An experiential puzzle and mapping game in London, October 2008

Background2007 TED prize winner and photojournalist James Nachtwey asked TED to help him explore new ways of delivering news photography in the digital age. On behalf of Nachtwey and TED, UK-based think tank DEMOS approached mobile blogging technology company and community site Moblog for ideas on how to use web and mobile to drive awareness of XDR-TB (extensively drug resistant Tuberculosis).

The Power of the image

• The mission was to create something technologically and socially innovative that expressed the power of Nachtwey’s images

• The real challenge was: How do we raise the profile of Tuberculosis on a budget of zero? How can we cut through a crowded space inhabited by charities using new media?

• Knowing that innovation can lead to coverage and awareness, Moblog ‘s answer was to fuse GPS, mobile blogging and augmented reality gaming (ARG) into a new whole, engaging people on the streets of London in a search for the question...

How?• Using consumer ready GPS

technologies, mobile phones and the web, we created a new form of art: Geo Marker Drawing

• Nachtwey’s powerful photography exploring the disease XDR-TB was the core creative: the power of the image

• Using a simple ARG style that merged on and offline as well as mobile

• Through Twitter, Moblog and Facebook we engaged Londoners in a cryptic puzzle game on the streets of London

Gameplay• Hidden on 43 blogs across the

web were 43 latitude and longitudinal locations

• The moblog (http://moblog.net/findme) contained cryptic clues (see fortune cookie at right) to lead searchers to these locations

• Once found, the player travelled to the specified location to hunt for a hidden object

• The object would then provide the final instructions for uploading to the site

The players...

Platform componentsThe main site hosted information on playing, clues, and provided the technology required to receive and geo-locate all entries

Microsite required mobile blogging, browser and email upload, sharing to other sites and integrated geo-mapping

Twitter was an invaluable tool for seeding clues, generating buzz, and conversing with players

By using map markers laid out in a pattern which “connect-the dots-style” drew an image, we created a new form of online art

http://moblog.net/map/blog/findme/

Success• This project achieved Nachtwey’s

ambition of exploring new ways of delivering news photography in the digital age

• The campaign measurably increased public awareness of XDR-TB through its groundbreaking format

• The project created a new form of art, the full impact of which is yet to be seen...

Coverage• Over 30,000 visits to the site• Nearly 400 twitter followers

engaging in clue solving• At least 50 people searching London

for hidden objects• Feature article on BBC Technology

site• Presented in Media Guardian feature

as ‘groundbreaking’

So what next?

Aside from the campaign objectives this project achieved, a new art form hasbeen created, one which can be achieved through readily available consumertechnologies.

We believe this is worth exploring further. This project explored it’s potentialon a small scale: using 2 square miles of London to draw an image. Becauseof the nature of online maps, this idea works best at larger scales.

The principle extends very wide and the practice is wholly geared towardsgroup engagement, requiring as it does many people over a widegeographical region to draw images using map markers.

So the question is...what do we do next?