{"id":57151,"date":"2023-06-30T14:39:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T14:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/villa-albertine.org\/news\/exploring-immersive-media-california\/"},"modified":"2023-08-23T07:37:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T07:37:32","slug":"exploring-immersive-media-california","status":"publish","type":"app_news","link":"https:\/\/villa-albertine.org\/va\/news\/exploring-immersive-media-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Immersive Media: California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exploring Immersive Media in California<\/h3>\n\n

The early 2020s have been harsh on California. Through the pandemic, the digitalization of many activities, including the booming of streaming services, was first seen as a wonderful opportunity for the development of tech companies. Three years later, newspapers from all over the world announce the downfall of San Francisco and with it,\u00a0the Silicon Valley.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Yet, drawing an accurate portrait of today\u2019s California requires a little more complexity and subtility than that. It is true that these previous years saw the first major crisis of tech companies with Netflix layoffs and the decrease of investments that targeted XR projects. But despite alarming headlines being spread all over the media for a couple of years, California is still growing and expanding\u00a0thanks to its independent VR, podcast and game creators, as well as the top-companies that maintain their Silicon Valley-based businesses. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Discover our guided tour of immersive media in California!\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Wisdome LA \u00a9 Piovra Group<\/p>\n\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n

Teaching New Media\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n

1976. Two young men named Steve who dropped out of college a few years prior start their company in Cupertino, a small town next to San Jos\u00e9. Their company, whose name, Apple, must sound familiar to you, Californian suburbs experienced the booming of tech activities, a tendency that had started in the 1960s with the launching of several companies that crafted sicilium-based semiconductors, from which the name “Silicon Valley” is derived.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

The proximity of universities and research centers focusing on technology also helped the development of tech industries in California. Founded in 1891, Stanford University became the heart of Silicon Valley, with over 5500 companies founded by its alumni all over the world according to Tracxn<\/a>. To keep up with the evolution of digital industries and form generations of students that eventually join Silicon Valley\u2019s companies, many universities opened new media departments all around California, in both LA and SF\u2019s areas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

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Around San Francisco, University of California, Berkeley, known for both its literature and sciences\u2019 departments, now offers an undergraduate program<\/a> in New Media as part of its Center for New Media<\/a> that supports research while regularly offering public conferences. Alongside Berkeley, USC Santa Cruz also includes a program that specializes in digital art and new media and launched a new Institute for Arts and Science outside of campus last February. Lastly, UC Santa Barbara dedicated an entire department to new media through MAT \u2013 Media Arts and Technology<\/a> \u2013 a graduate program created in 1999 that associates the College of Letters and Science and the College of Engineering and ranges from multimedia engineering, visual and spatial arts to sound design and electronic music.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

In LA, both University of Southern California – USC and UCLA offer programs specializing in digital media. UCLA created its own Institute for Digital Research and Education<\/a>,researchers to work on computer knowledge and innovation in the field of technology alongside a department dedicated to digital technology<\/a> in its self-sustaining branch UCLA Extension. USC, known for its Department of Digital Media<\/a>, has announced the launching of a new Center for Generative AI and Society<\/a> in March. With $10 million in seed funding, the center will explore the impact of generative AI on media, culture and education.\u00a0ASU<\/a> opened a new master program about new media with the emblematic new media pionner,\u00a0Nonny de la Pena. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n

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\u00a9 Marla Aufmuth <\/p>\n\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n

Nonny de la Pe\u00f1a is the program director of ASU\u2019s Narrative and Emerging Media program, where she leads a best-in-class research and graduate program with a focus on new narratives using emerging media technologies in art, culture and nonfiction.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>

Keeping up with innovation\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n

Home of the first American directors and companies (Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros), LA remains deeply aware of the innovations that redefined worldwide cinema throughout the years. With studios specializing in deepfakes such as Deep Voodoo<\/a> (short Sassy Justice<\/em>, Kendrick Lamar\u2019s clip \u201cThe Heart Part 5\u201d) and the rise of concerns towards IP brought by ChatGPT, the AI-craze is invading Hollywood and changing its landscape. In March 2020, negotiations between the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers) and the WGA (Writers Guild of America) were launched. The WGA has been asking for higher wages, healthcare pensions as well as benefits from the rise of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney +. In the midst of this \u201cHollywood crisis\u201d the subject of AI has been brought up by both parties. Aware of the threat AI can be to artists, the WGA asks for better control to make sure AI remains a tool and does not replace the role played by scriptwriters in the making of a film (Variety<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

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