Digital Creativity Week 2019
Digital Creativity Week 2019 at the University of York
During Digital Creativity Week 2019, students worked with the Teaching and Learning team for workshops on a range of digital tools and techniques, and visited York Minster Library and the Borthwick Institute for Archives for hands-on sessions with material in their collections.
They covered a range of skills such as working with data (using the Yorkshire Historical Dictionary dataset), image editing (with Pixlr and beyond), working with audio (using Audacity and free sounds and sound generators), and coding using p5.js, a JavaScript version of the Processing language. They also got the chance to try out using and creating tours in virtual reality using Google Cardboard, see how PowerPoint can be used for animation, and get a demo of live coding music with Sonic Pi.
A support site for exciting tools and creative ideas gave them the chance to play with new things alongside those taught in the workshops.
During the week, the students were given notebooks and pens and encouraged to record their creative process, thoughts, and anything else they picked up on the way.
The focus was on creativity and exploration, but also on developing ideas and interests relating to Yorkshire.
Throughout the week the students documented what was interesting them at that moment as they worked towards ideas for final pieces for the exhibition event.
Their final pieces had to take inspiration from the Yorkshire-related material and data looked at during the week, be created using digital tools or techniques, and be presented at the exhibition the following week.
The exhibition displayed the students' work and planning around the library's Harry Fairhurst building.
Boards displayed their planning notes and digitally created images and graphs as they explored digital tools throughout the week.
Students took over different spaces to display their final outputs and provide a place for the attendees to interact with their creations.