29 June – 2 July 2011, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

http://ct2011.urbaninformatics.net/

The biennial Communities and Technologies (C&T) conference is the premier international forum for stimulating scholarly debate and disseminating research on the complex connections between communities – both physical and virtual – and information and communication technologies.

C&T 2011 welcomes participation from researchers, designers, educators, industry, and students from the many disciplines and perspectives bearing on the interaction between community and technology, including architecture, arts, business, design, economics, education, engineering, ergonomics, information technology, geography, health, humanities, law, media and communication studies, and social sciences. The conference program will include competitively selected, peer-reviewed papers, as well as pre-conference workshops, a doctoral consortium, and invited keynote and panel speakers.

We look forward to welcoming you to an exciting conference in Brisbane, Australia’s new world city.

Marcus Foth, Conference Chair

Important Dates

• 10 December 2010: Full papers and workshop proposals due
• 24 January 2011: Review reports due
• 18 February 2011: Notification of acceptances sent to authors
• 4 March 2011: Camera ready papers due
• 30 April 2011: Workshop papers, Doctoral Consortium and Student Volunteer applications due
• 29 June 2011: Pre-conference workshops and Doctoral Consortium
• 30 June – 2 July 2011: C&T 2011 conference at QUT, Brisbane, Australia

Conference Topics

C&T 2011 welcomes contributions in all areas of community and technology research, design and development. In addition, we particularly invite authors to address any of the following topics:

• Augmented Reality
• Civic Intelligence
• Context and Location Awareness
• Community-centred Design and Evaluation Methodologies
• Community Engagement
• E-research with Communities
• E-government and E-governance
• Participation
• Smart Community Services
• Sustainability
• Universal Usability and Accessibility
• Urban Informatics
• Tangible Interfaces for Community Interaction
• Technologies of Scale Making
• Visualisation Techniques
• Working across Cultures

Paper Submissions

All submissions must be written in English. Papers must be no longer than 10 pages, including all additional material such as references, appendices, and figures. Please format papers using the ACM SIGCHI two column layout available at http://www.sigchi.org/chipubform. Full papers must include a title, sufficient space for the author name(s) to appear on the paper, contact information and affiliations, abstract, keywords, body, and references. Papers submitted by the due date will undergo a double blind peer review process by an international panel and evaluated on the basis of their significance, innovation, academic rigour, and clarity of writing. Accepted papers will be included in the published conference proceedings if at least one author of any accepted submission has registered and attends the conference. Papers are submitted via an online submission system that will be opened in September 2010.

Please send any questions to Jesper Kjeldskov, Technical Program Chair: jesper AT cs.aau.dk

Workshops Proposals

Workshops are half day or full day sessions prior to the main conference program on 29 June 2011. Workshop proposals (max of 2 pages, using the ACM SIGCHI two column layout available at http://www.sigchi.org/chipubform) should be aimed at a community with a common interest. If you are working in an emerging area of Communities and Technologies, consider organising a workshop as an opportunity to advance the field and build momentum. C&T workshops might address basic or applied research and practice, new methodologies, emerging application areas, design innovations, management and organisational issues, or education. Each workshop should generate ideas that give the C&T community a new, organised way of thinking about the topic, or ideas that suggest promising directions for future research. Some workshops result in edited books or special issues of journals; you may consider including this goal in your workshop proposal.

Please send proposals to Jaz Choi, Workshop Chair: h.choi AT qut.edu.au

Doctoral Consortium

The Doctoral Consortium is scheduled prior to the main conference program on 29 June 2011. The Doctoral Consortium offers research students a special forum where they can present, discuss and progress their research plans with peers and established senior researchers. Research students wishing to attend the consortium should submit 4 pages, using the ACM SIGCHI two column layout available at http://www.sigchi.org/chipubform, addressing 4 headings: Aims and Background; Significance and Innovation; Methodology; Questions and Issues (that is, identify those areas you seek feedback on). Places at the consortium will be offered based on a review of the submitted proposals.

