CREATING A GLOBAL DISPLAY NETWORK : THE display-net PROJECT
EPSRC RESPONSIVE MODE PROPOSAL
VERSION V0.8
Prof. Nigel Davies, Dr. Adrian Friday and Dr. Rodger Lea
Computing Department, Lancaster University
Dr. Martin Spring and Dr. Katy Mason
Management School, Lancaster University
Prof. Rachel Cooper and Dr. Leon Cruickshank
Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University
PART I :PREVIOUS RESEARCH AND TRACK RECORD
A. MOTIVATION
Public displays have become pervasive with the widespread deployment of plasma screens, LCD panels and
projection systems. However these displays are typically part of small isolated networks consisting of a handful
of displays under a single management domain. We are proposing a project focusing on Global Display Networks.
The aim is to develop new technologies to create a large global network of displays that is open to applications
and content from many sources. In effect, the project will look to enable a new global communications medium
for sharing information. If successful, the project has the potential to change every public space - from
environments in which information is pushed to passers-by in the form of adverts to spaces that can be tailored
to reflect the hopes, aspirations and interests of its occupants using content and applications created anywhere in
a global network.
B. INVESTIGATORS
The project will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team with expertise in computer science, business
models, urban design and content creation. The composition of this team is designed to ensure that the systems that
emerge from are both technologically sound and include the appropriate business and design elements to support
scalability and long term viability.
B.1. Computing Department, Lancaster University
The project will be led by members of the Computing Department at Lancaster University. Since its inception
Lancaster has grown into one of the pre-eminent computer science departments in the UK with a team of over 120 full
and part-time researchers and a portfolio of nearly 50 ongoing EPSRC/ EU-funded research projects. Lancaster has
established a world-wide reputation in many areas including multimedia, distributed systems and mobile and ubiquitous
computing.The Department is also known for the multidisciplinary nature of its research – collaborating with a wide
range of departments including Sociology, Psychology and the Management School. The Department has an excellent
publication record and a tradition of active technology transfer both directly to industry (Lancaster has received direct
funding from numerous leading IT companies including BT Labs, Microsoft, Cisco, HP Labs, France Télécom, Lucent
and Intel) and via international standardisation bodies such as ISO and the ITU-T.
Nigel Davies is a Professor in the Computing Department at Lancaster University and an Adjunct Associate Professor
at the University of Arizona. Davies has significant experience with public displays which has arisen out of his long
term interests into mobile and pervasive and computing [refs]. In particular he has developed and deployed the eCampus public screen infrastructure [] and done one other thing relevant to the project which with EPSRC funded.
Adrian Friday is a senior lecturer at Lancaster and has taken a leading role in helping establish Lancaster's
international reputation for Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing. As well as a co-PI on the e-Campus project, Friday has
developed several experimental distributed platforms [] and explored extensively the use of event based systems for
loosly coupled ubiquitous computing incorporating public displays[]. In addition, he has led work on the EU funded
SMS project which will bring something of value to this proposal.
Rodger Lea: Rodger Lea is EPSRC visiting research fellow at Lancaster University[grant#] and currently researches
into the area of media centric services for ubiquitous computing. In previous work funded by Sony Corp he has
developed a deployed a number of digital and interactive TV systems which are directly relevant to the proposed
research. Additionally, he has ongoing NSERC Canada funding [grant#] exploring interactive applications for large
screens the results of which will feed directly into this proposed research project.
B.2. Management School, Lancaster University
The Department of Management Science is part of Lancaster University Management School (LUMS), which was
awarded a 5* rating in the 1996 and 2001 Research Assessment Exercises. In recognition of this the Higher Education
Funding Council for England has awarded six-star status to LUMS as a centre for world class research in business and
management. LUMS also has full EQUIS accreditation for meeting the international standards of excellence established
by the European Foundation for Management Development. The Department of Management Science has over 20 fulltime academic staff plus research assistants and at least 30 PhD students. Research is supported by both Research
Councils and industry over a wide range of topics.
