[aha] Leaf++, augmented reality for leaves, at ISEA, DEOL, Mindtrek

[xDxD.vs.xDxD]

dear friends,

if you happen to be around, please consider attending the official
presentation of

Leaf++, augmented reality for leaves

at

ISEA 2011 in Istanbul
DEOL 2011 in Helsinki
Mindtrek 2011 in Tampere

Leaf++ is a research project by FakePress Publishing, Art is Open Source and
the University of Rome "La Sapienza" in which an ubiquitous social and
performative ecosystem is built on leaves using augmented reality and
computer vision techniques.

In Leaf++ a collaborative environment available on mobile devices allows
people to take pictures of leaves in natural environments and to use them to
train a distributed computer vision system which allows to visually
recognize the various types of leaves.

Leaves in the environment thus become naturally available markers that can
be used to disseminate knowledge and information: text, sounds, videos and
interactive experiences can be attached to the various types of leaves and
become instantly accessible to everyone using Leaf++.

We are presenting several use cases for this system:

- a knowledge environment through which information about plants can be
attached to plants themselves and accessed through augmented reality, thus
realizing a tool for education and scientific research

- an application dedicated to the concept of Third Landscape defined by
Gilles Clément, in which augmented reality is used to train our vision into
spotting, recognizing and gaining awareness of the interstitial gardens
disseminated in our cities, their importance for biodiversity and their role
in urban ecology; Leaf++ also acts as a realtime emergent mapper of the
Third Landscape, allowing us to research the evolution of plant ecosystems
in our cities;

- a tool for urban awareness focusing on the idea that plants have long
become part of a peripheral part of the vision of urban dwellers, who have
lost contact with the knowledge associated with them, including
seasonalities, uses, traditions and origins;

- a disseminated social network in which user interactions take place "on
leaves";

- a tool for artistic performance, in which the computer vision system
trained by the ubiquitous community to recognize leaves allows performers to
actually "play leaves" in an "augmented reality concert for leaves";

- a series of experiments in which the possibility to use the visual profile
of leaves to generate other media is used to create solutions to aid people
with disabilities, for example by being able to recognize leaves by hearing
them;

All these use cases will be presented under various forms at the various
venues and publications: a presentation across arts and sciences at ISEA; a
description of the possibilities to create ubiquitous social applications
using this kind of technology, at Mindtrek; a workshop/performance at DEOL
to present the possibilities for education, knowledge and performance.

All the software is Open Source and is distributed under a GPL license by
FakePress Publishing and Art is Open Source.

The research has been performed by Salvatore Iaconesi, Luca Simeone, Oriana
Persico and Cary Hendrickson, with substantial support provided by the long
list of organizations, collectives, events and publications which you will
find listed at the project's website.

We are currently searching to extend the Leaf++ team, to further explore our
research directions, and to apply these technologies to new ones. If you are
part of a research group which is interested in these themes (augmented
reality and computer vision technologies used at the intersection of arts
and sciences to create ubiquitous publishing, knowledge/narratives
dissemination and natural interaction experiences) please feel free to
contact us.

More information is constantly updated on the project page here:

http://www.artisopensource.net/category/projects/leaf-plusplus/

all the best,
xDxD
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ecn.org/pipermail/aha/attachments/20110909/3190e6d8/attachment.htm>