Thursday, November 19, 2015

Dr. Bryan Carter's Digital Love Affair with Paris

Dr. Bryan Carter is an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona's Department of Africana Studies. With a strong background in both 20th-century African-American literature and digital technology, he teaches the history of the Harlem Renaissance and the techniques of emerging digital culture. He has collaborated with the University of Paris IV - Sorbonne for many years, bringing classrooms alive with his lectures on digital technology.

Dr. Bryan Carter at café Le Rostand, Paris
© Discover Paris!

In 2004, Dr. Carter was named Professeur Invité by the Sorbonne and asked to be the project leader for the development of a digital project called Virtual Montmartre. Since then, he has received the Professeur Invité award twelve (12) times. He has been bringing University of Arizona students to Paris for study abroad since 2013.

I met with Dr. Carter in Paris a few days ago at Le Rostand, a café near the Luxembourg Garden, to discuss the details of a collaboration between his department at the University of Arizona and the Wells International Foundation (WIF). We have envisioned an Augmented Reality project that will bring U of Az students to Paris to create a digital platform for paintings that will be shown at the February 2016 Beauford Delaney art exhibition at Columbia Global Centers | Europe at Reid Hall.

Nativity Scene
Beauford Delaney
(1961) Oil on canvas

The working title for the exhibition is Beauford Delaney and Paris: A Breathtaking Evolution. It will be presented from February 4-29, 2016.

Using custom software, students will take high resolution images of several of the paintings in the show and upload them to a digital platform. They will then shoot short video segments of a docent explaining some aspect of each painting or the story behind it, and overlay that video on the image of the painting. When a visitor to the exhibition downloads the app on to a mobile device, he or she will be able to stand in front of a painting, scan it, and watch the video on the device’s screen.

Audio overlays and links to Web sites are other possible augments that will be considered for this project. Augments will be done in English and French.

Dr. Carter also gives a ten-day course in Paris over Thanksgiving break during which University of Arizona students experience "on the ground" what they have learned during a semester course at the university called "When African Americans Came to Paris." During that week, the students also create a collaborative video and implement an Augmented Reality project.

During his current stint at the Sorbonne, Dr. Carter is teaching a business technologies and e-commerce course to international business students. Course participants are being exposed a variety of technologies and topics related to business communications, digital technologies and cloud-based applications.

For more information about Dr. Carter, click HERE.

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