The IT Expo features projects by graduating seniors of bachelor’s degree programs, projects by high school students, research projects by master’s and doctoral degree students and innovative projects by partner companies.

The projects are focused on risk management and frameworks, process automation, education and health care, community, cybersecurity awareness and operations and digital immersion. 

“I am impressed with the final results to apply their skills and create the solution,” said Bekah Michael, associate professor-educator in the School of IT. “But I’m also really impressed with the problems they identify.”

Michael teaches the senior design course, which includes approximately 200 students who will present projects at the IT Expo.

During their junior year, the students spent a semester identifying problems as part of a prep class, usually in teams of three to five people. During the fall and spring semesters of their senior year, the teams created a technology solution to solve the problem as a capstone project.

Senior projects being presented this year include a web browser extension that helps users safely manage passwords, a medication tracking app for phones, a web application for mapping and tracking public safety alerts, a web application that tracks streaming movie options across multiple platforms and more.

Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – Tidal Echoes launched its 2023 publication Friday evening. It was the first time the event was celebrated back in person since the pandemic.

The launch was held in the University of Alaska Southeast’s Egan Lecture Hall from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Professor Emily Wall, the advisor for the publication, noted, “We are delighted to be back in person for this year’s launch; sitting in a room with so many members of our community has been a real treat in the past.”

Snacks and refreshments were provided.

Books were sold for $5, and featured artist Chloey Klawk Shaa Cavanaugh also set up a table with her merch and stickers.

Tidal Echoes submissions come from writers and artists in Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan.

The journal accepts submissions of prose, including fiction, non-fiction, transcribed oral stories, memoirs, dramas, and poetry of all types.

They start accepting submissions in the fall.

In addition to writing, the artwork of all mediums is accepted digitally, which allows the journal to include sculpture, painting, ceramics, photography, and drawing.

UAS Chancellor Karen Carey, who is retiring at the end of June, opened the event.

This year’s edition of Tidal Echoes is dedicated to Dr. Sol Neely. He taught courses on critical theory, literature, Indigenous studies, zombie theory, and philosophy.

It is senior editor Shaelene Grace Moler’s last year on the editing board of Tidal Echoes.

She first became involved with Tidal Echoes in 2019 when Professor Wall encouraged her to submit a poem.

A few semesters later, Wall asked Moler if she would be interested in being an editor.

Moler shared how the experience has helped her grow as a writer.

“As an editor, one of the main jobs is reading through all of the work. In doing so you’re exposed to a lot more topics and conversations that you may have not thought of before. A lot of new voices that will influence your writing from then on forward,” she said. “I think that has been the biggest thing for me. Yes, there are technical things that I have learned from working as an editor but the biggest thing is how it has influenced my voice as a writer.”

In May, Moler will be graduating from UAS with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Creative Writing.

Moler plans to keep submitting to Tidal Echoes, and she shared what she will do next after graduating.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to find work opportunities related to this field simply because I’ve really advertised myself as an editor for Tidal Echoes. I have signed on with the Sustainable Southeast Partnership as a Storytelling Engagement Intern,” she said. “I have done a few editing projects and will do a few more editing projects. As well as continue just a lot of the outreach work similar to what I’ve done with Tidal Echoes.”

Above: Senior editor Moler welcomes the community to the launch. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

“The biggest advice is to just really get to know your community because knowing who’s going to support the journal and who our biggest supporters are is important for setting the foundation for future years,” Moler left advice for her junior editor, Sienna Disnee Chubak, another UAS student.

Above: This year’s junior editor is Sienna Disnee Chubak. Below: This year’s fall intern is Olive Brend. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

It was Brend who brought up Cavanaugh as a potential featured artist.

Moler highlighted how Cavanaugh and herself share common roots with the community of Kake.

