DCRC - Digital Cultures Research Centre

To MeCCSA, to MeCCSA and three days on Salford Quays. Oh Manchester, so much to answer for. Salford Media City are importing the BBC from London and moving the Corrie set to just over the water, with University of Salford set to bring 1700 students to a site due to house a further 3000 media workers. This is turbo-charged Mancunian post-industrial renewal, putting money in the place of a confident collective mouth, as expansive as the re-imagined waterways. The investment in the idea of 'media' as a replacement for the decline of smokestack industry is awesomely present in Salford. I could feel the wind of history whistling past my ears looking across the disappearing original Lowry landscapes of vertical chimneys towards once smokey mill fields then glancing to the window framing Media City. The patina of Salford shifts from the brick and soot captured in Lowry's palette to the glass and steel of Old Trafford, the Imperial War Museum North and the eponymous arts centre in which MeCCSA took place.

As to the conference, the 2011 programme was as wide-ranging as ever, as is often the case in diverse subject area events. It was interesting to see practice-based research in several slots and the 'digital' in media largely now taken for granted. An excellent Keynote panel (day two) from TL Taylor, Nicholas Boston and Feona Attwood on the realities and problems of online ethnography, where participation and collaborative play are crucial. In fact, ethnographies of various kinds became a notable conference theme, including in our own panel.

Our session was based on our Knowledge Transfer Fellowship, concerning the language employed to describe emerging forms of 'pervasive media', and how they are variously valued. However, in the performance of the panel, the multiple audiences for the work was set in relief. In this (academic conference) context, the work can be seen as a kind of design ethnography, whereas in situ (the studio) it is useful feedback and reflection on design strategy with practitioners. The panel was an experimental exemplar of how we address our mission to be 'critical, creative and applied'; it was good to have Sam Kinsley contributing work on futurity to bolster the critical context of our observations. The session raised some interesting questions about the challenges of mixing 'critical and 'applied' work. Thanks to TL Taylor, Helen Thornham, the 'other' Helen Kennedy and Martin Barker for really useful feedback.