Jon Hyde Professor of Digital Media and Communications

Jon Hyde

Background - Interests - Experience

Dr. Jon Hyde (web bio – Dr. Jon Hyde)

>  Ph.D. – New York University-Graduate Program in Media Ecology
>  M.A. – New York University
>  B.A. – Carleton College (History; IR; Education)
>  Fulbright Scholar-Senior Research Fellow – University of Malaysia, Borneo

> Bhutan Center for Media and Democracy – Bhutan Media Education Initiative (Media Nomads Project)
> Global Studies Program – Co-Founder
> New Technologies & Curricular Design: Digital Lab, Studio, and Classroom Innovation

Recent Works & Exhibitions: Photography and Creative Visual Art in Galleries, Museums and Publications

Areas of Expertise:

  • Documentary Photography, Film, Video and Streaming TV
  • Global Media and International Communication: Culture, Identity, Power, Economics and Development
  • Media, Health and Happiness: The Social and Psychological Impact of Modern Media
  • New Technologies: Art, Design, Interface, Impact
  • Media Education and Literacy
  • Media and the Environment: Nature, Science, Conservation

Courses I Teach:

> Media, Technology, Health and HAPPINESS?! (link)
> Digital Documentary-Film-TV-Video: Creative Storytelling and Production
> Streaming TV: Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and Beyond…
> Global Media, Communications, and Culture: International Media Systems and Globalization
> Environmental and Adventure Film-TV-Photography: Nature, Science, Conservation, and Health
> Advanced Documentary Film-TV-Video From Script to Screen
> Senior Capstone Seminar: Documentary Film, TV, and Web Production
> World Film, Video, and Television: International Industries, Economics, and Representations
> International Media Field Research Projects (abroad): Malaysia, Bhutan, Brazil, Greece, Czech Republic, Israel, Egypt, Ireland

Graduate Thesis Research: Documentary Photography and Film; Broadcast News, Media Education/Literacy, emergent media, New Technologies and Social and Political Change

Professional Experience:

Photographer – Videographer
New York City: photographer, video journalist, web developer, curriculum developer NYC schools
California: Editor-film, video, and digital animation

Research and Creative Work

As an environmental photographer and visual artist, my creative efforts focus on developing media for environmental education, awareness and research.  My photography has been recently exhibited in galleries nationally and internationally (New York, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Malaysia, and elsewhere).  It has also been published by Audubon, museums of Natural History, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the National Wildlife Refuge and Parks systems.  (Click on the gallery links above for examples of my work.)

As a media researcher, my focus is on how media techniques and techniques shape and impact people’s lives. Ecological resonance. I am also continually fascinated by the ecological resonance or ripple effects that media play on human (and non-human) interactions globally.  You don’t need to be a smart-phone addict or streaming TV binge-watcher to be influenced greatly by such acts.

The interdisciplinary nature of my research and creative efforts directly impact my teaching. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work as a Fulbright Scholar in Borneo, Malaysia and to lead a number of media-based international study abroad/away projects which examine how media systems influence our concepts of health, intelligence, culture, education, work, family, and happiness.

My course on Media, Technology, Health and Happiness is the most recent result of such a cross-fertilization of research, teaching, and creative work.

I’m also a binge-watcher-reader-listener.  I absolutely love great story-telling and I continually seek it out in a myriad of media forms — writing, music, photography, film, web, television, dance and many other art forms.

Overview

One of my enduring treasures as a professor has been to help students realize their unique talents and achieve their own life-long educational and career goals.  Over the course of 20 plus years, I’ve had the unqualified privilege of helping students and graduates of our program become documentary filmmakers, Pulitzer-prize winning journalists, web designers, photographers, writers, lawyers, business owners, Peace Corps volunteers, organic farmers, and yes, professional drone operators… to name just a few.

I have a profound love of teaching and helping students analyze their connections to our ever-changing media ecologies and to help them create media that matters. I’ve helped our senior majors produce over 100 full-length documentaries on a wonderful range of topics, including: the new cyborgs, the changing nature of media and families, media and aging, coaching and AI technologies, live streaming and the future of music,  global  craft brewing industries, the Americanization of Yoga,  B-Corps and corporate sustainability,  and the impact of digital technologies on art, teaching, language and work.

