Digital Technology and Culture

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

Jobs

 Here are two jobs and one internships that arrived in my Inbox today that may interest some of you.

posted by: grigar at 04:20 | link | comments |

Farewell to 2009 Graduates

Congratulations all of the 31 students who are graduating from the Digital Technology and Culture Program in spring 2009.  The ritual that sends you on your way down your unique journey of life is but a few hours away.  I will see most of you there, but I wanted to take a minute to share some thoughts with all of you.  I managed to touch upon a few of these sentiments last night when I saw some of you at the graduation gathering, but I wanted to formalize them a bit more for you since they do capture the spirit that John and I have been working so hard these past three years to inject into the DTC Program.

Technology has been seen by some as a cold, dangerous enterprise––antisocial geeks alone in a basement programming on a mainframe with the intent of hacking into a system, H-bombs annihilating entire cities of innocent people . . . .   Perhaps, it is partly due to this perception of technology that in the Humanities technology has been accepted as an adjunct of what we do (that is, a tool to help one do what it is he or she needs to do) and not yet embraced as the medium in which one works, the thing into which one pours one's energy.  

Cyberfeminists of the 1990s challenged the wholesale rejection of technology by feminists, in particular, and called into question many of the assumptions held about technology, assumptions widely portrayed in cinema and literature like the notion of disembodiment seen in the "jacking in" phenomenon found in Neuromancer and even The Matrix series (to name one example).  I was greatly influenced by folks like Anne Balsamo Judy Malloy, and Ellen Ullman and believed that unless we master technology, we would be enslaved by it.  I also believed that it was incumbent upon those of in the Humanities to find ways to humanize technology and make it work for people, for the betterment of society.

I have brought these ideas to the DTC Program by introducing the civic engagement component into our classes, particularly into the Senior Seminar.  I have worked to build a community among you all by developing ways for us to communicate and come together as a group.  This blog, the listserv, the website, the Facebook page, the Flickr site, even the pizza parties, Artists talks at North Bank Gallery, special lectures on campus have all been planned as a way to build a community, a network of colleagues, all interested in not only the production and study of digital media but taking the leadership role in the larger community in developing them in a way that they benefit society rather than harm it or raise the human spirit rather than dehumanize it.

So, it gives me the greatest pleasure to look at this graduating class of 2009 and see all of the terrific achievements you have attained in the two years you have been associated with the DTC Program:  Outreach projects and internships creating websites, producing videos, developing strategies for social media, or promoting diversity on campus with non profits and organizations like The Boys and Girls Club, Bonneville Lock and Dam, Identity Clark County/Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, At Home At School, Columbia River Economic Development Council, Columbian Online, County Board of Commissioners, the Diversity Office; leadership roles, like Editor of Van Coug Newspaper, producers at FVTV, DJs at KOUG radio, visual arts editor at Salmon Creek Journal; and intellectual honors like the Undergraduate Research Award at the Research Showcase at WSUV and invitation to feature work at WSU in Pullman for the "VJ Fleet" project.  19 out of the 21 students graduating in spring 2009, for example, all took on duties and responsibilities that served the WSUV and larger SW WA communities in the area of digital technology.

I am very proud of you all.  And by documenting your achievements in this space, others now know what you have accomplished and can too be proud. 

posted by: grigar at 18:26 | link | comments |

Graduation Party for all Students in CLA

 The College of Liberal Arts is hosting a party for all students in honor of the spring and summer 2009 graduates.  At 4:45 outside of the VMMC building.  Food and beverages will be served.  



Join us in celebrating the achievements of your friends and colleagues!  John and I will be saying a few words at the event;  John promised to be funny and I of course will bring the appropriate amount of gravitas to the event.



--Dene

posted by: grigar at 23:02 | link | comments |