GENERAL: Doors of Perception Conference. The Netherlands. Speakers.

From: IN%"[email protected]" "Industrial Design Forum" 13-OCT-1993
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Subj: "Doors of Perception" More Info

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From: John Struthers <johns@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: "Doors of Perception" More Info
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Further to my previous posting about the "Doors of Perception"
conference, I've now found time to add details of the speakers
as given in the Netherlands Design Institute's leaflet ....

- - - - - - -
Nederlands Vormgevingsinstituut/The Netherlands Design Institute
Postbus 15797, 1001 NG Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
telephone +31-20-638 1120 . telefax +31-20-620 1031
---------------------------------------------------------------

DOORS OF PERCEPTION Conference
==============================

October 30-31, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, organised by The
Netherlands Design Institute and Mediamatic magazine, DoP is a
ground-breaking conference for which leading thinkers from the
fields of graphic and industrial design, architecture, information
technology, philosophy, computer science, business and media will
assemble at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, to consider the
cultural and economic challenges of interactivity + the role of
design in turning information into knowledge, for example the
visualization of complex scientific data + the challenge of
'smart objects' and 'smart space' as computing and communications
increasingly permeate the environment + the need for an ethical
and cultural response to the $70 billion a year 'digital gold rush'
that grips telecommunications, computing and consumer electronics
+ the role of design within new forms of industrial organisation,
such as the 'virtual corporation'.

Programme Summary
-----------------

-- The confrence will begin on Saturday with an overview of the rapidly
emerging field of interactivity design. From washing machines to cars,
from TVs to bathrooms, the physical world is becoming increasingly
computer-controlled and in some way interactive. The penetration of
interactive cable and TV into most European homes will radically
increase this trend.

The experience of ordinary people with the interfaces to some
'intelligent' objects such as video recorders is a source of irritation
and stress; but the automated cash dispenser has become a permanent
feature of High Streets around the world. What is it that makes one
product make us feel stupid and inadequate, while another becomes
an indispensible part of our lives?

Issues of interactivity are not only important in the physical world:
telecommunications and cable companies continue to invest tens of
billions of dollars a year in 'Superhighways of the Mind' - high speed
information networks that will deliver exponentially - growing volumes
of digital text, data, sound and pictures. As the volume of information
available to us increases, so sifting out the good from the bad, the
desirable from the useless - in short, turning raw information into
useful knowledge - becomes even harder. It also becomes a question of
design.

-- Sunday will focus on the design issues arising from new media technology.
What is 'interactivity' and how is it designed? How, for that matter, can
interactivity design be taught? What methodologies and skills are needed
for what is, by definitions, a multi-disciplinary activity?

The interactivity designer has a whole pallet of new tools - including
sound, light and space - but how do interactive or digital tools differ
from physical tools? In addition, whole new languages of symbols are
evolving, such as icons, 'micons' (moving icons) and 'earcons' (aural
icons) for use in designing interfaces, intelligent 'agents' and the
surfaces of physical objects.

Other design issues will include 'ubiquitous computing' - small, cheap
computers embedded invisibly into the working and living environment
to assist human sensory intelligence. Objects will become aware of and
respond to the location, state, and activities of other objects in the
world, both animate and inanimate. Profound epistemological questions
are raised: what will it mean to design and live in 'Smart Space'
surrounded by 'Smart Objects' and even 'Smart Sound'?

The final session of the conference will consider an agenda for future
research to be undertaken at the Netherlands Design Institute in
collaboration with other institutions and companies.

The Speakers
------------

Professor of Media and Communications NORBERT BOLZ was a key member of the
Kassel Media Research Program, which produced some of the most stimulating
media theory of recent years. Based at the University of Essen's Faculty
of Design, Bolz's academic background includes philosophy, German
literature and comparative religion. He will present a coherent overview
of the challenges of information design.

PROFESSOR WILLIAM (BILL) BUXTON began his career as a musician. Interest
in improving the playability and utility of electronic instruments drew him
into the fields of computer science, human factors, and computer graphics.
As a visiting scientist at the Ranl Xerox Cambridge 'EuroPARC' research
facility, he was chief architect of the lab's multimedia infrastructure and
is currently dividing his time between consultancy for Xerox 'PARC' in
California and the University of Toronto, where he is head of the Ontario
Telepresence Project and an Associate Professor in the department of
Computer Science.

