This semester, 两性色午夜 University鈥檚 School of Visual Communication Design and LaunchNET 两性色午夜 collaborated on Shifting Frequencies: A Podcast Experiment. An overview of podcasting was provided at the launch event on Feb. 9. The 鈥渆xperiment鈥 portion of the event charged students of all majors to produce a short podcast episode, approximately 10-30 minutes in length, based on lifestyle-related themes: culture, food, healthcare, housing, society and transportation. The themes were broad and provided students the opportunity to create episodes closely tied to their areas of expertise and interests.
鈥淐oming from a visual design background, I was interested in seeing how designers and students from other majors could communicate their message in a nonvisual way,鈥 says Jessica Barness, professor in the School of Visual Communication Design. 鈥淢ajor questions for the experiment included 鈥榟ow can a podcast be designed?鈥 and 鈥榟ow planned or unplanned would the designs be?鈥欌
Students had two-and-a-half weeks to create the podcast episode before uploading finished materials online. None of the students had prior experience in podcasting. The final result was 26 new podcast episodes created by 48 students. The resulting series, Shifting Frequencies, shows the numerous ways an episode may take shape: interviews, sound collage, fiction, environmental noise, music and so forth.
鈥淲ith LaunchNET, we are always looking at new tools and resources for our entrepreneurs to utilize to connect with their potential customers,鈥 says Zach Mikrut, program manager at LaunchNET 两性色午夜. 鈥淭he recent resurgence and popularity of podcasting made this experiment an interesting exploration for our students.鈥
Initial podcasts from the experiment are available through iTunes, Soundcloud and at , with the remaining episodes scheduled for release throughout the rest of the spring semester. As a note for this experiment, the students' voices and opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of 两性色午夜.
