Get documents about "PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH
Document Sample
Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in
Culture, Multimedia, Technology, and Cognition
Background:
Under the Policy on Research Institutes, Centres, and Groups, all UPEI-based
research groups wishing to use the designation ―Institute‖, ―Centre‖ or ―Group‖
must go through a process of review and authorization as outlined in that policy.
Since adopting this policy, Senate has approved two Research Centres: the
Tourism Research Centre, and the Centre for Christianity and Culture. As defined
by the Policy, ―Institutes typically have a broader, more multi-sectorial mandate
than Centres and a Centre may be established within an Institute‖ (4.1.3). Further,
―institutes, to a greater extent than Centres, are expected to be supported by
sources external to the University‖ (4.1.4). The proposed Institute for
Interdisciplinary Research in Culture, Multimedia, Technology, and
Cognition is an initiative of three Universities, led by UPEI, under the auspices of
the Faculty of Arts. The proposed Institute is one of extraordinary breadth for
which funding infrastructure valuing several millions of dollars has been obtained
through CFI and related sources external to UPEI.
Two drafts of the present document have been submitted to the UPEI Dean of Arts
in October and in December 2005. On March 8, 2006, the Dean recommended that
the document move to the next stage. Following consideration by theVice
President of Research, the document will be submitted to the UPEI Research
Advisory Committee (RAC). The RAC normally submits the proposal to Senate
for its consideration. Recommendation of the Senate must be directed to the Board
of Governors for the final authorization to establish the Institute.
Draft 1.2 March 14, 2006 (previous drafts 1.0 Sept. 27, 2005; 1.1 Dec. 16, 2005)
Submitted by
Annabel J. Cohen, CMTC Project Leader & UPEI CMTC Research Leader
2
The Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in
Culture, Multimedia, Technology, and Cognition
(CMTC Institute)
University of Prince Edward Island
Université de Moncton
University of New Brunswick
DRAFT 1.2 MARCH 14, 2006
3
PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH
THE INSTITUTE FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN
CULTURE, MULTIMEDIA, TECHNOLOGY AND COGNITION
CMTC-INSTITUTE
In accord with item 4.3.2 b) of the Procedures of the UPEI Policy entitled:
Research Groups, Centres and Institutes
Draft 1.2 March 13, 2006
(Draft 1.1 Dec. 16, 2005; Draft 1.0, September 27, 2005)
i. Proposed Name
Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Culture, Multimedia, Technology and
Cognition
Abbreviation: CMTC Institute or CMTC
ii Description and Justification
► Concise statement of mission and objectives of the proposed Institute and their relation to
those of UPEI
Context. Recent developments in computer multimedia technologies provide new means for
enhancement of teaching and learning. For example, use of computer-generated sounds and
images may motivate learning or may accent important aspects of a lesson. The use of
multimedia may also help students with various learning strategies, abilities or special needs.
Every educational institution and many educators today face the question of how best to
exploit the new opportunity afforded by multimedia. At the same time they must address
individual differences of students including cultural differences. Canada prides itself in
preserving the cultural mosaic of its citizens while at the same time offering equal societal
opportunities to all. Whereas Canada is one of the most multicultural of nations, within the
Maritime provinces, Anglophone, Acadian, and Mi‘kmac cultures are of primary significance
within a host of many other cultures.
The province of Prince Edward Island is a microcosm of Canadian cultural diversity, with a
regional Island culture unto itself. Within PEI, the University of Prince Edward Island has a
primarily Anglophone culture. The UPEI Academic Plan 2005 identifies as one theme
Increasing the Diversity of the Student Body. This theme focuses in particular on attracting
international students. Increased diversity and internationalization entail development of
resources based on an understanding of culture and its impact on learning. In the UPEI Academic
Plan, the potential of distance education technologies in diversifying the student body is also
noted.
The primary foundation of UPEI is the provision of a solid liberal arts education. The
University continually strives for pedagogical excellence in regard to sustaining this core value.
New ways of sustaining and increasing excellence in the 21st Century can mean harnessing the
power of multimedia. But of the infinite ways of exploiting media for learning, what ways are
the best? For example, at what point does multimedia overtake rather than enhance lessons?
Before employing learning technologies, data are needed on best practices.
4
Answers to questions about the best use of multimedia for education in a cultural context
requires development of mental models of the learner, access to lesson-specific and culture-
specific multimedia to test the models, and a state-of-the-art multimedia classroom to provide the
fairest context for assessment. With culture, multimedia, technology and cognition as interrelated
central concerns to university education today, a proposal is here put forward for an Institute for
Interdisciplinary Research in Culture, Multimedia, Technology, and Cognition (CMTC).
The information derived from such an Institute has not only practical value from a regional and
national educational policy standpoint, but it also has value in terms of pure research and
generation of new knowledge about the influences of culture, multimedia, and teaching
techniques on mental development.
The idea for CMTC was initiated in March 2001, in preparation of a proposal to the Canada
Foundation for Innovation for infrastructure to support research in this area. The infrastructure
needed included a digital library, multimedia production facilities, state-of-the-art multimedia
classrooms, visual and auditory psychophysical instrumentation, and high speed Internet access.
Led by UPEI, the proposal was submitted in collaboration with the University of New
Brunswick and l‘Université de Moncton. All three campuses were interested in developing
commercially viable learning technologies adaptive and applicable to cultures worldwide. The
uncharted disparities between the Anglophone Island culture of UPEI and the Acadian culture of
Université de Moncton provided a living laboratory for studying cultural effects in education. A
CFI project funds only 40% of an infrastructure proposal; the remaining 60% must come from
government, industry, and university sources. In January 2002, the CFI announced an award to
the CMTC proposal and its support of up to 40% of the infrastructure costs. It has taken the
intervening period to put in place the additional funding for the needed infrastructure. The
matching plan proposed by CMTC received final approval in November 2005. Since the
inception of the CMTC proposal, a network of researchers from diverse disciplines across the
three campuses has developed and now anxiously awaits the formalization of the CMTC
Institute.
Missions of CMTC and relation to mission of UPEI
Within the above context, CMTC has the mission of determining how new multimedia resources
may best be exploited for the benefit of education in a cultural context. The mission therefore
addresses contemporary problems facing every educational institution and many educators today.
The mission reflects key aspects of the broad mission of the host institution, UPEI, whose
mission statement is as follows:
The University of Prince Edward Island, founded on the tradition of liberal
education, exists to encourage and assist people to acquire the skills,
knowledge, and understanding necessary for critical and creative thinking,
and thus prepare them to contribute to their own betterment and that of
society through the development of their full potential.
The mission of CMTC to best use new multimedia technologies echoes the University‘s mission
statement ―to encourage and assist people to acquire the skills, knowledge, and understanding
necessary for critical and creative thinking, and thus prepare them to contribute to their own
betterment and that of society through the development of their full potential‖. CMTC translates
the UPEI mission into terms of how UPEI educators can use the potential of multimedia to assist
students in achieving their potential, whatever their culture might be.
