I feel the most rewarding project for me to pursue for this course will be digital narratives and InfoEd tutorial for the AAH Research website. This project has the potential to impact any faculty and/or graduate student in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities that wish to pursue externally funded research.
Current situation and significance
AAH has traditionally been known as a predominately humanities teaching college. Externally funded research has not been deemed a top priority. President Barker’s implementation of the Top 20 road map has challenged AAH to assist in increasing Clemson’s research goals of exceeding $100 million a year in research support by the year 2011.
Another factor that has prompted the necessity of research is the lack of state funding. With state funding recently being drastically cut, our institution must find other ways of funding, and one primary way is through research. The state budget will continue to be cut and those cuts will be passed down to the departments. The departments now have no other choice but to scale back if other funding is not secured. Research at Clemson University has become a necessity instead of an option—a necessity that has thrown many areas of the University into a state of crisis.
The completion of “The Grant Writer’s Guide” housed on the AAH Research website is one of many steps the Office of Research and Graduate Studies will take to assist the College to succeed in acquiring research funding, and the benefits associated with this funding. The guide is a good first step, but requests have been made to make the site more modular. The idea of the digital narratives originated recently when several faculty members made such a suggestion. Some individuals may prefer to watch a video of a seasoned grant writer over reading a wall of words on an unfamiliar topic. Because of budget cuts, I have been asked to assist in other areas which have limited my time to work on the website. By developing the project for this course, I would be able to learn new technology that I otherwise would not have the time to do.
I propose to complete two digital narratives that relate to style in proposal development, and developing relationships with funding agencies (two areas that I have received numerous requests for more information). I also would like to propose developing an Adobe Presenter presentation on getting registered with InfoEd, a research opportunities search engine, that automatically searches, based a faculty member’s key words and send the information via email to that faculty member. The only resource currently available is a workshop that is offered by the Office of Sponsored Programs a few times a year. By having this training web based, the faculty member or graduate student can register at his or her convenience.
Time line
July 13-19
Film 2 digital narratives
Begin editing narratives
July 20-28
Finalize edits
Compose InfoED tutorial in Adobe Presenter
July 29-August 2
Load on the AAH Research website
Quick usability test
I have access to a digital recorder that I will be able to use in filming the narratives. Depending on the footage, these may be interview type videos, or still shots. I will work in the MATRF lab with the technology in editing the videos. I believe I am able to obtain a license for Adobe Presenter. I used the software once before, and I anticipate I will be able to maneuver through it without too many obstacles. Given the time constraints, I hope to be able to administer a quick usability study before the due date of the project, and actually posting these documents live on the website.
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This sounds like a great idea! I like that you have both videos and Adobe Presentations together. Why did you choose to make videos on two of the topics and a breeze presentation on the third? It seems like video may serve as a good introduction to each of the topics, or for a quick synopsis, but that a breeze presentation would almost be necessary for more in-depth information. A video by itself may not give as much information as efficiently as a presentation. It seems as though a vlog-type video may not be as useful or as dynamic as a video with condensed information.
ReplyDeleteEither way, I think that this is a great idea, and will become increasingly important over the next couple of years. If this helps many faculty members compete for grants (of which proposal writing is of obvious importance), you will have done a great service for Clemson!