student news

CMCI students, faculty present at Denver Comic Con

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 17:53:57 +0000

CMCI students, faculty present at Denver Comic Con Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/15/2016 - 11:53

Jared Browsh and Gino Canella presented together on a panel at Denver Comic Con.

Continuing a tradition established in 2012, ��«��Ƶ faculty members, students and staff presented at the 2016 Denver Comic Con and its associated literary conference, Page 23. Members of CU-��«��Ƶ’s media studies and English departments presented on topics such as gender representation in popular media, action figure culture and the racial politics in recent Superman comics.

Denver Comic Con and Literary Conference is a three-day, family-friendly, pop culture fan convention with a scholarly twist. The event features comics, popular sci-fi and fantasy TV shows, movies, Japanese animation, cosplay (costumed role-playing), gaming and panel presentations.

“It was fun to work in that kind of venue” said Gino Canella, a media studies PhD student whose presentation, “Superman’s Racial Politics: Black Lives Matter, Protest Policing and the Ethnic Other” examined the role of comic books, modern social movements and how popular media contributes to public discourse. Canella enjoyed presenting and found that both presenters and fans shared a passion for digging deeper into the media they love.

“[At Comic Con] we’re really talking about a lot of the same things that we’re studying and talking about in media studies and so I think the complement and the fit was pretty obvious.”

Gino Canella presents his research during the panel.

Canella was joined at the event by fellow media studies PhD students Jared Browsh, who presented on “Capitalization in a Half-Shell: Multimedia, Cross-Demographic of Animated Content from Mickey to Michelangelo” as well as Arthur Bamford and Colin Ackerman who talked about audience research in comics scholarship.

Rick Stevens, an associate professor of media studies, and Christopher Bell, an alumnus of the media studies department, spoke on a panel about the manufacture and collection of action figures, especially the growing market for female action figures. Stevens was also joined by alumna Shannon Sindorf for a panel on superhero gender representation.

Stevens relished the chance to bring a media studies perspective to the comic book community. “One of our goals by coming into that community is to participate, but also to ask questions in a way that have people think about ‘why do you like this?’ ‘Why do you not like that?’ ‘Why does this particular hero speak to you?’”

He said the event represented a particularly valuable opportunity for graduate students, who were pushed to discuss such questions with a general audience. “These young scholars are not just communicating to people that know their scholarship. They’re having to talk to somebody who may have no reference to how we do things. And that’s a good experience for them because this is what we hope they do throughout their career.”

Continuing a tradition established in 2012, ��«��Ƶ faculty members, students and staff presented their research at the 2016 Denver Comic Con, touching on topics such as gender representation in popular media, action figure culture and the racial politics in recent Superman comics.

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VIDEO: Students Create 360-Degree Timelapses for Planetarium

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2016 22:54:52 +0000

VIDEO: Students Create 360-Degree Timelapses for Planetarium Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/17/2016 - 16:54

As virtual reality headsets hit the market and new apps enable anyone with a smartphone to immerse themselves in panoramic visuals, demand for 360-degree video is on the rise. Students in the Department of Critical Media Practices explored this growing form of media by creating images and timelapses for display in CU-��«��Ƶ’s Fiske Planetarium.

“For these projects I wanted the students to begin thinking beyond the traditional screen and consider the full 360-degree environment,” explained Pat Clark, instructor for the course. “While the technical training, specialized cameras and software necessary for this project were an important part of the course, the real challenge was to think outside the traditional frame.”

Chloe Carroll, a student in the course, agreed. “Probably the most difficult part of using this kind of photography is trying to decide whether something will look correctly once it's projected up on the dome.”

Watch the students' timelapses below:

[video:www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQd_hXrtR2I]

Students in the Department of Critical Media Practices explored 360-degree video production techniques by creating images and timelapses for display in CU-��«��Ƶ’s Fiske Planetarium.

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Students Get Hands-on Experience Rebranding Their Dorm

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2016 21:11:34 +0000

Students Get Hands-on Experience Rebranding Their Dorm Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/17/2016 - 15:11

Standing before the director of their residence hall and the dean of their college, a team of first-year students presented a plan to rebrand and improve the Communication and Society Residential Academic Program. It was the culmination of a semester of work by the students in the Introduction to Brand Strategy class.

