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Meet the WSU student designing gameday posters hidden around campus

Collin Scott had to look twice. Scott had just hopped on his bike, riding away from Gesa Field, the site of Washington State’s home matchup with Northern Colorado, when he noticed something: two girls, laughing as they held up a 13×9 poster, which showed an illustration of a Cougar and a Bear, the two mascots squaring off that afternoon in September.

It was Scott’s poster. Not even 24 hours prior, he had designed the thing himself.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this is pretty cool,’ ” Scott said. “They were smiling, like dang, we found it.”

Scott, a junior majoring in art at Washington State, doesn’t always get to see the people who find the printouts of the posters he designs – but he feels fulfilled either way. An intern in WSU’s creative media department, Scott uses an app called Procreate on his iPad to illustrate a poster for the Cougars’ home games, which gets printed out then hidden somewhere around campus a few hours before the game for one lucky person to find.

The spot can be anywhere around campus, like the Cougar statue or The Coug, but to get to that stage, Scott has to design the poster first.

A few hours before each home game, WSU director of creative media Dallas Hobbs (’21 DTC) and his team do the same routine: Airdrop the poster from Scott’s iPad to Hobbs’ iPad, which connects to a printer in their office. Out comes the finished project, which they take to some place around campus. Then Hobbs snaps a picture of the poster – showing enough context around the location to give hints, but not enough to make it obvious.

Then Hobbs posts the picture on the WSU football Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts, asking readers to post a picture of the poster if they find it.

Read the full story:
Spokesman-Review
Yahoo News

Re-Imagined Radio presents ‘The War of the Worlds’

The simple power of sound can be strong enough to transport people’s imaginations anywhere, or convince them of just about anything — even Earth getting overrun by creepy-crawlies from another planet.

Re-Imagined Radio, a sound-art and -storytelling project based at Washington State University Vancouver, has been exploring the way such mischief was, and still is, done for the past decade.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Re-Imagined Radio will relaunch an entirely audio Martian invasion of Earth on the night before Halloween as it stages “The War of The Worlds” at Kiggins Theatre.

“It might be harder to spook people than it was in the 1930s,” said John Barber, the founder of Re-Imagined Radio and a faculty member in WSU Vancouver’s creative media and digital culture program. “But it was so effective, in its day, it’s been legendary ever since.”

Read the full story:
The Columbian

 

Vancouver businesses, schools embrace artificial intelligence technology

Artificial intelligence was once common only on television and in movies. But with the evolution of software programs like ChatGPT, DALL-E and Microsoft’s Bing bot, AI-generated materials aren’t just novel, they’re everywhere.

Some fear it, but many have embraced it. From doctors offices, to classrooms to small businesses, ChatGPT and similar programs are making a splash.

Luers

In February, Vancouver-based ZoomInfo announced that the company plans to integrate GPT technology into its go-to-market platform.

William Luers is a professor of creative media and digital culture at Washington State University Vancouver. He uses ChatGPT and some of the artificial-intelligence-generated image programs in his classes.

“I make it clear that this is not replacing creativity,” said Luers. “It’s an assistant for creative work.”

Find out more

The Columbian
Big Country News

 

Digital Technology and Culture Program elevated to department status

Amid rising global demand for workers skilled in contemporary technologies who are also culturally literate, Washington State University is making changes to enhance the popular Digital Technology and Culture program.

One of WSU’s fastest-growing degree programs with more than 400 students across four campuses — Pullman, Vancouver, Tri‑Cities and Global — DTC was recently elevated to department status, providing several new advantages for its increasing number of students and faculty.

Kimberly Christen.
Christen

“The change to department status includes an updated statewide curriculum that will help streamline the degree for students,” said Kim Christen, DTC professor and WSU Pullman associate vice chancellor for research advancement and partnerships. Options within the new curriculum emphasize clear career trajectories and skill sets as students move through the degree to graduation, Christen said.

The unified department will provide students more opportunities for internships and professional development through the extended campus networks and shared community and industry partnerships and collaborations. The program’s nearly 20 faculty members also will encounter more opportunities to share and engage with new pedagogical tools and initiatives across campuses and to collaborate on research and production.

Find out more

WSU Insider

Kim Christen appointed associate vice chancellor for research advancement and partnerships

Kimberly Christen.
Christen

The Office of Research has appointed Kimberly Christen as associate vice chancellor for Research Advancement and Partnerships. Christen takes up the role on Feb. 13.

In this role, Christen will provide leadership, long-range strategy, and short-term planning for Research Advancement and Partnerships and the research centers supported by the Office of Research. She will lead systemwide efforts to develop and strengthen the research culture at WSU, including an emphasis on equity-centered research; to increase the capacity of, and productivity in, transdisciplinary research, scholarship, and creative activity across all disciplines; and track emerging trends, growth areas and new opportunities in strategically important research areas by capturing research intelligence related to the external funding environment.

As a key member of the Office of Research management team, Christen will serve as an advocate and advisor to Christopher Keane, vice president for research at WSU and vice chancellor for research at WSU Pullman, in matters relating to initiatives and programs aimed at increasing the impact, stature, and visibility of the university’s research, scholarship, and creative activities.

Find out more

WSU Insider