DCRC - Digital Cultures Research Centre

With Autumn in full swing and the first wintery cold snaps, the week ending 25th November was a mix of thinking about both of the changing physical and intellectual landscapes around us.

Several DCRC researchers have been concerned with writing new funding applications, which have brought about some really interesting conversations in the studio (and ongoing J-ES wrangling!). Several of these applications will take forward themes and ideas from existing DCRC projects. We are also excited by seeing the Pervasive Media Cookbook take shape and look forward to sharing that with you in the new year.

DCRC Director Jonathan Dovey is on his way to New Zealand to present a keynote at the Exapnding Documentary conference, taking place at AUT. Jon is giving a paper, building from his work with Mandy Rose, that will address some of the potentials and pitfalls of the current new wave of collaborative and interactive documentaries online.

Similarly, Mandy Rose has been presenting some work from her CollabDocs research, in particular The Are You Happy? project, at the Jean Roche Film Festival in Paris. Mandy is also doing some really interesting work with the Popcorn Maker for interactive media, you can read more about this on her project blog. There are some exciting prospects for the i-Docs conference in this work.

The Pervasive Media Studio lunchtime talk on Friday 25th was given by UWE alumnus Geraint Ffrancon, who talked about his PRS-funded location-aware sound and music project Channel Weather Symmetry. Geraint's talk concerned slow movement through the particular landscapes of Brean Down (Somerset) and Rhossili (The Gower, Wales), either side of the Bristol channel. He discussed composing music for located experiences and how pervasive media might be used to help us slow down and reflect.

On 1st December, Tom Abba is taking part in the Bristol Festival of Ideas' "Bristol Genius" series. Tom is giving a talk entitled 'This isn't the future of the book', which will discuss his ongoing research into digital publishing and specifically addressing the question how do digital platforms change the nature of the book? Please see the event page, or book with Festival of Ideas.