Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor (ICE) free for Win machines

design, game, virtual heritage, ,

Microsoft Image Composite Editor is an advanced panoramic image stitcher. The application takes a set of overlapping photographs of a scene shot from a single camera location and creates a high-resolution panorama incorporating all the source images at full resolution. The stitched panorama can be saved in a wide variety of formats, from common formats like JPEG and TIFF to multi-resolution tiled formats like HD View and Silverlight Deep Zoom.

cfp: WRITING ARCHITECTURE Brisbane 22-23 July 2010

Conference, ,

WRITING ARCHITECTURE: A SYMPOSIUM ON INNOVATIONS IN THE TEXTUAL AND VISUAL CRITIQUE OF BUILDINGS

WHEN: Thursday 22 and Friday 23 July 2010

WHERE: The State Library of Queensland and the Gallery of Modern Art Brisbane, Australia

ABSTRACTS DUE APRIL 16TH

http://naomistead.com/2010/03/10/call-for-papers-for-second-writing-architecture-conference/
This Call For Papers can be downloaded as a pdf here.

vacancy for HCI researcher at HIT Lab NZ

design, , , ,

The HIT Lab NZ (www.hitlabnz.org) at the University of Canterbury has a continuing full time lecture/senior lecture position available. We are looking for an outstanding HCI researcher who is interested in leading research in novel computer interfaces/interaction design and working closely with graduate students.

The deadline is tight – March 8th, but it’s a great role and probably the only position of its type that we will have available for the next few years. It’s ideal for someone who would like to do great research in an academic environment without having too much teaching overhead.

If you know anyone who might be interested please get them to have a look at:
http://vacancies.canterbury.ac.nz/positiondetail.asp?p=4684
or get them to email mark.billinghurst AT hitlabnz.org

cfp: Prototype

Conference

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/prototyping/

Twelve inspiring speakers from across the globe will explore the innovative ways they are using prototypes, including the Turner Prize winning artist, Simon Starling; the NASA space architect, Constance Adams; international business guru Michael Schrage and, interactive jeweller, Hazel White.
This event is being held on 10-11 June 2010, in the Dalhousie Building (University of Dundee) and is co-hosted by Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland. It is one of many ongoing discussions devoted to Future Craft, understood to be a mobile concept central to all disciplines: a theory and practice about progressiveness and the ability to imagine and re-imagine the future. How does the prototype influence future craft? How can we work with other industries to move craft forward in the 21st Century?
We encourage people from diverse backgrounds to come and join the discussion and engage in the chaired debates.
REGISTRATION
The early bird discount package is priced at £195 and expires on 31st March 2010. The full delegate package is priced at £230.
SPEAKERS
Refer Speakers

cfp: VAST 2010

Conference

VAST 2010: 11th Symposium on Virtual reality Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

theme: Science Technology & Museums: A Challenge for the New Decade

September 21st-24th 2010

Ecole de Louvre, Palais du Louvre, Paris, France

1st Call for Papers Submission Deadlines: 5th May 2010

http://www.vast2010.org

In the 21st century the use of digital technology is a common practice in every day of our lives, contributing to the development, management and delivery of the information that surrounds our environment. Archaeologists and Cultural Heritage scientists as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts have in the past collaborated to find solutions to optimize all aspects of managing and delivering cultural information to new generations, but there remain many unsolved problems.

The goal of this VAST will be to build on the open dialogue between these different areas of expertise, and in particular allow ICT experts to have a better understanding of the critical requirements of the CH scientists for managing and delivering cultural information. The result of this interaction will be disseminated through use of innovative digital techniques in research and education for Cultural Heritage and through publications: on-going project results; preliminary ideas and works in progress; and overviews of research in the use of digital technology in the context of Cultural Heritage.

We are seeking contributions that advance the state of the art in the technologies available to support cultural heritage..

CFP: International Journal of People-Oriented Programming (IJPOP)

design, game

***CFP: INAUGURAL ISSUE*** SUBMISSION DUE DATE: 1st May 2010

International Journal of People-Oriented Programming (IJPOP)
www.igi-global.com/IJPOP

Co-Editors-in-Chief: Steve Goschnick & Sandrine Balbo
Published: Semi-annual (both in Print and Electronic form)

Mission of IJPOP:

The International Journal of People-Oriented Programming (IJPOP) is cross-discipline in range yet singularly focused on empowering individuals to conceptualise, design, program, configure and orchestrate Internet-powered mashups, game mods (modifications), aggregate and structure personal media and build standalone cloud-based and client-side applications (on smartphones, netbooks, laptops, desktops, home network and novel appliances) – into self-fashioned tools and products that ultimately suit the user’s own unique needs and aspirations. Other individuals may well take up such apps, mods and mashups for themselves, further customising, enhancing and embellishing them, or they may in part be used in a social or family context (to the benefit of the collective aspirations of those Social Worlds of which the individual is a part) – nonetheless, the focus of composition, development and customisation is on a product for oneself, upon theory, concepts, techniques, methodologies and ultimately tools that service a market of one. Our mission is to be the first journal that comes to mind to academics and practitioners alike and remain the best with regard to all aspects of People-Oriented Programming. Our papers and reviews will be insightful and compelling to both educators and researchers, and often to a wider audience too – the people for whom this paradigm of software development has come about.

