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Multimedia MAGIC launched at UEL’s SMARTlab

Wednesday 11 October 2006

The SMARTlab Digital Media Institute at the University of East London has opened its new Multimedia and Games Innovation Centre (MAGIC), a high-tech 'play room' where creative people from all communities and backgrounds can meet and develop new technologies.

On 9 October 2006, multimedia artists and creative professionals from around the world gathered at the opening of the MAGIC lab in the Knowledge Dock Centre at UEL’s Docklands campus.

MAGIC is the brainchild of Professor Lizbeth Goodman, Director of SMARTlab and an internationally renowned leader in the field of interactive media. Professor Goodman and her team joined UEL this year and are working with partners around the world including MIT Press, BBC interactive, Microsoft, NESTA, and the Higher Education Fundnig Council for England, among others.

The SMARTlab Digital Media Institute aims to bridge the digital divide and develop new technologies that connect creative people in all parts of the world, irrespective of age, gender, nationality, wealth, or intellectual and physical ability.

The Institute runs three distinct strands of activity: a research centre for Digital Arts and Performance Technologies and practice-based PhD research programme with around 30 PhD students, a community outreach centre hosting a diverse range of social and digital inclusion projects; and the PLAYroom which provides the R&D space for development and testing of a suite of public facing knowledge transfer projects, including MAGIC.

“It’s great to be here at the University of East London, where there is a real community spirit and sense of creativity. We want to be part of that and help people from all backgrounds engage with new technologies and networks and use them to create their own spaces and interactions.”

UEL Pro Vice Chancellor Professor Alan Sibbald said: “MAGIC is about helping to bridge the digital divide and making a real difference to people’s lives. The new SMARTlab Institute is part of our vision for research and scholarly activity focused in emerging and interdisciplinary areas including health and human development, sustainability and the impact of new technologies.”  

SMARTlab is now working with the BBC researching movement-based healing techniques such as Tai Chi and Yoga in hospital situations where young people might previously have been given computer games. This work will support SMARTlab's ongoing collaborations with international health agencies focused on using gaming technologies for physical and social wellbeing.

The University of East London is rated among the top ten modern (post-1992) universities for research, according to the results of the most recent research assessment exercise, with 5 ratings in Communications, Media and Cultural Studies and 4 ratings in Sociology and Art and Design. UEL ’s research and scholarship is focused on areas relevant to the economic, cultural development of our region.

For further information, visit www.smartlab.uk.com

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For details and pictures contact Patrick Wilson: 020 8223 2061 or 07951 797 975

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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