Ask Not What The MCDM Can Do For You. Ask What You Can Do For The MCDM, Vol. 1

Posted by michaelbean06 on
Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 5:00 am

What can you do for the MCDM now? Easy. Simply suggest ways to augment what the MCDM can do for you! Selfless, yet wonderfully self-serving at the same time, no? Maybe I should have gone to law school after all…

Anyway, I got a chance to mention this in class, so perhaps some of the introductory stuff that follows isn’t necessary. But I spent a silly amount of time thinking then writing about the best way to maybe make this worthwhile last night, so I’ll leave it largely untouched if only to make me feel better about my time management skills efforts. - MB-

Allright, I’m heading down a different path here. Y’all seem to beat me to the interesting articles most days anyways. I thought I’d try to play off the visibly growing cohesiveness and collaborative spirit of the program by leading a regular dialogue here on FTM about how we might specifically improve upon the MCDM at the University of Washington. We’ll see if this gets any traction at all, but if it does, we’ll adjust as we see fit and keep going.

For those not in my cohort, the idea is simple: I post a broad topic, we all suggest particulars within it that might make the MCDM program better moving forward. Think big here. What might not be possible now, may very well be in a year’s time. Or five year’s time. If it’s a killer idea, it will be remembered for when the time is right. Or think small. Things that could be implemented by the time we commence the Winter Quarter in early January. We all love easy deliverables in life, no?

If you’re out the door and pressed for time, stop now. Bookmark or take note to come back when you have a few minutes to read, think, then chime in (either publically here or more privately in a way that’s comfortable to you).

The reality is this program is short. It’s crazy to think that 1/5 of the program is nearly in the books. Heck, I’d be more apt to believe that just 1/5 of this quarter has passed. So our time may be too limited to see some of these potential suggestions play out while we’re still here That’s ok, though. It’s still important for us to help the program continually improve in my humble opinion. We’ll be lifelong ambassadors of the MCDM for one. We’re still going to have a rooting interest (emotionally and perhaps to a lesser degree even financially) in making sure the program continues to be viewed favorably around the world. And finally, at the risk of sounding like a sycophant, we in a way also owe it to Hanson Hossein to do our part in helping shape and redefine the MCDM for the better, even as we leave. Obviously lots went into his decision to stay at the Univ. of Washington, but our individual promise and spirit and the program’s collective potential as an institution surely played a part as well.

Let me briefly attest that the pressures are strong to accept offers like the one he turned down. Agonizingly tough even for those with a strong sense of place and loyalty to those close to them. I have a tenured professor for a parent, so I have seen first hand the full court press schools deploy when they want somebody who is talented. I lived in Madrid, Austin, Washington DC, Austin again, then Newport Beach, CA as a kid. That’s not remarkable or anything, but each move was the result of an opportunity that was too sweet to pass up, including that last one to the beach in So. Cal when I had just one year of high school left.

So anyway, thank goodness we won’t be breaking in a new director in our 2nd and final short year here. Time now to reciprocate the loyalty and long-term commitment. If not here on FTM, fine. Twitter’s the new crack black, so perhaps there. Or more privately on email. But somewhere. To the ideas we go.

GROUP BRAINSTORM #1 - Better Access to Tools/Toys/Skills Development

Three thoughts/ideas, ordered in no particular precedence (or substantial contemplation, just random talking points to start). Hopefully we won’t debate the merits of what is or is not a good idea. If it’s in your head, and you feel comfortable doing so share. Forget practicality or cost for the time being. We’ll leave it to Hanson, Kathy et al to determine what’s doable or not.

1) Hardware/Software/Gadgets: I’m probably not the best person to speak here. I paradoxically have little knowledge of all the software/applications/tools/gadgets that are out there, yet I sense after several months that I may be one of few who has even a mild interest in developing some technical skills in conjunction with the other curriculum. That doesn’t make me or you better or worse. We’re all in different places in our lives and careers; we all have different ambitions, skills, etc. To me, that’s part of what’s great about what we’re doing. That said, the availability should be there, if teneable financially for those who want it. I’ll offer up a few personal things I wouldn’t mind seeing. Y’all may have different ideas about what could be helpful for you to have access to based on your established careers, goals, etc.

