SOCIAL + INTERACTIVE
INTRODUCTION / MEDIA CENTRE

THE SOCIAL + INTERACTIVE MEDIA CENTRE (SIM) helps BC companies tap the design, creative

and technical expertise of Emily Carr faculty and students. Funded by a 5-year grant from

the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), SIM supports a wide

range of applied social, interactive and design projects. The Centre’s research program

engages BC companies as collaborators in uncovering new ways to use social technologies

and tackle interactive design challenges.

The applied research capacity of the SIM
Centre gives BC companies direct access to the
innovative thinking, design skills and research
expertise of BC’s most creative faculty and
students. Our partners span the technology
and creative sectors, including everything from
web and software developers to film publishing
companies. SIM Centre projects have included:

For web developer Work at Play, testing the
potential of their DEQQ social software tool
by using it to support online conversations in
an English class. The insights Work at Play got
from this test helped them position DEQQ for
its successful launch as the social platform for
all the Canadian teams in the NHL.

For broadcast producer Paperny Films,
developing the concept for a web and mobile
app to support their Food Network Canada
show, Eat Street, and connecting them with
Vancouver’s Invoke as a development partner.
Together, Paperny and Invoke received
significant funding from the Bell New Media
Fund, and have made Eat Street one of the top
Lifestyle apps on the Apple iOS app store.

For the web mavens at Mozilla, creating an
ebook version of Learning, Freedom & the

Web, a book about the future of learning and
education. This enhanced ebook was designed

and largely built by Emily Carr students, with
technical support from Steam Clock Software.

For web developers Affinity Bridge, partnering
to build Participedia, an innovative research
platform that convenes world leaders in the
research and practice of deliberative democracy
and democratic innovation.

For epublishing startup BookRiff, developing a
set of ebook prototypes that represent the eclectic
possibilities for ebook ideation and design.

As the SIM Centre grows, epublishing has
emerged as one of our core areas of research.
The advent of tablet computing has opened

the doors to new kinds of books that integrate
rich media, touchscreen interactivity, nonlinear
storytelling and social interaction. Companies
in a range of industries, including not only
publishing but also software, film, and gaming,
are moving toward ebooks as new medium for
their work. But the creative and implementation
challenges of creating enhanced books requires
a diverse set of skills and expertise. Emily Carr’s
varied strengths, which run from print and
interaction design to film and animation to
illustration, are helping BC companies explore
this new medium.

/ ALEXANDRA SAMUEL