This paper proposes a definition of models based on function, yielding a unified view of modeling as an art at work in any discipline.

The information and communication technology system is constantly creating new scenarios, but a tendency in them can still be recognized: the blurring of the limits between consumers and producers and the passage from interactivity to participation (user generated contents, web 2.0, social networks). In this emerging cultural context, constantly redefined and remediated by individual and personalized forms of elaboration, it is important to understand the way in which every single person or group leads his/her own way towards reappropriation of the technological realm. The author aims to explore potential and real capacities of these new technologies to generate a new public sphere by analyzing an exemplary case study: the moblog communities in the megaphone.net project.

The characteristics of masses have been researched widely in many fields, from the social sciences to economics. With the authors' early work, they focused their themes on the characteristics of “the mass” and its organic characteristics and tried to visualize its spectacular aspect.

Bowerbirds are named for the structures they build, paint, and decorate. This photo essay documents the efforts of three species of Australian bowerbirds. The influence of sexual selection is pertinent, as the female bowerbird performs her concomitant function as art critic.

This paper proposes a model of information aesthetic performance in the context of hypermediacy. It addresses the need to consider the features of performance in recently emerging information visualization artwork. By analyzing an artwork, the real-time stock market data-based Contingent Rule , the authors discuss aesthetic effects of performance as well as information visualization. The proposed model could contribute to a better understanding of information visualization in terms of Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin's ‘hypermediacy.’ This research provides a new guideline for reviewing information visualization.

This paper looks at electronic art as a new form, suggesting the term ‘faciality’. It is not simply for re-staging the invisible using the visible, but for provoking a fresh view on the discussion of electronic art in terms of reconsidering ideas and concepts of art and technology.

The nexus between art and science has been increasingly recognized as a research area. In this paper the author discuss how she used genetic algorithms for her art practice. She refers to technical aspects only where they are directly relevant to her process. The algorithm simulates drawing by rendering image sequences using a target image such as a photograph. The first rendered image is a random placement of brush strokes. The final image closely resembles the target image. She used the image sequences to create a video work interrogating contemporary Vietnamese icons — mannequins and motorcycles.

Nano-scale silver particles are utilized in the production of a metal clay, which upon firing is reduced to a solid metal article. The metal clay, because of the nano-scale particles, can be fired in a conventional home oven.

This research project demonstrates the technosocial possibilities that result from creating localized mediated spaces or ‘meshworks’ using Bluetooth in order to publish independently produced content. Bluetooth technology is a double-edged sword. It is a meshwork for sharing media freely between mobile device users in public places such as shopping centres and private spaces such as the home and the workplace. It presents opportunities for the design of innovative creative projects, however technical issues, user acceptance and competition for the user's attention provide continuing challenges.

Most universities offer centralized web resources that are designed to help staff and students manage their learning experience. The author suggests that these closed systems, variously called Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) or Learning Management Systems (LMS), are not the best solution for digital-media arts education. Instead, external user-centric web services should be allowed to flow into the university web systems. In this way students and teachers increase their participation in the broader production (and critique) of knowledge in the media arts and other disciplines.

Living Viral Tattoos (2008) is a research-creation project featuring the development of sculptures made in vitro. The creation of tattoos in the form of blue ‘bruises’ on pig skin and donated human skin was made using retroviruses, cell and tissue culture and immunohistochemical stains. This technical paper presents the protocols created and materials used in the project with the intention of contributing to an open source model for the development of wetware and biological art processes.

Anamorphic images are often difficult to see. The author has worked with Google SketchUp and POV-Ray to make the original images accessible. This is useful for teaching purposes, but also as a tool for art historians who are not experts in the geometry of perspective. It also allows scope for the study of anamorphosis in perception.