This spring the Multimedia Learning Center (MMLC) is changing its name to the Media and Design Studio. Our collaborative projects and services will continue without interruption, and our mission will not change. We will continue to put tools, resources and technological expertise in the hands of faculty and students, just as we have for the last 47 years.
So why the new name?
Mainly because times change, and so do the meanings of words.
Back in 1993, when we changed our name (formerly the Language Laboratories) to the Multi-Media Learning Center, we needed a hyphen to denote the novelty of images and sounds on a computer. That novelty has, of course, become the norm. Multimedia dropped the hyphen, and so did we. In recent years the word has further collapsed into media, signifying content—be it data, text, image, sound, or social. Our new name accounts for that shift.
We also dropped “Learning Center” from our shingle. In this age of blended learning and interdisciplinary scholarship, we think the Studio designation better articulates our small-batch approach. We’re always piloting new technologies here, or designing them ourselves. Design. That’s in the name, too. We intend to express that word in multiple ways, as software design, instructional design, and visual design.
The Media and Design Studio. For many of us here, internally, the new name took some getting used to. Much in the way a new dwelling requires time and memory before it begins to feel, truly, like a home, we invite you to join us in making this name ours.