{"633678":{"#nid":"633678","#data":{"type":"news","title":"East Asian Media VIP: Learning Language, Culture, and Work Skills through Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis is the first in a series about Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs) in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBy Michael Pearson\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOn Amanda Weiss\u0026rsquo; student research team, a future computer scientist is studying the Japanese cultural trend of \u003Cem\u003EKojo Moe\u003C\/em\u003E. A psychology student is researching how mental health issues are presented in Japanese animation. Another team member, a graduate student, is translating an Asian science fiction story, hoping to get it published.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis is the \u003Ca href=\u0022\/\/iac.nas.gatech.edu\/mpearson34\/Editorial\/Current%20Stories\/Asianmedia.modlangs.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EEast Asian Media Vertically Integrated Project\u003C\/a\u003E (VIP), one of nine such research teams in the \u003Ca href=\u0022\/\/iac.nas.gatech.edu\/mpearson34\/Editorial\/Current%20Stories\/iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe campuswide program (see \u0026ldquo;\u003Ca href=\u0022#About VIPs\u0022\u003EAbout VIPs\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026rdquo; below) allows students to pursue research projects as a part of multidisciplinary teams led by faculty members.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/modlangs.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/38db520b-2342-5ea8-a3e0-57b340e6d49a\u0022\u003EWeiss\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor of Japanese in the \u003Ca href=\u0022\/\/iac.nas.gatech.edu\/mpearson34\/Editorial\/Current%20Stories\/modlangs.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Modern Languages\u003C\/a\u003E, started her VIP in Fall 2019. She runs it like a Japanese graduate seminar, mentoring and guiding students engaged in independent research projects examining varied aspects of East Asian media, a topic many students in other majors and disciplines would not otherwise be able to explore in depth.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The VIP is such a flexible and creative system,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;It lets students engage in projects they\u0026rsquo;re passionate about, but which they might not have a chance to explore otherwise. And it lets me work one-on-one with very motivated, passionate students who are not constrained by the framework of a typical class.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt also allows students to explore the cross-cultural competencies they will need to have impactful global careers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor instance, fifth-year computer science student Lilly Rizvi\u0026rsquo;s project involves investigating the Japanese phenomenon of K\u003Cem\u003Eojo Moe\u003C\/em\u003E, which translates roughly to \u0026ldquo;factory infatuation\u0026rdquo; and involves\u0026nbsp;nighttime tours of industrial sites and long-exposure photography of such facilities.\u0026nbsp;It\u0026rsquo;s a trend that has seen increasing interest.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERizvi, who is from Aiken, South Carolina and hopes to work in Tokyo after graduation, wants to understand more about why people indulge in such tourism, an interest she herself took up after a trip to Singapore. As part of her work, she is interviewing people interested in \u003Cem\u003EKojo Moe \u003C\/em\u003Eand publishing a fanzine showcasing her work and findings.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a photo project, but also an academic project investigating this phenomenon,\u0026rdquo; she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYendi Neil, a third-year psychology student from Johns Creek, joined Weiss\u0026#39; VIP team to apply her psychology skills to a cultural studies project involving Japanese animation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m looking at how directors and producers portray mental health in their shows. Is it accurate? Do they make fun of them? Does it perpetuate stigma?\u0026rdquo; she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor Camden Hine of Atlanta, one of a couple of team members working on translating works by Japanese authors into English, the experience has helped him gain insight into nuances of Japanese, but is also yielding other benefits.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m trying to find work in Japan, so this has helped me, not only with improving my Japanese, but also in making connections,\u0026rdquo; said Hine, who is studying for the Master of Science in Global Media and Cultures.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWeiss said facilitating connections is\u0026nbsp;one of her favorite aspects of the program, which she also praised for giving students opportunities to hone their skills in organization\u0026nbsp;and time management.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;These students are not only applying their linguistic and cultural knowledge to an ambitious project, they are also building a professional network that may lead to\u0026nbsp;future global careers.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Ca id=\u0022About VIPs\u0022 name=\u0022About VIPs\u0022\u003EAbout VIPs\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStudents participating in Vertically Integrated Projects work in multidisciplinary teams on projects that span multiple semesters, receiving academic credit and invaluable experience as they apply their academic skills to real-world projects.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe concept was founded in 2001 at Purdue University by Edward J. Coyle, who has been on faculty in Georgia Tech\u0026#39;s\u0026nbsp;School of Electrical and Computer Engineering since 2008.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EVIPs have since been adopted at 36 universities worldwide. Georgia Tech, a leader in the VIP Consortium, has the largest program in the world, with more than 1100 students enrolled in 70 teams as of Spring 2019.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts has nine active VIP teams: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/augmented-reality-experiences\u0022\u003EAugmented Reality Experiences\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/digital-deliberation\u0022\u003EDigital Deliberation\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/21st-century-global-atlanta\u0022\u003E21\u003Csup\u003Est\u003C\/sup\u003E Century Global Atlanta\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/community-digital-archives-project\u0022\u003ECommunity \u0026amp; Digital Archives Project\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/polivision-multimedia-arts-culture\u0022\u003EPolivision\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/art-ai\u0022\u003EArts \u0026amp; AI\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/east-asian-media\u0022\u003EEast Asian Media\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/global-social-entrepreneurship\u0022\u003EGlobal Social Entrepreneurship\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/votertech\u0022\u003EVoterTech\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about these or other VIP teams, visit the program page at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Evip.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThis is the first in a series about Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs) in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"This is the first in a series about Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs) in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2020-03-19 15:38:16","changed_gmt":"2020-04-01 20:28:49","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-03-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2020-03-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"633677":{"id":"633677","type":"image","title":"Kojo Moe photo","body":null,"created":"1584631815","gmt_created":"2020-03-19 15:30:15","changed":"1585771921","gmt_changed":"2020-04-01 20:12:01","alt":"A Japanese industrial plant in the night.","file":{"fid":"241130","name":"DSC06816.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DSC06816.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DSC06816.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":997314,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/DSC06816.jpg?itok=MOzKnWfj"}}},"media_ids":["633677"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"},{"id":"1284","name":"School of Modern Languages"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"184286","name":"VIPs"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichael Pearson\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nmichael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}