With 40 new creative technology students, a panel of experts, consisting of prof. dr. Anton Nijholt, dr. Bert-Jan van Beijnum and dr Andreas Wombacher from EWI, dr Johnny Soraker from the Department of Philosophy, and Chris Haarmeijer from Tetem, a new art space in Enschede, gave their vision(s) on what could potentially be interesting for creative technology in their respective fields of expertise. When discussing the various areas of research in the Human Media Interaction group, such as sensors, smart environments, intelligent agents, multi-modal interfaces, Anton Nijholt expressed his vision that game designers (will be) the architects of the (near) future. This statement could only be confirmed by Bert-Jan van Beijnum, for whom creative technology students developed an interactive visualization of the variousscenarios in U-Care, a clinical decision support system, using Unity game technology. These visions not only align well with my previous statementcreative technology — it’s all in the game, but also with the theme of PICNIC 2010 which emphasizes the role of designers in changing society,
using the phrase designer(s) don’t just dream, they do!
Chris Haarmeijer emphasized the potential role of art, new media and (indeed) games in the well-being of human beings, welcoming experiments with the new technologies as explored by, among others, Andreas Wombacher. Later in the afternoon, one of the students proposed to develop a game for stimulating altruistic behavior, which according to Johnny Soraker is one of the factors that promotes human well-being. Halfway through we create identity, I look forward to the student contribution(s) for their theme(s) & concern(s).
media @ create 