2/3/2008
Research Ideas
Conversations Across Difference
My background in researching the role of media as a catalyst for grass roots movement for social and political change. In the 90s Initiated a series of events called The Next 5 Minutes and from these events in a series of essays with a Dutch media theorist Geert Lovink I helped to theorize an approach to media and politics which we called “tactical media” which remains influential. The Next 5 Minutes a series of media arts festivals and conferences which looks at the role of art and small scale media in the development of grass roots social movements. In the most recent edition in 2003 we broke open the editorial process. We developed the program for the festival by using the network we built up over the years combined with the kudos of the event to asking groups around the world to create what we called ‘tactical media labs’ to help us create the festival based around a decentralised collaborative network, in short a global editorial network. I think of this project as part of a wider process of globalisation from below.
The last event was developed through a global network of tactical media labs. My current work is to gather together the accumulated material into a data base called the tactical media Files.
At De Balie I am leading a project called Tactical Media Files This project comes directly from my background as the founder of Next 5 Minutes. And my particular interest in the role of media in the development of grass roots movement for social change.
We are currently creating what we call a “Living Archive” for Tactical Media. The basic architecture is currently in place but what I want to focus on here and in relationship to development possibilities that might be of interest to Portsmouth researchers and developers and also in the (Un)common Ground context are the new generation of players that we have been developing. More on this later.
My most recent writtings on this subject can be found last year in th Open Cahiers Journal of art and design and just published a chapter and a break out section in the Alternative Media Hand book published by the distingushed academic publishers Routledge.
This work is also related work I have been doing in developing what could be described as a distinctive “digital aesthetic” and to the conference of the same name in Lancaster University which I made a key note address at a conference last year and they have just made a selection for their publication.
What I have written about is also explored in a project I am currently co-curating called Visual Foreign Correspondents a project linked to a series of monthly seminars in which leading thinkers consider the next phase of Another relevant example of current work (this time outside of the academy) is Visual Foreign Correspondents a project for De Balie an important cultural centre in Amsterdam.
VFC is framed within the context of an international series of monthly seminars on the geopolitics behind the next phase of globalisation. Within this context of broadly based political discourse Visual Foreign Correspondents commissions screen based works by artists from around the world to be shown during the evening’s discussion and also on urban screens in the city. The pieces are also streamed and archived on the website.
In this context the work of fine artists helps us discern the ways in which the emergence of new power blocks in a more interconnected world is tangled up with the production of new subjectivities. Artists here are testing and exploring how we can all become the subjects not just the objects of modernity. Thus when we are talking about moving outwards we are looking to the cultures that are not just the obvious power blocks but those which operate in the intersecting spaces. (Kysirigstat images from the silk road)
globalisation.
A great deal of this work also includes thinking about new delivery platforms that are now available through the new codecs, bandwidth and increased processor speed.
(Un)common Ground
Uncommon Ground research into the role of art, design and theory as a catalyst for collaborative practice.
Is a research project and a research network spanning many different institutions.
with the objective of looking at the dynamics of collaborative practice with a particular
emphasis on the role of art and design as a catalyst for collaborative practice, not just
across disciplines but across whole sectors.
- Avoids the language of the interdisciplinary
- Looking at appropriate methodologies for research into art and design
- Emphasizes the empirical - case study driven
Our first print output was last year’s (Un)common Ground book financed by the Arts Council England The project is marked by expert meetings sometimes attached to key public events. The last was held in September 2007 at the yearly cross media festival Picnic. As you can see we are now using our site to disseminate material presented in video form.
The next workshop will be held in May hosted by BAM, Instituut voor beeldende, audiovisuele en mediakunst of Gent at Z33. One of the things we are discussing with the Belgium connection is (curating (Un)common Ground in other words an exhibition).