Please send applications to Christine Satchell, Doctoral Consortium Chair: christine.satchell AT qut.edu.au

Volunteers

C&T actively encourages students to volunteer at the conference. Being a student volunteer is a great way to support the research community, meet other students in the field, and attend an international ACM conference. You will help the conference organisers with the running of the conference and support the setting-up of presentations and workshops. You will see the latest in C&T research and development, and have fun while learning about running the conference. In return, you will get free registration. To apply, email us your contact details (email, phone, university), an abstract of your research project, a CV, and the reasons why you would like to be a student volunteer. Applications close on 30 April 2011.

Please send applications to Ronald Schroeter, Volunteers Chair: r.schroeter AT qut.edu.au

For more information on the project see the blog: http://etaksonglines.wordpress.com/

Contact Esther Polak if you are interested or would like to learn more about the project: esther [AT] estherpolak [DOT] nl

Demonstrations: Selena Savic (SRB), Piet Zwart Institute | David Benque (FR), Royal College of Art | Michael Dotolo (US), Frank Mohr Institute | Renee Hulshoff (NL), Royal Art Academy | Gabriel Vanegas (CO), Academy of Media Arts Cologne | Oliver Goodhall (UK), Royal College of Art

Performance: Joram Kroon, a.k.a. Prace (NL), Utrecht School of the Arts

http://www.v2.nl/events/test_lab-the-invisible-city

As Italo Calvino illustrates in his classic novel Invisible Cities, the notion of ‘city’ extends far beyond its visible physical architecture. A city is characterized as much by the ways in which its urban life is organized, the problems and threats it faces and the memories, desires and fears of its inhabitants, as by the buildings and spaces that define its physical form. Due to the rapid and ongoing process of urbanization – resulting in half of humanity now living in urban environments – we are forced to radically rethink our cities. While we can see our physical urban environments transforming at a rapid pace however, who is rethinking the ‘invisible’ counterparts that Calvino wrote about almost forty years ago?

Artists, architects, and designers play an important role in revealing ‘invisible’ aspects of cities, often providing new insights into how our cities function and develop. To rethink the ‘invisible city’ under the pressure of rapid urbanization, this edition of Test_Lab will feature a selection of freshly graduated artists, architects, and designers from European art and design academies whose projects explore the invisible aspects of our contemporary urban environments. The selected projects range from artistic representations of invisible cities, to simulations of urban economy and concrete scenarios for urban production and energy development. As it is custom to the Test_Lab event series, the audience will form the critical test panel for the demonstrated works and will be invited to examine each graduation project ‘hands-on’.

The evening kicks off with an introduction by the Rotterdam-based urban mapping expert Theo Deutinger, features a special opening of Disrupting Systems (see inset), and closes with a live music set about one of the world’s most conflict-ridden places.

For more information contact

Brady Martin

United Nations

Industrial Development Organization

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Phone/?? +86 (10) 6532 7699 x 804

http://www.unidoitpo.org.cn

brady [AT] unidoitpo [DOT] org

City Centered is a free, three-day festival of locative media and urban community in San Francisco. The event includes demonstrations and installations in the Tenderloin district, a symposium in the Mission district and community training workshops.

Over two weekends, it will engage artists, educators, civic organizations and community members of all ages in exploring how how locative media can act as a platform and venue for community-led expression.

http://citycentered.org/

Aaron Tan – Rad

Aaron Tan founded RAD (Hong Kong) in 1994. Leading a team of designers of multinational origin, the office incorporates the global nature of its urban architectural experiences to develop new contemporary Asian urban planning and architectural approaches. Aaron completed a theoretical research project on the Kowloon walled City which he started in Harvard. Part of the research & RAD projects have been published & exhibited in various international journals and biennales. Aaron has delivered public lectures in Asia, Europe and USA.

