VANCOUVER – The scope and breadth of WSU work so impressed judges at a recent international conference that they made a point of honoring it.
WSU Vancouver’s Creative Media and Digital Culture (CMDC) students won an honorary mention at the eighth annual International Digital Media and Arts Association’s conference. This is the first year honorary mention was added. Previously only first place was awarded; this year, it went to Ph.D. students from British Columbia’s Simon Fraser University.
CMDC faculty in attendance included John Barber, clinical assistant professor; Will Luers, instructor; Michael Rabby, adjunct faculty; and Dene Grigar, associate professor.
Five projects created over the year and representing the work of 33 Vancouver CMDC students were presented:
* “Between Rooms and Voices” incorporates iPods and choral music for a live performance that will take place in December at City Hall in Portland, Ore.
* “XXI Brautiganism: A Visual Poem” interprets 1960s poetry using digital technology. It is a video installation showing as an art exhibit at the Clark County Historical Museum through January.
* “Downtown in 3D” is a 3D simulation of downtown Vancouver that allows users to navigate the city from a “birds-eye view.”
* “The Fort Vancouver Mobile Project” uses mobile technology to promote rich experiences in cultural and historical places, such as video and sound-based narratives that highlight the history of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
* “Media Scare” creates a virtual experience of a haunted house using sensor-based technology to produce a multimedia and interactive version of the original scary dwelling.
iDMAa was founded in 2004 by a group of 15 universities and is dedicated to serving educators, practitioners, scholars and organizations with interests in digital media. Each year the organization hosts a showcase of student work and presents awards to the most outstanding entries.
The Creative Media and Digital Technology program at WSU Vancouver integrates critical thinking, creativity and computing skills with course work in the arts, humanities and social sciences to offer a broad-based, interdisciplinary degree that prepares students for a culturally diverse, technologically complex 21st century.