Pervasive Games

We present the design process and evaluation of a pervasive, location-based mobile game created to act as an experiment system and allow evaluation of how different design elements can influence player behaviour, using social interaction as a study case. A feasibility study with a group of community dwelling elderly volunteers from the city of Kyoto, Japan, was performed to evaluate the system. Results showed that the choice of theme and overall design of game was adequate, and that elderly people could understand the game rules and their goals while playing. Points of improvement included reducing the complexity of game controls and changing social interaction mechanics to account for situations when there are only a few players active or players are too far apart.

The rise of videogames in our culture has caused that they are no longer seen as simple games for kids and have spread to all the segments of population. The use of videogames by elderly people can help to improve their quality of life, exercising their mental functions. Inside the field of videogames, the concept of pervasive game appeared with intensity some years ago. This kind of games exceed any of the classic dimensions of games: temporal, spatial or social. In order to achieve this evolution, pervasive games use to take advantage of non-traditional interaction technologies and novel paradigms, such as augmented reality. In this paper we introduce a novel pervasive game oriented towards elderly people that makes use of augmented reality. The game has been developed following a user-centered approach with participative design. In the game, players have to find certain elements in their environment (e.g., in a nursing home) so that they unlock memories that they store in an album and can value. Here, we describe the game in detail and show a first validation that we have carried out in order to test its usefulness. In that validation, users find the game useful and easy to play with. a

Short reviews of articles about net art and net conditions (published on the net without paywalls). The reviews in chronological order were a part of IASLonline Lessons in NetArt.
Links refer to texts with informations on the history of NetArt and web specific, for NetArt relevant problems since April 2002. The list was expanded in March 2003 with links to platforms, portals, mailing lists and newsgroups with actual informations on NetArt, net conditions and activism, databases for Intermedia Art and book reviews in "IASLonline Rezensionen". Subject-oriented websites are considered as platforms if they are more than curated links and contain artistic projects in their database. The links to articles on actual aspects of NetArt are added since February 2004. The dates of the entries are listed in brackets (month/year). Since May 2015 the links are not only listed in alphabetical order, but in chronological order, too. The last reviews are from September 2022.
If you download the PDF then you can use the links.
URL: https://iasl.uni-muenchen.de/links/NALinkechron.html

The rapid rise of mobile gaming has led to a growing interest in game modification, particularly in the context of popular games like Carrom Pool. This paper explores the phenomenon of mod APKs within mobile gaming, using Carrom Pool as a case study. Modded versions of the game offer players access to premium features, unlimited resources, and ad-free gameplay, providing an enhanced experience. However, the use of these mods raises ethical and legal concerns, such as bypassing in-app purchases and exposing devices to security risks. This study examines both the benefits and drawbacks of game modding, considering its impact on players and the gaming ecosystem. Through a critical lens, we analyze the role of mod APKs in mobile gaming and the broader implications for the industry, encouraging a more nuanced understanding of the practice.

Pervasive gaming has the potential of transforming the home into a persuasive environment in which the user can learn about appliances and their electricity consumption. Power Explorer is a mobile game with a special sensing approach that provides real-time electricity measurements and feedback when the user switches on and off devices in the home. The game was developed based on persuasive principles to provide an engaging means to learn about energy with positive and negative feedback and social feedback from peers on real energy actions in the home. We present the design and rationale of this game and discuss how pervasive games can be viewed from a persuasive and learning point of view.

Computer graphics and early computer art are practically of the same age as computers. Since the moment when graphical output devices became available people started to use them for experiments in art. This paper attempts to analyze the early computer art in context of its authors’ opinions. There are outstanding examples of collaboration between computer scientists, software programmers and 20th century artists. Some recent media art events in Latvia are mentioned from this viewpoint.
Keywords: computer graphics, computer art, digital art.

