Category Archives: emac

Kim Knight

Dr. Kim Knight has been selected for the Inclusive Excellence and Intercultural Teaching Award to be presented at the 4th Annual UT Dallas Diversity Awards Gala hosted by the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement (ODCE).

The Inclusive Excellence and Intercultural Teaching Award honors the contributions of an individual who has supported diversity and inclusion at UT Dallas in the past academic year.

Each year the ODCE recognizes the contributions of UT Dallas faculty, staff, students, and community partners to advance the UT Dallas diversity mission, goals, and programs, with special awards during the annual Diversity Awards Gala. The Gala was established in 2009 to celebrate and highlight how diversity enables and empowers the UT Dallas community to reach the highest levels of excellence.

As of September 1, 2013 the ATEC and EMAC programs at The University of Texas at Dallas will have three new tenured associate professors: Monica Evans, Todd Fechter and David Parry.

Monica Evans

Monica Evans

As a faculty member in the Arts and Technology program, Monica Evans‘ focus is to expand the game studies curriculum, particularly at the graduate level. This year she created the Game Production Lab within the ATEC program, a series of courses in which students design, develop, and produce original games and gaming content at both the graduate and undergraduate level.

Monica Evans has recruited many industry members to donate equipment and resources to the ATEC program, offer internships to ATEC students, teach ATEC courses as adjuncts, and advise students through seminars, guest lectures, and as judges for the UT Dallas CGEC. Companies include Pixelux Entertainment, iStation, Gearbox Software, Barking Lizards, MumboJumbo, iD Software, and Texas Instruments, as well as investor Hughes Ventures.

Evans’ personal research is focused on narrative for games and other interactive systems, which she is currently publishing as articles, book chapters, and conference submissions; and on meaningful play, serious games, educational games, and simulations, for which she is both publishing articles and submitting multiple grant proposals. She is currently working on a series of proposals for new research in virtual medical simulation, and proposals have been sent to the American Heart Association, Pediatrix, Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) granting agency.

As to the significance of her work: Game studies is a brand-new, continuously evolving field, and few universities are pursuing significant academic research in the area. Evans’ long-term goal is to seed top-level game studios with our undergraduate students at higher than entry-level positions (in other words, positions where they have influence over design, content, and innovation); to seed top-level universities with our masters and doctoral students as the next generation of game studies scholars; and to provide a place for students to incubate independent game studios, research projects, or to follow other academic inclinations in the field.

Todd Fechter

Todd Fechter

Todd Fechter‘s professional background is in the field of 3D computer animation. He has experience working on both television and film productions, which he gained while employed at DNA Production, Inc from September 2002 through June of 2006. There he held the position of Head of Environment Modeling, where he led a team of eight modelers in the planning and creation of all environments and props.

After leaving DNA Productions he worked as a freelance 3D artist providing both modeling and texturing services for various companies including Jeep, Ember Studios, Reel FX Entertainment and NASA.

In October 2006 Fechter accepted a position at Element X Creative as Head of Modeling. There he worked on various projects ranging from promotions to a direct to DVD animated series.

Fechter is currently an Assistant Professor of 3D Computer Animation at UT Dallas. During this time he has been able to integrate his production experience and expertise into his teachings with the goal of better preparing students to reach their professional aspirations. This includes the creation of the first online Arts and Technology computer animation digital class material archive where students have unlimited access to course materials and examples that allow for off campus learning and review.

Fechter’s current interests are in the continued redesign and growth of the ATEC 3D animation curriculum. Two new courses will focus more on the planning and development of 3D animation rather than the actual execution. Students will then be able to fully realize production timelines and methodologies to focus skills learned in other ATEC courses and create of their own complex animations. In return these works will be submitted to festivals and other showcases.

