Hello reader

Let's start with a little about myself. Twenty years ago, it was custom for someone to ask "what's your sign". I used to be a sagitarius but unfortunately that has change recently and no longer describes who I am. I was born December 12, 1986 in Hoffman estates,Illinois. For anyone not familiar with the Lincoln lover state, H. Estates is a suburb outside of Chicago. My family didn't stay put very long after I was born, at 6 months old I was whisked away to the west. A good portion of my childhood is scratched and chipped into a street called Larchwood dr. In San Jose, California. From what I remember, Living in the bay area was nice and full of great times. Besides soccer practice, playing on my street and the neighborhoods on either side is about my range of experience in California. We moved to Texas when I was ten, by we I now mean: me, my parents, 2 brothers, and 3 sisters. The great thing about having lots of siblings is constant entertainment whether it be having fun, making fun of, or watching the result of either form of fun. Texas was a culture shock in various manners. First thing that caught me off guard was the use of "y'all". My first experience with the colloquial greeting was a mcdonalds at the airport, I literally turned around to check if she was speaking to a group behind me. Second big culture shock was education. When we left Cali, it was in the running as one of the lowest funded public school systems in the country. When I arrived in Texas, the school I was joining wanted to put me in 4th grade instead of 5th. I begged teachers and faculty not to follow through with this mainly because I didn't want to be the older kid in class. Fortunately they did not force me into a lower grade, instead I was required to complete a few leveling courses while participating in normal classes. In high school I found a number of things that interested me like wrestling and multimedia. I started my college career at Texas State in August 2005. I jumped around majors for a lil bit eventually landing on wildlife biology. Wildlife really gave me a great sense of research, conservation efforts, and theory of the current world and how we must sheppard the wild and civilized world to strike a balance between the two. I graduated in December 2010 with uncertain plans for the future. Before graduating, my photojournalism teacher David Nolan directed me to go speak with Dr. Rao about graduate school. Long story short, here I am starting my first semester as a grad. student in mass communication new media focus.

College:
Psychology, English, Physics then finally Wildlife biology, my education focus changed multiple times but understanding and applying research methods and tactics in the biology field, specifically vertebrates. In my time at Texas state, i was an active member of the phi kappa psi chapter, president of the wildlife society at Texas state, interned at bracken bat cave (largest population of bats in the world), and aided grad students in ecology studies and genetics.

In Online Media Design Wednesday night we watched a history channel special on the creation and development of the internet. This subject is not foreign to me, but i didn't realize the creation of the internet was a combination of American graduate students from around the country. My previous conception was a joint effort from different scientist and engineers around the world. The creator of ethernet technology will be a guest speaker in our OMD class here in the near future.

See "http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/" for more information on the internet rise to power

Boy am I happy to be here!

Happy Accidents

Sara Peralta
Texas State Mass Communication grad student in Strategic Media. Agnes Scott College alumna in International Relations. Work at AGE. Native Austinite. Lover of tacos. Aspiring world traveler. Locavore wannabe. Speaker of spanglish. Voted “Best Auntie” by my niece (age 7) and nephew (age 5) six years running.






My journey to Texas State’s graduate program in mass communications has been a long one (but not too long).

I am a first year graduate student in the Mass Communications program at Texas State, focusing on Strategic Media. I am honored to work in non-profit communications for a senior services agency called AGE.

My professional experience is with non-profit organizations, beginning with fundraising for my university while still an undergraduate, to teaching at-risk youth in a summer camp setting, to case management with a refugee services agency. My reasons for working committing myself to being overworked and under-appreciated the non-profit sector are a long and personal story that I have told here (my website). I began working in non-profit communications by accident, when I was interning with an agency that switched me from case management intern to development intern (fundraising). That happy accident of being switched from one role to another within the non-profit environment changed the whole course of my career and led me to find my true calling: communications.

Since then, I have continued to build my skills on the job and advance my career. I have sent press releases, worked fundraising campaigns, trained volunteers, organized fundraising events, spoken to donors, and run social media sites with success considering I do not have formal training. But that was not really good enough for me, truthfully. I know I can help more people if my skills were stronger. I know I could impact and change the community even more with better communication skills.






Somewhere in the midst of of building a career, I've managed to do some traveling (Photo 1: me at the Tui


leries in Paris), and eventually moved back to Texas to be closer to my family, namely, my adorable nephew and niece (Photo 2: They are officially too cool to be photographed.)

