Visual Cultures Forum – History Adventures

AUD Assistant Professor of Digital Media Dr. Spencer Striker presented a new digital learning prototype, called Big History Adventures, being developed in collaboration with key members of the International Big History Association.

Big History, an emerging academic discipline that examines history from the Big Bang to the present was discussed at AUD recently by Dr. Jonathan Markley, of Cal State Fullerton, who presented an engaging overview of Big History’s cutting-edge innovation in visual educational multimedia.[1]

Championed by such thought leaders as Bill Gates, who finances the Big History Project, this cutting-edge, macro-level, interdisciplinary approach to world history curricula is increasingly influential around the world.

About Big History Adventures – by Dr. Spencer Striker
Building a digital learning experience to be produced in association with the International Big History Association. Featuring contributions by leading scholars of world history, the app will tell the Little Big History of Human Collective Learning from the origins of spoken language on the plains of Africa to the paintings of the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave; from the invention of cuneiform in Mesopotamia to the audio-visual revolution of the 20th century; and beyond.

Leveraging my original research and expertise in mobile app development, the project will demonstrate how data visualization, big data, interactive maps of time, musical scoring, sound design, branching paths, game-based assessments, and embedded documentary can bring the pages of history to life. [2]

Promotional Poster for Dr. Spencer Striker’s Big History Adventures FX Demo at AUD

About Big History
Big History examines long time frames using a multidisciplinary approach based on combining numerous disciplines from science and the humanities and explores human existence in the context of this bigger picture. It integrates studies of the cosmos, Earth, life, and humanity.

Big History examines the past using numerous time scales, from the Big Bang to modernity. If conventional history focuses on human civilization with humankind at the center, Big History focuses on the universe and shows how humankind fits within this framework, and places human history in the wider context of the universe’s history.

Big History draws on the latest findings from biology, astronomy, geology, climatology, prehistory, archaeology, anthropology, evolutionary biology, chemistry, psychology, hydrology, geography, paleontology, ancient history, physics, economics, cosmology, natural history, and population and environmental studies as well as standard history, to draw an unprecedentedly complete portrait of the human story in the universe as we know it.

The Department of Visual Communication hosted a Visual Cultures Forum with Jonathan Markley titled “Big History: Innovating Visual Educational Multimedia.”

Jonathan Markley a New Zealander by birth, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Auckland. After that, he taught history for four years in Hong Kong, before moving to Sydney, Australia, where he earned his Ph.D. at Macquarie University in ancient Chinese history. His first book (published by Brepols) is called “Peace and Peril. Sima Qian’s Portrayal of Han-Xiongnu Relations.” He moved from Australia to California to take up his position in the History Department at CSUF in 2006. He was granted tenure and promotion to associate professor in 2011.

He has been involved with the Big History movement since his time at Macquarie, and he featured in many of the episodes of the History Channel’s 2013 series “Big History.” Other TV appearances include an episode of “America’s Secret Slang” (Lower the Boom), “Ten Things you didn’t know” (Caligula), and “History of the World in Two Hours.”

Promotional Poster for Dr. Markley’s popular talk on AUD campus

He was appointed to the board of the International Big History Association (IBHA) in 2014. He is working on a book about the Big History of Grass, a species of plant that includes wheat, barley, rice, corn, sugar cane, and bamboo. He is also the host of an exclusive 3-part documentary that provides insight into the links between astronomy, deep time geological events, and human civilization, called Deep Time, running on Curiosity Stream.

Dr. Markley’s talk connected the fascinating world of Big History with cutting-edge innovation in educational multimedia.