Imagine being able to do anything from making a documentary to performing and recording a new, modern dance step all at the same location. With the Sharon A. Fordham Multimedia Resource Laboratory, the novel idea has now become reality.
Douglass alumna, Sharon A. Fordham, funded the laboratory, which is located in the Mabel Smith Douglass Library.
With 12 new Mac Pro desktops that include the newest technologies and 30-inch screens, students will be able to create original pieces using multimedia, including word processing, a dance floor where they can videotape their choreography, audio recording equipment and graphic design programs.
"The computer revolution has evolved over the years from mundane business to a creative source of endeavors," Fordham said. "As someone who loves music and is intrigued by technology, this is a perfect way to have those paths meet."
Fordham said her two most valued endeavors are music and technology. This lab gives her the ability to combine her love for both of those interests and put it toward something beneficial for all students and faculty at her alma mater.
Professor Mary Hawkesworth said she can't wait to put the new resources to use.
"We are very lucky that Sharon Fordham has been so generous in creating this stuff," she said.
This project enabled Hawkesworth to receive a grant that will allow her students to travel to Spain for the World Women's Conference in July 2008.
They will speak to women activists from across the globe and videotape their experiences. Upon their return, these women's studies students will write papers and memoirs, and use digitalization, voices and music recordings to create projects that would have never before been possible without the new technology, Hawesworth said.
"The media lab is absolutely central to this project," Hawkesworth said. "It will enable the students to go from raw footage into creating something original and incredible."
Assistant Professor Jeff Friedman said he also feels this multimedia library will add to his class' curriculum.
"The dance department has a marvelous set of courses that involve getting dance on video, and this lab provides us with a wonderful resource to expand course work in that curriculum," Friedman said.
The students can perform in such a way that there will be no bodies on stage, just projected videos, or simultaneous videos and live performances, which will create new interdisciplinary art forms, Friedman said. He said he has high hopes for the lab helping to improve dance studies.
With the buzz of the new multimedia library spreading across campus, students have expressed excitement to test out the new facility.
Lauryn Guttzeit, a University College junior, said she always had a passion for the arts yet decided to major in communication. Now with the new library, she will be able to practice her love for art to the fullest extent while on campus.
"I cannot wait to get started in the new library," she said with a bright-eyed smile. "I want to make a video memoir of my hobby as a painter over the years. I plan on having moving pictures of art pieces I created along with music in the background corresponding to the year they were made."