Martin Spring is a Professor in the Computing Department at Lancaster University and an Adjunct Associate
Professor at the University of Arizona. Davies has significant experience with public displays which has arisen out of
his long term interests into mobile and pervasive and computing [refs]. In particular he has developed and deployed the
e-Campus public screen infrastructure [] and done one other thing relevant to the project which with EPSRC funded.
– NEEDS UPDATING
Global Display Networks: display-net
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KatyMason is a Professor in the Computing Department at Lancaster University and an Adjunct Associate Professor
at the University of Arizona. Davies has significant experience with public displays which has arisen out of his long
term interests into mobile and pervasive and computing [refs]. In particular he has developed and deployed the eCampus public screen infrastructure [] and done one other thing relevant to the project which with EPSRC funded.
. – NEEDS UPDATING
B.3. Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University
The Department of Management Science is part of Lancaster University Management School (LUMS), which
was awarded a 5* rating in the 1996 and 2001 Research Assessment Exercises. In recognition of this the Higher
Education Funding Council for England has awarded six-star status to LUMS as a centre for world class
research in business and management. LUMS also has full EQUIS accreditation for meeting the international
standards of excellence established by the European Foundation for Management Development. The
Department of Management Science has over 20 full-time academic staff plus research assistants and at least 30
PhD students. Research is supported by both Research Councils and industry over a wide range of topics.
Rachel Cooper is a Professor in the Computing Department at Lancaster University and an Adjunct Associate
Professor at the University of Arizona. His research interests are in the areas of mobile and ubiquitous computing and
he has served as a member of the programme committee for all significant international conferences in these fields. He
was a founding Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing and is an Associate Editor-in-Chief for
IEEE Pervasive magazine. – NEEDS UPDATING
Leon Cruickshank is a senior lecturer in the Computing Department A founder member of the Department's Mobile
Computing Group he has managed numerous projects in the area of mobile and ubiquitous computing and
disseminated the results of his research widely in international conferences and journals. He also contributes actively
to the research community and was the General Chair of IEEE WMCSA 2004 and the PC chair of Ubicomp 2006. Since
XXX Prof. Davies and Dr. Adrian Friday have led the e-campus initiative – a large-scale deployment project that has
resulted in the deployment of over 100 public displays at Lancaster. – NEEDS UPDATING
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A. PROJECT OVERVIEW(2 pages)
A1. Introduction
Increasingly we are seeing the deployment of large displays in public and semi public locations such as
Airports, Shopping Malls and offices. Traditionally these displays are managed as small self contained systems - often
using commercial Digital Signage (DS) software - and usually owned by a single entity who administers the system and
creates and controls content. To date this approach has met the needs of end users who typically use these displays in a
broadcast centric model with deployments rarely larger than tens of screens. An opportunity exists to leverage these
display networks to create a large scale network of displays which links together these islands and offers the possibility
of a more open and dynamic public display network that acts as a ‘global’ shared resource. Such a global resource will,
in effect, enable a brand new global communications medium for information access and interaction which has the
capacity to reshape the way we perceive and use public spaces.
However developing a suitable model and associated platform that supports large scale networks of public
screens needs to address a series of technology issues – the mechanics of connecting many thousands of screens,
business issues – business and ownership models for shared use, and both physical and content design issues – how to
make public screens effective.
Our proposed project aims to address these three interrelated areas by developing new technologies to enable
the creation of a single global network of public displays that is open to applications and content from many sources.
Our proposed approach is centred around a technology theme in that we will design and develop a new open platform
for management of large scale networks of public displays but will inform our design by exploring associated business
models and by investigating content creation needs and placement issues. Central to our approach is the adoption of an
open model which breaks the tight correlation between screen owners, network managers and content producers. Rather
our platform will support the possibility for screen owners to attach their devices to the global network and offer them
as a shared resource; for third party content producers and content aggregators to create content that will be delivered
over the global screen network; and for service providers to use this third part content and the shared screen resources
for the creation of compelling interactive public content. The result of our work will be (a) an open model (business and
technical) for large scale public screen management (b) a technology platform that facilitates thousands of networked
screens and supports highly interactive multi-media applications and (c) a testbed implementation that spans several
European countries and facilitates exploration of business and design issues.
