J. Michael Moshell |
J. Michael Moshell |
The above Tarot card image is by Clara Cobb, a Digital Media student. It depicts me as a hierophant. According to Wikipedia, a hierophant is one who leads the people into the presence of the sacred. In Dungeons and Dragons, a hierophant is the highest rank to which a mage can aspire.
Sounds pretty good to me.
In real life, I am a Professor of Digital Media at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, FL, USA.
Quick Links:
| Abbreviated Resume (PDF) |
| Spring 2010 Schedule (Excel) |
Contact Information: (+1) 407 694 6763
E-mail: ( jm dot moshell at the domain of cs.ucf.edu)
Career Focus. My focal interests concern the use of media for learning. I have been working since 1990 to build an academic program of research, curricula and organizations to find ways in which computers and people can help each other to become smarter … and ultimately, I hope, wiser.
From 1995 to 2005, I developed the Digital Media undergraduate curriculum and headed the Digital Media Division of the School of Film and Digital Media. That unit has now become UCF's Digital Media Department. In the fall of 2010, Digital Media will become part of the new UCF School of Visual Art and Design. Nowadays I am a teacher and a researcher at the Media Convergence Laboratory, which I helped to found. In the spring of 2010, I am working on research projects and teaching one course.
| Course | Title |
| DIG 4530c | e-Commerce I |
I have co-taught DIG 6551 - Applied Interactive Story - twice. In the fall of 2008 I apprenticed under the guidance of Jeff Wirth. In the fall of 2009, I worked with Stella Sung. In both courses, students wrote conference-style papers to present the results of their work. Here are selections from among the best of those papers.
| DIG 6551 Fall 2008 | Wirth, Moshell | Interactive Performance: The Quarantine Scenario |
| Dig 6551; Fall 2009 | Moshell, Sung | Dancing the Earth: Whole Body Interaction in Science Center Programs |
Professional Activities
I was the 2005-2006 President of the International Digital Media and Arts Association .
I also chaired the 2004 and 2005 iDMAa Conferences, in Orlando, Florida.
My principal research focus concerns how to build interactive media, shared virtual worlds and games in which students of various ages from 1 to 99 can cooperatively learn. (I figure than when you get to be 100, you are allowed to take a break.)
During the development of Digital Media at UCF, I worked with colleagues Charlie Hughes and Chris Stapleton to explore a variety of ways to use interactive games and media for learning. The Caracol Time Travel Project was a prototypical online role playing game that aimed to teach principles of scientific method, in the context of Central American archaeology.
The Media Convergence Laboratory has served as a nucleus for activities in mixed and augmented reality and realtime simulation. One project of particular interest was the Virtual Forest, which concerned the development of mathematical models of plant growth for purposes of creating different level-of-detail (LOD) models in complex virtual worlds (see resume' for papers.)
| Number | Authors | Title |
|---|---|---|
| UCF-SFDM-2006.1 | Moshell, J. Michael & McDaniel, Rudy | Cast Member Performance Management: Research Report for Fall 2006 (pdf) |
| UCF-SFDM-2006.2 | Wirth, Jeff; Ingraham, Ken; and Moshell, J. Michael | Digital Media and Environmental Interactive Performance (pdf) |
| UCF-SFDM-2006.3 | Moshell, J. Michael | Principles and Meta-Principles for Digital Media as an Academic Discipline (pdf) |
| UCF-SFDM-2006.4 | Gibson, Ian and Moshell, J. Michael | Digital Asset Management in Academia (pdf) |
| UCF-SFDM-2007.1 | Moshell, J. Michael; McDaniel, Rudy; and Makwana, Alpesh P. | Cast Member Performance Management (pdf) |
| UCF-SFDM-2007.2 | Moshell, J. Michael; Wei, Li; Makwana, Alpesh P. and McDaniel, Rudy | Role Playing Games and Language Learning (pdf) |
| UCF-DM-2007.3 | Moshell, J. Michael; McDaniel, Rudy; Makwana, Alpesh P. and Wei, Li | Managing Actors in Serious Games (pdf) from Proceedings: GAMEON North America, Gainesville, FL 11-13 Sept 07 |
I enjoy playing and doing projects with my granddaughter Emily Mann and grandson Davey Mann.
We live in a pine forest. Hurricane Charlie gave us plenty to do in August of 2004. Fortunately, the damage to our house was slight. We finally finished replacing the blown-out soffits (under the eaves) in July 2005.
My hobbies are carpentry and the study of foreign languages. I have studied Spanish, Portugese, French, German, Dutch, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese and Malay/Indonesian. In the carpentry domain, my principal activity seems to be converting plywood into sawdust. In 2010, I am restoring a reed organ that was built in 1889.
My wife Carole Mann and I enjoy traveling, gardening and entertaining.
This page was last updated on 21 January 2010.