Mike Heavers

creative interactions

Biofutures

An interactive kiosk built as part of the Bio Design Studio exhibit in conjunction with Extrapolation Factory. The exhibit allows users to imagine possible futures resulting from Synthetic Biology, create supporting visuals, and place these scenarios in a map-based simulation where they interact with other users’ scenarios. The kiosk ran as an electron app built with d3.js,canvas, custom javascript, and mapbox. The museum was given a custom CMS built on codeigniter to manage the content.

TEAM: Eliot Montgomery, Chris Woebken

TAGS: kiosk,museum,maps,installation,electron,data visualization,mapping

Real World Examples of Synthetic Biology

Real World Examples

The first step in creating your own Biofuture is to see real world examples of Synthetic Biology in use today.

The Biofutures Creation Questionnaire

Biofutures Creation Questionnaire

The next step is to fill out a mad-lib style questionnaire. Come up with something completely original, or get help from previous entries.

Visualizing the Future of Synthetic Biology

Visualizing the Future of Synthetic Biology

Once you have a creation in mind, add some imagery to help others visualize your future. Then send it out into the world.

Biofutures Kiosk with Map screen where creatures are sent to interact with each other once created.

Biofutures Kiosk

Websockets (via Node.js) handle the instantaneous communication between the tablets where the characters are created and the map screen on the large monitor. The lit area below the tablets is where museum goers could scan their badges or tickets to track activity and usage, and later view their creations online.