5
Goals of CMTC and Relation to Goals of UPEI
The specific research goals of the CMTC Institute are to:
a) develop a mental model of the mind of the learner (perceiver/user of multimedia) in order
to predict how best to use media to promote learning
b) develop different versions of course materials that exploit multimedia resources in
different ways (based on a theory of the learner)
c) test the benefits of various versions of course materials for different cultural groups, in
particular Acadian French, vs. Island Anglophone (with UNB students as a control group,
and testing the theory of the learner)
d) on the basis of findings including (the theory of the learner), develop automatic
techniques for altering course materials (learning objects) to suit lessons for end-users
from different cultures
One additional research goal lies at the foundation of the above goals, and this is to develop an
IBM digital library that will store and provide access to cultural material of UPEI Island culture,
Acadian culture, as well as Mi‘kmac culture and other cultures particular to the region --if time
permits, cultures beyond. Cultural images in the digital library will provide a resource for
tailoring lessons to particular cultural groups. The research will be directed to testing theories of
how best to use these digitized multimedia resources (or learning objects) in teaching. The digital
library will also hold large quantities of data on research involving multimedia or on learning
and cognition collected by the campus researchers that can be shared across members in the
CMTC network. The digital library will also store research reports from the CMTC Institute and
relevant texts related to the work of the Institute. The use of the Digital Library in these ways is
itself a research project, as a digital library has never before been used so variously to link
researchers across disciplines, campuses, and cultures in the pursuit of a common broad goal.
The breadth of this goal requires an extraordinary collaboration among disciplines, faculties,
campuses, and cultures. The elements of this collaboration are already in place, as can be seen
from the related Arts-Netlantic project, that received $1.2 million in funding from Canadian
Heritage from January 2003 to March 2004 to establish multimedia production and presentation
facilities on each campus and engage in research projects primarily related to the aesthetic and
cultural aims of CMTC.1
UPEI states its own goals as follows:
The University is a community of scholars whose primary tasks are to teach and
to learn, to engage in scholarship and research, and to offer service for the
benefit of our Island and beyond.
CMTC goals embrace those of UPEI just stated above. In particular, CMTC is a research
institute that focuses on issues of teaching and learning effectiveness. Thus, CMTC can
contribute to the primary task of the UPEI community of scholars whose goals are both to teach
and to conduct research. The digital library will provide a resource to the Island and beyond
(access to cultural artifacts of PEI, learning objects, research reports). The project aims to
represent Island culture which means storing cultural artifacts, for example images of children‘s
6
art from the present and the past, images of professional or amateur artists, recordings of choirs,
and bands, recordings of scenery and sounds of the Island, in short recording of images that are
familiar or that were familiar to people who lived on the Island. No other project in PEI is taking
on such an ambitious goal of categorizing and making available in some fashion a representation
of all of the culture of PEI.3 At the same time a similar CMTC-led task is to be ongoing in NB.
The task of representing all cultural artifacts of the two provinces cannot wholly be
accomplished in the short run. However, as a research project, progress can be made sufficiently
to examine the application of such cultural information to a flexible teaching situation.
Many technical resources will be and have already been brought to UPEI and to the two other
partner campuses in Atlantic Canada as a result of the past 5 years‘ effort in establishing an
infrastructure for the Institute (see Appendices for historical background and milestones). This
infrastructure, to be described later, will make it possible to train highly qualified personnel,
another goal of CMTC and to offer graduate level research opportunities that can be incorporated
into current or future graduate programs of UPEI, or of the partner campuses. A long term goal
is to develop a graduate degree program in Culture, Multimedia, Technology, and Cognition
offered through the faculty and resources across the three partner campuses. This new venture
would exploit human resources at the partner campuses and the physical resources of the
Institute for videoconferencing within specially designed multimedia classrooms. The
videoconferencing facilities have already been successfully established by and for the Arts-
Netlantic research network. Arts-Netlantic held 10 public tri-campus 3-hour educational lecture-
discussion forums between 2003 and 2004, as well as over 50 specific research, executive, and
committee meetings. However, the establishment of the CMTC graduate program can be
regarded as a long term goal, whereas the offering of graduate level thesis opportunities is a
more immediate goal assuming the cooperation of current graduate programs at the three
campuses in Education, and graduate programs offered by one or more of the campuses in
Psychology, Computer Science, and Island Studies. Already at UNB, in the Faculty of Education
one graduate thesis relating to multimedia and the Acadian Culture is in the final stages of
completion. In line with the conduct and dissemination of leading-edge CMTC research,
conferences and workshops will be held in culture, multimedia, technology and cognition, taking
advantage of the videoconferencing resources that are now operational between the three partner
campuses.
► Scope of activities envisaged
The research has been described in the CMTC proposal to the Canada Foundation for Innovation
(CFI) submitted in 2001. The CFI award of a grant of $1.47 million to CMTC was announced in
January 2002 (highlights of the CFI Committee reviews are found in Appendix 1). Between
2002 and 2005 a matching-funds plan was put in place (the CFI provides only 40% of these
funds). Much funding came from Canadian Heritage in support of the interim Arts-Netlantic
Project, and through a partnership with IBM. Now with funding in place and a signed Inter-
university agreement, the Research Leaders (one per campus) have reviewed the goals and
accepted them in principle. Details and participants vary slightly from the original proposal (due
to retirements and replacements and modified research directions). Nevertheless, the logic and
content of the broad research goals remains as described earlier in the proposal:
7
1. develop and test a mental model of the learner
2. develop course materials that exploit multimedia
3. evaluate the use of multimedia course materials in teaching
4. automate the adapting or repurposing of course materials for different cultures
5. develop the digital library supporting the above research goals, including the region-
specific cultural database
Already the three campuses have engaged in joint research for over a year, under the Arts-
Netlantic Project, sponsored by Canadian Heritage‘s New Media Research Networks Fund,
2003-2004. The project culminated in an International Conference on New Media Research
Networks in March 2004, a published proceedings co-edited by two of the research leaders, with
10 of the presentations at the meeting representing research conducted by the CMTC team
members. Most of the work for this interim project was reduced as a result of the expiration of
Art-Netlantic funding in March 2004. The new research to be conducted by CMTC will focus
more on education and the University culture, and less on the arts and community, although the
latter still plays an important role, and provides materials for the cultural database for PEI and
NB. Indeed at the present time, two research projects related to world culture and PEI culture are
ongoing.
► Expected research benefits and opportunities
CMTC provides infrastructure that will support the research of over 40 faculty researchers on 3
campuses (approximately 16 or more at UPEI) and their associated students and assistants
(numbering at any one time 25 at UPEI alone as a conservative estimate). In some cases the
infrastructure represents a much needed resource for independent research. In other cases, the
infrastructure provides a resource for a new research direction of a faculty member, or a direction
to be taken by several members of a team. The use of the shared facility – the Digital Library—
and the replicated facility – the multimedia classroom-- will provide a common language and
common bond for researchers within and across campuses. Through inter-disciplinary, inter-
institutional, cross-cultural dialogue, knowledge can be shared and ultimately increased.
Facilitation of research among scholars within UPEI
Already, more than 30 scholars from UPEI have come together for Arts-Netlantic meetings and
CMTC planning meetings. At monthly meetings of Arts-Netlantic (excluding the International
Conference), invited speakers have made over 20 presentations on their interests and ideas. Now
CMTC will provide the opportunity to continue the forum on research on multimedia learning
technologies. Video cameras at four corners of the multimedia classroom enable a professor to
record his/her teaching and observe what went right or wrong, from student reactions seen from
all angles (of course these methods would be cleared through the research ethics boards). The
detailed proposal is appended.
Facilitation of research among scholars in the wider community.
The Arts-Netlantic activities have shown the appetite of the wider community for a forum on
media research. We therefore believe that the wider community will share an interest in the
activities of CMTC. Already there are inquiries. Our partners extend beyond UPEI, e.g.,
8
National Research Council Institute for Information Technology (NRC-IIT), and IBM, and PSB-
Speakers, as well as visual, media, and music artists in our midst.
Prototype development for commercialization.