Welcome to the proceedings of the first edition of "Computation, Communication, Aesthetics, and X". Beginnings are always accompanied by excitement and enthusiasm, which in our case were furtherly fed by the overwhelming response that we got from researchers and artists from all over the world shortly after we issued the call for papers and works. On the other hand, we cannot ignore the little chill that runs down our spines every time it comes back to us that, when all is so fresh and new, much of it is still unknown to us: who knows for sure what is going to happen? The Unknown is indeed a concept traditionally represented with an X, and that is one of the reasons why our conference features an X in its name. Still, this is not the only meaning associated with this letter: oftentimes X has been used to represent a prohibition. When we see a big black X over the symbol of a photocamera in a museum, we know what we are not allowed to do. However, we also know that taking a picture in such circumstances is still a task that we may successfully accomplish, provided that we are stealthy enough. When it comes to Computation, researchers have historically had to deal with much more than simple prohibition: they were told that some goals were impossible to achieve, and that such impossibility was intrinsically connected with the computational nature of the devices they were envisioning. According to the naysayers, it was not a simple matter of being quick with the shutter of a camera: some things were simply out of reach. Here is the second meaning of X: Impossibility. Interestingly, many thought and still think that Communication and Aesthetics are among the impossible endeavors. Obviously, Communication is not to be meant as the transmission of encoded bits from one point to another, a computational task par excellence, but as the generation and conveying of meaning, whether it is with words, images, shapes, or sounds. The criticisms against computational approaches boil down to two main positions: computational devices are not conscious, and they are strictly governed by rules.

Critical making is an approach to scholarship which combines discursive methods with creative practices. The concept has recently gained traction in the digital humanities, where scholars are looking for ways of integrating making into their research in ways that are inclusive and empowering to marginalized populations. This dissertation explores how digital humanists can engage critical making as a form of activism in electronic literature, specifically in the interactive fiction platform Twine. The author analyzes the making process of her own activist Twine game The Deserters and embeds the project within digital humanities discourses on activism and social justice, hypertext, electronic literature, critical making, and hacker culture. The Deserters is a text-based digital game based on the experiences of the author's family as refugees from East Germany. The player's objective in the game is to research a family's history by searching the gameworld for authentic documents, including biographical writings, journal entries, photographs, and records, thereby retracing historical events through personal experience. The Deserters aims at inspiring a compassionate and empathetic stance towards immigrants and refugees today. The author reflects on the ethical, narrative, aesthetic, and technical choices she made throughout the creation process of The Deserters to create a critical activist game. The results of the analysis demonstrate that Twine offers a unique environment for composing politically impactful personal narratives. From the project, the author derives best practices for activist critical making, which emphasize the importance for makers to imagine the needs and perspectives of their audience. The work expands digital humanities' theoretical and practical toolkit for critical making. <div class="german">[//Ich hatte eine sehr behütete Kindheit und wurde ^^von allen Seiten^^ verwöhnt. Die Schule fiel mir leicht. Als ich 10 Jahre alt war, versuchte mein Schulleiter, meine Mutter zu überreden, mich zu einer höheren Schule zu schicken. Meine Mutter lehnte ab, weil ich es nicht wollte und vor allem Neuen Angst hatte. Bei meiner Entlassung von der Volksschule ^^1939^^ war es ähnlich. Ich sollte eine kostenlose ^^Lehrer^^ausbildung erhalten, aber meine Angst davor war zu groβ u. meine Mutter überlieβ mir die Entscheidung. ~~Ein Bruder meiner Mutter sagte damals zu mir: "Überleg es Dir gut, denn die Nazis geben nichts umsonst."~~ Nach der Volksschule besuchte ich dann noch ein Jahr lang täglich die Volksklasse einer Haushaltsschule und arbeitet dann ab 1940 als Wirtschaftsgehilfin im elterlichen Betrieb.//]</div> 407 408 (link: "Translate to English")[(show: ?english)] 409 410 [<div class="english">"I had a very sheltered childhood and was coddled ^^by everyone around me^^. School was easy for me. When I was ten years old, my headmaster tried to convince my mother to send me to a higher-level school. My mother declined, because I was afraid of all things new and did not want to go. Likewise, when I left elementary school in 1939, I was supposed to receive free ^^teacher^^ training, but my anxiety was too overwhelming and my mother left the decision up to me. ~~One of my mother's brothers said to me: "Choose carefully, nothing's for free with those Nazis."~~ After elementary school I attended a school for housekeeping for a year and worked in my parents' business starting 1940."</div>](english| 411 412 (link-goto: "Open briefcase", "briefcase") 413 (link-goto: "View photograph", "2") 414 (link-goto: "Return to game", $lastPassage

