kfitz

Scholarship in New Media

Final presentation of the day, from Dan Schnaidt, below the fold.

“Repositioning the Academic Media Studio”

— background: 2000, pilot faculty digitization project, development of media database (oracle-based, worked with librarians on metadata schemes); 2001, reorganized a/v services — digitization, e-classrooms, special events; 2002, member of new media centers, $280K from davis foundation for learning objects
— the learning object vision: learn anytime, anywhere; object-oriented; reuse and repurpose content; cost effective
— learning object taxonomy; ranges of granularity, most reusable to least, least context to most: raw data media elements, information objects, application objects, aggregate assemblies, collections
— learning object studio organization: roles = project manager, designer(s), programmer, librarian, digitization specialist, content expert; step-by-step process/workbook; assessment using tlt flashlight evaluation protocols
— elaborate process diagram: request and proposal, design and conceptualization, prototype, production, testing, publish and evaluate
— cost $5-50K per learning object; additional grant funding; other staff time contributed; faculty not paid to participate
— faculty participation: mostly tenured faculty trying new ways to communicate and teach; no tenure-track faculty; one visiting fellow; scientists, social scientists, artists, and humanists
— made simulations and animations (tidal action, theater blocking, color mixing, genetic mutation); interactive games and tools (ricardian explorer, lightbox); collections and exhibitions (virtual instrument museum, scroll singers of naya, ukiyo-e technique); field research (palenque, afghan north and others)
— turned into web publications of field research from many disciplines
— website: learningobjects.wesleyan.edu
— problems of slowing production
— assessment: mix of hard and soft metrics; results: poor faculty response, significant external use, insufficient internal use; faculty motivation was a problem
— the case against internal funding: too expensive, not enough use
— had become a publishing unit, without traditional supports — editors, peer review, permissions, distribution channels
— wanted to build on successes: learning object studio was ambitious, inventive, won an NMC center of excellence award, developed in-house expertise
— reorganizing as “academic media studio”: smaller projects with faster turnaround; large projects grant-funded; charge-back all non-academic work; collaboration with library and press
— wesleyan university press goals: digital imprint; partner with library and its; ownership of (some) learning objects; new publishing models; online revenue streams
— the press can bring prestige/credentialing, peer review, distribution, editorial support, market discipline, relationship with authors
— library as key partner: unique content, organize collections (metadata), central to university mission, understand usability and access, good at preservation
— framework for collaboration: scholarly communications committee (academic media studio, library, press) — includes repository, etc
— first collaborative project: “accelerated motion: towards a new dance literacy in america” — nea funding for CD, support from press, university, nitle, neh
— improvements in new system: professional editor (to manage relationships with authors and provide editorial guidance), centralized management of process
— ongoing challenges: faculty follow-through, maintaining strict deadlines
— beginning to pay faculty ($2K per project); assists in creating contractual relationship, to manage follow-through
— academic media studio mission: engage new technologies, lightweight teaching modules, conference support, support for digital publications (incl. blogs, wikis, publishing platforms), digitization, grant-funded projects, post-production for podcasts
— staff: manager, programmer (flash/actionscript, php, javascript, etc), designer, two more
— priorities: no charge for classroom use, academic use; charge for non-curricular or conference use — cost-recovery
— new models for scholarship: book on Scholarship in the Digital Age (2007)
— academic blogs
— kate hayles quote from MLA presentation on scholarship in new media
— focus on publishing — a part of the core mission of every school (see ithaka report)
— acrl scholarly communications institute

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