Caroline Bos – UNStudio
Caroline Bos (1959) studied History of Art at Birkbeck College of the University of London and Urban and Regional Planning at the Faculty of Geosciences, University of Utrecht. In 1988 she founded Van Berkel & Bos Architectuurbureau with the architect Ben van Berkel, extending their joint theoretical and writing projects to the practice of architecture. Realized projects include the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam, museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen and the Moebius house.

In 1998 Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos founded UNStudio (United Net). UNStudio presents itself as a network of specialists in architecture, urban development and infrastructure. Current projects are the restructuring of the station area of Arnhem, a shopping mall renovation in Kaohsiung, a masterplan for Basauri, a music theatre for Graz and the design and restructuring of the Harbor Ponte Parodi in Genoa. UNStudio has realized amongst others the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, a façade and interior renovation for the Galleria Department store in Seoul and a private villa in up-state New York.

Her lecture is titled ‘DEEP PLANNING – Relational Models for the Sustainable City’
and is an introduction to Caroline Bos’ and Ben van Berkel’s new book that will be published in August 2010: Caroline Bos & Ben van Berkel, ‘DEEP PLANNING – Relational Models for the Sustainable City‘, August 2010, UNStudio Amsterdam

The 3rd MediaCity conference will investigate how new media re-define social settings and urban spaces and how they influence architecture as well as media art & design in urban contexts, thus constituting new social and cultural practices.

Today, media create opportunities for diverse forms of connections between people and spaces, enabling and forming flows of information. New digital places for information and communication emerge, and the context of existing spaces is transformed by the joint impact of media and architecture, thus leading to new forms of social and cultural practices. The public sphere, the communication in ubiquitous networks, and the interaction with digital content will be a thematic focus. The conference addresses different approaches and methods of research. It will consist of three sessions and a workshop, exploring these themes in a focused way.

+++++ Session 1: MediaArchitecture +++++

Talks focus on the complex integration and mutual dependency, and the amalgamation of media and architecture. The innovative integration of contemporary media in architecture produces new forms of design and construction of the built environment, and challenges traditional models for how we conceive, perceive and interact within physical space. Best-practice examples from current architecture, urban space, and models and visions for the future will be presented.

+++++ Session 2: Social Practices and Public Spheres +++++

Talks focus on the implications of media in architectural and urban space on social practices. The cultural, social, political, and economical phenomena of the encounter between media and urban space will be investigated.

+++++ Session 3: Interaction and Engagement +++++

Encounters with interactive media and digital art & design, embedded in architectural and urban spaces, and their influence on cultural phenomena, is the main topic of the talks and presentations.

+++++ Workshops +++++

The workshop program will provide an opportunity to explore the conference themes in a more practical and experimental way. It aims to create an open and informal dialogue about the topics and methods, thus providing a forum for participants to share ideas, knowledge and technical experience. The workshops will offer insight into new technological developments. Examples from architecture and urban planning, as well as media art & design, will present new applications and interpretations for mobile and embedded media. Students of all levels are particularly welcome to submit works for this program, especially if they have demos or showcases of projects they would like to present to a wider audience. The workshops will be an opportunity to gain feedback and advice on these works.

+++++ Submission +++++

We are inviting academics, practitioners and activists to submit scientific papers for the conference and less formal presentations on practices for the workshop session. The submissions should be close to disciplines such as architecture, media art & design, urban studies, cultural and urban geography and sociology, using innovative ways and reflecting critically on processes, methods and impacts of public participation and technologies in the urban realm, within their theoretical and practical research, teaching, or activism roles.

- Please submit a paper of 2 to 4 pages as an extended abstract.

The conference language will be English.
- Papers will be submitted to external review by an international selected scientific committee (to be announced at the website).

The authors of accepted papers will have the chance to talk at the conference and present their work to an international scientific audience. Please note that accommodation and traveling expenses will not be reimbursed and registration fees for the conference apply for speakers accepted through the open call. This conference is organized by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and co-funded by DFG.

