Power To The People

Public Control of Public Installations

The aim of this project is to encourage installations in public places which can be controlled by the public themselves.

Interactive installations help people to feel part of the environment. People realise that they can have an effect on the world around them - it isn't just something that happens to them.

The installations might be lights, screens, sounds, fountains, moveable statues or anything else anyone can think up. The control can be over the internet, through mobile phones, public information terminals or from any device that is in some way connected. It works like a high-tech juke-box: people request a slot and when they get to the front of the queue they can play as they like.

Technically, this is done by creating software which adheres to a standard definition. An example of this is HTTP (or HyperText Transfer Protocol) which is the standardised way that pages on the World Wide Web are sent to your computer. In this case, the standard is called PTTP (or Power To The People) and, like any good standard, once it's in use you won't even notice it's there…

Originally the idea for Power To The People came from a wish to do something more interesting with the fountains in Bristol City Centre. Those of you who've seen them will realise why… PTTP was devised to allow members of the public to take turns to control them.

One of the continual surprises about this idea is just how much people like it! Everyone I talk to becomes very enthusiastic and comes up with a whole lot of interesting ideas about how they could play with it, or other things that could be treated in a similar way.

There is a growing list of things PTTP can be used for at coming_attractions.

One of the most innovative aspects of PTTP is its modular design. This makes it much easier to connect different devices with different kinds of user interfaces. It also gives a highly configurable queuing system, rather than just having a free-for-all.

• New and different interfaces can be connected to a PTTP design - including ones created by a different person or group to the original designer. For example, the Stockholm lighting tower could be controlled over the internet and not just from a phone.
• A designer need only concern themselves with the installation and a single user control method. PTTP takes care of the queuing. At present, users around the world have to battle for control of Alek's Christmas Lights. With the simple addition of PTTP, each person would get their fair turn.
• The PTTP queuing system itself can be modified without changing any of the rest of the system. For example, if it becomes apparent that many people want to play Tetris during their lunch-hour then each person can be given a shorter turn.

PTTP is about creating playgrounds. Playgrounds for everyone to play in. Although these playgrounds exist in the physical world you don't play on them by climbing all over them, you play using some kind of digital user interface, thus allowing many different ways to play.

Think of this from the point of view of four different groups:

The person (or people) who design the playground. Although they have some ideas of how it might be played with they need to make the playground open. When it's finished, they're going to have to “let go” and see what people do with it.

People who play using whatever kinds of digital interfaces that are available.

The people who watch. Any player who is waiting their turn to play will almost certainly be a member of the audience.

(It's not a pejorative term if I am one myself.) These are people who design new user interfaces for players to play with. It might be an interface that lets more than one person play at once. Or that uses some aspect of the environment to control the playground. Or some new physical interface (dance mats?) which players can play on. The interesting thing from a geek's point of view is that they don't have to ask permission from the designer to create a new interface. They simply queue up like any other player. Sometimes the geek might be the designer in a different role or sometimes they will be a player who has an interesting idea about how they want to play.

On an even more general level, I hope that allowing people to play with things in their environment gives them a greater sense of being part of that environment. So the environment becomes something that they have control over and not just something that happens to them.

If PTTP is too much of a nebulous and abstract concept for you to grab hold of then I hope the Media Sandbox commission will aid people's understanding. The project should act as both a proof of concept at the technical level, and an example to people of what it's all about.

The project will allow players to control a matrix of LED lights, which could be put in a bar or public place, through laptops and other web enabled devices, over a wireless LAN. Although not within the time-scale of this project, the next stage would be to allow a second type of device and interface, for example bluetooth devices.

There are various research questions and goals associated with the project:

• To investigate players' reactions and attitudes to the project.
• To create a reference implementation of the PTTP system.
• To investigate how easy designers and interface creators find it to use the PTTP system.
• To investigate how a PTTP system performs under load.

I expect PTTP to generate a lot of interest and discussion - both during and after production of the first prototype. There are many ways to encourage this and ensure future growth of PTTP and related ideas.

• Ongoing project documentation, in the form of project logs, available on web pages. This will include documentation of the project's progress, software version control, testing and bug-tracking. This ensures that the body of knowledge emerging from the research process is easily disseminated and shared.
• Creating a PTTP forum and/or wiki for discussion will allow interested parties to participate in the evolution of ideas and techniques.
• Giving talks, for example at Dorkbot meetings or suitable conferences.
• Making the project open source and encouraging sharing of the knowledge around PTTP.

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Much of this content is taken from Altern8's PTTP Sandbox proposal.