Students who stop at one of the countless bulletin boards and kiosks across campus might notice something interesting. Throughout the course of the academic year, thousands of flyers are posted, announcing academic lectures, debates, colloquiums, movies, and parties for students interested in getting away, however briefly, from their studies.
While students may certainly wish to attend a given event, the realities of scheduling often result in many being unable to.
Student Government (SG) is promising to change this. This year, SG launched the Media Project, an effort to cataloge and organize all RSO media for future reference with the hopes of preserving the cultural history of the University. RSO media includes videos from cultural shows, art exhibits, pertinent literature, and other video, audio, and text documents of speakers.
Representatives from SG stressed that the cataloge is open to all media pertinent to an RSO’s mission statement. By creating a media archive of RSO events, SG anticipates that the library will be an “invaluable resource,” open to anyone interested in past RSO events.
While such an archive may benefit students, SG is banking on the notion that such a database will also promote individual RSOs. SG believes the archive will preserve an RSO’s culture and tradition, thereby establishing a campus presence for RSOs.
Additionally, SG urged RSOs to view the proposal as “an added benefit beyond simple word-of-mouth [advertising].”
According to members of SG, participating in the Media Project is a relatively simple three-step process. The first step includes gathering all relevant media to be cataloged, included media from past years. This list should then be emailed to sgmediaproject@listhost.uchicago.edu. Finally, RSOs need to deliver this list, as well as copies of their media, to Diana Doty in Reynolds Club 001.
RSOs that are unable or unwilling to make copies of their media should contact the Media Project.
David Clayman, a first-year in the College and member of the SG Media Project, said that the proposal has “broad appeal.” He cited a correspondence he received from UC Dancers, who wished to cataloge their videos but were unsure of the procedure.
Clayman added that he, like many students, had no idea that UC Dancers had videos from past events and said that he looked forward to being able to check them out in the future.
Many students, like David Strubbe, a third-year in the College and president of the Sailing Club, support the proposal, even though the Sailing Club is technically not an RSO but an athletic organization. Strubbe said that he had just been scanning media of the Sailing Club’s past events and felt that an official space for archiving these documents was “a good idea.”
Strubbe added that at present, the Sailing Club’s documents are simply stored in a folder and have the potential to be lost or damaged.
SG is publicizing the Media Project with a “Favorite Events” contest. The contest hopes to stress the value of University events on campus and encourage the cataloging of RSO media. The contest asks students to list and describe three memorable events they have attended on campus. The first place winner will receive $100 and the second place winner will receive $50.
