More JDM publishing news

Dr. David McCoy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Journalism and Digital Media, reviewed the book The Digital Divide for the Journal of Media Education.  The review appeared this spring in volume3, issue 2.  McCoy’s article Getting Started with Student Blogs: Tips for the Digital Immigrant was published in the March 2012 edition of the journal Faculty Focus.  His article Social Media Convergence: How a Blog Assignment Can Serve as a Professional ePortfolio is in submission for the Spring 2013 volume of the AURCO Journal.

JDM Professor publishes book review

Dr. Gretchen Dworznik, Assistant Professor of Digital Media was asked to review the book, Chronicling Trauma for the journal Journalism. The review appeared this summer in volume 13, issue 6. Dworznik also made three separate presentations at the Broadcast Educators Association conference in April. Her presentations centered on aspects of teaching media in the new educational reality those in higher education media organizations are facing.

AUTV-20 WRDL to produce high school and college football

Fall means football in Ohio and JDM kicked off its sports production season with both high school and college football broadcasts from around Ashland county. Produced by JDM student crews, games will air on a tape delayed rebroadcast schedule on both Armstrong CH20 and SportsTime Ohio and LIVE on WRDL!

AU (on STO!):
8/30,    Indy @ AU
9/29,    Lake Erie @ AU
11/10,  Notre Dame (OH) @ AU

High School Football  on AUTV-20:

8/24,    Black River @ Western Reserve 

8/31,    Dover @ Ashland HS

9/7,      Manchester @ Black River

9/14,    South Central @ Western Reserve

9/21,    W. Holmes @ Ashland HS

9/28,    Mapleton @ New London

10/5,    Western Reserve @ Crestview

10/12,  Western Reserve @ New London

10/19,  Norwayne @ Hillsdale

10/26,  Western Reserve @ Mapleton

Look for games to rebroadcast on AUTV-20 several times a day during the following week after each game date!

JDM named a fully integrated journalism program

A New Jersey journalism instructor has listed Ashland University’s Department of Journalism and Digital Media as one of 47 journalism programs throughout the country that have fully-converged its print and broadcast curriculum. JDM is also the only journalism program in Ohio that received this distinction.

Dr. Mu Lin, an instructor in the Department of Communication at Georgian Court University in New Jersey, recently compiled a list of more than 500 colleges and universities from across the country that have journalism programs.

Lin looked at those programs to see how many of them had converged their print and broadcast curriculums. In other words, do journalism majors have to learn multimedia skills as part of their major?  Lin identified 105 programs as digital/multimedia programs, of which JDM was included.

"Naturally, the JDM faculty was thrilled when we read Dr. Lin's findings," department co-chair Tim McCarty said. "It confirmed what we already knew to be true from our research when we created our converged JDM curriculum in 2010. We need to help meet the challenges our students will face upon entering an ever-converging media world."

Lin then broke the journalism programs into four groups: those that are fully integrated, partly integrated, silos and electives only.

Fully integrated programs like at AU require all students to take dedicated courses in digital/multimedia reporting, production and/or dissemination, along with reporting and production courses for traditional print and broadcast platforms. Partly integrated programs require their students to take a multimedia reporting or production class, but then allow those students to choose a concentration of print or broadcast. Silo programs require their majors to choose a concentration that focuses on only one media platform.

Ashland’s JDM was the only program in Ohio listed in the fully integrated category. Bowling Green State University was listed as partly integrated, while Ohio University was listed in the silo group.

"Ashland's JDM program is indeed a leader in new media education regionally and nationally," McCarty said. "Our program is a model of rigorous academics reinforced by real-world experiential learning opportunities for 21st century journalists."

Click here to read more about Lin's research.

New Radio Advisor rocks WRDL

WRDL, JDM's student-run radio station got a makeover this summer thanks to the department's newest faculty member Professor Steve Suess. Suess joined the JDM staff from Illinois State University in May and along with Operations Manager John Skrada, spent the summer reformatting WRDL's music playlist, updating equipment and new production elements. In addition to all the work reformatting the station Suess and Skrada also had to deal with mother nature's wrath as several summer storms knocked out some equipment in the radio studio.

"I couldn't have anticipated the work that would go into changing the format. Usually, launching a brand new format is a job for an entire staff of people working 40 hours/week. John and I were able to work together and get it done with a staff of just two. That's something I'm really proud of, and John was a priceless resource throughout the entire process." Suess said.

Besides Top 40's music, the station is also working hard to rebuild bridges inside and outside the AU community. For a commercial and non-commercial radio veteran like Suess, outreach is this year's top priority.

"One of the first big changes at WRDL is the establishment of a positive relationship with AU Athletics. WRDL worked out a deal with athletics allowing the station to acquire four tickets to every Eagle home football game in exchange for on-air promotion. In the future, we hope that similar deals will translate into tickets for basketball and other sports. A solid relationship with campus athletics is a must for any college media organization." Suess said.


Pop music, sports ticket giveaways, community news and information? For JDM students, our department and radio listeners all over Ashland county, it sounds like there's a new kid in town! Check out WRDL at 88.9FM.

JDM produces documentary on Ashland Balloonfest

For one weekend in the summer, Freer Field in Ashland transforms into THE place for great music, food and of course, hot air balloons! To help promote Ashland's famous Balloonfest, JDM captured all the sounds and high flying sights in a new documentary. The department's second documentary film produced by the Ashland Film Group features amazing point of view aerials shot during a high flying balloon ride taken by JDM Operations Manager, John Skrada who (naturally!) brought along an HD video camera.

"I thought I was going up on a short, tethered ride." Skrada said. "I was concentrating on working the camera and wasn't paying attention at the beginning, when I looked up, I realized we were really high!"

Skrada's "short hop" turned into a two-hour long flight over fields and farms surrounding Ashland. Skrada says he and pilot Greg Miller soared up to 11,000 feet.

"We were so high I could see Cleveland!" Skrada said of his once-in-a-lifetime flight. Skrada's aerial footage also features an amazing sequence when they were skimming just feet above houses and farm fields.

Your can check out Balloonfest now airing on AU-TV20 and here on the JDM YouTube channel:

Up, up and away!

The JDM crew is putting the finishing touches on a cool documentary featuring Ashland's famous Ballonfest. This year's festival lifts off June 28th! Bring a chair, sunscreen, sunglasses, an appetite and a pair of binoculars to see the balloons. It high flying fun for the whole family.

Check out the TV promo!