A2. Background and related work
Public displays have been an area of commercial and research interest for over four decades []. Commercial
systems range from iconic installations such as Times Square in New York to low cost systems designed for use in
convention centres, schools and hospitals. Many indoor public spaces such as shopping centres, museums, train stations,
airports, and motorway service stations now feature numerous public displays of varying sizes and resolutions.
Research into public displays has covered a significant amount of territory. In the 1980s researchers began to explore
the use of public or semi-public displays as means of providing ambient awareness or communications – often within
the context of collaborative working (e.g. [], [], []). More recently research has focused on interaction with public
displays through techniques such as gesture recognition [] and pairing with mobile phones or PDAs to enable either
customised information display based on the presence of a user [] or to provide the mobile device with access to
increased screen real estate [], []. Trials have been conducted in office environments [], public spaces [] and educational
establishments [].
The state of the art in software control of displays is best represented by Sony’s Ziris system [] – a software
system that enables advance scheduling of content on a network of public displays. The player component of the
software can operate on either a stand-alone computer attached to each display or on small embedded computers that
are installed within the display housing itself. A separate software component is then used to create schedules of content
and these schedules and their associated content are downloaded to the displays for subsequent presentation. Essentially
Ziris offers a traditional broadcast model for content which uses a scheduler and linear playout model and offers no
support for user recognition or interaction. Tad more text here on other commercial systems.
In summary, existing commercial public displays systems are:
 Closed systems with one entity owning screens, managing them and creating content for them
 Generally broadcast centric offering limited support for interactivity
 Focused on traditional liner content with little or no support for web centric content and tools or multi-screen
content
 Scalable up-to tens or at most hundreds of screens
In contrast, research work has addressed some of the above issues but:
 Are usually limited size deployments and have little support for scalability
 Are point solutions which address specific issues but do not provide a fully working feature set
 Pay little attention to market realities and are often built on unsupportable business assumptions
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To address these problems we will firstly develop and deploy a scalable public screen platform that supports ease of setup and highly interactive content and services. Secondly we will develop mechanisms to manage and support content
scheduled across multiple screens and develop resource management protocols that allow users to share, reserve and
schedule displays in such a way that is sensitive to ownership but supportive of managed access. Finally we will extend
out a programming model that exploits our underlying primitives and supports the development of interactive, web
centric large screen applications.
From a business perspective there are a number of significant challenges to deploying and using networks of public
screens, these include business models supporting sharing of physical assets, issues related to branding and presentation
as well as the complex issues of developing support for content creation, aggregation and display in an open and
flexible manner when the underlying infrastructure is a mix of public and private ownership.
At the behavioural level significant challenges exist in developing content models and interaction styles that
encourage users to interact with displays in public or semi-public locations. Of particular concern is the issue of
transforming users from passerby, through passive watcher into active consumer of content and how issues of privacy
and public behaviour can be addressed in this transformation.
Reflecting the diversity of these opportunities and the associated challenges of developing an infrastructure to
support them the proposed project is inherently multidisciplinary, bringing together specialists in distributed systems,
rich media and interaction, business modelling, supply chains, interaction and urban design.
A3. Aims and Objectives
To allow us to address the challenges in the technology, business and design space we have defined five key objectives
(below). These objectives, when met, will allow us to explore the technical challenges of new applications and usage
models, especially as they relate to the technical challenges of scale and interactivity. Secondly they will ensure we can
combine technical and business themes to explore new business models and opportunities, which is of particular
concern as the global scale facilitates an open approach to production and consumption of media on these screens.
Thirdly, our objectives are designed to explore new architectural, planning and design opportunities that can
adequately address the twin design issues of compelling content and engaging physical environments to ensure that the
networked screens allow architects and interior designers to develop synergy between spaces and the displays that are
deployed.
In pursuit of these overall goals, our main five aims are to:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Design and implement a new systems platform that enables scalable networks of displays and supports novel
highly interactive content.
