De Montfort wins Green Gown award for Greenview App

We're delighted to announce that we won the Green ICT category in the EAUC Green Gown Awards last night. It was a fantastic evening and we were thrilled to share it with many familiar faces from the last few years alongside our colleagues from DMU's Square Mile Project that also won in the Social Responsibility category and the International Social Responsibility category. Particularly poignant for me as the event was held in the beautiful Great Hall at the University of Birmingham.

There were  key people without whom which this project would never have happened. Firstly - our sponsors/funders, JISC - Rob Bristow at the Greening ICT group at JISC has supported us tirelessly and without JISC funding this project, and its predecessor, DUALL. could never have happened. Second, the team behind the Greenview app from IOCT and IESD - Richard Bull, Dave Everitt, Gareth Howell, Graeme Stuart and Martin Rieser. Thirdly, the sustainability team at DMU are amazing - Karl Letten and Paul Fleming in particular. Finally, the IESD and the Faculty of Technology at DMU have been incredibly supportive of our, at times, slightly unorthodox ideas about energy visualisation.

Oh, and last but not least, thank you to to the EAUC for the award. We're very grateful.

EXODUS

FROM KAMPALA TO LEICESTER

Exodus

Martin Rieser - Institute of Creative
Technologies at De Montfort University

Audio Trail and Installations
14th August – 30th September

Sean Clark programmer testing Trail

Wall trail in Phoenix Cafe

Interactive Video multi-scree

This digital commission in one of a series of events and activities across Leicester that marksthe 40th anniversary of the expulsion ofUgandan Asians and their subsequent move to Leicester.

In August 1972, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin gave the Asian community 90 days notice to
leave the country. They were forced to leavealmost everything in Uganda and seek refuge in other countries such as Britain and Canada. The digital commission consists of a trail linking New Walk Museum and Art Gallery and Phoenix, a video installation in the Phoenix café multiscreen and a large wall graphic showing the trail and providing access to QR codes, located in the Phoenix café.

Trail
New Walk Museum & Art Gallery
to Phoenix

Using personal testimony from Leicester’s Ugandan Asian community, the trail revisits the
dramatic events in 1972 and shares memories about arrival in the UK and settling in Leicester ithe 1970s, while celebrating the community’s continued cultural and economic impact on the City.

The trail follows a route from New Walk Museum & Art Gallery to Phoenix, with QR codes located on posters in shops and windows along the route. Scanning the QR codes triggers the audio commentary telling the story of the exodus. Onarrival at Phoenix, visitors can interact with the video installation and wall graphic in the café area.

To follow the trail, iPhone users should download an app from Empedia, via www.empedia.info. You can then follow the trail, scanning the QR codes located along the walk (or on the map on the reverse) to release audio information. The map on the reverse can be used as a route guide. Android phone users can follow the trail without downloading the app, provided they have a QR  code reader downloaded on their phone. For iPhone users, information on the trail can also be triggered by GPS position if this facility is
active on your phone. By using this trail, you willbe downloading data to your phone, and your network provider may charge for this.

Installation

Phoenix Cafebar

When you arrive at Phoenix, the video installation on the café multiscreen allows you to edit your own journey through videos created specially for this commission.

The videos celebrate the current exhibition at New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, using film footage of journeys across narrative textile surfaces. The textiles were created by community groups and professional artists, with lead artist Ashok Mistry, for the ‘from Kampala to Leicester’ exhibition at New Walk Museum & Art Gallery.

This video installation is a unique development using iPhone or iPad tones to control the nine video windows. You can visit reception to borrowearphones and iPads to participate - just plug into the wall fitting and edit your own journey through the videos.

The large wall graphic allows you to follow the audio trail in the comfort of Phoenix’s café. Scan the QR codes to trigger the audio commentary using iPads, iPhones or android phones.

See the website for event details, including the digital commission and screenings at Phoenix Square and a range of activities at New Walk

Please be aware that some of the testimonies in
the trail contain information that some people may
find upsetting

Codes of Disobedience & Dysfunctionality

The Hybrid City workshop:
 Codes of Disobedience & Dysfunctionality
 28 February - 4 March 2011

City intervention and Presentation of the work
 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, 5 - 25 March 2011


The University Research Institute of Applied Communication (URIAC), in
collaboration with the New Technologies Laboratory of the Faculty of
Communication and Media Studies, of the National and Kapodistrian University
of Athens, organise from the 28th until the 4th of March 2011 the workshop
"Codes of Disobedience & Dysfunctionality" led by the British artist Professor Martin
Rieser of IOCT, De Montfort University, in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of artists, researchers and postgraduate students, as part of the action "Global
Gateway" and of the EU funded program "Civil Society Dialogue - Istanbul
2010 European Capital of Culture".

