Everyone who reads this magazine is well aware of the fact that the modern entertainment industry is getting more and more technically based all the time. The film industry will be a misnomer in a few years when everything is replaced by digital. Computer gaming is becoming more realistic and interactive (and educational). The live entertainment industry is incorporating more technical effects (lighting, audio, motion control) into each new spectacle.

One of the problems for the Entertainment Engineer has been the lack of a home for this field amongst the established engineering technical societies and associations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). These groups not only provide for information exchange and networking among practitioners, both industrial and academic, but also provide for development of design standards and practices to ensure the safe use of technology.

Admittedly, there are places were entertainment technical professionals can meet and exchange information; the online magazine you are reading at this moment is one of them. However, most are trade focused, aimed more at promoting the business of Entertainment Engineering, rather than the technical research or standards aspects of the industry.

The first steps in finding a technical home for Entertainment Engineers has been taken. John Wesner, a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University, who has long wanted to find a place for Entertainment Engineers within the Design Engineering Division at ASME, convinced me earlier this summer that I should volunteer to spearhead this effort.

To move the project forward we are working on two things. First, we want to build a database of engineers and companies who work in the entertainment industry. These do not just have to be mechanical engineers, but keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of the industry, we want to get any engineers involved. Second, we are organizing several sessions at next year’s ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences, which will take place in San Diego from August 30th through September 2nd of 2009. At least one of the sessions will be a round table panel of entertainment industrial practitioners.

This is an exciting first step that could eventually lead to great things for all of us Entertainment Engineers.

Dan Cook

Coordinator, Entertainment Engineering and Design Program, UNLV

daniel.p.cook@unlv.edu