UTS magazine interview with Elise

Publications

The October issue of U:mag, the primary paper magazine of the University of Technology, Sydney, features a nice interview with project leader Elise van den Hoven. Interviewed by Fiona Livy, she talks about the reasons for starting the Materialising Memories project, as well as the challenges we all face when it comes to our digital content.

“You can’t put memories in a device; they can only stay in your head because they’re yours, they’re personal and they keep on changing. A lot of people still think if you take a photograph you ‘catch’ the memory, which is nonsense. I’m looking at how we can shape our environments to support remembering better.”

It’s a good read, so if you happen to be near UTS head for a stand and pick up a copy of the latest U:mag. Everyone else, fear not: the article is also available online and we have a digital copy of the interview in U:mag ready for download as well (alternatively, you can view the full magazine in digital format). If you like the project and you happen to be around Eindhoven or Sydney, feel free to join as a participant for studies we’ll be doing in the future. Just let us know via the Contact page.

Our project featured in the media

Publications

Just yesterday Cathy Morris of mX Sydney, a free news paper available at most public transport hubs around Sydney, interviewed project leader Elise van den Hoven. The interview made it to the front page, vying for attention with Batman! In the interview Elise discussed the general problem area of our project, specifically the abundance of photos we collect but have difficulty retrieving at a later point in time. We made sure to grab a copy of the article for your reading pleasure.

Last week UTS News Room paid attention to the Materialising Memories project as well. The university’s journalists featured the project on the News Room website, including a discussion of the partnership between UTS and TU/e. Similar reports were published by Eindhoven University’s Cursor and Bits & Chips, a news source for the Dutch and Belgian high-tech industry. In the coming months one of UTS’ news channels will publish another interview with Elise, so more mentions in the media will surely follow.

Signing the Memorandum of Agreement for cooperation between Eindhoven University of Technology and University of Technology, Sydney, with (left to right): Vice Rector International Relations prof. Aarnout Brombacher (TU/e); Project leader Materialising Memories project, UHD Elise van den Hoven; Head of School of Design prof. Lawrence Wallen (UTS); Deputy Vice Chancellor Research prof. Attila Brungs (UTS). Photo by Bart van Overbeeke.

TU/e signs Memorandum of Agreement with UTS

Project memories

Eindhoven’s university newspaper confirms that our project will be the first to have a joint PhD programme to mark the newly signed agreement between TU/e and UTS. Project leader Elise van den Hoven has held positions at both universities for some time now, and Berry Eggen will become adjunct professor at UTS to further support the partnership. Each university will be home to two of our PhD candidates. From the article:

De TU/e wordt ‘Key Technology Partner’ van de University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Het voornemen tot een verbond met de Australische universiteit werd dinsdag bekrachtigd met het ondertekenen van een Memorandum of Agreement. Als onderdeel van de samenwerking komt er een gezamenlijk ‘PhD programme’, dat per direct invulling krijgt in de vorm van het Vidi-project rond persoonlijke herinneringen dat dr. Elise van den Hoven op beide locaties zal leiden.

Group portrait after signing of the MoA between Eindhoven University of Technology and University of Technology, Sydney, with: Elise van den Hoven (project leader), Innes Ireland (UTS), Attila Brungs (UTS), Lawrence Wallen (UTS), Aarnout Brombacher (TU/e), Berry Eggen (TU/e), Thea Brejzek (UTS). Photo by Bart van Overbeeke.
Group portrait after signing of the MoA between Eindhoven University of Technology and University of Technology, Sydney, with: Elise van den Hoven (project leader), Innes Ireland (UTS), Attila Brungs (UTS), Lawrence Wallen (UTS), Aarnout Brombacher (TU/e), Berry Eggen (TU/e), Thea Brejzek (UTS). Photo by Bart van Overbeeke.

The complete article by Cursor’s Tom Jeltes can be found online (in Dutch). Both photos by Bart van Overbeeke.

Group photo at the MM kickoff. Standing, left to right: Innes Ireland (UTS), prof. Attila Brungs (UTS), prof. Panos Markopoulos (TU/e), Mendel Broekhuijsen (PhD candidate, TU/e), Annemarie Zijlema (PhD candidate, UTS), Ine Mols (PhD candidate, TU/e), Doménique van Gennip (PhD candidate, UTS), prof. Berry Eggen (TU/e). Sitting: Elise van den Hoven (UTS & TU/e), prof. Lawrence Wallen (UTS). Photo by Iris Soute.

Official project kick-off

Project memories

Today the project got its official start in front of a small audience, consisting of all the team members, plus a delegation from UTS and others who showed interest. Each of us introduced her or himself by explaining why we chose to bring a specific artefact that triggered memories for us. Elise then explained the core reasoning behind the project; no one brought a hard disk or other digital storage device, while many of us have valuable memories attached to media stored on such devices. Here the Materialising Memories project can make a difference and we hope to show our work to the community in the next few years!

Mendel adjusts his book, one of each team member's artefacts that brings back memories.
Mendel adjusts his book, one of each team member’s artefacts that brings back memories.

The top image shows the group of people related to the project. Standing, left to right: Innes Ireland (UTS), prof. Attila Brungs (UTS), prof. Panos Markopoulos (TU/e), Mendel Broekhuijsen (PhD candidate, TU/e), Annemarie Zijlema (PhD candidate, UTS), Ine Mols (PhD candidate, TU/e), Doménique van Gennip (PhD candidate, UTS), prof. Berry Eggen (TU/e). Sitting: Elise van den Hoven (UTS & TU/e), prof. Lawrence Wallen (UTS). Photo by Iris Soute.