DATE: 17th February 2020
TIME: 13:00-14:00
LOCATION: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, Seminar Room 422
DESCRIPTION:

The arts (music and visual) have always provided a less-travelled but fascinating alternate route into computing. As CS Schools around the world grapple with how best to teach computing to the next generation(s), is computer music/visual art part of the solution? If so, how can we do it without introducing more baggage to a curriculum which already throws plenty of other “hidden prerequisite” hurdles in front of newcomers? In posing (and probably not answering!) these questions Ben will reflect on 10 years of art+code as both an educator and creative practitioner, and describe the c/c/c studio: his current “Reimagine Fellowship” project to bring creative coding into Australian schools.

First published: 17 February 2020

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Speaker: Dr Ben Swift

Ben is a multidisciplinary researcher and Senior Lecturer in the Research School of Computer Science at the Australian National University. He's interested in computational art & music, human-computer interaction, AI/machine learning (particularly in pursuit of creative ends) and the intersection of code, creativity and culture as those boundaries dissolve in the modern world. He's the director of the code/creativity/culture studio within the ANU Research School of Computer Science.

He is a livecoder, and is the vice president of the Australasian Computer Music Association (ACMA). Ben is one of the inaugural ANU Reimagine Fellows, part of a $300m+ investment from the ANU charged with re-thinking (and re-doing) what it is to be a computer scientist in the 21st century.