Remarks by Dean Michelle Ferrier, Ph.D. on the challenges and new opportunities in media, journalism and innovation, October 4, 2018 Homecoming, Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University.

2. Dean Michelle Ferrier, Ph.D.
“We do not need magic to
change the world, we carry all
the power we need inside
ourselves already: we have the
power to imagine better.”
--J.K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement Address 2008

4. My World View

5. • Educator
• Entrepreneur
• Mentor
• Scholar
• New Media
Innovator
Dean Michelle Ferrier,
Ph.D.
• Founder, TrollBusters.com
• Principal Investigator: Media
Deserts Project
• Project Director, Media Seeds
Project, Southeast Ohio
• Mother of Google Maps

6. Intrapreneur/Entrepreneur
Innovation Activities What was it?
BBS/Fax on Demand (Intrapreneur) Early technology adoption with members
NEAOnline (Intrapreneur) Developed first web presence for National Education
Association on AOL
SimSchool (Intrapreneur) Development of school system simulation at NEA
Education Insider (Entrepreneur) Magazine startup for parents of school-aged children
EHCWired.com (Intrapreneur) First independent online college news site; first
online course at the college (1999).
Media Power Lunch (Entrepreneur) Short, online learning for beginning journalists
(MediaBistro predecessor)

7. Innovation Activities What was it?
Highlands Family (Entrepreneur) Hyperlocal, hybrid online/print news for families in
Appalachia
CopyWash.com (Entrepreneur) Online copy editing services
Digital Identity/Reputation
Management (Entrepreneur)
Patent pending technology on managing identity
from one platform
MyTopiaCafe.com (Intrapreneur) Online community for newspaper nonsubscribers
LocallyGrownNews.com
(Entrepreneur)
Hyperlocal online news franchise
Media Deserts Project
(Researcher)
GIS technologies make visible the media ecosystem.
Social media and digital ethnography mapping.
TrollBusters Natural Language Processing and
Positive Messaging System

8. • Online Communities/Knowledge Management:
Creating identity and community online.
• Media Deserts Project: Big-data visualization that
provides high-level view of the media ecosystem.
• Digital Identity and Reputation Management:
TrollBusters and addressing online harassment.
• Media Entrepreneurship: Creating pathways to
innovation inside and outside the classroom.
My Research Agenda

10. Changing Culture & Technology
We are confronting 21st century twin forces that
challenge us in profound ways: from the bottom up,
technology efficiencies require fewer workers to
produce greater outcomes; and from the top down,
technological advances in information and
communications have resulted in a worldwide
competitive marketplace for “good jobs.”

11. “The pace of technological change will not abate. If
anything, it will continue to increase. To think of this as a
period of transition from one state to another is unwise.
How do we staff news organizations with the
appropriate kinds of resources and the appropriate
mindset such that constant innovation is imbued into an
organization’s DNA and into the role of every
participant?”
– Richard Gingras, head of news products, Google
Adapting to an Uncertain
Future

13. 2017 Strategic Plan – FAMU Rising
• Strategic Priority 4: Transformative Alumni,
Community, and Business Engagement
• Strategic Priority 5: First-Class Business
Infrastructure
• Strategic Priority 6: Outstanding Customer
Experiences
Four Strategic Questions…What If?
New Competitive Landscape:
How is the landscape changing?
New Sources of Value:
What needs can be met, problems solved or desires fulfilled?
New Distinctive Competencies:
What new capabilities are needed to succeed?
New Business Models:
How are media organizations structured to capture value?

14. 10 Disruptions/Innovations
Reshaping Journalism
① Trust and quality
measurement
② Social, civic, news and
gaming networks
③ Data mashups and
portability
④ Aggregation, linking,
tagging and filtering
⑤ Personalization,
localization, geocoding
and geotracking
⑥ Syndication, distribution,
widgets and feeds
⑦ Open mobile, phone, PDA
and tablet technology
⑧ Identity, authentication and
audience
⑨ Print on demand/distributed
printing, video on demand
⑩ Ownership/financing:
Social investing and the
“new” profits

15. Imagine Better: Innovation
Higher education and particularly professional
programs like journalism and advertising have
always had a job preparation imperative. But the
changes to our economic paradigm require that
higher education prepare students for both the
jobs that are emerging in the Innovation Economy
and in developing generations of both
entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.

17. 2017 Strategic Plan – FAMU Rising
• Strategic Priority 4: Transformative Alumni,
Community, and Business Engagement
• Strategic Priority 5: First-Class Business
Infrastructure
• Strategic Priority 6: Outstanding Customer
Experiences
Digital Media Market Sectors
• Experiential & Immersive Entertainment
• Modeling & Simulation (virtual worlds,
augmented/mixed reality)
• Game Development & Publishing
• Motion Picture Creation (webisodes, animation, visual
effects, audio/sound design)
• Pre-Vis/Visualization (data, mapping, architectural, bio-
medical

18. 2017 Strategic Plan – FAMU Rising
• Strategic Priority 4: Transformative Alumni,
Community, and Business Engagement
• Strategic Priority 5: First-Class Business
Infrastructure
• Strategic Priority 6: Outstanding Customer
Experiences
Digital Media Market Sectors
• Mobile Media
• eLearning
• Interactive Marketing & Advertising (social media,
online ads, in-game ad placement
• Content Aggregation & Distribution (niche portals)
• Internet A/V Content Distribution (streaming media)
• Web Content & Application Development

19. • A study prepared for the European Commission
revealed that in comparison with their peers, university
alumni who engaged in entrepreneurial programs were
able to secure jobs more quickly and were more
confident in their abilities to innovate in the
workplace and start new businesses. The Consortium
for Entrepreneurship Education also cites major
benefits for improving aspects of student attitude
including self-awareness,
self-management, and creativity.
Imagine Better: An Innovation
Focus

20. Shifts in Journalism & Digital Culture
Innovation Model
• “In order to breed innovation and adapt to
economic needs, higher education
institutions must be structured in ways that
allow for flexibility while spurring creativity
and entrepreneurial thinking.”

21. Integrating Innovation Into the
Curriculum
• First Online Course Taught (1999)
• First Independent Online Student News Site (2001)
• First Media Entrepreneurship Course Taught (2001)
• First Virtual Reality Course Taught (2010)
• Two-Week Module on Mobile (2014)
• International Faculty Capacity-Building in Media
Entrepreneurship (2014-2018)
• Cybersecurity Lab/Social Media Analytics (2015-2018)
• Lead Faculty: OHIO Student Innovation Hub (2016-2018)
• Co-Editor, Media Innovation & Entrepreneurship open
textbook

23. Dancing With Uncertainty
• Critical assessment of new technologies and their
application to journalistic/communication practices.
• Developing online capacity for everywhere, lifelong
learning.
• Building innovation/entrepreneurial mindset in every
student.
• Creating industry partnerships and interdisciplinary
collaborations to develop/test new ideas.
• Strategic global partnerships to advance cross-cultural
collaborations on curriculum and experiential learning.

24. 2017 Strategic Plan – FAMU Rising
• Strategic Priority 4: Transformative Alumni,
Community, and Business Engagement
• Strategic Priority 5: First-Class Business
Infrastructure
• Strategic Priority 6: Outstanding Customer
Experiences
Imagine Better
• “Unlike any other creature on this planet,
humans can learn and understand, without
having experienced. They can think themselves
into other people’s minds, imagine themselves
into other people’s places.” –J.K. Rowling
• As storytellers, visual communicators and
journalists, our mission is to help people
imagine better.