“That was something I was super excited about when I first started scoping out who the featured artists and featured writers should be. Chloey is a young voice in our community who’s very outspoken about her activism. When Olive brought up Chloey, I got super excited because this was my senior edition. I really wanted people from my community or ties to my community represented in the journal because I love to see my community in the work that I do,” she said. “So with Chloey, I had a conversation with her. What if we put Kake on the back cover? So, if you look at the back cover, you’ll see a photo that says, ‘Welcome to Kake’, as well as multiple figures of art from Chloey because we really wanted to communicate that sense of community on the back cover.”

Above: The back cover of Tidal Echoes 2023 (zoomed in), designed by Chloey Klawk Shaa Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh told News of the North how it felt to attend the launch as the featured artist.

“It’s amazing. A lot of the art pieces that I do are really community-minded so I think getting the chance to be interacting with the community and gathering their thoughts and kind of seeing different emotions when I’m talking about pieces or Lin’s talking about her pieces, seeing the community kind of interact with that is always super nice,” she said.

She said her first reaction when she was reached out to was “shocked, humbled, and grateful to be a part of it.”

At the launch, Cavanaugh shared her journey of starting Black and White Raven Co after losing her grandfather.

“I went to college, Stephen’s College, an all-women’s school in the Midwest. I got my degree in marketing communications. So I had the skill set of graphic design. I had done other art mediums before I came home during the pandemic. We had all my grandfather’s things, a lot of grief with coming home and not having him here,” she recounted. “Also not knowing what to do with these templates; these carving templates, you can’t really frame or do anything with. So I really wanted to make sure that those could forever be passed down. I started doing this digital art form. To one, be able to kind of feel close to him still and understand his art, but also to make sure it was always preserved. With painting and other art forms, they can degrade over time or get lost and I loved the idea of it always being there.”

She was asked how she then went on to start putting her graphic designs on clothing.

“I just started doing stickers initially and through the stickers, I started doing like givebacks. What I was making with stickers, I was able to cover the fees for kids in Kake for their open gyms,” she said. “Then I started being like, man, well that’s what a sticker does. What could shirts do? What could hoodies do? So it’s really been kind of a community collaboration.”

Now, she uses her artwork to stir conversations and make bold statements.

“Some of these art pieces are conversations that we’ve already been having within the Indigenous community. But having these spaces where people can recognize their responsibilities to allyship, and to keep showing up is really important, Cavanaugh said. “I think a lot of the work that Tidal Echoes does to echo those community voices will continue conversations on their own in different perspectives.”

Cavanaugh brings her artwork into schools and provides a safe, open space for the LGBTQ+ community.

“A lot of moments for myself growing up, that I just had an immense amount of doubt. But it was just like those few teachers or those few adults or those few people I trusted, that had an immense impact. I think having that experience, you don’t write off the kid that’s being quiet. But investing in all kids wherever they’re at, and understanding that they all have these complicated stories, as we all do. Just meeting youth where they’re at,” she said. “I’m going in these classrooms to be like, I want to teach this thing. If someone walks away with something, I can’t control that. But I can be in those spaces. It wasn’t right away that I was grateful for my teachers. It wasn’t right away that I was grateful for the people in my life. You realize down the road what that impact did. Even if that’s like one kid that picked up an Apple pen and is like now I draw-even one kid, that’s worth it.”

Above: Featured artist Chloey Klawk Shaa Cavanaugh presents her artwork. Below: Featured writer Lin Davis reads poetry. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Davis described herself as a “mute swan”, saying she often feels wordless, but when the moment arises to channel her thoughts through the vehicle of poetry, it is beautiful like a swan.

Like Cavanaugh, she uses creative outlets as a form of activism, and Davis is also an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.

During the launch, poet, and UAS student, Dylan Wood read his “Untitled Eagle Poem”, which won the Mac Behrend’s Prize for 2023.

It was his first time submitting a creative piece to anything for publication.

He said he considers himself a new writer as he just began to write creatively last year.

He gave insight into what inspired him to write his prize-winning poem.