Selected papers from the conference will be published in a digital, post-conference volume

Please submit your abstract as PDF with our easychair conference management software http://www.mediacityproject.org/2010/submission

or by E-Mail to: 2010@mediacityproject.org

+++++ Important Dates +++++

15 June 2010: Submission deadline (abstract)
End of July 2010: Notification of acceptance
15 September 2010: Submission deadline (full article for accepted submissions)
29 to 31 October 2010: Conference in Weimar, Germany

Contact: 2010@mediacityproject.org
Website: http://www.mediacityproject.org/2010

Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
- Prof. Dr. Jens Geelhaar, Chair of Interface Design, Faculty of Media
- Prof. Dr. Frank Eckardt, Chair of Sociology of Globalization, Faculty of Architecture
- Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dipl.-Des. Bernd Rudolf, Chair of Building Design, Faculty of Architecture
- Dr.-Ing. Sabine Zierold, Faculty of Architecture
- Dipl. postgr. Kunst u. öffentl. Raum, Dipl.-Des. Michael Markert, Faculty of Media

http://www.mobileunconference.com/

De Berlijnse muur is weg, maar door het scherm van je mobiele telefoon is hij gewoon weer te zien, precies waar hij ooit stond. De techniek die het mogelijk maakt: Augmented Reality, en het is nu enorm in het nieuws. Ook in Nederland, want een van de grote spelers is het Nederlandse bedrijf Layar.

http://www.setuputrecht.nl/content/unma-4

Deze avond een blik op de toekomst van deze spannende technologie. Wat zijn de mogelijkheden, maar vooral: waar gaat het geen? Zetten we binnenkort allemaal virtuele objecten op straat? Gaan we buiten op virtuele monsters jagen in AR games?

We stellen ook kritische vragen, zoals: zijn AR browsers wel echte browsers? Met een webbrowser kun je elke webpagina bekijken. Maar hoe zit dat met AR Browsers op je mobiel, komt daar ook een standaard voor? En: hoe kunnen we het beste hype van werkelijkheid scheiden?

Sprekers (in aanbouw):

Wikitude (toegezegd)
Een van de vroege spelers is het Oostenrijkse Wikitude.

Layar (searching..)
De Amsterdamse start-up is een van de grote spelers.

Wolfgang Hurst (toegezegd)
AR Researcher bij de Universiteit van Utrecht

With the participation of Platoniq, Douglas Repetto, and the working group formed by Andrés Burbano, Alejandro Araque, Alejandro Duque, and Alejandro Tamayo.

Interactivos?’10 is a workshop which develops projects gathering and putting into action collaboration and local urban knowledge networks using free software and hardware technologies and “Do It Yourself” (DIY) and “Do It With Others”(DIWO) methods. Medialab-Prado offers free lodging for collaborators in a Youth Hostel during the workshop (limited places).

More information and submission form:
http://medialab-prado.es/article/interactivos10_ciencia_de_barrio_convocatoria_de_colaboradores

Selected projects:
http://medialab-prado.es/article/interactivos10

http://sspnet.eu/2010/03/mssp/

Lisbon – September 7th, 2010
In conjunction with Mobile HCI 2010

Mission
Given their status as a preeminent form of social interaction, mobile phone conversations have been the subject of relatively limited investigation, in terms of social behavior. This leaves open a major gap when two important developments take place. On one hand, Mobile HCI often deals with advanced mobile phones containing a large number of sensors (e.g., GPS, accelerometers, magnetometers, capacitive touch) and with sufficient processing power to capture with unprecedented richness behavior and context of users (e.g., position, movement, hand grip, proximity of social network members, gait type, auditory context). On the other hand, the computing community, in particular Social Signal Processing (SSP), makes significant efforts towards automatic understanding (via analysis of verbal and nonverbal behavior) of social interactions captured with multiple sensors.

