Digital Technology and Culture

A blog for students and friends of Washington State University Vancouver's Digital Technology and Culture Program

Goodbye Steve, Hello Samantha and Sue

The DTC Artist in Residence Steve Gibson leaves this weekend. He has been at WSUV for the past six weeks teaching DTC 477 "Advanced Multimedia Authoring" and working with me on the OMSI project. From looking at the terrific projects his students have turned out while he has been here, his visit has been very successful. Students learned a lot about video production and digital music, but more importantly, they learned how to apply these art forms in the creation of performance pieces and installations. One of my happiest days since my arrival on campus last fall was this past Monday when I watched the four video pieces my students produced in Steve's class.

On Sunday Samantha Blackmon arrives to take the last of the three residencies. From her students will learn video game development and storyboarding. Though her visit is short, it is cram-packed with workshops, artist talks, and classroom visits.

We are really lucky this semester to also have Sue Thomas passing through town from the UK on the way to Interactive Futures 2007 in Victoria, Canada. I have known Sue for about seven years now, having come in contact with her via the internet when I discovered trAce Online Writing Centre, the program she founded and directed at Nottingham Trace University. It was actually because of Sue that I met Steve Gibson. He performed at her Incubation conference in 2004.

It is a small, circular world. Two degrees of separation in this case.

I should mention that though I have never met Samantha IRL, we have known about each other and ran in the same virtual crowd for the last decade or so. Now, both she and Sue are converging here in Vancouver to teach DTC students and share their knowledge with the Vancouver community.

posted by: grigar at 03:48 | link | comments |

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