We started off by showing them our projects such as ART LAB, Big recycling machine and Anglo Saxon Fashion and got them to use a Wacom tablet to play the games. It was interesting to see how at first it seems difficult for them to grasp the use of a graphic tablet, but after a couple of goes each they can all use it very well. All the pupils seemed to love the idea of being able to “draw” on the computer.

After playing on some games, we encouraged them to draw objects using Photoshop and the graphic tablet, so we played the game where each person have a section on the screen and they each take turns to draw either head, body , tail, legs etc. to make a monster. We also played the game where they have to shout out random things and I have to quickly draw them on the monitor. It was quite a challenge!

It was a very fun and interactive session; you can see some of the images that each group has produced below.

A sci-fi TV series, Korridor explores issues of identity, belonging and surveillance. We took these themes and designed a multilayered transmedia experience, combining: web, mobile, gaming and the real world to create a engaging story where users can choose their level of involvement.

Korridor was selected as one of nine projects to be pitched live in front of 30 judges and a live audience at the Pixel Pitch event in September – part of the Power to the Pixel conference. This was a great experience to get in front of transmedia experts and gain real feedback on our ideas. The project was very well received and led to some great connections being made in the follow up meetings.

A number of broadcasters are now looking at the project and hopefully it won’t be long before Korridor appears across your screens.

I decided to do the Great North Run as part of the Barnardo’s Team. They’re a great charity whose work is summed up well by their vision, something we also believe at Ideonic:

“We believe in the potential of every child and young person, no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through.” – Barnardo’s vision

Adam ran on behalf of Cancer Research UK, another great charity striving to beat cancer, something unfortunately that everyone is affected by in some way.

Even through the race is over it’s not too late to add your support:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JeremiahAlexander

http://www.runningsponsorme.org/adamgatenby

Two days later, our legs have not yet recovered and we’re already looking forward to next year. We’re considering costumes for next year and some of the guys over at Fluid Pixel and Kidology have also agreed to take part, perhaps we can even convince Cora to join in.

Book now for IMMERSION Forum & Showcase (May 24, London) with a 10% discount on attending this leading international event focused on monetisation, funding and distribution of games and immersive social media; the future of MMOs, games, social media, virtual worlds, serious games, augmented reality, virtual goods, micropayments & billing, geospatial apps and search, Facebook apps, iphone apps .. and much more!

Book now using promo code GEN10 to claim the 10% discount to attend the Forum for only £269.10*. www.immersion10.co.uk

…. and if you can’t make it to the Forum, then for only £29* come along to the Exclusive Networking Party in the evening in central London – open to all.. not just delegates .. It’s going to be the best Mixer Networking Party this Spring! Book through the above link.

You’ll be networking with key media and games industry figures .. many with budget .. many with funding opportunities .. many looking to hook up for projects … all with vision for the future. What’s not to like!

Awards: Got a great game? Then submit it for the IMMERSION Awards 2010. Submission deadline 17 May. Click through the link to book Forum, Party or to submit you game for the Awards.

Please share this with industry colleagues.

Confirmed speakers include:
• Peter Bazalgette, NewBaz
• Ian Livingstone, Square Enix
• Adam Singer, BSAC
• Peter Edward, Sony
• Matthew Jeffery, EA
• Mike Rawlinson, ELSPA
• Nic Mitham, KZero
• Toby Beresford, Nudge
• James Bamford, Bing
• Oisin Lunny, Sulake (Habbo)
• Tim Harrison, The Mobile Consultancy
• Ben Keen, Screen Digest
• Richard Bartle, Essex University
• Andy Taite, Pembridge Partners
• Gina Fegan, South East Media Network
• Kim Bayley, Entertainment Retailers Assoc
• Rob Edmonds, SRI
• Justin Bovington, Rivers Run Red
• Ron Edwards, Ambient Performance
• Dave Taylor, Imperial College
• Mike Dicks, Bleedin Edge
• David Burden, Daden Ltd
• Ian Hughes, Feeding Edge
• Jeremiah Alexander, Ideonic
• Michael Schumann, Second Interest
• Modwenna Rees-Mogg, Angel News

The MirrorMe app was born out of a Crossover lab that Jeremiah attended earlier in the year. I now had the privilege of attending a similar Lab along with experts from science, film/ TV production and games.

The crossover science lab was a week of daily brain storming and idea generations exercises to come up with creative ideas based on our skills; designing platforms that can bring science closer to people using games or traditional media.

It was a fascinating experience for me to get a glimpse into how the film industry and the science industry work. All the attendees were experts in their field and chatting to them over dinner and during workshops was very exciting; I think there is a great opportunity for us to combine our skills to produce some truly unique ideas.

