The SMARTlab Digital Media Institute at the University of East London has opened its new Multimedia and Games Innovation Centre (MAGIC), a high-tech 'play room' where creative people from all communities and backgrounds can meet and develop new technologies.

On 9 October 2006, multimedia artists and creative professionals from around the world gathered at the opening of the MAGIC lab in the Knowledge Dock Centre at UEL’s Docklands campus.

MAGIC is the brainchild of Professor Lizbeth Goodman, Director of SMARTlab and an internationally renowned leader in the field of interactive media. Professor Goodman and her team joined UEL this year and are working with partners around the world including MIT Press, BBC interactive, Microsoft, NESTA, and the Higher Education Fundnig Council for England, among others.

The SMARTlab Digital Media Institute aims to bridge the digital divide and develop new technologies that connect creative people in all parts of the world, irrespective of age, gender, nationality, wealth, or intellectual and physical ability.

The Institute runs three distinct strands of activity: a research centre for Digital Arts and Performance Technologies and practice-based PhD research programme with around 30 PhD students, a community outreach centre hosting a diverse range of social and digital inclusion projects; and the PLAYroom which provides the R&D space for development and testing of a suite of public facing knowledge transfer projects, including MAGIC.

“It’s great to be here at the University of East London, where there is a real community spirit and sense of creativity. We want to be part of that and help people from all backgrounds engage with new technologies and networks and use them to create their own spaces and interactions.”

UEL Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Alan Sibbald said: “MAGIC is about helping to bridge the digital divide and making a real difference to people’s lives. The new SMARTlab Institute is part of our vision for research and scholarly activity focused in emerging and interdisciplinary areas including health and human development, sustainability and the impact of new technologies.”  

SMARTlab is now working with the BBC researching movement-based healing techniques such as Tai Chi and Yoga in hospital situations where young people might previously have been given computer games. This work will support SMARTlab's ongoing collaborations with international health agencies focused on using gaming technologies for physical and social wellbeing.

The University of East London is rated among the top ten modern (post-1992) universities for research, according to the results of the most recent research assessment exercise, with 5 ratings in Communications, Media and Cultural Studies and 4 ratings in Sociology and Art and Design. UEL’s research and scholarship is focused on areas relevant to the economic, cultural development of our region.

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Contact: Patrick Wilson 020 8223 2061 / 07951 797 975

 

The University of East London (UEL) is now a global learning community, with 20,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of our diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.  www.uel.ac.uk

 

SMARTlab Digital Media Institute

- SMARTlab utilises the skills of media artists, performers, technologists, scholars, engineers, policy makers, voluntary sector workers and health professionals to make a real difference for communities, both locally and globally.

 

- In November 2005, the Institute wrote and produced 'StreetscalledHome', a performance technology disability dance showcase on the theme of international homelessness premiered as the award winning contribution to the World Summit of the Information Society in Tunis.

 

- SMARTlab runs a well-established international practice-based PhD programme focusing on digital arts and performance technologies research. Twenty two students have already successfully graduated from the programme, with a further thirty recently joining the centre at UEL.

Community outreach and social-digital inclusion

- The Digital Media Research Institute aims to widen and increase access to art, cultural information and resources via an extensive range of community outreach and digital inclusion projects.

 

- Working in collaboration with East London community groups and international NGOs and government agencies, SMARTlab provides free access to technology training sessions and performance-based community workshops, as well as to moderated online safe-spaces and collaborative skill development labs.

 

- The Institute also hosts the UK base for the internationally registered charity SafetyNET, which provides technology training and sustainable development support for women and children who are survivors of domestic abuse.

 

- Housed in UEL’s new Knowledge Dock Centre, the new PLAYroom space hosts the Multimedia and Games Innovation Centre (MAGIC) and a suite of related gaming and technology projects. The space is a hub for knowledge transfer within the games and creative industries sectors, where our partners and local community members can work with academics, artists and game designers to develop and trial innovative new games and interactive tools.

 

- Areas of specialist interest within the research and game-design team include: gender & gaming, haptic interfaces for assistive technology; wearable technology & fashion futures; mobile games; live and online gaming for social engagement beyond the screen; gaming for young people in hospital and persistent care; movement-triggered online environments; and studies of the ethics and social impact of gaming technologies on new generations of 'users'.

 

- MAGIC will host the first UK site for the Microsoft Community Affairs Clubtech Project, which has already provided free access to technology hardware, software and training to 4 million disadvantaged young people across the USA and Canada.