Questions regarding new media and how it changed the direction of my career

A good friend of mine, Carly Smith, asked me to answer a few questions for a newsletter she has to develop for a independent study course she is taking during her last semester of graduate school. I wanted to share a few of those responses. She had some great questions to ask that made me think about my education and career direction.

What is your current job?  How long have you been there?
I’m a content producer for the Austin American-Statesman. I have been there for about a month now.

Has new media become your main focus, or are you using it to compliment your original career interests?  (For example, public relations + new media, journalism + new media, technology + social media, etc.).
It’s a little bit of both. When I received my undergraduate degree in print journalism, it was at the point everything was beginning to change. I didn’t feel my degree was irrelevant, but I knew I didn’t have a lot of the skills necessary to be a successful journalist. I needed more, which is why I chose to go to graduate school and get a degree in mass communication-new media. While my job is in journalism, it’s focused more on new media and coming up with creative solutions to showcase a story with multimedia and other visual elements.

How has the world of new media altered your original career goals?  Have they completely changed?
It absolutely altered my original career goals. I suppose I always imagined myself getting a job at a newspaper as a reporter post-graduation and doling out stories on regular basis. Funny how that never happened, but I couldn’t be happier with the direction my career went. My first job out of college was as a multimedia producer for a news startup, and while I didn’t stay there long, I remember only writing up one piece. The rest was focused on site development, photography and video. Now at the Statesman, I don’t actually produce much content (contrary to my job title). My role is more about posting content to the web and deciding which stories, video or photos should be displayed more prominently. Granted I get direction from my bosses on this, but it’s pretty exciting to be a part of that editorial process.

 

So this leads me to ask all of you the same.

How has new media changed your career? Do you think you could have learned more about it in college?

Tags: austin american-statesman, career goals, careers, graduate school, journalism, journalism school, new media, social media, statesman, undergraduate

A new chapter: The start of my career at the Austin American-Statesman

It was unexpected. It happened in a snap. It was some of the most exciting news I’ve received in a long time.

Last week, I was officially offered a position as an evening content producer for Statesman.com, which I accepted. I’m thrilled that I will be working at a media organization I truly respect and has so many innovative ideas. I cannot wait to become a part of this award-winning team and publication. My first day is Aug. 23.

From http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ (only one of the raddest blogs in existence)

The road to finding to a job was long and took a lot of perseverance, but it all paid off in the end. I’ve been on countless interviews and took on some contract work while I found something more permanent, which helped me learn a lot about the job process and working independently. It is an experience I won’t soon forget. I was very lucky to have the support of family and friends who knew I would eventually land a great opportunity. My network of contacts were terrific and intstrumental in helping me land this position as well.

This all leads me talk about a SXSW Interactive panel I have proposed with a good friend, Anna Tauzin, who works as the web and social media editor at the J-Lab at American University, on job searching and I believe it ties well to this experience. It’s called Landing Your Next Job Through Unconventinal Personal Branding. We want to discuss using personal branding in a creative way to help get a new job. We’ll discuss web tools, social media and networking and show examples of such creative personal branding. We plan on having our former professor Cindy Royal on the panel, and hoping to get someone like Mark Luckie of 10000 Words, who is a great example of someone used a personal brand and other creative approaches to land his latest gig as the Washington Post’s Innovation Editor. Feel free to take a look at the proposal and tell us your thoughts.

Otherwise, all I have to say is I’m pumped to start training at my new job and I hope the Statesman is ready for a lot of awesome and baked goods while I’m around.

Designing for cuteness: My card collection

I spent this past weekend visiting my parents, sister and her daughter. It was a laid back weekend, with the exception of some horrid virus I’m trying to battle right now. It hit me out of nowhere yesterday.

Anyway, before I become completely bed-ridden, I wanted to share some designs I created over the weekend with the help of my very creative 10-year-old niece. Children really have a different way of looking at the world and when I got stuck on the bear design I made, she was right there to give me advice. She really seemed to enjoy watching me play with Photoshop. Maybe she’ll latch on and grow up to do graphic design

Anywho, without further ado, here are a series of cutesy graphics I made. I’m thinking they may work well as greeting cards. Your thoughts and advice are always appreciated. Enjoy.

