Author: henriettaknight

Immersion Prototypes: Invitation to Apply

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Immersion Prototypes: Invitation to Apply

Post contents from: https://swctn.org.uk/immersion-prototype-invitation-to-apply/

We are looking to invest in prototypes that use creative technologies to deliver original immersive processes, experiences, products or services. The making phase will run through April, May, June with showcasing at the end of June 2019. We anticipate awarding grants of between £20k and £40k.

Photo: Only Expansion by Duncan Speakman

We are excited about innovative uses of technologies that engage users in immersive experiences that are brave, ethical, connect us to one another and create value. The network is rooted in the creative industries but aims to make connections into other sectors. Our programme is designed to build creative capacity, generate shared knowledge and maximise potential for specific commercial impact.

How to apply?

Please read the full Immersion Prototype: Invitation to apply

We will continue to update our Immersion Prototype FAQs

Get in touch with Hannah Brady, Producer at Watershed (hannah.b@watershed.co.uk) if you have any questions or want to talk to us over the phone or on Skype.

We aim to be as inclusive as possible and work to accommodate all access requirements. We

will openly discuss and tailor how we do things to support you as best we can.

We welcome applications from BAME, LGBTQI, Deaf and disabled practitioners.

Please follow this link https://watershedbristol.typeform.com/to/WIUXzk to apply by 31 January 2019

Deadline for applications: 9am, 31st January 2019

We will let you know if you are invited to the Pitching day by the end of week commencing 11 February 2019

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to present their idea at a pitching day on week of 25th February 2019

The South West Creative Technology Network (SWCTN) is a £6.5 million project to expand the use of creative technologies across the region. The network will offer three one-year funded fellowship programmes around the themes of immersion, automation and data. The grant is part of Research England’s Connecting Capabilities Fund, which supports university collaboration and encourages commercialisation of products made through partnerships with industry.

Photo: WITCHiH late night at We the Curious, image by Paul Blakemore

 

WOMEN RECLAIMING AI FOR ACTIVISM

henriettaknight Projects
WOMEN RECLAIMING AI FOR ACTIVISM

In this workshop you will learn all about conversational AI – commonly known as ‘chatbots’ or ‘voice assistants.’ AI and develop a collaborative AI Voice Assistant.

We invite you to a workshop for women and people who do not primarily identify as male to create an AI assistant that reflects female identity, using inspirational speech from women we admire. The workshop will be a fun, sharing collaborative space, we will talk and share ideas while programming our AIs. No previous experience of coding required.

AI voice assistants like Ok Google, Alexa, Siri, Cortana and Bixby use female names, identities, voices (as a response to pressure an increasing number now have an option to change the gender of the voice to male). Studies revealed that both men and women respond more favourably to female speech and want their AI assistant to be ‘obedient and assisting.’ Culturally we are used to hearing female voices in subordinate/service roles and therefore on the whole we are more comfortable with a female voiced AI assistant.

This workshops is a response to the lack of gender diversity in the development of AI systems. The project looks to develop an AI voice assistant programmed through collaborative workshops with women and people who do not primarily identify as male.

The workshop will be run by Birgitte Aga and Coral Manton, two female designers and technologists from i-DAT Research & Design Collective.

This is part of the ‘Seize It, Mix It, Make It? Harnessing Digital Differently’ event by Knowle West Media Centre

FUNDED INDUSTRY, ACADEMIC & NEW TALENT FELLOWSHIPS – 14 JUNE

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FUNDED INDUSTRY, ACADEMIC & NEW TALENT FELLOWSHIPS – 14 JUNE

South West Creative Technology Network Fellowships.

Plymouth Launch Event: Ocean Studios, 17.30-19.00, 14 June 2018.

Ocean Studios. The Factory Cooperage, Royal William Yard, Plymouth PL1 3QQ [https://goo.gl/maps/kThMSCshx4C2]

[Refreshments provided]

  • 24 x R&D Fellowships worth £15,000 each

  • 8 creative industry Fellowships,

  • 8 academic Fellowships

  • 8 new talent residencies at graduate level,

  • leading to 8 prototype products or services with £30,000 each.

