By: Audrey Waggoner '21In late February, the EMC held its first Cross-Team Critique of the new year. The Cross-Team Critique is a time when the teams at the EMC converge, share their projects, and discuss their successes, struggles, and next steps with the group. Once everyone gets caught up, the forum is open for feedback so the teams can receive critique and encouragement. This process accomplishes two goals at once: it keeps everyone at the EMC up-to-date on the many projects going on, an… Read More

By: Audrey Waggoner '21The EMC has partnered with the Heritage Winooski Mill Museum for our Spring 2019 Design Challenge. The team consists of Champlain College students coming from a diverse range of majors, from Communications to Game Programming to Filmmaking. The museum is a unique space in the old Champlain Mill that overlooks the Winooski River. It highlights the history of the textile industry in Vermont and tries to connect past events to modern-day issues.This year the team is e… Read More

By: Alexis Dunn '19This Summer, Julia Swift joined the Emergent Media Center (EMC) as a faculty consultant to work with a team of students on a brand new 360 degree VR film experience. She created a prototype with the student staff that was debuted on the first night of the South End Art Hop.  Julia is a highly regarded film professor at Champlain College. As well as her position as an assistant film professor, she has written, directed, and edited for film and TV over the course of her very… Read More

By: Alexis Dunn '19Silent Connections is a 360 video experience using virtual reality technology (VR) to allow the user to see what it’s like to live life in someone else’s shoes. The user takes on the role of Alex, a student, friend, child, nature enthusiast, and a deaf person. The experience was created by a team of Summer student hires and their goal for this prototype is to evoke empathy within the user. As well as, dispel any potential biases, make connections, and encourage effective i… Read More

By: Alexis Dunn '19 “I was really excited before I even knew what topic we were doing because I have been really interested in empathy gaming. I play a lot of interactive experiences that aren’t really games but they have a message or are really heavy on dialogue so I was so excited to make that. Experiences like this, with 360 video, are the new medium. It’s this type of thing that goes beyond video games in a way.” (Erika Skorstad '19, Narrative Designer/ Writer) Starting new projects at the… Read More

By: Alexis Dunn '19 Summer at the Emergent Media Center is an expansive and exciting time. New projects are created, old ones are finished up, and sometimes existing programs are reimagined and reworked to make something new.Flight, is a full body, interactive flying experience created by the sandbox team around two years ago. It’s home is in Burlington International Airport. Travelers enjoy soaring through the virtual sky as an airplane while waiting for their actual flights.… Read More

By: Alexis Dunn '19 For the first time ever, the MakerLab is hosting an artist in residence for the summer. Sophie Zeman- Hale is a fiber artist who attends School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is here for the summer to create pieces for the MakerLab, collaborate on projects, host workshops, and bring in something new. I sat down with her and asked a few questions about  project plans and about what she does.  Q. What exactly are fiber arts? A. “Fiber Arts are anyt… Read More