Archive for February, 2008
Article on digital publishing by Kate Pullinger, The Guardian, 28 February 2008
‘Writers can learn a lot from the Hollywood strike. We deserve a better deal from digital publishing’
Writers of the world arise! It’s time to throw off the shackles of traditional publishing contracts and face a brand new digital future with a brand new set of priorities. Let’s copy or, should I say, learn from our brothers and sisters in Hollywood: don’t let the industry take our digital rights away! Give us our digital dues! In the shift from print to digital, writers are in danger of losing out big time.
Click here to see this post on the Guardian today by Kate Pullinger.
No commentsPhoenix Arts, Leicester - The Future of Phoenix
| 14 March 2008 | ||
| 5:45 pm | to | 7:00 pm |
http://www.phoenix.org.uk/detail.asp?ID=3264
The Programme and Operations Directors of Phoenix will present a public discussion on how the company will adapt and change with the coming of the new DMC in 2009.
No commentsCafe Culturel, Leicester - Digital Art
| 4 March 2008 | ||
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
30 years ago we witnessed the dawn of the home computer age. 15 years ago people began to communicate between these machines via email and the web. Now we live in a world where nearly every part of our lives is influenced by digital technology whether at home, at work, or at play.
But how has, and how will, this revolution affect art? Has technology enabled us all to become artists by making easy and cheap what was once neither? Will it allow a new kind of work that was until recently impossible?
By virtue of their duplicatable digital nature, will visual artworks become a tradable commodity available to us all, like music and film? Or will the potential for online distribution render it effectively free, making the life of the professional artist unsustainable?
As a prelude to the commencement of the Phoenix’s Digital Programme join us to discuss these questions at Cafe Culturel on Tuesday March 4th at 6.30pm at the LCB Depot, 31 Rutland Street, Leicester, LE1 1RE.
Cafe Culturel is a free event occurring on the first Tuesday of every month.
On Tuesday April 1st we’ll be discussing April Fools Day and other superstitions and traditions that have survived both religion and
secularism.
http://www.cafeculturel.org.uk/2008/03/digital_art.html
No commentsThe Futures of Digital Media Arts and Culture - Issue 11 of the Fibreculture Journal
The Futures of Digital Media Arts and Culture - Issue 11 of the Fibreculture Journal
edited by Andrew Hutchison and Ingrid Richardson
http://journal.fibreculture
—
The Future is User-Led: The Path towards Widespread Produsage - Axel Bruns
The Aesthetics of the Ambient Video Experience - Jim Bizzocchi
Technology transfer present and futures in the electronic arts - Brian Degger
Art and (Second) Life: Over the hills and far away? - Caroline McCaw
Experience and abstraction: the arts and the logic of machines - Simon Penny
Dada Redux: Elements of Dadaist Practice in Contemporary Electronic Literature - Scott Rettberg
The Past as the Future? Nostalgia and Retrogaming in Digital Culture - Jaakko Suominen
Art against Information: Case Studies in Data Practice - Mitchell Whitelaw
No commentsRefugee Week Conference 2008 report
On Feb 15th I attended the Refugee Week Conference 2008 in London, to help me understand more of the issues surrounding the Flight Paths project that Kate Pullinger and I have been working on. The following is a report of the event - all my photos from the day can be seen here.
A summary of findings from the day from the Refugee Week team can be found here.
Richard Orton and Howard Skempton, Leicester, 27 February 2008, 2-3.30pm
| 27 February 2008 | ||
| 2:00 pm | to | 3:30 pm |
Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester
New Media Seminar and Concert Series
And part of DMU’s cultural eXchanges Festival
Wednesday February 27, 2008, 2-3.30pm
Institute of Creative Technologies, The Gateway, Leicester
Richard Orton and Howard Skempton
A discussion between distinguished UK composers Richard Orton and Howard Skempton - just what did happen 40 years ago? An exploration of the early years of British (or English?) experimental music and electroacoustic music - there’s a history to write and rewrite here …. (Simon Emmerson chairs).
Wednesday February 27, 2008, 7-8.15pm
PACE Building, STUDIO 1, Richmond St., Leicester
Concert: Robert Normandeau (University of Montreal)
With Sarah Nicolls, piano
Programme: Spleen (1993), Figures de rhétorique (1997) for piano and electroacoustic sounds, Kuppel (2006), Murmures (2007)
Free! But seats limited - concert nearly full at this time - call 0116-250-6229 to reserve.
