Ball State University's Center for Media Design (CMD) has appointed three leading interactive media veterans to its research efforts to study how consumers are likely to respond to new television interface designs and services.

Industry Research Fellows during 2005-06 are Dale Herigstad, executive creative director for Schematic, a company that designs and develops interface and technology solutions; John Herne, head of studio and media consulting for Sonalysts Inc. and formerly director of new media for the Discovery Networks; and John Canning, a senior product manager and field producer for the Yahoo! Media Group and formerly a technical evangelist in Microsoft's eHome Division.

In addition to working with the CMD's research team on the development and testing of new approaches to incorporating interactivity into advertising, news, weather and other television content, the new research fellows will occasionally serve as professionals-in-residence, conducting lectures and making classroom presentations.

"Each of our new research fellows brings unique skills and experience to assist in our research efforts," said Mike Bloxham, the CMD's director of testing and development. "Dale Herigstad brings a unique prospective with background in television graphic design and user interface design, while John Herne is a recognized leader in new media, having developed applications and business cases across a number of platforms.

"John Canning has a wide range of experience from worldwide communication and media issues, broadcast technologies and services, and field media production," he said. "Together they make up something of an interactive media dream team, and we are delighted to have them on board as research fellows. Our students and faculty will benefit and so will our research efforts."

Herigstad has 26 years of experience in television graphic design and 12 years experience working with user interface design. He has extensive experience in television network on-air packaging and branding, and directed and designed the Emmy-winning on-air graphics packages for three Winter Olympics for CBS. Herigstad was also one of a group of futurists called on by movie director/producer Steven Spielberg to work on the film "Minority Report."

He also has directed enhanced television applications for a number of shows, including "CSI," "Survivor Africa," "Life 360," "Battlestar Galactica" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" as well as numerous applications for Web and gaming platforms. Herigstad has also taught classes in motion graphics at California Institute of the Arts, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and UCLA. 

Before joining Sonalysts Inc., one of New England's largest e-business consultancies, Herne was the director of new media at Discovery Networks, where he led strategic planning and development of advanced television products for all Discovery Channels and new media platforms including video-on-demand, broadband and mobile products.

Canning brings his extensive experience in software and hardware platforms for media distribution and content creation to the Yahoo! Media group, which he joined in August. His role at Yahoo! is to design compelling consumer experiences online through multimedia content.

Previously, Canning worked at Microsoft where he was part of the eHome division, whose mission is to offer consumers simple and enriching personalized entertainment, communications and information experiences. Canning led external evangelism for applications and services for eHome, working with external third parties in the areas of media and data distribution, content, whole home control and services.

In addition to the Industry Research Fellows Program, the CMD has implemented a faculty research program that allows Ball State professors to spend an entire semester exploring certain aspects of digital media and related technologies.

The program not only extends CMD's digital research and development mission, but also encourages faculty in non-media fields to advance the understanding of digital media across disciplines.

Michael Holmes, a communications studies professor and former interim dean of the College of Communication, Information, and Media, is serving as the CMD Faculty Research Fellow for Fall Semester 2005. He is a member of the Middletown Media Studies research team investigating media usage in Muncie and Indianapolis.

About the Center for Media Design

The CMD, a research and development facility, focuses on the creation, testing and practical application of digital technologies for business, classroom, home and community.

(Note to Editors: For more information, contact Bloxham at mbloxham@bsu.edu or (765) 285-0127.)