Our Partners
WATERSHED
WATERSHED will be launched on World Water Day immediately following a Papal Audience on Piazza San Pietro. WATERSHED’s line-up of inspirational speakers, scientists, youth, and business leaders will be live- streamed from the Vatican, with the globally connected audience invited to digitally share stories of their struggles, their hopes, and their fears about the world’s water supplies, and bring new voices, content, stories, art, media and workable solutions to light. WATERSHED will be the first in a series of events and activities slated for the next five years. The objective is to align global perception with the immediate reality of water being the trigger for unrest and instability, as well as an opportunity for resolution and collaboration.
Center for Emerging Media Design and Development
The Center is the home of Ball State University’s M.A in Emerging Media Design and Development, a holistic learning environment that pairs a traditional graduate curriculum with a hands-on lab experience in which students work with public and private partners to solve real problems. The Center’s mission is to advance students’ creative problem-solving skills and develop an advanced, graduate-level workforce that has practical experience in storytelling, applied research, and development in digital strategic communication design.
Circle of Blue
EMDD is partnered with Circle of Blue, an online nonprofit news organization run by leading journalists who inform the public about the world’s freshwater resource issues from a regional, national and global perspective. The Blue Roots Project evolved from this partnership and aims to engage people in innovative ways through Circle of Blue’s mission.
Project WET Foundation
The Project WET Foundation is dedicated to reaching children, parents, teachers and community members with action-oriented water education to enable every child to understand and value water, ensuring a sustainable future. Project WET (“WET” stands for “Water Education for Teachers”) is active in all 50 U.S. states and more than 70 countries worldwide, training over 30,000 adult educators and reaching over a million children annually.
Who We Are
We are a team of second-year graduate students at the Center for Emerging Media Design and Development at Ball State University. We love all things digital media, design, journalism, and social good. In collaboration with our partners, we developed, designed, and created the Blue Roots Project. Our team is led by the co-directors of the Center for EMDD Brad King and Dr. Jennifer Palilonis.
For inquiries about our process and skills, please send us a message using the contact form.
Briee Eikenberry
Project Producer & Designer
Blue Roots Project
Sarah Janssen
Storyworld Architect
Blue Roots Project
Jessica Pettengill
Research Strategist & Media Producer
Blue Roots Project
Aistė Manfredini
Communication Strategist
Blue Roots Project