• More about the Lab

The E.W. Scripps School of Journalism is well known for its academic achievements, outstanding array of students and high national ranking. However, what many people are unaware of is the hidden treasure tucked in the garden level of the familiar building. Room 017c may look like just another class room entrance, but open the door and you will find a very unexpected site. The Mac computers, iPod doc, PS3, PSP, Mac Mini, wireless keyboard and inputs, Blu-Ray player and movies, 50 inch plasma television with 7.1 Adobe surround sound and the comfortable couches make this room look like any college student's heaven. Yet it is the smaller and significantly less noticeable details that truly make this room into the incredible technologically advanced space that it is. Welcome to the Veridical Information Detection Systems Effects Laboratory, also known as the ViDS Lab.

Utilization of the lab

The ViDS Lab provides the space and capabilities to perform experiemental research that revolves primarily around copy testing and advertising related experiments. Testers can do almost anything, including tracking a subject's emotional response or eye pattern to a website, examining differences between things such as Blu-Ray, DVD, and even VHS, or surfing the internet on a Mac Mini as opposed to PS3, and examining the reactions of subjects to different videos through a monitor camera linked to the observation room. In order to complete these tests, the lab is complete with a Biopac MP 35, which tests skin conductance, continuance responses, EMG (how much the muscles contract) and EKG (heart monitor). There are also response time measures, often used in implicit attitude measures and response latency. Researches can also have participants self report things such as memory, attitudes, and judgments. The results of these tests and experiments can help to further the success of all media forms by finding the most effective ways to reach a certain audience. It can also determine how well a campaign, program, or sponsorship, for instance will do before it is launched.

The Very Beginning

So how did the ViDS lab come to exist? The research lab was built last year by Scripps' very own Dr. Carson B Wagner, who put in countless hours that included everything from designing the lab, purchasing the necessary equipment, and installing all of the technology. The outcome of his hard work and dedication is the creation of an impressive research facility that is a wonderful resource for the EW. Scripps School. The lab is currently used mostly by Scripps students and faculty, as well as the advertising club during their National Student Advertising Competition campaign development and copy testing. However, with the creation of the lab complete, Prof. Wagner hopes to spread the word and encourage more faculty and students to be able to both experience and use the lab firsthand.

With the range of testing that can be done as well as the astounding technological features, it is easy to see why the research lab can truly be called Scripps' hidden treasure. Since its completion the ViDS lab has already come a long way, however, Carson hopes that it will continue to grow and bring further success and enrichment to the journalism school.

Contact:

If any students have an interest in viewing or using the research lab, please contact Prof. Wagner by email at wagnerc1@ohio.edu.

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