ATTENTION RETENTION IN THE TWITTER/TEXTING AGE

Hey faculty members: What are we going to do about the increasingly short attention span of our students? Having taught at Tulane now for about a decade, I cannot help but notice the shift in interest levels among our students.

I frequently teach a media ethics class in which I change the material every semester depending on what is happening in politics, government, world events, the media industries and more. I do this because I built the class in a way that allows me to teach ancient moral philosophies in the context of modern media coverage of current events. For years it has worked beautifully because the students often relate to what is immediately in front of them. For example, this semester, when I teach the unit on privacy and media, I can bring into the mix new technology that makes data mining so much easier and sneakier than it used to be. But I have also gone so far as to use pop culture to engage the students. Recently a popular hip hop singer, Chris Brown, was accused of domestic abuse toward his girlfriend, pop star Rihanna. Media coverage of this event has been quite intrusive, and privacy has not been a consideration. With student attention spans declining and pop culture media peaking, it seems like a no brainer to me that sometimes you bring the mountain to Mohammed.

There would be those out there (even among you, possibly) who would see this as a dumbing down of academia. I disagree. My goal today is the same as it was 10 years ago – to convey information to the students that causes them to think critically and practice moral reasoning. That’s what teaching ethics is really all about. If I have to use rappers and pop stars to get my point across, why not?

I have often said that education is having a hard time keeping up with the breakneck pace at which technology is advancing. Why, for example, do we still have overhead projectors in so many classrooms? Probably because many teachers are still comfortable using the same equipment and teaching methods that worked for them in 1989.

However, that is a minor issue compared to misunderstandings some of us may have about how our students’ minds operate. Our students are all about text messaging and Twitter. For those not Twitter-savvy, here is all you need to know: It is a messaging system that allows the user to send message of only 140 characters. (To give you some idea how short a Twitter message has to be, the preceding sentence is exactly 140 characters long.) Our students operate on brevity. Most cell phones, for example, will not allow you to send a text message from your carrier to a competing carrier that is longer than 160 characters. (The preceding sentence is exactly 160 characters long.)

So, I ask you: If we have students who operate on 140- 160 character communiqués, how can we realistically expect them to sit through classes that last almost three hours? If you are routinely noticing that glazed look that comes over some of your students, you are not alone. I believe the key to making a college class run like a well-oiled machine is multiple stimuli and interactivity. And if that sounds like the same things that hold your attention when you visit your favorite web site, it is not a coincidence. We are in the digital world. Things must move rapidly, substantively and imaginatively. Standing in one spot lecturing endlessly does not an engaging class session make in 2009.

With that in mind, please drum up five minutes and 47 seconds of attention to listen to what one lecturer at the University of Sidney had to stay about holding students’ attention:

I would like us to start a dialogue about this topic. Please comment on this post and share your ideas about attention retention. It is a topic that matters now more than ever before. What are your thoughts?

SCS MEDIA ARTS PROGRAMS: WHAT'S NEXT?

Years ago I worked at a local television station in St. Louis. I worked in programming, but upstairs were the graphic artists. They had their own “office,” which looked more like a college dorm room. The rest of us were required to wear coats and ties to work (like I said…it was years ago!), but the artists always came in dressed “hippiefied” as the general manager liked to say.

Those were the days when artists were typically bohemian types who didn’t mix well with the rest of the staff and who were never allowed to appear in front of a client. How times have changed. Today, with the prevalence of downsizing, and the necessary trend to combine job types, the lines have dulled between the creative and commercial staff members in television, advertising, radio, public relations and anywhere else creative work is produced to promote or sell a product. It is not unheard of, for example, for an account executive at an ad agency to conceptualize, if not produce, art. And it is absolutely common for graphic artists to be called in to meet with clients and discuss concepts, execution and full campaigns.

It all adds up to one of our favorite clichés left over from the late 20th century: Multi-Tasking. It also adds up to a real need for graphic artists and digital designers to have strong writing skills. Although we are increasingly a visual culture, I would contend that the words have taken on even more importance these days. That is because the consumer’s attention span is short, and we must say more using fewer words. So the words that we choose are critical. After all, at some point, doesn’t the account exec sort of become a roadblock between the client and the artist? If the client and the artist can communicate one-on-one, and if the artist can produce words that work well with the art, perhaps everybody wins.

In looking forward in our media arts majors, I am most determined to affect real cross-over between major courses of study. Very soon we will incorporate blogging into our curriculum, for example. Bloggers are often “one man bands,” who produce content , create layout, execute design and even shoot and edit video. I see this as a good step in the evolution of mass communication, and to properly prepare out students for what lies ahead, they need cross training. Down the road (in the very near future), I would like to see our students who now take editing courses, be required to take video editing, as well. I would like to see our public relations students have an understanding of animation. Our journalism students will necessarily need to learn how to convey information using fewer and fewer words. The graduate who approaches the job market with writing, editing, video and design skills will be far more marketable than one who simply understands how to write a good story or execute strong designs.

I want each of you to start thinking about media convergence, the current buzzwords for that crossover that I mentioned earlier. Media convergence is really a trend only of this new century. In fact, recently CBS news correspondent Jeff Greenfield did a segment on “CBS Sunday Morning” about this very issue. Please watch:

I hope you paid close attention when Greenfield mentioned that the conveyance of information now has as much to do with user participation as it does with the providers. That is a trend that we, as media teachers must respect. It means the content of your courses may have to be updated semester by semester as the paradigm changes continue to happen. It means, for example, that we will necessarily incorporate movements such as social networking into our public relations education. We will teach budding journalists how to take what once was a 700-word story and pare it down by half, thereby honoring the readership’s collective decision to obtain their information faster and via fewer words. It means we will forget about static web pages and teach our students about movement, form and multiple visual stimuli.

