Tag Archives: DTC201

Capstone Intro

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The topic I plan to address for my capstone project is the orphan crisis in China. Hand in hand with that, I will address the need for adoption. I am interested in this topic because I’ve been on a few missionary trips and developed a heart for connecting these kids to families and giving them hope through advocacy. I really got to know more about how adoption works and heard countless stories of these Chinese orphans since starting my internship at Bring Me Hope, which I also plan on using for this project as a major resource.

I want my website to take the direction of an informative piece that talks about hard things like abandoned children waiting for families. Even more so as a call to action. The call to action that I hope will get people involved will be to spread awareness though their social media, invite them to volunteer at orphan summer camps, to host a child at their own home, to financially support a child to go to camp, and finally to actually adopt. I plan on approaching this cause from two sides. One is from the reader/viewer and what they could do and the other is from the orphan’s perspective.

The two medias I will use are a video I will make are an infographic video as well as pictures of the orphans. These medias relate to each other because in the video I will address the issues, and state facts. With pictures I will show the kids that are effected by them.

Capstone Project: Student Loan Debt

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For my capstone project I want to discuss the social issue of the increase in college student loan debt and the disadvantages it creates on the economy and students after graduation. In 2014, seven in ten students graduated with student loan debt with an average of $28,950 per borrower. Students with major debt after college tend to postpone marriage, childbearing, home ownership, and the desire to open new businesses and endure the risks of entrepreneurship. #InTheRed is a campaign addressing a need for better higher education affordability. RED stands for the implement of the Reducing Education Debt act created by select democratic senators. The Red act plans on encouraging 2 years of tuition free community college and student loan refinancing at lower interest rates.

The two media objects that I will present in my project are an infographic file, as well as a remixed video with some animation within. My infographic file is going to introduce the topic and provide graphs and charts that I make within photoshop and illustrator to show the increase in student debt over time. The infographic is gong to introduce the Reducing Education Debt act and provide a section of other organizations that have contributed towards finding ways to eliminate student debt. One of these organizations is SponsorChange which allows graduates to get involved in volunteer volunteer projects, donors then help the students chip away at their student debt in return for their volunteer work. The remixed video is going to include different news clips of democratic senators discussing #InTheRed and other personal stories of individuals and how student debt has impacted and/or hindered their life after graduation.

Lauren Stimson’s Capstone Project Plan

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For my capstone project, I am going to focus on the subject of common-core math, also known as “new-new math.” Common-core math has become a subject of great contention. On one side, there are those who believe that common-core math is easier for non-math enabled children and thus is a step in the direction of student success. Meanwhile, others believe that common core introduces tougher concepts at a lower level, in turn advancing students faster and allowing them to become smarter and more successful. However, not everyone is in favor of common-core math. A section of people believe that common-core overcomplicates math, making simple concepts incredibly difficult and causes issues with learning. These people also claim that common-core math takes illogical and longer routes to solving simple problems. For my project, I intend to show both sides of the argument. However, my research has shown favor towards the people against common-core math.

For my two media pieces, I will be using an original infographic and a video mash. In the infographic, I intend to present both sides of the issue, their facts, observations, and opinions. I think this will work well because it will be straightforward and I can use a voiceover to help explain things. For the video, I will find news stories and clip them into a video showing what the media is portraying the issue and different sides like. I feel these media types are best because they include visuals (math is visual) and audio (to explain the visuals).

Edson Munoz-Capstone Project

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Mental health is a problem that has existed for a very long time. Unfortunately, mental health seems to only get talked about when something tragic like a mass shooting happens. For my Capstone Project I want to focus on spreading awareness on mental health as well as including a call to action. It is mind boggling to think that in 2013, an estimated 43.8 million adults dealt with mental illness. Yet, not many people know about our mental health system. For example, not many people know that two million Americans with mental illness end up in jail, which means there are ten times more people in jail then in psychiatric hospitals. The two possible forms of media that I will be using in my project are an animated infographic and an audio mashup. I feel like an animated infographic is a perfect way to inform people about my issue. . In it I want to explain a bit of the history of how the government has dealt with this issue and what it is currently doing. I want it to contain many shocking facts that people did not know about. For my second media form, I want to possibly create a mashup containing expert opinion on the the topic as well as testimonials. I am aware that it may be hard to find audio recordings about my topic online, so I am open to the possibility of finding some local doctors that study this issue and conduct interviews with them.

Sue Park- Capstone

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Is Raw Till Four Healthy?

Raw Till Four (RT4) is a vegan program created by a popular Youtuber and blogger, Freelee the Banana Girl. The diet circulated on Youtube and Instagram and amassed thousands of followers. The question is however: Is it really healthy? The diet differs from typical veganism in a way that it focuses on eating solely raw fruits and vegetables, and little to no fats or oils. So people basically eat unlimited raw, unprocessed foods until 4 pm, which is when you can consume a high-carb vegan dinner of 500+ calories. The diet also emphasizes the goal of abundance and eating “unlimited” calories, meaning that there is no calorie restriction. Although many claimed that the diet helped increase energy levels and improve their overall health, there is also controversy regarding possible health hazards. For example, cruciferous vegetables (kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) can worsen impaired thyroid function and cooking these vegetables neutralizes the risk. In some cases, cooking can even magnify the nutritional value of the food, such as tomatoes.

