Digital Technology and Culture

A blog for students and friends of Washington State University Vancouver's Digital Technology and Culture Program

Fall 2007 Graduation Luncheon

The Fall 2007 Graduation Luncheon will be held on Friday, December 7, 2007, noon-1:30 p.m. If you plan to graduate this fall and have not yet spoken to Teresa Phimister, please do so quickly.

This event is one begun last year as a way of honoring students in the DTC program and one we will continue to host each semester.

--Dene

posted by: grigar at 17:31 | link | comments |

Happy Thanksgiving

I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for a good fall semester.

It has been a successful year. The DTC Artist in Resident program worked out very well. The projects that the students in DTC 477 showed in the screenings and performances made the risk worthwhile, and the skills demonstrated in these projects are exactly the ones students need in order to be successful in the field.

The DTC program has made a lot of progress in establishing its identity in the local community and beyond. Businesses are now contacting us about recruiting, and non profits are calling us about making contact with students with expertise in technological areas.

We have made great strides in defining the mission and objectives of the program, to target skillsets students need to learn in courses, to make courses more rigorous so that students leave the program ready to hit the ground running no matter what that "ground" may be. It pleases me that our graduates are now landing good media-oriented positions with companies and getting into good grad programs.

The DTC Club is thriving with Pirate's College, the field trip to Interactive Futures, and speaker series. The work that the officers have done, particularly the president Mark Oliver, has added a lot to the DTC program.

Finally, the best sign that the program is blossoming is that we are growing. When John Barber and I started with WSUV in fall 2006, there were 77 majors. Today, a year later, it is now about 108 majors and 10 minors. We have doubled the number of course offerings and are preparing for further growth next year.

Yes, there is much to be thankful for, and I do appreciate all of your help in making our program so strong.

posted by: grigar at 17:46 | link | comments |

Interactive Futures 2007

Interactive Futures 2007 begins today at 12:30. Several of us from WSUV arrived yesterday evening and more will make their way to Victoria today. John Barber and I are both giving papers this afternoon. Sue Thomas, the artist who visited the DTC last week and spoke to students in FA 434, is here and is talking today, also.


Steve Gibson is one the conference hosts and the founder of the event. John and I met up with him at Open Space Gallery where he was finishing the set up for the media art show that begins tonight. A bunch of us met up at Hugo's to eat, chat, and watch the hockey game (Vancouver vs. Edmonton).

After three IF conferences, I feel like I have come home. Staying at the Empress only adds to the comfort level . . .

--Dene

posted by: grigar at 15:16 | link | comments |

Scholarships for Next Fall

The DTC now has three scholarships for its students. All three are intended to help fund students in the DTC Program during the Fall 2008-Spring 2009 academic year.

I encourage all of you planning to be in the program next year to apply for these awards.


1. Digital Technology and Culture Scholarship

Requirements:
WSU Vancouver Student
Degree seeking undergraduate student
Enrolled in the DTC program
Minimum of 12 credits per semester
Minimum of 2.5 GPA


2. Whizzo Scholarship

Requirements:
WSU Vancouver student enrolled in the Digital Technology and Culture degree program
Minimum of 12 credits per semester
Cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher

Preference is given to students who are custodial single head of household


3. Michelle Kendrick Memorial Scholarship

Requirements:
WSU Vancouver student enrolled in the Digital Technology and Culture degree program
Minimum of 6 credits per semester
Minimum of GPA of 2.0


The WSUV application will be available for students to fill out for the 2008-2009 academic year by the end of this week/early next week.

The deadline is May 1, 2008.

posted by: grigar at 15:08 | link | comments |

FA 434 Blogged

Students in FA 434 (Time Based Media) show up on the blog of visiting artist Sue Thomas. Entitled "Production and Research in Transliteracy," the blog highlights work done in the area of transliteracy.

For those of you who have not yet heard of the term, it means according to Sue, "the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks."

Following Sue talk, students in 434 worked on a variety of projects that demonstrate the notion of transliteracy. The blog entry below shows images of students at work during the workshop.

Check it out: http://www.hum.dmu.ac.uk/blogs/part/2007/11/transliteracy_talk_at_washingt.html.

posted by: grigar at 22:13 | link | comments |

Goodbye, Sue Thomas

Visiting UK artist-theorist Sue Thomas leaves today for San Jose, CA. She will then make her way back to the Pacific Northwest to attend Interactive Futures 2007 in Victoria, Canada next week.

It was great having her here this week. Her talk about Transliteracy in FA 434 Time Based Media pushed students to think beyond their knowledge base and into an area many of them had not thought of perhaps since they took Language, Texts, and Technology.

Those of us going to IF07 will have the chance to see her again before she returns to the Center of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University.

posted by: grigar at 15:07 | link | comments |

Nightelves

For those of you intersted in video games, the title of Samantha Blackmon's talk is "Night Elves and New Media Studies: Interrogating Racialized Representations in Video Games."

Here is an image from her talk:

posted by: grigar at 14:38 | link | comments |

Artists Talk at Northbank Gallery

Both Sue Thomas and Samantha Blackmon will be giving talks at Northbank Artists Gallery on Thursday, November 8th, 2007, from 7-8:15.

Sue is an artist and theorist from De Montfort University (UK) and a pioneer in digital media. She was the founder and director of the trAce Online Writing Centre and is the author of numerous books, including Hello, World: Travels in Virtuality and Coorespondence.

Samantha is the DTC Artist in Residence specializing in game development and storyboarding. She is an Associate Professor of English at Purdue University.

These talks are free and open to the public. In fact, we really encourage those from outside of the university to join us.

For more information, contact Dene Grigar at grigar@vancouver.wsu.edu

posted by: grigar at 12:24 | link | comments |