Institutional Repository
Array
Pages
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- State Farm: Communicating Effectively to the 18-25 Age Group (semester?), IPRO 305
- The purpose of IPRO 305 was to conduct market research on the State Farm® advertising campaigns developed by three Marketing Research practicum classes at the Stuart School of Business in the Spring of 2007., Sponsorship: State Farm Insurance, Deliverables for IPRO 305: State Farm: Communicating Effectively to the 18-25 Age Group for the Fall 2007 semester
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- HawkTour (semester 1 of unknown), IPRO 305
- The overall vision of the IPRO 305 team is to continue efforts to develop an application called HawkTour – a virtual Illinois Institute of Technology tour guide. HawkTour will provide a completely new approach to the campus tour at IIT., Deliverables
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- Development of a Real Time Information System (Semester Unknown) IPRO 342
- Midwest Steel & Services, a growing company, needs assistance in expanding its business software and/or creating the means to provide a better real-time information. Improved cost controls, purchasing capabilities and job tracking are among the specific issues the company faces. Accessing and sharing the information emanating from these activities will enable the companies’ management practices to make better decisions and significantly contribute to business growth. The company's present software and internal processes are not sufficient to meet their current and future business needs. The company has asked for the assistance of IPRO 342 to improve this issue. The IPRO team will review the present situation and try to assess it. This assessment will come from both a systems review as well as interviews of Midwest Steel staff. We will periodically travel to the company to gather information about them and present our findings., Deliverables
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- Design and Global Market Analysis of a Tool Product (Semester Unknown) IPRO 341
- A Tool’s objective is to first and foremost satisfy the problem set forth by our sponsor Versatility Tools. The problem is that their tool cabinet does not accomplish the day-to-day needs of the companies that purchase it. Our task is to try for a cost effective way of improving the cabinet., Deliverables
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- Edutainment (semester?), IPRO 329
- This semester IPRO 329, Edutainment, turns its complete efforts toward an educational computer gaming suite targeted at fourth-grade students and the subjects these students struggle with most in school. It is tentatively entitled Scholars of the Lost Exhibit. Work on this project began last semester as the team completed their award-winning game College Pursuit. During this semester, we will focus on the design, development, testing, and marketing of Scholars of the Lost Exhibit., Deliverables for IPRO 329: Edutainment for the Spring 2005 semester
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- Automated Shipping Container Transportation System Design (semester?), IPRO 307
- The objective of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of Mi-Jack’s Thru-port concept-- which is a rail yard operated by computer controlled gantry cranes for intermodal container transfer between the major rail road companies., Deliverables for IPRO 307: Automated Shipping Container Transportation System Design for the Spring 2006 semester
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- Contrails: The Evolution of an Air Force Technical Reports Digitization Project: Contrails ISL Brochure
- A presentation given at the 2006 Illinois State Library Annual Government Documents Conference held May 4th, 2006 in Springfield, Illinois. The presentation describes the efforts to make accessible to researchers and the public a collection of Air Force technical reports left at IIT by Crerar Library when they moved to the University of Chicago. Covered is the period 1996-2006.
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- Contrails: The Evolution of an Air Force Technical Reports Digitization Project
- A presentation given at the 2006 Illinois State Library Annual Government Documents Conference held May 4th, 2006 in Springfield, Illinois. The presentation describes the efforts to make accessible to researchers and the public a collection of Air Force technical reports left at IIT by Crerar Library when they moved to the University of Chicago. Covered is the period 1996-2006.
