Research

This brief overview is an invitation to anyone who would like to contact me regarding the research I am doing now and have done in the past.

Current

Researching the impact that the logic embodied in the computer CPU has had on human thinking and culture.

Previous

Exploring ways of writing programs which, when used, generate responsive behaviours in automata that make them appear to have individual personality.

Mapping Behaviour - a project that maps behaviour and reflects on the behaviour of mapping website

Developing an online archive of work produced by students on the Innovations Unit of BA Computer Visualisation and Animation course. Development of the Online Innovation Library (OIL) project in 2006 was sponsored by the NCCA and supported by CEMP (Centre for Excellence in Media Practice). The Data base was collated and entered by Sarah Thompson and the management system and front end produced by Jonathan Wardle, Jenna Law and Joe Lanman. The results of the project can be seen here: Online Innovations Library.

Development of teaching techniques and materials for use in lectures and workshops. This has included research into computer games design and the relationship between art, science and technology. A poster about the Innovations unit that I developed can be seen here: Innovations Poster.

The research interest in behaviour emerged through art practice, which since 1984 has concentrated on the potential use of computer technology to make participatory or interactive work. In 1984 it was anticipated that the project would take at least ten years to achieve any significant results. It led initially to the development of a suite of computer programs named 'Smallworld' which was the subject of a case study in my PhD.

One of the outcomes of developing Smallworld was a plan to develop a 3D Graphic Programming Language which would be used to design behaviours. The language was to be an integral part of the work being developed in my art practice - the Virtual Reality Aesthetic Programming Interface (VRAPI). Without access the immersive VR facilities needed to complete this project it is currently in abeyance.

Smallworld prompted and served as a case study in my PhD research at Loughborough into the use of computer technology in works of participatory art. A synopsis of the PhD thesis follows:

The PhD Thesis can be accessed here Participatory Art and Computers.

At Loughborough, part of a team working on The Co-Operative Machine project sponsored by Alvey.

At The Polytechnic of North London researched the use of lightwieght structures in architecture, the geometry of architecture, and the relationship between Art and Architecture.