A final workshop, full of future possibilities, was held at the Wales Millennium Centre this afternoon where the iMAGINE team (Cathy, Prue, Karen and Richard) welcomed some new potential funders from Cardiff Met and Cardiff School of Medicine to carry the iMAGINE vision into the future. We were also delighted to welcome back the original seed funders from CWEN (Creative Wales Exchange Network). Prof. Hamish Fyff and Dr. Richard Bromley. A wide range of possible funding sources were revealed in order to develop the aspirations of iMAGINE. CARIAD facilitated in providing feedback to CWEN of the projects development thus far, and looks forward to continuing this interesting collaboration into its next phase with both the iMAGINE team and CWEN.
Material Matters Research Symposium 05th June 2013
A very informative end of term Symposium took place at Cardiff School of Management yesterday looking at the various ways material feature in research practice http://www.wirad.ac.uk/research-themes/digit/. Co-organiser and presented Cathy (CARIAD member) presented the latest findings of her Walk and Draw project, which is exploring the ways places effect the creative process and can enable sensations of subjective well-being, or as we like to say, happiness.
The findings are being applied to facilitate understandings of immigrant communicates in inner city areas and the ways they do/not feel connected to their local environment. Other presentations ranged from the ways the camel is depicted on tapestries in Israel to CARIAD member Leah discussing ways of capturing making in ceramic contemporary practice. Needless to say CARIAD was delighted to participate and is looking forward to seeing the students inspired by the event for the next term.
‘Promoting Playfulness Amongst Older People’ OPAN RDG workshop 1
‘Promoting Playfulness Amongst Older People’ was the first of the OPAN RDG workshops for the ‘Making a Difference’ project held at Swansea University 31th May 2013 as part of the ‘Coming of Age’ arts trail and exhibition supported by ABMUHB and OPAN.
CARIAD members Leah and Cathy enjoyed the best Swansea University had to offer today (including the sun) at our first workshop for ‘Making a Difference’ supported by OPAN (Older People & Ageing Research and Development Network). We had a long overdue reunion with Graham Dean one of our friends from Lancaster University (http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/people/graham-dean(4ee2e191-9ee4-41b1-868c-92c43452aab6).html) and a core member of the project.
We also welcomed over 16 experts from the fields, of mental health, well-being, technology, interactive design, music, arts, creative business, academics and many more to brainstorm possibilities. After an introduction and summary of the projects themes and aims, we invited our audience to create Lego avatars of themselves to encourage sensations of play and memory.
Our Lego avatars then introduced themselves and their interests in the project. Graham presented some wonderful food for thought showing videos ranging from whimsical musings to state of the art technologies in memory boxes. Check them out here: Spotify box – http://vimeo.com/21387481More4 Rebrand -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ5U3t1zZ_s Music Memory Box – http://www.watershed.co.uk/dshed/music-memory-box
Finally our paper posit ideas board drew out some of our experts poignant and novel contributions leaving CARIAD with endless possible explorations from bread making to Ukulele orchestra’s. Our next step is to think about ways to encourage our stakeholders to play!
Making a Difference – ludic artefacts to promote playfulness.
A massive congratulations to Dr. Cathy Treadaway who has just been awarded funding from OPAN (Older People & Ageing Research & Development Network) to scope the project ‘Making a Difference – ludic artefacts to promote playfulness.’ http://www.opanwales.org.uk/funding-sources-main-websites.htm
The purpose of the RDG is to scope a project to investigate how new technologies and smart materials can be used to extend individual experience of creative playful activity for the elderly. The project is already gaining momentum with our first workshop due to be held at Swansea University as a part of the OPAN ‘Coming of Age’ project on Friday the 31st of May.
An evening with researchers from Cardiff University School of Medicine
CARIAD researchers participated in welcoming researchers from Cardiff University School of Medicine to attend an evening event on the 21st March 2013 at Howard Gardens Gallery. Medical school staff shared research interests, identified synergies and potential future collaborations with researchers from CSAD and CARIAD. The evening was an informal and intimate occasion where fruitful discussions commenced over a glass of wine and crudités. CARIAD were excited by the opportunity to engage with our medical partners and predict this to be the first of many interactive events, projects and products.
The event had equal numbers of staff from each University (9 and 9) presenting two slides over two minutes to summarise their research interests. The reminder of the event showcased some of the outputs from researchers at CSAD and CARIAD. Dr. Wendy Keay-Bright and Dr. Cathy Treadaway showcased their research in the form of a mini exhibition showing artworks and posters. CARIAD research student Ben-Ewart Dean also participated giving demonstrations of the apps ReacTickles and Somantics. This visual display offered unique insights into our projects giving the School of Medicine lots to talk about and reflect on, long after the work came down. Exciting times so watch this space!
Workshop with CARIAD and Barry Farrimond of MUSE
A thoroughly informative workshop took place at the Centre for Performance analysis today, where CARIAD members Darrell Cobner, Dr. Wendy Keay-Bright and Leah Mc Laughlin met with Barry Farrimond of MUSE (Multimedia Used in Special Education) http://www.museproject.co.uk/meet-the-team/ to work on video coding for the Listening Aloud project http://www.museproject.co.uk/portfolio/listening-aloud/, one of our collaborative projects.
The session followed on from our first scoping event in March, where the principles of video analysis were discussed. Potential approaches for the interpretation of video data were highlighted, using well-established performance analysis design strategies and incorporating themes from the Sounds of Intent framework http://soundsofintent.org/soi.html. Moving on from this, today’s session resulted in a series of coding templates, starting with Sounds of Intent, which can be used to analyse video footage of the Listening Aloud prototypes in use. The aim of analysis at this stage is to highlight the ways in which the Listening Aloud interactive technologies can facilitate child led engagement with musical activities. A broader aim will be to consider the impact of this experience in relation to holistic objectives for individual children – for example gross motor movement and expressive communication. With further input from staff at the participating schools, the next phase of the project will refine these methods and templates to include established diagnostic tools and profiles in special needs education.
Morriston Hospital Project: Imagine session two
An exciting and eventful discussion took place at OnPar studios today. Where Richard Crandon hosted the second brain storm event for the CEWN (Creative Exchange Wales Network) seed funded project iMagine https://vimeo.com/album/2409599/video/65959339. The first event (video link here) proposed a project which would transform the new hospital space at the Morriston hospital into a playful, dynamic and interactive platform for young people making the experience of being at hospital more enjoyable, perhaps even facilitate well-being and the healing process.
This second event brought together several experts in computer, web, interactive and technology art and design to scope the possibilities, explore designs and discuss the feasibility of some ideas beginning to form. The aim of the event was to settle on a series of key principals for further research.