DASH Archives - June 2007

  Future Histories of the Moving Image

An international conference to be held at University of Sunderland

16-18 November 2007





**** Due to growing interest and new confirmed speakers we have ****

extended the submission deadline:  30 June 2007



Keynote Speakers:  Professor Patricia Zimmermann (Ithaca College, New  
York), and Holly Aylett (Vertigo Magazine and Independent Film  
Parliament, UK)


As is now widely acknowledged, with the advent of digital technology  
the nature of moving image production, distribution and exhibition  
has changed dramatically.  In particular, a rapidly increasing number  
of people are now accessing an increasing volume and range of moving  
image material online.  This technology is also changing the way in  
which we analyse and document current and historical moving image  
practices, as there has been a recent proliferation of digital  
archive and database projects relating to film, video and television  
practices.  It is timely therefore to examine the changing ways in  
which we are circulating and interrogating all areas of our moving  
image culture.

We would particularly welcome papers that address the following areas:

–       What impact does the increasing reliance on database  
resources have on the nature of the histories we produce and write?

–       History as database vs history as narrative.

–       Implications of the proliferation of online critical writing  
(from refereed academic journals through to personal blogs) and its  
dissemination, with the blurring of the traditional distinction  
between professional and amateur writer.

–       The role and implication of immediate online distribution/ 
exhibition of works

–       What impact is digital distribution having on theatrical  
exhibition?

–       Issues arising from the perceived need on the part of major  
producers/broadcasters to develop content for multiple platforms.

–       The implications of multiple producers being able to  
disseminate a wide range of material to multiple niche audiences  
(giving the idea of ‘narrowcasting’ a new meaning).

–       Revival/development of found footage production practices  
with the availability of digital archives such as Library of Congress  
Internet Archive (including the Prelinger Archive) and BBC Open  
Archive initiative.

–       Questions relating to the increasing accessibility online of  
moving image material in relation to intellectual property and the  
development of the Creative Commons copyright licence.

–       The creative influence of database logic on film structure.


The conference will also host an open workshop – with participation  
by the Arts Council England, the Tate, the British Film Institute,  
Marcel Schwierin (Cinovid Database, Germany) and Gaby Wijers  
(Netherlands Media Art Institute, Montevideo/Time Based Arts) – which  
will address the issues of securing the sustainability and maximising  
the use/visibility of the growing number of film and video database/ 
online research resources.  The workshop is funded by the AHRC  
Networks and Workshops Scheme.

Check out our blog regularly for latest news:  
myblogs.sunderland.ac.uk/blogs/futurehistories/

Please send proposals of 200-300 words for papers of approx. 20  
minutes, together with a brief biographical note by 30 June 2007 to  
the conference organisers (Steven Ball, Julia Knight and Stephen  
Partridge) at futurehistories@sunderland.ac.uk

Future Histories of the Moving Image is a joint conference organised  
by the University of Sunderland, the British Artists’ Film and Video  
Study Collection (University of the Arts, London) and the Visual  
Research Centre REWIND project DJCAD at the University of Dundee, in  
collaboration with Convergence: The International Journal of Research  
into New Media Technologies.  All papers delivered at the conference  
will be considered for publication in the journal.

----------------
Julia Knight
Reader in Moving Image/Co-editor, Convergence
School of Arts, Design, Media & Culture
University of Sunderland
Media Building
The Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's
St Peter's Way
Sunderland.  SR6 0DD
Tel:  0191 515 2653 (direct line)
Tel:  0191 515 2634 (switchboard)
Fax:  0191 515 3807
email:  julia.knight@sunderland.ac.uk
************
***Please note NEW author-date style for Convergence**
see www.beds.ac.uk/convergence/callforpapers/instructions

Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
Editors: Julia Knight and Alexis Weedon
Editorial assistant: Jason Wilson
Associate editors: Jeanette Steemers (Europe), Rebecca Coyle (Western  
Pacific), Amy Bruckman and Jane Singer (North America)
Published quarterley. ISSN 1354-8564
Copyright of Convergence articles rests with the publisher
Editorial e-mail: Convergence@beds.ac.uk
Editorial website: www.beds.ac.uk/convergence
SAGE http://con.sagepub.com


====
Paul Brown - based in the UK March-July 2007
mailto:paul@paul-brown.com == http://www.paul-brown.com
UK Mobile +44 (0)794 104 8228 == USA fax +1 309 216 9900
Skype paul-g-brown
====
Visiting Professor - Sussex University
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/ccnr/research/creativity.html
====

Thanks to Barry Smith for alerting me to this:

Concerning AHRC withdrawal of AHDS funding
On the 14th May 2007 the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council  
(AHRC) publicly announced its intention to withdraw funding from its  
digital service provider, the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS)  
from March 2008. The announcement is available on:
http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/news/news_pr/2007/ 
information_for_applicants_to_AHRC_june_deadline.asp
An initial response by AHDS is available at:
http://ahds.ac.uk/news/ahrc-news-may07.htm
The AHDS Homepage outlining their full range of services is available  
at:
http://www.ahds.ac.uk/index.htm

For reasons outlined below this action severely threatens UK based  
arts and humanities digital research and development and has now  
developed to the stage of petitioning the Prime Minister to request  
AHRC to reconsider their decision to withdraw funding.  The petition  
is available at

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/AHDSfunding

and you are requested to consider signing it.