This workshop bridges the above mentioned gap by gathering SSP and Mobile HCI researchers. Cross-pollination will identify research questions at the frontier between the two domains bringing significant novelty in both SSP and Mobile HCI.

Important Dates
Full paper submission: May 30th, 2010
Notification of Acceptance: June 20th, 2010
Camera ready paper submission: June 30th, 2010
Workshop: September 7th, 2010

Workshop articles will be published in a volume of the Springer LNCS series and participants are
expected to submit six to eight pages long papers in LNCS/LNAI format.

Topics
Workshop topics include (but are not limited to):
• Conversational behavior analysis
• Social Location and Context – measurement, analysis and use
• SSP in design of mobile interactions
• SSP in mobile entertainment and wellbeing
• Databases and SSP based content retrieval
• Cognitive modeling, automatic understanding, and synthesis of social phenomena

General Chairs
Alessandro Vinciarelli (University of Glasgow/Idiap Research Institute)
Rod Murray-Smith (University of Glasgow)
Herve’ Bourlard (Idiap Research Institute/EPFL)

For more information, please visit the workshop website:
http://sspnet.eu/2010/03/mssp/

(via the mobile-society mailinglist)

This summer in Shanghai, The Mobile City and Virtueel Platform organize ‘Designing the Hybrid City’, an event that takes place in the Dutch Culture Centre in Shanghai. Our event is part of a cluster of events called Adaptation: Designing the Future City that is organized in the context of the World Expo 2010.

See Designing the Hybrid City for more information on keynote speakers, workshops and how to participate

See the Adaptation: Designing the Future City for the full program of events and exhibitions in the DCC (Shanghai), August 14-17.

* XML is a contemporary cultural practice specialized in Architecture, Research and Urbanism. XML is interested in developing architectures that both reflect and provoke contemporary ways of life. By understanding program organization as a key strategy within each project XML aims for establishing new relations between buildings and society, the projects of the office are fuelled by a reflection on the contemporary city as source of cultural production.

From its base in Amsterdam XML has been involved in worldwide cross-disciplinary projects with an emphasis on cultural analysis. The office has won several prizes and is led by two partners, Max Cohen de Lara and David Mulder.

* Space&matter is an Amsterdam based architecture and planning office with an ambition to add relevance to spatial design.

As architecture and planning touch on all social and cultural levels of society, we think our responsibility embodies more than the mere design of space. With an open mind we look beyond the conventional scope of our discipline to find and create cross-links between physical space and sociocultural processes. Not the design itself but its effect on these processes is our main objective.

For more info, see the Keynote Speakers page >>

The MIT Senseable City Lab is a research group that explores the “real-time city” by studying the increasing deployment of sensors and networked hand-held electronics, as well as their relationship to the built environment. Its mission is to creatively intervene and investigate the interface between people, technologies and the city.

Anne Nigten is the director of The Patchingzone, a praxis laboratory where Master, PhD students and professionals work together on meaningful creative content.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/themobilecity/

Thank you!

• Isaac Mao
• Li Zhenhua
• Christan van ‘t Hof

See the program for more details.

when: Saturday April 17th 2010, from 10.00 till 17.00 hrs.
where: Mediamatic BANK, Vijzelstraat 68, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

More info and reservation: www.mediamatic.net/131324. Also visit the ARDevCamp wiki.

Jack Qiu – associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Jack Qiu’s academic interests include Internet and society, information and communication technologies (ICTs) and class, late capitalism, globalization, grassroots media, China, and the Asian Pacific. His publications include Working-Class Network Society: Communication Technology and the Information Have-Less in Urban China (MIT Press, 2009), Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective (MIT Press, 2006, co-authored with Manuel Castells, Mireia Fernandez-Ardevol, and Araba Sey), and many chapters, articles, and review essays.

More keynote speakers will be announced shortly.