The 7th annual international ubiquitous media competition, NUMA2013 (Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards 2013), seeks for novel ways to combine ubiquitous computing to media.
The interactive plant interface, Botanicus Interacticus, won NUMA2012

We are looking for disruptive artistic visions as well as clever near-to-market solutions off the beaten tracks! This includes any range of innovative ubimedia, pervasive, or ambient products and services. NUMA2013 is a highly interdisciplinary competition and we invite equally Designers, Computer Scientists, Artists, Economists and Engineers to take a stand on the following questions with their entries:

  • What is the particular aesthetic experience opened up by the rise of ubiquitous and ambient media?
  • What constitutes the specific intelligence that drives future media environments?
  • How will location- and context-aware media services change our social life?
  • How will our future lives look like in the era of ubiquitous computation, and how can society benefit from these advanced technologies?
The ambient audio navigation service Oh Music, Where Art Thou
won the second price 2012

The total award sum for the NUMA2013 is 6 000€. The sum can be awarded to one entry, divided between several entries or not awarded at all if the award criteria set by the jury are not fulfilled.
Valid competition entries include:

  • Pervasive and ubiquitous games
  • Ambient installations
  • Artistic works related to ubiquitous media and computation
  • Business models and management strategies
  • Ambient and ubiquitous media technology
  • Ubiquitous and ambient media services, devices, and environments
  • Context aware, sensing, and interfaces for ubiquitous computation
  • Ergonomics, human-computer interaction designs, and product prototypes
  • Software, hardware and middle-ware framework demonstrations
  • Ambient television
  • Any other inspiring work in the broad context of ubiquitous media
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NUMA2013 is organized collaboratively by TAMK, MindTrek, Tampere Region Centre of Expertise in Ubiquitous Computing (Hermia), Entertainment & Media Management Lab. (EMMi Lab, Tampere University of Technology), Nokia Oyj and the Ambient Media Association (AMEA).
The flying running companion Joggobot got
the third price last year




The Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award (NUMA) Winner Workshop and NUMA Awards Ceremony were important events of MindTrek 2012

During the 3-hour workshop the best-ranked ubimedia masterpieces - the finalists and projects awarded with honorable mentions were introduced. The audience could see how the winners actually work and how they were made.

Numa Chairs Ville Luotonen and Artur Lugmayr together with Honorary Chair
Tim Merritt  handed out the prices. Other NUMA core team members are
Jury Chair Björn Stockleben and  Chair Cai Melakoski
photo ©MindTrek
The winners
The first price (€3000) went to
Botanicus Interacticus - Disney Research, Pittsburgh
Jonas Loh installing the plant before introducing Botanicus Interacticus
at the workshop

Ever thought interactive devices could be simply grown in the future? If not, maybe the interactive plant interface, Botanicus Interacticus, will make you reconsider. Using multi-frequency electrical pulses, this technology is capable of sensing the location and intensity of touching on any kind of plant (size permitting). This establishes a surprisingly powerful interface between the organic and the digital world and allows for a literally natural integration of media into the environment. This groundbreaking approach broadens the scope of ubimedia in an exciting way.

The second price (€2000) went to
Oh Music, Where Art Thou? - User System Interaction Programme, Eindhoven University of Technology

Matthijs Zwinderman introduced the OMWAT

Lost in a strange place in an unfamiliar city? This ambient audio navigation service is an innovative ready-to-market solution that relieves you from exposing your expensive phone and enables you to move about like a native. You will enjoy having your eyes free for looking around or interacting with friends, while a clever manipulation of stereo channels leads you the way using your favourite music. Mobile devices make services available virtually anywhere, but still tend to distract us from our surroundings. The jury values that the solution solves this dilemma in a simple and elegant way.

The third price (€1000) was won by
Joggobot - Exertion Games Lab, RMIT University Melbourne

The NUMA workshop was interactive. On left Wouter Walmink from
Joggobot with TAMK media students Yonathan Wolowelsky
simulating the Jogger and Joel Forsman the Robot

There are numerous new popular running applications for mobile devices, but even the best of them cannot replace the motivation caused by the physical presence of a running mate. The flying running companion Joggobot comes surprisingly close to a social running experience. This project shows the potential of ubimedia when it actually manifests in the playful behavior of physical objects instead of being rendered onto small screens.

The honorable mentions 
Honorable mentions were given to:
Nimesha Ranasinghe and the taste synthesizer

 “Digital taste synthesizer” by the CUTE-Center of National University of Singapore
is according to the jury a visionary project aiming to conquer the sense of taste for ubimedia.
Floating About

“Floating about” by Hochschule Darmstadt, a social location-based game that uses mobile projection devices to render an alternate reality directly on objects in the environment.
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Interactive Shadows was made by our Media students Amir Abdi & Johanna Peltola
and TAMK Business Informations Systems student Siru-Kristiina Kuivanen

TAMK Media Programme is one of the key organisers of NUMA. This year our students also participated in the competition itself with two projects. We are very proud of our students - although they didn't win a price in this tough competition their Demola project "Interactive Shadows" was selected to the short list and became thus one of the projects the NUMA jury considered worth a price.

About NUMA
The Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards is an annual competition with a total prize sum of 6.000 euros in 2012. Numa is open to all kinds of artists, practitioners and researchers. The competition was part of the international MindTrek 2012 conference held for the 16th time in Tampere, Finland during October 3rd – 5th.

The competition is organized collaboratively by MindTrek ry, Tampere Region Centre of Expertise in Ubiquitous Computing, Entertainment & Media Management Lab. (EMMi Lab.) of Tampere University of Technology, Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Nokia Oyj and the Ambient Media Association (AMEA). The competition is funded by Nokia Oyj and the Tampere Region Centre of Expertise in Ubiquitous Computing.

www.mindtrek.org
www.numa.fi
Read more about the ubimedia competition on our blog
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About MindTrek 2012 on our blog:

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UBIQUITUOUS MEDIA LIVE!
NUMA2012 Winner Workshop
Wed 3.10. @ New Factory 2pm to 5pm
New Factory (Väinö Linnan aukio 15)
Finlayson, Tampere
Free admission

The NUMA Winner Workshop brings the topmost of NUMA2012 entries to life on Wednesday New Factory!

During this 3-hour workshop the best-ranked ubimedia masterpieces - the Finalists & Honorable Mentions - will be introduced to the audience. See how the winners actually work, hear more from the authors and be inspired!

Winner Workshop is open for everybody (no entrance fee) and targeted to all those who are interested in state-of-the-art of ubimedia domain.


Botanicus Interacticus - Disney Research, Pittsburgh


Ever thought interactive devices could be simply grown in the future? If not, maybe the interactive plant interface, Botanicus Interacticus, will make you reconsider. Using multi-frequency electrical pulses, this technology is capable of sensing the location and intensity of touching on any kind of plant (size permitting). This establishes a surprisingly powerful interface between the organic and the digital world and allows for a literally natural integration of media into the environment. This groundbreaking approach broadens the scope of ubimedia in an exciting way.

Read more »