Web 2.0 on the Beach – The V&A experiments with a Mashup
Mark Hook, Victoria & Albert Museum, United Kingdom
http://www.vam.ac.uk/worldbeachproject
The World Beach Project devised by artist and weaver Sue Lawty, in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum was launched in October 2007. It is a global art project open to anybody, anywhere, of any age. Building on the experience many of us have of making patterns on beaches and shorelines, this project combines the simplicity of making patterns with stones, with the complexities of shape, size, colour, tone, composition, similarity and difference. The project happens in two stages, in two locations: first, at a beach where users choose the stones and make their pattern, recording the work-in-progress with some photographs along the way. Then later, at a computer, where they upload the photographs to the V&A website and plot the location of the beach onto a Google Map to complete the project.
We will demonstrate how we developed this idea with the artist from initial concept to launch; we will also discuss what the challenges have been in building the interface, and moderating the submissions, and how we have dealt with those issues. Additionally we would like to talk about what we have planned to spread awareness and encourage the growth of this project, as well as asking all delegates to share with us their experiences in promoting mixed online/offline activities and how effective (or ineffective) these methods have proven to be!
Demonstration: Demonstrations - 2 [Demonstrations]
Keywords: User Generated Content, Mashup, Google Maps, Activities, Patterns, Stone Drawing
