The Liquid Interactive team is very excited to be involved in the Brisbane Festival 2011, building what we believe to be a world first interactive immersive installation.

In keeping with the 2011 ‘light’ theme for Brisbane Festival, we are producing an interactive digital installation, ‘The Liquid Interactive Light Scope’. This will be a tunnel 30m long and 5m wide, that visitors can walk through and interact with.

The tunnel will have 500 LED screens running down the walls and mirrors covering the ceiling and the floor.  As the public walks down the tunnel a contemporary soundtrack will fill the space, and graphics on the screens will react to the music.  The mirrors above and below will create a truly infinite experience.  Coupling this with chaotic programmatic algorithms that control the graphics so that no 2 seconds will ever be the same.

To create an even more unique environment, the centre section of the tunnel will be set up with 16 Xbox Kinects scanning the area; these motion sensor cameras will detect human movement and gestures, and will adapt the environment of the animated graphics on the screen. The sensors will work using the non-intentional, movement of the visitors creating a fluid and organic feel to the installation.

The Liquid Team has been hard at work developing and testing the tunnel technology in our Brisbane office, this includes a full size jig for live testing.

The Liquid Interactive Light Scope will be open for the public to experience during the Brisbane Festival commencing on September 3^rd.  The Light Tunnel will be found outside QPAC near the Wheel of Brisbane.

Lightening McQueen and Mater are back for an all new adventure in Cars 2. Team up with the crack team of Secret Agents as they hone their skills with a vast array of state-of-the-art weaponry and specialist moves.

Missions take place in the five unique training grounds of C.H.R.O.M.E (which stands for, “The Command Headquarters for Recon Operations and Motorized Espionage”, of course.).

Check it out!

Liquid Interactive employs the philosophy that diversity brings innovation and a new way of thinking about problems and projects. If we remain within our own little sphere of existence we cannot bring new ideas to work applications to create engaging and cutting edge solutions to the digital world. This diversity can come from many different sources.  Being in the creative and visual fields I find that my external inspiration comes from sources such as film intros, photography and the arts.

I have recently had the opportunity to collaborate with one of Australia’s foremost emerging contemporary chorographer’s and current Hephzibah Tintner Foundation Fellow, Lisa Wilson.

In the past few years we have produced working titles such as ‘Lake’, where the entire piece was performed in water, and next year this piece will again be shown at the Judith Wright Centre.

You may ask, how can a digital creative help in contemporary dance?

Yesterday I saw a fantastic presentation about Social Marketing by Scott Klosoky, a US based Social Strategist.  He presented a very clear approach to social marketing which he called a ‘Social Technology Strategy’.  One of the best things about his presentation, was his ability to articulate and classify the differences between the social technology, social networking and digital reputation.

The buzz term ‘Social Media’ can get confusing. It is often used to describe a brand’s marketing activity using social technologies; this may refer to any number of social platforms for content sharing such as YouTube, Slideshare and Scribd.  Additionally, ‘Social Media’  is used as a label to describe brand conversations via social networking platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.  Also, ‘Social Media’ is a term used to describe the activity we do to manage our digital reputation.

Klosoky, was able to clearly define three major areas that any Social Technology Strategy must consider, these are:

• Social Relevancy – Management of our digital reputation.  That is, what our audience see when they go looking for us, most prevalently via Google.

• Social Media - Using media platforms such as YouTube and Flickr, to host our content.  By embedding this content into our sites we are creating more inbound links through to our web properties as well as supporting our digital reputation by creating more branded content for search engines to find.

• Social Networking – Our online conversations.  Social networking is activity through sites like blogs, Facebook and Twitter, they are our opportunity to develop relationships with our audience through regular engagement.

When we think of extending our website, we often think in terms of functional additions. Be it a calendar, an email newsletter signup or a shopping cart. But behind each website addition can be found a deeper understanding as to the behavior of your customers.

Let’s take the example of a shopping cart, that’s a fairly simple addition or extension to your website.

Or is it?

A common dilemma emerging amongst marketers and businesses now is the decision between developing a Mobile App or a Mobile Website. So what’s the difference? And, why would you choose one over the other?

A mobile app, whether it is for the iPhone, or another Smartphone will run an application on the phone and allow the user to perform certain tasks. A mobile website on the other hand will allow users with any type of Smartphone to view a web application or website without installing anything on the phone. The main exception of course is the iPhone which will not permit Flash™ to run.