Six Ball State University students will begin traveling to the Gulf Coast region this afternoon in an effort to produce more balanced news stories about Hurricane Katrina and help victims of the aftermath.
Maria Williams-Hawkins, associate professor of telecommunications, will lead the group to Jackson, Miss., where they will spend the next few days in southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama using digital equipment to produce stories for Newslink Indiana and Indiana Public Radio. The stories will also be transferred to storytelling technologies such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, iPods and Web sites.
The group, which will return to Ball State Monday morning, includes three graduate and three undergraduate students, most of whom are international students from Germany, France, New Zealand and DuBai, Williams-Hawkins said. The graduate students are part of the department’s master’s digital storytelling class and are fulfilling one of the class’s story requirements.
Richardson, a junior telecommunications major with an option in production, decided to get involved so as to gain experience with behind-the-scenes camera work while helping those stranded by one of the nation’s worst natural disasters in history.
“I was very content that I was able to go because I wanted this experience, but at the same time you still have to be humble and know exactly what you’re going for because it’s not really going to be a joy ride,” Richardson said.
The project will allow students to shoot footage of the disaster area, check facts and uncover information, Williams-Hawkins said. Accurate information will provide more attention, supplies and other aid to flow to the area, she said. Students will also work with the shelters and relief agencies.
“Anybody who covers any kind of a tornado, hurricane or huge fire, it’s always worse than you envision,” Williams-Hawkins said. “So you want them to have a realistic perspective on covering a disaster.”
The experience will especially benefit international students by giving them an opportunity to see another part of the United States, Williams-Hawkins said.
“We have cultural and class issues that they will cross (and) race issues that they will cross,” she said. “So they have to invest time in stories that often will not be told, and that’s the focus of digital storytelling.”
Richardson, who serves as an office assistant for Williams-Hawkins, said the real-world experience beats anything she could do in the classroom setting. Her other professors have supported her decision to participate in the news project, and with two friends who used to attend high school and college in downtown New Orleans, traveling to the area will be eye-opening.
“There’s not much you can do but to help them think positive at this moment and encourage them to think positive,” Richardson said.
The Department of Telecommunications is collaborating with the Indiana Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which will provide two vans and drivers for students. Students will stay at the District Eight headquarters of the A.M.E. Church through Sunday.
Williams-Hawkins, who also is an A.M.E. minister, said her uncle is a bishop with the area church and used to have a house on Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain before the hurricane struck.
Nancy Carlson, chairwoman of the telecommunications department, said the department does not usually partner with churches, but the trip is about helping out the needy while giving students valuable news experience, not about religion.
“I think it’s course content for students because they see how many stories there are to tell about the hurricane, and they’ll bring back stories with them,” Carlson said. “But it will also open their eyes to see how blessed we are and how much we have compared to the people who were made homeless.”
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