21/12/2010

The vision of Derry~Londonderry as a hub of digital creativity was a key part of its City of Culture bid. Making that vision happen will be central to the success of 2013 and, indeed, of the city itself. Computer scientist Professor Paul Mc Kevitt, Chair in Digital MultiMedia at the University of Ulster, Magee for the past ten years, has been at the heart of that vision. Paul has been a vociferous champion of Derry’s version of Silicon Valley, the Imagineering Quarter, based around five buildings which house much of the city’s digital creativity research, teaching and technology transfer.

The Imagineering Quarter

Despite its potential importance to Derry, the concept, in a physical sense at least, of the Imagineering Quarter evolved more by accident than design. It was whilst strolling to the Guildhall for the announcement of the winner of the UK City of Culture 2013 on BBC's The One Show, that Paul realised just how remarkable this coincidence was.

“As I passed Key West”, he says, “I looked up at the two new, nearly finished and very tall buildings (‘Foyle’ and ‘Strand’) of the North West Regional College (NWRC) and saw how well these had been matched colour-wise and design-wise with the existing NWRC `Lawrence' building. I then looked back at the Magee `Foyle Arts' and `Computing' buildings and wondered whether God has been looking down on us all along when, by accident, rather than by design, these five buildings central to digital creativity have been situated in such close proximity at the interface between the NWRC and Magee”.

Pushing back the boundaries

Those working (and studying) within the five buildings form a wide-ranging and complementary team that are working together to push back the boundaries of digital creativity (where digital technology meets the creative arts) and make Derry its main centre on the island of Ireland. But the Quarter spreads its tentacles further than this physical hub, with other participants including Ilex URC, Derry City Council, the Nerve Centre, the Verbal Arts Centre, the city’s leading software and media companies and even Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT).

Paul himself works in the Computing building at Magee, which is next to the School of Creative Arts. Nearby, the Lawrence Building is dedicated to art and design, while the Strand Building will also house computing and Foyle will house technical theatre, music technology and much else (there is currently a competition to create a name for this theatre).

Driving Digital Derry

Having seen the potential of creating the Imagineering Quarter, Paul organised a workshop at Easter to promote the concept with input from the Council, University of Ulster and major local high-tech companies like Seagate Technology. It was here Derry City Council first launched its Digital Derry Content Strategy document, an important element of the City of Culture bid. “The bid assessors asked, ‘what are you doing about becoming a digital city?’ This was the answer”, Paul says.

Digital Champion

Since then, Mark Nagurski of Own Brand Media Ltd., who helped develop the Digital Derry strategy, has become Digital Derry Champion (check out the latest news on www.digitalderry.org), while another Derry native, Colm Long has been appointed Derry’s Digital Ambassador.

PlayPhysics

Paul believes several of the exciting new developments emanating from his research team can play a large part in a successful City of Culture year. “One very interesting software package is the PlayPhysics system”, he says, “which uses computer games to teach physics to first year university students. PlayPhysics is a virtual learning environment for teaching physics which integrates research in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) where students learn about concepts such as momentum by trying to get an astronaut back to his craft in time by determining optimal mass and velocity. PlayPhysics also gives detailed feedback online”.

Developed together with one of his Ph.D. students, Karla Munoz, and Dr T Lunney, it is currently being tested by students in Mexico, where she is from, and Dublin. The most innovative part of PlayPhysics is the modelling, “where there is emotional interaction between the student and PlayPhysics, with PlayPhysics interpreting the student's emotional impulses from dialogue interaction and galvanic skin response. It’s been proven that if the student and system synchronise in an emotional way it can maximise the learning experience”.

SceneMaker

Another innovative creative software package being developed within Paul's research team, by his Ph.D. student Eva Hanser (together with Dr T Lunney and Dr J Condell) is SceneMaker, which automatically produces multimodal 3D visualisations of screenplays.

“SceneMaker takes the script for plays and movies and automatically generates a 3D animation of what is in the script,” Paul says, “This means film directors, producers and actors can see or edit a script from different points of view played out on-set. SceneMaker will enable screenwriters to see scenes actually come to life as they are writing them. It would be interesting to see what SceneMaker makes of Brian Friel's or Dave Duggan's plays or even Seamus Heaney's poems. SceneMaker could also be used for rapid visualisation of ideas and concepts in advertising agencies too”.

Still in the early stages of development, Paul is already looking at technology transfer (adapting the software for business) for SceneMaker and PlayPhysics. A lot of excitement has already been generated, not least from innovative media companies like John Farren’s 360Production Ltd. in Derry.

The return of Saint Colmcille

This kind of innovative software, Paul believes, could make a huge contribution to City of Culture events such as the proposed multimedia pageant based on the return of Saint Colmcille to Derry on the Foyle. “The details have still to be decided at this stage”, Paul says, “but SceneMaker would be ideal to explore different ways in which the pageant could be animated and soundtracked”.