The first three  days of the lab we were led by Frank Boyd and the team of mentors to try and establish what we were aiming to achieve as well as understanding each other’s perspectives. The main categories were film, TV, Digital media, Games,  science and psychology; because we were all from very different disciplines, it was important for us to establish a common ground and understanding of each other’s language.

We were constantly put into different groups and doing varied actives to come up with some unique (and some truly mad) ideas. Everyone was in good spirits and no ideas were seen as bad ideas. It was a very fun experience for me and I really enjoyed the creativity and energy that was flowing around the room.  We were given challenges over Dinner and Lunch to work on in teams of 3 to 4, and were always doing pitches for the ideas. Frank and the mentors were brilliant and supportive of the group, constantly giving us great feedback on each of the ideas.

On the fourth and fifth days of the lab, we had to narrow down 50 ideas to just 6 which we all wanted to work on. We then split into 6 teams and with just over one day to work on the idea and prepare a full presentation on Friday afternoon.

I was fortunate to be on a team with Peter Dale from RareDay, Peter Bently from UCL, Pete from Tunatech (yes there were a lot of Pete(r)s in our group) and Rob Davis from Playniac. Our idea involved using augmented reality and geographic data from the UK. It was an incredible, exciting idea, and being the only artist in the group, I was responsible for producing the powerpoint presentation.

On Friday afternoon, the 6 teams had to do presentations in front of a panel from Channel 4, BBC, National Geographic, NHS, Screen Yorkshire and the Wellcome trust (as well as the mentors and the other groups)

Our presentation went really well and the panel gave us some great feedback on how we could improve it and it seemed like a very solid idea that got everyone excited. Hopefully the idea will move forward so I get to work on another exciting project emerging from a Crossover Lab!

The Crossover lab was a truly unique and amazing experience for me, the enthusiasm and energy from everyone was unbelievable. The Ideas coming out of the sessions were extremely creative; it just goes to show that when working with a group of creative people, you can come up with ideas  beyond what an individual could. We were constantly buzzing with excitement due to the creativity and discussions throughout the week.

A huge thank you to all the mentors: Mark Atkin, Heather Croall, John Kent, Margaret Robertson, Patrick Uden ,Emma Cheshire and last but not least, Frank Boyd the lab director.

It was a privilege and honour for me to spend a week with industry experts and share their unique insights; I couldn’t have gained this experience anywhere else.  It was a sad moment when I had to leave the Lab and say goodbye to everyone, but we are all keeping in contact and there seems to be a couple of ideas that are being pursued by the teams. I will keep my fingers crossed for all of them and update you when there is any exciting news!

See more photos from the event.

There was also a talk by mylifestories with two young students. My life stories provides young people a place where they can write about themselves and any stories they would like to share with people. They can add their own short stop frame  animations , photos etc online. It was great to see young people being creative and intuitive using this technology.

The most exciting part of the conference for me was when the audience had a sneak preview of our latest facebook application. The audience’s reaction was great; there was a lot of giggling and laughter when they saw what the application can do. This is a great indicator that we are on the right path and at Ideonic , we are making something unique and different which everybody can enjoy.

I took such a long time to right this blog post but it’s taken me a while to follow up with the great contacts I met and also just absorb all the lessons I learned while on the Digital Mission. In both LA and San Francisco we met many of the major players: Lionsgate, Warner Bros, Sony, Facebook, Apple, to name a few. But we also met many of the smaller creative agencies and start-ups breaking new ground.

To recap, on the 11^th Oct I flew out to LA as part of a select group of 14 of UKs most exciting digital companies. The Digital Mission was organised ‘and might I add excellently’ by Chinwag and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI). The other members on the group were amazing and I learnt just as much from them as I did from the companies in the states; a great mix of digital agencies, animation, gaming studios, technology platforms and video producers.

Digital Mission LA & SF 09 Companies: agency2 – Amaze – Audioboo – etv media group – Great Fridays – Littleloud – MoviesThatRespond – NixonMcInnes – Orangepanda Digital Media – Plug-in Media – Twofour – Type3 – Videojuicer

Once in LA we got to met with the Major movie studios Lionsgate, Warner Bros, Sony each of whom has strong digital strategies planned for the year ahead. We also met with the many smaller (by comparison) creative companies, including G-net and Ant Farm both of whom have done some great work with Gaming Clients including many of the online marketing strategies and poster campaigns you have seen for AAA game titles such as Call of Duty.

In both LA and San Francisco receptions were held in our honour at the Consul General’s residence. In LA Dame Barbara Hay hosted an excellent reception with a great delegation of film, interactive and business experts from across LA – and also the most tasty miniature Yorkshire puddingsJ.

When we arrived in San Francisco late and were rushed off our feet, meeting with many of the top tech companies. We met with Facebook whose office’s, from the outside looks like a school but inside gave off an aurora of true creativity. NDAs were signed at the door, so I can’t say much about what was discussed but it focussed on the Facebook Platform, which was great for us and we are doing some interesting projects on Facebook at the moment and it looks like the platform will only being getting better.

We were also privileged to meet with Johnny Ive the lead designer at Apple – it is said that genius is often linked to modesty, and Johnny totally adhered to that rule. It was amazing gaining an insight into how Apple designs their products and including a focus on user observation over user testing.  We also met with the iPhone team and we’re given a crash course in getting the best out of our iPhone Apps.

We also had a great tour and meeting at IDEO, probably the world’s top design firm and also a company with a name very close to our own – we both love ideas. From the original computer mouse, to bicycles without breaks and the rules of brainstorming, IDEO was a place of great ideas and truly creative approaches. I’m currently reading ‘The Ten Faces of Innovation’ by Tom Kelley, a key member of the IDEO team.

The reception in San Francisco was hosted by Julian Evan. A lively event where I was fortunate to met some great people at the reception including Peter Moore of EA and Xochi Birch of Zuno and co-founder of Bebo. Julian also had a great collection of Welsh Beers, which made the end of the night less memorable than the start J

It was an awesome trip and I loved visiting both Cities and plan to venture back out there in the New Year.  A huge thank you goes out to the people who made this possible:  Sam, Emily, Juliet, Carlo, Sat Darshan, Dame Barbara, Jaclyn, Meagan, Arthine, Julian, everybody we visited and anybody I missed of the list. Thank you very much!

Chinwag’s Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinwagcom/4013972480/in/set-72157622449349491/

What Next? Well just over a week after being back I’m off again, this time to India (subject to my Visa getting issued in time) to take part in the UK Young Interactive Entrepreneur trade mission. Looking forward to meeting all the great business in the Games and Animation sector in India, expect an update soon.

We recently found out that we had been selected as one of only two companies in the North East of England to take part in the Digital Mission to LA and San Francisco. I will be going to represent Ideonic and along with the other 13 candidates will be flying the flag for Britain’s creative digital sector. As well as receptions in our honour at the British Consule General we will also be taking part in a number of high profile meetings, including: Sony, Facebook, Warner Bros and IDEO just to name a few.

This is an excellent break for us and a real opportunity to demonstrate the great work we’re doing at Ideonic, in the North East and in the UK. I will attempt (no promises though) to write a blog post everyday detailing the activities while I am on the trip, I will also try to increase the frequency of my twitter posts (subject to internet connectivity of course). The mission is organised by Chinwag and UKTI.

Read more about Digital Mission LASF ( http://chinwag.com/digitalmission/lasf09-companies )

Our quest for international success doesn’t end there, I am also proud to announce that I have made it to the finals of the UK Young Interactive Entrepreneur awards J As part of the finals, me and the 5 other finalists will be travelling to India from the 27 October to 6 November 2009, where we will find out more about the interactive sector in India’s and meet many of the great companies responsible for cultivating it’s rapidly growing creative economy.

The final interviews will take place in early December and the winner will be announced in late February 2010 at a UKYCE awards ceremony.  Again I will keep regular blog posts while in India and about the rest of the activities I get to take part in over the next few months as a British Council UK Interactive Entrepreneur representative.

Read more about UKYIE ( http://www.creativeconomy.org.uk/ukyce/Finalists.asp?ID=42 )

The quality of the ideas was amazing, they really knew about technology including quite modern advances such as Bluetooth 3 and Active RFID. Additionally, some groups had functional prototype to demonstrate the software components of their ideas. Even the Graphical Design work was also far beyond what I had expected for that age group; I would be happy with them designing some of our marketing materials!

In the evening everyone was given a chance to relax with a quiz and I’m proud to say that my team won BOTH ROUNDS :-) but unfortunately I can’t say it was because me. My general knowledge has much room for improvement but fortunately they made up for my weaknesses.

On the Second day the judging began with each team delivering a 20 minutes pitch and they were all excellent: well structured, well delivered and covering all the key points – better than many pitches I have seen by real businesses. After some difficult judging the winners were selected and prizes awarded (laptops, a trip to Microsoft, and a trip to BT). Regardless of which group won, I honestly believe they all have bright careers ahead of them and I think the future is in good hands.

It was quite interesting for me to look back from the path I’ve taken all the way from A-level to being involved in the serious games industry. Children have a much wider range of subject material that’s more related to computer games then when I was in school and the college even have software such as 3Ds Max and Adobe After Effects installed for the student to use. It is very impressive to think that when they coming out of the college and into university, they will be more than ready for the steep learning curve ahead. I wish I had 3Ds Max when I was in school.