Master class: Aware, shared mobile experience(s) Dates: January 13, 14, 15 2005 Venue: Metroscreen, Sydney Film Centre Presenters: Andrew Paterson and John Evans Participation fee: $100 + 10% GST ($80 + 10% GST for current dLux media arts members) Only 10 places available! Selection: Participants will be selected based on applications received. Please fill out the online application form in the events section of this website. Applications close December 12! Applicants will be notified of the selection results by December 17. About the master class Aware (John Evans & Andrew Paterson, both UK/FI) will lead a 3-day master class as an intensive introduction to the collective contribution, publication and syndication of mobile media. This master class is aimed at new media artists, designers and other creative researchers, interested in gaining skills, hands-on practical experience, and shared knowledge related to this medium for socially-engaged media art practices. Over the 3 days there will be three aspects to the master class that will be intermingled each day. Firstly, each morning will be dedicated to skills development. It will give 'how-to-do' advice in setting up a webserver, an sms gateway and introduce techniques and approaches to publication and syndication via different methods within mobile and online networks. There will be a distinct focus on open source solutions within proprietary networks, and sustainability beyond the duration of the master class. In the afternoon sessions, as part of the process of sharing knowledge that Aware has gained in almost 2 years of practice and development, the following themes will be introduced for discussion and elaborated, depending upon interest: Metadata and context; Usability issues; Online representations and interfaces; Public / privacy threshold issues; Experience of social networks in mobile practices; Aesthetics of mobile media. In addition to these subjects, there will be an opportunity to share thoughts on how to design workshops for other special-interest groups, and how to present mobile practices to an audience. To complement in a hands-on manner, activities from early afternoon onwards, will be done in dispersed group exercises. All contributions by the group will gather in a collective online weblog, which will be used as a prototype environment to illustrate the concepts discussed during the master class. Requirements Participants should have previous experience with digital media production, sonic or visual, and be familiar with mobile devices. Participants will be expected to engage in discussion, work in groups and generally think on their feet for the duration of the workshop. We would also ask that participants bring thoughts for future projects they would like to work on post workshop. While the workshop will not focus on technology it will be part of the workshop process, therefore some technical aptitude is required. To gain from the more technical aspects of the master class, participants should have a basic familarity / knowledge in basic HTML / CSS, and ideally some experience of scripting languages, for example: PHP, perl, python, java, lingo, actionscript etc. About Aware The Aware platform is a design tool and a production environment. It allows for collective publication and syndication of mobile media. The focus is upon relations between objective and subjective contextual information, such as proximity, location, temporality, theme and event. Important strategies are: working from the lowest common technological denominator to maintain flexibility and inclusiveness; open-source solutions within propriety networks; human relationships and experience; context and situatedness. Aware is developed as a multi-disciplinary project initiated by Aki-Ville Pöykiö (FI), John Evans (UK/FI), Markus Ort (CH/DE), Andrew Paterson (UK/FI) in February 2003. +++Aware is an independent and self-initiated project. It does not receive direct research funding, and is currently not part of any technological or academic research programme. It has however been graciously supported, with much gratitude, from the beginning by the Media Lab, University of Art and Design Helsinki.+++ John Evans Born 1980 in Wales, currently residing in Finland I consider and label myself a 'designer', however I have no preference or allegiance to any particular field of 'traditional design'; I actively benefit from crossing what others consider boundaries both within and extending outside the accepted discourse of design. As a designer I have designed / constructed / coordinated 3D structures, abstract systems, pure multimedia and workshops. Currently I am studying an MA in new media at the Media Lab, University of Art and Design Helsinki (Taideteollinen Korkeakoulu). My studies present me with an academic platform, within which theory and ideas can be explored; this platform has given me both physical and cognitive space to evolve my design practice. The work that I undertake outside of the academic environment i.e. the commercial application of my academic work, has given me the opportunity to design with the support of a commercial budget. I actively seek this variety within my working practice. Andrew Paterson Born 1974 in Scotland, currently residing in Finland Paterson has a creative practice that evolved from the processes of printmaking, through a blend of poetic text, mixed media, virtual audio-augmented environments, towards emerging mobile interfaces. He studied BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Glasgow School of Art, completing a Master of Science in Computer Aided Graphical Technology Applications at the University of Teesside, NE England. Since 2000 he has been influenced by: engagement with metaphors, methodologies and theory from archaeology and performance to assist contextual content authoring, and recently, ethnographic fieldwork practice. Paterson has exhibited a mixture of media in Scotland and Finland, and in complementary measure has experience coordinating digital and traditional art-development workshops with a variety of people, community settings, for local and regional organisations. This background has been extended into workshops exploring creative applications of mobile technologies. Beginning 2003 he is a Doctorate of Arts candidate at Media Lab UIAH in Helsinki, Finland, and is active in the local Nordic / Baltic media arts-culture environment.