On Friday the 27th or March, the presentations for Brief 2 were given. My presentation wasn’t until Monday, however, due to running out of time on Friday. The topics covered were Mapping, Apps and Wayfinding. I feel the presentation on Wayfinding went well, as we all covered different aspects of it. I thought the coverage of topics relating to non visual wayfinding were particularly interesting. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of wayfinding is signage, but there is more wayfinding than we realise for visually impaired people. I suggested the group cover it because there is more to wayfinding than just seeing and reading. One of my best friends is blind and was complaining recently how our train station doesn’t have the tactile floor things to illustrate where the platform ends. I realised, in a way, wayfinding for visually impaired or disabled people is probably more important than wayfinding for sighted people because its easier for sighted people to figure out where they are or to ask for directions/ landmarks.

The other presentations covered various ways that mapping and location technologies are used. Such as in mobile phones, where your location is always recorded. This can then be used for multi-player, augmented space based games. I was interested to try out the game where real territories are claimed on the app, and the way to play the game is by interacting with the spaces in the real world as your phone records your location. I thought that was an excellent example of how augmented space, mapping and media all comes together. The other presentation covered apps such as lost on campus, the RMIT app etc. How they are built, who uses them, what they are used for, etc. Apps have always interested me, not necessarily the programming aspect, but the creativity and possibilities about them. The fact that you carry them around everywhere and look at them everyday, anywhere is exciting. I would be interested in exploring apps further, perhaps not in a formal setting, but as a hobby.