Peter Appleton

Stuarts old (not in age) lecturer came to chat to us today. Partly to see what we think of our course, as he is the external examiner, and partly to sell the International Centre for Digital Content in Liverpool.

He showed some of his own work, as well as the stuff that the course produces, and both were pretty good. I was really interested in the Sound in Situation project which invloved attaching data, via solar powered posts, that triggered when people approached. This is very similar to the work that Lou and myself are producing, but it is static, and cannot be attached to anything and everything. Thats the good thing about LM is that it doesnt effect the envirment at all, so Greenpeace would love it!

Here is a short bio of Peters work :

Peter Appleton was born Liverpool, England in 1945.

After a Foundation Course at Chester College of Art 1973-74 he did a BA in Fine Art at Newcastle upon Tyne University 1974-78. He worked as an oil rigger 1978-79 and then as part-time 3D designer in the Greek Museum, University of Newcastle upon Tyne1979-80 before doing an MA in Fine Art, Newcastle upon Tyne University 1980-82. He now lives in Exeter, where he has taught part-time at Sheffield College of Art, Exeter College of Art, Falmouth School of Art and is currently Course Leader, Interactive Arts, University of Wales College, Newport

Combining sound and sculpture with an element of participation, Peter Appleton is one of the pioneers of a new form of sculpture, shown at the Arnolfini, Bristol 1985, and then nationwide, in the exhibition A Noise In Your Eye.

Peter Appleton was one of three Artists-in-Residence in the Forest during 1986 He has received UK Fellowships and awards from Regional Arts Boards and has had One-person shows in many parts of England and in The Netherlands.

We also had a chat with Simon today about what we could do when the course is finished, the options are Masters, Mphil, or dole! I think I mightopt for the middle one! We'll see!

Richard Shotton

Co-founder of Imagine Education, Richard Shotton, came into the lab to chat with us today. A large proportion of the class are interested in the use of media within education. I wouldn't say that its my favorite area, but Richard made it all sound very interesting. He told us about the current methods employed by schools to teach i.e. A teacher tells a pupil everything they know, and expects them to remember it all. Unfortunately humans are not hard drives and will not just recall all this data. Instead, what Imagine Ed try to do is get pupils to engage with whatever their learning, using IT providing a far more enriching experience.

I would really like to tie this idea in with our own locative media area. Using IT to learn is a very big aspect of LM, especially when it utilizes the huge resource of public authoring.

Mr. Shotton believes that when pupils have the chance to process the information they are ingesting then not only do they become smarter, but they become more imaginative, resourceful and creative. Ultimately, countries that use this theory will have economies that benefit, unlike the United States.