----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inishowen working now with creative technologies and Derry again Professor Paul Mc Kevitt Chair in Intelligent MultiMedia School of Computing & Intelligent Systems Faculty of Engineering University of Ulster, Magee Derry/Londonderry Northern Ireland E-mail: p.mckevitt@ulster.ac.uk URL: http://www.paulmckevitt.com/ 1. Introduction In times gone by Inishowen at work then would have focussed on agriculture, fishing, textiles and tourism. However, many farms are no longer worked, fishing stocks have been depleted, much textile production has moved to the Far East and further afield and tourism has continued to thrive. Many more children from Inishowen have moved into third level education and in the past this would have meant moving to Galway or Dublin, but with new developments at the University of Ulster, Magee, Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) and the Derry North West Institute for Further and Higher Education (NWIFHE) now to be merged with Limavady College of Further and Higher Education (LCFHE), this migration is less necessary. The recent announcement of 1.2 billion Euros to be spent by the Irish Government on the North of Ireland as part of the National Development Plan (NDP) (2007-2013) launched in January, 2007 will increase developments in cross-border linkages and bring the City of Derry closer to a major part of its natural hinterland which is Inishowen. All of this is with the background that in November, 2006 Ireland was ranked 4th in the world in the United Nations (U.N.) Human Development Index report, Human Development Programme based on per-capita income, education, health care & life expectancy factors. Previously, Ireland was ranked 2nd in the world, after Japan, in the Bank of Ireland Private Banking report, July, 2006 with assets at 150,000 Euros average, per person, per capita. There are many opportunities for employment in Inishowen, Derry and Letterkenny with third level qualifications in the creative industries (e.g. The Nerve Centre, The Verbal Arts Centre, Ambient Light Productions, Lermagh Design, An Grianan Theatre, The Millenium Forum, The Playhouse, Torc Interative, Phooka, EyeSpyFX), computer software companies (e.g. Singularity, Prumerica, Northbrook, Opt2vote), medicine (e.g. Altnagelvin Hospital, Letterkenny General Hospital), and of course, teaching. [get picture from: http://www.paulmckevitt.com/mgpics/mg.jpg), University of Ulster, Magee from Rock Road (courtesy Jon Campbell)] 2. Creative Industries The creative industries include design related industries (e.g. architecture, craft), expressive industries (music, theatre, dance, art), and media and information industries (e.g. advertising, film, multimedia & games). In the UK the creative industries account for 8% of GDP and for a positive 11.4 billion pounds trade balance employing 5% of all employees and include a highly creative workforce where 43% have degrees as compared with 16% on average. The UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCAL) is leading a Creative Economy Programme which is exploring new ways of supporting business growth and development in the creative industries. In Northern Ireland recent estimates indicate that employment in the creative industries is somewhat below the UK average but growing faster. The `Unlocking Creativity' strategy and Regional Innovation Strategy have identified the growth potential of the creative industries. The Chinese government's National Economic and Social Development 11th 5-year plan (2006-2010) mentions the creative industries on virtually every page. The North West of Ireland has traditional expertise in creative industry domains such as music (e.g. Phil Coulter, Gay McIntyre, Daniel O'Donnell, Clannad, Enya, Altan, Dana, Josef Locke, The Undertones), storytelling (e.g. Sean O hEochaidh, Mici Mac Gabhann, Cathal 0 Searcaigh, Charles McGlinchey, Patrick Macgill, Jennifer Johnston, Hazel McIntyre), poetry (e.g. Seamus Heaney), film production (e.g. The Nerve Centre, Ambient Light Productions), film acting (e.g. Amanda Burton, Bronagh Gallagher, Roma Downey), radio and television (e.g. Inishowen Community Radio (ICR), Raidio na Gaeltachta (RNaG), BBC Radio Foyle, Highland Radio, Channel-9), theatre (e.g. Brian Friel, Frank McGuinness, Charles Macklin, Field Day productions), art (e.g. Nora McGuinness, Derek Hill, Willie Doherty, Void Gallery, Glebe House Gallery, Context Gallery) and print, with many newspapers (e.g. Inish Times, Derry Journal, Donegal Democrat). The North West also has industrial expertise in multimedia with companies such as Torc Interactive, Instinct and Phooka (Computer Games), Lermagh Design (Print Design) and EyeSpyFX (Mobile communications and content). The University of Ulster (UU), North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (NWIFHE), Limavady College of Further and Higher Education (LCFHE), Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) and Derry Nerve Centre provide a sound educational basis with undergraduate and postgraduate courses in MultiMedia, Computer Games, Computing & Design, Art & Design, Music, Film, Theatre, and Dance, all of which are relevant for the creative industries. The IceCube centre managed by NORIBIC (Northern Ireland Business and Innovation Centre) based at NWIFHE is an EU Interreg III-A