The aim of the workshop is to study the elements of the urban environment of
Athens and to form a new trail as a structure of narrative, thus enriching
the city with interactive content that reflects its contemporary
transformations. Inspired by the post¬ers and the graffiti encountered in
the city, and taking advantage of the possibilities given by mobile
communication technologies (GPS, QR codes etc) and the internet, the
workshop aims to connect the urban surroundings of Athens to opinions and
statements of its inhabitants regarding the challenges imposed by current
social, political, and financial circumstances; Anger, disobedience,
opposition, dysfunctionality. The features of the contemporary metropolis in
the midst of a period of crisis will be the main focus of the project,
posing at the same time questions about the role and mediation of technology
in urban everyday life. Can the new possibilities offered by technology
really capture the needs and the atmosphere of a city like Athens? Can
patterns and characteristics of urban life be identified when studying the
use of these communication systems?

The work that will be formed after the completion of the workshop will be
presented at the premises National Museum of Contemporary Art, on the
internet and in the center of the city (at the streets Skoufa - Navarinou -
Tzavela). From the 5th until the 25th of March the visitors of the museum
and inhabitants of Athens will be invited to follow the project's trail and
discover the different parts of the project's narration. Special QR codes
will be placed in selected locations of the city and by scanning them with a
mobile phone, access to the audiovisual material created during the workshop
will be given. Combining elements of installation art, urban intervention,
gaming and performance, "Codes of Disobedience & Dysfunctionality" reflects
Rieser's long term practice on art and technology.

Adaptations and New Media Symposium

A
 Symposium
 on
 Adaptation
 for
 New 
Media

January
 25,
 2011
 Hugh
 Aston 
Building
 De
 Montfort 
University

The Department of English's Adaptation studies and the IOCT have joined forces to co-host a one day symposium on the changing nature of adaptation in relation to new media forms. The symposium brings together academics from across the UK and Europe to focus on the new problems associated with adaptation for such diverse platforms as gaming and the Web.It 
features 
papers 
ranging
 from

computer
games,
 mash‐ups, 
interactive 
narratives 
and 
interactive 
film,
 technological 
innovations,
 representations
 of 
technology 
and 
new 
media.


The
 conference 
is open 
to 
anyone 
interested 
in 
how
 the 
entertainment

industry is 
constantly
 adapting 
to 
new
 technologies.


The 
conference
 will

be 
introduced 
by 
award 
winning
 writer,
 Kate
Pullinger,
 who 
will 
talk
 on

Nothing 
New 
Here:
Books 
as
 Apps,
Enchanced
 e‐Books,
 and 
Digital

Stories’,
 relating 
her 
own
 experience 
with 
the
‘enhanced 
abridged 
audio

ebook’ 
adaptation
 of 
her
 2009
 novel,
 The
 Mistress
 of 
Nothing.

The

conference 
will
 close 
with 
a
 screening of
 Martin
Rieser’s
 The Third

Woman interactive film for mobiles based on The Third Man

We 
intend
 to 
publish 
the 
three
 best 
papers 
in 
a 
special
 edition
 of

Adaptions 
Journal
 and
 the
 remainder 
can 
be
 published 
online
 on 
a

dedicated
 website


Transdisciplinary Group Meeting

The meeting of 60 academics was addressed by Vice Chancellor Dominic Shellard, who posed the question as to how the University structures might be best organised to remove the barriers preventing effective Transdisciplinary working. Heidi McPherson highlighted the decline of creative and left-field thinking in pupils as they progressed through the educational system. Phil Moore aligned the Grand Challenges of Research with a more holistic and Transdisciplinary approach to research, and Andrew Hugill outlined the differences between multi- and trans-disciplinary working and the problematic of balance between disciplines and connected approaches to research. The meeting broke into four groups for a lively discussion on research, post-graduate teaching, undergraduate teaching and Knowledge Transfer. The feed back sparked a summative discussion and the drawing together of action points to move the discussion into actions.

Video

Transdisciplinary Group

DMU Transdisciplinary Group Inaugural Meeting

Time 1:00pm – 4.30pm, Thursday 9^th December 2010

Venue: Campus centre

Registration:  http://dmutransdiscip1.eventbrite.com/

Statement

We live in a world of complex systems, of which we only have partial comprehension. From the biosphere to the global economy we lack fundamental tools to understand the complexity of system behaviours. The future of Research must embrace transdisciplinarity if it has any chance of both understanding and ameliorating the Grand Challenges  of the 21st Century.

Impacts on research and subsequently teaching:

·       Strategically DMU has relied heavily on regional recruitment. The new funding regime implies that there will be a sharp fall off in demand from local recruitment and that to distinguish its offerings DMU will need to find a niche, which is attractive both nationally and internationally.

·       Uncertainty is the challenge of the future. Versatility and a broad knowledge base will equip students for the 21^st century. This does not mean the end of specialisms, but a new pedagogy to relate several disciplines in the synchronised solving of complex problems

·       Many of us are already working on transdisciplinarity research, teaching and knowledge transfer. This group aims to develop existing strengths and support new initiatives.

