it was easy to create a thread and to access the thread. I did not really go out and follow the threads as it was cold and i was being lazy and chicken with the weather :)
The map does work well, what would be useful would be to be able to zoom out to get you bearings, maybe turn on major landmarks to help locate yourself.
Using a pocket pc on the street is not too much of an issue to me, but maybe you would feel unsure about using it in some areas. also it was raining and you could be unsure about using it in a place where you get wet.
also it does take time to respond to actions, moving, reading and adding threads and this is something you might not want if you are out on the street, in the cold and rain or somewhere where you don't want to be waving round a pocket pc.
i only created a simple thread to test the functionality, i would have liked to wander about more and maybe annotate some thoughts about architecture. i feel the use of sound recording would be much more useful here.
overall there is a lot of potential, but at the moment the technology is not there. phones should be a more usable platform in the future.

Slow speed of the device - as commented on by everyone ~I think.
Patricularly was the accuracy of the device - could be hard to exactly locate the address I wanted to place a comment upon.

Briefly followed some threads - probably enjoyed imagining the possibility of what those pockets could become over time - or with added richness to the information.

The map was maybe too detailed since the precise location on map didn't match perfectly with address data set anyway. Could use it as a map to find my way around though.

Given what I felt were constraints inherent in the trial and the technology I made my threads simple and soundbite-ish and ultimately disposable. created a thread of lookalikies in the local business community.

enjoyed using the device out on the street (tech issues excepted)

Would be interesting to see how the system could work using the environment as a meeting tool, co-creating with fellow threaders. Information jamming in real-time if you like.

Found the usability of the software good. Simple and intuitive.

The hardware restrictions were a taken, I felt it just had to be accepted. I just got used to looking down at the onscreen keyboard, acting like a chicken and pecking away. Luckly the keyboard buffer was sufficient that you could get your thoughts down. Only thing I found lacking was a questions mark on the keyboard.

Using it on the street - I felt fine about it, but it was interesting to see the reaction of other people on the street - slightly wary of you.

I didn't really have a look at the other peoples entries while I was walking around, only when I was at the base. Some were interesting and surprising - I love the ability to access the diversity of views.

Brief conclusions - I think this is a great idea with the limits only being the access to the technology and individuals inventivness. One particularly exciting thing is the potential it has to get different parts of the community to speak to each other, share disperate but linked experiences and start to get a further understand of each other.

An inspiring, early step in an interesting direction.

It was easy conceptually to create a thread and a story. Specific technical details made it difficult, but these are just details and will be resolved (hopefully) as the technology and design improve.

I marginally followed the "hidden Bloomsbury" thread, but also created my own (Kevin's Thread) which included but a couple of stops on my daily routine. I found the other threads inspiring and unexpected: one of the great strengths of the concept is serendipity -- the ability to simply wander and discover things you might not have. This is really the definition of art, isn't it -- prompting people to notice what may have been right in front of them (physically or politically or virtually). Artists from the Boyle Family -- literally taking a chunk of the earth and hanging it on the wall, to Mondrian -- using abstraction to try and portray universal, natural "truths".

The map is excellent, but as others have no doubt pointed out, it could use some labeling of landmarks and things to get your bearings. And when automatic location detection is built in, that will also help.

I would love to see threads that kids might create, and I'd love to explore the threads that the elderly folk created.

Using the gear on the street is fine -- no different than using a mobile or PDA, when the fear of theft outweighs the fear of embarrassment.

I have come across lots of related research if you're interested. Give me a shout and I'll send you some links. And would love to talk more and/or collaborate.

cheers
kevin

It seemed very easy to make a pocket. I'm not too sure if pocket is the right name for it. I like it and understand it though.

The map was a good common visual representation, if you pulled the target around then it felt like it might be following you, and get a sense of how it would work if there was geo-location built in.

The PDA doesnt really suit the experience. The ability to use a phone with camera and voice/sound recording would feel so much more natural. Some interface that doesn't completely depend on a largish screen would be interesting, something that uses the other senses but doesn't hijack the physical experience. Something using sound and maybe some sort of feel thing would be interesting to play with.

