The CMDC faculty and staff involved in this proposal have experience with mobile design and development in a variety of contexts. Below are some of the initiatives and projects generating from those involved in the proposal.
The Mobile Tech Research Initiative
Project Faculty and Staff: Dene Grigar, John Barber, Will Luers, Nicholas Schiller, Nick Hill, Frank Mungeam, and Aaron May
The Mobile Tech Research Initiative (MTRI) is a bold, visionary initiative that has, at its core, a partnership between the university and region aimed at rebuilding the region’s economy by introducing a new, creative, green industry––the development of mobile apps for smart phones. It focuses on teaching the design and development of mobile apps in a series of four courses organized around the two 2011 summer sessions and an Entrepreneur Incubator taking place in the fall 2011 that provides further education and guidance for students in the production of their own mobile apps. The goals of MTRI is to 1) develop a local body of expertise in the emerging technology field of mobile application design and development, 2) contribute actively to undergraduate research, an important mission of WSU Vancouver, and 3) promote STEM education from K through college by fostering local synergies among the digital media, science, and business communities. This project is made possible by a $67, 693 donation by Dick Hannah Dealerships and funds 10 undergraduates and one postdoctoral student. It also provided the faculty and staff to work together to build curriculum for teaching mobile app design and development as well as experiment with pedagogy and methods for the scholarship in this area.
The Fort Vancouver Mobile Project
Project Faculty and Staff: Brett Oppegaard, Dene Grigar, John Barber, Will Luers, and Nick Hill
The Fort Vancouver Mobile Project consists of apps and multimedia content for mobile devices for the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and brings together 18 technical experts and scholars from throughout the digital humanities field — including historians, archaeologists and academics specializing in digital media production as well as literature, rhetoric and writing.Together, with the help of dozens of volunteers from throughout the community. Phase I was led by CMDC faculty Brett Oppegaard and focuses on the lives of Hawaiian workers who lived at the site in the mid-1800s. It has been funded by support and grants from The Creative Media & Digital Culture Program, Washington State University Vancouver Research Mini-Grant, and 2010 and 2011 Historical Promotions Grant. Phase 2 charts the fertile, yet mostly unexplored, territory of women’s lives at the Fort. Based on archaeological and other evidence gathered over decades at the fort, this module will be led by Dr. Dene Grigar and is funded by a 2011 National Endowment for the Humanities Start Up Grant.
Walking-Talking
Project Faculty: John Barber
“Walking-Talking” is a mobile narrative that envisions a mobile audio narrative experience of discovery and connection throughout a network of site-specific locations of historic and/or cultural interest. At each location, participants may listen to and/or create audio recordings (and other online, digital media content) playable via a mobile telephone application (app). These audio recordings may focus on human voice, or natural and mechanical sounds. The “Walking-Talking” project envisions three outcomes: 1) A thoughtful creation and consumption of social collaborative mobile narratives that consider historical, social, and cultural issues connected to specific locations; 2) Enhanced ability for participants to think imaginatively and critically about the world in which they live, and to share their thoughts through a new range of mobile narrative possibilities; and, 3) An expansion of current concepts and artifacts associated with mobile, locative, digital narratives.
Digital Audio Narratives
Project Faculty: John Barber
Digital Audio Narratives explores opportunities for developing and sustaining immersive narrative contexts using natural, human, and/or mechanical sounds OTHER than voice. Concepts at play in this inquiry include the soundscape, acoustic space, and acousmatic listening.
Autovation
Project Faculty: Dene Grigar
Project Development Team: OMSI Fellows from the CMDC Program––Jason Clarke, Jason Cook, Hunter Crawford, Natalya Gruntkovskiy, Jake Hochhalter, Madi Kozecek, Michael Langlois, Chad McClure, Brian McGovern, Margarete Strawn
This project is an interactive, augmented reality exhibit about innovations in automobile technology created for the Oregon Museum for Science & Industry (OMSI), supported by a donation from Dick Hannah Dealerships. Along with the AR tech showcased on three iPads in the exhibit, the exhibit also features a downloadable app that visitors can use to view the information on their own phones. We used Metaio and Junaio for the production of this work.