“CheckinDJ” Using Check-Ins to Crowdsource Music Preferences Daniel Burnett, Mark Lochrie School of Computing and Communications Infolab21, Lancaster University Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4WA, UK +44 (0) 1524 510537 d.burnett, m.lochrie @lancaster.ac.uk Paul Coulton Imagination Lancaster LICA Building, Lancaster University Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK +44 (0) 1524 510873 p.coulton@lancaster.ac.uk ABSTRACT The paper introduces a novel approach for crowd curation of ambient music played in venues using physical Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled check-ins. The CheckinDJ jukebox system uses NFC enabled objects that are linked to individuals social network accounts. CheckinDJ can thus be regarded as a crowdsourced DJ that curates an evolving music playlist based on the musical preferences of those present at a location at any given time. In this paper we present the design and operation of the currently deployed system along with highlights of the promising potential of this novel concept. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems General Terms Human Factors Keywords NFC, RFID, jukebox, DJ, ambient music, physical check-in, Community, Gamification, Social, Social Networks, Mobile 1. INTRODUCTION In the last decade we have witnessed large sections of society spending increasing amounts of time socialising online through sensor rich mobile devices. This phenomenon is primarily driven through popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, which encourages their users to broadcast their activities by updating, tagging, (re) tweeting and now checking-in to venues. Many venues are already embracing the Foursquare community by enticing customers to ‘check-in’ achieved through many social mediums and also by the inclusion of such advertisements in window displays. More recently, venues are seeking new ways to engage people in the atmosphere of a location by seeking to change the ‘mood’ of that location through techniques such as ambient media. Where ambient media, is media that surrounds and encompasses users while changing the environment in subtle ways to alter the mood of a social space using audio and visual techniques [13]. Whilst it has been shown that for people to notice a change in an ambient display a severe change from a high intensity to a low intensity or vice versa is required, people notice subtler changes in ambient sound [13]. While ambient media music or sounds, may be more attractive in terms of user response, it is possible to integrate the visual by using audio visualizers, and video cues on a large screen such , informing users of changes in influence. However, one way in which ambient media could be transformed is by the inclusion of crowdsourced data. Over the years, local councils and communities have sought to change and improve upon the areas that are in their vicinity. However at least from the communities’ point of view these changes are peripheral or tokenistic [1] New methods for individuals to voice their opinions about public spaces are now coming to light with the ubiquitous mobile devices, allowing people to post these comments as and when they come to mind [6]. But what about if people only want to personalise the space whilst they are in it? This paper will consider the research question of how to create a system whereby people collectively change and influence public spaces for a limited time, and what effect it has on the community inhabiting this space. In particular it will use the check-in mechanic seen in Foursquare, to produce an adaptive crowd curated music genre playlist for a given venue. 2. BACKGROUND The term jukebox was first used in the United States during the 1940s describing a music-playing device that is controlled by someone selecting songs to be played thus changing the environments ambience. Users navigate through a list of songs/albums and are able to select a song to be played by inserting money (traditionally, coin operated). This selection is added to a playlist of already chosen songs. However, we are seeing fewer public venues offering their patrons the use of such Jukeboxes due the high rental costs associated with the machines and maintenance, not to mentioned the increasing use of music players controlled by the venue staff. Meanwhile, we are seeing the rise in location aware mobile applications, which uses Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine ones location. Twitter and Facebook both provide the functionality to tag tweets/updates with geo locations, but this is arguably not their main functionality. Whereas, Foursquares’ entire social network is built around users sharing their location through a game-like activity whereby users are awarded points, badges and mayorships for checking-in to venues. A small minority of venues are offering patrons special offers, deals and unique experiences for those who checkin or are the current mayor of the venue. However, this can easily be exploited, as a the inaccuracies of GPS mean that a players’ physical presence isn’t required to check into and unscrupulous players can gain such offers without previously ‘stepping through the front door’ [8]. This could be one of the reasons we aren’t seeing many venues taking to this approach for attracting patrons. Hence, Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. MindTrek 2012, October 3-5, 2012, Tampere, FINLAND. Copyright 2012 ACM 978-1-4503-1637-8/12/10…$10.00.