West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media required facilities to match the ever-changing nature of communications and journalism. The Media Innovation Center provides the necessary space to build a highly collaborative community of entrepreneurs and innovators. Located on the fourth floor of Evansdale Crossing, the Center gives students and community members the opportunity to study Virtual Reality, Augmented & Mixed Reality, NeuroInterfaces & Artificial Intelligence, and Sensor Journalism. 

In addition to research and incubator space, the 10,400GSF area provides ample space for campus and community events. The Forum area serves as a venue for major events, including hackathons and ideation sessions with industry partners. A HackerSpace lives in the back of the Forum and is accompanied by a retractable separation screen for privacy when needed. The HackerSpace is the central location for CodeLab, a program that teaches students and community members coding fundamentals and mobile app development.

A large Digital Storytelling Hub provides students studying journalism a centralized location for all capstone activities. The Digital Storytelling Hub also serves as the home for the Innovators-in-Residence program, which brings top media professionals to campus to create new curriculum, experiment with new technology, and equip students & local media with new skills to adapt to current and future challenges in the industry.

Technology experimentation is at the core of the Media Innovation Center’s design, making way for projects that study 3D Storytelling, 360-Degree Reporting, Mobile First Reporting, VR Documentaries, and much more. Students and community members have access to a MakerSpace which propels experiments with Sensor Journalism, 3D Printing, Drone Technology, and allows users to anticipate incoming technology advancements.

Through partnerships with industry game-changers, students are able to conduct professional focus groups, media effects research, and consumer & user behavior testing with emerging technology. The Think Tank is accompanied by an adjacent observation room and recording studio for further review. Additionally, Studio B provides space for podcasting and multimedia programming, with a neighboring Broadcast Quality Control room, the Studio provides users with unmatched learning opportunities.