• InVisible is a mobile application that aims to reconnect people and activate the city after the pandemic, certain discussions about social issues like climate change can be generated among people as a series of media practices such as data visualisation and mobile placemaking have been applied to the app InVisible.

 

  • I have been looking at data visualisation and how does it link to an actual place throughout the whole semester. The first project that I looked at is from Carbon Visuals, which visualises the carbon footprint using blue spheres in New York City. The second one was a project by the University of the sunshine coast that applies thermal maps to illustrate the potential risk of hazards. Data visualisation plays a huge part in both projects, so I came across the idea of visualising carbon footprint in Melbourne city. Before we look at the functions, let’s take a look at the interface design of InVisible.

  • The interface design of InVisible is plain, pretty straightforward and easy to use. There are two functions on the top bar, the Gallery V is displayed on the home page as well. The next page is the community where users can share their green life with others, and the last one is the profile page.

  • The first function is the carbon footprint tracer using AR technology, users can use mobile front cameras to scan and visualise carbon footprint. Visualisation is such an essential and useful tool, especially for the climate change agenda as it is more intuitive in terms of allowing people to understand the current crisis more directly (Andrienko et al., cited in Grant et al. 2015, p.25). Also, the aesthetic aspect of data visualisation needs to be considered as “our encounter with form, colour, and composition are informed by bodily experience as well as aesthetic judgement” (Kennedy & Engebretsen 2020, p.23). When people engage with visual elements, they can respond instantly and identify whether the element is positive or negative based on aesthetic judgements. For example, the carbon footprint is visualised by numerous red asterisks as red colour usually symbolises danger. Also, visualisation can be considered a shared form of reference, “a shift in perception towards certain issues can be delivered by visualisation” (Aggett & McColl, cited in Grant et al. 2015, p.25).

  • The second function is “The Gallery V”, the use of photovoice. Users are able to share their daily photos and they can be either about green scenery or carbon footprint. The system will analyse every photo to determine whether it is positive for the environment. The foot icon will be applied to measure carbon footprint in every photo, green stands for elimination of carbon footprint, while red stands for production of carbon footprint, and the data is linked to the user’s profile. For example, Jenny Wilson has a negative 4.5k carbon footprint, which means she has eliminated carbon footprint of 4.5k. The purpose of having a photo gallery is to “create a common daily story and have a shared understanding” of the climate change agenda (Grant et al. 2015, p.26).

  • “The Gallery V” also refers to the concept of the bottom-up approach which is “more likely to be accepted by people and be implemented by local agencies” (Baker et al., cited in Grant et al. 2015, p.25). This sort of daily-based sharing encourages users to share their micro daily stories about climate change, which also stimulates users to form their own interpretations of climate change.

The third function is called “Walkie”, which is considered the use of urban play where users can explore the city in terms of interacting with different elements on the street. To be specific, Certain routes are designed for users. For example, the Swanston Street route will be starting from the RMIT building 80 to the NGV, which is about a 20-min walk. There are many popular spots on this route such as the state library and federation square, users can actually interact with those spots through the app. We use the capitol theatre as an example here. Once users arrive at the capitol, they can scan and detect tokens located in the theatre, it is like a treasure hunt, pretty similar to what people do with the pokemon go, they need to walk to the token and collect it. Also, there is a switch button that offers a lighting-control option, users can actually change the lighting in the theatre (e.g. from white to iridescence) which symbolises a sense of being here.

  • In addition, Beiguelman’s idea of “the city as an interface” (2020, p.36) is applied to “Walkie”. There are heaps of digital signages on Swanston Street and most of them are for commercials. Digital signage is actually the most energy-efficient option compared to other lighting choices such as neon lights. So I decided to use those signages to interact with users. Once users pass by, the entire digital signage will be covered by numerous green V logos of InVisible, so users can actually feel a sense of companionship while following the route instructed by the app.

  • The “Walkie” function refers to the concept of gamification. Features like token-collecting can be considered game-like elements that gamified the application. Also, gamification identifies specific player types. For example, some users might not be “achievers” who are obsessed with token-collecting, they only wanna be “explorers” who enjoy exploring the city. Furthermore, regardless of player types, the experience of using the walkie function always empowers the meaningful daily practices as “it is aspirational and prosocial in terms of engendering community and collaborative engagement” (Richardson et al. 2021, p.7).

  • The ideal user for the InVisible would be mostly young people who are well-educated and potentially green life advocates. The InVisible has a low barrier that enables people to participate in terms of sharing their artistic expressions, which also creates a virtual space for social connections among people (Jenkins 2009, pp.5-6).

  • In conclusion, the App Invisible is a gamified mobile application based on specific locations. I think it might be a strong booster for Melbourne coming back as the V city, V for vibrant.

 

The End

Thank you.  I hope you enjoy it. 🙂

 

Reference List:

Aggett, G. & McColl, C., 2006, ‘Evaluating decision support systems for PPGIS applications’, Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 33(1), pp.77-92.

Andrienko, G., Andrienko, N., Jankowski, P., Keim, D., Kraak, M.J., MacEachren, A. & Wrobel, S., 2007, ‘Geovisual analytics for spatial decision support: Setting the research agenda’, International journal of geographical information science, 21(8), pp.839-857.

Baker, I., Peterson, A., Brown, G. & McAlpine, C., 2012, ‘Local government response to the impacts of climate change: An evaluation of local climate adaptation plans’, Landscape and urban planning, 107(2), p.135.

Beiguelman, G., 2020, ‘Mobile Art: From the WAP Promises to the App Bubbles.’, in L Hjorth, A de Souza e Silva & K Lanson (eds), The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media Art, Taylor & Francis Group, pp.34–45.

Grant, B., Baldwin, C., Lieske, S.N. & Martin, K., 2015, ‘Using participatory visual methods for information exchange about climate risk in canal estate communities’, Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs, 7(1), pp.23-37.

Jenkins, H., 2009, Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century, The MIT Press.

Kennedy, H. & Engebretsen, M., 2020, ‘Introduction: The
relationships between graphs, charts, maps and meanings,
feelings, engagements’, Data visualization in society, Project Muse, pp.19-32,

Richardson, I., Hjorth, L. & Davies, H., 2021, Understanding Games and Game Cultures, Sage.