Develop proof of concept applications that explore an open business model for multi-party networks of
displays
Develop guidelines and where possible, tool extensions to support the creation of new content suitable for an
open network
Prototype a multi-site, multi-country large scale testbed
Create a centre of expertise in global display networks and disseminate via academic and industry partnerships.
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B. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Our approach will be structured as three parallel but inter-related themes that explore the technology, business and
design aspects of open global networks of displays. We will adopt a reiterative prototyping model where business and
design ideas will be prototyped as applications on the testbed and tested in-situ. We will exploit the existing SRIF II
funded e-Campus1 project which has created a research infrastructure consisting of over 100 displays ranging from
small door-plate displays through medium size LCD displays to large scale multi-projector installations []. This
infrastructure, currently deployed at Lancaster, will be extended with our proposed open platform and form the basis for
the prototyping and associated trials.
B1. Technical theme
Nige plans to rework this section
A key insight, which underpins our technology research is the need to shift the model for networks of large
screen displays from a closed proprietary approach to a open, extendible approach. As part of that open model we
identify four key stakeholders
screen owners - how do they connect their screens, find content or content aggregators and then arrange for that
content to get to their screens;
micro broadcasters - how does a company set itself up as the provider of targeted content for northwest art venues,
how do they get their content onto the screens of the local art venues, how do they model the screens, develop content
for them, control them etc;
aggregators - how do established aggregators like Youtube, Facebook or Sky get their content into the system.
Specialised content producers – how do small content production houses develop content that will work across a
range of heterogeneous screens, how do they connect to screen owners to sell that content and how do they work with
content aggregators to access larger markets.
To support these stakeholders, we shift the existing model from the notion of ingestion and playback of content
into the broader and more flexible notion of media channels. Channels represent content sources, usually consisting of a
variety of media components, that form the basic unit of media within our system. In a similar model to broadcast TV,
channels can be created by content producers or aggregators and can be distributed to networks of screens. Screen
owners can ‘subscribe’ to individual channels or a variety of channels which will be scheduled for display on their
screens.
We then need to talk in more technical detail about our workprogram – something like but better then …..
To support this structuring unit and our proposed open model we will extend our existing e-Campus
infrastructure with initial support for plug and play screen units. This will entail extending the basic support for device
discovery and support for screen units (which generally comprise display, processing unit and sensors) with more
flexible notions of device and capability description. Our intent is to base this on work X by Y. Subsequently we will
develop low level primitives for extended scheduling of content to screens that support scheduling of interactive content
(which generally breaks traditional broadcast scheduling mechanisms) as well as scheduling across multiple displays.
Using these primitives we will then extend out our programming model support with language constructs that allow
content developers to claim network resources, assemble content into channels, playout content across one or more
screens and react to interactive events such as user actions or real world sensor events. This basic infrastructure will
allow initial prototype work to begin but we will continue to develop the platform with support for spatial and
geometric reasoning – to allow content that is aware of users spatial position and their relationship to one or more
screens – and more sophisticated support for personalisation through context data sensing and management. Finally we
will build a set of management tools that utilize the underlying platform primitives to facilitate the four stakeholder
roles outlined above.
It is expected that the above work will extend our existing e-Campus infrastructure that is currently structured
around a general purpose eventing system [] support a pub/sub model for system development. We envisage reworking
this underlying mechanisms with better support for scalability, high level event reasoning and may use a RESTful
approach [] to facilitate integration with web centric content development tools.
B2. Business Models theme
How will we evaluate what we do
TEXT HERE FROM MARTIN
1
E-Campus has benefited from over $x of investment, has produced XX papers, YY Phds, ZZ patents, XXX further
grants and one spin-out company focusing on very small scale displays.
Global Display Networks: display-net
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B4. Design theme
RACHELS STUFF HERE
B5. Workplan
Workpackage 1 - Studies of Community Travel Activities and Requirements Analysis;
months 1-6; Carillion (), LancsComp (), LancsMgt (), HW (), FranceTelecom (), IESSG (), InTouch ()
To help determine the Our Travel system requirements
This workpackage will study the travel activities of the three trial communities in order to (a) provide a baseline
against which improvements in travel patterns can be assessed and (b) inform the design of the Our Travel system.
