Dynamic Media Network » research

Virtual Knowledge Studio

matwallsmith — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:02:21 +0000

An excerpt taken from http://virtualknowledgestudio.nl/ ;

Virtual Knowledge Studio – The Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences (KNAW) supports researchers in the humanities and social sciences in the Netherlands in the creation of new scholarly practices and in their reflection on e-research in relation to their fields.

A core feature of the Virtual Knowledge Studio is the integration of design and analysis in a close cooperation between social scientists, humanities researchers, information technology experts and information scientists. This integrated approach provides insight in the way e-research can contribute to new research questions and methods.

The VKS collaborates with the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Erasmus Studio KNAW (in short: Erasmus Studio) based in Rotterdam and with Maastricht University in the Maastricht Virtual Knowledge Studio KNAW based in Maastricht.

Lucy Suchman (Prof.)

matwallsmith — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:31:03 +0000

Professor Lucy Suchman is a sociologist and anthropologist now working at the University of Lancaster following twenty years as a reseracher at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Centre. Her work is concerned with the intersection of body, embodiment, and technology – principally the ‘relations of ethnographies of everyday practice to new technology design.

Professor Suchman runs courses at Lancaster on Virtual Cultures and a graduate course on the Antropology of Cybercultures – she also teachers in Gender studies and feminist theory.

Her work at Xerox ‘combined ethnographic studies of work and technologies-in-use with the in-situ development of new prototype information systems’.

Professor Suchmann has written two books on the human-machine nexus. The first based on her Dissertation, Plan and Situated Actions: the problem of human-machine communication (1987) and the second a reprise or sequel of the first Human-Machine Reconfigurations: plans and Situated Actions 2nd Edition (2007).

OCEAN

Estee Wah — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:46:16 +0000

OCEAN is a Norway-based network founded in 1994 to undertake international, interdisciplinary and independent research in the areas of architecture, computational science, biology, music, climatology, landscape and product design, and other fields of inquiry.

OCEAN aims to facilitate collaborative research by design with a focus of improving the human environment. It has produced work ranging from exhibitions of Performance-oriented Design to publications on 3D Audio and Sound-Art. Its diverse group of members hail from a range of countries from Italy to Israel and Australia to the United States, but are based mainly in Oslo, London, Sydney and Istanbul.

Gapminder.org

Estee Wah — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:42:11 +0000

Gapminder uses animated and interactive data-visualisation to display statistics with the intention of promoting a fact based world view. Gapminder takes the plethora of quality data we have on issues like fertility, mortality rates, etc, and displays it in a way that exposes our pre-conceived notions about our understanding of the world, including the characteristics of ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries.

In February 2006, one of Gapminder’s founders Hans Rosling gave a TED talk that demonstrated the most effective aspect of Gapminder’s data visualisation, that is, how data changes over time. In a graph that displayed UN statistics of the number of children per family juxtaposed with life expectancy for a number of countries, Rosling takes us through the changes from 1962 to 2003 like a sportscaster calling a horse race as countries represented by animated, colour-coded dots that grow and shrink as they move across the axes.

The Gapminder site offers both static and dynamic materials in the form of PDFs and clickable flash presentations/applications, but the main draw is Gapminder World, where you can create your own animated data-visualisation by investigating whichever countries and using whatever parameters that interest you.

Keith Armstrong

Estee Wah — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:59:17 +0000

Keith Armstrong is an artist, researcher, writer and practitioner. In his research he explores what can come from the intersections between science, philosophy and media art. As a practitioner his focus on the collaborative and hybrid nature of new media has resulted in networked, interactive media artworks.

He is the founder of Transmute, the interdisciplinary collective behind Intimate Transactions, an interactive installation that has been exhibited all over the world, where two people in geographically separate spaces inhabit and interact in a shared virtual space.

