Scott Fisher

Speaker: John Sosoka, CTO, UGOBE
Time: Wednesday, October 1, 6-8pm
Location: USC's Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC),
Room 201 Zemeckis Media Lab (ZML)

Title: "Lifeforms: exploring a new medium"
"Ugobe transforms the relationship humans have with technology by giving machines a soul. We are the first company to transform the relationship between humans and robots by blending emotions and personality with logic in machines... Our first product is Pleo, the robotic baby dinosaur."

Bio: John Sosoka brings inspired ideas to life at UGOBE and heads the technological innovation at the company. Recently he co-founded and was CTO at Neurosmith. Under Sosoka's technical leadership, this educational technology toy company grew to $12M in sales and won almost every major toy industry award including the "Most Innovative Toy Of The Year" (TOTY). In 2003, Neurosmith was acquired by Small World Toys. Prior to Neurosmith, Sosoka held senior executive positions at Davidson & Associates, Emerson Technologies and the Technology Application Group.

BACKCHANNEL LOG: Download file

Posted by Scott Fisher at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Interesting video coverage of Immersive's 360 camera in Wall WSJ this week:

"Immersive Media Corp. (TSXV: IMC) (“IMC”), the leader in 360º spherical video technology, has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal and WSJ.com as part of reporter Andy Jordan’s “Tech Diary” series. In this profile, Andy spent some time in New York City with an Immersive Media team and at a Red Bull event that Immersive Media was filming. Entitled Tech Diary: The Grapefruit Cam, the profile is available for viewing at WSJ.com".

"As a technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Andy Jordan regularly chronicles the stories that can be found when people and technology come together. In this episode, he asks “What if streaming video could be shot in 360 degrees?” He finds the answer when he takes Tech Diary to a Red Bull big jump to check it out. “The mouse moves where the spinal column can't,” says Andy Jordan, describing a “mondo geodesic streaming video dome camera the size of a grapefruit with 11 lenses.”

Similar to work we did with a pano camera that SONY research built and provided for a sponsored a class here in IMD and IML a few years ago.

Posted by Scott Fisher at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

(Wordle by S.Anderson)

Speaker: Steve Anderson, Asst. Professor, Interactive Media Division; Director of iMAP
Time: Wednesday, September 24, 6-8pm
Location: USC's Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC),
Room 201 Zemeckis Media Lab (ZML)

Abstract:
Coined by Rich Gold in his book "The Plenitude," the concept of evocative knowledge objects may be mobilized across a wildly diverse range of theoretical and practical pursuits. This presentation considers a range of "objects" -- a term that is also here broadly conceived to include such things as a virtual environment, a media database, an electronic journal and an experimental graduate program -- as tools to think with. How does our engagement -- dare I say immersion? -- in contemporary cultures of media and technology affect our most basic ways of thinking, knowing and being in the world?

Bio: http://iml.usc.edu/remix/anderson/

BACKCHANNEL LOG from Seminar: Download text file or Download HTML

Posted by Scott Fisher at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

CTIN 511 Schedule Fall 08

Here's an updated schedule for CTIN 511: Download file

Posted by Scott Fisher at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Assistant Professor of Interactive Media - Game Design and Development

The Interactive Media Division within USC’s School of Cinematic Arts is seeking a candidate for a tenure track faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the field of Game Design and Development. We are looking for experienced game designers who are able to blend theory and practice in both their pedagogical approach and their research practice. Candidates should be prepared to teach game design and development at the undergraduate and graduate level in USC’s Interactive Media program, a vibrant and exciting community of scholars, educators and researchers. A Ph.D. or M.F.A. in a related field is required, as well as demonstrated capacity for original and significant design research and/or professional development experience. Evidence of ability to generate external funding is desirable.

Experience in one or more of these areas of game design studies is preferred:
• Experimental game mechanics
• Serious games
• Alternate Reality games
• Art or installation work – game related
• Interactive Narrative
• Critical game studies
• History and theory of Interactive Media

To apply: Submit a letter stating your interest in the position accompanied by a complete resume or curriculum vitae, evidence of teaching effectiveness (e.g., course syllabi and/or documentation of student work), and the names, phone numbers, mail and e-mail addresses of three references qualified to provide knowledgeable evaluation of your qualifications. Please do not send additional supporting materials until they are requested. University of Southern California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

Application Deadline: December 15, 2008

Application Address: Scott S. Fisher, Chair
Interactive Media Division
School of Cinematic Arts
University of Southern California
850 W. 34th Street, Lucas 310
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211

