Written By: Chris Taylor | @BallStateCT
Senior Director of Digital Sports Production &
Lecturer of Telecommunications
For the fifth consecutive year, Ball State Sports Link, the nation’s first fully immersive digital sports production program, will again play a role in one of the largest sporting events in the country — the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
In addition, for the first time this year, March Madness also include students working the 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.
In a continuing educational partnership with the NCAA’s digital and social media department, as many as 30 digital sports production students under the direction of Chris Taylor, senior director of digital sports production, and Alex Kartman, director of digital sports production, will assist in the operation of social media curation, engagement and digital content production.
“We are excited to partner with the Ball State Sports Link program on this initiative,” said Nate Flannery, director of NCAA digital and social media, championships and alliances. “Not only does it provide our Final Four social media platforms with valuable content, it also gives the next generation of content producers firsthand experience.”
Starting with the First Four games Tuesday, students will be creating content, filtering content, responding to content and operating an array of social media tools to provide fans the best experience.
In addition, Sports Link student teams will be field producers capturing stories, reaction and info from NCAA-related events and participating teams throughout the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Indianapolis.
Taylor, along with graduate assistant Austin Russell, will lead the digital content for the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Indianapolis.
Kartman, along with graduate assistant Torey Fox, will coordinate digital coverage at the NCAA Men’s Final Four in Houston.
The partnership builds on year two of a digital externship this year between NCAA Digital and Social Media and Ball State Sports Link.
Zac Miklusak, a Ball State senior from Dyer, Indiana, has been serving as an NCAA Digital extern since the start of college basketball season, working within the NCAA digital and social department.