Haque Design + Research

timmaybury — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:45:11 +0000

Based in the UK, Haque Design + Research is a centre specializing in the design and research of interactive architecture systems. Headed by Usman Haque, the centre houses the collaborative projects of a collective of designers and architects including Ali Hasegawa, Barbara Jasinowicz, Chris Leung and Susan Haque. The team’s innovation is based on the assumption that architecture is no longer to be considered something static and immutable; it is instead imagined as dynamic, responsive and conversant.

As an architect, Husman Haque’s stated focus has been to consider what he’s called the ‘software’ of space (ie. sounds, smell, light, temperature, electromagnetic fields, social relationships etc) as opposed to the ‘hardware’ (ie. floors, walls, roof etc) – the domain of traditional architecture. His personal work has involved the creation of responsive environments, interactive installations, digital interface devices and mass participation performances, all of which have displayed a celebrated skill for the design of physical space and the software and systems that may bring them to life. His work has been recognized and supported via several prestigious international grants and residencies.

Projects completed by Haque Design + Research transverse the aesthetic and the social. Examples include ‘Reconfigurable House’, an environment constructed from thousands of low-tech components that can be “reconfigured” by its occupants, allowing them to determine the systems that run inside it; and ‘Haunt’, a collaboration in non-visual architecture that uses humidity, temperatures and electromagnetic and sonic frequencies to imbue an environment with a simulated feeling of ‘haunted-ness’.

Pachube is currently a main focus for Haque Design + Research.

Christian Nold

timmaybury — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:00:36 +0000

Christian Nold is an artist, designer and educator working to develop new participatory models for communal representation. In 2001 he wrote the well received book ‘Mobile Vulgus’, which examined the history of the political crowd and which set the tone for his research into participatory mapping.

Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2004, Christian has led a number of large scale participatory projects and worked with a team on diverse academic research projects. In particular his ‘Bio Mapping’ project has received large amounts of international publicity and been staged in 16 different countries and over 1500 people have taken part in workshops and exhibitions. These participatory projects have a strong pedagogical basis and grew out of Christian’s formal university teaching. He is currently based at the Bartlett, University College London.

Society for Arts and Technology

timmaybury — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:01:29 +0000

Located in Montreal, Canada, the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) is a multidisciplinary centre dedicated to research, creation, production, presentation, education and conservation in the field of digital culture. The centre operates as a forum where practitioners who work with digital technologies may congregate and collaborate across an array of artistic and scientific disciplines. The centre is situated prominently within an international network of industry and educational institutional partners who share similar and complementary objectives.

Since 1996 the SAT has established a number of programs that facilitate access to human and technical resources with the aim of encouraging reflection on issues related to the use of technology. SAT[Art&D] supports IT projects in IP network environments by providing a studio for research, production and commission of artwork that is utilized as a workspace by artists participating in SAT’s artist in residence calendar. [Espace]SAT is a presentation space that is used to house live electronic music and video events conceived and performed by international artists. Between such larger events SAT[Mix Sessions] serves to promote and develop local audiovisual creativity by gathering Montreal’s VJ and DJ/sound artist communities for jam session meetings. SAT also provides education through [TransForm], which offers courses on production of interactive projects, video art, audiovisual creation in real time and VJing, teaching students to operate software such as Arduino, Max/MSP and Modul8.

SAT is an affiliate of The SenseLab, a research-creation laboratory that houses the collaborations of Erin Manning and Brian Massumi.

Infoscape Research Lab

annamunster — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:54:48 +0000

The Infoscape Research Lab is not really an ‘institution’, but many dynamic media projects sit somewhere between institution, network and project. This one, headed up by Greg Elmer, shares many concerns with our dynamic media network and project. It hosts research projects that focus on the cultural impact of digital code with a special emphasis on web code in the service of contemporary politics.

Toni Roberston

timmaybury — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:35:24 +0000

Toni Robertson established the Interaction Design and Work Practice Lab at the University of Technology, Sydney, in 2002. Robertson’s interest in technology design was born out of her earlier career as an artist, printmaker and graphic designer. Today her research interests include understanding how actual work practices can be developed and then used to design information systems that appropriately service their situation of use, and exploring how different metaphors for human cognition and work can affect the design of technology.

