USDemocrazy.com

Political Cartoonist Kevin “KAL” Kallaugher has been an IRC Artist-In-Residence for the last 5 years. With generous support from the College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Sondheim Scholars Program and the Office of Institutional Advancement, KAL has returned to the IRC to work exclusively on creating USDemocrazy.com, a website and active blog built for teenagers to engage in the discussion of American politics.

The blog is staffed by more than ten UMBC students, most of who are Sondheim Scholars or Media and Communication Studies majors. Each student makes at least one post a week, insuring that the blog is regularly updated. KAL works as editor and mentor to the students, working with them one-on-one each week as they develop their post. They meet regularly to discuss events, look at the site’s current statistics, and make plans for the coming weeks. It’s been a tremendous experience for the students learning how to operate a large daily news aggregator-type blog.

USDemocrazy.com has successfully engaged readers not only here on campus but all over the world. Over the course of the last year USDemocrazy.com received over 100,000 unique visits from 130 countries. In May, the site received over 16,000 with two days having more than 1,000 hits. This one-month’s traffic is almost the same as all of last years. In May 2010 there was an average of 500 visitors a week. In May 2011, there was an average of 500 visitors per day.

Throughout the spring, the IRC conducted reviews and future planning sessions for USDemocrazy. The process led to a 3-4 year strategic plan and commitments for funding for next year. More importantly, the process created more interest on campus for the site with a few more groups wanting to partner in the effort.

Related to his work on USDemocrazy, Kal has been appointed to the Maryland State Department of Education’s Social Studies Advisory Council that will look at how social studies is taught in middle and high schools. Additionally, Kal acts as an “Ambassador” for UMBC and regularly gives talks and presentations in Maryland and beyond. Besides being one of the keynotes at this year’s Baltimore TechNite, Kal gave talks at PIXAR studios, and a TED-X talk in the UK. He also works with the US State Department and has given talks in Russia, Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, and Switzerland. He has a touring exhibition of his political cartoons most recently on display at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.