The Current Project: Connecting college students to the world through increased engagement with international news.

Abstract

The rituals created around traditional news outlets, such as newspapers and broadcast are no longer relevant to American college students. Today, students find themselves snacking on the news when it is convenient to their busy lifestyles and bumping into news on social media rather than actively staying informed. The goal of The Current Project is to create new media consumption habits amongst U.S. college students to help them better connect with events happening around the world. I intend to do this by answering the following questions: What are the barriers to student engagement with international news and what opportunities exist to increase and maintain their news consumption? Through The Current Project, I aim to devise a variety of design explorations that act as a family of projects tailored to suit student’s varied needs.