Protecting Against Flavored Tobacco Products: Using Digital Storytelling to Increase Policy Support
Flavors in tobacco products, such as flavored cigarettes and e-cigarettes, have been shown to attract youth. However, they are designed with an aerosol that can penetrate the lungs. Recently, flavors have been linked with inflammation in multiple organs including the brain, colon, and lungs (Moshensky, et al, 2022). The tobacco industry uses the internet to increase the visibility of their products. Adolescents use social media (e.g., SnapChat, Instagram, etc.) to share images, some of which depict usage of various nicotine delivery devices. These factors contribute to normalizing vaping and smoking, contributing to the epidemic of youth usage. However, social media can also be used as a channel for influencing people to support public health efforts. Specifically, using storytelling videos on social media could be a way to connect with people in an emotional, engaging way. Research demonstrates restricting access to flavored tobacco products and limiting smoking in public areas through policy can result in positive health outcomes. Effective prevention videos are needed, especially those using innovative approaches that harness theory and expressive technology. Digital media can be an effective tool, but there is a paucity of research examining theoretical constructs to inform the best approaches specifically for increasing policy support for tobacco control strategies. This study involves students in the development and testing of theory-based storytelling videos designed to encourage agreement with policies that reduce youth access to flavored tobacco products. Findings could be used by local, state, and national organizations to increase support for passing flavored tobacco preventive policies.
Live-Streaming Wildlife to Promote Coexistence
Disconnection from nature and wildlife is a problem facing people of all ages because it can devalue biodiversity and conservation. This problem is exacerbated for unpopular animals like spiders and snakes. We propose to live- stream footage from a communal rattlesnake nest at the new Expressive Technology Studio on the Cal Poly campus and in multiple middle school classrooms to reach people of many ages. The overarching goal of the project is to promote conservation-minded thinking among students to encourage peaceful and safe coexistence with wildlife. The live stream harnesses cutting edge technology to bring nature onto campuses to students who may not otherwise have such access, and the new studio will be the perfect place to show off this technology. Cal Poly Biological Sciences and Liberal Studies students and faculty will collaborate to create classroom activities for middle school children that include making observations and testing hypotheses using the footage. We hypothesize that experiencing the live stream will improve children’s perception of rattlesnakes and their conservation-minded thinking about wildlife in general.
Ocean Sight One: Revealing the Hidden Ecologies & Histories of California’s Ghost Ship Reefs
Ocean Sight One is a developmental partnership between Architecture, Liberal Arts and Engineering, and the Cal Poly Expressive Technology Studios—integrating ecological study and environmental activist art with interactive storytelling and community-centered design. In 2019, twenty-three oil rigs abandoned off the coast of Santa Barbara were purchased by the State of California. Some of the world’s most diverse reefs have developed at the base of these rigs. Oil still leaks at these sites and must be sealed. California needs to decide what to do—remove the rigs completely (destroying the marine life), reduce their size, turn them into marine study labs, or create Chumash community centers. Our multi-disciplinary team will explore all these options, displaying the complexity and beauty of these hidden reef ecologies using immersive VR and AR data visualization; providing interviews with scientists, community members and engineers; and presenting all our work with engaging forms of interactive storytelling aimed at audiences of all ages. The goal is to inform the citizens of California about the important decisions soon to be made in their name. Our multi-disciplinary team will present at the Orange County Museum of Art’s exhibition titled: Sea Change: New Currents of Sustainability, Art, and Action in the Pacific Ocean, using the new Segerstrom Center, slated to open in Fall 2022. Our proposed date for our presentation is early 2023. All the visual work for this exhibition will be simultaneously displayed in the Expressive Technology Studios, using the studios’ new VR/AR and 3D audio/video technologies.
Mapping Captivity: Locating Captured Slave Ships in the Indian Ocean
This seed grant proposal seeks funding to complete a digital map of all European and Arab slave ships captured by the British Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean between 1808 and 1897. This project will merge data from nineteenth- century archival sources with mapping software to identify and map the precise locations (longitude and latitude) of captured slave ships in the Indian Ocean. The outcome of this project will be the first of its kind: a visual display that traces the locations of captured slave ships in the Indian Ocean in an accessible online format that could also be projected on a large screen in the new Expressive Technology Studies for use in visits from general education and upper-division courses in History. The project will enhance knowledge about the historical legacy of slavery and abolition in the Indian Ocean, and it and has potential to lead to a future digital production grant or faculty award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project will also serve as the basis for a book project on liberated Africans in the Indian Ocean world for which I will be seeking additional sabbatical funding from various national and international sources next year.
