Digital Showcase Fall 2018

App Prototype: Prodigy Engineering: Effective Meetings Training Manual

Creator(s): 
Ryan Rosenbaum, Mellissa Rose, Luke Rattay, Sarah Sheldon, and Aaron Mcvaugh

A Business Communications Online Training Manual using the theories of Bourdieu, Rogers, and Junger.
Prototype built on Adobe Muse for mobile devices.

Link with interactive QR code (might require Adobe sign-in or be available on dedicated workstation):
https://spark.adobe.com/page/fBt0SZPzQD5k3/

Full walk-through: http://pitt.edu/~aam133/subhtml/MuseExport/index.html

Audio Essay: Learning to Speak Again

Creator(s): 
Maya Best
Live link: 

https://soundcloud.com/user-997833647/learning-to-speak-again

“I have lived with my grandmother for most of my life and she taught me the Indian language Bengali. Recently she had a stroke, causing her to move into a nursing home and have a lot of trouble speaking. This piece is about voice and my grandmother losing her ability to speak, but also my relationship to the Bengali language and the impact that my grandmother has had on my language ability. Through the audio essay form I hoped to illustrate the changing of my grandmother's voice coinciding with changes in my own language ability.”

BuzzFeed Quiz: What Secret Pittsburgh Destination Are You?

Creator(s): 
Students of Secret Pittsburgh
Live link: 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/secretpittsburgh/what-secret-pittsburgh-destina...

Take this quiz to find out which secret destination in Pittsburgh you are! Then come to the Secret Pittsburgh class of Fall 2018's showcase on December 7th, at the Digital Scholarship Commons on the ground floor of Hillman Library from 2-4pm, to learn more about the place you got!

Captioned Video: Kavanaugh Cold Open

Creator(s): 
Jacob Diefes
Live link: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16F0VcObX4txwXJ-Ts3h2bsNwufYliQvr/view?u...

"Timing is a huge issue in captioning. TV shows, movies, and even most online videos all try to be accessible, but often reveal information too early or too late relative to what is actually going on in the content. This renders the captions far less useful than they should be for individuals relying on the captions to enjoy the videos.

Class Website: A Guidebook to the Secrets of Pittsburgh

Creator(s): 
Students of Secret Pittsburgh
Live link: 

https://secretpittsburgh.pitt.edu/

The "Secret Pittsburgh" Literature class invites students to explore unusual or hidden spaces of the city, including "secret" spaces within well-known landmarks. Coursework requires them to explore connections among politics, environment, history, community, and written texts. Students learn how to engage with a diverse range of texts and re-consider the cultural work "literature" can do in the world. The conclusion to a semester of reading, writing and on-the-ground investigation is the final project, where students construct entries for this online guidebook.

Podcast: Mainstreaming

Creator(s): 
Brian Nelle, Madison Montanero, Kali Wallace
Live link: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JfLwKA5aKg-8aWecydotRnKx59HhP_4v/view?u...

Image: 

"Mainstreaming focuses on the original content being produced by popular streaming networks such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube Red. Each week the podcast tackles a new topic within the bounds of streaming subscription sites. The goal of Mainstreaming is to examine the content of these sites and show how these platforms are affecting the film and

Soundscape: Current Mood

Creator(s): 
Lliana Hwang

"This soundscape shows my daily student life, which revolves around work, class, assignments, YouTube, gym, and sleep, but sleep deprivation disrupts that cycle. It begins with my morning ritual of closing the window from cold air and playing music. I used a soundtrack to display my mental state, which seemed fitting since piano instrumentals are my favorite and music is very involved in my life, ranging from alarms to mood boosters. As the day goes on, the soundtrack showcases a growing distortion from short-term memory loss, inability to focus, and frequent headaches.

Soundscape: President Lily Jo Pawter's State of the Union Address

Creator(s): 
Abby Jo Krobot

"I wanted to do a project that was political but also fun. I combined politics with my newest hobby: taking my dog to the dog park. I chose a State of the Union Address given by President Obama and I altered the words in order to fit the issues that would face a dog park. The hard part was getting the appropriate sounds from a young puppy who was still learning the command “speak” (and was not a fan of it). I chose to weave in my frustration with trying to get the right type of bark and Lily's resistance to set the stage for why a dog was giving a State of the Dog Park Address.

Twine Game: An (Un)eventful Summer

Creator(s): 
Becky Lin
Live link: 

http://philome.la/mtyrhetoric/an-uneventful-summer/play

"During the beginning phases of story development, there were many directions that the narrative could have advanced to. However, I knew for certain that I wanted to build a story world for the player in which the presence of magic was the central theme...In the end, my wish to create an interactive narrative for the reader to be an active participant of came to life in developing 'An (Un)eventful Summer.' I accomplished this objective by using a variety of stylistic and interactive elements for the player to experience while playing through the story such as color or input prompts."

Twine Game: Conquering Cathy

Creator(s): 
Arie Kalcevic
Live link: 

http://philome.la/mtyrhetoric/conquering-cathy/play

"My frustration navigating the Cathedral of Learning elevators and attempts to gain access to rooms inspired my Twine. The Twine contains cuts of all things Cathy (the Cathedral of Learning), including the themes of peregrine falcons and rumored secret passageways...Overall the game is meant to be played multiple times, even if players win the first time through, which is a possibility. If a player dies quickly like being fed to the birds, they immediately can restart, and if they win, they are encouraged to explore other options.

Twine Game: Discovery

Creator(s): 
Brandon Badger
Live link: 

http://philome.la/mtyrhetoric/discovery/play

"Many modern game developers like to claim that their game delivers several 'impactful' choices to how the major events or plotlines play out. However, many games simply judge you in a binary fashion. They inform you if the action you chose was right or wrong, good or evil. However, who are they to say that what you did was objectively good or bad? Who are they to judge whether the choices you make are right or wrong? Who am I to judge that either? Nothing in the world is black or white, and games should not present choices as such either."

Twine Game: Kitchen Gorelore

Creator(s): 
Paul Yu
Live link: 

http://philome.la/mtyrhetoric/kitchen-gorelore

"When first tasked with the Twine assignment, the general structure had a “how-to” vibe associated it...I wanted a topic geared around food and adventure so being Dracula’s servant came to mind. A large part of the story deals with the time of day because Dracula would most likely be sleeping during the day and awake at night. To give a perception of time, the background color changes as the story progresses. The backgrounds will go from white to grey to black indicating the time of day and when Dracula will wake up hungry.

Twine Game: Superposition

Creator(s): 
Michael Gambone
Live link: 

http://philome.la/mtyrhetoric/superposition/play

"My project is a Twine game that examines how a reader makes choices preemptively before they interact with a work and how a reader shapes a narrative they consume with their preconceptions. I believe attitudes inform a reader's experience, so I tried to measure the reader's values before they experience my version of Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice using an "altruism" variable that is increased or decreased by the quiz preceding the game. Depending on the value of the altruism variable, the story will change to reflect the measured opinion on tradition, free will, and humanity."

Twine Game: The Sniper: An Experience of Civil War

Creator(s): 
James Fleckenstein
Live link: 

http://philome.la/mtyrhetoric/the-sniper-an-experience-of-civil-war/play

The Sniper is an interactive Twine game that allows players to experience the Irish Civil war through characterization, multimedia artifacts, and minor player agency. Adapted from the short story The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty, players will take control of a Republican sniper, fighting to free Ireland from the British Empire. The player will explore the background of the war through the eyes of a young scholar, learning of their upbringing and the rational of giving one’s life for a cause.

Video Essay: How Do You Live in Pittsburgh?

Creator(s): 
Emily Gingrich
Live link: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J9fLIpN_jmC-vL_mvG8dzg9_CV9E43pG/view

"This multi-media video project is designed to ask a question of Pittsburgh and a small sample of its inhabitants: how do you live here; that is, what do you do for a living, how much does it make you, do you rent or own a home, how much does renting or owning cost, and the most unspoken question – are you happy about those answers? Can anyone, living in a city? What does it take to “succeed” living here?

Website Mockup: Benefits of Bilingualism

Creator(s): 
Alisa Rasys
Live link: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11Le0nFXNKKSQWtk94LPHPlW0r_rhMBKB/view?u...

Image: 

A sustained argument for parents about the value of bilingualism in early education composed in Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. From the proposal: "My final project will be an informative guide that creatively and effectively persuades its audience to teach children more than one language, and to start the process of bilingualism at a young age. The purpose of this project is to shine light on the benefits of being bilingual in order for younger generations to maintain the heritage and language of their ancestors or to preserve the culture of others.