*Full call details for this year’s theme of Immersion will be announced on Monday 11 June 2018.

You are invited to the Plymouth launch of the South West Creative Technology Network (SWCTN). The SWCTN will offer three one-year funded programmes around the themes of Immersion, Automation & Data. As new technologies raise new challenges and opportunities for businesses, this partnership is designed to respond to industry needs across the creative industries, health and manufacturing sectors and drive productivity and innovation.

The grant is part of RESEARCH ENGLAND,’s Connecting Capabilities Fund, which supports university collaboration and encourages commercialisation of products made through partnerships with industry. Led by the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), the three-year project is a partnership with Watershed in Bristol, Kaleider in Exeter, Bath Spa University, the University of Plymouth and Falmouth University.

[Further information on the SWCTN award: http://i-dat.org/6-5million-creative-technology-network/]

Each year-long programme will be led by a team of producers working across the region to build creative capacity, generate shared knowledge and maximise potential for specific commercial impact. This activity is underpinned by a team of Knowledge Exchange Managers in each of the partner HEI’s.

Each year programme/theme will offer 24 R&D Fellowships worth £15,000 each (8 creative industry Fellowships, 8 academic Fellowships and 8 new talent residencies at graduate level). This fellowship programme will co-design a call for 8 prototype products or services with business partners worth £30,000 each.

Limited places so please book through:

 

 

“Digital technologies are transforming the way we work and play, and this collaborative initiative focuses on some of the most exciting aspects of this evolution. The use of Data to improve our understanding of complex problems, the ability to generate powerful immersive experiences and the insights generated by artificial intelligence provide completely new perspectives on the world. We look forward to focusing the wealth of research experience we have in these areas to nurture innovation across the region.”

(Mike Phillips)

Year One: Immersion (2018-19)

Emerging mixed reality technologies give developers, artists and performers new ways to blend the real and the virtual. The uses, design and implementation of immersive experiences offer key challenges across multiple domains. Many questions arise from the radical shift that placing virtual objects in real space creates. If the potential is to be fully realised in new markets and forms of cultural experience, bridges between the arts and digital technology, as well as between the marketplace and the academy, need to be built.

These new relationships will enable us to collectively address questions such as: What new understandings of immersion do we need? What blueprints do we need to ensure that immersive applications create convincing and easily accessible experiences? What technical challenges need solutions to support such experiences? What modes of storytelling are required? How can social immersive experiences be created? How do we ensure that the design and implementation of immersive experiences across multiple industrial sectors retain a core focus on human experience? What new products and services can be created.

Year two: Automation (2019-20)

[Draft outline]: The Automation theme builds on the region’s strengths in the application of autonomous systems to a broad range of areas, from fabrication, health, transportation, marine, robotics, and creative and cultural activities. This initiative aims to unlock the power of these emerging technologies by transferring skills, practices and technologies across sectors, industries, and disciplines to generate new insights, products and services. To effectively harness these systems for a broader application new design strategies need to be developed to unlock knowledge, skills and practices for the benefit of the Creative Industries and the region’s economy in areas such as Heritage, Tourism, Health care.

Year three: Data (2020-21)

[Draft outline]: The core research question for the Data theme is how do we support enterprise and citizens to become more socio-technically literate about the smart city and its associated infrastructures? This work requires a number of strands to work together including: working to make data not just available but also secure and protected; developing demonstrator use case studies, which can illustrate best practice and showcase new thinking and supporting enterprises to develop new business models, products and services.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

  • Applications will close at the end of July.
  • Brainstorming and thinking will occur between October – December 2018.
  • This will be followed by a sharing amongst the cohort, who will then co-design a call brief with the producers and University leads around what should be made in response to the brainstorm period.
  • They will then have a chance to pitch to this call for up to 8 x £30k prototyping grants
  • There will then be an Open Call for any remaining prototyping grants in January 2019
  • Prototyping for all participants will run through March, April and May 2019
  • An industry showcase will be held for all 8 prototypes in June 2019

