News
On 15th February at 10am, NEDD is going to organize an information session on applications for FCT doctoral scholarships.
This session will be attended by professors who have been part of the evaluation panel for awarding grants, both academic and non-academic.
The session will take place exclusively online.
Registration link: https://forms.gle/rXUGLS5cmTK8Se3k6
Link to session: http://tinyurl.com/4a4744uh
For the seventh time, the University of Aveiro hosted the Global Game Jam – the largest game creation event in the world, involving thousands of participants (jammers) from more than 100 countries, which this year took place 
.
Organised by teachers and students from the Master’s in Digital Games Development (MDJD), this year’s edition – which took place at the Complexo das Ciências da Comunicação e Imagem (CCCI) and was supported by the DeCA, DigiMedia and IT Telecommunications Institute – had more than 40 participants, including students from DeCA, DeTI and IPCA (among others).
Before the game creation marathon, the participants had the chance to take part in a vast programme of workshops in the fields of multimedia, arts and IT. At the end of the marathon, 13 projects were presented at the CCCI of the Department of Communication and Art. The games developed are available for free download at https://globalgamejam.org/group/714/games.
PhD students of DigiMedia Lersi Duran (Programa Doutoral em Multimédia e Educação), Eliza Oliveira (Programa Doutoral em Informação e Comunicação em Plataformas Digitais) and Inga Sabóia (Programa Doutoral em Informação e Comunicação em Plataformas Digitais) will have their PhD Defenses in the next days.
Inga Saboia, with the theme “A influência dos líderes de opinião nas redes sociais: Um estudo sobre a mudança do comportamento alimentar no Instagram”, on 30th January 2024 – https://www.ua.pt/pt/noticias/10/85227
Eliza Oliveira, with the theme “Perceção e precaução das agressões online: O comportamento infocomunicacional face aos riscos no âmbito universitário português”, on 31st January 2024 – https://www.ua.pt/pt/noticias/10/85198
Lersi Duran, with the thesis “‘Avaliação de uma intervenção digital para promoção da literacia em depressão de estudantes universitários” on 7th february 2024 – https://www.ua.pt/pt/noticias/10/85099
Prof. Ana Isabel Veloso and PhD student Francisco Regalado (Information and Communication in Digital Platforms) are going to participate in the kick-off event – I-café, part of a webinar series on welfare technology, organized by Social Research Center for Welfare Technology (SRCWT, https://uef.fi/weltech/) .
The topic of the webinar is “Ageing actively and healthy with digital technologies: the case of the miOne online community”, and the speakers are Prof. Ana Isabel Veloso and PhD student Francisco Regalado (Information and Communication in Digital Platforms), from DeCA – University of Aveiro.
In this session, Ana Veloso and Francisco Regalado, presenting the research team of DigiMedia, will introduce encouraging findings from their miOne project which can be found through the link of the miOne’s community : https://mione.altice.pt.
The I café webinar series focus on various themes, from older adults’ participation and digital skill learning and digital competencies to the use of welfare technology in social health. Webinars are held each month. The speakers are academics representing different institutions and areas of social research on welfare technology worldwide as well as doctoral students researching the role of welfare technology in eldercare.
These webinars are open to the public and the schedule and participation link for each I café webinar can be found here – https://sites.uef.fi/weltech/seminar-series/
This I-Café session will happen on Feb 6th 2024, from 12h pm to 13:30 pm Portuguese time.
Please click https://uef.zoom.us/j/69203054973 to join this webinar.
The ERASMUS+ project Service Design for Wellness and Healthy Ageing (Agewell) had an international meeting to present the work in progress of the project, on 18th January 2024,
Catarina Lelis and Rita Oliveira, researchers at DigiMedia, participated in this online meeting, which was another step towards a greater internationalization of our research unit – DigiMedia. 
