<Immune Nations>听is the first multi-year research-based exhibition to specifically address the issue of vaccination from a collaborative, interdisciplinary perspective, attentive to the arts and its many roles for advocacy and political intervention. The outcome of a multi-year project that was developed prior to the pandemic (2014-17) and co-led by听听(University of Alberta) with听听(91亚色) and听听(University of Alberta), the exhibition explores complex issues related to the use and distribution of vaccines in the world today and the capacity of artistic research to solicit complex forms of affective engagement when dealing with difficult and divisive social and political topics such as vaccination.

Hosted at the McMaster Museum of Art, the exhibition presents features collaborative art and research projects, including original work alongside new work produced in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The panel discussions feature 91亚色鈥檚 鈥婼teven Hoffman, Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance and Legal Epidemiology, professor and director of the ; Alison Humphrey, Vanier Scholar and PhD candidate; and Caitlin Fisher, professor and director of the Immersive Storytelling Lab.

The discussions will be hosted on Zoom, and include an audience Q-and-A. All panels are free and open to the public.

Ensuring Equitable Access: Life-Saving Vaccines during COVID-19 and Beyond

Thursday, Oct. 14, 12 to 1:30 p.m.

This panel will explore the global deployment and lack of access to life-saving vaccines.

Moderator: 鈥婼teven Hoffman, director, Global Strategy Lab

Panellists:
Annemarie Hou, appointed executive director, United Nations Office for Partnerships;
Alison Humphrey, Vanier Scholar and PhD candidate, 91亚色;
Lauren Paremoer, senior lecturer, University of Cape Town; and
John-Arne R酶ttingen, ambassador for global health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway.

To learn more about the panellists and to register, click .

Research-Creation and Global Crisis: Interdisciplinarity, Creativity and Collaboration

Thursday, Nov. 25, 12 to 1:30 p.m.

This panel investigates the role of research-creation in tackling pressing social and global problems.

Moderator: Natalie Loveless, associate professor of contemporary art and theory, University of Alberta

Panellists:
Ted Hewitt, president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada;
Charu Kaushic, scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Infection and Immunity, and professor in the Department of Medicine, McMaster University;
Caitlin Fisher, director of the Immersive Storytelling Lab and Professor of Cinema and Media Arts, 91亚色;
Patrick Mahon, artist, curator and visual arts professor, Western University; and
鈥婯im TallBear, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Environment, and professor of Native Studies, University of Alberta.

To learn more about the panellists and to register, click .

Vaccine Confidence, Fear and Misinformation in an Age of COVID

Thursday, Dec. 9, 12 to 1:30 p.m.

A panel exploring the impact of misinformation on vaccination as well as ways of countering the negative impacts of misinformation in relation to public health.

Moderator: Sean Caulfield, Professor, University of Alberta

Panellists:
Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, University of Alberta;
Rachelle Viader Knowles, head of international for arts and humanities, Manchester Metropolitan University;
Dr. David Price, professor and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University; and
Theresa Tam, chief public health officer of Canada.

To learn more about the panellists and to register, click听.

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The Everyday: Experiences, Concepts, Narratives is an upcoming Graduate Program in Humanities conference looking at the "everyday" as it relates to politics and ethics, power and knowledge, ontology and history.

Keynote speakers Professor (left) of the School of Geography at Queen Mary, University of London, and 91亚色 film Professor Caitlin Fisher, Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture and director of the in the Faculty of Fine Arts, will delve into the everyday further.

The conference will take place April 14 to 16 on 91亚色鈥檚 Keele campus. Click here for the conference program and venues.

Ogborn, who won the Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2001 for his outstanding contribution to the discipline of geography, studies the "everyday" from a global and local perspective within the context of cultural geography and cultural history.

He will be talking about how spaces become "everyday" and what that means for how the world works. Drawing on the work of Michel de Certeau, among others, and on a range of historical material from diverse geographical settings from 17th-century Madras to 18th-century London and Jamaica, Ogborn will explore the making and unmaking of everyday geographies of walking, writing and talking. He will argue that the everyday has to be actively made through its geographies and that the process of that making has to be forgotten or obscured. The historical geographies of the production of everyday spaces, however, mean they can always be unmade.

Ogborn鈥檚 most recent books include Global Lives: Britain and the World, 1550-1800 (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and Indian Ink: Script and Print in the Making of the English East India Company (University of Chicago Press, 2007).

