When it comes to glorious learning spaces, the School of Communication’s Social Media Analytics Command Center (SMACC) is at the top of the list. Not counting basic software and hardware improvements that made the SMACC lab more powerful, its equipment and furniture have essentially remained the same from the time it first opened in fall 2014 through spring 2022. Welcome to SMACC 2.0!
Since the SMACC opened, it has been used extensively for classes, students’ and professors’ projects, TV-10 programs, university and client projects, tours for prospective students and people interested in the school’s programs, and all kinds of meetings and consultations. Summer 2022 was a great time to update the SMACC lab so that it functions even better than before for all those uses.
Dr. Nathan Carpenter, director of convergent media and the designer of the SMACC and Communication Innovation Center (CIC), has seen the impact that the new SMACC has had on students and faculty after the updates were finished.
“These were actually the speech labs for COM 110 (communication as critical inquiry program) prior to that it was a darkroom for photography classes. So, we’ve really come a long way in terms of changes in technology,” said Carpenter.
One of the major updates this past summer to the lab was adding more screens. Now there are two 80-inch screens side-by-side on the longest wall of the room so that students have a better view of notes, digital media, and other examples. This room holds classes that teach code, which is hard to see on the small screens in the room, but with this update students or any individual who is in the back of the room can clearly see the screen with no obstacles.
Another major update was the furniture. Gone are the long tables that took up a lot of space. Now there are desks with wheels like those in the other classrooms in Fell Hall. The tables restricted visibility of the single screen in front of the classroom. With the movable desks, students can move to work in groups and navigate around the room easier.
Prior to this major update, there were two “minor” ones in 2017 that helped greatly. The first was for needed equipment. This update included two carts with side-by-side screens placed in the corners of the room. One or both of these carts can be (and have been) used as mobile units to show social media analytics at particular events on campus and elsewhere. At the same time, a movable workstation was added at the front of the room for instructors to lead classes and project digital content on the main screen.
Funding to keep this space up to date comes from the Alumni Association, but there is also now a new student fee. “Something that ISU did a couple of years ago was to pass a new student fee, called the academic enhancement fee. We haven’t had a fee in the past to maintain classrooms and upgrade computers and screens, and making sure students have access to good technology and good learning environments,” said Dr. Stephen Hunt, the director of the School of Communication.
The second “minor” and important update included new computers for faster broadcasting and faster connection, which enabled much better use of analytics concerning data, news, and information as soon as it comes out.
Future plans for updating the SMACC include expanding the space, knocking down the wall between the lab and a room used for storage.
