Project Portfolio

Areas of Expertise and Toolkit

I have been involved in a wide range of short- and long-term projects that have expanded my theoretical and practical knowledge in the digital humanities. My expertise is in the field of extended reality (XR), mainly in the creation of three-dimensional (3D) visualizations and virtual reality (VR) experiences, and has been informed by approaches derived from digital game-based learning (DGBL) and simulation-based learning (SBL). I have also been extensively involved in digital curriculum design and have practical expertise in the creation of hybrid and fully online courses. Whenever possible, these projects and courses, including all source code and digital assets, are released as an open educational resources (OER) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license. In addition to XR development projects, I have also branched out into computational approaches to literary text analysis.

My digital humanities toolkit utilizes audio editing (Audacity), screencasting and video editing (Camtasia), version control systems and development platforms (Git and GitHub), project management platforms (Trello and Slack), statistical computing and graphics (R and Tidyverse), photogrammetry (3DF Zephyr), interactive fiction (Inform 7 and Twine), 3D modeling and animation (Blender and 3ds Max), UML diagramming (Modelio), 3D procedural texture painting (Substance Painter), game engine programming (C# and Unity), VR development packages (XR Interaction Toolkit and VRTK), and 3D scanning (peel 3d and VXelements). In designing and developing VR experiences, I employ team brainstorming and bodystorming sessions, activity diagrams, whiteboxing, and Agile project frameworks to draft a user experience design document (UXDD) and rapidly iterate toward a proof of concept (PoC) or minimum viable product (MVP) that can be referenced in external grant applications.

Project Descriptions

VR	The Virtual Viking Longship Project This project explores and tests strategies for integrating and fairly compensating undergraduate student learning and labor in the development of long-term digital humanities research projects. Combining the strengths of two leading liberal arts colleges with the multidisciplinary affordances of virtual reality (VR) technologies, the project aims to create an immersive VR experience for visualizing the social and cultural roles of a Viking Age longship by forming a DH community of inquiry and practice that cultivates deep competencies in spatial computing within the context of a liberal arts education. Student co-authored outcomes will include: (1) an open-source minimum viable product VR experience made in consultation with museum partners in the US and Europe; (2) experience design document outlining future development; (3) presentations on our findings at major DH and History conferences; and (4) open-access article detailing the project’s strategies and recommended best practices. Links Project GitHub repo Proof of concept walkthrough
	The German Environmentalism VR Project Expanding the scope of the original flat screen 3D game, which introduced players to glass recycling and waste management systems in German public spaces, this VR experience will include more narrative to situate the user in authentic German cultural situations and more in-game tasks related to recycling and waste management practices. The project will determine whether increased immersion and sense of presence in a completely virtual environment can target greater learning outcomes in second language and culture acquisition, and perhaps even realize outcomes that were not discovered in the 3D version of the game. Links Project GitHub repo Playable VR Experience (Vive and Rift) Video of prototype walkthrough Project update (10/10/2019) Project update (10/3/2019) Article detailing experiment results
	Envisioning Heorot VR Project Project Lead: Dr. Tim Arner Continuing the work of The Grinnell Beowulf, the project will construct a VR simulation of Heorot based on archaeological excavations of Viking meadhalls in Denmark and England, particularly the hall at Lejre, as well as accounts from historical and poetic records from the early Middle Ages. The project will help modern readers of Beowulf to better understand the civic spaces that helped shape the poem’s social structures, allowing them to see how the layout of the hall contributes to its function as a political and social arena. Links Project blog Playable VR Experience (Vive and Rift) Project tweets (#GCIELBeowulf) Video of project walkthrough The Grinnell Beowulf website
	The Uncle Sam Plantation VR Project The Uncle Sam (Constancia) Plantation was a 19th-century sugar plantation located near Convent in St. James Parish, Louisiana. Before the plantation complex was razed in 1940 to make room for a river levee, floor plans and elevations of the buildings were produced by the Historic American Building Survey. Incorporating 3D models based on these floor plans and elevations, this VR experience will virtually recreate the spaces of the plantation complex and tell the lost histories of the people who lived there. Links Project blog Project GitHub repo Project tweets (#GCIELUncleSam) Video of project walkthrough Turntable render of double-pen slave cabin Project video for the 2017 HASTAC Conference
	The Math Museum VR Project Project Lead: Dr. Chris French This project is inspired by the mathematical models from the late 19th century when mathematicians partnered with industrialists to model new kinds of surfaces out of plaster, cardboard, or wire. These models brought new developments in algebraic geometry and new notions of non-Euclidean geometry. Immersed within the virtual Math Museum, students can interact with visualized mathematical concepts thereby experiencing greater enjoyment and comprehension of mathematical ideas. Links Graph-Coloring GitHub repo Graph-Isomorphism GitHub repo VMM-Ruled-Surfaces-Experience GitHub repo Video of VMM-Ruled-Surfaces-Experience tutorial Video of VMM-Ruled Surfaces-Experiences exercises VMM-Curvature-Experience GitHub repo Video of VMM-Curvature-Experience walkthrough
	Virtual Museum Experience The physical layout of a museum gallery and the manner in which artwork is installed influence how visitors interpret an exhibition. The Virtual Museum Experience allows users to experiment with the physical layout of a museum space and the relationship of exhibition objects to each other. By changing the structure of an exhibition, users assume a more active role in constructing meaning and understanding the effects of layouts on spatial narratives and space-use patterns. Links Project GitHub repo Video of prototype walkthrough
	2017 Digital Liberal Arts Teaching Fair VR Demo The first virtual reality experience created in the Grinnell College Immersive Experiences Lab (GCIEL). The prototype includes a tutorial room, models developed for the Uncle Sam Plantation project with the HASTAC 2017 poster and video, and an interactive museum exhibition. The tutorial room was envisioned to function as a hub connecting various virtual reality experiences created by GCIEL and also as a starting point for goal-oriented learning quests in these experiences. Links Project GitHub repo Video of prototype walkthrough
DGBL	The Digital Bahnhof (DigiBahn) Project The project resulted in a 3D experience that teaches German recycling and waste management practices in a simulated real-world space. Future versions of the game will include challenges requiring students to navigate a virtual German train station and environs while meeting specific instructional goals. Links Project blog Game EXE package (ZIP) Game source code (ZIP) Game instructional materials (ZIP) Video of project walkthrough Article detailing experiment results
	Ausflug am Wochenende nach München Interactive Fiction Game The project resulted in an interactive fiction game that teaches students the German vocabulary and culture necessary to navigate a train station while in Germany. By means of an interactive text-based interface that responds to student input, the game mediates the experience of preparing for rail travel in Germany and transmits cultural values by engaging spending practices, travel preferences, and interaction with cultural agents. Links Inform 6 source code (ZIP) Z-Code game executable (ZIP) Article detailing experiment results Game review
OER	The German Professor YouTube Channel A digital repository for open educational resources and a social media platform for facilitating program growth and outreach. The channel hosts a collection of closed captioned, high definition instructional videos with links to PDF study sheets and OpenOffice Impress slides. All site materials are released under a CC BY-NC-SA license. Links YouTube channel
	Wege in den Beruf: German For Your Career A prototype open online course for teaching business German to students at the secondary and post-secondary levels. The course seeks to promote the study of the German language and culture by connecting the study of the German language and culture to increased career opportunities for students. Links Canvas prototype course module Article describing design of Business German program