MUNCIE, INDIANA—- The Computer Science Department worked together to organize their 20th semester of a multi-media display in the atrium this week.

Essentially, the project is a display that each student puts together consisting of combining and editing images into a multimedia art. The requirements are very broad with room for students to get creative in their own ways. 

Then after all of the projects are submitted, fourteen of the most favorite projects are chosen and displayed at this event. The students enjoy this event because they are given the opportunity to be creative and show their individuality through their hard work. 

The students participating typically are freshman and their majors range from Astronomy to Physics, to even Music Media Production. I got to speak with Maddie, a Data Analytics major, about her experience with the project. 

There are many trials and tribulations throughout the development of these project and Maddie says the hardest part for her was, “How I wanted to organize it, so I copied all of the modifications onto the canvas, but where I wanted each copy and each modification to go is where I kept switching it up because I am a perfectionist.”

The students working on this project have a lot of preparation to make this project happen throughout the semester.

“For this particular class, up to this point, we have been teaching introductory computer science. We start out in the context of manipulating pixels and pictures, which is what we are seeing the end result of here. Following that, we are manipulating sound and then we do more things at the end of the semester,” Largent said. 

Ball State lecturer, David Largent, shot this idea about this event to the Computer Science team in 2013 and has worked every semester to keep the tradition going. 

“I stumbled across an article that had something similar and I shared it with my department chair, and here we are 10 years later, showing number 20,” Largent said. 

Largent looks forward to this event every semester with new ideas and projects.

“When I go to evaluate this project, it is kind of like Christmas. Unless the students had a problem and came to me ahead of time, I don’t know what pictures they have chosen. I know what the requirements of the project are, but they are broad and it depends on the picture they use,” Largent said. 

Every semester is a new and exciting unboxing for both the professors and students. It shows how far everyone has come with their skills and hard work over the course of a semester. Professor Largent and Ball State Students can’t wait to see what next semester brings.

Contact Anna Drake with comments or questions at anna.drake@bsu.edu 

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