In our household, early December usually means organising Mr9’s birthday party, school holidays and the lead up to Christmas. This year, I’ll be doing all that….but for a week at the start of December, somehow Perth turns into a digital do-er’s paradise.

There are around 40 different digital/cultural/techie sessions between four events. I could:

• attend a scholarly paper on immersive environments for displaying cultural heritage
• play a game involving the city streets and my bluetooth phone
• hang out with a whole mob of digital geeky workers
• watch demos of digital games and art created while I watch
• hear from the Lead Designer of MySims from EA Games

Here’s what’s on:

Byte-Me Festival 2 – 9 December 2007

a Digital Content Festival, featuring a program of screenings, Show ‘n Tells by Industry speakers from around the world, live audiovisual performances and innovative cross-media events.

BM!F will be at the Perth Town Hall, Western Australia 2-9 December 2007, with some events at various venues in the days leading up to then.

We’ve used our secret geek-powers to score some really amazing international speakers – have a look at the speakers list 🙂

Ghost Town from Giant Dice 2- 9 December 2007

Register at the booth at the Perth Town Hall from 10am – 5pm

(Okay, so it’s part of Byte-Me – but this is one event I may actually be able to get to…)

With the aid of your mobile phone as your communication device with the ghosts, you’ll uncover clues and solve puzzles to help unravel the mystery of who the ghosts are and why they were so cruelly imprisoned, all the while exploring some of Perth’s most exciting places….

…Ghost Town’s infrastructure will allow an unlimited number of players to participate whenever they please. Players’ primary interface to their game will be their mobile, which they’ll use to communicate with a number of objects installed throughout the city, including Bluetooth-enabled computers and physical markers. Finding these objects, and the information they contain, will score players points and give them access to plot fragments over phone, SMS, and other media. This innovative application of everyday technologies will provide a truly unique gaming experience.

Graphite 2007 1-4 December 2007

… the 5th International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Australasia and Southeast Asia, an annual event conducted in the Australasia-South East Asia region.

GRAPHITE 2007 will provide a unique atmosphere for researchers, technologists, artists, industry professionals, educators and students to mingle while taking in the latest technical and artistic accomplishments from around the globe.

Nullarbor 08 happening at Perth Massive

nullarbor is a demoparty and game development competition combined. It is an event designed to bring together a community of Australasian programmers, designers, artists and musicians to promote interactive technologies and a form of electronic art called demos. We hope to provide a forum where people can get to know each other, exchange ideas, as well as be given an opportunity to demonstrate, and improve, their skills.

The major focus of the event are the competitions which are designed to provide an incentive for individuals and groups to demonstrate their talents.

Perth Massive 6pm, December 4th The Library, 69 Lake St, Northbridge

From it’s origins in Perth Western Australia, MASSIVE is an annual end of year celebration for all the world’s hard working people in the Digital and Computing related fields. At it’s heart, MASSIVE is a reflective social event which salutes you, your work, your colleagues and your industry.

Designers, architects, web developers, film and television, gamers, academics, photographers, animators, authors, programmers, scientists, researchers, musicians, marketing, advertisers, artists are all welcome.

I hope I get to go to something…