GGC’s Digital Humanities Lab has been assisting Dr. Tobias Wilson-Bates, Assistant Professor in the English Department at Georgia Gwinnett College, with the podcasting project “Grizzlies on Air.”
Grizzlies on Air is a podcasting hub, the idea is that students, faculty, and campus organizations can all produce podcasts, and then these could be found in this one central repository, which will also be connected to iTunes, SoundCloud, and various online vendors. Dr. Wilson Bates has been podcasting for 10 years with various forms and he understands the process behind producing podcasts and its importance.
“GGC is a big campus, it’s 13,000 students, but since arriving here it became relatively clear to me that various aspects of the campus aren’t particularly connected to each other, that there’s a lot of stuff happening pretty much all the time at GGC but people are often pretty unaware that things are happening.” Said Dr. Wilson-Bates.
Grizzlies on Air started being a student organization, and the biggest challenge was getting students to show up and getting the organizational process to work. When it got moved into the SLA, and it received some funds from the School of Liberal Arts, that’s made a huge difference because they have been receiving ongoing support from the organization.
The DH Lab has been sharing the space in the library with Grizzlies on Air. They store their editing and recording equipment in the lab. Dr. Vollaro has been assisting them with the website and web design to post everything online. So, in some of the labor and the kind of physical presence, Grizzlies on Air is entwined with the DH lab.
“There’s actually a lot of podcasts getting made on campus right now. There’s a history professor who travels around Georgia doing podcasts about different historical sites. The Athletic Department has a podcast…”
The dream for Grizzlies on Air is that it won’t just be producing podcasts, it will also be hosting all these different podcasts that students, faculty, and organizations are already making on campus. With the purpose of people knowing what is being done in the community.