I am the one my friends call the creepy one. My art is not pretty or happy. It is an expression of my inner feelings and thoughts. I don't make pretty pictures because I find them void of true emotional substance. I developed my point of view when I photographed my eyes, which have become a consistent theme in my work. Eyes are the window to the soul and the key to my inner emotions. I have since expanded my work to include other images. I continue to seek ways to help my viewers experience my work both emotionally and visually. I want them to see the world through my eyes.

My quilts serve as a visual journal of some of my travels and experiences. Through my quilts, I remember the rich colors and memories of my European adventures. The methodical process of stitching quilts line by line is an important process for my recollection of the many steps taken during my trip abroad. Stitching fabric is the method that communicates the opportunities and experiences of my travel that I want to share with others.

I Am Error is a platform study of the Nintendo Family Computer (or Famicom), a videogame console first released in Japan in July 1983 and later exported to the rest of the world as the Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES). The book investigates the underlying computational architecture of the console and its effects on the creative works (e.g. videogames) produced for the platform. I Am Error advances the concept of platform as a shifting configuration of hardware and software that extends even beyond its ‘native’ material construction. The book provides a deep technical understanding of how the platform was programmed and engineered, from code to silicon, including the design decisions that shaped both the expressive capabilities of the machine and the perception of videogames in general. The book also considers the platform beyond the console proper, including cartridges, controllers, peripherals, packaging, marketing, licensing, and play environments. Likewise, it analyzes the NES’s extension and afterlife in emulation and hacking, birthing new genres of creative expression such as ROM hacks and tool-assisted speed runs. I Am Error considers videogames and their platforms to be important objects of cultural expression, alongside cinema, dance, painting, theater and other media. It joins the discussion taking place in similar burgeoning disciplines—code studies, game studies, computational theory—that engage digital media with critical rigor and descriptive depth. But platform studies is not simply a technical discussion—it also keeps a keen eye on the cultural, social, and economic forces that influence videogames. No platform exists in a vacuum: circuits, code, and console alike are shaped by the currents of history, politics, economics, and culture—just as those currents are shaped in kind.

I naturally like sculpture. My artistic medium of choice is sculpture because it occupies physical space commands attention and thought. The expressive qualities found in steel are numerous as they are in manipulation of found materials. Both materials involve a process of discovery on an evolving road towards any sculpture's ultimate conclusion. My primary goal is that my sculpture should be personal and capture the viewer's eye, stir his or her subconscious, and serve as a form of communication.

The objective of this dissertation is to explore the process of teaching English Composition in the asynchronous online format and to make recommendations for the best possible approach for continued student success. The teaching of English Composition is a complex subject and no two teachers will have the same approach. This matter is further complicated when online instruction is explored. An instructor cannot transplant an in-class course into the online format and expect the same results. This dissertation explores the best possible approach to teaching English Composition in an online environment with the use of multimedia applications. This exploration will address current methods of teaching English Composition online, will evaluate what seems to work well, will explore the concerns highlighted by educators and practitioners involved with English Composition online, and will highlight additional recommended advancements, both in methods of approach and technological innovations, that can bring to light instructional practices for further evaluation. This study will lead to an understanding of what these new emerging technologies are and the specifics of their use by both instructors and students alike online, and it will identify best practices in teaching English Composition online for the immediate future.

This dissertation takes the approach of a qualitative case study whose primary subject is Alhaji Papa Susso, a distinct and compelling representative of griot culture, who was born in The Gambia, but who now resides in the U.S., yet maintains his griot identity. The findings from this research provide evidence that the griot, in his quest to support himself abroad while honoring the traditions of his heritage, is actively participating in the purposeful dissemination of griot culture in the U.S. and beyond. Though he may be cultivating genuine interest in his skills and in the oral canon of histories and epic tales that he maintains, he cannot control reception and appropriation of his culture. Further, the findings suggest there is a crosscutting backlash where the influence of technology is concerned, in that, while it provides a means for recording and preserving the griot’s performative art, it also distracts West African youth and diminishes their interest in acquiring and maintaining the tools and instrumentation of their caste-born heritage. The main conclusions drawn from this study suggest the griot feels compelled in many ways to spread his culture beyond the limits of his original, regional seat in order to preserve and promote it, but in doing so, he is changing his culture, and exposing it to audiences who are not sufficiently encultured to apprehend fully its depth and meaning. Furthermore, technology may be a useful tool in preserving the griot’s art in West Africa and abroad, but the static nature of recording robs the griot’s performance of its dynamic, flexible and culturally reflective power. Ultimately, it is the goal of this dissertation to actualize Stake’s (1995) assertion that “the function of research is not necessarily to map and conquer the world but to sophisticate the beholding of it” (p. 43); it is the goal of this dissertation to illuminate and understand, to bear careful witness to a facet of cultural expansion, to a contemporary phenomenon, to a particular, unique and valuable human experience.

This study advances a theoretical model of appeal, the framework readers’ advisory (RA) librarians use to make book suggestions. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it combines elements of media studies, literary theory, and library science to posit new elements of appeal and new models for understanding its dynamics. This dissertation argues that, because appeal as currently practiced relies heavily on reductive binaries, it fails to account for a number of features that play a crucial role in a reader’s experience of a work. Through a historically informed explication of the existing appeal framework, it posits a new formulation: appeal is a tripartite construct involving the sensibility of a text, the content of a work, and the interest of a reader, where reader is understood in its broadest sense. The new framework demonstrates explicitly that appeal is both textual and readerly and advances a number of additional concepts that are possible only in a more nuanced, tripartite structure. The dissertation illustrates its findings through three application chapters, considering in depth Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The study further provides a new theory/practice model of appeal, strongly urging that, if RA service is to continue to advance, its provision and an understanding of its critical concepts be undertaken with depth and rigor.

My art has become rooted in a process of layering. I layer materials to explore technique and to express the concept of inside versus outside. The evidence of multiple layers of materials is symbolically connected to what is happening within my own life. I want the viewer to see an indication of deeper layers of process and materials rather than just the polished surface of an artwork. This layering process can also be seen as a metaphor for human nature, what we see on the outside is not always what is on the inside.

The impulse to beautifying clothing through acts of adornments or embellishments is an innate characteristic of humans. The added decorative details are used for identification and visual communication by the wearer and comprehension and visual appreciation by the viewer. This thesis investigates the recent attention to female modesty, labeled as the Modesty Movement--the community that has developed around the apparel segment of the Movement and the framework of the behavior encompassing the participants within Movement. Additionally, the thesis focuses on adornment through the lens of textile/surface design (embellishment) specific to the Greater Middle East and the northern provinces of India and its application to modest apparel. Surface design is defined as manipulation of a textile beyond the woven construction, in this context it is applied to women’s apparel that covers the head and chest. Through a series of experiments using light, sound and motion the thesis examines how the use of of adornment simultaneously conveys identity and conceals the wearer.

When a caregiver suffers from epilepsy, a child can often feel frightened, vulnerable, and alone whenever a seizure occurs. In my thesis project I intend to help children negotiate this struggle with the use of therapeutic toys. Through play, children can navigate feelings that are often overlooked by adults. The visual appeal, simplicity, and materials used in their creation help facilitate comfort through sensory cues. By applying coping mechanisms to deal with stress caused by the passage of time, provide tactile comfort, and equip the child with tools to take action, their emotional needs are met. These toys address an overlooked need for children who consistently deal with the emotionally taxing occurrences that come with having an epileptic caregiver.