The Media Innovation Circle#11 took place on May 6 with a talk by Matteo Bittanti, IULM University, Italy,  followed by a participated discussion on the topic “Machinima. How a vernacular practice became a new artistic avant garde”, moderated by Pedro Cardoso (DigiMedia/UA).

The video is already available on DigiMedia YouTube channel. Watch HERE. We invite you to subscribe the channel.

Matteo Bittanti is an Associate Professor in Media Studies at IULM University in Milan, Italy, where he teaches at undergraduate and graduate level. He lives in Milan and San Francisco. More information is available here.

Abstract

In this talk, Matteo Bittanti discusses the origins and the evolution of machinima, a genre of video art that deliberately appropriates and repurposes video game content, providing an overview of an ever expanding practice. Bittanti argues that although machinima emerged both in vernacular and avantgarde contexts, it the the latter that has evolved in remarkable ways, while the former has largely plateaued. The talk will touch upon several examples of artists engaged with contemporary machinima and chart the possible future of the medium.

The Media Innovation Circle#10 took place on March 25 with a talk by Débora Saade, Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Brazil,  followed by a participated discussion on the topic “e-Health Rio Project: Research and Innovation Network for Digital Healthcare Applied to Chronic Diseases”, moderated by Rita Oliveira (DigiMedia/UA).

The video is already available on DigiMedia YouTube channel. Watch HERE. We invite you to subscribe the channel.

Débora C. Muchaluat-Saade received the bachelor’s degree in computer engineering (1992) and the M.Sc. degree (1996) and Ph.D. degree (2003) in computer science from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). She is currently a Full Professor with the Department of Computer Science, Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Brazil. She is also one of the founders and heads of the MídiaCom Research Lab. She received several research grants from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Rio de Janeiro State’s Research Support Foundation (FAPERJ), the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), and other funding agencies. She is the PI of the e-Health Rio Project: Research and Innovation Network for Digital Healthcare Applied to Chronic Diseases, supported by FAPERJ. She has contributed to the design and development of the Ginga-NCL middleware, used in the Brazilian Digital TV Standard and ITU-T H.761 IPTV services. Her main research interests include multimedia systems, computer networks, smart grids, IoT, and digital healthcare.

Abstract

Project e-Health Rio aims at building a research and innovation network for the development of activities related to Information and Communication Technologies applied to e-health, specifically to Chronic Diseases. The project activities are structured in five major themes, which are: neurodegenerative diseases, breast and thyroid cancer, psychiatric diseases, remote monitoring of cardiac patients and tele-health. The project team is composed of Brazilian universities (UFF, UFRJ, UERJ and LNCC) and international partners from the United Kingdom, Spain and The Netherlands. The main project goals are: proposing clinical decision support systems; proposing multimedia cognitive exercises with sensory effects to aid health therapies; proposing new techniques for analysis of thermographic images for detection of breast and thyroid tumors; development and application of pattern recognition techniques, using artificial intelligence mechanisms to predict psychiatric symptoms; proposing new communication protocols for wireless body networks for efficient monitoring of cardiac patients; and development of support systems for teleinter-consultation. This talk is focused on the use of interactive media for healthcare therapies, using multisensory experiences for helping treatment of dementia and autism spectrum disorder.

The Media Innovation Circle#9 took place on February 25 with a talk by Sylvester Arnab, Coventry University (UK)  followed by a participated discussion on the topic “Empathic experiential design with playful and gameful inspirations”, moderated by Ana Veloso (DigiMedia/UA).

The video is already available on DigiMedia YouTube channel. Watch HERE. We invite you to subscribe the channel.

Sylvester Arnab is a Professor of Games Science at the Disruptive Media Learning Lab and an associate of the Centre for Post-digital Cultures at Coventry University, UK. His research focuses on the investigation into engaging, empathic, and empowering experiences through the lens of playful and gameful design practices. Sylvester is a co-founder of multi-award winning GameChangers initiative, which has been adapted in Malaysia and is currently being expanded into Vietnam and Indonesia towards responding to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Sylvester has published a book on ‘Game Science in Hybrid Learning Spaces’, which provides insights into the research and practice of purposeful game design with a focus on hybrid education. For more information click here.