There are questions that remain to be answered about the future of media: Will video frame captures someday qualify as real still photos? We don’t know yet. Will one media professional be routinely required to move information across multiple platforms? Will user-created content ultimately share equal space with media professionals’ prepared content? How and when will digital media find a real balance between visual and editorial content? Will digital designers need to strengthen and expand their writing skills in order to remain competitive in the marketplace? None of this is clear yet, but all of us who teach media courses must ponder these issues and tailor our course content for all of these possibilities. Here is a brief video in which faculty members at the University of Miami School of Communication address some of the above-mentioned issues:

I am very interested in your ideas on the future of media, and how you would like to see the SCS Media Arts and Journalism programs evolve. I can assure you that in two years this program will look quite different than it looks now, but I need your input and your expertise in order to shape it, plan it and ensure that we stay above the curve. In the near future, we will have faculty meetings held just to discuss the future of the program. In the meantime, please always feel free to talk to me or write to me individually with your thoughts and ideas.
I’m listening. Thanks…Paul A. Greenberg

TENTATIVE FALL 2009 COURSE SCHEDULE

What follows is the tentative schedule for Fall 2009. Biloxi is not included here, but when I have that, I will post it, as well. Please review this list and if you see any conflicts or other problems, drop me a a line as soon as possible at pgreenbe@tulane.edu.

Thanks very much. Paul A. Greenberg

FALL 2009 SCHEDULE – MEDIA ARTS
MONDAY:
MDAR 201-01 ETHICAL ISSUES IN MEDIA 5:45-8:25PM Harry Wadsworth
MDAR 220-81 DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION M/W 10-11:15AM Carrie Lee Schwartz – MAC LAB
MDAR 230-81 DIGITAL IMAGING M/W 12-1:15PM Carrie Lee Schwartz-MAC LAB
MDAR 281-81 WEB WISDOM 6:00-8:40PM John Schwartz – PC LAB
MDAR 320-81 ANIMATION I 6:00-8:40PM Carrie Lee - MAC LAB

TUESDAY:
MDAR 230-81 DIGITAL IMAGING 6:00-8:40PM Martin Straka–MAC LAB
MDAR 261-81 PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC REL 6:00-8:40PM Cyril Guererra
MDAR 361-81 PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN 6:00-8:40pm Steve O’Keefe

WEDNESDAY:
MDAR 235-81 GRAPHIC DESIGN I 6:00-8:40PM Robert Gassiot-PC LAB
MDAR 245-01 ART & CRAFT OF FILM 5:45-8:25PM Nevada Macpherson
MDAR 335-81 GRAPHIC DESIGN II 6:00-8:40PM Rebecca Carr–MAC LAB

THURSDAY:
MDAR 101-01 INTRO TO MEDIA ARTS 6:00-8:40PM Nick Marinello
MDAR 210-01 VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS 5:45-8:25PM Matt Martinez
MDAR 250-01 ART & CRAFT OF TV 5:45-8:25PM Kelley Fogarty
MDAR 501-81 MEDIA ARTS PRACTICUM 5:45-8:25PM Katherine Hart

FALL 2009 SCHEDULE--JOURNALISM

MONDAY:
JOUR 201-81 INTRO TO JOURNALISM 6:00-8:40PM STAFF

TUESDAY:
JOUR 360-01 ONLINE JOURNALISM 5:25-8:25PM PaulGreenberg–PC LAB

WEDNESDAY:
JOUR 360-01 EDITING 5:25-8:25PM Steve Majors –PC LAB

FALL 2009 SCHEDULE – ONLINE COURSES

JOUR 201-10 INTRO TO JOURNALISM Paul Heltzel
MDAR 101-10 INTRO TO MEDIA ARTS Carl Rhode

THE NEW NEW MEDIA

Do you remember when the term "new media" referred simply to the Internet? Do you remember the "information super-highway?" A decade ago, we had no way of knowing how quickly and effortlessly we would all traverse that highway. Since digital communication is advancing at breakneck speed, and as new vehicles keep emerging for us to use as communicators, we necessarily have to continually update our course content.

What follows is a thought-provoking short video about the emergence of new media devices and concepts. What most emerging media affords the user is control. Users can control when and how they receive information. Those who convey the information can control the timeliness of the content, and the manner in which it allows the receiver to participate. In the coming weeks I will be posting information about Citizen Journalism, or more simply put, journalism that enables and encourages the masses to be mass communicators. But for today, please take a look at this video, and give some thought about how you can incorporate new media concepts into your teaching.

Some years ago, for example, when we taught feature writing, it was enough to instruct students on form and structure, good leads, use of quotes, etc. Today, because of emerging media, we have to teach our students how to tailor one piece for multiple media forms. What works in a traditional daily newspaper may not be compelling to the online reader. The luxury of magazine word count and story length is lost on those who use hand held devices, and whose attention span is shorter. The same can be said for visuals. The still photo that grabs a newspaper reader's attention above the fold on page one, might be mundane and old school for the consumer who relies on news and information web sites. Video, animation and more aggressive stimuli are called for in new media.

How will you address the need to teach the basics, to ensure that your students understand universal journalistic and media standards, and at the same time respect the onslaught of new media in which many of your students will be employed? Watch this: