RUTGERS UNIVERSITY projects

Digital Storytelling

‘Women Leaders as Agents for Authenticity and Social Impact During the Triple Revolution’ 

This paper is part of the ongoing conversation about social media and storytelling. It examines best practices for networked storytelling in photography and video through examples of women leaders who leverage the tools of the triple revolution for social, business, and environmental impact.

These leaders manifest innovation and equity, while modeling new visuals that embrace purpose and sustainability, authentically creating a new online storytelling resource for women and girls worldwide via social media.

The case studies provided feature vital women who are changing the face of leadership through authenticity, and reframing narratives to create social impact.

CASE STUDY: DOVE

‘Seeing it: Dove’s Real Beauty to #Detox your Feed – the conversation of beauty & self-esteem.’ 

This paper examines examples of best practices in Unilever's Dove's Self-Esteem Project and reviews how milestone campaigns reach women and girls globally and regionally through trusted storytelling networks. The campaign, which ran in the UK, U.S. and Japan, empowers women with compelling messaging, tools, images, and conversations through various innovative digital and social media approaches.

the kupona foundation

RAISES FUNDS for healthcare provider: comprehensive community rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT)

KUPONA foundation mission

We empower people and communities in Tanzania to realize their potential by improving their access to healthcare. At optimal health, individuals and their families thrive, breaking the cycle of poverty.

Rutgers Communications Team 

Susan Chanin - Project Lead

Marisa Tomsky - Knowledge Lead

Qianyu (Liera) Chen - Research Lead

Communication Challenge

The funding Kupona raises for CCBRT supports life changing surgeries that end cycles of pain and poverty in Tanzania. The Kupona Foundation was looking for a social media content strategy that integrated their core messaging throughout all communications to generate unrestricted donations.  Our client requested a social media audit, a message map with engagement plans, and a content bank.

Our Approach

We approached our project as a collaborative team within Rutgers Team Kupona and The Kupona Foundation. We brought “Fresh Eyes” to the social media audit, research, and content development.  

Our Process

After intense discovery, we created a project plan to target Kupona’s deliverables. We positioned our content and message map as samples, not as complete content banks or engagement plans.

Using the MusCow method we worked with our clients to define the following deliverables: 

• “Fresh Eyes Social Media Audit”

• Creative Brief

• Sample Content brief

Our results

We delivered one social media audit, one creative brief, one sample content brief, one sample infographic for template for Facebook, one photographic template for Instagram, two sample micro message videos and a themed photo edit sample of 32 images.

We suggested a hashtag campaign called #Start2Heal, and recorded a “Hashtag Campaign” interview with Trish Garrity, Global Communications Leader, Johnson & Johnson. 

COVID-19 FOOD INSECURITY

A Health Communication research project about children

As communication researchers and community members, my partner Krystal Mora and I targeted a critical health issue that we knew we could impact.

Our project

“COVID-19 Related Food Insecurity Among School Age Children K-12 in two new Jersey Cities: Jersey City and New Brunswick” takes a look at food insecurity due to school closures and presents interventions to help reduce hunger through communication best practices.

‘On Digital Photography and Creative Power during the Triple Revolution’

A project and research paper for Dr. Mary Chayko's Social Media class, Fall 2020

Accepted into the New Jersey Communication Association 2021 Conference

Abstract

The research presented is part of an ongoing discussion of photography's importance in the human experience. Begun by postmodernist theorist Susan Sontag, and more recently examined by sociologist and media theorist Nathan Jurgenson, photography plays an ever-increasing role in communication.

Digital photography and distribution methods

Due to the advances of technology during the triple revolution (Rainie & Wellman 2012), enhances creative power for individuals and communities. The concept of creative power (derived from the psychotherapist and philosopher Alfred Adler) speaks to the possibility of cyber-optimism vs. pessimism. We can communicate with increased speed and address various imagined audiences (Goffman 1959) via social media and online platforms.

art education

Continued research is being done presently on the importance of art education for children to prepare them for navigating social media and digital photography.

The COVID-19 pandemic

The pandemic has collapsed online and offline worlds to create a merged reality.

subjects

This paper explores the following subjects: Portraiture and Self, Documentation and Evidence, Health Communication and Participatory Photo Mapping, and Marketing & Advertising (specifically trends in photography during the COVID-19 pandemic).

Keywords / phrases

photography, social media, cyber-optimism, creative power, triple revolution