Timetable for December 9^th

1.0                   Welcome : Professor Sue Thomas, IOCT/Humanities

1.05                    Professor Andrew Hugill, Director, IOCT

1.45                   Professor Phil Moore

2.00                    Action Plan Breakout Session: led by Professor Martin Rieser IOCT/Art & Design into 4

                  Teaching and Transdisciplinarity UG

                  Teaching and Transdisciplinarity PG

                 

                  Transdisciplinary Research

                  Technology Transfer

                 

3.00       Coffee break

3.20                    Plenary chaired by Professor Mohammad Ibrahim, Technology

4.30                   End

For more information please contact:

Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Ibrahim@dmu.ac.uk

Prof Martin Rieser mrieser@dmu.ac.uk

Prof Sue Thomas sue.thomas@dmu.ac.uk

---

Here are some background document links:

Transdisciplinary Graduate Education

Towards Transdisciplinary Education and Learning 


Enhancing Transdisciplinary Research  
by Wiesmann et al. td-net for transdisciplinary research

Mobile Trends 2020

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Mobile Trends 2020

View more presentations from Rudy De Waele.

Vision 2020

VISION2020 Leicester - Ideas for the future

 

 

Vision2020 was the BIG discussion in Leicester organised by De Montfort University, Amplified Leicester and the City Council. It discussed how innovations could influence business, social and family life in the future . More than 200 creative thinkers shared ideas on how technology, networks and communities will shape the societies and businesses of tomorrow.

A vision for 2020 was created from the predictions, aims and aspirations of participants for the coming decade. These ideas were taken from the wish-lists written by attendees on the day of how Leicester could improve, without relying on major Government funding. This vision for 2020 is available to view here, and we plan to update you with those ideas already in action in the city and the new actions as they start to emerge.

Keynote

John Thackara - How to make less, more

A green, restorative and steady-state economy is not a future vision - it already exists, at least in embryo. Social innovation is all around us in a million grassroots projects. Connected citizens, and new kinds of business, are taking practical steps to re-make our cities places, and tools. By innovating services for daily life that use far fewer resources, they help to rebuild natural and social assets. Many of these projects use new technologies in creative ways - but their positive energy derives most from the skills and imagination of the people involved. What is the opportunity here for Leicester?
John Thackara is a writer, speaker, and event producer. Described by Business Week as "one of the great voices on sustainability", he is the author of In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World (MIT Press) among thirteen books, and of a widely-read blog about design for resilience, doorsofperception.com. As director of Doors of Perception, John organizes festivals and encounters around the world in which communities imagine sustainable futures – and take practical steps to realize them. John Thackara lives in France.
Useful Links:

• doorsofperception.com
• sustainable-everyday.net
• energybulletin.net/node/16859
• transitionnetwork.org/about
• openfarmtech.org/weblog/
• steadystate.org/discover/organizations-that-support-steady-state-principles/
• artsandecology.rsablogs.org.uk

Vision2020 The Wishlist
All the wishlists collected from the Unconference session at Vision2020 were gathered together. People were working very hard and there are dozens of items! The first cut for discussion and refining.

It’s up to Leicester to decide which to choose and how to implement them.

Growing Knowledge: The evolution of research

An exhibition at the British Library showcasing new and innovative research tools and techniques

12 October 2010 - 16 July 2011

The British Library have filmed a series of thought provoking discussions about the evolution of research, see our very own Professors Andrew Hugill and Sue Thomas share their thoughts.

Andrew Hugill: Digital Research, The Modern Library
Sue Thomas: Scholarly Communications, Search for and Analyse Data

Link: www.growingknowledge.bl.uk

Riverains at Illumini Festival Shoreditch

'Riverains'
Martin Rieser with Collaborating artists Ximena Alarcon & Kasia Molga 
Programming in Layar: Gareth Howells
Programming for Empedia locative system: Cuttlefish Multimedia, Phil Jones and Sean Clarke

Riverains creates a story trail along Old Street and Shoreditch High Street, accessible through user's mobile phones. It maps both the imaginary underground world of the Riverains and London's history onto the urban landscape.

Notionally, Riverains are souls tied to watery energies, running under our cities in rivers, cables, sewers, tunnels and caves. They travel unseen by these invisible routes and cluster around sites of their past experience.

Through GPS location sensing and QR barcode code reading, participants can use their mobile phone to discover this hidden underground world, which will correspond to real locations in Shoreditch. These align with the sites of past events such as the Ripper murders. Participants can use the Riverains voices to find those sites and fully experience these narratives.

Two new applications were developed by the Pervasive group at the IOCT for this event including a Layer tour and an new iphone app: Empedia , which will soon have a specific Riverains tour.

Kasia Molga especially revised her Mirror of Infinity mobile texting installation (Pictured) to complement the project.






http://www.pervasive.org.uk/projects/riverains

WANTED!!!! New Media Project Co-ordinator

Circa £20k (according to qualifications and experience) 18 months fixed term contract.

We are looking for someone with a degree in either Multimedia Design, Design Management or Media Studies (min. 2:1) who will drive this exciting social media marketing project forward. The successful candidate will investigate, design and implement new media strategies to increase awareness and support income generation activities at Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People. The project will also involve embedding new media within the Trust’s services.

For more information and application pack at http://bit.ly/5kMQDw.

Deadline for applications is 5 February 2010.