I am a casual web developer/programmer by moonlight who loses out on some of the funds from contracts because I have to team with a designer with better software and knowledge of using it. I can’t tell you how many times I wish I had even average familiarity with the Adobe Creative Suite and its programs like Photshop. The latest CS is prohibitively expensive, so perhaps we could play around with it at our leisure on MCDM computers? Optional workshops for those who might want a 3 hour crash course some weekend? Things like making presentations for your company or visually engaging sales pitches for a CMO are just two examples of how we might better equip ourselves to do good things in our endeavors after the program. With the MCDMs new space coming sometime in the future, perhaps there will be a lab equipped with all sorts of software and applications. I’m aware that there are ways to get access to these kinds of things through other departments on campus, but in my humble opinion, there’s no reason why we should have to go out of house. I find it tough and uninspiring to trek to a infrequented place to go fiddle around alone. Amongst colleagues and friends in the new MCDM designated space, I could see it being much more enticing, sufferable, and attainable to build or expand upon simple but handy skill sets.
Career skills development (wrote this before class and minute papers, so sorry for unintentional redunancy. Share ideas here where they will be saved anyway if you’d like) - It’s unreasonable to think the MCDM should foot an expensive bill to help us learn things outside the scope of the program. In other words, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect resources to be devoted to hiring staff and offering courses for the few of us who might be interested in niche technical skills. But career development workshops, on the other hand, aren’t an unreasonable idea and they might be very useful for many of us like me who have done a nice thing or two in the ’real world’ but still have limited experience exploring all the possible opportunities out there. Job listings are one thing. Knowing what what’s realistic and worth exploring based on advice/conversations with people who have gotten to know us could be more beneficial. I will say though to close that working in conjunction with the MCDM staff and their chosen panelists or workshop participants, rather than with just with Career Services at the University would be great. My personal experience has taught me that they quickly fall into the trap of treating me as someone interested in journalism.
Hardware – I wanted to download the Apple Software Development Kit (SDK) to teach myself how to develop apps for the iPhone. But alas, I quickly remembered that Apple likes to exclude huge chunks of the population from making their products cooler for no logical reason by requiring you to develop on their expensive machines. (The gPhone will quickly dust the iPhone for this reason in my humble opinion, but that’s a topic for another day.) Anyway, different types of computers for different types of preferences and specific task objectives.
Gadgets – Random, not very important sub-topic here, but I personally wish I had more access to cool relevant gadgets. Free toys for all! Just kidding, but it might be fun Hanson if you once or twice a quarter held a casual get-together where we could learn about and get our hands on some of the latest and the greatest for a few hours. You wouldn’t deem that tedious work would you?? Who knows, might not be worth the time to make the calls, but wouldn’t surprise me if various manufacturers/companies would participate. The purpose to me would be to get a closer look at the kinds of things new technology is making possible for those of us not quite in the position yet to spend freely on such things. This might be another way to facilitate informal networking and socializing in a pretty relaxed fun setting.

2) Access to Engineers and Developers on Campus – This isn’t exactly a tool of course. And now might be a good time to reinforce that I’m not trying to suggest things become excessively focused on technical skills. That’s entirely not the point of what we’re here for. I get that. But I know I’m not entirely alone in thinking that it would be amazing to actually launch some ideas that are conjured up at Nickerson Street Saloon, or in class. Is there not an insanely talented pool of programmers and developers on this campus that aren’t yet expensive to contract or impossible to lure away from their secure paychecks without any start-up capital? And by the same token, wouldn’t now be a good time for those of us not yet locked into a career path to take the risks (time, mostly) involved in labor intensive projects?

Seems to me there should be a system in place to easily access collaborative help across departments for those who have an idea twirling around in their mind, but have no idea how to make it happen technically, or the money to get the necessary help. My hunch is more and more entrepreneurial, gifted, and intelligent people will continue to apply here in record numbers moving forward, and I think it would be a fantastic selling point if we had some examples of how the program has been able to foster the necessary alliances and collaborations across disciplines for those interested in seeing a project through start to finish.

I am confident that if I asked tomorrow for help like this, it would get done. But it might take awhile. Instead, it might be worthwhile to begin putting in place an informal alliance(s) across campus so the opportunity costs of assembling a team are sufficiently low.

Engineers/Programmers = Technical Talent. No ideas*

MCDM’ers = Lots of ideas. Cave people**

* Light-hearted generalization

** Relatively speaking

(ducking for cover)

3) ____________________ (I lied. Your turn. I’ve said enough)

Thinking caps on MCDM’ers. We were put on the spot at class that one night when Hanson broke the fantastic news of him staying here in Seattle at UDub. We all know we’re in plenty good hands just following where he might lead us. But several times now he has said he coud use our help molding the program into what we collectively want, and what we think collectively feel is important to enrich the experience before and after our time is up here. It’s hard to emulate what we’re doing and to keep up if we’re always evolving.

There might have been better topics to start with than the one I chose, so offer up category suggestions to break down for next time if you wish.

If there is a next time, we’ll get right down to it without the fluff to start. Was on my mind and thought I’d share. Thanks for listening this time around.

Enjoy the rest of the week and the weekend. Look forward to seeing y’all next week.

Cheers.

-MB-

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15 Comments, Comment or Ping

michaelbean06

Followup:

Something to consider. As social media potentially becomes wore universally accepted as just part of life, some of the theoretical aspect of the program might be less interesting in the future. Talking about this stuff might turn into ‘duh, so what?’ before we know it. Not guaranteed, but possible. So the question then is what next to focus on. Things are always changing. We know that. But we know that usually these big changes come only every so often, with a rigorous and prolonged exploration and development of the tools and applications driving the movement. These stretches can fill the gaps between the major revolutions in communications, so basically, that was my thinking behind at least trying to get some ideas about how we can also facilitate being creators in the future.

Amateur is king, so it need not be clinical or high-end expensive stuff. Just access to a wide variety of tools to explore.

Nov 13th, 2008
Brian Johnson

Technical Seminars
I do agree that learning amongst people you know can be much more productive and I think MCDM Seminars would be a good idea to consider. The easiest way to do it would be through the MCDM students and alums themselves. You mentioned Photoshop. Not that I am an expert but I know a thing or two and I am sure there are other MCDMers with Photoshop experience that could help guide a Photoshop workshop. I would certainly be willing to lend a couple of hours to help other people. It seems like the MCDM has the inhouse technical know how with all of our great students, just a matter of deciding if it is worth pursuing or just use the existing on campus resources.

Working with Engineers
That is an interesting idea for sure. If you tie in some software engineers, you certainly introduce many different opportunities/programs/possibilites. Not sure how I feel about this one.

Nov 13th, 2008
rita.rogers

i would love an adobe cs crash course session. i’ll bring donuts.

Nov 13th, 2008
adriana

There are free technical seminars (I’ve taken a few myself) offered at UW for students. Everything from Adobe, to video production and web development. Also, Catalyst instructors have open office hours for any technical question/advice. These courses are just what you are requesting, crash courses. Here’s the link to the schedule:

http://catalyst.washington.edu/research_development/development_projects/course_workspace.html

Also, you can use the labs in the COM building. There are Mac and PC labs with a ton of software. You just need the code for the doors and they are accessible 24hrs.

I realize that we need to get better at sharing information and school resources. So please continue to ask so we can guide each other and as Michael says, help our program grow

Nov 13th, 2008
mwalls2

I agree the talent within the program is immense, possibly we can revisit the bio sheet handed out at orientation to get a better understanding at everyone’s special talent? From the other night’s minute paper, I think a career workshop/class would be very helpful, possibly more if we leveraged the social media tools we’ve been learning about to create it.

Nov 14th, 2008
ianjporter

In response to Michael’s follow up, I don’t think theoretical approaches are going to become passe. If anything, they will become more important as the technology becomes more ubiquitous. As the technology changes and becomes more integrated in culture, theoretical models will need to evolve to more accurately represent “reality.” I know, for those who are using this program exclusively for professional advancement, theoretical models may be useless, but I think there is a place for theory even in popular culture. Much of the prevailing wisdom in culture had to be thought up first by some kook academic before the ideas “went viral” enough to become commonplace. In addition, people are still studying newspapers and radio even though these media have been around for more than a century.

