Category Archives: Student Work

Capstone Project – Fair Trade Clothing

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The garment industry is global, and it is one of the most unethical and unsustainable industries in today’s society. As a 1.2 trillion dollar industry globally, fashion can do better. We, as consumers, have the ability to make choices the empower and protect our people and our planet by putting a stop to fast fashion and making fair-trade purchases. Fast fashion is the concept of large corporations creating over 52 different style “seasons”, consistently marketing the need for new, inexpensive clothing to the masses. This idea has resulted in the demand for cheap materials and cheap labor, and both of those things mean that farmers and workers in foreign countries are paying the price with their livelihood and, sometimes, even with their lives. Fair trade companies ensure that everyone down the chain of production- from the farmers planting crops for the material to the artisans sewing the clothes by hand- is compensated fairly, protected from harmful toxins, and provided a safe and empowering way of life.

To help inform people of the injustices imposed by the fashion industry, as well as how they can make more ethical clothing choices, I will be creating an infographic file to help convey statistics that are vital to the issue. To help illustrate and personalize the issues, I will be making a remix video that highlights some of the working conditions, industry catastrophes (such as the avoidable Rana Plaza collapse that killed 1,100 workers), and what free-trade clothing companies are doing to combat the issues.

Capstone Project

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My Capstone Project is going to be on the similarities and changes of characters from Marvel comics to Marvel movies. These Marvel characters have had almost six decades of inspiration for the movies released in the last 13 years, yet there are still small and obvious changes in personality, design or abilities. I am going to point out these for the characters of Spider-man, Wolverine (Logan), and Iron Man. With so many years of material, characters, and story lines, I do not see these movies losing steam anytime soon.

I am going to use an infopgraphic, remix video and a website to show the viewer the aforementioned concepts. The twitter handle I created for this project is “MARVELous_Info1”, with the below tweets pertaining to the information. Let’s see how many changes we can find.

Capstone Project Proposal

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I want to do my project on personal digital privacy and security. I’m not talking about huge hacks of major corporations or government’s looking into people’s communications as it is about individuals being smart and safe in their use of technology. Every time we use a device or the internet we run the risk of being attacked. These attacks can come from the opposite side of the globe or someone in the same room. I work in an IT department and see the effects of these attacks all the time. The good thing is, there are some relatively easy steps users can take to keep themselves and there information more secure. While it certainly doesn’t hurt to be technically savvy, many of these tools and techniques are just based around common sense. For example, passwords are meant to protect much of our data, but many people use the same password for all their accounts, never update them, and pick ones that are easy to guess.

To communicate these ideas, I am going to provide statistics and information regarding different types of attacks as well as measures users can take to protect themselves. This information will live inside two media objects, hosted on a website that encompasses the entire project. One of these media objects will be an info-graphic, created in Adobe Illustrator. The other will be a video, most likely showing footage from computer screen with a voice over to augment what’s happening on screen, similar to an instructional video. The video will be hosted on Vimeo and embedded in one of the webpages on the site.

PS. The twitter handle I created for this project is @digsecurity101

Technology and Education

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For my Capstone website project, I will be discussing the benefits of advancing technology and education, and the untapped potential of current technology in schools. My focus will primarily be on video games, AR, and VR. I will be looking into the use of evolving software and social media in schools as well as other types of, perhaps more obscure technology that can be used in for general education. I’ve looked into this subject a bit in the past, especially in regards to educational reform. A lot of my existing knowledge comes from the Extra Credits informational YouTube videos and some game theory books, such as How to do Things with Video Games by Ian Bogost. I’m interested in expanding this knowledge to include relevant real world examples as well as researching other types of technology.

On my website, I plan to create an infographic using statistics about my subject as well as an animation expanding further upon the subject, including facts, examples, and conclusions drawn from my own research. I plan to have the infographic and animation tie in, without being redundant.

https://twitter.com/SvLuik/status/796166713947484161

https://twitter.com/SvLuik/status/796167099903131648

https://twitter.com/SvLuik/status/796167490036338688

https://twitter.com/SvLuik/status/796168257300332544

https://twitter.com/SvLuik/status/796167613168513024

Air Pollution

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Air pollution is one of the most dangerous and damaging environmental factors to the health of everyone on this planet and yet, one of the most ignored. Because of these reasons, my desire is to bring this concern to the forefront and attention of others by making it the focus of my final class project. My capstone project will consist of a website I design which will include both a remixed video and an animated infographic.

Because air pollution is such a widespread problem, in order to increase people’s awareness, my video will attempt to illustrate some of the current conditions in our country and around the world and how it is negatively affecting people.

My brief animated infographic will include information to define what air pollution is, why it is (and should be) of concern to everyone, what some of its causes are, and what we can do as individuals and together as a society in order to establish solutions and help reduce the problem of air pollution. I will add additional facts and statistics to help others understand the magnitude of the issue.

Together, these two media objects will work hand-in-hand to help provide people with a basic understanding of my topic of choice — which, of course, is the overall focus of my website and capstone project. Air pollution is important because, naturally, everyone has to breathe and, as such, it is not merely someone else’s problem but, rather, everyone’s problem. Therefore, my hope is that my project will serve to motivate people to think about and consider how their actions each day can either contribute to the solution or the problem at hand.