funded cross-border project with LYIT focussing on incubating start-up companies in the area of Digital Media, Computer Games and Computer Entertainment and is the first of its kind on the island of Ireland. In terms of research, example projects include the development of digital storytelling systems which automatically produce multimedia output with speech, 3D animation and music from text input and can be applied in education, computer games, film and theatre production and design systems which automatically produce designs for products such as product logos based on design specifications. For example, a unique software package called CONFUCIUS developed within the Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC) at the University of Ulster, Magee showcases interdisciplinary collaboration between computing and the arts. The software understands natural language English input and automatically maps it into 3D multimedia presentations which incorporate 3D virtual reality graphics, animated characters, spoken dialogue and non-speech audio sound effects. CONFUCIUS incorporates concepts and ideas from the fields of Computer and Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Systems, Film, Theatre and Music, obtained best paper award at the International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing, Hainan, China, 2004 and was showcased at the 16th Charles Macklin Autumn School, McGrory's, Culdaff, Inishowen, Co. Donegal, 2005. In recognition of the importance of the creative industries the University of Ulster will confer the Donegal singer and songwriter, Enya, with an Honorary Doctorate in Letters (D.Litt.) during July, 2007 at the Magee Graduation Ceremony in Derry's Millenium Forum. [get picture from: http://www.paulmckevitt.com/photos/ijcnlp05/ijcnlp05group.jpg), Profs. Hovy (ISI, USC, USA), Joshi (U.Penn, USA), Uszkoreit (Saarbruecken, Germany), Sophia Ananiadou (Salford University, Manchester), Tsujii (Tokyo, Japan), Benjamin Tsou (City University, Hong Kong), Maosung Sun (Tsinghua, Beijing, China), Su (Hsinchu, Taiwan) with Prof. Paul Mc Kevitt at IJCNLP-04, Hainan Island, China, March 24th, 2004.] [get picture from: http://www.paulmckevitt.com/photos/macklin.jpg), Sean Beattie (Macklin Committee Chair), Prof. Paul Mc Kevitt and Minhua (Eunice) Ma, at the 16th Charles Macklin Autumn School, Culdaff, Inishowen, Co. Donegal, Oct. 9th, 2005 (venue: McGrory's) (courtesy John Beattie)] 3. Computer Software and Electronics In the domain of computer software and electronics there are numerous companies in the North West such as Singularity, Northbrook, Prumerica and McCambridge-Duffy focussing on financial services, InVision producing workforce management solutions, Opt2vote with on-line voting software, Andronics focussed on electronic devices controlled from satellite, EyeSpyFX capturing mobile communications and content and Seagate manufacturing disk drives. The University of Ulster (UU), North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (NWIFHE), Limavady College of Further and Higher Education (LCFHE), and Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) provide undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Intelligent Systems, Computing & Financial Services and Electronics for the software and electronics industries. In terms of example research projects the DETI (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment) Northern Ireland Wireless Broadband Flagship Project for Wireless Broadband Technology has been successful with developing a Walled City to Wireless City project for the City of Derry and a wireless campus at Magee and NWIFHE. For example, all first year Magee single honours and major computing students are given wireless Toshiba Tablet PCs. Also, Invest Northern Ireland has funded a 7.2 million pounds Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC) at the Magee School of Computing and Intelligent Systems. This centre is focussed on bio-inspired systems, cognitive robotics, autonomous systems, and pervasive and ambient computing. Professor Noel Sharkey of The University of Sheffield, England who is a world leader in robotics received an Honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree from The University of Ulster in 2006 and has been appointed Visiting Professor at the University for four years. [get picture from: http://www.paulmckevitt.com/noelhonorary/photos/university/noelpaul.jpg), Prof. Noel Sharkey (University of Sheffield, England) and Prof. Paul Mc Kevitt at Prof. Sharkey's Honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) Graduation, University of Ulster, Coleraine, Monday, July 3rd, 2006 (courtesy Nigel McDowell)] 4. Medicine In medicine there are many employment opportunities for nurses, doctors, consultants, radiographers, radiologists, anaesthetists, and dentists, at Derry Altnagelvin Hospital, Letterkenny General Hospital and the many local health centres, clinics, and private practices in Inishowen and the North West. The University of Ulster (UU) and Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) provide undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Nursing, Nutrition, Dietics and Psychology. Also, currently in genesis is the cross-border graduate-entry Ulster/Connacht Medical School for training of doctors joint between the University of Ulster, NUI