Journalism studies, according to Bridgette Wessels et al., is a multidisciplinary field that intersects with humanities and the social sciences. Situated within journalism studies, film and television studies has a focus on video production: students “[u]se professional media technologies” and “[p]roduce and direct creative projects” (University of Idaho). Video production is taught inside and outside the classroom. Film and television studies students at the University of Idaho gain hands-on practice and showcase their creativity through real-world projects. As Chareen Snelson puts it, “[w]hen students create videos, they can develop multiliteracies, engage in design challenges, and develop authentic products that can be presented to an audience, which could include classmates, teachers, friends, or the worldwide online public through social media sites like YouTube” (296).

Film and television studies, and video production specifically, can engage in a digital humanities framework and, like most other disciplines, can be supported by libraries. For example, librarians at various institutions have been involved in digital humanities projects, such as the Linguistic Atlas Project (Kretzschmar and Potter), the Mississippi Community Cookbook Project (Brannock and Haley), and big data projects (Poole and Garwood). In addition to providing digital humanities–related services to scholars, librarians can also engage in the work through providing information access and creating digital content (Vandegrift). One of the ways for libraries to get involved is to provide opportunities for internships. According to Kuh, this is a high-impact educational practice that provides “economic, civic, and personal” benefits (1).

Both video production and internships are examples of projects. In Project Management, Adrienne Watt described projects as having the following characteristics:

• Projects are unique.

• Projects are temporary in nature and have a definite beginning and ending date.

• Projects are completed when the project goals are achieved or it is determined the project is no longer viable (Watt, “Project Management Overview”).

Having defined these characteristics, video creation can be classified as a project: each video has a unique topic and focus, a proposed conception beginning date and post-production ending date, and a completion expectation (the video will be delivered or shared.) In addition, Watt defined project management as “a process that includes planning, putting the project plan into action, and measuring progress and performance” (“Project Management Overview”). In Keeping Up With … Digital Humanities, Jennifer Adams and Kevin Gunn also noted that the digital humanities intersects with project management and often requires collaboration. Other examples of library–campus collaborations and libraries supporting digital humanities projects include authorship analysis of digital humanities journals, creating a community wiki and redesigning a first-year seminar, and integrating information literacy instruction with an institutional repository (Wong; Burress and Rowell; Hauck). Given the benefits of internships and the collaborative nature of the digital humanities, project management, and video production, it seems a natural fit for libraries to provide internship opportunities for students interested in gaining video production experiences.

This case study uses the ten knowledge areas in the project management framework outlined in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) to explain the planning and execution processes of the video project provided via a library internship. These ten knowledge areas were chosen because they “are used in most projects most of the time” (“Project Management Knowledge Areas”).

Background

At the Idaho University Library, the Making, Innovation, and Learning Laboratory (MILL) is a makerspace for people to gather and learn new creative technologies. Staffed by a MILL manager and several student employees, the MILL features several 3D printers, a vinyl cutter, sewing machines, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Ozobot, and more. Patrons can work on a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary projects such as 3D printing, glass etching, screen printing, etc.

In spring 2020, the full-time MILL manager left the organization. The position could not be filled at the time due to a hiring freeze at the university level. It remained unclear when the hiring could resume, so the existing MILL student employees had to staff the space on their own after it reopened in fall 2020. Since the MILL was missing full-time staff, the space could only open for limited hours. One of the student employees was the student manager and had the most technical knowledge and experience with the MILL. Responsible for overseeing the space and the other student employees for the 2020–2021 academic year, the student manager was slated to graduate in spring 2021.

As the manager of the library audiovisual production space known as the Studio, I sought to create an initiative to address the need for knowledge management for the MILL. The Studio is equipped with cameras, tripods, and a video editing suite for the campus community to work on video projects. I proposed to the library leadership the creation of a student internship position to hire a student with video production experience to create videos for the MILL. I would supervise the intern and work with the MILL student manager to create videos for training incoming staff and educating patrons on using MILL technologies. This opportunity would provide reciprocal benefits for the library, the student, and the academic department: the library would retain the videos for long-term use, the student would gain valuable work experience, and the academic department would gain an additional campus partner site for student service learning.

The library leadership supported the initiative by providing funding for the position for the spring semester of 2021. I wrote a position description and advertised the opportunity through several channels, including Handshake, the School of Journalism and Mass Media (JAMM) student newsletter, and through announcements in several video production classes. One JAMM student who majored in film and television studies applied and was hired. He had the required video production knowledge and experience from relevant classes in previous semesters. While the internship would not address the temporary staffing shortage, with the assistance of the MILL staff, the intern helped retain the knowledge and expertise of the student manager in a preserved video format for the library to use in the long term.

