This blog was co-authored by Chris Girdler and Scott Britcher
After its debut at SXSW Sydney last year, UTS House is back in business (and back in the Business building) for the second year running. Future trends and emerging technology from leading academics and industry experts were explored in a series of interviews and panel discussions across the week. We attended sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, with topics ranging from the ethics of children being social media influencers to the innovative intersections of gaming and songwriting.
Are the kidfluencers alright?
Kidfluencers are social media influencers with accounts managed by adults. This global trend casts children as brand ambassadors but with their ‘everyday life’ as the show. While there are regulations and support in place for this style of commodification to be done ethically and authentically, the power imbalance of a private space being made public opens up many ethical dilemmas.
On the ‘Kidfluencers: what’s the real cost?’ panel, Genevieve Wilkinson from Law discusses privacy issues, the risk of harm when exposed in the social media space and whether children can consent to their private life being readily available online. Kate Delmo from FASS questions how we draw the line between play and labour, and notes that there can be issues and ambiguity around access to income when the guardian has control over the talent.
These are boundaries that are difficult to draw when it comes to promotional activities with children at the heart of it. It helps to be educated and informed in what is a fast evolving space. Born Bred Talent (as represented on the panel by PR expert Stephanie Scicchitano) is an agency that helps guide both children and parents, and their resources will soon include a new suite of masterclasses. To assist in lowering risks, content creator Chantel Mila Ibbotson suggests enabling safety tools such as Instagram’s ‘hidden words’ feature and not showing children in specific locations.
Conversations with nature
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been living and designing on the land we now know as Australia for over 65000 years. Designing with Country was the primary theme explored in the launch of Design & Building on Country, a new book for young readers authored by Alison Page and Paul Memmott.
The launch of this book was met with great excitement at UTS House, packed with an eager audience that included students from the local Darlington Public School. Alison captivated the audience with her passion for First Nations design and incorporating Indigenous voices into modern design practices. At its heart, design for Aboriginal people is about having conversations with nature. As an oral tradition, the beliefs, knowledges and cultures of Aboriginal people have been passed down through the designs incorporated in various objects and structures. Alison also spoke about the Indigenous Institute for Designing with Country. This new design lab at UTS will create pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to be involved in meaningful built-environment design initiatives.
During the presentation, Alison invited Dillon Kombumerri to speak about his work as Principal Architect in Government Architect NSW. He shared with us the Connecting with Country framework, a guideline to support a Country-centred approach when designing built-environment projects in NSW. Through meaningful engagement with First Nations people, we can envision a sustainable future that values and respects one of the world’s oldest cultures.
Sound bytes: game engines x music
Game engines (basic software for use in a video game) can be used as a tool for expressing music, as songwriters/researchers Sally Coleman, Jacob Hedges and Yunyu Ong demonstrate in a panel discussion.
Disenchanted with the trappings of traditional music models, Sally Coleman devised an animated, science-fiction band. Using Unreal Engine, her Big Sand project evolved from a digital environment to a live performance using motion capture. She notes the contrast between games as being very individual and music as participatory (but on a group level). This pushes her creatively to engage audiences as individuals rather than as a collective.
Yunyu Ong uses her awareness of multiple languages and the classic Kurosawa film Rashomon as inspiration for her post-apocalyptic drinking song. Screening a demo of her work, she explains that the music isn’t at a fixed point and the story doesn’t have a set structure. There are multiple endings, so participants can choose how they engage with and travel through the spatial audio environment.
Jacob Hedges composed a song and brought it into a virtual environment using Unity Engine, with hand tracking used to move both objects and sound. This requires a ‘letting go’ of the composition and giving the audience control for a less passive music experience. One of his ‘fails’ was that he spent 6 months developing a game rather than a music experience. This was a lot of effort for the wrong outcome – music needed to be brought to the forefront.
Short bytes: travel in space and on the grid
A space start-up… from Australia? Space Machines Company CEO and cofounder Rajat Kulshrestha presents on building a satellite, and thus building a collective space heritage. Despite being constrained and lacking experience compared to their US counterparts, the NSW-based Space Machines team identified gaps in the market and builds on their current resources. They collectively build capabilities with three satellite missions, each with its own objectives. They have learnt from the failures of the first satellite and see the benefits of taking risks to gain rewards.
With the transport system and the energy grid connecting in innovative ways, a panel explores the implications for motorists, electricity consumers and climate targets. Vivian Miles from the National Roads and Motorists’ Association notes the rising (but rocky) road ahead for EVs in Australia. While the slow rollout for chargers, higher cost of living and consumer concerns have all been speed bumps, a new vehicle efficiency standard and lower-cost EVs show an optimistic road ahead. Kriti Nagrath from the Institute of Sustainable Futures suggests we can scale this plan effectively by providing accessible charging options and investing in support for our communities, local economies, and the grid. Gabrielle Kuiper from Integrate to Zero explains how e-bikes are the fastest route to modal shift.