Engineering Commons^™

Do You Know Where Your Games Come From? Artificial Intelligence And Game Development, Andrew Begemann

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

ABSTRACT

This paper was written to explore the possible effects of artificial intelligence being implemented in the design pipeline of video game development. In it, we will explore a history of artificial intelligence, from its early imaginings in books and philosophy, to its current iterations, such as ChatGPT and other popular engines like Midjourney and Stable diffusion. We will also discuss steps in game development so as to understand where the potential implementations of artificial intelligence can, will, or does occur. Following those explanations, we will explore the three methodologies of Marxism, Psychoanalysis, and Cultural Studies as ways of examining …

Digital Transformation And Design For Maintainability In Industrial Design, Ahmed Tarek Mohamed Fathy, Salwa El Ghareeb, Yasser Shaban

Journal of Art, Design and Music

In this paper, we explore the impact of the rapid digital transformation in Applied Arts and Design and its influence on the realm of Maintainability. We examine how CAD, 3D modeling, have revolutionized the conceptualization and prototyping stages, enabling precise idea communication and immersive representations. Specifically, we focus on Design for Maintainability (DfMn) and its critical aspects such as repairability, serviceability, maintainability, and reliability, which significantly affect cost and user satisfaction. By leveraging this tool, designers can create highly maintainable and user-friendly products. The transformative potential of this tool in industrial design is highlighted, providing promising avenues for future research …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Apple “Porn” 2.0: Apple’S Vision (Pro), Suzanne E. Ferriss

Class, Race and Corporate Power

This article extends the argument made in “Apple ‘Porn’: Design Videos as Seduction and Exploitation” (Ferriss 2018) to consider the corporation’s filmed representation of its newest device: an augmented reality headset dubbed Vision Pro. It argues that Apple’s latest narratives further relegate human work and community to the margins by presenting human experience as thoroughly mediated by computer-enhanced simulation, its pinnacle achieved through its Apple Vision Pro headset that turns the home and workspace into one immersive audiovisual world. Rather than its devices and software becoming an inseparable part of our personal and shared spaces, they become the spaces. We …

Tech Time

DePaul Magazine

DePaul is embracing tech more than ever, incorporating innovative devices and approaches into education in all corners of the university. Here are seven ways DePaul provides hands-on experiences with cutting-edge tools that position students and faculty in the forefront of their industries and disciplines.

Osmosis: Asymmetries In Telematic Performance, Matthias Ziegler

Journal of Network Music and Arts

For the 2022 edition of the NowNet Arts Conference on October 31st, the telematic research team of the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) presented a project entitled OSMOSIS. OSMOSIS was a concert event, highlighting how telematically connected spaces always confront each other asymmetrically. Their telematic connection is part of a continuous space in which information is fragmented and selectively reassembled. Like the biochemical process of osmosis in which molecules diffuse across a cell membrane from one level of concentration to another, in telematic connections certain elements such as sound, physicality, movement, and empathy are diffused across spaces, each being …

Synthesis: Works Of Sarah Weaver And Collaborations (2020-2022), Sarah Weaver

Journal of Network Music and Arts

Synthesis Series is a set of contemplative contemporary network arts works for solo, chamber, and large ensemble performance. The works are my compositions and collaborations from the years 2020 to 2022. The concept of synthesis is conceived as an activation of synchrony. Synthesis Series follows my prior works in Synchrony Series and Source Series as sequences of compositions since 1998 proliferating into a networked system of artistic realization. In Synchrony Series I defined synchrony as the perceptual alignment of distributed time and space components. Synthesis builds on this to activate the alignment as a networked state of composite resultants, networked …

Distributed Networks Of Listening And Sounding: 20 Years Of Telematic Musicking, Doug Van Nort

Journal of Network Music and Arts

This paper traces a twenty-year arc of my performance and compositional practice in the medium of telematic music, focusing on a distinct approach to fostering interdependence and emergence through the integration of listening strategies, electroacoustic improvisation, pre-composed structures, blended real/virtual acoustics, networked mutual-influence, shared signal transformations, gesture-concepts and machine agencies. Communities of collaboration and exchange over this time period are discussed, which span both pre- and post-pandemic approaches to the medium that range from metaphors of immersion and dispersion to diffraction.