Development of several technical prototypes for learning objects and principles for their
repurposing may have commercial potential. Should this be successful, industrial partnerships
will be encouraged (already there has been an approach by a company other than those with
which we are currently involved). The focus on culture admits to interactions far beyond the 3
Atlantic Canada campuses. At UPEI, several faculty members have related research contacts in
Indonesia and Asia for example.
While the impact of basic research often takes years for the realization of its applications,
nevertheless, principles for use of multimedia in education may lead to successful educational
packages tailored to individual cultures. Culturally sensitive guidelines for the use of multimedia
in education are expected as an outcome of CMTC research. Thus courses developed by faculty
for the Island population which implement guidelines may readily be adapted for use with other
cultures remote from PEI.
One of the primary functions of CMTC will be to offer both training that leads to highly
qualified personnel, and opportunities for graduate work in leading edge research crossing the
boundaries of studies in culture, multimedia, technology, and cognitive science. Cognitive
science itself represents aspects of anthropology, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy,
linguistics, and education.
Research Network
The CMTC Institute will facilitate and encourage collaboration within and across disciplines
(Psychology, Computer Science, Linguistics, Modern Languages), faculties/schools (Arts,
Science, Education, Business), constituencies (Academic, Government, Industry), campuses
(UPEI, UdeM, UNB), provinces (PEI, NB), and cultures (Anglophone, Acadian, Mi‘kmac/
Island, mainland/ Canadian/non-Canadian).
iii. Structure
► Organizational structure
The organizational structure, as proposed in the CFI grant application, is a three-tier system. An
Executive Management Committee reports to an Advisory Governing Board and Campus
Executive Committees report to the Executive Management Committee. Thus the Executive
Management Committee stands midway between the Advisory Governing Board and the
Campus Executive Committees. There is also a Scholarly Advisory Board representing
initiatives similar to those of CMTC yet external to the three partner campuses (see Figure 1).
Executive Management Committee
The Executive Management Committee is responsible for achieving the goals of CMTC through
execution and management of the research activities and resources. The Executive Management
Committee reports to the Governing Advisory Board. Members will be initially be appointed by
9
the UPEI Dean of Arts (in whose jurisdiction CMTC currently falls) on recommendation from
and in consultation with the acting Executive Management Committee and ultimately from the
Executive Management Committee, as new openings become available.
Membership of the Executive Management Committee includes:
1. Director (CMTC Project Leader/Research Leader UPEI)
2. Financial Officer (likely from UPEI business school)
3. Research Leader UNB
4. Research Leader UdeM
5. Technical Coordinator (paid position, Project Manager for Digital Library)
6. Administrative Research Coordinator (paid position, Project Manager Research)
7. Graduate Student Representative
8. Undergraduate Student Representative
One person representing each of the 5 CMTC research goals as follows:
9. Member representing mental model development
10 . Member representing computer ―courseware‖ development
11. Member representing evaluation (Education)
12. M ember representing Automation (Computer Science)
13. Member representing Digital Library (Robertson Library)
Three other members:
14. Member representing UPEI campus computer services
15. NRC IIT representative
16. Member at large
Possible Ex Officio member to be discussed
17. e.g., financial officer of UPEI accounting or comptroller department responsible for
research grants
Representation will reflect approximately 50% UPEI, 25% U de M, and 25% UNB. It is
possible to reduce the size of the board if the Research Leaders wish to take on a second role
of representing one of the 5 Research goals.
Governing Advisory Board (GAB)
The Executive Management Committee reports to the Governing Advisory Board (GAB). The
GAB primarily serves an enabling capacity and offers advice on pragmatic issues especially.
The chair of this board will initially be the Dean of Arts of UPEI, as the CMTC Institute falls
within his jurisdiction. He consequently has considerable background knowledge of the project
as well as the responsibility to see that its goals are met.
10
Membership to the GAB is as follows:
1. Chair: UPEI Dean of Arts (responsible for CMTC) or designate
Senior Administrators Representatives of the three partner universities (1 per campus):
2. UPEI President or Vice-President Research or designate
3. U de Moncton President or Vice President Research or designate
4. UNB President or Vice President Research or designate
3 Research Leaders
5. UPEI (Project Leader UPEI)
6. U de Moncton
7. UNB
8. Technology Transfer Representative
9. Financial Representative (in the financial industry or profession)
10. Computer Services or Computer Sciences (Head Computer Services, UPEI)
11. Multimedia Industry or Educator Representative
12. Education Representative/ can be external or internal
13. Law (copyright, ethics, media) –external or internal Representative
14. Canadian Heritage –external Representative
15. IBM – external Representative (current liaison is Chris Chabassol)
16. IT industry (e.g., ITAP, ATC, Aliant, Rogers, Eastlink) – external Representative
17. NRC-IIT -external Representative
This GAB will meet live (if possible) every summer at UPEI and by videoconference one other
time during the year.
The purposes of GAB is to provide guidance on objectives for the year and to assess progress
at the end of each year. GAB represents a wide variety of expertise relevant to the Institute,
and also represents the larger bodies of which the Institute is a part. This board needs to be
large to cover all the bases of expertise on which CMTC touches. GAB (in spite of its
acronym) serves to listen (read reports) and then to provide feedback.
The GAB membership may be smaller than suggested above if one person has expertise in more
than one of the above areas (e.g., law and Heritage, or technology transfer and finance) to
represent the various kinds of scholarly and practical expertise needed to guide and evaluate the
success of the CMTC Executive.
Campus Management Committees (UPEI, U de M, UNB)
Three campus committees carry out the goals of CMTC at the campus level.
Membership in each of the three Campus Management Committees partially replicates the
Executive Management Committee. Persons may serve on both the Campus Management
Committee and the Executive Management Committee (in particular, the University Research
Leader). The structure of the Campus Management Committee is as follows:
11
Campus Management Committee (one for each of the 3 campuses)
1. Campus Research Leader
2. Financial Officer
3. Administrative Officer
4. Researcher responsible for Mental Model
5. Researcher responsible for Courseware
6. Researcher responsible for Evaluation
7. Researcher responsible for Automation
8. Researcher responsible for Digital Library
9. Researcher responsible for Behavioral Research
10. Researcher responsible for Education
11. Computer Services Representative
12. Graduate Student Representative
13. Undergraduate Student Representative
14. Member at large (optional)
Note that there is one such board per campus. Members to this board would be appointed by
the Dean or Vice President in charge of the Campus Research activities of CMTC (e.g., at
UPEI, this is the Dean of Arts).
Scholarly Board
A Scholarly Board will serve in an advisory and information-sharing capacity in relation to the
research proper. It will not be concerned with practical administrative matters, with the exception
of offering examples based on experience. Since communication media facilities will be a
common denominator of the groups to be represented by the Scholarly Board, it is likely that
each representative to the Scholarly Board will have access to videoconferencing. Hence
meetings twice a year (for an initial 5-year term) may operate more like a mini-conference than
an advisory board. In fact, a likely activity of CMTC will be to host a conference on the CMTC
theme, inviting members of the groups of this scholarly advisory committee, among others.
Examples of suggested representation are:
McLuhan Centre University of Toronto
Culture, Communication, and Information Technology (CCIT), U of Toronto, Mississauga
Media Lab, MIT
Digital Insight Project, University of Wisconsin
Centre for Music and Media Technology, McGill
LICEF, Teleuniversity in Quebec
Hexagram project, Concordia
And others
Memberships in the Institute: The Researchers
The research of CMTC relies on Faculty researchers. Their role is to create new knowledge and
to exploit the research resources provided through CMTC to do this. They should not have to
deal with all the practicalities of running the Institute. There are three categories of researchers.
