Last night, I decided to re-read the blogs I have posted this semester - the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly (as in that end-of-semester meltdown I had last week). As I write this, Tazi-Kat is sitting by my side (as usual), and I am reflecting on all I have learned - and the irony of one particular thing I wrote.
On September 15, 2011 I blogged about an article I had read on "blogs as clubhouses". It was a short reaction piece, in which I wrote:
...with the saturation of the medium this is where my thoughts split from the author's, who continues on to describe how your personal blog can become a money-maker. Unless you come up with a truly unique topic, such as the Julie and Julia blog; and you are a trained and/or professional writer; and you have the necessary knowledge to produce an accurate, well-researched blog, then the odds of such success occurring are astronomical. This is not to say that one should not try to beat the odds; just that one should not set their sights so high that they are blinded by the sun every time they look upward.
As you can see, in spite of my tendency to aim high, I keep my expectations quite low. I suppose it is so I will not rest on my laurels, but continue to give my all towards every project I undertake. This way of life can be quite draining, but it stems from something I learned while working in advertising: your own opinion of your work is not what matters. It is the opinion of the people who are judging your work that matters.
Now, I am sure there is a chorus of young - and not-so-young - idealists out there carping about how they would never alter their "art" to please another; and I can tell you right now that those same idealists will never make a living off of their "art" - be it writing, videography, film, or actual art. People may claim that they don't believe in commercial success, but those are generally the people who are either already commercially successful or who do not have to depend upon the income generated from their art in order to pay their way through life - or the people who have ended up like Vincent Van Gogh: poor, and more than a little crazy.
Anyhow, back to my main point: I find it ironic that my clubhouse blog may actually bring me commercial success. I wonder if this is how Icarus felt...
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
My Point Exactly! (A Promo For "The Art of Cyberdribble")
I normally don't repost other people's blogs for the simple fact that I can be a proprietory bitch when it comes to my blog-space; but this blog deals with the major issues of writing and communication in electronic environments, so I plan on promoing the crap out of it - just because I think it needs to be read by more people, especially Communications majors. Click on the link below to see what I mean!
The Art of Cyberdribble
The Art of Cyberdribble
Monday, December 12, 2011
There Is Always More To Learn
The learning process is a never-ending one; even though we may think we know all there is to know about something, there is always something that we do not yet know.
The final - FINAL - project for this class is to put together an online portfolio of our work. Sounds simple, right? My problem is that I once worked in the field of Marketing Communications, and had a stand-out reputation not only for my work, but for cutting-edge presentation, as well. While others were still supplying print versions of their portfolio, I was supplying mine of CD in order to illustrate my animated graphic work, as well as my print graphic designs. Even after I had returned to school, I still had the occasional headhunter calling me to see if they could woo me back into the field. Therefore, I am not comfortable putting just anythng online. If I am going to put a portfolio online, it is going to be a professional presentation of my work.
When it comes to online presentations, there is so much that can be done to keep the audience interested. However, you have to keep in mind that less is more. Too much stimulation results in overstimulation, and overkill of the presentation itself. I just finished reading an article on this very subject, and found myself agreeing with everything it had to say - especially the parts about choosing a theme and sticking with it; and understanding that your portfolio is a representation of your work as a whole - not a place to put every single thing you have ever written. Editing is key.
So what have I learned this semester? I have learned that if I step outside of my comfort zone, there is much for me to discover. In other words, I learned that there is always more to learn.
Okay, I am off to write Tazi-Kat's column for tomorrow...it is amazing the things people send to him. I suppose truth really is stranger than fiction - just one more thing that I have learned this semester!
The final - FINAL - project for this class is to put together an online portfolio of our work. Sounds simple, right? My problem is that I once worked in the field of Marketing Communications, and had a stand-out reputation not only for my work, but for cutting-edge presentation, as well. While others were still supplying print versions of their portfolio, I was supplying mine of CD in order to illustrate my animated graphic work, as well as my print graphic designs. Even after I had returned to school, I still had the occasional headhunter calling me to see if they could woo me back into the field. Therefore, I am not comfortable putting just anythng online. If I am going to put a portfolio online, it is going to be a professional presentation of my work.
