While at UBC why not check out metroCode's GreenMUSE prototype...

March madness continues at metroCode..this week we have also launched a cell phone prototype on the UBC campus via a partnership with Mobile MUSE, Industry Canada, and UBC's Design Centre for Sustainability, publishers of the Green Guide (www.greatervancouvergreenguide.ca).

The Green Guide Book is available at select book stores in Vancouver and the library and features 111 case studies of buildings, open spaces, and community initiatives that embody sustainability.

The prototype, known as GreenMUSE, is a 3 stop cell phone tour intended to demonstrate how providing information on demand, to the device you already have with you, can heighten levels of engagement, and make contextualizing content available in physical environments.  Ubiquitous computing also means serendipitous computing, the ability to happen upon content repositories, and access them at will, using mobile devices.

The notion is the same one that underpins metroCode's work with the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale cell phone tour and our mini-projects with organizations such as the Jazz Festival and Vancouver Opera.  Whether it's art or music or  principles of sustainability, when we encounter them in our everyday lives we can now add a mobile, multimedia dimension, giving people the opportunity to explore on the spot/inthe moment..

In the case of GreenMUSE, the project was done on a short timeline (literally a couple of weeks from the first meeting to content creation, post production, and technology integration and deployment).  As it is a prototype intended to demonstrate a concept no signage currently exists to let people know that additional information is available. But you, lucky MUSEblog reader, are in on the secret.

For those of you on the UBC campus, or visiting the UBC campus, we encourage you to check out the GreenMUSE tour stops at:

- The CK Choi Institute for Asian Research (on West Mall, adjacent to the Nitobe Gardens and Liu Institute)

- The Fred Kaiser Building, on Main Mall, not far from the engineer's concrete "E" block

- The Life Sciences Centre, the new 50,000+ sq metre Med student facility on Agronomy Road, kitty corner from the Starbucks

The tour is accessible to anyone with a cell phone, and is provided fee-free (apart from users’ regular phone charges for local minutes.  The cell phone tour answers the most common questions people have about topics such as sustainable building practices and also highlights fascinating facts that you wouldn't otherwise think about as you walk past these buildings. For example who would have known that the Life Sciences Centre:

• emits 1,000 tonnes fewer greenhouse gases, consumes 28 per cent less energy and 50 per cent less water than standard buildings, built to code
• has a  dynamic monitoring system, which adjusts interior lighting and ventilation according to the external environment, contributes to an annual saving of 6.4 million kWh of electricity and nearly $200,000 in energy costs.
• recycled or salvaged 80 percent, or 1.3 million kgs, of its construction waste

 A sample tour stop includes a 90-120 second main message with additional menu options so that interested individuals may dig deeper based on their level of interest. For example, after hearing a general message about the site, you are given an options menu such as to “Press 1 to learn about this building's water conservation strategies", and a 20 -30 second message is played. In addition to the audio content MMS is available in the form of images of building details that can be accessed on your cell phone (thanks to the "UH" - Udall Harness) for a very reasonable 25cents-ish.

To sample the GreenMUSE prototypes, dial into the metroCode system at 604-638-2661 and enter the following codes at the prompt:

0036 for the CK Choi Building

0037 for the Life Sciences Centre

0038 for the Fred Kaiser Building

If you're on campus and have a a few spare moments, do check out this prototype and let us know what you think. ( www.metrocode. net  and/or leora@ubiquityinteractive.com)

We're always looking for ways to improve the user experience...e.g via this project we are resolving issues related to audio beds, used under narration or to link pieces of narration, and how the specific frequency of cell phones (vs other audio devices) affects sound quality.