The original structure of the project entailed Principal Investigators, 3 from each campus and 1
12
from a US campus. As well 20 additional researchers were named as Associates. Four new
categories of membership will be added: CMTC Student Member, CMTC Staff Member,
CMTC Staff Affiliate Member and CMTC Affiliate
1. CMTC Principal Investigators
From the outset of the establishment of CMTC, positions for 10 principal investigators (PI) were
distributed as follows:
3 UPEI
3 UNB
3 UdeM
1 external (UPEI as lead could have retained this as a UPEI 4th PI position but chose not to
do so, because of the expertise and breadth gained)
At the present time the Principal Investigators are (* reflects commitment re-established)
UPEI
Annabel Cohen* backup new hiring in Perception position Psychology
Betsy Epperly (likely represented by Ann Furlong)
Shu-Feng Liu (likely replaced by Sandy McAuley)
U de Moncton
Chadia Moghrabi*
Friedemann Sallis*
Tang-ho Le*
UNB
Wladyslaw Cichocki*
Joe Dicks (suggested replacement from UNB-SJ multimedia program)
Brad Nickerson*
Carnegie Mellon
Brian MacWhinney
2. CMTC Research Associate
According to the CFI guidelines, there were official positions for up to 26 Research Associates to
be distributed across the three campuses, with each campus having an option to give up a
position to a researcher outside their campus for the benefit of the research network. At present,
there seems no reason to limit the number of Research Associate positions assuming criteria are
met as described below.)
► Categories of membership and criteria of each of these categories
The Principal Investigators met most if not all of the following criteria:
a) interest in the project from a scholarly or technical standpoint
b) strong track record of research productivity (publications) and grant funding, particularly
Tri-Council funding
13
c) relevance of past work to the work of CMTC
d) distributed representation of campuses, and disciplines
e) willingness to cooperate across geographical, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries
f) faculty member of one of the 3 participating campuses
CMTC will retain the 10 Principal Investigator Positions. When PI‘s leave the project for
whatever reason, faculty members who best represent the above criteria and whose expertise
helps to reflect the breadth of CMTC will be invited to replace the positions. Notice of an
opening will be made, and applications will be accepted that would include a letter and a CV.
Appointment would be on recommendation of the CMTC PI‘s to the Executive Board and
ultimately to the GAB chair. The number of PI‘s may be increased as the Institute grows.
Beyond the PI designation, any University Faculty member or member of a regional research or
academic institution (e.g., NRC, Holland College) who meets the criteria a, b, and e above is
invited to apply for membership in CMTC as a Research Associate, through a letter and CV
submission. Those whose names appeared on the original 2001 application would be given this
status automatically upon submission of the letter and CV. Others will undergo a brief review by
the PI‘s and the Executive Board. As there is no reason to limit the numbers of members, it is
likely that any faculty researcher from one of the three campuses with a sincere interest in the
goals of the project will be welcomed as a Research Associate member.
It is expected that Faculty applications for membership would come primarily from the 3 partner
universities. It may be that a faculty member from another campus may have strong interests in
the goals of the CMTC. He or she is welcome to apply for membership. Should CMTC become
―oversubscribed‖ from a practical and functional standpoint, members from the partner campuses
would have priority, followed by those from the Atlantic provinces.
3. CMTC Student Member
Students may apply for student membership if they satisfy criteria a) and e) and have conducted
some work or have written a paper relevant to the goals of the Institute. A faculty member must
provide a brief written statement (short paragraph) verifying the status of the student and
relevance of background or interest. As one of the goals of the Institute is to train highly
qualified personnel, students will definitely be welcomed to student membership and encouraged
in their use of the infrastructure.
4. CMTC Staff Member and Staff Affiliate Member
Staff who work directly for CMTC are automatically Staff members of CMTC. Other staff on
the campus whose expertise relates directly to CMTC and who have a strong interest in the goals
and projects of CMTC may qualify for CMTC Staff Affiliate Membership. They must satisfy
criteria a) and e) and they must obtain a signature of the person to whom they report
acknowledging the request for CMTC Staff Affiliate Status.
5. CMTC Affiliate Researcher
The fifth category of membership is that of Affiliate Researcher status. It entails applications by
all others not mentioned above who satisfy a and e and either or both of b and c. As the scope of
the Institute exceeds the boundaries of the University and extends to cultures beyond the
14
University community, then affiliations beyond the university can strengthen the Institute and
help it achieve its goals. Hence a letter and cv submitted by parties outside the university
community will be welcomed for consideration for Affiliate Status.
► :Privileges of membership in CMTC: Membership would entail
-access to CMTC communications,
-access to the CMTC infrastructure for research purposes in line with the goals of CMTC
(e.g., multimedia production facilities, multimedia classroom, digital library) [details of
access to various equipment and assistance remain to be developed],
-attendance of CMTC research meetings,
-voting on issues relevant to the researchers,
-allowing name to stand for election to various committees of CMTC,
-listing or cross-listing on the CMTC web-site,
-access to a network of colleagues involved in CMTC,
-authorship in accordance with standard ethical principles of authorship based on extent of
contribution).
iv. Management Structure
The Management Structure has been detailed above and is shown in Figure 1. The Institute as
a whole reports to the Dean of Arts of UPEI, and financial overseeing would be vested in Phil
Hooper (UPEI Comptroller) or his delegate (Linda Walker Birt in charge of research grants an
affiliated with the Office of Research Development). A financial officer however does serve on
the Executive Committee (with a possibility of coming from the UPEI School of Business or as a
service of a Faculty Member to the University or through the Technical Coordinator or Project
Manager positions,). The usual procedures for tracking grant accounts would be followed.
► Procedures for identifying a proposed director
The Position of Director will be advertised through Human Resources, seeking the person most
qualified to establish CMTC. The position ideally requires someone familiar with the dimensions
of the project, who has a scholarly record relevant to the job, success in obtaining and managing
grants and associated projects, and a track record of accomplishment in similar projects. The
person should have experience with graduate training, and postdoctoral supervision, as well as
the supervision and teaching of undergraduates, as this person will be instrumental in
coordinating the educational goals of the Institute as well as the Research Goals. Ideally CMTC
would be able to take advantage of expertise already established in the development of the
project. Assuming this person is a member of the UPEI faculty (as UPEI is the lead institution),
suitable terms for course load release and for administrative support will be determined in
consultation with the Dean and relevant Department Chair. It is expected that extra release time
would be required in the first year of the Institute, but in subsequent years when organization
and funding were stabilized, the course release could be reduced to what is customary for the
running of an Institute at UPEI.
15
The Establishment of the Institute and the guidance of the Institute toward achieving its goals is a
monumental task that far exceeds the usual time allotted to research of a Faculty member of
UPEI. Should a Faculty member of UPEI be deemed the most suitable candidate for the
directorship, then a secondment by the Dean to the new position would be necessary, and the
vacated position or portion of the vacant position would need to be backfilled for the sake of the
activities of the new CMTC Director‘s Department which would suffer a staffing loss.
Other positions
For the success of the CMTC and the inter-campus Research Partnership, it is expected that at
least in the initial year or years of the establishment of the Institute, that the partner campuses
would provide some course release for its faculty member who will serve as the Research
Leader. This person will serve in many capacities and on several committees within CMTC.
