Global Creative Industries

Author: sunnylcw

  • Augmenting the Scene: The Role of Digital/Analog Interfaces in the Platformization of the Hong Kong Independent Music Scene

    Augmenting the Scene: The Role of Digital/Analog Interfaces in the Platformization of the Hong Kong Independent Music Scene

    Date: April 13, 2026 (Monday)

    Time: 6:00 – 7:00 pm

    Venue: Arts Tech Lab (Room 4.35), 4/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus

    Abstract
    Digital platforms have become central to virtually all aspects of the production, circulation and promotion of musical activities worldwide. In many contexts of music production, musical content has become optimized for online circulation and discovery, while new music and social aesthetics as well as new music career strategies and intermediaries continue to emerge in relation to platform mediations of music. At the same time, offline or ‘analog’ activities continues to be a fundamental part of all forms and stages of musical activities for producers and fans alike. Bridging insights from scene studies, music industry studies and platform studies, this talk introduces the concept of scene interfaces as a new type of music intermediaries that connect, translate and distribute elements of music cultures and activities across media in the Hong Kong independent music scene. Taking the cases of the Zenegeist and Mansion collectives and their various online and offline activities as scene interface case studies, the talk specifically argues that they are at the core of processes of ‘music scene augmentation’ understood as the qualitative co-constitution of analog and digital practices and aesthetics that enable the renewal, expansion, and preservation of music scenes. In turn, this talk makes the case that scene interfaces and strategies of scene augmentation in Hong Kong and in other fragile contexts of music production both respond and provide an alternative to globalized processes of music platform optimization and diversify contemporary music platform imaginaries.

    About the Speaker
    Dr. François Mouillot holds a PhD in Communication Studies from McGill University, and is currently Assistant Professor of Humanities and Cultural Studies in the Academy of Languages and Culture at the Hong Kong Baptist University. He researches cultural scenes, the music industries and independent music practices in industrialized minority contexts, with a focus on the digital and analog infrastructures that make music practice possible. He has extensive ethnographic experience in Hong Kong S.A.R., the province of Québec in Canada, and the Basque region of France and Spain. In Hong Kong, he led the Hong Kong Live Music Study, the first survey of the cultural and social value of the live music sector and of its infrastructures (venues, concert organizations, promotional agencies and digital platforms) across all music genres in Hong Kong. He has co-edited the book Fractured Scenes Underground Music-Making in Hong Kong and East Asia (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021), and his work appears in Convergence, Popular Communication, Perfect Beat, Organised Sound, Perfect Beat, Cinéma & Cie. and Critical Studies in Improvisation among other academic journals and anthologies.

     
     

     

  • Workshop – Extending the Classroom: Teaching with Virtual Reality in Higher Education​

    Workshop – Extending the Classroom: Teaching with Virtual Reality in Higher Education

    • April 14, 2025

    Abstract:

    Have you been thinking about experimenting with Virtual Reality (VR) teaching in your classroom? Join us for a discussion about what we have learned from our use of VR to teach about the human past. This seminar will examine how VR can enhance student engagement, foster spatial and visual learning, and provide immersive, hands-on experiences that may be lacking in traditional teaching methods. As technology continues to advance, it is essential that we examine and discuss both the fascinating theoretical foundations and the broad practical applications of VR in the classroom.

    This seminar will be guided by insights from our pedagogical research. We will discuss VR’s role in teaching archaeology, particularly how it enables students to interact with 3D reconstructions of ancient sites, improving their spatial awareness and comprehension of past physical contexts. By immersing students in digital environments, VR can replicate aspects of fieldwork, making archaeological education more accessible and inclusive. We will also present some theoretical underpinnings of VR in education, emphasizing embodied and experiential learning, as well as spatial and visual learning. VR enhances cognitive engagement by allowing students to move through virtual spaces, manipulate digital objects, and develop a deeper understanding of complex subjects.

    We will touch briefly on the use of VR in education beyond archaeology. From architecture and science to engineering and medical training, VR offers a dynamic approach to learning that bridges the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world applications. However, integrating VR into the curriculum presents several challenges, including technological barriers, costs, and accessibility concerns. We will discuss these limitations and explore potential solutions for making VR a more feasible and effective tool for educators. During the event, there will be demonstrations of VR usage in educational settings and participants will have a chance to try our VR headsets with their immersive tours.

    By the end of the event, the goal is for attendees to enhance their understanding of the educational value of VR and develop practical strategies for incorporating it into their own teaching. Whether you are new to VR teaching or are already experimenting with its application, this seminar will provide a place to discuss how immersive technology can transform the ways we teach and learn. We look forward to an engaging conversation and the opportunity to collectively reimagine the future of education through VR.

