New Media on the move

Using high technology in the classroom will become a little easier this spring when Cal State Long Beach's New Media Center moves into the North Campus Library.

The New Media Center, now located in LA5-363, is an on-campus computer lab that specializes in producing multimedia presentations and other aids for the classroom.

This means video, graphics, photos, sound and text are assembled into what resembles a slide show, or televisionlike program. The work is then saved on CD-ROM, where it can be used either as a teaching aid or student presentation.

The project was launched by several large multimedia corporations, including Apple, Sony, Macromedia, Adobe, Kodak and others. These companies take existing computer labs and convert them into "New Media Centers." Cal State Long Beach was one of the first NMCs, currently numbering 52.

"Our goal is to work with faculty, students and staff who are building multimedia applications," said Brian Wong, operations manager at the NMC. "We help them use the technology to enhance their instruction."

Besides being available for daily consultation, the NMC offers workshops for faculty and select students, Wong said.

Applications produced at the NMC cover a wide range of subjects. The staff has produced instructional aids and student presentations for management, Asian studies, economics, music, foreign languages and many other areas of study.

Students cannot just walk in and start whipping up multimedia magic. "The work usually takes a lot of time, so we're not just wide open. We ask people to have faculty sponsorship and then we work with faculty," said Lou Zweier, NMC director.

"If students have an idea they want to work on, they need to get clearance from any of their faculty members to work on a project," said Josh Deford, an industrial-design student and NMC student assistant.

Once through that door, the array of hardware available is truly impressive. The NMC has color flatbed scanners, digitizing equipment for video and music-production equipment. Their computers are mostly made by Macintosh, including some of the newer PowerPC models.

"It's all designed for manipulating media, so they're higher-end systems," Zweier said.

Some of the equipment was donated by the aforementioned companies, while the rest was purchased at substantial discounts, said Chuck Schneebeck, director of Academic Computing Services.

"This is in part because we're open to [the manufacturers]. We've helped beta-test their products," Schneebeck said. "Not only do we offer student and faculty services, but sometimes we develop strategies for using their products in an educational setting."

The companies may take a financial loss on a small amount of equipment, but the NMCs act as test-beds for their products in the real world, and that costs them nothing, Schneebeck said.

The NMC's plans for moving to the North Campus Library were prompted by the lab's small size, smaller than most classrooms. The move is scheduled to begin during winter break.

"It will be pretty much the same equipment that we have, except there will be more workstations available," Deford said.