When it comes to online presentations, there is so much that can be done to keep the audience interested. However, you have to keep in mind that less is more. Too much stimulation results in overstimulation, and overkill of the presentation itself. I just finished reading an article on this very subject, and found myself agreeing with everything it had to say - especially the parts about choosing a theme and sticking with it; and understanding that your portfolio is a representation of your work as a whole - not a place to put every single thing you have ever written. Editing is key.
So what have I learned this semester? I have learned that if I step outside of my comfort zone, there is much for me to discover. In other words, I learned that there is always more to learn.
Okay, I am off to write Tazi-Kat's column for tomorrow...it is amazing the things people send to him. I suppose truth really is stranger than fiction - just one more thing that I have learned this semester!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Where's My Martini?
Somebody, get me a drink. I don't care that it is only 1:30 in the afternoon and that I just returned home from church, I need something to calm me before I post something I shouldn't.
My class is in the process of writing reflective essays on what we have learned this semester, and I noticed that Miss #%@^%# - the student I have been ranting about all semester - finally got her work in by deadline. Even though I was not assigned to her Peer Review group this time around, I gave in to the temptation to read what she had to say. She actually has the chutzpah to take credit for the work done on Project Three - website redesgin, the project where she did less than 1% of all the work involved and nothing towards the actual website redesign - and gives herself a large portion of credit for Project Four - original website design - even though she did nothing to contribute to the research or design of the project.
I am so angry I am surprised the heat of my temper has not caused me to spontaniously combust into flames!!!! The last time something like this happened to me, I was working for an advertising firm. My supervisor had secretly been taking credit for my work (which had led to a 125% increase in quarterly profits!). The man was promoted on the basis of my work, claiming it was his! I was so disgusted, I gave my two-weeks notice (I had been looking, and found a better job within a week). At least in that case I had the pleasure of hearing that three months after I left his dishonesty came back to bite him in the butt. When I left, so did my market research and forecasting skills; and quarterly accounts plummeted. The guy was demoted back to this old position and his former boss (who had left to look for better pay) was hired back as the new Manager, complete with the fat pay raise that had been my former supervisor's fat pay raise.
I will now take this anger and do something useful with it - like work on the book I am co-authoring. It is called The Obdicerous One (pronounced uhb-DICK-er-us), about a man who is the personification of "Excessive obnoxiousness, combined with a ridiculously inflated sense of self-worth to the point of being ludicrous; all rolled into one large package". My co-author came up with the word, a combination of "obnoxious", "ridiculous", and "ludicrous". Stay tuned for further details...my Wrting 235 class may be ending, but this process blog shall continue.
My class is in the process of writing reflective essays on what we have learned this semester, and I noticed that Miss #%@^%# - the student I have been ranting about all semester - finally got her work in by deadline. Even though I was not assigned to her Peer Review group this time around, I gave in to the temptation to read what she had to say. She actually has the chutzpah to take credit for the work done on Project Three - website redesgin, the project where she did less than 1% of all the work involved and nothing towards the actual website redesign - and gives herself a large portion of credit for Project Four - original website design - even though she did nothing to contribute to the research or design of the project.
I am so angry I am surprised the heat of my temper has not caused me to spontaniously combust into flames!!!! The last time something like this happened to me, I was working for an advertising firm. My supervisor had secretly been taking credit for my work (which had led to a 125% increase in quarterly profits!). The man was promoted on the basis of my work, claiming it was his! I was so disgusted, I gave my two-weeks notice (I had been looking, and found a better job within a week). At least in that case I had the pleasure of hearing that three months after I left his dishonesty came back to bite him in the butt. When I left, so did my market research and forecasting skills; and quarterly accounts plummeted. The guy was demoted back to this old position and his former boss (who had left to look for better pay) was hired back as the new Manager, complete with the fat pay raise that had been my former supervisor's fat pay raise.
