Are you listening, or is no one listening?
That’s the million-dollar question for Cillea Houghton ‘15, who is teaming up with Communications Media Professor Rob Carr and his marketing/communications students to help launch a new media platform, No One Is Listening (NOIL).
The mission is to connect people across cultures through the power of voice. The mission comes to life on the page (print products), on the screen (video content) and in the world (live events).
NOIL emphasizes the power of connection through presence, authentic voices and intentional listening. It’s a space where experimental media and tangible real-world creations unite. It’s not about making content, it’s about making connections.
“It’s a huge goal and a big vision,” said Houghton, 32, originally from Cape Cod but currently residing in Perugia, Italy. “What’s nice about this collaboration with Rob is that he’s helping me pull these pieces down and go one step at a time.”
Carr’s class, which hosted Houghton at the start of the semester, is helping produce the first issue of the No One Is Listening journal, which is slated to be published in mid-December.
“I call it a journal because it has two meanings,” said Houghton, who earned her bachelor’s degree in communications media. “A journal is where you write your personal thoughts, but at the same time a journal can also be academic, like a scientific journal. It’s almost like these two worlds colliding.”
The theme of the project is centered around peace.
“I chose peace because I feel like we’re at a time in our history where I’m hearing peace thrown around a lot by different world leaders and I wonder if they know what that word really means?,” Houghton said. “But do we also understand what the word peace means?”
Through this issue, Houghton wants to ask people how they define inner peace, and if they’ve found inner peace, what was their journey?
“Also, how do we define peace on a global level?,” Houghton said. “It’s asking bigger questions, but I want the answers to come through people’s actual experiences.”
This isn’t just a passion project, it’s a mission, says Houghton.
“For me, No One Is Listening is my service project to humanity,” she said. “I see so much division. Even when you look throughout history of how one group attacks another … we have racism, sexism and all these things that divide us, but at the end of the day we all have our own individual voice and we have these experiences that connect us. I want to help people find their voice and free their voice, and figure out the most authentic way to express it.”
During the course of the semester, Carr’s students are divided into three teams: marketing/communications, web design and a publication plan team.
Carr said his students are engaged and immersed in the complexity, messiness, and chaos of the real world, including a client who has vision but has never done what they’re doing.
“They have to gain expertise, control, vision, all of the skills that need to manifest to actually apply them in tangible, real-world work to please a client who is still also figuring out what she wants this to be,” Carr said. “We are conceiving, designing and building an airplane that is already in flight. That’s what is happening here.”
The marketing team is developing a promo schedule and creating innovative marketing ideas, including social media posts, videos and graphics, to promote the first issue of NOIL.
“The hope is to bring attention to the project, so people will feel inclined to share their stories,” said Sam LeMay, a senior from Ayer. “We’re hoping that it makes people feel more heard about their stories.”
The hope is to bring attention to the project, so people will feel inclined to share their stories. We’re hoping that it makes people feel more heard about their stories.
The publication plan team is focusing on the content for the issue, assisting with story collections and figuring out who will be the 10 voices to feature in the first issue.
“How are these voices connected because that’s the key theme,” Houghton said.
They will also help with photography and graphic elements.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Alexander McLean, a junior from Randolph. “I’ve been able to help curate ideas and brainstorm, which has been super helpful.”
The web team is creating a functionality where people can submit anonymous voice notes, videos, and all sorts of different mediums.
“Even through that vortex, we can be like, ‘Huh, this person in Indonesia has the same experience as this person in Greece,’” Houghton said. “So how can we connect them? How can we show how their journeys connect to each other even though they’ve never met?”
David Gambone, a senior from Ashburnham and an Army veteran, says It’s been a really rewarding project.
“The entire concept is really cool in general, having an alumni client, that’s something I’d love to see more of,” he said. “Kind of us helping the future while the past helps us, too.”
The web team is honing in on a communication strategy design that Gambone is extremely proud of.
“One of the cool plug-ins we put on the web site was actually for it to speak up to 500 different languages, so that way it can automatically be communicated with the majority of the world,” Gambone said. “We’ve been big on making sure there are close captions for people with disabilities and to really look into that.”
Houghton said that she secured two designers who put together “a beautiful brand kit” that the students are using as their guide post for the project.
“I want them to think creatively and be innovative,” she said. “I want this to be tangible, real world meets digital. We’re trying to connect with people from all over the world.”
Houghton’s goal after the first issue launches is to venture out and showcase NOIL to a wider and global audience.
“I want to travel all over Europe and essentially host town halls in different cities and countries and show people the first issue of the No One Is Listening journal,” she said. “I want to ask, ‘Do you want to be a part of it, whether submitting your own story, pitching someone else that you think has a really inspiring story or co-hosting an event?’”
Traveling has been a big part of Houghton’s professional career.
In 2013, Houghton studied in Verona, Italy, through Fitchburg State’s faculty-led study abroad program. That’s where she gained a great appreciation for Verona.
“We lived there for a month and we went on amazing excursions,” she said. “So the seed was planted then that I wanted to live in Italy one day.”
She eventually moved there 11 years later.
In between, Houghton secured an internship in Nashville in 2015 as a reporter, working for several publications, including Nfocus magazine, the Nashville Post and Nashville Scene newspapers.
“I got to cover all these really cool events all over the city,” she said.
After graduating, Houghton packed up and moved to Nashville to begin her professional career, working as a freelance journalist for nine years.
“Essentially I grew up there,” she said. “I really blossomed into adulthood and where I became a journalist. I met friends that I think I’ll have for life. Just like Fitchburg laid the path to Nashville, Nashville laid the path to Italy. It’s all so connected.”
Now, Houghton is hoping to connect the world through the NOIL platform.
Houghton said Carr put it perfectly when he said that “this is the first artifact in the No One Is Listening universe. Students are going to help bring that to life.”
Houghton communicates with the students every week through Zoom, email, text or phone.
McLean says he’s taken so much out of this hands-on, real-world working experience.
“(Houghton) being an alumni has shown how much Fitchburg State can impact your career,” he said. “I’m going to learn a lot and use this knowledge in the field, but also knowing that these connections don’t die. I can always come back, reach out to the people I need. With Cillea, I’m happy we’re able to help her and make this dream that she’s had become a reality. Maybe in 10 years my dream needs to become a reality and I ask for some support here? Being able to make someone’s dream become a reality as a third-year college student is something crazy that I never thought I would get the chance to do.”
What Houghton hopes the students get out of this process is to have them feel empowered, inspired and to see themselves within the project.
“They will walk away with a tangible product,” Houghton said. “This first No One Is Listening journal that they’ve contributed to, whether it is a written piece, or a photo, or they helped decide who made it into the issue and who didn’t. It’s something they can put into their portfolio, just like I did with all the stuff I did in Rob’s class (when she was a student). Maybe it will reveal new skills to them that they didn’t realize they had or things they are passionate about?
“Hopefully they will find some type of healing within this,” she said.
Carr said this entire experience has been powerful.
“As a professor, to do this with the former student who has grown into a professional writer, but the professional writer growing into the launch of her own organization, that’s very rewarding,” he said. “It’s also quite unique. With every fiber of my being, I want Cillea to be able to live into her dream and vision. I want (the students) to be able to help her and I want them to leave with publications that are going into their portfolios because that will help them launch their careers, in turn move onto their dreams and visions. I think we can have a win-win in every direction here.”