Only British citizens and those resident in the UK are permitted to  
sign the petition but international colleagues may choose to send  
emails to the appropriate authorities outlining the detrimental  
effect this action will cause to UK and international arts and  
humanities digital research, learning and teaching.  Further details  
are given below.

Please feel free to cross-post this request as you feel is appropriate.

b.

-

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: 10 Downing Street
Subject: Your petition to the Prime Minister has been approved
     Your petition has been approved by the Number 10 web team, and
     is now available on the Number 10 website at the following
     address:
     http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/AHDSfunding/

     Your petition reads:

     We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to urge the Arts
      and Humanities Research Council to revisit its decision to
      withdraw funding from the Arts and Humanities Data Service,
      which has played a fundamental part in developing and
      supporting use of new digital technologies to support
      innovative research by UK researchers

      On 11 May 2007, Professor Philip Esler, Chief Executive of the
      AHRC, wrote to University Vice-Chancellors informing them of
      the Council's decision to withdraw funding from the AHDS after
      eleven years. The AHDS has pioneered and encouraged awareness
      and use among Britain's university researchers in the arts and
      humanities of best practice in preserving digital data created
      by research projects funded by public money. It has also
      ensured that this data remains publicly available for future
      researchers. It is by no means evident that a suitable
      replacement infrastructure will be established and the AHRC
      appears to have taken no adequate steps to ensure the continued
      preservation of this data. The AHDS has also played a prominent
      role in raising awareness of new technologies and innovative
      practices among UK researchers. We believe that the withdrawal
      of funding for this body is a retrograde step which will
      undermine attempts to create in Britain a knowledge economy
      based on latest technologies. We ask the Prime Minister to urge
      the AHRC to reconsider this decision.

--

Further considerations:

Building an interconnected collection of digital research data –  
which can only be undertaken by a national organisation - is  
essential to the future development of arts and humanities research.
The current AHRC action will inevitably cause the UK arts and  
humanities to fall behind international standards and to lose  
research findings of interest and value to future generations
Creating an on-line representation of digital research data is a form  
of publication of research knowledge similar, and complementary, to  
printed publications.
Whereas copyright libraries preserve standard publications there is  
as yet no national equivalent for digital research outputs and this  
action by the AHRC increases the likelihood of fragmentation and loss.
Digital research outputs need to be properly curated and preserved  
for the long-term (and long-term means longer than the 3 years being  
suggested by AHRC as a new orthodoxy).
Research data is complex requiring an infrastructure which can ensure  
the long term sustainability and accessibility of these materials.
Preservation of digital materials is not simply back-up, another copy  
in a drawer, but requires skilled knowledge and actions which  
individual researchers cannot be expected to acquire.
Institutional repositories are at best geared to make digital objects  
available to their community; they are not geared to independently  
deal with the complexities of infrastructure, longevity and national/ 
international access; any notion that 100+ UK Universities can  
independently support the required degree of technical expertise is  
mistaken.
Working to common standards and best practice is essential if the  
value of these resources is to remain accessible to future  
generations of scholars and in the current confused state it is not  
apparent who will provide this advice.
The sudden and unwarranted withdrawal of funding from the AHDS  
threatens the future of arts and humanities research in the UK and  
severely weakens the effectiveness and stature of its associated  
Research Council.

Please sign the petition to the Prime Minister at http:// 
petitions.pm.gov.uk/AHDSfunding
and/or voice your concerns directly to the AHRC (copies to HEFCE/JISC  
and AHDS appreciated) by writing to the individuals below:

AHRC:
Professor Philip Esler
Chief Executive
Arts and Humanities Research Council
Whitefriars
Lewins Mead
BRISTOL BS1 2AE
Email:  executive@ahrc.ac.uk

JISC/HEFCE:
Dr Malcolm Read
Executive Secretary
JISC/HEFCE
Northavon House
Coldharbour Lane
BRISTOL BS16 1QD
Email:  m.read@jisc.ac.uk

AHDS:
Sheila Anderson
AHDS Executive
26 - 29 Drury Lane (3rd Floor)
King's College London
LONDON, WC2B 5RL
Email:  sheila.anderson@AHDS.AC.UK

================================






====
Paul Brown - based in the UK March-July 2007
mailto:paul@paul-brown.com == http://www.paul-brown.com
UK Mobile +44 (0)794 104 8228 == USA fax +1 309 216 9900
Skype paul-g-brown
====
Visiting Professor - Sussex University
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/ccnr/research/creativity.html
====

For the attention of those interested in the use of 3D computer graphics in
the Arts and Humanities, with apologies for cross-posting and request for
circulation.

