Mid East, kids’ interactive technology, video-painting
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Will new moves quell fighting in the Middle East?
Each day, key players orchestrating the latest battle for supremacy and security in the Middle East make new moves. Will a new ceasefire plan that calls for the deployment of 15,000 Lebanese troops along the Israeli-Lebanon border snuff out Hezbollah strongholds and encourage Israel to go home? Yildiz Atasoy, an assistant professor in sociology at SFU, can tackle these questions. Atasoy specializes in global Islamic politics.
Yildiz Atasoy, 604.291.5520, yatasoy@sfu.ca
Grieving for a possibly impossible cause
As yet another family grieves for the loss of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan, SFU political scientist David Ross is silently thinking to himself: “I was afraid of this.” The expert on Canadian foreign policy and strategic arms control has written extensively about the Afghan-Taliban conflict since visiting the Middle East in 2005. See http://www.sfu.ca/casr/ft-ross6e-1.htm. Ross can comment on the escalating number of Canadian soldiers — five in the last month — coming back in body bags. Ross can also evaluate whether any good will come out of the planned excursion of four conservative MPs to South Asian and Middle Eastern hot spots this fall.
Doug Ross, 604.291.4782, 604.737.8040
Spotlight on SFU Surrey research — our new campus opens Sept. 8
Finding the real kid in interactive technology
Getting inside a child’s head is key to creating successful kid-oriented education products and lessons based on interactive technology, says SFU Surrey assistant professor Alissa Antle. The designer of interactive play environments for kids has all kinds of imaginative tricks up her sleeve for getting to the heart of what kids truly need when technology is their playmate. “If you ask kids what they like they say sugar and violent video games,” says Antle. “It’s hard to get beyond the brain candy.”
Alissa Antle, 604.619.2290 (cell), alissa_antle@sfu.ca
Escaping in video ‘paintings’
Remember that burning Yule log on VHS tape that helped you feel as though you were sitting beside a roaring fireplace at Christmas time? Jim Bizzocchi, a researcher with SFU Surrey’s HDTV project, is designing ambient videos that can be played as framed wall hangings, guaranteed to entrance the viewer. Bizzocchi predicts the day is near where we relax, not just in front of the television, but ‘video-paintings’, framed in elegant flat-panel displays that hang on our living room walls. Bizzocchi can talk about and show his creations. In addition, he will be showcasing his work at the SFU Surrey grand opening in September and will be available to discuss and answer questions.
Jim Bizzocchi, 778.782.7437, jimbiz@sfu.ca