cfps for March

Conference

DEADLINECONFERENCETHEMELOCATIONSTART
1-Mar-10connectedDesign EducationSydney28-Jun-10
1-Mar-10ludotopiaSpaces Places & Territories in Computer GamesCopenhagen22-May-10
15-Mar-10Design & EmotionDesign & EmotionChicago4-Oct-10
15-Mar-10Create10Innovative InteractionsEdinburgh30-Jun-10
15-Mar-10EASST010practice and performanceTrento2-Sep-10
19-Mar-10HCI 2010Play is a Serious BusinessDundee6-Sep-10
20-Mar-10fngfun n gamesLeuven15-Sep-10
22-Mar-10moodlemootwithout limitsMelbourne11-Jul-10
21-Mar-10acm2010ACM multimediaFlorence25-Oct-10
30-Mar-10CHINZInteraction on the moveAuckland8-Jul-10

WebGL

design, game,

Is this a wow!?…Still digesting this..

http://www.abakia.de/blog/2010/02/10/webgl-my-first-impressions/

3d computer graphics in web applications seem to be still a topic thats is heavily associated with technologies like flash, shockwave or other plugin based platforms. This may become history soon. At least if the development of WebGL browsers will proceed as it currently does. If you already use a WebGL enabled browser and had a look at one of the several examples as they appear constantly on http://learningwebgl.com/, then you will figure out quickly what I’m talking about.

multiplayer editors

game, , , , , ,

With the apparent demise of Oblivion Online I feel the need to record a list of interesting multiplayer editors.First in the list is a free multiplayer editor of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas:

Multi Theft Auto (MTA) is an open-source software project that adds full on-line gaming support to Rockstar North’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas PC game, in which this functionality is not originally found. It is the first open-source modification that adds a highly customizable network play element to a commercial closed-source single-player PC game.

There is of course still Warcraft III (Mac and PC) and Oblivion (single player) if you wish to try the multiplayer hacks..

April 29 there may be a multiplayer editor for Dante’s Inferno..

Of course if you have a Playstation III there is always little big planet but I don’t know how unlimiting it is. Unlike of course Crysis that is perhaps too umlimiting.

Most of the above include in-game assets, but if that is not required, unity 3D, shiva or perhaps Esperient Creator are options.

current and future issues in science education

design, ,

This is a pithy article on science education in Australia and beyond.

http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/new-critic/ten/venville

Disciplinary versus Integrated Curriculum

The impending Australian national school curriculum leads to important questions about what knowledge should and shouldn’t be included in a curriculum and how the included knowledge should be arranged. Dominant modes of curriculum in the twenty first century suggest there is established, canonical knowledge that is included in school curricula within disciplines such as physics, mathematics, history and literature, and that the disciplines themselves almost always provide the structure of the school day (Scott, 2008)1. This is widely referred to as a disciplinary, or traditional, approach to curriculum. Current, education-based debates, however, question the assumption that there is a corpus of disciplinary received wisdom that is beyond criticism (Kelly, Luke, & Green, 2008)2. Disciplinary knowledge is translated in curriculum documents throughout the world into key criteria, standards, or educational outcomes that are narrowly focused on what is readily measurable, or amenable to standardized achievement testing. As more and more attention in schools turns to the issue of preparing students for high-stakes tests, there is a real risk of reducing the opportunities for students to engage in more contextual, issue-based and applied learning that does not fit within the boundaries of the traditional disciplines. The problem is acute in science where there is considerable evidence that students are disengaged with the way it is currently taught in Australia and other western countries.

CFP: Journal of Virtual Worlds Research – History and Heritage in Virtual Worlds

Conference

history_heritage AT jvwresearch.org

Please submit an abstract to the above email address for a special issue of Journal of Virtual Worlds Research. Include a title, title, names and affiliations of authors, and 500 words.

************

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research: History and Heritage in Virtual Worlds

http://jvwresearch.org/

I. Editorial Team

II. Call for Proposals

Virtual worlds provide a unique way for us to interact with our memories, interpretations, beliefs, and traditions. This can be cultural heritage in the real world, or the equally real social legacies of online communities. We invite you to tackle the complex issues of making these histories come alive in this special issue of JVWR.

