SIGGRAPH 1997: Keynotes

Overview:

Bran Ferren, Executive Vice President for Creative Technology and Research & Development, Walt Disney Imagineering, delivered the SIGGRAPH 97 keynote address.
As head of the Creative Technology Group at WDI, Ferren manages a resource for new technology and creative input for the entire company. In addition to running this group, he has been involved in many new theme park projects, including at Walt Disney World: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, The extra TERRORestrial Alien Encounter, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Innovension, the upcoming new General Motors attraction at EPCOT, and at Disneyland: the Indiana Jones Adventure.

Ferren’s keynote address was titled: “Storytelling: The World’s Oldest Profession.” Regarding the future of the Internet, Ferren stated: “Every time a technology has been introduced that allows one or more people to do better or more compelling storytelling, like language or writing … or what the computer will be, it has changed the course of our society. It has become a permanent part of our lives, and it has had a startling impact in establishing the kind of step functions that are characteristic of how our society runs. The power of the Internet to reach out and connect people as a storytelling conduit or new storytelling media is going to make it the most important technological invention since the printing press.”

At the same session, SIGGRAPH presented two awards:

• The 1997 Computer Graphics Achievement Award
• The 1997 Steven A. Coons Award for Outstanding Creative Contributions