The success of the Institute will depend time of the Research Leaders to be able to focus on the
CMTC activities.
v. Proposed membership (PI‘s, Research Associates, Student Members, Affiliates)
CV‘s of members will be attached indicating degree held, employment experience, professional
activities, research interests, research funding record (last five years), and record of research
achievements (e.g., publications, presentations, patents – last five years).
vi. Physical Resources
List of research facilities available to support the CMTC Institute (attach list submitted to CFI by
ORD – Appendix B of Inter-Institutional Agreement)
Library holdings
The library has sufficient books on culture, multimedia, technology, and cognition. Books on
culture are found in the anthropology section; books on multimedia are found in education, art
and computer science sections; books on technology are found in the computer science section,
and books on cognition are found in the psychology and neuroscience section. Access to the on-
line databases provides a wealth of information on these topics as well as resources on digital
libraries. Because the project focuses on digital technology and communications, relevant
resources can be found through digital technology and communications that are freely available
on the campuses through library infrastructure (originally made possible through a national CFI
grant).
Laboratories.
The CFI grant will create several kinds of research facilities. These CMTC facilities or research
laboratories extend the resources of the universities. At all three campuses a multimedia
education research testing laboratory will be developed. In the agreement with CFI, these rooms
were to be dedicated to the project (in the case of UNB, 50% use), however, because the project
entails research on teaching, the rooms must be used for teaching in order to conduct the research
on teaching. Exactly how this is to be accomplished is part of the research work to be carried
out. The rooms will give interested faculty access to superior teaching infrastructure for some
classes (provided that there is at least some research component integrated into the teaching
component: for example, that the classes and/or the instructor will provide feedback on the
16
extent to which they felt their learning was facilitated by the use of media resources offered by
the class).
Media Production Laboratory.
A media production laboratory has already been created on each campus, although, depending
on the campus, the location may change. Renovations will take place on all campuses to
maximize the use of the facilities. Each facility includes non-linear video and audio editing
hardware and software, and media translation equipment (from one format to another).
Multimedia Interactive Classroom
The overall configuration of research facilities at the three campuses will be different, but all
will share a multimedia classroom having as close to identical as possible physical
characteristics. Identical physical characteristics of the rooms is a matter of good experimental
design. If the rooms differ, then the room itself may cause observed differences in learning
performance at the different sites. To rule out this possibility and instead to experimentally
control the variable of culture, the rooms must be as similar as possible. A design was created by
Coles Associates in 2001 that met the general architectural constraints at all three campuses. This
plan is being adapted for 2006 planning.
Facilities unique to each campus.
Each of the campuses is receiving unique research facilities. At UNB, a usability laboratory is
being shared with the Information Technology unit of the Computer Science Department, under
Professor Brad Nickerson, and CMTC is bringing to that facility an eye-movement recorder. At
U de Moncton, a facility for collecting Psycholinguistic behaviorial data will be established. At
UPEI a cognitive neuroscience facility is being established for brain-wave recording, eye-
movement recording and for psychoacoustic, and visual psychophysical (multimedia perception)
research. As well, at UPEI a facility for the study of sound spatialization is being established.
The research on human subjects at UPEI requires highly controlled environmental conditions of
quiet and low radiation; therefore a specially constructed pair of rooms will be built from
standardized pre-fabricated materials for frequency attenuation.
Space
Each of the campuses has accepted the responsibility of providing at least 1000 square feet of
dedicated space for a production and presentation facility. Standard classroom at U de M and
UNB have been designated for use by CMTC. At UPEI, the matter has been addressed at the
highest administrative level along with other immediate plans for building on the campus. The
facilities are currently housed in Robertson Library annex. This proved to be adequate for the
activities of a related project Arts-Netlantic. Now thought must be placed into the development
of the actual renovation. The UPEI Vice Presidents decided that the best location as far as both
the goals of the project and the goals of UPEI are concerned was the basement of the Robertson
Library (windowless, without direct elevator access). The current plan is to coordinate the
renovation with that of the Webster Teaching and Learning Center which is adjacent to the
current facility (and will be the floor above the new facility). At UPEI, a slightly larger space
than 1000 square feet is required to house the behavioural testing suite. The 1000 square feet
does not include space for administrative offices, as CFI does not cover the cost of these spaces.
Nevertheless, particularly at UPEI which is the lead on the project, an office space is required for
17
the technical coordinator, the administrator, and the director of CMTC. As matters stood for
Arts-Netlantic, the technical coordinator had a separate small office off the multimedia
production studio. The administrator and the director shared a space, a less than ideal situation,
but manageable when budgets and space are limited.
Equipment
The CMTC has equipment at its foundation. Whereas the CFI and the industry, government, and
academic partners are providing over 4 million dollars worth of infrastructure (including
software), the universities must also provide the base infrastructure to support the new
equipment. At UPEI, Computer Services has shared in CMTC discussions from the outset. Blair
Vessey has spent many hours with the project, and through his expertise and the advice of David
Cairns to whom he reports as well as those who report to Blair, it seems that what needs to be
accomplished from an IT standpoint can be achieved. The CMTC budget provides for
approximately $30,000 of funding (distributed across the three campuses) to lay wiring and bring
the communications transmission rate to the maximum level that would be needed of a state-of-
the-art facility.
Future Requirements
The success of CMTC will depend in part on UPEI providing an adequate, accessible, and safe
space to house the equipment, and providing this space in a timely manner. The current plan of
providing CMTC space near the Library and the Teaching Learning Centre and ITEC (the
current location) is good (although not as good as being co-located on the same level of the
building). It is critical that planning begin immediately so that renovations can take place before
September 2006 as the life of the project is only 5 years, and delays of more than a year will
certainly jeopardize progress.
A renovation budget has been obtained. One problem to be addressed is the cooperation of the
other universities in regard to their building plans. Ideally, the architects at all three sites need to
be jointly briefed on the reasons for the similarities of the multimedia rooms. Discussion needs
to be shared among the architects even at the level of insulation materials, creation of a false
floor beneath which wiring can be carried, placement of the desks, positioning of the large
display units, sound absorption, and lighting. At UPEI consultation must take place with Eckel
Industries which has offered to travel to discuss with both the UPEI architect and relevant
administration preparations for installation of the sound-attenuated rooms. As well, discussions
must take place regarding the maximization of the videoconferencing facility. The Arts-
Netlantic videoconferencing allowed for full-display visibility of only one remote location at a
time (i.e., UNB or UdeM). It is ideal rather to see both locations (UNB and UdeM) plus be able
to project a media display on a third panel. This is required if CMTC is to create the promimsed
state-of-the-art multimedia classroom. Audio and video recording need also to be addressed for
each of the 10 computer workstations in the classroom.
vii. Financial Resources UPEI
These tables refer to UPEI‘s funding. Both partner campuses would have separate budgets. A
primary difference between the UPEI and partner budgets arises because UPEI is the lead
institution, has carried the responsibility of initiating and seeing through the grant application
18
and matching fund procurement, and holds the final responsibility in meeting the research goals.
Although the entire CMTC Institute benefits from the resources obtained by UPEI and spent by
UPEI (e.g., hiring of a technical co-ordinator or Research administrator), these budget items
appear on the UPEI budget. The partner budgets refer to operations on their own campuses
carried out to complete the research goals.