South West Creative Technology Network. https://swctn.org.uk/

RESEARCH ENGLAND,’s Connecting Capabilities Fund,

Partners:

Network Launch dates:

Bath Spa: 12 June, 17.30, 2018. Queen’s Square, Le Bath Boules, BA1 2PW

Plymouth. 14 June, 17.30, 2018. Ocean Studios, RWY, PL1 3QQ

Falmouth: 22 June, 14.00, 2018. Sandpit, Penryn Campus, TR10 9F

Bristol: 6 July, 16.00, 2018. Watershed, Bristol, BS1 5TX

[Further information on the SWCTN award: http://i-dat.org/6-5million-creative-technology-network/]

With thanks to Ocean Studios and RIO for hosting the event.

AUDIENCE INTELLIGENCE: 3D3/NPIF PHD STUDENTSHIP

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AUDIENCE INTELLIGENCE: 3D3/NPIF PHD STUDENTSHIP

Audience Intelligence

NPIF studentships in Artificial Intelligence and Data-Driven research

http://quorum.i-dat.org/

This research opportunity builds on i-DAT’s established history of digital practice-based research and its strengths in cultural computation, ludic data and playful experimentation with creative technology. The project will explore the application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to enhance audience experiences, increase engagement and inform a discourse around the measurement of cultural value.

The aim is to create playful synergies between audience behaviours, interactive media environments, physical objects (or things) and modern integrative, sub-symbolic, computational techniques. The intention is to couple new interactive ways of engaging with large audiences and then to use machine learning techniques to create new experiences and at the same time generate new insights on audience behaviour.

This research is embedded in a unique transdisciplinary collaboration between software engineers, interaction designers, artists, cultural institutions and a highly active participation with audiences. The methods used will necessarily require a systematic relationship between digital practice, provocative prototyping and draw on established creative technologies production methodologies. This incorporates a reciprocal and participatory process whereby the measurement of audience engagement feeds into the audience experience and the creative events which are generating them. This will require, for instance, the construction of networked devices incorporating Machine Learning algorithms to engage, enhance and measure crowd interactions.

The research builds on i-DAT’s open infrastructure for ‘harvesting’ and visualising data through the incorporation of modern integrative, sub-symbolic, computational techniques which apply Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to augment, evaluate and increase public engagement of cultural experiences. This research has produced high impact events at the significant public venues (Tate Modern, Society for Arts and Technology (Montreal)), informed innovative cultural value metrics (Artory, British Arts Festival Association, Culture Counts and the AHRC Cultural Value Project), supported City Council open data initiatives (Plymouth City Council DataPlay and Edinburgh City Scape) and impacted on educational policy (Plymouth Creative School). This has led to further applications of this research through ERDF funding (Impact Lab) and HEFCE funded South West Creative Technology Network.

For an informal discussion about the studentship, please contact M.Phillips@plymouth.ac.uk

Audience Intelligence

DESIGN RESEARCH: THE IMPACT OF DESIGN

henriettaknight News, Research Sessions
DESIGN RESEARCH: THE IMPACT OF DESIGN

Tuesday 23 January 2018:

Provoking new thinking and practice around strategic design challenges.

Design Research Workshop delivered in collaboration with the Message and Design Knowledge Research Groups.

 

Professor Rachel Cooper OBE and Professor Iain Stewart MBE.

Design Lab, Roland Levinsky Building.

PDF Download.

Professor Rachel Cooper OBE:


Rachel Cooper OBE is Distinguished Professor of Design Management and Policy at Lancaster University. She is Director of ImaginationLancaster, an open and exploratory design-led research centre conducting applied and theoretical research into people, products, places and their interactions, and also Chair of Lancaster institute for the Contemporary Arts. Professor Cooper’s research interests cover: design thinking; design management; design policy; and across all sectors of industry, a specific interest in
design for wellbeing and socially responsible design. She has published extensively on these topics, including books ‘Designing Sustainable Cities’ and ‘The Handbook of Wellbeing and the Environment’. She is also series editor of the Routledge series Design for Social Responsibility covering topics such as designing for sustainability, inclusivity, service design, sport, health, transport and policy. She was founding editor of The Design Journal, the founding President of the European Academy of
Design and is also the President of the Design Research Society.