Right: Caitlin Fisher

Fisher is working to construct and theorize spatial narrative environments and build expressive software tools for artists. Her current research interests include digital archiving, lifelogging, data visualization and experimental game structures for storytelling. She is an international award-winning digital storyteller.

In addition to the keynote speeches, there will be several panel discussions with graduate students from across North America and the United Kingdom presenting their research on the issue of the "everyday", visual artists Faye Mullen and Nathan Cyprys will unveil their work and poet Arun Nedra Rodrigo will perform.

The conference is organized by two 91亚色 graduate students, Justin Derry and Martin Parrot, and funded by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Department of Humanities, the Humanities Graduate Student Association, the Graduate Student Association and the 91亚色 and Ryerson Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture.

For more information, visit The Everyday: Experiences, Concepts, Narratives conference website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post CRC and Professor Caitlin Fisher to keynote at 91亚色 humanities conference April 14-16 appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Papagiannis is an artist, designer and researcher specializing in augmented reality (AR). Hailed as being among the top 10 forces currently shaping the AR industry, has been working with AR since 2005, exploring the creative possibilities and theoretical implications for this exciting emerging technology. Recently, her interactive artworks were featured in an exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre. The Amazing Cinemagician: New Media Meets Victorian Magic was also featured at Tedx91亚色u, providing an intriguing entrance through which attendees entered.

Papagiannis is completing her听doctorate in communication and culture under the supervisor of Professor and Canada Research Chair Caitlin Fischer, and is a senior research associate at the . Prior to her graduate studies,听Papagiannis was a member of the听Bruce Mau Design studio, where she was project lead on .

You can view all of the Tedx91亚色u talks via the event's .

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

The post VIDEO: PhD student Helen Papagiannis' Tedx91亚色u talk on wonder and creative process appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The exhibition features two interactive installations by new media artist and 91亚色 PhD student Helen Papagiannis that use augmented reality (AR) technology, fog screen, and radio frequency identification (RFID).

AR 鈥� a layering of virtual information atop the physical environment 鈥� originated in the world of computer engineering but has recently emerged as a new trend in design, advertising and entertainment. Papagiannis is one of a handful of contemporary artists who have tapped into the creative potential of AR for interactive art. She was cited in the top 10 forces currently shaping the AR industry by leading AR news blog Games Alfresco, which named her 鈥渢he new ARtist in charge鈥� for her presentation last year at the International Symposium for Mixed and Augmented Reality in Florida.

"AR provides enormous opportunities for new modes of storytelling and visual experiences that can change the way we see and interact with the real world, but who is defining this new form?鈥� asks Papagiannis, who is presently completing her doctorate in Communication and Culture at 91亚色, specializing in AR.鈥淣ow is a critical time for artists and designers to be involved as pioneers in driving this new technology and contributing to its creative future."

is a mixed reality work (merging real and virtual worlds) that projects film clips by Georges M茅li猫s, the father of special effects, onto a fog screen. The audience can interact with the clips through RFID technology - the next evolution of retail bar codes, where small radio transponders emit a unique ID code. Each of the ethereal film clips is linked to a RFID chip embedded in a series of playing cards, which the viewer uses to activate the installation and display the images onto a translucent projection screen consisting of a thin curtain of dry fog.

Visitors to the exhibit can also interact with Papagiannis鈥� Wonder Turner, an AR experience where viewers physically rotate large cubes to reveal and create a new video composition. The cubes are equipped with black and white AR symbols which the software interprets and emits as video clips. Using the classic 鈥榚xquisite corpse鈥� format with three interchangeable heads, torsos and feet, rotating the cubes allows the user to create a wild variety of creatures from a surgeon鈥檚 head, belly-dancing torso and penguin feet to a llama head, guitar-playing torso and trampoline feet, and other wondrous creations. An augmented video of the visitor with the transformed turner is simultaneously displayed on the screen.