DENISE CARUSO is editor of 'Digital Media', one of the most influential
'industry insider' newsletters. She has been writing about the electronics
industry for nearly a decade, including an industry rumours column for the
'San Francisco Examiner' Inside Silicon Valley. She now focusses with
'Digital Media' on the convergence of personal computing, telecommunications
and consumer electronics, and the repercussions of the digitisation of all
media.

London graphic designer DAVE COLLIER saw the light a few years ago and
formed Trip Media to develop interactive software. Their 'Virtual
Nightclub' for playing on Philips' CD-I (interactive compact disc) machines
has been sneak previewed on the trendier UK TV shows; now's the chance to
see it over here, along with their interactive typography program.

GILLIAN CRAMPTON SMITH is professor and course director of Computer
Related Design at Britain's Royal College of Art and a consultant for
Apple Computer, Stanford University and the National Gallery, London. She
will not only highlight some of the problems of teaching interactivity,
but outline a vision of how computer networks can be used to enhace
collaboration between European design schools.

ARTHUR ELSENAAR graduated from Groningen's Minerva Academy this year as a
digital artist with a highly impressive project in interactivity: members of
the public activate radar sensors which trigger electrical stimulation of
his facial and body muscles, pulling them into spasms and jerks. Startling,
maybe even gruesome, but according to him, not painful - but it tingles a
bit ...

MICHAEL HEIM is the author of 'The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality' and
'Electrical Language': 'A Philosophical Study of Word Processing', the first
in-depth study of computerised writing. In 1990, he founded Technalysis, a
virtual reality consulting firm which has organised six nation VR
conferences in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. In 1992, Heim founded the
Redondo Beach Virtual Reality Group, which brings together VR researchers
and theorists in Soutern California. He serves as philosopher-in-residence
for virtual reality projects at Canada's Banff Centre for the Arts.

In addition to being an architect of cultural, industrial and domestic
buildings, KEI'ICHI IRIE has created large-scale interactive exhibitions in
Japan and Europe, and has experimented for some years on the use of
computers creatively to disrupt the architectural design process - an
example of what he calls 'using machines against excessive rationality in
design'.

Interactive media artist TOSHIO IWAI began making experimental animations
in 1981, moved on to working with pre-cinematic 'toys' such as flipbooks
and zoetropes, and since 1986 has been interested in the computer game as
a visual music system. A cult figure in Japan thanks to his computer
generated virtual sets for the science news show 'Einstein TV'(1990-91)
and his virtual sets and characters for the daily interactive children's
show 'Ugo Ugo Lhuga'. His Science Art Exhibition was shown at the Seville
EXPO. He is currently working on an advanced version of his Music Insects
for Nintendo.

DERRICK DE KERCKHOVE is director of the McLuhan Program in Culture and
Technology at the University of Toronto. His recent book, 'Brainframes:
Technology, Mind and Business' analyses the impact of new technology on
business practice. De Kerckove will discuss the role of design in
consructing meaning in a digital environment wherein reality has become
contingent.

DAVID LIDDLE is president of Interval Co., a prototype 'virtual
corporation' based in Palo Alto, established in early 1993 with a
capitalisation of $100 million, its 60-strong team of computer industry
stars has been given five years to 'think new information business into
existence' - to conceive of new applications for technology before they
exist, and then put together the engineering, marketing, distribution and
service operations from scratch.

After graduating in Organisational Psychology, HIROSHI MASUYAMA spent two
years in New York working with the underground Multimedia performance
group 'Irrational'. He is currently a freelance researcher into new
media, part-time lecturer and author ('Video Game Encyclopedia', 'Thought
For Personal Computers' and 'Multimedia Frontier 93' book and CD-ROM).
His TV credits include 'Video Evolution Theory'(1988) and TV's 'TV'(1987).
He's a consultant to companies such as Nintendo and Apple(Japan) and chief
organiser of the Game Museum project in Japan. He will present an
evolutionary approach to computer gaming.

Much media excitment about new media has revolved aound the flashy pyro-
technics and ultra-realism of the graphics. Frankfurt-based CHRISTIAN
MOLLER is an architect who uses 'smart sound' in buildings. He will
remind the audience that multimedia and interactivity cannot afford to
ignore the rich sensory feedback available through the ears.