An Overview Of Immersive Virtual Reality Music Experiences In Online Platforms, Ben Loveridge

Journal of Network Music and Arts

As the field of Virtual Reality (VR) continues to mature, so too does the potential for creative and immersive musical experiences in the medium. However, of the thousands of applications now available across the major VR platforms, only a small number of titles focus on the ability to create or explore musical content. This article outlines the current state of music games, experiences, and creative applications across the current VR ecosystem. Firstly, it surveys the quantity of commercial titles currently available across the major VR platforms with a music-related focus. Secondly, the article classifies music applications into the following subcategories: …

Musical Time In Network Interaction: The Case Of Unfinished Line, Silvio Ferraz, William Teixeira

Journal of Network Music and Arts

Considering recent world events, art and music could not be unmoved by the dramatic turn of directions in both the way people relate and the place of technology in their lives. An ongoing project of both the authors in writing a new piece for cello and Disklavier operated by interactions in real-time gave place to a new kind of composition, mixing written music to improvisation and replacing real-time for something we are calling remote time. This paper presents such walking of resilience, first reviewing some relevant points of view about musical interaction in real-time and the importance of synchrony for …

The Entanglement: Volumetric Music Performances In A Virtual Metaverse Environment, Damian Dziwis, Henrik Von Coler

Journal of Network Music and Arts

Telematic music performances are an established performance practice in contemporary music. Performing music pieces with geographically distributed musicians is both a technological challenge and an artistic one. These challenges and the resulting possibilities can lead to innovative aesthetic realizations. This paper presents the implementation and realization of “The Entanglement,” a telematic concert performance in a metaverse environment. The system is realized using web-based frameworks to implement a platform-independent online multi-user environment with volumetric, three- dimensional, streaming of audio and video. This allows live performance of this improvisation piece based on an algorithmic quantum computer composition within a freely explorational virtual …

Adventures In [A]Synchrony: Tools And Strategies For The Network Arts-Curious Music Educator, Seth Adams

Journal of Network Music and Arts

Networked Music Performance (NMP) is ensemble music mediated by a network such as the internet. NMP can be usefully divided into asynchronous and synchronous formats. Prototypical examples of the asynchronous format familiar to music educators are Eric Whitacre’s virtual choirs that began in 2009. A decade later, the virtual ensemble format exploded in popularity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the format does not allow participants to interact with one another, virtual ensembles nonetheless provide ample opportunities for both musical and nonmusical benefits. Synchronous NMP is, by comparison, little known and rarely practiced by music educators. However, both types of …

Editorial, Sarah Weaver

Journal of Network Music and Arts

No abstract provided.

Creativity, Craftsmanship, And Connection: Large-Format Sculpture Design, Jacqueline L. Puga, Gordon Hoople

The STEAM Journal

Artistry is a concept that is not usually explored in engineering yet is an invaluable skill that touches everything from product design to systems thinking. This past summer I developed conceptual designs for a large format sculpture that required connecting engineering knowledge with artistic vision. The initial phase required constant inspiration and creativity. The first step was to look at previous sculptures showcased throughout the world, such as at venues like “Burning Man,” to understand the possibilities or limitations of the space provided. Sketching varied and numerous ideas was essential in our design process. Next, we took our favorite ideas …

Gömböc The Great, Indigo M. Strickert, Lori E. Bradford

The STEAM Journal

A sonnet written about the mathematics behind the self-righting shape of some tortoise shells.

Game On

DePaul Magazine

Video game industry icon Eugene Jarvis and DePaul alumna and Trustee Sasha Gerritson take the College of Computing and Digital Media to the next level with a landmark gift. The gift renames the college in honor of Jarvis and launches the Jarvis Student Center for Innovation and Collaboration, a multidisciplinary, student-focused space.

Unstumm | Augmented Voyage: A Platform For Telematic Live Performances In Augmented Reality, Unstumm Unstumm, Nicola Hein, Claudia Schmitz, Sven Hahne Hahne

Journal of Network Music and Arts

UnStumm | Augmented Voyage is curated and developed by time-based media artist Claudia Schmitz and sound artist and guitarist Nicola L. Hein. It was programmed and developed by software engineer Sven Hahne. UnStumm | Augmented Voyage is also a mobile app and server infrastructure that serves as the artistic vehicle to realize telematic live performances with artists from around the globe. It consists of video art, music, and dance in augmented reality.
Through the use of our software, the audience is able to view the video streams by video artists as 3D video sculptures and listen to the audio streams …

“Dancedemic” In A Pandemic: A New Networked Reality, Ellen Pearlman

Journal of Network Music and Arts

The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 forced large parts of the globe and entire industries to shut down. Network connectivity became a necessary lifeline deploying a host of technologies that, while once considered experimental, were to be adopted as a vital part of just-in-time solutions-based practices. This report examines the implementation of one of these topologies in the form of an artist-built, artist-owned global network in the hopes that other small-sized organizations can benefit from these ad hoc, but successful solutions.