鈥淎n important aspect of my work is the notion of play,鈥� Papagiannis said. 鈥淧layfulness in the types of imagery you will see, and also in practice, in the physical involvement of play and exploring the work. I also love melding new digital technologies with older, analogue modes.鈥�

Papagiannis has been exploring AR as a new creative visual force since 2005. She created The Amazing Cinemagician and Wonder Turner as part of her doctoral studies and her work as a senior research associate in the AR Lab, part of the interdisciplinary Future Cinema Lab research collective in the Faculty of Fine Arts at 91亚色.听 She has exhibited her work at Interactive Arts festivals and conferences around the world, including the 2008 International Symposium for Electronic Arts (ISEA) in Singapore and the 2009 International Symposium for Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) in Florida. She is an invited presenter at the upcoming Augmented Reality Event (ARE) 2010 in Silicon Valley, the first global event dedicated to advancing AR. Prior to her work in AR, Papagiannis was a member of the Bruce Mau Design studio, where she was project lead on 鈥淢assive Change: The Future of Global Design鈥�, an international touring exhibition and book published by Phaidon Press.

and Wonder Turner will be on view at the Ontario Science Centre to August 31.

The Augmented Reality Lab and Future Cinema Lab at 91亚色

Directed by Film Professor Caitlin Fisher, , 91亚色鈥檚 Augmented Reality Lab is at the forefront in working with both established and emerging technologies to produce innovative research methods, interfaces and content that challenge cinematic and literary conventions and aim to enhance the ways in which people interact with their physical environment and with each other. This work grows increasingly important for Canada's culture and entertainment industries as AR and associated technologies become more prevalent.

The AR Lab is part of the : New Stories for New Screens, a collaborative research initiative at 91亚色. The first dedicated facility of its type in Canada, the Future Cinema Lab (FCL) fosters interdisciplinary research on the ways in which new digital storytelling techniques can critically transform a diverse array of state-of-the-art screens. The FCL is enabling researchers to design new forms of storytelling, develop prototypes for urban research, and create innovative projects within networked and hybrid media environments.

About the Idea Gallery at the Ontario Science Centre

Part of the Weston Family Innovation Centre, the Idea Gallery provides the opportunity for talented young and emerging artists and researchers to display innovative projects that blur traditional boundaries between art, science, design and technology.

By Amy Stewart, publicist, Faculty of Fine Arts.

The post 91亚色 PhD student showcases "The Amazing Cinemagician" at the Ontario Science Centre appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Professors Caitlin Fisher, David Hood, Joel Katz, Steve Mason, Wendy Taylor and Peer Zumbansen will continue their respective research in digital culture, cell physiology, health psychology, Greco-Roman cultural interaction, experimental particle physics, and transnational economic governance and legal theory.

With the renewals, 91亚色 maintains its total of 28 research chairs. 鈥淔ederal research investments are crucial to attracting and retaining the world's best researchers,鈥� said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. 鈥淭he Canada Research Chairs program allows us to sustain 91亚色鈥檚 globally competitive research across health, the sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. Our researchers鈥� findings help improve the quality of life, economic, and social well-being of Canadians and people around the world.鈥�

Caitlin Fisher, Canada Research Chair (CRC)听in Digital Culture and film professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts, investigates the future of narrative, interactive storytelling, and interactive cinema in the emerging area of virtual reality research. Her research develops techniques and narrative strategies for use in augmented reality (AR) environments, which is increasingly important for Canada's culture and entertainment industries as AR and associated technologies like smart phones become more commonplace.

Left: Caitlin Fisher

Under her direction, 91亚色鈥檚 AR Lab, part of the in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Fine Arts, is conducting research at the forefront of art and science collaborations. The听lab makes use of听both established and emerging technologies to produce innovative research methods, expressive tools for artists and award-winning content that challenges cinematic and literary conventions while enhancing the ways in which people interact with their physical environment and with each other.

David Hood, CRC in Cell Physiology and kinesiology & health science professor in the Faculty of Health, is an internationally-recognized authority in muscle health, exercise and mitochondria. His publications have expanded on the important role that mitochondria play in muscle, and the beneficial effect of exercise in enhancing energy production, preventing cell death and attenuating disease processes.

Right: David Hood

Hood operates one of the world鈥檚 most advanced laboratories in the cellular physiology of mitochondria. In January 2010,听he became the first director of the newly opened 91亚色 Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC), which is unique in Canada. The MHRC integrates research in mitochondria with biomedical research across the University.

Joel Katz, CRC in Health Psychology and psychology professor in the Faculty of Health, is a world-class researcher in the study of pain. His research has significant impact on the way pain is understood and managed in both preventative and rehabilitative medicine.

