Dana Rovang
PROFESSIONAL STATEMENT
I am a founder, educator, content creator, and visual communicator.
I have worked as a writer, editor, and media producer in corporate and public knowledge spaces. I've developed websites, online magazines, edited non-fiction books and articles, and created original written and video content. I am passionate about communicating simply and effectively.
Recent Work Experience
OBSCURE HISTORIES
Founder, President, CEO
2014-Present
As OH founder and managing editor, I keep the brand focus, write and edit stories, recruit contributors, create short-form videos, conduct longer-form video interviews, and oversee all media creation as producer.
In 2022, I went through the legal process to formalize OH as a legal 501(c)(3). OH is now a nonprofit.
In 2023, I created OH, Jr., the educational arm of OH. I developed the OH, Jr. History Documentary Curriculum for grades 4th and up. We are working on virtual learning options including an online educational portal, with instructional videos.
"Our Shared Future: Reckoning With Our Racial Past" is a year-long Smithsonian initiative to foster a positive discussion on understanding the issues of race and racism, launched in August 2021. DM.Experiential brought together a team of world-class creative and production talent, and working with the Smithsonian’s curators to establish the message, created and brought to life a multi-tiered program with elements including streamed events, in-person experiential pop-ups, “how to” kits to enable self-produced events, a web portal, web-based app, and curated user-generated content. Learn more at https:www.oursharedfuture.si.edu.
DON MISCHER EXPERIENTIAL (DM.E)
Senior Producer
Apr. 2021-Dec. 2021
FREELANCE PRODUCER
Producer, Writer, Editor for Video
2016-Present
Producer, director, writer, storyboards, talent selection, project management
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Freelance Producer, Writer, and Learning Manager for BI Worldwide since 2023.
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Freelance Producer, Writer, and Editor for Q Center Creative since September 2016.
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Produced 100s of successful explainer, educational, and promotional videos for a Top 10 Global Consulting firm.
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Wrote and/or edited the scripts for nearly all productions.
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Created visual scripts for each production.
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Performed preliminary edits on several videos prior to handing off to the post-production team.
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Managed communications with client and production teams.
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Provided creative direction.
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Handled budgets from 10k to 100k.
Research Director at MINERVA Initiative
CHICAGO PROJECT ON SECURITY AND TERRORISM (CPOST)
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
August 2015-2016
Research Director and Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism, Directed by Robert Pape, University of Chicago.
This project is funded by the Department of Defense Minerva Initiative and continues a 2008 project on Martyr Videos for the Office of Naval Research. The project is in two parts: Under PI Robert Pape, the project explores the use of martyrdom by militant groups using Martyr Video Testimonies. The second part: With co-PI Jean Decety, Director of the Neuroimaging Laboratory at UChicago, researchers will use fMRI studies to explore reception of martyr video testimony in the brain.
DUTIES INCLUDE:
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Lead researcher
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Over 500 ISIS videos watched, catalogued, and analyzed
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Narrative structure identification used in militant group videos and propaganda
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Compile martyr videos from online and other media sources for database
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Prepare, edit, and select videos and video clips for fMRI portion of project
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Compose original academic content relating to discoveries
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Project manage a team of academic researchers
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"Logics of Martyrdom" - ISIS, HAMAS, AQIM, etc.
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Martyr and ISIS video analysis - Comparative study
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Indictee Demographic Profile
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EDUCATION
University of Chicago
Ph.D. 2013
Committee on the Conceptual and Historical Study of Science
Dissertation: Conjuring Science: Performance Magicians, Natural Philosophy, and the Audience in Eighteenth-Century England, 1763-1800, (University of Chicago, 2013.
Access it here: http://gradworks.umi.com/35/95/3595966.html
University of Illinois at Chicago
M.A. 2004
European History
University of Iowa
B.A. 1995
Anthropology and Religion
SKILLS
VIDEO EDITING:
ADOBE
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PREMIER PRO
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AFTEREFFECTS
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PHOTOSHOP
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ILLUSTRATOR
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INDESIGN
FINAL CUT PRO
SCRIPT WRITING
CONTENT WRITING
STORYBOARDING
EDITING OF WRITTEN CONTENT
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
REMOTE MANAGEMENT
BRAND MANAGEMENT
CLIENT FACING
2010 - present
2010 - present