The purpose of the competition is to encourage makers of digital media to generate ideas and develop new and innovative ubimedia products & services. Ubimedia means technology that is embedded in its surroundings. The word “Ubi” comes from the Latin word “ubique” which means “everywhere”. The competition was open to all kinds of artists, practitioners, and industries and the total prize sum is 7.000 Euros.

Head of Jury Björn Stockleben, 2009 winners with DonkeyPedia Frans Alsema and Joost van Eeden and competition co-chair Kirsi Lindfors

TAMK and the Degree Programme in Media is one of the Ubimedia Nokia MindTrek Awards arrangers.

The three nominees of the Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards 2010

After a long and hard elimination process the jury determined these three and unique finalists (in alphabetical order). “Each year the competition entries come closer to consumer products improving daily life or solving today’s problems such as energy consumption or health care. This year’s competition attracted 20 entrants and the jury had a hard time to find the best projects”, says Artur Lugmayr (inventor of the competition and general competition chair).

Analysing the evolvement of the Ubimedia competition entries we see that unlike in previous years no really new technologies appeared. The projects still use motion sensors, mobile devices and turn everyday commodities into ambient displays and interfaces. But this does not mean that there would be a lack of innovation in ubiquitous media. We see more compelling use cases, finally addressing non-geeky target groups as well. Ubimedia researchers are finally adapting a holistic view beyond experimenting with new technologies, leading to real user-centered products. We are delighted to discover an encouraging shift "from project to product" in the application of ubiquitous media concludes Björn Stockleben, Head of Jury.

Energy Life
Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT , Aalto University , University of HelsinkiNobody would argue against a sensible usage of energy, but when it comes to tracking down energy leaks in your household few people take practical action. Energy Life tackles this challenge through comfort and playfulness. Sensors report the energy consumption of household devices and would alert you if you left your fridge door open when leaving home. In addition, an attractive gameplay sharpens your awareness by setting increasingly challenging saving goals. This project connects ubiquitous media with the hot topic of smart energy networks. The jury concordantly appreciates its immediate practical value as well as its ambitious objective.

myGreenspaceeHealth Group RWTH Aachen, Kai Kasugai and Felix Heidrich
Calling myGreenspace mere virtual wallpaper does not quite get the point. It is the content and the target group that make it an outstanding project. An interactive forest scene brings the green of nature back to elderly people who can hardly leave their home in urban environments. Personal and social data can be rendered into the virtual forest landscape as ambient information in a friendly and unobtrusive way. The high commercial viability of this great project is well summarized by one of our jury members: "I love it and want one."

Perception Rug
The Perception Rug by Department Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of TechnologyStaying in "touch" can be taken literally with the Perception Rug. It is a playful, beautiful and, not to mention, irresistibly fluffy interface for human-computer interaction. The rug senses touches and strokes and can give a visual feedback through light-emitting fibres woven into the surface. Two rugs can be synchronized remotely, allowing sharing of an ambient feeling of presence. It stands out for its beauty and the new creative applications it opens to ubimedia developers.

The Ubimedia Award winner will be announced on Thursday the 7th of October 2010 at 16.00 in the Scandic Hotel Rosendahl.

MindTrek 2010 Conference
The Nokia Ubimedia competition is part of the international MindTrek 2010 conference. It is being held for the 14th time in Tampere, Finland from 6th to 8th of October. Last year the conference gathered together over 800 people from 32 countries, with around 150 international visitors. This year the key speakers include Dave Nielsen (CloudCamp), Lauri Kivinen (YLE), Joanne Jacobs (Social Media Expert Consultant) and Latif Ladid (IPv6 forum).
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MindTrek
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