Dear friends,

Just before leaving on our summer vacation we want to share some glimpses of our doings the past month as well as introduce you to what the autumn will bring.

Media Factory’s open call

We have had three deadlines for applications for funding of media-related projects. In all we had approximately 30 applications. The funded projects are found here:http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?page_id=548

Uneton48

Our partner Uneton48 has reached the point where the 10 finalists of the competition have been chosen (can be found here http://bit.ly/acuhrA) and when the gala festivities are close at hand. It has really been great to follow how the organizers Enni and Sami Tuomisalo together with their team have succeeded in coordinating this huge event with all its inspiring learning and networking possibilities as well as moments of true experience. Congratulations already at this point. Next Friday on the 18th the Uneton48 gala party starts at 5 p.m. and will be held in the Sampo Hall, Lume Centre. See you there ;-).

Media Factory was tracking Aalto on tracks

Media Factory documentarists Anna Berg and Ina Mutikainen traveled with the Aalto on Tracks posse on train to China in May. During the trip the passengers shared many fantastic experiences and made many good new friends and of course saw exotic sights through the train windows. A short video made by Anna and Ina about the trip was shown in Shanghai World Expo Finland day on 27th of May and in YLE morning-tv on 10th of June (http://areena.yle.fi/video/1050887). Later this autumn there will be a longer film about the tracks available, so stay tuned! Before that, you can explore the trackers’ adventures in the AoT-blog: http://aaltoontracks.com/

New students in the MediaBizLab minor studies program

17 Aalto students will begin their studies in September in the new minor studies program MediaBizLab – Commercializing Media as Services. The students admitted to the program share a similar enthusiasm towards media, yet their differing backgrounds will enable them to develop and produce new solutions for future media services. The MediaBizLab program is organized in cooperation between Media Factory and the Department of Marketing and Management (Aalto School of Economics). More information on the program is available at mediabizlab.fi

Media Facades festival in August/September

Media Factory collaborates with the Media Facades festival (http://www.mediafacades.eu) that takes place in Helsinki as part of the Helsinki Festival (Helsingin juhlaviikot) and also in six other European cities in August and September. The festival “explores the networked possibilities of urban screens and media facades via internet and the new technologies on a European level”. The kick-off of the festival with public screenings and street art happenings is in the Night of the Arts (27.8.) More information in our August newsletter.

Changes in the office team

The project manager in Media Factory, Maria Suokannas, will leave Media Factory at the beginning of August. A challenging new position as a principal lecturer within well-being services at the Laurea university of applied sciences, is waiting for her.

Also Mikko Villi, the coordinator of educational operations at Media Factory, will move to a new post in September. After receiving his doctoral degree in June, he will start his new work as a post-doctoral researcher at the Aalto School of Economics, the Department of Language and Communication.

Dates for your calendar

* SPOT ON – a seminar on locative media will be arranged at Media Centre Lume at TaiK on September the 23rd. The main organizers are Media Factory and Yleisradio. (more information later on on our website).
* A seminar on typography and type, next(con)text on the 18th of November (more information here http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?p=606).
* Magazines in the era of e-reading –symposium 1.12.2010 (more information maija (dot) toyry (at ) aalto (dot) fi)

And last…

Maria: As I won’t be co-writing the next newsletter I want to wish you all the best for the future and a lot of inspiring encounters with Media Factory. I am really grateful for everything I have learned during my year within the Aalto university.

Wishing you an energizing summer and remember, there shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart :-) (Celia Thaxter).

The Media Factory Office Team

Hi everyone,

May is often one of the busiest months within academia and a month where the academic year ends and plans are made for the autumn. If you want to experience how the ending of an education process feels like, please visit the Masters of Arts’ exhibition”City of Senses” at Aleksanterinkatu 16-18 and Katariinankatu 3 in Helsinki. Find more information here: http://www.mastersofarts.fi/moa2010/

Our Factory agent

The three Aalto factories have decided to employ a factory agent to connect the factories more. We are glad to introduce our new Factory-agent, Juhani Tenhunen to you. Juhani Tenhunen is a doctoral student at Media Lab of the Aalto University School of Art and Design Helsinki. Previously he has been working as a producer at a new media department of the largest publisher in Finland, Sanoma-WSOY, and before that as an entrepreneur at New Media – AV production companies.

