Georgia On Your Mind Podcast: EM Capstone Journey
Team Spark | Bailey Pelletier, Berkeley Chandler, Erin Riney
Final Version of Project Pitch
From the New Media Institute at the University of Georgia comes the Georgia On Your Mind podcast, a series that explores the relationship between the state of Georgia and the university that lives within the heart of it. Each week, a new episode will dive into an area that the state excels in and how the University of Georgia acts as a major contributor to that success. Areas include sports tourism, entrepreneurship, music business, agriculture, marine conservation, and film production.
Above all else, the Georgia On Your Mind podcast will bring a fresh perspective to an educational topic. There are many reasons why UGA is a prized possession of the state, and we believe that people should know more about it. For those who live (or have ever lived) in Georgia and/or have some tie to the University of Georgia, listeners can expect to have Georgia on their minds long after finishing the last episode. After all, you can’t spell UGA without the GA!
Podcasting is an emerging technology that has become more prevalent in recent years because it acts as a virtual storyteller. Podcasts allow complex stories to be communicated in digestible pieces for the listener, causing them to gain popularity among younger audiences specifically. Not only can they be consumed anywhere and at any time, but they also have the potential to reach a wider audience. The Georgia On Your Mind podcast plans to do just that, along with connecting each and every one of its members over their shared love of The Peach State.
Description of the Problem
The problem that our project will address is that the University of Georgia is not usually thought of as a top contributor to success within the state of Georgia. Most people know UGA as having the top-ranked football team in the country, and therefore is a major contributor to the sports tourism industry in Georgia, but we wanted to shed light on five other areas that are lesser known. We plan to solve the stated problem by giving representatives of these organizations an opportunity to share more about the impact that their organization has across the state and how their position allows them to expand their reach.
Another problem that we plan to solve is bringing a fresh perspective to an educational topic, as stated previously. The information that we are presenting is dense, and some people might not be interested in learning more about it. We plan to solve this problem by being clear, concise, and enthusiastic throughout each episode. We will be clear in the way that we combine interviews to tell a very clear story about how UGA contributes to the area of success that we are focusing on. We will be concise by keeping each episode around 30 minutes long, which according to our user research, is the time frame that most people prefer. Lastly, we will be enthusiastic by employing a conversational tone and keeping listeners engaged the entire time.
Outline of Project Features
The Georgia On Your Mind podcast will have two seasons, each completed by a different group of Emerging Media students. Season 1 will be made up of six episodes, with each episode focusing on an area that the state of Georgia excels in and defend UGA as one of the primary reasons why Georgia has had that success. Each episode will include sound bites from two interviews that were previously conducted, one from the Georgia perspective and one from the UGA perspective, and will be incorporated into a conversation between the host and interviewer for that episode. Bailey and Berkeley acted as the interviewers for three episodes each, and Erin acted as the host for all six episodes.
Episodes will be released on a weekly basis and will be available Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and most other podcast platforms. The Georgia On Your Mind podcast will also have a supplementary website that will include full episodes with transcripts, behind-the-scenes content, and information about our producers and guests.
From the UGA perspective, we have interviewed these people:
- Josh Brooks (J. Parker Reid Director of Athletics)
- Michael Myers (Senior Business Consultant, Small Business Development Center)
- David Barbe (Director, Music Business Certificate)
- Cassie Ann Kiggen (Chief Communications Officer, College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences)
- Dr. Mark Risse (Director, Marine Extension & Georgia Sea Grant)
- Dr. Jay Hamilton (Department Head, Entertainment & Media Studies)
From the Georgia perspective, we have interviewed these people:
- Tim Zulawski (President, Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Sports & Entertainment)
- Kevin Planovsky (Vert Digital)
- Shep Ogden (Offbeat Media Group)
- Mala Sharma (Georgia Music Partners)
- Dr. Laura Perry Johnson (Associate Dean of Extension, College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences)
- Dr. Kady Lyons (Research Scientist, Georgia Aquarium)
- Daniel Sattelmeyer (Partner & Head of Creative, Bark Bark)
Potential Impact
Aside from the personal impact of learning how to create a podcast series from scratch, we hope that this project will have a greater impact not only on the local Athens community, but around the country. For those who used to live in Georgia and/or attended the University of Georgia, we hope to teach them more about both and strengthen the pride that they have for them. For those who do not have a connection to either but are interested in learning more, we hope to shed light on all that the University of Georgia has done for the state and continues to do even now. We also hope to encourage more people to get involved in these organizations so that the impact can be more profound. Lastly, for those who are avid podcast listeners, we hope to produce a fresh new podcast that they will be able to listen to and learn something new from without even realizing it.
