Freshman Week: Changing Media

6 September 2010. For about 1,243 new first-semester HSG students, the first academic year will start with the Freshman Week of 13-17 September 2010. Guided by 180 tutors, the newcomers will deal with the topic, “The media – understanding, experiencing and producing”.

Changes in media use behaviour
People’s media use behaviour is currently being subjected to particularly dynamic change by the latest technological developments. This is shown, among other things, by the fact that the dividing lines between the various media are becoming increasingly blurred. The borderlines between recipients and producers of media contributions are also becoming indistinct. Technological possibilities are turning media users more and more into producers. These developments give an edge to the questions concerning the seriousness and correctness of media contributions, as well as the independence of the media.

Contributions produced by the students themselves
Against this background, the future of the media corporations is uncertain and must be actively shaped. The Freshman Week offers new students an opportunity to have a closer look at the media by analysing contributions from the printed media, videos and radio, and then taking on the role played by the media and producing contributions themselves.

High-ranking jury
The best media contributions will be presented before a jury in the Olma Hall 2.1 on Friday, 17 September 2010. The speakers and jury members are Prof. Dr. Katarina Stanoevska-Slavena, Head of the Media Platforms Research Unit at the HSG’s Institute of Media and Communication Management, the business and communication consultant Dr. Sven Bradke (Mediapolis AG), and Marc Furrer (ComCom), accompanied by the Editor of NZZ Campus, Ronald Schenkel, Robert Ruckstuhl (Head of Programming at DRS3 and Virus) and Prof. Dr. Kurt Imhof, sociologist and journalism expert.

Freshman Day about the opportunities and risks of the Web 2.0
On Freshman Day, which will take place on 17 September this year, the HSG will be welcoming 300 new students at the Master’s and Doctoral Levels. This year’s motto, “Web 2.0”, will provide students with a chance to reflect on the opportunities and risks of these new media and to discuss what influences the interactive Web 2.0 will have on the economies and societies of a globalised world. Prof. Dr. Miriam Meckel, HSG Professor of Corporate Communication, and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schmid, HSG Professor of Russian History and Culture, have been invited as speakers.