[dance-tech] [Leonardo/ISAST Network] Locative Media Art discussion on YASMIN, December 2007

Sorry for any cross postings, SJ x

Leonardo/ISAST <isast@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
  Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:55:01 -0800
From: Leonardo/ISAST <isast@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: leonardo-isast@xxxxxxx
Subject: [Leonardo/ISAST Network] Locative Media Art discussion on YASMIN,
December 2007

  Dear Leonardo Colleagues,

Leonardo/OLATS is pleased to announce:

A moderated discussion on the subject of Locative Media Art will take place on 
the YASMIN discussion list from the 3rd of December 2007 onwards.

Below is a text with more info on the particular discussion. We are very much 
looking forward to your participation and involvement.

To join YASMIN visit: 

http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin/

Best wishes,
Dimitris Charitos
Lecturer, Department of Communication and Media Studies
University of Athens 

Locative Media Art: towards new types of "hybrid" places for communicating 
meaning

The convergence of new mobile telecommunication networks along with 
geographical positioning systems and interactive graphical interfaces on mobile 
devices, are beginning to extend the potential of media technologies for 
supporting communication among mobile individuals. The aforementioned 
technologies allow groups of people to interact with each other, while being 
aware of each other's location at all times. By introducing context awareness 
and by supporting multi-user communication, these ICT systems alter the 
patterns of information flow as well as the situation within which 
communication takes place, thus bringing to light new spatial structures where 
social interaction will occur and novel forms of cultural practices will emerge.

Locative media are systems of technologically mediated interpersonal and group 
communication. Such mobile wireless technologies provide the opportunity to 
augment traditional urban environments with information and communication 
spatial experiences, which can be accessed through mobile or desktop devices. 
The main characteristics of locative media are mobility, locativeness and 
multi-user support. The characteristic of "locativeness", in particular, may 
refer to both users and content within a locative media group or activity. 
These characteristics above may influence interpersonal as well as intergroup 
relationships in the context of these new social constructions.

Computer-mediated communication via the Internet has allowed physical meeting 
places to "immigrate" to a "virtual" spatial context, as in the case of MUDs or 
MOOs. The introduction of mobile location-based communication networks relates 
again the concept of a "meeting place" to the physical space of an urban 
environment. It re-introduces the parameter of geographical location in the 
activity of computer-mediated communication, thus mapping the "virtual" mental 
space where communication occurs to the physical space, inhabited by the 
material bodies of communicating participants. Thus, the virtual spatial 
context of such an activity is mapped onto the physical world and the resulting 
hybrid spatial context becomes the arena of this activity.  Most importantly, 
such a communication system affords the possibility of face-to-face interaction 
and brings back the "compulsion of proximity" into computer-mediated 
communication. Locative media have already been used by many artists
 as media for creating activities, performances, dynamic works or "net-works" 
of a database or narrative structure and other complex types of artistic 
intervention.

The discussion that will take place in the YASMIN forum will aim to investigate 
these novel artistic forms from a social and cultural perspective and will 
attempt to provide answers to a series of questions, some of which follow:

? "Where" is a locative media artwork? How does a spectator/visitor experience 
such an activity or system as a spatial context within which interaction occurs 
and symbolic content is communicated?
? Can the use of locative media by artists be considered as an 
"aestheticisation" of these high-end ICT systems' use and even as an "excuse" 
for the rapid expansion of surveillance technologies?
? Could we attempt a categorization of Locative Media artworks and related 
activities created so far?
? Does experimenting with these advanced forms of ICTs turn the focus of 
attention to the technological media per se and much less on the symbolic 
content communicated? 
? How may these types of artworks or activities alter our understanding of the 
concepts of representation and narrative?
? How do locative media activities influence the dynamics of social interaction 
in real time and space? How can they affect our patterns of communication and 
our social behaviors in the long term?
? From a design perspective, how can we create locative media art and 
activities that are more intertwined with the fabric of our everyday life? 

The discussion will will take place in the YASMIN forum from Monday the 3rd of 
December onwards and will be moderated by Dimitris Charitos along with Prof. 
Martin Rieser and Dr. Yanna Vogiazou as respondents. Below are short CVs of 
this discussion's moderators:

Dr. Dimitrios Charitos (vedesign@xxxxxxxxx) is a lecturer at the Faculty of 
Communication and Media Studies of the University of Athens. He teaches 
"Human-Computer Communication", "Art & Technology", "Visual Communication", 
"Digital Communication Environments". He has studied Architectural Design 
(National Technical University of Athens, 1990) Computer Aided Design and has a 
PhD on Interactive Design and Virtual Environments (University of Strathclyde, 
1998). He has taught at an undergraduate and postgraduate level since 1994 in 
Scotland and Greece (Department of Informatics, University of Athens and Dept 
of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens). He has authored or 
co-authored more than 50 publications in books, journals or conference 
proceedings. His artistic work involves electronic music, audiovisual, 
non-interactive or interactive, site-specific installations and virtual 
environments.

