Media Technology Symposium at the St. Pölten UAS

This week, the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences hosted the 6th International Conference on Creative\Media/Technologies (IConCMT). The event was dedicated to the future of media and digital technologies. At the same time, the St. Pölten UAS held the All Around Audio Symposium, which reflected on current developments and the future of audio technology. Within the framework of the IConCMT, the UAS also awarded the Different Brilliant prize for applied and artistic final theses in design and media production.

The IConCMT covered a plethora of topics pertaining to the future of media and technologies, ranging from artificial intelligence and immersive storytelling to human-computer interaction and digitalisation of health care.

The conference explored the latest progress and applications in the field of

• artificial intelligence (AI), such as 
• virtual, and augmented reality (XR, VR, and AR). 

The conference participants presented practical examples from many fields, such as the

• industry, 
• health services, and
• arts.

In addition, the conference threw a spotlight on progress in the field of human-computer interaction – from language learning models to language assistance technologies. Further topics included innovations in the fields of sonification and interactive audio, public health and digitalisation, and applications in museums, gardens, cultural heritage, cultural tourism, and festivals.

“The IConCMT offers a dynamic, international and interdisciplinary platform for scientists, researchers, and practitioners to exchange ideas, share their findings, and build new cooperations across various research disciplines”, says Yulia Belinskaya, researcher at the St. Pölten UAS’ Institute of Creative\Media/Technologies, which organised the conference. 

Entertainment Technology for Museums and Ethical Challenges

Christine Koblitz from Wien Museum spoke on the topic of designing “New User Experiences in Museums” using media technologies. “Games connect people with stories and create memories”, says Koblitz.  

Julia Eisner of University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt gave a keynote on “What Makes AI Social? Exploring the Relevance of AI for Social Science”. “Artificial intelligence has long evolved beyond its role as a mere technological innovation – it is a transformative force sustainably influencing research and society. In this process, both new questions are brought up and familiar topics are discussed in a new context. Above all, it is the ubiquity of generative AI tools, especially communicative AI, that leads to substantial social and ethical challenges. Interdisciplinary collaboration is essential to meeting these challenges. Among other things, it is particularly important to include the perspectives of social sciences and the humanities.”

All Around Audio: Symposium on Sound Technology

The symposium All Around Audio revolves around the latest developments and the future of audio technology.

“With current developments in AI, Industry 4.0, internet of things, AR/VR, games, cloud computing, big data, mobile applications, digital health care, e-mobility, and smart cities, the design and the functionality of audio applications have seen substantial progress. This is how new acoustic environments in informative, atmospheric and artistic contexts have emerged”, says Michael Iber, Academic Director of “GRACE – Gamified Reality Applications for Real-World Challenges and Experiences*” and the organiser of All Around Audio.

One of the focus areas was contributed by the Audio-Visual Analytics Community (AVAC), which was launched within the framework of St. Pölten UAS’ research project SoniVis funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. A further topic of the symposium was Next Generation Audio (NGA) for personalised, immersive sound experiences with accessibility functions and language options.

Different Brilliant: Prize for Final Theses Awarded

Within the framework of the IConCMT, the St. Pölten UAS‘ study programme Media Technology awarded the Different Brilliant prize 2024 to bachelor‘s or master‘s theses with exemplary results in applied or artistic research projects in design and media production. Submissions came from students from eight higher education institutions from the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. These are the winners:

• Kristina Schmiedl (St. Pölten UAS) with her master’s thesis on the use of animations in signature tunes of the Austrian Public Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) from 1960 to 1989.
• Felix Keis (Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences /Hochschule der Medien) with his bachelor’s thesis on typograffiti – an analysis on the potential of style writing in commercial graphic design.
• Sandrine Smajic (St. Pölten UAS) with her master’s thesis on the male and female gaze – a study on power structures and sexual harassment in films: Bombshell, Disclosure, North Country and The Assistant.

“It is for the third time already that we could open the call for the award series ‘Different Brilliant’ this year. Students are invited to submit innovative, scientific final theses in the field of design research. The theses are evaluated by experts in a peer-review process. The focus is on the research design of theses on design and production and on GenAI”, says Rosa von Suess, Academic Director of the study programme Media Technology.

International Week

All three events were part of the St. Pölten UAS‘ International Week, which is dedicated to international exchange between higher education institutions.

• International Conference on Creative\Media/Technologies
• International Week

* The study programme will be offered from the academic year of 2024/25, subject to successful accreditation by AQ Austria according to the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Master Programmes.