“I think in America, the idea of patriotism is freedom. The eagle is very similar to that. But living here in Alaska and working this construction job, every time I was at the dump, that’s what’s there. Our freedom, or what we picture as freedom are scavengers,” he said. “That’s really what inspired me to do it is because we propagate this image of the beautiful eagle, but when you look at them and what they do, it’s not always beautiful.”

Above: UAS student Dylan Wood reads his prize-winning poem, “Untitled Eagle Poem”. Below: Richard Stokes reads his published poem, “Competition”. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Both Moler and Wood encouraged students and Southeast community members to submit to next year’s edition.

“I think the best thing I can say is that as a message to other writers is if you find it interesting and you find it fun, just do it. That’s the best thing I can say,” he said. “I honestly didn’t think I could write until somebody said, Dylan, you definitely can write. You just need to focus on getting better. So I just focused on getting better and it happened really quickly. I’m really proud of myself that I could make that progress.”

Moler built on top of that advice to “just do it.”

“It’s super scary to submit your work. It was very scary for me. It was Emily Wall who had encouraged me to submit something. But once you do it, it gets easier and easier each and every time,” she said. “If I hadn’t submitted that first poem that Emily Wall encouraged me to, I wouldn’t be an editor with Tidal Echoes today. I think we’re all in love with Emily Wall in the English Department.”

Below: Moler gifts UAS Chancellor Karen Carey flowers at the end of the launch. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

After 3 long years of being shut down, Greenpoint Open Studios is back and ready to celebrate the artist community in our neighborhood for one weekend on June 10th and 11th!

Free and open to the public, tens of thousands of visitors weave in and out of local artists’ studios and spaces. An un-curated event, artists showcase, promote, and sell their work directly to visitors.

Artists, designers, fabricators, crafters who have creative work to show is invited to sign up!

“I had over two hundred and fifty people visit my studio in one weekend at the last GOS in 2019.  In conversations with them, I learned that they liked the idea of meeting artists, and being able to ask questions and learn about the process of making art. This experience of visiting these spaces and having such exchanges is unique, and changes attitudes about the art world. They come to see that art is accessible and affordable, and that artists are regular folks who work hard at what they do.”

– Ann Cofta

Here’s how it works:

1. Sign to register your work and location of your space. (Registration fee is $30 until April 21st, $50 after)
2. Your address will be on the publicly available GOS online map and a printed booklet that will be distributed all over North Brooklyn.
3. Registered artists open their doors on June 10th and 11th to visitors.

Where does the artist fee go towards?

GOS is mostly a volunteer endeavor but there are still costs involved in order to out this event together:

• Printing: 2-4k booklets + thousands of flyers and posters (the more money we raise, the more we print and distribute)
• Website: Server, subscriptions to various tools to create the online map, artist gallery, and artist profiles
• Marketing and PR: The more that is raised, the more that is invested into promoting the event
• Events: Participating Artist Meet Ups, parties, workshops, talks. GOS not only connects artists to visitors, it builds and sustains relationships among local artists, who often work in isolation
• Fundraising and Administration: Applying for official 501c3 status, grants, reaching out to sponsors enable us to keep registration fees affordable.

In the past years, GOS was produced under Greenpointers as a pro bono project with fiscal sponsorship. As of this year, it is a separate nonprofit corporation that is on its way towards official 501c3 status. The goal is to raise enough funds to hire staff who can create professional and social opportunities for local artists throughout the year.

Want to help build and sustain our local arts community? Sign up to volunteer and spread the word!

Brands will be required to deliver on the promise of individualized experiences and find new and innovative means of capturing sharper customer understanding at a time when consumers have never been more in control. They will also need to quickly respond to the changing definition of brand loyalty, one less about points, and more about day-to-day delivery of brand value. To do so, will entail reimagined agile insights systems that enable human-led design and continue to place the customer at the heart of brand experience.