Abstract

Our relationships with experiential artefacts such as games are evolving, where games and gameplay are becoming more pervasive in our daily lives. As serious outcomes are achieved through game-based experiences, it is essential to ensure a more empathic approach that would be co-creative and participatory towards onboarding practitioners into the design process. This talk draws from existing research, development, and practice under the multi-award winning GameChangers initiative that focuses on the onboarding of educators into the co-creation of playful and gameful experiences for achieving purposeful outcomes.

The Media Innovation Circle#8 took place on January 28 with a talk by Guido Lemos, Federal University of Paraíba – UFPB (Brazil)  followed by a participated discussion on the topic “There is a future for TV”, moderated by Jorge Ferraz de Abreu (DigiMedia/UA).

The video is already available on DigiMedia YouTube channel. Watch HERE. We invite you to subscribe the channel.

Guido Lemos is full Professor in the Department of Computer Systems at the Informatic Center at the Federal University of Paraíba (DI-CI-UFPB) holds a Ph.D. in Informatics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RIO). Coordinates LAVID (Center for Research and Extension in Digital Video Applications), where he researches the following topics: digital television, digital cinema, distributed multimedia applications, video distribution networks, distributed artistic performances, accessibility, telehealth, and blockchain applications. Worked on developing the Ginga middleware, published as ITU-T and ITU-R Recommendations, and adopted as a standard in the Brazilian Digital Television System and in several countries in Latin America, whose implementation runs on about 100 million TV devices. He drove the expansion of UFPB, foreseeing the increase from 20 to 45 thousand in undergraduate and graduate students. He also serves as a member of the Deliberative Council of the Brazilian Digital Television System Forum and a guest of Ancine’s Technical Accessibility Chamber.

Abstract

With recent changes in the way media is distributed, delivered today anywhere, anytime, on any device; is there still room for television systems with live content distribution from one to millions? What was the value of a mass communication system like TV in the past? Will this value be preserved in the future with communication systems promising to offer 10 Gbps transmission rate, density of 1 million devices per Km2, 1 mS delays with support for differentiated service and broadcast? How is the television business reacting to survive? These and other questions will be the subject of this talk.

Rui Raposo and Mário Vairinhos, DigiMedia members, preset the project “Kits for Kids” in episode 8 of the programme UAU – Ciência sem Limites. One of the activities integrated in this project took place in Fábrica Centro Ciência Viva de Aveiro and has been reported in our website. More information available HERE.

This episode is dedicated to the “Education of the future” and several projects and initiatives are presented. “Kits for Kids” is integrated in the project Aveiro Steam City, coordinated by Câmara Municipal de Aveiro, and involving several partners: Altice Labs, Instituto de Telecomunicações – IT,  Universidade de Aveiro, INOVARIA e Associação para um Centro de Estudos em Desenvolvimento Sustentável – CEDES.

The Media Innovation Circle#7 took place on December 17 with a talk by Mario Verdicchio, School of Engineering – University of Bergamo (Italy)  followed by a participated discussion on the topic “Thinking / Creating / Rethinking / Recreating – Computers and the Arts”, moderated by Pedro Cardoso (DigiMedia/UA).

The video is already available on DigiMedia YouTube channel. Watch HERE. We invite you to subscribe the channel.

Mario Verdicchio is a researcher at the School of Engineering at the University of Bergamo in Italy and a member of the Berlin Ethics Lab at the Technical University of Berlin in Germany. He is the co-founder of the xCoAx international conference series on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics and X. He has written mostly about Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence and has been a Sunday artist for some years.

Abstract

Computer Art has now made amazing strides in comparison with its beginnings of the 1950s, at least from a technological point of view.
Such evolution must have also guaranteed a transformation in the creative processes in the arts, but whether such change has led to answers to the long-standing questions on creativity, authorship and the meaning of art remains to be seen. Actually, the more in-depth one goes in thinking of Information Technology and its impacts on society in general, the more doubts seem to emerge on the role it plays within artistic and cultural contexts. This talk takes a critical view on technological enhancements with the goal of shedding light on what it means to use computers for artistic purposes.

The Media Innovation Circle#6 took place on November 26 with a talk by Víctor Navarro Remesal, Tecnocampus Mataró-Maresme Foundation (Spain),  followed by a participated discussion on the topic “Asymmetrical cooperative play: Doing (international) game research from the fringes”, moderated by Liliana Costa (DigiMedia/UA).

The video is already available on DigiMedia YouTube channel. Watch HERE. We invite you to subscribe the channel.