Pedro Beça, a researcher at DigiMedia has participated in the ECIU Erasmus+ Projets Event https://www.eciu.eu/news/erasmus-projects-event, with the presentation of the project Gamers4Nature: Reconnecting with Nature Through the Creation of Digital Games (2020-1-PT01-KA201-078789), that happened in January 2024.
The team has already applied to the award Prémio Erasmus+ Boas Práticas 2023 (https://erasmusmais.pt/candidaturas-e-projetos/boas-praticas/#1646328143593-443fedc8-d5c917b0-4a1a) with the project Gamers4Nature. The participation in this contest is due to an invitation and is only addressed to ERASMUS+ projects with a final score of more than 80%. The Gamers4Nature project had 90 points.
The third Peer2Peer session, organized by NEDD – Núcleo de Estudantes de Doutoramento do DigiMedia, is coming up: a workshop with Jennifer Rocha on Zotero – an open-source software that helps we manage our references, useful for researchers. The session is on 8th February at 2.30pm, in a hybrid format (meeting room of building 21).
To watch it online, you can access it at: http://tinyurl.com/feum27ue
Registration is required: https://forms.gle/2qH1qSZfw8KLQ3c88
The new book of the DigiMedia collection, Boas práticas de saúde pública no Instagram: Estudo comparado entre Portugal e Brasil, was launched last week, on 13th December, in an online Circle.
Ana Carla Amaro and Maria João Antunes, both reserachers at DigiMedia, presented the collection and the author, Pâmela Pinto, who is a Post-Doctoral researcher at DigiMedia.
Pâmela Pinto presented the book and then answered questions from the audience, who engaged in a fruitful discussion.
This new book is part of the DigiMedia Collection, which focus on the publication of works in the scientific area of Digital Media. Its goal is to contribute to the deepening of the different theoretical and methodological challenges of this area of knowledge.
Abstract of the book:
The main message of the book is to value the citizen as the center of the communication produced on health, anchored in the public interest and in the quest to broaden social participation. The guide has put together four axes of suggestions for producing content: on the approach – based on scientific knowledge and accessibility; on the use of images, with an emphasis on infographics; on the clarity of texts and on the importance of interaction with citizens and influencers. Strategies for planning and monitoring profiles are also presented. The research provided a critical reflection on health consumption on Instagram, a private platform based on commercial interests.
About the author:
Pâmela Pinto is currently conducting a Post-Doctoral research at the Department of Communication and Art (University of Aveiro), and her research interests are related to ‘communication and public health’, ‘institutional communication and social media’ , with emphasis on Instagram.
Catarina Lelis, a researcher at DigiMedia presented the paper “A teaching and learning blueprint for increasing engagement in Challenge-Based Learning”at the EAI DLI 2023 – 8th EAI International Conference on Design, Learning & Innovation, which took place in Aalborg, Denmark, in November.
Decorre em Maio do próximo ano o 1º Colóquio Internacional Lusofonia em Debate – Comunicações além-mar, que conta com o apoio do DigiMedia, e com a participação da professora e investigadora desta Unidade, Ana Carla Amaro, como conferencista convidada.
As submissões para resumos estão já abertas (até 24 de fevereiro de 2024), sendo que os 15 melhores textos serão publicados numa edição da revista Comunicação Midiática.
O evento decorre em formato online e síncrono de 21 a 23 de maio de 2024.
Mais informações sobre o evento: https://www.lusofoniaemdebate.org/
ICCC’24: The 15th International Conference on Computational Creativity
June 17-21, 2024
Jönköping, Sweden
https://computationalcreativity.net/iccc24/
Call for Workshop and Tutorial Proposals
Submission deadline: January 7
Overview
The 15th International Conference on Computational Creativity is soliciting proposals for workshops and tutorials to be held in association with the main ICCC conference. We welcome proposals for half-day, full-day and one-and-a-half-day workshops and tutorials on any aspect of computational creativity research whose focus area complements the topics discussed in the main conference.