With that in mind, I wanted to speak to a brand who is in the process of modernizing its entire insights suite to understand best practices against the backdrop of a consumer environment where convenience continues to trump loyalty time and time again. For my most recent column, I had the pleasure of sitting down with two leading marketing executives at 7-Eleven. Marissa Jarratt is Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, and Mario Mijares is Vice President of Loyalty and Analytics. Following is a recap of our conversation:

Billee Howard: You mentioned the word insights is overused. I couldn’t agree more. Tell me why you feel this way?

Marissa Jarratt: The term insights is often used to describe an understanding of what is happening. In reality, insights are more about the why something is happening – and what we can do about it.

For example, in the first few months of Covid we noticed a spike in snack shoppers around the 8 p.m. timeframe. After looking at data in our C-Shopper analytics platform and speaking with the Brainfreeze Collective proprietary customer research panel (more on these later) – we uncovered the why: without a commute, customers were eating dinner earlier and snacking later in the evening. This insight ultimately led us to an increased focus on our 7NOW delivery business as a solution to bring products directly to customers’ doors.

Howard: Why must all insights work start with a question or hypotheses?

Mario Mijares: A clear question – and corresponding hypothesis – serves as a guide through the research process. Without a clear question, you may waste time on analyzing data you don’t actually need. It’s also important that you test your hypothesis with data. But data can only tell you what is happening – but it will not tell you why. This is one of the ways we leverage our Brainfreeze Collective panel – to give us the why behind the buy.

Howard: Tell me about the new insights product suite you launched and the rationale behind it?

Jarratt: Many retailers are entering the retail media space – but we wanted this to be a differentiated offering for our vendor partners across the whole marketing and innovation funnel. As the number one immediate-consumption retailer in the U.S., 7-Eleven had the ability to break the mold.

A few factors drove our decisions: Retailer offerings are fragmented, and none of the existing offerings cover immediate consumption consumers. A lot of product innovation is introduced first in the convenience channel. Vendors are looking for fewer but better options.

We are very excited to introduce the latest innovation to come from 7-Eleven – a suite of four data-driven tools to identify opportunities, diagnose those opportunities, test solutions and activate those solutions. It consists of:

• C-Shopper – A state-of-the-art analytics platform to understand consumer purchase and behavior data.
• The Brainfreeze Collective – Our proprietary customer research panel, made up of over 200K consumers, for quantitative and qualitative research. It allows us to target consumers with very specific shopping behaviors.
• Gulp Media Network – Targeted performance media that enables total market awareness, consideration and conversion. It is a closed loop solution with the ability to track ROAS.
• Later this year, we’ll also roll out our Lab Stores – which will allow vendors to run experiments in real stores with real consumers. The goal is to de-risk activities such as new packaging, product innovation or pricing changes and better understand the impact of merchandising and messaging on the customer in real time.

Because 7-Eleven customers tend to shop elsewhere throughout the year, the suite can be a one-stop-shop for any and all immediate consumption occasions. Our approach can be stated in one word: simplification. Not only does Gulp Media look at both demographic, geographic and attitudinal signals, but it can also add signals for what shoppers have purchased.

Howard: Why is it so important right now to add emotional intel into insights, particularly amidst the most fragmented consumer landscape in history?

Mijares: Behavioral economics has shown that consumers aren’t necessarily rational – they often make impulse or emotional purchasing decisions, particularly in the immediate consumption or convenience store space. What consumers say they’ll do does not always equate to what they’ll actually do.

This is why The Brainfreeze Collective is so valuable – because we can see how consumers actually behave after they participated in the research, allowing our team to become experts on how to structure and phrase the research to deliver the most accurate data. We know retail fragmentation is already complicating things for CPG vendors – and the immediate consumption market is even more fragmented – so we’re continuing to learn as we build a solution that will address the totality of this market.

