Collaborative Research /2010-11 Projects
For Fall 2009 applicants' ease of reference, following is an abstract for each of the proposed project groups starting in Spring 2010:
Software as Culture: A collaborative project in Participatory Culture
In many scientific disciplines today it is believed, that software is the best model of the object of study. This is an operating principle in molecular biology, operations research, neuro-psychology, immunology, game theory, economics and many other sciences. This digital ideology of science should be distinguished from something far more pervasive: digital life leaks outside of professional circles and flows beyond the technical vocabularies of specialists’ dialogues.
We propose a project group to interrogate these new, software-based conditions of life and collaboration through a combination of software studies, software design, and software art.
Our thesis is that, despite its ubiquity, most of the software of our software culture has been designed and implemented by engineers, mathematicians, and scientists who have deployed little or no knowledge of the history of art, media, and culture in their creations and, thus, now the time is ripe for artists, designers and humanists to employ the medium of software to articulate a set of alternatives to the conditions of contemporary technology.
During the first term of our meetings (Spring 2010), the group will collaborate on the development of one or more tools for software art. During the second and third terms of the project group, students will collaborate in smaller cohorts to accomplish projects of software art and software design that, ideally, will build upon the tools and methods developed during our first term of meetings.
Applicants to the Software as Culture project group will be expected to have a solid grasp of some specific domain of the arts and/or the humanities and to, furthermore, be fluent computer programmers in one or more languages. Extensive work experience in the software industry and/or a B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science would be ideal, but self-taught programmers will also be welcome. Analogously, an undergraduate degree in the arts or humanities would be the best preparation, but self- taught artists and humanists will also be welcome.
Full proposal: 
PDF 112KB
Digital Media in Live Performance: A collaborative project in Performative Technologies
The intention of the Performative Technologies Project is to create a theatrical performance incorporating digital production elements that are in themselves sufficiently compelling, intelligent, and responsive that they will be capable of sharing the limelight with the performers and, at essential moments during a performance, taking the stage away from the live performers. In effect, these digital production elements will be capable of stepping from the background into the foreground, and of moving the performance through transitional moments in a manner previously reserved for live performers.
In order to accomplish this re-orientation we will privilege the use of digital media in the staging from the very conception of the performance to the actual production. Participants in the project group will be presented with the prospect of a full theatrical production, incorporating skilled performers, the support of designers (sound, sets, lights) and technicians, and the direction of a professional theater director with a twenty-year record of creating media-rich productions. They will be encouraged to envision the kinds of digital technologies they would like to create for this large public showcase; not limiting themselves to projections and digital sound, but including whatever technologies their interests and skills might encompass; such as motion capture technologies or robotics. Given their choice of technologies, they will then begin to develop a narrative or structured sequence of events that will serve as the script or score or scenario for the final performance work. This could even include the re-working of an already existing script or recreating "real" events.
We are seeking students who have an interest in putting digital media with performative value on the stage, and who have the skills needed to make that media work in performance, or the willingness and ability to acquire those skills.
Full proposal: PDF 472 KB
Playable Fictions: A collaborative research project in Playable Media
Faculty: Noah Wardrip-Fruin, others TBD
The possibilities of digital media have enabled a blossoming of new models of character, story, and language. From computer games with epic structures to experimental interactive films, digital fictions are providing diverse experiences for a wide range of audiences. From ambitious AI experiments to straightforward uses of weblogs and email, authors are creating digital fictions at a wide range of technical complexity.
Within this wide range, some projects focus on the potential of play. This is a powerful technique for engaging audiences — but it is also something more. Play can change the audience’s relationship to a fiction, as when they are invited to play the roles of one or more characters. Play is also a powerful method of developing audience understanding of a computational system, which is perhaps the most promising future territory for the development of digital fictions.
This project group will explore the potential of playable experiences that combine the concerns of fiction (language, character, story), the techniques and research methods of media making and computer science, and the insights of game design. Students with significant background in several of these areas are ideal, though those with strong qualifications in one area (combined with interest in the others) are also encouraged to apply.
During the project group’s first term (Spring 2010) the course will bring DANM MFA students together with CS PhD students who are working on research projects to enable new genres of fiction and gaming. All students in the course will design a series of prototypes, critique each other’s work, and discuss a series of readings, digital fictions, and games.
Over the summer students will have opportunities to begin project work, which may take a number of forms, with the work continuing and coming to fruition in the following two academic quarters. Students may pursue projects they conceived before applying to DANM, individual or collaborative projects conceived in the Playable Media course, or make contributions to ongoing, large-scale projects taking place under the direction of UCSC faculty involved in playable media (e.g., Wardrip-Fruin, Mateas, and Warren Sack). Projects may be conducted entirely by UCSC students and faculty or may also involve collaborators at other universities, in the wider field of the arts, and/or in industry.
Further coursework, workshops, and critique opportunities — from UCSC faculty and visitors — will be arranged based on student interests and project directions.
Full proposal: PDF 84KB
A collaborative research project in Mechatronics
The details of the 2010-11 Mechatronics Project are not yet available. Please refer to the general description and other Mechatronics projects to get a sense of the type of research conducted in this area.