Abstract:

I created The Empire: All Things College Basketball In Philadelphia last year with my good friend Benjamin Simon after attending a journalism conference at Germantown Friends School (GFS) and being inspired by National Baseball correspondent Tyler Kepner. Kepner shared a magazine of his own creation from when he was younger, which led to our sports website idea.

I prepared for the upcoming season by writing recruiting profiles for incoming freshman who were recruited by the six schools that we decided to cover (Temple, Saint Joseph's Penn, La Salle, Villanova and Drexel). The recruiting profiles helped us lay down a foundation for the site.

Once we were informed of the media polices related to covering a college basketball team by two collegiate media relations directors, we began to conduct our first interviews with players and coaches.

We added more writers to our staff by sending out a tweet from our @PhillyEmpire Twitter handle. Shortly after, two writers agreed to join us. We gained traction by posting articles to Twitter and Facebook, which led to a staff of nine writers and a photographer.

From having access to the media room at the Palestra and Hagan Arena, to sitting courtside next to professional journalists at games, to listening in on Phil Martelli and Steve Donahue’s post-game press conferences, this has really be an exhilarating experience and one that I could not have even dreamed of. My website has come a long way in the past year and I want to continue the success.

Annotated Bibliography

Delaney, Tim. "Tim Delaney Villanova." Telephone interview. 11 June 2015.

This is a telephone interview recording between myself and Tim Delaney. Delaney is college basketball player who currently attends Villanova University and is in his freshman year there. This interview was conducted before the season started but while he was on campus preparing for the season. Many questions were asked during this interview that had to do with his high school basketball career, his decision to attend Villanova University and what he like’s to do off of the court, among other things. The content of the interview was used for an article written about Delaney in June of 2015, that featured a Q&A section that contained some of his responses. This telephone interview recording was credible.           

Donahue, Steve. "Steve Donahue." Personal interview. 2 Jan. 2016.

This is a press conference recording of Steve Donahue from after Penn’s game against Binghamton. Donahue is Penn’s head men’s basketball coach and is in his first year with the team. Since it is a press conference recording, the recording included questions from many reporters who attended the game and responses from Donahue and a current Penn men’s basketball player who also attended the press conference. The content of the press conference recording was used in an article about Penn’s freshman players playing big roles on the team this season, that included quotes from head coach Steve Donahue about the freshman. This press conference recording was credible.          

Gianni, John. "Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Teleconference." Telephone interview. 18 Jan. 2016.

This is a telephone interview recording of John Gianni from the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Teleconference on January 18th of 2016. Gianni is La Salle’s University’s head men’s basketball coach and has been with the team for 12 seasons. Since it is a teleconference recording, the recording includes questions from many reporters who called into the conference, as well as Gianni’s responses to those questions. The content of the teleconference recording was used as background information in an article that previewed La Salle’s matchup against Big 5 rival Temple, that included Gianni’s opinion about how the season has gone so far which led to me forming my own opinion on their season. This telephone interview recording was credible.                     

"Home." City of Basketball Love. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.

City of Basketball Love is a website that covers men’s basketball throughout the tri-state area, more specifically they write about high school and college basketball. The editor-in-chief of the site Josh Verlin, who graduated from Temple University with a degree in broadcast journalism, has served as a resource for the site and has aided us with his knowledge of  journalism and media. His blog has served as an example of high quality sports journalism, as well as high school and college men’s basketball media coverage, which in turn has given us guidance and led to our site being what it is today. This site is credible.            

Interview by Daniel Jeremiah. Audio blog post. Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah & Bucky Brooks. N.p., 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 20 Dec. 2015.

Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah & Bucky Brooks is a podcast series where two former NFL Scouts talk about football, more specifically they discuss current NFL and College events. Jeremiah is currently an analyst on the NFL Network and writes for NFL.com, while Brooks is a former NFL player and writes about the NFL for Sports Illustrated. Since Ben and I conduct our own podcast, Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah & Bucky Brooks has served as a quality example of a sports themed podcast. Ben and I have incorporated this source in our own podcast by following their lead by starting the podcast with music for an intro. This podcast is credible.             

Kepner, Tyler. "Imported Stars Give Red Sox a Chance at a Worst-to-First Repeat." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Apr. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.

The New York Times article “Imported Stars Give Red Sox a Chance at a Worst-to-First Repeat” was written around the same time Ben and I attended a journalism conference at GFS (Germantown Friends School) by Tyler Kepner. Kepner, who is a GFS alum and national baseball correspondent for The New York Times, spoke at that conference and I was inspired by his experiences as a teenager when he created his own sports magazine. He also had the opportunity to interview Philadelphia Phillies baseball players at that youthful age. I have used this source by following in Kepner’s footsteps by creating by own media during my teenage years. This article was credible.    

