Digital Media Consultants

Digital Media Consultants

 

With PhDs in Rhetoric, English, and related fields, and teaching courses at Stanford, our highly-trained and experienced Digital Media Consultants are professionals who support the multimedia and visual communication work of Stanford’s academic community.  The following is a description of our Digital Media Consultation team:

 

Christine Alfano specializes in visual culture, new media, multimedia, and digital rhetoric. She is the co-author, with Alyssa O’Brien, of the Envision textbook series, which teaches students how to write persuasive arguments within today’s high-definition visual culture. She has worked extensively with web design, blogs, micro-blogs, social media, and wikis, and has experience working with student projects including multimedia photo essays, visual op-ads, youtube vidoes, Prezi and PowerPoint presentations, and game design. 

Sohui Lee specializes in visual design and new media theory and practice through the lens of rhetoric. In particular, she enjoys helping students improve visual arguments and appeal strategies in print media (print advertisements, package design, flyers, posters) and digital media such as slideshow presentations and web sites. She has taught visual design at Stanford for over five years and published scholarly articles on PowerPoint rhetoric and on fair use and academic freedom on the Internet. Her current research interest is in multimedia discourse, and multiliteracies in the Writing Center. She is co-editor of the book Landmark Essays on Writing Centers and New Media which will be published in January 2013 (Routledge).

Alyssa O’Brien has published on visual rhetoric and multimedia writing through her textbook series Envision: Reading and Writing Arguments (co-authored with Christine Alfano). She teaches classes in visual rhetoric and specializes in helping students work on web projects, design photo essays, and develop slideware presentations. 

Ruth Starkman specializes in visual media, film and media theory, film history and screenwriting.  Her scholarly work includes articles on Leni Riefenstahl, the Hollywood musical, the Western and Film Noir.  An academic with a background in script doctoring, screenwriting and film novelization, she enjoys helping students develop and implement their narratives, dialogue and visual argument.  She has experience working on films, screenplays, photo essays, web design, blogs, social media, and wikis.  

Carolyn Ross is a writer and digital artist who teaches environmentally themed service-learning courses in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric. She is particularly interested in digital storytelling and the comparative ethos of digital arguments in academic, civic, and personal contexts. She specializes in audio, video, and photo essay composition as well as web design. Her books include Writing Nature and Writing for Real: A Guide for Writers in Community Service.

Helle Rytkønen teaches oral presentation with a strong emphasis on the analysis, production and use of visual (Prezi, keynote, PowerPoint, story boards, physical props) and embodied rhetoric (performance). She taught “The Art of Visual Persuasion” for Stanford’s Continuing Studies Program and has tutored Stanford students working on story boards, youtube videos, etc.. She has published scholarly articles on how visuals are interpreted cross culturally. She teaches “Fake News and the Rhetoric of “Truthiness” (PWR1) and “What’s so funny? Humor, race, class and gender” (PWR2).

PEER DIGITAL MEDIA CONSULTANT

Jeffery Gerson is a peer undergraduate tutor who specializes in both written and visual rhetoric for social media engagement and marketing (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) as well as web journalism. He worked in Facebook's communication department, where his accomplishments include creating, launching, and managing the Facebook Diversity page, as well as redesigning and relaunching the Universities on Facebook hub. He has also worked for Here Media's The Advocate magazine as an on-line news writer with over 100 published articles.  He is currently a senior at Stanford majoring in English with plans to pursue a Masters in English with a focus in rhetoric next year.  Jeffrey is a drop-in consultant and can be seen without an appointment during his consultation hours.