Photo by: Katy Owens
More than learning about digital media and graphic art, a Digital Media Studies class offered this spring is focused on promoting a local nonprofit
The class, Designing Social Awareness, taught by Laleh Mehran, is dedicating the 10-week course to helping the Denver nonprofit Open Media Foundation (OMF) through various promotions and events.
OMF strives to enable underrepresented groups in the media to develop their own voice through tools and education. The foundation has two public access TV channels, as well as a facility with studios for TV production. They teach classes on software like Photoshop, GarageBand and Final Cut Pro. The classes are open to the general public.
Natalie Pipe, a sophomore Digital Media Studies major from Grand Junction, Colo., is a student in the class.
“OMF wishes to give a voice to these people so that, to be blunt, rich, white guys aren’t the only ones deciding TV content,” said Pipe.
According to Pipe, while OMF has an awesome facility and offers helpful and informative classes, they aren’t being utilized. As the organization struggles to promote themselves, their classes aren’t filling up and their facility isn’t being used. That’s where Mehran’s Designing Social Awareness class enters.
“I chose Open Media Foundation as our partner because they provide digital media training and technology to the community,” said Mehran. “I believe that the students in the class, and our program at large, are the perfect advocates to speak about the importance of digital media training for everyone to ensure active participation and representation in local and mainstream media.”
After planning and organizing promotional events for the past few weeks, the class had its first OMF event last Friday at the First Friday Art Walk on Santa Fe Drive. Splitting into two “street teams,” Pipe said the class walked around Santa Fe with a camera interviewing people about media that tied back into OMF, while using the opportunity to spread the word about OMF.
Class periods, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Shwayder Art Building, are spent discussing ideas for promotion and organizing practical plans for improving the organization’s social media. According to Pipe, the class has a diverse group of students with different skills and interests.
Mehran allows the students to creatively explore their own skills, and class periods are filled with development and discussion of ideas, but Pipe said Mehran still pushes her students to “think outside the box.”
“I am continually impressed by the diversity and quality of the ideas that my classmates have come up with. I think I’ve gained a lot from this experience that I don’t even recognize at this point,” said Pipe.
The class organizes ideas and assigns roles for promotion on a Google Doc, Pipe explained, which allows creativity and discussion to flow freely.
The class is focused on creatively utilizing the equipment OMF already has, thinking of ways in which to engage and draw people in the community to the organization.
The service-project approach to a digital media class is unique and unconventional, as this organization is counting on the students in Designing Social Awareness. It’s not just a class, it’s real life.
“I absolutely love it. I have taken this class seriously because I know that OMF is counting on us and investing time into collaborating with us, said Pipe. “Seeing someone listen to our ideas and care about what we have to say was really exciting.”
Pipe believes DU should provide more service-project classes like Designing Social Awareness.
“Students have such unique and new ideas, but there aren’t a ton of opportunities that call on us to express and share them,” said Pipe. “Laleh hasn’t given us grades on anything we’ve done, but I haven’t heard anyone complain or even mention it. Everyone still completes every assignment and pulls their weight in the class. It’s beautiful.”
The class is planning another First Friday event, to be held on June 4 on Santa Fe Drive. Until then, the class will continue to work on promotion for OMF as it creatively expands the company’s social media horizons.