The research of CMTC falls within the interests of the Canadian funding agencies, SSHRC and
NSERC. In addition to the individual Research Grants program of SSHRC and the Discovery
Grants program of NSERC, SSHRC offers a Major Collaborative Research Initiatives grant with
funding on the order of $500,000 over 5 years. Other SSHRC Strategic Research Grants include:
Multiculturalism Issues in Canada, Community-University Research Alliances, Official
Languages Research and Dissemination, Research/Creation Grants in the Fine Arts, and Image,
Text, Sound, and Technology. While success in attracting such funding seems possible, it cannot
be done without some type of continuous grant-writing ―machine‖ (or in short, time and support
for a grant-writer). A better source of stable funding, and one that seems possible given the
scope and significance of the project, would be a special endowment (possibly endowed chairs,
one per campus). Sustained funding provides a future for the Institute. Potential funders are
media, communication, or information technology companies that are seeking a broader profile
in Atlantic Canada.
19
The drafts below are starting points only and considerable discussion is necessary with the
UPEI Office of Research Development, with the Dean of Arts, and other Administration at
UPEI, as well as consultation with the partner campuses
Suggested Income UPEI CMTC Years 1-3
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
a) IOF $120,000 $120,000 $100,000
b) UPEI for Institute (internal grant) $4500 $4500 $5000
c) Faculty of Arts $1000 $1000 $1000
d) Faculty of Education $500 $500 $500
e) Faculty of Science $500 $500 $500
f) NRC (in-kind)_ $20,000
g) Member fees - UPEI $250 $500 $1000
h) Member fees - Non-Partner $250 $500 $1000
i) Expected endowment providing $50,000 $100,000 $100,000
sustained operating costs
j) Expected Research Grants $25000 $75000 $100000
$222,000.00 $176,000.00 $202,000.00 $600,000
Suggested Expenses UPEI CMTC Years 1 - 3
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
k) Technical Coordinator $50,000 $50,000 $50,000
l) Technical Assistant (part-time) $25000 $25000 $25000
m) Supplies $2000 $2000 $2000
n) Communications $2000 $2000 $2000
o) Technical Consultation $7000 $5000 $5000
p) NRC $20000 0 0
q) Misc $1000 $1000 $1000
r) Software $5000 $5000 $5000
s) Upgrades/repairs $5000 $5000 $5000
t) Travel / Hospitality $3000 $3000 $3000
u) Operating costs for Project Leader $60,000 $112,000 $112,000
backfill; project manager, grad student
and undergrad student hiring for research
readiness
$180,000.00 $210,000.00 $210,000.00 $600,000
Much of the budget for the first three years entails making the equipment ready for use. This is a
legitimate use of Item a, IOF funds (Institutional Operating Funds, provided by CFI to a total of
$343,000 for UPEI, as a fixed proportion of the original CFI grant). As well the IOF will fund
repairs (and some upgrades). The NRC (Item f and p) promised to provide assistance in
developing the digital library. The NRC assistance is provided free as an in-kind donation. The
time of the project leader (item U), if a faculty member, needs to be backfilled for the
20
Department. Preferably, the time should be replaced beyond sessional replacement, in fairness to
the Department which will lose the work of a faculty member, at least partially. Stable funding
could be provided by a new endowment fund (Item i), and it is believed that CMTC could attract
and would work toward obtaining (in conjunction with Advancement Services) such an
endowment.
Attempts will be made to seek funding for the unique projects that the infrastructure and CMTC
makes possible. It is expected that given the potential value of the research findings, the track
record of the project to date (e.g., Canadian Heritage and CFI funding) that grant applications
(Item j) have a good chance of success. Possible sources of funding are: SSHRC, Jacobs
Foundation, and NRC University-Industry partnership program.
Given modest grant sizes of participants, and in the interest of fostering goodwill among campus
members, it seems unlikely that substantial user fees will be practical; however, for users outside
the partner campuses, some user fees may be obtained (Items g and h). At the very least, any
grant holder would be asked to contribute a minimum of $25 for use of the facility. These fees
may be raised in the third year. Indirectly, by participating in CMTC, campus users may be more
competitive for grants, and bring funds and prestige to the university that way.
CMTC researchers may seek funds from UPEI‘s Internal grants program, and this accounts for
Item b. Currently a Major Research Grant has been applied for to mobilize the new brain wave
and eye-movement recording instrumentation, and plans are underway to submit a proposal for
Targeted Research Grant aimed a studying the sustainable community of scholars in
multidisciplinary, multi-institutional projects. These grants are to be used to support pilot work
that will enable the success of applications for more extensive, external funding.
Expressing support of the key Faculties involved in CMTC, a $500 contribution from the
Faculties of Arts, Science, and Education is expected from their respective discretionary budgets
(Items c, d, e). Because the project falls under the jurisdiction of the Arts Faculty, its share is
greater. It is noted that currently the Department of Psychology contributes for the cost of one
phone line, and this may be regarded as part of the Arts Faculty contribution (approximately
$300 per year).
CMTC begins as a research unit of UPEI, Within 3 years, however, CMTC may be established
as a graduate education unit as well. Graduate education will bring fees to the university,
possibly graduate scholarships, and funds from media companies in support of the program. It
may be possible to fill our technical coordinator position and add a postdoctoral fellow who will
not only take responsibility for some technical operations but also contribute to the research
publications – thus making future funding for CMTC more possible. This funding has not been
itemized in the budget, and would be
The expectation is that CMTC could be self-sufficient through large grants in the 3rd year of
operation. The budget currently suggests that an endowment is needed to provide stable funding
for CMTC, and given the unique niche occupied by the CMTC Institute, it is possible that donors
may be reached who will resonate with the CMTC goals. Contract work may also add income
to CMTC.
21
Regarding Expenses, personnel costs are the primary expense and much of this can be covered
by the IOF, assuming the personnel are carrying out tasks to make the infrastructure research-
ready. The technical co-ordinator (Item k) manages the development of the digital library; a
technical assistant (Item l) manages the audiovisual equipment and project manager will
manage the cognitive scientific instrumentation and will keep the research on course (Item u).
Supplies (Item m) refer to stationary, printer cartridges, computer CD‘s and DV‘s etc.
Communications (Item n) refers to postage, fax, phone, and extra costs related to the web-site
(most web-site design is taken care of through the technical staff or UPEI‘s ITEC)
Consultation costs (Item o) refers to professional advice related to the operation of the
infrastructure, be it information on the digital library, analysis of the brain-wave recordings,
configuring the teleconferencing hardware to project to two or three screens simultaneously, or
wiring of the audio speakers,
A travel/hospitality budget (Item t) is required to support travel to the other sites, or travel of
members from the other site to UPEI. Although video-conferencing is the primary basis for
interactions among members from the three sites, it has been found important to have face-to-
face meetings at least once a year. The scale of such meetings can vary from year to year. The
technical co-ordinator or Project Leader will need to make one such trip to the two sites
annually. CMTC also must host experts from outside the tri-campus project from time-to-time.
A miscellaneous budget (item q) accommodates unplanned contingencies, such as the need of a
special manual for statistical analysis or non-linear video editing.
A software budget (Item r) accommodates new technical software developments. Although
every attempt will be made to use free software when possible, some software, valuable to the
functioning of the Institute, will not be free, and the software budget frees the researchers from
the constraint of archaic software.
With a vast amount of infrastructure, there will be some wear and tear to be expected, and a
budget item for repairs and upgrades (Item q) covers this.
