Live Interfaces - a media-rich Journal

Tiny Learning Models to Enable NPC Growth and Variability

2026-01-15T12:13:53+00:00

This contribution introduces a Tiny Learning Model (TLM) that enables Non-Player Characters in a video game (NPCs) to grow, learn, and change behaviours dynamically at run-time. Implemented in C# and Unity, it allows for the replacement of finite state machines and look-up tables. To demonstrate this TLM, I start with the simple game “Rock Paper Scissors”, showing that Paper can beat Scissors provided the network is trained to produce that result. I then expand into more complex situations, such as the Dungeons and Dragons combat rules, and animation blending systems. Indeed, the TLM can change the rules of the game.

Autobiography of an Interface

2026-01-15T12:14:29+00:00

This essay is an attempt to formulate and justify a personal definition of interface — with the aim of discovering whether, how, when, and why we are subject to manipulation when encountering other interfaces. In this sense, the interface described here is a project-in-progress: a tool intended to help recognise ‘truthful speech and action’ and to distinguish these from manipulation. To resist the external control of our attention, we must cultivate control over our own intentionality. The objective of this study is to identify the learning conditions and experiences necessary for developing this competence, and to propose a teaching and learning environment that can support its cultivation.

International Drone Day in the Hudson Valley: Sonic Activism, Deep Listening and Communal Resonance

2026-01-15T12:14:39+00:00

International Drone Day is a global celebration of sonic drone, including intentional listening practices and sound-based community gatherings. We host our own event in the lower Hudson Valley of upstate New York. Through philosophical and ontological inquiry, I will explore how communal sound practices foster connection, presence and shared experience – and illustrate this with the sounds and words of several artists participating in Drone Day. These reflections will underscore the impact of the day as a form of sonic activism and collective resilience – reinforcing the need of a transdisciplinary perspective within sound studies.