Interactive Immersive Environments Social Commentary through Narrative Design
Alliance of Women in Media Arts and Sciences(AWMAS) will host another online speaker series event on Friday May 1st, 2020 at 12PM (Pacific Time).
Speaker: Anne Deane Berman
Title: Interactive Immersive Environments Social Commentary through Narrative Design
Zoom: Email awmas.ucsb@gmail.com for login link
Abstract
This talk explores the research by the American Composer, Innovation Education Entrepreneur and UCSB alumni Anne Deane Berman, PhD. It addresses how narrative design and social commentary has been central to most of her work (AIDS, Alzhiemers Disease, 911 Memorial, etc). She will present two collaborative works that offer dramatic interactive experiences where the participant is a collaborator in communicating the memories and feelings of the first hand responders and witnesses. Dr. Berman will showcase two models, one using a transparent sensor-based tracking system in a museum space and the other using a handheld navigation device and headmounted display to experience a 3-D Virtual Reality environment. Finally, she will share how her academic career led her on a journey with her family who, together, founded DIGIVATIONS, a Federal 501(c)3 nonprofit which supports their proprietary NASA Award winning STEM+ARTS+HUMANITIES+MOVEMENT curriculum, professional development and sustainability stewardship through their XGENS Model United Nations Conferences, and Delegation. Dr. Berman will describe how her latest creative work is inspired by the themes discussed through their 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals Institutes (Gender Equality, Climate Action, Life Below Water, Sustainable Cities, etc). Each summer at the nonprofits’ 16 acre Cascade Demigod Lodge, located two hours east of Seattle, the Berman’s host a summer institute where they provide a framework for young people to immerse themselves in multidisciplinary learning to produce collaborative works. They teach students to forge new, personal, interdisciplinary works which express their relationships to various topics, from Ancient Civilizations to Commercial Space and some of the most concerning world issues, helping students to navigate these waters, providing them with the foundations to aspire to become future innovators. www.annedeaneberman.com www.digivations.com www.campdemigod.org
Biography: Dr. Anne Berman’s career spans more than twenty years in the fields of education, arts and technology centered on innovation and story. Her compositions have been installed/performed in more than 75 venues in over a dozen countries and for radio and TV (Carnegie Hall, SIGGRAPH, San Jose Tech Museum, IEE Conference: Germany, International Human Computer Interface Conference: Las Vegas, World Internet Conference: Madrid, Goteborg Museum of Art: Sweden, International Super Computing, among others). After earning her PhD in Music Composition with a focus on Computer Music at the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE) at UCSB in 1997, she worked as the Assistant Director of the Digital Media Innovation (DiMI) program seated in the UC-Systemwide Office of the President under the direction of Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin and Dr. Steven Lee Berman along with the 12-member Executive Committee. This bold industry/university/government partnership enabled digital technology and content leaders in new media to exchange ideas and form collaborative partnerships with industry resulting in $80 million+ in matching grant peer reviewed funded projects over five years. Together, they spearheaded the research infrastructure in digital media conducted on the UC campuses and laboratories, integrating research from often-disparate disciplines on multiple campuses (precision agriculture, sensorbased arts, interactive music, Rome-Reborn classics, medicine-operating room of the 21st century, space science-SETI@home, engineering-Intelligent Transportation and computing-Human Computer Interface, among others).
In 2010, the Berman’s founded DIGIVATIONS a Federal 501(c)3 nonprofit which supports their proprietary NASA Award winning STEM+ARTS+HUMANITIES+MOVEMENT curriculum, professional development and sustainability stewardship through their XGENS Model United Nations Conferences, Delegation and 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals Institutes, including their Harry Potter Sustainable Universe. For the last several years, the Bermans have been the proprietors of the Demigod Lodge near Leavenworth, WA where they host retreats, the international innovation and literary Camp Demigod (www.harrypottercamps.org and www.camphalf-blood.org) and XGENS Model United Nations Sustainability Institutes. Camp Demigod was the brain child of their son Jacob Berman, when he was only 9 years old. At 17, he continues to partake in all aspects of the organization. All the organizations foster the next generation of innovators through their NASA award winning curriculum. Each summer the Berman’s teach students to forge new, personal, interdisciplinary works, under the direction of internationally renown professional mentors across disciplines. The Berman’s mission is to educate, inspire and empower leaders, young and old, to apply innovative strategies to expand the frontiers of human knowledge.