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- Interview with Chris Dammacco
- Chris Dammacco began as a cheese broker for the majority of Midwestern states until one day he confronted a video game shop owner about the poor treatment of his customers; the owner’s response was “If you don’t like the way I do things, then why don’t you start your own shop”, and that’s exactly what he did. Dammacco founded Windy Gaming officially in January of 2015, but first invested in the idea in September of 2012. Windy Gaming specializes in import games, specifically from Japan. He mostly runs the business by himself; the only help he gets is a mechanical engineer that comes in once a week to repair games and two unpaid college students who assist him during convention weekends. The majority of his inventory is games from the late 80s and early 90s because this is the era that Dammacco finds most intriguing. Windy Gaming attends several gaming conventions a year, the favorite being the Midwestern Gaming Convention. At Windy Gaming’s first year at this convention, they only had two eight-foot tables; this past year they had grown so much as to be able to purchase a private room. Dammacco was able to meet many famous internet personalities and players through these conventions some of which included James Rolfe and the hosts of the “Sat Guys” YouTube channel. These two to three day conventions can bring in as much as five figures according to Dammacco and make up a majority of his sales. Dammacco’s friendly treatment of the buyers has created a league of loyal customers that will follow go so far as to follow to him to conventions. Each product he sends out comes with a hand written, personalized note from Dammacco expressing gratitude for their purchase. Dammacco will facetime, skype, email, tweet, Facebook message, call, and the like if the customer wants a deeper understanding of the product or inventory as a whole. The most unique thing about Windy Gaming is that despite sales being entirely online, Dammacco strives to make himself known so the customer is aware that it is a man they are making deals with, not a soulless computer screen. He also makes an effort to keep prices as low as possible in order to cater to the player so they can enjoy the experience of the game without the guilt of overpriced items. Dammacco feels the poor treatment of the players and customers in this industry will be its eventual downfall because the overpriced, never to be played games that certain vendors are selling are not true to the real meaning of a video games. Games are a hobby meant to be enjoyed by those who love to play. His efforts at creating a standard for pricing and customer interaction are making an impact on the gaming industry. The amount of growth that Windy Gaming has produced in such a short time is truly amazing and serves as a commentary on the success of the modern video industry. Prospects are high for Chris Dammacco’s Windy Gaming as well as the gaming industry as a whole.
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- Strategic Management System (Summer2003) IPRO357
- The project team will be organized into a technology development group and a business group to follow through on the accomplishments of two Spring 2003 IPRO teams (IPRO 327 and EnPRO 357). The SMS Technology Group will continue developing the SMS Strategic Management System, Versions 2.0 and 3.0, with significantly enhanced functionalities over Version 1.0, and with each targeted to different application environments. The computer architecture and software code has been written by a cross-functional, interdisciplinary team of IIT students based upon a commercialization model developed by Stuart GSB Entrepreneurship Professor George Kalidonis. Versions 2.0 & 3.0 will be parallel developed and will add significant levels of different functionalities. The SMS Business Group will continue developing a commercialization and financing plan for SMS Version 1.1: a web-based strategic management system designed for micro-businesses and individual entrepreneurs. This project supports a serious effort to raise private equity capital for a start-up that will be staffed by IIT students., Sponsorship: IIT Collaboratory for Interprofessional Studies under the Auspices of the Ed Kaplan Entrepreneurial Program, Project Plan for IPRO 357: Strategic Management System for the Summer 2003 semester
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- A High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) Template of the Human Brain
- High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) is a powerful extension of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) capable of resolving intravoxel heterogeneity of fiber orientations which is important for brain connectivity studies. The purpose of this study was to produce a human brain HARDI template by combining information from artifact-free low angular resolution datasets collected on 67 subjects.