Viii Statements of Support and Commitment
Letters are expected to be provided by:
Richard Kurial, Dean of Arts, UPEI
Chadia Moghrabi, Department of Computer Science, U de Moncton
Wladyslaw Chicocki, Département Français, UNB
Christian Lacroix, Acting Dean of Science, UPEI
Scott Greer, Chair Department of Psychology
Scott Lee, Chair Modern Languages
Stephen Howard, Chair Department of Computer Science
22
Associate Dean of Research, UdeMoncton
Dean of Science, U de Moncton
Association Dean of Research, UNB
Département Français, UNB
NRC
NSERC (Moncton Office)
Canadian Heritage
IBM – Chris Chabbassol
And UPEI Faculty members
Betsy Epperley, Department of English
Ann Furlong, Department of English
Mark Hemphill School of Business
Sandy McAuley Faculty of Education
Cathy Ryan, Department of Psychology
Philip Smith, Department of Psychology
Thomy Nilsson, Department of Psychology
New Faculty member in neuroscience/perception, Department of Psychology
Wendy Shilton, Department of English
Godfrey Baldacchino, Island Studies
Irene Novaczek, Island Studies
Jean Mitchell, Sociology and Anthropology
Pamela Courtney-Hall, Philosophy
Vianne Timmons, Faculty of Education
Stephen Howard, Department of Computer Science
Almut Beringer, Environmental Studies
Blair Vessey, Computer Services
Simon Lloyd, PEI archives, Robertson Library
University Librarian, Robertson Library
Doreley Coll, Modern Languages
Carlo Lavoie, Modern Languages
Stacey Nairn, Psychology
Jason Doiron, Psychology
Vicki Johnson, Faculty of Arts
Community
Confederation Centre of the Arts
Island Media Arts Co-op
Arts Guild
Atlantic Technology Centre
Debra Percival, independent artist
23
Final Comment
Five years ago, an idea was born of an Interdisciplinary Institute that would focus on culture,
multimedia, technology, and cognition in order to determine the best use of multimedia for
education in a cultural context. During the intervening years, this idea has been actualized in
many ways. A team of researchers across three campuses responded positively to the idea and
worked to put forward the CFI proposal in 2001. A related group of researchers across the same
three campuses worked relentlessly to achieve the goals of the Arts-Netlantic Project in 2003 -
2004. For the past months, the research partnership has been sustained, and now with the
approval of the CFI last November, activities are accelerating. The final step for the completion
of the foundation of CMTC is the formalization of the CMTC Institute through the
administrative channels of UPEI. Without the co-operation and efforts of the UPEI
administration from the very inception of the idea of the Institute to tireless dealing with funding
agencies on a continuing basis, the UPEI administration and in particular ORD has been a vital
component of the project. CMTC looks forward to the continuing co-operation that will lead to
the formalization of the CMTC Institute helping to mark this period of UPEI‘s enormous
research growth.
24
Figure 1
Organization Structure
Governing
Advisory Board
Chair: Dean of Arts UPEI
Meets 2x per Year
Executive
Management Committee
Director-Project Leader
Assisted by Project Manager
Meets Monthly
External Internal
Scholarly Board Scholarly Board
10 Principal Investigators
Meets 2x per year
by videoconference Meets bi-monthly
U de M UPEI UNB
Campus Committee Campus Committee Campus Committee
Co-Chair: UdeM Research Co-Chair: UPEI Research Co-Chair: UNB Research
Leader Leader Leader
U de M Project Manager UPEI Project Manager UNB Project Manager
Meets monthly Meets monthly Meets monthly
Meets monthly Meets monthly Meets monthly
25
Footnotes
A preliminary inventory of culture of PEI was developed under the Arts-Netlantic project.
Specific development of a cultural data base for visual artists in New Brunswick was
developed by U de M.
26
Appendices
Appendix 1
CFI Multimedia Arts Expert Committee Review of CMTC application
Excerpts from the CFI Multimedia Arts Expert Committee which awarded the application the
highest ratings possible in 3 of 6 categories, and the 2nd highest rating in the remaining 3.
―...a complex and ambitious research program, but one which has a very high policy and
practical relevance in terms of socio-cultural understanding and relations and in educational
practice.‖
...the research is set in the context where the form of much of the world‘s multimedia is
dominated by Western values, by the English language and by developments that rely on
increasingly complex and expensive technologies. It aims to understand how cultural differences
influence the way users perceive and use multimedia, focusing initially on the differences
between anglophones and acadian francophones. The researchers demonstrate clearly that
culturally-sensitive software is more complex than simply adjusting ‗content‘; it is also about
adjusting the services and functions that can be sued. The research is both highly creative and
original in approach but grounded in well established theory‖ [bold not in original]
―This is a research topic which has global importance, but has a particular resonance in Canada
which has a formal multilingual policy and a highly multicultural society‖
―...the range of skills the HQP will be exposed to in the laboratories is broader than is possible
elsewhere and, as such, the staff should emerge with a more complex and a more widely
transferable range of skills‖
―The Committee is impressed with the collaboration shown by the universities: first in
developing the proposal for CFI; but, also , in its planned structures for managing and
maintaining the resource. This is a good model of inter-university collaboration‖
―The research has a very high political and educational significance in Canada and globally.‖
―...the universities have instituted an excellent management plan. They have established an
extensive plan which addresses both the refitting of the laboratory space and the installation of
the equipment, and the ongoing management of the facilities across all three institutions, and also
ensures effective communication across the three institutions‖.
27
Appendix 2 Resources of CMTC
28
Appendix 3 Definition of Terms
Culture. The focus on culture recognizes
the value of the unique heritages of the different communities within NB and PEI
the need to consider culture in attempting to understand successful learning and e-learning
the need to know how cultural information is acquired (and to define culture)
the need to understand how learning takes place through the mental filter that culture creates
university strengths in fields associated with cultural products such as writing and music
Multimedia. The focus on multimedia recognizes
the increasing exposure to electronic multimedia/hypertext in daily life
the increasing possibility for exploitation of multimedia in teaching and communication
the need for a theoretical foundation upon which to base decisions about multimedia
university commitments to exploit new multimedia technology to its greatest potential
neglect of audio and to some extend video in multimedia teaching applications
Technology. The focus on technology recognizes
the increasing capabilities provided by new technologies for communication
the need for improvement of communications technologies (despite advances)
the need to understand what learners need to know in order to use new technologies
the federal government's priority to increase communication within Canadian society
advances in producing, indexing, and storing high resolution audiovideo materials
opportunities new technologies provide for creativity in domains such as writing and music
Cognition. The focus on cognition recognizes
the mind as the central limiting factor in successful human communication
the role of culture in creating a filter that influences the operation of mental processes.
the need to define what is meant by culture, including distinctions with language
the controversies surrounding the few current mental models of multimedia processing
the shared sensitivity to pattern in acquisition of language, writing, and musical skills
the debate regarding modularity (domain specific) versus universality of thought underlying separate
domains of writing, music, graphic, scientific/math concepts
the value of a comprehensive culture-sensitive model of mind to guide exploitation of media.
