Category Archives: Students

Events, Students

Report on Sensing Environments: An Internet of Things Pit Stop

Rapheal-Olaniyan

Computer Science PhD student Rapheal Olaniyan reports on attending Sensing Environments: An Internet of Things Pit Stop on 27-28 April 2015.

Organised by Digital Catapult Centre, Sensing Environments was an event  designed for entrepreneurs, PhD candidates and CEOs to have the opportunity to seek advice from experts in the Internet of Things on Smart Cities, Sensing Environments and Smart Buildings.

It provided an avenue to get updated on innovative technology projects. I was funded by Goldsmiths Computing department to attend the programme, knowing that it would help me get to know the latest technology challenges and developments, and seek advice on my research work.

One of the projects presented was about the societal database system that will include corporate firms and private individuals to have direct access to non-sensitive information. Only authorised parties are allowed to have access to sensitive information. For example, telecom companies can benefit from banks by having access to some non-sensitive information using the proposed central database system and vice versa. It can be used to solve some problems related to fraud, poor information dissemination, among others.

Another interesting project was about security access to private individuals’ information. At this stage, corporate firms protect and decide who should have access to their customers’ information. For example, Twitter decides who should have access to the accounts of their customers. But with a centralised database, individuals can make the decisions.

For entrepreneurs, PhD students and CEOs interested in the latest technology, seeking advice from experts and also developing strong business network it is worth the time attending some technology-related events organised by Digital Contact.

Inspiration, News, Publications, Students

Music Computing graduate wins top prize at Human-Computer Interaction conference

Music Computing graduate Pedro Kirk has won first prize in the student research competition at CHI 2015 conference in Seoul, Korea.

His paper Can Specialised Electronic Musical Instruments Aid Stroke Rehabilitation? won the top prize for any student in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. He successfully beat students from every other institution who applied, including MIT, Georgia Tech, University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon University.

Now studying on the MSc in Music Mind & Brain at Goldsmiths, he presented work that he produced as part of his year 3 undergraduate Music Computing project, which he showed at the 2014 Undergraduate Degree Show.

Abstract
Stroke patients often have limited access to rehabilitation after discharge from hospital leaving them to self-regulate their recovery. Previous research has indicated that several musical approaches can be used effectively in stroke rehabilitation.

Stroke patients (n = 43), between 6 months and 19 years post-stroke, took part in specially created workshops playing music, both in groups and individually, using a number of digital musical interfaces. Feedback forms were completed by all participants, which helped to develop the prototypes and gain insights into the potential benefits of music making for rehabilitation.

93% of participants stated they thought that the music workshops were potentially beneficial for their rehabilitation. The research project contributes to the field of HCI by exploring the role of computer based systems in stroke rehabilitation.

* Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). CHI’15 Extended Abstracts. Apr 18-23, 2015, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
ACM  978 -1-4503-3146-3/15/04.

Inspiration, MA/MFA Computational Art, Students, Women in Computing

Computational Arts student wins Saudi innovation & entrepreneurship prize

MA Computational Arts student Hadeel Ayoub has won an Innovation & Entrepreneurship Prize for Saudi Students in the UK.

Her prize-winning project, the Sign Language Glove, uses flex sensors to ‘translate’ the hand and finger positions used in sign language into alphabet characters on an LED display.

As well as winning the £1000 bronze medal prize, Hadeel was approached to present her innovation at the Innovation Leaders Conference at Cambridge Judge Business School and the Arab Innovation Network Annual Conference  in Jordan.

She was also approached by Evolvys Venture Builders, a technology network that identifies innovations and helps to bring them to the market. The CEO, Dr. Evolves Oudrhiri (one of the competition judges) offered Hadeel some of their microchips to incorporate into the next prototype of the sign language glove.

“I got the idea for the sign language with arduino project while I was working on a photo editing software which allows the user to control image pixels and has the freedom to input letters as pixels. I thought to substitute the keyboard input with interactive sign language using flex sensors and an arduino. 

“For the flex sensors for the fingers I used an accelerometer to detect hand orientation. For aesthetic reasons, I replaced the microcontroller from arduino uno to the sewable lily pad so I could hide it within the glove fabric. I also got some conductive thread to patch things up without breaking the circuit.