Robertson is presently chief investigator in an Australian Research Council funded project that is seeking to establish an empirical framework for designing usable and useful wireless mobile computing applications. Based on the premise that the technological challenges presented in the development of mobile computing devices have overshadowed attention to issues of use and usability that ultimately determine technologies’ success in real environments, the project aims to shape the findings of its ethnographic studies into a reliable conceptual framework that will increase the successful utilization of mobile technology by Australian industries.

Under Robertson’s directorship the Interaction Design and Work Practice Lab is currently committed to two other main projects. The Bystander Field aims to stimulate unprecedented understanding of narrative and affective patterns in our past through investigating new systems for interactive and immersive display of contentious stories found in imagery from heritage collections. Understanding Quality of Experience in Experience Enrich (Next Generation) aims to provide an approximation of what the phrase ‘quality of experience’ could imply for future networked environments, and how its criteria could be utilised to assist with the beneficial design of network related technology, as well facilitate a decrease of the risks in developing inappropriate products and services.

Centre for Pervasive Computing

timmaybury — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:11:38 +0000

Located in the University of Aarhus, Denmark, the Centre for Pervasive Computing is a multifaceted hub for research and innovation in the realm of pervasive computing. The phrase ‘pervasive computing’ describes the condition in which technology has become an integrated influence in our everyday environment. Whether infiltrating and servicing people’s lives at a micro level via the prevalence of small devices or appliances, or demanding attention in the form of large scale, technologically augmented surfaces, buildings or furniture, pervasive computing refers to the arrival of a next generation of computing environments in which information and communication technology is available everywhere, for everyone, and at all times.

The Centre for Pervasive Computing is committed to bolstering this rapidly unfolding reality by contributing to the development of new concepts, technologies, products and services based on a broad spectrum of available media and resources. Beyond harnessing and understanding these technologies, the centre facilitates innovative interaction between universities and companies to assist with the implementation of new business models based on pervasive computing, as well as providing a strong future basis for educating IT specialists.

The size and scope of the centre positions it as a world leader in the development of next generation computing environments. Housed within the centre are a number of departments that cut across research areas and involve several traditional research traditions, attesting to the widespread implications pervasive computing bares for several aspects and levels of society.

Research pursuits range from exploring the effects of sound in its functional and emotional roles in day-to-day life, to addressing the impact of 3D visualization and interaction technologies in areas of life and industry as diverse as architecture, city planning, industrial design, medicine and the arts. Current joint research projects involving both companies and universities aim to examine and develop new information technologies for workplaces and the manufacturing sector; others seek to provide new ways to deliver services and dynamic content to mobile computing users.

Creativity and Cognition Studios

timmaybury — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:18:40 +0000

Creativity and Cognition Studios (CCS) is a multidisciplinary research centre located in the University of Technology, Sydney. The centre is committed to fostering the enhancement and progression of human creativity through interaction with new media and digital technology. In aiming to do so the centre provides an environment for artists, technologists, curators, sociologists and various other scholars to gather and experiment with technology through practice-based research. The studio maintains a strong emphasis on the importance of partnerships and collaboration in their development processes.

The focus of CCS arose from concerns regarding the intersection between creativity and technology that were first expressed and explored by studio director Ernest Edmonds in the 1960s. Presently, CCS’s research focuses primarily on themes surrounding digital art and interactive entertainment. Research in these areas is based on a reflexive relationship between the development of new creative practice and research into the computer science and HCI issues around supporting such practice. Relevant CCS projects have investigated experimentation with cybernetic systems involving physical participation and interaction, technology enhanced performance, visual and sonic generative art, cellular automata and the logics that enable their creation. Projects are carried out from conception to evaluation and realization in CCS’s high-end facilities, which include an audio/visual studio dedicated to creation of artworks that explore synaesthetic effects in the viewer, an interaction studio equipped with a range of computers and set of sensor systems used for development of interactive artworks and environments, and a games studio in which researchers develop and engage with artificial intelligence as a driving technology that enables entertainment systems to deliver interesting and engaging experiences. CCS is committed to disseminating its results internationally through research publications, exhibitions, the continuation of the international conference series and through the provision of high quality postgraduate education.