Kimble, Lamarr. "Lamarr Kimble Saint Joseph's." Telephone interview. 22 July 2015.

This is a telephone interview recording between myself and Lamarr Kimble. Kimble is a college basketball player who currently attends Saint Joseph’s University and is in his freshman year there. This interview was conducted before the season started but while he was on campus preparing for the season. Many questions were asked during this interview that had to do with his high school basketball career, his decision to attend Saint Joseph’s University and what he like’s to do off of the court, among other things. The content of the interview was used for an article written about Kimble in August of 2015. This telephone interview recording was credible.   

Martelli, Phil. "Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Teleconference." Telephone interview. 18 Jan. 2016.

This is a telephone interview recording of Phil Martelli from the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Teleconference on January 18th of 2016. Martelli is Saint Joseph’s University’s head men’s basketball coach and has been with the team for 21 seasons. Since it is a teleconference recording, the recording includes questions from many reporters who called into the conference, as well as Martelli’s responses to those questions. The content of the teleconference recording was used as background information in an article that previewed Saint Joseph’s matchup against Big 5 rival Penn, that included Martelli’s opinion about how the season has gone so far which led to me forming my own opinion on their season. This telephone interview recording was credible.          

Martelli, Phil. "Saint Joseph's Press Conference 12-29-15." Personal interview. 29 Dec. 2015.

This is a press conference recording of Phil Martelli from after Saint Joseph’s game against Maryland-Eastern Shore. Martelli is Saint Joseph’s head men’s basketball coach and is in his 21st year with the team. Since it is a press conference recording, the recording included questions from many reporters who attended the game, which the Hawks won and responses from Martelli. The content of the press conference recording was used as background information to better understand the team’s mindset at the time, which turned out to be the same as it was in the beginning of the season “Win the day”. This press conference recording was credible.   

"WFUV Sports Halftime Show." WFUV Sports Halftime Show. WFUV Sports. Philadelphia, PA, 16 Jan. 2016. Radio.

Virtual Reality is a idea that is currently being explored deeper to bring immersion to video games and simulations. However how can this be applied to a learning environment?  For my Capstone I worked on a virtual simulation of our solar system that can be viewed with the Oculus Rift. This is part of Project Stargazer, my ILP for the past two years where the group has worked with making an representation of the solar system with VR for The Franklin Institute.

I started out working on the design of the simulation in the Unreal Engine creating the cockpit and menu displays of the spaceship that would serve as our HUD. However as the only one in the group with knowledge of Unreal, I ended up also working on the code. During the year I finished the design of the spaceship, tried to get the ship to move, made a planet map for each in the solar system complete with HUD’s showing information on the planet and made starry background. However I was never able to finish the coding and could not get the ship to move even after a month of troubleshooting and consulting with Unreal coders. However I taught several of the sophomores in the project how to use Unreal and will continue to help out throughout the summer.

During this project I learned about the benefits of VR for education with it’s added immersion allowing for greater focus and more effective visuals.

Link to Levels (must be placed in Unreal Engine to Work) https://drive.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/folderview?id=0B2hdSK9AO85-N3NNc1BjMERQRXc&usp=sharing

For More information about Project Stargazer: http://projectstargazer.weebly.com/

For images of the simulation and time at Educon are below

Biblography

Antonio Gonçalves Vilas Boas, Yuri. "Overview of Virtual Reality Technologies." (n.d.): n. pag. Final Paper. University of Southampton. Web. 4 Feb. 2016. http://static1.squarespace.com/static/537bd8c9e4b0c89881877356/t/5383bc16e4b0bc0d91a758a6/1401142294892/yavb1g12_25879847_finalpaper.pdf

This article is an overview of VR showing its history, goals, and evolution. It goes over the principals of VR in terms of immersion, perception, and telepresence.  It discusses the educational value of VR by showing the ScienceSpace application which allows a student to learn about physics, electrostatic forces, and visualize the structures of molecules.

Biglari, Ehren, and Yusheng Feng. "Interactive Virtual-Reality Driven Learning Framework for Engineering and Science Education." Center for Simulation, Visualization and Real-Time Prediction (2014): n. pag. American Society for Engineering Education. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

http://asee-gsw.tulane.edu/pdf/interactive-virtual-reality-driven-learning-framework-for-engineering-and-science-education.pdf

This Article discusses the usage of several VR devices and motion trackers and the usage of the technology in the modern day. The setup of their device is described as well as several of the strengths and weaknesses of the various VR devices. The Oculus is explained in terms of hardware, describing how the headset generates the an undistorted 3D environment.

