It wasn’t an easy choice for the innovation team from Hearst Corporation, one of the nation’s largest diversified media companies. Pick the project that could generate significantly more advertising revenue for photo galleries, already one of the most popular features on news web sites? Or go with the entry that offers a new way for news providers to strengthen relationships with their audiences?
And did we mention, these new, innovative products were created by teams of students?
The decision: declare both teams co-winners of RJI’s Interaction Design Student Competition, the third annual contest sponsored by the Reynolds Journalism Institute. The judging took place May 4th in Columbia.
Beth Polish, director of Corporate Innovation and senior vice president of Hearst Interactive Media, said her team was excited by RJI’s focus on marrying the talents of journalists and computer scientists. “It’s not a nice-to-have, it’s a requirement that professionals in these two worlds speak the same language, and this competition goes a long, long way to fostering that capability.”
Brent Davidson, a dual major in convergence journalism and finance, leads the photo galleries group dubbed “Team Copper” that also includes design and magazine majors Adam Falk and Daniel Maxson and computer science graduate students Akshay Dave and Amit Vyawahare. “We were given a little over a semester to plan as well as do. It’s really been an incredible experience.”
The other winning team is made up of four journalism students – team leader Justin Myers, Esten Hurtle, Ryan Martin and Allan Vestal – all of whom also have dual majors or minors in IT-related programs. Their interactive consumer recommendation engine allows consumers to match their preferences with a variety of products and content.
“We kept having to remind ourselves you’re not working professionals, you’re actually students,” said Hearst’s Polish. “We weren’t doing this when we were sophomores and juniors and seniors in college.”
Three other finalist teams of journalism and computer science students also created applications aimed at addressing key business challenges identified by Hearst. Participating in those teams were journalism and computer science students Amanda Bromwich, Geoff Pado, Josh Smith, Stephen Bock, Drake Chang, Joshua Johnson, Matt Kamp, David Oster, Emily Christ, Anthony Jones, Kyle Schettler and Zach Wade.
“We’re hoping to move forward not just with some development on the winning projects but also be talking to some of the (other) teams,” said Polish.
Hearst is the first media partner to participate in the RJI competition, now in its third year. The first competition used Adobe AIR, the technology behind the New York Times Reader and Wired Magazine’s tablet app. Last year’s contest focused on building applications for Apple’s iPhone. This year’s Hearst teams made extensive use of the beta release of Adobe’s Flash Catalyst and Creative Suite 4.
Adobe was a co-sponsor of the 2010 competition. Adobe executives will meet with student winners at the company’s San Francisco offices on May 17th. The Missouri teams will also travel to Shanghai, China in mid-June where they and their peers in a parallel competition at Fudan University will showcase their projects at the 2010 World Expo.
Mike McKean, directs the RJI Futures Lab, manages the student competitions and frequently speaks in China on new media practices. He’s especially excited about the outcome of this year’s contest. “We’ve shown how journalistic and technological know-how can come together to address real, concrete challenges facing the media community.”
RJI featured the work of the Hearst project teams on May 5th as part of its Student Developer Showcase. The event also focused on the work of student teams who in the past school year have:
- Developed iPhone and iPad apps for KOMU-TV (the NBC affiliate staffed by the School of Journalism), the National Conference of Editorial Writers, and other clients
- Built the iPhone, iPad and Android mobile apps for Columbia-based internet video startup Newsy.com
- Field-tested Vericorder Technologies’ mobile journalism applications at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.
RJI’s student-driven projects are purposely structured to be interdisciplinary, says Technology Testing Center manager Keith Politte. “Our students respond so strongly because they know it gives them an entrepreneurial head start in creating future media ventures.”
Politte also announced two upcoming events designed to help students develop good product pitches and match them with area business and finance leaders who can help turn those ideas into reality.
On August 16-17, RJI will host a workshop sponsored by Guidewire Group’s Innovate 2010 team. Students will learn to write business plans, make effective pitches and take advantage of resources already available on the MU campus and within the local business community. This event will also help lay the groundwork for the 2010 eSummit on October 8th sponsored by Regional Economic Development, Inc. REDI provides leadership and resources for Columbia-based entrepreneurs and new business ventures.
For more information contact Mike McKean, RJI Futures Lab Director: 573-882-3424, mckeanml@rjionline.org
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