Crimes of the face, indeed: As far as Movember goes, it's all over save for the mockery. The Centre for Extended Learning's campaign, "Team Zanzibar Checkerboard", was challenged by e-learning and educational technology manager Matt Justice to raise at least $400 by midnight on Thursday, November 29. If the team did so, he pledged to spend all of November 30 sporting half a moustache. Well, as the picture above demonstrates, Team Zanzibar Checkerboard came through with $540 in contributions, which put them into the top 50 per cent of Movember teams by amount raised.

Back to top

Digital media innovations showcased this week

by Arts Communications and the Department of English Language and Literature.

Though the quantum-nano age may be approaching, there’s still much to discover and understand about digital technology. From developers to humanists to entrepreneurs, students and faculty at this university are deeply invested in all things digital.

The Faculty of Arts is right there too. In recent years two distinct Arts graduate programs—distinct from one another, and distinct from other programs in Canada— in digital media and technology have been launched. In 2010, the Department of English Language and Literature introduced their third MA program, Experimental Digital Media (XDM), and last year the Stratford Campus accepted their first Master of Digital Experience Innovation (MDEI) cohort. The former combines critical theory and experiment, the latter is geared to professionalization and entrepreneurship.

English Professor Marcel O'Gorman has been teaching courses in each of these programs during the fall term.

“My teaching always involves the production of ‘objects-to-think-with’, whether it's a course in XDM or in Stratford's MDEI program,” he explains. This week, both classes will be showcasing the products of their hands-on research, giving the university and local community a chance to see digital humanities in action.

The MDEI class will showcase ‘Objects to Think With’ at the Communitech Hub. The presentation will feature a series of blue-sky product demonstrations that fit somewhere between ‘killer app’ and science fiction.

“I tried to design projects for this group that would liberate them from the demand to commercialize, which is often a crippling yardstick for innovation” O’Gorman explains.

In the XDM course, based at O’Gorman’s Critical Media Lab in Kitchener, graduate students collaborated with the Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program (MAREP), in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, to develop digital projects on the topic of memory and technology.  O’Gorman explains that he challenges students, “to think more about how they can use new media to make people's lives better, not just more efficient or more full of consumable objects. This is why the students are working with MAREP.” The ‘Memory and Techne’ showcase includes a "dementia simulator" app; a sensor-based game about memory and cognition; a visualization of how to improve language used to describe dementia; and a digital art therapy app for people living with Alzheimer's and their caregivers.

“After all, the best start-ups don't come from people who studied how to make start-ups” says O’Gorman, “they come from people who are passionate about ideas, who aren't afraid to work outside their comfort zone, and who can communicate in brilliant ways… and given the right resources, they can develop mind-blowing digital projects.” 

The Objects to Think With showcase by MDEI students happens on Tuesday, December 4 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., at the Communitech Hub located at the Tannery, 151 Charles Street West, Kitchener.

The Memory and Techne showcase by XDM students takes place on Tuesday, December 4 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at the Critical Media Lab, located on 158 King Street West near City Hall in Kitchener.

Back to top

Share your thoughts on the city's Culture Plan

a message from the City of Waterloo.

What does culture mean to you? What do you want culture to look like in Waterloo?

Culture can be defined as any form of human expression. It includes more than ballet and the symphony, independent films, rock concerts, arts, crafts and other hobbies. Culture can be seen in the design and look of our city streets, in our heritage buildings, and in the way we express ourselves through clothing, food and other traditions.

The City of Waterloo is leading a project to create a Municipal Culture Plan that explores how to support cultural development and increase the creative potential of our community. Culture Plans look at how existing cultural resources (cultural places, people and other assets) can be strengthened and built upon to help achieve community goals. These goals could include community-building, strengthening our economy, or preserving our past. Culture planning aims to make our community more vibrant and creative, and in turn, an even better place to live!

Public consultation is an important part of developing a culture plan. This is your invitation to share your thoughts about culture. The project team is asking you to provide your input by answering a short 5 question survey. There are prize draws for those that complete the survey and provide their email address before December 31. Please consider taking a few minutes to provide your input on the future of culture in Waterloo. Any questions about the project can be directed to cultureplan@waterloo.ca.

Back to top

Notes as December sidles up to say hello

The annual WatITis conference for campus information technology
professionals gets underway tomorrow in the J.R. Coutts Engineering Lecture Hall, with Chief Information Officer Dave Wallace delivering this year's conference keynote and sessions that include accessible web graphics, the campus firewall project, digital signage and the web, the university's IT strategic plan, mobile development and technology, and virtual desktop infrastructure.

The next Pension Lunch and Learn session is scheduled for Thursday, December 6.  The session title is “Forms of Pension and Other Considerations" and will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. in DC 1302. Information about the sessions can be found on the HR website.

Major Project Construction Co-ordinator Don Haffner reports that the interlink corridor 120 in Biology 2 will be closed for renovations beginning Monday, December 10 for approximately one month in preparation for construction of the new Science Teaching Centre, which breaks ground on Thursday, December 6. The project involves the replacement of doors and ceiling, with some electrical and mechanical work.

"A second emergency egress will be provided for B2 at all times," writes Haffner. "Staff and students can connect to each building via the upper floors." The men's washroom in the corridor will not be available during renovations. The corridor will wind up becoming a fire-rated exit.

Back to top