UC Irvine: New Media, Technology and Humanities

UC Irvine: New Media, Technology and Humanities
There is a great conference coming up at the University of California, Irvine entitled "New Media, Technology and Humanities." It is two day event being held on February 17 and 18, 2006.

Given the growing importance of digital technologies in contemporary culture, the humanities should be well positioned to offer perspectives on cultural communication.

As reading and writing are in continual flux under the conditions of new technologies, media literacy becomes closely related to questions of core competency in the humanities. While reading on-line, navigating multimedia environments, and mobile telecommunications present departures from traditional notions of literacy, they still require collective and individual abilities of critical and evaluative comprehension or appreciation.
Whether seen as a radical departure, or merely an extension or inflection of older media practices, new media (Web TV, electronic book, interactive cinema) confront us with emergent forms of expression that demand our attention, whether they build upon or break with history. The historical and legal implications of new digital technologies must also be reconsidered, where, for example, the unique publicity rights of celebrities founder on their pop montage fame; software, game culture, and interactive networks complicate the recognition of creativity and authorship demanded by law. The fast pace of technical innovation, as well as the rapid development of academic disciplines relating to individual media or to discourses on media, pose a challenge to the humanities. This conference seeks to articulate the relation between media history, digital culture, and the humanities.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Friday, February 17
- Introductory Remarks to Conference Digging: Media / Archeology
Media Archeology is an emerging field that reflects on advanced media technology by linking it to the genealogy of technology out of which it emerged. This reconfiguration of historical discourse allows interpretations of cultural phenomena in the context of an original vanishing point - for instance, how it comes to pass that computer interfaces offer radical new possibilities for art and communication. It also presents legal and ethical challenges to past and present notions of intellectual property and idea sharing.
Lev Manovich, Visual Arts, UC San Diego: "Understanding Metamedia"
Erkki Huhtamo, Design & Media Arts, UC Los Angeles: "Tracing the Topoi - On Media Archeology"
Tara McPherson, Critical Studies, USC School of Cinema- Television: "Vectors" demonstration
Jennifer Urban, Intellectual Property Clinic, USC Law School: "Rights in Abstraction: Bound in 'Freedom,' Freedom to Bind"
Mark Poster, History, UC Irvine: Respondent

- Introduction to Afternoon Panel Texting: Digital / Humanities
Search engines promise real-time access to the stacks of research libraries. Academic publishing turns to online distribution. The Library of Congress is posting its collection on the net. Everywhere, computers have become part of the teaching and tending of literature, history, culture. Digital textuality has been hailed as a new form of literature, a new encyclopedia, a universal library, and as a meta-medium that would ingest or replace older media. In this scenario, what is completely untranslatable into new media may disappear as fast as what is utterly translatable.
Jeffrey Schnapp,French & Italian, Stanford University: "Big Humanities"
Eyal Amiran, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine: “Material and Social Paranoia in Digital Media”
Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Communications, UC San Diego: “Screen: VR, Text, Gameplay and Memory”
Mark Hansen, English, University of Chicago: “Digital Textuality”Rita Raley, English, UC Santa Barbara: “”Trans_code”

Introduction to Saturday Panel Gaming: Remix / Culture
Dynamic, interactive, immersive computer games represent a response to the adaptive problem posed by computers. Games model responses that pivot not on a narrative, but on non-linear modes of access, such as human interfaces with relational databases. Also, game technology may be put to unexpected ends - in cinematics, art film, music video, etc. As demonstrated by open source software, peer-to peer networking, and music sampling (not just in hip-hop, but in any cover version, remix, bootleg, mash-up), a playfully recombinant culture emphasizes how the very nature of the digital can allow and encourage derivative works.
Andrew Herman, Communication, Wilfred Laurier University: “Your ‘Second Life’? Goodwill and the Performativity of Intellectual Properties in Online Games”Rosemary Coombe, Law & Cultural Studies, York University
Robert Nideffer, Studio Art & Computer Science, UC Irvine: “Gaming in Heterogenous Networks”
Henry Lowood, History of Science & Technology, Stanford University Libraries: “Replay Culture: Performance and Spectatorship in Gameplay”
John Seely Brown, former Chief Scientist for Xerox Corp., and former Director, Xerox PARC

Free and open to the public

Organized by Barbara Cohen and Peter KrappSupported by: Arts Computation Engineering (ACE) Beall Center for Art & TechnologyCalifornia Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) Department of Film & Media StudiesHumaniTechHumanities CenterInternational Center for Writing and TranslationOffice of Research & Graduate StudiesSchool of HumanitiesUC Humanities Research Institute

link

Network Art: Practices and Positions

Network Art: Practices and Positions (Innovations in Art and Design) by Tom Corby

Book Description
Exploring emerging artistic responses to a world enveloped by the information networks, in Network Art an international group of leading theorists and artists investigate how the Internet, in the form of websites, mailing lists, installations and performance, has been used by artists to develop artwork which reflects upon the pervasive effects of a technology that has profoundly reordered our social, economic and cultural institutions.

