The Lab in ST 120

Do you know how wonderful it is to have a need - a real need - fulfilled?

In January 2007 NKU made a huge investment in the Electronic Media & Broadcasting and Media Informatics programs. These programs are, obviously, very technology-oriented. And our facilities were, shall we say, technology-challenged. Conversations with potential donors prompted more conversations on campus and until a realization became clear to the administration - we needed more than our seven stand-alone editing stations.

Now, those seven units were much appreciated. In December 2006 we only had five editors and 12 months prior to that we had a mere three units. All of these to serve our 200+ Electronic Media & Broadcasting (at the time, Radio/Television) majors. With the formation of the College of Informatics - and another realization about the role media is going to play in our new college - a new major was created: Media Informatics. Where EMB concentrates on "linear" storytelling on more traditional screens and speakers (think of television, video/DVD, film and radio) MIN focuses on "nonlinear" storytelling on new, smaller (computer and mobile) screens and through earbuds and headphones. But if the MIN program is as successful as we expect - and really, just to get it off the ground, especially when combined with requirements of the EMB program - we needed more computing power.

And so The Lab was born.

Located in ST 120 - smack in the middle of technology and construction labs - The Lab is 21 networked Mac Pros (for twenty students and one instructor) outfitted like no other on campus. Flash. Dreamweaver. Fireworks. Photoshop. Illustrator. After Effects. Avid Media Composer. Apple Final Cut Studio 2 - Final Cut Pro, Color, Motion, LiveType, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro. Maya. ProTools. Final Draft. Celtx. Office. iMovie. iDVD. Garage Band. And all these programs are linked together by an Avid Unity file-level sharing network with 16TB (yes, that's terabytes) of storage. What that means is that we can write scripts, create animation, author websites, edit live-to-tape multicamera shows, and edit HD movies - and more! - all in this one lab.

Craziness, right? Yes, it is complete overkill - except that we needed some overkill just like this on campus. When the Center for Informatics is built in 2010 or so we'll "spread the wealth" and divide what's in this room into at least three labs, but for now this place absolutely rocks. And it is continuously rocking. In our first semester we had seven classes scheduled in the room - Writing for the Media, Broadcast Newswriting, two sections of Introduction to Media Aesthetics, Introduction to Integrated Media, and Screenwriting. In the fall of 2007 we have another seven classes in there, including classes from EMB, MIN, and Art, followed by 10 classes in spring 2008. We immediately proved a need, and the Lab delivered.

Pedagogical Nirvana

One thing that happens when you go from teaching with seven individual machines to 20 networked workstations is that you experience a complete upheaval in process. Instead of "showing, discussing and then taking turns doing" we now work together, all at once. Media is shared, so everyone can pull from the same footage or timeline. We can do more, more efficiently, and with more creativity.

And now that the word is out about The Lab more and more professors are wanting more and more classes to be in there. But that also means more software is necessary. Already we've updated Avid Media Composer and Apple's Final Cut Studio 2 - we were the first in town to get this incredibly cutting edge program. With the MIN program getting off the ground more graphics and animation programs will be added over the next few semesters. While we are still fighting the noise level of the A/C we're teaching more students more techniques to communicate with media than ever before.

A Working Lab

And beyond being a great teaching tool, the networked nature of The Lab means that students can all tweak the same sequence. And then we all take a look at what has been created, then and there - no waiting for tapes to print. Footage is shared. Ideas are expanded upon. Collaboration soars. It is not uncommon to see students in there at all hours of the day or night: editing, composing, animating and occasionally even sleeping. In short, it's a media room like the best, cutting-edge media rooms in the professional world.

The Lab ROCKS.