“Finally, instead of the serial monitor (and again for aesthetic purposes), I got an LED 4-digit-numerical display screen to display the letters. I still haven’t decided if my device should be wireless but if so, I will also attach an external battery power supply and a bluetooth module.”

(Text adapted from Hadeel Ayoub’s Sign Language Glove project blog)

 

 

Careers, MSc Computer games and Entertainment, Students

MSc Games Programming graduate on working at Fuzzy Frog

IMG_6126In an interview published in Develop magazine, April 2015, MSc Computer Games & Entertainment graduate James Gamlin discusses his work at Fuzzy Frog.

What do you do at the studio?
I’m currently a gameplay designer, which entails a lot of the level design for the current project as well as working on general gameplay functionality. I perform minor scripting tasks awa well, though usually to help the level development process run smoother on my end.

How did you get your current job?
I started out on the Creative Skillset trainee programme as part of my MSc at Goldsmiths, University of London. This meant I was on a work placement with Fuzzy Frog, that was in turn assessed by the university. Once my placement came to an end I was asked to remain with Fuzzy Frog in full-time employment.

What perks are available to employees at the studio?
Being relatively new to the games industry, I’m a bit unsure as to what the standard is on this situation. However what I can say is that from a graduate perspective it’s been a great environment to learn about the industry and the development process outside of academia.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to attend the East Midlands Indies events which would not have been possible without the relevant networking connections that were available to me.

What is the recruitment process like at your studio?
fuzzyWe’re currently in the midst of growing as a company so our recruitment consists of job postings on our website and through various connections within the industry.

We normally have quite a lot of applicants selected for interviews, and if successful will be put on a probation period for a month.

What was your own interview like?
My placement interview was with the CEO and creative producer at Fuzzy Frog, which might sound quite intimidating, but in actuality was quite informal and relaxed.
We began by talking about the current projects and what would be expected of me if I were to join these projects.

I brought my portfolio with me, which consisted of both programming and design projects I had worked on throughout my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. It was quite fortunate that a lot of the work in my portfolio had connections to current projects at Fuzzy Frog.

Describe what the atmosphere is like at your studio.
Since the company is relateively small-sized (though it has grown considerably in the past year), we all work closely with each other, meaning that different departments are all in the same room. It creates a comfortable atmosphere to be surrounded with a range of people with different skills and backgrounds.

We work very vocally, asking for advice for problems and creative feedback for our implementations, or assets. This means that everyone is given a portion of responsibility for making design decisions, which we then review and discuss collectively at the end of each sprint.

EAVI, Events, Staff profiles and activity, Students, Women in Computing

Sonorities launch party concert, Fri 17 April

Join EAVI and the Sonic Arts Research Centre for a free day of audio-visual performances and workshops for the launch of Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music. All welcome.

WORKSHOP in the GDS, Ben Pimlott Building
Fields: Sébastien Piquemal & Tim Shaw
Friday 17 April @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
“In this workshop we will introduce participants to using Fields as a performance or installation tool for mobile devices.” Please register at fieldsworkshop.eventbrite.co.uk

LECTURE – Ben Pimlott Building Lecture Theatre
Dirt[y] Media Lecture: Caleb Kelly
Friday 17 April @ 4:45 pm – 6:00 pm
“This talk will fracture the narrative of the contemporary digital studio, a space imagined to be free from noise and contained. Re-reading media histories I will look at practices that are cracked, broken and at times actually dirty.”

CONCERT & LISTENING ROOM
Sonorities Launch Event
Friday 17 April @ 7:00 pm – Monday 20 April @ 7:00 pm
Join us for an evening of audio-visual performance as we launch the Sonics Immersive Media Lab facility. This concert also marks the London launch of Sonorities, the annual symposium and festival of contemporary music held at Queen’s University, Belfast.

This will be the first event held in the newly installed Sonics Immersive Media Lab at the converted church St James Hatcham, Goldsmiths, London SE14.