No commentsif:bookgroup meeting - London, 11 March 2008, 5.30pm
| 11 March 2008 | ||
| 5:30 pm | to | 7:30 pm |
The Institute for the Future of the Book invites you to the if:bookgroup
Tuesday 11th March 5.30pm
upstairs at The Marquis of Cornwallis, 31 Marchmont Street, WC1N 1AP
After trying out a number of venues, we’re hoping this will be a regular meeting place for the monthly ifbookgroup salon. Artist Paul Bailey will bring along examples of his work about books and places, and we invite you all to bring along artefacts, writings and URLs you’d like to share. We”ll bring a laptop to look at them on..then we can mingle and discuss.
We look forward to seeing you there.
All best
Chris
–
Chris Meade
Institute for the Future of the Book
127 Rathcoole Gardens
London N8 9PH
tel: 07968 018115
www.futureofthebook.org
chris [at] futureofthebook.org
Dreaming Methods February 2008
A new Dreaming Methods project is now available to experience as part of the video/net-art exhibition “Vagus” hosted by Year Zero One. “Clearance” is a collaborative digital fiction piece created by Andy Campbell and Judi Alston, featuring a protagonist trapped in a hypnagogic state during which he experiences apocalyptic visions. Click here to visit the exhibition which also includes work by Myron Campbell and Gregory Chantonsky.
Writing aint what it used to be
An article by Andy Campbell introducing amateur writers to the possibilities of digital fiction has been published by UK writing magazine “Writers’ Forum”. The piece outlines the potential of combining the written word with multimedia and how new e-book standards may soon change the way authors construct their stories. Read it here.
IOCT Salon Dreaming Methods event
Should you wish, you can take a look at a live blog of the Dreaming Methods talk at the IOCT Salon, De Montfort University last month, and explore a varied selection of other sites and postings that have recently been discussing the work featured on the site.
Hypnagogia
To keep up-to-date with new developments at Dreaming Methods, take a look at Hypnagogia - the DM blog, currently featuring a YouTube video sequence from the IOCT talk last month as well as other project-related news. The blog is regularly updated and contains extensive links to digital fiction websites and articles. Subscribe (RSS).
Light and Darkness exhibition
“Light and Darkness” - an exhibition of nine limited edition prints from Tristan Campbell’s absolutely nothing website - will be on display at the Stairwell Gallery, Harrogate Library, from 25th February to 1st March 2008. The exhibition contains atmospheric images from Harrogate, Nidderdale and the Yorkshire Dales. It can also be viewed online at www.lightanddarkness.co.uk
Inanimate Alice nominated for Learning on Screen Awards 2008
Alice has been nominated for the British Universities Film & Video Council’s ‘Learning on Screen Awards‘, where it is up against three BBC productions in the ‘general education - interactive productions’ category. No competition there, then! Still, it is very nice to even be mentioned in the same breath as three sites created with such large staff and budgets (compared to Alice, at least). Congratulations to all the Alice team, particularly Jess Laccetti, whose work on the educational package has been crucial to this nomination!
The official announcement is below:
The nominations for the 2008 Learning on Screen Awards, which are organised by the British Universities Film & Video Council (BUFVC), have been agreed by the panel of twelve distinguished judges.
The winners will be announced at the Learning on Screen Awards ceremony on 18 March at the National Science Learning Centre, University of York.
The Learning on Screen Awards celebrate and reward excellence in the use of moving image and related media in learning, teaching and research. The conference and awards marks the 60th anniversary of BUFVC’s foundation promoting the production, study and use of moving image and related media in learning and research.
The Learning on Screen conference is for those developing and using moving image and sound content – so it brings together lecturers, researchers, producers, courseware creators, providers and staff developers. The meeting will offer conference and screening sessions within the main lecture theatre, an exhibition, and parallel screenings of new content in an adjacent lecture theatre.