The studies will involve a range of techniques including ethnographic work carried out by researchers at Lancaster
University. Both Departments involved in the project have extensive experience of this type of work and the
University has an international reputation for its ethnographic work. Requirements will also be derived for the
technology research and development workpackages.
Workpackage 1 - Studies of Community Travel Activities and Requirements Analysis;
months 1-6; Carillion (), LancsComp (), LancsMgt (), HW (), FranceTelecom (), IESSG (), InTouch ()
To help determine the Our Travel system requirements
This workpackage will study the travel activities of the three trial communities in order to (a) provide a baseline
against which improvements in travel patterns can be assessed and (b) inform the design of the Our Travel system.
The studies will involve a range of techniques including ethnographic work carried out by researchers at Lancaster
University. Both Departments involved in the project have extensive experience of this type of work and the
University has an international reputation for its ethnographic work. Requirements will also be derived for the
technology research and development workpackages.
Workpackage 1 - Studies of Community Travel Activities and Requirements Analysis;
months 1-6; Carillion (), LancsComp (), LancsMgt (), HW (), FranceTelecom (), IESSG (), InTouch ()
To help determine the Our Travel system requirements
This workpackage will study the travel activities of the three trial communities in order to (a) provide a baseline
against which improvements in travel patterns can be assessed and (b) inform the design of the Our Travel system.
The studies will involve a range of techniques including ethnographic work carried out by researchers at Lancaster
University. Both Departments involved in the project have extensive experience of this type of work and the
University has an international reputation for its ethnographic work. Requirements will also be derived for the
technology research and development workpackages.
Workpackage 1 - Studies of Community Travel Activities and Requirements Analysis;
months 1-6; Carillion (), LancsComp (), LancsMgt (), HW (), FranceTelecom (), IESSG (), InTouch ()
To help determine the Our Travel system requirements
This workpackage will study the travel activities of the three trial communities in order to (a) provide a baseline
against which improvements in travel patterns can be assessed and (b) inform the design of the Our Travel system.
The studies will involve a range of techniques including ethnographic work carried out by researchers at Lancaster
University. Both Departments involved in the project have extensive experience of this type of work and the
University has an international reputation for its ethnographic work. Requirements will also be derived for the
technology research and development workpackages.
Workpackage 1 - Studies of Community Travel Activities and Requirements Analysis;
months 1-6; Carillion (), LancsComp (), LancsMgt (), HW (), FranceTelecom (), IESSG (), InTouch ()
To help determine the Our Travel system requirements
This workpackage will study the travel activities of the three trial communities in order to (a) provide a baseline
against which improvements in travel patterns can be assessed and (b) inform the design of the Our Travel system.
The studies will involve a range of techniques including ethnographic work carried out by researchers at Lancaster
University. Both Departments involved in the project have extensive experience of this type of work and the
Global Display Networks: display-net
Part 2 (p4)
University has an international reputation for its ethnographic work. Requirements will also be derived for the
technology research and development workpackages.
Workpackage 1 - Studies of Community Travel Activities and Requirements Analysis;
months 1-6; Carillion (), LancsComp (), LancsMgt (), HW (), FranceTelecom (), IESSG (), InTouch ()
To help determine the Our Travel system requirements
This workpackage will study the travel activities of the three trial communities in order to (a) provide a baseline
against which improvements in travel patterns can be assessed and (b) inform the design of the Our Travel system.
The studies will involve a range of techniques including ethnographic work carried out by researchers at Lancaster
University. Both Departments involved in the project have extensive experience of this type of work and the
University has an international reputation for its ethnographic work. Requirements will also be derived for the
technology research and development workpackages.
Workpackage 1 - Studies of Community Travel Activities and Requirements Analysis;
months 1-6; Carillion (), LancsComp (), LancsMgt (), HW (), FranceTelecom (), IESSG (), InTouch ()
To help determine the Our Travel system requirements
This workpackage will study the travel activities of the three trial communities in order to (a) provide a baseline
against which improvements in travel patterns can be assessed and (b) inform the design of the Our Travel system.
