Project One: “Kalman” Project
A multimedia project based on the work of author and artist Maira Kalman.
Technologies:
- Digital Photography
- PowerPoint / MovieMaker or iMovie / Haiku Deck
- Photoshop
Objectives:
- Photography skills / concepts
- Image editing
- Visual Rhetoric (design principles–alignment, typography, color, etc)
- Rhetoric (core concepts of communicating to specific audiences–kairos, ethos, pathos, etc)
- PechaKucha presentation principles
Project Two: Remediation Project
This project asks you to take a research project of 8 to 80 pages and remediate into two different formats. First, you’ll transform it into an engaging conference length presentation (12-15 minutes) with an accompanying handout. Second, you’ll transform it into a more “viral” length project of 3-6 minutes.
Technologies:
- PowerPoint / MovieMaker or iMovie / Haiku Deck
- Digital Video
- Photoshop
- InDesign (?) [depending on Project 3, desire for handout sophistication]
Objectives:
- Visual Rhetoric
- Rhetoric
- Image editing
- Image generation [requirement: one “slick” chart, graph, table, or illustration]
- Document Design [depending on how much InDesign demand their is]
Project 3: TBD
The third project will likely grow out of your expectations for the course. I have a number of possibilities.
First, we could do an interview project. I believe there is a lot of value in learning how to conduct, shoot, edit, and present an interview.
Second, we could do a promotional project, developing materials for a particular event (perhaps connected to the Patel College?). Or we could put together materials that explain what/who the Patel college is/are. Of course, this could include doing interviews.
Third, we could do something similar to the project initiated by the San Francisco School of Medicine; 4th year medical students there are contributing their expertise to Wikipedia. We could not only dedicate expertise to improving articles, but also create some kind of video/website/presentation that documents those contributions. It might make for an interesting “viral” possibility.
Fourth, we could work on creating an infographic. This kind of project would get us more familiar with “high end” document design–in other words, InDesign.
Fifth, and also on the InDesign front, we could design a high end whitepaper. This would involve transforming some existing data into something slick.
Sixth, we could pay more attention to video and produce a documentary on a particular issue.
Any of these projects could be scaled to be individual projects, team projects, or even an entire class project. In the past I have done “competitive” projects (a la reality programs like Project Runway) to see which team can create the best representation for a single thing.
It is hard to list the “objectives” and “technologies,” since I think each option suggests its own array of possibility. I am hoping we can have some discussion about which of these works the best for you.
Project 4: Web Presence
This project will begin from the first day of the course and run concurrent through the entire semester. The idea here is to cultivate an online presence using traditional web (yeah, that’s a thing now) and social media.
In terms of traditional web media, I would have you create a website using the social media platform SquareSpace (note: I am not opposed to you using other platforms, but I recommend paying a little money for a quality site with prompt customer service). Squarespace costs $50 a year, plus there is an additional cost of about $10 a year for registering your domain name (e.g., www.yourname.com). This will involve generating a CV, writing an “about” page, generating a headshot (the “about” and headshot are good to have for grant opportunities etc). The SquareSpace site will also highlight a kind of portfolio of research.
We’ll link that portfolio to/through a few other sites like academia.edu. But that’s just the start of the social media push. We’ll create / update Linked.in accounts. And, of course, we’ll spend some time with Twitter (if you are an intellectual professional today, then twitter is increasingly unavoidable).
Materials and Costs
- Squarespace and domain name: $60
- Presentation Zen Design
- Photo Device
- Video Device (?) / Tripod for iPhone (about $20)
Of course, I can assuage these costs depending on how many people have access to video equipment.