    Speaker’s Bio:

    Prof. Peter J. Cobb is an assistant professor in the School of Humanities in the HKU Faculty of Arts who researches archaeology and digital humanities. He has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Armenia, Laos, and Turkey, focusing on the Late Bronze and Iron Ages (1600 BCE–600 CE) in the Eastern Mediterranean and Southwest Asia. As the director of the Ararat Plain Southeast Archaeological Project (APSAP), he collaborates with the Armenian Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, applying digital methods like 3D spatial data collection and data science to analyze ancient material remains. Prof Cobb teaches courses on archaeological methods, theories, and the ancient world, including an experiential learning field school in Armenia. He also serves as Deputy Director of the BA program in Humanities and Digital Technologies at HKU.

    ​For information, please contact:
    Ms. Miffy Leung, TALIC
    Phone: 3917 8182; Email: miffylhy@hku.hk

  • Alumni Day: Exploring the AR Memory DC App

    Alumni Day: Exploring the AR Memory DC App

    • March 16, 2025

    March 16, 2025 (Sunday)
    Arts Tech Lab (RRST-4.35)
    Centennial Campus, HKU
    12:00pm – 18:00pm

    Join us on Alumni Day to explore the AR Memory DC App, an interactive way to engage with the hidden and often-overlooked histories of the National Mall.

    Use the AR function to discover virtual historical markers and uncover stories beyond traditional memorials. Check the map to find all available locations and dive deeper into history.

    ​We welcome your feedback to help improve the experience!

  • American Studies VR Exhibitions​

    American Studies VR Exhibitions

    • March 14, 2025

    March 14, 2025 (Friday)
    Haking Wong Podium
    12:30pm – 2:30pm

    Please join us to experience two virtual reality exhibitions through VR headsets. The exhibitions were created by students of AMER 2052 – Studies in US Culture and Society and cover the following topics:

    1. Populist Nationalism and Media in the United States
    2. U.S. Wars: Vietnam and Afghanistan
    3. Resilient Communities: Native American Survivance and Cultural Revival
    4. African Americans, Inequity, and the U.S. Criminal Justice System

    All are welcome.

  • VR Film Scholar Seminar: Exploring Creative Work in Filmmaking at a Research University

    VR Film Scholar Seminar: Exploring Creative Work in Filmmaking at a Research University

    • February 12, 2025

    Moderator: Tim Gruenewald
    February 12, 2025
    RRST – 5.41
    10:30 AM

    We will discuss two of Professor Kath Dooley’s recent publications and explore the challenges and opportunities of pursuing creative work at a research university. Please read the following two papers before the seminar:

    1. Dooley, Kath, Stayci Taylor, and Craig Batty. “Crafting Immersive Experiences: A Case Study of the Development of Three Short Narrative Cinematic Virtual Reality (CVR) Projects.” The Palgrave Handbook of Script Development. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 2021. Pages 503–515. Available at HKU library.
    2. Dooley, K. (2024). Virtual Reality Narration: Listening to and Reliving Stories Through First-Person Testimony. In: Virtual Reality Narratives. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64965-3_3.

    Kindly register here (HKU Portal login required), or email Stephanie Wong (swsswong at hku.hk).

  • eXtended Humanities Lecture Series: Writing for the Spectator on the Stage: Approaches to VR Storytelling​

    eXtended Humanities Lecture Series: Writing for the Spectator on the Stage: Approaches to VR Storytelling

    • February 12, 2025

    February 12, 2025
    CRT – 4.36
    4:30 PM
    ZOOM LINK

    Abstract:

    In recent years, virtual reality has been embraced by storytellers working in fiction, and/or documentary realms to create memorable, immersive experiences. Viewed through head mounted display (HMD) goggles, a VR story world is spherical in nature, unfolding in 360-degrees around the spectator who experiences a sense of presence in the world. This phenomenon, which is fostered by VR technology, transforms story into simulation for a viewer who may be able to directly interact with characters or objects.

     

    Noting the experiential nature of VR projects, this presentation seeks to explore the storytelling techniques, structures and approaches to narration that contemporary works adopt. It will focus on ‘environmental storytelling’ (Carson 2000; Jenkins 2004) a concept drawn from theme park and video game discourse, discussing how this is evident in a range of recent case studies. Specifically, the presentation will consider how VR stories allow users to ‘enact narrative’ and/or how narrative may be drawn from objects that are discovered by the user. These environmental storytelling techniques will be interrogated alongside narrative strategies that are commonly utilised in VR, such as the use of voice over or direct address to the spectator, to question the specificity of storytelling in this interactive medium.

