Graduate students in the communication program, with an interactive digital media concentration, recently partnered with the Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition (APCSC), under the guidance of Amanda Stojanov, MFA, assistant professor of digital media, to create digital storytelling projects advocating for safer mobility practices throughout Asbury Park.
The students, including Skylar Smith, Stella Clark, Gianna Acquavella, Abby Brooks, AJ Benfante, Idalis Maldonado, and Nicole Totland, created multimedia campaigns featuring traffic-related facts and advocacy language supporting pedestrians, bicyclists, and other commuters, while promoting multiple forms of alternative transportation.
Their work expanded on the need for safer streets based on their firsthand experiences as pedestrians, bicyclists, and scooterists in Asbury Park and elaborated on the benefits of micromobility, the use of electronic scooters and bikes to travel shorter distances around cities.
They also studied the infrastructure of traffic circles and bike lanes, worked alongside APCSC Founder Polli Schildge, and promoted the recently enacted NJ Safe Passing Law and the Vision Zero initiative.
The passing law that went into effect on March 1, requires drivers to create a 4-foot safety zone while passing those sharing the road and details how to pass people on foot, bicycles, scooters, wheelchairs, or in other legally permitted ways to travel other than motor vehicles. Vision Zero is a strategy gaining momentum in American cities, to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all.
The APCSC is focused on providing pedestrians the opportunity to move freely and safely from place to place and has worked with Monmouth students in the past, during fall 2021, on a community information design project.
Digital storytelling projects by Monmouth University graduate students include:
Video by Skylar Smith and Stella Clark
Video by Idalis Maldonado and Nicole Totland
Visual Narrative by AJ Benfante
Non-linear storyline by Abby Brooks
Poster by graduate students Skylar Smith and Stella Clark