interactive media graduates
CHRISTOPHER JAMES (BSC HONS MULTIMEDIA)
Before Chris James started at UEL, he had a strong interest in computing and graphic design and had previously completed A-Levels in these subjects. He therefore chose a course that combined these two elements, studying UEL's BSc (Hons) Multimedia (then called New Technology and Multimedia). According to Chris, the course provided him with a solid foundation for future work in the world of multimedia, as it covered a wide range of topics, theoretical and practical.
Whilst Chris found some aspects of the course difficult to grasp initially, as he progressed, he mapped out how the different areas related to each other. The different elements of the course were brought together in his final year project, which combined the production of www.chillfish.com for a real-life client, an online black media arts journal, with a thesis exploring race in cyberspace. The Chillfish project was one of several work experience opportunities offered to Chris on the course; another was an internship with the new media design company Motionpixels.
After graduating with a first class degree, Chris went on to do an MA in The
Digital Moving Image at another London-based university. Upon completing the
MA, Chris was employed as a multimedia developer by UEL's Rix Centre for Innovation
and Learning Disability, creating multimedia for people with learning disabilities,
where he continues to work. He has also contributed to teaching on undergraduate
programmes within the university. Chris' current expertise is in the use of
Macromedia Flash and other web design tools to create standards-compliant, accessible
websites which conform to the World Wide Web Consortium's accessibility guidelines.
MEL HERDON (MA INTERACTIVE MEDIA PRACTICE)
Mel Herdon worked for seven years at Mental Health Media, where her job as Head of Projects was to manage a small team that developed multimedia, print, DVD and AV for events. Mel also worked closely with The Community Channel on MadforArts - a website project which included a number of short films for Channel Five, also streamed online. During that time she studied on the MA Interactive Media Practice (then called MA Multimedia) at UEL, where she undertook projects on digital aesthetics, the social shaping of digital camera technology and the role of public service broadcasting user choice in multichannel television. Her dissertation unpicked the culture and aesthetics surrounding the phenomenon described by Lev Manovich as 'Generation Flash'.
Since graduating from the MA, Mel has been appointed new media manager
at Amnesty International UK in Hoxton, where she is overhauling the current organisational
website, re-launched in spring 2006. It's a huge challenge. We've got 1,500 screens of existing content to re-edit and lots of new participatory
tools to develop. But I'm happy to be working with Winona eSolutions, a brilliant agency that ticks all the boxes on value, accessibility and innovation.'
Mel is a keen photographer so the MA combined well with her work and interests, giving a sense of context to these disciplines as well as helping her develop project ideas.
I think I got most out of discussions and interacting with the tutors and fellow students. There was such a wide range of interests and skills - student presentations were always fascinating.
LINDA LEUNG (PhD)
It was at UEL that Linda made the transition to technology studies. With a background in applied communication and media studies, and a particular interest in race and representation, she enrolled on a PhD in the interdisciplinary area of Innovation Studies, to examine how ethnic minorities were participating and depicting themselves online. This exploration of the 'nooks and crannies' of the Internet where ethnic minority activity was present but unaccounted, contested the dominant argument at the time, that the Internet was monolithically populated by white, Western, middle class males.
Working full-time throughout and having a baby along the way, the PhD took nearly five years to complete, but honed her skills as a researcher. It has since been published by Ashgate as a book, Virtual Ethnicity: Race, Resistance and the World Wide Web.
Upon leaving UEL, Linda caught the wave of the dot.com boom, landing freelance producer and project manager roles with interactive media agencies, commercial clients, government departments and non-profit sectors. In response to the lack of representation of artists working with new media by the commercial gallery system, she established Digimatter, a consultancy which has assisted digital media artists in marketing and distributing their work. It has sold fine art cd-roms to educational institutions, art organisations, specialist retailers, as well as individual collectors all over the world.
She is now a Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Interactive Media & Learning, and Course Director for postgraduate programs in interactive multimedia at the University of Technology Sydney.
