Museums Assistance Programme
Department of Canadian Heritage
University of Victoria
University Directory - Arts, Media, and Technology Projects at the University of Victoria
( under construction )
An initiative of the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery
This site was developed with funding support from:
Museums Assistance Programme
Department of Canadian Heritage
Home Report International Directory
Laboratory for Automation, Communication and Information Systems (LACIR) Science Venture at the University of Victoria Advanced Imaging Laboratory (AIL) Language Centre The Learning and Teaching Centre Dr Bram Goldwater - Department of Psychology Division of Continuing Studies Dr Jonathan Kim - Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Dr Michael Levy - Computer Science University of Victoria Language Centre Dr Gary MacGillivray - Department of Mathematics and Statistics Department of Germanic Studies Geography Department Department of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering (PANDA) The Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery Dr Kimberly Kerns, Dr Valerie Gonzales and Dr Michael Hunter - Department of Psychology Cultural Resource Management Program UVIC Archives and Special Collections - Mr. Chris Petter Shakespeare Into the 21st Century, and Beyond - Dr. Michael Best, Dept. of English SchoolNet Project - University of Victoria Archives and Special Collections
Laboratory for Automation, Communication and Information Systems (LACIR)
Founded at the University of Victoria in `98, LACIR exists to promote research in information, communication and automation systems. Its main role is to act as a liaison for the B.C. Advanced Systems Institute (ASI), promoting ASI funding programs at UVic.
LACIR is an on-campus, cross-disciplinary research centre. University members include over 80 faculty and staff engaged in communication and information research, and represent diverse fields. Specific research areas include software systems and software engineering, artificial intelligence, robotic controls and speech synthesis. LACIR encourages collaborative research among its members, and with industry, government and other B.C. universities.
Science Venture at the University of Victoria
The ‘see and do’ approach is one of the most effective ways to encourage understanding. At Science Venture, hands-on teaching and learning techniques aim to make science education relevant and interesting to people of all ages. The Science Venture program was established at the University of Victoria in 1991 to introduce science, engineering and technology to children, teachers and the general public. The program has successfully promoted enthusiasm for the sciences throughout B.C. by delivering innovative summer days camps, workshops for teachers and students, travelling road shows and special projects; last year (1997), Science Venture reached an estimated audience of 10,000 participants with its message that science is stimulating and fun.
Advanced Imaging Laboratory (AIL)
The University of Victoria Biology Department’s Advanced Imaging Laboratory (AIL) is a multi-user facility for information gathering through techniques of optical and electronic imaging and computerized image analysis. The laboratory’s activities include the gathering of visual information through techniques as diverse as whole specimen photography, macro photography, microscopy, fluorescence, time-lapse video and gel scanning. In addition to its role as a training facility for researchers and graduate students, the lab also prepares graphic materials for publication, for talks and for the classroom. Its facilities are used by both research and teaching staff.
The Research and Development staff at the Language Centre develop software in support of the Humanities departments at UVic. This includes both language learning software and software utilities for general use. To learn more about Language Centre activities, visit their web site at http://web.uvic.ca/langcen.
The Learning and Teaching Centre
The Learning and Teaching Centre (LTC) at the University of Victoria supports and enhances the teaching improvement efforts of faculty and teaching assistants, and raises awareness of current research and strategies related to teaching and learning in higher education. The Centre’s goal is to offer resources, consultation, and a forum for discussion to help instructors provide a valuable learning experience to all students.
The Centre also administers grants for Innovative Teaching projects. Proposals are invited from a broad spectrum of those who teach and directly support learning at the university, including faculty, senior and sessional instructors, teaching assistants, librarians, and laboratory instructors. Previous projects which have received grant support include - a series of multimedia programs to provide historical and cultural background material on Nazism and the Holocaust (Dr Rodney Symington, Germanic Studies);
Dr Bram Goldwater - Department of Psychology
Dr. Goldwater is working on a project designed to provide a computerized tutorial for students taking courses in Behaviour Analysis and Behaviour Modification. The program, developed with the Supercard authoring system, will provide brief behavioural vignettes in textual and graphic format, so that the student can have behavioural principles explained, and practice and be tested in applying them to analyze behavioural interactions. The program will provide students with immediate feedback on their performance, as well as keeping records on their progress for the instructor. The program is being developed on the Macintosh, but Dr. Goldwater is exploring ways to make it available for the Windows platform and/or via the Web.
Division of Continuing Studies
Continuing Studies offers a number of programs available through independent study using video- and audiotapes, CD-ROM, the World Wide Web, and print materials. The wide range of subjects includes aboriginal rights, health, languages, public issues, study strategies, and technology. There are also many credit courses in a variety of faculties for which UVic’s Division of Continuing Studies designs and creates multi-media materials.
Dr Jonathan Kim - Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Dr. Kim is helping the Richmond-based company Philtek Electronics develop next-generation power supplies that use digital signal processor (DSP) controllers for three-phase power factor correction and voltage output regulation. This will enhance Philtek’s product line of AC to DC converters. Dr. Kim’s research receives Technology BC support.