Underpinning the CCS trajectory is a desire to design and understand computer systems that encourage creativity not only within experts’ artistic practice, but also for the benefit of wider society. As such the studio adopts the belief that the work of cutting edge artists can provide a valuable platform from which others can learn and gain new experience. In this respect an important innovation of the CCS has been the establishment of Beta_Space, a duplicate version of the centre’s interaction studio created in collaboraton with Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum. Housed in the public area of the museum, Beta_Space provides an experimental environment where the public can engage with the latest of CCS’s researchers latest prototypes and end products. A critical function the space performs is to allow audience members an opportunity to be creatively involved in the development of new artistic expression, as the engagement with the public provides researchers with essential information that is used to shape further iterations of their art works and research.

Interaction Design and Work Practice Laboratory

timmaybury — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:17 +0000

The Interaction Design and Work Practice Laboratory is a research centre housed by the Faculty of Information Technology of the University of Technology, Sydney. Through both its research and practice, the centre is a leading Australian contributor to innovation in the emerging field of interaction design. The centre is concerned with understanding aspects of interactive technologies that shape people’s lived experience through their contact with them.

The work carried out by the Interaction Design and Work Practice Lab is supported by the justification that in our increasingly digitalized and networked world, information and communication technologies are no longer necessarily confined within workplace contexts, but also perform functions in a number of environments that are inherently social.

In response, the Interaction Design and Work Practice Lab prioritizes the development of useful information and communication technologies that serve the aim of maximizing human agency and benefit. A refined understanding of the complexities of actual human practice provides the core foundation for each of the centre’s projects; so too does a fundamental recognition of all human action as being embodied, situated and social. Rather than attempt to analyse ways in which technology can potentially solve problems for passive human subjects, the mission is to investigate how humans can themselves solve problems with use of technology as an aid. The centre employs a range of interdisciplinary approaches, techniques and methodologies in order to ensure this human-centric focus is maintained.

The Interaction Design and Work Practice Lab is managed by Associate Professor Toni Robertson.

Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design

timmaybury — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:00:24 +0000

The Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design (ACID) is a leading innovator within the realm of experience design. In developing new platforms for human interaction via communication technologies and new media, ACID is committed to helping people participate in an increasingly digital world. The centre houses a multi-disciplinary team of ethnographers, designers, computer scientists and software developers who utilize their expertise to provide solutions for clients who wish to use technology to get closer to their users or customers.

The strength of the centre’s research derives from its extensive investigation into new ways to facilitate collaboration and develop social capital in various communities via technological intervention. In creating versatile digital media content, ACID aims to develop methods and tools that emphasise automation, generation and adaptation, thus enhancing creative potential for individual users.

ACID’s unique propriety research methodology follows a process that begins with careful determination and understanding of case-specific human interaction needs, followed by the formulation of initial designs for an appropriate digital interface. Each project’s prototype subsequently undergoes extensive testing and evaluation before a solution is obtained, carried out with the aid of genuine subjects in living laboratories.

Since 2007 ACID has provided technology-based resolutions to human problems in a number of real-world contexts. The broad spectrum of the centre’s research encompasses services to education, tourism, local government, electronic entertainment, indigenous communities, artistic practitioners and telecommunication networks.

Ross Gibson

Xavier — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 04:13:06 +0000

Ross Gibson is a teacher and writer who also makes films and multimedia systems. He has curated several acclaimed exhibitions. Ross devises artistic content, architectural design and ICT systems for museums, public spaces and large dynamic databases. Examples include the Museum of Sydney where he was senior consultant producer between 1993 and 1996, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image where Gibson was Creative Director during its estabishment phase between 1999 and early 2002. He was Research Professor of New Media and Digital Culture at UTS and now is now Professor of Contemporary Art at the the Sydney College of the Arts ,University of Sydney.

shiftcontrol studios

Xavier — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:42:54 +0000

shiftcontrol was founded by Jørgen Skogmo and Patrik Svensson in copenhagen, 2006.

