WorkShop 6

Meaningful Media 

Gino Yu

Presenters:
Gino Yu – School of Design, Hong Kong

Dr. Gino Yu received his BS and PhD at the University of California at Berkeley in 1987 and 1993 respectively. After receiving is PhD, he taught at the University of Southern California and worked to establish multimedia initiatives including the Integrated Media Systems Center. From 1995 to 1997, he taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology where he helped to establish the Center for Enhanced Learning Technologies. In 1999, he established the Multimedia Innovation Centre (http://www.mic.polyu.edu.hk) at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), a leading edge think tank and research centre on digital entertainment. He is currently an Associate Professor and Director of Digital Entertainment and Game Development in the School of Design at PolyU where he oversees MERECL (http://www.merecl.com), a commercial digital entertainment entity that provides consulting, research, instruction and new ideas for the industry. His main area research interests involve the application of media technologies to cultivate creativity and promote enlightened consciousness. Dr. Yu is also currently the Chairman of the Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association. 

The Meaningful Media Workshop brings together researchers and content creators in the area of entertainment technology, psychology, cognitive sciences, and spirituality towards developing a science of creating transformative experiences.  New understanding of neurological and physiological processes enabled by brain imaging of the 1990’s coupled advances in video game technologies and biofeedback enable the creation of realistic sonic and visual environments offer a compelling platform for creating rich and transforming experiences.  The sounds that we hear combined with the images that we see and the consequences of our actions affect how we perceive our world and how we act.  Traditionally, mythology, art, and ritual serve to help an individual cultivate an understanding of their role in the world.  Media technologies can play a central role in helping people understand their own “inner landscape” and increase their “emotional intelligence” by developing a deeper personal understanding of the source of their ideas and beliefs which lead to destructive emotions (e.g., fear, anger, anxiety, etc.).  A case could be made that many of the problems facing the world today stem from actions arising from conditioned behavior. The effectiveness of media and its ability to influence emotion and action has already been applied by advertising and marketing companies that exploit our behavioural instincts to sway our purchasing decisions (e.g., advertising).  Our objective for the event is to bring together content creator with researchers to promote the understanding and development of technologies that facilitate individual transformation and “inner harmony.”