Left: Joel Katz

His major accomplishments include using a preventative approach to advance the treatment of acute post-operative pain, increasing our understanding of neonatal pain and how to manage it, identifying factors that predict the transition of acute to chronic pain, and discovering previously unrecognized gender differences in the experience of pain. Katz is coordinator of the 91亚色 health psychology Graduate Diploma Program, the only听program in Canada offering specialized training in health psychology leading to a diploma.

Steve Mason, CRC in Greco-Roman Cultural Interaction and history professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, explores issues of cultural identity among the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean under Hellenistic and Roman rule (200 BCE to 300 CE). He focuses on Judea and the Jewish Mediterranean diaspora in the context of other diasporas.

Right: Steve Mason

The most important literary sources for these questions are 30 surviving volumes by the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37 - c. 100 CE), and Mason is at the forefront of research into these works. He leads an international team of 14 scholars in supplying Josephus with a new translation and the first comprehensive . He has published five books and many articles on related subjects while editing and co-authoring another seven. He manages the popular online database, , and is completing a volume on the fateful Judean-Roman War of 66 to 74 CE.

, CRC in Experimental Particle Physics and听physics professor in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, studies the high-energy particle collisions at the and at the accelerator. Her research aims to understand matter鈥檚 smallest indivisible components and the forces of interaction between them. Taylor is recognized by her peers as an expert in b-quark physics analysis and particle detector electronics development.

Left: Wendy Taylor

Her primary analysis found the first evidence of spontaneous matter-antimatter transitions of B0s mesons, composite particles that contain both a b-quark and an anti-s quark. She contributed to developing a new calorimeter trigger, which allows high-rate data collection. She is now developing low-noise radiation-hard readout electronics for a new particle detector and algorithms to search for the Higgs boson, the particle believed to be responsible for why matter in the universe has mass.

, CRC in Transnational Economic Governance & Legal Theory and professor in听Osgoode Hall Law School, explores globalization鈥檚 impact on national political economies, concentrating on changing forms of production and on the politics of privatization and deregulation.

Right: Peer Zumbansen

Zumbansen's听research is advancing the development of both a comparative and methodological perspective of globalization on national political economies.听His work听also explores broader questions concerning political sovereignty and the changing relationship between the state and the market, particularly in the European Union, Canada and the United States. Widely published in both German and English,听Zumbansen is the co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the .

Gary Goodyear, minister of state (science听& technology), announced the nationwide renewals in Ottawa on March 26. 鈥淥ur government is investing in science and technology to create jobs, strengthen the economy and improve Canadians鈥� quality of life,鈥� said Goodyear. 鈥淭he Canada Research Chairs program is helping our universities develop and attract talented people, strengthening our capacity for leading-edge research, while creating jobs and economic opportunities for Canadians now and in the future."

The CRC program attracts the best talent from Canada and around the world, helping universities achieve research excellence in natural sciences and engineering, health sciences and social sciences and humanities.

For more information, visit the Web site.

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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The Augmented Reality Lab in the Faculty of Fine Arts opens its doors to the 91亚色 community March 10 for interactive demonstrations of augmented reality (AR) and GPS locative media research projects in development. From 11am to 3pm, visitors will have the opportunity to experience projections on FogScreen, immersive virtual environments and other innovative applications for AR technology.

Directed by film Professor Caitlin Fisher, Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture, 91亚色's is at the forefront in working with both established and emerging technologies. As part of the , it is dedicated to producing innovative research methods, interfaces and content that challenge cinematic and literary conventions and aim to enhance how people interact with their physical environment and with each other.

Left: Caitlin Fisher

The lab offers artists and designers the opportunity to explore new screen technologies, approaches and techniques through production and theoretical study of this emerging medium. Lab participants work interactively and across disciplinary boundaries, particularly film and computer science.

A wide variety of projects will be on display at the open house.

Handheld City is an online streaming experience developed by the AR Lab for the city of Toronto鈥檚 virtual museum project, which launched March 6 (Toronto鈥檚 176th birthday). Using AR as a storytelling device, the researchers organized and animated the digital objects in the museum collection and created an interesting way to interact with the objects and access the accompanying text.

