Sync is a project which supports cultural organisations in Scotland, learn more about technology, come to love it, then take it back to the office/theatre/museum/loft space and do many interesting and exciting new things with it.
As part of this remit, for the last several years Sync has placed a number of developers or technical designers within different arts organisations in Scotland, in a programme they’ve named Geeks In Residence.
Sync has just announced the geeks – and organisations – they’ve placed together in 2013…
Alasdair Campbell (@ach_campbell) – hosted by Bodysurf Scotland
Alasdair is a Glasgow-based software and hardware developer. He recently completed an honours degree in Computing Science at Glasgow University.
His final year project at university involved developing autonomous optical tracking software for motion-controlled cameras, in order to develop the potential of routine live streaming from theatres. Alasdair is also a performing musician and has built various hand and foot controllers using Arduino.
Trevor Fountain (@doches) – hosted by Edinburgh Art Festival
Trevor is an Edinburgh-based software developer and maker with experience in web, mobile, enterprise, and game development. He completed a PhD in Cognitive Science at the University of Edinburgh in 2012.
Trevor is also the co-founder of the games studio, Blazing Griffin, which explores new ways to produce, market and distribute mobile games. He also manages a literary magazine, Far Off Places, which focuses on new ways to publish poetry and short prose.
Kate Ho (@kateho) – hosted by National Theatre of Scotland
Kate is the MD of technology-specialist production agency Interface3. Based in Edinburgh, Kate’s experience is primarily around UX (user experience) and games design, in particular how to build unique and interesting experiences on mobile.
Kate also codes and hacks prototypes in Javascript and last year won Will’s Hack with a second screen theatre app. She is the co-designer of the two-player iPad game Equator, which was nominated for Best Serious Game in the International Mobile Gaming Awards.
Alexander Laing (@alxzndr) – hosted by Visible Fictions
Alexander is an Edinburgh-based interaction, systems and sound designer/programmer. Earlier this year he completed a three-week residency at Summerhall, Edinburgh, which involved designing a bespoke digital programme for theatre sound design.
Alexander’s past projects include an augmented ping-pong table with wireless mic’d bats that triggered audio samples, detecting rhythmic play for generative sequences; and an interactive, haunted doll’s house using webcams to track audience motion.
Hassy Veldstra (@hhv1) – hosted by The Arches
Hassy is a full-stack web developer with a focus on UX. Based in Edinburgh, he has experience of both development and design, with a background in startups.
Hassy is currently working on two projects that combine a love of music and software: wonderwheel.fm – a visual way to find new music on Spotify; and heyso.im – a chat app for Spotify. In 2010, Hassy was part of IDEA lab at the University of Edinburgh.
Congratulations to all of the geeks concerned. Â We’re looking forward to finding out what fruits these residencies will bear over the next year.
If you’re not familiar with Sync as yet, keep an eye on them. Â They’re one of the few organisations which is doing a great deal to promote interactive media and digital technology within the wider creative and cultural sectors.
Reblogged this on Scottish Public Sector Digital Group and commented:
A fantastic programme and something for public sector folk to keep an eye on. How can we replicate this? Should local government look at a geeks in residence programme?
Thanks for posting this Brian! We’re super excited to be working with NTS.