Creating a New Medium

The evolution of media is constantly evolving to cater to different needs and wants of society. As old mediums die, new ones are born. Newspapers evolved into magazines and radio evolved into podcasts. At Dominguez Hills, professors and students are always looking beyond the traditional outlets to create something unique or different that will leave a lasting impression.

That is definitely the case with the new COM 388/389 Digital Magazine Production courses, which were first offered in Spring 2020 as part of the updated Journalism major curriculum. The purpose of this new class and co-lab is to produce content for the COM alumni publication, Compendium, and create a new digital publication, Medium Magazine, which focuses more broadly on issues where media and culture overlap. The courses also provide Journalism majors with a new outlet for developing their feature writing and design skills, while creating professional-caliber work that can be used for their digital portfolios.

When you imagine a course such as a campus newspaper or the magazine class, one would assume it has a heavy influence from the professor or the advisor. The reality is, it's all created from students for students past, present, and future.

Walking into the magazine production class, the inspiring words of Dr. Burkey can be heard as he relates to his students in a way that makes them feel determined they can do anything with the right thought process. From constant advice to tips on how to improve the lede and hook the readers in with descriptive stories, Dr. Burkey is determined to inspire his students to create a magazine that is far different than other publications on campus. Even with the fast-paced deadlines throughout the semester, he pushes his students to create a compelling publication while also preparing them for their future careers.

The beauty of the class is that it offers journalism majors the opportunity to write for more than just the school newspaper, The Bulletin, and it allows them to explore issues that go beyond the campus of CSUDH. As feature writers, they also have the opportunity to develop their writing styles beyond the news AP style of newspapers and learn other aspects of magazine production, including photography, design, and layout.

"I've been wanting to teach this class ever since I came to the school as a professor because it creates new opportunities for journalism majors to explore their journalistic talents," Dr. Burkey said. "Prior to this, you could only work for the Bulletin. The Bulletin obviously is a great experience but it also is a very specific type of journalism when you're working for a newspaper. What we're hoping to be able to develop over time is that as a journalism major, you'll not only have the opportunity to work for the Bulletin, you'll also be able to work for a digital magazine, which will give you more feature writing and magazine experience."

As part of the course, students will be producing articles for Compendium Magazine to inform past alumni about what is going on in the Communications Department, including information about new courses, clubs, faculty, and other developments within the program. Students will also be creating the new Medium Magazine, which will focus less on the CSUDH community and more on media literacy and the ways in which media influence and shape culture.

"I think there's a lot of opportunities to explore beyond our department or campus, the kinds of things that you'd find either in the alumni publication or even the Bulletin, to look at bigger social issues because, as a communications media-based program, I think it would be interesting to look at the ways media impacts society," Dr. Burkey said. "We can kind of explore all these different ideas from a very critical lens but be able to put out a really interesting, informative, compelling, visually stunning, feature magazine that we'll be able to explore issues related to media and culture."

With the ability for students to create an article that is both visually stunning and well written, they now have that extra option of adding more work to their portfolio. The magazine course isn't just limited to journalist students, it is open to any Communications student on campus.

"I do believe that this class is important for all communications majors, because of the writing. In communications, whether we like it or not, writing is required. I am a PR/AD major and our jobs consist of writing press releases, outlines, briefs, media alerts, etc. In order to do this, we need to research the topic we are writing about, interview people and then write the final product," said Chelsea Vera Ocampo. "All of these things apply to the other majors as well. This class pushes you to be more confident about writing."

Students are limited to only a small number of choices on media content creating. The new Medium Magazine explores what students part of the Communications Department really want to research, interview, and write about. Especially, if it means creating something entirely new that can benefit them in the future.

"The importance of making a magazine for the school is to help the students. This magazine is going to highlight the writing work students have done. It will also be helpful for the department to see the progress they have made since the first time it started," said Chelsea. "This is also going to help those students that love to write a lot regardless of the major. It is also going to highlight the department and the changes it has made for the better."

In a way, this new magazine will be a payoff to all current students enrolled. But, even 20 years from now, the hope is that this publication will continue to flourish so that each new generation of Communications students will have the opportunity to add their ideas to Medium Magazine, to highlight the evolution of culture and media through their own eyes and words.