So, here I am, in graduate school. I have found all my classes at Texas State to be absolutely practical for a career in communications, in fact, I have yet to have a class that I didn’t take something from and bring it back to the office with me the next day (Photo 3: Me at work, representing my organization, raising awareness, communicating, all in a day's work!).










About The History of the Internet film (original post here)






Seeing this film a second time around, its hard not to draw parallels between the current state of the Internet and the space shuttle. Both projects were started under the Department of Defense's ARPA division, as part of the technology race with the Soviets during the old war.






However, while both initiatives started together, the paths diverged when NASA became its own agency, and the technology that would create the internet stayed under ARPA. NASA, flush with funding and resources, found success relatively quickly compared to its less glamorous brother in ARPA. In 1969 both had successfully achieved major milestones: one put a man on the moon, the other networked computers from across the nation.






Flash forward a few decade, and now NASA will no longer fly the shuttle but catch rides with the Russians and hope for a private sector solution. Meanwhile the internet has flourished, with leading innovators developing and evolving the technology everyday. Its hard not to wonder, what would have happened if a private solution for space travel had been opened up years ago? Maybe we'd be on Mars already.

Introductions

Ladies and gentlemen (all two of you) of the amazing Online Media Design graduate course of fall 2011: I am proud to say that I, Kiana Fitzgerald, am finally a Mac. This is quite possibly one of the most exciting moments of my life. I know this is only a glimpse into the wondrous life I will come to lead in the very near future, but as of now, I'm simply smitten.

To keep it simple, I went with a 13-inch MacBook Pro. I can't wait to start our lives together.

Other than my newfound citizenship in the United States of Apple, as some of you may remember, this is my first semester as a grad student. This is also my first semester as a teaching/instructional assistant for the School of Journalism & Mass Communication. I work with Dr. Lucy Brown in Advertising, and Dr. Jinbong Choi in Public Relations.

I graduated summa cum laude from Texas State in early August of this year (it seems like forever ago…) with a degree in journalism. I love to write, but I haven't had much experience, so I'm excited to take this class and other courses to see where it leads me. It's a lot to take in switching from undergraduate to grad school in less than a month, but I think I'll be just fine. Hopefully?

I also worked with the Texas State football team from my freshman year to my senior year as a student aide to the administrative assistant, so I was excited to see someone like Denise in the class who loves sports like I do. Although, I definitely think she has me beat!

Like Cindy, I love love love live music, and music in general! I listen to music anytime I get a chance. I love finding new artists and introducing my friends to their work. And I love meeting the artists who make the music I love. One of the joys in life for me. If I can work my career into live music events (SXSW, in my dreams), I would die a happy woman.

As for the video, I'm sure others were just as surprised as I was to see that computers weren't originally intended for communication purposes. That really blew my mind. I'm sure if the technology users of today were to be surveyed about the first uses of the computer, a whopping amount of them would assume what I did.

It was also really interesting to see how much time and effort went into the very first machines that were actually used to communicate. It was such an amazing accomplishment at the time, especially with the tools and technology they had to use, and it's incredible to see how far we've come in only half of a century.

I'm also excited to see if we'll be able to speak with Bob Metcalfe. That would be a great opportunity.

That's all for now, see you guys tomorrow night!

-Kiana Fitzgerald

Hello everyone! :)

Hi there! My name is Paige Wilkerson and this is my third semester at Texas State. I grew up in a small town outside of Austin - Taylor, Texas. In this city, there are more open pastures and hay bales than Internet connections or shopping centers. ;) During high school, I knew I wanted to get away from the "small town" life and move to a bigger city.


In December of 2008, I graduated with my BA in News Editorial Journalism from the University of North Texas, near Dallas. I was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and Student Government. I absolutely loved my time at North Texas! Although I grew up near Austin, a part of me really misses Dallas. I plan to move back in the future.


Three years later after a career move I am highly disappointed with, I decided to go through the graduate program in Mass Communication at Texas State. So far, so good! I plan to graduate this next August and I can't wait! Ultimately, I want to obtain my PhD and teach in a university setting. Until then, I have taken classes in both new media, advertising and public relations as these all interest me.


As Demond mentioned in his blog, I, too, watched the History of the Internet video this summer in Cindy's Issues in New Media course. Although the summer semester was short-lived, I absolutely loved our discussions in Cindy's class. I highly recommend it to everyone :)



My first thoughts on the video were those of surprise and amazement. These similar thoughts occurred during the second time I watched the video, too. Luckily, the Internet has been around during most of my life. I have had the opportunity to use the Internet, technology and social media through a majority of my personal, professional and educational experiences.



The packets of data concept is extremely interesting. It just amazes me how the 'network' operated in the beginning. The packets of data with a header operated through the network like the postal service. I believe it was 1966 when two single computers could NOT talk to each other. Shortly after through the effort of unbelievably talented individuals, a connection was built between two computers.





1966 wasn't that long ago and technology has greatly changed. In this video, electronic mail (email) was a new concept! This video and others, compiled with the stories from talented people such as Robert Metcalfe has instilled a great appreciation within me. I wish I were that smart, but I am overwhelmed and thankful for the successes thus far. I look forward to the future of technology...who isn't?!

Hey There!

My name is Taylor Thompson. I am working to get my masters in strategic communication, hoping to graduate in May 2012. I earned my bachelors degree in public relations at Texas State in May 2009. After realizing Austin's (and surrounding areas) limited employment opportunities in my field, I decided to come back to school and learn even more skills that I can take with me in my future career. Online media design has always been an area of interest, not to mention a strong skill to have in marketing, advertising, and PR, so I am very excited to be in this class!

I have the one of the cutest pomeranians in the world, Laila, who I love more than anything. I'm also super excited about my brother coming to Texas State. He is a freshman, and trying to walk on to the football team; so far he's done really well.

At this time, I think it is important to point out that I'm losing my mind right now as my AC is broken. I'm currently sitting in a 90 degree house, in 104 degree weather, waiting for a repairman to come fix it. What a great time for an AC to break?!?!

The video about the history of the web was really interesting...I wish I was that smart. It's mind-boggling trying to understand how the Internet was created--all the technical aspects that were involved could make my head spin. I thought it was especially interesting that, much like the histories of Google and Facebook, the idea and the proposal for funding further research for the ARPANET and using interface message processors (IMPs) was rejected by AT&T and IBM. It's a shame...So many missed opportunities for these huge corporations that doubted the success of the Internet. I bet they were kicking themselves for turning that one down!

Undergrad girls: why don't their shorts fit? Discuss.

Hey! My name is Katie Pengra and I started my first day of grad school off with a bang by missing my first class. I hear it went wonderfully and I'm sorry that I missed it!

I do stand up comedy and on the night of our first class I was performing for a promotional media event sponsored by CultureMap Austin for the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival that is currently going on in Austin. I'm pretty excited to be participating in my first festival, and I highly suggest that you check out the calendar of events if you want to watch some kick-ass comedy that is comprised of local performers as well as national names (including yours truly!).

So, I apologize for the absence, but it was purely for a good cause. Other than that little tidbit-I graduated from Arizona State University in 2007 with a B.A. in Psychology. I was heavily involved on the speech and debate team at Arizona State, where I did not in fact debate, but I competed in public speaking and performative events.

After college I lived in Los Angeles for two years, where I discovered the difference between having a passion for public engagement verses just wanting to be famous. I was not looking for fame, and I didn't have the budget to keep up with the cool kids in LA, so I moved to a land of dirty hipsters, tattoos, and BBQ: Austin, TX.

I write for CultureMap Austin , am a contributor and producer for the monthly reading series, The Encyclopedia Show, and I work at Starbuck's, where I can assure you that if you are a jerk, we give you decaf every time.

Here's what I look like as a dude.

I do weird stuff like this for The Encyclopedia Show.

Sometimes my friends and I like to put on wigs and roller skates and make strangers take uncomfortable pictures with us.

But I'm mostly just normal.

Hello

My name is DeMond Adkison. I am from Dallas, Texas, born and raised. Which also happens to be the home of the 2011 NBA Champions which I am very ecstatic about. I got my bachelor's degree from Texas State in 2010. My major was marketing. I decided to go into mass communication because I was so sick of hearing the same thing in my marketing classes. It is so "black and white" so I decided to change majors and get some more "color" in my background so that I would be more well-rounded and learn to communicate better. I have really enjoyed my time in San Marcos and in graduate school. It has been so enlightening and eye opening for me. I have recently become very interested in technology and all the new things happening and the changes that are taking place. I find myself reading the website Fast Company a lot while I am at work. I provide freedom and independence to people with limited mobility at The Scooter Store in New Braunfels. I am a huge, huge Michael Jackson fan. I happen to have received an original lp of the Thriller album. It's my new prized possession.

