User:Vlad

ampires.be is a collaborative college writing and design project involving three classes at the State University of New York Institute of Technology in Utica, New York. Conceived by professor Drew Sabol, the project draws upon the talents of my three spring '09 classes:

COM-350 Online Documentation and Visual Design

COM-420 Web Design

COM-307 Business Communications

My original idea was to explore the collaborative nature of the wiki platform with an emphasis on the nuts-and-bolts of research, writing, and visual design. I chose to focus on vampires because the vampire has become such a prevalent icon in our society. Here the cultural pool is both wide and deep, providing plenty of room for the student to write in any number of disciplines -- mythology, religion, history, anthropology, psychology, sociology, medicine, science, nature... and of course, popular culture.

I'm thrilled to say that the project has been a great success, at least from an educational perspective. The wiki platform is a wonderful tool for collaborative learning as it facilitates peer-review and the creation of multi-author documents with ease. Moreover, the wiki platform allows students to explore the multimedia aspects of modern communication, as images and videos are readily incorporated in each article.

All discussions of pedagogy and software platforms aside, it is the students who are ultimately responsible for getting this project off the ground, and they deserve to be soundly praised:

Contents 1 Credits 1.1 Research and Writing 1.2 Aesthetics, Design, and Editorial 1.3 Special Thanks 1.4 In Conclusion

Credits

Research and Writing

Peter Alston, Kyle Alward, Andrew Beck, Kirk Becker, Elizabeth Berry, Andrew Budlong, Stephanie Bugenis, Steven Butler, Robert Chrystie, Billy Comeau, John Cramer, Nikola Dimitrijevski, Alexander Diskin, Mark Doherty, Clay Forbes, Kyle Fredericks, Jesse Gennrich, Cherice Gibbons, William Groom, Drew Hall, Brandon Huebsch, Clarissa Jalim, Stacee Jones, Jennifer Klock, Shawn Kresock, Langston Leslie, Peter Nuzzolo, David Paciello, Brent Pollak, William Scaglione, Mark Smith, Mahgan Spagnola, Katie St. Laurent, Denise Sweet, Marc Tilbe, Jonathan Walz, and Cory Wiest.

Aesthetics, Design, and Editorial

Stephanie Bugenis, Michele Chu, Mary Cirillo, Mary "Betsy" Curley, Edward Dehm, Cheri Derdzinski, Kala Dunning, Kay Fortenbery, Ross Hammond, Benjamin Hecht, Jennifer Hookway, Shannon Hurst, Jennifer Klock, Jade Lemmerman, Veldin Miskic, Peter Nuzzolo, Corey O'Neil, Joseph Pisano, James Raskopf, Justin Ritchey, James Sanborn, Jacob Vestergaard, Emily Wager, and Brian Weigel.

Special Thanks

A very special thanks to Jennifer Klock, who worked tirelessly to propose and organize our initial list of topics. Jenn, you can keep the book!

In Conclusion

It is my hope that vampires.be will continue to grow once the term ends, and that it will take on an "afterlife" all its own.

Vlad 05:16, 4 May 2009 (UTC)