A Spectrum Of Online Rehearsal Applications: A Potential Means For Cultural Connection, Dana Kemack Goot, W. Scott Deal

Journal of Network Music and Arts

The current array of telematic music applications offers exceptional opportunities to transcend distance and enable networking between various cultures and communities. As a means to achieve this, network music applications require assessment through their previous implementations, installation requirements, cost, hardware requirements, and usability in order to assess their potential and to decipher improvements needed as a means of cultural connectivity. An early precursor of telematic music was an innovative concert by Paul Robeson in 1957, which circumvented political restrictions and enabled activism as it occurred, despite the U.S. State Department’s revocation of Robeson’s passport due to his left-wing tendencies and …

Telematic Immersion: Performance, Technology, And Audiovisual Work In Virtual Studies (2020) By Paulo C. Chagas, Cássia Carrascoza Bomfim

Journal of Network Music and Arts

This article discusses the concept of telematic immersion developed in partnership with composer Paulo C. Chagas. Focusing on Chagas’s work Virtual Studies (2020) for flute, live electronics, and 3D video, we reflect on different aspects of artistic creativity in the telematic environment including the use of audio and video technology and the multiple connections between musicians and apparatuses. The article discusses how the parameters of chamber music in the physical environment, such as the uniqueness of the live performance, the corporality of sound, and the visual and choreographic dimension of the performance are being transformed through the virtual setting of …

Sonic Proximities: Locating Oneself And The Others Within A “Migratory Journey”, Ximena Alarcon Diaz

Journal of Network Music and Arts

The INTIMAL App© is a mobile application that synchronously senses people’s walking rhythms in distant locations and then rhythmically sonifies these with the user’s chosen audio frequencies. Taken altogether, the perception of breathing and walking rhythms across space and time creates an embodied telepresence. At the level of content, the app has provided first-hand narrative accounts about the migration experiences of Colombian women living in Europe. These stories are meant to elicit a response from the listener, allowing for a path to be built out of new relationships that emerge between voices and sound frequencies. In the context of the …

Editorial, Sarah Weaver

Journal of Network Music and Arts

No abstract provided.

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works: Abstracts, Emma Aggeler, Elena Arroway, Daisy T. Booker, Justin Bravo, Kyle Bucholtz, Megan Burnham, Nicole Choi, Spencer Cockerell, Rosie Contino, Jackson Garske, Kaitlyn Glover, Caroline Hamilton, Haley Hartmann, Madalyne Heiken, Colin Holter, Leah Huzjak, Alyssa Jeng, Cole Jernigan, Chad Kashiwa, Adelaide Kerenick, Emily King, Abigail Langeberg, Maddie Leake, Meredith Lemons, Alec Mackay, Greer Mckinley, Ori Miller, Guy Milliman, Katherine Miromonti, Audrey Mitchell, Lauren Moak, Megan Morrell, Gelella Nebiyu, Zdenek Otruba, Toni V. Panzera, Kassidy Patarino, Sneha Patil, Alexandra Penney, Kevin Persky, Caitlin Pham, Gabriela Recinos, Mary Ringgenberg, Chase Routt, Olivia Schneider, Roman Shrestha, Arlo Simmerman, Alec Smith, Tessa Smith, Nhi-Lac Thai, Kyle Thurmann, Casey Tindall, Amelia Trembath, Maria Trubetskaya, Zachary Vangelisti, Peter Vo, Abby Walker, David Winter, Grayden Wolfe, Leah York

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Abstracts from the DU Undergraduate Showcase.

