The SEA specializes in design work in the areas of health, learning, and communications. The company was formed by brothers Dan and Paul Philips. Dan is an engineer and designer, while Paul ran Orange’s branding department for several years before joining The SEA. The company’s early work revolved around strategy and design for services that could take advantage of 3G and the Internet.

From this early work Dan and Paul recognized the possibilities for “digital graffiti,� the ability to tag the physical world with digital images, text and sounds. “We felt that cultural venues, art galleries and museums, were some of the most interesting places in which to apply digital graffiti,� says Dan. “Normally visitors to these places interact passively with the objects on display, as a captive audience. They can’t provide feedback and leave impressions for future visitors.� From this came the idea for Myartspace; a community Web portal and Symbian application running on S60 smartphones. Myartspace allows users to retrieve information on an object they are viewing and then store their own images, notes, and recordings. Later, through the Web portal, the user can create and publish their own galleries of images and impressions, but also use the material and impressions gathered by other.

Myartspace led The SEA’s to a more specific application for use in education. Branded OOKL, an anagram of “look�, it uses the Myartspace concept, but focuses on enhancing the experience of school field trips.

Using OOKL students gather information on exhibits at a museum, using a short text code.

Once an object has been collected, OOKL provides the student with some extra information about the object. OOKL then informs the student of who else has collected the object, suggesting the student might like to discuss the object with them.

Students can also record their own images, sounds and notes, which are then stored on the OOKL server.

When the students return to the classroom they can start working with the material gathered. As OOKL allows students to see all the information collected by their classmates, the follow up work is collaborative. This may provide students with up to 1000 records from a typical 1 hour class visit. The students then use this martial to create a multimedia gallery.

“After a field trip, the goal for the student is to demonstrate what they have learnt from the visit,� says Dan. “OOKL is particularly good at enabling this because it changes the way students interact with objects in a museum. They no longer simple walk around look at things passively, they now interact with what they see. The teacher can set the students a goal, for a visit to the D-Day Museum at Portsmouth the teacher could ask the students to think about what it is like to live through a war. The students then become detectives, searching for information and recording it through OOKL. It engages the student in education, rather than the student simply being taught.�

This raises the question of whether the students are interacting with the place they are visiting or the technology supplied by OOKL. “The smartphone is an enabler,� says Dan. “Children don’t think of mobile phones as technology, they understand them and use them every day. It is similar to the way we might have taken a picture in the past. Once you have mastered the camera’s controls, you simply take the picture and don’t think about the technology. OOKL extends that paradigm into a mobile multimedia world.�

So why did The SEA implement Myartspace and OOKL using Symbian technology? “Our goal was to find a programmable platform that would be easy for 10 to 14 year olds to pick up and use without thinking. The interface on Nokia devices matches this goal well. We rejected Microsoft’s mobile technology, because these devices are business orientated and not well known to younger people,� says Dan. “We knew we wanted to use the camera and recording capabilities on these devices, and wanted to keep the functionality within a single application. This was clearly going to be easier using Symbian C++ than Java ME, particularly as our principal developer had C++ skills.�

Although The SEA’s developer had not worked previously with Symbian OS, Dan says the process was relatively straightforward. “The SDKs were easy to follow and where we did have problems they were resolved quite quickly,� says Dan. “In the end developing the Symbian application was easier than developing the Web portal, with all its different privileges and tools for curators, teachers, students and general visitors.�

The SEA wants to develop the service further, but this is proving to be challenging. “One thing we have learnt from creating Myartspace and OOKL is that where education meets culture is where you find the least available funds for trying new ideas,� says Dan. “This is ironic when you consider that in Britain more people visit cultural attractions each week than watch football and most overseas visitors come to Britain for the culture.�

There is however interest in the project. OOKL is being trialed by the London Knowledge Network, as part of a program to support gifted and talented students. The Girl’s Day School Trust, the UK’s largest educational charity, is also looking at using OOKL within its schools.

Funding is not the only challenge. “Many of the organization we deal with are unwilling to pick one platform for delivering such a strategic application,� says Dan. “This may force us to look at a cross platform solution, such as Java ME. However, going cross platform means we can’t be at the leading edge, because you have to work to the lowest common denominator. This is unfortunate when you want to break new ground. I also think a port to Java ME will be hard, because of what we do in OOKL.�

“I believe that OOKL is the future of learning,� say Dan. “Allowing students to capture information without complexity, then enabling them to use that content later. But more importantly OOKL encourages sharing and collaboration, not simply working as individuals. This is a critical lesson in its own right, as it mirrors how work is undertaken in the real world.�

For more information on OOKL visit: www.the-sea.com, www.myartspace.org.uk, www.ookl.org.uk