    Speaker’s Bio:

    Associate Professor Kath Dooley is a writer/director and academic based at the University of South Australia. Her creative work has screened at events such the Busan International Short Film Festival and the International Festival of Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories (FIVARS), Toronto. Kath is author of Virtual Reality Narratives: Embodied Encounters in Space (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), Cinematic Virtual Reality- A Critical Study of 21st Century Approaches and Practices (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and co-editor of Screenwriting for Virtual Reality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). Her research interests include embodiment in the context of screen media, virtual reality and screenwriting, women’s screen industry practice, and diversity in the screen industries.

  • VR Filmmaking Workshop with Kath Dooley

    VR Filmmaking Workshop with Kath Dooley

    • February 11, 2025

    February 11, 2025
    RRST – Arts Tech Lab
    4:30 PM

    Registration required.

    In this workshop, we will view and discuss two VR documentary films by Professor Kath Dooley: Inside Earthship Freo (2019) and Impact: Beyond the Night Sky (2020). Together with the filmmaker, we will explore the process of writing and directing for VR at the example of the two films. We will also look into the technical aspects of VR filmmaking and challenges and opportunities of distribution.

    Speaker’s Bio:

    Associate Professor Kath Dooley is a writer/director and academic based at the University of South Australia. Her creative work has screened at events such the Busan International Short Film Festival and the International Festival of Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories (FIVARS), Toronto. Kath is author of Virtual Reality Narratives: Embodied Encounters in Space (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), Cinematic Virtual Reality- A Critical Study of 21st Century Approaches and Practices (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and co-editor of Screenwriting for Virtual Reality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). Her research interests include embodiment in the context of screen media, virtual reality and screenwriting, women’s screen industry practice, and diversity in the screen industries.

  • Innovating Archaeology: HKU Scholars Utilise Immersive 3D Tech to Document and Study the Human Past​

    Innovating Archaeology: HKU Scholars Utilise Immersive 3D Tech to Document and Study the Human Past

    • November 21, 2024

    Archaeologists from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) are revolutionising the excavation and documentation of ancient sites with cutting-edge 3D immersive technologies.

    Archaeology studies the human past through the excavation of things people made and used thousands of years ago – from architecture to objects like pottery bowls and animal bones from meals. Although many excavation projects create digital 3D models of what they uncover, archaeologists need new ways to meaningfully use those data. Some projects share 3D models with the public as tourism and teaching tools – one may have recently seen 3D displays at museums. However, archaeologists themselves have not yet taken full advantage of these models in their own fieldwork and research. That is about to change!

    By wearing Mixed and Augmented Reality (MR/AR) headsets while actively digging, the HKU team is pioneering the interactive application of digital 3D scientific data at archaeological sites. MR headsets enable users to effortlessly view and interact with both the real world and 3D models integrated within it, using devices such as the Microsoft HoloLens 2 and the Meta Quest Pro. On the other hand, AR smart glasses display information on a small screen within the lenses and are equipped with cameras and microphones for hands-free data collection.

    These technologies play a crucial role in the field of archaeology, often regarded as a ‘destructive science’, where data collection involves the excavation and removal of artifacts, preventing anyone else from digging the same place again.

    The HKU team innovatively applied the technologies in their fieldwork project in the South Caucasus country of Armenia, where the team often removes ancient stone walls and pottery vessels to uncover earlier remains beneath. Professor Peter J. Cobb, an archaeologist at the HKU Faculty of Arts, emphasised the benefits of the new technology, stating: “By wearing an MR device while I dig, I can virtually see a removed wall at its original location. This helps me decide where to dig next, and I can compare, in situ, multiple sections of ancient architecture that were removed at different times.”

    Additionally, the team uses AR smart glasses for basic data recording such as capturing photographs and using voice recognition for notetaking. Professor Cobb pointed out that “Archaeologists must have their hands free while recording data, since we need to hold our trowels and brushes while digging.”

    HKU Faculty of Arts PhD candidate Mr Hayk Azizbekyan, who leads this research and is from Armenia himself, explained: “MR and AR headsets have never been used before at an actual archaeological excavation project to support the digging work of a team, this is our game-changing innovation! I’m excited to experiment with future ways of studying old things and preserving cultural heritage. We call this project our ‘vision for the future’, since the technology enables new ways of ‘viewing’ the past’”.

