Stephen Boyd Davis

Bio: Stephen Boyd Davis is an academic researcher from Middlesex University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Depiction & Interactive media. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 33 publications receiving 337 citations. Previous affiliations of Stephen Boyd Davis include Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council & Royal College of Art.

‘Ere Be Dragons: heartfelt gaming

Abstract: A new pervasive digital game is discussed, relating technical and conceptual innovation. A combination of sensor technologies enables a responsive visual and auditory environment to be overlaid on the real world. This allows processes within the player's body to be mapped to the environment through which the player passes, externalising the internal. Rather than using technology to replicate the rigid goals and structures of many conventional games, this game explores the concept of 'open play', a form of personal exploration. The work is an interdisciplinary collaboration between digital artists and health scientists with an agenda to alter players'attitudes to the body and health as well as to break new ground artistically.

Smell me: engaging with an interactive olfactory game.

Abstract: The paper describes an artistic project which produced some valuable findings in relation to olfactory interactive design. It records a process of discovery in a largely unfamiliar area of interaction. The paper describes how the many difficulties which people have in discriminating, recalling and identifying smells were used as the substance of engaging gameplay. Both theoretical and practical issues are discussed, including the role of olfaction in creating a sense of complete realism, and its use to create affect and to promote engagement. Issues of specifying and controlling odour are discussed, as are problems arising from the nature of olfactory perception. A digital olfactory game is described and evaluated. The paper may seem to undermine the whole idea of using the olfactory channel, and leaves it an open question how useful olfaction may eventually prove. It is admitted that significant problems await the design of olfactory experiences.

The DESIGN of Virtual Environments with particular reference to VRML

Abstract: The sections on designing within current and future versions of VRML were written by Dr Avon Huxor, post-doctoral researcher in virtual environments, who also contributed sections on interaction in social spaces and augmented realities. Helena Athoussaki and Grethe Mitchell, postgraduate students of the MA Design for Interactive Media, built a VRML model as the other component of this SIMA Project. We thank BT for supporting the development of the Centre?s 3D-Workshop which made the student project possible, and particularly Andrew McGrath for his technical and tutorial assistance for student projects.

Extending knowledge domains for new media education: integrating interaction design theory and methods

Abstract: Over the last 10 years, new media has ascended to a prominent place in many fields that utilize communication technologies. At the same time, new media education has evolved in such a way that students are often not prepared to understand the social context of new media design and development. To produce new media professionals who are adequately prepared to meet the needs of an online hyper-social marketplace, new media curricula must reflect those human-centered theories and practices found within the discipline of interaction design, in addition to formal new media technical knowledge. The authors propose a new three-by-three theoretical model, referred to as Knowledge-Operators-and-Domains (KOD). Applying this model suggests an approach that extends the practical boundaries of new media to include a range of human-centered theories and practices, such as ethnography and usability-based studies.

History on the Line: time as dimension

Abstract: Boyd Davis’s work concerns representation, principally visual and spatial. This article discusses mapping historical time to a graphical surface, such as in timelines, focusing on the orientation of the time axis. Boyd Davis gained a £92K EPSRC grant to develop these inquiries into digital formats in 2012, and £70K from the Leverhulme Trust ending in 2010. It contrasts the paucity of intellectual debate on mapping time with the controversies over competing geographic projections, a dearth that Boyd Davis’s work is dedicated to correcting. The article proposes a research agenda derived from a synthesis of the literatures of cognitive science and gesture studies, revealing that the metaphorical direction of time differs between verbal and gestural usage, and to a lesser extent between cultures. It features original archive research into the emergence of modern chronographics in the mid-18th century, a shift from typographic, tabular layouts to truly graphical time-maps based on a changing model of time spawned by Descartes and Newton. Research into the timelines of Nicole Oresme (1350s) and Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg and Joseph Priestley (1750s) reveals their difficulties in finding the ‘right’ direction for time. Related work included a co-written paper for ‘Electronic Visualisation and the Arts’, London (2010), selected for the 2013 Springer book of best full papers (21 of c.160); a paper for the 26th ‘Computers and the History of Art’, London (2010); experimental work using virtual environments to represent historic time, a Leverhulme project co-led by Boyd Davis: two co-written articles for Computers & Education (2012); a chapter in Huang (ed.), Handbook of Human Centric Visualization (2013); a guest article for Joseph Priestley House Museum, PA, USA (2011); an invited talk on original research into French 18th-century contributions to chronographics, Centre de Recherches Texte/Image/Langage, Universite de Bourgogne (2012); and a paper for ‘EVA2013’, London (2013).

The Perception of the Visual World. By James J. Gibson. U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950 (George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London). Price 35s.

Abstract: Let's read! We will often find out this sentence everywhere. When still being a kid, mom used to order us to always read, so did the teacher. Some books are fully read in a week and we need the obligation to support reading. What about now? Do you still love reading? Is reading only for you who have obligation? Absolutely not! We here offer you a new book enPDFd the perception of the visual world to read.

Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference

Abstract: This book engages with the politics of social and environmental justice, and seeks new ways to think about the future of urbanization in the twenty-first century. It establishes foundational concepts for understanding how space, time, place and nature the material frames of daily life are constituted and represented through social practices, not as separate elements but in relation to each other. It describes how geographical differences are produced, and shows how they then become fundamental to the exploration of political, economic and ecological alternatives to contemporary life.