InstagramLinkedInTiktokYouTubeFacebook

Interactive Media

Fulbright Fellow from Egypt is Learning All About VR

By Barbara Gutierrez During her time at the University of Miami School of Communication, Shaimaa Elrefaei Ber is exploring virtual reality, so she can integrate what she discovers into a program to help draw tourists to her homeland. When you think of Egypt what comes to mind? Pyramids, camels, and pharaohs. Shaimaa Elrefaei Ber, an Egyptian professor, is spending an academic year as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Miami. She wants to broaden people’s perspective on her home country. “Egypt has a lot of historical tourism but it [...]

2023-10-05T12:13:44-04:00October 5, 2023|Interactive Media, School of Communication|
Read More

VR Offers Teens a Glimpse into the Future of Coastal Cities

By Janette Neuwahl Tannen Created by an interdisciplinary team at the University of Miami, the Mangrove City app aims to give students an up-close lesson about the importance of ecosystems. With sea levels rising at increasing rates worldwide, University of Miami interactive media professor, Kim Grinfeder, wondered: could he create a virtual experience that teaches students how they might navigate a coastal city like Miami 100 years from now?About two years ago, he formed a small interdisciplinary group of students and faculty and staff members with expertise in virtual reality, [...]

2023-08-14T13:58:34-04:00August 14, 2023|Interactive Media|
Read More

Class Seams Fashion and Technology

By Jenny Hudak A new special topics class in the School of Communication teaches students how to bring clothes to life by integrating them with wearable technology. The clock struck 10:45 a.m. during Lorena Lopez’s “Wearable Technologies” class last week. Though the period had concluded for the day, not a single student enrolled in the new course budged from their seats. So enthralled with the work they were doing, the time continued to pass as students intricately sewed coded circuit boards into their fabrics, preparing for their final projects.  Among [...]

2023-05-02T11:06:33-04:00May 1, 2023|Interactive Media|
Read More

Can You Spot a Deepfake?

By Barbara Gutierrez University of Miami researchers familiar with artificial intelligence technology offer their opinions about a phenomenon—the posting of images or videos that have been manipulated—that is becoming more prevalent online. If you surf the internet—and who doesn’t—you have seen a video that has caught your attention. Tom Cruise performing magic tricks and eating a lollipop. Former President Barack Obama spouting offensive words. Kim Kardashian rapping. These videos were not real. They were deepfakes. A deepfake is an image or video of someone’s likeness that looks realistic; when in [...]

2023-02-09T14:57:14-05:00February 9, 2023|Interactive Media|
Read More

Interactive Media Offers New M.F.A. Scholarship for STEAM Educators

By Karina Valdes With the rising need for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) educators, the University of Miami School of Communication is tackling this need head-on. Prospective students interested in earning a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Interactive Media now have the opportunity to apply for a new scholarship. The South Florida Educator Opportunity Award is presented to an M.F.A. student who commits to remaining in South Florida and teaching in a community college or public school (K-12) for a minimum of three years after graduation. "Our [...]

2022-11-17T10:13:45-05:00November 16, 2022|Interactive Media|
Read More

Lindsay Grace to Share Insights at Games for Change Summit

By Karina Valdes World leaders in gaming are converging in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in Oct. for the Games for Change Summit to share their insights on games for social impact. The summit will connect experts in gaming for two days of discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities to globally expand the games for social change arena. Through various programs and non-profits, Lindsay Grace, Knight Chair and director of the MFA in Interactive Media, has been assisting the U.S. Department of State with its initiatives in [...]

2022-10-07T15:49:17-04:00October 7, 2022|Interactive Media|
Read More

Can Artificial Intelligence Help Journalists?

By Barbara Gutierrez Lindsay Grace, an associate professor at the School of Communication, and a team of fellow academics have developed an AI-generated tip sheet that can help news organizations by scouring information and providing leads to pursue. For many journalists, the idea of sharing space with artificial intelligence  is threatening. As it is, the news business is in a steep decline, with U.S. newsroom employment down 26 percent since 2008, according to the Pew Research Center. A combination of factors has contributed to this decline but new technologies are also [...]

2022-07-06T11:16:38-04:00July 6, 2022|Interactive Media|
Read More

Student-Produced Shows Nominated for College Television Awards

By Barbara Gutierrez UMTV’s SportsDesk and NewsVision—along with the 15 students who worked on the shows—have been nominated for Television Academy Foundation awards.Two University of Miami television shows have received nominations for the Television Academy Foundation’s 41st College Television Awards, which recognize excellence in student-produced programs from colleges and universities nationwide. The competition, considered the Emmys of college productions, will announce winners at the awards ceremony on March 26. The University’s nominations are in the “News and Sports” category for NewsVision and SportsDesk, two student-produced shows on UMTV. NewsVision is a [...]

2022-03-09T15:02:14-05:00March 9, 2022|Broadcast Journalism, Electronic Media, Interactive Media, Journalism, Media Management|
Read More

University Community Leaps into the ‘Metaverse’

By Janette Neuwahl Tannen Four years into the XR Initiative, University of Miami students and faculty and staff members conceive new ways to solve problems and improve education by using immersive technology to connect in a network of virtual worlds. Léa Dorne still vividly remembers visiting a Syrian refugee camp and standing inside a family’s United Nations trailer in Jordan. But she wasn’t actually in the Middle East. Dorne observed the family’s reality through an Oculus Quest headset while watching a film shot in virtual reality (VR). “It’s very different [...]

2022-01-21T15:01:35-05:00January 21, 2022|Interactive Media|
Read More

Interactive Media Graduate Student Lands Co-Op at Motorola Solutions

By Bianca De Paz Allie Packard, a School of Communication Interactive Media M.F.A. graduate, recently accepted a User Experience Design Co-Op with Motorola Solutions, where she will be applying her skills on how to use video in multiple facets of public safety. Through her graduate UX courses and as a UX research assistant in the University of Miami’s Interactive Media User Experience Lab (UX), Packard cultivated a passion for the process of design. There, she benefited from working alongside Barbara Millet, director of the UX Lab and assistant professor, who [...]

2021-09-29T10:52:37-04:00September 23, 2021|Interactive Media|
Read More