:thePOOCH:. was a techno-arts collective. It came into being in 2001 when a group of creatives from diverse backgrounds came together in the Computing Department at Lancaster University. Under the leadership of Ian Sommerville the department was a hub of innovative research into ubiquitous and wearable computing, human-computer interaction, networking, communications and collaborative systems. Drawing inspiration from across this research portfolio .:thePOOCH:. quickly established itself as the department’s public-facing performative element.
Drivers for .:thePOOCH:. were a shared love for emerging technologies and a desire to get these technologies out of the lab and into the public domain. We wanted users to have immersive, interactive experiences that would blow them away. We also wanted to put the latest research in their hands in ways that were meaningful to them and in settings that were familiar to them i.e. nightclubs, festivals & events.
All the work carried out by the group between 2001 and 2005 is archived here:
In 2005 a subset of .:thePOOCH:. spun the concept out into an SME called BigDog Interactive
Publications
Lock, S., Sheridan, J.G., Lindsay, A., Kember, S., Phillips, P., Allanson, J. Interactive Art Installations: A New Agenda for Interaction Design. IEEE Journal on Pervasive Computing. Special Issue on Art, Design, and Entertainment. Vol 3, No. 1, Jan-March 2004.
Allanson, J., Kember, S., Lindsay, A., Lock, S., Peate, L., Phillips, P., Sheridan, J. G. Innovative Interactions at Lancaster University, Proceedings of the 1st International Conference for Digital Technologies and Performance Arts, Doncaster, UK, 27-29 June 2003.
Lock, S., Rayson, P., Allanson, J. Personality Engineering for Emotional Interactive Avatars. In Proceedings of HCI International, June 22-27 2003, Crete, Greece.
Allanson, J., Kember, S., Lindsay, A., Lock,S., Peate, L., Phillips, P., Sheridan, J. G. Creativity and IT. Position paper, 4th Computers and Creativity Conference, Loughborough UK, 15 October 2002.