Happy Panda

Monkey Face

Yum Cupcake

Happy Bearday

 

Tags: card design, cutie cards, design, doxen design, family

Steve Jobs is still Steve Jobs and iPhone 4 users will get a bumper. Yay.

I watched/read liveblogging of Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference this afternoon like any good tech geek should.

Full disclosure: I don’t have an iPhone 4. I don’t plan on buying one anytime soon either because I’m perfectly happy with my 3GS. I could generally say I love using Apple products too. However, I never really thought Steve Jobs’ and Apple’s handling of the whole iPhone 4 issue was done very well. Jobs is considered to be a stubborn fellow when it comes to his business practices, but it’s that stubborness that has produced some amazing products that consumers love.

Nevertheless, I remain skeptical about the fix and I think Apple had a whole public relations debacle they didn’t address properly. I think they are still being rude and condescending about it. But will this whole experience really change my mind about Apple or not make me a customer? Not really. They’re still better than a PC. I don’t necessarily have an interest in buying an Android phone. That’s just me.

I’m not sure if this is a genuine fix, but if giving people free bumpers, an exchange or refund is what makes them happy, then cool. I wouldn’t totally be down with someone suggesting to me to stick a piece of rubber around my phone in order to make it work better. I stick a piece of rubber around my phone because I like the color pink and I drop my phone a lot. But if that tickles your fancy, then more power to you.

Look, no smartphone has ever been spectacular at making phone calls, especially iPhones. When I lost my second iPhone (I know. Bad iPhone owner!), I used my sister’s old Samsung Blackjack from 2005 for six months until I could upgrade my phone. While the technology was outdated and web browsing was generally a terrible experience on the Blackjack, I never had a dropped call the entire time I used it. As soon as I got my new iPhone, it was back to dropped calls.

Anyway, just don’t death grip your iPhone again. Or I guess any other smartphone for that fact. That’s what Steve Jobs said.

 

Tags: apple, bumpers, iphone, iphone 4, phone reception, smartphones, steve jobs

How will the new Myspace profile design affect musicians?

In case you haven’t heard, Myspace is beginning to demo a new profile layout on its site. Mashable posted a story yesterday that showed what the new profile design will look like.

Photo from Mashable.com

Some are comparing the new layout to that of Facebook’s, which I could agree with. I think the most interesting aspect of this new layout is a module that allows users to follow people on multiple social networks in addition to a Myspace profile. This is pretty smart especially for those that don’t want to manage finding a user on different sites.

Myspace has experienced a diminishing community with the rise of Facebook, but it is still a powerful promotion tool for musicians, which is the community Myspace originally focused on at its inception. I’m interested in knowing what musicians think about the new layout because it looks like it will vastly change the typical design. I’ve been doing a little research lately on music marketing and it seems like musicians prefer Myspace because it is easy to upload their music and promote shows versus Facebook, which requires users to add applications in order to get some of the same tools.

Are you a musician? What do you think about it? Is this good or bad?

Tags: facebook, mashable, music, music marketing, music promotion, myspace, social media, social media profiles, social networking, user interface design

Hello, sweet smelling Old Spice. That marketing campaign smells like gold.

If you’re like me and enjoy lurking Twitter while you take a break from writing, designing or whatever it is you do, you have seen the wonderfully hilarious marketing campaign being promoted by Old Spice through Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. Thanks to Omar Gallaga at the Statesman, who put together a nice blog post on the campaign, which after reading, I spent the next hour wasting time watching the numerous video responses.

Here are some of my favorite Old Spice videos so far:

To Kevin Rose

To Alyssa Milano

My personal favorite: What do you want your lady to smell like?

Tags: alyssa milano, facebook, kevin rose, marketing, marketing campaigns, old spice, social media, targeted advertising, twitter, youtube

Picking a logo for my new design site

I’m in the process of creating my design site and I came up with a general scheme I want to use. Here are four different versions for a logo. Which appeals most to you?

Tags: design, doxen design, logos

Education gaps and the Digital Divide: Success comes from desire to learn, taking advantage of tech tools

As I was browsing the New York Times website this morning, an article about studies on low-income families who receive computers to use for educational purposes really stuck out to me.

Growing up, my parents worked hard to make ends meet and we always managed to get by. We were not dirt poor, but there were some luxuries we couldn’t afford like a computer. Yes, people, a computer is a luxury.

As a millenial, I grew up at a time when computers were standard in every classroom at the public schools I attended in Texas and a lot of my friends were getting their own computer at home. The technology at school was not top of the line, but it was certainly good and I knew not every district was as lucky. I think it is also the reason I gravitated toward technology. I may not have had a computer at home, but I could certainly access one on a regular basis and could take advantage of tech classes being taught at my school.

What struck me about the studies mentioned in the article is that researchers found low-income families and students who received a computer and/or Internet access did not achieve much of an educational proficiency compared to those who did not get a computer. They achieved computer skills relative to what students’ economically advantaged peers had, but lower-income students were not making better grades or learning more. In fact, one study found many were using their computer to play games instead of doing homework.

The reality is a child, low-income or not, needs guidance and the desire to learn in order for a computer to be an effective tool. Parents have to encourage the importance of education and unfortunately, economically disadvantaged students may not always get that at home. I love learning and my parents always emphasized how important it was for me to study and get good grades. When I needed to know something for a book report or a project, I would hop on my bike and head to the public library to pick up a book or search the web on one of their computers. I would seek out information because I had a strong desire to do so.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is a computer is yet another information tool for students. It is up to them to determine how to use it to their advantage, but it doesn’t always mean they will. What are your thoughts on this?

Tags: computer access, computers, digital divide, education, learning, low-income families, technology access

Restless social media syndrome

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Stretch, yawn, head to the little girl’s (or boy’s) room?

According to one study, a lot of ladies skip all that and go straight to Facebook. Funny enough, I found the story on Facebook this morning (around 5 a.m.) from Mashable as I contemplated falling back asleep or getting up.

Some of the key findings of the study had me chuckling to myself quietly:

• 57% percent of women say they communicate with people more online than face-to-face
• 34% say the first thing they do in when they wake up is check Facebook
• 21% of women age 18-34 check Facebook in the middle of the night

However, these stats had me wondering how much the researchers watched Mean Girls before they started collecting data:

• 42% think it’s okay to post photos of themselves intoxicated
• 79% are fine with kissing in photos
• 58% use Facebook to keep tabs on “frenemies”
• 50% are fine with being Facebook friends with complete strangers

LiLo, if only we could catch a glimpse of your Facebook photo albums

I guess nowadays with more and more people using smartphones, access to social media has never been quite so easy and immediate. Who says I have to walk over to my compy to read about what my BFF Jane did last night or why that cute boy I’ve been stalking chatting with hasn’t returned my calls. Or see why that bitch my good friend Jen chose to wore that tiny dress to that party. I’ll just roll over and read it on my phone as I watch the sun come up.

 

Tags: facebook, mashable, smartphones, social media, study, women

Unemployment 2010

Today is the first day of my life as an unemployed person.

I have a bachelor’s and master’s degrees, a gigantor resume, a little bit of freelance writing, and a steady trickle of interviews with potential employers. I have that much to be thankful for, but I also have a whole lot of bills including student loans that need to be paid. Yes, those suck.

I am hoping Unemployment 2010, as I have come to call it, will be a very temporary state in my life. The last time I didn’t have a job for awhile was in 2005 after my first year of college. So not having a job is a pretty abnormal state for me. However, I will try to look on the bright side of this. I will finally get the chance to dedicate some of my time to starting a couple of web projects I’ve been poking around with and writing a little more.

But the most fun part of this temporary state of joblessness is I will finally have a chance to watch a few movies I have never seen and should because they are iconic pop culture films. These films include Labyrinth and Purple Rain. Yes, it’s true I have never seen either of these movies featuring the wonderfully fantastic David Bowie and Prince, respectively.

So as I work away at freelance projects and watch movies featuring some of the greatest musical artists of our time, I will occassionally tweet items related to Unemployment 2010 with the hashtag #UE2010. If you are experiencing joblessness as I am, join me in using this hashtag.

Tags: david bowie, job searching, labyrinth, prince, purple rain, unemployment, unemployment 2010