I had seen the video from a class with Cindy this summer. The part of the video that stuck out so much to me was the fact that the only reason they looked more into computers was for the space program and NASA. It amazes me how they explored computers to send a shuttle into space, and now that program, NASA's shuttle program, is no longer around. So the fact that their tunnel vision was using computers simply to send a shuttle into space, and the computer has outlasted the shuttle program. It just shows how far we have come and also how far we still have to go with them.

And since it is his birthday... A little Michael "Smooth Criminal":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWucYbAp8Lk

If you want to read an article on the end of the shuttle program:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/21/us-space-shuttle-idUSTRE76I11420110721

The First..

Hey everyone!

My name is Chelsea Roeder and I just graduated from Texas State University in May with a degree in public relations and a minor in business. This is my first semester of graduate school, obviously, and I am really excited to be taking online media design. I think it's going to be really interesting and I am definitely going to be learning a lot that I didn't know before.

I grew up in the beautiful hill country and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I absolutely love it. I have a younger sister who goes to Texas State as well. We get asked if we are twins a lot, but there is over a two year age difference!! It's crazy. I also have a dog, Rylee, and a cat, Bojangles, (silly name, I know) that I love to pieces.

Last summer I did an internship at Reunion Ranch doing weddings. I helped the wedding coordinator plan and run weddings. It was a little intimidating at first, but after I got through my first wedding it was really cool. I've always loved planning events and seeing them come together, so it was a really cool experience.

The video we watched in class was very interesting. I can't imagine not having the internet and it's crazy to think that not too long ago the internet was just an idea and not something real. I thought it was really cool to see and hear what the pioneers of the internet were thinking at the time and how they were able to overcome a lot of early obstacles. I think one of the cool things that I learned from the video was that it wasn't created at first for the uses that we use it for today, but for a way for the government to still be able to communicate if all other means of communication, the telephone, were destroyed in a catastrophe.

I'm looking forward to finishing the video next time in class and I'm excited to see what is in store for this semester.

See y'all in class!

-Chelsea

Well hello

My name is Ashley Rose Hebler. I'm on the New Media track in the Mass Comm. graduate program here at Texas State and judging by initial impressions of my classes this semester, it's a perfect fit for me. I love learning about the web and other forms of multimedia. Ultimately, I'd like to end up in some kind of career that encourages me be creative every day I come into work.

As for a brief history of me, I was born on Galveston Island here in the great state of Texas. The beach is where I feel most at home, but I must say this beautiful river we have flowing through campus is definitely growing on me. After high school, I attended Texas A&M University where I received my degree in Economics with an emphasis in Food Marketing and a minor in Business. Although I'll always be an Aggie, I am proud to be a part of Texas State and this will be my second year as a graduate student here.

Currently, I work for MedicareMall.com which is a start up website aimed at selling Medicare Supplement Insurance plans to seniors. It has been a great learning experience so far. I have done everything from video editing, to blogging, to graphic design for them. Here are the links to some videos and blogs in case you have a sudden urge to learn about Medicare. I can't say senior health insurance is the most glamorous industry, but I enjoy my job because I get to design and work with computers all day. Outside of school and work, I love being outdoors and staying active. Volleyball is my favorite sport, but recently I've been playing racquetball and disc golf.

Fortunately, the Internet has been around for most of my life so it always baffles me to try to think of times when the information super highway did not exist. Before "My documents" and "Finder" windows, people had to input lines of code just to access files of data and as the video points out before email, you had to decode these lines of random characters before they became useful. After watching the video in class I think it is interesting to not just think about the history of the Internet, but to think about how the Internet has shaped history since its invention.

Hello, my name is...

My name is Kristen Trojan and I graduated from Texas State in December 2010 with my bachelor's degree in Public Relations. Taking only a couple of weeks off, I immediately started my master's degree in Strategic Communication in January 2011. Pictured with me is my boyfriend, C.J., who is in the United States Marine Corps and will finish his schooling within the next couple of month before finding out where he will be stationed. I am currently counting down the days until mid-October when I get to see him again. 

