Portal Project Coming to Hood College

FREDERICK, Maryland—Hood College will host a portal March 19 through April 11 to connect students, faculty and staff with individuals from more than 12 countries on every continent.

Operated by Shared Studios, portals are gold spaces equipped with immersive audiovisual technology. Upon entering the portal, users come face-to-face with someone in a distant portal, live and full-body, as if in the same room. This opportunity will allow users from Hood College to discuss politics, education, criminal justice, the environment and share art, poetry and other forms of creative expression with people from around the world.

The portal will be located on the residential quad near Coblentz Hall. Several Hood College classes are using the portal to enhance instruction and give students the unique experience of talking to people in other cultures.

Drop-in times, when anybody may come by, include:

• March 20 from noon to 1 p.m. with Hariwa University in Herat, Afghanistan, and from 6 to 7 p.m. with the Centro de Cultura Digital, a museum in Mexico City, Mexico, that investigates the cultural, social and economic implications of the daily use of digital technology.
• March 26 from noon to 1 p.m. with the Mercy Corps in Gaza, Palestine, and from 6 to 7 p.m. with the University of San Pedro Sula in Honduras.
• April 5 from 1 to 2 p.m. with Impact Hub Rwanda, a public arts social enterprise in Kigali, Rwanda.
• April 6 from noon to 1 p.m. with the Harsham Camp for Internally Displaced Persons in Erbil, Iraq, and from 6 to 7 p.m. with Centro de Cultura Digital in Mexico City, Mexico.

The only other higher educational institutional in Maryland to host a portal to date has been the University of Maryland at College Park. For more information, contact Paige Eager at eager@hood.edu or 301-696-3699. For additional information about the portal, visit www.sharedstudios.com.

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