Location decision-making of 'creative' industries: the media and computer games sectors in Dublin, Ireland

There has been significant research undertaken examining the “creative class” thesis within the context of the locational preferences of creative workers. However, relatively little attention has been given to the locational preferences of creative companies within the same context. This paper reports on research conducted to qualitatively analyse the location decision making of companies in two creative sectors: media and computer games. We address the role of the so-called “hard” and “soft” factors in company location decision making within the context of the creative class thesis, which suggests that company location is primarily determined by “soft” factors rather than “hard” factors. The study focuses upon “core” creative industries in the media and computer game sectors and utilises interview data with company managers and key elite actors in the sector to investigate the foregoing questions. The results show that “hard” factors are of primary importance for the location decision making in the sectors analysed, but that “soft” factors play quite an important role when “hard” factors are satisfactory in more than one competing city-region.

Beyond the shadow space: architecture as a professional and creative process; during and post-conflict.

Introduction

Much has been written about the impact of conflict on the physical nature of cities; most obviously perhaps the damage, destruction, defensive construction and spatial reconfigurations that evolve in times of conflict. Set within the context of Belfast, Northern Ireland, this paper will focus on three areas. First, a closer reading of the long-term physical impact of conflict, in particular, the spatial forms and practices that persist conceptually and culturally, and/or resist re-conceptualisation. Secondly, the effect of conflict on the nature of architectural practice itself, considering whether issues such as appointment and procurement impacted on architectural expectation and the context of operation. Thirdly, the effect of conflict on people, in particular in relation to creativity and hence the psyche of practice itself. This section will also identify the conditions that undermine or support design quality and creativity not only within times of conflict but also as society evolves out of the shadow space. 1
Twelve years on from the Peace Agreement,2 it may seem remarkable from an external perspective that Northern Ireland still needs to be reflecting on its troubled past. But the immediate post-conflict phase offered the communities of Northern Ireland place and time to experience ‘normal life’, begin to reconcile themselves to the hurt they experienced and start to reconfigure their relationships to one another. Indeed, it has often been expressed that probing the issues too much, at too early a phase, might in fact ‘Open old wounds without resolving anything’ and/or ‘Destabilise the already fragile political system.’3 This tendency not to deliberate or be too probing is therefore understandable and might be the reason why, for example, Northern Ireland's first Architecture and Built Environment policy, published in June, 2006, contains only one routine reference to ‘the Troubles’.

Clearly, however, there is a time in the development of a healthy, functioning society, when in order effectively to plan its future, it must also carry out a closer reading and deeper understanding of its past. As Maya Angelou puts it, ‘History, despite its wrenching pain/ Cannot be unlived, and if faced/ With courage, need not be lived again.’4

Increasingly, those within the creative arts sector and the built environment professions are showing interest in carrying out that closer reading, teasing out issues around conflict. This was led in part by the recent publication of the Troubles Archive by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.5 Those involved in the academic or professional development of future generations of architects are also concerned about the relevance of a post-conflict condition. As a profession, if architects purport to be concerned with context, then the almost tangible socio-political circumstances and legacy of Northern Ireland does inevitably require direct eye contact. This paper therefore aims to bring the relationship between conflict and architectural practice in Northern Ireland into sharp focus, not to constrain or dull creative practice but to heighten its potential.

"Variations on Psycho Killer" - Musical Score. Commissioned by Pauline Kim Harris. A virtuosic set of variations on the famous Talking Heads song for solo violin. General information State: Unpublished Organisations: School of Creative Arts, Sonic Arts, UOA35 - Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts Authors: Lyon, E. Keywords: (Talking Heads, Violin Music) Publication date: 2012

Musical Score. Commissioned by Pauline Kim Harris. A virtuosic set of variations on the famous Talking Heads song for solo violin.

"The End" for piano and computer. Performed by Shiau-uen Ding. Composer's Voice Concert Series: 15 Minutes of Fame. Jan Hus Church, NYC. General information State: Published Organisations: School of Creative Arts, Sonic Arts, UOA35 - Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts Authors: Lyon, E.

Performed by Shiau-uen Ding. Composer's Voice Concert Series: 15 Minutes of Fame. Jan Hus Church, NYC.

A New Irish? Problems of communication in modern Irish media and new speakers.