29
Appendix 4 Background
Date Highlights of Activities and Milestones
March 8, 2001 Meeting at U de Moncton of President Maclauchlan, VP Research McLauchlan
UNB (now President), M.Recteur U de Moncton and Christian Couturier (now
head of NRC-IIT), UPEI Past President Betsy Epperley, and UPEI Multimedia
Researcher Annabel. The general discussion focused on collaboration; Annabel
Cohen spoke about the need to understand the mind of the learner in order to
best exploit new multimedia resources for the teaching; John McLauchlan
emphasized the importance of cultural considerations; Betsy Epperly represented
the interest of UPEI in Island culture and writing; Wade MacLauchlan proposed
that UPEI Lead a CFI submission, and designated Annabel Cohen as the Project
Leader
March 8 – April 23Meetings organized by A. J. Cohen at each campus
April 30- May 1 UPEI hosts tri-campus grant-writing meeting
June 3, 2001 CFI Submission
January 2002 CFI awards the CFI grant for the total amount requested, conditional on
justification of request for number of computers and validation of IBM in-kind
contribution
June 11, 2002 Budget of $6000 approved by UPEI to pursue obtaining remaining matching funds
June 11, 2002 Meeting of A. Cohen with CMTC-Moncton
August 30, 2002 LOI to ACOA for AIF submission : Advancing the Learning Technology Industry
in Atlantic Canada ALTIAC
Sept 6-9, 2002 Attendance by A. J. Cohen & Sandy of Canadian IT meeting, making presentation
on CMTC by Sandy (UPEI Media Tech specialist) and meeting of A. Cohen with
Canadian Heritage
Sept. 30, 2002 Submissions of pre-proposal to Canadian Heritage by A. Cohen
New Media Research Networks
Sept. 30, 2002 Submission of LOI by Sandy McAuley re: interest in collaboration on
ARIM project on large-screen video
Nov. 5, 2002 Meeting of computer scientists from 3 campuses, organized by A. Cohen, held at
UPEI, to develop a technology for automatic repurposing of learning objects for
different cultural contexts
Nov. 1 – 30, 2002 Engagement of Wendy MacDonald by UPEI to assist writing AIF grant
Nov. 30 2002 Submission to AIF for ALTIAC (Advancing the learning technology industry in
Atlantic Canada) – Project Leader A. J. Cohen
Jan. 7, 2003 Notification of acceptance of LOI by Canadian Heritage
Jan 15, 2003 Videoconference of 3 campuses to discuss Canadian Heritage application (U de
M at NRC)
Jan 30 2003 Submission of proposal to Canadian Heritage for Arts-Netlantic
March 31, 2003 Award by Canadian Heritage of support of Arts-Netlantic
$1.3 million (of a $1.8 million project – additional funding from funding partners,
IBM, Networx, 3 campuses)
May 23, 2003 First Videoconference of Arts-Netlantic, with special guest Sheila Copps who
made official announcement of the 5 New Media Research Network Awards
30
May 2003 –Mar 11 monthly tri-campus Arts-Netlantic videoconferences
2004
Sept. 2003 Launching of the PEI Artist-Technology partnership awards competition for Arts-
Netlantic ($16,000 of award funding)
Nov 30, 2003 Invited Presentation on Arts-Netlantic collaboration by the Canadian Conference
on the Arts - Halifax, NS (A. J. Cohen & C. Moghrabi)
Dec 15, 2003 Official opening of the 3 Multi-media Production Facilities of Arts-Netlantic
Dec. 15, 2003 Announcement of the Artist-Technology partnership awards for PEI Arts-
Netlantic ($16,000 of award funding), and launch of NB competition
March 8, 2004 Agreement reached with IBM regarding in-kind support for CMTC
Mar 28-30, 2004 Arts-Netlantic International Conference on New Media Research Networks,
and publication of Conference Proceedings (140 pp) edited by A. Cohen & C.
Moghrabi. Presentations from UPEI include: Simon Lloyd (Robertson Library
archives), Anne Furlong (English/Linguistics), Jane Ledwell (Institute for Island
Studies), Annabel Cohen (Psychology), from U de Moncton: Chadia Moghrabi,
Tang-ho Le (Computer Sciences), John Tivendell (Psychology), Friedemann
Sallis (Music), Patricia Balcom (English/Linguistics), and from UNB: Janet
Stoppard (Psychology), (Music)
Mar 21, 2004 Meeting of Katherine Schultz, Gordon Bird, Annabel Cohen and members of
ACOA regarding funding of CMTC
Mar 25, 2004 $475,000 of funding awarded by ACOA in support of matching funds for
CMTC
March 31,2004 Delivery of IBM Digital Library and 45 IBM computers for multimedia
laboratories
May, 2004 Announcement of UPEI-IBM partnership at UPEI
June 16-23, 2004 IBM fact gathering workshop at UPEI, including tri-campus representation
Aug, 2004 Submission of budget finalization documents to CFI
Feb 2005 – July Development of Inter-Institutional Agreement and procurement of signatures
2005 from the three partner campuses
June 2005 CFI Board meeting held in PEI, CMTC Project Leader invited to dinner event
July 7, 2005 Approval by CFI of matching fund plan
July 23 - Sept 16, Procurement and submission of updated quotes (A. Cohen) to UPEI ORD
2005 submission by UPEI ORD to CFI
Aug. 8, 2005 Research Leaders meeting #1
Sept. 13, 2005 Research Leaders meeting #2
Sept 13 – Oct. 7 Campus CMTC meetings with Research Leaders at UNB and U de M
Sept. 16, 2005 Meeting of A. Cohen and Dean Richard Kurial reviewing progress, and
indicating need for document of proposal for Institute
Sept. 22 and 24 Meeting of A. Cohen with Sam Punnett, FAD Research, multimedia industry
consultant for ATC
Sept. 25, 2005 UPEI Maintenance personnel build 5 computer desks (earlier procured by A
Cohen), and Computer Services builds prototype software for IBM multimedia
classroom
Sept. 26, 2005 IBM Digital Library documents distributed to UPEI colleagues McAuley,
Epperly, Furlong, Vessey, Kurial and to Research Leaders UdeM and UNB
Sept. 30, 2005 Research Leaders planning meeting #3 + IBM representative
31
Oct. 6, 2005 Meeting R. Kurial, G. Bradshaw (UPEI VP Finance) and A. Cohen to discuss
space needs of CMTC
Oct. 11, 2005 Submission of draft proposal by A. Cohen for the CMTC Institute
Oct. 27, 2005 Research Leader‘s Meeting #4
Nov. 4, 2005 Visit from CFI representative to UPEI – presentation of current Robertson
Library Annex space by A. Cohen
Nov. 8, 2005 Signed agreement from CFI received by UPEI approving project
Nov. 30 – Dec 2, Interviews for Technical Coordinator
2005
Dec. 15, 2005 Research Leader‘s Meeting #5
Dec. 16, 2005 Posting of Proposal (Draft 2) for CMTC Institute on CMTC web-site
Dec. 23, 2005 Letter from UPEI VP‘s Timmons & Bradshaw to Dean Kurial, re: move of
CMTC from current Robertson Annex 1st floor space to library basement,
April 7, 2005
January 1, 2006 Appointment of Dave Cormier to CMTC Tech Coordinator
January 17, 2006 Meeting of CMTC Research Representatives re: development of response to
UPEI‘s Strategic Research Plan (Furlong- Arts, McAuley- Edu, Hemphill-
Business, Cormier, Cohen)
January 24, 2006 Research Leader‘s Meeting #6
January 25, 2006 CFI IOF Draft submitted by A. Cohen to ORD
Feb 7, 2006 Posting of CMTC Response to UPEI Strategic Research Plan
Feb 10, 2006 Meeting with Coles Assoc. (architect), Barb Campbell –Webster Centre,
Physical Plant, Blair Vessey, Dave Cormier, & Annabel Cohen re: plans for
new facility
Feb. 21, 2006 Research Leader‘s Meeting #7
Mar. 3, 2006 Visit of UPEI Researchers to designated CMTC space, basement library
Mar. 3, 2006 Meeting with Coles Assoc. (architect), VP Research, Physical Plant, Blair
Vessey, Dave Cormier, & Annabel Cohen re: plans for new facility
Mar 6-12, 2006 Visits of Gerry Lawless with Dave Cormier, re: IBM Digital Library
Mar 28, 2006 Scheduled Research Leader‘s Meeting #8
Related docs