 

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

This is to draw your attention to the activities of the JISC 3D
Visualisation in the Arts Network (3DVisA), hosted by King's Visualisation
Lab at the Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London,
UK. 

 

You are invited to visit our website at www.viznet.ac.uk/3dvisa where you
will find:

 

- 3DVisA Bulletin which features papers on 3D projects, methods and
resources, now in its second issue;

 

- Index of 3D Projects;

 

- Information about the 3DVisA Award open to UK students; for eligibility
and how to apply see submission guidelines at
http://3dvisa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/student_award_call.html  (deadline 1 October
2007).

 

- The London Charter, a proposed international standard for heritage
visualisations, now open for consultation. You are invited to join the
London Charter Interest Group.

 

- Information about the VISA-3D discussion list.

 

Expressions of interest and participation in the 3DVisA activities are most
welcome. Please send your comments, queries, description of 3D projects and
paper proposals to anna.bentkowska@kcl.ac.uk 

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Anna Bentkowska-Kafel

3DVisA

  

 

 

________________________

Dr Anna Bentkowska-Kafel

JISC 3D Visualisation in the Arts Network (3DVisA)

Centre for Computing in the Humanities

King's College London

Kay House, 7 Arundel Street

London WC2R 3DX, UK

 

Tel: +44(0)20 7848 1421

 

  anna.bentkowska@kcl.ac.uk

 

3DVisA   www.viznet.ac.uk/3dvisa

The London Charter www.londoncharter.org

 

 
El medio es el dise*o audiovisual 
 
by Jorge La Ferla, Editor 
Editorial Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia, 2007 
702 pp. Paper, US$ 40.00 (80.000 $ colombianos) 
ISBN: 978-958-8319-05-6. 
 
Reviewed by Jos*-Carlos Mari*tegui 
Alta Tecnolog*a Andina (Lima, Peru) and London School of Economics London, 
UK 
 
jcm@ata.org.pe 
 
Since the early 90*s the Argentinean media theorist Jorge La Ferla has been 
publishing a series of compilations bringing the voices of Latin American 
and European intellectuals together. Thanks to his constant work through the 
La Ferla Chair at the University of Buenos Aires his publications have been 
not only decisive for several generations of students and researchers in 
Latin America, but also were among the first ones in Spanish that gave light 
to new topics surrounding the interdisciplinary fields of new media. 
 
The publication of El medio es el dise*o audiovisual (The medium is the 
audiovisual design) brings part of his previous editorial work together with 
several new titles into a massive compound of 46 authors and 72 texts, 
making this book the most complete compilation of new media theory to date 
published in Spanish. As in the case of La Ferla*s previous projects, one of 
the merits of El medio es el dise*o audiovisual is that it brings for the 
first time Spanish translations of several emblematic texts on new media 
theory. 
 
Usually there is a tendency to publish books and articles of Western 
mainstream intellectuals as the only and decisive voices surrounding media 
arts; however, the harmonic blending with articles by writers from Latin 
America, makes this publication unique. Texts from Arlindo Machado, Paula 
Sibilia, Claudia Giannetti and Lucia Santaella are published along with 
other better-know authors such as Lev Manovich, Umberto Eco, Oliver Grau, 
Pierre Levy or Peter Weibel, composing an original blend of contributors 
with ideological solidity. An additional innovation is making visible the 
names of other intellectuals, particularly from the Colombian scene, where 
the book was published, such as Hernando Barrag*n, Ricardo Cede*o M., Myriam 
Luisa D*az, Mauricio Dur*n, Carmen Gil Vrolijk, Iliana Hern*ndez, and Felipe 
C*sar Londo*o. 
 
The compilation is divided in nine chapters with varied topics that include 
the relations between art, science and technology, television studies, 
experimental film, new media design, media archaeology, video art, hypertext 
and non-linear narratives, interactive media and new media philosophy. 
Though we may argue about the way the texts in each chapter are compiled 
since the notion of new media is in permanent shift, so are these broad 
topics, which makes El medio es el dise*o audiovisual a screenshot of the 
current state of affairs. Additionally to the contributions, an analytic 
Index and a list of referenced works transforms this publication into an 
important research tool. 
 