New Research
The Future of the Book
That is the background- Now the current possibilities that we are looking at. What we are calling Phase 3 will revolve around the production of the second (Un)common Ground Book. We are currently working with Prof. Patrick Humphries of LSE co-director of the multi-media lab and the Institute for the Future of the Book (based in New York) with its director Bob Stein. The project in this system that has most influenced us in our own intended process is the book Gamer Theory published by Harvard University Press gamer theory by Mckenzie Wark that was developed on a platform developed by The Institute for the Future of the Book. But the key features of the next platform developed by the Institute (code named Sophie) will allow for enhanced multi-media functionality. Reflexively the book development of this book is becoming a key (Un)common Ground case study, practice based research in action. Our themes are new frameworks for collaborative practice, the changing nature of “the book”, living archives and multi-modality vs blended media. This last part is where a very important Portsmouth research thread comes into the frame which is the addition of “touch” to the modalities of communication.
Multi-Modality
‘We are witnessing’, he declared ‘the formation of a hypertext and a meta-language which for the first time in history, integrate into the same system the written, oral and audio-visual modalities of human communication…. The human spirit reunites its dimensions in a new interaction between the two sides of the brain, machines and social contexts. For all the science fiction ideology and commercial hype surrounding the so-called information superhighway we can hardly underestimate its significance’ (Manuel Castells)
Alongside that we have to address the question of how to show moving image material in the age of broad band and rapidly increasing processing speeds and finally and advanced generation of compression codecs creating the option of hi-definition movies on-line the new h264 video compression codec offers briliant results in lower bandwith but can equally well handle High Definition video. This is incomparbale to any other video standrad currrently available for the web.This is what I am currently involved in through a collaboration with De Balie in Amsterdam including a PhD by practice student Michiel van de Haagen. At De Balie I am leading a project called Tactical Media Files This project comes directly from my background as the founder of Next 5 Minutes. And my particular interest in the role of media in the development of grass roots movement for social change.
We are currently creating what we call a “Living Archive” for Tactical Media. The basic architecture is currently in place but what I want to focus on here and in relationship to development possibilities that might be of interest to Portsmouth researchers and developers and also in the (Un)common Ground context are the new generation of players that we have been developing.
Player Technology
We have gone through a number of version of the player technology. attaching metadata to any point in a video file, allowing one to make fragments after the file is already on the server and attaching urls and other related information dynamically to the video-stream. For The Tactical Media Files we are developing a new player with new sets of possibilities.
This is part of far wider research that we are involved in as far as player technology is concerned. For instance our working group developed a player especially for movies We also are looking at players and interfaces as works of art in themselves. The data base as symbolic form:
Living Archives for Live Multi-channel Conferencing
The longer term ambition is for a phase which we term tactical media streams. This is conferencing device a tool box for simultaneous discussions from multiple spaces.
This is not as far fetched as it sounds. It is based based on a technology that has already been developed by De Balie team. In the form of a distributed yet integrated on-line/off-line discussion happening live in one space. This exists as the Cool Media Hot talk Show format.The goal is to adapt this technology to a distributed yet integrated on-line/off-line discussion happening live in multiple-spaces.
E-Reader ResearchThis project will explore the potential adoption of ebook devices in scholarly communities by carrying out a design ethnographic process. The research starts from the position that current ebook device design does not adequately provide for the needs of academic readers who require interfaces and functionalities that facilitate active rather than passive reader practices.
“Dedicated, portable electronic reading devices have been on the market for almost 10 years, (e.g. Rocket eBook, Softbook 1998; Franklin eBookMan 1999). However, their adoption has been restricted due to the cost of dedicated devices and an unclear system of ebook distribution. Recently new developments in the speed, size, and expense of computer processors and memory, along with innovations in both battery life and screen technologies have engendered a new interest in these technologies. Large corporations, most notably Sony, Intel, and Philips have recently released new devices and are actively exploring possible markets and novel forms of content distribution.”
Current generation of E-Readers-
The project could be housed at University of Portsmouth at KNAW research program tasked with studying the use of digital technologies by humanities and social science researchers (VKS), will include interaction designers (HKU).
The project will target scholarly domains already engaged in research on textuality (phililogy, typography, and book history). Through these intersections, this research will result in new conceptual insights into the nature of digital textuality, pragmatic recommendations for ebook device manufacturers and programmers, and novel software ebook interfaces and functionality.
New Player + archive integration (today)