The studies will involve a range of techniques including ethnographic work carried out by researchers at Lancaster
University. Both Departments involved in the project have extensive experience of this type of work and the
University has an international reputation for its ethnographic work. Requirements will also be derived for the
technology research and development workpackages.
Workpackage 1 - Studies of Community Travel Activities and Requirements Analysis;
months 1-6; Carillion (), LancsComp (), LancsMgt (), HW (), FranceTelecom (), IESSG (), InTouch ()
To help determine the Our Travel system requirements
This workpackage will study the travel activities of the three trial communities in order to (a) provide a baseline
against which improvements in travel patterns can be assessed and (b) inform the design of the Our Travel system.
The studies will involve a range of techniques including ethnographic work carried out by researchers at Lancaster
University. Both Departments involved in the project have extensive experience of this type of work and the
University has an international reputation for its ethnographic work. Requirements will also be derived for the
technology research and development workpackages.
C. IMPACT
C1. Overview
Display-net is a highly original research project – we are not aware of any other projects pursuing an agenda of
research into global display networks. It also has the potential to have an outstanding impact at both a national
and international level. If the project is successful then it will enable an entirely new global communications
medium with the potential to touch everyone who ever sees a public display. Of course such an ambitious project
is not without risk. Specifically, we can identify technical, organisational and user acceptance risks. Technically
no one has attempted to create a platform for controlling displays and media distribution on this scale – it is
possible that the challenges of doing so in a robust platform that balances, for example, openness with security
can not be fully achieved. However, we are confident that we will be able to deliver the core elements of the
vision and that remaining challenges will be taken up by other researchers as the field emerges – we envisage
display-net as a catalyst or further research in this are. In terms of risks associated with future commercial
uptake of the results we have put in place an industrial advisory board that will engage with the project from the
outset. This board includes specialists in all aspects of public displays and will function to provide both guidance
to the project and as a route for knowledge transfer (see below). Finally, LICA form an integral part of the
project – helping to formulate guidelines for designers of future services and content for the display network and
delivering these guidelines in the form a design handbook. In summary, we believe that display-net represents a
highly original research project that looks to make a step-change in the state of the art of public display
technology. The project has risks but sensible mechanisms are in place to attempt to minimise these risks while
maintaining the project’s highly innovative character.
As part of the project we will pursue a vigorous policy of promoting and disseminating the project and the
resulting technologies. All of the investigators have exemplary publication records and have published in the top
international venues for their disciplines. Our aim will be to establish the UK as the recognized centre for work
on global public display networks – achieved both through publication and the building of an international
research community in the area. Initially this community will be based on the collaborators in display-net but
membership will be open to all and we expect the numbers participating to increase rapidly. To this end we will
host regular project-related workshops at top international conferences and will apply to organize a Dagstuhl
seminar on the topic.
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C2. A Global Testbed
In order to provide a testbed for the mechanisms we develop and facilitate large-scale experiments we will create the
world’s first multi-national public display research infrastructure. This infrastructure will consist of display nodes in 8
countries, spanning 4 continents and be deployed in a range of public and semi-public academic, commercial and civil
spaces. Specifically, in addition to Lancaster Univesity, display nodes will be situated at The Brewery Arts Centre,
(UK, XXX), The Dukes Theatre (XXXX, XXX), XXX (Malaysia, Dr. Rodger Lea), Carnegie Melon University (US,
Prof. XXX Satya), The University of Arizona (US, Prof. AlonEfrat), University of British Columbia (Canada, Dr.
Rodger Lea), University of Porto (Portugal, Dr. Ricardo Morla), University of Minho (Portugal, Dr. Rui Jose), XXXX
(Saudi Arabia, XXXXX), ETH Zurich (Switzerland, Dr. Marc Langheinrich), University of Essen (Germany, Prof.
