BIO-OS (R&D)
Bio-OS is an R&D project that uses body data to power social gaming, performance and medical collaborations.
"I’m interested in telling stories across multiple platforms that enable players to interact with narratives in compelling and unusual ways. This project offers an opportunity for players to use their own body as a storytelling platform to interact with a narrative that crosses technological and real world platforms. This asks us to think about the way stories impact on our bodies and how our bodies are written into narratives." – Hannah Wood, Story Juice
What if holding your breath could keep the light on…
Bio-OS Human Geography is an Institute of Digital Art and Technology (i-DAT) project to develop and share ‘instruments’ or ‘provocative prototypes’ that lead to new practices, knowledge and resources for artists and transdisciplinary practitioners.Story Juice was one of three commissioned artists exploring how to integrate technology that reads body data — heart rate, galvanic skin response, temperature, breathing and brainwaves — into creative work.We helped develop and conceptualise a system where your body triggers physical and virtual actions, like unlocking a door or sending an email. This approach provides an intimate way to interact with a story that turns a player's body into a game controller.The output is wearable biosensors that read your body data and stream it live on an Android smartphone. Within the content management system, users can design ‘triggers’ according to body data input that activate light, sound, movement and digital activity.An example of it in use is a player upping their heart rate to send a tweet, text or email that unlocks a new part of a narrative; or a player holding their breath to switch a light on.The intention was to make the data generated by human and ecological activity tangible and readily available to the public, artists, engineers and scientists for potential social, economic and cultural benefit, exploring the transformative potential of digital technology to nurture new cultural forms.
"Bio-OS: DIY, Human Geography v1.0 describes the emergence of [Biological operating system] Bio-OS – prototype technologies (hardware and software) that make data generated by the human body tangible. Working in partnership with E-Health and Health Informatics at Univerity of Plymouth, the project was developed through a series of collaborative ‘DataLabs’ and artist commissions for: Katy Connor, Story Juice's Hannah Wood and Slingshot. Collectively these artists embrace practices such as interactive art, ubiquitous technologies, data visualisation, transmedia storytelling, social gaming and interaction design. By making this data readily available to the public, artists, engineers and scientists we can better explore its transformative potential for nurturing scientific research, new arts practice and new cultural forms." – i-DAT statement