Fellow ICE Committee members,
I am sending this week's copy of the NMI update newsletter to give you a
feel for what is happening in the NMI.  Hopefully, it will help us
differentiate between the NMI and ICE.  If you want to continue receiving
this weekly email, just let me know and I will put you on the list.

Look forward to working with you!

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NMI Weekly Update
11/3/00
An update on the activities in the UGA’s New Media Institute.

(You are now thinking, “Oh no!  Why is he sending this update on Friday
instead of Sunday this week.  I hope he isn’t going to start updating (read
spamming) us twice a week.”  No, relax.  I am going out of town for an
electronic free weekend so I can’t email you on Sunday so I am doing it
today.  And for those of you who don’t know how you will get through Monday
morning without an email from me, feel free to use the NMI conference room
for a support group meeting.)

1.      DBB - The New Media Interdisciplinary Certificate (11/7/00, 11:30 -12:25,
NMI)
2.      NMI Classes (OK, I forgot -- the Clash redux)
3.      Welcome Marshall Akers, NMI Office Manager
4.      Athens New Media Day -- 12/8 -- update
5.      “From Rhetoric to Data Objects (and Back Again).” ( Humanities Computing
Lecture, 11/6)
6.      Online Grocery Consumption Talk.  (E-commerce Research Group -- 11/8)
7.      NMEye: Guiding Principle #1-- Student-centric.

1.      DBB - The New Media Interdisciplinary Certificate (11/7/00, 11:30 12:25,
NMI)
One of the coolest NMI programs is the New Media Interdisciplinary
Certificate.  The certificate is a great way to provide any student working
in any field with additional experience and instruction in new media.  To
receive the certificate students will complete 17 hours of designated
coursework  -- 11 hours of NMI courses (more on that in item 2) and 6
elective hours.  And students who complete the program will have the New
Media Certificate added to their transcripts -- hey won’t that look cool!
In our next Digital Brown Bag, we will be talking about the NMI
Certificate -- we will explain the program in depth and there will be an
opportunity for people to suggest ways to make it even stronger.  If you are
a student seeking new media educational experiences, a faculty member
teaching new media things, or a business person who might hire new media
talent, this session should be very interesting for you.  Tuesday, November
7th -- 11:30 - 12:25 -- NMI (5th Floor, Bank of America, corner of Lumpkin
and Clayton in lovely downtown Athens).

2.      NMI Classes (OK, I forgot -- the Clash redux)
I call it the missing item (remember “Train in Vain” on the Clash’s “London
Calling” album?  If you do, don’t you feel old now?).  In last week’s NMI
Update, I listed NMI Courses as an item -- but I never wrote about them.  My
bad.  Here it is.
Last week UGA officially approved 6 new courses to be taught by the NMI.
The courses appear under the NMIX prefix (hey, I bet you know what the “NMI”
stands for but we are having a contest to name the “X”.)  Here are the
courses.
NMIX 2020 -- Introduction to New Media (3 hours)
NMIX 3110 -- New Media Production (3 hours)
NMIX 3220 -- New Media Topics I (1 hour)
NMIX 3221 -- New Media Topics II (1 hour)
NMIX 4990 -- New Media Directed Study (1 to 3 hours)
NMIX 4510 -- New Media Capstone (3 hours)
These courses are the ones we need to offer the New Media Certificate (see
item #1).   Although we won’t be able to teach most of these courses until
next academic year, we want to offer sections of at least two of these
courses during Spring Semester (NMIX 3220 -- New Media Topics I and NMIX
4990 -- New Media Directed Study).  The New Media Topics class will actually
be a way that students can receive pass/fail credit for attending the
Digital Brown Bag sessions.  And the New Media Directed study will allow
students who already have new media experience to work with the NMI on some
advanced projects.  We will be talking more about these class in Tuesday’s
DBB (item #1).  If you are interested come or email Jennifer Maldonado at
[log in to unmask]

3.      Welcome Marshall Akers, NMI Office Manager
This week the full-time staff of the NMI grew to three.  Marshall Akers is
the NMI’s office manager.  He is a cool guy and will fit right in.  So say
hi to him next time you drop by.

4.      Athens New Media Day -- 12/8 /00 -- More info.
OK, I have been telling you to hold 12/8/00 for a while, right?  Well now I
will start to fill in the details.  On Friday, 12/8/00 we are going to be
holding an “event” to explore (and celebrate) Athens’ new media and high
tech play.  What will it be like?  Well here are some preliminary tidbits --
we are still working on details.

We will host three panels exploring what Athens is doing, can do, and should
do in the high tech arena.

Panel 1.  What is Athens Doing?
Companies, business leaders, community activists, UGA officials, etc. will
give us an overview of what is happening with new media in Athens now.

Lunch.
A box/network lunch.

