pervasive media studio

Watershed, UWE and HP Labs

The Pervasive Media Studio has grown out of a long standing collaborative relationship between Hewlett-Packard’s corporate research Labs, Watershed and the University of the West of England's Digital Cultures Research Centre (DCRC).

Building on Watershed's extensive Creative Industries network of practice, the technology research expertise of HP Labs and the diverse network of researchers from the Faculty of Creative Arts and the Bristol Institute of Technology, the idea was to create a space in which theory and practice were pursued side by side and where the barriers to participation were kept as low as possible.

Watershed - Cinema / Digital Media / Events / Café/Bar

Britain’s first dedicated media centre, Watershed opened in 1982. Watershed fosters cultural exchange and promotes engagement, enjoyment, diversity and participation in film, media arts and the creative economy. Watershed is a group of three companies: Watershed Arts Trust and two wholly owned subsidiaries of the Trust – Watershed Trading and iShed CIC.

"Watershed is a prime example of a highly connected, flexible, porous piece of cultural and creative infrastructure, of which there are too few examples. Watershed is more than just an arts cinema. It is at once a cultural centre, a business broker, a social networker, a research and innovation facility, a café/bar, and a cultural tourist attraction." Creative Economy Programme Infrastructure Working Group, August 2006

http://www.watershed.co.uk

UWE's Digital Cultures Research Centre (DCRC)

Digital technologies have a profound impact on media cultures. The DCRC is neither ‘just’ concerned with technologies nor ‘just’ interested in audiences and users, but aims to create new knowledge about media applications in real world contexts. We believe that people make culture through their interactions with media technologies.

The DCRC represents and promotes the work of a diverse network of researchers from UWE's Faculty of Creative Arts and the Bristol Institute of Technology, pursuing research in several modes: critical inquiry, practice led and applied. The current research programme is built around the themes of Play, User Generated Content and Pervasive Media.

Creating a unique link between leading edge research and creative practice, the DCRC is based at the Pervasive Media Studio. The combination of IT, computing, communication and creative industries with academic study creates an eclectic mix of experiences and perspectives within each project.

The core team for the DCRC are Professor Jonathan Dovey (Director), Emeritus Professor Martin Lister, Professor Jane Arthurs, Dr Patrick Crogan, Dr Seth Giddings, Helen W. Kennedy, Dr Judith Aston, Dr Tom Abba and Dan Dixon from BIT.

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/sca/research/dcrc.shtml