Critical making is an approach to scholarship which combines discursive methods with creative practices. The concept has recently gained traction in the digital humanities, where scholars are looking for ways of integrating making into their research in ways that are inclusive and empowering to marginalized populations. This dissertation explores how digital humanists can engage critical making as a form of activism in electronic literature, specifically in the interactive fiction platform Twine. The author analyzes the making process of her own activist Twine game The Deserters and embeds the project within digital humanities discourses on activism and social justice, hypertext, electronic literature, critical making, and hacker culture. The Deserters is a text-based digital game based on the experiences of the author's family as refugees from East Germany. The player's objective in the game is to research a family's history by searching the gameworld for authentic documents, including biographical writings, journal entries, photographs, and records, thereby retracing historical events through personal experience. The Deserters aims at inspiring a compassionate and empathetic stance towards immigrants and refugees today. The author reflects on the ethical, narrative, aesthetic, and technical choices she made throughout the creation process of The Deserters to create a critical activist game. The results of the analysis demonstrate that Twine offers a unique environment for composing politically impactful personal narratives. From the project, the author derives best practices for activist critical making, which emphasize the importance for makers to imagine the needs and perspectives of their audience. The work expands digital humanities' theoretical and practical toolkit for critical making. <div class="german">[//Ich hatte eine sehr behütete Kindheit und wurde ^^von allen Seiten^^ verwöhnt. Die Schule fiel mir leicht. Als ich 10 Jahre alt war, versuchte mein Schulleiter, meine Mutter zu überreden, mich zu einer höheren Schule zu schicken. Meine Mutter lehnte ab, weil ich es nicht wollte und vor allem Neuen Angst hatte. Bei meiner Entlassung von der Volksschule ^^1939^^ war es ähnlich. Ich sollte eine kostenlose ^^Lehrer^^ausbildung erhalten, aber meine Angst davor war zu groβ u. meine Mutter überlieβ mir die Entscheidung. ~~Ein Bruder meiner Mutter sagte damals zu mir: "Überleg es Dir gut, denn die Nazis geben nichts umsonst."~~ Nach der Volksschule besuchte ich dann noch ein Jahr lang täglich die Volksklasse einer Haushaltsschule und arbeitet dann ab 1940 als Wirtschaftsgehilfin im elterlichen Betrieb.//]</div> 407 408 (link: "Translate to English")[(show: ?english)] 409 410 [<div class="english">"I had a very sheltered childhood and was coddled ^^by everyone around me^^. School was easy for me. When I was ten years old, my headmaster tried to convince my mother to send me to a higher-level school. My mother declined, because I was afraid of all things new and did not want to go. Likewise, when I left elementary school in 1939, I was supposed to receive free ^^teacher^^ training, but my anxiety was too overwhelming and my mother left the decision up to me. ~~One of my mother's brothers said to me: "Choose carefully, nothing's for free with those Nazis."~~ After elementary school I attended a school for housekeeping for a year and worked in my parents' business starting 1940."</div>](english| 411 412 (link-goto: "Open briefcase", "briefcase") 413 (link-goto: "View photograph", "2") 414 (link-goto: "Return to game", $lastPassage

This paper primarily dwells on graphics created using computers. Computer Graphics could generally be described as graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer. The development of PAGE 1 computer graphics, or simply referred to as CG, has made computers easier to interact with, and better for understanding and interpreting many types of data. Developments in computer graphics have had a profound impact on many types of media and have revolutionized the animation and video game industry. This paper highlights the History, Advancement and the Future of Computer Graphics as it plays a huge role in our day to day activities. The paper also discusses some common terms often associated with Computer Graphics and tries to explain their various meanings. The future is here, today.

IncreTable is a mixed-reality tabletop game inspired by The Incredible Machine . Users can combine real and virtual game pieces in order to solve puzzles in the game. Game actions include placing virtual domino blocks with digital pens, controlling a virtual car by modifying the virtual terrain through a depth camera interface, and controlling real robots to topple over real and virtual dominoes.