Down MemoryLane

Linking directly with the key storytelling aspect of City of Culture is another innovative idea from Paul’s research team, MemoryLane, a mobile digital storytelling companion for older people being developed by Ph.D. student Sheila McCarthy (together with Dr H Sayers and Prof M McTear). “It’s a wonderful resource for older people”, Paul says, “and could be very helpful for those who might have memory problems, like Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia”.

In MemoryLane, reminders of the person’s past, such as photos, video, favourite songs or poems (provided by the individual or their family) are input as text, image, moving image and sound, creating the material from which stories can be generated. Each story is different and MemoryLane can factor in any problems with the person’s eyesight, hearing or dexterity and adapt the presentation accordingly (like making the text larger or reducing the amount of sound or images). Based also on preferences it allows the holder to select aspects they like and reject anything they wish to forget (like an ex-husband or wife!).

“Sheila collected the multimedia material from older people in Derry and Donegal (including those at the University of the Third Age), developed MemoryLane with that material and is currently back with them testing it. It fits in perfectly with the City of Culture programme of telling a new story to explore issues of identity”, Paul says.

Treasure Hunt

Other software being developed by Paul and his team with ramifications for City of Culture includes AmbiLearn, being developed by his Ph.D. student Jennifer Hyndman together with Dr T Lunney. AmbiLearn is a collaborative way for children to learn maths and technology through treasure hunt computer games like TreasureLearn (which is also relevant to Derry’s bid to become European Capital of Youth in 2013). Paul and his team are also working on SoFI (Song Form Intelligence) together with Dr J Doherty and Dr K Curran, developing software which replaces any gaps in streaming audio automatically, something that particularly impressed Irish singer and songwriter Enya when she came to Magee in 2007 to receive an honorary degree from the University of Ulster. SoFI's technology has resulted in two international and UK patents.

Innovation award winner

Some digital creativity ideas are already out there, like the team’s Secure Digital Watermarking (SDW) project (developed with A Cheddad, Y Pratheepan, Dr J Condell, Dr K Curran and P Devine), which won the 2009 NISP 25K hi-tech category award for innovation. Developed with funding from the University of Ulster Office of Innovation and Invest NI, SDW can digitally watermark video and computer games to prevent piracy and ensure they can be transmitted securely and virus-free. It can also facilitate the secure transmission across networks of, for example, financial or medical data hidden within images.

Artificial Intelligence

A passionate advocate of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which he defines as “enabling computers to do things that we normally expect only people can do” – Paul believes the contribution computers can make to the creative arts is immense.

A leading exponent of creative technologies in Ireland (he has produced several books and organised international workshops on the subject), he is very excited that the University of Ulster is a partner in the Irish Government’s Higher Education Authority groundbreaking Digital Arts and Humanities Structured Ph.D. Programme (DAH) 6.8 million Euro project, which will see 46 Ph.D. students fully funded for four years to research in the area.

Project Kelvin

He is also delighted that Derry’s digital drive has been underpinned by Project Kelvin, a high capacity broadband link which directly connects Derry with the US, the rest of Europe and other parts of Ireland. “It’s many times bigger, faster and safer than the broadband links we are used to”, Paul says. “Some companies here, like North West Electronics Wireless Networks, are already using it – it sends huge amounts of data with absolute security very quickly and offers great potential for financial services, medical and creative technologies data”.

Project Kelvin is yet one more feather in Digital Derry’s cap. Already blessed with leading high tech and media companies like 360Production Ltd, Seagate Technology, Silvertongue Software Ltd, Learning Pool and EyeSpyFX Ltd, Paul says the message is becoming clear. If you’re setting up a digital company on the island of Ireland, Derry may soon be your number one choice.

Cracking the cultural code

Meanwhile, Paul and his research team continue to push back the boundaries of digital creative technologies and, with the rest of Derry’s Imagineering Quarter, are helping to deliver a central tenet of the City of Culture bid – cracking the cultural code.

“That’s all about understanding different cultures”, he says, “and we are facilitating this through the software we are developing, enabling computers to understand human emotion, personalities, goals, plans, beliefs, desires and points of view – all from computer processing of text, speech, audio and visual data. Perhaps this way computers can help stamp out intolerance and discrimination and make the world a place which is more equal and hence more peaceful!”

For further information on The Imagineering Quarter and Professor Mc Kevitt's research visit:

The Imagineering Quarter:
www.infm.ulst.ac.uk/~paul/imagineering-quarter/

Professor Paul Mc Kevitt:
www.infm.ulst.ac.uk/~paul/

facebook:
www.facebook.com/paul.mckevitt

LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/paulmckevitt

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