Dear NIME community,
As you probably know, in the last few years, new initiatives have been developed within NIME to address specific issues or to explore how we could do things better. These initiatives resulted in important practical outcomes, like the development of a code of ethics and the establishment of a number of issue-specific committees. These and other initiatives were mostly created with a bottom-up approach, with NIME members identifying potential issues and being willing to address them. We now have a few more initiatives lined up that are about to kick off. Their success will largely depend on people’s contribution and enthusiasm, so please do volunteer to participate in one or more of these if you are interested (and have capacity!). Just get in touch with the contact indicated at the bottom of each blurb, or get in touch with me if you want to propose a new initiative.
Best,
Fabio Morreale
Chair of the NIME Steering Committee
1. NIME Accessibility
We are putting together a committee to support the theme of accessibility within NIME. This isn’t a new topic for NIME, but it’s a broad field in which we can continue to grow and develop as a conference, both in terms of our focus and our representation. We would like a way of keeping accessibility as a priority for each year’s agenda. The first steps would be coming together to discuss what the accessibility agenda should be, establish a code of accessibility for the conference, and explore how this could be supported by a committee.
Please feel free to get in touch if you would be interested in meeting every few months to discuss:
- Developing and supporting the accessibility agenda for the conference.
- Expanding and sharing knowledge of accessibility and accessible instruments.
- Supporting initiatives that create more diverse and inclusive cultures.
Contact: Jon Pigrem j.m.pigrem@sheffield.ac.uk
2. Musical Interface Repository
Following the discussion about a central repository with pre- and off-NIME references related to musical interface research, we are willing to launch a working group to collect these references and create a place to link to (or eventually store) them. The goal is to assemble the largest number of NIME-related references in one place to increase awareness of works beyond the NIME proceedings as well as facilitate the search for related work
A preliminary effort developed by Joao Tragtenberg and Marcelo Wanderley is available at: GitHub - jtragtenberg/off-nime: Nime papers, chapters and books published outside of the NIME Conference proceedings
Contact: Marcelo Wanderley marcelo.wanderley@mcgill.ca
3. NIME Exchange
To date, hundreds of NIMEs have been built and presented during the annual conference (and in other academic/artistic venues). Thereafter, their fate is mostly unknown. Do they still exist? Are they still in full/partial working condition? Are they available for use by other researchers or artists? We believe that several of the presented NIMEs still exist and are just collecting dust in our storage. Making existing NIMEs available to others can have mutual benefits. This also resonates with trends that have emerged in recent years in the NIME community: sustainable and eco-friendly research, longevity of NIMEs, reuse or redesign of old NIMEs, diversity and inclusion.
The goal of this initiative is to develop a framework to facilitate the use of existing NIME by other researchers and/or artists. This may include:
- Structure and hosting of a database of existing NIME (e.g. what information to include), populated and maintained by the community (how to promote this?).
- Guidelines and practicalities related to the exchange of NIMEs (e.g. exchanging
the hardware during the annual conference, visiting when the hardware can not be moved, etc.)
Contact: Stefano Fasciani stefano.fasciani@imv.uio.no