During my undergraduate career, I had two internships. The first one was with the Waxahachie Independent School District working with the Public Relations director, Nicole Mansell. I grew up in Waxahachie and my parents still live there. Thanks to my mom, who originally spoke to Ms. Mansell for me, I was able to obtain this internship for two consecutive summers. My main focus during this internship was working on the District Service Awards and the school district's showcase. For both of these events, it required many weeks of planning as well as talking to vendors and setting up the convention center.

My second internship was this past year with Texas State University Athletic Marketing department. I was specifically in charge of Promise of Pride as well as helping with promotions, photography and game set-up.  During Texas State games, all the music and announcements fans hear is one aspect of what I had a chance to do. During football season, I was able to walk out for all but one coin flip, which was quite exciting! (I am in the black polo and khaki pants)

My internships have helped me define a little more what I want to do with my degrees. I realized that I love organizing events for companies and organizations. I have looked at taking additional classes outside of Texas State to obtain my event planning license as well as my wedding planning license. Though I am not completely interested in weddings, I think it would help me overall.



I think the thing that has surprised me the most about the internet was when they mentioned that if the networking idea did not work, how they may have just given up immediately. Another surprising aspect was that AT&T and IBM passed up the opportunity to expand their communication reach, especially considering today how so many communication companies offer several different services (such as TV, internet and telephone).

I was originally interested in this course because I do not have much experience creating websites and figured it would only benefit me.  The little experience I do have consists of just changing data, such as names and numbers, while working on Promise of Pride.

Introduction

My name is Eileen. I am starting my second year of graduate school at Texas State University in mass communication with a concentration in strategic communication. I got my B.A. in communication with a minor in Spanish and public relations at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Currently, I am a Graduate Research Assistant for Greek Affairs and love every moment of it. Once I receive my Master's I hope to move to D.C. and work in the public affairs department of a government agency.

I am really excited to be in the Online Media Design class. Web design is another subject that I know will be beneficial for me in my future career. In our first class we discussed the history of the Internet. One thing that surprised me was the disbelief that such a phenomenon could even occur. Many companies did not want to invest in some of the projects that were occurring at that time. Little did they know, however, that those small projects would quickly evolve and change social norms. Another interesting point was the way email was created, which all started by someone having an idea of sending one message to another computer. All in all, something as life changing as the Internet all started from small ideas, not from huge companies, but from graduate students. Here is a video about the brief history of the Internet.

If you would like to know more about me you can follow me on Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn.

Unknown Territory

Hi everyone!

My name is Alex and I am in my second year at Texas State University studying mass communication. I chose the strategic communication concentration, because I am really interested in advertising and public relations. I would love to eventually combine those two with my love for traveling.

I grew up in Vienna, Austria with two sisters, who are six and seven years older than me. After High School I followed them to the United States and became an Au Pair. I lived with a family in California for a year and was basically their live-in nanny. It was mostly a really fun year and I decided to stay in the States and study. I settled on Santa Monica College where I got an Associates of Arts Degree in Business Administration. After my two years there I wanted to move, but stay close to the ocean. I decided on San Francisco and attended San Francisco State University for two years. I graduated in May 2010 with a degree in marketing.

At that point I was not ready to enter the real world and decided to just stay in school and get my master's degree. I felt that a degree in mass communication would complement the one I already had nicely and since I heard that the program at Texas State was really good, the decision was made. I had never really been to Texas before, but was excited to start a new chapter in my life. I packed everything I owned into my car and began the road trip to my new home in San Marcos.

I never regretted that move. Yes, it is very hot here, but I would take that any day over the fog and rain in San Francisco. I love the rivers in this area, going floating with friends or just jumping in to cool off.

I am planning on graduating next May and by then I will hopefully have a slightly better idea of what kind of "real world job" I want to pursue. Until then, I am excited about this class. I am new to blogging and designing things online, but I think in this day and age it is necessary to be able to navigate around the web and create blogs and websites without a problem.

The video about the history of the web was really interesting in my opinion. We talked about it a little in another class I took last year, but there are always new ways the material is presented. I especially liked how the observation of mice in a maze led to the development of a system where packets of data would eventually find an available path to reach their destination. I also thought the information about the issues the engineers encountered while first trying to make it work were interesting. People almost cannot imagine life without the internet anymore, but this invention could have failed at so many stages. It is intriguing to see how eventually it all worked out and then developed so rapidly in the last 10 to 15 years.