Uneton48-our partner

Our partner Uneton48 is energetically preparing for the next weekend when approx. 100 teams compete about who makes the best short film within 48 hours. We are glad we can be part of this organized passion for making short films. We are certainly looking forward to the gala night in Lume’s Sampo-sali on the 18th of June. Read more about uneton 48 here: http://www.uneton48.com/

Media Factory is tracking Aalto on tracks

Media Factory’s representatives Anna Berg and Ina Mutikainen started their journey to Shanghai with the Aalto on tracks community on Friday the 14th of May. They will be documenting highlights from the journey. To follow how the journey is proceeding please visit the following website http://aaltoontracks.com/

MediaBizLab’s kick-off

The kick-off for the new minor subject MediaBizLab was arranged on the 22nd of April. The seminar was a success although the ash cloud prevented the keynote speaker Gerd Leonhard from coming. To feel the event visit MediaBizLab’s website http://bit.ly/dyHPom or see the video on http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/

Digital Visuality Network

A new network within Aalto University, the Digital Visuality network had its first meeting and was thus established on 6th May. It brings together people with an interest in visual communication and media technologies to initiate joint projects in research and education, and in organising events, industry collaboration and networking. There will be shortly more about the network on Media Factory’s website, and an email list is being established. For more information please contact Markku Nousiainen (markku dot nousiainen [at] taik dot fi).

3D Animation Minor Subject Program

A new minor subject program will begin next fall in the Department of Motion Picture, Television and Production Design at the Aalto School of Art and Design. All Aalto students are eligible to apply. In the program the students learn how to create a 3D computer animated short film and work with professionals of the different areas of the production (sound, designer, composer, editor). More information at http://www.aalto.fi/fi/studies/mobility/art_and_design/

Mobile app developers network next meeting May 25th

The next meeting of the Aalto mobile app developers network will be in Otaniemi on Tuesday May 25th, at 09:15 – 11:15. The location is meeting room Edison (Otakaari 7 A, behind Restaurant Electra). Guest speakers are Michihito Mizutani and Abhigyan Singh. More information at http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?p=573

Dates for your calendar

Please put the 23rd of September and the 18th of November in your calendars. On the 23rd Media Factory is arranging a seminar about locative media in co-operation with Yle. The seminar will be held in Lume Sampo-Sali, Aalto university School of Art and Design. On the 18th of November Department of Media/Unit of Graphic Design arranges the next(con)text seminar which will discuss the future of typography and type. This seminar will also be held in Lume and Sampo-sali.

When writing this we are totally overwhelmed by the beauty and warmth the month of May can bring. Enjoy every minute :-). Let’s hope that this lasts and that no media in the world will bring us bad weather forecasts.

The Media Factory Office Team

Hi everyone,

In this newsletter we will introduce you to many interesting upcoming events during the following weeks. We have the MediaBizLab’s seminar, Aaltoes Open Mic and Tuli Talk with Hipui. Please scroll down for further information.

We would also like you to get acquainted with our partner Uneton48 that gathers more than 100 teams nationwide to a competition where every team has to make a short film in 48 hours. Please visit their website http://www.uneton48.com/ and get inspired by their entrepreneurial mindset.

Another terrific proof of entrepreneurship is the Aalto on Tracks project that takes around 100 people from the Aalto University community with a private train from Helsinki to Shanghai World Expo, China, in May 2010. Media Factory is represented on the train by our web designer Anna Berg and Ina Mutikainen, both students at the Aalto university School of Art and Design (Department of Motion picture, Television and Production Design). We are looking forward to their story from the journey.

