Category: NMCC + UO Events

May 26, 2016

Congratulations to the NMCC Graduating Class of 2016!

We are thrilled to announce the NMCC graduates for the 2015-2016 school year, David Staton (SOJC) and Erin Zysett (AAA). We are very proud of the hard work and perseverance that both have displayed in their academic pursuits during their time with us, and we look forward to celebrating their scholarly, artistic, and technological accomplishments in the years ahead. Congratulations class of 2016!!

David Staton, Ph.D. Communication and Society

David Staton is an NMCC June graduate from the School of Journalism and Communication. He says the NMCC program offered him wide opportunities to delve into theory and praxis. “The great thing about the program is how wide open it is. It does have a focus, but I was able to largely determine what that focus would be and I never felt straightjacketed into a program,” Staton notes. The Media Studies PhD will begin his career as an assistant professor at the University of Northern Colorado this fall where he’ll specialized in digital storytelling. “It marries new media, the visual and telling stories,” he says of the job. “It couldn’t have worked out much better and the NMCC made me a more attractive candidate, absolutely.”

Erin Zysett, M.A. Arts Management

Erin Zysett is a 2016 NMCC graduate from the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. There is a growing trend among larger museums and heritage organizations to digitize their collections, both their artifact collections, and their back catalog of research publications and books. Erin’s research focuses on the emerging role of e-curatorship in museums, issues of mass digitization projects, and the marketing potential of making collections available online. Erin currently has a job at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance and will continue with her position there next year.

May 23, 2016

Welcome, New Deans for SOJC and AAA

NMCC would like to welcome Juan-Carlos Molleda, the new Edwin L. Artzt Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, and Christoph Lindner, the new Dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, to campus!

Juan-Carlos Molleda

“Molleda’s research interests are in global corporate public relations management, public relations practices and regulations, and social roles in Latin America. He has introduced to the international academic community the concept and theory of cross-national conflict and the social roles of public relations in Latin America. He also is active in the professional community—currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Public Relations and a founding member of its Commission on Global Public Relations Research. He serves as Latin American liaison of the Public Relations Society of America’s Certification in Education for Public Relations and a board member of the LAGRANT Foundation.”

Christoph Lindner

“In his research and teaching, he is particularly interested in the interrelations between cities, globalization, and issues of political ecology, sustainability, and creative practice, which he approaches from a comparative, transnational perspective. He is currently Professor of Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam, where he directs the ASCA Cities Project. He is also the founding Director of the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis (NICA) and a member of the Amsterdam Center for Globalization Studies (ACGS). From 2010-2014, he was Director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), a research institute and doctoral school focused on the interdisciplinary study of contemporary society, politics, and culture. In addition, he has held visiting appointments at various universities internationally, including New York University, The New School, University of California-Berkeley, University of Edinburgh, University of Freiburg, Queen Mary University of London, University of Venice, and the University of London Institute in Paris.

His recent book publications include Imagining New York City (Oxford University Press, 2015), as well as the edited volumes Global Garbage (Routledge, 2016), Cities Interrupted: Visual Culture and Urban Space (Bloomsbury, 2016), Inert Cities: Globalization, Mobility and Suspension in Visual Culture (I.B. Tauris, 2014), and Paris-Amsterdam Underground (Amsterdam University Press, 2013). He is currently working on a new book titled Slow: Decelerated Living in an Accelerating World (under contract with Verso).

May 19, 2016

Demystifying: Journalism and Silicon Valley

Claire Wardle

Friday, May 27 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm

140 Allen Hall

The past five years have seen the most significant shift in news publishing since the invention of the printing press. Large social media platforms are becoming the principal mechanisms for delivering news to global audiences. What does this new reality mean for the platforms, news organizations and audiences in terms of business models, algorithmic transparency, privacy and ethical frameworks?

Claire Wardle leads the Tow Center’s research exploring the intersection of journalism’s democratic function and the new tools of the digital age. Alongside this, she is the co-founder of Eyewitness Media Hub and a member of the World Economic Forum‘s Global Agenda Council on Social Media.