What determines the life span of a complex autonomous system? We expect that objects of this kind, which some view as testaments of contemporary culture, will survive into the future. After a few decades of experimentation with data processing and control system engineering, experts in media art conservation have gradually identified methods that promise to overcome these obstacles. Museums and art galleries developed sophisticated procedures to emulate, record or digitize collected objects. The procedures in question create the basis for allographic-inscription-based-presentations of ephemeral media artworks. As a matter of course, the inscription-oriented procedures favor specific qualities of the original item, such as computability, logical coherence or compliance with current documentation practice, such as filmmaking or 3D scanning. We discuss below the characteristics and potential of these qualities in reference to Senster, a specific example of a hardware-based autonomous system. Re:SenSteR Senster merges the concept of kinetic sculpture with the principles of cybernetics (Fig. 1). The large-scale work, created by London-based artist Edward Ihnatowicz, c. 1970, is a classic early example of media art. However, until recently the piece was known exclusively via three minutes of footage and a few archival photos [1]. The work was initially installed at its commissioner's newly opened exhibition hall, the Philips Evoluon, in Eindhoven. Despite its significance, Senster was dismantled in the mid-1970s as the company decided to cease its involvement in this costly and demanding endeavor. Taken out of public view, the piece retreated to the cultural margins, along with many other icons of a short-lived fascination with cybernetics. In 2009, author Olszewska proposed the reactivation project described here, called Re:Senster, as fellows of the newly established Faculty of Humanities at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków considered art-related projects appropriate to a technological academy incorporating humanities in its curriculum. Recreation of the historic autonomous system seemed to converge with the idea of networking academics, designers and engineers as a multidisciplinary team within the academy. From its inception, the project's aim was to recreate the experience evoked by an intertwining of the piece's form and movement. The initial plan was to replicate Senster based

This paper presents the analysis of two poles in the spectrum of image creation: the primal drawing process and the coding process in the field of generative design. The reflection upon these design processes is conducted in order to answer the question of how it is possible to overcome individually, socially and culturally determined visual schemata.

The resurgence of art-tech optimism in the early 1990s, exemplified by CEAIT (and a few other non-institutionalized projects), was not obviously predictable. According to conventional narratives of the art and technology movement (McCray, 2020), the wave of convergence initiatives across the 1960s had largely dissipated as early as the mid-1970s. Projects like E.A.T. (Bell Labs), MIT's CAVS (both 1968), "The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age" at MoMA, and the 1971 "A&T" exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art largely defined the notion of an art-and-technology movement. Conventional wisdom holds that the economic recession of the mid-1970s, US wars abroad, and the spreading awareness that many of the science/tech-associated projects depended on government funds linked to military and defense spending, led to lasting disenchantment with the utopian idealism of the movement.

A prática de jogos digitais e a expansão do círculo mágico no contexto da Midiatização The practice of digital games and the expansion of the magic circle in the context of Mediatization La práctica de los juegos digitales y la expansión del círculo mágico en el contexto de la Mediatización

In the heady discourse following the launch of Pokémon Go, many of the game’s influences, histories and precursors were forgotten or over-looked. Against the newness in which Pokémon Go is often framed, this article re-contextualises its history examining comparable practices and recalling the games evolution from earlier locative applications developed by Google to the experimental games of the modernist Avant Garde to which it has been compared. Central to this paper is discussion of the opportunities in the pervasive game development process for encoding and recoding the city by balancing ingame content with the nuances of the urban landscape in which it is played. While Pokémon Go has been revelatory in bringing awareness of pervasive gaming into the mainstream, this discussion of location-based games, public art projects, and playful approaches to urban exploration aims to fill gaps in the history of the field, and offer new possibilities for future game design and analysis.

