Scott Fisher

Presenters: 2nd Year MFA students in CTIN 542, 544, 548
Time: Wednesday, March 28, 5:40pm-8pm [Please NOTE early start time!]
Location: USC's Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC),
Room 201 Zemeckis Media Lab (ZML)
Food: Provided

Title: Curiosity Cabinet: CTIN 542, 544, 548 Second Year MFA Combined One-Week Interactive Design Project.

Instructors/Jurors: Mark Bolas, Perry Hoberman, Michael Naimark, Peggy Weil, Jordon Weisman

Description:
Each student will be given a stock - to be assembled or modified as they see fit - IKEA Akurum wall cabinet, coated with a scratch-resistant, easy clean surface, article numbers 34383710, 64578810 and 34383710, 64578810 and 10012861. They are to conceive of, design and produce an interactive experience in which their unit, as well as its associated bits and pieces, must "intereact" with one or more of the jurors. This intereaction should be at least one of the following: surprising, amazing, meaningful, bewildering, shocking, and/or thought-provoking.

Posted by Scott Fisher at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

"Developing multi-disciplinary research based on Computer Games Technology"

When: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Where: USC Viterbi School of Engineering - RTH 306

Abstract:
Over the past ten years the University of Abertay Dundee has taught and researched in Computer Games Technology, predominantly focused on the development of techniques and technologies associated with console games and massively multi-player role-playing communities. We have built a successful reputation within the Games industry for the quality of our work and our graduates, and developed the premiere student games competition, but in the UK this work does not impact on the traditional research community. Accordingly, we have sought to utilise the techniques and technologies developed from our games teaching and research to develop novel activities within a range of research communities and to promote multi-disciplinary research on this basis. This talk will consider some of the issues in using games technologies for research, and will present examples of successful utilisation in Environmental Science, Health Science, Smart Systems, eLearning, and Microelectronics design.

Posted by Scott Fisher at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mark Meadows' slides from his presentation are here: http://bore.com/prz/07-03-21_la/

The Backchannel log is here: Download file

Any comments on the talk? Please post.

Posted by Scott Fisher at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speaker: Mark Stephen Meadows
Time: Wednesday, March 21, 6-8pm
Location: USC's Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC),
Room 201 Zemeckis Media Lab (ZML)

Title: "The Emotion Machine called 'NPC'"

Abstract: As any DM worth his dice will tell you, the NPC is a literary form ­ it's a storytelling tool. But in order to do their job NPCs need to be able to change the story, understand the players' emotions, react to them, and affect how the player feels. This talk shows how it can be ­ and is being ­ done technically and psychologically.

Session Description: This talk looks at psychology and AI. In the first half of the session we look at player psychology and examine how mirror neurons (which we all have) cause us to identify with characters, and why. We look at Jungian archetypes and their important role in games and our emotional responses. We then consider a system for an "Emotional User Interface" which will allow a game to keep track of how a player is emotionally responding, thereby increasing storytelling capacities. In the second half of the session we look at how characters can be harnessed with EUIs so that an NPC can be what it was meant to be; a narrative vessel. This examination looks at the emotional, social, intellectual, and physical characteristics of NPCs and discusses why it is important that we throw out traditional A.I. approaches and work towards designing true digital humans with today's technology. We close the session with a few questions, such as, "What happens when we begin falling in love with our robots?" and "What is the emotional equivalent of a Turing Test?" Discussion is welcomed.

Background: Mark is a visual artist, writer, and engineer. He designs digital humans, builds virtual worlds, and engineers emotional interfaces. In 2006 he founded HeadCase Humanufacturing, a company that builds digital humans, where he currently works as Creative Director, designing and building autonomous characters. He is also author of the acclaimed text: " Pause & Effect; The Art of Interactive Narrative" (book website here.) .

His extensive bio is here.

Posted by Scott Fisher at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's list of upcoming conferences and workshops in the Human Computer Interface area:
Download file

From the HCI International Newsletter - also available on-line.

Posted by Scott Fisher at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Digitalmediawire:

DreamWorks Animation to Produce All Features in Stereoscopic 3D | Digital Media Wire

Glendale, Calif. - DreamWorks Animation announced on Tuesday that, beginning in 2009, it will produce all of its films using stereoscopic 3D technology. "I believe that this is the greatest opportunity for movies and for the theatrical exhibition business that has come along in 30 years," said DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. "Advancements in sound have dramatically improved the auditory experience, but there hasn't been a corresponding breakthrough in the way we see movies until now." The company's first production using the format, "Monsters vs. Aliens," is slated for release in the summer of 2009, when "several thousand screens" are expected to be equipped for 3D.

Related Links:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070313/latu016b.html?.v=1
http://www.dreamworksanimation.com

Posted by Scott Fisher at 7:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)