(piano music)
Ash: Hey everyone, we are broadcasting today
from the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts
here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
I'm Ash Eliza Smith,
Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Arts,
and I'm here with my two colleagues,
Ben Kreimer and Jesse Fleming.
Ben: I'm Ben Kreimer,
I'm a Creative Technologist in residence
at the Carson Center.
Jesse: I'm Jesse Fleming,
also Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Arts.
Ash: We're here to show you around
and talk a little bit about the upcoming open studios
that we invite all of you to.
Jesse: We're using Mozilla Hub specifically
as a place for gathering.
Open studio's a place to continue teaching
within the Carson Center,
but taking on a new world of virtuality.
Ash: It's also an extension of our community.
We have so many different platforms going on,
we have Discord, we have Canvas, we have,
we have Zoom. Jesse: Zoom.
Ash: And now, we actually have Mozilla Hubs.
Ben: Unlike those kinds of platforms,
I mean, we're talking in a little group situation here,
kinda like you would do in real life.
So we're kinda bridging what it's like
to communicate in real life.
Jesse: It gives a sense of connection
that's sort of unfounded in other forms
of virtual communication.
The impetus for this was
that we had intended to have open studios
at the end of the semester,
to exhibit all the student work that we had done.
As we had to depart from, evacuate the Center,
this became a way to not only fill that void,
but also create a new opportunity,
a new opportunity for teaching,
a new opportunity for engagement,
a way to exhibit in ways that you can't do
in the material world.
Ash: Right now, in terms of classwork,
they're really thinking about the projects
that they're working on
and how those will be exhibited within this 3D space
as we move towards crits and reviews
and opens studios during week 15.
Ben: So in terms of accessibility, it's free.
It all happens in the browser.
It's actually quite remarkable,
especially when compared to other kinds
of immersive, shared experiences like Hub's.
There's really nothing else like it, as a platform.
So one way that we're using Mozilla Hubs
to engage community,
when I'm thinking of community in this context,
it's beyond the Carson Center,
beyond the university even,
and the community of Lincoln.
When you're in here, you can mingle.
(laughs) Basically, you can go up to people,
you'll be able to check out students' work,
interact with students.
This hub's approach,
it's an opportunity for people to come together,
that kind of community event designed to really support
that element of community engagement,
conversation and the fluidity.
That's a really important component of that.
Ash: Open studios will be on May 1st
from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, Central Standard Time.
And we hope to have people visit
from all over the United States and all over the world.
And we will be sending out a website shortly
that will kinda have a program listed
and instructions. (piano music)