Panel 2. What are other places doing?
We will hear about what other places are doing -- Atlanta, Austin, LaGrange,
Seattle, Charlotte.  We will talk about how we are alike and how we are
different from these places.

Work coffee.
We will break into groups to come up with some ideas for what we want Athens
to become.

Panel 3. Where do we want Athens to go?
We will discuss what type of new media future we want for the Classic City.
We will discuss priorities, fears, and opportunities.  And we will make some
plans.

Happy Hour.  (Mandatory, right?).  Another networking opportunity at a local
watering hole.

Sounds like fun, eh?  You will be getting an invitation next week.  Plan on
being with us.  And if you would like to participate in planning or if you
know some people for the panels, contact me ([log in to unmask] ) or Marshall
Akers ([log in to unmask]).

5.  “From Rhetoric to Data Objects (and Back Again).” ( Humanities Computing
Lecture, 11/6).
Many of you already know about the very cool Humanities Computing program
being led by Nelson Hilton and Bill Kretzschmar.  On Monday (11/6/00, 3:30P,
Park Hall, Room 265), Wendall Piez of Mulberry Technologies will give a
Humanities Computing lecture entitled  “From Rhetoric to Data Objects (and
Back Again).”  Dr. Piez has been working with SGML since 1994. In 1995 he
was appointed to the faculty at Rutgers University, where he served as
Humanities Computing Specialist at the Center for Electronic Texts in the
Humanities (CETH), a national center for development and education in
electronic text technologies. At CETH, he developed pilot projects and
proofs-of-concept demonstrating applications of SGML to academic scholarship
and publishing on the World Wide Web and in print. He has presented projects
at academic conferences, seminars and workshops; introduced new users to
principles of text encoding and electronic document creation and use; and
published papers and reviews on the subject in newsletters and scholarly
journals. Since 1999, he has been a member of the Executive Council of the
Association for Computers and the Humanities.  Sounds cool, eh?  Hope to see
you there.  Contact either Nelson Hilton ([log in to unmask]) or Bill
Kretzschmar ([log in to unmask]) if you have questions.

6.      Online Grocery Consumption Talk.  (E-commerce Research Group -- 11/8)
On  Wednesday (11/8/00, 11:30 - 12:30, Room 327 Brooks Hall), the E-commerce
research group will be hosting a presentation on online grocery consumption
with Brenda Cude, Department Head for Housing and Consumer Economics in the
College of Family and Consumer Sciences.  Hey, online grocery shopping could
soon be a huge business and Professor Cude is an expert.  Should be a great
talk.  Feel free to bring your lunch.  William Lewis in the MIS Department
of the Terry College is coordinating the E-commerce Research Group --
contact him if you have any questions ([log in to unmask]).

7.      NMEye: Guiding Principle #1-- Student-centric.
(Part 2 of the NMI backgrounder)
Students drive the New Media Institute.  From the first preliminary
discussions about what would eventually become the NMI, students were the
focus.  We talked about what we were teaching, how we could teach better,
our student projects, the jobs our students were getting.  It was students,
students, students.  And the desire to serve students better pushed us to
create the NMI.  But why are students so important to the NMI?  Is it
because NMI people just love students?  Well, we do love students (in all
the professional appropriate ways).  But there is a deeper reason.  Anyone
who works in a technology driven area like new media knows that the teaching
dynamic has changed.  No longer is the teacher/instructor/professor/trainer
the ultimate authority.  Information is no longer delivered from on high to
the groveling masses (see, I do remember my undergraduate experience).
Technology driven education has to be collaboration.  Students teach and
learn at the same time.  In many ways, the concern for the student is
enlightened self-interest.  Every day students bring new challenges and
ideas into the classroom and lab.  Students make it exciting.  A great group
of students (and alums) is a tremendous resource for a program like the NMI.
Making students better makes all of us better.
So everything we do in the NMI is done with, by, and for students.  When
people come to the NMI with ideas and projects, our first question is “How
can we involve students?”  And the second question is “What can students
learn from their involvement?”  If the project can’t involve and teach
students, it isn’t an NMI project.
With that said, I am going to tell you a little secret -- but only if you
promise not to tell anyone else.  It is too quiet around the NMI right now.
We want the 5th floor of the Bank of America building to be filled with the
chattering of excited students.  The NMI is student-driven so we need more
students to get up to speed.  If you are a student and you want to get
involved, there ain’t no better time -- contact us.  We will find a way to
get you involved.  If you are a faculty member, send your bright students
interested in new media to the NMI -- we will give them some tremendous
learning opportunities.  If you are a business looking to explore new media
opportunities, let us connect you with the cool new media students at UGA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scott A. Shamp
Director
New Media Institute
http://www.nmi.uga.edu
Bank of America Building
110 E. Clayton Street, 5th Floor
Athens, GA 30601
Voice: 706.227.7237
FAX: 706.227.7236