Africa Media Matrix
The AMM building has seven computer labs, eight seminar rooms and broadcast production studios that are assigned for teaching and media production purposes. On the top floor of the building the current computer lab allocations are:
- Room 212 – Design Lab
- Room 213 – Writing and Editing Lab (also a lab for general use by JMS students)
- Room 221 – Digital Media Lab
- Room 222 – Photography/Multimedia Lab
- Room 223 – Grocott's Mail Newsroom
The television and audio labs, and the 4th year television cubicles are located in the TV and audio sections, on the middle and ground floors respectively. These labs are for the exclusive use of the students studying those specialisations. Details of how these spaces operate are available from the lecturing staff and here :
JMS2 students who are doing design work can log into the writing lab computers, while those doing audio can log into both the writing lab and the audio lab.
Hons, PDMM, Masters, and PhD students can log into the writing lab.
Seminar rooms are accessible to JMS2s and above on a 24-hour basis for seminar and study purposes, but computer logon is restricted to tutors, MA and PhD students. JMS1 students have access to the building and the seminar rooms during afternoon tutorial times.
Building access
Access to the AMM is assigned to student cards at the beginning of the year as part of the departmental registration process. Students from second year and above have 24-hour access to the building and to the areas allocated for their specific areas of study. Staff and student cards are for the exclusive use of the person to whom they are issued and may not be given to any other student to allow access to the AMM or the facilities in the building. As the access system only operates for entry, students may enter the building or facilities in groups; with the understanding that all members of the group are entitled to access i.e. they are all JMS students.
Computer and network access
The computers in the AMM building use a different logon system to those on the rest of campus. In order to log on to these computers, student need to complete administrative registration at the Student Bureau and departmental registration with the JMS admin staff on the ground floor of the building. During this process students will be issued with a one-time password which they will be automatically prompted to change the first time they log in. It is recommended that this password be changed to match the password issued for ROSS and other campus services. Students can access their JMS home drives via the My Documents icon on their computer desktops. Once logged in, shared resources can be accessed from any computer in the building by connecting to the JMS Distributed File System (DFS) which can be reached by typing \\amm.ru.ac.za\dfs into the ‘run’ option from the Windows start menu. Details of the shared server resources allocated to the various specialisations are available from the lecturers running each course. Students making use of the Adobe Creative Cloud software for coursework should sign in using their @campus.ru.ac.za email address and their ROSS password. All students and staff are subject to the Rhodes University Acceptable Use Policy, which is available in full here: www.ru.ac.za\aup
Technical assistance
Requests for technical assistance should be reported to the lecturer in the first instance and then by sending a message providing details of the problem to jmstech@ru.ac.za. Problems reported in this way will be allocated to the correct staff member or other section of the University to be dealt with.
Facilities
Computer labs, seminar rooms and studios are for the exclusive use of JMS students. Shared spaces such as seminar rooms should be respected as study spaces.
Staff tea room and kitchens
The staff tea room on the top floor is for the use of JMS staff, authorised JMS visitors, and Honours, Postgraduate Diploma, MA and PhD students only. The kitchen downstairs can be used by all students. There are locking cupboards which groups can share.
The lift
The AMM lift is a goods lift and not intended for frequent use by staff and students. It is turned off from 16h30 until 08h00 each day. It is not advisable to use the lift when there is the possibility of load shedding in case the lift gets stuck between floors. A technician from Port Elizabeth will have to be called out to rescue anyone trapped inside. Please use with caution.
AMM aesthetics
Beyond its functionality, the AMM building is full of interesting artwork and media memorabilia. Those of you who’d like a tour of the building should enquire with our admin office and we’ll gladly take you around.
Smoking
Please note that the building, including the veranda area along the front entrance, the doorways and an area up to 50 metres around the building, is a strictly no-smoking zone. The braai area/lapa on the lawns in the front of the building is the designated smoking zone for staff and students in this area. Ash trays and benches are provided there (enquire at reception). Do not drop cigarette butts on the ground, in the gardens, or anywhere else. Use the bins designated for this purpose.
Emergencies
For emergencies in the building such as flood, fire or if someone is trapped in the lift dial #5263 including the # from any of the emergency phones in the passages of the building. CPU can also be contacted on extension 8146/7.
In the case of fire, once the alarm is triggered the after hours door on the side of the building, the rear door (opposite the Highway Africa building) and the emergency doors in the audio seminar room, in the passage opposite the entrance to the TV control room, and in the passage next to the Writing Lab will open automatically. Medical emergencies should be reported to the admin office where people are trained in First Aid.
Single-use plastic water bottles
The School of Journalism and Media Studies supports calls for an end to the use of single-use plastic except in emergency situations. The environmental and health consequences of the manufacture, transportation, use and disposal of single-use plastic bottles are well documented. The School does not supply single-use plastic water bottles for meetings, alumni events, conferences, etc. and requires catering suppliers to comply with this.
Filtered water is available in the Africa Media Matrix and both staff and students are encouraged to make use of this in multi-use water bottles. A water filter/chiller is located on the 1st floor in the passage to the TV section and is available to all staff and students. Filtered water is also available to staff and postgraduate students in the staff room.
Last Modified: Fri, 18 Feb 2022 11:49:52 SAST