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo principal ofrecer una visión específica sobre los retos de diseño de juegos pervasivos potenciando tres pilares básicos en ellos: uso de distintas fuentes de información, diversidad del área de juego e interconexión de distintos perfiles de jugadores. Esencialmente, en este trabajo presentamos cómo llevar a cabo el diseño de un juego pervasivo geolocalizado, poniendo como ejemplo el uso de una Yincana. Este campo ofrece nuevos retos y desafíos para conseguir el éxito a nivel de interacción en base a unir elementos lúdicos basado en sistemas de juegos y nuevos paradigmas como son la computación móvil, la realidad aumentada y mecanismos de geoposicionamiento interior y exterior. Finalmente se presenta las conclusiones del diseño y su puesta en práctica con un grupo de usuarios/as.

We present the design process and evaluation of a pervasive, location-based mobile game created to act as an experiment system and allow evaluation of how different design elements can influence player behaviour, using social interaction as a study case. A feasibility study with a group of community dwelling elderly volunteers from the city of Kyoto, Japan, was performed to evaluate the system. Results showed that the choice of theme and overall design of game was adequate, and that elderly people could understand the game rules and their goals while playing. Points of improvement included reducing the complexity of game controls and changing social interaction mechanics to account for situations when there are only a few players active or players are too far apart.

/biography 'Digital Art' practice often suggests an over emphasis upon applications rather than objects, reproduction over authenticity. Can 'New Media' be considered within a fine-art framework, or should it be considered as a separate discipline? The cultural shift this represents may blur, remove, or even reinforce boundaries commonly associated with the activity of fine art.

Pervasive computing has become a key part of building applications that use fun as a motivating component, this is because it allows the exploration of new interaction schemes by making the concept of space and time ambiguous and confusing, building game mechanics that engage the participant with innovative elements, generating interesting and entertaining experiences. This research describes SocialPG, a model proposal that describes the social expansion as a strategy to enhance game experiences supported by pervasive computing, in this sense, shows its components, how they relate and what is the flow of interaction that a user experiences when getting involved; among the most important aspects is the incorporation of a new role to the traditional game mechanics, the viewer, also, includes an expert validation under Delphi methodology that shows the acceptance of the model and possible opportunities for improvement.

Since the 1960s, artists and programmers have used computers to create prints, drawings, paintings, photographs and digital artworks. This display celebrated 50 years and more of computer-generated art, exploring aspects of chance and control.

Digital literature has given rise to an amalgamation of traditional literature with technology that leads us to enhanced text. It is a new form of literature that is read through clutters, gutters, and the touch of the screen rather than laboring through pages. The reader gets engaged with the text through creativity, self-direction, and experimentation with the technology, the role of a reader is transferred from being passive to active. It enhances the text and makes it alive by using multimedia tools and enhances the reading experience by immersive reading, aggrandized experience through amplification, and creates partial-authorship and a better-than-real version through simulation. Uncle Roger is text containing hyperfiction, magic realism, and non-linear narrative using hypertexts, simple images, and basic graphics. It consists of three chapters, A Party in the Woodside, Notebook, and Terminals, each chapter contains various hypertexts and hyperlinks that help in creating the plot of the story. The text combines textual and visual materials including colors, pictures, sound, etc. that enhance the digitization of literature. Uncle Roger has been analyzed using the textual method of analysis and by employing three modalities as digital methodologies devised by Gillian Rose; technological modality, compositional, and social modality to comment on the use of magic realism in this digital text and its contribution in meaning-making. This research opens a new dimension of research for the future and provides researchers with new areas of exploration in the digital world as the digital world is ever-lasting and never-ending with various loops and nodes.

One of the most interesting-if frustrating-aspects of charting the history of computer art is trying to understand the intersections of specific technologies and artistic experimentation. It is rarely as clearcut as a simple linear influence of one to the other, partly because artists are able to envision all kinds of possibilities that technology might enable them to realize in some kind of form, but as they do so, the technology is itself shaped, especially in terms of how it is perceived by others. Do artists find a way to give technologies an aesthetic outlet, or do some technologies possessor facilitate-a characteristic aesthetic that finds its expression through specific artists? certainly, in the history of computer art it would seem that particular aesthetics, technologies, and artists are closely intertwined in certain periods. This intertwining of art, technology, and ideas stolen from the natural world has never been so arguably merged as the period in the history of computer art from 1980 to 1993. We take as the defining start of this period the initial work of Mandelbrot on fractals that became known as the Mandelbrot set and led to his famous illustrated art-science book The Fractal Geometry of Nature. In 1993, this first highly creative period in evolutionary computer art came to an end with major publications by pioneers Karl sims, stephen Todd, and William Latham. Artist-researchers and New Graphics Technologies in the 1980s Although the emergence of personal computers by 1980 enabled a new generation of artists to start experimenting with digital images, especially due to the Apple Mac, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST, in 1984-85, as advanced graphics and sound capabilities became available, there were those who continued to be closely associated with academic and corporate research centres. The Xerox PARC model was undoubtedly influential in providing a template for research collaborations, and IBM in particular supported some interesting developments. In such environments, artists could leverage the power of multiple networked computers, use software that was still under development, and utilize video displays and printers that were far more advanced than those available elsewhere.

