Have you ever felt lost or disoriented? Or maybe you’ve wondered how visually impaired people feel like?
To explain that strange experience to the festival attendees, Amy Rose and May Abdalia from Anagram had created a stunning project: Door Into The Dark, which took place at i-Docs conference.
"Ibeacons were great because we wanted precision you couldn't get with GPS. We wanted to be indoors and we wanted something that was really simple to set up. Its an experience where the tec is invisible, people don't know what they are triggering and where and so we needed the hardware to be hard working." - May Abdalia told us.
The tour is divided into two ‘chapters’ or ‘stages’ and you embark on a journey completely blindfolded. At the beginning the only thing that leads you is a rope. And the only thing that you hear are the stories of people who have become lost in the past. Isn’t that scary enough? Actually it’s not. During the second part the rope splits and the space in front of you is totally open. Recordings which guide you through darkness are triggered by Estimote beacons. You’re on your own and only beacons can help you get out of there.
The app for the whole project was created by Calvium.
“When Anagram told us what they wanted, we brainstormed lots of ideas and then quickly settled on iBeacons. iBeacons are a really interesting new technology and the world is still figuring out what they can be used for, so it’s great that we get to collaborate on such an innovative use of them.” - said Tom Melamed, Product Director at Calvium. You can read the whole story on their blog.
Update: There will be another event at Sheffield DocFest (June 7th - 12th)! You’re still able to sign for Door Into The Dark at bit.ly/doorintothedarksheffield.