Joe Reinsel

Joe Reinsel is a New Media artist and Assistant Professor of Media Art at the University of Michigan-Flint. Joe uses New Media to explore ideas about Architectural Space, Time and Touch. His creative work focuses on environmental interaction. His skills enable him to help others express ideas, in new ways.

Looking  Back

  Joe Reinsel grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, and spent time in the 1980s being a “skater kid who loved music.” He loved to play drums and played in many bands, including his high school’s band. After graduating from high school and went on to graduate with an undergraduate degree in Music Composition and Media Technology, from Radford University, in Radford, Virginia, in 1994, but quickly parlayed that B.M. degree into a M.A. in Composition and Media Technology, in 1998, also from Redford University. In 2002, he earned an M.F.A. degree in Electronic Arts, from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Joe has created a variety of educational content for a variety of educational institutions, including online content for many of these institutions.  He began to teach professionally, during the year 2000, teaching Electronic Art and  other related studies in Media Production, such as audio production and post-production, and other related disciplines, in a variety of colleges and universities, including such institutions as,  John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, Maryland; Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador; College of Notre Dame of Maryland; Goucher College, Baltimore, Maryland, and in 2010 he became Assistant Professor of Media Art at the University of Michigan-Flint.

Joe had a unique experience by landing an Artist-in-Residence gig, with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, while visiting a friend in Ecuador, in 2007 through 2008, during which he taught classes, on campus, in Game Design Theory and Interactive Installation/Performance. Also, during his visit, he was a consultant with university faculty, in physical computing and interaction, and with local artists and performers on new approaches in creating interactive design.

The Rising Tide

  Joe works in digital media both as an artist and as a curriculum developer and instructor. He has a vast amount of varied experience in the area of interactive and digital media. He works with interactivity, which is integral to Educational Technology. He also works in developing curricula for online, university courses, and he uses electronic media to express his art.

If you look around Joe's web site, joereinsel.org, you might find an interactive project which speaks to you. If you were looking for a way in which one of his interactive designs could be used for education, and try to expand on his concept for a specific educational purpose of your own design, let’s say a history project,  you might find that his "Locusono" project, which uses GPS location coordinates to activate audio recordings, on mobile devices, which could be used to provide a sensation-rich educational experience to help teach the history of civil war battles, by tying specific information about significant battles, and communicating details about those historical battles, within those specific locations, in the real world, then you could easily modify this project to present to students as a study in history. Students seem to benefit from sensation-rich content.  

Reinsel, however, created this work, Locusono,  to help eliminate the negatively-tarnished image of Flint, Michigan, due to its decline in prosperity as a result of changes in the socio-economic landscape, during the final decades of the previous century, and shore up its image to visitors and residents. But, he believes that teaching at Gettysburg about the Civil War would be a fruitful application of this idea, as well.

Reinsel states that “Locusono is a divining rod that connects the participant to a space [that] has been augmented with other sound. People will be able to hear stories, sounds, and conversations made and placed at different locations that users would seek out and find by going on a walk with their smartphone and a pair of headphones.”

Glimpses Ahead

  Regarding some facets of Educational Technology, Reinsel has a critical perspective, it seems. “Building a sense of community in an online setting for university instruction is a challenge because it must be done quickly, and early in the semester.”  He added “there is a lot of extra work to be done to make this happen.”  This seems to illustrate a contemporary challenge to educational technologists, or educators who are struggling to maintain a practical approach to creating online content.

Despite this criticism, Reinsel admits that he enjoys teaching online, and is hopeful that he will meet the rising challenges as they emerge. And the interactive and media-focused tools he uses, lend themselves well to emerging educational and technological challenges, because they are rooted in emerging technology. Reinsel selects from a variety of technological tools to communicate ideas, both his own, as well as others who need to communicate ideas in new ways.

When asked what he would do if he were independently wealthy, Joe Reinsel speculates that he would be working to fully realize his Locusona project. He likes the ‘edge’ of the project, and believes that out of all of his projects, it has the best potential to grow and make an impact on the world. Joe says his “greatest skill is to be able to help others express an idea, when they may be having difficulty.” His experience allows him to troubleshoot, communicate, and make things happen.  

For more information please check out Joe's website.

Written by: Terry Hale April, 2017