Internet & Melissa 101

About Melissa
I'm in my second year in the mass communication program at Texas State, with a new media concentration. I’m originally from Houston, TX, but have been lucky enough to live in the Austin area for the past 11 years. I studied Communication for my BA at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX. While in school, I had internships in PR, advertising and publishing and couldn’t wait to launch a career in communication, of some sort. After I graduated I got a job doing photo research at a publisher, which was interesting, but not my calling. Then I worked in radio and advertising sales for while, which was fun, but I loved the friends I made there more than the job.

Feeling a little lost a few years out of college, I started working in the nonprofit sector and felt at home with the warm fuzzies I felt at work everyday. Yes, the work can be tasking, the hours long and thankless, and the pay leaves a lot to be desired, but I like working for something bigger. In my job I get to sell that warm fuzzy feeling to other people by raising funds to support our mission. Communication is a huge part of my job when it comes to relaying information and stewardship opportunities to our donors. Every interaction with a donor has to be calculated and prescribed.

Through this course, I look forward to bringing new ways to communicate through new media into my job and personal life. This summer I took Cindy's New Media Issues class and my eyes widened to all the potential opportunities and avenues that open, both personal and professional, from obtaining online media skills. Feel free to check me out on Facebook, Twitter, or my New Media Blog.

History of the Internet
Since the first time I've seen The History of the Internet, a few new thoughts stood out to me. I found the motivators behind inventing various stages of internet technology very interesting. None of the inventors claimed that they set out to invent what we now know as the Internet. One of the first motivators was national security since the phone system during war time was not reliable. Another motivator that was also the result of turbulent war times, was frustrations and a new activist era that spawned new ideas. This makes me wonder if it weren't for wars, would the invention of the internet come much later without national security at the forefront as a major motivating factor? This reasoning did not just motivate people to invent, but was also key in providing the funds needed to give technology research the boost it needed. Computer science had to shift from being aligned with science fiction to getting taken seriously as a research technology that would be integral to the development and protection of our society as a whole. The inventors who contributed to the development of the internet had a much smaller scale goal in mind and through various motivators, collaboration, and possibly chance, the Internet was the end point.

Blogging Beginnings

Hi everyone! It was great seeing both new and familiar faces Wednesday night! My name is Kristen McLaughlin. I am a second-year graduate student, and I am very excited about this class.

I am in the mass communication graduate program, aspiring to be a public relations specialist. I have about four years of experience working as a writer/editor for community newspapers. I attended college at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor for my undergraduate degree. I graduated with a B.A. in mass communication and a minor in business. I believe web design and social media are very valuable skills to have in any career these days, and I look forward to learning this semester.

I moved to Georgetown from Massachusetts while I was in high school and have lived in the Austin area since then. I love Central Texas, and am hoping to find a job here after I graduate with my Master’s in May. When I am not studying, I enjoy reading, watching movies, going for walks and spending time with family, friends and my dogs, . I haven’t been walking in this weather though —I am definitely looking forward to my favorite seasons in Texas, fall and winter. I look forward to taking this class with you and getting to know you better. You can connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. I am new to blogging, but I look forward to doing more of this.

The Internet has been integrated into our everyday lives for so long that I have never really stopped to think about how it came to be what it is today. It was interesting to learn more about the people who helped launch and develop the Internet in the video we watched. It reminded me of what an impact the Internet has had on the media and communication in general. Even the little things, like the creation of the @ sign, have made a huge difference. I never knew that the people who developed the Internet were inspired by concepts such as how mice found their way through a maze. I definitely gained even more of an appreciation for everyone who has played a role in developing the Internet!

Once again, it was great seeing everyone in class and I look forward to learning with you!

-Kristen

Fresh Start

Hello, my name is Shannon Delaney and I am a second year graduate student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. I plan to graduate in May 2012! I originally graduated from Texas State in 2006 with an English degree and teaching certification. I taught high school english for four years at Vista Ridge in Cedar Park. It wasn't for me, and I am now starting over on a new career path.