Iain Stewart MBE
Iain Stewart, MBE FGS FRSE Director of the Sustainable Earth Institute at Plymouth University is a Scottish geologist, a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and President of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He is Professor of Geoscience Communication at the University of Plymouth and also a member of the Scientific Board of UNESCO’s International Geoscience Programme. Described as geology’s “rock star”, Stewart is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the BBC, notably the BAFTA nominated Earth: The Power of the Planet (2007).

Mike Phillips/Pete Davis/Victoria Squire co-ordinators
i-DAT/Design Knowledge/Message/research clusters.

CODEX:

henriettaknight News
CODEX:

CODEX, an international Postgraduate Research network operating in the volatile and dynamic space that frames new interdisciplinary art and design practices is launched in January 2018. The Full-Time PhD consists of an 18-month Residency Period in the UK followed by a Mobility period in the collaborating institution.
Introducing: http://codex-research.net/

The first link in this network is signed between the School of Design, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China and the School of Art Design and Architecture in Plymouth UK.

 
Professor Zhang Linghao, Dean of the School of Design Jiangnan University and Professor Mike Phillips at the CODEX signing ceremony.

Glossa-Ordinaria

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Glossa-Ordinaria

Delighted to be invited to contribute to:
http://www.techniqua.it/assets/techworks/glossa-ordinaria/western_blank-space.htm

“Space: In writing, a space ( ) is a blank area that separates words, sentences, syllables (in syllabification) and other written or printed glyphs(characters). Conventions for spacing vary among languages, and in some languages the spacing rules are complex.”


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_(punctuation)
Techniqua is the latin Id of the italian designers Francesca Giuliani and Lino Mocerino.

50th Anniversary Celebration of Leonardo

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50th Anniversary Celebration of Leonardo

The Overview: Leonardo 50th Anniversary Celebration.

With, amongst others, Roy Ascott, Nina Czegledy, Sue Denham, Eduardo Miranda, Michael Punt & Roger Malina.
Balance Unbalance 2017 is delighted to be hosting the ‘Overview’, a 50th Anniversary Celebration of Leonardo. The Overview celebrates Leonardo’s impact by providing a transdisciplinary change of perspective on the world. The Overview is synergetic with BunB 2017’s theme: “A Sense of Place” and confronts the transcalar – the macro, messo and micro understanding of our ecologies. The Leonardo Overview Panel will take place on the 22 August. The Overview is supported by the Eden Project [www.edenproject.com] The afternoon of Tuesday 22 of August 2017.
Room 212 Roland Levinsky Building.
https://www.leonardo.info/50th-anniversary

QUORUM

henriettaknight Headline, Projects
QUORUM

QUORUM WEBSITE: http://quorum.i-dat.org/
Quorum is an i-DAT strategic research initiative that builds on its research strengths in cultural computation, ludic data and playful experimentation with creative technology. Quorum creates playful synergies between audience behaviours, interactive media environments, physical objects (or things) and modern integrative, sub-symbolic, computational techniques.
Quorum is an algorithmic system that feeds off data generated by material and virtual environments and the physical and social behaviour of audiences. It incorporates bio-inspired algorithmic swarm decentralised decision making processes to generate a dynamic and evolving collective behaviour. It is a volatile system of stimuli and response that is manifest as data driven interactive objects, installations and immersive audio-visual experiences.
Quorum proposes new analytical techniques which focus on enhanced audience engagement through the use of Artificial Neural Networks, Self Organising Maps and Deep Learning Networks to innovatively integrate subjective and objective data, considering its temporal and predictive aspects, variety and quality and correlations. through the use of Artificial Neural Networks, Deep Learning and Self Organising Maps.
Quorum technologies draw on the Urban API and Qualia elements of i-DAT’s Operating Systems (OP-SY)