Many virtual and mixed reality games focus on single player experiences. In this paper, we describe the concept and prototype implementation of a mixed reality multiplayer game that can be played with a smartphone and an HMD in outdoor environments. Players can team up to fight against attacking alien drones. The relative positions between the players are tracked using GPS, and the rear camera of the smartphone is used to augment the environment and teammates with virtual objects. The combination of multiplayer, mixed reality, the use of geographical location and outdoor action together with affordable, mobile equipment enables a novel strategic and social game experience.

By considering the evolution of some technical aspects of lm culture and industry, the idea was on the one hand to concentrate on the role and place of mechanical aspects in our discipline, and on the other hand to demonstrate how technical choices could help us to resolve the challenging question of the representation of time in a documentary narrative manner. I will examine how eldwork, feedback, and analysis of a few speci c rituals organized in the Dogon country forced me to reconsider the treatment of the representation of time and space in my ethnographic documentaries. After realizing how deeply these contradictions forced me to reconsider my methodology and my technical choices, I chose to concentrate on digital programing as a possible language to address this challenging topic and to offer possibilities to propose new forms of representations. In the event, by considering the role and place of digital programing as a language to create new forms of representation, I realized how techniques had been isolated from the social and cultural context they emerged from. By comparing the notion of grain that came from the analog lm industry to the one of pixels which came out of the digital era, the purpose was to underline the aesthetic and political choices embedded in this technical criteria and how the spectators, whatever their age, could create or recreate their time perception according to the resonance of the grain or the pixel, from the viewpoint of a personal and social imaginary construction. Dogon Fieldwork and Feedback Trained as a visual anthropologist, I spent long periods of time in Dogon country, sharing the daily life activities of the women and lming their ongoing actions. One of the lms I made on my own as a camera person and lm-maker dealt with 9780857854421_txt_print.indd 183 08/01/2014 08:13

In conceptual art, the idea is not only starting point and motivation for the material work, it is often considered the work itself. In algorithmic art, thinking the process of generating the image as one instance of an entire class of images becomes the decisive kernel of the creative work. This is so because the generative algorithm is the innovative component of the artist's work. We demonstrate this by critically looking at attempts to reconstruct works of early computer art by the re-coding movement. Thinking images is not the same as thinking of images. For thinking images is the act of preparing precise descriptions that control the machinic materialization of images. This kind of activity is a case of algorithmic thinking which, in turn, has become an important general aspect of current society. Art education may play an important role in establishing concrete connections between open artistic and more confined technological ways of thinking when thinking progresses algorithmically.

Brief Project Description (do not exceed space given below) I propose to use the Rockefeller fellowship to develop and expand two parallel tracks: One is life performances Controlling Laser Disk, Quick Time Movies or Camera input with my 5 string MIDI Violin, the other is audience interactive installations. The two activities use similar software, namely "Imageline" "Isadoran and "Jitter." They develop along similar lines of implementation, but use different tool configuration.

The elderly population has grown significantly in recent years, requiring strategies focused on promoting active aging to improve health and well-being. It may be achieved in many ways, including using technology for this population. We propose an interactive system for older adults based on a tangible user interface. A group of 10 experts conducted a heuristic evaluation of a system of this type utilizing a questionnaire and obtaining satisfactory results. This study evaluated the older adult population’s fun and pervasive game experience. The results will provide a basis for continuing to build this interactive system to promote active aging in older adults, either at the cognitive or physical level, depending on the applied approach.

