ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA STUDIO
EMS Director: Dr. Hannah R. Hopkins, hhopkins6@gsu.edu
Energy demands of Atlanta’s growing tech sector, rare-earth elements essential for electronics manufacturing in Georgia kaolin mines, vulnerabilities in Georgia’s water table following a boom in data center construction, and the uneven distribution of environmental impacts associated with infrastructural expansion on Atlanta’s Westside: given the complexity of media infrastructures in and around Atlanta, we research what it means to connect with the people, places, and practices that make up our city.
The EMS works at the intersections of media, infrastructure, and local environmental studies. Through creative field research methods that engage digital tools for innovative communication, the EMS creates multimedia storytelling that investigates how the design of complex media infrastructures impacts the Atlanta area.
As a studio environment, EMS work is produced collaboratively and iteratively with campus and community members. We seek creative approaches to the design and circulation of our research products: EMS publications expand the scope of our fields of inquiry through sparking and sustaining conversations across and beyond Georgia State.
- conceptualizing and executing interdisciplinary research projects
- conducting field research
- collecting, analyzing, and visualizing environmental data
- collaborating and managing complex projects across teams
- crafting public-facing research products (field guides, zines, websites, etc.)
- communicating professionally about research projects with GSU and community partners