Cristobal Viedma

Projects

Research

Contact

• These are some of the projects I am and have been involved in the latest years. You can find more work in the research section and my CV.
• bluewalks September 2008 - December 2009, Stockholm (Sweden)

  I founded the mobile startup bluewalks. bluewalks was an online and mobile service for travelers who want to explore tourist destinations having all the information the needed at the palm of their hand.

  At the core of the service was a community sharing their traveling tips with the world. Combining the concepts of wiki editing and Google Maps, users were able to create, edit and share walking routes easily and fuss-free.The aim of the editor was to make the task of creating walking routes remarkably easy and effortless but, at the same time, including additional features for advanced users. Use case groups for testing the tool and getting feedback were formed using Amazon Mechanical Turk.

  We won a number of competitions around the globe; START Summit (Switzerland), Web In Travel (Singapore), SeedRocket (Spain), SSES business plan of the year (Stockholm), and were featured on media like Techcrunch and SIME.

  Video: Bluewalks, iPhone app

• Bubbles Feb 2010 - Current, Stockholm (Sweden)

  I am a developer of Bubbles. Bubbles is a minimalistic graphical tool to take requirements from clients and generate business reports and software tests. Bubbles let the user edit and create use cases and stories using a graphical editor based on the UML use cases representation.

  First, a high-level representation of different use cases and actors is done by the client and the business representative. Then, a deeper description of the use cases is carried out. This description includes the business value as well as the different scenarios in which the use case might happen. Finally business reports can be generated as well as automatic tests.

  The aim of the tool is to simplify how requirements are taken. Having all the different stockholders involved in the task, making the domain of the language business redable, is very valuable. However, the interaction design has to be carefully crafted in order to not discourage less skilled people using it. Usability is the main focus of the project.

  
• RichieHawtin.com January 2010 - November 2010, Stockholm (Sweden)

  I was the project manager of RichieHawtin.com. RichieHawtin.com is the central point of activity for Richie Hawtin's fans, a place where visitors can travel the space-time of techno music as seen through the eyes of Richie Hawtin (RH). Visitors can travel to the past and the future, from RH’s early Detroit days to the latest info about current and upcoming gigs and events, and soak up a mass of cool information about RH along the way, the countries and cities he travels to and the interesting, inspiring things he sees and does.

  We developed the concept of "Space-Time Continuum", a browser that lets users navigate in time and location with an advanced (web-wise) interactive interface.

  My role in this project was as project manager of a team of 5 people: two designers, two developers and one creative director. I was involved during the whole process from the artistic to the development phase, taking a very active role during the interaction design stage.

  
• Fk-Tour 2002, Madrid (Spain)

  I founded Fk-tour. Fk-tour was a global online competition for StarCraft with headquarters in Madrid. The competition was open continuously and players could compete any number of times against any opponent at any given moment. The point system was based on the chess point system Elo.

  Fk-tour let users in an easy and fuss-free manner organize matches and report results. It was web-based while the game was a native software, therefore results could not be automatized and a great effort was put into fighting against frauds. The competition include different rankings based on countries, races, teams, etc. Additionally a players' database browser was available with information from all the different players in convenient profile cards.

  
• Stardrive 2003, Madrid (Spain)

  I created Stardrive. Stardrive was a system that let the user manage a telescope with an electronic controller and visualize the images in a PC. I used it to see stars from my van in the cold nights while being able to capture digital pictures.

  Most of the components of the system were recicled from different devices. The CPU of the system was a PIC16f84 from Microchip Technology. The engine that powered the movements was based on a stepper motor from an old printer. The system was commanded using a Sega Mega Drive controller. Finally, the image was capture using a standard PC webcam with CCD sensor and visualized with the help of an old IBM laptop.

  I created the system in 2003 while studying Physics. I design and produced the circuitry as well as coded the software in assambler. The project was ended due to the requirements of these kind of instruments. The precision needed for a succesful observation of the stars was far beyond of the characteristics of the components used.