The CommRAP program is housed in Buckingham Hall and allows residents to take classes in their dorm centered around communication, media and information. Introduction to Brand Strategy is one of the classes hosted in CommRAP, giving students the opportunity to use their own experiences in the residential academic program as the material for a new branding campaign.

“We believe CommRAP can make the biggest contribution to participants and to CMCI by developing resident skills in unconventional thinking, maintaining a collaborative community, supporting students’ failures and being brave enough to take risks,” the team of students explained in their executive summary. Specifically, they proposed that CommRAP adopt a student-based approach to social media, install a computer lab equipped with design software and redesign its website.

They also wanted to see even further involvement from CMCI. “I think we all really want to see them more involved in what we’re doing, I guess kind of bring up the the energy, bring up the enthusiasm to really make it a collaborative environment,” said Ashley Hopko, a student on the team.

By working together to create the rebranding plan and presentation, the team gained a unique hands-on advertising experience with real-world results. As team member Jennifer Lynn Keller put, “this kind of go out and do it attitude that we got to do in the RAP class—like go out and actually visit an agency—really, really coincides with the design thinking that all of us are really interested in.”

CommRAP has already secured a $500 grant towards installing computers in one of the Buckingham Hall lounges and the students are optimistic that the changes they’ve proposed will be implemented. “It’s been crazy to see that just small steps we’ve already taken have paid off in big ways,” said project member Marshall McKinley.

Students from a first-year advertising class practice their new skills by suggesting a new brand for their residence hall academic program.

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Student Wins National Award for Editorial Writing

Anonymous — Fri, 13 May 2016 21:45:24 +0000

Student Wins National Award for Editorial Writing Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/13/2016 - 15:45

CU Independent writer and editor Kaley LaQuea has become the first CU student ever to receive a National Mark of Excellence Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. The award, in the online opinion and commentary category, was given to LaQuea for three opinion pieces which she wrote for the CU Independent, a student-run news site. LaQuea will be acknowledged as a national winner at the 2016 Excellence in Journalism Conference in New Orleans in september.

As a grad student in the Media and Public Engagement program, part of the Department of Media Studies Laquea studies the intersection of feminism and race, topics that she also covers as the opinion editor for the CUI. All three of her winning commentaries focus on the challenges women face in America.

LaQuea’s winning pieces can be found here:

"Opinion: An attack on Planned Parenthood is an attack on public health”

"Opinion: Misogyny in online gaming culture takes a toll"

"Opinion: American moms versus the American workplace"

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Advertising Students Win Seven Awards at Top International Competition

Anonymous — Tue, 10 May 2016 18:46:43 +0000

Advertising Students Win Seven Awards at Top International Competition Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/10/2016 - 12:46

Thirteen students from the ��«��Ƶ’s advertising program have won seven awards in a major international advertising contest, the most collected this year by any four-year university.

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Photos: Spring 2016 JMC Recognition Ceremony

Anonymous — Sat, 07 May 2016 00:13:38 +0000

Photos: Spring 2016 JMC Recognition Ceremony Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/06/2016 - 18:13

Students from the Program in Journalism & Mass Communication, part of CMCI, gathered on May 6 to celebrate their graduation from CU-��«��Ƶ.

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Grant for Climate Change Journalism Will Turn Students into Arctic Explorers

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 18:54:07 +0000

Grant for Climate Change Journalism Will Turn Students into Arctic Explorers Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/28/2016 - 12:54

Kelsey Ray

Kelsey Ray stands on a knife-edge ridge high above the town of Longyearbyen in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.. Photo by Tom Yulsman.

On each of the 10 nights I spent in Svalbard, I slept a little less.

The first morning, I attributed my giddy, wide-eyed sunrise grin to jet lag and bounded out to my Norwegian breakfast—fresh bread, pickled herring and that fabled ‘brown cheese’—with coat unzipped and boots untied. But even as I adjusted to the time difference, it became clear that neither early morning glacial treks nor daylong boat journeys could keep me from grabbing my camera and recorder at day’s end, hoping to learn and see just a little more. Even long, cold nights spent seeking the Aurora Borealis couldn’t dampen my early-to-rise spirits. In Svalbard, I discovered, enchantment conquers sleep.

