My name is Shaleph O'Neill. I am currently a lecturer/researcher at the University of Dundee where I run the Interactive Media Design programme.

I initially trained in fine art, as a sculptor, at Edinburgh College of Art, between 1989-1994. While I was there, I spent as much time as possible learning about the materials and techniques used in making different kinds of sculpture e.g. welding, stone (and wood) carving, bronze casting and soft sculpture. This was a great period of my life where I had the chance to really get to grips (in a very literal sense) with my medium and I began to understand how even unformed material could convey a feeling or a meaning to a viewer.

After art college my burgeoning interest in semiotics (the study of sign systems and meaning), lead to the production and exhibition of artwork over the period 1994-2000. During this time I moved away from traditional materials and began to make things out of found objects, often transforming them way beyond their traditional form. Essentially, I became interested in how different media could convey different kinds of meaning in a very dense and compact way that draws upon our cultural reading of objects. Much of this work is recorded on this site in the “Sculpture” section. Today, I continue to make artwork (very sporadically), although my focus has moved even further away from traditional materials into the field of digital and interactive media.

In 2000 I returned to full time education studying for a PgDip in Multimedia Technology at Napier University. On completion of these studies, I went on to study for a PhD in Computer Science focusing on Exploring a Semiotics of New Media (the title of my PhD thesis). At the same time I also worked as a research assistant on a huge European project about image based rendering and virtual reality. This was a fascinating and intensive time for me that really let me engage deeply with the theories of Semiotics, and Phenomenology as ways to understand how we interact with and make sense of all the various media we encounter in our lives, particularly computer mediated interactions. Much of this work has gone into my first book: Interactive Media: The Semiotics of Embodied Interaction, which is published by Springer.

My current research focus is aimed at trying to understand the relationship between interactive technologies and the creative process. In a sense I’ve gone full circle, back to being concerned with making art and the use of different media in the creative process. Of course this time the media are interactive and technology driven. The kinds of questions I’m interested in are: How does technology affect what creative practitioners do? Does technology support or hinder creative thinking? Why do some practitioners adopt technology while others eschew it? Over the next few years, along with my team, I hope to be able to illuminate this area further.

Should you want to contact me about anything related my work (teaching, research or art related) please contact me at the address below:

Dr. Shaleph O'Neill
Course Director/Lecturer Interactive Media Design
Interaction Design Lab
School of Design/School of Computing
University of Dundee
Perth Road
Dundee
DD1 4HT
Scotland UK
Tel: +44 (0)1382 386533
s.j.oneill@dundee.ac.uk