Albrecht Schmidt), the University of Illmanau (Germany, Prof. Jochen Seitz), the University of Munster (Germany,
Prof Antonio Kruger) and The University of Waikato (New Zealand, Dr.MasoodMasoodian).
INSERT A MAP HERE ??? IF WE HAVE SPACE COULD BE NICE
C2. Collaboration and Knowledge Transfer
We have assembled three distinct multidisciplinary groups that will collaborate on display-net. Firstly, members
of Computer Science, Management and Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts (LICA)are all investigators on
the display-net project and work will be conducted within all three departments. Research staff will spend
periods of time moving between the departments and the investigators will hold regular meetings to ensure the
project remains on track. The clear unified vision for the project is expected to make this task easier than in
many multidisciplinary initiatives.
Secondly, we have formed an industrial advisory board that will have the dual role of providing the project with
guidance while also acting as a conduit for knowledge transfer. Global Display Networks have the potential to
emerge as a disruptive technology – they will enable new forms of communication and provide numerous
opportunities for new commercial enterprises in areas such as display manufacturer and installation, content
production and aggregation and distribution networks. We have commitments from the following companies to
assist the project by participating as members of an industrial advisory board: Sony Broadcast Professional,
France Telecom, Mott MacDonald, Chase Park, Carillion, The Brewery Arts Centre, The Dukes, Lancaster City
Council and Hamnonds. Together these companies represent a range of industries closely associated with public
displays including display vendors (Sony), owners of public spaces (Nuffield Theatre, Brewery Arts Center,
Lancaster City Council), content producers (XXXXX), communications providers and portals (France Telecom),
IT consultants (Mott MacDonald), designers (XXXX) and legal specialists (Hamonds).Knowledge transfer will
additionally be supported by members of the Universty’sBussiness and Enterprise Team (XXXX right title ?).
Finally, we have put together a complimentary group of organisations that have agreed to host displays as part
of the project testbed: The Brewery Arts Centre, (UK), The Dukes Theatre (UK), XXX (Malaysia), Carnegie
Melon University (US), The University of Arizona (US), University of British Columbia (Canada), University of
Porto (Portugal), University of Minho (Portugal), XXXX (Saudi Arabia), ETH Zurich (Switzerland), University
of Essen (Germany) and the University of Illmanau (Germany), The University of Waikato (New Zealand).
Coordination of this collaboration – we have already had firm commitments from all XXX of the organisations
involved in the advisory board and the display network– will be managed by Lancaster’s project support staff.
Electronic tools including a project wiki, blog and document repository will be rapidly established to facilitate
on-line collaboration. The advisory board will physically meet bi-annually but we do not propose to have
physical meetings of all of the display hosts. Rather we will encourage the hosts to participate in the workshops
we will run as part of our dissemination activities.
Work on the project will also be carried in conjunction with the joint EPSRC/ESRC/AHRC Digital Economies
research cluster entitled "New Research Processes and Business Models for the Creative Industries". This
cluster brings together practitioners from the creative industries with researchers from varied fields spanning
ICT, arts, humanities, social sciences, and business studies. The cluster seeks to answer two closely related
questions: what key challenges face the creative industries due to the emergence of a new generation of social,
pervasive and affective ICT? and conversely, what long term challenges must be tackled by ICT research in
order to support future creative industries? Members of the cluster will be involved in research on XXX and
ongoing results of the XXX project will be shared through the cluster's workshops and networks.
C3. People and Development
Given the potential significance of global display networks we believe have included a significant amount of
training activity within the project. The project will employ a minimum if 4 RAs and these will all gain exposure
to display networks. We expect that 2 of these RAs will be post-docs while the remaining 2 will gain PhDs as a
direct result of their work on the project. We are also committed to providing graduate students in Computer
Science, Management and Design with exposure to the concepts embodied in display-net and we include content
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on global display networks in 3 distinct masters programmes – one in each subject area. This will ensure that in
excess of XXX students benefit from training in this area during the project’s lifetime. We hope that our
partners who are hosting displays will also wish to use them as part of their graduate programmes and we will
gather statistics on this during the course of the project.
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