For this project, I’ll be researching statistical evidence to see if a person can sustain from such a diet. I’ll present my findings as both a static and animated infographic that informs viewers on what the diet is and the pros and cons that come with it, and whether if it’s beneficial, or just a fad to avoid. In regards to the creative process, I’ll be creating the graphics and imagery with Illustrator, writing the script and recording the voiceover, and using After Effects for the animation.

https://twitter.com/miniboo00/status/662171519183818752

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John_LawrentzHW18

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I am going to do my Capstone Project on hypnosis, the subconscious mind, and the potential we have through ‘this form of media’. I have not decided yet, but may touch on the concept of a collective consciousness. I have done several of my projects, in other DTC classes, on hypnosis and will be able to draw off of some of that material. I am in the DTC program mainly to compliment and market my hypnotherapy practice and it is these final projects and capstone projects that push me to create what will become a big part of my marketing strategy. I am currently operating my business through my website that was created in DTC355, and I also created an E-book in DTC375 that I plan to finish and publish someday.

This project has the potential to be either an addition to my current website or another form of online marketing. I plan to recreate my infographic with not so much ‘creepiness’, and instead push toward the direction of a fun informational marketing cartoon, which is the definition of an Infographic. I have also been experimenting with some remix material created with Premier Pro much like we did with our video remix’s. This will provide the other media object for this project

The infographic will stand alone as the entertaining part of the site, and the video will be featured to compliment parts of the text. It will be some kind of impact on the theme, such as a series of doors as a metaphor for choices in life.

Evan Torres | Paper Vs. Web Comics

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My capstone project will have a focus on webcomics, in particular, webcomics versus traditional comics. Potential topics would include some comparing and contrasting of the two, a brief history of both, views and opinions on what the general public thinks of them, and maybe even the different styles of the two.

Web and traditional comics might have totally different mediums, but the styles they have are often quite similar to one another, by which I mean they can be roughly sorted into two categories: Strips and stories. My project would go into detail about what these two coined styles mean, as well as provide external links to various comic publishers’ websites.

Comic strips are what you might expect: A series of three to four panels usually telling a joke. There are more than enough examples of these in traditional format (Peanuts, Garfield), but there are a few examples of this in digital form as well (Penny Arcade, PvP). Likewise, stories are more elaborate and detailed, taking form in traditional mediums as comic books, and in webcomics as whole pages posted over a set time.

Additionally, I could very easily go into detail on whether or not multimedia comics and flash animations count as “webcomics.” Since this is somewhat subjective, I would probably do my comparing and contrasting here using an infographic, displaying the differences between these types of media and standstill images. Of course, I still need to use remixed media, so I could probably use it to help make this point by creating a short video detailing how this type of comic looks and feels.

Capstone Project – #Gamergate controversy

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The #Gamergate movement, in August of 2014, started off as a movement by gamers demanding more transparency within video game journalism. The movement however, soon turned into a full blown cyber war with anonymous members of the movement resorting to using harassment methods such as doxing, threats of rape and death threats against members of the video game community who spoke out against the movement.  The gamergate movement has become a manifestation of a culture war over gaming culture diversification, artistic recognition, social criticism of video grams, and the gamer social identity.  Observers of the movement have described it as a movement that was started with a valid discussion regarding ethics in journalism that was hijacked and turned into a far right-wing, anti-feminist harassment group, who targeted mostly female figures in the gaming industry and of people who are socially critical of video games.Traditionally the video gaming community has been known to be a heavily male dominated community. Gamergate is reflective of concerns regarding sexism and progressivism in the video game culture.

The first approach to this project is to create an infographic image that will be used a timeline of sorts that will help visitors of the site understand how the movement started and what were some of the major events that resulted from the movements. The next part is to create an animated infographic video that will talk about what exactly is the gamergate movement and what are some of the major implications that resulted from the movement.’

https://twitter.com/TheSynDicate63/status/662092898163232768

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Ryan Schafte Capstone Blog Post

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To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers. That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept. But for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.

— Roger Ebert

 

When defining “art,” it is usually accepted that it has to be creatively made, and has some aesthetic beauty or emotional power behind it. Some, however, consider something “art” solely because it’s on a canvas, or on display. As such, sentiments like the one above are sadly prevalent. That is why for my project I will once more touch upon the topic of video-games as an art form, and challenge the bias which drives the notion that they are not.

This will be challenging, as I’ll have to find an approach different from what I’ve done previously. The plan thus far is to first create an infographic which lists various games and their contributions to the industry, or to storytelling as a whole. After coming up with the infographic, I will create a “mashup” using video capture software to obtain highlights from the games listed that have made an emotional impact on players, or were praised for their beauty and the level of skill required to develop them, so as to properly illustrate the concept of video-games as “art.”

https://twitter.com/RyanSchafte/status/662014282444357632

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