Mobile phones with built-in camera inspires university students’ creativity

• The novelty of taking covert pictures with a camera phone may have worn off as quickly as the controversy surrounding it, but a group of University students insist that these gadgets have a better use -- art.
• As their capstone project for their New Media Institute certificates, Laurie Holcombe, Katie Lindsley, Elizabeth Griffin and Mary O'Keefe have created athLENS, a forum for expression powered by cell phones.
• "We wanted to create a worthwhile use for camera phones," said O'Keefe, a senior from Atlanta.
• To join, participants must commit to send a photo each day for five days and provide their cell phone number.
• Each day, the athLENS group sends out a text message prompt to participants, who then photograph their responses to the prompt and send it back to the database by the end of the day.
• Responses during the test run have ranged from the intuitive -- a picture of a record store in response to "Name that tune" -- to the cryptic -- chocolate chip cookies in response to "What's in your wallet?"
• "The prompts leave a lot open to interpretation, and it's been very interesting to see how different people interpret the same thing," said Holcombe, a junior from Atlanta.
• "Cell phone cameras are already outselling digital cameras, and they are going to get better," he said.
• "This sense of immediacy that is possible with the use of technology makes the project a lot of fun to be a part of," she said.
• Seven students are participating in the test run of athLENS, but anyone may sign up to participate in the program, which officially launches on April 18.
• Any interested student can sign up or get more information on the Web site, (www.athlens.com).