My dream job is to get into sports broadcasting and writing. I completed an internship this summer at YNN Austin, the local 24 hour news station. I was able to travel with the sports team to a ton of Round Rock Express games. I got to know the staff and players quite well! I'm so excited that the Express won their division! I also attended UT baseball games and practices. I learned to edit video and sound with Dalet, and used this everyday at my internship. I edited quite a bit of videos that aired during the sports broadcast and on the 24 hour sports channel.

In addition to being an avid sports fan, I love reading suspense and horror novels and watching scary movies. I have a twin brother who also graduated from Texas State and twin younger brothers, one of whom is a student here. Also, I love my cats, Callie and Calvin! In addition to taking 11 hours this semester, I am doing a teaching assistantship with Dr. Oskam in Round Rock.

I enjoyed the first part of the video on the history of the internet and web. I found it interesting that the lunar module had less computing power than a PC, and a 1990s PC at that! This was interesting because one would think that a spacecraft which could land on the moon would have more computing power than a personal computer. This illustrates how technology has advanced so much in the past 30-40 years! I found it interesting and surprising that graduate students were chosen to work on the project with BBM. This just shows how universities trust and look to their graduate students to work on key projects. I am looking forward to Online Media Design this semester and possibly in the spring with the SXSW project!

How's It

Hey everybody, my name is Megan Lovelady. Since I have shared my last name, I would imagine that most of you will start remembering me only by last name. Not to fret though, it comes with the territory.

I am a recent graduate from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) with my degree in Communication with a Technical Communication concentration. In comparison between the Comm. department at UTSA and here, I will admit to be shellshocked by the sheer difference in size. Amazingly enough, when I graduated in May of this year, I actually got to walk the stage on my birthday.

While I was at UTSA, I was an officer (Publicity Manager) for the student organization, The Green Society. As you can probably guess, we were an environmental group. No, we weren't tree-huggers nor hippies but our mission was just to get people aware of green alternatives and recycling and overall just making the world a more Earth-friendly place. I was an officer during my whole senior year at UTSA.

Another organization that I was a part of was the independent newspaper for UTSA students, The Paisano. The Paisano runs off of it's own revenue from donations and advertisements and ZERO funding from UTSA. All during my junior and senior year I had my own comic strip entitled "The Bird Seed." In addition, I also did artwork for articles with a few getting on the front page from time to time, and I also wrote a few news and features stories.

Lastly, as you can tell from my picture, I play the ukulele. I have been playing for three years now and self-taught. Once I figure out a good place to showcase my talents at open mic night I will let you guys know when I am playing.

A few things I thought were astonishing about the video we watched was how the internet can be used to connect people regardless of censorship. As the video pointed out, computers can be used to send information out into the world to show what is actually going on during a crisis. And, just as well, computers can be used to send information in and get the upper hand on a situation.
But the part that really struck me, was how simple and crude the idea of connecting people through computers is. I mean, they used "packets" and hot potato router" to describe what they wanted the computer to do. Further, that the first computers used cards with imprinted hole punches in order to send information and how quickly and how ever evolving sending information has expounded since those very simple, crude days.

Sports and Graphic Design Fanatic!!!

Hi! My name is Denise Thompson. My major is Sports Management and I will be graduating in December. YAY!!! I am a full-time employee in the Texas State Athletic department (assistant director of sports information) and have been living in Texas for three years now. If you want, you can check out my bio here.

At my job I am also the graphic design coordinator, so I work with Photoshop and InDesign on a daily basis. The best part of my job is probably getting a chance to work with the student athletes and coaches and travel. Last year, my teams traveled to Cancun and Hawaii...best times of my life :) Here's a link to the photo gallery of the Hawaii trip with the softball team.

I am a military brat so I have lived in California, Florida, New Jersey and Tennessee before arriving here in Texas. I completed my undergrad at Fairleigh Dickinson University, which is in Teaneck, New Jersey. While in college, I was a four-year student-athlete on the track and field and finished my career with three Northeast Conference medals.

I enjoy designing and playing all kinds of sports. I watch ESPN religiously and my new favorite show is Against the Wall on Lifetime.

I am a PC person, because I work with them on a daily basis. Also, I have had so many crash on me, that I pretty much know how to fix the deathly blue screen that appears.

The video we watched in class definitely provided me with knowledge that I did not have before on the history of the internet. I thought it was so crazy how IBM and AT&T passed up on the opportunities to be a part of the one thing we all can't live without. It was cool to see how email got its name and how it was created. I wonder what else I will learn next class.

