iDMAa Conference 2004

Conference Overview | Conference Schedule | Conference Organizers

Conference Overview

iDMAc 2004 is THE Conference for Digital Media and Arts Academics.

iDMAc 2004 is a unique conference, with a unique structure. It is designed to answer the key questions for faculty and administrators building Digital Media and Digital Arts academic programs.

The Topic: Around the world, universities and colleges are creating new programs and departments to teach and conduct research in Digital Media and Digital Arts. These programs are emerging from partnerships of Art, Computer Science, Communications-Radio/TV-Journalism, English, Music, Theater, Film and other disciplines. These programs are "militantly marginal" - their creators believe that interdisciplinary partnerships create opportunities, attract money, and cause explosions of creativity. Margins are frontiers. But they are also uncertain places. Marginal people upset the establishment, take risks, make new things happen. This conference will help you win at the frontier.

Digital Media and Arts programs address the production of content for existing media such as the Internet, radio and TV, digital cinema and video, computer games, cinematic special effects and animation, as well as for new emerging media such as

mobile computing (GPS, personal digital assistants, cell phones)
ubiquitous computing ("smart houses", "information appliances")
interactive television (now making big money in Europe)
online role playing games
virtual reality

Faculty and administrators are asking questions like these:

CURRICULUM

What should we teach, once we go beyond web design?
What is the intellectual core of Digital Media and Arts?
How can we provide students with the best immediate job-related skills?
How can we foster the development of life-long intellectual skills to enable our students to become leaders in new media content creation?
What kinds of graduate programs are emerging in Digital Media and Arts?

RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORK

What are leading areas for innovation? What new media are emerging?
How can our faculty stay current, produce publishable results, find fame and glory?
What areas of new media are most attractive for industrial and governmental grants and contracts for faculty research and creative projects?

RESOURCES

What kinds of laboratories and other resources are needed?
How can you convince your university to provide them?
How can you involve external sponsors in supporting your academic program?

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

How can you identify, recruit, nurture and retain the right faculty?
How can you help in-place faculty develop new skills for the new discipline?
How can work in such an interdisciplinary area be fairly evaluated for promotion and tenure?

Conference Schedule

Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

Wednesday 10 March:

1:00 PM:

Opening Session Welcome - Jeff Rutenbeck, President - iDMAa
Conference Overview - Michael Moshell, iDMAa 2004 Conference Chair

"Stopping Time: The Magic of the Compositor"
Keynote talk - Art David - Wavelight Inc.

Art David is a master of cinematic composition for special effects production. His firm, Wavelight, contributed effects for many feature films including The Matrix, Signs, Men in Black 2, Starship Troopers, Contact and Superboy. Mr. David has won two national Emmy awards for editing.

iDMAa Award for Innovative Media
Introduced by Zsuzsi Pek, Warwick University
Awarded by the Nominator

See the description below of the novel process by which the iDMAa Award winner was selected, and the unique role of the Nominator.

2:30 PM: Break
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM - Workshop Session 1
6:00 - 8:00 PM Pearson Prentice Hall Reception (food and drinks) and the opening of the iDMAa 2004 IDEAS Exhibition
8:00 PM - Dinner in Winter Park (on your own)

Thursday 11 March:

8:30 AM - 10:00 AM - Workshop Session 2
10:00 AM - Break
10:00 AM - iDMAa 2004 Ideas Exhibition Opens
10:30 AM - 12:00 NOON - Workshop Session 3
Lunch (on your own - hotel restaurants)
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM - Workshop Session 4
3:30 PM - Break
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM - Workshop Session 5
7:00 PM - iDMAa Ideas Exhibition Closes
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM - Buffet Banquet (at hotel)

Friday 12 March:

8:30 AM - 10:00 AM - Workshop Session 6
10:00 AM - Break
10:30 AM - 12:00 Noon - Closing Plenary Session:

"The Future of the Electronic Game Industry, or . . . why your students all want to work for me!"

A senior executive of one the world's largest computer game company tells stories about the creation of classic games and discusses the kinds of skills that his firm looks for when hiring game developers.

12:00 Noon - Formal Conference Ends
Have lunch with your new friends, and plot strategies for the future!
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM - iDMAa Board Meeting

Conference Organizers

General Chair:
J. Michael Moshell
Head, Digital Media Division - School of Film and Digital Media
University of Central Florida
[email protected]

Program Chair:
Robert Kenny
Assistant Professor - School of Film and Digital Media
University of Central Florida
[email protected]

Publicity Chair:
James Oliverio
Director - Digital Worlds Institute
University of Florida
[email protected]

Publications Chair:
Conrad Gleber
Professor of Art
Florida State University
[email protected]

IDMAA Ideas Chair:
Dena Eber
Professor, Art Department
Bowling Green State University
[email protected]

Local Arrangements Chair:
Carole Mann
Registration Systems Lab, Inc.
[email protected]

iDMAa Officers

Chair of the Board
Scott Olson
Provost, University of Minnesota at Mankato
[email protected]

President
Jeff Rutenbeck
Director, Digital Media Studies Program
University of Denver
[email protected]

Executive Director
Ray Steele
Director, Center for Information and Communication Sciences
Ball State University
[email protected]

Treasurer
Michael Niederman
Chair, Television Department
Columbia College Chicago
[email protected]