David Parry

David Parry

David Parry has taught as an assistant professor since August 2007, and has helped to grow and shape the EMAC program. His work centers on understanding the complex cultural transformations brought about by the change from an analog archive to one whose substructure is a digital network. His current area of research is focused on understanding how the digital network produces a different type of public and alters civic practices, analyzing how power structures and relations between people and governance are altered in the digital era.

Currently he teaches courses on writing in the digital era, digital culture, and civic media. His presentations and published writing include works on digital games, web technologies, digital literacy, and the emerging networked public.

David writes for several online resources including his own blogs, Profound Heterogeneity (www.profoundheterogeneity.com), and Academhack (www.academhack.com), and has been featured in The Chronicle for his work on microblogging as pedagogical practice. He also is regularly invited by organizations to speak about digital literacy and the changing cultural landscape.

The time has come for our graduating seniors in the Emerging Media and Communications program to showcase their capstone projects that they have been working hard on for the past semester. Many of these students have been thinking about this project for their entire Undergraduate or Graduate career here at UT Dallas. This year the Arts & Humanities school really wanted to make this presentation a celebration of our students’ outstanding work.

This year a prize of $250 will be awarded to one outstanding undergraduate and one graduate. We will provide light refreshments and snacks during intermission.

If you are not able to attend the celebration because you are out of town, don’t fret because we will be recording the event and will post a video on our YouTube channel after the event. Also, if you would like to follow the Twitter chatter surrounding the event, you can follow the event hashtag, #emacC2.

View the program notes online.

The EMAC Lab, formerly the Mobile Lab, which has previously created projects such as Undetweetable and Enemygraphis working on a new software project, which should be ready for release next month. The project, called Github Syllabus, is designed to allow college instructors to quickly and easily share copies of their syllabi on the Github platform. Github, was originally designed as a mechanism to allow programmers to quickly and easily share source code files and collaborate. However, recently the platform’s capabilities have attracted attention from academics in the humanities and social sciences as well. This is mostly because of how the github platform handles files. It stores information about every revision made to a file, allowing the evolution of a complex document, even one contributed to by multiple authors, to be recovered. It also allows users to “fork” files, creating a new version for themselves with a link back to the original version. This allows for flexible collaboration and sharing of materials. University instructors are interested in using these collaboration and sharing functions to work together on teaching and research materials. At present, uploading material to github in a format that it uses gracefully can be difficult and time consuming. Github Syllabus is designed to help with that. It is a plugin for the popular WordPress blogging platform that allows syllabi shared using this platform to be quickly and easily transferred to github. As many faculty use WordPress for classes, this connection will help them more readily make use of the github platform. Look for Github Syllabus, the latest creation from EMAC Lab, in the coming weeks!

Nick Lindsay, Journals Director for The MIT Press will speak on “The Evolution of Scholarly Publishing” as part of the Art Rendevous Science (ARS) Research Colloquia series on Wed., April 17 at noon in the ATEC Conference Room, ATEC 1.606.

Abstract

“Publishing is about to go through 25 years of evolution in a five year span.” Said in 2008. This is a fairly accurate description of what’s happened in scholarly journals publishing over the last five years. This talk will cover what’s worked, what hasn’t, and try to make some predictions about what may come. What are publishers concerned about and how are changes in publishing technology altering how scholars do their work are among the topics to be discussed.

About Nick Lindsay

Nick Lindsay has been working in the scholarly communication trenches for almost a decade. First at the University of California Press and now at The MIT Press where he oversees the Press’ journals department. MIT publishes journals that range across the arts and humanities to the social sciences and hard sciences. He is a past chair of the Scholarly Journals Committee of the Association of American University Press.

The ATEC/EMAC Colloquium Committee welcomes suggestions for speakers visiting the metroplex or from the metroplex. Please send your suggestions to one of the Colloquium Committee Members: Professors Roger Malina and Mihai Nadin; co-chairs: Andrew Famiglietti, Paul Fishwick, Mona Kasra and Bonnie Pitman.

