It’s been quite a ride this year for Joe Murray, whose “Stories That Fly” project involving narrative nonfiction and online storytelling about aviation remains sky high. The Ohio Board of Regents recognized Murray with one of 10 Faculty Innovator Awards, his project received an additional $30,000 in grant money, and donors are willing to help buy a 1946 Piper Cub aircraft for the project if he can contribute $10,000.
Despite those gains he notes that his team at Kent State University produced about one-third as many online stories in the project’s second year while he trained his eyes on fundraising. “I am disappointed that we did not produce more, but it is necessary to support the project with external funding to continue our success into the future.”
That meant writing 10 competitive proposals, totaling $935,000. While four proposals were not funded, four were, totaling $30,000. Two proposals for $147,000, which would exclusively support fieldwork and story production, are pending notification in the fall. Murray is also collaborating on two currently funded research projects.
And Murray has spent time cultivating prospective partners by writing three 4,500-word feature stories published nationally in Pilot Magazine.
Students produced an additional 20-30 features for the “Stories That Fly” online magazine and another 15-20 story assignments will be added next month.
Meanwhile, outreach continues as Murray has conversations with the editor of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s magazine (circulation 700,000) which may write a piece about “Stories That Fly”.
Murray has also spent time searching for an aircraft that would improve access to the many rural airfield and farms in Ohio. After contacting more than 70 owners and pilots, he reports that he found one priced at $50,000, as well as two local pilots who are willing to donate $40,000 toward the purchase. He is currently seeking the remaining $10,000. The plane would also help his project attract students and allow for collaboration with researchers in the biology department. They plan a partnership with the Knight Center for International Media and onewater.org to have biology and journalism students create stories about local water ecology throughout Northeast Ohio.
This year has also seen an impact on the curriculum, reports Murray. Two professors have assigned writing and photojournalism students to generate content for “Stories That Fly.” On another bright note, Murray was able to replace textbooks with online content, saving his students approximately 80 percent in out-of-pocket costs every semester and earning him a Faculty Innovator Award.
The site was also recognized as a notable entry in J-Lab’s Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism in 2009.
Murray is taking this time to consider his site’s social media strategy. Rather than direct e-mail subscriptions, he has recognized the significant presence of a large aviation community on Facebook. The site’s Twitter followers — about 400, he reports — include aviation and adventure travel marketers, commercial, private and military pilots, flight training organizations, national and international aviation magazines and blogs, schools, airlines, film producers, authors storytellers, journalists and even NASA. Combine the two, and Murray believes he can capture a greater audience than by subscriptions alone. “It will also reduce workload to manage subscribers and eliminate the subscribing hackers and spammers,” that are attracted to the site.
That social media drive, along with uncovering an extra $10,000, will be a part of his plan for the coming months.