Cascadia Subduction Zone

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For my Capstone Project, my primary focus will be on the possible big earthquake in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This is a current concern for the residents that reside along the Pacific Northwest, as scientists expect one of the worst earthquakes to hit soon. My project will explain what the Cascadia Subduction Zone is and how it could affect the Pacific Northwest and what precautions residents should take in anticipation of the natural disaster. My intent is to inform and to educate briefly of the concerns and precautions. Scientists say the scale of the destruction will be the biggest in this century if awareness and preparation are not implemented. Many possible lives can be saved if people prepare. The direction that I will take is to make infographic and animation of this topic. I felt that I will do my best on the infographic based off of the last infographic that I made earlier in the semester. I will produce vectored imagery by using the program Adobe Illustrator. As for the animation, I will use Adobe After Effects because I feel that I can better illustrate the topic. In order to make my Capstone Project possible I need to further conduct more research from reputable sources i.e. state and government involved websites. The sources and or images used will be properly cited/credited as instructed in the guidelines. Though this topic is an idea of a possible focus I do have other topics that may interest me to pursue in this Capstone Project.

Pets Without Research

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For my project I am thinking about talking about something sort of “animal rights”-ish, but specifically I want to address two problems. First of all, I want to talk about the purchase of animals as gifts, especially small or exotic animals. I would like to address how surprising somebody with an animal as a gift can not only be stressful to the receiver, but can be very detrimental to the animal in question, and can lead to an unhappy relationship between animal and caretaker- if it doesn’t ultimately end in abandonment. I will probably focus my attention on Christmas and Easter a lot, since you have a lot of trouble arising when people think getting chicks and bunnies for the holidays is a good idea.

It ties in to the second and primary thing I want to talk about, which is purchasing pets without doing research (or buying for your kids without research!) You can probably get buy having a dog or a cat without extensive research, but other types of small animals all have really specific needs that people don’t really think about, like rabbits and fish for example. I mentioned that bunnies are targeted a lot at Easter, and they are not low maintenance animals and most people are not prepared for the work that has to go into them. Fish are another good example because there are a lot of misconceptions about how you care for certain types of fish, especially concerning take maintenance. I think I would probably like to do an infographic and an animation or some sort of video. However, I don’t know how I want to break up my information yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Military Base Realignment and Closure

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The United States is easily the most powerful country in the history of the world. Not only that, but the global influence of the U.S. cannot be overstated. Rife with worldwide conflict, the 20th century saw the rise of the U.S. as a global superpower — and global peacekeeper.

Today, the United States operates more foreign military bases than any other country on the planet. The U.S. also spends more on their military than the next eight nations combined. And a large part of this money goes to keeping these military bases up-and-running. The U.S. has around 800 military bases around the world, more than any other country. In fact, combining the foreign bases that every other nation has outside its own borders would only add up to around 30 bases.

Many of these bases opened after World War II, with the U.S. exerting its newfound global influence to keep the world in peace. Adding to this, the Cold War made a strong global presence crucial to U.S. strategic goals.

Now, even with the major crises of the 20th century over, the United States still holds massive amounts of troops on foreign soil. Taxpayers are paying highly for these decisions. Keeping these 800 foreign bases open costs taxpayers between 70 and 100 billion dollars per year, more than any other government agency receives, including agencies such as the Department of Education.

Lawmakers and taxpayers should carefully weigh the benefits of keeping so much money out of our economy, and into other nations on the far corners of the globe.

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To tackle the topic I will create a remixed video as well as an original infographic. The remix will be a good platform to show video from the U.S. bases, as well as giving the option of showing text on-screen with facts. A voiceover might be a good touch as well. I will use some artwork from the infographic in the remixed video to give the website a cohesive feel.

Impacts of Knock-off Products

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The direction I am taking for my Capstone project is the issue of counterfeit and knock-off merchandise manufacturing, specifically in the areas of apparel and accessory design. My goal for the project is to inform on why this is not only an ethical and legal problem, but also a fiscal issue for many established brands. Similarly, it will also touch on the distinction and legal gray area between a counterfeit good and a knock-off, and as a consumer, why it is better overall to commit to the real deal. My website will feature 3 webpages, the first being the homepage. This will include an introduction to the topic and more information regarding the scope and background of the issue itself. The second will contain a remix video, the content of which I am still researching and compiling. Currently, it is looking something like a compilation of various industry professional’s commentary discussing how and why the production of consumer products impacts a company’s image and profit. This will act as more of a persuasive method, why the viewer should care about the issue and act on the message of the project. The third page will be an Illustrator infographic that addresses some key points regarding steps consumers can take to avoid unknowingly purchasing these products, as well as some information regarding aesthetic and quality differences. This will act as a final “how to”, and the webpage will also contain source links and other resources used in the making of the project.

Barn/ Cage Raised vs. Free Range

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I am going to be looking at the issue of barn raised vs free range raised chickens and the cost that are associated with these forms of production. The other issue that will be covered is the humaneness of each method of farming. These are a social issue since we all eat chicken and are concerned with the treatment of these birds that we are consuming at a rate almost equal to all red meats.
The media objects that I will be using is the infographic and mash up video. The infographic with illustrate the treatment of chickens and give statistics on the types of uses for the chickens. I will also cover the weight consumed each year compared to other sources of meat. I will be using Illustrator to produce the infographic.
The second type of media object will be a mash up video of the living conditions and reasons behind the production of chickens and the issues they face just to feed us. In the video I will be using text along with video clips to illustrate the importance of how we treat these birds. I will also show some of the side-effects of the methods of farming of chickens. The video will cover different cultures and their methods of farming chickens.
These two objects will compliment, each other to produce a web page that will inform visitors who want to learn about the difference in types of chicken farming.