Greetings and Salutations!

[benmiller314]

Welcome to Composing Digital Media! Your first writing assignment is to post an introduction to yourself, here on this "Issue Queue." What is an Issue Queue? Later, we may get into some more advanced features, but for now, you can think of it as a discussion forum: it allows anyone to post and respond.

You can also add images and some other files (though not playable sound files, alas) directly into your posts here.

Before the end of lesson 2, please respond to this Issue with a few words about yourself, and a picture. (Note: this is a public site. If you're not comfortable using your real identity, please choose a username and some avatar image other than a photo of yourself. Just... let me know offline or by email so I can give you full credit for the assignment.)

[benmiller314]

I'll start! My name is Ben Miller, and I'm an assistant professor in the Composition program of the English department, where I've taught Composition Studies, Writing with Style, Composing Digital Media, and a bunch of sections of Seminar in Composition. This is my fifth year at Pitt.

Before coming here, I earned a PhD from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), where I also got a certificate in Interactive Technology and Pedagogy; I was for three years an Instructional Technology Fellow at CUNY's Macaulay Honors College, working with faculty across the curriculum to develop assignment sequences and resources that take advantage of digital environments and software. And I'm a founding editor of the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, where I'm often called upon to edit both CSS stylesheets and articles-in-progress.

There's more, but maybe that's enough for now! I'm very much looking forward to this semester: I've thought a lot about where it might go, but I've taught enough by now to realize that it's all going to change when we get into it together. Can't wait to see where we end up!

[benmiller314]

Hi! This is Ben demoing how the Queue works.

[AlexaSpaventa]

Hi everyone! I’m Alexa and I’m a Computer Science and Digital Narrative and Interactive Design dual major and hopefully also a statistics minor. As far as digital media goes I have attended hackathons where I’ve gained some experience. In particular, I have worked on an app (mostly on visuals in Adobe XD and Xcode). Additionally, I helped on a game design project however most of my involvement was more toward the written script for the game’s storyline. I also enjoy web design and have most recently updated a website for a nonprofit based in Pittsburgh through the iServes program ( this was done through GoDaddy which is similar to Square Space and I also have some HTML experience with web design). I am also a part of Pitt’s Data Jam Mentors club and through this, I help teach statistics and data visualization to high school students. This mostly involves programs like Minitab, Tableau, and Pandas. As a part of this program, I also worked on COVID-19 research and tracking over the summer. Through my computer science classes.I also have experience in Java and Python and outside of school I also enjoy photography although I only understand the basics of photoshop. I am super excited to start this class and try lots of new software and experiment with creating digital media! Also please enjoy this picture of my dog. :)

[JTH74]

Hi, My name is Jake Hanzlik! I'm a junior applied mathematics major with a minor in statistics and potentially a double major we'll see. When it comes to digital media, most of my experience lies within personal projects/prior coding experience. I have past experience working with adobe audition, premiere, photoshop, and illustrator through school and personal recording and streaming projects. I also have extensive experience in multiple coding languages, mainly c++ and Java. I worked at the IMed Lab at Schenley in my freshman and sophomore year where I worked with python and MatLab to write code for an AI to detect swallowing disorders. Other than this, I can work with HTML and Javascript due to prior classes. I am really looking forward to learning all that this class has to offer. See you all in class!

[LDib]

Hello, my name is Lucas DiBlasi, and I'm a junior Digital Narrative and Interactive Design and Music Composition major with an Econ minor. I learned a lot about coding through learning Java for several years, and then a good bit about website design from a class this summer, and also worked on more theoretical new media stuff in Narrative and Technology with Dr. Fitz. I also spend a ton of time playing and creating music, and I think it's really interesting where music and digital spaces and all that good stuff collide. I like to record sounds that I find very cool, and I'm working on making music with them. For example, I recently encountered this cool chime tree installation thing (I'll attach a picture), and so I recorded it and found that, somehow, there was a common note among all the chimes, which was Eb. I'm currently working on using that recording as the intro to a piece that will be in the key of Eb. Anyway, I'm excited for what this class has to offer, because it seems to sort of sit at the confluence of a lot of things I'm interested in!

