session info

Please find below outlines for all of the Formation Zone On Media symposium sessions:

Introduction to Formation Zone

Eleanor Butland, Formation Zone Programme Manager

Eleanor will introduce Formation Zone and highlight achievements since the first creative businesses started there in February 2008.
Formation Zone at the University of Plymouth supports new and developing creative enterprises. It provides a prestigious address in a state of the art building in the heart of Plymouth and a professional working environment on a flexible hire basis. Support and guidance is provided to help develop our businesses and make sure they get the best start possible.
To make Formation Zone work as a vibrant and exciting resource we programme a series of events that make sure our businesses are connected to the creative and business community. Being part of this wider community helps to raise the profile of our businesses as well as the work we do to support them. Working alongside other creative entrepreneurs, supporting and encouraging each other and developing potential collaborations all ensure that being a part of Formation Zone places you at the centre of the creative industries.

The Challenge of New Media

James Woudhuysen, Professor of Forecasting and Innovation at De Montfort University, Leicester

How do we assess developments such as HDTV and, even more, Web 2.0? To answer this question we need to situate the hype about new media within the context of international innovation.

The locus for general innovation is shifting from West to East. That should make us take a critical if positive attitude to new media technologies, around which claims tend to exceed the very real benefits. Of particular importance is that we resist the fashionable indulgence of youth the doctrine that they are ‘digital natives’ who are superior to grown-up ‘digital immigrants’.

Making the Transition: Creating Value in the Digital Market

Samantha Smith, Transition Tradition

Samantha Smith will use a personal development timeline to explore the Guardian’s Digital Nation Research: http://www.adinfo-guardian.co.uk/display/digination/digination.shtml

And match developments in her company’s products and services to the wider digital market. The presentation will outline key challenges for digital entrepreneurs and include details of potential sources of support and funding.

Exploring the Matrix: where Art, Sound and Creative Development Meet

Karin Jordan of ArtsMatrix, Nolan Pearce of Soundcube and Lawrence Hyne (Aka Manishima Ico)

Come explore with us!
This session offers you an opportunity to:
Deepen your understanding of the sonic media art form
Hear some of the successes in the South West and
Explore the challenges to developing sonic art

Karin, Creative Enterprise Specialist for ArtsMatrix, gives a short overview of the services and support that ArtsMatrix offers to Creative Industries individuals and organisations.  Nolan is an ArtsMatrix client who will offer his perspective of the ArtsMatrix experience.

The evolution of sonic practice in the West Country as a template of excellence

The positive art of listening will be encouraged and this will be followed by examples of successful sonic art here in the South West with a short case study of ‘Darwin’s Walk’ & ‘Freddy’s story’ and their success in highlighting the south west as innovators in sonic practice with a template of excellence, both proving the importance of providing truly immersive sonic environments with which the public can engage.

Is the Westcountry perceived as isolated and the sonic art form an intellectual exercise with which most people feel disconnected? Proposed solutions to these obstacles will be delivered with a reflection on the nationally recognized established examples of sound practice in the aural arts from here in Plymouth with the forthcoming Smeaton’s Tower interactive media event ‘Bounce’ and the future discussed.

There will be a chance for audience participation in suggesting ideas that will demonstrate a commitment to harnessing the city’s creative energy and maximising the role it plays in Plymouth’s social, community and economic life.

Plymouth, the South West and sonic art now needs to think about its story in terms of the future. What sort of city do we want this to be and what story do we want it to tell?

The World’s First Finishing School in Digital Media

Patrick Towell, Patrick Towell Consulting

A unique opportunity exists to launch the world’s first international digital media finishing school in Plymouth for digital media students selecting the best of the best to work on cutting edge digital media projects with specific market readiness and future digital media technology learning. This is a new concept and makes an international statement about the UK’s ambitions in Digital Media. A number of leading international digital media Universities and Institutes are already onboard (Utrecht, Tamprere & Ars Electronica).  A large incubation facility is also being planned for those wishing to establish companies post the school.

The purpose of the school is to contribute to an ecosystem of interconnected employer-ready talent, professional freelancers and entrepreneurial self-starters that will enable companies and organisations in the region to source world-class individuals, suppliers and partners to deliver to their digital, design and media needs.

By mixing together the best people from a range of disciplines in a creative environment, the Finishing School will also house an internationally renowned innovation lab that will be able to take on some of the most challenging questions facing businesses in the region around how to enhance their competitiveness and sustainability in the face of unprecedented change in global markets and technology.

The Finishing School will:
Enable blue chip organisations to access an international renowned research and development hub in digital media using the best graduate talent and academics in digital media
Create a unique and ground breaking learning environment for the elite digital media students
Address digital media skills deficiencies within the UK and internationally
Create an international network of digital media professionals and academics
Develop the next generation of digital media start-up companies
Create a landmark partnership between commerce and government

By basing the Finishing School within a dynamic commercial environment the learning retains cutting edge focus and industry awareness, and allows feedback for new accreditation models. The students will also have direct access to the Digital Hub’s data centre, enabling them to utilise high-speed broadband connectivity and to gain industry-focussed placements with the companies using the facility.  The aim is that the talent emerges either ready to spin out businesses within the onsite or local incubation facility, or to join developing businesses thereby expanding regional economic growth.  Training within the Finishing School will have 6 main objectives:
(i) Attract regional, national and international students to create talent
(ii) Retrain existing industry professionals in digital media
(iii) Feed incubation and spin out ideas
(iv) Return knowledge and inform Universities to improve course provision
(v) Directly contribute to regional growth and profile creating a hotspot of new technology excellence
(vi) Connectedness, across the available high speed bandwidth on site, with other centres of innovation and knowledge across the South West in order to create beneficial dialogue and scale

In this interactive workshop led by Patrick Towell Consulting we will explore how the Finishing School will add value to businesses and the local economy; the requirements that students, academics and employers have for this development; and attempt to define it’s value proposition.