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Event at the Aarhus Main Library was digitised by PIT

The Aarhus University research centre PIT added a digital layer to the Aarhus Mini Maker Faire, which was held at the Aarhus Main Library. The project group hopes that the experiment will help create a closer connection between the digital and the physical universe.

At the 9th and 10th of May, hobbyists had an opportunity to unfold themselves at the Aarhus Mini Maker Faire, which was held at the Aarhus Main Library. The library was transformed into a workshop, with many small stands, where the hobbyist showed each other (and visitors from elsewhere) which activities they were occupied with. Thanks to special technology, the PIT research centre from Aarhus University had made it easy for participants to obtain information on what was going on at the individual stands.  

`At each stand, we had installed sensors, measuring the distance from the mobile phones or tablets of the participants to the stand. The web server on the mobile phone or tablet then used this information to provide the individual participant with information on what was going on at the stand that was closest. The system need and be quite simple. Therefore, the participants did not need to install an app, before being able to benefit from this service´, Clemens Klokmose, post doc. at the Department of Computer Science, explains.

Understanding without physical contact

Jane Kunze, project manager at the Aarhus Main Library, believes that the digitisation of the Aarhus Mini Maker Faire made the event more vivid and understandable to the participants. `I can imagine, that if you, as a participant, did not have much knowledge about what was going on at the individual stands, the thought of having to talk to the hobbyists face to face might have appeared a bit intimidating. Therefore, being able to obtain information digitally was a positive thing for many participants. It was also possible to ask questions to the hobbyists, via mobile phone or tablet.  This made the entire event more dynamic, because the participants became part of what was taking place´, she says.

Using the digital possibilities

The digitisation of Aarhus Mini Maker Faire is part of the project Innovation Spaces of the Local Community, which deals with how virtual spaces can be integrated with physical spaces.

When using your mobile phone or tablet, you often tend to disintegrate yourself from your immediate environment.  Innovation Spaces of the Local Community focuses upon the ways in which citizens are able to benefit from the digital possibilities found in their own environment. In the long run, we hope that citizens will be able to receive useful digital information in all public places equipped with wifi´, research manager Martin Brynskov explains.


Facts

The project Innovation Spaces of the Local Community has been created as part of a joint venture between Aarhus University, Roskilde University, the Aarhus Main Library and the Roskilde Libraries.

From Aarhus University, the research centre PIT, including CAVI, and the Department of Computer Science are all taking part in the project.