Concert Programme, 7pm-10pm Friday 17 April

Listening Room Programme, 7pm-10pm Friday 17 April

  • Laurie Radford: Vagus II
  • Jones Margarucci: Metamorfosi Interrotte (for fixed media)
  • Nicola Monopoli: 3 Stanzas
  • Vanessa Sorce-Lévesque: Dremen
  • Damian O’Riain: Configurational Energy Landscape No.9
  • Mari Ohno: Speaking Clock
  • Line Katcho: Aiguillage (Switches & Crossings)
  • Paul Fretwell: King’s Cross
  • James Surgenor: flux
  • David Berezan: Lightvessels
  • Richard Garrett: Once Below a Time
  • Sam Salem: The Fall (I)
  • Oliver Carman: Piano Fragments
  • Aidan Deery: Clearway
  • Roberto Zanata: Nero metropolitano
  • Félix-Antione Morin: Calligraphie II
  • Benjamin D. Whiting: Melodía sin melodía
  • Gilles Fresnais: Les chants de la terre (Earth songs)
  • Nicolas Marty: Nibelheim

Concert and Listening Room details

About Sonorities Festival at Queens University Belfast

Events, Inspiration, Students

Christian Marclay at WHITECUBE, Bermonsey

christian_M

Christian Marclay has a new solo exhibition at White Cube. It features surround audiovisual multi-screen projection works using a configuration similar Goldsmith’s new ‘SIML’ space.

The work was produced with the assistance of two of Goldsmith’s MA & MFA Computational Arts students Haein Kim and Antonio Daniele and one of our PhD students Diego Macedodefagundes.

About the exhibition:

Continuing Marclay’s long-standing interest in the relationship between image and sound, the exhibition is comprised of a series of works on canvas and paper that feature onomatopoeia taken from comic books. Unlike earlier instances of sound mimesis in his work, these focus solely on the wet sounds suggestive of the action of painting. Combining cartoon-strip imagery and the dripping, pouring and splashing noises associated with gestural abstraction, the works ironically bridge a gap between art movements as distinct as Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. This is also reflected in the method in which they have been made; a combination of painting overlaid with screen printing.

A further set of onomatopoeia is put in motion for the first time in a large-scale video installation which projects across four walls. To make the work, the artist collated a lexicon of the sound effects made by characters in superhero stories. The scanned swatches were then animated using the software programme After Effects in a dynamic choreography that suggests the acoustic properties of each word. ‘Boom’, for example, is no longer static on the page, but bursts into life in a sequence of colourful explosions, while ‘Whooosh!’ and ‘Zoooom!’ travel at high speed around the walls. The work fuses the aural with the visual, and immerses the viewer in a silent musical composition.

The aqueous motif introduced with the paintings runs throughout the exhibition, surfacing in a number of new works that allude to everyday life. In a new video installation entitled Pub Crawl (2014), the artist coaxes sound from the empty glasses, bottles and cans that he finds abandoned on the streets of East London, during early morning weekend walks. In a series of projections that run the length of the gallery’s corridor, these discarded vessels are hit, rolled and crushed, forming a lively sound track that echoes throughout the space.

http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/christian_marclay_bermondsey_2015/

Events, MA/MFA Computational Art, MSc Computer games and Entertainment, News, Staff profiles and activity

Colliding Worlds

william_Latham

Professor Arthur I Miller and William Latham in conversation:

7:00pm, 10th February, 2015

Shoreditch House
Ebor St, London E1 6AW

Professor Arthur I Miller of UCL will be at Shoreditch House to explore exactly how cutting-edge science is redefining contemporary art, the subject of his latest book ‘Colliding Worlds’.

Arthur will explain the new and exciting era of digital contemporary art as artists strive to depict the wonders of our age of information – take a look at huge data sets worked aesthetically, sculpting with sound, folding together concepts of art with physics, using living matter to manipulate inert materials into new and beautiful forms, and artists who are striving to investigate what changes chip implants, gene transplants, and 3D printed organs make to our idea of what it is to be human.

Following his presentation Arthur will be in conversation with the pioneering computer artist Professor William Latham of Goldsmiths College.

If you would like to attend email Professor Arthur I Miller: a.miller@ucl.ac.uk