What new forms of storytelling are possible when we use computers to generate and curate narratives? From the strict causal logic of plots and conflict models and the dreamlike free-association found in fairytales and modernist fiction to the endless possibilities of dramatic events emerging from large scale social simulations, this talk is a beginner’s guide to the weird and wonderful world of computational narrative.

As well as introducing practical methods to generate stories and model narrative structures using the tools of systems and simulations, we’ll look at how artists, writers and researchers can incorporate these methods into their creative practice, the aesthetic consequences and tradeoffs, and the reasons why people might want to generate stories in the first place.

Speaker: Mark Rickerby – Writer, designer and programmer

Date: Thursday 17 October

Time: 1:00–2:00pm

Venue: Room 526, Meremere (Law), Ilam Campus, University of Canterbury

Do you need permission to film a mural? Who owns the copyright for Popper’s passport photo? How do you get a photo into Wikipedia? Is museum taxidermy art, and can you legally photograph it? What is copyfraud? New Zealand Wikipedian at Large Dr Mike Dickison will talk about how we can share our photographs  and protect artists’ rights, in an age where everyone has a camera in their pocket and reproduction costs nothing.

Date: Friday 7 June

Time: 12:00–1:00 pm

Venue: A3 Lecture Theatre, Ilam Campus, University of Canterbury

If you’ve ever wanted to know how Wikipedia works and how to edit it, come along to this practical workshop organised by the NZ Wikipedian at Large, Dr Mike Dickison. There’ll be a one-hour talk and tutorial to begin, followed by an afternoon of hands-on editing. Bring a laptop.

Date: Mon 20 May

Time: 1:00–4:00 pm (main presentation 1:00–2:00)

Venue: 388 Puaka-James Hight (TBC)

Did you hear about the young farmer from Dannevirke who got his name added to a Wikipedia list of mythical Japanese monsters, and it ended up appearing in a board game? Stories like this make it seem like Wikipedia’s easy to vandalise; how much can we trust it? How do we detect hoaxes? If we were sociopathic enough to want to get false information into the encyclopaedia and make it stick, what would we need to know? New Zealand Wikipedian at Large Dr Mike Dickison has been travelling the country encouraging the public to improve the accuracy of Wikipedia, but in this one-off exclusive talk he’ll turn things around and reveal the grubby world of making it less accurate.

Date: Fri 17 May

Time: 1:00–2:00

Venue: A1 lecture theatre

Do you need permission to film a mural? Who owns the copyright for Popper’s passport photo? How do you get a photo into Wikipedia? Is museum taxidermy art, and can you legally photograph it? What is copyfraud? New Zealand Wikipedian at Large Dr Mike Dickison will talk about how we can share our photographs and protect artists’ rights, in an age where everyone has a camera in their pocket and reproduction costs nothing.

Date: Friday 7 June

Time: 12.00-1.00

Venue: A3 lecture theatre