While the Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) areas of Ireland are geographically isolated from each other and relatively small in area, it is expected that the number of second language Irish speakers throughout the country should ensure the future of the language. Nevertheless, while the official standard grammar has been established for many decades, there is still a tendency in the spoken language to give precedence to regional dialectal variants in schools and the broadcast media which often raises barriers between native speakers themselves and between learners and native speakers.
All pupils in school in the Republic and many in Northern Ireland learn Irish and there has been a great increase in the number of pupils attending immersion Irish language Gaelscoileanna. But concern has been expressed about the phonetic and structural accuracy achieved in schools, all of which contributes to communication breakdown.
This paper discusses how a greater awareness of the link between phoneme and grapheme in Irish and the proposals for the Lárchanúint (Central Dialect) in the 1980s and current discussions on Caighdeán Leathan agus Caighdeán Cúng (Broad and Narrow Standard) would mitigate these concerns.

Arenedicarboximide Building Blocks for Fluorescent Photoinduced Electron Transfer pH Sensors Applicable with Different Media and Communication Wavelengths

N-(aminoalkyl)-4-chloronaphthalene-
1,8-dicarboximides 1, N-
(aminoalkyl)-4-acetamidonaphthalene-
1,8-dicarboximides 3 and N,N'-bis(aminoalkyl)-
perylene-3,4:9,10-tetracarboxydiimides
4 show good fluorescent off ±
on switching in aqueous alcoholic solution
with protons as required for fluorescent
PET sensor design. The excitation
wavelengths lie in the ultraviolet
(lmaxˆ345 and 351 nm) for 1 and 3 and
in the blue-green (lmaxˆ528, 492 and
461 nm) for 4; the emission wavelengths
lie in the violet (lmaxˆ408 nm) for 1, in
the blue (lmaxˆ474 nm) for 3 and in the
yellow-orange (lmaxˆ543 and 583 nm)
for 4. Compound 4b shows substantial
fluorescence enhancement with protons
when immobilized in a poly(vinylchloride)
matrix, provided that 2-nitrophenyloctyl
ether plasticizer and potassium
tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl)borate additive
are present to prevent dye crystallization
and to facilitate proton diffusion
into the membrane, respectively.

Mass media and polarisation processes in the bounded confidence model of opinion dynamics

This paper presents a social simulation in which we add an additional layer of mass media communication to the social network 'bounded confidence' model of Deffuant et al (2000). A population of agents on a lattice with continuous opinions and bounded confidence adjust their opinions on the basis of binary social network interactions between neighbours or communication with a fixed opinion. There are two mechanisms for interaction. 'Social interaction' occurs between neighbours on a lattice and 'mass communication' adjusts opinions based on an agent interacting with a fixed opinion. Two new variables are added, polarisation: the degree to which two mass media opinions differ, and broadcast ratio: the number of social interactions for each mass media communication. Four dynamical regimes are observed, fragmented, double extreme convergence, a state of persistent opinion exchange leading to single extreme convergence and a disordered state. Double extreme convergence is found where agents are less willing to change opinion and mass media communications are common or where there is moderate willingness to change opinion and a high frequency of mass media communications. Single extreme convergence is found where there is moderate willingness to change opinion and a lower frequency of mass media communication. A period of persistent opinion exchange precedes single extreme convergence, it is characterized by the formation of two opposing groups of opinion separated by a gradient of opinion exchange. With even very low frequencies of mass media communications this results in a move to central opinions followed by a global drift to one extreme as one of the opposing groups of opinion dominates. A similar pattern of findings is observed for Neumann and Moore neighbourhoods.

Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Visitor Centre, Ggantija Visitor Centre:Prehistoric World Heritage Sites visitor centre media and academic content

2010-12 Expert Assistance with research material, digital illustration and text for Visitor Centres in Malta and Gozo (Heritage Malta) and National Museum

Arts Management and Cultural Policy

This chapter explores the relationship between cultural policy and arts management. A connection between policy and practice is visible through initiatives within specific localities, nations and at an international scale. Yet, there is little scholarship that develops our understanding of how these two areas interact, how ideas are exchanged and implemented, and where the power is located within this relationship. The approach to arts and cultural management in the UK has a history of professionalization that has developed increasing influence internationally. As a result, this chapter takes the UK as a case study and presents new empirical work to examine how educators and individuals practicing in both fields perceive the relationship of policymaking to the work of management.