Academic Network Conference 07 (3)

Yesterday, by noon, the Academic Network Conference at the FH Joanneum campus was over. Many subjects had passed and perhaps too many presentations given. Yet the moderator and timekeeper Cai Melakoski kept close to the schedule. In the afternoon the participants of the Academic Network had been invited to join the nominee teams of the EUROPRIX Top Talent Award Winners 2007 for their presentations of the projects in the Kunsthaus (see photograph).

This is a programme item I always look forward to. And some presenters are not just giving you insight into the project, but give also a hilarious presentation, just like the guys (see photograph), who produced Lovelines. Being a German (Deutscher) and a Japanese (Japaner), they started to interview each other, in the meantime telling details about their project. It was a riot.

And the team of one of my favourite projects in the category Interactive Computer Graphics named Mijn Name is Haas (My name is hair, a Dutch expression for Do not ask me, I do not know anything nor have I seen), a playful game for young children to learn words and get computer literate, had not only come with a fine presentation, but they had also brought, a life size puppet of the hair (see photograph).

By the en of the presentations the nervousness among the nominees could be sensed. Bets were placed by some people that attended the presentations. The project Mijn Naam is Haas scored high to become a category winner. But the teams had to wait till the late evening for the EUROPRIX Top Talent Award Winners 2007 Gala. The Gala was held in the hall of an old, restored monastery with beautiful baroque paintings on the walls and ceiling.

By 20:00h the Gala started and enfolded the list of winners. There were surprises and disappointments. Mijn Naam is Haas sadly did not make it to the winners’ list and was surpassed by the production Kayak peddling. By 9:30h all the category winners were known and the suspense fo the overall winner started to become felt. And the overall winner of the tenth edition of the EUROPRIX Top Talent Award is: Where to Climb, anwell crafted mobile site for climbers with social network elements such as the formations of groups climbing certain mountain and passing on the tips and tricks..

List of EUROPRIX Top Talent Award Winners 2007

Category: Broadband/Online
Title: WorldABC
Producer: Christian Schrager
Country: Austria
URL: www.weltabc.at

Category: Mobile Contents
Title: Where to climb
Producer: Luke McSorley/Staffordshire University
Country: UK
URL: www.lukemcsorley.oxyuk.net

Category: Games
Title: Hide n’Tag
Producer: Michal Ferber/Shenkar College
Country: Israel
URL: www.hidentag.com

Category: Interactive Computer Graphics
Title: Kayak Paddling
Producer: Niko Hakkarainen/Lahti Polytechnic
Country: Finland
URL: www.kayakpaddling.net:

Category: Interactive installations & Interactive TV
Title: Performative Ecologies
Producer: Ruairi Glynn/Bartlett School of Architecture
Country: UK
URL: www.interactivearchitecture.org

Category: Content Tools & Interface Design
Title: Strip mine
Producer: Andraz Tori, Boatjan Spetic/RTV Slovania
Country: Slovenia
URL: www.rtvalo.si/odprtikop

Category: Digital video & Animations
Title: Life-Line
Producer: Tomek Ducki/Moholy-Nagy University
Country: Hungary
URL: www.tomekducki.com

Special Jury Award
Title: The Big Brother State
Producer: David Scharf, Johannes Berner/FH Augsburg
Country: Germany
URL: DVD Pal

Blog Posting Number: 933

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