Umeet (東大UmeeT)

Information media that disseminate the diverse attractions of the University of Tokyo inside and outside the university.

■ Philosophy/guiding principles and history
Student media founded by students at the University of Tokyo in November 2015. Since its establishment, the number of readers has steadily increased, with an average monthly PV of 50,000 and a maximum of 300,000.
　
While the biased image of Todai students reported in the existing media, such as ‘weirdos’ and ‘hard-working students’, is being discussed, the site has been launched under the slogan ‘This university is more interesting. The University of Tokyo is promoting the diverse attractions of the University of Tokyo under the slogan ‘This University is more interesting’.
　
The vision behind their activities is as follows.
The vision of the project is to break down stereotypes about the University of Tokyo by writing and distributing a variety of articles on the University of Tokyo.
By providing a platform for the transmission of information to Todai students, we will support attractive Todai students and Todai organisations that are involved in unique activities.
To improve efficiency by consolidating information on on-campus events organised by students and publicity for clubs.
Connecting people, both on and off campus, through interviews, the dissemination of articles and responses to those articles.

■Activities
In addition to the core members who manage the organisation, there are various other ways to get involved, such as writers who write articles, engineers who develop and manage the website, and photographers who take photos during interviews. The following is a brief description of each.

Core members.
The main members are the editorial department, which, in addition to planning and publishing articles, handles miscellaneous tasks related to the running of the organisation, such as accounting for the Circle and handling liaison matters when writing external articles. She often joins the editorial team after gaining experience as a writer. They hold weekly online editorial meetings.
[Writer].
With the support of the editorial department, they write the articles they want to write at their leisure. Many members belong to the writing department as writers. Sometimes we ask for writers to write about projects that come from the editorial department or articles from external sources, so they can write about whatever they are interested in. The work is usually done online, but we are planning to organise face-to-face activities in the future.
[Engineer].
Develops and manages the UmeeT website. When updates to the site are needed, they work on them, and when they are not working on them, they study on their own. The number of engineers is currently small, so we are always looking for experienced and inexperienced engineers to join us.
Photographer.
Accompany writers on interviews and take photos of the interview scene. Recommended for people who enjoy taking photos of people. As a new trial, we are currently looking for people who can shoot video.

Number of people
9 + dozens of writers

Academic year
Master 2 years: 2
1st year master's students: 1
Fourth-year students: 1
3rd year: 2
2nd year: 2
First-year students: 1

Gender balance
Approximately 50% female.

Time of joining.
Basically, many people (first- and second-year students) join at the New Year party, but we also welcome people who join outside of the New Year party period.
Roles that require technology, such as engineers, may be filled by referrals.
**
Attributes.**
Most of the members are also students, and many of them decide how much of their focus is on UmeeT activities depending on the time of the year.
Many of them have a certain level of writing ability and are not bothered by light writing and communication.
The environment in which individuals can interview the people they want to interview is a good thing, and UmeeT as a whole does not have strong preferences in the fields of articles to be published. Therefore, there is no particular trend in the fields of interest among the members.
The number of members is not so high, as there are members of both humanities and science fields.

Withdrawal rate
There were 5 or 6 students who wrote their first article in FY2021, of whom 2 became editors and 2 or 3 became writers (in UmeeT, there is a way to get involved as a ‘writer’ who is not involved in the running of the organisation). In addition, two of the four or five who received engineering mentoring became engineers.

How many members leave the activity in a year?
Around 25%.

How much difference is there in the amount of commitment between members?
There is a fair amount.

Do some members only come for fun and launches?
Somewhat enrolled.

Regular activities
Editorial meetings are held once a week by the editorial team. Plenary meetings will also be held as necessary.
　
Periods before and after contests/events.
During the new members' welcome period, we often give instructions to new members on how to write articles.
There have been years when we have organised events such as the Komaba Festival (*), but we can get busy in the period just before these events.
*For more information, click https://todai-umeet.com/article/37508

With/without selection
No selection
Screening is required if you are a core member.
　
**Eligibility for recruitment:*
Any University of Tokyo student can join, regardless of grade restrictions.

People who actually join:
Many of those joining as new members are first and second year students.
In some cases, referrals are recruited, in which case there is a wide range of grades.

Membership procedure details:
The time does not have to be during the so-called ‘New Year’ period in April/May.
If you are interested in joining, please contact us via email or the application form on the UmeeT website. We will then proceed to communicate with UmeeT members.
If there is no special desire to do this position, you will be affiliated as a writer, and with the support and guidance of senior UmeeT members, you will first be challenged to write one article to the extent that it is not too much for you.
If you are interested, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to welcoming you.

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