Right: Handheld City was developed for Toronto's virtual museum project

The Amazing Cinemagician is an interactive "rfid" (radio frequency identification听鈥� like a barcode) video project for the FogScreen by Helen Papagiannis, a PhD student in communication & culture. Digitized film clips by cinematic special effects pioneer Georges M茅li猫s are tied to a series of rfid objects that the viewer can scan to access the video.

Papagiannis made major waves in AR circles last fall with her presentation at the International听Symposium for Mixed and Augmented Reality听in Florida. A leading AR news blog, , dubbed her 鈥渢he new ARtist in charge,鈥� awarded her its Most Beautiful Demo award and put her on its top听10 list of forces currently shaping the industry.

CommCult master's student Justin Stephenson showcases a new "procedural animation" (a form of computer animation generated in real-time) using Quartz Composer.

Master of Fine Arts听film student Simone Rapisarda presents the ladybike test project: the first film to come out of the lab using the Ladybug camera. This spherical digital video unit comprises multiple cameras and records more than 80 per cent听of the full sphere. Rapisarda鈥檚 video, filmed with the camera set in a bicycle basket, shows the scenery approaching, speeding by and receding simultaneously.

Above: An image from Simone Rapisarda's ladybike test project

Also experimenting with the Ladybug camera is graduate film student Cameron听Woykin, who has created a time-based video installation using footage of himself shot inside the lab. Edited into a spherical image, the video shows multiple views of the researcher as he moves around the space.

Right: The Ladybug camera in action

Wormholes is another experiment in spherical storytelling, created by Fisher and Andrew Roth, the lab鈥檚 technology manager.听Using the lab鈥檚 Intersense IS900 Inertial/Sonic Tracking "virtual reality" grid, participants wearing a听virtual reality headset can literally get inside and explore simultaneous realities through spherical video clips shot by Fisher and Roth on various locations on campus.

Several projects use SnapdragonAR software, an innovative "drag and drop" AR interface developed in the lab in collaboration with computer vision researchers Andrei Rotenstein and Mikhail Sizintsev,听PhD candidates in computer science,听and Dr. Mark Fiala.听Snapdragon allows people without computer programming skills to easily build AR experiences. This software is now available for sale through Future Stories, a spin-off company 91亚色鈥檚 AR Lab established to provide participants with the option of commercializing their lab developments.

The Snapdragon projects created in the lab by graduate students include Papagiannis' sound toy wonder turner; Boaz Berri鈥檚 Neighbours, which fills an image of an apartment complex with videos of life inside the building; Carter Bruce, Anne Koizumi and Claudia Sicondolfo鈥檚 The Underground Cave, which animates a model of an underground space; and a work-in-progress by Evelyn Tchakarov.听Fisher will also be showing an AR tabletop theatre piece called Circle which was presented for the first time last December as part of the Digital Arts听& Culture conference at the .听Wallace Edwards, a Governor General's Literary Award-winning children鈥檚 book illustrator, will show some recent experiments with AR illustrations that come to life in your hands.

Above: A collection of images from the Snapdragon projects created in the lab by graduate students

Another computer program developed in-house is an iPhone GPS听video-caching application created by Roth and Rotenstein. Akin to a technological Easter egg hunt, when the application is running, the iPhone will display a digital surprise 鈥� in this case a film clip听鈥� when it is physically located at a predetermined GPS coordinate. CommCult听master's student Magda Olszanowski's Suivez Moi was built using the GPS software. An outdoor demo of her project is available now by appointment (call 416-736-2100 ext. 21077), but the lab hopes these locative film experiences will be available for download through the Apple app store in the near future.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Augmented Reality Lab holding Open House for virtual art and technology displays March 10 appeared first on Research & Innovation.

How do you look at millions of genomic patterns and see the diagnostic implications? How do you assimilate satellite data to better predict and visualize the effects of global warming, pollution, and weather patterns? How can you chart the global migration of millions of people under slavery? How do you assess the impact millions of blog entries have had on the print media economy? How do you sift global intelligence reports to identify the real threats?

Each day, humanity poses thousands of similar questions as we produce massive data sets in every field 鈭� but as the data grows, the challenge becomes translating this data for the human senses and delivering the best analysis to solve real-world problems.

The Centre for Innovation in Information Visualization and Data-Driven Design (CIV-DDD), led by 91亚色 in partnership with the (OCAD), promises to develop the next generation of data discovery, design, and visualization techniques by developing new computational tools, representational strategies, and interfaces.

