The Laboratory of Electronic Media is one of the six active laboratories of the Department of Journalism and Media at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Initially organized and operational since 1997, it provides educational and research work; however, it was officially established in 2002 by Prof. Georgios Kalliris as one of the two official laboratories of the Department.
The focus of the Laboratory’s research activities includes:
Therefore, the Laboratory of Electronic Media covers the practical training needs of students in the production of radio and television programs within the framework of the respective courses.
Until 2021, the Laboratory was located in Pavilion 1 of the Thessaloniki International Fair (opposite the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki’s ceremony hall). Now, the laboratory’s facilities are housed within the university campus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in the building of the School of Economics and Political Sciences, including a Recording Studio, a TV Studio and Control.
It is equipped with analog and digital systems for capturing, recording, and reproducing sound and image, a complete television lighting installation, processing systems, linear and non-linear editing via computers, a graphics and character integration generator, as well as units for visual and sound effects.
The laboratory is continuously upgraded with the implementation of new technologies and the use of advanced techniques in the field of Radio and Television.
The Lab’s main activities range in the fields of electronic Media, mainly radio and TV broadcasting, including all the associated audiovisual technologies that are deployed in the areas of Journalism and Mass Communications. The main areas of interest are: audiovisual production technology, room-acoustics and lighting for studios, editing, multimedia services, DVD-authoring, e-learning, web publishing, content-management-systems etc. New digital media technologies such as Digital Radio and TV production, interactive platforms, Web-Radio/-TV, tape-less systems, audiovisual networking services and applications, Quality of Experience models, content description/ documentation techniques and media assets management are some additional contemporary areas that are of interest to the e-Media Laboratory staff. The facilities of the Laboratory comprise a Radio Recording Studio, a TV Studio, a Control Room, and four editing suites. A complete installation of television lighting, systems of linear and non-linear computer editing, graphics and character generator as well as units of sound and visual effects are all placed within the work spaces of the Laboratory which is continually upgraded with the implementation of new technologies and the use of advanced techniques in the radio and TV industries. In addition, a fully-equipped multi-purpose room is available that can serve for teaching and seminar activities, ICT-workshops, video-conferencing presentations and meetings. Digital media suites and associated mobile equipment are also available for the needs of new media productions and broadcasting, in both education and R&D multidisciplinary collaboration tasks.
Today, the Electronic Media Laboratory satisfies the needs for radio and TV productions elaborated by the students in the corresponding courses. The above infrastructure is fully exploited in the graduate courses, as well as in three different post-graduate programmes that are related with the use of contemporary digital media ICT in the areas of journalism, communication, production, education and culture, and lead to postgraduate and PhD degrees. The academic staff has been involved in a variety of R&D projects, such as “Graduate training and specialization by distance learning”, “Electronic portal for providing training to teachers of secondary education in the Greek Language Centre”, “Production of innovative audiovisual content, designed for language learning, and available through the web Portal for Greek Language”, “Storage and Distribution of Audiovisual Sports Program for Athens 2004”, “Advanced audio and video technology in the production of audiovisual works-AKMON”, “Online transmission of cultural events in real time”, “Establishment of an interactive service for storage and viewing of films by students for students”. In this framework, the e-Media Laboratory invests in the establishment of new knowledge and the expansion of the acquired know-how that is associated with the use of audiovisual digital technologies and new media in the fields of journalism and mass communication, for the benefits of the society. It also aims at the distribution of gained knowledge by means of all the available academic forms, such as teaching, training seminars, workshops, participation in publicity events and activities, scientific publications in international journals, presentations in scientific conferences and related forums.
