litmus :: september/october 2007

Litmus is the monthly newsletter of ACID, the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design

1. ACID NEWS

:: ACID CRC re-bid under way

As you would know by now, the ACID Board is pursuing a re-bid in 2008 for a second 7-year round of DEST funding to commence in 2009.

The detailed information in relation to the re-bid process isn't yet available, because DEST must wait until after the federal election to release the 'way forward' for the CRC program. Those in the know say that the current application process might undergo a substantial revision if there is a change of government. Nevertheless, ACID's preparation is well under way.

'ACID Mark 2' will build on our current strengths and successes, while also planning to pick up some exciting new areas for exploration and research.

General Manager Suzannah Conway, the Research Leaders Group and the Project Leaders have been working to firm up the ACID research program and identify potential participants for the new CRC. Project Leaders are also currently consulting with their team members. This work will inform the Board's work on the re-bid itself, which is being driven by Board Chairman Dr Terry Cutler.

In the absence of detailed application processes, it is likely that a first business plan concept will have to be submitted by 31 March 2008. Successful CRCs will then be invited to submit a second, detailed plan in August 2008 before final interviews late in 2008.

If successful, the new CRC will kick off on 1 July 2009.

 

:: VSMM07 Conference Roundup

ACID hosted VSMM07, the 13th international conference on virtual systems and multimedia, at the Creative Industries Precinct in Kelvin Grove from 23�26 September 2007, plus a lead-up forum in Sydney on 21 September.

A total of 140 delegates from 18 countries registered for all or part of the conference, including a number of industry representatives who registered for the special Industry Stream on 23 September.

We received just under 100 academic papers submitted for peer review, and accepted 53 for presentation at the conference. Of those, 18 were accepted for publication by Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (in press now). All others have been made available to delegates in the conference proceedings.

A highlight of the conference was the closing presentation by Professor Mark Burry of RMIT�s Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory. Mark's presentation highlighted the use of ancient and modern tools in the continuing construction of the Temple Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain � everything from slide rules and hand-worked sandstone to aviation-design software and 3D rapid prototyping.

He delivered his presentation via Skype video from Barcelona, Spain, in real time � proving the concept of virtual systems on many levels.

VSMM07 sponsors included the Museum Victoria, VR Solutions, and the Queensland Department of State Development which sponsored the Queensland Government Industry Prize awarded to Helen Travers, Ernest Hunter, Julie Gibson and Jonathan Campion of the University of Queensland in Cairns for their paper Pride and Performance: Innovative multimedia in the service of behavioural health change in remote Indigenous settings.

 

:: ACID to sponsor OzCHI07

ACID is proud to announce it is the major sponsor of the Doctoral Colloquium at OzCHI 2007, the Australasian Computer�Human Interaction Conference to be held 28�30 November at the City West Campus, University of South Australia in Adelaide.

The Doctoral Colloquium offers PhD students a forum to present and discuss research plans with peers and established senior researchers.

ACID Research Leader Dr Margot Brereton will chair the OzCHI Doctoral Colloquium. For more information visit the OzCHI colloquium site.

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2. RESEARCH AND PROJECT UPDATES

:: IWALL at Next Level Festival

ACID Project Leader Ian MacColl demonstrated the IWALL at the Next Level Festival of technology, music, art and games on Friday 26 October.

Ian's demo was part of the 'Stranger Than Fiction � The Real Time City' session presented by iCi, featuring a talk by Professor Carlo Ratti of the MIT SENSEable City Laboratory plus demonstrations of new media for urban applications.

Ian said the trade-show style demonstrations offered good opportunities for networking with people from a range of organisations outside ACID's regular contacts.

'The demos showed a real diversity of work, from new urban media to mobile phone applications, shared storytelling to urban interfaces,' he said. 'I'm already following up a couple of new opportunities that came up on the day.

'And Carlo Ratti's talk was inspiring, particularly his proposed Digital Water Pavilion for the entrance of Zaragoza Expo 2008. It's an interactive structure, built of digitally controlled water curtains, that responds to people's movements within and around the pavilion.'

 

:: �Fascination and Envy�: Media/Culture reviews Intimate Transactions

Media/Culture, the website at the crossover between the popular and the academic in media and culture, has published Ann McLean's review of Intimate Transactions: Art, exhibition and interaction within distributed network environments, the book of the exhibition that was part of ACID's early ACIN project.

McLean found the book � edited by Jillian Hamilton � both intriguing and inspiring, 'founded in an elegant eclectic collaboration of theories, philosophies and practices.'

Not having experienced the Intimate Transactions exhibition herself, she said her reaction to the project, by Keith Armstrong and the Transmute Collective, was one of 'fascination and envy.'

McLean said the book is a slick catalogue of well-written articles, each presenting a different angle on the 'tactile, weightless, animated beauty' of the collaboration.

To read the review in full, visit the Media/Culture site.

STOP PRESS:Intimate Transactions has secured DCITA �Visions of Australia� funding for an eight-date regional tour of Australia throughout 2008�09. Congratulations Keith!

 

:: Therapy written up by Queensland Government

The Queensland Government has mentioned ACID�s diversionary therapy project in its 2007�2008 program document outlining the State�s ongoing strategy, Creativity is Big Business � A framework for the future.

The centre spread includes a text bubble reading, in part:

'The Smart State supports creative industries innovation. The Department of State Development has supported a range of creative industries innovators including: ... The Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) in the development of a world-first pain reduction device which uses digital interaction and 3D animation to help with treating young burns victims.'

Of course, this is the research and development conducted by ACID in consultation with the Burns Unit at the Royal Children's Hospital Brisbane and transferred to our spinoff company Diversionary Therapy Technologies Pty Ltd.

 

 

Calling all ACID Researchers: If you�d like to let others at ACID know when and where you�re publishing, just send the details to Litmus.

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2. ACID PEOPLE

:: First PhD graduates from ACID/UTS alliance

A UTS graduation ceremony on Friday 28 September saw the first three PhD graduates from the Creativity and Cognition Studios at UTS: Dave Burraston, Alastair Weakley and Greg Turner.

Alastair and Greg are members of the ACID family: Alastair is a post-doc researcher on the Virtual Communities program, and Greg was a research assistant on the Creative Collaboration project.

 

:: Ernest Edmonds exhibition ON NOW

ACID Project Leader Professor Ernest Edmonds, of the Creativity and Cognition Studios at UTS, has an exhibition this month at the Conny Dietzschold Gallery in Sydney.

The Digital Paintings � New Media Installations exhibition will run until 31 October at 2 Danks Street, Waterloo, 11am�6pm Tuesday to Saturday.

 

:: ACID/CCS/Carriageworks Performance

ACID researcher Deborah Turnbull, also of CCS at UTS, curated the 'Correspondences in Sound and Vision' performance event on Sunday 30 September at the Carriageworks site at the old railyard in Eveleigh, Sydney.

The main event of the evening was a performance of Port Hacking and DC_Release by Ernest Edmonds and UK artist Mark Fell. Guest performers included ACID's Associate Professor Andrew Brown in a live coding performance by aa-cell.

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4. DATE CLAIMERS: Mark Your Diary Now!

:: Fun Stuff

Digital Paintings � New Media Installations
Exhibition by Prof Ernest
11am�6pm Tuesday to Saturday, until 31 October
Connie Dietzschold Gallery, 2 Danks Street, Waterloo, Sydney

Just a Bit of Spin
UTS PhD student Brigid Costello on play and exploration in audience engagement.
29 October � 5 December 2007
Beta_space, Cyberworlds Gallery
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

 

:: Awards and Residencies

'But is it a pencil?' D&AD awards open now
The call for entries to the D&AD Awards 2008 has just gone out, with the release in the first of a series of animated films by Saatchi & Saatchi London.

Inspired by everyday debates in agencies and studios over the merits of a new idea, the films interview leading creatives who reveal how they developed that great idea and produced work that colleagues, clients and juries wished they�d thought of.

The D&AD Awards recognise innovation with 'Yellow Pencils' awarded for Graphic Design, Mobile Marketing, Broadcast Innovations, and Magazine & Newspaper Design.

The entry deadline is 16 January 2008, and full details are available online.

D&AD Awards 2008 (see story above)
Entries due: 16 January 2008
visit the D&AD website for more info...

 

:: Professional Workshops

Search routines for discontinuous innovation, Professor John Bessant, Chair in Innovation Management, Imperial College, London
BGSB/Entrepreneurship Innovation Cluster
3.00pm, 28 November 2007, B403, QUT Gardens Point, Brisbane
RSVP: k3.taylor@qut.edu.au

HCI for Community and International Development workshop
5�6 April 2008, Florence, ITALY
visit the workshop website for more info...

 

:: Calls for Papers

Another Name for Design: Words for Creation
ICDHS 2008, 6th International Conference on Design History and Design Studies
Osaka, JAPAN
Abstracts due: 1 December 2007
visit the ICDHS website for more info...

Networks of Design
3�6 September 2008, Falmouth UK
Abstracts/Proposals due: 25 February 2008
email the convenor for more info...

Imagining Business: Reflecting on the visual power of management, organising and governing practices, First EIASM Workshop
26�27 June 2008, Sa�d Business School, Oxford UK
Submissions due: 28 February 2008
Abstracts/Proposals due: 25 February 2008
visit the EIASM website for more info...

10th Anniversary Conference on Participatory Design: Experiences and Challenges
30 September � 4 October 2008, Bloomington USA
Submissions due: 15 March 2008
visit the conference website for more info...

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:: Conferences

OZCHI 2007: Australasian Computer-Human Interaction Conference
Doctoral Colloquium sponsored by ACID, 28 November 2007
29-30 November 2007, Adelaide
visit the OzCHI website for more info...

IIT Institute of Design Strategy conference
15-16 May 2008, Chicago USA
visit the IIT website for more info...

Graphics Interface 2008
28-30 May 2008, Windsor CANADA
visit the GI2008 website for more info...

IDC_08: 7th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children
11-13 June 2008, Chicago USA
visit the conference website for more info...

ISEA2007: International Symposium on Electronic Arts
25-30 July 2008, Singapore
visit the ISEA website for more info...

Research Into Practice: 5th Biennial International Conference
31 October 2008, London UK
visit the conference website for more info...

 

:: Calendar Call

If you have an event, meeting or conference date to share with ACID colleagues, just click here to e-mail the info.

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