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The website for Database | Narrative | Archive (Montréal, May 13-15, 2011) has just been launched. It includes information on the event, confirmed participants, and related news.

The deadline for submissions to D|N|A was December 15th 2010. We received some superb proposals – over fifty in total – to our CFP ( here in English et français). We are now finalizing the program and informing applicants of the outcome of our selection process, which proved to be very challenging! And, as soon as we have the program sorted we will post it here.

SYMPOSIUM WEBSITE JUST LAUNCHED.

Finally, for now, a huge thank you to everyone who expressed interest in this event.

DATABASE|NARRATIVE|ARCHIVE
An International Symposium on Nonlinear Digital Storytelling
Revised CFP

Concordia University, Montréal (13-15 May 2011)

SYMPOSIUM WEBSITE JUST LAUNCHED.

Keynotes:
Marsha Kinder (Professor of Critical Studies, School of Cinematic Arts, USC; Executive Director of The Labyrinth Project)
Katerina Cizek (Award-winning experimental documentarian; Filmmaker in Residence, National Film Board of Canada)

With a nonlinear, interactive lecture by Florian Thalhofer (Berlin; documentary filmmaker; inventor of the Korsakow System)

Confirmed participants: Hart Cohen (UWS), Adrian Miles (RMIT), Steve Anderson (USC), David Clark (NSCAD), Tim Schwab (CINER-G), Elena Razlogova (CINER-G), Jason Lewis (CINER-G, Obx Labs), Monika Kin Gagnon (CINER-G, co-organizer), Matt Soar (CINER-G, co-organizer).

Reflecting recent developments in the theories and practices of new media production, described variously as database documentary, interactive narrative, and experimental archiving, D|N|A seeks to highlight some of the most important issues and ideas currently characterizing this emerging discourse – and perhaps constitutive of a future, core set of properties or dynamics. (Contemporary works of note that characterize some of these developments include: Planet Galata; The Thousandth Tower; Gaza/Sderot; 7 Sons; St. Michael’s Hospital; The Whale Hunt; Folk Songs for the Five Points; Klatsassin; Soft Cinema; Life after Wartime; Danube Exodus; Tulse Luper Suitcases.)

This interdisciplinary symposium will bring together theorists, scholars, artists, curators and programmers, currently working in these and related areas for panel presentations, roundtables, screenings, a Korsakow workshop, and an exhibition, in a three-day event intended to foster discussions, creative exchange and debate. We also aim to stimulate and provoke creative/productive community engagements before, during, and after the symposium and will therefore be involving individuals and organizations in several activities that lead into the event and grow out of it.

As a guide, we welcome innovative and engaging proposals addressing the following areas, but also invite other proposals of potential relevance:

- critical engagements with existing works and/or artists
- audiences as communities and vice versa
- theoretical engagements with authorship, interactivity, databases and multimedia archives
- historical precursors (multi-screen cinema; choose your own adventure)
- genres of non-fiction media: archival, interview/oral history, witness/testimonial/first person, ethnographic.
- critiques of commercial practices (eg Second Story; Terra Incognita)
- the potentials and limitations of specific authoring and delivery platforms (eg Flash, Korsakow, HTML 5)
- visual aesthetics and electronic literature
- exhibition, distribution and alternative forms of circulation
- future potentials (mobile applications, haptic screens, voice- and movement-activated interfaces, iPad, HTML5, expressive type)

Proposals (email only, with plaintext, Word, or PDF attachments only) and expressions of interest should be sent to Matt Soar and Monika Kin Gagnon at dnasymposium@gmail.com Please tell us in about 500 words what ideas, research, and/or creative work you’d like to present at the symposium, and bear in mind that we are especially interested in finding ways to break out from traditional conference-style presentations. Your proposal can be work in progress, but should be sufficiently advanced by May 2011 to be presentable. Add a final paragraph explaining who you are, what you do, and where we can contact you. The revised deadline is December 15th, 2010.

D|N|A is being organized by CINER-G, the Concordia Interactive Narrative Experimentation & Research Group, with support from the FQRSC, Concordia University (VP Research & Graduate Studies), and the Goethe Institute. For more information, updates and amendments to this CFP, please visit: www.cinerg.ca

I recently interviewed Florian about his first ever interactive narrative, a piece called Kleine Welt which he made in 1997. It recounts his (somewhat fictionalized) experiences growing up in smalltown Bavaria. The interview appears in the Montréal-based arts e-zine No More Potlucks. (Kleine Welt still plays perfectly well in English and German if you take the trouble to download it first.)