~Denise

It's a Whole New World

Hi there. I enjoyed meeting each of you Wednesday in class. I think Online Media Design is going to be a lot of fun.  But not easy, at least not for me. 

You see, I didn’t grow up with computers to explore and play with from childhood. The first personal computers came out when I was already out in the job world. I’m never going to be as proficient as either of my two sons, or as you all, because I started as an adult and have always approached it with specific tasks in mind. Playing with computers has to be the best way to explore and learn all about them. Yes?

While I’ve been using Apple computers for the last quarter of a century and never owned any other brand, the applications I have the most experience in are those any elementary teacher might use: word processing, spreadsheets, databases, Web browsing and email. Some PowerPoint, iMovie, iWeb, iPhoto, of course. And some blogging.

My first blog, which I accidentally archived, the first time I posted after Google did some updates, is called Vigil4America. Made me sad to lose it.

I’m a news junkie and a political and media reform activist (actually it’s an inherited condition*), so had to have an outlet for my opinions. I started my blog back in 2006, after finding all my heartfelt letters to members of Congress seemed to have the impact of a nerf ball. And my letters to the editor were neutered by being limited to 150 words.  The blog was a life-saver.

Persuading others – about media policy, civil dialogue, politics, and faith - became a passion. I soon recognized though that my writing skills left something to be desired. In 2007, I attended a symposium hosted by Professor Federico Subervi at Texas State and realized that I really wanted to go back to school, this time in journalism/mass communication.

I retired from teaching math and reading to special education students this May after 31 years of teaching. My husband Perry retired at the end of July. I suppose we could kick back and live the retirement life. Frankly, though, we are both too young for that. So he’s training for a triathlon and working on songwriting, and here I am.

Cindy’s blog post on Steve Jobs was eloquent and moving. I remember the sucker punch I felt when I heard last winter that he was taking medical leave again. I’d kept him in my prayers all those months, until he spoke at the Mac conference in June. I mistakenly thought that meant he was well again. Like her, I never met him, but he was huge in my life.

The History of the Internet was in part a flashback for me. Thank goodness computer screens and fonts have evolved since chat room days with their black screens and neon green or yellow text. Clearly, the part we saw Wednesday was filmed before Steve Jobs revolutionized the computer world with the first beautiful Mac.

The documentary helped me put faces to some of the pioneers I’d read about.  It wasn’t all that long ago, really, but the complete absence of women in the birth of the Internet was striking. Somehow I don’t think the gender imbalance would have been so total if those innovations had begun in the 21^st century rather than the last one.

One point made by Bob Metcalfe (I think) jumped out at me, although in hindsight it’s obvious. The Internet was different from the invention of the telephone and other communication systems of the 20^th century, because it made it possible to find out about events happening all over the world virtually instantly.  I don’t know why I’d never made that connection before.

Looking forward to more new connections in future classes.

*Quotes & Notes is my dad’s newly minted blog. He is a former printer who did some union organizing, then started a printing company, Futura Press, after finding all the Austin companies had blacklisted him for trying to organize the Statesman).  He was an early adopter of computers for his business --  and bought me my first Apple computer.

Welcome to Online Media Design

Greetings. Welcome to the Online Media Design class. The course is designed to introduce students to issues related to online media. In addition to the skills we cover in the class, we will also discuss the new media profession, Web credibility, online reporting sources, cyberlaw, blogging and podcasting, and basic multimedia design.


Take a moment to introduce yourself here. I'm the instructor, you can call me Cindy. I've been teaching Web design for longer than a decade. I love working with technology and helping students unlock their creativity. Prior to TX State, I got my Ph.D. at UT. My experience before that was in business at two tech companies, NCR Corporation and Compaq Computer. But I enjoy being a college professor much more!

In my spare time, I enjoy live music, so I guess I live in the right place, Austin! I have a concert review blog onthatnote.com, a tech blog at tech.cindyroyal.net and I write for Texas Music Magazine. I also like visiting Ladybird Lake and kayaking. You can find out more about me at cindyroyal.com. I look forward to getting to know you all this semester.

This blog is an open forum and your constructive comments are welcome. Be aware that's it's on the Internet, so anyone can read it. Be honest, but respectful, of the medium!

Cindy Royal