(Project description courtesy of VIATeC’s newsletter)
Dr Michael Levy - Computer Science
Dr Levy’s Guide is a rule-based servelet system designed to greatly simplify the task of responding to Web forms. It allows ordinary computer users to process forms easily, efficiently, without expert knowledge and without having to wade through manuals. Guide has been used for data gathering, on-line assignment submission, “courselets” (Web-based mini courses), and simple on-line quizzes. To implement it, users need a UNIX machine with an HTTP server that can run CGIs, plus a Perl interpreter. For more information, consult the Guide home page at http://www.csr.uvic.ca/~mlevy/Guide/.
University of Victoria Language Centre
The Language Centre is a valuable multimedia resource for students and staff at UVic. Computer programs and audio-visual materials are provided for student use at the CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) facility in the basement of the Clearihue building (A051). Some of these materials are directly related to course work, while others provide more extensive language exposure. The Centre also provides support for faculty through the creation of individual Web pages and departmental sites, as well as assistance with digitizing audio and graphics materials, and the creation of custom-designed software packages. As well as writing computer applications to serve specific needs for individuals and departments, Language Centre Research and Development staff also write programs for more general release. Some of these have been issued under the Half-Baked Software title. Their main current project is a suite of five programs which enable educators to create quiz exercises for use on the WWW. The suite, called “Hot Potatoes”, is expected to be released in parallel versions for Windows 95 and Macintosh some time in the fall of 1998. The Language Centre’s home page is at http://web.uvic.ca/langcen.
Dr Gary MacGillivray - Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Students taking Dr MacGillivray’s Math 122 course can test their skills by plugging into the Electronic Assignment System (EAS), which he helped design. The system lets students customize their quizzes so that each member of the class gets her or his own personal assignment. The basic idea is that an assignment consists of a collection of questions, each chosen from one of several possible (equivalent) versions. EAS uses the World Wide Web to distribute, collect and grade the assignments. Students connect to EAS via Dr MacGillivray’s home page : http://www.math.uvic.ca/faculty/gmacgill.
Department of Germanic Studies
The following German language, culture and literature courses are taught on the Web-
The Germanic Studies department Web site can be accessed through the UVIC Language Centre home page (http://web.uvic.ca/langcen/). Other departmental WWW sites include-
The Geography department is involved in Web site preparation and delivery of courses through the Internet, including a third-year Geographic Information Systems course. Electronic mail is used extensively by faculty, graduate students and undergraduates. The Departmental home page address is - http://office.geog.uvic.ca/.
The Department’s Whale Research Lab consists of a small group of graduate students, interested faculty, associates and visitors. It has grown from a field research-based group begun in the late 1980's by Dave Duffus and Phil Dearden, whose early studies on whales and whale-watching around Vancouver Island have evolved into a number of linked studies of whales and people in several sites. The Lab’s approach to marine mammal research is a little unusual, beginning with its presence in a geography department.
New projects are continually coming on-line through links with people in a number of research traditions. Being in a research area with strong spatial traditions, the unit benefits from advanced remote sensing and GIS capability, and decision-making models for resource management developed through geography colleagues. Research projects are being developed using landscape ecology traditions with new linkages to researchers from a number of other universities.
Department of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering (PANDA)
The PANDA group was formed in order to integrate and focus the research activities of interested faculty members in Computer Science and in Electrical and Computer Engineering. The long-term objective of the group is to investigate problems of parallel and distributed computing with respect to operating system, architecture, programming language, and networking points of view. The PANDA group can be reached at - http://spring.csc.uvic.ca/.
The Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery
BC Cultural Atlas Project - A Web-based, virtual geographical guide to the historical and cultural resources of BC.
Maltwood Inventory Project - The Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery is working toward a complete collections access system which combines a collections database (the Maltwood Inventory System), and digital images. Users can access University and Maltwood collections information by performing a collections search from the Maltwood homepage. Artifacts and artworks are catalogued according to the standards of the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN). Contemporary artists' permission to digitize images and publish these on the Web is now underway. Future plans include the listing of the Maltwood/University collections in CHIN's Artifacts Canada Humanities database. This database is a national register of items contained in Canadian cultural institutions. This year, the Maltwood will also update its collections management database to a more versatile system.
"Arts and Society" Virtual Exhibit and CD-ROM - "Arts and Society", the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery's ongoing exhibition, represents a departure from traditional art museum exhibitions. It is a constantly evolving installation drawn from the art collections of the University of Victoria, and features items as diverse as a plastic "Olive Oyl" doll made in China (circa 1978), and an Egyptian figurine of the god Osiris dating from around 600 B.C.E. The exhibition's structure is dynamic and changing, representing the varied teaching and research interests of the University. Like the eclectic architecture of the Victorian period, which was rich in symbolic allusions to the arts of many places and periods throughout the world, this exhibition has been organized as a 'cabinet of curiousities', and the art on the walls displayed 'salon style'. The web site for the "Arts and Society" exhibit can be accessed at: www.maltwood.uvic.ca. A virtual version is also available on CD-ROM.