The Awards nominations are:
GENERAL EDUCATION - Linear and Broadcast Production
• Batty Man (Maroon Productions for Channel 4)
• How Music Works with Howard Goodall - Rhythm (Tiger Aspect Productions for Channel 4)
• ABC Colombia (Les Film d’ici/GA&A for More4)
• Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS? (OU/BBC for BBC Two)
GENERAL EDUCATION - Interactive Production
• CBBC Me and My Movie (CBBC/BBC Learning/Bloc Media) bbc.co.uk/cbbc/meandmymovie
• Inanimate Alice (The BradField Company) www.inanimatealice.com
• BBC Blast (BBC) www.bbc.co.uk/blast/
• BBC History (BBC) bbc.co.uk/history
COURSE & CURRICULUM
• Flirt English, Episode 2: First Date (Footstep Productions)
• Spare Me the Cutter (Television Roehampton)
• Using a Micropipette (University of Leicester IT Services)
STUDENT AWARD
• Long Standing (Lewis Arnold, University of Gloucestershire)
• Sweat Box (Dan Orrells, University of Gloucestershire)
• A Piece of the Continent, a Part of the Main (Stella Papadopoulou, Rebecca Ross, Rohan Mehra, Imperial College London)
JURORS’ AWARD
The judges decided that their award should go to a production that has a strong impact on its audience but which was made with an limited budget. To this end they considered the following
• You Me and Hep C (Media Services, University of Leeds)
• Making Group Work Work (University of Leeds)
• Using a Micropipette. (University of Leicester IT Services)
• Spare Me the Cutter (Television Roehampton)
PREMIER AWARD
The premier presented for an outstanding production that most effectively meets its specified educational objectives.
For more information on Learning on Screen 2008 go to: http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/learningonscreen/
No commentsCall for papers - Under the Mask: Perspectives on the Gamer - deadline 30 March 2008
CFP: Under the Mask: Perspectives on the Gamer
Under the Mask: Perspectives on the Gamer Conference
Research Institute for Media Art and Design
University of Bedfordshire
Luton
June 7th 2008
Which ever title you select, ‘Consumer’, ‘Audience’,‘Receiver’, Player’, ‘Operator’, or ‘Gamer’, the fundamental issues remain the same in videogames: who and what is the Operator? What role do Gamers play within their communities or within their cultures? How do Players situate themselves in a competitive or casual environment and make sense of the game in light of genre, reception and history? How is the game used, culturally, socially and psychologically?
This conference aims to address the issues that surround the Player of videogames as contributor and consumer of specific cultures, not only through presentation and discussion, but also through actively engaging with games and Gamers. The organizers have invited a number of Professional Gamers to the conference to demonstrate their expertise and share their experiences. In doing so, the organizers hope that the participants will able to explore the sociological, psychological, and ludological issues in a game-playing context. These include:
• What takes place between Player and screen?
• Do original control interfaces (Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, Nintendo Wii, mobile games et cetera) adjust social behaviour?
• Does genre affect social participation and reception and in particular the positioning of the Operator?
• What role, if any, does gender take in multiplayer gaming?
• Are there consequences of play for Gamers, psychologically and socially?
Also of interest is the notion of the ‘fan’ in games: fiction, art, walkthroughs, and game interpretations - what do these communities have to say on the place of
the Player within their communal/cultural hierarchy?
Call for papers:
• New methodologies or adapted methodologies for studying the Gamer;
• Case studies of Players interacting with novel control interfaces;
• Case studies of Players in social settings;
• Case studies of the relationship between gender and games;
• Case studies of Players in competitive/professional settings;
• Approaches to gamers and gamers in the light of Psychoanalysis and Analytical Psychology;
• Studies on Methodologies for genre;
• The role of competition and casual and or social gaming within game culture; and
• Fan fiction and Fan Art.
Topics may include: sport simulations, racing games, first-person shooters, performance games (Dance, Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero etc), mobile games, original control hardware, sociological methodologies (adapted and new), audience reception, gender studies, psychoanalysis/analytical psychology, behavioural case studies, professional gaming, competitive gaming, social gaming, ‘girl’ games, game art, fan fiction, fan art, and so on.
Abstracts of 250 words, accompanied by contact details and a brief biography to be received by the 30th of March to: gamer [at] beds.ac.uk
C/O Steven Conway, Room C101
School of Media, Art & Design
University of Bedfordshire
Park Square
Luton
LU1 3JU
For further information, please go to:
http://www.beds.ac.uk/research/rimad/underthemask