We have also started a series of columns written by Aalto university teachers and researchers within media. Please find them on our home page www.aaltomediafactory.fi

Please notice the following upcoming Public defenses:

Wednesday 12th of May at 12
Sampo-Sali, Mediakeskus Lume
MA Petri Lankoski, Department of Media, Medialab.
Subject: Character-Driven Game Design: A Design Approach and Its Foundations in Character Engagement.
Opponent: PhD Ian Bogost, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Custodian: Professor Lily Diaz

Thursday 20th of May at 12
Sampo-Sali, Mediakeskus Lume
MSSc Mikko Villi, Department of Media, Photography
Subject: Visual Mobile Communication. Camera Phone Photo Messages as Ritual Communication and Mediated Presence
Opponent: PhD Karin Wagner, Chalmers tekniska högskola
Custodian: Professor Merja Salo

Events:

Aaltoes Open Mic with MediaBizLab

Spend an interesting Monday evening to discuss and brainstorm potential business ideas with other entrepreneurially oriented people! At Aaltoes Open Mic, anyone can stand up and pitch her idea, however rough it might be. After each pitch, people will help develop the presented idea through discussion and brainstorming. You don’t have to pitch an idea to participate; you can just come to listen, discuss and get inspired.

Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, Aaltoes, is a community driven organization promoting entrepreneurship and helping students and researchers to create world-changing businesses from Aalto University. More information here: http://aaltoes.com/

Time: April 19th 2010
Location: Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 21

Join the event on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115873378423675&ref=ts

MediaBizLab seminar

Aalto University Media Factory and School of Economics, Faculty of Marketing would like to invite you to a half-day seminar called “MediaBizLab – Commercializing Media as Services”. This is at the same time the launch event for the new minor studies program MediaBizLab – Commercializing Media as Services. The objective of these minor studies is to teach the essentials about media content commercialization from the points of view of design, technology and business. Deadline for applications is May 17th, 2010. More information at http://mediabizlab.fi/

Join us for a seminar on how to engage audiences, drive popularity, and generate revenue for media content in the internet era and ask us at the same time about the new minor study program.

Time: April 22, 2010, 13:00-17:00
Location: Aalto University, School of Economics, Main building, Juhlasali (assembly hall), Runeberginkatu 14-16, Helsinki

More information here: http://mediabizlab.fi/seminar/

Tuli Talk with Hipui

Media Factory will organize in collaboration with the Aalto Entrepreneurship Society an event concentrating on mobile user experience and app development. The event is also intended to promote the Aalto Mobile App Developers Network hosted by Media Factory.

For further information about the Network please join the mailing list by subscribing at http://lists.uiah.fi/mailman/listinfo/mobileapp or contact Mikko Villi at Media Factory (mikko.villi[at]taik.fi)

Hipui is a Helsinki based technology start-up that is redefining the mobile user experience by providing technology and platforms to enable rich interaction and context awareness. More information here: http://www.hipui.com/

Aaltoes Tuli Talks are a monthly series of talks by entrepreneurs with research backgrounds. The event series is sponsored by the Tuli Program. More information here: http://www.tuli.info/eng

Time: Monday 26 April at 3 p.m.
Location: Aalto University School of Art and Design, lecture room 822, 8th floor, Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki

Join the event on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112952165396426

Looking forward to seeing you and enjoy the first flowers peeping out :-)
Media Factory Office Team

Hi everyone,

This year has started with a little bit different focus than the last one. In our five-point action plan we emphasize more gatherings with our different stakeholders as well as the visibility of media education and research within Aalto university. Read more here.

We have had two seminars in February, one in co-operation with the Canadian embassy and one in co-operation with Grafia ry. We enjoyed both networking with Dr. Gerri Sinclair from the Digital Media Center in Vancouver as well as hearing the Grafia seminar panelists discuss the future of research and education within graphic design. Some twitters from the events: Sinclair: Where is the money? Answer Baby-boomers. Grafia seminar: What is the core of graphic design in year 2015? Is it information design? For getting a glimpse of these events please find our videos on our website (the video from the Grafia seminar will be published later on)

Finnish Game Jam

The Global Game Jam 2010 was an event organised on January 29-31 in a multitude of locations worldwide. In Finland the event took place in four locations. Media Factory took part in organizing and documenting the Helsinki Event in Media Centre Lume. A video documentary is currently being edited and will soon appear on Media Factory’s website.

