Shift 5

Tonight's shift went well once again. The "Your Health" segment was already posted to the web when I got in so I didn't have to do that. I did edit and post the nightside reporter's story and again was able to do it without asking for help! I'm glad I am now getting the hang of my dot com shifts. The system was down that allows me to post video so I unfortunately was not able to learn how to do this. The paid dot commer was going to teach me this week but he couldn't due to technical difficulties.

I also signed up through google docs for my portion of the iTouch project. I'm really looking forward to getting started on it because I think it is such a cool idea. I'm also glad that I'm able to work with other students on the video portion because I was a little bit timid about having to handle that on my own... I wouldn't want to screw something so cool up! We hope to get started on our videos sometime this week. That's all for tonight!

Shift Four

This week at dot com I was actually able to do everything on my own without help!  I'm glad I can finally stop bugging the paid dot commer for his help... After learning Flash during our class time I am hoping to do something cool with that during my shift next week.  I should have plenty of time to do so because there is only one reporter on Sundays which means I only have one story to post.  I thought Flash seemed really cool but I'm a little bit nervous about trying to figure it out on my own... maybe that's something I can now bug the paid dot commer about!!  I am hoping to figure out at least one interactive graphic for the web for one of my reporting shifts and one for someone else during my dot com shift.  I think the interactive maps look really cool and show that the student who creates them has unique skills.  I definitely think knowing how to work Flash is a great asset to a resume.

I don't have my next dot com shift until Sunday and I'm hoping I can learn a lot more about making the most out of my shift.  This week one of the paid students is going to show me cool things I can do with dot com.

I enjoyed meeting with my group about our semester project because I found out how cool it is going to be.  We are working to come up with applications that incoming freshmen can use on the iTouches that they will each have.  We came up with ideas such as maps of campus, athletic schedules and a phone directory with important numbers.  I'm so so so excited about this project because I would love to be a part of something so new and unique to MU.  Our entire group wasn't able to get together due to class conflicts so I'm excited to finally all meet next week.  I feel like the more people we have discussing the project, the better and more creative our ideas will be.

Beginning of the end...

I can't believe this is my last semester of college!  So scary but exciting at the same time.  After completing two dot com shifts, I am very excited that I know how to work with the web even slightly!  I thought it was going to be difficult for me to learn because I'm not great with computers or working with the internet but it turned out to be way simpler than I thought.  

I like that as a B3 reporter I post my own stories online because this has helped me become more comfortable with dot com.  Today in class we learned about creating a slide show and I found that to be very interesting.  I think slide shows are really cool ways to present more visual information to our viewers.  It may take some getting used to but once I get the hang of it I'm going to make it my goal to create one more often than not.

We also learned about "Media Giraffes," which I found to be such a cool concept.  I'm a little worried about having trouble contacting sources so I am planning on working on this as soon as possible.  We also talked about the e-portfolios we will make and I'm a little bit timid about beginning mine because I know so little about them.  I plan on researching the examples on our class website which will hopefully give me a better idea of what a good e-portfolio looks like.