Workshops offer a great opportunity to exchange ideas, and a chance to drive broader adoption of your systems and methods. We welcome a diversity of formats, from academic workshops (with a process of peer review for submitted papers, managed by the workshop organisers) to traditional tutorials, as well as hands-on and practical workshops. Please feel free to contact the organisers to discuss the possibilities further.
Topics can range from anything between theoretical or computational aspects of computational creativity, social and ethical implications, and/or focused artistic showcases. In the past, workshops at ICCC have covered a wide variety of focused areas and this is part of the strength of a workshop series. We will prioritise workshops that have a clear focus area, rather than a more general application area. This is to create a workshop program that is complementary to the conference.
Please notice that all workshops will be academically self-contained: they should have their own organising committee and conduct their own peer review managed entirely by the workshop organisers. All peer-reviewed full papers of workshops accepted at ICCC’24 will be jointly published as a separate part of the conference proceedings or as part of CEUR-WS workshop proceedings.
The venue has several rooms appropriate for a range of different types of workshops: including classic lecture rooms and showcase rooms with up to 8 projectors perfect for more artistically directed workshops/tutorials.
Important dates
· Workshop proposal submissions due: January 7, 2024
· Notification of workshop acceptance: January 14, 2024
In case of excellent early bird submissions, earlier acceptance may be possible at the chairs’ discretion, to allow workshops a longer lead time.
All workshop organisers should manage their own abstract/paper submission, invite a program committee and handle a peer-reviewing process with appropriate timelines. For the workshops that accept submissions for publications we recommend adhering to the following
· Workshop call for papers announcement and publicity: January 24, 2024
· Workshop paper submission deadline: April 10, 2024
· Workshop author notification: April 30, 2024
· Camera-ready submission: June 1st, 2024 – STRICT
· Workshop days: between June 17-18, 2024
(co-located with ICCC 2024)
The organisers must develop their own workshop/tutorial web page that will be located on the ACC server. The web page must follow the visual identity of ICCC. The ICCC 2024 webmasters will provide templates to facilitate this process.
Submission Instructions
Please submit a PDF proposal of no more than 2 pages detailing the following:
Title and abstract of the workshop/ hands-on workshop/tutorial (the abstract should clearly address the topic of the workshop).
· Organising committee’s names and affiliations
o One organiser must be indicated as a primary contact person (please notice that there must be at least one organiser committed to be physically present during the event).
o Please include a brief description of your experience in workshop/tutorial organisation.
· Description of the event’s scope, and the type of papers and/or works that will be accepted (feel free to refer to previous instances of the event, including publications)
· Brief description of the expected audience
o Expected number of participants, including information on onsite/remote participants
o Expected audience’s background and interests
· The expected format and duration of the workshop/tutorial (between half a day and a full day)
· Intended format of submission and reviewing platform (e.g. EasyChair) and, if applicable, a preliminary program committee
· Any technical or space requirements (e.g., projector, PA, whiteboards, open space)
· Preliminary timeline for the workshop/tutorial (submission dates, notification dates)
All applications should be submitted as a single PDF file with the subject line “ICCC 2024 Workshop/Tutorial Proposal” to the workshop chair: Guendalina Righetti, guendalina.righetti@ifikk.uio.no<mailto:guendalina.righetti@ifikk.uio.no>.
** Call for Chapters**
ARTIFICIAL MEDIA: Emerging Trends in Creativity, Education and Artistic Practice
**Editors**
Nelson Zagalo (DigiMedia, University of Aveiro) & Damián Keller (NAP, Federal University of Acre, Federal University of Paraíba)
** Important Dates**
Submission of Abstracts: 27 February 2024
Submission of Full Papers: 30 June 2024
Publication of the Book: December 2024
To be published in the book series Springer Series on Cultural Computing, indexed by SCOPUS.
** SCOPE**
In this new book we want to expand the discussion on “Creativity in the Digital Age” (2015), targeting artificial media with an emphasis on the new realms enabled by tools such as generative models (e.g. Dall-E, ChatGPT, Gemini). Previously, we’ve discussed maker technologies supporting human creativity and inventiveness. We want to proceed with an analysis of new media ecosystems that apply generative AI across multiple modalities — text, images, music, speech, code, video, photography or animation.
