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IKTPLUSS-IKT og digital innovasjon

RHYME - Co-creation through tangible interaction and music

Awarded: NOK 10.0 mill.

The partners in the RHYME project are the Centre for Music and Health at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH), Institute for Design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) and the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo. The project started with an extensive, action-based study of the 1st prototype, «ORFI», in 2011. The study created a common understanding of health promotion through co-creation with tangible interaction and music in the project. The 2nd generation prototype, «WAVE», was developed based on the first user study. WAVE focused on the multimedia possibilities and was user tested in 2012. The first two user studies was conducted in a school situation. In 2013, families were invited to contribute which extended the project with more users and user situations. Analysis of the data has been important to understand the user needs and has been the basis for the next generations of prototypes, the 3rd generation Mobile Media and 4th generation Social Media. In the third user study, 3rd generation (2013), we tested 5 mobile and functionally working prototypes, based on Apple's iPod Touch as wireless computer. Due to user demands, we have been bound to develop 4 different mobile platforms, in addition to one wired platform. In particular, it has been important to achieve mobility, dynamic microphone input, accurate and dynamic music generation and extended sensor possibilities, to offer playability for diverse users. This was not possible to accomplish in a satisfactory manner on the Apple platform, which is good for music, compared to Android, but lack openness for additional sensors. The project was therefore delayed. After user tests of the 4th generation, we have developed a 5th, which we use in new prototypes, latest in collaboration on development of Smart Textiles with The Swedish School of Textiles in 2016. The project has presented results in different professional and academic contexts and led to both national and international collaborations. The RHYME project thereby contributes by bridging and developing new knowledge between a range of professional fields. In 2012 Andersson defended his PhD thesis «Interactive Music Composition» on musical rules in RHYME. In his Postdoc, he continued to develop music for persons with dementia. RHYME then established a collaboration with a centre for persons with dementia and «VID Specialized University». In 2015 RHYME run a collaborative course, «Vitalising Welfare Technology», between Occupational Therapy and Tangible Interaction at AHO, based on the 5th gen. technology. The RHYME project started already in 2010 to run courses and connect to master projects at NMH, AHO, and IfI. Within Tangible Interaction Design at AHO, RHYME has run several master courses. The two first coursers «E-textile» and «E-textile and Tangible Interaction» was run together with Textile Institute at the Oslo Academy of the Arts (KhiO). In the 2012 «Sensorial and Musical Interaction» course, the AHO students developed several fully functional prototypes. The prototypes was user tested in 2013, which extended the tests and gave richer and more comprehensive results than originally planned. In the «Vitalising Welfare Technology» course (2015) RHYME provided perspectives, knowledge and technology to the fields of Occupational Therapy and dementia care. RHYME continuously contributes with a critical and reflective perspective on today's development within Welfare Technology, which has its major focus on biomedical devices. Further, RHYME contributes to a more nuanced view on the current development within the field of Internet-of-Things, with an increased focus on the aesthetical, cultural and sensorial aspects of the user interaction and user interface design. In December 2014 the project published the anthology «Music, Health, Technology and Design», that has become an important part of dissemination and communication of the RHYME project findings, both nationally and internationally. The 4th generation's prototypes «Polly World», consists of 1 wired and 3 wireless, mobile and interactive things and 2 Apps. One of the Apps is used to compose music distributed in a graphical interface and a high-level text and twitter based interface. In addition Polly World today consists of 50 different scenes that control lighting, dynamic graphics and music, chosen by the user himself and a large number of interactive RFID tagged things to play on. Polly World was tested in the Winter 2014/2015 and is now part of the «The Cultural Rucksack» program (Arts Council Norway), giving the intended primary users direct access to the RHYME project's results and the researchers new insights. For more information see www.RHYME.no

RHYME-prosjektets mål er å bedre helse og livskvalitet for personer med omfattende funksjonsnedsettninger, gjennom bruk av "samskapende ting". Dette er IKT-baserte ting som er interaktive, mobile og multimodale, og som kommuniserer trådløst og "intelligen t", etter musikalske, narrative og kommunikative prinsipper. Dette er intelligente ting, som motiverer mennesker å spille, samarbeide og samskape, og derigjennom reduserer passivitet og isolasjon og bedrer helse og velvære. Innen prosjektet skal det gjenn omføres 4 empiriske studier og det skal utvikles kunnskap gjennom design av 3 generasjoner av prototyper, i samarbeid med Haug Spesialskole, brukere og omsorgspersoner. Prosjektet er et samarbeid mellom ledende institusjoner innen fagfeltene interaksjonsd esign, industridesign, universell utforming og musikk og helse; Design v Arkitektur- og Designhøgskolen i Oslo (AHO), Informatikk v Universitetet i Oslo og Senter for Musikk og Helse ved Norges Musikkhøgskole. -- The goal of the RHYME project is to improv e health and quality of life for persons with severe disabilities, through use of "co-creative tangibles". These are ICT based, mobile, networked and multimodal things, which communicate following musical, narrative and communicative principles. They are interactive, social, intelligent things that motivate people to play, communicate and co-create, and thereby reduce passivity and isolation, and strengthen health and well-being. In the project we will carry out 4 empirical studies and develop knowledge by design of 3 generations of co-creative tangibles in collaboration with Haug School and Resource Centre, users and families. The project is a collaboration between leading institutions in the fields of Interaction Design, Tangible Interaction, Industri al Design, Universal Design and Music and Health; Design at Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO), Informatics at University of Oslo and Centre for Music and Health at Norwegian Academy of Music.

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IKTPLUSS-IKT og digital innovasjon