ASLA 2007 Student Awards

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	The wireless coverage map shows areas on campus that are covered by a public wireless Internet signal. This was used in part to determine which pieces of the Art on Campus Collection would be included in the DAOC. (Photo by Grant Thompson)



	The website and DVD are navigated via the "Projects" page that shows the locations of selected public art works included in the project. Buttons on this page are linked to the individual project pages. (Photo by Grant Thompson)



	Project pages consist of an artwork image and a brief label about the artist and the location of the work on campus. From this page a video can be viewed or audio can be downloaded from the website. (Photo by Grant Thompson)



	The initial phase of the project consisted of fifteen public artworks; the project was later expanded to include two more pieces. The additional works were launched to coincide with the opening of a new campus museum. (Photo by Grant Thompson)

COMMUNICATIONS HONOR AWARD

The Digital Art on Campus Project
Grant Thompson, Student ASLA
Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Faculty Advisors: Allison Sheridan, Michael Martin, and Ann Marie VanDerZanden


	"Very cool! What a great introduction to campus for prospective students and faculty. It's well organized and useful and represents a tremendous amount of good work." — 2007 Student Awards Jury Comments

Project Statement
The Digital Art on Campus Project (DAOC) is an innovative use of web-based streaming video and downloadable audio files to showcase a public art collection to viewers from anywhere in the world. The project is an exploration of how digital media can be used to enhance our landscape and convey the intensions and narratives of both a public art collection and any other form in the built environment.

Project Narrative
Criteria for selecting which pieces of the Art on Campus collection featured were influenced by the public art tours provided by the museum staff. Since the DAOC was envisioned as a digital art tour, each artwork is located in an area that has wireless Internet access, so a potential user could stand in front of the artwork while viewing the streaming video. Each piece was intended to be a walkable distance from another piece, though this criteria was relaxed for a few pieces that the museums felt must be included in the DAOC.

The web-site was designed for several audiences including the museums, the university, prospective and current students, though in reality since it is web-based, audiences could be world-wide. The DVD was produced for limited distribution but more importantly as a record of the project that could be archived. The museums give public art tours on a regular basis, with varying turn out and were interested in using digital media to reach more patrons with minimal personnel commitment. The university emphasizes the quality and aesthetics of the campus to prospective students. The DAOC then becomes a marketing tool to show off the campus even before students would come for an inperson tour. For students and faculty that walk by the selected installations the DAOC is a way to explore the history of the campus and its art.

The Digital Art on Campus Project has been very successful both in technical terms such as loading times, number of visits to the site, and ease of expansion, and in publicity terms. The project has been featured in a local newspaper, the university faculty and staff e-news letter, research symposiums, and was featured at an event at the state capitol to showcase undergraduate research. Experiences and insight about the process of creating the DAOC will also be shared at an upcoming state museum association meeting, to enable other museums and cultural centers to plan and produce similar projects.

After developing and proposing the initial concept, the university museums served in an advisory capacity over the remainder of the project. The landscape architecture student was responsible for the following aspects of the Digital Art on Campus Project:

-	Initial concept and further development
-	Photography
-	Videography
-	Research for narrative development
-	Scripting for videos
-	Narration of videos
-	Editing and mixing of audio and video
-	Remixing background audio
-	Production of .mp3 files
-	Website design, development, and launch
-	Graphic design of all products: website, DVD, poster, and promotional materials
-	Production of marketing materials: poster, press release, DVD jacket, and DAOC invitation card



	As the project expanded, informational pages were added for each of the museum branches. Each page gives a short statement about the museum and its collection while linking to the main museum webpage.(Photo by Grant Thompson)



	The Digital Art on Campus DVD (cover shown here) was produced for archival purposes and for limited showings by the museum staff at various public events.(Photo by Grant Thompson)



	The Digital Art on Campus Project was created as a capstone project for the university honors program. This poster was presented along with the DVD to the honors review jury and public at the final review.(Photo by Grant Thompson)



	Since the DAOC has been shown at various venues both on campus for the museums and the honors program and at various undergraduate research symposiums, invitation cards were distributed to raise awareness of the website.(Photo by Grant Thompson)