Washington State University Vancouver, a Tier One Research Institution, places much emphasis on research and provides its DTC faculty support for undertaking it.
Research News
DTC FACULTY WILL MENTOR VISITING FULBRIGHT RESEARCHER
Dr. John F. Barber, faculty member of the Digital Technology and Culture program at Washington State University Vancouver, will mentor and supervise a visiting international Fulbright researcher beginning Fall 2008.
Nataliya Shpylova, a Ukrainian graduate student, will work with Barber to pursue research regarding American author Richard Brautigan and the literature of the 1960s.
Shyplova's arrival was announced by the Institute of International Education (IIE), the world's largest independent international educational organization. Among its 200 programs, IIE handles visiting international Fulbright Scholars and Researchers.
According to Zammy D’az Lebr—n, IIE Placement Officer for the Humanities and Anthropology, Shplova specifically requested to focus her research on Richard Brautigan, an American author generally recognized as the writer most successful at capturing the spirit of the counterculture movement in San Francisco during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Barber is recognized as the leading authority on Brautigan and was chosen by the IIE to mentor and supervise Shyplova's research.
"All our efforts to locate an expert on Richard Brautigan led to Dr. Barber at Washington State University Vancouver," said Lebr—n. "His research website, his publications, and conference presentations position him as the leading international research authority on Richard Brautigan. We are quite pleased he has accepted our offer and with this association."
Barber's research website, "Brautigan Bibliography and Archive" (www.brautigan.net) is recognized as the world's leading resource for information about Richard Brautigan, his life, and writings. Within the website, Barber has gathered and categorized far-flung, unavailable, and often previously unknown research and ethnographical materials. The website, built and maintained by Barber, experiments with the immediate publication of scholarly research as well as ergonomic usability and interface designs for multiple overlays of information sources.
Richard Gary Brautigan (1935-1984) was born in Tacoma, Washington, and grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Brautigan's earliest publications were in the Portland, Oregon, newspapers. His grandmother lived in St. Helens, Oregon. He moved to San Francisco, where, during the 1960s, he achieved international fame with publication of his best-known novel, Trout Fishing in America. Brautigan wrote nine other novels, ten collections of poetry, two collections of short stories, and recorded a record album of him reading his poems, short stories, and selections from his novels.
"Researchers always wonder whether their work will be noticed, and if it is, whether it will be found worthy," said Barber. "I am quite pleased and honored to be selected as a research mentor and supervisor for Ms. Shyplova. I believe this is the first ever association between WSUV and the Fulbright Scholar program and I am especially pleased that this new connection speaks so well to the striving by the DTC program for greater diversity on this campus."
Barber has worked previously with several other international researchers and translators focusing on Brautigan. "I have relationships with scholars, researchers, and translators in the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Romania, Sweden, Spain, Japan, and Iran," said Barber. "As more research interest is focused on the literary, cultural, and social movements of the 1960s, Brautigan is increasingly of interest," said Barber.
Shpylova will arrive at WSUV in September and begin her research with Barber.
John Barber and Dene Grigar both had their articles accepted for publication in Transdisciplinary Digital Art: Sound, Vision and the New Screen, edited by Randy Adams, Steve Gibson and Stefan Muller. This volume, published by Springer-Verlag Publications (Heidelberg, Germany) is part of Springer's CCIS (Communications in Computer and Communication Science) series. Barber's essay is entitled "Digital Archiving and The New Screen"; Grigar's, "The Present [Future] of Electronic Literature."
Grigar and Barber also have a co-authored essay in publication with Going Wireless (Ed. Kimme Hea, Hampton Press), "Winged Words: On the Theory and Use of Internet Radio." The article stems from their collaboration on the Nouspace Internet Radio project (2002-2006).
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Barber, creator and curator of the Brautigan Bibliography and Archive, has just published Richard Brautigan: Essays on the Writings and Life. The book, a collection of 32 essays by such notable writers as Michael McClure, Robert Creeley, and Gatz Hjortsberg, is published by McFarland Press (2007). The book has been reviewed by Rob Mclennan, who writes: |
"With a writer such as Brautigan, it gets far too easily to focus on the man himself, moving further into his own suicide, that it often overlooks not only the earlier versions of who he was, but overshadows the writing; what makes this volume particularly interesting is that it focuses on all of the above, creating a larger overview for future readers and even future critics to move out from."
The complete review can be found at
http://robmclennan.blogspot.com/2006/12/richard-brautigan-essays-on-writings.html
Dr. Dene Grigar has co-edited, with Sue Thomas (De Montfort University, UK), a special double issue for
Leonardo Electronic Almanac, entitled "Wild Nature and the Digital Life." Grigar's issue focuses on the subtheme of The Emergent and Generative in Nature, the Digital and Art. The issue can be found at
http://leoalmanac.org/journal/Vol_14/lea_v14_n07-08/dgrigar.asp
She is also developing, with collaborator Dr. Steve Gibson (University of Victoria), an interactive game exhibit for the
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Set to open in the fall 2007, the piece is part of Grigar and Gibson's project,
The MINDful Play Environment.
Space for Research and Art Practice
In the fall 2006 Dr. Dene Grigar completed construction for a motion tracking lab, called the MOVE Lab (Motion Tracking Virtual Environments lab), intended to facilitate the study of live, interactive "serious" games involving the entire body of the user; networked and live multimedia performances; and narrative installations and exhibits.
Grigar & Gibson performing
Virtual DJ in the MOVE Lab
Students in the DTC program have the opportunity to intern on projects relating to the MOVE Lab so that they can prepare themselves for graduate study in digital technology or careers in developing multimedia exhibits and media-rich environments. Courses like Time-Based Media and Advanced Multimedia Authoring will be taught in the lab. The motion tracking technology driving the MOVE Lab is called the Gesture and Media System, proprietary hardware and software devised by Will Bauer (APR, Inc., Canada) and provided by Dr. Steve Gibson (University of Victoria, Canada) through a grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation. To see a video clip of a performance held in the lab, go to
http://www.telebody.ws/VirtualDJ/video%20gallery/VDJ_WSU/VDJ_WSU_Duet.html
The Fine Arts studios house three integrated areas for creative research—a digital imaging lab, a photography studio with darkroom, and a printmaking studio. The space is set up to encourage an exploration of the overlap between these related visual practices.
Harrison Higgs, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, frames his own research in terms of this overlap, and helped design the studios from the ground up. The facilities include: wide-format inkjet printers, high resolution scanners, a digital-based sound recording booth, studio lights for video and still imaging, film-based 35mm cameras, digital SLR cameras, screenprinting facilities, two etching presses, a black and white darkroom, and equipment for alternative photography.