I will now take this anger and do something useful with it - like work on the book I am co-authoring. It is called The Obdicerous One (pronounced uhb-DICK-er-us), about a man who is the personification of "Excessive obnoxiousness, combined with a ridiculously inflated sense of self-worth to the point of being ludicrous; all rolled into one large package". My co-author came up with the word, a combination of "obnoxious", "ridiculous", and "ludicrous". Stay tuned for further details...my Wrting 235 class may be ending, but this process blog shall continue.
Peer Reviewing Reviewed
I have discovered that peer reviewing has its pros and cons and unfortunately, for this class, the cons are outweighing the pros as the semester wears on and approaches the finish line. I have learned a lot in this class, and one reason was the chance to receive feedback from my classmates on the work completed. In fact, it was assigned work that they do give feedback in the form of constructive criticism. However, that does not mean that everyone gave it on time (before deadline) or even gave it all.
For our first class asignment - clubhouse blogs - I got feedback from one student, and I have to say it really wasn't helpful. For some reason, she thought Ask Tazi-Kat! was an advice column for pet lovers, and that it should run tips on caring for pets. The column offers general advice on a range of subjects, and has hardly ever addressed issues dealing with pets. As of this writing, it is up to 1100 hits (in 11 weeks), with 100 of those hits coming in over the past 3 days and a third of the total hits coming in within the last three weeks; as well as an ebook of the archives planned for January publication through Amazon.com; and daily subscription numbers also on the rise. If I had taken the advice to change the format, I don't think it would have been so successful, as pet-care is a very niche market; nor is it my forte.
Project Two did offer some very helpful review advice on travel writing, offering hints on what people look for when they travel to Providence; but even so, one of the reviewers did not offer their thoughts until after the due date for the project. As luck would have it, I got paired with this person for the next two group projects; and as expected, all deadlines were ignored. Thank God that I lucked out on Project Three, as the other member of the three-person group - the only other person I consider to be a contributing member - is an amazing student and an amazing worker. I know I keep touting him, but he seriously is that good. He graduates in May, and I have no doubt I will be seeing his name in the Wall Street Journal some day! (FYI: He is a Business and Finance major).
For Project Three, the recreation of a restaurant website, only one person got their peer reivew in by deadline (others were a week late!) and he gave some very helpful suggestions that were incorporated, and acknowledged on our Peer Review forum message board (including the suggestion that we add a Directions page to the site). The remainder of the reviewers posted their thoughts a week late, and basically said the same exact thing as the first person - lighten the background and add a Directions page - ignoring the fact that the edits had been made a full week prior. Explanations as to why there were no pictures of the restaurant or its food were posted to the forum (after the first reviewer suggested they be added), and completely ignored. Criticisms that we should add some kept pouring into the forum. It was all I could do not to post in a bold, red font "PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOU A$$ AND READ THE G-D D-MN PROJECT UPDATE!!! FOR THE LOVE OF G-D YOU ARE A SENIOR IN COLLEGE!!! PULL THIS KIND OF CR@P IN THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD AND YOU WON'T MAKE IT PAST YOUR FIRST 90-DAYS!!!!!!!" Thankfully, I have been practicing the art of patience since leaving the professional world of Marketing, and managed to keep my cool. (FYI, part 2: just in case you were wondering, we used placeholders [generic graphics] in place of actual pictures, so as to leave the picture choice open for the business owner to visualize).
With Project Four, the three contributing members of the group all agreed that the criticisms received were bulls--t, and only offered up because the reviewers had to say something. We received criticisms such as:
"You have too many links" (several of the links were required for the project, and could not be removed; the others were essential to the opertation of the site)
"I don't like the sports theme" (the page name is Intercepting Traffick and its purpose is to raise awareness of child sex trafficking at major league sporting events. DUH!)
"I think you have too much information on your site",with the suggestion that people would get bored and move on to another site (the site itself is an informational site with a targeted audience, not a general interest site.)
I have always tried to make my criticisms constructive...which is why this blog has so often turned into a rant. It's all just part of the process.
For our first class asignment - clubhouse blogs - I got feedback from one student, and I have to say it really wasn't helpful. For some reason, she thought Ask Tazi-Kat! was an advice column for pet lovers, and that it should run tips on caring for pets. The column offers general advice on a range of subjects, and has hardly ever addressed issues dealing with pets. As of this writing, it is up to 1100 hits (in 11 weeks), with 100 of those hits coming in over the past 3 days and a third of the total hits coming in within the last three weeks; as well as an ebook of the archives planned for January publication through Amazon.com; and daily subscription numbers also on the rise. If I had taken the advice to change the format, I don't think it would have been so successful, as pet-care is a very niche market; nor is it my forte.
Project Two did offer some very helpful review advice on travel writing, offering hints on what people look for when they travel to Providence; but even so, one of the reviewers did not offer their thoughts until after the due date for the project. As luck would have it, I got paired with this person for the next two group projects; and as expected, all deadlines were ignored. Thank God that I lucked out on Project Three, as the other member of the three-person group - the only other person I consider to be a contributing member - is an amazing student and an amazing worker. I know I keep touting him, but he seriously is that good. He graduates in May, and I have no doubt I will be seeing his name in the Wall Street Journal some day! (FYI: He is a Business and Finance major).
For Project Three, the recreation of a restaurant website, only one person got their peer reivew in by deadline (others were a week late!) and he gave some very helpful suggestions that were incorporated, and acknowledged on our Peer Review forum message board (including the suggestion that we add a Directions page to the site). The remainder of the reviewers posted their thoughts a week late, and basically said the same exact thing as the first person - lighten the background and add a Directions page - ignoring the fact that the edits had been made a full week prior. Explanations as to why there were no pictures of the restaurant or its food were posted to the forum (after the first reviewer suggested they be added), and completely ignored. Criticisms that we should add some kept pouring into the forum. It was all I could do not to post in a bold, red font "PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOU A$$ AND READ THE G-D D-MN PROJECT UPDATE!!! FOR THE LOVE OF G-D YOU ARE A SENIOR IN COLLEGE!!! PULL THIS KIND OF CR@P IN THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD AND YOU WON'T MAKE IT PAST YOUR FIRST 90-DAYS!!!!!!!" Thankfully, I have been practicing the art of patience since leaving the professional world of Marketing, and managed to keep my cool. (FYI, part 2: just in case you were wondering, we used placeholders [generic graphics] in place of actual pictures, so as to leave the picture choice open for the business owner to visualize).
With Project Four, the three contributing members of the group all agreed that the criticisms received were bulls--t, and only offered up because the reviewers had to say something. We received criticisms such as:
"You have too many links" (several of the links were required for the project, and could not be removed; the others were essential to the opertation of the site)
"I don't like the sports theme" (the page name is Intercepting Traffick and its purpose is to raise awareness of child sex trafficking at major league sporting events. DUH!)
"I think you have too much information on your site",with the suggestion that people would get bored and move on to another site (the site itself is an informational site with a targeted audience, not a general interest site.)
I have always tried to make my criticisms constructive...which is why this blog has so often turned into a rant. It's all just part of the process.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Technology: Rely On It To be Unreliable
I have been meaning to write this blog for a few weeks now, and have just been so busy putting together my final portfolio that my process blog got shifted to the bottom of the priority pile.
If you have been reading my blog you will know by now that my final group project for this class involves creating a social issues site at SocialGo.com. (If you have not been reading this blog, I suggest you go catch up and come back here when you have). When the syllabus was put together, SocialGo was free; now, it is only free for two weeks before they start to charge. THANKFULLY the good people in SocialGo's Finance Department understood the pleas of my professor, and the charges for our project sites have been waived through the end of the year. However, this situation illustrates why putting our faith in technology is not always a good thing.