Computer-generated animations are going to be a powerful design medium. During the last two years, we have created more than 10 animated films by using the computer. The purpose of animation varies as the case, however it is always related to the architecture and urban design. Using these computer-generated animation films, we edited a video tape of 54 minutes. Along with the video tape, this report shows our works in four parts with pictures taken from the films.

This contemporary art rivals the work of human artists in complexity, invention, and especially in abundance, and is possibly the most exciting art being produced today. The creation of a generative work of art consists of three steps: 1. An image is generated by a computer algorithm using a sophisticated random number generator.

Welcome to the proceedings of the first edition of "Computation, Communication, Aesthetics, and X". Beginnings are always accompanied by excitement and enthusiasm, which in our case were furtherly fed by the overwhelming response that we got from researchers and artists from all over the world shortly after we issued the call for papers and works. On the other hand, we cannot ignore the little chill that runs down our spines every time it comes back to us that, when all is so fresh and new, much of it is still unknown to us: who knows for sure what is going to happen? The Unknown is indeed a concept traditionally represented with an X, and that is one of the reasons why our conference features an X in its name. Still, this is not the only meaning associated with this letter: oftentimes X has been used to represent a prohibition. When we see a big black X over the symbol of a photocamera in a museum, we know what we are not allowed to do. However, we also know that taking a picture in such circumstances is still a task that we may successfully accomplish, provided that we are stealthy enough. When it comes to Computation, researchers have historically had to deal with much more than simple prohibition: they were told that some goals were impossible to achieve, and that such impossibility was intrinsically connected with the computational nature of the devices they were envisioning. According to the naysayers, it was not a simple matter of being quick with the shutter of a camera: some things were simply out of reach. Here is the second meaning of X: Impossibility. Interestingly, many thought and still think that Communication and Aesthetics are among the impossible endeavors. Obviously, Communication is not to be meant as the transmission of encoded bits from one point to another, a computational task par excellence, but as the generation and conveying of meaning, whether it is with words, images, shapes, or sounds. The criticisms against computational approaches boil down to two main positions: computational devices are not conscious, and they are strictly governed by rules.

New media forms intensify the effects of modern technology on both artistic production and its canonical scholarly reception. Indeed, advancements in computational technologies may have transcended the perspective of a mechanical era, ushering in new questions of aura and agency as regards new media versus high art. Both compelling and problematic for their largely military-industrial origins, electronics and the digital stretch the limits of art theory, criticism, and practice. This investigation considers the influence of modern technology upon contemporary artistic production, and how scholars assimilate that art into a cogent intellectual history. Chapter One introduces a historical context for the canonical reception of advanced technological media. Beginning with the problem of photography and its

Can the brain hear itself? The localization of acoustic stimuli and of our surroundings is among other things sensed through the phase difference between the ears. Even the movement of the head is involved in this process of identifying space through sound. When using earphones these localizers do not apply. Head Spaces, only to be experienced with earphones, are not representations of exterior space. Head Spaces are works specifically created for the interior of the head. The head-conceived as hollow volume. Nothing but an empty, globe-like receptacle.

Cybernetics was a subject that captured the attention of some of the sharpest minds in the USA and UK from the 1940s onwards. For me, in my previous role as an architect and designer, cybernetics played a key part in solving the 'exceedingly complex' problems associated with the way large companies occupy buildings. In the 1960s Roy Ascott predicted that the cybernetic approach would 'assist in the evolution of art, serving to increase its variety and vigour'. This is an attribute exemplified by the behaviourist art of Gordon Pask whose 'Colloquy of Mobiles' took centre stage at Cybernetic Serendipity-an exhibition, held in 1968, which represented the heyday of cybernetics in the UK. But even today, in the arts' world, a bright annulus of cybernetic light continues to shine, a phenomenon that I explain with reference to a piece of Visual Music called SHAPES. We're on the brink of a cybernetic renaissance, which is why I'm issuing a clarion call for the arts' community to turn towards the task of enhancing our chances of survival for the future.