Claire was previously director of News Services for Storyful, senior social media officer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and a lecturer at Cardiff University, as well as a consultant and trainer on social media. In 2009, Claire designed the social media training programme for BBC news and helped roll it out across the organisation. She subsequently trained over 3,000 people around the world from different media, NGO, Government and academic bodies.

May 18, 2016

Producing the Critical Classroom: Means for Developing Critical Media Production in Gateway I-II

JD Swerzenski

Friday, May 20 at 12:00 PM

307 Allen Hall

“A growing consensus agrees that the development of media literary skills involve both the interpretation and production of media (Buckingham, 2013; Jenkins 2009). Less clear is how these dual pedagogical goals can coexist meaningfully (Ito et al., 2009; Hobbs, 1998). Media production may offer students opportunities to develop technical skills, but can it also help develop critical thinking? A two part study was conducted to investigate this question, focused specifically on the media-production oriented Gateway to Media I-II course. First, a lecture study measured the development of critical literacies during the Gateway course. Second, a more focused lab study tested the efficacy of an in-class activity using peer feedback to stimulate critical analysis of media works. The results showed that media production can be used to develop critical thinking; however, connections between technical and critical process must be in implemented in classroom practice for these developments to occur.”

April 24, 2016

NMCC Welcomes New Students!

NMCC enthusiastically welcomes three new students to our collaborative community of new media scholars: Shehram Mokhtar, Andrew McLaughlin, and Jason Lester.

Learn a bit more about our latest members below!

Shehram Mokhtar: PhD Candidate, Media Studies

About Shehram: Shehram is interested in the politics of representation and global communications. He focuses especially on marginalized groups in television, cinema, and new media.

Andrew McLaughlin: PhD Candidate, Media Studies

About Andrew: Andrew is interested in ethnography and documentary filmmaking. He received his master’s from Eastern Illinois University where he focused on experimental ethnography, alternative media, and documentary production, and he hopes to continue that research here at the University of Oregon.

Jason Lester: PhD Candidate, Comparative Literature

About Jason: Jason’s research is focused on media studies, aesthetic theory, transpacific studies and contemporary Chinese cinema. In particular, he is interested in vitalist and affective critical theories within the context of classical Chinese aesthetic philosophy and contemporary Chinese art cinema.

April 21, 2016

Oregon Sylff Fellowships for International Research

Graduate Fellowships for International Research are supported by an endowment to Portland State University, Oregon State University, and the University of Oregon universities that established the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff). The goal of the Sylff Program is to nurture future leaders who will transcend geopolitical, religious, ethnic, and cultural boundaries in the world community for the peace and the well-being of humankind. General information about Sylff programs is available at: www.sylff.org

Stipends vary, with up to $14,000 for Oregon Sylff doctoral fellows and up to $7,000 for Oregon Sylff master’s-level fellows. Stipends are disbursed over the academic year to assist with educational and research-related expenses. In recent years, seven to ten awards have been made.

Fellowship stipends are awarded to full-time degree seeking graduate students for one academic year of graduate work involving research and scholarly endeavors in programs and projects with an international dimension. The focus is on masters and doctoral degree-seeking students at Portland State University, Oregon State University, and the University of Oregon who have high potential for leadership in international affairs, in public life or private endeavor. Outstanding students in the social/behavioral sciences, arts and humanities, and directly related professional fields (e.g., public policy, business, law, and communications) will be considered through nomination by their respective graduate department/program. Each department or graduate program may make only one nomination. Departments and graduate programs must indicate their own (or their institution’s) commitment to financial support of nominees. Typically, these supplemental contributions are in the form of an assistantship and associated tuition waiver such that Sylff stipends can be used to address travel, living, and research expenses associated with the international research project. Although nominations may be made for students lacking supplemental funding, a priority will be given to those nominations that exhibit a strong institutional commitment to supporting the graduate student.

Departments/graduate programs are responsible for nominating student applicants. Each department or graduate program may make only one nomination.

Application and Nomination Process

Only one nomination may be made by each department or graduate program. Nominators will receive an email as part of the student’s application process, asking the to upload the following documents:

A nomination letter from the department chair or graduate program director indicating departmental/institutional commitment to financial support of the student
Three letters of reference addressing the student’s qualifications and potential related to this fellowship;
Transcripts:
* Nominating department will supply a current unofficial graduate transcript.
* Nominating department will supply a copy of all transcripts used to gain admission into current graduate program.

