What are HyperMedia Exhibition & Events Spaces?

Timothy Holborn
WebCivics
Published in
5 min readAug 16, 2019

An Overview of the Idea.

*** FIRST DRAFT ***

A HyperMedia event space is an environment that’s been set-up with modern naturalised interfaces in a manner that is designed for interactivity for an array of events & exhibition uses. In-effect, the environment is set-up as a HyperMedia Theatre which is delivered with an Open-API for organisers to use as part of how they set-up and organise their events.

Google Holodeck (2009?): Google Earth on eight screens Source: Flickr

Background

A revolution in the use and development of the info-sphere is bringing with it enormous challenges and opportunity.

How we build our information management systems to support the needs of humanity, our societies, our environment; will impact the world in ways never reasonably considered possible within the time-span of living memory.

Whilst our elderly may continued to be disconnected to the internet and its utilities as active users; our youngest generations, do not remember a world before internet.

As the tooling continues to change so rapidly, and we require means to engage in discussion. In todays marketplace there are many innovative solutions for people to engage with cyber-space, related experiences and devices; but many of these solutions are personal, immersive and highly isolating.

It is difficult for creators & innovators to engage with others in an event format; as to demonstrate their concepts, in ways that are often personal.

Traditional theatres and event spaces often today feature an overhead screen & projector and a basic audio system; where computers and microphones can be plugged in. The problem is; this isn’t the best we can do as to support the means for innovation investors to demonstrate, to stakeholders, what it is they’ve been working on; and in-turn, what the market opportunity looks like.

Without a purposefully designed hypermedia space, opportunities can be lost.

Hyper Media spaces are environments that are purpose built to support the the presentations of hypermedia experiences born by human creativity. They are intended to render exposure and opportunity for commercial engagement and international leadership for the application of innovative works as a consequence of improved communications in an events orientated format.

A HyperMedia Event space is designed to support to local industry through the availability of a purpose built environment provides controllability via API the latest technological tools; that assists in illustrating AI, AR, IoT, Immersive Experiences, Data & Hypermedia. These spaces would supercharge ‘meet-ups’ and other networking events where creatives require the tools, to communicate the virtues of their work.

What are the tools?

Whilst the format of how a HyperMedia space is delivered changes based on the space; here are a few examples of modern tools that HyperMedia spaces are designed to make available to event organisers & presenters; via an API.

Holographic Stage Solution

Hans Rosling was a Swedish physician, academic, and public speaker who is shown in the above video using the MUSION ‘holographic display’ solutions, which is one of the few holographic displays designed for auditoriums / event spaces. The content produced for this type of display is similar to AR content, alongside the means to do away with the old power-point slides to present Info-Graphics in a whole new way.

Additionally, these displays provide support for ‘tele-presence’. What this means is that one or more prominent international figures can be ‘beamed in’ from an overseas studio to engage in discussions at low cost; from anywhere in the world.

Immersive Audio

Immersive Audio is a category name or how audio is encoded in a way that provides far more channels than is ordinarily used in cinema or any other audio system format. Dolby Atmos, being one of the more prominent methods for producing immersive audio, supports unto 128 discrete audio tracks and up to 64 unique speaker feeds; providing the means to encode audio in relation to events, so that it moves around the audience.

What Immersive Audio is about; is the ability to encode a sound-field that can be dynamically rendered in an environment to provide positional audio experiences both on a pre-recorded basis, and live. This evolution of audio encoding is instrumental for AR/MR/VR headwear alongside cinema; alongside an array of other applications far more broadly.

IoT Lighting (as distinct to stage lighting)

IoT lighting can change the warmth of white light to simulate the movement of the sun and the difference of the light in different parts of the day. IoT lighting is programmable and can make use of a broad spectrum of colours.

IoT software solutions can also be used with DMX controllers to inclusively program stage lighting and effects.

Indoor Positioning Systems

Indoor positioning (and app infrastructure) can engage patrons to events both in the way they interact with the environment and the way they interact with content services relating to the environment; in addition to the means in which the information about their presence in the environment can influence the environment, or the presentations provided in the environment.

Patron Interfaces

  1. Consumer Devices such as to include; smart phones and watches, alongside AR / MR headwear.
  2. Interactive Screens come in all sorts of formats; whether they be Interactive,
  • Tabletop Touch Screens
  • Wall Mounted Touch Screens
  • AR Screens
  • Interactive Whiteboards

3. Haptic devices can support new types of experiences, where patrons might get a grip on virtual surgery, or design a 3d model; as illustrated in this video.

Other interfaces use ultrasounds

or radar

and of course; there’s optical camera technologies, such as Light Field cameras,

4. Products such as those produced by RayTrix, particularly when combined with other technologies; offer immersive future sights about advanced modelling techniques,

alongside the means to illustrate depth; potentially improving opportunities with AI tooling to improve audience participatory engagement, rendering of events in a 3d format suitable for stereoscopic webcast for VR/MR/AR, alongside many as yet unthought of applications

Yet the problem for creative practitioners is; there’s currently no space with these tools and an Open, Standards based API to deliver a compelling event experience. Therein; it’s not just about the way technology is made able to be used in those environments; but also, how that relates to those who go there.

This is where the concept of HyperMedia Spaces fits in; and where the concept couples the accessibility of these technologies, with a strategy designed to deliver a standards based open-api.

Through the use of the technology ecosystem described in my Web Civics posts; this ecosystem is designed to support hypermedia smart spaces. Therein, patrons of these events would use their own mobile app to engage with the space; and the space can permissively interact with patrons inforgs.

This can in-turn be used to support security requirements, distribution of event materials in addition to providing an array of new ways for patrons to interact with Events, through HTML5 based ‘plug-in’ apps.

The question becomes; who will be the first to deploy one.

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