NRI will bring together interdisciplinary groups of students, faculty and industry professionals to help the news industry prepare for an uncertain future as well as to educate upcoming journalists through rigorous immersive learning projects, said Roger Lavery, dean of the College of Communication, Information, and Media.

"While still relevant in today's society, the news industry is grappling with a rapid rate of technological advances that is changing how consumers access information," Lavery said. "At the same time, the industry also faces challenges as newspaper readership drops, television viewing becomes more segmented and traditional radio programming is battling satellite options.

"The news industry is looking for answers to prepare for its future," he said. "Ball State is the logical location for this type of work based on our national reputation as a media research center, developed as a result of several highly publicized consumer usage studies and interactive television news projects, recently created partnerships with several major media organizations and our ranking as the nation's top wireless campus."  

NRI is the fourth immersive learning institute created at Ball State as a result of a $20 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to fund the Digital Exchange, an initiative expanding opportunities for students to participate in innovative, immersive educational experiences.

The other institutes, administered by Ball State's Center for Media Design (CMD), are the Institute for Digital Entertainment and Education (IDEE), the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts and Animation (IDIAA) and the Institute for Digital Fabrication and Rapid Prototyping (IDFRP).

Chris Bavender, a veteran journalist serving as managing editor of NewsLink Indiana, the university's converged news project, will direct NRI operations.

During the first year of operation, NRI will coordinate several immersive learning projects, including NewsLink Indiana; WebFirst, a project to develop online applications for print media; and J-Ideas, the university's national scholastic journalism and First Amendment project.

"This will be an excellent opportunity to bring many of our immersive learning projects under one roof," Bavender said. "Our students will then be able to work with and learn from many of the leading professionals from the communications industry brought to campus to participate in our projects."

NRI also will test new media products, conduct research projects to examine high school media convergence and host professional workshops.