[Commlist] CFP: Conference of IJCMR - Emerging Technologies and Creative Industries

A reminder of our CFP exploring how emerging technologies such as VR/AR, 
AI, motion capture and binaural sound are reshaping approaches to 
research in and across the creative industries. We are now able to offer 
some small travel bursaries for PhD students confirmed to present at the 
conference. See below for full details. Confirmed keynotes comprise Prof 
Graham Thomas (BBC R&D), Prof Mandy Rose (UWE), and Prof Darren Cosker 
(Bath).

_CALL FOR PROPOSALS:_

*/Conference of the International Journal of Creative Media Research:
Emerging Technologies and Creative Industries/*

*One-Day Conference: 29 June 2020*

*Co-organised by Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries 
<https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/research-and-enterprise/research-centres/centre-for-cultural-and-creative-industries/> & 
Centre for Media Research 
<https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/research-and-enterprise/research-centres/centre-for-media-research/> 
*

*Funded by Bristol+Bath Creative R+D Partnership 
<https://bristolbathcreative.org/>*

*Held at Bath Spa University, Newton Park Campus, Newton Park, Newton St 
Loe, Bath, BA2 9BN*

/Confirmed keynotes:/

  * Professor Graham Thomas
    <https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/people/g-a-thomas>, Section Lead for
    Immersive Content, BBC R&D
  * Professor Mandy Rose <https://www.dcrc.org.uk/people/mandy-rose/>,
    Director of Digital Cultures Research Centre, University of the West
    of England
  * Professor Darren Cosker <http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~dpc/>, Director
    of CAMERA, University of Bath


We invite proposals from a range of researchers, makers, designers and 
producers to showcase their research and creative practice, critically 
and creatively exploring how the uniqueness of emerging technologies is 
reshaping approaches to research across the creative industries.

Today’s emerging technologies present a unique proposition for the 
creative industries. Often characterised as disruptive innovations 
against the backdrop of enduring creative processes, emerging 
technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), 
robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), projection mapping, 
location-based content, motion capture and spatial audio present rich 
avenues for the creative industries, gradually transforming media 
experiences. However, they also pose new kinds of methodological 
challenges for researchers and makers.

Academia and industry alike are now working towards developing an 
innovative set of aesthetic categories, terms, concepts, practices and 
methodologies to make sense of the uniqueness of emerging technologies 
in and across the creative landscape. With much research across the 
disciplines of media, performance, art, computing and beyond 
increasingly exploring the creative potential of emerging technologies 
and platforms, it is key that we also better understand the necessary 
approaches to researching these kinds of technologies and platforms.

How, for example, can we best engage with the innate hybridity of 
immersive technologies, given the way that VR or AR experiences 
incorporate elements from performance, games, film, gallery 
installations and even theme parks? What is the impact of this hybridity 
on our ability to define immersive technologies as an object of study? 
If AI is re-imagining relationships with daily life, then how is this 
technology reshaping research practices? More broadly, how do emerging 
technologies such as motion capture and projection mapping impact our 
interpretation of audience or user responses across the creative 
industry landscape? And is now the time to develop new kinds of 
hybridised research methods that better reflect emerging technologies?

This conference aims to engage with these questions by exploring the 
ways in which different disciplines and different corners of the 
creative industries are approaching the task of researching emerging 
technologies and their audiences, spanning VR films, experiential AR 
games and live experiences, AI and robotics, location-based transmedia 
productions, and so on.

Proposal topics may address, but are not limited to:

  * Platform-specific research into emerging technologies (e.g. VR film,
    AR games/apps, AI platforms, creative robotics, motion capture
    technology, spatial audio works, etc.)
  * Sector-specific research into emerging technologies (e.g.
    performance industry, film and television industry, games industry,
    computing industry, etc.)
  * Creative/practice-based approaches to working with emerging
    technologies (e.g. how can AI/automation practices enhance or
    facilitate forms of creativity?)
  * Theoretical approaches to researching emerging technologies (e.g.
    new frameworks)
  * Innovations in industry approaches to researching emerging
    technologies and their audiences (e.g. current trends and tensions
    in R&D contexts, start-ups, etc.)
  * Emerging and cross-disciplinary forms of audience research in the
    context of emerging technologies (e.g. across media studies,
    performance studies, psychology, etc.)

The conference is funded by the Bristol+Bath Creative R+D Partnership 
<https://bristolbathcreative.org/>, a £6.8 million AHRC-funded 
collaboration between the University of the West of England, Bath Spa 
University, University of Bath, University of Bristol and Watershed, 
Bristol’s digital creativity centre. The partnership aims to connect the 
worlds of university research and creative business to collectively 
imagine and develop the future of the creative industries.

All creative work or papers presented at the conference will be 
considered for publication in a Special Issue of the International 
Journal of Creative Media Research 
<https://www.creativemediaresearch.org/> (IJCMR), edited by the event 
organisers. IJCMR is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed and open access 
journal devoted to pushing forward the approaches to and possibilities 
for publishing creative media research.

_Please send proposals of no more than 300 words (accompanied by a short 
biography) to Matthew Freeman ((m.freeman /at/ bathspa.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(m.freeman /at/ bathspa.ac.uk)>) by no later than *March 29, 2020*._

*/Travel bursaries:/*
_We are pleased to be able to offer three travel bursaries (a maximum of 
£50 each) for PhD students confirmed to present at the conference. If 
you wish to apply for those of the bursaries, please indicate as such in 
your abstract._

/About the keynote speakers:/

  * *Professor Graham Thomas* is Section Lead, Immersive & Interactive
    Content at BBC R&D, where he leads a team of 20 engineers developing
    next-generation audio and video systems in ways that can offer new
    interactive opportunities for audiences. Graham helped establish the
    BBC Audio Research Partnership
    <https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/audio-research-partnership>. He
    was a key player in the development of the award-winning Piero
    <https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/piero> sports graphics system and
    the free-d camera tracking system for virtual studios. His earlier
    work included motion-compensated standards conversion, which led to
    the Emmy-award-winning Alchemist standards converter.

  * *Professor Mandy Rose* is Professor of Documentary & Digital
    Cultures at the University of the West of England, where she is
    Director of the Digital Cultures Research Centre. She is
    Co-Investigator on the EPSRC Virtual Realities: Immersive
    Documentary Encounters
    <http://vrdocumentaryencounters.co.uk/>project, a £1.2m 2.5 year
    project that interrogates the application of virtual reality for
    nonfiction. She is also co-convenor of the i-Docs
    <http://i-docs.org/>Symposium. Mandy’s background is in TV and film
    production, sound recording, producing, and directing documentary
    and factual television.

  * *Professor Darren Cosker* is Professor in Computer Science at the
    University of Bath, where he is currently the Director of the Centre
    for the Analysis of Motion, Entertainment Research and Applications
    (CAMERA) <https://www.camera.ac.uk/>, funded by EPSRC/AHRC. His
    research cuts across different disciplines, such as Computer Vision,
    Graphics, AI and Psychology, including work on human motion
    analysis, recognition and synthesis, and data modeling. Applications
    of Darren’s research have been across the creative industries
    (including partnerships with the BBC and Aardman), the healthcare
    sector, and sport.


Full information about the conference can be found here 
<https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/ijcmr-conference/>. 
General enquiries can be sent to Matthew Freeman 
((m.freeman /at/ bathspa.ac.uk) <mailto:(m.freeman /at/ bathspa.ac.uk)>).

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