Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
The University of Saskatchewan is set to become home to a first-of-its-kind storytelling research facility after receiving more than $3 million in federal funding.
The proposed “Story Collider” will combine cutting-edge digital production technology with interdisciplinary research on narrative and knowledge-sharing, creating a space USask leaders say will be unique in Canada.
Read more:
- Laughter as medicine: Meet the University of Saskatchewan’s new Indigenous storyteller
- Prince Albert signs MOU with U of S to share research
- U of S College of Dentistry inks five-year international research partnership
“The Story Collider is making connections in research through innovative storytelling, which is underpinned by the most high-end digital technology you can imagine,” said Dr. Andrew Denton, director of the USask School for the Arts and co-lead on the project.
The hub will function as both a high-end digital production lab and a centre for studying how stories are told, shared, and preserved.
Planned features include camera and recording equipment for virtual and augmented reality content; a nine-cubic-metre cylindrical screen for immersive, interactive video projects; and resources for virtual skills training and explorative experiences.
But the facility is intended to be far more than a film studio.
Dr. Dawn Wallin, associate vice-president of Research (Engagement) and co-lead on the project, said the collider will explore deeper questions about narratives — who has the authority to tell certain stories, whose knowledge they represent, and how they should be created and archived.
“This is research on the way we integrate multiple knowledges together to be able to work through stories and on stories in a multiplicity of forms,” Wallin said.
The federal funding comes from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Innovation Fund, which supports infrastructure projects that advance Canadian research on the global stage.
USask vice-president research, Baljit Singh, said the investment builds on the university’s tradition of community-oriented scholarship.
“This inclusive new hub will be a boost for USask researchers, scholars and artists in working with communities here in Saskatchewan and on the national and international stage,” Singh said.
Denton, who has experience with similar technical institutes in New Zealand, said the collider will rival storytelling hubs at institutions like MIT. Beyond research, he expects the facility to strengthen Saskatchewan’s creative economy by building production skills across the Prairies.
“I believe that when you bring creativity and other disciplines together, you come up with new methodologies,” Denton said. “If we experiment and play together, we might come up with new ways of seeing and understanding the world.”
For Wallin, the federal backing represents validation of the project’s national significance.
“Getting affirmation from experts in the field and then national funding — it’s good for the university, it’s good for Saskatchewan, and it’s good for Canada,” she said. “This is pretty amazing.”
Read more:
