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Contributed by: Chris Newton, Assistant Director of the Eugene S. Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media and WGRE Operations Support Coordinator

Evolving digital technologies have been a real “game-changer” in the mass media industries. TV, radio and print media have benefited in numerous ways from the advances in computer technology and the switch to digital creation and transmission tools. Perhaps the biggest change for media companies, however, has been the speed with which they have had to learn to effectively use the Internet, both as a secondary transmission tool (repurposing original content) and as a primary, stand-alone media outlet. They have discovered that they can carry all the elements of “old” media on the Internet without the overhead of additional expensive equipment, buildings or people.

As the Internet has become more agile in transmitting video, audio, still-photos and text in interesting ways, it has aggressively encroached on traditional media. It is quickly becoming the only source for a growing class of consumers who access their favorite content on their own schedules on computers or cell-phone screens instead of TV’s or radios. Newspapers find themselves teaming with radio and television stations on the Internet to provide more than just simple text and photo archives of their printed product. TV and radio stations offer new, exclusive Internet content in addition to archiving popular programming. Some pundits have coined the term “media stations” to replace “radio stations” or “television stations” reflecting how the Internet has changed how we consume our media. No need to turn on the TV or radio and open a newspaper; you can do all three on just one website!

For a University that teaches contemporary mass-media theory and practice, this means continuously adjusting what we do to encompass this evolving reality. We go beyond teaching electronic acquisition, editing, writing and producing skills to include multimedia “convergence” skills. It’s not enough for our students simply to learn how to write for entertainment or journalism, or how to acquire and produce standard audio and video packages. Our students must also understand that “digital storytelling” includes tailoring content from any media for the web, and learning to choose the best media element to tell a story online. Students also need experience with stories that are conceived specifically for the web, necessitating a different workflow.

In the Media Fellows Program, the second semester of the First-Year Colloquium was chosen as the class in the program where this need would be directly addressed. This is normally a hands-on class focusing on practical media ethics, techniques of audio and video production, writing skills and photojournalism. The decision was made to teach a more aggressive “convergence” model of commercial media with the idea that student projects would end up on the web as a way of better understanding what it takes to create and maintain a media portal on the Internet. Rather than teaching skills in each media area separately, it was decided that it made sense to teach within the context of “digital storytelling.” The goal was for each student to create a media blog with news articles, blog posts, audio, video and photojournalistic assignments, to get a feel for the practice of contemporary journalism.

Example of a Media Fellows student's WordPress blog.

After working with Michael Gough in FITS and debating the best way to get student projects to the Web, the teaching team decided that WordPress would be a good compromise, mirroring in many ways what media outlets are using commercially. The team also decided to use our local WordPress server, so that we would have better access to IT personnel and local training resources.

The class was introduced to the concept of digital storytelling with small group training on the different software and hardware tools they would be learning to use for the class. From the beginning, they were encouraged to use all the resources of the PCCM and immediately were introduced to SoundSlides – professional Flash slideshow software – and WordPress. This was a lot of different software and hardware to teach, but to properly reflect the skills of online storytellers, the teaching team felt it was necessary.

Students then concentrated on their writing skills, interviewing skills and class presentations on digital storytelling by current journalists from TV, newspaper and Internet-only media. Along with various writing and blogging assignments, students were eventually assigned two major audio/visual assignments which were to end up on their blogs.

Instructors were available to the students outside of class throughout the course. The most effort was given to teaching SoundSlides and fine tuning how they used WordPress. The students were pushed to strengthen their storytelling skills in each of the media and to learn when to use one media over another. Their overall storytelling ability and their technology skills improved from the beginning to the end of the course. It was interesting to note that the majority of the students had the hardest time telling stories with video. Even with today’s technology, video is still a labor-intensive medium to teach and quickly be successful.

In summary, through discussion, assignments and a class survey we ascertained that the class was generally successful teaching students about media convergence concepts. WordPress was an integral part of that. The majority of students thought it was a valid tool when used in this way. WordPress efficiently handled uploading everything but the SoundSlides Flash files, which were easily linked from another location online. Having a local FAQ file updated with current best-practice strategies was also helpful. Students were able to experience first hand what it was like to maintain their own online media portals. They also got a good sense of the time commitment and “real world” work flow necessary to successfully get a good digital story in front of an audience.

Understanding how to communicate effectively in different digital media is a powerful key to success for students in any major, and this Media Fellows course is one way the University has worked to address this concept.

