A flavour of the potential of that new phenomenon called "interactive multimedia" is on show at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity College. An exhibition of final year projects by graduates of the second MSc in multimedia includes a diverse range of interactive interpretations.
From eight exhibits compiled by 26 students, three installations have been awarded the Telecom Eireann-sponsored prize of £666 each. More significantly, many of the graduates have already secured employment following the one-year course.
One of the winning exhibits, which received an award for its commercial potential, is already seeking sponsorship to continue as a full-time venture. dublink, an Internet based city guide to Dublin, developed by four students, offers listings for Dublin city built around the theme of a soap opera.
The four central characters feature individually over a 24-hour period, and using video, audio, 3D animation and Quicktime VR, they each offer an irreverent view of the city. Flanking each character are city listings relevant to activities and events appropriate to that time of day.
For the purposes of the exhibition, dublink is presented on four iMac's - sponsored by Apple - which must be viewed from the top of four stepladders. The site has a strong youth appeal. Model Sonia Reynolds offers her five best hangover remedies; fashion designer Marc O'Neill recommends the five best places to sleep in Dublin, and Paddy Breathnach, director of I Went Down, shares his five favourite screens in Dublin cinemas.
The site was developed over three months at a cost of £6,000 aided by sponsorship from Telecom Internet. dublink now faces the challenge of sustaining its promise of vibrancy as each of the soap characters must continue offering daily updates.
Significant funding will be needed to develop an adequate search database, and sustain regular contributions from personalities. According to Ms Emma Kelly, a member of the dublink team: "From next week we will be operating as a full-time website, but its success very much depends on a sponsorship deal. Getting a multimedia site together is no easy feat, and it will be a challenge sustaining the momentum."
On a more cerebral level, Machina X Machina, is a virtual reality experience inspired by De Selby's - the mad scientist in Flann O'Brien's Third Policeman. Based on a narrative of four fictional machines that have never existed, the user changes and manipulates images on a projected screen through body movements within a marked floor area. The high point of this instalment is creating a track on the screen to the strains of The Blue Danube.
Mr Laurent Pavesi, one of the project developers, says: "We wanted to get away from the mouse as a navigational device, and come up with something that was uninvasive, where the users' movements directly influence activity on the screen."
The third award winner, Labyrinth, uses the analogy of a maze to reflect the chaotic structure of the Internet. The exhibit runs a little deeper to try and portray the emotions and issues behind Internet use. Frustration is denoted by maze images where the user has to find a way out. Pornography, speed and privacy are found in video and shockwave clips, again requiring the interaction of the user to move the presentation forward. Presented randomly, the sequence of tasks is never the same, and the user can take between 25 minutes and two hours to move through the instalment.
The exhibition finishes tomorrow, but Labyrinth can still be viewed on http:// www.cs.tcd.ie/courses/mscmm/gradshow/labyrinth/splash/splash.html, and dublink will be accessible on http:// www.dublink.com from next week.