[KyleMaxwell1224]

Hey, my name is Kyle Maxwell, and I'm a junior computer science major with a minor in applied statistics. From a digital media standpoint, I have some familiarity with some of the forms of digital media. As a programmer, I have experience working on both the front-end and back-end of web-based and mobile-based applications. My favorite language to work with is Java, but since technology is constantly changing and new frameworks and languages are released at a rapid pace, I like to stay versatile with programming languages. Outside of programming, I took a few film classes in which I was able to create short films, which I really enjoyed (even though we aren't making videos in this class RIP). I'm really excited to explore digital media more seriously in this class and learn new ways to utilize technology. Attached is a picture of my cat, Penny, just vibing.

[Maials268]

Hi guys! My name is Maia Stephenson and I’m a junior majoring in Public and Professional Writing and minoring in History. Due to my major, I’ve taken a bunch of compositional courses but none of them have been ‘digital’ based so this will be a completely new experience for me. I have some past experience with Java but for the most part, my experience with programming languages is limited. I took this class because it sounded interesting and not like anything I had ever taken before. I hope to pick up a bunch of new skills that I can execute in my own projects. I also work for a nonprofit that just finished up its pilot year and its purpose is to equip high school students with “new media” skills (e.g. video, social media, etc.) to begin to shift the narrative about their neighborhood and tell its story through their own lens. I believe this class can help me assist in that goal and supply the participants with the new skills and resources that I myself have learned. In my free time,I really enjoy reading and one of my favorite genres is Sci-fi. A series that I read recently and highly recommend is Lilith’s Brood: The Complete Xenogenesis Trilogy by Octavia Butler. I also enjoy watching movies and a movie that I watched recently and found super interesting was Coherence.

[leiawerner]

Hello! My name is Leia Werner and I am a Junior studying Media and Professional Communications with a minor in Legal Studies. I am really into film and I've taken a few film classes here and Pitt. Creating short videos and editing is probably what I am most comfortable doing when it comes to digital media. I don't have any experience with coding/programming so I am looking forward to learning lots of new things this semester! With my major having a lot to do with media, I am always looking to learn as much as I can. Based on the syllabus, it seems like this class will offer lots of variety when it comes to creating and using technology. There are so many techniques to explore and that's what makes it so exciting in my opinion. I attached a photo of my friends and I from when they helped me create my first short film (I am the second one from the right).

[LLP37]

Hi, my name is Lydon Pelletier and I am a sophomore studying Computer Science. I started coding my junior year of high school and I have mainly worked in Java, but I have also taken a Python class. In terms of my experience with digital media, I would say I have some familiarity with it. I have worked on hackathon projects where I have had to work on the front-end of an application. I also did a website design project through iServes where we partnered with a local non-profit to help them create a website, but we used a website builder similar to Squarespace as I was only a freshman. I did take INFSCI 0010 over the summer though, so I have learned about creating a basic website with HTML. Over the summer, I also had an internship where I used Excel VBA to automate a process that my employers were previously doing manually. In terms of classes, I took a film class over the summer where we definitely discussed film and photography (digital media) in great detail. Though the reason I said I only had some familiarity is because I don't have too much experience with things like Photoshop or Audacity. Though I am excited to learn more this semester! Attached is a picture of my dog Deputy (trying to stick on the animal theme!).

[heh44]

Hi, my name is Henry Hoppe, and I am a senior majoring in economics with a minor in history. My coding knowledge is minimal, but I am excited to learn more. During my freshman year, I took an intro to visual basic course. This course also included a few lessons on python. While its been more than 2 years since I last attempted to code something, I believe that it will take very little time to catch myself up to speed.

During quarantine, my brother and I often had to find new ways of entertaining ourselves. As a result, we both became obsessed with fishing. We researched gear and learned about the best local fishing spots. The entire process of learning about a completely new interest to catching a fish was very enjoyable. I hope to replicate this same enthusiasm in our course. (pic attached is the first fish we caught)

[raisedDeadWizard]

What is up gang, my name is Jagr Krtanjek and I'm a sophomore CS / possibly DNID major (I'm trying some stuff out). My first experience with CS started in school where I joined FIRST competitive robotics. Along the way I picked up another nerdy habit: D&D. I have always had a very creative side as well as a technical side and I feel like d&d is one of the segways I have between story-telling and mechanics. I also do graphic design, video production, and creative writing while also developing applications, doing technical internships, and just overall coding random stuff cause who doesn't love that. I feel like this class is going to be a perfect bridge between my technical and creative sides and I look forward to it immensely.

