Projects

These are some past and present projects that have produced public domain results

Ecology of the Arts

Bill Sharpe leads this project for the International Futures Forum.  It is exploring new conceptual models for the support of arts in society by considering them from the pespecitve of an ecology of meaning.  See the Art of Culture paper in Publications.

Converging Technologies

This is a project at the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilisation at Oxford University.  The project developed sense making scenarios for the UK Economic and Social Research Council to help them explore research agendas relevant to the convergence of nanotechnology, genomics, cognitive systems, neuroscience and information technology. As an Associate Fellow of the Institute Bill Sharpe authored a set of papers on the dynamics of technology evolution.  These will become available in the public domain in 2009.

Pervasive Media Studio

The Appliance Studio was a founding member of the Mobile Bristol research consortium that pioneered new uses for the emerging generation of pervasive media.  As a result of that programme a new initiative - the Pervasive Media Studio - has been launched that will pioneer new digital media through action research.  Bill Sharpe is linking this to the research into the ecology of the arts by taking on the role of 'ecologist in residence' at the Watershed where the Studio is based.

Cognitive Systems

Bill Sharpe was a member of the Executive Committee for euCognition, an EU Coordination Action for research into artificial cognitive systems.  As part of the follow on programme will be co-organising a workshop in 2009 on Cognition and Culture: an enactive approach, to explore connections between advanced cognitive science research and the understanding of the arts. 

UK Foresight

Bill Sharpe has worked extensively for the UK Foresight programme, providing technology forward looks for four of the recent projects: Cognitive Systems, Cybertrust & Crime Prevention, Intelligent Infrastructure, and Tackling Obesities.  These pieces of work integrate the underlying science reviews into a more structured form of understanding to underpin the scenario work.

Information Appliances - The Appliance Studio 

The origins of the Appliance Studio were research and innovation in Information Appliances.  You will find the old site here.