Mike Phillips, Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts, University of Plymouth, School of Arts & Media, Faculty of Arts. mike.phillips@plymouth.ac.uk.
Mike Phillips is director of i-DAT, a Principal Supervisor for the Planetary Collegium and a supervisor of the Transtechnology Research Groups. His R&D orbits digital architectures and transmedia publishing, and is manifest in a series of ‘Operating Systems’ to dynamically manifest ‘data’ as experience in order to enhance perspectives on a complex world. The Operating Systems project explores data as an abstract and invisible material that generates a dynamic mirror image of our biological, ecological and social activities.
These projects and other work can be found on the i-DAT web site at: www.i-dat.org. i-DAT is a Research Group that acts as a catalyst for creative innovation across the fields of Art, Science and Technology, facilitating regional, national and international collaborations and cultural projects. As a networked organisation and ‘cultural broker’ i-DAT’s transdisciplinary agenda fosters ‘open innovation’ and knowledge exchange between companies, institutions, communities and individuals. i-DAT is developing new ‘tools’ for production, dissemination and participation that challenge traditional models of creation and consumption, and embrace the shifting relationships between audiences and cultural producers.
Chris Speed is Reader in Digital Spaces across the Schools of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Edinburgh, where he teaches undergraduate, masters, supervises PhD students, and directs research projects.
Chris has sustained a critical enquiry into how digital technology can engage with the field of architecture and human geography through a variety of established international digital art contexts including: International Symposium on Electronic Art, Biennial of Electronic Arts Perth, Ars Electronica, Consciousness Reframed, Sonic Acts, LoveBytes, We Love Technology, Sonic Arts Festival, MELT, Less Remote, FutureSonic, and the Arts Catalyst / Leonardo symposium held alongside The International Astronautical Congress.
Chris is the PI on three significant RCUK funded projects: 1. TOTeM/Talesofthing investigating social memory within the ‘Internet of Things’ funded by the Digital Economy (£1.4mill) www.talesofthings.com, the project has gained international attention for its unique ability to allow users to attach memories to personal objects, 2. the JISC funded iPhone app Walking Through Time that overlays contemporary Google maps with historical maps in Edinburgh allowing users to walk roads that no longer exist and inhabit spaces that have since been erased www.walkingthroughtime.co.uk, and 3. Community Web2.0: creative control through hacking’. This £40K feasibility study will explore the extent to which parallels between virtual society (Internet) and actual society (communities) may be extended in such a way that helps make sense of both the opportunities and risks of the Big Society for communities.