Students who will be getting an M.A., M.F.A. or Ph.D. on a subject related to the intersection of art, science and technology are encouraged to submit an abstract of their thesis to LABS (Leonardo Abstract Services).

This peer-reviewed database has been in existence for over 10 years and functions as a way for international artists and scholars to learn about the work of the next generation.

The LABS peer reviewers for this year:

• Yiannis Colakides is the co-director of NeMe (New Media), Limassol, Cyprus.
• David Familian is the artistic director of the Beall Center for Art and Technology at University of California Irvine, Irvine, California.
• Tom Leeser is the Program Director of the Art and Technology Program in the School of Art and the Director of the Center for Integrated Media at the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California.
• Emmanuel Mahe is the director of research at ENSAD which recently launched a Ph.D. in “Science and Art Creation Research,” which includes several art schools.
• Andrea Polli is an associate professor of Fine Art and Engineering at the University of New Mexico Albuquerque.
• Lea Rekow is founder of Green My Favela, a land use reclamation project based in the Rocinha favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and on the advisory board for UrbanIxD, a European research network that builds data-rich urban environments through focusing on human activities and experiences.
• Edward Shanken is a researcher at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and a member of the Media Art History faculty at the Donau University in Krems, Austria.
• Charissa N. Terranova, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Aesthetic Studies, School of Arts & Humanities, The University of Texas at Dallas.

The top-ranking LABS authors each year are invited to publish their work in Leonardo Journal and Leonard Education and Art Forum. The database can be viewed at leonardolabs.pomona.edu. Inquiries should be made to Sheila Pinkel.

The Leonardo Education and Art Forum (LEAF), The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales (UNSW) announce a:

2013 CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR EXAMPLES OF INTER-DISCIPLINARY ART-SCIENCE-ENGINEERING-HUMANITIES CURRICULA

Leonardo Executive Editor Roger Malina and UT Dallas doctoral student Kathryn Evans are interested in examples of courses and curricula that are in the art-science-humanities field such as courses on art and biology, music and mathematics, art and chemistry, dance and environmental sciences, etc. Other educators interested in collaborating to develop these resources should contact Kathryn Evans at kcevans@utdallas.edu.

This is a follow-up to a similar call in the summer of 2012.  Full syallbi should be sent to Paul Thomas at p.thomas@unsw.edu.au to be included in a cloud wiki at artsci.unsw.wikispaces.net. The working group includes Meredith Tromble of the San Francisco Art Institute.

We are interested in the broad range of all forms of the performing arts, including music, dance, theatre and film, and the visual arts; and connecting to all the hard and social sciences. We are including art and new technologies (eg: nano tech) but in general not new media curricula unless they include an art-science component, or art and engineering.

Individuals who have taught an art-science-humanities course at the university or secondary-school level, in formal or informal settings, are invited to contact Kathryn Evans, with details of their curriculum, at kcevans@utdallas.edu.

Please send the title and number of the course(s), a short description, the level offered (graduate or undergraduate) and the department(s) in which the course(s) was offered.  We are also interested in the “history” of your course – when it was offered, if you had any issues with approval, and how you developed the course.

Please include permission to include your course on the CDASH website, “Breaking Down the Silos: Curriculum Development in the Arts, Science and Humanities.” The site also lists programs and centers that are devoted to Art- Science-Humanities research and curriculum.

Class registration opened this morning and for Fall 2013 we are offering two sections of the special topics course EMAC 4372. You may be asking yourself what course is the better fit for you? Below are the course descriptions for Dave Parry’s course as well as Andrew Famiglietti’s course to help you decide which one is the best fit for you.

EMAC 4372.002: Unlike prior forms of broadcast media, the digital network distributes the means of production and dissemination within the populace as a whole, replacing one to many communication with the many-to-many. While by no means egalitarian, the shift away from broadcast media to a more distributed form opens up a range of possibilities for communities to leverage the digital network and computational technologies to not only to communicate with each other but to work to solve their own problems.In this class we are going to work to understand how the digital network can foster civic engagement, and be purposed to solve a wide range of citizen concerns.To accomplish this goal, the class is divided into three sections: theory, research, and practice. In the first part of class we will read some of the key works on community building and the media’s role in empowering/disempowering citizens, with particular focus on the effect the digital network is having. Second, we will look at particular examples of Citizen Media and research what groups are doing, what has worked, and what has not. Finally the class will work in groups to make their own Civic Media projects. (class taught by Dave Parry)

EMAC 4372.001:This EMAC 4372 teaches basic computer programming literacy with an eye towards the humanistic application of digital tools and techniques. With this goal in mind, EMAC 4372 focuses on the practical application of higher level scripting languages to tasks common in the humanities. Students will learn basic code design patterns, regular expressions, and web API use, and practice applying these tools to real-world research and communication tasks. (class taught by Andrew Famiglietti)

The School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas invites scholars to apply for two positions in the Emerging Media and Communications (EMAC) Program beginning as early as August 2013: one at the Assistant Professor level and the other at the tenured level. The latter appointment seeks an individual to serve as the Director of the EMAC program. Appointment could begin as early as September 1, 2013; search will remain open until positions are filled.

Assistant Professor

Applicants at the tenure track level must have an MFA or PhD at the time of appointment.

Associate Professor/Professor

Applicants at the senior level must have a strong interest and demonstrated history in securing extramural research funding. Applicants must have a Ph.D. at the time of the appointment.

We seek outstanding teacher/scholars who take a variety of research approaches to emerging media and communications including a social scientific approach to the study of social media, broadly construed. Areas of expertise may include, but are not limited to, youth and media, networked journalism, online social networks, digital media and health, political communication, media globalization, digital media and learning, and big data and data journalism. We welcome applicants from a variety of disciplines, such as communication, humanities, information studies, sociology, education, and computer science.

Located within the School of Arts and Humanities, this young and innovative program emphasizes interdisciplinary study of digital and social media and addresses the importance of understanding the social and cultural implications of the digitally networked world, as well as research and development of new social and technological solutions and applications.

The EMAC program will be moving into the new Arts and Technology building at UT Dallas in the fall of 2013, EMAC offers the BA and MA in Emerging Media and Communications, EMAC faculty also advises doctoral students in the Arts and Technology Ph.D. program.

Review of applications will begin April 15, 2013, and will continue until the positions are filled; the starting date may be as early as August 2013. Indication of gender and ethnicity for affirmative action statistical purposes is requested as part of the application. Official transcripts must be submitted to the Faculty Records Office prior to the first day of official employment for those applicants selected to teach at the University.

The University of Texas at Dallas is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, citizenship status, Vietnam era or special disabled veteran’s status, or sexual orientation. UT Dallas strongly encourages applications from candidates who would enhance the diversity of the University’s faculty and administration.

To apply for the Assistant Professor position, applicants should submit (a) their current curriculum vitae, (b) a letter of interest (including research interests), and (c) at least three letters of recommendation via the online application form.

To apply for the tenured position, applicants should submit (a) their current curriculum vitae, (b) a letter of interest (including research interests, and (c) at least five letters of recommendation via the online application form.

Looking for capstone registration? Are you worried because it doesn’t appear in Coursebook? Don’t worry, there will be capstones in the Fall. The course just does not appear in Coursebook. To register for capstone you should download the Undergraduate capstone form or the Graduate capstone form, and talk to the professor you want to supervise your project. Keep in mind that each professor only has a limited number of students that he or she can supervise, so you want to talk to that professor sooner rather than later. Also in the Fall semester Capstone meetings will be Tuesday evenings. This doesn’t mean you will meet every Tuesday evening, but it does mean that several Tuesday’s out of the semester you will be required to meet as a group (i.e. don’t take classes from 5:00-10:00pm on Tuesday as that would make it impossible for you to meet).