Professor M. Rieser is a Media Artist and Theorist based in Bristol. Professor 
of Digital Creativity at De Montfort University. 2000-7 Professor of Digital 
Arts and Senior Teaching Fellow Bath Spa University, was Principal Lecturer in 
Digital Media at Napier University in Edinburgh at the Department of 
Photography, Film, and Television 1997-2000, and in post as Senior Lecturer in 
Electronic Media at UWE Bristol between 1986 ? 1998. He set up one of the first 
post-graduate courses in the country in Digital Art and Imaging at the City of 
London Polytechnic, now the London Guildhall University 1980-85. His teaching 
and practice centres on new types of interactive art which use non-linear 
narrative in new media through Locative, interactive installations, networked 
art projects and collaborations with architects. He has acted as consultant to 
bodies such as Cardiff Bay Arts Trust, NESTA, Arkive, AHRC the Photographers 
Gallery London. External Examiner at UIAH Helsinki, St
 Martins University of the Arts and Glamorgan University Professor of Digital 
Ats at Bath Spa University 2000-2007. He recently edited: New Screen Media: 
Cinema/Art/Narrative (BFI/ZKM, 2002)- which combined a DVD of current research 
and practice in this area together with critical essays . He was on AHRB 
research leave during 2004-5 creating a new locative work for Bath Abbey called 
Hosts 2006, which used mobile and positional technologies combined with 
interactive sound and video and has just authored a book on Locative Media Arts 
called The Mobile Audience shortly to be published by Rodopi Commisions and 
Residencies include: 2007 La Trobe University Melbourne, 2006 Invideo Milan, 
1997 Watershed/Cambridge Darkroom, which involved constructing a self-curating 
web site and multimedia piece called Screening the Virus, based around publicly 
submitted artwork on HIV/Aids related themes. This was later short listed for a 
Wellcome Trust Sci-Art award. He also directed the Media
 Myth and Mania section of the joint Watershed/Artec exhibition and CD 
publication From Silver to Silicon. The latter piece was shown at many venues 
around the world including Milia in Cannes; Paris; ICA and the Photographer's 
Gallery, London and at ISEA Montreal. Other visual research projects included 
the direction of a collaboration involving five other artists (collectively 
known as Ship of Fools) using the subject of mythologies to explore the full 
range of narrative and visual interfaces in interactive media in a piece called 
Labyrinth 1996. This work involved drama, digital image, virtual environments, 
and interactive video at F-Stop Gallery in Bath and as part of the Cheltenham 
Literary Festival. It has been previewed at a number of venues including the 
Oberhausen Short Film festival in Germany and at ISEA in Montreal. In 2001 his 
research project Triple Echo won an AHRB award and involves a three-screen 
interactive video depicting a love triangle based on the
 Orpheus legends.

Dr. Yanna Vogiazou (yanna.vogiazou@xxxxxxxxxxxx) is an Interaction Designer at 
T-Mobile International, specializing in user experience and cross-platform 
media convergence. Until recently Yanna was a lecturer in Interaction Design, 
Programme Leader and Course Tutor for BA/BSc Computing & Interaction Design at 
the Department of Design, Goldsmiths, University of London. She has a PhD from 
the Knowledge Media Institute, Open University, UK. Yanna practices a range of 
research methods and creative processes for the design of innovative 
interactive products, from user-centered design workshops to concept 
development and prototype evaluation. Her academic research focused on the 
social applications of new media and on the process of design for emergence, 
exploring group interactions and social behaviors that can emerge through 
unpredictable uses of technology and how these feed back into the design 
process. In the context of her PhD research, she collaborated with Hewlett 
Packard
 Laboratories in Bristol, UK for the design and development of a wireless, 
location-based multiplayer game. Yanna has published in books, Journals and 
international conferences. Her PhD thesis has been published as a book by Ios 
Press, titled 'Design for Emergence'. She holds an MA in Interactive Media from 
the University of Westminster, London, UK (2001) and a BA (Hons) in 
Communication and Media from Panteion University of Athens, Greece (2000). 
_______________________________________________
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Dr. Sarah Jane Pell
   
  
  Director/Founder, Aquabatics Australia
  Cell +61 (0)415 711 717
    www.sarahjanepell.com
     
  Adjunct Lecturer, 
  School of Anatomy & Human Biology,
  University of Western Australia
  www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au 


   
  research@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

       
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