Contributed by: Caroline Gilson, Associate Director of Libraries and Coordinator of the Science Library with rank of Associate Professor

It’s complicated. That phrase can be applied to many things, I realize (issues related to faith, relationships, what to wear on any given day), but in preparing this column on the broad spectrum of eReaders and eBooks in the higher education environment, it seems particularly appropriate. The idea of an eBook seems simple enough. But it gets more complex when one delves in deeper: issues of access, ownership, cost, availability, ease of use and delivery methods/platforms creep in and muddy the waters. How do librarians, information technology staff, faculty and students sort it out and “make it work?”

As an academic librarian, I take pride in keeping up with technology that will deliver content to campus users. I bought a first-generation iPhone on the day it came out at my neighborhood AT&T store, feeling that was a watershed moment. Something inside me said this was a game changer. The iPhone has gone from novelty to a measuring stick of sorts in a few short years. It broadened the scope of mobile access, and set a standard (I think) for devices yet to be developed.

The iPhone has led libraries to create mobile access to collections. For instance, some libraries have an app or mobile friendly access to the library catalog, subscription databases, (we can show you the mobile version of EBSCO databases if you are interested) and even snazzy building tours via QR codes or augmented reality. Becoming more of a digital, mobile, handheld library also means rethinking access to collections: books and multimedia. Are you streaming or downloading movies from your NetFlix account? What is the future of the eBook in libraries? They’ve been available for over ten years, yet still haven’t caught on like I would have predicted. How will access to digital textbook evolve? Why don’t libraries buy more eBooks? (Kindles for everyone!…?) Are our users ready for eBooks? Are you?

Yet there isn’t yet (or I haven’t found it yet) an easy answer to eBook accessibility for our academic users. The Kindle/Nook/Sony eReader seems to focus mostly on the recreational reading crowd. One service I’ve found to be worth investigating is called OverDrive. OverDrive provides eBook access via multiple formats to libraries, where users can download content to a laptop or iPhone or mp3. This model seems to work with users that have multiple devices. Yet, OverDrive only seems to offer fiction, non-fiction, general topic sources and not so much scholarly or textbook offerings. So I keep searching, as a librarian, for the next best thing for access to eBooks. I pay attention to the ever-changing technology market. I watch the current development of the Notion Ink Adam tablet. I get excited about a SixthSense glove-like device and lanyard (watch Pranav Mistry’s TED talk from November 2009), where one can project digital images onto a book, a wall, a newspaper, a hand or arm. I listen to people in the know about technology, like Bryan Alexander at NITLE (he blogs at http://blogs.nitle.org), or Walter Mossberg, writer of the All Things Digital column for the Wall Street Journal (http://walt.allthingsd.com). I wonder what cool new device is going to come out next week, next month, next year. As great as I think the iPhone is, I don’t think it is It. I don’t think the iPad is It. I don’t think Kindle is It.

I watch our academic community interact with technology. I watch my five-year-old son interact with apps on my iPhone. I talk to and email library colleagues about eBooks and mobile devices. What are they seeing and using? eBooks seem to still be a novel idea, but get low use (or no use). How to solve that? I wait and watch with everyone else. I talk to colleagues and database vendors. I think that access models (readers) will need to change and publishers will need to rethink how they market and present their offerings. Academic libraries and campuses are in an evolving environment when it comes to eBooks and eReaders, and in short, it’s complicated. Feel free to continue the conversation with me anytime (cgilson@depauw.edu)!

Contributed by:  Lynda S. LaRoche, Assistant Director of Instructional & Learning Services and Moodle Support Coordinator

Figure 1: Moodle Glossary Entry Example

The Moodle Glossary is a robust activity that can be used in many ways. It can be a collaborative activity that you assign to your students or you can create it for your students to use as a reference point. The entries can be searched or browsed, commented on, rated and there’s even an “auto-linking” feature that you can setup in which words are highlighted and linked if they are contained in the glossary.  Figure 1:  Moodle Glossary Entry Example shows some of the capabilities of a glossary entry, such as text, images, links or many of the other capabilities found in the Moodle text editor. View the Moodle 101 for faculty glossary as another example.

Each glossary you create can be a different format, which enables you to use the glossary activity creatively in multiple ways. For instance, the glossary can be used to assist your students in learning new words that represent new ideas and concepts specific to your field of study or it can also be used as a collaborative tool where assigned groups are responsible for contributing to different sections of the glossaries entries.

At first glance, a glossary seems to have only one function – a simple dictionary. Moodle’s Glossary enables you to creatively engage your students in the process of learning. If you are interested in using a Moodle Glossary in your course, feel free to contact me (llaroche@depauw.edu) or any other FITS Instructional Technologist.