The book is also part of a broader opinionated project of making more 
diverse the present homogeneous discourse around new media and audiovisual 
technologies. An additional critique to the book is that this blend lacks 
contributions from other new contexts of the world where there is currently 
an active development of the field of new media, such as India, China, the 
Middle East or South Africa. However, taking a critical stance on the 
diverse ways of thinking, designing or creating in different places of the 
world, the book tries to make a global and diverse assemblage by 
incorporating authors from the Latin-American context. The book includes 
several texts around design concepts and issues in new media and tries to 
intersect these ideas with broader media issues that are prospective and 
important for the 21st century, ranging from current media wars, specially 
taking into consideration that Colombia in itself is a country with an 
internal war. This prospective vision is complemented with deep and 
thoughtful texts on the history of new media from authors such as Vil*m 
Flusser or Siegfried Zielinski. In conclusion, the context-hygienic vision 
of new media and several universalistic visions, which do not mean they 
loose their critical carriage, are reconfigured with more local postures to 
enable a global panopticon. Finally, is worth mentioning the unique social 
nature of this publication that is orientated to being accessible as much as 
possible by selling it at an affordable price that covers the basic printing 
costs; the funds will be then used to generate new titles through the same 
egalitarian modality. El medio es el dise*o audiovisual stands by itself as 
a very important contribution that will benefit the future generations of 
researchers and students of new media in the Spanish-speaking Latin America. 
 
 
 
Updated 1st June 2007 
 
 
http://leonardo.info/reviews/jun2007/el_mariategui.html 
 
 
Contact LDR: ldr@leonardo.org 
 
Contact Leonardo: isast@sfsu.edu 
 
copyright (c) 2007 ISAST 

Digital Archive Fever

 

CHArt TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE

London Venue to be confirmed

Thursday 8 - Friday 9 November 2007 

 

- FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS - 

 

Museums, galleries, archives, libraries and media organisations such as
publishers and film and broadcast companies, have traditionally mediated and
controlled access to cultural resources and knowledge. What is the future of
such 'top-down' institutions in the age of 'bottom-up' access to knowledge
and cultural artifacts through what is generally known as Web 2:0 -
encompassing YouTube, Bittorrent, Napster, Wikipedia, Google, MySpace and
more. Will such institutions respond to this threat to their cultural
hegemony by resistance or adaptation? How can a museum or a gallery or, for
that matter, a broadcasting company, appeal to an audience which has
unprecedented access to cultural resources? How can institutions predicated
on a cultural economy of scarcity compete in an emerging state of cultural
abundance? 

 

For the twenty-third CHArt conference we are looking for papers that reflect
upon these issues, particularly in relation to visual culture. We
particularly welcome contributions from those working in either
'traditional' cultural organisations or those involved in new forms of
cultural access and distribution.

 

We welcome contributions from all sections  of the CHArt community: Art
Practice; Art History; Museums; Galleries; Curation; Archives; Libraries;
Education; Media and Broadcast Production; Cultural Assets Management and
Access; Hardware; Software; Theory.

 

Please email submissions (a three hundred word synopsis of the proposed
paper with brief CV of presenter/s and other key figures) by 30 June 2007 to
Hazel Gardiner (hazel.gardiner@kcl.ac.uk).

 

CHArt is delighted to be able to confirm that a limited number of bursaries
are available (supported by the AHRC ICT Methods Network) for Post Graduate
students presenting papers.  For further information about CHArt bursaries,
please contact Hazel Gardiner.

 

Dr Charlie Gere

Chair, CHArt

 

CHArt

c/o Centre for Computing in the Humanities

Kings College, University of London

Kay House

7 Arundel Street

WC2R 3DX

www.chart.ac.uk

 

- FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS - 

 

 

The Projection Box Publisher, publishing books and CDs on 'Popular  
Culture', related but not limited to the projected image, started an  
essay prize for research into the moving and projected image before  
1915.

Follow link via http://www.visual-media.eu/pbawards.html to read more  
about this award with a first prize of =A3, 250.

Rules, contact information, application form, guidelines and more can  
be found on the Projection Box Essay Awards announcement website.

Enjoy writing your illustrated (prize winning?) essay.

Success,

Thomas
http://www.visual-media.eu




====
Paul Brown - based in the UK March-July 2007
mailto:paul@paul-brown.com == http://www.paul-brown.com
UK Mobile +44 (0)794 104 8228 == USA fax +1 309 216 9900
Skype paul-g-brown
====
Visiting Professor - Sussex University
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/ccnr/research/creativity.html
====