Psychologist JOY MOUNTFORD is manager of the Human Interface Group at one
of Apple Computer's research centres, the Advanced Technology Group. Among
other things she worked on the development of the QuickTime computer video
system. She is eminently qualified to talk about what 'interactivity
design' actually is, and the different ways that specialists from
disciplines such as anthropology and engineering collaborate in the
interaction design process.

BERT MULDER has a background in psychology and futurology. Formerly head
of information systems at 'Veronica TV', he is currently a consultant to
European industry on information technology strategy and how members of
organisations can best work collaboratively with computers. He lectures
in Interactive Design at the Utrecht College of the Arts and will talk
about interactive media in a broad social, psychological and cultural
context.

LOUIS ROSETTO edits and publishes 'Wired', the first magazine to treat
computer technology as a lifestyle issue. Hailed on its launch this year
as one of the most impressive independently produced magazines for years,
'Wired' is the fulfilment of a belief Rosetto has held since he lived in
Amsterdam editing the now defunct 'Electric World' during the 80's: that
computer technology would be to the 90's what Rock'n'Roll was to the 60's:
the most creative, rebellious, fast-moving and hip area of Western
culture.

JEET SINGH is the co-founder of Art Technology Group, a company formed in
1991 with the mission of designing and developing revolutionary content
and technology for the emerging new media industry. ATG brings together
expertise in computer graphics, animation, digital audio, machine vision,
optics, image processing, multi-media networks, hyper-instruments, VR and
user interface design, to produce entertainment, educational and artistic
works. They work in collaboration with top artists, musicians,
architects, designers, and composers and the instruments they designed
have been played in concert halls throughout the world, including
Amsterdam's Concertbouw and Ijsbreker.

BOB STEIN co-founded the Voyager Company in 1984, since then its catalogue
of interactive CD-ROM and Laserdisc titles(from the digitally- annotated
works of Mozart and Beethoven to the novels of William Gibson) has
established it as one of the leading publishers of new media. Voyager's
Expanded Books, launched last year, drew strong praise for the way the
managed to respect the original structure of a book while enhancing the
overall reading experience with the text-handling capabilities of a
computer. "The first significant change in publishing media since the
introduction of the paperback in 1939," said one analyst. (Throughout the
conference, LBC International will be demonstrating some of Voyager's
interactive titles.)

ATAU TANAKA was born in Tokyo and raised in New England. After studying
electronic music at Harvard and composition and recording engineering at
the Peabody Conservatory, he read computer music at CCRMA at Stanford.
While here he began working with BioControl System' BioMuse - a general
purpose neural interface/biocontroller which allows him to create music
with muscullar and neural activity, which he will play at the conference.
He is currently applying interactive technology to computer graphics and
researching new instruments at the Pompidou Centre's IRCAM.

DAVE WARNER is a medical neuroscientist at the Human Performance Institute
Loma Linda University in California. He will demonstrate that not all
interactive multimedia applicatioons are for 'edu-tainment', but can
produce quantitative improvements in medical treatment, administration and
teaching. Examples include WIN International's multimedia medical
database, which in Warner's words confers "a huge evolutionary advantage
in the struggle for survival within the medical industry", and the use of
VR Data Gloves in physical rehabilitation.

Two years ago THOMAS WEST published 'In The Mind's Eye', a fresh look at
the connection between dyslexia, visual thinking, genius and education.
Visual thinking is considered a form of intelligence, but one that often
develops at the expense of verbal or literary skills, contends West. As
scientific visualisation techniques become more widely used, there's a
need to focus on differing visual-spatial abilities among users. In doing
so, the 500-year domination of Western education by the teaching of skills
of a mediavel clerk - reading, writing, counting, and memorising texts -
will end, and a new set of visually-based talents will take their place.


* Fee: Dfl.300,-($150) / Students Dfl.150 - ($75) (VAT included)

* Information & Registration Service - Sonja van Piggelen
phone +31-(0)20-620 0390
fax +31-(0)20-617 4679
* Register early; (before Friday 15th October) the number of seats
available is limited.

* Do not come without a reservation

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: John Struthers MCSD FRSA Product Designer
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Ltd Queensferry Microwave Division
Email: johns@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Address: South Queensferry, West Lothian, EH30 9TG, Scotland, UK
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Opinions expressed are my own, and are not intended to be an official
statement by Hewlett-Packard Company
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