move away from the screen and into physical space.
This has limitless possibilities for use in special needs education.
The workshop was lead by the 2 founders of openFrameworks Zach Lieberman and Theo Watson who flew over specially.
I recently went to Mediamatic in Amsterdam for a course on designing hybrid toys, using the latest wireless and sensory technology to extend the possibilities for good toy design.
Mediamatic is a cultural organisation that stages exhibitions, presentations and workshops on cutting edge technology - if only every country had an institution like it!
Besides the experts who run the courses Mediamatic also attracts many highly talented designers and artists from around the world to attend them - my group were from Holland, Israel and Brazil - and Wales!
We designed and built a music synthesiser driven by RFID tagged toy flowers and two flowerpots loaded with RFID readers.
We also used a Nintendo Wii remote to control the playback of sound from the two flower pots.
The other teams also came up with some fascinating toys. The results of the labours of everyone at the workshop can be explored here.
It is also important to take the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others.
Thanks to everyone who visited the TAG stand at BETT, we had a lot of interest in ReacTickles and some very positive feedback. Alun, Glynis and Dyfi very much enjoyed meeting people and presenting the project, any comments or enquiries are very welcome.
I have just returned from two conferences in the US: the 2nd International Conference on Design Principles & Practices in Miami, and the 4th International Conference on Technology, Knowledge & Society in Boston. I very much enjoyed the presentations and the opportunity to talk about the Reactive Colours research, as well as making new connections. So, thanks to those who contributed and expressed an interest in our work. I look forward to meeting many of you again in the future. A special thank-you to Helen and Tony for their kindness.
Happy New Year!!!
Please come and visit Alun and try out ReacTickles on the TAG Learning Stand at BETT. Alun will be joined by the specialist teaching staff from the Hollies School in Cardiff who have been helping us develop our software. The children at the Hollies have been using the Creativity Box and have also been playing with ReacTickles at home.
Good news - the ReacTickles™ Creativity Box is now available from TAG Learning.
Just to explain the difference between the web and standalone versions - Reactive Colours is a free resource for the creation and free distribution of ReacTickles™ under a creative commons licence; ReacTickles™ Creativity Box is an extension pack which includes fully customisable user preferences, a menu for a variety of input devices, mouse, keyboard, microphone, interactive whiteboard with additional guidance for use with adaptive technologies such a switch and joystick. The menu also encourages deeper exploration with colours, sound and speed. This extended version offers a safe structured environment for choice, without the over-burdening features of complex menus, leading to an infinite number of possibilites for exploration and personalisation.
The ReacTickles™ Creativity Box is designed to enable teachers to easily integrate ReacTickles™ into busy classroom routines and curriculum frameworks, but it can also be used to support parents and families who may want to share in ReacTickles play at home with their children.
This has been designed as a box to suggest a 3-dimensional active place where items could be added or organised according need, in itself a flexible, improvisation activity that reflects its use.
The box contains the ReacTickles software and is divided into sections:
-a simple booklet offers both the contextual and theoretical explanations for the software
-an “at-a-glance” indexed card system organises activities according to themes in colour-coded headings
-activity cards provie a quick reference system
-choosing cards encourage children to ask for a particular ReacTickle as part of their favoured picture exchange system.
Reactickles™ is in the Primary Catalogue.
A big thank-you to everyone who attended my presentation at the 4th Primary Schools meeting today, and also an extended thank-you to Maggie and Lynn for inviting me. Please feel free to leave any comments and suggestions here. The ReacTickles™ Creativity Box is available through TAG Learning
Just catching up with news as I have been off work for a while. We are expecting the ReacTickles™ Creativity Box to be distributed by TAG Learning in the Autumn, but I will keep everyone updated when the contract has been agreed.
I presented a paper in Turkey in April at the European Academy of Designers conference which provided a great opportunity for networking; I especially enjoyed meeting Graham Pullin from the University of Dundee, whose work on Design and Disability is very refreshing.
More exciting news is that a proposal for ReacTickles™ Mobile, a new development of the Reactive Colours Project for mobile devices won a Innovative New Forms of Socially Responsive Media prize in the MIPDOC Content 360 competition at MipTV, Milia, Cannes, France. The pitch at Cannes was led by Will Pearson, from the Eastern Leadership Centre and a valued member of the Reactive Colours team’ was for a playful networking game responding to users favourite numbers which form a large generative of commmunity users, ’speaking’ through reactive art pieces. Look out for more on this in the near future….
The ReacTickles Creativity Boxes are out with our participants, in fact, we had so many requests that we ran out of Boxes very quickly. The initial responses have been very positive and certainly the ‘ease of use’ seems to be a consistent comment. I had the opportunity to demonstrate the new ReacTickles software and Creativity Box at the North Wales Association of Special Head teachers meeting in Mold last week - thanks to Lois Hubbard for inviting me and to all present for the warm and encouraging reception.
Thanks also to everyone who attended the Reactive Colours workshops at the Birmingham University Distance Learning - Autism weekend. All those who have emailed since will receive demo discs and further information in the next few days. Please remember we need your feedback, the evaluation form is here. Additional thanks go to Dr. Glenys Jones for inviting me and Nick de Costa for superb organisation.
Many of you have been asking when the software and ReacTickles Creativity Boxes will be available - all I can confirm is that we are in discussion with publishers and as soon as I know more I’ll blog and email.
Happy Easter!