I found that the location prompted me to think about and easily create fictional content. The physicality is very sparky. I think writing, authoring the content in the location is much more powerful that thinking about it ands doing it later.

Open public authoring is an interesting phenomena, many experiences from open messageboards could be applied. Moderation is a big thing that would be needed.

It will be great when the system is more workable and smooth--I know lots of people have been saying that, but I think as soon as authoring becomes something you can do on impulse, there will be people eager to do it.

Most of all I like the fact that this is an open-ended framework, and that it isn't limited to some specific content type like scavenger hunts or virtual coupons. There's a place for all of those things, but they're very passive and limited, and I think that's why they haven't captured the consumer imagination all that well. This, on the other hand, is great for giving one a sense of potential and encouraging active use, it's just not so easy to use because it's still rather early in development. I think that the accessibility of UT to a broader public will be enhanced when it's presented to them not as UT itself, but as content pieces people have built with UT. (The same is true of other multimedia authoring platforms, e.g. Macromedia Director or Flash, and even blogging--most people only start blogs after they've read other blogs.) I'll be happy just as long as the authoring facility stays available and accessible to anyone who cares to learn it.

Having been there from early body storming sessions, I felt like a child waiting for a cake to finish being baked :-) I can go on about the actual experience, but before that a quick note on the development process and team. Having seen many art-tech/pure tech/pure art/ installations etc, I think Urban Tapestries is an inspiring effort in group development and the closest I have encountered to open source brainstorming and public development. From the start the project, its has been great meeting participants, having conversations, being hosted and mentally stimulated by the folks at Urban tapestries. SO WELL DONE ON THAT.

Now on the experience/potential/using Urban tapestries

Urban tapestries for me is like "Scent of a City". Its people *leaving*, *smelling*, *hearing*, and possibly even being led to *tasting* a city. Trying both the iPaq and the P800 ( I am a P800 user) with Urban Tapestries installed on it, I LOVED the experience on theP800. It uses the phone's features of the camera and voice recorder to great advantage. Its intutive, unintrusive (if you are using it publicly) and actually quite playful. If you aren't in a play mode, just as a memory system to remind yourself (using the city's streets as memory maps) of things to do, see, eat..it has lots of potential. Seeing through someone else's perspective is revealing.

Things that can be done for Beta:

1. Map with street names
2. A thread browser using contexts of time, profile, location, mood, music etc
3. Bookmarking threads?
4. Syncing individual threads to a peronal launchpad and making it offline. All place don't have good Wi-Fi connections, so can we just download some threads to our device and take individual threads as a map, rather than take whole city

All the best and looking forward to version 1.1

hmm.. well as a non-blogger, non web chatter, non participant in open "communities" as such, I admit that, for now, I'm most interested in the possibilities of reading, following, learning.. consuming, I guess. Urban tapestries is a fascinating platform but I'd like to see it become easier to "follow" a plot, or research according to a theme. I read one node about magic and mysterious meetings, and all I wanted on that moment was walking directions to the next point on that person's journey.. I guess 5 , 10, 50 nodes later I might be ready to author.

Knowing that there was content around me made me think and behave differently in otherwise familiar streets and squares. I looked around more, and thought more about information i could usefully offer to others.

Using the screen and pen-based input is not as natural as, say, audio cues when there is (relevant) available content, and use of speech (and camera?) might have been more appropriate for authoring. I didn't feel too conspicuous holding the device, but i might be more concerned at night-time.

As someone who occasionally drives in London, I was particularly concerned about driving and parking restrictions. The sight of a clamped car due for imminent removal prompted me to think about the possibility of located advice for drivers about locations and times you might park safely.

Given that a visual, map-based interface is the primary means of input and access to content, I felt that some cues to my true location would have been helpful (unfortunately the on-screen map did not have street names). GPS and cell-triangulation may eventually augment such services, but may bring their own usability problems.