Víctor Navarro-Remesal is a media scholar specialized in games. He teaches History of Videogames and Interactive Narrative at Tecnocampus, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Game Design at UOC. He’s the author of ‘Libertad dirigida: Una gramática del análisis y diseño de videojuegos’ (Shangrila, 2016) and ‘Cine Ludens: 50 diálogos entre el juego y el cine’ (Editorial UOC, 2019), as well as the editor of ‘Pensar el juego. 25 caminos para los game studies’ (Shangrila, 2020). His research interests are player freedom, Zen-inspired games and slow gaming, gêmu, and game preservation. He is one of the founding members of DIGRA Spain. His current funded project is ‘LUDOMYTHOLOGIES: Myths and ideology in contemporary video game.

Abstract

Academia is by definition an international enterprise. The search and construction of knowledge cannot be attained by one individual alone, not by a closed community. This is specially important when dealing with games and video games, cultural objects that come from industries that were transnational from their inceptions. But this internationality can overshadow the idiosyncrasies of the local and how local spaces come together to form uneven international networks. The interest of this presentation, motivated by the foundation of the Spanish chapter of DiGRA and the coming release of the book “Perspectives on the European Videogame”, is to explore the state of game studies, or game research, as a field from this perspective: how exactly is it international? What are the ways in which we can play it as a cooperative play and how we are made to compete? How can we be aware of the asymmetries in the design of this cooperative play, and can they be played to our collective advantage? And what does it mean to be in the “fringes” (geographically, linguistically, conceptually) of game studies?

The use of games in teaching and learning has shown very interesting results in the assimilation of content and motivation of students and teachers.

In a session organised by BioLousada at Home that took place via zoom on the 5th of November, DigiMedia researchers Pedro Beça and Mónica Aresta introduced the Gamers4Nature project, and explained how the project’s activities encouraged the active participation of young people in creating games for mobile devices, as a way to promote a change in behaviour and awareness in relation to the environment.

The Media Innovation Circle#5 took place on October 29 with a talk by Hartmut Koenitz, Södertörn University (Sweden),  followed by a participated discussion on the topic “Thoughts on a discipline of interactive narrative study and design”, moderated by Luis Frias, UBI / ICNOVA.

The video is already available on DigiMedia YouTube channel. Watch HERE. We invite you to subscribe the channel.

Hartmut Koenitz is an Associate Professor at Södertörn University in Sweden, a visiting researcher at the University of Amsterdam, and a visiting research fellow at Trinity College Dublin. He is currently writing a book on “Understanding Interactive Digital Narratives” to be published by Routledge. His research is concerned with the theory, practice, education and societal impact of interactive narratives and games. He has published over 60 scholarly publications including the co-edited volume Interactive Digital Narrative – history, theory and practice(Routledge 2015). Koenitz is the chair of the EU COST Action 18230 INDCOR (Interactive Narrative Design for Complexity Representations) and one of the editors of the upcoming Routledge Encyclopedia of Interactive Digital Narrative. He is also the president of ARDIN, the Association for Research in Digital Interactive Narratives. Koenitz holds a PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology on the theory and practice of Interactive Digital Narrative. Koenitz is the creator of the ASAPS authoring tool, which has been used to create more than 150 works. He is also a visual artist, and his works have been shown in Atlanta, Paris, Istanbul, Seoul, Copenhagen and Porto. His latest artwork, The Multiple Lives of Walter B. is a physical installation that explores virtual biographies of Walter Benjamin.

Abstract

So far, interactive digital narratives have not yet gained full recognition as both a field of scholarly inquiry and a developed professional practice. After more than five decades of practice as well as a history of scholarly enquiry that can be traced back to at least 1985, this is a perplexing situation. In my talk, I will consider reasons for the status quo, consider current initiatives including ARDIN and INDCOR and propose avenues for future work.

Inês Santos Moura (DigiMedia PhD student), supervised by Vania Baldi (DigiMedia member), produces the documentary “Não é uma ilha, é um bairro” which will be exhibited during a debate related to housing in the city of Porto.

The city of Porto is going through a highly challenging period for those who live there, the paradigm of local accommodation, the degradation of historic housing areas, the increase in the value of houses, municipal planning for housing, are the big questions that arise. This session aims to raise awareness of the problems and obstacles of housing in Porto, as well as to propose solutions and paths to full and dignified housing, through the projection of a documentary about the Herculano neighborhood, a historic housing space in Porto, followed by a debate with guests from various areas related to housing.