fall
2010 newsletter
CENTER FOR INFORM
NFORM
CICS Hosts 25th Annual Wine Tasting Event
By Ryan Misener
Jones, Groom to Release Healthcare
and Social Media Textbooks
CENTER FOR
By Leslie Flora
CICS Director Dr. Steve
Jones and Dr. Frank Groom
are collaborating on two unique
technology books: Healthcare in
Information and Communication
Technology
and
Social
Networking in Business.
Dr. Steve Jones
Multiple CICS alumni, along with
current students Colleen Willis
and Sydney Morris, are writing
chapters for the Healthcare in
Information and Communication
Technology book.
The book
is targeted toward healthcare
professionals in hopes of Dr. Frank Groom
educating administrators to the
potential benefits of using a shared system
to reduce cost by looking at IPHA guidelines,
security and medical records. The first draft is
due at the beginning of November and will be
edited by Dr. Jones and Dr. Groom.
Social Networking in Business is a textbook
that will coincide with a course taught in spring
2011 by Dr. Groom and Dr. Michael Holmes
of Communication Studies. The book will be
a teaching tool used by other universities to
explain the benefits of social media and how
it contributes to the success of a company.
Students taking the social media class will
conduct research to determine best ways to
incorporate social media into a company’s
policy to increase productivity and reduce
excessive cost.
Lt. Carla J. Campbell (2000) of the U.S. Army Human
Resources Command in Ft. Knox, KY, received her Ph.D.
in Education on October 22, 2010, from Northcentral
University in Prescott Valley, AZ. Congratulations!
November 13, 2010
International Dinner
@ Unitarian Universalist Church
of Muncie, IN
The Center for Information and
Communication Sciences (CICS)
hosted its 25th Annual Wine Tasting
event on Friday September 24. This
social learning event allowed for current
students, faculty and alumni to network
while learning about proper etiquette in
wine tasting and fine dining.
“[This event] is important because in
our business culture having the proper
table manners, especially mixed with
alcoholic beverages, is important,” said Students Krista Hess and Adrienne McEwan chat at the wine tasting event.
CICS Director, Steve Jones.
Alumna Karen Mangia (1998) and her
Distinguished professor Dr. Ray Steele
partner Thom England—one of Indiana’s best
was also recognized during the evening for his
chefs—crafted the food and wine pairings,
achievement in the founding of CICS 25 years
while Joseph Davey, a Sommelier, offered
ago, and he was presented with a bobblehead
some informal lessons about wine tasting.
doll. The bobblehead will travel across the
The event also recognized several faculty
country from one alumnus to the next.
members. Amy Clevenger was recognized
Each alumnus who receives the bobblehead
for winning the 2010 Meritorious Service
will take a picture with it and send it to the
award for academic affairs at Ball State
next alumnus, until it eventually returns to
University. Professor Richard Bellaver
the Center, where it will be auctioned with
was also recognized for winning the Advisor
proceeds going to the Center.
of the Year award for 2009.
CICS Welcomes Back Alumni for 25th Anniversary
By Michelle Jarvi
The
Center
for
Information
and
Communication Sciences hosted its first open
house as part of its 25th Silver Anniversary on
October 9.
Associate Director Kirsten Smith (1999),
greeted alumni Leon Amstutz (1999),
Michael Lund (2000), Amy Reed (1998),
and Julie Gentry (1999) and invited them to
introduce themselves their families, and discuss
about what CICS has done for them. The
alumni enjoyed refreshments and reminisced
about the Center and the rigorous accelerated
masters program.
As part of the open house, CICS student
Ryan Misener managed a simultaneous
webcast with alumnus Jeff Lang (1987) in an
effort to make the event available to those who
could not attend. The open house featured a
historical display of radio, phone, and wireless
museum artifacts acquired by faculty over the
previous 25 years. Vintage pictures, shirts,
December 10, 2010
CICS Holiday Party
@ Ball State University
Alumni Center
and coffee mugs were among the historical
display.
Graduate assistants were present at the open
house. They gave tours and met with alumni.
Alumni Todd Darroca (2009), Michael Wulff
(2010), Tiffany Schoen (2003), and Phillip
McGairk (2010) also attended.
The open house was a great success; it was
a time of sharing, learning, and laughing, and a
great kickoff to Homecoming weekend.
