Author Archive: Jennifer Palilonis

Diversity & Representation: How “Apex Legends” fosters inclusivity with character design

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Diversity & Representation: How Apex Legends fosters inclusivity with character design

Apex Legends is an online, multiplayer video game that launched on February 4th, 2019. It is set up as a first person shooter in a “Battle Royale” styled fight and is very similar to its main rival game, Fortnite. However, what makes this gaming experience stand out from the other competitors is it’s interesting and well-rounded character list. Apex Legends helps inspire the movement for equal representation amongst game development companies and gamers. Representation is important in any form of interactive media. It opens users up to new groups of people. Additionally, it allows for various users around the world to have a character to identify with, which grants a more personalized experience. 

Apex Legends has done an excellent job of highlighting different heritages when developing their characters. It is a triumph for successful representation. Successful representation is made up of various ethnicities, cultures, and gender distribution. Furthermore, the depictions of these characters can only be successful when they are designed from accurate sources of cultural information. Apex Legends has a total roster of fourteen characters, six of which are female. This is an almost perfectly even gender distribution among characters. The characters come from different backgrounds, ranging from: Jamaican, French, Portuguese, Indian, Icelandic, and Pacific Islander (amongst others). 

Rampart is the most recent character unleashed by Apex Legends. She is classed as a “tactical” legend and is described by the game developers as a “British-Indian Business owner.” While these little details may not seem like much, they’re very important to the realm of video game diversity, inclusion and equality. The pieces of information shown in the persona descriptions add another level of depth to the characters. It makes their portrayal all the more empathizable to the player of the game. 

Apex Legends demonstrates the positive changes being made to diversify video games. This is a stride in the right direction, but there is still a lot more ground to cover throughout the gaming industry. Developers and designers should branch off of Apex Legend‘s example of diversity in gaming and incorporate similar efforts in the future. Diverse representation is beneficial to these companies and to the players they cater. 

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Chase Keller

Chase Keller is a second-year EMDD graduate student. His research interests include usability testing and design.

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Rise of the Award-Winning Match Point Project

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Rise of the Award-Winning Match Point Project

“This transmedia project matters because we are shedding light on a topic that has a lot of misconceptions, like that volleyball is a girls’ sport. I hope we inspire the next generation of young athletes to become interested in playing volleyball, and that one day, some of those kids get to represent the USA at the Olympics.”

Rachel Edwards
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Project Awards and Recognition

Match Point: The Rise of Men’s Volleyball is now an award winning documentary! This film took home an award of excellence at the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts. Along with the film, the Match Point Transmedia Campaign won the honor of second place in the entire festival for interactive media. The festival had a record year with over 1,700 entries. 

In the spring of 2020, Match Point: The Rise of Men’s Volleyball was nominated for an Emmy award in the directing non-live film category. Check out the official trailer here. 

The Match Point Project tells the important story of the growing need for boy’s and men’s volleyball and the impact a sport can have on an athlete’s life. Throughout the project, students collaborated with Kerri Walsh Jennings (4x Olympian, 3x Olympic Gold Medalist), Micah Christenson (USA Men’s Volleyball, American Volleyball Coaches Association), Lloy Ball (4x Olympian, Olympic Gold Medalist, NCAA Volleyball), Casey Patterson (USA Beach Volleyball Olympian), and Stafford Slick (AVP Beach Volleyball Champion). These collaborative discussions make up the podcast, social media posts, and blog content.  

BEA Festival of Media Arts - 2nd Place - Interactive Multimedia 

Emmy® Nominated - Directing Non-Live

BEA Festival of Media Arts - Award of Excellence - Documentary 

The Transmedia Campaign

The Match Point transmedia campaign is responsible for promoting and extending the mission of the Match Point documentary. The film explores opportunities for minority and underserved communities within volleyball, which is the fastest growing boys’ and men’s sport in the U.S. The transmedia campaign consists of four main storytelling components: a mobile game app, a website, a podcast, and a social media campaign.

The Match Point website is the main hub for the campaign that allows users to explore photo galleries, movie trailers, blog posts, and other elements to learn more about boys’ and men’s volleyball. Match Point: The Game is a weekly pick’em confidence league app that engages users by encouraging active participation in the men’s volleyball collegiate season. The Match Point podcast, Aces Only, is a bi-weekly podcast featuring one-on-one interviews with prominent athletes, sports influencers, and coaches connected to boys’ and men’s volleyball. Match Point can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube—the social media campaign goes beyond telling stories of individual people and expands on the storyworld through sports trivia, history, and behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the documentary.