Safety Evaluation Of Amusement Rides Using Accumulated Accident Data: Accident Data Framework, Kathryn Woodcock

Journal of Themed Experience and Attractions Studies

Amusement rides and devices are a popular form of recreation and important component of the tourism industry. Injury-producing accidents are rare, and the viability of the industry relies on perceived safety of the activity. Some existing metrics use accumulated accident reports. Several metrics tabulate the number of injuries, but none collect enough information about the context of accidents to analyse the accumulated data to deduce patterns. This paper describes an Accident Data Framework for a minimal set of variables from reports of amusement device accident, and the structure for a useful narrative to aid reporters and recorders to avoid introducing …

When The Magic Closes: Examining How Disney Fans Coped With Theme Park And Resort Closures Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic, Cody Havard, Carissa A. Baker, Daniel L. Wann, Rick Grieve

Journal of Themed Experience and Attractions Studies

This essay discusses a qualitative investigation we conducted with fans of the Disney parks and resorts during the summer of 2020 regarding the company’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, 22 people responded to open-ended questions from an online survey to discuss their views of the closures and planned reopenings of the Disney parks and resorts amid the early days of the pandemic. Using social identity theory (Tajfel, 1978) and the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991), we discuss how fans react to and cope with the temporary loss of a favorite activity and how companies in the themed entertainment …

Covid-19 And Immersion: Physical, Virtual, And Home Spaces, Scott Lukas

Journal of Themed Experience and Attractions Studies

This article considers the dramatic adaptations that have occurred in themed immersive spaces as they have dealt with the challenging dynamics of COVID-19. As COVID-19 has been a respiratory disease, it has impacted the operations of theme parks, casinos, cruise ships, and other immersive spaces, especially as such spaces have relied, traditionally, on physical forms of entertainment and immersion. The writing begins with a consideration of the COVID-19 challenges noted in the theme park and cruise ship industries. OceanMedallionTM and MyMagic+ technologies are considered for their possible positive role in addressing the operational dynamics during the pandemic. Issues of guest …

Brighter But Not Clearer: Entertainment-Dependent Destinations Dealing With Long Covid, Louis-Etienne Dubois, Frederic Dimanche

Journal of Themed Experience and Attractions Studies

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we explored a range of very different possible outcomes for destinations that rely heavily on their entertainment sector (Dubois & Dimanche, 2021). Several months later, this article seeks to revisit those outcomes, while also highlighting the ongoing recovery efforts and evolving strategies of entertainment-dependent destinations (EDDs). To do so, we reconnected with the panel of respondents from various destinations (i.e., Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans etc.) to take stock of both new challenges and opportunities, as well as emerging factors impacting their respective markets. Our results show that while EDDs are facing a …

Theme Parks, Staycation Practices, And Covid-19: Opportunities And Uncertainties, Salvador Anton Clavé

Journal of Themed Experience and Attractions Studies

The effects of COVID-19 on the market transformation of the theme park industry has been significant in the short term because of travel restrictions. Challenges, impacts, responses, and strategies might vary from one region to another and even from one theme park to another. However, it can be assumed that domestic travel will continue to have an effect on the theme park industry during the months to come and likely beyond the pandemic. In this context, the “staycation” is becoming a booming trend in the leisure, entertainment, and tourism industry, creating new, current, and future unexpected economic winners and losers. …

Disney During Covid-19: The Tourist And The Actor’S Nightmare, Jennifer A. Kokai, Tom Robson

Journal of Themed Experience and Attractions Studies

In this essay, we argue that the experience of being at Disney theme parks in COVID times was a waking version of what is sometimes called “The Actor’s Nightmare.” Due to safety regulations, theme parks either dropped live entertainment that structures the day as a show with a clear beginning and end (e.g. park-opening rope drop performances, and the fireworks), attempted to include references to COVID in live entertainment (like in

the Frozen Ever After singalong, which added some COVID jokes), or to ignore it (like the Festival of the Lion King). In any case, due to these measures the …

The “Politics Of Inclusion/Exclusion” In Times Of The Pandemic, Florian Freitag

Journal of Themed Experience and Attractions Studies

As commercial enterprises that depend on attracting a maximum number of visitors in order to be economically successful, theme parks have generally been careful to avoid unpleasant, sensitive, or controversial themes (or aspects of a theme) that might offend or alienate potential customers. Due to official regulations concerning e.g. the wearing of masks in waiting lines and during rides, however, the pandemic cannot simply be “excluded” from the parks and remains constantly visually present, thus seriously undermining the companies’ efforts to keep the park grounds rigidly separated from the rest of the world. Particular operational decisions by some theme park …