What is a Game Jam? It’s an event and competition where participants innovate computer games from scratch in a single weekend. The assignment is given in Friday evening and the completed games are evaluated in Sunday afternoon. This year’s theme was “deception”, something that all completed games were expected to deal with. To learn more and actually to play the winning games visit Finnish Game Jam’s website: http://finnishgamejam.fi/

Mobile App Developer Network

There is a growing demand for collaboration in the area of mobile application development (i.e. programming and content creation for mobile devices such as mobile phones) within Aalto University. Therefore, Media Factory has initiated a multi-disciplinary network where people interested in this topic can meet regularly and plan joint activities. The network is intended for both staff (researchers, lecturers) and students of Aalto University, with visitors from media industry.

Due to its pioneering role the Mobile App Developers Network serves also as a model for further networks, or special interest groups within the media field in Aalto University. The first joint activities planned for spring 2010 are events such as seminars both for the network members and the wide audience in Aalto University and its stakeholders.

MediaBizLab – Commercializing Media Services

Media Factory participates in organizing a new Aalto-wide minor study program. The aim of the “MediaBizLab – Commercializing Media Services” program is to give students skills and experience in discovering success factors in media design and commercialization of their own product and service ideas. This takes place through facilitation of creative processes, understanding of media markets and end users’ needs, business thinking, and skills in prototyping. The students will work in groups throughout the programme.

The administrative unit of the program is the Department of Marketing and Management at the School of Economics. Other participating units are Department of Media (School of Art and Design) and Department of Media Technology (School of Technology). The launch is next fall, and the intake is 20 masters level students, preferably in their fourth year of studies.

For more information contact mikko.villi{ät}taik.fi

Research news

Media Factory will arrange an open call for smaller research projects. The call will include more detailed information about the process. Researchers and students within Aalto university will be encouraged to take part in a pitching event where the idea should be presented shortly and efficiently. Check out our website for further information later on this month. We will also inform you through this list.

Further news

We could create a little bit of buzz around the following themes: Short film competition (www.uneton48.com) and Postproduction. More information will be given in the next newsletter.

The Media Factory office has moved on the 4th of March. Please visit our new office at Aalto University School of Art and Design. The visiting address is: Hämeentie 135 A, 3rd floor just above the cafeteria Katri Antell. Or contact us by sending an e-mail to infomediafactory{ät}aalto.fi

Enjoy the dawning spring :-)

The Media Factory Office Team

Dear friends of Media Factory,

The last month of this year is here and we are all in a waiting mode. We are not just waiting for all that the Christmas season could bring but also how the new Aalto university will start officially on the 1st of January. The Sylvester Night will certainly start the new wave of inspiring encounters between different actors from both academia and the media field.

The ending year can be described as a year of initializing new ways of co-operation between different media researchers and students within the three schools. Please read professor Maija Töyry’s reflections of Media Factory 2009 here: http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?p=444

Media Factory’s new director

On the 23rd of November Philip Dean was appointed director at Media Factory. He is currently working as Professor of Media Management at Media Lab, Taik, the department he founded in 1993. You can read more about him here: http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?p=405

Media Factory’s research tracks so far

The research tracks of Media Factory (Doing Cross Media and Enactive Social Media and Gaming) had a seminar where the researchers presented their research so far. Read more here: http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?p=415

Workshop focusing on industry collaboration

Media Factory organizes a workshop at TKK on December 17th, 9.00-12.15. The workshop concentrates on the pedagogical aspects of industry collaboration. It is intended for educators in Aalto, who teach subjects related to media and communication. The workshop will be held in Finnish. More information at http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?p=419

Media in transition on film

Students attending the Media in transition (Median murros) course organized by Media Factory have produced several short films as their course assignments. The theme given to the students was “Media 2020”. These films, created in multidisciplinary students groups, can be viewed on the course web site http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?page_id=219

Also several essays written by the students are available on the site, as well as video recordings of the course lectures. All course material is in Finnish.

Seminar on Digital Visuality

Welcome to the Media Factory seminar:
Digital Visuality – The multiple societal uses of images

17.12.2009
13.00-17.00
TKK, TUAS, TU 5

The seminar has as its aim to discuss and develop further the new Media Factory Research Track called “Digital Visuality” that is still in the plannig phase. In other words, it is a good opportunity to get involved. More information here: http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?p=445

We from the office team wish you a wonderful Christmas time and all the best for the year 2010.

Stay in contact with us and follow our doings on our webpages http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=330602485060
and Twitter http://twitter.com/AaltoMedia