CloudBrowsing

2008-09 / Research project and interactive installation for PanoramaScreen
Bernd Lintermann, Torsten Belschner, Mahsa Jenabi, Werner A. König



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The interactive installation CloudBrowsing (2008-09) by Bernd Lintermann, Torsten Belschner, Mahsa Jenabi and Werner A. König is the first work to be shown in ZKM's recently established PanoramaLab. The project lets users experience Web-based information retrieval in a new way: Whereas our computer monitor only provides a restricted frame, a small window through which we experience the multilayered information landscape of the Net only partially and in a rather linear mode, the installation turns browsing the Web into a spatial experience: Search queries and results are not displayed as text-based lists of links, but as a dynamic collage of sounds and images. The content-based relations as well as the history of the searches and the information retrieval are not only visualized through the positioning of the individual images that each represent a website, but also through a dynamic soundscape that changes accordingly. In the current version of the project, the user browses the free online encyclopedia »Wikipedia«, which is compiled by a global community and thus exemplifies the collective knowledge of the Web. A filter mechanism ensures that only open content is displayed in the installation.
The cylindrical surface of the PanoramaScreen thus becomes a large-scale browser surrounding the user, who can thus experience a panorama of his movements in the virtual information space.

Venue: ZKM_PanoramaLab

Bernd Lintermann (*1967 in Düsseldorf) works as an artist and scientist in the field of real-time computer graphics with a focus on interactive and generative systems. The results of his research are used in scientific, artistic and commercial contexts. His computer generated pictures, interactive installations as well as projection environments are internationally presented at festivals and museums. He has been director of the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media since 2005.

Torsten Belschner (*1966 in Freiburg i. Br.) works as sound designer and composer on the interface between music and software. He develops interactive sound installations, which convert complex data streams in multiple-channel environments. Among others, his audio concept, developed for the Bertelsmann Pavillon Planet.m at the Expo 2000 won international recognition as did his audio environment for the interactive installation The Room With a View in the Skoda Pavilion of the VW Auto city, Wolfsburg.

Mahsa Jenabi (*1982 in Teheran, Iran) is a Ph.D. student at the DFG graduate program »Explorative Analysis and Visualization of Large Information Spaces« and a member of the Human-Computer Interaction Group at the University of Konstanz. Her research focuses on novel interaction techniques for ubiquitous computing environments, specifically multimodal interaction with mobile phones as input devices.

Werner A. König (*1978 in Ravensburg) ) is a doctoral candidate with the Human-Computer Interaction Group at the University of Konstanz. He is an associated member of the DFG graduate program "Explorative Analysis and Visualization of Large Information Spaces« and directs the research project "inteHRDis - Interaction Techniques for High Resolution Displays." His research is focused on the design, development, and evaluation of intuitive user interfaces and input modalities enabling a more natural and reality-based human-computer interaction. Results of his and the group's research are used in diverse domains in science, art, and industry.


Bernd Lintermann, Torsten Belschner, Mahsa Jenabi, Werner A. König, CloudBrowsing, 2008-09
Photomontage: Simon Dühning, © ZKM | Karlsruhe

Visual concept and Panorama software: Bernd Lintermann
Audio concept and audio software: Torsten Belschner, dataphonic audio solutions, Freiburg
Interaction concept and realization: Mahsa Jenabi, Markus Nitsche, Werner A. König

Interface design: Matthias Gommel

The PanoramaScreen is based on Jeffrey Shaw's interactive panoramic cinema research. The PanoramaScreen was jointly developed by the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media, Karlsruhe (D) and the UNSW iCinema Research Centre, Sydney (AUS).

Screen manufacturing: Huib Nelissen Decor en Constructiewerken, Haarlem (NL).

Production: ZKM | Institute for Bildmedien in cooperation with the Human-Computer Interaction Group of the University of Konstanz (D)

Project direction: Bernd Lintermann
Project management and organization: Jan Gerigk, Petra Kaiser
Technical realization: Manfred Hauffen, Jan Gerigk, Nikolaus Völzow, Arne Gräßer, Joachim Tesch

A cooperation project of the ZKM | Institute for Visual Media and the University of Konstanz, Human-Computer Interaction Group (D)

The development of the PanoramaTechnology and the interaction concept was supported by the Information Technology Funding Program of the federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW-FIT) as well as by the DFG-graduate program GK-1042 "Explorative Analysis and Visualization of Large Information Spaces".