This Fall, I had the privilege of serving as a peer facilitator for a course at the University of Washington’s MCDM program. I am continually impressed by the diversity of the program, and not just by diversity in its typical measure of gender or ethnicity (though that sort of diversity is certainly present).

I’m talking about intellectual diversity: the ways in which MCDM students and faculty approach and solve problems, skills and abilities applied in novel and meaningful ways, and outcomes that far exceed my admittedly high expectations. The student work from Fall 2011′s COM 546 Foundations course - Narratives & Networks in Digital Media – exemplifies both the challenges and the opportunities that true diversity can provide.

Course Background

As a foundational course to the MCDM program, Narratives & Networks in Digital Media had the unique position of orienting Cohort 11 students both to the theory and also the application of many elements they will encounter in the program. Taking a bit of their own advice, this course was newly revamped for 2011, and co-taught by MCDM Director Hanson Hosein and Dr. Malcolm Parks. The result for this first incarnation? Engaging discussions, relevant lectures and guest-speakers, and tangible takeaways for professionals and creatives, alike.

Students in this course witnessed the rise of the Occupy movement, the start of the upcoming nomination and election season, and the death of Steve Jobs. Meanwhile, they engaged with new tools and platforms, tried valiantly to “publish then filter,” and were brought together in new and sometimes challenging ways. Students were exposed to basic principles of digital media, and become comfortable with the central tenet of the MCDM: to effect trusted and persuasive communication, professionals need to develop a compelling narrative tied to strategic network engagement.

With this post, we would like to share some of their work, some of the process, and some of the core philosophies of the MCDM program.
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Due to the sensitivity of this report, all sources names have been changed to protect anonymity. The writer of this article’s name is being withheld for safety reasons as well. Please be advised, some of the images in this story are graphic.

When the news broke last month that a Mexican blogger nicknamed “Rascatripas” (Gut Scratcher) had been killed by Mexican drug cartel “Los Zetas,” it sent a chilling message to journalists not just in Mexico, but around the world. It happened only days after members of the powerful computer hacking group Anonymous declared a short-lived war on the drug cartels in response to the kidnapping of one of their own members in Veracruz.

During an operation called PaperStorm, Anonymous hacktivists threatened via a video message to expose the Zetas and their closest inside sources if their fellow Anonymous member wasn’t released. Although the blogger was set free the day after, he brought a cryptic message back from the Zetas: “For every contributor you expose we will kill ten innocent people.” After much debate online about the ramifications of innocent lives lost, operation PaperStorm was subsequently cancelled.

But “Rascatripas,” who worked separately from Anonymous, openly refused to give up his attempts to write about and expose members of the cartel.

Less than a month later his body was found decapitated under a bridge in Nuevo Laredo.

To put things in perspective, violence in Mexico is believe to have caused more than 45,000 deaths since 2006. Just yesterday morning, 16 people were shot dead in the state of Veracruz in a drug cartel turf war. Read more…

Has Fox News been caught doctoring stories once again? According to a new video circulating online as of yesterday, it appears so. While trying to offer “Fair and Balanced” reporting on the recent riots in Moscow in which some thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest Vladimir Putin’s return to power, the folks at Fox News apparently decided to show viewers footage of the protests. Except the violent, fiery images shown during their broadcast on December 7 were not of Moscow at all but were actually re-purposed video shots from protests in Greece earlier this year.

Throughout much of autumn, near anarchy filled the streets of Athens as that country’s austerity bill as voted upon and photographers/videographers captured lot’s of captivating footage during those melees. It appears the honchos at Fox News thought nobody would notice if they made the protests in Moscow look more violent than they really are. I haven’t seen this anywhere on the New York Times’ Media Decoder or Poynter.org yet, so I’m hesitant to call it 100% true, but the video above doesn’t paint a pretty picture.

Rose Egge is a 25-year-old MCDM graduate and a web producer for KOMO News. She is currently writing a blog about her treatment for acute lymphoblastic lymphoma “Stronger Than I Think I Am: A reporter’s fight against cancer.” You can find more updates on Rose’s treatment on her Facebook page - Rose Egge KOMO.

I am not brave.

People have said that I am, but I’m not. I am surviving cancer the only way I know how – by leaning on others. When I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma I had a secure job, health insurance and an arsenal of family and friends ready to step in with anything I might need. Mine has not always been a graceful journey, but it is one I shared with the family, friends and people I don’t even know who have reached out to carry me in my moments of weakness.

Whether you are my parents, who paid for $8000 in fertility treatments to ensure I could have kids someday, my boyfriend who held me during more than one emotional meltdown, or someone who is taking a moment to read my blog and listen, you have had a hand in my survival. I am alive today because of you.

As I near the end of my treatment, I would like to help those who are not as lucky I am by establishing a new non-profit for cancer patients age 18-30. And MCDM community, this is where I need your help. Read more…



So here I am again, with another infographic. I mean seriously: how could we pass up an infographic on social media? It’s such an integral part of the MCDM, that we just had to give this one props…

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Last week Hari Sreenivasan the Director of Digital Partnerships at PBS and at PBS NewsHour correspondent appeared at a special event hosted by Seattle’s KCTS 9 public television station.  Held a stone’s throw from the Space Needle–Seattle’s iconic architectural monument to progress–at the small station’s studios, this was a special event for students in the University of Washington Master of Communication in Digital Media program and was followed by an interview and event with station donors.

A video of highlights from the conversation with MCDM students and a complete transcript are available on the KCTS 9 website.

According to Sreenivasan, who is a proponent of the growing “slow news” movement, “The value of breaking news is going down faster than you can post it.”
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What do the Occupy Wall Street protests have to do with the digital news revolution?

Turns out, quite a bit.

Occupy Seattle Photos (c) Eric Becker / We Are Shouting

Until recently, the effective strength and success of protest movements was ultimately determined not in the streets, but in editorial meetings. Newspapers and broadcasters would decide how much play to give the protesters, who would wait with bated breath for the 5 o’clock news or the next morning’s edition to see how much anyone else would hear about their cause. Sometimes they got plenty of attention, like when the WTO came to Seattle in 1999. But this system awarded aggressive behavior from protesters and police, taking notice proportional to property destruction and tear gas, while massive marches like the ones on the eve of the Iraq invasion were effectively ignored if they were peaceful.

But the game has changed.

Newspapers don’t dictate what’s news now. With the rise of Twitter, and the bloggosphere, the diversity of other voices online tell them what’s news. Read more…

Just a few days ago, Seattle non-profit Reel Grrls released a video thanking supporters for stepping up and donating to the local youth media production house during their current dust-up with former sponsor, Comcast. Ever since the firestorm broke out two weeks ago in which Comcast threatened to yank $18,000 in summer funding from the tiny non-profit, Reel Grrls has since raised over $23,000 in private donations after the story garnered nationwide attention including write-ups in the Washington Post.

It’s clearly being perceived as media justice victory for the ages, as a local group focused on teaching media literacy to youth dukes it out with a media giant and gets the upper hand. For those that weren’t following the story, on May 12, Lila Kitaeff, technical director at Reel Grrls, sent out a tweet criticizing Comcast’s hiring of FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker.

“OMG! @FCC Commissioner Baker voted 2 approve Comcast/NBC merger & is now lving FCC for A JOB AT COMCAST?!?”

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