It’s Been a Busy Semester so far!
The Emergent Media Center has been engaged with a multitude of awesome projects this semester! Here’s a little taste of what’s been going on in the EMC.
Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) 2017
The Sandbox Team has made the trek to San Francisco to debut Spacebox! Stay tuned for updates via the Emergent Media Center Facebook
Local Innovation
We have some new neighbors; The Burlington Generator MakerSpace has opened up right next door to the EMC. “Generator is a home for makers, artists, and designers of all skill-levels and interests.”
Thanks to a partnership with Generator, “students from Champlain College can have access to even more tools; as well as access to a vibrant community of artists, engineers, inventors, entrepreneurs, and local businesses.”
Generator’s workstations include:
- Rapid Prototyping
- Electronics
- Jewelry
- Machine Shop
- Wood Shop
- Metals Shop
- Computer Lab
Generator is an amazing resource for Champlain students, Makers, and Innovators alike. Best of all, it’s right across the parking lot from the Emergent Media Center.
Vermont Teddy Bear Factory Tour and Store Experience Enhancement Concepts
This semester, MEM students are working in collaboration with the Vermont Teddy Bear company to create an interactive display for factory tours. The Design-A-Bear team is working to create a kiosk where consumers can digitally customize their bear before actually building it. Consumers can even take a selfie with their digital friend if they don’t feel like creating a physical bear. As of March, this project has passed the proposal stage and the Design-A-Bear team has begun the building process. Stay tuned for further updates!
Masters in Emergent Media Projects
It’s been a super busy semester and we’re not even half-way through it yet! We recently caught up with second year MFA Fellows to see what they’ve been working on.
Michael Fay, Christian Konczal, and Laura Fillbach reflect on their projects so far:
Michael Fay
Project(s): Breakaway
As a project manager fellow and certified SCRUM master, I’m working with the BREAKAWAY team to help optimize their development process as they prepare to release a mobile version of the BREAKAWAY game; a that uses soccer as a global language to educate boys and girls worldwide about Violence Against Women and Girls, gender equality, and respect.
The team is currently iterating on mini-games for the app based on feedback from Champlain QA lab. They’ve received a lot of actionable feedback that has helped improved the game. We are also reexamining the language of the game in order to make it accessible to children of all reading levels.
MFA Thesis, title TBD
Authenticity is a hot topic in the public relations and community management fields particularly for the management of video game communities. Video game communities tend to have very direct and invested relationships with the brands surrounding their games. My thesis explores the theoretical and practical tensions involved in producing authentic content and marketing a gaming brand in a way that is perceived as authentic by its audience I’m using the community surrounding my own YouTube channel to experiment with these ideas and will be presenting a collection of my work along with lessons learned at the MFA gallery show in May.
The project is under way and I’m deeply embedded in the practice portion of the project; regularly creating multiple different styles of video and social media content and exploring their value. I’m really happy with the insights I’ve gained so far.
Christian Konczal
Project(s): Design-A-Bear
We are assisting a local business with improving their retail experience with an interactive AR scavenger hunt. The student team is in competition with another team from Champlain and has been perfecting their pitches and rapidly prototyping their concepts in order to win and see their designs becomes reality.
Mag Na Mell
My thesis work is centered around creating a transmedial IP that can be licensed for free by creators in order to assist them and their own projects. The thesis is comprised of three parts, a free comic that has been running for six months and functions as an introduction to the world, a mobile game that will be released for free coinciding with the thesis show, and a tabletop game releasing post graduation. Those interested can check out the world at MagNaMell.com
Laura Fillbach
Project: Design-A-Bear
Description of project: We are creating an interactive display where visitors to VT Teddy Bear can digitally create a custom bear at a kiosk outside of the tour area. They will be able to choose fur and eye colors and special outfits, among other things, and build the bear right on the screen. They will also be able to get a 
photo of themselves with the bear they designed on the screen. If they choose, they can actually make a physical version of their digital bear right in the store to take home with them.
How is the project going/evaluation: We are in the final stretches of preparing to present this project next week. The team is working together really well and taking ownership of their tasks. I am really proud of them.