Taking a Project Management Approach

I decided to apply a project management approach to the video project for several reasons. The video project required multiple team members during various project stages to complete tasks such as scheduling, shooting scenes, recording voice-over narration, editing, etc. Team members with diverse expertise could engage in different phases of the project (Currier et al.). In addition, the post-production phase could take an Agile approach by “breaking down large projects into more manageable tasks, which are completed in short iterations throughout the project life cycle” (Adobe Communications Team). Due to the iterative process that involved reviewing and revising, the student intern could also work on other tasks while waiting for feedback for time efficiency.

In the following sections, I detail the project management knowledge areas outlined in the PMBOK Guide and how they applied to the video project.

Project Integration Management

The integration management process aims to identify the essential activities required to carry out a project. A video project includes concept development, pre-production, principal photography, post-production, and delivery phases. According to our plan, producing a video included these phases and tasks and involved one or multiple individuals. Table 1 shows an outline of each phase and its associated tasks.

Table 1: Video Production Phases and Associated Tasks

In the concept development phase, we had to identify the focus of a new video. The purpose of the video could be either promoting or providing instructions on using a particular tool. MILL staff and I chose the topic based on the ease of use for the patron and the popularity of the specific MILL technology. Using the 3D printers, for instance, was popular but would always require guidance from a staff member, so the topic was not within the scope of the project.

The pre-production phase is the planning phase that ensures the production goes smoothly. Having a script gave the production team a good idea of what kind of shots would be necessary for the video (a sample script is included in Appendix 1). Once a script was written, developing a shot list helped the intern to plan the specific shots (a sample shot list is included in Appendix 2). Then, the intern scheduled a time with the staff at the MILL to shoot footage.

In the principal photography phase, the intern brought a camera to the MILL to shoot the footage with assistance from the staff at the MILL. A staff member also recorded a voice-over narration of the script during this stage.

During post-production, the intern incorporated footage, background music, voice-over narration, and other relevant media such as screenshots and screencasts. The author and the MILL staff reviewed the draft and provide feedback, and the intern needed to make the corrections and submit a new draft, so this was an iterative process. Once the final version was ready, the intern exported the video file.

In the final delivery phase, the intern created a caption file for video accessibility. The author uploaded the video and the caption file to the library’s YouTube channel under the MILL playlist. Then, a new video project began with the same processes and tasks.

Project Scope Management

The scope management process aimed to identify all the work required to complete the overall internship-related projects. First, we had to establish the overall project objectives, which were to produce a series of videos on MILL and MILL technologies; educate the student intern with professional knowledge and experience in Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X, equipment management on/offshoots, and content ideation and development; and support the library’s mission of fostering student success.

Then, we had to list the specific deliverables for each video project. The deliverables included the topics, descriptions, scripts, shot lists, voice-over narration recordings, media footage (including both A-roll and B-roll), still images, screenshots, background music, written feedback, and caption files. From a practical standpoint, the student intern and I decided that we should aim for completing three videos over the course of the spring semester. I did not want to aim for a higher quantity for several reasons:

• I did not want to cause unnecessary pressure for the intern, given that this project was a hands-on learning opportunity for them.

• The intern would set their weekly schedule based on their availability and the project progress would depend on the intern’s weekly schedule.

• Producing higher-quality videos was a bigger priority than the total number of videos produced during the internship.

Work Breakdown Structure

The Work Breakdown Structure (Appendix 3) is a detailed description of how the work that needed to be accomplished would get done. The project was divided into six major steps that were broken down into individual tasks. The staffing assignments for the duration of the project are identified and explained in the Project Resource Management section.

Project Schedule Management

The project aimed to take place in the 2021 academic year, from November 2020 to May 2021. The project started with the necessary steps to hire the intern and ended with closing the project by conducting a debrief meeting to discuss the performance evaluation, lessons learned, and success stories. A detailed list of milestones for the project is summarized in Table 2.

Table 2: Milestones for the Video Creation Internship Project

At the end of the semester, the intern expressed an interest in continuing to work for the library for the fall semester of 2021. I checked with the library’s dean, who agreed to provide funding for the intern to create additional videos for the library. In fall 2021, the library hired a new MILL manager after the hiring freeze was no longer in effect. Thanks to the workflow established in the previous semester, the team could replicate most of the work as outlined in the milestones with continuity.

