Athens, Ga. – Delivering health
messages to young people can be a real challenge. A team from the University of Georgia’s
New Media Institute soon will travel to Philadelphia
to explore how mobile media technology can be used to deliver such messages,
specifically information related to the fight against AIDS.
On Wednesday, Nov. 7,
five NMI students will team up with students and faculty from four
universities, three AIDS organizations and Verizon Communications to develop
AIDS Personal Public Service Announcements. The project will test a new mobile
production model to create messages that can be sent to young people’s cell
phones encouraging them to be tested for HIV infection (the virus that causes
AIDS).
"A whole generation
isn’t using their parent’s media," said Scott Shamp, director of the New
Media Institute and professor of telecommunications at UGA's Grady College of
Journalism and Mass Communication. "Mobile media has powerful potential
for reaching young people with information to help them stay healthy and
protect others."
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention estimates that over a quarter of a million people in the
United States are living with HIV and don’t know it. These unknowing
HIV-infected persons cannot take advantage of effective new therapies to extend
both the quality and length of their lives. These individuals are also at
greater risk of spreading the virus. Despite the benefits of being tested,
young people are still reluctant to do so.
The AIDS Personal Public
Service Announcement Project will pioneer the use of new mobile media
technology to address the challenge of AIDS education. The project will
demonstrate a fast and cost-effective way to produce highly-targeted messages
about health care issues that are optimized for the communication medium young
people use the most—the cell phone.
Three student teams from
the University of Georgia, University
of South Carolina and Temple University
will have one day to collaborate with professional producers to create one
minute videos, or Personal Public Service Announcements, encouraging HIV
testing. The student teams, armed with backpack-sized mobile production
studios, will set out at 9 a.m.
to collect audio and video footage around the city of Philadelphia.
Throughout the day, the
teams will use Verizon’s wireless network to push their raw footage to remote
producers. At 4 p.m. the
student teams will stop collecting footage and the producers will have until 7 p.m. to finish their one-minute
videos. All of the Personal Public Service Announcements will be premiered at 8 p.m. on Nov. 7 and will be
available for immediate downloading to cell phones.
"As a leading technology
company, Verizon is committed to partnering with institutions of higher
learning as we explore ways to use our technology in a cutting-edge way,”
stated Michelle Robinson, Verizon’s senior vice president for the Southern
region. “We are thrilled to partner with Georgia’s flagship university and
specifically UGA’s New Media Institute on this important project.”
On Thursday, Nov. 8, contributors to the AIDS Personal Public Service
Announcement Project will participate in a panel discussion at the
International Digital Media and Arts Association Conference (www.idmaa.org) being held in Philadelphia.
Equipment, connectivity
and funding for the AIDS Personal
Public Service Announcement Project are being provided by Verizon
Communications. The New Media Institute is the coordinating organization and
Shamp serves as the project’s executive producer. Karla Berry, associate
professor of media arts at the University
of South Carolina, is the
creative producer in charge of coordinating remote producers. LeAnn Erickson,
associate professor of film and video production at Temple University,
will coordinate mobile student teams in the field as mobile producer.
The remote producers for the project will be Pam Ezell, Chapman University;
Amy Shumaker, South Carolina ETV; and Marius Valdes, University of South
Carolina.
Consultation on issues
pertaining to AIDS and HIV infection will be provided by the Centers for
Disease Control (www.cdc.gov); Philadelphia
FIGHT (www.fight.org); the Youth Health
Empowerment Project (www.y-hep.org); the
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (www.kff.org);
and the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (www.aidsresearchatlanta.org).
For more information on
the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement Project and a full list of
participants and consulting organizations, visit www.nmi.uga.edu/aids_ppsa/
Founded in 2000, the New
Media Institute is an interdisciplinary teaching and research unit of the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism
and Mass Communication. The NMI explores the creative, critical and commercial
dimensions of innovative digital communication technology.
Verizon Communications
Inc., headquartered in New York,
is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless
communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale
customers. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.
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