Gianni is currently a Lecturer in the Arts Science Technology Subject Group. He recently started his PhD on the idea of Embodied networks. He worked in media industry for a while for some big international firms then moved to academia to feel the freedom of thinking, creating and developing some ideas no one in the industry will never pay for. Anyway it was a good time in media industry between fashion shows and car races. His background is in performance, media and social studies, graphics and electronic communication but interests are broad from cinema to music, art to wine. More specifically, research interests are in space, memory and social agency in the field of interaction design and digital art. Like the puppet he build up a few years ago, Quixote (www.quixote.it) he enjoys new challenges, socializing and exploring the world, so that’s why, after a few years spent in teaching and researching at Turin Polytechnic, he is now in Plymouth, UK. Recent works includes a collaboration project with visual artist Chiara Boeri on a installation called ‘Metrobosco’ based on the idea of participatory and ecological approach to urban redesign that was selected for Siggraph Art Galley 2007. For more info contact me at gianni dot corino at plymouth dot ac dot uk or on skype as johnny_gc.

PhD Title: Cultural and social interface for open and public space.

This research project will investigate and define practical and theoretical methodologies for narrative based collaborative digital media systems for use in ‘public spaces’. More specifically it will identify how the interplay between the body, space and memory can be used as design parameters to support public engagement in digitally enhanced environments.

The research will address within historical tradition of formal and informal narratives in the context of open and public spaces, and analyze how socio-spatial systems such as the “agora” (and other sites of social interaction) played a role in the constitution and development of society. Findings will be evaluated against the emergence of contemporary public spaces that through the proliferation of mobile, wireless and ubiquitous computing, offer new platforms for public discourse and Innovation in the application of update new media technologies.

There are three main areas of focus for this research:
• to readdress the social and cultural discourse within our complex physical and informational ecosystem.
• to contribute to understand of how is possible to enhance social, creative, consciousness and knowledge processes.
• to engage people in collaborative interaction in public and open spaces with emerging technologies.

This will be in a context that questions how ‘cultural memories’ can become an active part of interaction design and a creative participatory process.

The construction of a methodology will be based upon an analysis of existing models for interaction design found within the field of Human Computer Interaction, and identify their deficiencies for new digital social / public contexts. Cultural theory and human geography will provide a further critical framework within which to locate the tri-partite social and personal themes of: body, space and memory that inform the sensibilities of the research.

Finally, in response to the theoretical research, will develop an iterative prototyping design process that anticipates a significant final project. Using digital technology this process will illustrate the theoretical claims and test the methodology.

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