Collaborative alliance of HBCU and PWIs to develop a pipeline for innovation and entrepreneurship with students of color.

1. Media Entrepreneurship:
Creating an Alliance for Innovation
Interlink Alliance
Virginia Commonwealth University
November 9, 2015
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Associate Dean for Innovation

2. • Associate Dean for Innovation |
Associate Professor
Scripps College of Communication,
Ohio University, OH; ferrierm@ohio.edu;
Twitter: @mediaghosts
• Vice President, Journalism That Matters
Founder, Create or Die Startup
Gatherings
• Founder, LocallyGrownNews.com
• Chief Investigator: Media Deserts Project
• Mother of Google MapsEducator
Entrepreneur
Mentor
Scholar
New Media Innovator
Dr. Michelle Ferrier

3. Dr. Michelle Ferrier
Innovation Activities What was it?
BBS/Fax on Demand (Intrapreneur) Early technology adoption with members
NEAOnline (Intrapreneur) Developed first web presence for National Education
Association on AOL
SimSchool (Intrapreneur) Development of school system simulation at NEA
Education Insider (Entrepreneur) Magazine startup for parents of school-aged children
EHCWired.com (Intrapreneur) First independent online college news site; first online course at
the college (2002).
Media Power Lunch (Entrepreneur) Short, online learning for beginning journalists (MediaBistro
predecessor)
Highlands Family (Entrepreneur) Hyperlocal, hybrid online/print news for families in Appalachia
CopyWash.com (Entrepreneur) Online copy editing services
Digital Identity/Reputation Management
(Entrepreneur)
Patent pending technology on managing identity from one
platform
MyTopiaCafe.com (Intrapreneur) Online community for newspaper nonsubscribers
LocallyGrownNews.com (Entrepreneur) Hyperlocal online news franchise

5. Our Agenda
• Media entrepreneurship: Why now?
• Benefits to students?
• Challenges to institutions/faculty
• Examples of outcomes for students
• Next steps

6. This isn’t about startups.
(but a way of thinking…and startups too.)
“We need to use these
new leadership practices in
our core business, because
we face so much
uncertainty and need to
continue to reinvent
ourselves.”
-- Scott Cook, Co-founder,
Intuit.

7. Design Thinking @ Stanford

8. The Design Process

9. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

10. Four strategic questions
that frame the new
challenges and
opportunities for media
organizations.
Source: The Big Thaw: Charting a Future for
Journalism, Deifell, 2009.

11. Four Strategic Questions
• New Competitive Landscape:
How is the landscape changing?
• New Sources of Value:
What needs can be met, problems solved or desires
fulfilled?
• New Distinctive Competencies:
What new capabilities are needed to succeed?
• New Business Models:
How are media organizations structured to capture value?

12. Digital Media Market Sectors
• Experiential & Immersive Entertainment
• Modeling & Simulation (virtual worlds,
augmented/mixed reality)
• Game Development & Publishing
• Motion Picture Creation (webisodes,
animation, visual effects, audio/sound design)
• Pre-Vis/Visualization (data, mapping,
architectural, bio-medical
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Ohio University,
@mediaghosts

13. Digital Media Market Sectors
• Mobile Media
• eLearning
• Interactive Marketing & Advertising (social media,
online ads, in-game ad placement
• Content Aggregation & Distribution (niche
portals)
• Internet A/V Content Distribution (streaming
media)
• Web Content & Application Development
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Ohio University,
@mediaghosts

17. Student Skills and Knowledge
1. Construct and deliver a pitch.
2. Conduct market research.
3. Conduct audience analysis.
4. Understand the entrepreneurial
landscape/startup culture.
5. Conduct a competitive analysis.
6. Create a minimum viable product.
7. Read, understand and create financial
statements.
Ferrier, Michelle Barrett. “Media Entrepreneurship: Curriculum Development and Faculty Perceptions of
What Students Should Know,” Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Sept. 2013, Vol 68, Issue 3, p.
222.