Effects of interactivity and texture details in educational VR experiences: Comparing 3D-modeled environments and digitized VR
The main purpose of this project is to create two VR programs for teaching and learning purposes that specifically are designed to teach higher-level cognitive skills and abilities in two formats (a) 3D modeled environments and (b) digitized spaces. Through these investigations, expecting to have 30 participants for UX testing, we can understand the costs and benefits of each VR format and establish best practices for creating university- level educational VR content. The first goal is to create and test two HMD VR experiences, (a) 360-degree video and (b) a 3D-modeled photography studio. The second goal involves investigating effective learning programs about the topics related to using photo studios with VR technology. The third examines the effects of motivation to learn on higher-order cognitive skills in VR experiences.
Virtual Event Experiences and Well-Being: Comparing Multimedia Videos and VR Using Physiological Sensors
As an alternative to live events, virtual events have witnessed rapid growth because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The societal impact of virtual events is far beyond its ability to enable a new way of experiencing events during and post-pandemic. It empowers individuals to experience events at home without the risks associated with travel, and reduces environmental harm caused by mass tourism. The virtual events provide an inclusive opportunity for the low-income group and people with physical disabilities to have and enjoy such an experience. The two approaches used to present a virtual event include using multimedia videos or using virtual reality (VR). However, previous studies have not investigated which approach can provide better virtual event experiences. Therefore, this research will adopt an innovative triangulated approach to examine virtual event experiences, including physiological sensors (eye trackers and skin conductance sensors), surveys, and interviews. The research goals are to compare the different effects of multimedia videos and VR on an immersive experience, perceived values, mindfulness, and psychological well-being; to evaluate people’s attention and emotional change when they experience virtual events; and to propose a framework for designing the virtual event experience. This research will identify the factors that influence virtual event experiences and provide guide of best practices for its design. The proposed theoretical framework will give insights into enhancing the positive impact of virtual events on well-being. Additionally, this research project will actively involve students. Students will have the opportunity to learn the use of physiological sensors and develop skills in data collection and data analysis.
Creating Spaces of Belonging Project
As the new University Honors Director, I will be teaching HNRS 100: Introduction to the Honors Community for the first time in Fall 2022. The goal of this 2-unit course is to introduce our incoming first-year Honors students to our program and its mission; a place where highly motivated students from all majors can participate together in experiential and interdisciplinary learning. I propose to achieve this goal by having the students engage with the broad topic I am titling, “The Science and Culture of Love.” This topic draws on my own scholarship on emerging adult intimacy development but also capitalizes on the expertise of faculty across campus. By focusing on the broad topic of “love” my goal is to introduce students to how knowledge is constructed in particular fields while modeling interdisciplinarity (see Appendix A for a non- exhaustive list of possible subtopics by College that address the science and culture of love). The main assignment for this course--for which I’m seeking CET Seed funds--is a quarter-long interdisciplinary group project on “Creating Spaces of Belonging” where “space” is broadly defined and can include but is not limited to: physical space, digital space, creative artifact (e.g., story, play, art installation). Borrowing elements of a design charrette, student teams will be guided through a process that leads them to create spaces that engender belonging, connection, or sense of community for other students on our campus. Here I plan to have students capitalize on the technology available to them in the new Expressive Technology Studios.
Development and Testing of Bystander Intervention Virtual Reality Programming to Reduce Violence and Promote Equity
Pervasive inequities in academia and healthcare professions are major barriers to advancement and wellbeing of marginalized populations. We aim to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in college and healthcare settings by incorporating immersive (virtual reality) VR components into existing sexual and gender harassment, and transgender awareness training. To achieve this aim, we have received two internal and one small external grant to develop methodologies and collect initial data. We are now ready to write and submit a competitive application for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) funding opportunity. The BPC opportunity is created to increase the amount of people getting degrees in computer science- related degrees, with an emphasis on people from historically marginalized groups. Undergraduate students research assistants will be essential to this project and will comprise of students from public health, anthropology, psychology, art and design, STS statistics, and computer science. From our two recently developed screenplays (one depicts bystander intervention practice scenarios to prevent sexual assault, one depicts bystander intervention scenarios to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ+ people), we will film and program the VR videos. After initial pretesting to ensure usability and accurate collection of data, we will test the effect of the virtual reality videos on bystander intervention attitudes, intention and behavior to stop sexual assault and discrimination. This project’s timeline is predicted to span two to three years, and we aim to submit our application to the NSF by April 2023.