Nov 15th, 2008
ianjporter

I posted my last comment without saying one more thing. I think the idea of having “crash courses” or workshops on these technical programs is great. As many have said, I am very interested in learning these things. Although I do have academic ambitions too, learning this stuff is still helpful. I think even academic work will be served by using the technology for presentation. The student who presented in our class about the website he created for his youtube research project is a perfect example of this. In short, I am down for all this stuff, though I have few skills to contribute.

Nov 15th, 2008
jeffhora

Technical stuff – While familiarity with standardized toolsets like Adobe would be very helpful, it might also be helpful, for those without deep wallets, to look at what can be done with free/lite/cheap tools (e.g. Windows MovieMaker inside of Vista, Audacity for sound editing, PPT2YouTube for converting PowerPoint slides into MPEG video). A place to document best practices around any toolset or expertise would be helpful. Perhaps a Flip the Media wiki…..

Career skills development – regardless of what you are doing and where to plan to head, you’re in a career path of some sort. Career-oriented resources for integrating MCDM into your dream future (and not, as you mentioned, just “some kind of journalism”) would be helpful. The networking events are a good example of where this might be taking place, but I’m sure there are other ideas.

I’ll probably think of more later, but I wanted to capture these.

Nov 15th, 2008
cindy wong

Michael has unleashed a series of intriguing ideas for how MCDM can engage students on multiple levels: networking, collaboration within UW and Seattle’s tech community, and self-improvement.

Like Adriana mentioned, UW’s Catalyst offers software training in the late afternoon/evening period. However, as a graphic designer, I would be happy to give a workshop in Adobe Photoshop for those interested. I can offer a crash course at least.

Tech proficiency:
As a person interested in MCDM’s professional leanings, I believe in the expression, “In order to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.” For those engaged in technology, I think its vital to have some basic understanding of the tech to engage with others involved in the field. CSS, Flash, JAVA, UI, programming, etc. At the least, students should have some production skills so they can build a portfolio of themselves, whether it be business cases or products. It helps you appreciate digital media even more when you can understand the science and beauty behind it.

Tech collaboration:
MCDM needs to strengthen its ties to the tech community within Seattle. Hanson is working on this. In the late summer, Harvard’s Berkman Berkman Center for Internet and Society collaborated with UW to present a book talk. At the reception, I met folks from the tech community. I was introduced to an editor from Six Hour Startup. Its an organization for those interested in tech entrepreneurship in the Puget Sound area. They hold monthly events where members of the community come and build a new product in a six hour time frame. It is both a networking and educational event that is totally open to the public.
How cool is that? If I had never gone to the event, I would have missed meeting these interesting people. At MCDM, we need to tap into that. There are people with creative ideas who need technical help to know how feasible their ideas are and how to implement them.
It would help to see an event calendar of related tech events that don’t necessarily have ties with UW.

Digital Self Improvement:
I second the notion of learning how to brand yourself online. From blogging to building your self-identity-brand website, students need to be savvy marketers, online and offline. How do you market yourself as a master of your own field? How do you present your best face online? Social media tools abound for how to build your presence but I think its invaluable to know how to market yourself from receiving counseling from those who do it best (*cough* Hanson *cough* Adriana).

Nov 16th, 2008
cindy wong

Let me add a post-script:

PS: From visiting http://sixhourstartup.com/, I encountered one of its linked sites which is http://blog.npost.com/, a start-up networking site’s blog which asks questions and gives advice geared for those interested in entrepreneurship and online start-ups.

Seattle and its litany of start-ups and those involved are mentioned here which is a good place to start investigating: a) your own ideas and how to facilitate them in this city and b) networking and c) know the tech landscape.

Food for thought, indeed.

Nov 16th, 2008
jaysh

I’m adding my voice to Jeff’s here. We need a wiki or at least a resources guide on the website – the level of participation on this blog speaks well for a well-maintained future wiki.

Nov 16th, 2008
Brook Ellingwood

In myMCDM, we are both a think tank and business incubator.