The team behind the award-winning transmedia campaign includes Parker Swartz, Rachel Edwards, Erin Drennan-Bonner, Elijah Yarde, and Jacob Newell, led by Dr. Jennifer Palilonis. “The thing I love about this project is that there are so many unique stories to tell, and we’ve been able to incorporate so many different platforms into the campaign to tell those stories,” said Parker Swartz, who is not only on the transmedia team but also the director and executive producer of the documentary. The transmedia team members did not all step into this project with a background in boys’ and men’s volleyball and learned everything they needed to along the way. Elijah Yarde, Match Point’s web designer, said, “I knew nothing about volleyball, and far less about men’s volleyball. It’s been insightful learning a totally brand new subject then applying and using that knowledge in a meaningful way.”

 

Visit Match Point Project Page

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Surviving and Thriving in My First Year of EMDD

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Surviving and Thriving in My First Year of EMDD

I remember sitting in bed the night before my grad program’s orientation and my first day of class. I was so nervous, wondering what to expect since I am the first person in my family to get their Master’s. To my surprise, when I walked in the EMDD lab and sat down in the classroom, I was greeted by smiling faces of faculty and individuals who would be in my cohort. Suddenly, I felt my body’s nervous tension ease and I began to feel at home in that classroom.

Despite my uncertainty in the beginning, my first year in EMDD was far more incredible than anything I could have imagined prior to entering the program. During my first semester, I was improved my research and analysis skills through collaborative and individual work. I had done research prior to being an EMDD student, but was able to further expand these skills through design thinking and usability testing—both things I had never done before. I was then able to take this knowledge into my second semester when creating a transmedia production design and examining virtual reality/augmented reality research. In my second semester, I also expanded my design knowledge through the collaborative creation of a four-part museum exhibition—physical exhibit, virtual reality experience, touchscreen experience, and a live actor experience— about something in relation to Indiana History.

My first year in EMDD was vigorous, but I survived and thrived through it with some helpful resources.

Peers in My Cohort: Over the course of my first year in EMDD, I was able to build strong professional relationships and friendships with my fellow peers in my cohort. This allowed for all of us to really lean on each other if we were struggling or confused with something. For example, I come from a writing background and not a design background. So, if I need guidance with design tools I would ask individuals in the program who come from design backgrounds for help. In return, when the individuals from design backgrounds struggled with writing, I would help them copyedit. This type of support and collaboration allowed us to grow closer as a cohort, while benefiting all of us.

Faculty: If I was ever struggling or feeling confused about the work we were doing, the EMDD faculty were always there to provide guidance. Something I learned over the past year was to not be afraid to ask for help or clarification. It is better to ask then do things blindly.

Now that my first year of EMDD is over, and I have gained all of these skills, I am looking forward to the experiences my year two project and creative project will bring. I feel so lucky to be part of a cohort and have faculty as supportive as what I have in EMDD.

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Eileen Porzuczek

Eileen Porzuczek is a second-year EMDD graduate student. She received her BA in English.

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Student Journey: Gabe Eastridge

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Dr. Palilonis Awarded by Ball State Immersive Learning

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2020 Ball State Immersive Learning Faculty Awards

“This video celebrates not just our award winners, but also every individual who is involved in community-engaged activities."

Ball State University

This year, Dr. Jennifer Palilonis, Director for the Center of Emerging Media Design & Development, was recognized by Ball State Immersive Learning with one of five 2020 Immersive Learning Faculty Awards. Dr. Palilonis was awarded for her work on the David Letterman Learning Experience project. This project has created a physical museum exhibition, digital games and learning modules, and other experiences focused on the career and character of Ball State’s most notable alum, David Letterman. 

 
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Design Thinking Session With Hasten Hebrew Academy Students​

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Design Thinking Session With Hasten Hebrew Academy Students

The Hasten Hebrew Academy of Indianapolis team has been hard at work creating a design thinking workshop/field trip for the middle schoolers of the Hasten Hebrew Academy. The team designed a full-day, on-campus experience for 32 students and their teachers, taking them through the DLLE, EMDD Lab, and Digital Corps to inspire their own museum’s design. Last week, the team led a half-day design thinking workshop to gather ideas for developing the museum’s brand, which also aided in their research on the efficacy of design thinking with middle schoolers. The rest of the semester, the HHAI team will analyze the collected data to influence their production of a design thinking blueprint for middle school classrooms, as well as continue to facilitate the branding and storyworld of Hasten’s Holocaust Museum.

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Across platforms and places: The future of journalism

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Across platforms and places: The future of journalism

“Educating young people, particularly those who going into the field of journalism and mass communication, is about equipping them not just with skills that will help them in their first jobs but equipping them also with skills that will span a long career that will wind and navigate and change along the way."

Dr. Jennifer Pailonis

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More Than a Bridge; Rediscovering a Story

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Nearly 50 years after attending Ball State University and jumpstarting his professional career, David Letterman would retire from his days on late-night television in 2015. Alongside his retirement were many of the set pieces and props that audiences from around the world have come to recognize.

