Bucks is holding its Mashup
Contest. This is the second
year that the contest will be
held and the college hopes to
have at least 20 contestants.
Jacqueline Fritz, co-chairman
of the TLTR Video
Mashup Contest action team
and news media librarian, said,
“This would triple the submission
numbers from last year,
and I love a good competition!”
The mashup contest recognizes
the top three winners
with cash prizes.
The first prize is $200, second
is $150, and third is $100.
All guidelines for the contest
can be found at the Bucks website
at www.bucks.edu/mashup
For those students who are
not familiar with mashup, it is
slightly similar to a
PowerPoint presentation;
examples of mashups can be
found at the mashup webpage.
Fritz explained what mkakes
an ideal entry:
“A cohesive combination of
text, video, audio, and still
image constructed to clearly
make a statement or support a
topic. Of course the video
could not exceed four minutes
and citations for the works
used to create the mashup must
be included.”
Fritz also feels that, “A good
mashup contains researched
facts and media as well cohesive
structure. Students need to
make sure they are clearly
addressing an issue or making
a statement in those four minutes
of the video!”
“The contest was inspired by
a program we attended at the
New Media Consortium
(NMC) Summer Conference at
Princeton University in 2008.
Colleagues of ours at the
University of Pennsylvania
held a session on the development
of a Mash-Up contest and
the importance of students
gaining ’21 century skills,”
said Jim Sell, co-chairman of
the action team and executive
director of the Lower Bucks
Campus.
Sell commented, “From
browsing the web to completing
a project in the workplace,
students need 21st-century
skills. The characteristics of a
21st-century skill set include
creative and critical thinking,
the ability to organize and
appropriately utilize various
forms of information, the ability
to effectively manipulate
multimedia to produce a new
derivative work and to continually
enhance and shape technical
competencies.”
Making a mashup does take a
good amount of time to complete.
Although the total length
of the mashup should be four
minutes, on average a wellorganized
mashup will take a
total of eight to twelve hours to
create.
Many course assignments
now require or give students
the opportunity to create projects
using video mashup.
“By providing the video
mashup option as a course
assignment, the faculty and
students benefit by working
with the staff of MInDSpace
(Multimedia Instructional
Design Space) to assist in
designing the assignment, to
provide instruction on finding,
analyzing, evaluating and
using multimedia resources
(this is also known as Media
Literacy), and to suggest best
practices in creating a video
mashup,” said Fritz.
Help is available for any students
who may need it with
creating their entry. A
“Mastering Mash up Session”
will be held on March 10 at 3
p.m. Also, for technology troubleshooting
assistance and
multimedia research assistance,
students may visit the
MInDspace areas of the Bucks
Newtown Library Monday to
Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday 8 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. The
deadline for all entries is April
2, 2010 at 4 p.m.

The Bucks Alumni
Association is the sponsor
for the contest with the support
of “Teaching and
Learning with Technology
Roundtable.” For further
information visit:
www.bucks.edu/mashup or
contact Jacqueline Fritz at
[email protected].