I visited Svalbard, an island chain in the Arctic Ocean, to take part in a pilot climate change journalism course organized by American and Norwegian professors in September 2015. Next September, three more master’s students from the Center for Environmental Journalism (CEJ) will travel north with Tom Yulsman, the Center's director, and Michael Kodas, the Center's associate director, to explore the Arctic archipelago that scientists call “ground zero” of climate change.

As a participant in a newly-awarded $35,000 grant from the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education, the CEJ team will be working with Norwegian colleagues to implement a new climate change journalism program called Arctic Lenses.

The effects of a changing climate are most visible in the Arctic, where temperatures are rising at twice the global rate. New sea routes and rich oil reserves, exposed by melting ice, have made this historically harsh region more desirable to countries preparing for a warming world.

The de facto capitol of Svalbard, Longyearbyen. The tower in the foreground is part of a now derelict cable system that was used to convey coal from the mines to the town for transport out of Svalbard by boat. Photo by Kelsey Ray.

Funded by the new program, students will spend a week exploring Svalbard’s de facto capital, Longyearbyen—a settlement home to more polar bears than people—and then fly even further north to visit an international atmospheric research station. Yulsman and a Norwegian professor will guide the program’s participants as they study and report on the complexities and contradictions of a warming Arctic.

Students will also hike nearby glaciers, eat the local cuisine—whale, seal and reindeer are often on the menu—and interview residents who hail from countries around the world. They’ll hear from renowned scientists, tour abandoned coal mines and try to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

In all likelihood, they won’t sleep much.

Kelsey Ray will complete her master’s degree in journalism at CU-��«��Ƶ this summer. She covers immigration and the environment as an intern at the Colorado Independent. Her work has also appeared in High Country News and on CUNewsCorps.com.

In September 2016, master’s students will travel north to explore Svalbard, the arctic archipelago that scientists call “ground zero” of climate change, thanks to a new grant received by the Center for Environmental Journalism in collaboration with Norwegian colleagues.

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Grad Students' Time Capsule Project Featured in Local Media

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 17:54:26 +0000

Grad Students' Time Capsule Project Featured in Local Media Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/28/2016 - 11:54

Graduate students from the Department of Critical Media Practices were featured in The Daily Camera, a local publication, for their work to document daily life in the City of ��«��Ƶ in 2016.

Graduate students at the University of Colorado want to memorialize this year in ��«��Ƶ — especially the mundane, everyday parts of life in 2016 — with a digital time capsule.
The project is part of a graduate-level course in documentary fieldwork within CU's new College of Media, Communication and Information. The students are part of the inaugural five-person cohort in CU's new master's degree in interdisciplinary documentary media practices.
They're gathering video, still photos, text, interviews, articles and other digital artifacts — everything from "the significant to the quotidian" — and storing them on their ��«��Ƶ Time Capsule Project website, said Rebecca Zinner, one of the students working on the project.

Read the full article at The Daily Camera.

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CU Independent Named Best Digital-Only Student Publication at Regional Conference

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 21:54:42 +0000

CU Independent Named Best Digital-Only Student Publication at Regional Conference Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/18/2016 - 15:54

On April 16, the staff of The CU Independent brought home a slew of awards from a regional conference of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), including the award for best digital-only student publication. This was the third year that The CU Independent has recieved that distinction at SPJ's region 9 conference, which brings together journalists from Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah.

The student news website was also a finalist for the best use of multimedia award.

Additionally, indvidual staff members were recognized for their work, with Kaley Laquea winning first place for online opinion and commentary. Here is a full list of the awards recieved by students from The CU Independent:

1st Place Awards

CU Independent Staff – Best Digital-Only Student Publication

Kaley Laquea – Online Opinion & Commentary

Finalist Awards

CU Independent Staff – Best Use of Multimedia

Ellis Arnold – Online News Reporting

Emily McPeak – Online Opinion & Commentary

Sarah Farley, Alexis Clark and Danny Anderson – Online News Reporting

Ellis Arnold – Online Feature Reporting

Jordyn Siemens – General News Reporting

Alissa Noe – Sports Writing

Students from the publication also won awards or were finalists for their reporting in numerous categories.

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Photos: Students, Employers Attend Spring 2016 Career Fair

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 06:00:00 +0000

Photos: Students, Employers Attend Spring 2016 Career Fair Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/14/2016 - 00:00

Students in the College of Media, Communication and Information had the opportunity to meet and talk with over 60 employers at CMCI’s spring career fair.

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