ISS Portfolio – Stone Mathers

For the Capstone, we wanted to do a project the included everybody, but did not build off of an existing project. However, while many of us had a general idea of the goal we would like to achieve or the technology we would like to work with, nobody had a concrete idea for the first couple weeks. As a result, we got off to a slow and somewhat disorganized start before finally deciding to create an improved tool for academic planning. This would include a more intuitive and functional “What If?” report, a visually appealing class search with more abstract filters, and data visualizations that explored some of the nuances of Duke’s course offerings. What we found were dozens of roadblocks.

My primary job was the creation and population of a database, but just acquiring the necessary course and class data was incredibly difficult. After deciding manually inserting each course into the database using the Undergraduate Bulletin would be far too tedious, we sought the registrar’s help. While they were able to provide some class data, the response time was far too slow and data too limited to be feasible. Finally, we were able to discover an API that we could query to obtain all the data we needed.

Now that the data was on hand, however, I had to decide where we would hold the data and how it would be organized. After looking into MongoDB and MySQL, I finally settled on Airtable, as it is highly dynamic, has a beautiful and highly functional online user interface, and makes the creation of a relational database easy. It also automatically generates an API to pull, add, and modify data, which would make future integration into a website simple.

With the hosting platform settled, I still had to design the database to best organize the data. Above is an early UML Diagram showing an object-oriented approach to the data. The final implementation is slightly different, as a “Class” is now a specific instance of a “Course” and function calls were moved to the javascript behind the website.

In addition to creating the database, I was in charge of researching and organizing the logic for the new “What If?” report. This required looking through the websites of each department to determine all possible tracks for completion of each major, minor, and certificate that Duke had to offer. After deciding that the exceptions and differences between departments were too great to realistic implement every possible degree, we settled on only implementing the Computer Science, Visual Media Studies, Public Policy, and Information Science & Studies departments. I then wrote pseudocode for the logic that would determine whether each requirement was satisfied or not.

For my electives I took ISS 255: Humanities Text Mining and Meaning, ISS 248S: Editing for Film and Video, and ISS 294L: Interactive Graphics.

Humanities Text Mining and Meaning

This course was my introduction to the ISS department, as I took it in the spring of my junior year. For the first half of this course we were introduced to a great deal of theory behind information science, computational media, and human language. While we were completing reading and reflecting on them with short essays, we were also given lab assignments to learn Python and shell scripting. After learning the basics of these languages, we started working within Natural Language Processing (NLP) packages. In the second half of the semester, we worked entirely on a final project, the purpose of which was to investigate any societal issue using text mining and NLP techniques. For our project, my group scraped UFO reporting websites, such as the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) After a significant amount of cleaning, we were left with a database containing thousands of user-generated UFO reports from all over the country, dating back to the 1600s. We then used NLP tools and data visualization tools to analyze these reports, searching for patterns that could help reveal who made these reports and why the narrative of UFO sightings had captivated American society.

Editing for Film and Video

This course, taken in the fall of my senior year, provided an interesting intersection of creative and quantitative thought. After being exposed to the theory and techniques of film editing, we began watching films that were landmarks in the history of editing. Amongst these films were Man With a Movie Camera, The Birth of a Nation, and Seeking Asian Female. We discussed a wide array of film genres including silent films, narrative films, and documentaries. Throughout the semester we also did a significant amount of editing ourselves. For the first few assignments, we edited film and manipulated audio that was given to us, both in narrative and documentary styles. For the final project, I decided to create a hype video for the Duke University Drumline. After researching hype video techniques and watching examples online, I was able to figure out what works and what doesn’t. I then spent several weeks acquiring footage of rehearsals and performances, both finding footage taken by others and recording some of my own. While I wanted to create a quality video that invoked excitement, I wanted to satirize the genre at the same time. To aid this, I had our drum instructor record a dramatic voiceover to accompany my video, in which I cut together both serious and facetious clips.

Interactive Graphics

While I am still in this class, it is easily my favorite course that I have taken as a part of the ISS Certificate. This is primarily because it allows a nearly unlimited amount of room for creative freedom. Meanwhile, this creativity is being expressed through code and algorithmic methods. Thus, course was nearly a perfect blend of these two passions of mine. Because much of the class early on was spent learning the basics of programming, I was able to jump ahead and dive deeper into the javascript library that we were working with, p5.js. We  began the class with more abstract pieces before moving to data visualization. To end the semester, we are working with cybernetics, which involves creative interaction with computational systems. For my final project, I have connected my electronic drumset to create live artworks as I play. Using Processing.js, I am able to read in MIDI notes as I play them. Based on the pad that is hit, velocity behind the hit, and density of notes, I am able to directly interact with my sketch and create a work that reflects what I am playing. Check out my course portfolio to see my work from throughout the semester.

For my Information Theory/Methods requirement I took COMPSCI 260: Computational Genomics in the fall of my senior year. This class began with a crash course in basic biology and molecular biology concepts and history. That was followed by a quick review of Python and algorithmic concepts. With those foundations established, we then began to dive into their intersection. Every two weeks we would receive a problem set that addressed new algorithms within a biological context. Each problem set required writing and testing code that solved smaller versions of real computational problems in the field of genomics. This code would be accompanied by written explanations of the solutions we found and what they mean in the context of the given problem.

For my Gateway Experience, I took ISS 110: Information, Society, and Culture with Patrick Herron in the fall of my senior year.  In the first half of the semester, we learned about information science and the connections between  information, society, culture, and various computational media. In the second half of the class, we worked on our final projects, the topic and final product for which were widely open ended. My group decided to create a business proposal for an online platform for local artists, cafes, and art enthusiasts to connect. This would start as a social platform to connect artists with venues that would like to display local art, and eventually evolve into an online marketplace to empower local artists and help them gain recognition. As part of this project, we also implemented a functioning demo of the website HungryArtist.