Dr. Michelle Ferrier is a pioneer in digital content and online education communities as well as research around online communities, online education, digital identity and reputation management and media entrepreneurship. Ferrier is the founder and creator of TrollBusters, a just-in-time rescue service for women writers and women journalists. She is the principal investigator behind the Media Deserts Project that tracks access to fresh, local news and information. She is president of Journalism That Matters, an organization re-imagining the news and information landscape. She is the chief instigator behind the JTM “Create or Die” the media entrepreneurship startup events.
She is a former columnist, managing editor of online communities, and has developed projects in serious games (SimSchool), immersive environments (Woolworths Sit-In on Second Life) and media entrepreneurship applications like MediaPowerLunch.com, HighlandsFamily.com and LocallyGrownNews.com. She is the associate dean for innovation in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and holds a Ph.D. in Texts and Technology from the University of Central Florida.
Ferrier developed entrepreneurial ventures around online communities, created startup events for media entrepreneurs and conducted research and curriculum development around digital media and entrepreneurship. She is also a former research associate with the Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology and Entertainment at the University of Central Florida and the lead researcher for the Employ Florida Digital Media Banner Center, where she helped create a new core curriculum in digital media between UCF and regional higher education institutions.