Today, through simple prompts, anyone can deploy AI assistants to create stories, news, drawings, titles, paintings, photographs, graphics, music, speech or animations. We are at a point of no return, not only changing the domain of text and images but impacting multiple modalities of media ecosystems. Large language models tend to change the face of media design, featuring new layers of creation through combinations of artificial resources and processes. AI assistants furnish guidance to develop new software, in some cases without requiring thorough programming knowledge; skewing extensive musical training, generative tools enable lay people to synthesize and mix sounds; and despite limited compositional skills, computationally assisted novice writers may now draft fictional stories and document reports. These generative techniques foster the creation of new entities we call Artificial Media.
Artificial media have the potential to break the boundaries between human and machine-based creativity (Joshi, 2023). Algorithms materialize realities from pre-existing data based on human activities, calling into question established frameworks in digital creativity. Collective creative processes were until recently limited to the knowledge handled by humans. These processes are now supported by intelligent agents that can gather information from thousands of documents spanning resources shared on the internet. This type of knowledge does not guarantee originality but it opens previously unexplored possibilities of inter-cultural and inter-generational dialogue.
Given the recent advances in techniques and approaches to creative media ecologies, we need to consider the impacts of artificial media on at least three fronts:
• Creative processes transformed by means of generative AI impact the current notions of creativity. What place will human stakeholders occupy in a media-creation pipeline populated by AI agents?
• Adopting generative methods both for producing and assessing content, what will happen to originality and relevance within media-art and design landscapes?
• Despite some claims to the contrary, before the advent of general-purpose tools generative strategies were usually restricted to the niches of specialists. Now some of these tools are furnishing opportunities for creative usage by a wider public. What are the consequences on the conceptual landscape of creativity frameworks?
Artificial media, as potentially infinite multimodal streaming of content, is already resignifying the digital world through pre-existing languages and styles, connecting “scrapism” (Lavigne, 2023) with pastiche and defying established concepts of artistic agency and authorship. These techniques may offer surprises in the short term, but eventually, creators and artists will need to find ways to integrate the recreated resources into consistent media landscapes. This urgent reconfiguration is not motivated just by copyright. Human sensibility, fashion, style and emergent aesthetics are shaped by moment-to-moment social frictions. In turn, these forces shape the creative industries, which, for instance, in Europe, currently provide more employment and added value than the automobile industries
Contributions may focus on creativity, education and artistic practice. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
• New Crafts Created by Artificial Media
• Multimodal Generative AI Frontiers
• Agency and Artificial Media practices
• Storytelling within Artificial Media
• Artificial Imaginations
• IoT in Artificial Media Contexts
• Ubiquitous music explorations of artificial-media territories
• Artistic Frameworks to implement the use of Generative Tools
• Teaching creativity with generative AI
• News Media Landscape and Artificial Media
• Coding within Artificial Media
• Authorship, Ownership and Copyright in Generative AI
• Ethics and Social Implications of Artificial Media
• Limitations and potential of Extended Reality for Artificial Media
• Disruptions introduced by Generative AI
** References **
Nelson Zagalo & Pedro Branco (Eds.), (2015), Creativity in the Digital Age, in Springer Series on Cultural Computing, Springer-Verlag London, UK, p.269, ISBN: 978-1-4471-6681-8, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4471-6681-8
Joshi, B (2023). Is Ai Going To Replace Creative Professionals?, ACM Interactions, September – October 2023, Page: 24. URL
Lavigne, S. (2023). Scrapism: A Manifesto. Critical AI. October 2023; 1 (1-2): DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/2834703X-10734046Instructions for Authors:
**Abstract Submission**
You can submit abstracts (maximum of 500 words, with a tentative title) to the editors, through the e-mail: nzagalo@ua.pt