As a think tank, we can reach out to the business community to offer ourselves as an emerging community of digital media researchers and strategists in a variety of ways:
1) Existing companies and organizations can seek to become the subject of student project proposals in how they might incorporate digital media into their strategic plans.
2) Students who are ready to start the next big thing can spend a quarter writing business plans knowing that members of the investment community will review them.
3) Ongoing networking events will begin to incorporate presentations from startups looking for talent that is revved up and ready to hit the ground running, followed by open conversation.
4) Alumni will seek to form a professional association, open to anyone in the field, which will sponsor ongoing networking and other career support.

As a business incubator, we can look across departments at UW to collaborate on student-initiated projects. Real-world work in digital media takes a range of disciplines: While it may be possible for one person to be proficient in all the aspects of a project, if it’s at all complex it quickly becomes impractical to do it alone. I see MCDM students initiating projects, or signing on to consult on projects coming from other programs or department, that may also have students from:
1) Computer Science
2) Business
3) Library Science
4) Journalism
5) Other Communications Disciplines

Maybe the best of these project may prove to be eligible for the UW’s Technology Transfer Grant program, but the publicly-available information I’ve found on this doesn’t seem to talk about student work.

Clearly, my focus is more on the thinking part than on the skills part. For me personally, that’s rooted in my desire to shift my career from the application of skills to strategic planning. It’s a struggle that I urge other MCDM students to think about as they contemplate their paths. If you can code, or design, or write, or all of the above, you may find that becomes what you do. If your long-term goal is planning and management, it certainly helps to have some real skills (managers who don’t understand what they manage are far too common), but if your skills are seen as invaluable to getting work done you may eventually find them holding you back instead of moving you forward.

So, my vote is that MCDM provide students with the ability to learn skills, but that it always be framed within the context of using them strategically. The world offers plenty of opportunities to learn Photoshop or Final Cut Pro, but there’s only one MCDM. It may be very helpful to an idividual’s work for MCDM that he or she develop skills, but I see that as an adjunct to the goals of the program, not a core reason for the program.

Nov 16th, 2008
michaelbean06

thanks y’all for jumping in. guess I can justify moving forward with the next in the series.

One follow up to Brooke’s very interesting point. I totally agree, the improvement of skills is only valuable if it can help one get work. For many, myself included largely, it’s naive to think a marginal improvement in skills will allow me to catch up to many of the technically proficient people. So it is a tricky propoistion and certainly shouldn’t take over the larger focus of the program like you mentioned Brooke. Just so that things are available who want to create while they’re here or want to use this small window to take the plunge to see what kinds of tools they might be worthwhile knowing.

Nov 16th, 2008
paolo

I highly encourage everyone to take classes on Photoshop and the free video editing programs – Windows Movie Maker or iMovie.

In PR, knowledge of these programs has helped me gain an edge on a lot of other professionals because most classically trained comm pros I know don’t have a lot of background on design. As marketing in converging with all forms of comm, these skills are becoming more and more important. (These skills are also indispensable for working on class projects, too.)

Because I’m submerged in mobile devices day-to-day, I’ll chime in on the gadgets conversation. Although iPhone is the popular kid on the block, I’d also encourage you, Michael, to look at free SDKs provided by Google Android and Windows Mobile. Google has yet to develop its portfolio, but it seems to me that when you develop applications for basically the cost of your labor with a free toolset and make that available for far less expensive phones (on Windows Mobile) you might have a lucrative adoption rate ahead of you for any applications you develop.

Mobile app development is already a big market, but it’s growing fast as the iPhone has popularized the idea of mainstream smartphone adoption. Opportunities are abound with other platforms as Apple offers, unfortunately, the most closed of mobile platforms for developers.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Michael for starting this thread. I am equally appreciative of Brian’s headshot icon.

Nov 19th, 2008
Aaron Seeley

In the interest of initiating new students or aiding current ones, could we come up with a list of 5-10 or so of the best new “must have” digi/social media tools and maybe a quick description of what they do and we can best use them? Perhaps MySpace and Facebook are too obvious to be included, but I know I’d like to make sure I’m keeping up with all the cool kids!

Nov 30th, 2008