While a majority of the pieces were discarded and kissed-goodbye, one piece escaped the purge and found it’s home here at Ball State University, joining the memorabilia collection donated by Letterman in 2015. The iconic Washington bridge replica arrived at Ball State Spring semester of the 2018-19 school year and was welcomed onto the David Letterman Learning Experience project with open arms. Since its arrival, the bridge has seen much admiration and care from students of the DLLE.

On April 13, 2019, students treated the bridge to its a total revival and restoration, wiping away dust and dirt, and sanding its edges until smooth. Legs speckled with a fresh coat of paint and tightening of its loose bones with new nails, the bridge now gleams like never before.

Graduate student Rebecca Rudolph said the act of restoration is important to the project team’s storytelling project. “One might say that this is just a bridge from a dumpster. But when I look at this item, I see all the opportunities to uncover its story. And by restoring the bridge, we are given the chance to enhance our ability to tell its story in new and exciting ways.”

We expect the bridge will make its debut during finals week in the Letterman Lobby alongside the two student-created pop-up exhibitions. This will provide students and the Ball State community outside of the project the opportunity to explore not only parts of the memorabilia collection but also the hard work and dedication of the students who have built the DLLE to what is today.

Story by Abby Hines.

A Day at the Statehouse

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With their cardinal-red blazers and iron-pressed pant suits, students from the David Letterman Learning Experience filed into the Indiana Statehouse for Ball State Day at the Statehouse. During this event, students had the opportunity to show senators and representatives components of the DLLE project.The showcase included the four iPad experiences and Learning With Dave on the touch table. Students used this opportunity to communicate what they  learned and accomplished throughout the previous year as part of the DLLE. On more than one occasion, visitors beamed as they tapped through the interactive experiences pertaining to David Letterman’s life. As one woman scrolled through an iPad experience, she laughed to herself and said, “ Man, I remember sneaking into the living room on school nights just to watch a few minutes of Dave. He didn’t have the beard then.”

 

This woman’s shared memory, however small or silly, reflects and communicates how technology, art, and storytelling prompt connection and meaning– the foundations of the David Letterman Learning Experience.

Story by Melodie Griffin.

Interviewing ESPN Reporter Holly Rowe

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This October, ESPN reporter Holly Rowe visited Ball State’s campus as a member of the David Letterman Speaker Series. During the afternoon, a few students had the privilege of interviewing Holly for the Learning With Dave interactive video series. I was among those lucky students

My interview with Rowe was groundbreaking in my little world. Though she uncovered many wonderful tricks of the trade of telecommunication and journalism, I found myself more enamoured with the strength, wisdom, and endurance Rowe gifted her audience.

For many young adults, Holly Rowe is an inspiration due to her ability to push boundaries and overcome obstacles. One of her biggest obstacles was cancer. Holly has dealt with cancer more than once in her lifetime, but she adds that even cancer didn’t get in the way of her dreams and passions.

Holly believes everyone should have more “go get it” attitude. She argues that nothing wonderful will be easily handed over. Everything worth something should be chased, and nothing, not even cancer, should hold you back from what you love. Rowe directed each student to focus on  something in their life that they are so passionate about, no obstacle could distract them from completing it. For her, that was sports reporting. During treatment and bouts of lows, Holly says she was so immersed in sports reporting that her other problems weren’t relevant.

In a  2017 Saturday Down South article, Rowe says “I don’t think about having cancer when I’m out here. Monday, I have a CAT scan and have treatment. I’ll be a cancer patient on Monday. I’m not thinking about it today.” During our interview, she voiced that same drive.

Moral of the story? Discover your passion and pursue it. There are no excuses.

Story by Melodie Griffin.

Dave’s Most Recent Trip to Campus

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One tweet in the early afternoon of May 2 alerted residents of Muncie that Ball State University’s most famous alum, David Letterman was in town.

From a conference room on Ball State’s campus, a team of EMDD students watched as the news spread across social media. The buzz served as a welcome distraction from the anxiety and nerves that had been building as students of the project prepared for their highest-profile audience yet. On that seemingly normal Wednesday during finals week, the team of EMDD students would not only get the opportunity to meet David Letterman but also present their ideas for how the university could use the materials and items Letterman provided to Ball State to create an ongoing immersive learning experience.

“The students received Mr. Letterman’s positive feedback, and they will continue to refine and develop their concepts,” Kathy Wolf, VP of marketing and communications, said in a statement to the press.   

Check out a gallery of photos from Letterman’s visit by The Star Press and visit the original article at the Center for Emerging Media Design & Development website.

Story by Abby Hines.