The $11.5 million five-year project brings together a unique multidisciplinary team of over 50 researchers from 91亚色, OCAD, the University of Toronto, 14 industry partners, and significant international collaborators.

(left), Canada Research Chair in Computational Vision and Distinguished Research Professor of Vision Science at 91亚色, is the project鈥檚 principal investigator. , professor of artificial intelligence and data mining in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, will co-lead 91亚色鈥檚 team of 14 researchers, who include , professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, and , Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture and associate professor of film in the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Sara Diamond, visualization design researcher and president of the Ontario College of Art & Design, will lead OCAD鈥檚 team of 12 researchers, who include Vladimir Spicanovic, dean of the Faculty of Art, and Greg van Alstyne, professor in the Faculty of Design and director of Research, Strategic Innovation Lab.

has provided over $3.8 million in funding through the Ontario Research Fund-Research Excellence Program; industry partners will contribute over $3.6 million, with the remaining $4.1 million coming from the project鈥檚 institutional partners.

鈥淗umans鈥� capacity to interpret sensory stimuli is limited, which is why the human processing strategy is to attend to the relevant and ignore the irrelevant,鈥� says Tsotsos. 鈥淒etermining what鈥檚 relevant is a key task. Equally important is discovering how best to present such data in a form that is quickly and effectively understood. By combining our team鈥檚 expertise in computer science, design, digital media, visual perceptual science, fine arts, and the social sciences, CIV-DDD will discover and provide new visualizations for underlying patterns, processes, and relationships within data sets. These in turn will suggest new research directions and applications, laying the foundation for a new wave of knowledge creation and technological products.鈥�

CIV-DDD formalizes many existing research collaborations, both within 91亚色鈥檚 faculties and departments and among researchers at 91亚色, OCAD, and U of T. 鈥淚n the new paradigm of data-driven discovery, art and design researchers have a profound role to play in partnership with scientists, making the invisible visible, heralding a new era of knowledge, cultural creation, and technological products,鈥� said Diamond. 鈥淭his preeminent research hub for the development of next-generation data visualization techniques is unique in its level of interdisciplinary fire power, strong collaboration with end-users and international links. It aggregates and extends much successful collaboration amongst the researchers, and between OCAD and 91亚色.鈥�

Many techniques and technologies developed by research groups associated with CIV-DDD will become resources for the entire team as they focus on new data-driven design and information visualization solutions in four thematic areas:

• bioinformatics and medicine
• fine and performing arts
• engineering and physical sciences
• humanities and social sciences

Collaboration between industry and academia is crucial to the project鈥檚 success. 鈥淧latform Computing is honoured to support the CIV-DDD project and provide the students and researchers at 91亚色 and the OCAD with cutting-edge technologies to explore and create the next generation of visualization solutions and services and help them tackle scientific, social and human challenges,鈥� said Jingwen Wang, vice-president, products, at . 鈥淐ollaboration and information sharing are fundamental to academic research and Platform products enable researchers and students to easily collaborate and manage data and resources to capture, simulate and analyze their results.鈥�

CIV-DDD鈥檚 industry partners highlight its wide applicability across sectors, including:

• Mass media and communications studies, ethnography, and cultural studies 鈭�
• Enterprise and knowledge management businesses 鈭�
• Technology service providers 鈭� , , and
• Physics 鈭�
• Sustainable, intelligent systems, and green technology 鈭�
• Computer and communication technologies 鈭� , , and
• Entertainment and Web-related industries 鈭� , , and
• Research and innovative presentation 鈭�
• Business intelligence work 鈭� and
• Mobile technology and applications developers 鈭� Zameen
• Medicine and bioinformatics 鈭� U of T鈥檚 , the , and McMaster University鈥檚

鈥淐IV-DDD responds both to a dramatic paradigm shift in the health, social and economic challenges facing Canadians and the need for more research capacity and state-of-the-art infrastructure in this region,鈥� said Stan Shapson, 91亚色鈥檚 vice-president Research & Innovation. 鈥淚t also builds on the existing strengths of 91亚色鈥檚 , the Institute for Research on Learning Technologies in the Faculty of Education, and in the Faculty of Fine Arts, among others.

