| Communications and Development |  |
Published by Communications and Development
A three-dimensional virtual picture book developed at the University of Canterbury's HITLabNZ has been named as a New Zealand finalist for the World Summit Awards.
The eyeMagic project, a collaborative project between the Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand and noted children's author and illustrator Gavin Bishop, will represent New Zealand in the e-Entertainment category.
Running in association with the second World Summit on the Information Society to be held in Tunis in November, the World Summit Awards will be a global showcase of 40 outstanding information and communications technology (ICT) projects from around the world.
New Zealand 's eight finalists will be evaluated against entrants from 196 other countries by the WSA 2005 Grand Jury in August in Bahrain. The winners will be announced at the WSA Gala in Tunis on 16 November.
At the last summit held in Geneva in 2003, New Zealand beat entries from 136 countries to win two awards.
The eyeMagic project developed by the HIT Lab NZ explores the application of augmented-reality technology to children's literature. Augmented reality is a new computer interface technology that allows computer graphics to be overlaid on the real world, so that both the virtual images and the real objects can be seen at the same time.
Using the technology, Bishop's story Giant Jimmy Jones was transformed from a normal printed book into one where three-dimensional animated virtual images appear to pop up from the real pages. The book was developed while Bishop was the Ursulla Bethell writer-in-residence at the University.
Bishop says he is very pleased to be a finalist in the World Summit Awards.
“It will bring this technology to the notice of the world although there has been a lot of interest in it from Britain already.”
Bishop is currently working with the HIT Lab on a second magic book based on his award winning story, The House That Jack Built. The project is still in the planning stages but Bishop says the book will be animated in a “much more interactive way”.
The New Zealand World Summit Awards are sponsored by the National Library, the Ministry of Economic Development and Internet New Zealand with the close cooperation of the 2020 Communication Trust.
For further information please contact:
Associate Professor Mark Billinghurst
HIT Lab NZ Director
Phone: +64 3 364 2349
Fax: +64 3 364 2095
mark.billinghurst@hitlabnz.org