Tutorial at ICEC2012 Letizia Jaccheri and Michail N. Giannakos
Open Source Software for Entertainment (OSSE)
International Conference on Entertainment Computing, Bremen Germany 26th September 2012
GW2 building on the University of Bremen campus

REVISED TIME SCHEDULE
11:30 – 12:15 Art and Open Source Software toward Entertainment
12:15 – 12:40 Open source software for entertainment – by invited Giuseppe Maggiore,  NHTV University, Breda, Casanova Language for Computer Games
12:40 – 13:00 OSS, art and entertainment: Introduction to the creative session – we prototype a game
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15.15 Creative session 1: (a) Make the physical character of the game and import it in Scratch; (b) experiment with Scratch motion, looks, sound, sensors
(Pico Boards will be provided by the organizers).
15:30 – 17: 15 Creative session 2: (c) develop a story board for the game;(d) programming, (e) share (online and present).
17:15 Final discussion and conclusions

Practical issues

• install Scratch
• bring a digital camera (phone camera will make) and get familiar with how to remove background from pictures

Abstract

In this tutorial, we explore open source software practices and tools that are suitable for a growing number of creators of interactive and playful systems. The introduction of open source tools such as Processing and Arduino has motivated a broader participation of technical and non-technical users in the creative production of interactive systems. Maker communities meet regularly and they share resources and knowledge for creative hacking, fun, and networking. In this context there are two main issues: on the one hand, software creation practices, based on collaboration and sharing, on the other hand, the respective end-user programming tools for artists, hobbyists or children. This tutorial presents a coherent overview of related work and our own experiences in the organization and running of maker workshops. It encompasses creative sessions whose goal is to inspire the participants to experience open software practices and tools. This goal can divided into three sub-goals: 1) Technical (Interactivity, multimedia) 2) Artistic (poetic message, playful, experimental) 3) Open (sharing, reuse and participation).
As a side effect of the study, the participants will cooperate and get to know each other and learn examples of new media prototyping tools and sharing platforms. The tutorial proposes a set of initial research questions which will challenge the participants to explore the relationship between Open Source Software and Entertainment.

Description of the Tutorial
The audience for this tutorial comprises software engineers, researchers and PhD students interested in creative technologies and processes. The participants will have to bring their own laptop (Windows, Linux, or Mac). It is an advantage if the participants have already installed Processing and Scratch tools, but this is not mandatory. No practical programming knowledge is required. Participants will be able to work in small groups to be able to test and experience the methods presented in the tutorial. The organizers will exploit their networks to improve recruiting to this tutorial.
The tutorial is motivated by several inspirational research questions that are intended to be explored and be a basis for reflection.
Examples of questions are:
RQ1 Which is the relationship between OSS and entertainment computing?
RQ2 How can an understanding of OSS communities enhance state of the
art in entertainment computing?

The format is a full day tutorial. All the material is available and can be downloaded and reused.
The rest half of the tutorial will include presentations on the background of the topics included, different tools that leans well to OSS and art, several strategies for enhancing creative collaboration in teams and an array of examples illustrating the potential in the intersection of OSS and art.
The second half of the tutorial will include experience and creativity based learning sessions. The participants will work in teams on small creative tasks using the methods presented earlier. Several work sessions will be held with a reflection and discussion part at the end of each. This will introduce the participants to some of the obstacles that can occur when working in a creative team and several of the strategies that can either avoid or address these issues.