Curator Bio
Jonathan Stalling is a poet, artist, scholar, and inventor working at the intersection of Chinese and English. Dr. Stalling is Professor of English specializing in East-West Poetics at the University of Oklahoma, where he is a founding editor of Chinese Literature Today magazine and book series and the Curator of the Chinese Literature Translation Archive at the University of Oklahoma Library.
In 2016, Pinying launched as a new app that enables Chinese speakers to learn English in an entirely new way. Professor Jonathan Stalling’s creation was added to the Apple App Store, patented by the University of Oklahoma, and presented with a Best Inventor Award from the Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth at OU. This exhibit explores this invention from its ideation to its fabrication and to its commercialization through the University of Oklahoma Innovation Ecosystem.
Ideation
The process of conceptualizing, developing, and sharing new ideas is an essential part of the design process. In the case of Pinying, the inventor was inspired to recreate and update ancient technologies and methods developed over 1,000 years ago in China. The exhibit recreates Stalling’s ideation process by staging the invention as it would have existed 1,000 years ago, 100 years ago, and as it exists today.
Fabrication
The next section of the exhibit focuses on the material process of invention at OU, revealing the inventor’s efforts at the initial disclosure of the invention, through its patenting process, and on to rapid prototyping and testing in OU’s Innovation Hub and Edge creative labs.
Commercialization
Finally, the exhibit explores how OU student interns in the ICCEW worked with Professor Stalling to create and test hypotheses for the needs of the target market, ultimately launching the Pinying app in the Apple App Store, as well as founding a new company under the leadership of OU, the Forest Path Studio.
Collaborators
The Michael F. Price College of Business ensures the enduring global competitiveness of Oklahoma and the nation.
The OU College of Arts and Sciences is the first college established at the University of Oklahoma and provides the cornerstone for education at OU. Established in 1892, it boasts 57 majors, 47 minors, and a total of 31 academic units.
The 25,000-square-foot facility is home to cutting edge gadgets including 3-D printers, virtual reality equipment and a woodworking shop.
The Ronnie K. Irani Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth is an economic development organization that specializes in high-impact projects centered on technology commercialization, social entrepreneurship & innovation, software & web development, agile product design, and entrepreneurial support.
The Office of Technology Development provides the highest level of fiduciary expertise for the perfection, conveyance and commercialization of OU intellectual property, and strives to be recognized as a driving force for OU's economic impact through education, expertise and efficiency.
OU Libraries Makerspace is a flexible experimentation and innovation space that provides access to the latest tools used in research, instruction and knowledge creation, including 3D printing tools, custom virtual reality workstations, software and data skill development and microelectronics kits.
The OU Libraries Chinese Literature Translation Archive provides students and scholars with a wide range of rare books, reference materials, translation drafts, correspondence, notes, ephemera, and other historical materials that provide context for Western readers to gain a deeper understanding of Chinese literature.
Translators: Li Yuanying, Du Lei, Feng Yali, Zhang Hao & Jonathan Stalling
A special thank you to Steve and Kathy Swatek in recognition of the establishment of the Library Center of Excellence fund to support future innovation at OU Libraries.