I am reminded of a letter to Ann Landers that I read several years ago, about a man who knew he was dying (of illness) and wanted to leave some letters to his young granddaughter, for when she was old enough to read them. In order to keep them confidential, he typed them and saved them to a 3-inch disk. After he passed, his wife was uncertain if she should print them out, due to changing technology and the fear the letters would be lost. Ann Landers agreed with her, and got a heaping pile of mail from those who disagreed with her, saying to print them out would be a violantion of privacy. As I recap that letter, I am asking myself "How long has it been since anyone used disks?"
It is truly amazing how much technology has changed in my lifetime. I still remember 5-inch floppy disks...the TRS-80...and yes, Pong, which I still think is a balls-ass awesome video game, if you will pardon the expression. I am not exactly sure what "balls-ass" means, but it is what popped into my head when I was thinking about how awesome Pong was, and how I miss its quaint simplicity.
I often wonder what technological advances will come in the lifetime of the Wikipedia generation, and hope that it will help them to understand where I am coming from when I talk about the importance of learning to do things old school, instead of letting technology do everything for you - because if the computer systems are down and that research paper is due, it is always nice to know how to use the card catalog.
If you have been reading my blog you will know by now that my final group project for this class involves creating a social issues site at SocialGo.com. (If you have not been reading this blog, I suggest you go catch up and come back here when you have). When the syllabus was put together, SocialGo was free; now, it is only free for two weeks before they start to charge. THANKFULLY the good people in SocialGo's Finance Department understood the pleas of my professor, and the charges for our project sites have been waived through the end of the year. However, this situation illustrates why putting our faith in technology is not always a good thing.
I am reminded of a letter to Ann Landers that I read several years ago, about a man who knew he was dying (of illness) and wanted to leave some letters to his young granddaughter, for when she was old enough to read them. In order to keep them confidential, he typed them and saved them to a 3-inch disk. After he passed, his wife was uncertain if she should print them out, due to changing technology and the fear the letters would be lost. Ann Landers agreed with her, and got a heaping pile of mail from those who disagreed with her, saying to print them out would be a violantion of privacy. As I recap that letter, I am asking myself "How long has it been since anyone used disks?"
It is truly amazing how much technology has changed in my lifetime. I still remember 5-inch floppy disks...the TRS-80...and yes, Pong, which I still think is a balls-ass awesome video game, if you will pardon the expression. I am not exactly sure what "balls-ass" means, but it is what popped into my head when I was thinking about how awesome Pong was, and how I miss its quaint simplicity.
I often wonder what technological advances will come in the lifetime of the Wikipedia generation, and hope that it will help them to understand where I am coming from when I talk about the importance of learning to do things old school, instead of letting technology do everything for you - because if the computer systems are down and that research paper is due, it is always nice to know how to use the card catalog.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Group Poop
I am titling this blog "Group Poop" because Group Sh!t does not make for a very polite headline. My final group project for this class was submitted this morning, and I am sooooo glad to be done with it! Although the cause is important to me, group projects tend to go like this: one or two people do all of the work, while everyone else sits back and lets them do it. This project was a bit different, but there was still one obvious slacker in the group.
My problem with the group project dynamic is that I am a "recovering workaholic". I am the type of person who will dedicate all of my time to my work/school projects, to the detriment of other areas of my life. Often time I have said that "there is a reason I am [insert age here], never married with no children". Although those reasons are several, one of the big ones is my dedication to my work - and the sense of perfectionism that I bring with it. I can't just let stuff slide and hope that someone else will do the work because every time I try that I end up working double-time to catch up because nobody else bothered to do the work, either! Because I am aware of my tendency to drown my life in my work, I must make a conscious effort to STOP and balance myself or see my personal life suffer for it.