Contributed by:  Donnie Sendelbach, Director of Instructional and Learning Services/Director of ITAP

The Virtual Burnham Initiative, a multimedia project creating 3-D models from a 1909 Chicago city plan by Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett (Plan of Chicago often referred to as the Burnham Plan), received a National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities Start-up Grant in 2008 and currently is their featured project.  The NEH is currently accepting applications for its next round until October 5, 2010.  To learn more about applying for this next round, you can visit their web site or contact Donnie Sendelbach, who served as Co-director of the Virtual Burnham Initiative before coming to DePauw.

While components of the Burnham Plan were implemented to create modern Chicago, students using SketchUp and Google Earth brought to life other components that were not implemented in reality, including buildings in Grant Park (see photo above). The flat images from the Burnham Plan were transformed into models enabling 360º views and placed within Google Earth’s modern Chicago, which takes the Burnham Plan to another level of visualization while merging past planning with current reality. If you have Google Earth on your computer, you can download files from the VBI website to view yourself.  Through 3-D modeling, students and scholars are able to visualize how Chicago could have developed while considering the possibilities for future city planning. Through additional historical information, they can also study how city politics shaped the building of Chicago as the new field of city planning evolved.

Chicago area high schools and universities along with city administrators have contributed to the VBI, which is, to quote the grant application, “a project about the community that can become part of the community offering a heretofore impossible organization of material related to the Plan with a unique application of different virtual modeling technologies to enhance collaborative humanities scholarship.”  Students who worked on the project developed an appreciation for architectural history, city planning, and research decision-making as the Plan’s series of sketches include multiple variants for a given building.  One of the students creating these models, Michael Ojdana (Lake Forest Class of 2008), is currently working at Convergence Training creating 3-D models after he graduated from DePaul University with an M.S. with a Digital Cinema: 3-D Animation Concentration.

For more information on the project, please view this video inviting others to participate:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ru-J2MVtRM4" width="345" height="280" wmode="transparent" /]

Contributed by: Lynda S. LaRoche, Assistant Director of Instructional & Learning Services and Moodle Support Coordinator

Last spring “Going Google” was a common phrase on the DePauw campus as we switched from GroupWise/Tigermail to Google Apps Mail, Calendar, and Contacts. With this initial transition completed, what’s next?

If you want to keep important emails from your GroupWise/Tigermail account, you have two options: copying your old email messages to Google Apps Mail or creating a local GroupWise Client and copying your email to your computer. To complete this on your own, step-by-step instructions are located online at DePauw’s online resources for faculty, staff, and students – https://sites.google.com/a/depauw.edu/depauw-google-apps/.

If you would like assistance completing this process, instructional technologists will be standing by in the FITS lab (located on the lower level of the Roy O. West Library) to support you during any of the Google Open Lab sessions listed below.  Remember you must complete this no later than September 30, 2010 because the GroupWise/Tigermail server and your old email will be gone on October 1, 2010.

Google Open Lab Sessions
FITS Center (located on the lower level of the Roy O. West Library)

• 9/14/2010 from 9-11 a.m.
• 9/20/2010 from 2-4 p.m.
• 9/28/2010 from 12-2 p.m.
• 9/30/2010 from 2-4 p.m.

Google Apps for Education offers much more than email and calendar capabilities. Through Google Docs you and your students can collaborate with others in real-time by creating, editing, and sharing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. To assist you in learning more about Google Docs, FITS will be hosting “Google Apps: Intro to Docs, Sites, Forms” workshops this semester. We will also be hosting Google Users Group sessions where you are invited to join your colleagues to share ideas, ask questions, and discuss ways that Google Apps can be used on campus – both inside and outside the classroom. For a complete list of Google Apps events, browse to DePauw’s Campus Calendar and search for #googleapps.

Finally, we’d like to invite you to share how you are using Google Apps for teaching and learning by presenting during a FITS Faculty Showcase. If you are interested in presenting, please contact Lynda LaRoche – llaroche@depauw.edu or 765-658-6600 – or another member of the FITS team – http://www.depauw.edu/univ/fits/people/staff.asp – to discuss your idea.

Expertise: Video pre-, post-, in-studio and on-location production, digital storytelling.

Biography: Matt came to DePauw in 2010 after earning his M.A. in Digital Storytelling from Ball State University. While there he taught two undergraduate courses in basic video production, assisted faculty and students within the school of nursing utilize technology in classes, and developed an original children’s educational television program and web site. He is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University.

Fun fact: Matt is a puppeteer with several professional performances under his belt.