Dr Kimberly Kerns, Dr Valerie Gonzales and Dr Michael Hunter - Department of Psychology
Drs Kerns, Gonzales and Hunter are co-authoring a multimedia statistics companion package for undergraduate psychological statistics, in cooperation with Cogito, a U.S.based company. Dr Kerns is creating the multimedia ideas and writing the text, while Cogito is providing programming and artwork for the project. It should be available in the fall of 1999 as a companion text for students who want help with understanding statistics and an opportunity for additional practice. As well as explanations, animations and 'try it and see' interactive segments, there will be 200 knowledge-testing questions, with accompanying answers and problem-solving strategies.
Cultural Resource Management Program
Offers a web mediated distance education course "Museum Information Management". Within the Cultural Conservation Diploma program a further five distance education courses are offered, all with at least a partial or optional web/video or audio component. Available at: http://www.uvcs.uvic.ca/crmp/de.htm.
UVIC Archives and Special Collections - Mr. Chris Petter
What's 'special' about UVic's Special Collections?
To help answer that question, a new website is now accessible through the McPherson Library's main Gateway page (http://gateway.uvic.ca/). For the first time, archival materials - manuscripts, correspondences, photographs, architectural drawings, oral history, tapes and maps - can be accessed by users outside of Special Collections and Archives. The site features general information on the University's acquisitions, which are as eclectic and fascinating as the collectors and donors themselves. They range from early Canadiana and rare books on travel and history by Daniel Defoe and Lawrence Sterne (the Abkhazi Collection), to a cache of 19th-century British play books amassed by the late Robertson Davies, one of Canada's best-loved literary figures, as well as contributions from novelist, poet and screenwriter Allen Bell. Since 1985 Bell, has worked with Canadian director Atom Egoyan on the screenplays of most of his films, including 1997 Cannes winner "The Sweet Hereafter".
The new site, designed to be a resource for students and teachers, also provides information on the University's Archives, and links to other archives and special collections. Special Collections material can be accessed either by main entry (alphabetically), by subject or by format, and offers a comprehensive introduction to the University of Victoria's many and varied holdings.
Shakespeare Into the 21st Century, and Beyond - Dr. Michael Best, Dept. of English
To some, Shakespeare studies via the Internet, and without formal lectures, might sound like Shakespeare without an academic safety net. But there is plenty of support available to students who try this innovative approach to understanding the Bard's life and art. Shakespeare by Individual Studies was developed by Dr Michael Best, head of UVic's English Department, to deliver full survey courses of the plays in a broad-ranging, stimulating format which provokes thought and takes full advantage of new media. Instead of weekly lectures, students can access several kinds of learning experiences, from conventional face-to-face tutorials in various kinds of multimedia and computer interaction. In one assignment, for instance, they have the opportunity to use a special computer program, the Shakespeare Director, to create their own staging of a scene from one of the plays. The comprehensive course guide also provides background material to the individual plays, and insights into Shakespeare's life and times. The guide is accompanied by audio tapes of scenes from the plays recorded by actors from the Vancouver Playhouse. The tapes highlight key material and include some interesting behind the scenes discussions in which the actors explore their characters' psychology and motivation. Weekly tutorials let students examine differing approaches to the plays - each section is limited to about twenty people, so there are opportunities for everyone to participate in discussion and exchange ideas. Another form for discussion is the electronic "bulletin board", where students can explore topics arising from the course materials and from their individual engagement with the plays. Students are also encourages to view live and video performances, and to add to their knowledge by visiting the many outstanding sites devoted to Shakespeare scholarship on the Internet. Dr Best's own site, Shakespeare's Life and Times, (http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare), lets students learn about the Renaissance context of Shakespeare's work by viewing or listening to material on his life, the stage he wrote for, and the social, intellectual, political, literary and artistic background to the plays. In addition, the site is a starting point for students' own research.
SchoolNet Project - University of Victoria Archives and Special Collections
Canada's SchoolNet, sponsored by Industry Canada, showcases innovative educational sites across the country. In collaboration with SchoolNet, two significant collections of archival material from UVic are now widely available to students and teachers through the Internet. One collection, based on photos, interviews, maps and war diaries, documents the life and times of The Right Honourable George R. Pearkes. Pearkes was a Canadian military leader in both world wars, and later went on to become Minister of Defence in Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's cabinet, and Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. During his long and varied career, Pearkes figured in several controversies, including the cancellation of the Avro Arrow and the 1944 Terrace Mutiny.
Also on the SchoolNet is an illustrated tour which follows the life and times of students who attended the University of Victoria's forerunner institution, Victoria College (1902-1963). Selections drawn from the original records of the College offer insights into student academic and social life during the period, as well as student journalism and activism. In a wider context, the Victoria College SchoolNet site traces the development of higher education in B.C. from the turn of the century to the early Sixties, also a period of remarkable change in the environmental, women's and labour movements, and in ethnicity, arts and culture in the southern Vancouver Island region. Both these sites are part of the SchoolNet Digital Collections program, available at http://www.schoolnet.ca/collections/e. To access the information, look under the alphabetical listings provided by SchoolNet - George R. Pearkes is listed under 'G', for example, while the Victoria College site appears under the heading 'Victoria College - BC'.