18. Challenges for Higher Education
• Faculty champions: Care and support
• Credibility gap: Who is an entrepreneur?
• Making it real: Experiential learning;
consequences
• Professional culture: Editorial vs. financial
• Pace of media evolution: Crazy!
• Curriculum resources: Scarce
• Making it count: Tenure, making it visible
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Ohio University,
@mediaghosts

19. OHIO University Pathways
to Innovation
• *Scripps International Innovators Cup: Global competition
for student teams on media entrepreneurship.
• *Scripps Innovation Challenge: University-wide student
media entrepreneurship competition.
• *Mobile Module: Two-week module taught by industry
experts and infused throughout curriculum.
• *Game Research and Immersive Design Lab:
Pre-incubation space for game development teams.
• Digital Media Incubator: Early-stage investment in
student/graduate companies.
• *Certificate in Entrepreneurship with Business
• *Partnerships with Accelerators: Internship opportunities
for students with startup companies.
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Elon University,
@mediaghosts

20. Business Model Canvas
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas/bmc

21. Scripps College: Blend of
Academic/Experiential Programs
• Classes: Online Journalism Development,
Certificate in Entrepreneurship; class
participation in Scripps Innovation Challenge.
• Experiences: Scripps Innovation Challenge, GRID
Lab Incubator Program, Digital Media Incubator.
• Hacking the Curriculum: Just-in-time learning
modules across many classes
• Engaging Community: Media entrepreneurship
accelerator programs; Media Deserts Project.

22. What is the
Scripps Innovation Challenge?
• The challenge is a student competition that asks
teams to come up with a startup
business/product/service/process based on media
and communication challenges.
• Student teams compete for prizes totaling $25,000.

23. Leah Petrovich: 2013 SIC Winner
"Throughout the interview I kept
selling SIC, and I told them it was this
really cool thing I was a part of during
college where I got to work with a
team of people, create and flesh out
this business idea, and ultimately win
$10,000.”
"When you have an experience like
that, in the startup world, that's a
Golden Ticket."

24. Startup Accelerator Fellowships
• Scripps Innovation
Challenge participant
and president of The
Ohio University
Entrepreneurship Club,
Alexander Harshaw,
spent his summer in
NYC as a digital media
intern at Dreamit
Ventures.

25. Scripps International Innovators Cup
• Colleges and universities pit
their best student team around
a new media business idea with
other teams from around the
world. Only one team per school
may enter.
• Teams compete for a $5,000
cash prize.

26. Scripps International Innovators Cup
• https://www.ohio.edu/scrippscollege/innovati
onchallenge/2015-16-challenges.cfm
• Exploiting Popular Podcasts
• Tracking Money in State & Local Elections
• Engaging First-Time Voters
• Create a News Outlet to Serve a “Media
Desert”
• Incentivize Your Audience to Help Tell Stories

27. Ohio University | Team Du Monde
2015 Inaugural Competition Winners

28. Challenge: Addressing Sexual Assault
on College Campuses
Sanusi Shehu talks about his second Scripps Innovation Challenge project: Video

29. Team Du Monde 2015

30. Business Model Canvas

31. Ohio University
Entrepreneurship
Ecosystem
1. University focus on
innovation and
entrepreneurship
through faculty
research, student
innovation and
curricular change.
2. Grow Your Own/
Partnerships with
external agencies with
roots at OHIO:
TechGrowth Ohio;
Adena Ventures, Athena
Ventures.

32. The OHIO Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

33. Next Steps
• What do we need as faculty
members to be successful? How do
these needs change based on size of
institution, instructor experience and
relationships, school location and
other factors?

34. Workshop Objectives
1. Expose new and experienced faculty members to the variety of
ways students can engage in media entrepreneurship in and
outside the classroom;
2. Address the barriers/challenges to development of media
entrepreneurship activities: Promotion/tenure; funding; faculty
experience, etc.
3. Provide faculty members with the experience of creating a
“startup” around a media entrepreneurship idea by working in
teams...modeling the structure and behaviors of student teams;
4. Develop a community of faculty around specific ideas that serve
institutions with different characteristics -- small/large
institutions, undergraduate/graduate, curricular/co-curricular and
extracurricular; etc.
5. Create a “compendium” of ways to develop the media
entrepreneurship environment within and outside the university.

35. Building the Media Entrepreneurship
Ecosystem
• Awareness: Scripps International Innovators Cup for student-
led innovation global competition.
• Exchange: Facebook: Media Entrepreneurship
Wiki:http://media-entrepreneurship-course-
development.wikispaces.com
• Research: Two calls for special issues on media
entrepreneurship (Newspaper Research Journal, Journalism
Practice).
• Education: Scripps Howard Journalism Entrepreneurship
Institute each January at Arizona State University

36. Contact Me
• @mediaghosts
• Facebook: DrMichelleFerrier
• LinkedIn: Michelle Ferrier
• ferrierm@ohio.edu
• https://www.ohio.edu/scrippscollege/innovatorscup
/