To apply for this award, please click here:

Awards and Fellowships Application

Deadline to apply: Friday, April 29, 2016

April 20, 2016

NMCC’s Top 10 for April

Check out NMCC’s Top 10 for April: a list relevant blogs, videos, podcasts, and sites surrounding new media, digital culture, and digital scholarship. The following list is in no particular order, but each one provides insight, resources, and information about new media and its impact on the world.

Media Commons: a digital scholarly network

Media Commons examines new ways to publish in the field of media studies, access to writing, and digital productions. Users can get involved in the conversations all over the site by blogging and creating their own portfolios and profiles

MIT’s Micha Altman on Digital Scholarship

What is digital scholarship? What is its purpose? What are the benefits? Micha Altman “unbundles” Digital Scholarship and its differences from traditional methods.

Mediashift

Mediashift focuses on both media and technology and examines the ways they are, “changing the way we get our news and information.” It focuses on how traditional media is forced to evolve or alter their strategies to account for the technology of the digital age.

EDUCAUSE

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit that focuses on advancing higher education through information technology. The site combines new media practices with education and houses a blog, links to resources for educators, events, and job opportunities.

Bryan Alexander: A Digital Scholarship Scenario

How will digital scholarship affect the process of scholarly publishing? Bryan Alexander gives a hypothetical situation for a digital approach to scholarly publishing followed by a discussion about the benefits of expanding traditional publication methods.

Information Aesthetics

Originally based on Lev Manovich’s idea of “information aesthetics,” this blog collects and curates data visualization projects that display information in “original or intriguing ways.

The New Media Show

The New Media show is a podcast hosted by Todd Cochrane and Rob Greenlee. Also available in video, the new media focused show covers topics like media platforms, apps, software, publishing, and new technology.

Signal v. Noise

Signal v. Noise focuses on new media issues specifically surrounding business and technology. It has everything from posts about programming and writing apps to events and opinion pieces.

The Future of New Media

Anil Dash discusses the difference in New Media between innovation and accessibility and what this difference means for the future of culture.

New Media and Technology Law Blog

Run by a law firm that specializes in technology, intellectual property, publishing, and new media, this blog analyzes the legal aspects surrounding new media and the digital age.

April 20, 2016

Julie and Rocky Dixon Graduate Student Innovation Award

The Office of the Vice President for Research & Innovation and the Graduate School are pleased to announce the call for nominations for the 2016-17 Julie and Rocky Dixon Graduate Innovation Awards. This fellowship is designed to support up to four doctoral students who are interested in developing their skills and experience in innovation and/or entrepreneurship in preparation for careers outside of academia. Fellowship recipients will carry the title of Dixon Fellow and will join a community of current and former UO graduate students who have combined learning and innovation.

The activities that comprise the fellowship experience should help enhance the career possibilities of students in areas such as industry, business and the non-profit sector, while remaining integral to the applicant’s doctoral research. Furthermore, the experience gained during the fellowship would ideally extend beyond the value to the individual student by enriching the student’s academic department, lab, research center, or other UO unit by fostering broader connections and engagement between the unit and the community of related companies, agencies, non-profits, national laboratories, etc.

Deadline: Friday, May 13, 2016. Click here to apply.

Award Information:

Up to four awards will be made. Each fellowship carries an award of $14,000 and each awardee will be appointed as a research GTF (graduate research fellow) by the academic department at .40 FTE or greater for the academic year. In addition, recipients will receive a GTF tuition waiver, all but $61 of the mandatory fees, and all but 5% of the health insurance premium for fall, winter, and spring terms to support that appointment. The $14,000 may, in full or in part, be used toward specific activities tied to the innovative career development experience or may be put, in full or in part, toward GTF salary. The department (or research center/institute or school/college) is expected to obtain and provide funding to ensure that the total salary is equal to what that student would receive at the GTF level III, as the award recipient will have been advanced to candidacy by the time the award period commences. This departmental support, and how the $14,000 will be applied, needs to be outlined in the recommendation letter.