Positively Baltimore: Exhibit shines light on hip hop in our culture

Updated: 11:30 AM EDT Apr 9, 2023

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SURROUNDING THE MUSIC IS CANON. THAT’S THE MISSION OF A NEW EXHIBITION ON VIEW AT THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART. THE SHOW ENTITLED THE CULTURE OF HIP HOP AND CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE 21ST CENTURY, BRINGS TOGETHER ART, FASHION AND MINDSETS THAT HAVE MADE THE GENRE INTO A GLOBAL PHENOMENON IN. JOINING US NOW IS THE CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER FOR THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART AND THE CO-CURATOR OF THE CULTURE EXHIBIT. IT’S GOT ME ON GILT. GOOD TO SEE YOU. WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS EXHIBIT. AND I THINK I LOVE IT BECAUSE IT’S SOMETHING THAT WE COULDN’T HAVE DONE IN THE PAST. I DON’T KNOW IF WOULD HAVE BEEN AS WELCOMING IN ANY MUSEUM TO START TALKING HIP HOP. AND THIS IS GREAT THAT WE’RE IN A MOMENT NOW WHERE I THINK YOU’LL HAVE A LOT OF FACES THERE. ABSOLUTELY. WELL, YOU KNOW, IT’S REALLY ART CONTENTION THAT THERE WAS NEVER REALLY A BIG SEPARATION BETWEEN ART AND HIP HOP. YOU KNOW, THE OLD HIP HOP HEADS HAVE BEEN VERY MUCH INVOLVED IN THE ART SCENE FROM THE START. AND YOU MENTIONED THE ART SCENE BECAUSE IT’S AS A WHOLE, IF YOU JUST THINK THAT HIP HOP IS MUSIC, YOU ARE DEEPLY WRONG. BUT WE ART AND FASHION AND TECHNOLOGY ELABORATE A LITTLE BIT ON THAT FOR FOLKS WHO DON’T KNOW JUST HOW MUCH OF A CULTURE IT IS OF ITSELF. OF COURSE. SO THERE ARE FOUR PILLARS, ACTUALLY FIVE PILLARS IN HIP HOP. MOST PEOPLE THINK, OF COURSE, ABOUT THE MUSIC. AND WITH THAT IS IN SEEING AND DEEJAYING AND SCRATCHING RECORDS. BUT ALSO, YOU KNOW, BREAKDANCING AND GRAFFITI, YOU KNOW, AND THEN LATER ON THE FIFTH PILLAR, KNOWLEDGE WAS AT IT. SO ALL OF THAT TOGETHER COLLECTIVELY IS WHAT WE THINK ABOUT WHEN WE THINK ABOUT HIP HOP. AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOOK FAR. I MEAN, YOU CAN LOOK ON TELEVISION ADS NOW ON A BUS STOP OR YOU CAN GO TO A SUBURBAN MALL AND THE MOST SUBURBAN AREA OF WHATEVER CITY YOU WANT TO NAME. AND YOU CAN SEE THE INFLUENCES THAT HIP HOP IS AIR OR. ABSOLUTELY. WELL, IT IS THE SINGLE MOST STREAMED MUSIC FORUM IN THE WORLD. YOU ARE THE THE U.S. IS THE SINGLE LARGEST CONSUMER. FRANCE IS ACTUALLY THE SECOND LARGEST. FRANCE’S FRANCE. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THAT FOR ME? ABSOLUTELY. SO, YOU KNOW WHAT? FRANCE HAS A REALLY INTERESTING HISTORY WITH HIP HOP AND YOU SEE HIP HOP COME UP ALL OF THE PLACES SORT OF ACROSS THE BLACK DIASPORA AND BEYOND. AND SO MARSEILLES HAS A VERY, VERY BIG HIP HOP SCENE, AS DOES AS DOES PARIS, AND HAS REALLY SINCE THE EIGHTIES. SO IT’S A VERY IT’S A VERY VIBRANT AND INTERNATIONAL SCENE IS HIP HOP. YOU’VE GIVEN ME EXCUSE TO GO TO FRANCE NOW. NOW, CAN I I GUESS, PLAY? WHY WOULD I PAY THE BUDDY? SO TELL ME ABOUT THE CULTURE IN THE EXHIBIT FOR SOMEONE WHO WALKS INTO THE MUSEUM FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE. WHAT WILL THEY BE SEEING? SO THE CULTURE IS AN EXHIBIT THAT LOOKS AT THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY ART, FASHION, MATERIAL CULTURE AND