Shigeki Amitani

Practice-led strategies for interactive art research

Interactive art is said to be ‘created’ by the people engaged in the active experience of it. Works are conceived and first tried out in the studio environment by the artist and then introduced to a wider audience whose behaviour influences its particular visual and auditory manifestations. Research into this kind of process presents interesting challenges that require interdisciplinary collaboration. Artists, technologists, curators, museum organizers are seeking new ways to understand what is effective and engaging about the interactive experience. The practice-led research process is one of co-evolution between creative acts and research knowledge drawn from both informal experiences and organized studies. The present paper describes practice-led strategies for research that have been developed at the Creativity and Cognition Studios and put into effect in Beta_space, an exhibiting space in a major public museum.

Amplifying reflective thinking in musical performance

In this paper we report on the development of tools that encourage both a creative and reflective approach to music-making and musical skill development. A theoretical approach to musical skill development is outlined and previous work in the area of music visualisation is discussed. In addition the characterisation of music performance as a type of design problem is discussed and the implications of this position for the design of tools for musicians are outlined. Prototype tools, the design of which is informed by the theories and previous work, are described and some preliminary evaluation of their effectiveness is discussed.Future directions are outlined.

A method for visualising possible contexts

This paper presents a method for visualising possible sequences of information. Possible sequences of information segments, often called scenarios, have been used as a tool for exploring and stimulating thinking about possible events, assumptions relating to these events, and courses of actions, i.e., chances for a broad range of information designers from public audiences searching on the internet to analysts and policy makers. It is a laborious task to grab an overview of information space. In this research, we design and develop a series of generative systems that visualises possible contexts.

Knowledge nebula crystallizer for time-based information

In this paper, we are going to describe a system for managing and authoring time-based information artefact, as an implementation of Knowledge Nebula Crystallizer [9]. The design rationale of the system and its implementation are described.

Our Content: Generative Montage Methods for Multimedia Data

This paper presents the latest results from our project “Our Content” which aims to develop systems that generate meaningful sequences of information out of existing information. The Our Content engine is rather like an automated editor that generates meaningful output by combining the content provided by audiences in an interesting and stimulating way. We explain the developed algorithm and an application “generative website” where public audiences can post their own contents such as videos and then the website automatically generates meaningful sequences of videos.

Designing a System for Supporting the Process of Making a Video Sequence

The aim of this research is to develop a system to support video artists. We have analysed the process of making a video sequence in collaboration with an experienced video artist so that design rationales of the system for artists can be obtained through artists’ practices. Based on this analysis we identified design rationales for a system to support the process of making a video sequence, then a prototype system called “Knowledge Nebula Crystallizer for Time-based Information (KNC4TI)” has been developed accordingly. Further development towards a generative system is also discussed.

A Method for Visualising Possible Contexts

This paper presents a method for visualising possible sequences of information. Possible sequences of information segments, called contexts, scenarios, narratives, or storytellings, have been used as a tool for exploring and stimulating thinking about possible events, assumptions relating to these events, and courses of actions, i.e. chances for a broad range of information designers from public audiences searching on the internet to analysts and policy makers. Thanks to the search technology, it has become easier to obtain information that a person is looking for, however, it is a laborious task to grab an overview of information space so that an information designer can find contextually relevant information pieces and sequence them into contextually meaningful ways. In this research, we design and develop a series of generative systems that visualises possible contexts.

A context visualiser: the generative website project

This paper presents a prototype generative system that visualises possible sequences of information, often called scenarios, narratives, stories, or contexts, out of existing information so that (1) information designers and audiences of information can explore and discover possible contexts that otherwise could be missed; and (2) the generated information artefacts can stimulate creative thinking. The generated sequences are expected to work as : (1) final products that a user (audience) can enjoy; and (2) draft materials that a user (information designer) can modify.

Hypermedia for Portable Video Players (PVP)

In this paper we propose the exploitation of high mobility portable battery operated video players (PVP) for the retrieval of video associated with the location in which it may be used. Reporting on an earlier interactive multimedia location-based prototype, we assess the possibilities for specific ontologies of a taxonomy of indexing procedure which avoids text-based retrieval methods, using instead the mnemonics of image association. We outline the proposed development of PVP firmware and a related user application enabling users to construct indexing procedures appropriate to their needs, using a metadesign approach