Chris Joseph

Media Futures Conference at Alexandra Palace, London, on Friday 20 June 2008

The Media Futures Conference is a one day exploration of the dynamics and trends shaping the future of media. As well as an opportunity for lively debate, the conference will feature presentations showcasing innovative projects, demonstrating smart thinking in practice and illustrating the scope of what is possible.

Presenters include Dr Brian Winston, University of Lincoln; Alex McKie; Charlie Beckett, POLIS; The Cult of the Amateur author Andrew Keen; Robert Cailliau; Mark Birbeck, webBackplane; Ian Forrester, BBC; Matt Webb, Schulze & Webb; Ian Worley, Flow Interactive; David Lipkin, Method; Matt Biddulph, DOPPLR; Dr Norman Lewis, Wireless Grids Corporation; Professor Patrick Barwise, London Business School; and Sean Phelan, Multimap. Chairs include Peter Day, BBC; Bill Thompson; Andy Hobsbawm, Agency.com; and Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC.

Registered attendees include representatives from Channel 4 News, the Financial Times, Capgemini, London Business School, Psion Ventures, McCann Erickson, Vodafone, Serco Usability Services, LSE, Lion Television, Lateral, Imperial College London, Global Voices Online, Schematic, the Association for International Broadcasting, Kitsite, the University of Salzburg, Headshift, the Nobel Foundation, and LBi, as well as BBC News, Radio 3, VISION, Radio 5 live, Audio and Music Interactive, and BBC Worldwide.

We are inviting 200 people to take part in the conference. Over two thirds of these places have been taken and we expect to close registration in the next week. If you would like to take part please register as soon as possible.

The Media Futures Conference is run by the BBC and produced and programmed by Nico Macdonald of Innovation Agenda. There is no cost to take part. We hope you will be interested in joining us.

Further information and registration at mediafuturesconference.com

Please contact me if you have any queries about this event.
Nico Macdonald: nico [at] spy.co.uk

Toni Sant at the Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT), De Montfort University, Leicester, UK on 28th February 2008. Supported by the Arts Council England.

A SECOND LIFE FOR ONLINE PERFORMANCE HISTORY

Toni Sant is exploring the 3-D online virtual environment called Second Life as a venue for performance by looking at examples of theatre groups performing online within Second Life. In addition to activities presented as theatre he is also observing broader performance activities within this online space. Additionally, this project involves an attempt to use Second Life as a pedagogical tool for generating an archive of work related to a history of performance on the Internet by relating it to previous work on other online virtual environments, such as IRC, MUDs, MOOs, and 2-D graphic chat networks like The Palace. Presently, the work revolves around a planned Second Life production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in one of three simulations of The Globe in this popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

DR TONI SANT

Toni Sant is Lecturer in Performance and Creative Technologies at the University of Hull’s School of Arts and New Media on the Scarborough Campus. Since 1998 he has served as executive editor for the Applied and Interactive Theatre Guide. His writing has appeared in TDR: The Drama Review, Leonardo, the Encyclopedia of Politics, the Dictionary of Literary Biography, and other scholarly publications, as well as in the popular press in New York and Malta. He is currently writing a book called A History of the Future: Franklin Furnace & the Spirit of the Avant-Garde. His blog and weekly podcast are available at tonisant.com and he can be found on Second Life as Not Merlin.

Links:

Dr Toni Sant - tonisant.com
Second Life - secondlife.com

Assault Events present Alibi

Join us for Alibi, a cautionary tale about jealousy, love and friendship, misunderstandings and consequences, the things not said and the right in every wrong.

Tues 17th June 2008, Studio 1, PACE Building, De Montfort University

Doors open at 5.30 for a glass of wine, Show begins at 6pm. Free Entry.

Directions to the PACE building are available at;

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/aboutdmu/campuses/maps/leic_campus.jsp

Alibi is a 50 minute dance and music performance and has been created during ongoing interdisciplinary research by Dr Sophy Smith (Research Fellow, Institute of Creative Technologies, De Montfort University) and Sandie Fisher (Dance Artist in Residence, University of Ulster) through their performance company Assault Events. Alibi is presented by Assault Events in association with the University of Ulster, supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Assault Events produce inspiring and creative arts events that people want to watch, participate in and talk about. Since its formation the company have developed a reputation for exciting and innovative collaboration, inventing and producing events that fuse dance, live music, theatre and new writing.

This particular research project has focused on developing audience accessibility to performance work through interdisciplinary collaboration for alternative venues - Alibi has been created for the more informal environments of bars and social spaces.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Sophy Smith, Research Fellow

Institute of Creative Technologies
De Montfort University
1, The Gateway
Leicester LE1 9BH

For further details contact Sophy at ssmith05 [at] dmu.ac.uk