The final release of Korsakow version 5.0 is here! The application we’ve spent nine months completely reprogramming and redesigning is ready for downloading. Please check out the vernissage of recent, outstanding K-Films, refer to the Quick Start guide and the FAQs, and try out your own database narrative ideas.

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[Français]

Lancement de la version 5.0 de Korsakow

La version 5.0 de Korsakow est enfin prête! Après neuf mois passés à complètement reprogrammer et repenser l’application, vous pouvez maintenant la télécharger. Nous vous invitons à regarder les œuvres récentes sur notre site Korsakow.org où vous pourrez également consulter un guide ‘pour débuter’ ainsi qu’un FAQ qui vous aideront à débuter votre propre projet.

The project to entirely reprogram and update The Korsakow System software application is entering its final stages. We are now actively seeking volunteer beta testers to download and try out the software and provide feedback prior to the official release of Version 5. This testing will be during the last two weeks of May (ie 18th-31st). If you are interested in helping out with this exciting open source project, please contact Matt Soar directly at beta5_AT_korsakow.com . It is not necessary to have prior experience testing software but some basic skills with manipulating video and image files is an asset. If you’ve used a previous version of Korsakow, we’re especially keen to get you involved. (Version 5 allows you to import and edit old K Films.)

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[Français]

Test beta de Korsakow 5

Le projet qui avait pour but d’améliorer et de reprogrammer le logiciel du système Korsakow entre maintenant dans sa phase finale. Nous sommes présentement à la recherche de volontaires pour télécharger cette nouvelle version, la tester et nous fournir leurs commentaires/suggestions. Cette phase de test, qui précède la sortie officielle de la version 5, aura lieu durant les deux dernières semaines du mois de mai (du 18 au 31). Si vous êtes intéressés à nous aider dans ce projet de type ‘open source’, veuillez contacter directement Matt Soar au : beta5_AT_korsakow.com. Aucune expérience en tant que testeur n’est requise, par contre une connaissance de base avec la manipulation de fichiers de type vidéo et photographique est un atout. Si vous avez déjà utilisé une version antérieure de Korsakow, nous aimerions beaucoup avoir votre opinion sur le nouveau système. (La version 5 permet d’importer et de modifier des projets Korsakow faits à l’aide d’anciennes versions.)

Development of Korsakow 5 continues apace. Dave is just back from a week’s intensive design and programming with Florian in Berlin. Special emphasis was on the GUI. The team is now testing the latest milestone, which incorporates much of the work done in the ‘Berlin sessions’.

Tim recently attended the opening of an installation by Peter Forgács based on his film Danube Exodus. It is currently showing at the Jewish Museum in NYC, and was produced in association with Marsha Kinder’s Labyrinth Project.

Monika is working on a K-Film based on extensive documentation of her late father’s unfinished film R69.

Maude Michaud (CINER-G research assistant) just completed ‘Fragmented Desire: An audio-visual Korsakow experimentation’.

Matt will be running a Korsakow workshop at this year’s Visible Evidence gathering at USC in August. He will also be presenting a paper on the panel ‘Emerging Modes of Documentary: Mobile, Distributed, Computational’.

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[Français]

Activités récentes  #2

Le développement de Korsakow 5 continue tel que planifié. Dave revient d’une semaine intensive de design et de programmation à Berlin en compagnie de Florian durant laquelle l’emphase a été mise sur le GUI (Graphical User Interface). L’équipe est présentement en train de tester le plus récent ajout qui incorpore la majorité du travail effectué à Berlin.

Tim a assisté à la première d’une installation vidéo de Peter Forgács s’inspirant de son film Danube Exodus. L’œuvre, qui a été produite en association avec le projet Labyrinth de Marsha Kinder, est présentée au Jewish Museum à New York.
Monika travaille présentement sur un K-Film utilisant la documentation entourant le film non terminé de son père, R69.
Maude Michaud (l’assistante de recherche du groupe CINER-G) vient de terminer ‘Fragmented Desire: An audio-visual Korsakow experimentation’.

Matt offrira un atelier Korsakow durant la conférence Visible Evidence qui aura lieu à l’USC en août.  Il donnera aussi une présentation durant le panel ‘Emerging Modes of Documentary: Mobile, Distributed, Computational’.

A short piece in Concordia University Magazine on CINER-G. (The same issue also features articles on the research activities of two of our team members: Jason Lewis, and Elena Razlogova.

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[Français]

On parle de CINER-G!

On peut lire un court article sur CINER-G dans le Concordia University Magazine. (Dans le même numéro, on y retrouve aussi des articles détaillant les activités de recherche de deux membres de notre équipe : Jason Lewis et Elena Razlogova.)