Open House for the Humanities Digital Media Zone this Friday

The renovated Humanities Digital Media Zone (HDMZ) will host an open house at 1:30 p.m., Friday, April 29. Members of the Michigan Tech Board of Control and the administration are expected to attend, and the public is also welcome. The HDMZ is located on the first floor of Walker. The project cost $550,000 and was funded by departmental resources, student fees and donor contributions.

“The HDMZ is designed to create a flexible and sophisticated technological work and social environment,” said Erin Smith, director of the project and senior lecturer in humanities. “The new HDMZ serves a broad range of humanities-centered educational goals and technology practices. It represents the consolidation of the former Center for Computerized Language Instruction (CCLI) and the Modern Language Lab, as well as a classroom and a number of other discrete spaces.”

The new HDMZ includes:

  • a commons area with PC and Mac computing and comfortable seating for work on laptops and other mobile devices
  • a digital media studio with Macintosh computers and software for media development
  • a laptop classroom with Smartboard and projection systems
  • two private recording and listening rooms
  • a new multipurpose seminar space for a range of activities and research, including language cafés, gaming and video-conferencing
  • a centrally located resource desk staffed by student consultants with specialties in foreign languages and/or media development
  • director and support staff offices
  • offices for Cin/Optic Enterprise and student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication

Other resources available to students include digital SLR and video cameras, voice recorders, smart pens, graphics tablets and other language and media resources.

“In addition to improving the services and technology that we offer to students and faculty, the renovation makes visible the interdisciplinary and global nature of the research, teaching and work done by humanities faculty and students,” Smith said. “With its open floor plan, range of technology resources and opportunities for interaction and collaboration, the HDMZ strives to situate technology use as a complex human practice undertaken in a global context.”

Published in Tech Today.