Castillo, Anna. "Virtual Reality and Education." Stanford Teaching Commons. Stanford University, 22 May 2014. Web. 02 Feb. 2016.

https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/teaching-talk/virtual-reality-and-education

An article looking at Stanford’s Virtual Reality lab and applications of the technology. The level of immersion that the lab provides is shown as an example of how to provide the students with realistic environments to better educate them about the subjects. However the biggest drawback is shown to be the development of such simulations which often take a year for each. The immersion of VR is being compared to watching a normal video of the same information to compare the difference and find just how effective it would be.

"Learning Through Exploring Virtual Worlds." Global Warming Intro. University of Washington, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/learning_center/pf/whyvr.htm

This site shows a project that attempted to use VR to explain and show a representation of Global Warming. The projects plan was to allow students to manipulate environmental variables to see how the atmosphere is affected. The site also explains the role VR could play in education explaining how the immersive experience can be used to present lessons.

Orlosky, J.; Weber, M.; Gu, Y.; Sonntag, D.; and Sosnovsky,S. A.  2015c.  An interactive pedestrian environment simulator for cognitive monitoring and evaluation, March 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jason_Orlosky/publication/276848891_An_Interactive_Pedestrian_Environment_Simulator_for_Cognitive_Monitoring_and_Evaluation/links/55c0e2dc08aed621de1506a6.pdf

This article looks at using the Oculus Rift in a test for observing and monitoring pedestrians with cognitive impairments. The test uses VR to determine reactions and the pedestrians vision. The article also discusses problems with having the user physically interact with the world in a way that feels natural and use of the Leap Motion Control to track hand motion.

Piovesan, Sandra Dutra, Liliana Maria Passerino, and Adrian Soares Pereira. Proceedings of the International Association for Development of The Information Society (Iadis) International Conference on Cognition And Exploratory Learning in Digital Age (Celda) (Madrid, Spain, October 19-21, 2012). Virtual Reality as a Tool in The Education. Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul. Web. 4 Feb. 2016. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED542830.pdf

This article discuss the idea of using VR in education, explaining how it allows a student to explore and build their knowledge. It focuses on how VR can be used to simulate environments which would be too difficult or expensive for the student to visit normally. The article describes how the subject of Formal Languages was implemented into a 3D environment to allow for a VR test of the subject.

Reiners, T., Teräs, H., Chang, V., Wood, L. C., Gregory, S., Gibson, D., Petter , N. & Teräs, M. (2014). Authentic, immersive, and emotional experience in virtual learning environments: The fear of dying as an important learning experience in a simulation. In Transformative, innovative and engaging. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Teaching Learning Forum, 30-31 January 2014. Perth: The University of Western Australia. http://ctl.curtin.edu.au/professional_development/conferences/tlf/tlf2014/refereed/reiners.html

This article describes how the addition of the Oculus Rift can improve the experiences of VR to be used to educate students. The article shows the comparison between passive and active learning and how VR would work compared to typical teaching methods. The article also shows a test run through VR where a person navigates a dangerous factory to determine how much a person would value their avatar’s safety in VR.

"Solar System Exploration." Planets - Solar System Exploration. NASA, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2016.

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/

NASA’s guide to the aspects of our Solar System with a list of the planets and other celestial bodies. Provides information about the statistics of the planet's size, distance, and orbit, as well as an overview of the planets and their history.

"Unreal Engine 4 Documentation." Epic Games, Inc, n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2016. https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/index.html

A guide to Unreal Engine 4 including tutorials to the basic aspects of Unreal and creating a video game. The site provides a great deal of information about the program to assist a beginner in the creation of a basic game.

"Virtual Reality Technologies for Treating Obesity." - NHLBI, NIH. N.p., Nov. 2010. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/research/reports/2010-vr

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute held a meeting to discuss the potential use of VR to monitoring and controlling weight gain. The article discusses how VR can be used to suggest healthier eating through the social networking and the motivational and teaching aspects of VR. It discusses the ways to control an experiment with VR and the applications of it in the future.

Abazoski, Miranda. Personal Interview. 04 February 2016.

In the interview with Miranda, being apart of a sport, especially in a sport like ultimate frisbee, the connections she makes is one of the most important things to have. When there are no connections on or off the field, it may feel like there is no point in playing. One word that specifically comes to mind when she thinks about SLA sports is: States. I will use the State’s idea in particular to portray the frisbee aspect about SLA. Some people define SLA by ultimate frisbee, everybody in the school knows it is an important sport to Mr. Lehmann, and almost every watches the ultimate kids workout in the morning. So to envelop what SLA sports are about, to include drawings around ultimate, and states is important.

Bell, Tamira. Personal Interview. 04 February 2016.