Covering a period from the mid 1990s to the present day, this fascinating text includes key texts by historians and theorists such as Charlie Gere, Josephine Bosma, Tilman Buarmgartel and Sarah Cook, alongside descriptions of important projects by Thomson and Craighead, Lisa Jevbratt and 0100101110101101.org among many others.Fully illustrated throughout, and including many pictures of artworks never before seen in print, Network Art represents one of the first substantial attempts to place major artist's writings on network art alongside those of critics, curators and historians. In doing so it takes a unique approach, offering the first comprehensive attempt to understand network art practice, rooted in concrete descriptions of the systems and the process required to create it.

About the Author
Art meets media: Adventures in Perception at the NTT Inter-Communication Center (ICC), Tokyo and File media art festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil. His work has won a number of international awards, including prizes at The Post-Cagian Interactive, The Machida City Museum of Arts, Tokyo in 2001, Ars Electronica in 2001, and Cynet Art

mimoSa

Urban intervention and information correctional machine mimoSa

Since october 2005 mimoSa maps different brazilian cities by urban interventions that aim to interfere at the current brazilian mediascape, reapropriating technology to reveal places, people and their tales.

Rhizome Commissions Program: 2006-2007

Rhizome Commissions Program: 2006-2007
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
+ Deadline for proposals: April 1, 2006 +
Rhizome is pleased to announce that with support from the Greenwall Foundation, the Jerome Foundation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, between eight and eleven new Internet art projects will be commissioned in 2006.
The fee for each commission will range from $900 – $3,000.
Artists are invited to submit proposals for new works of Internet-based art. There is no required theme. The works can manifest offline, as long as the Internet is a primary vehicle in the creation of the work, and the final work is accessible online, whether through a web browser, software, or some other use of internet technologies.
When evaluating proposals, the jury will consider artistic merit, technical feasibility, and online accessibility. Although we will provide some technical assistance with final integration into the Rhizome web site, artists are expected to develop projects independently and without significant technical assistance from Rhizome.
+ How to Submit a Proposal +
The jury will only consider proposals from members of Rhizome.org.
To sign up for Rhizome membership, please visit:http://rhizome.org/preferences/register.rhiz
There are two parts to proposal submission:
You must create a proposal in the form of a web site that includes the following key elements:
+ Project description (500 words maximum) that discusses your project's core concept, how you will realize your project, and your project's feasibility. If you plan to work with assistants, consultants, or collaborators, their roles and (if possible) names should be included.
+ You are encouraged, but not required, to include a production timeline and a project budget, which should include your own fee. If you have other funding sources for your project, please indicate this in your budget.
+ Your resume or Curriculum Vitae. For collaborative groups, provide either a collective CV or the CV's of all participants.
+ Up to 5 work samples. Note: More is not necessarily better. You should include only work samples relevant to your proposal. If your proposal has nothing to do with photography, don't include images from your photography portfolio. Please provide contextualizing information (title, date, medium, perhaps a brief description) to help the jury understand what they are looking at. The work sample can take any form, as long as it is accessible via the web.
When designing your web-based proposal, please note that the jury will have limited time for evaluations, so try to make your site clear and concise.
When your web-based proposal is complete, you are ready for Part Two of the proposal process:
Submit your proposal for a Rhizome Commission via an online form athttp://rhizome.org/commissions/submit/.
We do not accept proposals via email, snail mail, or other means. Proposals will be accepted until 12:00AM EST (that's New York time) on Saturday, April 1, 2006. The form requires the following information:
+ Name of artist or collaborative group+ Email address+ Place of residence (city, state/province, country)+ Title of the project (this can be tentative)+ Brief description of project (50 words maximum)+ URL of web-based proposal
+ Jury +
Proposals will be reviewed by a jury consisting of Lauren Cornell, Executive Director of Rhizome; blogger Regine Debatty of we-make-money-not-art, net artist Olia Lialina, Professor at Merz Akademie, Stuttgart; artist and writer Eduardo Navas, also founder and contributing editor of Net Art Review and New Media Fix; and Marisa S. Olson, artist and Editor and Curator-at-Large at Rhizome.

Rhizome members will also participate in the evaluation and awarding process through secure web-based forms. In this phase of evaluation, Rhizome members will be directed to the submitted web-based proposals. While this more open jurying process does mean that proposals could possibly be discussed publicly, there have been no reported conflicts or abuses of information reported.

+ Winners +
Winners will be contacted on or after May 23rd, 2006. Each winner will be asked to sign an agreement with Rhizome.org governing the terms of the commission. Commissioned projects will be listed on the main Rhizome Commission page and included in the Rhizome ArtBase.
+ Questions +
If you have any questions about the Rhizome Commissions, send an email to commissions@rhizome.org.