Computation existed long before the computer—and there were artists, seduced by the beauty of mathematics, who integrated computation into their creative endeavors. With the advent of the digital machine, the relation between aesthetic artifacts and computation was redefined. This article deals with images produced between 1965 and 1970. The generation of images associated with mathematical formulae raised questions regarding art’s condition and the nature of creativity. These are addressed from the perspective of aesthetic experiments. Through dedicated experiments involving computers in Eastern Europe, particularly in (communist) Romania, artists strove for artistic freedom.

We present the design process and evaluation of a pervasive, location-based mobile game created to act as an experiment system and allow evaluation of how different design elements can influence player behaviour, using social interaction as a study case. A feasibility study with a group of community dwelling elderly volunteers from the city of Kyoto, Japan, was performed to evaluate the system. Results showed that the choice of theme and overall design of game was adequate, and that elderly people could understand the game rules and their goals while playing. Points of improvement included reducing the complexity of game controls and changing social interaction mechanics to account for situations when there are only a few players active or players are too far apart.

New media forms intensify the effects of modern technology on both artistic production and its canonical scholarly reception. Indeed, advancements in computational technologies may have transcended the perspective of a mechanical era, ushering in new questions of aura and agency as regards new media versus high art. Both compelling and problematic for their largely military-industrial origins, electronics and the digital stretch the limits of art theory, criticism, and practice. This investigation considers the influence of modern technology upon contemporary artistic production, and how scholars assimilate that art into a cogent intellectual history. Chapter One introduces a historical context for the canonical reception of advanced technological media. Beginning with the problem of photography and its

This paper reviews the history, concepts, state-of-the-art, and future directions of the use of man-compater graphics for computer-aided design. Computer-aided design is based OII a real-he graphical dislogw between the man and the awputer in nhich the man draws 011 a display by meam of a "light pen" or other input device. "he computer "uuderstands" the picture, makes calculations based 011 it, and presents tbe results pictorially to the mer for bis approval or r e v i s i. 'Ibis man-computer graphical COD versation has been made possible by recent advances in the speed of the digital computer, time-sharing programming, computerdriven w a y technology, andgraphicPlinputdevices.TbeLightpenisthemostcoolmoolyllsed~phical input device, but keyboards, pysticks, llat matrix nrrpys, and other devices are also used. "he programming state-of-the-art is a limiting factor in the implementatation of graphical computer-aided design; much work remains to be done in systems programming, efficient time sharing, list stmctare concepts, file organization, and memory protection. A number of experimental equipment configorations in use in various laboratories are cited and the hardware stateof-the-art is reviewed. Several experimental and producth applicptiols of computer-aided de-~evo~edinalugelircrrftcompiny~describodPndilhrptrrtodbydk play p t d o g q k "hese appUcntioas relate to stmctud rnrlysis dy.pmicg information retrieval, accormting, and numerical control tape preparation. For the future, advances are required in improved mawcomputer commlmication, techniques to permit the operation of displays at great distances from the central computer, and methods of inpatting existing drawings into the computer in a meanhgfd form.

This paper reports on an ongoing study of the long-term deployment of a location-based mobile game “If ... in Monemvasia”. The game is played by groups of pupils that visit the historical fortress town Monemvasia in the south east Peloponnese, Greece. The players traverse the town and associate specific sites with role playing missions. The game was designed to promote understanding the history of the fortress town by the players. In the paper, we discuss the integration of historical knowledge and describe the gameplay in order to depict the incorporation of aspects of the town&#39;s history in the game.

In conceptual art, the idea is not only starting point and motivation for the material work, it is often considered the work itself. In algorithmic art, thinking the process of generating the image as one instance of an entire class of images becomes the decisive kernel of the creative work. This is so because the generative algorithm is the innovative component of the artist's work. We demonstrate this by critically looking at attempts to reconstruct works of early computer art by the re-coding movement. Thinking images is not the same as thinking of images. For thinking images is the act of preparing precise descriptions that control the machinic materialization of images. This kind of activity is a case of algorithmic thinking which, in turn, has become an important general aspect of current society. Art education may play an important role in establishing concrete connections between open artistic and more confined technological ways of thinking when thinking progresses algorithmically.