Project Cost Management

The cost management helps ensure that the overall project stays within the budget as designated by the stakeholders. For our project, the budget for one semester provided by the dean was $1,000. The intern’s pay was commensurate with other similarly skilled student employees in the library. The library possessed all the video production equipment for the project, including a video camera, a tripod, an editing workstation with Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro, and an external hard drive to store and transfer footage. The intern opted to use their camera, and no additional equipment purchase was necessary, so the project budget was only spent on paying the intern based on his negotiated pay and hours.

Project Quality Management

To ensure that the final videos were of high quality, the MILL (student) manager and I served as the quality assurance specialists, given my role as the primary stakeholder and the MILL (student) manager’s role as the subject matter expert. For quality management, the most crucial phase of the project was during post-production where the team could review the draft and give feedback to the intern. The team would also check if any parts of the videos were missing footage or required substitution of more appropriate footage, and the intern would be expected to come to the MILL to re-shoot certain scenes if necessary.

To be consistent and avoid confusion, I sent the intern—with the MILL (student) manager copied on the email—timestamped feedback so that the intern could quickly identify the areas that need improvement and make the necessary adjustments. A sample email is included in Figure 1:

Project Resource Management

Project Team

The project team consisted of myself (as the project manager), the MILL (student) manager (as the secondary stakeholder), the dean (as the tertiary stakeholder), and the intern (as a project team member). I also recruited the public services assistant as another project team member to provide voice-over narrations for the videos. The function, title, and role of each team member are outlined in Table 3.

Table 3: Team Member Functions, Titles, and Roles

Staffing Plan

The goal of the staffing plan is to assign tasks to each team member to achieve effective and efficient distribution of resources. This resource distribution is based on skills and expertise related to each project phase. The project team and their contributions to the project are shown in Table 4.

Table 4: The Project Team and their Contributions

Responsibility Assignment Matrix

The responsibility assignment matrix, also known as the RASCI matrix, is used to assign the responsibilities of each team member for the completion of each video project milestone. The acronym RASCI stands for:

• R – Responsible

• A – Accountable

• S – Support

• C – Consulted

• I – Informed (Torres)

The responsibilities of individual team members are assigned and summarized in Table 5. A list of selected videos created by the intern appears in Appendix 4.

Table 5: Assignment of Responsibilities

Project Communications Management

Most communications among the team members took place over email. Generally, responses to emails were expected within 24 hours. Any major changes to the project plan would be communicated to the project manager prior to initiation. The communication plan is explained in Table 6.

Table 6: Communication Management Plan

Project Risk Management

A project cannot be carried out without risks, so establishing contingency plans was necessary. Prior to the start of the project, I conducted a risk analysis:

• Budget: While the budget for paying the student intern was already approved by the dean, additional funding may be necessary to complete the project. The funding for the video project was allocated in advance, and therefore in the event that additional funding is needed for this project, the dean may not approve it.

• Unavailability and/or changeover of key personnel: Sickness, death of a family member, the birth of a child, etc., are events that are hard to predict, yet have a tremendous impact on the availability of personnel. In addition, the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic was difficult to ignore. Team members could be exposed and quarantined as a result. Lastly, individual team members could be busy with school or work and thus have limited availability. If any team member were to become unavailable to fulfill their assigned task, the progress of the project would be delayed or halted.

• Potential for distraction and/or loss of focus: All project team members would continue the duties of their daily job during the project. The video project was not necessarily at the top of everyone’s priority list. Trying to achieve too much on top of everyone’s assigned responsibilities in the middle of the pandemic had the potential to cause anxiety and burnout.

After conducting the risk analysis, I came up with mitigating solutions for the identified risks, as shown in Table 7.

Table 7: Mitigating Solutions for Identified Risks

Project Procurement Management

Project procurement management, according to the PMBOK Guide, involves “the processes necessary to purchase or acquire products, services, or results needed from outside the project team” (1.2.4.6 Project Management Knowledge Areas). As part of the procurement process, I had to be in contact with two additional parties outside of the library. The first one was JAMM, which required the partner site to submit the student’s mid-term and final evaluation forms in order to receive school credits for the internship . The second one was the human resources department, which required me to submit form I-9, which confirms proper employment eligibility. Communicating with JAMM and human resources was necessary—as was  compliance with the proper procedures—in order to carry out the rest of the tasks related to the video project.

Project Stakeholder Management

To ensure the success of the project, the expectations of each stakeholder needed to be determined. Understanding the roles and tasks of the stakeholders helped avoid any potential confusion. Constant and clear communications were also key to the project’s success. As the project initiator and project manager, I updated the stakeholders regularly via the project’s communication plan to ensure steady progress of the project.

