California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

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Interactive Multimedia Project at CSUEB Poses Challenges to Visitors

Many prominent and creative projects have emerged from the multimedia department, as many students have been on the cusp of interactive and innovative technologies to display their understanding of multimedia as it relates to the world.

One such project, The McGorgamatorium, is an interactive Steampunk environment that challenges people to explore everything from electrical contraptions and tools to the drawings, maps and exotic creatures that lie in the secret workroom of McGorgamaforg.

The McGorgamatorium also invites people to try out the interactive furniture and interface objects which are embedded with hidden sensors in order to immerse themselves in a modern-day era where the multimedia technologies and the physical and spatial interactions come together to create large-scale magical illusions.

The McGorgamatorium was a past project proposal that became the graduate thesis project for the 2012 school year. The Mc Gorgamatorium is a fictional laboratory set in the Victorian Era and created by a famous deceased explorer named Admiral Aloysius McGorgamaforg.

“McGorgamatorium refers to McGorgamaforg’s study. The name is a cross between an auditorium and his own name,” said Rafael Hernandez, director of the multimedia department and chair for the committee that evaluates graduate thesis projects.

As for the McGorgamatorium thesis project, Hernandez explains that it is a secret society, leading people through a fantastical place where you can see the wonders of the earth that McGorgamaforg discovered long ago.

“All the projects were exceptional. But one of the projects that stood out was the video ‘Concealed’ which incorporates 360-degree story telling through a beautiful video,” said Hernandez regarding one of the features in the project. “The other was a project by Chris Coniglio, who through his thesis project was able to land a decent job.”

Other 2012 graduate thesis project contributors were students like Stephanie Soti, from the multimedia department’s master’s degree program, who after working as a pastry chef and getting her bachelor’s degree in fine arts working with ceramics and sculptures at Humboldt State University, came to CSU East Bay as a post-baccalaureate in 2007.

“I came to CSUEB wanting to work on a second bachelor’s, but it was the start of the cutbacks at CSUs, so it made sense to start my graduate degree,” said Soti. “I already had a studio art degree, but I knew I wanted to work in interactive art and work in very physical environments, so before I went out for my major, I was taking multimedia and graphic design courses.”

There was no specific criterion for the thesis project. The only question on Soti and her three other group members minds were how to create a project that exhibits everything they have learned throughout the year.

“We needed tangible objects with a storyline,” said Soti. “We all happened to want something that allowed for intimate interactions. The whole idea of the Steampunk style, which ties in a lot of fantasy and magic, really helped the flexibility of the project.”

In the end, Soti and her group created an office similar to that of McGorgamaforg and filled it with discoveries like a hand crank movie player, a magical animated book, a lever controlled “math wall,” steam powered pipe wall, specimen cabinet and even a phonograph that read different colored viles of liquid in order to create music.

Several CSUEB students from the multimedia department are already proposing project ideas for their 2013 graduate thesis project. Some of the project ideas include a video using body tracking through Microsoft’s Kinect, a mobile application using water as the subject in order to create a musical piece and even a Facebook application, which would mix languages with espionage. The idea being that one can learn a language by decrypting messages written in that language.

“The Facebook application, I think was inspired by shows like Burn Notice and crime shows that we often see on television nowadays,” said Fernandez.

With a command of new skills, students also pursue their education further by getting into their Ph.D. programs in a section of multimedia that interests them the most.

Students say a master’s degree in multimedia at CSUEB has helped them build creativity, innovation, and other critical-thinking skills they feel are in demand in today’s fast-paced society.

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Interactive Multimedia Project at CSUEB Poses Challenges to Visitors