All research GTFs are required to be enrolled full-time (9-16 credits) toward the degree. During the academic year, award recipients will be required to be enrolled in research or internship credits (three or more) commensurate with the time spent on award-supported experience.

To apply, students must complete and submit:

An Individualized Development Plan (IDP). More information and templates can be found at https://gradschool.uoregon.edu/faculty/idp.
A summary of the proposed innovative experience which addresses how it complements your academic research and goals; and how it will contribute to your career development. Be specific about the arrangement worked out with the sponsoring organization and when this experience will occur, the kinds of expected activities involved during and after the experience, and how this opportunity enhances your career possibilities. Please describe any related activities in which you will be engaging, before and/or after the experience that complement the internship. The strongest applications are those that also address how your innovative experience could benefit and enrich the department or the university through the sharing of expertise and learning gained through the beyond-the-academy experience. (Summary should not exceed 1,500 words, nor exceed three pages.)
A CV or resume

Students must also acquire (to be submitted by the academic department):

Academic advisor letter of recommendation
External mentor letter of recommendation

To learn more about the award, including requirements for recipients, visit the graduate school’s website.

April 18, 2016

April Shelfie: Christie Pang

Before entering the PhD program at UO, I received my MA in English and BA in Creative Media from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. I worked on the production end of the media spectrum for my undergraduate work, specializing in animation and game design, which in turn led me to a two-year art internship at Tetris Online. Shortly after, I spent a year at Waseda University in Tokyo, where I became interested in Japanese visual culture, especially as how it pertains to the formation of alternative gender identities. Combining my studies in media and the visual, my current research revolves around the body, especially in the presentation of male-female-likenesses in Visual Kei music videos from its inception in the 80s to the present, and its influence on other popular Japanese real life and digital performance genres. I am also interested in the auditory performance of gender by ryouseirui utaite—amateur singers who sing in both male- and female-like voices—in the Vocaloid fandom.

I discovered the New Media Culture Certificate through my Media Aesthetics seminar in the English Department last Fall. As my research extends toward new media, the transdiciplinary nature of NMCC provides a complementary framework by which I can incorporate other media forms into my research while also providing me with opportunities to make connections with scholars in other departments outside my own.

Most of my media texts are sourced from YouTube. However, its country-specific streaming restrictions have prevented me from viewing videos for my work in Japanese popular culture, so I have also relied on Nico Nico Douga. NND is a great resource for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese media and I’ve found its user interface particularly useful in relation to those who are interested in fan culture.

Book recommendations:

Galbraith, Patrick W. and Jason G. Karlin, Eds. Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print.

McLelland, Mark and Romit Dasgupta, Eds. Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan. New York: Routledge, 2005. Print.

Mezur, Katherine. Beautiful Boys/Outlaw Bodies: Devising Kabuki Female-Likeness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Print.

Robertson, Jennifer. Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Print.

Welker, James. “Lilies of the Margin: Beautiful Boys and Queer Female Identities in Japan.” AsiaPacifiQueer: Rethinking Genders and Sexualities.Eds. Fran Martin, Peter A. Jackson, Mark McLelland, and Audrey Yue. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008. 46-66. Print.

What's on your shelf? Interested in being NMCC's next Shelfie feature? Email us! — What’s on your shelf? Interested in being NMCC’s next Shelfie feature? Email us!

April 3, 2016

Spring 3-Minute Thesis Competition

UO will host another 3-Minute Thesis competition to allow grads to show off their research to fellow students, faculty, and the community.

“What it is: A competition for grad students to do the best job presenting their research in just 3 minutes, using just one static slide. It’s fun and there’s money to be won, but more importantly, the competition is a really great way to help grads perfect that all important ‘elevator speech,’ boiling down why their research matters into an accessible and short spiel.

When it is: This year, the UO preliminary rounds and finals will all happen on the same day, Friday the 13th of May. Preliminary rounds will be from 1:30-3:00 and preliminary winners will move on to the finals, which will start at 4:00 pm. Students winning in the finals will go on to the state competition (against finalists from OSU, PSU, and OHSU), which will happen this year on the OSU campus on Saturday May 21.

Deadline to apply is April 25, 2016. Visit the website to sign up for the competition!