Discussion

This case study outlined the practices and procedures that my organization went through to work with the student intern to produce several videos for the library. I have included my reflections below.

Successes

For two semesters, the intern demonstrated an eagerness to learn about the MILL and to work with the team on the video project. After receiving the assignments with instructions, they could work independently and complete the tasks within agreed-upon deadlines. As a result, the intern produced a total of five videos that the library was able to use in the long term. Thanks to their fundamental knowledge and skills in photography and video production, the final videos were of high quality and received praise from stakeholders. I was particularly impressed by their creativity in approaching the video assignments.

The project management approach worked well for the team’s needs by outlining the tasks and expectations for the team members. Despite the project’s complexity, time was saved, and potential confusion was avoided. All team members gained crucial project management knowledge and skills. The same processes for approaching the current project could also be applied to other similar projects if the library were to hire new video production interns in the future.

Challenges

One challenge was the communication confusion caused by having two separate email addresses for students with campus employment. I overlooked this part during the project planning phase. In the future, a proper communication or work management tool such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Asana could be incorporated to avoid any confusion. In the future, a proper communication or work management tool such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Asana could be incorporated to avoid any confusion.

Another challenge was the COVID-19 pandemic and related disruptions. Certain scenes were difficult to shoot when the team members had to practice social distancing. Given aesthetic considerations, the team also had to ensure that masks were not shown in the final videos to be used for the long term. Sickness and quarantines also caused delays in the overall project’s progress, and it was difficult for team members to follow the rigid project schedule while navigating health-related disruptions and completing existing work.

Future Considerations

In the future, while it is necessary to ensure the team’s buy-in to use a project management approach when planning for the project, it is also important to take each team member’s input on the project and their bandwidth into consideration. For instance, according to Watt et al., meeting team members on a one-on-one basis to discuss concerns and promoting a collaborative and supporting environment in achieving common goals can improve team buy-in (“Stakeholder Management”). It is my opinion that project management is more valuable as the size of the team grows, but it may not always be a default approach, especially if most team members have little experience with project management or are experiencing difficulties completing the tasks on time when facing global health crisis-related disruptions. In retrospect, I concede that this overall project should have included additional buffer time as part of the risk management.

It is also necessary to assess the impact of the intern’s work. Possible easy-to-retrieve metrics include views and likes and dislikes. The project team could also identify a focus group to gather input on the videos and observe the group’s ability to follow the video instructions using various MILL technologies in the future. However, establishing a focus group would require a lot of time and energy, and it was not a priority for the team.

Conclusion

This case study details my efforts in using project management processes outlined in the PMBOK Guide to work with a student intern on a video production project. The project was completed successfully despite the challenges the team encountered. This was thanks to each member’s adaptability and resilience. Everyone made significant contributions to the project and overcame obstacles to achieve the project goals. The intern demonstrated a positive attitude and dedication to the video project and never voiced any complaints.

In the future, I hope to revise the project management approach by adapting new management plans when necessary and incorporating user feedback on similar projects. I hope that colleagues at other institutions with a managerial role would consider using a project management approach to supervise student employees when suitable.

Works Cited

Adams, Jennifer L., and Kevin B. Gunn. “Keeping Up With … Digital Humanities.” Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), 5 Apr. 2013, https://ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/digital_humanities.

Adobe Communications Team. “Beginner’s Guide to Agile Project Management.” Adobe Experience Cloud Blog, 18 Mar. 2022, https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/agile.

Brannock, Jennifer, and Andrew P. Haley. “Beans and Cornbread: The Pragmatic Crusade to Document Women’s History Through Cookbooks.” Digital Humanities, Libraries, and Partnerships, edited by Robin Kear and Kate Joranson, Chandos Publishing, 2018, pp. 177–189. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102023-4.00013-6.

Burress, Theresa, and Chelcie Juliet Rowell. “Project Management for Digital Projects with Collaborators beyond the Library.” College & Undergraduate Libraries, vol. 24, no. 2–4, Oct. 2017, pp. 300–321. Taylor and Francis, https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2017.1336954.

Currier, Brett D., et al. “They Think All of This Is New: Leveraging Librarians’ Project Management Skills for the Digital Humanities.” College & Undergraduate Libraries, vol. 24, no. 2–4, Oct. 2017, pp. 270–289. Taylor and Francis, https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2017.1347541.

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). 6th ed., Project Management Institute, 2017.

