Centre for Digital Media

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Centre for Digital Media is a converted multimedia facility at the Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver, British Columbia,^[1] which is mirrored in Second Life as a "Virtual" Centre for Digital Media.^[2]^[3] The Centre houses a Master's Degree program in Digital Media.

The facility has facilitated several publicized "blended" or Mixed Reality events. During 2007, the Centre hosted science-fiction author William Gibson,^[4] British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell,^[5] and the Vancouver Police Department.^[6]

1 Funding
2 Facilities
3 Educational Program
4 Virtual Centre for Digital Media
5 Blended Reality Events
6 References
7 External Links

[edit] Funding

The Centre, and the Masters of Digital Media Program which it houses, are primarily funded by a 2006 grant of CAD 40.5 million from the Government of British Columbia.^[7] The Masters of Digital Media Program has additional funding from industry affiliates including Electronic Arts.^[8]

[edit] Facilities

According to the facility web page,^[9] the Centre offers the following facilities for the use of students and faculty:

Information Resource Centre for "video games, books, films and magazines" including "the largest collection of titles outside of Electronic Arts."
A 10,000 square foot filming area and green screen, and other facilities for filmmaking and editing
Classrooms including "full Dolby 5.1 capabilities, high-end wall projectors, Blu-ray and HD-DVD playback."
Game rooms
Wireless Internet

[edit] Educational Program

The Centre primarily houses a 20-month "Masters of Digital Media Program," which is also the inaugural academic program delivered at the Great Northern Way Campus. The program seeks to offer its students "team-based experiences focused on project learning in close collaboration with the international games and digital media industry".^[10]

[edit] Virtual Centre for Digital Media

The Centre is mirrored in the virtual world of Second Life as the "Virtual Centre for Digital Media" (vCDM), which is located at the "University Project" sim (150, 84, 23). The sim was created in 2006 by a "virtual architect", Scope Cleaver.^[11] According to the literature on the official program webpage, the sim seeks to be a "centre for innovative events, conferences and knowledge sharing as well as extending the possibilities of MDM course activities".^[12]

[edit] Blended Reality Events

On August 2, 2007, the Centre hosted science-fiction author William Gibson simultaneously in Second Life and the physical space.^[13] In an interview with Salon Magazine, author William Gibson commented on the experience of Mixed Reality:^[14]

Apparently there's always finite space in Second Life. I was actually in a room at the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver with a live audience so I wasn't paying much attention to the Second Life aspect, which is probably a good thing in terms of my performance. I had a laptop open so I could see it as if I was watching from within Second Life. What I saw I found a bit distracting -- people levitating and sitting on top of the microphone.