For Darren DeFrain, professor of English and director of the writing program, research is all about finding the narrative.
Take, for example, graphic novels, a subject of DeFrain’s research for some ten years.
How does a professor make a medium historically exclusive to sighted people accessible for visually-impaired students? It was this very question that kickstarted the mobile app Vizling.
“I want my students to learn to interpret texts at a deeper level,” DeFrain said. “If I translate, panel by panel, everything that happens on the page, I’m doing all the interpretation for you. Vizling allows you to discover the narrative for yourself.”
Darren DeFrain
Vizling’s three modes of narrative – global, grammar and free exploration – provide audible descriptions and spoken dialogue from each panel, allowing users of all visual abilities to engage with graphic novels at their comfort level.
With more than $400,000 from grant supporters, including the Sloan Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, DeFrain, former graduate student Aaron Rodriguez and their team of interdepartmental colleagues brought Vizling to life.
“None of us knew everything,” DeFrain said. “But that collaboration – the back-and-forth, the compromise: That’s what made the final product so innovative.”
Collaboration made possible another of DeFrain’s research projects titled “No Choice but Action.”
“I was in the mail room, and I tore open some obscure punk CD I had ordered,” DeFrain said. “My department chair, Fran Connor, took one glance and instantly recognized it. We connected over that, a niche interest in punk, and we decided to explore the history of post-punk Kansas.”
After nearly six years of interviews and investigation into the annals of Kansas’ punk scene, “No Choice but Action” is slated for release in early 2025.