鈥淏y leading the Consortium on New Media, Creative, and Entertainment R&D in the Toronto Region (CONCERT), 91亚色 and its partner universities and industries identified the preconditions necessary to develop a high-end visualization industry in Ontario. This unique collaboration will help fulfill one of CONCERT鈥檚 long-term objectives, which was to grow the region鈥檚 entertainment, screen-based and other innovation-driven creative industries into a globally competitive cluster.鈥�

CIV-DDD will also support Ontario鈥檚 economy by producing innovative technology for commercialization, such as new:

• data-mining algorithms
• 3D-vision and 3D-modeling technologies
• data-display tools and protocols
• visualization-design methods and techniques
• data-inquiry paradigms
• user-friendly interfaces that can be scaled to a variety of screen displays
• new aesthetics and research practices

鈥淲e鈥檙e proud of the cutting-edge work that our researchers do at 91亚色 and the wealth and jobs they create in 91亚色 West and across Ontario,鈥� said , MPP for 91亚色 West. 鈥淣ew discoveries will continue to be made and we want those people, those ideas and those jobs right here in our community.鈥�

CIV-DDD is one of 21 projects funded by the Ontario Research Fund鈥揜esearch Excellence program, which has provided almost $69.5 million to support more than 214 researchers in seven cities across Ontario. The Ontario Research Fund is a key part of the province鈥檚 Innovation Agenda, a $3.2 million strategy designed to move world-class research from the lab to the global marketplace in key areas such as life sciences, digital media, and green energy to ensure Ontario will be among the 21^st Century鈥檚 winning economies. The Research Excellence program helps develop Ontario鈥檚 research talent while ensuring Ontario researchers have the operating funding they need to undertake world-leading projects.

For a full list of funded projects, visit MRI鈥檚 .

91亚色鈥檚 researchers:

• John Tsotsos, Canada Research Chair in Computational Vision, distinguished research professor of vision science, Faculty of Science & Engineering, and member of the Centre for Vision Research (CVR)
• Nick Cercone, professor of artificial intelligence and data mining, Faculty of Science & Engineering
• Amir Asif, associate professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering
• Caitlin Fisher, Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture and assistant professor of film, Faculty of Fine Arts
• Robert Allison, associate professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering
• Melanie Baljko, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering
• James Elder, associate professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health and a member of CVR
• Jimmy Huang, associate professor of information technology, Faculty of Science & Engineering
• Michael Jenkin, professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering and a member of CVR
• Jennifer Jenson, associate professor of pedagogy and technology, Faculty of Education
• Paul E. Lovejoy, distinguished research professor in the Department of History and Canada Research Chair in African Diaspora History
• Don Sinclair, professor and coordinator of Fine Arts Cultural Studies, Faculty of Fine Arts
• Wolfgang Stuerzlinger, associate professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering, and a member of CVR
• Nell Tenhaaf, associate professor, Department of Visual Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, and associate dean, Graduate Studies, Research, Planning, in the Faculty of Fine Arts.
• Laurie Wilcox, associate professor of psychology and biology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health and associate director of CVR
• Richard Wildes, associate professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering

OCAD鈥檚 researchers:

• Sara Diamond, visualization design researcher and president of the Ontario College of Art & Design
• Vladimir Spicanovic, dean, Faculty of Art
• Greg van Alstyne, professor, Faculty of Design and director of research, Strategic Innovation Lab
• Patricio Davila, assistant professor, Faculty of Design
• Paula Gardner, associate professor, Faculty of Liberal Studies
• Julian Goss, professor, Faculty of Design, and chair of Industrial Design
• Anda Kubis, associate professor, Faculty of Art, and chair of Drawing and Painting
• Martha Ladly, associate professor and director of the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design Program
• Francis LeBouthillier, sculpture and installation artist and chair of Sculpture and Installation
• Laura Millard, associate professor, Faculty of Art
• Luke Painter, assistant professor, Faculty of Art
• Barbara Rauch, assistant professor, Digital Futures Initiative, Faculty of Design
• Suzanne Stein, associate professor, Digital Futures Initiative, Faculty of Design

U of T鈥檚 researchers:

• Ravin Balakrishnan, associate professor of Computer Science and Canada Research Chair in Human-Centred Interfaces in the Department of Computer Science
• Karan Singh, associate professor of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer. Photos courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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