{"554991":{"#nid":"554991","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"With BOAT Lab, Tech, Art, and Ecology Converge In One Floating Makerspace","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAndrew Quitmeyer, alumni of the Digital Media Program in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication was featured in\u0026nbsp;\u201cWith BOAT Lab, Tech, Art, and Ecology Converge In One Floating Makerspace\u201d for Fast Company.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EExcerpt:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf you were given $10,000 to improve a community in another country using art, how would you do it?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Andrew Quitmeyer, the answer was: BOAT.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;An American post-doctoral researcher with a PhD from Georgia Tech, Quitmeyer created Building Open Art and Technology (aka BOAT), a floating art and tech lab for a village in the Philippines. Its purpose? Teach locals about ecological conservation.\u003C\/p\u003EQuitmeyer\u0027s PhD research focused on \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/andy.dorkfort.com\/andy\/digitalnatural\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDigital Naturalism\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d or studying animals in their natural habitats with computers and sensors. He channeled that into gadget tutorials for young folks and robotics projects in Central American jungles, which eventually led him to apply to be an arts ambassador for a new outreach program known as\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/americanartsincubator.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAmerican Arts Incubator\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe program premiered last year as a partnership between the U.S. State Department and the Silicon Valley-based company\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/zero1.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EZERO1\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;with the mission of using art to connect to communities outside the U.S. Each ambassador leads a community in workshops and activities to explore a theme unique to their country. In his application, Quitmeyer proposed that as an arts ambassador to the Philippines, he would raise ecological awareness by combining monitoring of the local environment with performances illustrating the community\u0027s responsibility to clean up the area.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor the full article, read \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/3061489\/most-creative-people\/with-boat-lab-tech-art-and-ecology-converge-in-one-floating-makerspace\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"32716","created_gmt":"2016-07-25 10:25:59","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:28:16","author":"Hayden Russell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"St. Olaf College","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"http:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/3061489\/most-creative-people\/with-boat-lab-tech-art-and-ecology-converge-in-one-floating-makerspace","dateline":{"date":"2016-07-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-07-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"24401","name":"Andrew Quitmeyer"},{"id":"124","name":"Digital Media"},{"id":"113331","name":"literature media and communication"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}