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- Interview with Todd Friedman
- We conducted an interview with Todd Friedman, a game competitor who holds over 100 game world records, on Sep 25, 2015 at his home in Gurnee, IL. Todd Friedman is a game competitor and competition organizer. His personal game collections consist of 2,840 games and he has been playing video games since he was five years old. His world records are recorded on the Twin Galaxies Score Database website. For the Wii DJ Hero alone he has three pages filled with records of him placing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th with songs ranging from Foo Fighters to Jackson Five. However, Todd has never worked as a full-time game competitor. Instead, he is an EDI (Electronic data interchange) analyst at HubGroup, a truck company. Generally, he arrives home from work at 4:30pm and plays games or works out with his children. Todd has his own philosophy for life and gaming. He holds world records but has never thought of earning money from playing games or having it as a “real” job. Rather, he loves the competition itself. In his view, playing games is more like something that brings people fun and happiness, instead of a tool to make money. He also enjoys being a spectator and watching others play games. This is one of the reasons why he loves not only to participate but also to organize game competitions. How does Todd balance his daily life with his gaming life? If you ask Todd they are one and the same. In fact, a quote of his is “Working and being father is my typical day.” He works his full time job, spends time with his family and ensures that he also spends time on his professional gaming activities. He has twins, a boy and a girl aged 9 years old that he does the normal after school activities with like, soccer, cheerleading, etc. He also loves video gaming especially with his family! One controversial view is that coin-operated video gaming has been a target of negative perceptions. However, Todd completely discredits this argument -- that gaming is a negative influence. He credits video gaming for keeping him on a good path, away from drugs and alcohol, fueling his interest in technology, and obtaining friendships from an array of different cultures all due to being able to meet, talk and play video games with people from around the nation and around the world. Are e-sports according to Todd a real sport? The short answer is “yes.” Todd has two favorite sports, Bowling and video gaming. He compared video game competition to bowling to how some people do not believe it is a sport by discussing hand and eye coordination, mental focus, and talent. You have to beat the other person and practice to get better at it, which is exactly like bowling or golf. According to Todd, a professional gamer, a sport consists of using your mind, practicing, and playing against someone to win. And e-sports falls within his definition. Through the interview, we found that Todd was not in agreement with a lot of the negative stereotypes that people have about gaming, such as, video games are bad for young kids, it wastes their time, money and may have a negative effect on their behaviors and social skills. Instead, he is an average guy who has been playing games since 7 years old and it has helped to evolve him socially and as a positive role model. He credits video games to keeping him away from drugs and alcohol and is also a mechanism that helps to relieve stress. It also positively affects his relationships. He is a better friend, father, husband and co-worker because of his involvement with games.
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- Interview with Todd Friedman: Todd Friedman_9-25-15_Transcription_Oral History Project
- We conducted an interview with Todd Friedman, a game competitor who holds over 100 game world records, on Sep 25, 2015 at his home in Gurnee, IL. Todd Friedman is a game competitor and competition organizer. His personal game collections consist of 2,840 games and he has been playing video games since he was five years old. His world records are recorded on the Twin Galaxies Score Database website. For the Wii DJ Hero alone he has three pages filled with records of him placing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th with songs ranging from Foo Fighters to Jackson Five. However, Todd has never worked as a full-time game competitor. Instead, he is an EDI (Electronic data interchange) analyst at HubGroup, a truck company. Generally, he arrives home from work at 4:30pm and plays games or works out with his children. Todd has his own philosophy for life and gaming. He holds world records but has never thought of earning money from playing games or having it as a “real” job. Rather, he loves the competition itself. In his view, playing games is more like something that brings people fun and happiness, instead of a tool to make money. He also enjoys being a spectator and watching others play games. This is one of the reasons why he loves not only to participate but also to organize game competitions. How does Todd balance his daily life with his gaming life? If you ask Todd they are one and the same. In fact, a quote of his is “Working and being father is my typical day.” He works his full time job, spends time with his family and ensures that he also spends time on his professional gaming activities. He has twins, a boy and a girl aged 9 years old that he does the normal after school activities with like, soccer, cheerleading, etc. He also loves video gaming especially with his family! One controversial view is that coin-operated video gaming has been a target of negative perceptions. However, Todd completely discredits this argument -- that gaming is a negative influence. He credits video gaming for keeping him on a good path, away from drugs and alcohol, fueling his interest in technology, and obtaining friendships from an array of different cultures all due to being able to meet, talk and play video games with people from around the nation and around the world. Are e-sports according to Todd a real sport? The short answer is “yes.” Todd has two favorite sports, Bowling and video gaming. He compared video game competition to bowling to how some people do not believe it is a sport by discussing hand and eye coordination, mental focus, and talent. You have to beat the other person and practice to get better at it, which is exactly like bowling or golf. According to Todd, a professional gamer, a sport consists of using your mind, practicing, and playing against someone to win. And e-sports falls within his definition. Through the interview, we found that Todd was not in agreement with a lot of the negative stereotypes that people have about gaming, such as, video games are bad for young kids, it wastes their time, money and may have a negative effect on their behaviors and social skills. Instead, he is an average guy who has been playing games since 7 years old and it has helped to evolve him socially and as a positive role model. He credits video games to keeping him away from drugs and alcohol and is also a mechanism that helps to relieve stress. It also positively affects his relationships. He is a better friend, father, husband and co-worker because of his involvement with games.
