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University Council approves creation of New Media Institute
Larry Weatherford, vice president for government relations, to retire
Utility construction forces closing of streets, parking lots
Campus Closeup
Kudos
Members of promotion, tenure review committee are announced
Remembering those we’ve lost
The New Media Institute will explore implications of innovative digital technologies
beth@uga.edu
Scott Shamp, associate professor of telecommunications and director of the Dowden Center in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, chaired the steering committee which developed the proposal for a New Media Institute that was approved by University Council at its last meeting. Columns spoke with him about the plans and goals of the institute.
Columns: Can you define new media for me?
Shamp: That is really the hardest question to answer. The steering committee agreed on a working definition of new media--“the use of technology to create new communication experiences.” It’s deliberately vague because new media is different things in different places at UGA. In music it is new ways to create and deliver audio content. In drama it is technology-enhanced performances. In family and consumer sciences it is information appliances in the home. In telecommunications it is personalized video programming. In computer science it is e-commerce. For most people today, new media is the Internet, but people all over campus are working on the next technology that will change our lives.
Columns: And what’s the New Media Institute?
Shamp: It’s an interdisciplinary unit dedicated to exploring the commercial, critical and creative implications of innovative digital technologies. UGA has always been involved in exploring the ways that new technology enhances people’s lives, but units have been working independently. With the NMI, we have a way to collaborate.
Columns: What units are involved?
Shamp: Art, music, drama--over 60 people in 22 different units have indicated an interest. Any faculty or staff member can participate by becoming an institute affiliate. Our diverse group of participants is our most valuable asset.
Columns: What’s the relationship between the NMI and the art school’s interest in an institute or center to focus on digital technologies in art?
Shamp: There’s a great deal of overlap. We’re working with art faculty members, the same faculty who are involved in the center in the art school. The NMI joins faculty with other people across the campus that they wouldn’t normally work with. There’s the synergy that we think is exciting.
Columns: The same would then apply to the Dowden Center for New Media Studies--it will still exist within the Grady College?
Shamp: Yes, in exactly the same way. The NMI will never take over any of the resources of the individual units. Faculty members stay in their individual departments. We’re supplementing what these people are doing, bringing in more resources.
Columns: That’s why the NMI is not a part of any college or school?
Shamp: Right--everybody in the New Media Institute plays on an equal footing. If it were situated within a college, there’d always be a home unit with a bigger role.
Columns: What mechanisms in the NMI will encourage interdisciplinary work?
Shamp: What we’re doing now is setting up a kind of infrastructure that will allow people to come together.
Columns: That brings up the subject of funding.
Shamp: We’re looking at all kinds of creative ideas. The NMI is committed to being industry-relevant. We plan on working on issues important to industry, and training students to work in new-media fields--and with this commitment comes the expectation that businesses will contribute. We have developed a new-media consortium where industry will contribute funds to participate in the activities of the institute.
Columns: How will students be involved in the New Media Institute?
Shamp: The NMI will prepare students for professions using new-media technology. Students who take approved courses covering new media and complete a capstone project will be able to add a new-media certificate to their diplomas. In addition, the NMI will join with management information systems and computer science in the master’s of Internet technology degree program.
Columns: What is the new-media certificate?
Shamp: It’s really a way of adding a layer of specialization onto someone’s existing degree--because, truthfully, we don’t believe new media in itself is a discipline. It’s a way of approaching a range of disciplines. We would like students, as they’re developing content expertise, to learn how new-media technologies play a part. There will be a couple of core classes, and we anticipate hiring faculty to teach those. They will be technology-intensive courses, teaching a range of different production specialties. There’ll be a “capstone” project. Then the students will take elective classes in other departments.
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