Technologies Used
The technologies used for the creation and application of the project include Adobe Audition, Descript, Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva, HTML/CSS/Bootstrap, and Spotify for Podcasters. Adobe Audition was used to record each interview, whether done in Room 404 (the podcast studio) in Grady or elsewhere, and edit the final episodes. Descript was used to transcribe each interview after they were recorded, which we then uploaded to our shared Google Drive and extracted sound bites to be used in the final episode. Adobe Creative Cloud, specifically Illustrator and Photoshop, were used to design and edit promotional materials such as our logos, wordmarks, and behind the scenes photos to be posted on social media. Bootstrap was used to create our website, which shares more information to support the podcast itself. Lastly, Spotify for Podcasters was used to host each of our episodes on all major podcast platforms after they were released.
Clients Involved
The scope of our project was brought to us by anonymous donors of the NMI who wanted to give a group of students a unique learning experience that they would not be able to have in a traditional classroom setting. We were given the name “Team Spark” and tasked with creating a podcast that would identify the strengths of the partnership between the state and the university. Next semester, there will be another Team Spark that will produce Season 2 of the podcast as well as promote it on social media.
Key Takeaways
Through researching, designing, and developing our podcast from scratch, we learned a lot about preparing ahead of time and being intentional with our decisions. The Design System assignment in JRMC 7013 taught us how to use colors and fonts to convey our brand image of being fresh, playful and enthusiastic. We also learned how to communicate our overall mission in a way that listeners can understand, as well as explore UI components and patterns that would present the information on our website in a visually-appealing way. The Competitive Advantage Report assignment in JRMC 7014 taught us to argue why our project was needed in the first place, more about our target audience so we could cater our podcast and website to their wants and needs, and how we could take inspiration from other podcasts that are similar to ours.
Lastly, the User Research Report assignment in JRMC 7013 taught us how to measure quantitative results and measure them in order to improve the overall quality of our podcast episodes and supplemental website. We want to deliver an educational, but still engaging experience for our listeners and ensure that the website supports that goal. Overall, by working on this project all semester, we have learned that planning is everything, preparing the interviewee beforehand is advised, and scripting and editing podcasts is not an easy feat.
Overview of Capstone Journey
When we decided to pursue this podcast as our capstone project, we were excited to learn a new skill but unsure because we all had little to no experience in podcasting. We had to learn how to use the podcast equipment correctly so we would have quality audio to work with, and how to pack the equipment so we could travel and interview our guests who are not local to Athens. We also had to learn the best way to go about these episodes, especially because the content could come across as boring if not presented correctly. For the first draft of our first episode, we wrote a full script with sound bites from each interview, but as you can imagine, it just sounded too forced. For the second draft, we learned as much about the topic as we could so we could talk freely about it and have more of a conversation. We also made sure to introduce ourselves at the beginning so listeners would have some familiarity with us, and debrief at the end of the episode so we could share our personal experience with creating it.
Advice for Future Students
For the next cohort of Emerging Media students, we suggest implementing a project management system and embracing the learning experience above all else. Often, we had assignments due for multiple classes in the same week and either interviewing, transcribing, recording, or editing to work on for the podcast. Because of this, we wanted to divide up the work equally between all group members while also playing to each other’s strengths, so we implemented a project management system called Asana into our team workflow. With Asana, we had boards for all of our classes, the podcast itself, and action items that needed to be completed that week.
We recommend the next Team Spark do the same so that everyone is clear on what they should be working on at all times and that nothing is forgotten. We also suggest embracing the learning experience because that’s what a capstone project is all about. Although we had almost no experience in podcasting, we broke the project into smaller pieces and figured it out along the way. Looking back, we have created something that we are all really proud of and have a clear idea in mind of where we are going with it next semester.
Supplementary Resources
Beta URL: https://projects.nmi.cool/2023/em/georgiaonyourmind/
Website URL: georgiaonyourmindpod.com