As for the technical extent of this project, I realize that I have experience in web-building; but my experience is in web graphics/design and writing HTML code. Six or seven years ago, web building software was in its infancy, and social host sites like Yola.com and SocialGo were either non-existent or very, very expensive to use ($1,500+ per yearly contract, as opposed to $100 - $300 now). I have had to make the time to learn how to use these sites, just like everybody else. My experience with HTML coding allowed me to work around some of the limitations of the paid-subscription-only features on sites like WuFoo Forms (BTW: I LOVE THIS SITE!!!), but this does not excuse the fact that one of the "founders" of the site that has been our group project contributed NOTHING except her personal profile and a very short, barely researched blog! In fact, her one source of research was a YouTube video that another member had already posted to our site! How ballsy is that? This person has a semester-long history of phoning it in, so to speak, but this move takes that attitude to new levels!
Overall, the group dynamic of this final project has worked well, with each of the remaining members contributing in some important way; I am just wondering if my dedication hasn't made it too easy for my group-mates to blow off a large portion of the assignment - i.e. learning how to use the social host software, or how to create a WuFoo form. Then again, if I were not so dedicated, I am not certain our site would be as professionally done as it is. Fjavascript:void(0)or my last group project, I was partnered with a different student, and the work he contributed was amazing. For this group project, we are separated; and the difference in the quality of work is obvious. I am really not impressed with his group's site, even though I love the topic [responsible government spending].
I just hope that my influence helps to bring out the best efforts of others, without me coming off as a total b!tch...because behind the scenes - away from work and the formal settings of the university - I can be immature, unorganized, crazy, and loud; but boy am I FUN!
My problem with the group project dynamic is that I am a "recovering workaholic". I am the type of person who will dedicate all of my time to my work/school projects, to the detriment of other areas of my life. Often time I have said that "there is a reason I am [insert age here], never married with no children". Although those reasons are several, one of the big ones is my dedication to my work - and the sense of perfectionism that I bring with it. I can't just let stuff slide and hope that someone else will do the work because every time I try that I end up working double-time to catch up because nobody else bothered to do the work, either! Because I am aware of my tendency to drown my life in my work, I must make a conscious effort to STOP and balance myself or see my personal life suffer for it.
As for the technical extent of this project, I realize that I have experience in web-building; but my experience is in web graphics/design and writing HTML code. Six or seven years ago, web building software was in its infancy, and social host sites like Yola.com and SocialGo were either non-existent or very, very expensive to use ($1,500+ per yearly contract, as opposed to $100 - $300 now). I have had to make the time to learn how to use these sites, just like everybody else. My experience with HTML coding allowed me to work around some of the limitations of the paid-subscription-only features on sites like WuFoo Forms (BTW: I LOVE THIS SITE!!!), but this does not excuse the fact that one of the "founders" of the site that has been our group project contributed NOTHING except her personal profile and a very short, barely researched blog! In fact, her one source of research was a YouTube video that another member had already posted to our site! How ballsy is that? This person has a semester-long history of phoning it in, so to speak, but this move takes that attitude to new levels!
Overall, the group dynamic of this final project has worked well, with each of the remaining members contributing in some important way; I am just wondering if my dedication hasn't made it too easy for my group-mates to blow off a large portion of the assignment - i.e. learning how to use the social host software, or how to create a WuFoo form. Then again, if I were not so dedicated, I am not certain our site would be as professionally done as it is. Fjavascript:void(0)or my last group project, I was partnered with a different student, and the work he contributed was amazing. For this group project, we are separated; and the difference in the quality of work is obvious. I am really not impressed with his group's site, even though I love the topic [responsible government spending].
I just hope that my influence helps to bring out the best efforts of others, without me coming off as a total b!tch...because behind the scenes - away from work and the formal settings of the university - I can be immature, unorganized, crazy, and loud; but boy am I FUN!
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