By Shesh Batni

When you first declare Media and Communication Studies as your major, you may notice at the end of the road sits a little course titled MCS 499: Capstone Senior Seminar. But beyond the big course number and daunting name, you may want to know more. 

What is MCS 499?

MCS 499 is simply a seminar-style class, intended to be taken in your final semester here at UMBC, which acts as the culmination of a student’s MCS experience with the completion of an original research paper and presentation focusing on a topic within media and communication studies. While word of mouth may boil down the class to just completing a big paper, Dr. Adelman – MCS Department Chair and frequent MCS 499 Professor – wants students to know there’s more to it.

Dr. Adelman describes MCS 499 as providing a final undergraduate opportunity to reinforce the certain kinds of foundational knowledge, shared histories, vocabulary, etc. relevant to media and communication studies that students can take with them into their future endeavors. She also notes the class acts as a unique transition point in many ways. In addition to a student’s overall transition from an undergraduate student moving onto things like graduate education or joining the workforce, she notes that the class “marks the transition from students operating as consumers of knowledge to now producers.”

She’s proud of the fact that the department gives professors the opportunity to craft their sections of MCS 499 thematically around their areas of strength and interest. For Dr. Adelman, that means thematically involving many topics and readings on visual culture, one of her areas of specialization which she believes students should know more about. 

Dr. Yang chose to base her Fall 2021 section of MCS 499 on the intersection of race and technology, which she describes as “a timely study about the social production of technologies like facial recognition software and the ways in which they perpetuate or intensify racial (among other) inequalities.” 

Though no matter the professor, students can be sure they’ll be adequately primed and prepared for not only their research project, but an entire future of critical thinking, consuming, and producing.

Am I ready for MCS 499?

The idea of entering your final MCS course and completing a “big honking” paper can definitely feel intimidating; Dr. Adelman has noticed this trend herself in advising students and polling MCS 499 students on the first day of class. However she assures that when a student makes their way through the major and finally enrolls in MCS 499, it means they’re ready for the challenge.

She adds that benchmark courses like MCS 333 engage students in the many theoretical discourses, while the direct lead-up course MCS 399 presents students with all the research methods and tools they’ll need for their paper. MCS 399 also gives students the opportunity to pursue research ideas and topics they can either carry onto MCS 499 or use as learning experience to select a new topic.

Besides just making your way through the major, Dr. Adelman says there is one thing students can do to prepare for MCS 499: “Relax.” She continues “trust the process, come in with an open mind, with the expectation that it's going to be hard but that’s ok.”

But wait! What am I going to write about?

Remember: trust the process. Even if you’re unsure of what topic to write about, MCS 499 is scheduled and designed to get students through the process. With plenty of time, students will get the chance to draft research topics and questions, and workshop them with feedback from both the professor and their peers.

Both Dr. Adelman and Dr. Yang note that certain themes and topics pop up every semester, with common areas including social media, influencers, pop culture, and more. “Almost always I’ll get a few projects on video games and the gaming industry” Dr. Adelman adds. 

Dr. Yang also mentioned the timeliness of some projects which are relevant to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Some things quite exciting this semester are several projects looking at the role of technologies in shaping social processes/interactions particularly in the pandemic moment.” These include projects talking about work-from-home technologies and even my own project about streaming and the pandemic’s effects on the decline of movie theaters. My personal advice for students entering MCS 499 is to look for a topic and research question that matter to you. Be curious and inquisitive about your interests and the ways you can explore them. That way you might stumble upon a question that begs further investigation.

What can I expect from MCS 499?

As Dr. Adelman notes, MCS 499 is meant to be a seminar-style experience, something that emulates smaller sized graduate school courses, with plenty of interactions with other students that facilitate productive conversations. Peer collaboration is not only encouraged but an integral part of the entire process.

Dr. Yang furthers peer collaboration and conversation in her sections of 499 by having students group up and present their projects in panels, emulating the experience of presentations given at academic conferences. Panels allow students to engage deeper with the common topics and theories that bridge their projects. It’s interesting to see what connections students make, and what fun names they give their panels.

MCS 499 can look intimidating, but students should know they’re being set up for success. As an MCS 499 student myself nearing the end of the semester, I’m seeing my own project, and peers’ projects, fully come to life. The theories and perspectives I’ve encountered throughout the major, especially in MCS 333, are coming back around and appearing in the topic I’m researching. And the various research and analysis methods learned in MCS 399 are giving me the exact tools I need.

Dr. Yang ultimately adds, “Please don't be afraid to go on this adventure, to discover something new by researching a topic that you are passionate about!” 

You got this!

By Shesh Batni

Recently, I sat down with MCS alum Masongo Ogora 21’ to hear his experience of finishing the MCS program, graduating, and moving onto new adventures using all the skills he’s gained along the way.

Graduating just this past spring semester, Ogora had only good things to say about the MCS department and degree program. “The MCS department really goes above and beyond for students and deserves to get more recognition.” In addition, he’s especially grateful for the faculty and staff who have helped him craft a path for the future. Thanks to their guidance, Ogora found the confidence to move to California and enroll in a master’s program at University of Southern California: Annenberg School of Communication with a concentration in public relations starting this fall. While he finds his graduate coursework challenging, he’s confident that his time in MCS has prepared him to take it on.

He also credits some of his personal success to the MCS coursework and balance of core theory and research classes and production classes which have helped him be a better producer of media. Alongside his academic studies, Ogora is a musician who has been recording and producing original music under his own independent label named God’s Science Project.

Ogora is always hands-on with the production of his music thanks to both skills he’s cultivated by himself and learned from coursework. While he’s been writing his own music for many years now, he’s only acquired his own recording equipment as of last year. He finds the autonomy of self-made music, and the freedom to conceive an idea and immediately put it to work, powerful. “I wanted to put out something I believed in personally that’s a reflection of me, and not just a gimmick.” Especially in the case of his music, Ogora is confident in his self-expression and subsequently the production sound he’s cultivated thanks to what he learned both on his own, and in the classroom.

While at UMBC, Ogora took MCS 366: Podcasting, a class which introduces students to the world of podcasting and equips them with the production skills needed to make their own. Students both write about and analyze successful podcasts, and even their own favorite podcasts, while also learning to record and edit audio using industry standard software. MCS 366 has in the past been taught by both Professor Krempel and Professor Wiltenburg, two award winning journalists with years of experience in the field of podcasting and audio storytelling.

Ogora thanks MCS 366, specifically Professor Wiltenburg, for helping him further cultivate his audio production skills into something he is proud of. “Professor Wiltenburg really helped me develop an ear for how I want my production to sound. Everything about mixing, adding and taking out effects, figuring out how my voice should fit into the production” he said. Ogora further thanks other MCS classes, namely the research courses which helped him understand and broaden the scope and aim of his productions. “Doing all my research classes helped me understand things from the consumer perspective. It helped me elevate how I go about my writing process, how I go about figuring out what I think people need to hear” he added.

Now primed with both the production skills and theoretical and academic perspectives, Ogora looks to the future of his media and audio production with the development of a new podcast. He was eager to share plans for the new podcast he is developing titled Being. He, alongside three other co-hosts, aim to put out the podcast which he describes as “a space to mentally relax, but to also figure out who we are. A rest stop from reality."

You can expect to hear more about this project next semester by following Ogora on Instagram and twitter @MasongoOgora. In the end of our conversation, Ogora’s final remarks were a heartfelt shout out to the MCS department, faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have all been a part of his journey, “because without them I wouldn’t be here today.”