Inquiries: Adrienne Capirchio, +1 213 821 2515

About IMD: The Interactive Media Division presents a broad and deep curriculum, exploring the methods and technologies that are shaping art and entertainment today. The division offers a Master of Fine Arts in Interactive Media, a Bachelor of Arts in Interactive Entertainment, and is closely affiliated with the School’s interdivisional program in Media Arts and Practice (iMAP), a practice-oriented PhD program. Located within the nation’s oldest film school, the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, the Interactive Media Division (or "IMD") provides leading edge research and a hotbed of ideas for future designers of interactive entertainment. It is the only program of its kind housed within a school of cinematic arts and, as such, offers unprecedented opportunities for students to explore media convergence in an environment that leverages the natural advantages of its proximity to the entertainment industries in Los Angeles. Unlike technical or vocational institutions, the School's interactive media program draws from a rich storytelling tradition, and from a collaborative atmosphere that encourages interaction among students and instructors from a wide range of disciplines. Interactive media students learn from and network with artists, writers, directors, producers, sound designers and cinematographers, many of whom are—or soon will be—entertainment industry leaders. Additional information about the department can be found at: http://interactive.usc.edu

Posted by Scott Fisher at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week, the IMD blog will be guest curated by Brandi Wilcox and Sean Plott. Thanks to Cynthia Nie and Emily Duff for last week's posts.

Posted by Scott Fisher at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Wordle by S.Anderson)

Discussion leader: Jen Stein with help from Nahil Sharkasi and Bill Graner
Time: Wednesday, September 17, 6-8pm
Location: USC's Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC),
Room 201 Zemeckis Media Lab (ZML)

Discussion Title: "Define Immersion..."

Tonight's seminar will focus on concepts of immersion raised in the previous two seminar presentations by Mark Bolas and Scott Fisher. Logs for the backchannel discussion can be reviewed on the respective talk announcements.

These points of view will be discussed in relation to the "Immersive Fallacy" presented by Zimmerman and Salen in Rules of Play, (pp. 450-458). Please read this article

Other important readings:
- The Virtual Reality Experience, in Understanding Virtual Reality, pp. 381-398

- A Grounded Investigation of Game Immersion, Emily Brown and Paul Cairns University College London Interaction Centre (UCLIC)

- Player Immersion in the Computer Game Narrative, Hua Qin, Pei-Luen Patrick Rau1, and Gavriel Salvendy
(can be downloaded from on-campus network or vpn)

- Multisensory immersion as a modeling environment for learning complex scientific concepts, Dede, C., Salzman, M., Loftin, B., & Sprague, D.

BACKCHANNEL LOG from seminar: Download file

Video summary of discussion by Brandi Wilcox and Sean Plott:

Posted by Scott Fisher at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Speaker: Scott Fisher, Interactive Media Division
Time: Wednesday, September 10, 6-8pm
Location: USC's Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC),
Room 201 Zemeckis Media Lab (ZML)

Title: "Immersion, Context & Presence"

BACKCHANNEL LOG of seminar: Download file

Posted by Scott Fisher at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week, the IMD blog will be guest curated by Cynthia Nie and Emily Duff.
Thanks to Diane Tucker for her excellent posts and insights last week...keep'em coming.

Posted by Scott Fisher at 8:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A conference on «Interactivity» was held a couple days ago as part of the annual Ars Electronica gathering in Linz, Austria. (And while you're at it, check out the winner of this year's Prix Ars for interactive art.)

Interaction, Interactivity, Interactive Art A buzzword of new media under scrutiny

4. September 2008, 10:00 – 19:30 / Brucknerhaus, Mittlerer Saal, Ars Electronica, Linz

«Interaction: The relation between two or more relatively independent things or systems of change which advance, hinder, limit, or otherwise affect one another»
(Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology, 1901)

«Interactivity» has become virtually a magic word for the promotion of new media and the media arts alike. The term refers not only to a certain technology, it also stands for social concepts and visions ranging from grassroots democracy all the way to consumer freedom. This imbues the term with its broad-ranging impact, but also contributes to its dilution.

This conference invites experts from different disciplines to examine the origins and applications of the various concepts of interactivity. It questions the extent to which interactivity should be considered a fundamental concept in the social and technological, cultural and artistic context, or as an outdated buzzword, useful only for the self-promotion of the different fields.