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- Interview with Chaz Evans
- Chaz Evans is the curator of the Video Game Art Gallery (VGA Gallery), a traveling exhibit established in 2013 that displays pieces of art from video games. VGA Gallery’s co-directors, Jonathan Kinkley and Chaz Evans, have a deep passion for sharing these artifacts that provide audiences an invitation to enter into discourse surrounding video games through the presentation of art from or inspired by the game. Evans works closely with the designers of the video games featured in the exhibit to ensure that the art pieces they include reflect the designers’ vision of the game. In the time that they have been displaying their exhibit at different events in Chicago, such as Bit Bash, ACTIVATE, Multiples Art Fair, and INTERPLAY Chicago, Evans says that their gallery has been met with much admiration and curiosity from both gamers and non-gamers. Through the process of curating games, he argues that archives and exhibits not only tell a history of video games, but also contribute to the current and ongoing story of video games and provide instances for further discourse and analysis in understanding the video games media. He describes his future aspiration for VGA Gallery to include installations in interactive spaces that contain playable demos of the games alongside the artwork that together provide a threshold for people to experience and appreciate the game.
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- Interview with Jessica Kent: R05_0009
- Before video games were invented, people initially played coin-op games like skeeball. The most prominent coin-op game was pinball, and its appeal endures to this day. However, the arcade and coin-op scene, including pinball, has a relative lack of women players. This is why Jessica Kent, one of the founders of Down to Flip, has such an interesting story. Her push for diversity and encouragement for female players is making significant changes to the pinball and coin-op community, and her work will continue to make these changes. Jessica Kent is the creator of the Down to Flip pinball group, an all women pinball group. Down to Flip started as a Facebook page but has now grown into a group with over 100 members, and over twenty-five active pinball players. Her inspiration for the group came from observing women groups like LA Bell and Chimes in Los Angeles. From a young age, she was involved in the arcade scene, and she rediscovered her love for arcade gaming during college. Jessica has been an avid gamer for most of her life; before rediscovering her love of arcade games and coin-op games, she was a big at-home gamer. She started playing pinball regularly about two-and-a-half years ago, initially on a laundry room pinball table. She prefers the feel of real life tables over digital ones due to her love of other hands-on arcade games like skeeball. Currently, Jessica plays pinball one night a week, but she travels extensively checking out different arcades and other places with coin-op games. Jessica has done a substantial amount of research on pinball and arcade games. Currently, her favorite pinball table is Attack from Mars. Her favorite arcade is Logan Arcade, and her Down to Flip meetings take place there. Jessica’s favorite parts of pinball is that she can track her progress regularly, the randomness of the game, competing against her personal best scores, and the level of hand-eye coordination required. Additionally, Jessica gets a sense of nostalgia from playing pinball and other arcade games. One of Jessica’s goals for Down To Flip is to promote pinball and arcade games to the younger generation and others who aren’t big gamers themselves. She also feels that Down to Flip as a group promotes pinball and coin-op games to people of all backgrounds, especially women, and wishes to use the reach of the group and her own interests to promote causes she believes in to others. Down to Flip and pinball ties into coin-op and video gaming as a whole since it shows a revival in the coin-op and arcade scene that is especially prominent amongst young adult in their twenties and thirties. Recently, numerous arcades and bars such as Galloping Ghost, Logan Arcade, Headquarters, and Level 257 have opened up and are thriving. Coin-op and arcade gaming can be considered to be the true beginning of the gaming community, and these sort of games have been around since the 1930s. However, in the subculture, there has been a relatively lack in diversity; female players were not very prominent, for instance. Jessica Kent’s group Down to Flip encourages greater player diversity by promoting pinball and arcade gaming for women and attempts to encourage younger children of all sexes and demographics to play pinball and other arcade games, thus promoting a more diverse and varied pinball and gaming community. During the interview, Jessica mentions one interaction in the pinball community where she was competing and one of the male pinball players ridiculed female pinball players. According to Jessica, upon getting a very good high score, the person ridiculing her stopped his actions. Groups and people like this break the stereotypes of gamers, and allow females and minorities as a whole to gain equal respect and opportunity.