Faculty
Michael Longford
Profile
Michael Longford joined the Department of Design in 2007. His creative work and research activities reside at the intersection of photography, graphic design, digital media, and mobile communication technologies. He recently completed a three-year project as the co-principal investigator for the Mobile Digital Commons Network (MDCN), a national research network developing technology and media rich content for mobile devices. Prior to his appointment at York, he was a faculty member in the Design and Computation Arts program at Concordia University. He was a founding member of Hexagram: Institute for Research and Creation in Media Arts and Technologies in Montreal, and served for three years as the Director for the Advanced Digital Imaging and 3D Rapid Prototyping Group. Currently, he is a Co-Director of the Mobile Media Lab, which is located at York and Concordia University, and a Co-Editor of Wi: Journal of Mobile Media.He has received funding from Canadian Heritage, Hexagram, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC).
Areas of Interest
Mobile technologies, wireless communications, networks, interaction design, graphic design, 3D rapid prototyping, photography.Courses Taught
- DART 5001: Design Practicum
- DART 5104: Design Investigations
- YSDN 4004: Design Workshop
- YSDN 3104: Design for Public Awareness
Selected Projects
- The Mobile Media Lab (MML) – Co-Director
The MML is co-located at York University in Toronto, and Hexagram, at Concordia University in Montreal The lab supports an interdisciplinary research team exploring wireless communications, mobile technologies and locative media practices. www.mobilemedialab.ca - Apple/CONCERT
The MML is collaborating with the Mobile Experience Lab at the Ontario College of Art & Design and CONCERT partner, Apple Canada, to develop an application for the iPhone. - Marconi Galaxy - Culture, Technology and Myth-Making
Working within the metaphoric trajectory inaugurated by Marshall McLuhan, a group of Canadian and Italian researchers will explore the 'Marconi Galaxy'. Our international research efforts investigate how the wireless imaginary has shaped our everyday practices. This research project coincides with the Marconi Foundation's year-long celebration of Marconi’s 1909 Noble Prize in physics. - Zoomorphe: Digital Limpets & Barnacles for City Surfaces
This pilot research/creation project utilizes the 3D rapid prototyping equipment in the Digital Sculpture Laboratory (DSL) at York University to model and produce housings based on hybrid forms derived from nature for embedded electronics and sensors. - Wi: Journal of Mobile Media – Co-Editor
Wi is an online journal that publishes the latest in international mobilities research, encompassing disciplines such as art, design, engineering, computer science, communications and media studies. www.wi-not.ca
Selected Publications
2008- In-Press - Sampling the Spectrum: The Politics, Practices and Poetics of Mobile Communication, Editors, Barbara Crow, Michael Longford and Kim Sawchuk, University of Toronto Press.
- In-Press - "Voices from Beyond: Ephemeral Histories, Locative Media and the Volatile Interface," with Barbara Crow et al., Handbook of Research on Urban Informatics: The Practice and Promise of the Real-Time City, ed., Marcus Foth, Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, IGI Global.
Selected Conference Presentations
2008- Presentation – "__ __ __ __ __ __: But I Ain't No Magician," Fail Again, Design Inquiry ‘08, Vinalhaven, Maine, July 20-25.
- Proposition & Dialogue Facilitator – "Designing from the middle inside out – or – the story of the disappear-it-all boy magician," New Views 2: Conversations and Dialogues in Graphic Design, London College of Communication, London, July 09-11.
- Invited Speaker – "Voices from Beyond: Ephemeral Histories, Locative Media and the Volatile Interface," – with Dr. Barbara Crow, KDMI Design Research Series, organized by the Knowledge Media Design Institute, University of Toronto, March 13.
- Invited Participant – The Future of Design Research in Canada, organized by the Canadian Design Research Network, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, January 15-16.
- Invited Speaker – "The Haunting," – Memory and Trauma: facilitating storytelling through digital media – with Dr. Barbara Crow, A charrette presented as part of the Digifest 2008 ‘Water’s Edge’ Professional Development Series, Harbourfront, Toronto, September 26.
- Panel – "The Haunting: Voices from Beyond in Mobile Experience Design," – Digital Cities 5: Urban Informatics, Locative Media and Mobile Technology in Inner-city Developments – with Dr. Barbara Crow, Michigan State University, East Lansing, June 28, 2007.
- Project Demo – "The Haunting: Prototype for a GPS based Cell Phone Game," Mobile Nation: Mobile Play 2, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, March 25.