Towards Pervasive Media

The integration of the Internet with social computing and now with mobile and ubiquitous computing is transforming our creative industries, from games to journalism, driving the emergence of new forms of converged pervasive media in which the public contributes as well as consumes content, are available 'anytime and anywhere', and are ever more deeply interwoven into our daily lives. However, reaping the potential benefits of pervasive media for our economy and society requires a fundamental shift in our understanding of how such media are designed, produced and experienced; something that is not currently available within the disciplines of Computer Science and Engineering whose focus is primarily on the underlying technologies. This understanding can however, be found in the Arts and Humanities which for many years have been developing theories and methods relevant to the study of the established media of text, drama, film and television alongside deep understandings of the human experience of place, history and identity that can inform future pervasive media experiences. In short, there is a rich vein of research right across the Arts and Humanities that might fundamentally transform our approach to designing and studying pervasive media in Science and Engineering if only we could bridge the gap between these disciplines. Building upon initial networking within Nottingham's newly formed Pervasive Media Group, we wish to undertake a series of activities to help establish a new cross-disciplinary community of researchers from across Computer Science, Engineering and the Arts and Humanities who can collectively address the challenges of the new pervasive media from very different, but complementary, perspectives. Initial activities (troubadour studies, artist residencies and makefests) serve to catalyse new collaborations and facilitate early ideas generation, while subsequent activities (feasibility projects) will explore the feasibility of emerging ideas and produce proposals for future full-scale funding. We will disseminate the results of the feasibility studies to potential academic and industry partners through a final showcase event and also gather and communicate our reflections on this new style of cross-disciplinary working though a 'crossing cultures' workshop.

As a feasibility account, our primary aim is to seed future research projects. Consequently, much of our impact will be felt over the next ten to fifteen years as a series of full-scale research projects deliver their results. However, it will also be possible to see some more immediate impact through the formation of new interdisciplinary collaborations, the delivery of a portfolio of proposals, and preliminary results to emerge from feasibility studies. In terms of Economic Impact, The Creative Industries, spanning film, broadcast, architecture, heritage, the arts, games and others, is a vibrant and increasingly important sector of the UK economy. The Government's recent Digital Britain report notes that the creative industries contributes 6.4% GVA to the UK economy, grew at a rate of 4% between 1997 and 2006 (compared to 3% for the rest of the economy), and is estimated to employ 1.98 million people (6.78% of the working population). Internationally, the UK is a leading player in the Creative Industries which delivered 16 billion of exports in 2006 (4.3% of all goods and services), contributing a greater proportion of GDP than for any other nation. Our proposal addresses key sectors within the creative industries including: tourism, heritage and visiting; broadcasting, film and online media; games; journalism; and the arts. We will use the results of feasibility studies to engage commercial partners in new collaborative proposals. We will work with TSB's Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network (CITIN) and Nottinham's Horizon Digital Economy Hub (also focused on the creative industries) to engage partners. Each feasibility project will identify industrial partners who will be invited to a final showcase showcase. Resulting proposals will target TSB and European schemes as well as RCUK programmes. The themes addressed by this proposal are of great relevance to the cultural as well as economic life of the UK as they have the potential to inspire new cultural applications in a diverse range of sectors from the performing arts to more mainstream entertainment. Ultimately, the understandings and techniques that emerge from future projects will enhance our experiences as consumers of new cultural experiences, but also as creative producers or 'prosumers'. Our team has a proven track record of working with artists to create, tour and study public installations and performances that serve to engage the public in new cultural experiences and also communicate our research results. Since 1997 we have co-produced over 20 public art works that have toured world-wide to be experienced by hundreds of thousands of people and that have won international prizes in recognition of their cultural impact. Our artist residencies will lead to new public projects that are commissioned by galleries and festivals ultimately leading to mass-scale installations and/or touring events. Video and other documentation of feasibility projects will be made available through the project website so as to communicate new ideas.