Submissions can include (but are not limited to):

  1. Critiques of virtual worlds that involve historical situations or heritage sites.
  2. Guidelines and arguments as to the design and experience of virtual worlds for history and heritage
  3. Interviews (both physical-world and in-world) with designers of the above virtual worlds.
  4. Critiques or evaluations of sandbox games and virtual environments regarding history and heritage.
  5. Reports on accidental or planned historical or cultural events, artifacts and rituals that take place in virtual worlds.
  6. Explorations on how to best utilize the unique interactive, technical and psychological aspects of virtual worlds for the purpose of historical or heritage-based learning.

This special issue has two overarching goals:

  1. To provide case studies involving the design, use and evaluation of history and heritage-based virtual worlds.
  2. To outline the key theoretical debates pertaining to the issues raised by the design, use and evaluation of these virtual worlds.

Authors are encouraged to include a critical perspective, including discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of their own methods.

III. Key Dates

Abstracts Due: Friday 10 September 2010

Abstract Judgments Due to Authors: Friday 8 October 2010

Full Papers Due: Friday 7 January 2011

Initial Approval of Papers by Guest Editors Due: Monday 7 February 2011

Final Drafts Approved by the Guest Editors Due: Monday 7 March 2011

Publication Date: May 2011

For further details please refer to the main http://jvwresearch.org/ website.

cfp: CHINZ- Interaction on the Move

Conference, , ,

CHINZ 2010:
http://chinz2010.massey.ac.nz/

The 11th Annual Conference Of The New Zealand Acm Special Interest Group On Computer‐Human Interaction
I N T E R A C T I O N   O N   T H E   M O V E
Massey University, Auckland, 8th ‐ 9th July, 2010

The CHINZ conference provides a general forum for all those involved with Computer‐ Human Interaction to address design‐centred human use of technology. We welcome full length and short research papers in all areas of this diverse field and we especially encourage graduate students to present at the conference. There will be poster sessions and hands‐on demonstrations during the conference, and we encourage industry practitioners to present.
Much of the commercial success of mobile devices lies in their ambitiously multidisciplinary applications. As the technologies that can support mobile interaction continue to evolve, this field will become increasingly more challenging, and both academic researchers and practitioners could greatly benefit from each other. This conference is intended to discuss the latest mobile interactions that reach
beyond conventional desktop‐based interaction, hence the central theme of Interaction on the Move.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Interaction design; mobile interaction design
• User‐centred design; mobile application case studies
• Applying design principles in HCI or mobile HCI
• Social implications of technology in mobile applications design
• Mobile technologies; games; robotics; health
• Cognitive psychology and its implications on mobile technologies
• Usability; mobile usability
• Guidelines and heuristics
• Implications of technology for cognition
• Education aspects

Important dates:
• 30th March, 2010 ‐ All submission due
• 27th April, 2010 ‐ All reviews due
• 5th June, 2010 ‐ Final submission due

Submissions:
Accepted papers will be presented at the conference, published in the conference proceedings, and the ACM Digital Library.
• Long papers ‐ no more than 8 pages in length
• Short papers ‐ no more than 4 pages in length
• Posters and demos ‐ no more than 2 pages in length
All submissions must adhere to the ACM SIG Proceedings format and be submitted as PDF files.
For all other informal enquires please email Dr. Hokyoung Ryu (h.ryu AT massey.ac.nz) OR phone him at
+64 9 4140800 xtn. 9140 OR visit the conference website at http://chinz2010.massey.ac.nz

Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Fellowships-Deakin University Australia

design, virtual heritage,

Have you recently completed your PhD? Think about a postdoc fellowship with the Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies program/Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific/Centre for Memory, Invention and Imagination at Deakin University in Melbourne. The Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Fellowships provide a stipend of $62,478 per annum (Level A, Step 6 DU EBA) together with a support grant of up to $15,000. Research Fellows will be appointed for 24 months with potential to extend that period. If you have a project, talk to Ass.Prof. Andrea Witcomb (03-925 17232), Dr Linda Young (03-9251 7130) or Dr Colin Long (03-9251 3938). Potential applicants must then run their ideas past our research centre directors before being accepted for full application. Deadline: 1 February 2010. For further information, visit http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/admin/grants/funding_opps/adrf/

where to with the iPad

design,

Unbelievably apple.com pointed to a review by engadget of the new iPad. Unbelievably, because the reviews by engadget (who are normally Apple-friendly) are not enthusiastic. They correctly (unlike journalists) mention it is a super-sized iPod touch rather than the iPhone, and mention the lack of video, multi-tasking and Flash. I am not convinced HTML 5 will replace Flash and there does seem to be a great opportunity missed of a portable video conferencing tool.  However the future potential, as a designer tablet, multi camera collaborative video tool and overly expensive (not fragile?) game controller and Augmented Reality item tray have great promise.