The DWELL Lab at the University of Rhode investigates how digital media are changing the ways that writers and readers interact with place and environments. Projects in the lab focus on the use of creative writing and mobile, locative, and wearable technologies for community-engaged science communication, social justice, and environmental advocacy.
The DWELL Lab at the University of Rhode Island is seeking creative work proposals for The North Woods Project (NWP), a multimodal digital media storytelling project on the URI campus. Points of Interest (POIs) refer to the individual installation/exhibits that will appear at specific sites in the North Woods and in our digital map/website. For more information on NWP, visit our project page on the DWELL Lab website: https://web.uri.edu/dwell/projects/north-woods/.
We are seeking a wide range of creative and scientific work related to the North Woods, from creative genres like poetry, drawing, digital art, nonfiction to the more scientific genres like photography, short videos, 3D models, and other types of visualizations. We are especially interested in work that blends or bends genre. Proposals can come from students (or groups of students) in any discipline at URI, and we encourage ideas that engage collaborative and cross-disciplinary practices.
You may submit the finished product ( such as a poem, a photograph, a story, a short video, ect.), if you have already completed it, or you may submit a proposal describing the project you would like to complete. We will provide an honorarium to students for completed projects.
Thank you for your interest in the North Woods Field Guide! Modeled after the Cascadia Field Guide, this project seeks to combine science, traditional ecological knowledge, creative writing, and art to create an expansive and layered guide to the North Woods at the University of Rhode Island.
Entries can include natural history, cultural knowledge, and/or creative expression to introduce a specific species, habitat, or ecological feature from the North Woods. Entries selected for publication will inform, delight, and deepen readers' connections to the North Woods.
This project works to develop a larger shared interest in the North Woods as an environmental commons and democratize environmental communication. Likewise, we hope to demonstrate how other communities can develop their own field guide projects through this process.
You can learn more about the fortes on the North Woods website. This project is connected to other ongoing work in the DWELL Lab:
The North Woods Project
The North Woods Project (NWP) blends art and science through an immersive multimedia “classroom in the forest” experience for the North Woods. You can learn about the project on the lab website: https://web.uri.edu/dwell/projects/north-woods/, and you can find more information in our recently published web article: https://kairos.technorhetoric.net/30.1/topoi/jones-et-al/
Our annual Write Out! event
In partnership with the National Writing Project and the National Parks Service, we host a local Write Out event each October. We have opportunities for students to get outside, connect to local places and ecosystems, and engage in scientific and creative writing. There are also opportunities for students to share their writing in their classrooms and with others across the country using the hashtags #uri and #writeout on most social media platforms. Learn about this year's event here: https://web.uri.edu/dwell/write-out-2025/