April 12 – 13, 2013, Volos, Greece, Auditorium of the Department of Architecture

Organised and hosted by the Lab of Environmental Communication and Audiovisual  Documentation (LECAD) and the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly in conjunction with the I-Node of the Planetary Collegium.

Symposium theme

Databases represent an abstract process of organising information, a potentially powerful categorisation system providing a range of options for viewing, navigating and searching. On the other hand, a database represents a logic of organising knowledge, a model of structuring our experience, thus emerging as a cultural form. The Symposium readdresses the notion of narration in the context of a multimedia database (textual, iconic, cinematic, audio).

In the digital era, multimedia databases and narrative media manifest themselves interconnecting and interrelating in the context of information and communication technologies (internet, multimedia, virtual reality, locative media). Information access has become a central activity in most scientific disciplines, while traversing information and retrieving meaning out of it raises theoretic, pedagogic and aesthetic issues. Establishing multiple trajectories through data, defining links between database’s records creates narrative paths. The design of interfaces and the use of metaphors enable the creation of interactive electronic narrations.

The above presented problematic indicate the main topics of this Symposium:

• Database as a storytelling mechanism and a medium for communicating ideas
• Database logic and interface design
• Database structure and mental maps
• Metadata logging for generating multiple narrations
• Narrative and interactions
• Navigation methods and spatialized representations
• Historical evidence transcribed into the conceptual setting of an urban database
• Investigation of the aesthetic and ideological constitution of archives and lists
• Multimedia databases and museum applications
• Multimedia databases and locative media

The symposium provided the theoretical framework for the ensuing workshop on the same subject, organized by LECAD and the Department of Architecture, April 14 to 17.

For further information, please read the program, the attached file and the symposium poster.

Coordinator:

• Associate Professor Giorgos Papakonstantinou, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly

Organising Committee:

• Associate Professor G. Papakonstantinou
• Stavros Alifragkis, Post-doctoral Research Associate, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly, Adjunct Lecturer, Hellenic Military Academy
• Giorgos Kalaouzis, Laboratory Teaching Staff, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly
• Nicolas Remy, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture Marseille, France & Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly

Symposium Administrator:

• Ifigenia Charatsi, LECAD, Laboratory Staff, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly

Technical support:

• Nikos Vamvakas, LECAD, Laboratory Staff, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly
• Eleni Pispiri, LECAD, Laboratory Staff, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly

Keynote Speakers:

• Professor Roy Ascott, Founding President of the Planetary Collegium, School of Arts and Media, Plymouth University. De Tao Master of Technoetic Arts
• Professor François Penz, Director of the Digital Studio for Research in Design, Visualisation and Communication, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge