#multimedia writing

What, Why, How: Marci Diel

What:

For 21 years, I’ve been “Head of Everything” for MarciDiehl.com as a multi-media writer, editor and producer/consultant for the web, print, video, and social media. Before that, I married during college and had four sons in 8 years. I was a (mostly) stay-at-home mom, writing freelance for national, regional and local magazines  — Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, Success Magazine, SCORE…

I really was interested in the idea of creating a university that include the “bottom-up power” that Jenkins mentions (2). Just as how Youtube involves a variety of people uploading different genres and types of footage, he describes the YouNiversity as a program that provided an eclectic group of teachings that came together to create an interdisciplinary learning experience. This idea would not let fragmentation of the students with what they’re studying but instead looks at the “integrated contexts within which media are produced, marketed, and consumed.”

My worry with an academic department featuring this concept of “YouNiversity,” is that rather learning things in depth, I’d be worried the scope of scattered expertise would be too large to promote competent knowledge of the subject. Though by having student input into the curriculum, this “adhocracy,” that Jenkins describes, could potentially cause chaos in the variety of ideas that can be placed within the academic program. Because there would not be any structure to which the student would design its studies, there could be a possibility they are spreading themselves to thin, rather than expanding their knowledge thoroughly.

Inspiration comes from many places, and leads to different things. This short work was inspired by the song in the video below, ”Le Tue Parole” by Andrea Bocelli, and was written while I was working a shift at The Great Indoors (no, that’s not a typo). I…