What is a mind - The Talking Head App

“What is a mind?” This is an important question, Mark Solms, Cape Town’s world-renowned authority in the field of Neuropsychology, strives to answer. His insights are so significant that many believe they must be made available to the general public.
With the support of Mellon Foundation, University of Cape Town commissioned Formula D interactive, a Cape Town based experience design firm, to create an interactive audiovisual journey as an introduction for scholars and laymen to Mark’s extraordinary field of research.
Navigating through a series of short video lectures, users explore various topics about the mind. Content structure and navigation are designed as a dynamically generated “mind map” which hovers around Prof Solms’ head as he speaks allowing users to jump from one train of content to the next.
Linked to the lectures is an anatomically correct interactive 3D illustration of the brain. Relevant brain areas are highlighted as they are referred to in the videos.
As a lecture progresses, a layer of additional media is revealed, making the site a resource for a multitude of specialist knowledge. User comments or questions can be attached to specific frames in a video. UCT researchers can add or change media through a custom built CMS, whilst the sophisticated vision head tracking technology ensures the mind map will be correctly positioned even if video content changes.
The Talking-Head.org app is not only an important vehicle to make Neuropsychology available to a broader audience, it is also a glimpse into the future of web-based video lecturing enhanced with interactive functionality, audience feedback and dynamic data visualization.