Digital media students showcase the future

Stratford Beacon-Herald  Thu Jan 19 2012 

By: MIKE BEITZ STAFF REPORTER 

The QR code at the entrance of the University of Waterloo Stratford campus Wednesday was the first clue that the students there were doing something unique.

A quick scan with a smartphone triggered a self-guided tour of the Master of Digital Experience Innovation showcase, highlighting some of the clever, innovative and forward-thinking projects students have been working on in the program's inaugural year.

First up, a semiotic history of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, with video and still images flashing across a wall of Christie digital tiles, outlining how ancient Greek and 16th century Elizabethan theatres influenced and inspired the contemporary one here on the banks of the Avon.

"For me, it's a history lesson," said Kuo Yu Lu, one of several international students in the program still learning about some of the things that local residents take for granted. Coming from a background in game design, he said the MDEI program, with its combined focus on digital media, business and creativity, has helped him develop a new skillset that will pay off down the line.

"It fills in the gap between you and industry," agreed fellow student Sereen Masood.Next on the...

Connecting humanities research and digital technology

Building on a successful history of hiring co-op students and graduates from the Department of English Language and Literature, in 2010 Research in Motion (RIM) further recognized the department by committing $50,000 annually for graduate scholarships.

“The scholarships are a great vote of confidence in the department,” comments Fraser Easton, chair of English, “and a sure sign, I think, that it is a rather unusual English department, fully engaged with technology and new media, as well as the analytic and cultural traditions of literature and rhetoric.”

Now approaching its third year of enhancing graduate potential with individual awards of $5000 to $15,000, the scholarships have helped to attract top students, as well as promote by association the department’s growing strengths in digital communications. One of the recipients this year is Kent Aardse, a PhD candidate and holder of the prestigious SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Graduate Scholarship who transferred to Waterloo’s English department this year seeking a larger, more established intellectual home to continue his research on new media narrative in alternate reality games. “Kent was a very attractive candidate for our doctoral program,” says...

“You're all used to speaking about what you know, but the idea behind this event is to have people speak about what they DON'T know” stated the researchers’ invitation to Waterloo Ignorance Day held on December 6th.

Paul Thagard of the Department of Philosophy and Director of the interdisciplinary Cognitive Science program developed the idea for a day discussing ‘What I Wish I Knew About the Mind, Brain, and Intelligence’. Randy Harris of the Department of English Language and Literature dubbed it ‘Waterloo Ignorance Day’, contrasting the annual speaker event known as Waterloo Brain Day. “Brain Day and Ignorance Day are separate,” explains Thagard, although “both attempt to stimulate interdisciplinary research concerning the mind.” And stimulate it did.

It seems that when we admit what we don’t know but want to know about the workings of the mind, different disciplines have a lot to share with each other. Hence, the packed program of discussions on ignorance and inquiry by eight Waterloo researchers represented perspectives of Philosophy, Biology, Systems Design, English, Psychology, German and Computer Science.

With at least 38 Waterloo faculty from across campus with cognitive science interests, there is much potential for cross-disciplinary fertilization on the topic of...

Professors Carla Fehr and Heather Douglas join Dept of Philosophy

news release from the Department of Philosophy

The Department of Philosophy is delighted to announce the appointment of two Chairs in Scientific and Technological Literacy at the University of Waterloo.

Professor Carla Fehr joined the University in July as the Wolfe Chair in Science and Technology Studies, while Professor Heather Douglas will arrive in January 2012 as the Waterloo Chair in Science and Society.

The Chairs share a mandate of research, teaching, and public outreach bearing on topics that include the nature of science, public understanding of scientific practices, and the interrelations between scientific innovation, society, and policy-making. As one part of this mandate, Professors Douglas ands Fehr will design and help implement new undergraduate courses aimed at enriching and contextualizing Waterloo students' knowledge of science and technology, and the role of science in contemporary policy debates.

Professor Fehr comes to Waterloo from Iowa State University, and has a research background in both Biology and the Philosophy of Science. She researches and publishes on a range of issues, especially bearing on (i) the social structure of scientific communities that...