In the personal interview with Tamira, she brought up a new idea which was working hard towards something that she loved. It was touched on earlier by other students, although for the sport that Tamira does, which is student’s run, she said it was all about endurance. This is endurance is difficult and challenging to build, but by doing this, the endurance allows her to have it in other parts in her life. I will include hard work and practice as inspiration in my sketches. This idea helps to conclude what the life of SLA is, and how SLA sports helps you prepare for multiple aspects in life.

Denny, Shaion. Personal Interview. 03 February 2016.

Shaion talked about connection, and with connection especially in high school there’s more opportunity to talk to those who aren’t in the same grade. Making friendships on the team is what makes [basketball] fun for him. Shaion also talked about success, and overcoming a hardship, like beating a higher ranked team is a satisfying feeling, and one of the best feelings in a sport. The part where Shaion talks about SLA sports are just about having fun will be incorporated into the mural. The mural is going to be filled with positivity, and having fun in a sport is definitely a key for the mural’s portrayal of SLA sports in general.

Dymek, Malwina. Personal Interview. 02 February 2016.

In the interview, Malwina Dymek talks about to importance of being a team, and everyone helping each other to improve their skills and reach their highest potential. She continues to connect SLA’s core value collaboration to school. On a team, teammates constantly work together to win, and that mentality helps achieve collaboration in school projects. Malwina also states that the best thing about a sport isn’t the physical activity of it, it’s the cheering that goes on. This interview will be used as inspiration for sketches that will go into making the mural. Especially the main concepts of this interview which is collaboration, and the words she chose of when she thinks of SLA sports: family, support, positivity.

Fecher-Davis, Naomi. Personal Interview. 04 February 2016.

In the interview with Naomi Fecher-Davis says the first word she thinks of when thinking about SLA sports is camaraderie. Just like many others, friendship and trust is important to her when she is on a team. Naomi touched on the fact that SLA doesn’t hype up competition like other high schools, what SLA really tries to focus on is the bonding that goes on during games, and even off the field. One note she said that will definitely be used is when she says these bonds can last forever. This particular idea will be used as a main idea for a sketch, because a common trend through these interviews is bonding, and making those connections, while all has to do with collaboration.

Gerveni, Jorin. Personal Interview. 04 February 2016.

In the interview with Jorin, he talked about brotherhood. This relates to family, and he mentioned a cheer: “1, 2, 3, rockets, 4, 5, 6, family,” which is a common cheer among a lot of sports, especially the 1, 2, 3, rockets. Jorin also mentioned that pushing himself to do harder, and when his teammates cheer him on and pick him back on when he’s down allows him to have confidence. My idea is to use words spewing out from the main painting that describes SLA sports. I will use the cheer as a part of those words spewing out. Cheering is definitely an important part of being the the SLA sports community.

Hares, Rafi. Personal Interview. 03 February 2016.

In the interview with Rafi Hares, he talked about his realization of the different aspects of what goes into a team. He stated that he liked being apart of something bigger where his actions affected the whole team. He also in a way idolized the fact that there was a physical and innate talent to play a sport, but also a certain type of intelligence. He continued to talk about how SLA sports helped him gain connections. The answers that Rafi provided will be used, especially his answer about being apart of something bigger. So far the idea is to use the word intelligence when he would describe SLA sports as a possible word coming out of the mural.  

Hershey, Dillon. Personal Interview. 04 February 2016

In the interview with Dillon Hershey, she talked about the team a lot. How the importance of being on a team helps her focus in school. Her way of learning is through physical activity by using her hands and/or body. So when she gets to take part in a sport, this gets her energy out and she’s able to focus in school. Dillon said that when you’re apart of a team the best thing is the support system they provide. I will use Dillon’s words, especially the part about the support system as an idea for a sketch. This is particularly to include in the mural, because many people are talking about how sports provide friendships and support. When there’s a mistake, they are there to lift you back up, not drag you down.

McArdle, Thayeena. "Mural Techniques for Painting Wall Murals: Preparing, Painting and Sealing." Art Is Fun. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2016. <http://www.art-is-fun.com/mural-techniques/#prepare>

This site contains a lot of information about a lot of different types of art. With murals specifically it talks about techniques for painting including prep work, starting and finishing, and how to paint the wall. Some steps included cleaning the wall and then priming it, using an art projector or grid projector, and then different ideas on how to apply to paint. The information on this website are credible, but I do not know if all the information on the website(if I were to apply it) would provide accurate step by steps. Although I am going to use the information on this website to guide how I am going to paint the mural, as well as what specific materials I need to get.

Williams, Bernard. "Techniques of Community Murals." Community Public Art Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2016. <http://www.cpag.net/guide/2/2_pages/2_1.htm>