The Roland TB-303 is one of the most influential electronic instruments to date. The story of the instrument and its influence remind us that objects can be "active agents rather than passive instruments or backdrops for human activity" (Boyle, Barnett). The machine is an analogue, monophonic bass line synthesizer created...
The Future of Six Second Compositions
[cs_content][cs_section parallax="false" style="margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;"][cs_row inner_container="true" marginless_columns="false" style="margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;"][cs_column fade="false" fade_animation="in" fade_animation_offset="45px" fade_duration="750" type="1/1" style="padding: 0px;"][cs_text]Vine, a Twitter-owned video app since 2012, allowed users to create six-second video loops. "Vine stars," who cleverly used the app for optical illusions or comedy, emerged as popular online figures. After...
Scandals and the Digital Code in the Presidential Race
[cs_content][cs_section parallax="false" style="margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;"][cs_row inner_container="true" marginless_columns="false" style="margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;"][cs_column fade="false" fade_animation="in" fade_animation_offset="45px" fade_duration="750" type="1/1" style="padding: 0px;"][x_image type="none" src="http://www.dwrl.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/clinton-trump1.jpg" alt="A close-up picture of Donald Trump on the left and Hillary Clinton on the right. On the picture, it seems as if they look at each other from a...
Using Raugmenter to Map the 1966 Tower Shooting
If you wanted to design an augmented reality app, but didn’t have programming expertise, what would you do? Last fall, two graduate students, Felipe Cruz (now, Dr. Cruz), Keith Leisner, and Deb Streusand began working on Raugmenter in the DWRL. This tool was designed to make the augmented reality platform LayAR...
Learning to Learn, Digitally
A couple years ago, I enrolled in my first digital rhetorics course. I was excited, but also insecure, certain that I was out of my league compared to my classmates, all of whom I assumed were naturals when it came to all things digital. Even though I knew this way of...
Questing for Choice(s)
There is a fundamental issue with how we (as academics, players, and creators) view game narratives. This particular art form leaves room for player intervention, for changes and transformations, however, such interactivity has done little to push the boundaries of storytelling beyond alternate endings and perpetual quests. Is this as...
Cool Tools: Interactive Mapping with Google Fusion Tables
Today, I want to introduce a cool tool I have recently discovered: Google Fusion Tables. The basic idea is simple but powerful: the program will take any spreadsheet it is given, look for geolocation information in it, and display the individual items in the sheet on a map. (more…)
The Useful Art of Coding
By the time I finished writing this blog post, I had come to a realization that wasn't even on my mind at the start: The active function (in as utilitarian a sense as possible) of an object is just as important in creative production as its affective and aesthetic potential....
Writing By Design
The most obvious connection between writing and design is communication. Graphic designers communicate through visual elements, and writers communicate through the written word. Although they make use of different tools, essentially they both foreground methods that bring about an exchange of information. But can learning graphic design help us understand...
Twine Games: The Digital Author
In this way is revealed the whole being of writing: a text consists of multiple writings, issuing from several cultures and entering into dialogue with each other, into parody, into contestation; but there is one place where this multiplicity is collected, united, and this place is not the author, as...