ampus news EDITOR KELCI NICODEMUS THE VOICE, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2013 3 Geography instructor ‘suspended’ A new art exhibit, Suspension, features the work of Langara teacher, Colin Mills By TRICIA LO Langara geography instructor is approaching suspension, and he’s excited about it. Suspension, which opens on Nov. 21, is the title of a solo art exhibi- tion featuring 17 photographs by Colin Mills, a Langara geography instructor of 17 years. The collection consists of pictures from the last six Celebration of Light fireworks competitions in Van- couver. Mills didn’t train formally as a pho- tographer, but began dabbling in pho- tography after buying his first camera in 2006, a Nikon D50. “T wanted to play and teach myself. I wanted to make lots of mistakes, which I’ve done,” Mills said. “My inspiration was just to create. I had no desire to be a particular style,” he said. But others, including his cura- tor Peppa Martin, were quick to identi- fy his work with abstract expression- ism. Where popular abstract expression- ist Jackson Pollock splatters paint across a canvas on the floor, Mills said his own style is similar, but reversed. “IT move my canvas, the camera, across the paint, which is the fire- works, to get bold lines and shapes,” he said. His technique involves mounting his Nikon D300 onto a tripod, setting a slow shutter speed anywhere from one to three seconds and then rapidly moving his camera while taking the picture. “T like that frenetic, chaotic, on-my- heels, made-to-respond environment,” Mills said. “It means the image that re- sults doesn’t exist anywhere else.” The final product is a series of inter- twining, brightly coloured lines that resemble ropes. “They’re non-representational,” Mills said. “The idea is that I surrender my right to interpret the picture and I give that over to the reader.” Mills gives his students the same freedom of interpretation. “T don’t want to impose rigid bound- aries as to how they should understand the things they encounter in class.” Stephanie Au-Yeung, a geography student enrolled in two of Mills’ classes this semester, agrees. “He provides lots of instruction, but he doesn’t force it,” Au-Yeung said. “He really encourages critical thinking and open-mindedness.” Suspension will show from Nov. 21 until Dec. 8 at the Truth and Beauty gallery in Vancouver. In keeping with the theme of suspension, the displayed art will be frameless, hung away from 66 I like that frenetic, chaotic, on-my- heels, made-to-re- spond en- vironment. It means the image that results doesn’t exist any- where else Colin Mills the walls as floating images. Electric Heart Langara held their second annual research showcase, displaying projects from students and staff By ANDREA ANTHONY you could send your heartbeat to a loved one via your smartphone. That is what Suzi Webster developed with her art project, the Electric Heart. Last week, 21 groups of Langara staff and students displayed their projects in the second annual Research Showcase. Webster, a fine arts instructor at Langara, developed a dress that dis- plays coloured lights representing the human heartbeat. To work, a finger clamp, called the pulse oximeter, is placed on someone’s finger. “TThe pulse oximeter] passes infra- red light through the fingertip and it can measure the flow of blood and mea- sures the rate of the heartbeat and the oxygen saturation of the blood,” said ss if instead of a text message, Webster. She said this information is sent to a smartphone app, and the app wireless- ly sends it to the dress, which then gives off coloured light. Webster said that the colours reflect a way to visualize our heartbeat. “Tm just really interested in making invisible things visible, and I’m inter- ested in the body and technology.” Webster said when you can’t be physically close to someone, instead of texting “I love you”, it would be “cool” to get a heartbeat. Webster showed her project at the Research Showcase last year, but it was not fully functional at the time. She said the project’s success is “thanks to Nancy Paris and her team at the BCIT centre for applied research, and to Dr. Walter Karlen of UBC’s department of electrical and computer engineering.” Tomo Tanaka, organizer of the Re- search Showcase, said, “It’s nice to see the progress of that project.” Another display showcased the li- brary’s new plagiarism tutorial on Lan- gara’s Desire2Learn website. =o ANDREA ANTHONY photo Suzi Webster with her art project, the Electric Heart, at the Research Showcase at Langara on, Thursday, Nov.7, in the main foyer Innovative design shows a lot of heart “A lot of students who get in trouble for plagiarism don’t realize they’re do- ing it. And that’s not fair to them,” said Annie Jensen, Langara’s communica- tions librarian. Amber Saundry, a professional expe- rience student at Langara over the summer created the plagiarism tutorial along with Langara librarian Lindsay Tipp. They interviewed various faculty members to get their take on plagia- rism in the different departments, said Annie Jensen. The tutorial consists of videos, reading material and questions to answer, which teach students what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it. “Hopefully it will have a good impact on plagiarism,” said Jensen. If the plagiarism tutorial is part of a student’s class, they will see it when they log onto D2L. Otherwise, students may contact the library for information on how to ac- cess the tutorial on their own. Last year, the research showcase had 17 exhibitors, and this year there were 21. Tanaka, organizer of the event, said this growth is important. (| 7 THE BIOCHAR PROJECT KELLY SVEINSON This project explores the production, properties and application of biochar, a form of carbon-made biomass. JOURNAL OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPORT DR. JOHN RUSSELL Published by Routledge and celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. FROM THE INSIDE OUT DR.PAULA MAHON This project asked PICU nurses why they stay at the bedside of critically ill children. Nurses believe that becoming an expert and being seen as one is of great importance. International workshops help students Langara’s international student body offers events, studies and services to raise involvement By JENNY PENG foreign country, international stu- dents can enjoy workshops and activities held by the international edu- cation department. One of the events help for interna- tional students was the New to Vancou- ver seminar. Rachel Zhou, who is part of the Langara English for academic purposes program, walked away from the workshop feeling more confident about navigating the city. “IT Know more about Vancouver. I know where I could have fun and what I can do here. I want to fit into this soci- ety. So I want more information about what people here to do,” said Zhou. She also said Vancouver was differ- ent than she had originally imagined. “Vancouver is much quieter than I thought before because after night I can’t hardly hear any noise.” International students can at- tend various events in the coming weeks held by the in- ternational edu- cation depart- ment, such as group lunches at SalaThai restaurant, going on a flight simulation ride at FlyOver Canada, and learning about inexpensive gift-giving ideas. International student co-ordinator Brad Van Dam said the goal of these workshops is to raise student engage- ment. “We really want the students to feel this is their college, and rather than just being a number here or another student, we want them to feel that this is their home.” Given all these options to meet new friends, one of the most popular pro- grams is gaining volunteering experi- ence. “Many students understand the value of being well-rounded,” said Van Dam. “They want to get involved in volun- teer opportunities so that they can have experience that’s not work experience because they’re not able to work here for the first six months of their stud- ies,” he said. Ae the strains of studying in a BRAD VAN DAM International stu- dent co-ordinator