On Friday 22 February, Dr. Peter Bennett from the Bristol Interaction and Graphics group at the University of Bristol joined us to talk about his tangible timeline project, ChronoTape.

Throughout his research, Peter has focussed on producing low-tech devices with deliberately simple interfaces that people can go away and build on. One such device is his BeatBearing instrument whose demo video, since posting in 2007, has racked up 1.6million views on YouTube.

ChronoTape: what is it and how does it work
Based on the physical design of a Victorian writing table, the ChronoTape provides a new way to interact with timelines. Designed as an aid to researching family histories, the device allows handwritten notes to exist alongside, and interact with, digital content. The ChronoTape timeline uses strips of plain paper that are run over a transparent window. On the back of the paper are printed reacTIVision fiducial markers, which allow the webcam positioned underneath the window to track the paper as it moves. It is this technology that allows you to position digital content next to handwritten notes and have them remain together as the paper is pulled between the two spools. With his focus on low-tech encouraging him to find the most easily-accessible materials for the ChronoTape, Peter settled on using ordinary A4 paper cut into strips as the timeline. With the ability to print the fiducial markers and timeline dates yourself, this opens the possibility of experimenting with the date-range. Years could be spliced with months, weeks and even days depending on the findings of family tree research.

You can see some tutorial videos of using the ChronoTape here.

ChronoTable and ChronoThings
The ChronoTable is a device designed to raise the visibility of archaeological research.  With no interface, the ChronoTable uses sensors placed in dig trays (where archaeological finds are placed) to create seismic marks on a paper timeline.

Most recently Peter has been working on ChronoThings, a collection of small cubes that each have a separate capability. The idea behind these devices is to allow people to group several ChronoThings together and hack them to create their own ChronoTape, ChronoTable or Chrono...something else!