In the Executive Update in the January edition of Litmus we highlighted the all-important
issue of transforming our research success through a more detailed commercialisation strategy.
It is now time for us to start implementing some key strategies both to consolidate our present
position and prepare us for the future.
The drivers required to deliver on these strategies include a refocusing of
ACID's priorities and activities around commercial opportunities, while
delivering a research program with anticipated lower levels of federal government funding.
Therefore it is essential for ACID to put in place some strong cost-management
measures, while at the same time concentrating resources to achieve optimum outcomes.
To support this refocusing of our energies we are implementing some important changes to
streamline our organisational structure and position us to effectively concentrate on our
realigned priorities, as well as allowing me to perform a more strategic role as Chief
Executive Officer.
The revised organisational model will provide for three main areas of activity, with
associated repositioning of senior staff roles and responsibilities:
Research
Andrew Brown has effectively fulfilled the role of Research Manager since June 2007 in an
exceptional and committed manner, and I am pleased to be able to announce that QUT has
agreed to second him almost full-time to ACID from June 2008 so that he can
continue to perform this vital role for the next two to three years.
Commercialisation
Paul Holland has been effectively performing the role of Commercialisation Manager in a
part-time capacity over the past year, as well as being heavily involved in other areas of
ACID's strategic development. Paul has agreed to officially take on a
reconfigured Commercialisation Manager role with expanded responsibility for technology
transfer and linking research outcomes to the R&D Services area. He will also oversee
business development for research projects and assist in sourcing new partners.
Business Management
Over the past six months our Communication and Operations Manager, Amanda Boland-Curran, has
taken on an increased role in the daily operations of the organisation as well as providing
valuable assistance in a range of governance and legal issues, and supporting the board
process. Amanda will formally take on an expanded role of Business Manager, which will
include overall management of ACID's daily operations and administration,
including finance, IT support, HR, and marketing and communication. Given the breadth of this
role and Amanda's skills and qualifications, she has also been appointed as Company Secretary
to both ACID and ACID Services.
As a consequence of his ongoing QUT commitments, ACID's Research and
Development Director Sam Bucolo will be reducing his time commitments to ACID
to two days per week. Importantly, however, Sam will continue to provide us with valuable
strategic advice and support in the role of Principal Consultant, where his skills in
transferring knowledge from our research activities into strong commercial outcomes can be
utilised to best effect.
As a result of the changes to Sam's arrangements, Kate Freebairn's role of Senior
Interaction Designer will be upgraded to that of Studio Manager.
I am confident that the changes I have outlined will ensure that ACID
continues to deliver positive outcomes in both our research and commercialisation activities,
as well as assisting us to meet our CRC commitment to the Commonwealth Agreement, raising
necessary funds to consolidate the research program to a more mature stage of development to
enable outcomes-focused delivery.
For the past six years a team of music educators, software interaction designers and
sociologists, including ACID researchers, have been researching virtual
ensembles through the use of the jam2jam 'family' of generative software and hardware
applications. The initial development of the software began with a survey of the musical tastes
of a group of children in a culturally diverse community in Delaware, Ohio as part of the
Delaware Children's Music Festival in 2002.
Video: Network Jamming with jam2jam, length:
5:22
Subsequent research and development has been performed by ACID and others in
Australia. The majority of this research has been about improving the generative algorithms,
applying networked jamming activities to arts education learning environments, the addition of
visual media performance capabilities, and the development of digital social networks of
network jamming users.
ACID's Network Jamming project
explores how collaborative creativity using networked digital technologies can enhance learning
and community. The project focuses particularly on the use of generative systems to increase
access to novice users such as children and people with disabilities.
:: Youth Week 2008: 60Sox Helps Young Queenslanders Share Their Ideas
This week, 5-13 April, is National Youth Week 2008 and the ACID-developed
backend to 60Sox, an online medium that supports new creative talent to self-publish their work
and swap constructive feedback with their peers, is helping young Queenslanders to hook up with
each other share their ideas.
60Sox is powering the Queensland Government sponsored Shout. Share. Live. Unite Online
Competition, which will allow young Queenslanders across the state to get involved in Youth
Week by sharing their ideas, opinions and creativity.
The competition accepts entries in animation, audio, design, film, interactive media,
photography, visual arts or writing across two categories - Junior (12-17) and Senior (18-25).
Junior entrants will go in the running to win one of two laptops, while senior entrants can win
one of two $2000 cash prizes.
Three of ACID's Urban
Interfaces researchers will attend the premier international human-computer interaction
conference, CHI, in Florence in early
April.
ACID Research Leader Margot Brereton will present a paper on rhub.net, a mobile social networking system
developed by PhD student Clint Heyer. PhD student Fiona Redhead will present the team's work at
the HCI for Community and International Development workshop and Project Leader Ian MacColl
will present at the Designing and Evaluating Mobile Phone-Based Interaction with Public
Displays workshop.
ACID's Loupe project will also be
represented at CHI with Project Leader Jeremy Yuille presenting a case study from the Virtual
Communities project.
:: Sam Bucolo, Design Institute of Australia Fellow
In recognition of his service to the design community, ACID's Principal
Consultant Sam Bucolo has been made a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia.
Fellowship recognises the value of a designer's service to the design professions and the
DIA.