The idea is to contextualize the notions of interaction, interactivity and interactive art from a multidisciplinary perspective, including, sociology, information theory, interface design, game studies, art history and media art history. Whereas interaction originally described the reciprocity of influences, e. g. in biological systems, the concept was already applied to social interaction at the beginning of the 20th century. Around the 1950s, cybernetics employed the notion for a comparison of social, technological and physiological feedback processes. With the rise of digital technology, interactivity became a key paradigm of human-computer relations and interface design. At the same time, the importance of social interaction and active participation was emphasized within post-war society and the arts alike. In the framework of a thorough investigation of the often diverging concepts of interaction and interactivity stemming from these developments, the conference further invites a comparison and discussion of the heterogeneous interactive strategies of analogue and digital arts.

Moderation: Katja Kwastek, Dieter Daniels
Organizer: Ludwig Boltzmann Institut Media.Art.Research.
Concept: Katja Kwastek

Panel I – Interactive Art
[more]
With and Without Media

4. September 2008, 10:00 – 13:00 / Brucknerhaus, Mittlerer Saal, Ars Electronica, Linz
Lars Blunck Suzanne Lacy Christiane Paul
Panel II – Interactivity
[more]
A Key Paradigm of Modern Society

4. September 2008, 14:00 – 17:00 / Brucknerhaus, Mittlerer Saal, Ars Electronica, Linz
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun Gillian Crampton Smith Christoph Neuberger Philip Tabor Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Panel III – Interactive Art Reconsidered
[more]

4. September 2008, 17:30 – 19:30 / Brucknerhaus, Mittlerer Saal, Ars Electronica, Linz
Marie-Luise Angerer Arjen Mulder

Posted by Scott Fisher at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few years ago, I posted about an exciting new technology developed by Hartmut Neven at USC's ISI lab that has been described as a ' visual google'. With Hartmut's help, we eventually used it for some location based experiences in one of our mobile experience design classes. He started Neven Vision to commercialize it and soon after, we heard the company was acquired by Google - but not a word since. Until today. Just saw an announcement that the software is now part of Google's Picasa photo sharing app, and is used to automatically tag faces in your stack of snaps:
Thanks to Web Monkey for pointing out the Neven Vision connection.

Posted by Scott Fisher at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speaker: Mark Bolas, Assoc. Professor, Interactive Media Division & Director, Mixed Reality Lab, Institute for Creative Technologies.
Time: Wednesday, September 3, 6-8pm
Location: USC's Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC),
Room 201 Zemeckis Media Lab (ZML)

Title: "Growing the Medium"
Abstract: Mark will discuss his work to create a design vocabulary for the multi-faceted medium called VR.

BACKCHANNEL LOG for class (partial): Download file

Video summary of presentation by Susana Ruiz and Jeff Watson:

Posted by Scott Fisher at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

REVISED 511 Student Pairing Assignments

511 Student Pairing Assignments

Week 2
Intro: Diab (2) + Bouchard (1)
Blog: Van Dyke (2) + Tucker (1)
Video: Ruiz (2) + Watson (1)

Week 3
Intro: Sharkasi (2) + Graner (1)
Blog: Nie (2) + Duff (1)
Video: Dallas (2) + Fenton (1)

Week 4
Intro: Stein (2)
Blog: Wilcox (2) + Plott (1)

Week 5
Intro: Paredes (2) + Ponce (1)
Blog: Jaycox (2) + Swensen (1)
Video: Cao (2) + Olsen (1)

Week 6
Intro: Kang (2) + Chen (1)
Blog: Dallas (2) + Yasuda (1)
Video: Van Dyke (2) + Duff (1)

Week 7
Intro: Anne
Blog: Sharkasi (2) + Silverman (1)

Week 8
Intro: Stein (2) + Taylor (1)
Blog: Paredes (2) + Chen (1)
Video: Ryu (2) + Swensen (1)

Week 9
Intro: Cao (2) + Fenton (1)
Blog: Diab (2) + Olsen (1)
Video: Nie (2) + Taylor (1)

Week 10
Intro: Kristy
Blog: Ryu (2) + Graner (1)

Week 11
Intro: Jaycox (2) + Tucker (1)
Blog: Cao (2) + Ponce (1)
Video: Wilcox (2) + Plott (1)

Week 12
Intro: Ryu (2) + Watson (1)
Blog: Stein (2) + Yasuda (1)
Video: Jaycox (2) + Silverman (1)

Week 13
Intro: Paredes (2)
Blog: Kang (2)

Posted by Scott Fisher at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)