Presenting engaging research and interactive projects, TC students and faculty from the Media and Social Change Lab (MASCLab) showcased their multimodal scholarship at the lab’s annual MediaFest. The expo featured projects that demonstrate creative learning in action from a range of disciplines, from art education to nutrition, for an afternoon in April.
“At MASClab, our work takes many forms, from dance to needle felting to podcasting to video, to more traditional forms of research, and we really embrace this multiplicity when it comes to research modes both in terms of production and dissemination,” said Ioana Literat, Associate Professor of Technology, Media & Learning and Co-Director of the MASCLab.
The event also served as a celebration of the MASCLab community. “We gather every week, [to] think together, make together, dream together and, this year especially, hope together,” said Lalitha Vasudevan, Professor of Technology and Education, Co-Director of MASC Lab, Vice Dean for Digital Innovation and Managing Director of the Digital Futures Institute. “I've been delighted to be walking through here and seeing work that I had heard little seeds of in the fall take root in these beautiful ways.”
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Doctoral student Emmy Semprun welcomes guests to MediaFest with a flamenco performance inspired by MASCLab’s communal collaging (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
Representatives from MASClab presented “Unlearning,” a community collage project that asks participants to consider what it means to un-learn something. (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
The Snow Day Learning Lab presented their biomaterials through an interactive ASMR booth where you could play with textures and create a joint recording with other attendees (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
Maelin Aquino (Ed.M. ’27) presents “Your Shape of AI,” which asks viewers to represent their thoughts on artificial intelligence by creating creatures from clay, pipe cleaners and other craft supplies. (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
Shell Avenant (Ed.D. ’26) offers a glimpse at their multimodal dissertation “Cryptid Theory: A Digital Ethnography of Nonbinary Gender,” which takes the form of a series of video essays Avenant invited viewers to explore the space and consider their own feelings and experiences around gender binaries. (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
This year’s central installation, “Unlearning: An Interactive Collage” — organized and ideated by members of the Multimodal Scholarship Working Group — showcased how TC scholars consider the process of dismantling outdated information to make room for fresh ideas. In addition to observing the collages posted around the room, guests joined in on the fun by adding to a communal collage.
For Rhea Jaffer (Ed.D. ’27), research assistant on AI and education at the Digital Futures Institute, working on the installation and creating a communal collage expanded her thinking about unlearning and reinforced the power of interactive scholarship. “When I first encountered multimodal scholarship, I was a little bit resistant but [now] I feel like it centers the process and the more relational [aspects of learning]. There's a lot of richness in that.”
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Lauren Vogelstein, Assistant Professor of Technology, Media and Learning, presents “Move About It”, a collection of prompt cards that encourage movement and can be strung together to create dances (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
Madison Smith (M.A. ’26), asked people to reconsider their relationship to food with her research-based activation, “Digital Diet.” (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
“Creatures on Campus,” an installation by creative technology certificate student Giles Bullen (M.A. ’25) that encourages the TC community to engage with the campus more in depth. In addition to photos of the needle felt creatures dotted around TC’s halls, there were four nestled in corners of MediaFest. (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
Cindy Zhang’s (Ed.D. ’26) project, “No One Read It,” was an interactive installation designed to visualize and reflect on the stress of academic research. (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
Rae Ma (M.A. ’27) presents “Beyond This Space,” an installation showcased with Miao Miao (M.A. ’27). Attendees considered the kind of scholarship they find personally interesting and generated creative research paper titles. (Photo: Carolina Sotério)
Yuyang Hu (M.A. ’27) presents her interactive presentation "Reimagine Zhangyuan." (Photo: Rae Ma)
Other featured projects included an ASMR booth, dissertation bingo, podcast listening stations, research posters and video presentations. For participating student Yuyang Hu (M.A. ’27), MediaFest offered valuable insights on her research and strengthened connections with the TC community.
“I think MediaFest is about giving feedback to projects [and] I’m really excited that I have the chance to present,” said Hu, who presented her multimodal digital heritage project on Zhangyuan, a historical block in Shanghai. “I want to make my research more approachable to a mass audience so just observing people interact with my booth is [valuable].”