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I was delighted to give the keynote at this year’s Luxembourg National Research Fund science communication conference, speaking about artificial intelligence and immersive worlds. Such a fantastic community with some incredible work. Find more about them here
Another really fun event this week was led by Tonic Digital and I covered the last three months and what’s happened to the sports world in coming to terms with lockdown. So many traditional sports have found a digital alternative that it’s made some major steps into imagining a new future for them. Whether this will lead to long term planning for alternative experiences, or whether the end of lockdown will see things snap back into business as usual is anybody’s guess, but there is a new conversation taking place between sports and esports right now that’s really exciting.
I was really pleased to take part in an event produced by The Landing in Manchester this week. Focused on the gaming industries, I had a conversation with the amazing Julia Cwierz on where esports is going and what we need to think about to take it somewhere that is safe, exciting, and innovative.
The Landing is a remarkable community based in Media City and I’m really pleased that the University of Salford works with them on so many areas.
We talked about some really crucial issues in the world of esports, but the key one for me is the relationship between the wider culture of gaming and how it relates to competition. If we don’t conceptualise that well, we can easily lose sight of what’s at stake and what’s important when thinking about the direction of travel for esports.
Last week, I was in Berlin speaking about emerging media technologies at the News Media Coalition annual meeting. It was great to be facilitating a conversation with young journalists about how they see the state of the industry, especially as one of them is part of the current Young Reporters cohort of the International Olympic Committee. It took be back to my role as mentor some years ago in what has to be one of the most remarkable experiences a person can get in sports reporting training.
My talk focused on artificial intelligence, virtual reality, drones, and esports, while examining the state of an industry that desperately needs to find a way to reposition itself around the technology innovation community that now underpins our media culture. How can news outlets best protect themselves? Be that innovation community and ensure ownership of change is retained.
This week, I was invited to Sheffield International Documentary Festival to take part in a panel on VR and Mental Health. Curaed by Dr Erinma Ochu and featuring Dr Marieke Navin and Dr Maria Panagiotidi, we covered everything from PTSD to dementia. Here's something I wrote on the way to the event.
Last week, the Digital Health Generation project I have been working on with Emma Rich, Sarah C. Lewis, and Deborah Lupton had a major event in the House of Commons, sponsored by Lisa Cameron MP.
The evening was a culmination of our work over this last year and aimed to kickstart a conversation about how the future of healthcare ensures that young people are at the heart of plans.
Here are some of the slides from the evening.
My first talk for the School of Arts and Media at the University of Salford, Manchester ;)