Bruce Sterling - 6 trends in technology

From "Spimes and the future of artifacts" Bruce Sterling - conference - LIFT06 : http://www.lift06.org - February 3, 2006 Geneva

"I think there are 6 trends in technology which all have something to do with physical objects and they all end up to a new kind of cultural sensibility for objects:

1 - interactive chips: we now have objects can be labeled with interactive chips, that can be labelled with unique identity - RFID, electronic barcoding, arphids (rf-i-d for french)
2 - geolocation: positioning systems for physical objects in the cartesian environment
3 - powerful search engines: we can actually find things digitally, it's not a project for google, we will end up googling objects pretty soon
4- 3D modeling for objects, virtual design, computer-aided design, computer aided manufacturing
5 - rapid prototyping of objects: fabricators, computer fabricators, moving making objects from virtual design in a single manufacturing step: fabjects, blogjects
6 - cradle-to-cradle recycling: transparent production, watching objects move digitally from the moment to which the design to the moment when they're torn apart and recycled. "

article complete http://tecfa.unige.ch/~nova/sterling_lift06.txt

BIP Elettrowave

BIP - BUILDING INTERACTIVE PLAYGROUNDS

2nd edition – Elettrowave, July 14-16 2006 – Arezzo/ItalySubmission
deadline: March 10, 2006
We are currently accepting applications to participate in the second edition of BIP, an International Competition for interaction design projects for public events.

BIP will happen during Elettrowave, a three day festival of electronic music.Elettrowave is part of Arezzowave, the biggest free music festival in Italy.

01 – WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR? If you want to play with space and time and people, if you like crossing barriers and probing around in extreme situations, if you fiddle around with the idea the space can be programmed, if you eat social patterns for your breakfast, if you are not scared by a drunk young audience, if you keep telling your friends that environments are not passive wrappings but active processes, if your perceptions keep shifting, if your projects are about interplay, exploration and humor, if tinkering with technology is your obsession......then... this call for works is your unique chance to experiment with interaction design within the context of an electronic music festival. Nightlife, extreme characters, clubbing freaks, a young, unrespectuful and challenging audience. You know what we are talking about, don’t you?
We are looking for projects. Not vague ideas. Real projects that can substantially and meaningfully enrich the Elettrowave event and strengthen involvement. Clubbing is the context, not the object, of BIP.We’re looking for something innovative, passionate and fresh that can make a difference. Interactive installations, environments, sound and/or visual projects, etc.If your project is at an early stage we will consider it only if you can prove you'll be able to produce it within the festival deadline. We may offer production assistance if we fall in love with your project proposal.Please keep in mind that the projects should be able to stand 3 nights of extremely intense use, in a venue with thousands of people. Please consider production feasibility and all possible setup constraints.
02 – WHO IS ELIGIBLE?Participation is open to applicants from every country in the world, to (interaction) designers, artists, researchers, architects, students. Participation is free.
03 – SUBMISSION DEADLINEAll project proposals must be postmarked by March 10th, 2006.Late entries will not be accepted. By submitting a project, the applicant warrants that it is his/her original design.
04 – HOW AND WHEN ARE THE PROJECTS SELECTED?In March 2006, a panel of jurors will select up to 3 projects. Winners will be announced during a workshop/event in April. The event will be hosted by Università di Siena, Italy.
05 – AWARDSSelected projects will be installed for the three nights of Elettrowave 2006. This is a precious opportunity to test your interactive projects in the context of an electronic music festival.The projects will benefit from a total budget of 10.000 euros offered by BIP. The budget will be divided between the selected projects according to production, transportation and setup costs. BIP will consider supporting production costs of new projects that are being presented to the public for the first time. Commonly used technology (videoprojectors, screens, audio systems, monitors, mixers, etc.) will be available to the selected projects if required.
06 – HOW MANY PROJECTS CAN I SUBMIT?Only one project may be submitted per entrant. Teams register with one name only.
07 – SUBMISSION GUIDELINESThe submission form is available for download at www.todo.to.it/bip/bip_submission2006.pdfPlease fill out all the information required in the form. Send your submission to: TODO - BIP 2006 c/o Mail Boxes Etc. Box 294, Via Boucheron 1610122 - Torino - Italy Submissions which do not conform to the rules will be rejected without any notice. There is no legal recourse against this decision.Submitted material will become part of the festival archives and will not be returned.
08 – ACCURACY AND COPYRIGHTAny moral and paternity right regarding the project sent in for application is designer’s property. By participating, you grant BIP the right to edit, publish, promote and otherwise use the entry without further permission, notice or compensation. Credit information may need to be condensed or edited for space.BIP assumes that all entries are original and are the work and property of the entrant, with all rights granted there-in. BIP is not liable for violations of any third party rights, including, but not limited to, claims of copyright, trademark, patent infringment. BIP assumes that all images provided with entries are free of any third-party rights. BIP will include photographer credits if that information is provided along with the images.
09 – MORE QUESTIONS?Send inquiries to bip@arezzowave.com with "BIP – Call for Works" as the subject line.
10 – ORGANIZATIONBIP is promoted by FAWI (Fondazione Arezzowave Italia) and ARSNOVA.BIP is realized in partnership with the Università di Siena The BIP project is managed by TODO interaction design studio.