Searching for a true complementarity of music and visual art reflected John Whitney's desire to develop a methodology that would ensure that computer generated sound and visual imagery could be produced in a way that would go beyond all earlier attempts to simultaneously create an artwork based on a system that would equate individual colours with specific notes. Discussed in his book 'Digital Harmony' (Whitney 1980), Whitney argued that all composition in music was firmly based on a methodology that excluded improvisation and if a similarity of scale was applied to the use and development of colour, a system could be devised that met his objective of providing an agreed means of finally equated colour with sound, through computer programing.

In my series, Thought and Memory, I explore how the mind wanders, following mythic paths, identifying with the Hero's Journey, diving into murky worlds that haven't yet congealed into archetypes, and experiencing transformation.

This paper is written as a response to feedback and discussion following a presentation by the author at the 2009 Future Places Festival in Porto. The synopsis of the presentation was: "Phil Taylor will discuss the integration of constantly evolving digital media practices and applications within the creative environments of higher education, specifically focusing on moving image and video. How this medium is taught, how it is employed, and how it is perceived by both tutor and student, underpinned by the main question of what are the broader cultural implications of using contemporary digital media within the curriculum?"

Given the state of modern technical applications and the advance of the game industry, it is only a matter of time until interactive application will completely control all levels of entertainment and mass media. Also social interactions in general are subject to change. Usually these changes are only considered within in the digital context of the internet. Nevertheless the basic human need for direct communication and interaction remain.

With the help of an experimental artistic approach and in reference to positions from semiotics and linguistics, I investigate under which conditions visualisations are experienced as interesting and charming. After extensive research in the semiotic fundamentals of the visualisation of theoretical texts (Reichl, 2008; Reichl, 2009), this research project is concerned with what makes visualisations of theoretical concepts interesting and enjoyable. A special focus lies in this context on the designs of visual metaphors.

In their pioneering paper "The Creative Process Where the Artist is Amplified or Superseded by the Computer" (1973) Cornock and Edmonds describe a model for the classification of artworks according to their systemic behaviour. In this presentation I revisit this model, discuss its subsequent development (Edmonds, Turner & Candy, 2004) and present an extension to it that incorporates my own research into the use of the theory of autopoiesis (Maturana & Varela, 1987) as basis for an expanded description of the 'interactive art system'.

Dance is increasingly a site of research for experts within the discipline and beyond. With the development of digital technologies, artists and researchers are exploring ways to develop new dance events, to engage with audiences and in doing so, to shed more light on the art form itself whilst expanding its boundaries and limitations. Building on these developments the presentation will share problems and challenges faced when motion capture technology tries to capture dance movement which emerges through somatic movement practices, in particular, an established practice, Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT).

As an island nation, the UK has a rich maritime heritage charting centuries of international trade and exploration. Evidence of this lies in abundance around the coastline in the form of historic shipwrecks. From 17th century remnants of Samuel Pepys navy off Goodwin Sands to bomb laden WWII liberty ships in the Thames estuary. Unlike land based heritage sites, the majority of these underwater locations are virtually invisible to the public gaze. Their inaccessibility limits public perception of their importance; out of sight, out of mind. In rare cases, e.g. the Mary Rose, the wrecks are recovered and placed in purpose built museums alongside artefacts recovered from them. The enormous cost of archaeological recovery, preservation and exposition restricts this practice.

Weather forecasts are nearly always portrayed from either a satellite view perspective, a numerical or symbol based representation. None of these methods actually portray weather visually from the point of view of the observer, that is, they do not represent our experience of weather. This problem presents a challenge to displaying weather using real-time 3D computer graphics. 3D Weather is a proposed method to solve this problem, to create more believable representations of the weather using real weather data. By employing computer graphic techniques and computer game concepts the project intends to create a localized display of weather using mapping and weather data. Started in 2010, the project has been exploring existing techniques, scoping out the needs of stakeholders (such as the Met Office), and creating a prototype to explore the issues. The paper concludes that the quest for realism with computer graphics can be a double-edged sword. It can lead to expectations of accuracy in the data its meant to represent, which can be desired, but in the case of the weather forecast the representation is not necessary what the weather will be, its what the weather might be. The continuing project will explore the balance of issues when representing the weather for past events as well as for forecasts.

This paper looks at the online presence of the exhibition 'Things' by artist Keith Wilson that took place at Wellcome Collection in October 2010. It examines the process by which objects were temporarily acquired from members of the public for an exhibition, and the way in which those images were digitised and managed to form the online element of the exhibition, using the photo sharing website Flickr. It looks at the role of student volunteers and their reaction to the use of technology, as well as the reactions of the public to the use of images online to represent their donated objects, and some alternatives to the conventional 'object' photography that museums employ. It draws the conclusion that images, and digital images in particular, form an increasingly important part of the museum paradigm at all levels.

Social media has emerged as a prominent element in the current digital landscape and its widespread use reflects how Web 2.0 technologies have become embedded in our lives. Use of social media technologies for learning signals a departure from the use of purely educational or institutional technologies, where educators or the institutions control the technology and the content and impose the rules. This development brings unique and fundamental opportunities, alongside challenges, for rethinking learning in museums. In a museum context, social media tools may make it possible for people to situate objects within contextual information, enable users to make links with other objects or topics and initiate discussions among them. These processes highlight the social aspect of museum experience, advocated by Falk and Dierking (1992; 2000), and it is thus hypothesised that use of social media will lead to - and enhance - a shared understanding around objects, which will facilitate the meaning-making process and thus, learning. The study presented in this paper (part of a PhD research project) is concerned with the potential of Web 2.0 technologies for enhancing young people's museum learning experience and facilitating their meaning-making process.