Also here is a wonderful photo of myself I have been using for everything because it about sums me up:

[hjo6]

Hi everyone! My name is Hunter, I'm a senior computer science major with a minor in music! I started coding in my sophomore year of college and instantly fell in love! I've always been a fan of puzzles and problem solving, so it sort of makes sense. My real passion lies in music--I love listening and writing music! My band in high school recorded a short EP of songs, and I still do recording in my free time. I've played guitar for 12 years, I've picked up bass somewhere along the way, and I sing. I've been in many choirs throughout my life, including one where we sang American pop music abroad in Europe for 2 weeks! That trip sparked my love for travel, especially international travel--I've traveled to 9 different countries in the past 5 years and hoping to do more traveling once we have covid-19 under much better control.

For my picture, I've decided to post a picture of me and my roommate's cats! The cat on the left is my cat Figaro (or Fig, Figgy, Gary, Gar-bear, etc.), he's just turning about a year old this month (not sure of his exact birthday because my brother found his litter at a job work site). The cat on the right is my roommate's cat Morty (any Rick and Morty fans?), and she's about the same age as Fig!

[trinitymccool]

Hi everyone! My name is Trinity McCool, and I am a senior film and media studies major. However, I actually spent my freshman year of college at Penn State (cringe) studying Earth Sciences with a focus in climatology. I have absolutely no practice with coding (or anything involving any form of computer science), but I am excited to learn! When it comes to media, I am used to studying the ways it affects us as humans, different forms of media, and other things like that. I am familiar with video/audio/photo editing softwares (Adobe creative cloud softwares), but that's about it.

Other things I enjoy in my spare time are playing video games, painting and drawing, writing, doing makeup, and listening to music. For my picture I decided to insert a picture of myself, even though I only look like this about 0.4% of the time especially due to quarantine!!!! But one of my best friends got married this weekend so I decided to look nice for once

[kelseyd40]

Hello everyone! I’m Kelsey, and I am a Junior here at Pitt majoring in Marketing/Supply Chain with a minor in Legal Studies and pursing a certificate in Corporate and Community Relations! In terms of digital media, I am most comfortable with editing videos and pictures. The coding aspect of this class is completely new to me, so it will challenging but fun to learn more about it! Outside of class, I work at a boxing studio, Pitt athletics, and a small video production company. I help all three a lot with their social media presence and use a lot of digital media throughout that. Looking forward to the year! The picture I am attaching is of my puppy and me sleeping. I recently adopted her from the animal shelter I work for at home. She is amazing and my best friend!!!

[shreyababu]

Hi! My name is Shreya Babu and I'm a sophomore majoring in sociology and minoring in political science and legal studies. I am also planning to complete a digital media certificate. I do not really have much experience with the aspects of digital media that seem to make up the content of this class. My experience lies more within the photography, editing, social media, and video creation sides of digital media! I also have slight experience with some audio software (mostly just Audacity). The coding aspect of this course is definitely intimidating but I am hoping to be able to learn some new skills this semester! My non-academic interests include dancing (I am a classical Indian dancer of 14 years!), travelling (my favorite country I have been to so far is New Zealand!), and most recently, simple art (mainly painting and sketching), which I picked up during quarantine. Attached is a picture of me onstage during my Bharatanatyam Arangetram in 2016, which is essentially a graduation performance that many classical dancers undertake after multiple years of training.

[boredhero]

Hi! My name is Noah Martino and I'm a sophomore CS major. I know Java and Python and I got into computers and programming through games and mod development, specifically through Minecraft mod development, with my two main projects being MoreFuelsMod and Project Vinum. I also love Linux and use it as my primary OS. In my free time I enjoy cooking, camping, and anime. I live in an apartment in North Oakland currently so no pets but I am local to the area of Pittsburgh so my mom takes care of my cats while I'm at college. Here's Percy for your viewing pleasure.