The purpose of the competition was to encourage makers of digital media to generate ideas and develop new and innovative ubimedia products & services. Ubimedia means technology that is embedded in its surroundings. The word “Ubi” comes from the Latin word “ubicue” which means “everywhere”. The competition was open to all kinds of artists, practitioners, and industries and the total prize sum is 7.000 Euros.

MindTrek 2009 Conference
The Nokia Ubimedia competition is part of the international MindTrek 2009 conference. It is being held for the 13th time in Tampere, Finland from Sep 30th – Oct 2nd. Last year the conference gathered together over 800 people from 32 countries, with around 150 international visitors. The key speakers are David Coleman, an expert in social media in business, "Everyware: The dawning age of ubiquitous computing" –author Adam Greenfield, Chris Messina from OpenID Foundation, the world renowned Information society researcher Pekka Himanen and Jyri Engeström, founder of microblog Jaiku, currently works at Google's headquarters.
More information about the conference is available at http://www.mindtrek.org/2009/

The final three
There were 30 entrants in the Ubimedia competition and according to the internationally distinguished jury, the contest was on the whole quite tight. But after a long and hard elimination process they determined these three and unique finalists (in alphabetical order)

• Donkeypedia

Donkeypedia is an appealing idea that mixes both low-tech and high-tech components with the help of a real live donkey. A man and the donkey travels by foot through cities gathering information that tourists are interested in. The information comes from interested children that come and say hello to the donkey. The info stored on a computer on the donkey`s back and is available via the Internet. This is a brave foray into a new way of thinking.

• PING: The Smart Trash Bin

Ping is a trash bin that by using embedded technology gives its own input into intelligent recycling. This is a good example of how we can relate to and record our everyday life in a non-obtrusive way in order to make us act better and understand our surroundings. The trashcan serves as an example of the possibilities of the technology at hand, and other similar possibly interactive objects that we do not daily reflect upon would benefit from a development of this kind.

• Traffic Light Detector

What if ubimedia is not used to extend our senses, but to replace a sense lost due to a disability? Translating stimuli from one sense to another may also have implications on the usability of services outside the area of assisted living technologies. The traffic light detector is a simple, application of that concept and is an example of encouraging research in this area.

The winner will be announced on the 1st of October 2009 at 16.45 in the Hotel Scandic Rosendahl. Register now at http://www.mindtrek.org/2009/registration

For more information contact Kirsi Lindfors, +358  408 204 608, kirsi.lindfors at hermia.fi