February 26, 2011
CICS 25th Anniversary
To read more great
content about 25th
anniversary events, please
visit us online at
www.cics.bsu.edu
April 22, 2011
Alumni Family Day & Dinner Women Working in Technology
@ Ball State University
in Indianapolis, IN
Alumni Center
Training Emergency Response Agencies To Use Social
Media During A Crisis
By Andrew Brubaker
Ball
State
University and the
Federal
Emergency
M a n a g e m e n t
Administration (FEMA)
have entered into a
$2.5 million, threeyear
cooperative
agreement to produce
Dr. Robert Yadon
a series of crisis
training modules to
educate E 9-1-1 supervisors and public
information officers.
The Advance Crisis Communications
Training
(ACCT)
team
is
an
interdisciplinary
team
comprising
faculty and students from three BSU
departments. Dr. Robert Yadon,
Director of Applied Research Institute
for CICS, helped to write the initial
proposal for the grant, and he has
been involved with the project since its
inception.
The ACCT team is taking a unique
approach to its training courses by
focusing on the use of social media to
disseminate accurate information in a
timely and effective manner. “The crisis
communication content in these
By Pawel Majkowski
series of training modules is unique
in that…no other course in the federal
curriculum addresses the impact of
social media during times of crisis,”
Yadon said.
The first web-based course entitled,
“AWR-212-W
–
Advanced
Crisis
Communications Strategies for Public
Safety Communications Supervisors,”
has been certified by FEMA and is ready
to be delivered. The team is currently
finishing the instructor-led version of
the aforementioned course. All of the
courses are expected to be complete by
Fall 2011. For more information about
the ACCT program, expected course
availability, and instructions to register
for any of the courses, please visit
www.bsu.edu/acct.
Students in STI Work with ViziSwap Software
By Matthew Wilkerson
Students at the Center for Information
and Communication Sciences (CICS)
are on the cutting edge of usability testing.
The Software Testing Institute (STI)
is working closely with the Institute for
Digital Entertainment and Education
(IDEE) to test the usability of its ViziSwap
software. ViziSwap acts as a dynamic
aggregator of interactive graphics, video,
and text to virtually assist students with
select courses. IDEE develops digital media
projects for university and industry partners.
The platform is created by the course
professor and digital media creators, and
it is currently being used at Ball State
University in a handful of live classes
and in one distance learning course. This
process not only allows students to learn
about usability, but it also lets them work
closely with an actual client.
The testing is being done to help ViziSwap
get preliminary problems out of the way
before the product is officially released.
Usability Professionals’
Association Hosting World
Usability Day
To test the actual usability of the product,
STI plans to use the expert reviewer (ER)
tool to determine what areas may need to
be addressed before the public gets access
to the software. In addition, STI is holding
focus groups to obtain input from students
who have had the ability to use this product
in an effort to refine the tool.
A prototype of the ViziSwap interface.
Since 2005, World
Usability Day has seen
over 200 events take
place in 43 countries
around the world every
year. This year, World
Usability Day events
will be held November
11, at IUPUI (Indiana
U n i v e r s i t y - P u r d u e Prof. Richard Bellaver
University Indianapolis).
The event
will feature world-renowned usability
speaker Aaron Marcus, who, in 1967,
was the world’s first graphic designer
to work with computer graphics,
according to his web site. Students and
working professionals are invited and
encouraged to attend. World Usability
Day strives to raise usability awareness,
train professionals in usability tools for
research and development. The goal of
this year’s World Usability Day is “Making
Life Easy,” expressing that all technology
should be easy and user friendly, so that
all people may benefit from its good.
The UPA 2011 International
Student Design Competition is
scheduled for June 20-24 in Atlanta,
GA, and it will provide an excellent way
to engage students with meaningful
and challenging design problems. This
year’s design competition supports the
World Usability Day goal of “Making
Life Easy.” The competition will give
students a chance to develop and
design technology that always puts
the user first and foremost. The goal
helps students understand that making
technology as user friendly as possible
will create a better world where user can
use the technology with ease to their
own benefit.
Professor
Richard
Bellaver,
who is the regional coordinator for
North American chapters and a UPA
member for more than 10 years, hopes
the organization will seek student
involvement. The UPA offers students
rich networking, job availability, and a
great place to seek out knowledgeable
individuals in the field of usability.
Advisor - Dr. Steve Jones
Editor - Mike Linsey
Associate Editor - Michelle Jarvi
Design Editor - Joel Schiffli
Photographer - Jiaming Teo