As a creative media producer, I have a professional background in photography, graphic design, animation, and Film/TV.  I’m a binge-watcher-reader-listener.  I absolutely love great story-telling and I continually seek it out in a myriad of media forms — writing, music, photography, film, web, television, dance and many other art forms.   As a nature, outdoors, and environmental photographer my work has been exhibited in galleries nationally and internationally, recently in New York, Los Angeles, Italy, and Greece.  It has been published by Audubon, museums of Natural History, and the National Wildlife Refuge and Parks systems, among many others.  I have an unexplained love for trying to photograph (and better understand) creatures that tend to unnerve me — snakes, grizzly bears, and stinging-biting insects.

I’ve had the fortune of traveling to over 50 countries on six continents.  I’ve conducted media research in Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East.   What initially fascinated me about this field (and still does very much today) are the ways in which media technologies and techniques shape and reshape family, community, economics, politics, psychology, education, science and the environment.   So many changes and so quickly.  I am ever-curious about both the seen and unforeseen influences that our media technologies and our media choices have on all of our lives.   I think it is imperative to take an ecological look at the ways in which media (new and old) impact self and society.

I have an enduring love of the outdoors and outdoor pursuits. I’m an avid and life-long runner, mountain biker, kitesurfer, skier, and snowboarder. With repeated Youtube video screenings (and bruises), I’m learning to become a trials bike rider.  But the process is slow.

Recent News

Doug Facey, emeritus professor of biology, is first author on the recently released third edition of The Diversity of Fishes: Biology, Evolution and Ecology. This is a textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in ichthyology courses, such as the one that Doug taught a few times while at Saint Michael’s. The book includes several photos from Jon Hyde and Kimberly Sultze of the College’s Media Studies, Journalism and Digital Arts faculty. Also, Doug wrote a column for “The Outside Story” for Northern Woodlands Magazine, about “Hibernation: Winter survival by chilling out.”
(posted February 2023)

Jon Hyde and Kimberly Sultze, Professors of Media Studies, Journalism & Digital Arts, recently won the 2022 International Bicycle Photography Competition’s open category with their photo essay, “Ghost Riders.” The images were created using long exposures and flash photography of mountain biking at night in the mountains and deserts of the American West.  The photographs were featured in BIKE Magazine (London).  Over the past few months, Jon and Kimberly’s wildlife, travel, and adventure photography has also been exhibited in galleries including the New York Center for Photographic Arts, The Blank Wall Gallery in Athens, Greece, The Studio Door Art Gallery in San Diego, the Marin County California Art Society, The Birds of Vermont Museum, and the Sparrow Art Gallery in Middlebury.
(posted July 2022)

Dr. Jon Hyde, professor of media studies, journalism, and digital arts, and his colleague Dr. Kimberly Sultze, have recently had their wildlife and environmental photography exhibited at the International BioPhoto Festival, Italy; the UN World Water Day Celebration, Seregno, Italy; and the 1650 Art and Photography Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

> Dr. Jon Hyde, professor of media studies, journalism and digital arts, recently completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Borneo, Malaysia.

> Dr. Jon Hyde and Dr. Kimberly Sultze were invited by the Embassy of the United States in Brunei to give presentations on environmental education and on strategies for raising environmental awareness to media professionals, academics, and members of Brunei’s environmental NGOs.

> Dr. Jon Hyde and Dr. Kimberly Sultze recently presented “Environmental Education: Using Digital Media Arts to Engage Young Adults in the Values of Wilderness“  at the National Wilderness Conference.

> Dr. Jon Hyde’s wildlife and conservation photography has been featured by the San Diego Museum of Natural History, the Audubon Society, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and several fine art galleries throughout the U.S.

> Dr. Jon Hyde and Dr. Kimberly Sultze, professors of media studies, journalism and digital arts, recently had several photographs published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a national leader in avian study and conservation. Their images of neotropical birds in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua have been used in CLO’s Neotropical Birds.

> Dr. Jon Hyde and Dr. Kimberly Sultze’s work was selected for the National Wildlife Refuge Photography Competition and is featured in publications by National Wildlife Refuge Association’s Conservation.