    The team also employs an MR headset to compare 3D scanned ancient pottery sherds with physical ones, aiding in the analysis of inaccessible artifacts displayed in museums. They anticipate that in the future, AI will facilitate the matching of these sherds based on their shapes.

    These groundbreaking achievements were recently published in the Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology (JCAA), ranked 8th out of over 350 archaeology journals in the world, by Scopus.

    Professor Cobb noted: “It was interesting, the journal faced a challenge finding peer reviewers since our approach was so novel.” He also led a discussion on these innovations at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) of New York University (NYU) on November 13, 2024.

    This interdisciplinary research collaboration bridges the gap between humanities and engineering, driven by the team’s passion for advancing the field of archaeology through a unique Arts-Tech partnership with HKU engineers. The Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing of the HKU Faculty of Engineering provided equipment and know-how. Recognizing the limitations of existing MR/AR headsets, the interdisciplinary team is now developing custom smart glasses for future fieldwork seasons.

    About the Ararat Plain Southeast Archaeological Project (APSAP)
    Technological experimentation is central to HKU’s fieldwork project in Armenia, conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Armenia (IAE, NAS, RA). APSAP researches the Vedi River Valley of Armenia, situated within the Ancient Near East – the area of the world that saw the first agriculture, states, cities, and writing. APSAP excavates the 3500-year-old Vedi Fortress and deploys advanced technologies to discover new archaeological sites. In support of APSAP’s advanced digital documentation efforts, HKU Faculty of Architecture Professor Guillaume Othenin-Girard has designed an innovative laboratory building, which he describes as “integrating the requirements of cutting-edge recording technologies with the historical architectural heritage of Armenia”. APSAP also offers a unique educational opportunity for HKU students to travel to the South Caucasus, earning academic credit from an HKU course that is the subject of pioneering educational research by Professor Juuso H. Nieminen of HKU’s Faculty of Education.

    To view the article from the open access Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology (JCAA): https://doi.org/10.5334/jcaa.140.

    To view a video, produced by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Office, about the APSAP project’s work with 3D archaeology, architectural innovation, and educational research: https://youtu.be/YMKJR1b94Z4

    For media enquiries, please contact Professor Peter J. Cobb, School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, HKU (E-mail: pcobb@hku.hk).

  • Workshop: Using Virtual Reality for Teaching and Learning​

    Workshop: Using Virtual Reality for Teaching and Learning

    • November 18, 2024

    Since the arrival of consumer grade virtual reality (VR) technology around 2015, VR has emerged as a new narrative medium. This workshop introduces how narrative VR can be used for teaching and learning in the humanities. We will begin with a brief introduction to modern VR technology and VR film. Drawing on a virtual field trip to the United States and two introductory courses taught at HKU, I will provide examples of how I used VR as a complementary tool to teach history and contemporary social issues in the United States. All participants will receive a VR headset to experience all VR films discussed in the workshop. Finally, we will consider best practices of u sing VR for teaching and learning and look at an example of a VR exhibition that wascreated as a student assignment in a recent course. Participation is limited by the number of VR headsets.

    – Tim Gruenewald

  • New Book: Virtual Reality Narratives

    New Book: Virtual Reality Narratives

    • September 15, 2024

    Senior Research Affiliate Kath Dooley just published her second monograph on VR narratives: Virtual Reality Narratives: Embodied Encounters in Space (Palgrave Macmillan)It delves into recent evolutions in virtual reality (VR) storytelling, focusing on entertainment-based works created or launched since 2020. Through various case studies, it showcases the increasing diversity and sophistication of recent narrative-based projects. Moving past the initial hype associated with the latest wave of VR, a number of innovative and affective works combining documentary-based or fictional storytelling with game mechanics, live theatre and other elements, have appeared at festivals or on distribution platforms in recent years. These interdisciplinary works have much to tell us about the future of VR storytelling but have yet to receive sustained analysis. This book aims to correct that.

    Dooley argues that VR, as an interactive medium that places the user inside a storyworld in a visible or invisible virtual body, offers narratives that incorporate the user’s body as a storytelling tool. This fosters user-centred stories that unfold in three-dimensional space. Adopting phenomenological and formal analysis methodologies, the monograph examines case studies through their approaches to narrative, style, and interactive devices. Key concepts that are explored include agency, direct address, environmental and spatial storytelling, embodiment and presence. By providing a much-needed analysis of works through a variety of theoretical lenses, the book illustrates how recent VR storytelling fosters powerfully transformative experiences.

    Buy E-book here.