Galway, Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) and Sligo Institute of Technology (IT Sligo). We must not forget that Agnes Elizabeth Jones (1832-1868) born in Fahan House, and buried in a Old Rectory graveyard beside St. Mura's Church, Fahan nursed in the Crimean War and trained with Florence Nightingale who visited Magee College on 31st May, 1867 and signed the visitor's book. In 2006 a Derry based film company, Ambient Light Productions produced a documentary drama film (``Agnes'') on her life. In terms of research projects in the Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC) at Magee we are developing a prototype mobile handheld storytelling aid called MemoryLane for older people who may have dementia or alzheimers. MemoryLane tells people stories from their life cached data (pictures, video, audio, text) entered previously to help them remember. Developments in new technologies such as medical imaging, biomedical sciences and bioengineering continue to improve medical healthcare provision for the elderly. 5. Tourism The tourism industry is one which continues to blossom in Inishowen, Derry and Letterkenny and more opportunities have been created by the declining border, continued development of Derry City Airport, and the ferry services over the Foyle and Swilly. Also, there is no doubt that there is a link between tourism in the North West and the Creative Industries. For example, we see the many people from all over the world, which is evidenced in the visitor book, who flock to Leo's Tavern in Meenaleck, Gweedore, Co. Donegal due to their appreciation of Enya and Clannad. Developments with the internet and broadband continue to bring tourist destinations closer to potential customers and make booking flights and accommodation easier. The University of Ulster (UU), Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) incorporating the Tourism College Killybegs, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (NWIFHE) and Limavady College of Further and Higher Education (LCFHE), provide undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Hospitality and Tourism. 6. Conclusion In 2007 we are celebrating the 400 years annversary of the Flight of the Earls (1607), with anniversaries looming soon of the Rebellion and burning of Derry by (Sir) Cathair O Doherty and (Sir) Phelim Riabhach Mac Dhaibh/eid (1608) and the Plantation of Inishowen (1609). Also, we must not forget that at one time Inishowen was not in Donegal (Tir Conall) at all but in a much larger region of Tyrone (Tir Eoghan) which included Derry. Times have changed a lot in 400 years. As the rolling out of broadband increases in Derry and Inishowen this will bring Derry closer to its hinterland although it is clear that more needs to be done here in the Republic as recent European surveys show. As the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic diminishes Derry will become more integrated with Inishowen, part of its natural hinterland. This will provide more education and employment opportunities in the sectors of creative industries, computer software and electronics, medicine and tourism where creative technologies are being applied. These sectors are where we will work now as we look forward to the future in Inishowen. 7. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Sean Beattie, Denis Bradley, Trutz Haase, Liam Harkin, Marius Harkin and Mura McLaughlin for informative discussion on a number of points in this article. 8. Biography Professor Paul Mc Kevitt is from Inishowen, D/un Na nGall (Donegal), Ireland and is Chair in Intelligent MultiMedia at the School of Computing & Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ulster, Magee, Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Previously, he was Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in the School of Computer Science at The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has been Visiting Professor of Intelligent MultiMedia Computing in the Institute of Electronic Systems at Aalborg University, Denmark and a British EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) Advanced Fellow in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield, England. The Fellowship, commenced in 1994, and released him from his Associate Professorship (tenured Lectureship) for 5 years to conduct full-time research on the integration of natural language, speech and vision processing. He completed a Master's degree in Education (M.Ed.) at the University of Sheffield in 1999. He completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Exeter, England in 1991. His Master's degree in Computer Science (M.S.) was obtained from New Mexico State University, New Mexico, USA in 1988 and his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science (B.Sc., Hons.) from University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland in 1985. His primary research interests are in Natural Language Processing (NLP) including the processing of pragmatics, beliefs and intentions in dialogue. He is also interested in Philosophy, MultiMedia and the general area of Artificial Intelligence. Prof. Mc Kevitt has published over 50 research papers in international conferences and journals and is Editor of Artificial Intelligence Review Journal (Springer, Heidelberg). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------