The Uptake: Inception, Breakthroughs, and Uncertainty

The news industry is suffering one of its worst years in modern history, including a splintering audience, plummeting revenue and the inevitable layoffs that follow. But even in this in environment some have found ways to find success in the fault lines of the media landscape.

The Uptake, a left-leaning Minneapolis-based journalism group has been working to not just survive but thrive under the current conditions by harnessing citizen journalists and live internet streaming.

I spoke with Chris Dykstra, Chairman of the board for The UpTake, asking him first about the news industry as it is today.

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Exam Anxiety

Nearing the end of my time at Carleton College, I sought to find and document those events – in a confluence of very special conditions – that only occur in such a college environment. The removed, rural setting of the college and intensely academic though thoroughly eccentric student populous produces many of these events and one very special one occurs the Friday before the first exam at the end of the term.

Winter term especially, with its pent up academic frustration and incubated angst, requires a unique outlet through performance and song. This slideshow piece attempts to follow the happenings in the Carleton College Gould Library through the night, from improvisation performances deriding the school across the river, St. Olaf, to the acapella groups the school is famous for.

Presented in Flash. Link.

The Record Librarian’s Domain

Nick Ver Steegh, manager of the KRLX record library in Northfield, Minnesota, gives an audio tour of his favorite place on Earth. Musk, weird growths, and the dusty haze of a half century of vinyl provide the backdrop for this interview.

Produced in conjunction with Emily Schwing of KRLX’s Periscope production staff. Photo by Cameron Nordholm.

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Town and Gown Bridges: Locally Grown

In December of 2005 I made the fateful decision to contact the then current head of Northfield.org, a community-driven website for the city of Northfield, Minnesota. Griff Wigley was a direct, funny, and engaging advocate of citizen journalism and we hit it off well, quickly coming to an agreement to merge his current community news podcasting project with the resources and additional voices of KRLX-FM.

The resulting collaboration that we initiated, soon after dubbed “Locally Grown,” has seen a team of community and student journalists analyze and discuss pressing local issues including zoning, environmental, and civic works. Leader of the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC) Ross Currier (left) and Northfield Economic Development Authority (EDA) member Tracy Davis have worked with Griff and the News Department at KRLX-FM to continue this community service through 2007.

Locally Grown Northfield Link.

What Happened to the Miscellany?

This audio piece, recorded and produced with Emily Schwing (NPR News, Carleton College ‘05), examines the history of the Carleton Miscellany through an interview with and poetry reading by Mike Kowaleski of the Carleton College English Department. The teaser:

In its heyday, The Carleton Miscellany was a contemporary, avante-garde and unpretentious compilation of some of the best comtemporary American literature. For exactly 20 years subscribers from all over the country -and world – flocked to its pages, consuming the work by some of the greatest authors to come out of the 20th century.

But what happened? Why did the Miscellany disappear just as abruptly as it started? And where are the back issues today? One of Carleton’s favorite English professors, Mike Kowalewski of the Carleton English department, introduces us to what was once one of the Midwest’s most celebrated and sought-after private publications.

Original Piece

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Piece in KRLX’s Periscope Program

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La Nouvelle Interface

In the summer of 2005 I left for Nice, France to participate in NYU’s Nice: A City in Motion program. Steeped in 3D animation, theory, and design, it explored the word of digital video and its manipulation.

The course covers conceptual design and production using animation and video processing software. We look at ways to shoot and manipulate visual media in 2-D and 3-D, playing with motions, colors, lighting, textures, camera movements, gestures, sounds, and human expressions. Students are asked to create their own story combining video and 3-D animation. Topics addressed include designing digital storyboards, motion capture, creating animated digital characters, camera tracking, lighting, and compositing. Course taught by NYU ITP Program Professor Jean-Marc Gauthier. [above]

My final project in this course involved using Maya3D to construct an extractable layer over a still photograph of the city of Nice, France, animating the buildings to represent the political vibrancy of it’s old section. Undergoing rapid development, Nice could be seen as standing to lose much in the coming years and this project can be taken both in a political and artistic sense within this context. All audio, photography, and rendering is completely original.

New Interface (QT H.264, 21MB) Link.
Program Website Link.
Exhibition Press Release (PDF) (French) Link.

Social Reform Photography Analysis