Sam has managed a broad range of national and international projects for public and
private-sector organisations in Australia and Europe, and has published widely in the fields of
strategic design and innovation, emerging design tools and tangible interfaces.
16 April 2008
Creative Industries Precinct, QUT, Kelvin Grove
ACID's annual Education Day is an opportunity for new and continuing
ACID postgraduate students to get together, learn about
ACID's education program, and connect with their peers and
ACID researchers.
29 April 2008, 6.30-8pm
Experimedia, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne
Hear a panel of video-game developers and commentators explore challenges in the game sector.
The Nintendo Wii has brought hands-on video gaming into the mainstream, while portable game
platforms are immensely popular, and casual games are also on the rise. What does the future
have in store for the game industry?
Bookings required: 03 8664 7555
:: Exhibitions
AV Jam
5 February - 11 April 2008, Beta_Space, The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
The public exhibition of the AV Jam system at Beta_Space in Sydney's Powerhouse Museum has
been extended to 11 April. AV Jam uses dynamic music and video technologies that will allow
anyone, from novice to expert, to perform live in a virtual ensemble as a DJ or VJ.
2008 Adobe Design Achievement Awards
Entries due: 2 May 2008
Visit the ADAA website for more
info...
2008 iAwards
Presentations and gala dinner: 28 May 2008
Visit the iAwards website for more
info...
* In 2006 ACID won the Education and Training Merit Award for its Digital Songlines project and was
shortlisted for a second award. *
:: Professional Workshops
First International Workshop on Location on the Web (LocWeb 2008)
WWW 2008 Conference
22 April 2008, Beijing, CHINA
Visit the LocWeb
2008 website for more info...
Pervasive Persuasive Technology and Environmental Sustainability
Workshop
6th International Conference on Pervasive Computing
19-22 May 2008, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Visit Urban Informatics
for more info...
Networks of Design
An international symposium defining graphic design for the future.
3-6 September 2008, Falmouth UK
Email the convenor
for more info...
Imagining Business: Reflecting on the visual power of management, organising and
governing practices, First EIASM Workshop
26-27 June 2008, Saïd Business School, Oxford UK
Visit the EIASM website for more info...
10th Anniversary Conference on Participatory Design: Experiences and
Challenges
30 September - 4 October 2008, Bloomington USA
Visit the conference website for more
info...
:: Calls for Papers
Tangible and Embedded Interaction A Special Issue of International Journal of Arts and Technology Paper submission: 21 April 2008
Visit the IJART website for more info...
Creating Value: Between Commerce and Commons CCI International Conference
25-27 June 2008, Brisbane AUSTRALIA
Visit the CCI website for more
info...
Facial and Bodily Expressions for Control and Adaptation of Games (ECAG
'08) 2008 IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture
Recognition
16 September 2008, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS Papers: 15 June 2008 Registration: 1 September 2008
Visit the ECAG '08
website for more info...
CPRF 2008: The Communications Policy & Research Forum
29-30 September 2008, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Abstracts/proposals: 23 May 2008
Papers: 15 August 2008
Visit the CPRF 2008 website for more info...
Digital Earth Summit on Geoinformatics: Tools for Global Research Change
12-14 November 2008, Potsdam, GERMANY
Abstracts (extended deadline): 30 April 2008
Registration (early bird): 1 July 2008
Papers: 30 July 2008
Visit the Summit website for more
info...
IE2008: The Fifth Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment
3-5 December 2008, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA
Papers: 20 June 2008
Demonstration Abstracts: 14 July 2008
Visit the IE2008 website for more
info...
Persistent Conversation Minitrack, Digital Media and Content Track Hawai'i International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 42)
5-8 January 2009, Hawaii, USA Abstracts: 15 March 2008 Papers: 15 June 2008
Visit the Persistent
Conversation homepage for more info...
:: Conferences
SimTecT 2008 Simulation Conference
12-15 May 2008, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Visit the SimTecT 2008
website for more info...
IIT Institute of Design Strategy conference
15-16 May 2008, Chicago USA
Visit the IIT website for more info...
CRCA08 Conference
21-23 May 2008, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Visit the CRCA08 website for
more info...
Graphics Interface 2008
28-30 May 2008, Windsor CANADA
Visit the GI2008 website
for more info...
RMIT Graduate Research Conference 2008
6-8 May 2008, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
7th International Conference on Interaction Design for Children
11-13 June 2008, Chicago USA
Visit the IDC2008 website
for more info...
3DPVT 2008: Fourth International Symposium on 3D Data Processing, Visualization and
Transmission
18-20 June 2008, Atlanta USA
Visit the 3DPVT 2008 website
for more info...
New Views 2 Symposium Conversations and Dialogues in Graphic Design
9-11 July 2008, London UK
Visit the New Views 2 website
for more info...
:: Grant Applications
Engagement Innovation Grants for 2008
Engagement Innovation Grants will support University staff to implement model engagement
initiatives and practices across QUT. Project teams are encouraged to apply for support funding
of between $10,000 and $30,000 per project. The total value of Engagement Innovation Grants for
2008 is $100,000.
Notification of Intent: 14 April 2008
Applications: 16 May 2008 Engagement Innovation Grants Guidelines Application Form
For more information, contact
Pauline Gray
:: Calendar Call
If you have an event, meeting or conference date to share with ACID
colleagues, just e-mail us the info.