Hauck, Janet. “From Service to Synergy: Embedding Librarians in a Digital Humanities Project.” College & Undergraduate Libraries, vol. 24, no. 2–4, Oct. 2017, pp. 434–451. Taylor and Francis, https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2017.1341357.

Kretzschmar, William A., Jr, and William Gray Potter. “Library Collaboration with Large Digital Humanities Projects.” Literary and Linguistic Computing, vol. 25, no. 4, Dec. 2010, pp. 439–445. Silverchair, https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqq022.

Kuh, George D. High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who has Access to Them, and Why They Matter. Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2008.

Poole, Alex H., and Deborah A. Garwood. “‘Natural Allies’: Librarians, Archivists, and Big Data in International Digital Humanities Project Work.” Journal of Documentation, vol. 74, no. 4, Jan. 2018, pp. 804–826. Emerald Insight, https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-10-2017-0137.

Snelson, Chareen. “Video Production in Content-Area Pedagogy: A Scoping Study of the Research Literature.” Learning, Media and Technology, vol. 43, no. 3, July 2018, pp. 294–306, https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2018.1504788.

Torres, Joaquim (Joca). “Defining Roles with RASCI.” Linkedin, 19 Apr. 2020, https://linkedin.com/pulse/defining-roles-rasci-joaquim-torres-joca-.

University of Idaho. “Film & Television (B.A. & B.S.).” https://uidaho.edu/class/interdisciplinary/film-tv. Accessed 29 Mar. 2023.

Vandegrift, Micah. “What Is Digital Humanities and What’s It Doing in the Library?” In the Library with the Lead Pipe,27 June 2012, https://inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2012/dhandthelib.

Watt, Adrienne. Project Management. 2nd ed., BCcampus, 2014, https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement.

Watt, Adrienne, et al. “Stakeholder Management.” Project Management, 2^nd ed., BCcampus, Aug. 2014. BCcampus Open Publishing, https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/chapter/chapter-5-project-stakeholders-project-management.

Wessels, Bridgette, et al. Understanding Design for the Digital Humanities. University of Sheffield: The Digital Humanities Institute, 2015, https://dhi.ac.uk/books/understanding-design-for-the-digital-humanities.

Wong, Shun Han Rebekah. “Digital Humanities: What Can Libraries Offer?” Portal: Libraries and the Academy, vol. 16, no. 4, 2016, pp. 669–690. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2016.0046.

Appendix 1: Sample Script

Located on the first floor of the University Library, the Making, Innovating, and Learning Laboratory, also called the MILL, is a free resource available to everyone on campus. Our mission is to provide access to technology and tools that may otherwise be unavailable, such as 3D printing, Arduino supplies, and a variety of software, as well as creating a safe and fun space for patrons to work on projects and explore their creativity. The 3D printers are the most popular attraction in the MILL, and if you ever come by, you’ll probably hear them hard at work. Printing at the MILL is completely free. To reserve time on a 3D printer, please visit our website and follow the prompt. Another popular attraction at the MILL is the Silhouette Cameo machine. This machine is typically used to make vinyl stickers and decals, stencils for custom screen printing, stencils for etched glass, and cutting paper for crafts and decorations. You can even swap the blade for a pen to draw incredibly intricate designs and patterns. The software for this program is free, so you can download and use it on a personal computer then bring in your completed designs. Often, the software is used with us in the MILL as we are more than happy to help you with your creative constructions. The MILL offers a bunch of other resources. There is the lightbox, which can enhance photo-ops of your completed projects, a fabulous 2.5-inch button maker, and several introductory robotics, coding, and electronics programs. There are also student employees to assist you with all MILL mechanisms and software. We also put on a variety of workshops that teach numerous skills, from solving Rubik’s cubes to creating beautiful designs with Canva. To hear more about our projects and workshops, sign up for the monthly newsletter. To set up a tour for yourself or a group, please contact us! Otherwise, you are always welcome to stop by and start creating.

Appendix 2: Sample Shot List

Table 8: Sample Shot List

Appendix 3: Work Breakdown Structure

Table 9: Work Breakdown Steps

Appendix 4: Intern-Produced Videos

• Welcome to the Making, Innovating, and Learning Laboratory (MILL), https://youtu.be/2NX52GBWZnA

• Silhouette Cameo 3 Guide, https://youtu.be/QC9VVs69u3c

• How to Glass Etch, https://youtu.be/UsNBBjrmS9g

• How to Screen Print, https://youtu.be/lSZJLR2AVH0

• Using the SCOTCH TL901C Laminator at the MILL, https://youtu.be/TZmss1JqcSs