October 14, 2011 Reynolds Journalism Institute Technology News Releases
iPad App Developed by Missouri School of Journalism Magazine Journalism Students
"MU Homecoming: 100 Years of Homecoming" Features a Century of Parades, Decorations, Performances and Touchdowns
Columbia, Mo. (Oct. 14, 2011) — Thousands of University of Missouri alumni, friends and others are learning about the history of Homecoming at the University of Missouri through a new iPad app developed by a team of magazine journalism students and MIZZOU magazine staffers.
MU Homecoming: 100 Years of Homecoming
"MU Homecoming: 100 Years of Homecoming" features more than 140 historical photos of what has made Homecoming at MU a rich tradition. In 1911, Chester L. Brewer, then the MU director of athletics, came up with the idea to invite MU alumni to come home for the KU game as a way to build spirit for the rivalry. More than 9,000 fans came to the inaugural event.
The free app is available through Apple's iTunes store. The Reynolds Journalism Institute, the Houston Harte Chair and MIZZOU magazine provided support for the project.
Development of the iPad app began in May, when members of the Vox magazine staff pitched the idea to MIZZOU magazine Editor Karen Worley, BJ '73. "MIZZOU photographers Rob Hill and Nicholas Benner had already researched historical images for the magazine's fall issue devoted to 100 years of Homecoming," she said. "Including some of them in a photo retrospective for the iPad seemed like a fun way to tell the story in another medium."
Students were involved in all aspects of the project, including the photo and caption research, and the build of the app using Mag+ publishing tools.
Master's student Caitlin Carter works on the new iPad app.
Caitlin Carter, a magazine journalism master's student, worked on the project this summer as part of her independent study project. She selected 600 images from thousands of photos in the files of University Archives, the State Historical Society of Missouri, MIZZOU magazine and the Savitar.
The photos were organized into five chapters:
"Traditions" highlights floats, festivities and campus organizations.
"Game Day" shows touchdowns, coaches and football chaos.
"Weird and Wonderful" includes Tiger-sheep, painted fans and other bizarre scenes.
"Then and Now" pictures mascots, cheerleaders, press boxes and more.
"100 Years" is an editors' choice of decade-by-decade highlights.
Graduate students Chen Yao and Timmy Huynh also assisted in the project. Yao designed the templates with assistance from journalism senior Tova Diamond. Huynh assisted with photo preparation. MIZZOU magazine staffers contributed research, photos and copyediting help. Journalism professors Rhonda Prast and Mike Jenner along with Kristin Kellogg, BJ '09, an adjunct professor, served as project managers. Rob Weir, director of digital development at the Columbia Missourian, and Justin Giles, an information technology support specialist, helped with some of the technological issues.
"One of the things we need to teach students is to be comfortable with telling stories on different platforms," Jenner said of the learning curve needed to produce an iPad app. "Students should be taught to be nimble and capable of telling stories in different ways. This is one way to do that."
This app is the first of several being developed in Prast's "Magazines Across Platforms" class as part of a joint RJI/magazine journalism faculty project for iPad app development. RJI provided funding for 2011-2012 to start the project.
Mar 17, 2017 Laura Bardot Selected as Columnist for Missouri Ruralist Magazine
Dec 19, 2016 Magazine Writing Students Use Radio Essays to Tell Stories
Feb 17, 2015 School to Host 11 Top Writers, Editors at Upcoming Conference
Jan 30, 2014 A Section of the Fundamentals of Multimedia Class Uses All-Mobile Reporting Techniques
Jul 09, 2013 Missouri Journalism Students Help Create New App to Find Locally Grown Produce
Jun 10, 2013 3 Missouri School of Journalism Faculty Members Named 2013-14 Fellows at the Reynolds Journalism Institute
Mar 08, 2013 Blog Documenting Pioneering Course in Drone Journalism Launched
Dec 11, 2012 Magazine Journalism Students Create New iPad App Using Industry-Standard Program
Oct 14, 2011 iPad App Developed by Missouri School of Journalism Magazine Journalism Students
May 05, 2010 All the World's a Museum...and the Information May Be as Close as Your Cell Phone
Justin Giles
User Support Analyst
Michael M. Jenner