** The Music and Science list is managed by the Institute of Musical Research (www.music.sas.ac.uk) as a bulletin board and discussion forum for researchers working at the shared boundaries of science and music. **

MESSAGE FOLLOWS:



URGENT – Four fully funded places for Visiting Research Students available
immediately at the Music Computing Lab at the Open University.

Four fully funded places for Visiting Research Students at the Music Computing Lab
at the Open University, on projects in collaboration with the Pervasive Interaction
Lab, are available immediately. You must be an EU or UK National. Prospective
students could be excellent final year undergraduates, Masters students, or PhD
students, or could have recently completed at any of these levels. Broadly, we are
interested in candidates with experience in HCI or Pervasive Interaction or Music
Computing – but details vary widely for the different projects– see below
We welcome recommendations for likely candidates from researchers or teachers
from relevant disciplines in university departments. Prospective visiting students or
recent students are equally welcome to apply on their own behalf.
These visiting studentships are to work on predefined research projects as detailed
below. Only those able to give evidence of appropriate knowledge, skills and
experience to complete these projects should apply.

The studentships are available to start from 1st May (or could be delayed till mid-May,
but might also be negotiated to begin sooner). The studentships will run until 31st
July, although in an exceptional case a studentship might be extended by a few weeks.
Students will be required to attend daily at the Open University Campus in Milton
Keynes. We will pay for accommodation in Milton Keynes, and we will pay a per
diem to cover food and travel expenses to and from campus. We can also cover
reasonable travel expenses at the start and finish of the studentship.
Applications should include a CV and covering note that summarizes
• evidence of appropriate knowledge, skills and experience for the specific
studentship (see below for details)
• why you want to undertake this studentship,
• why you think you would be a good candidate,
• telephone, email and postal contact details for two referees, at least one of whom
must be able to comment on subject discipline specifics.
Applications should be sent by electronic mail to mcs-computingsecretaries@
open.ac.uk. Informal enquiries for projects 1-3 should be sent to
s.holland (insert <at> here) open.ac.uk. For details of projects 1 and 2 also contact
j.vanderlinden. For project 3, also contact r.w.griffiths. The contact for project 4 is
r.c.laney. (All addresses are <at> open.ac.uk.)

This is an opportunity to gain experience on practical projects run in collaboration
between the Music Computing Lab and the Pervasive Interaction Lab.
Each project is intended to lead to a publication with the student as co-author.

Project Area 1
Music Computing and Pervasive Interaction: Implementation
Purpose
The purpose of this family of projects is to help implement new computational tools
for music composition, performance and learning being designed and built by the
Music Computing Lab in collaboration with the Pervasive Interaction Research Lab
and the Music Department.
General skills/experience required
The visiting research student should have, or be about to complete, an undergraduate
degree or Masters degree in Computer Science or a cognate subject. Good
programming ability is essential. Experience and skill in interaction design is
essential. For some projects, though not all, experience of hardware prototyping with
system such as arduino is a strong advantage. Experience of pervasive, tangible or
music computing projects a strong advantage. The student need not be formally
trained in music, but some musical skill and experience is a strong advantage.
Experience of lightweight evaluation techniques is an advantage for some projects .
The work will be carried out in the Music Computing Lab, on projects in
collaboration with the Pervasive Interaction Lab.

Projects in this area will involve working on one of the following projects.

1.1 New Musical Tools using tabletop interaction
Multi-touch shared tabletop interaction affords many new opportunities for interaction
design in music computing. Tables allow for large displays, a direct style of
interaction and new kinds of collaboration. We have various candidate projects
available, based on tools for rhythm, and tools for harmony. These projects would
focus mainly on programming and interaction design skills and do not require
hardware skills. Appropriate drivers are already available. Knowledge of Squeak
Smalltalk or Max/Msp an advantage.

1.2 New Musical Tools using force feedback
Force feedback interaction affords many interesting opportunities for interaction
design in music computing. We have available a richly expressive desktop Sensable
Phantom haptic device for work on either of two candidate projects, one based on a
tool for melody, and one based on a tool for harmony. These projects would focus on
programming, including some driver level work, and interaction design skills.
Knowledge of C++ essential. Knowledge of Open Haptics a strong advantage.

1.3 Expressive, interactive animated graphics for new music computing tools
Some new interaction designs for music can benefit greatly from expressive,
interactive aesthetic animated graphics. These projects would require a talented
graphical interaction programmer.

1.4 Tangible, embedded, and whole body music computing
These projects typically involve prototyping typically small devices integrating both
hardware and software. Conferences such as NIME and TEI are a good reference for
examples of relevant technologies. These projects require a mixture of software and
hardware programming skills.

1.5 New tools for supporting beginning String Players
These tools have an educational purpose and are also using ideas from games design
as they are 'playful' approaches to music tuition. They are particularly aimed at novice
violin or cello players, but may also be applied to other instrumentalists or singers.
The research student need not be formally trained in music, but should be interested in
music and have musical skill and experience. An interest in music technology would
be an advantage. These projects would focus mainly on interaction design and game
design and will involve programming.

Project Area 2
Music Computing and Pervasive Interaction: Evaluation
Purpose
The purpose of this family of projects is to assist in carrying out user studies and other
kinds of evaluation of new tools for music performance, education and composition
currently being designed and built by interdisciplinary collaborations centred in the
Music Computing Lab.
General skills/experience required
The visiting research student should have undergraduate, masters or professional level
experience of designing and carrying out user studies. Knowledge of Human
Computer Interaction or Psychology (or any cognate subject area that informs user
studies) is essential. Experience of carrying out user studies and evaluations,
including video analysis and statistical work is an advantage. The visiting research
student need not be formally trained in music, but should be interested in music and
have musical skill and experience. An interest in music technology would be an
advantage. The work will be carried out in the Music Computing Lab and the
Pervasive Interaction Lab.

Project Area 3
Purpose
The iPhone affords significant new possibilities in Music Computing Research. It
offers strategically important and qualitatively new ways of: gathering research data;
disseminating research prototypes; and innovating in music education. This project
will involve implementing prototype demonstrator projects on the iPhone,
The visiting research student should have an undergraduate degree or Masters degree
in Computer Science or a related subject - we will also consider good final year
undergraduate students. Good programming ability is essential.
Relevant experience is a major advantage – e.g. iPhone programming, experience or
COCOA or Objective C. The intern need not be formally trained in music, but should
be interested in music and have some musical skill and experience, whether formal or
informal. An interest in music technology, and knowledge of technical music terms
would be an advantage. The work will be carried out in the Music Computing lab
with access to facilities of the Pervasive Interaction Lab.

Project Area 4
Purpose
The visiting research student will assist in the design, implementation and evaluation
of tools to support human-machine collaboration on creative music tasks. The tools
would be designed for use in a research project exploring collaborative creativity
between professional musician(s), and the general public. The work is likely to
involve a Multi-touch shared tabletop interface.

General skills/experience required

The visiting research student should have undergraduate, masters or professional level
experience of programming and user interface design. Knowledge of Human
Computer Interaction or Psychology (or any cognate subject area that informs user
studies) is essential. The visiting research student need not be formally trained in
music, but should be interested in music and have musical skill and experience. An
interest in music technology would be an advantage. The work will be carried out in
the Music Computing Lab and the Pervasive Interaction Lab.