My initial experience with computers began when my Dad bought our first family desktop, which we used to play Zuma games. When the adults complained that my siblings and I were getting addicted to games, we either switched to Marvis Bacon, as it was popular for teaching kids how to type quickly, or we found solace in Microsoft Encarta Kids, which exposed us to knowledge beyond Nigeria in multimodal forms. As a teenager, the first social media platform I interacted with was 2go, an app owned by Africans, which helped me frame questions on African digital agency and technology. These experiences served as a precursor to my interests in how emerging technologies and multimodal forms influence composition as a PhD student at the University of Maryland.
As an Arts for All fellow, my current project examines the visual rhetorical power in 3D representations of cultural artefacts in Nigeria in partnership with the National Museum in Lagos. This project has required me to hone my photography and photogrammetry skills while using software applications such as Adobe Lightroom, KiriEngine, and RealityCapture. Through this project, I also aim to create a VR and AR experience for Black diasporic audiences to reconnect with their African roots.
Through various digital humanities workshops and a mini-grant from the African American Digital and Experimental Humanities (AADHum), I have been able to build visually responsive websites using HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and Twine to evaluate how digital forms reinforce intellectual arguments. My commitment to projecting African sensibilities within digital spaces serves as the basis of my academic inquiry, an experience I am eager to explore as a DRC fellow.