With a background in interaction design, focused on algorithm controlled animation, sensor driven interactive installations, web applications, broadcast applications and digital design, shiftcontrol applies a united process of design and development to its clients and users.
In 2008 Simon Løvind joined as associate partner, bringing experience from media-art, academia and game developement.

shiftcontrol has already taken on projects for Carlsberg, ZDF, Al Aan, BBC, Danish TV2, PRADA, OMA, AMO, Kontrapunkt and VW.

shiftcontrol works tightly with the team behind Unity – our preferred platform for exploring next generation interactive media, and Markus Schaefer/Hosoya Schaefer Architects – our preferred partner for exploring next generation concepts.

Australian Network for Art and Techology

Xavier — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:40:41 +0000

ANAT is Australia’s leading cultural organisation working at the intersection of art, science & technology; networked & emergent art practices; experimental music & sound arts; and mobile & portable platforms.

Operating nationally and globally for two decades, ANAT has been delivering initiatives which enable connection, collaboration, research and development, fostering enterprise, sustainability, dialogue and exchange across art, culture, science and technology.

By creating opportunities for enrichment & inspiration, ANAT supports emerging and established artists in the fields of media and hybrid arts, networked and distributed practices, sound and performance to develop new concepts and work. The majority of Australia’s prominent media artists, curators and producers have benefited from ANAT’s innovative programs.

ANAT collaborates with science, industry and arts partners within Australia and overseas to initiate opportunities including immersive residencies, databases and emerging technology labs. ANAT also provides quick response competitive grants to assist Australian practitioners to take up professional development opportunities worldwide.

Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics

Xavier — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:42:26 +0000

The Centre for Contemporary Art & Politics is a research centre of The University of New South Wales, based at the College of Fine Arts. The Centre was formed in 2003 to promote research by art and cultural theorists, artists and curators into the contribution of visual culture to debates on current political themes and issues.

The global political climate is rapidly changing, shaped by phenomena such as globalism, terrorism and violence, migration, displacement and postcoloniality. Researchers at the CCAP are investigating cultural responses to each of these issues, identifying in particular the new forms of visual art emerging in this global context. The CCAP encourages research in both the theory and practice of art, and it runs a program of exhibitions, conferences and publications addressing diverse forms of political and social engagement.

The Centre facilitates the formation of research clusters, comprising staff and postgraduate students, and of national and international networks that bring together those working at the cutting edge of art and politics. The CCAP has links with a number of international institutions and its members are currently working on collaborative research projects with scholars in South Africa, China, Germany and the Netherlands.

Dynamic Media Project

editor — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:48:28 +0000

Screenshot from ‘Assemblage for Collective Thought’ VJ and networked remix project. Performed at International Symposium for Electronic Arts and ZeroOne, San Jose, USA, August 12 2006.

Dynamic Media: Innovative Social and Artistic Development in New Media in Australia, Britain, Canada and Scandinavia since 1990 is an international, ARC funded project that provides information for Australians to more extensively implement dynamic media within a social context. Based at the Centre for Contemporary Arts and Politics at UNSW’s College of Fine Arts, the project is a collaboration between Anna Munster (CoFA/CCAP), Andrew Murphie (Media, Film & Theatre, UNSW), Brian Massumi (University of Montreal) and Adrian MacKenzie (Lancaster University).The project focuses on the international strategies for social use of dynamic media, and will form the basis of an online database that will profile and be accessible to Australian artists, arts organisations, new media researchers and social innovators. This study highlights the innovation of Australian artists and researchers in the development of dynamic media and positions these internationally.

Centre for Contemporary Arts and Politics, College of Fine Arts, UNSW