CONVERGED MEDIA LABORATORY

The Converged Media Lab is operated in partnership with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) which represents the nation’s Black Press. The NNPA’s national news service and news web site are based in the lab. SOC students work in the same room with professionals responsible for producing sophisticated coverage for more than 200 newspapers across the country. When students produce articles that meet the high standards of these professionals, the articles are distributed as part of the news service’s report, which can potentially reach millions of readers.

The Converged Media Lab is also the base for BlackCollegeView.com, a student-run news and information web site. BlackCollegeView.com is the Journalism Department’s vehicle for experimenting with media convergence and deepening students’ practical understanding of disciplines outside their own specialties.

On BlackCollegeView.com:

• Broadcast journalism students can generate audio and video news packages.
• Advertising and public relations students can generate commercial and persuasive messages for clients.
• News-Editorial (Print Journalism) students can generate text and graphics.
• On-line page designers, producers and editors can collaborate to decide which elements—audio, graphics, text, video, or combinations of elements—work best to tell the news or best achieve a client’s advertising or public relations goal.

Thanks to the support of Microsoft Inc. and IBM, the Converged Media Lab is equipped with state-of-the-art technology similar to what our graduates can expect to find in working newsrooms, advertising agencies and public relations shops.