MUSIC. OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS, YOU KNOW, WE KNOW THAT THIS THIS YEAR IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF HIP HOP. BELIEVE THAT OR NOT, WHICH STARTED ALL THE WAY BACK HERE IN THE BRONX WITH THAT VERY FAMOUS WALK PARTY THAT KOOL HERC AND HIS SISTER CINDY CAMPBELL THREW AS A BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY. AND THAT’S WHERE THIS FIRST FOUR PILLARS THAT WE DISCUSSED EARLIER CAME TOGETHER FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. SO FAST FORWARD 50 YEARS. WE’RE NOW IN THE 21ST CENTURY. BUT WHAT HAPPENS AROUND THE TURN OF THE LAST CENTURY, RIGHT AS WE GO THROUGH THE 20TH INTO THE 21ST, IS TECHNOLOGY, NAMELY MOBILE COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR MUSIC TO TRAVEL AROUND THE GLOBE AND IMAGES AND CULTURE TO TRAVEL AROUND THE GLOBE IN A WAY THEY NEVER REALLY COULD BEFORE. AND SO THIS IS THE MOMENT WHERE WE CONTEND YOU’RE REALLY SEEING THE RISE OF HIP HOP AS A PREDOMINANT GLOBAL FORCE. AND IT’S OUR ARGUMENT THAT YOU CAN’T REALLY UNDERSTAND CONTEMPORARY ART IN THIS MOMENT IN TIME. IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HIP HOP, SO YOU WILL SEE PAINTING AND YOU WILL SEE SCULPTURE AND YOU WILL SEE VIDEO, BUT YOU WILL ALSO SEE CLOTHING AND YOU WILL ALSO HEAR MUSIC VIDEOS. AND YOU WILL ALSO SEE MATERIAL CULTURE. WE HAVE EVERYTHING FROM PHARRELL’S VERY FAMOUS BUFFALO HAS TO BE FAMOUS. YEAH. GRAMMYS. YEAH. ALL THE WAY TO TO A REALLY AMAZING LOOK FOR THAT VIRGIL ABLOH DID FOR LOUIS VUITTON IN ONE OF HIS LAST COLLECTIONS FOR THAT DESIGNER. THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD. IT’S A REAL QUICK GIVE ME THE DEETS. HOW LONG CAN FOLKS COME AND SEE IT HERE IN BALTIMORE BEFORE YOU TAKE OFF TO SAINT LOUIS NEXT? ABSOLUTELY. SO WE WE OPEN. WE OPEN TODAY, WHICH WE’RE VERY EXCITED ABOUT. THIS IS THE THE 5TH OF APRIL. AND THAT WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE 16TH OF JULY. ALL RIGHT. WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE CULTURE OVER THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART. THANKS SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY. THANK YOU. BYE BYE. AND THAT’S ALL FOR THIS EDITION OF 11 T V HILL. THANKS FOR JOINING US. SEE YOU NE

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Positively Baltimore: Exhibit shines light on hip hop in our culture

Updated: 11:30 AM EDT Apr 9, 2023

News Anchor

The exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art shining a light on hip hop’s place in our culture. The show entitled “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” brings together art, fashion and mindsets that have made the genre into a global phenomenon.

BALTIMORE —

The exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art shining a light on hip hop’s place in our culture. The show entitled “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” brings together art, fashion and mindsets that have made the genre into a global phenomenon.

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SEATTLE — “We are saddened to share that Brent Young, 54, lost his battle with prostate cancer, Friday, March 10, 2023. Much loved by all, Brent was a devoted son, brother, husband and uncle.”