Network Jamming is the practice of multimedia performance between participants connected over the internet or a local area network. Network Jamming provides new opportunities for creative collaboration and artistic expression. To facilitate this activity the jam2jam media performance software has been developed to utilise generative media algorithms that make Network Jamming accessible and productive.

Participants at Jamskölan09 have been doing research on the use of jam2jam (a Network Jamming software application) in various educational and community contexts. At Jamskölan09 they shared their experiences and discussed ongoing research collaborations. What has been identified in this symposium is the need to increase theaccess and opportunity

for creative collaborative interaction and exploration for users. Principally the responses suggest that the tools need to be made more robust and expressive. There needs to be emphasis on the kind of simplicity and clarity of access that jam2jam can encapsulate, but also to have a

range of complexity available for increased levels of expressive control, both within the software interface and through gestural controllers.

Most clearly this symposium acknowledged that the strengths of Network Jamming lie in its accessibility and simplicity, its collaborative potential and its capacity to amplify shared cultural understandings through user made or chosen audio and visual content. Furthermore, that qualitative and statistical measures of computer-mediated interaction present rich

opportunities for research. It will be important to examine the usefulness of this kind of data to better understand creative relationships, learning behaviour, and collaborative interactions.

The importance of Jamskölan09 has been to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Network Jamming systems. The International and Australian participants acknowledged the serious potential for generative media in education and community contexts.

The need to develop a conceptual framework for generative media systems in these contexts is contingent upon extending the theoretical research identified through the current ACID project, and exploiting the value of comparative research in multiple contexts and countries.

The participants of Jamskölan09 agreed to continue their development, testing and evaluation to assist this ongoing research.

Participants also committed to writing a theoretical book that will begin the affirmation of generative media as an educational device for exploring collaborative performance as a vehicle by which new ways of learning can be established. This theoretical research will also need continuous technical support and the production of pedagogical resource materials that serve as ‘recipes’ for learning with generative media. The future of research into Network Jamming with generative media systems is clearly dependent upon encouraging higher degree students to participate, by fostering collaborative partnerships, by applying for research grants, by securing industry sponsorships, and through continuing joint publication and conference presentations in diverse interdisciplinary contexts.

Download report: This report summarises the key points that emerged through the initial share and tell sessions, and subsequent discussions and presentations during the event.