On April 4th, 2014 the CAP conference was held in the CAP lounge at the Irving K. Barber building. The conference featured the academic work from several students. The work was displayed by panel presentation as well as well as a showcase. I participated in the showcase, displaying my project which pertained to the UBC Rare Books and Special Collections. An interesting point to mention was the way in which the students from the different CAP streams came together to produce academic knowledge, and to share this knowledge. Although the different students came from different scholarly backgrounds (the different streams within the CAP program such as Law & Society, Culture & Media, Individual & Society, Global Citizens, and Philosophy & Political Science & Economics. Although the different streams focused on many different academic works during the year, a common thread was seen throughout the conference. The presenters at all levels displayed a use of new technologies. The way in which different presenters utilised things such as computers and art to represent their academic contributions was surprising to me.
As many may traditionally view an academic setting as rigid and with set guidelines on how to contribute to scholarly knowledge, it was refreshing to see unconventional uses of scholarly knowledge. Although we may simply signal this as a changing of the times (a progressive student body using progressive technologies), it would also be possible to mention this as a very creative student body. Some of the project included websites, art pieces, or even explored the use of social media. These students, rather than moving with the times, adapted to them by incorporating these new and useful technologies into their work. A project that stood out to me was the analysis of certain Vines and the social repercussions of these short videos. This may be seen as a prime example of a student using technology, rather than adapting to it.