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Exhibit Title (limit the title to 50 characters or less and avoid using acronyms)
Creating Interactive Digital Images: “The Dome”
Organization Name
Required for student organizations
Freshman Imaging Project Design Team
Use the following space to describe your proposed exhibit/activity to someone unfamiliar with your area of expertise. (limit the description to 3000 characters or less)*
This exhibit will demonstrate the use of a freshman-built device to create a new and unique class of digital images known as Polynomial Texture Maps (PTM). PTM's allow the viewer to manipulate an image on a computer monitor in real time so that the subject of the image can be rendered as if it were illuminated from any desired direction. Such images allow the viewer to examine subtle textures or features on the surface of the subject which would not be apparent in a conventional digital image under normal illumination conditions. PTM's are thus a valuable research tool in a wide range of applications, including archaeology, paleontology, art and document restoration, forensics, and dermatology. The creation of a PTM requires the integration of several imaging-related technologies, such as specialized illumination, camera control, and image processing programs. This year's imaging science freshmen teamed with freshmen from other disciplines to design and build a functional PTM device. The operation of this device will be demonstrated live at ImagineRIT by the same freshmen who created it.
Describe the experience a visitor to your exhibit/activity would have: (max 3000 characters)*
Visitors to this exhibit will be able to submit objects up to approximately 8"x10" which they would like to have rendered as interactive digital images or “polynomial texture maps”. The object will be inserted into the PTM device - a dome-shaped structure surrounded by lights - which will flash on and off in sequence as a digital camera above the dome captures a series of images. These images will then be processed by a computer and rendered as a PTM which can be manipulated by the viewer in real time to see the object on a large screen monitor as if it were illuminated from any desired angle. The freshman design team will be stationed at the display to operate the device, explain the process, and answer any questions.
Exhibit description for the Imagine RIT Web Site: (limit the description to 1200 characters or less)*
Experience digital imagery like you've never experienced it before! The multidisciplinary Freshman Imaging Project Design Team will demonstrate the operation of their "dome" - a high-tech device which creates a new and unique class of interactive digital images which allow the viewer to examine objects in ways that are impossible with conventional images. Meet the students who designed and built the device, and learn about how they'll be using it for scientific research in a variety of fields. THIS IS THE FUTURE OF IMAGING!
Web site associated with your project or exhibit:
http://ife2010.wikispaces.com/
Should your exhibit be considered a "Kid Friendly" event (appropriate for children 12 and under) in the print program and/or on the Imagine web site?
Yes
Important Note: Spring quarter can be a difficult time to create new work, so we strongly suggest that you propose existing work or work that is nearly complete.
Is this work complete or nearly complete at this time?
Yes
Technical Abstract describing the exhibit (you may copy and paste an existing abstract from a thesis, dissertation or project paper):
In the fall of 2010 the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science (CIS) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) completely abandoned its traditional lecture-based pedagogy for incoming freshmen, and in its place implemented a radically different project-based curriculum for all first year students. With this new approach, all incoming students work together as a single integrated multidisciplinary team for a full academic year to design, develop, build, and test a unique, fully functional imaging system - in this case, a device to create a new and unique class of interactive digital images known as Polynomial Texture Maps (PTM). The goal in implementing this approach is to provide the students with a foundational experience which is more relevant, more engaging, more challenging, and more motivating than the pedagogy which has been used to date. As a result, it is expected that the students will be better prepared to succeed in their upper class studies, and ultimately to graduate with the tools they will need to thrive in an increasingly dynamic, collaborative, and innovative workforce.
This new pedagogy is based on two fundamental beliefs. The first is that incoming college students are far more capable of successfully undertaking complex technical challenges than conventional pedagogical paradigms would suggest. Therefore, the students engaged in this curriculum are given a level of autonomy and responsibility rarely seen by first year undergraduates at other universities. Although their efforts are scaffolded by an experienced team of faculty mentors, these freshmen largely determine the nature and direction of their own activities as they work toward their project goals.
The second fundamental belief is that student motivation and therefore performance are enhanced when their efforts are connected to relevant, exciting, authentic applications. The students are given the opportunity to interact with professional researchers from around the world who are doing work on the cutting edge of their respective fields through the use of imaging systems very similar to the one being designed in this class. And in an effort to maximize the authenticity of their experience, the students play an active role in oral and written dissemination of their results throughout this global community of researchers.
The effectiveness of this pedagogy is being formally evaluated by an external review team. If it proves to be successful, the impact on STEM education at the college freshman level could be transformational. At a minimum, this project could change long-held perceptions about the abilities of first year students, and could lead to a new understanding of the role of faculty in undergraduate education.
Has this exhibit been a part of Imagine RIT in the past, is it a modified version of a prior exhibit or is this an all together a new exhibit?
New