This mini-autobiography was written as a class assignment for Understanding Media Studies in the Media Studies MA program at The New School.

Perhaps unlike some of my colleagues and predecessors in this MA program, my intellectual story hasn’t been defined by distinct, earth-shattering moments of revelation.  In fact, very few people were involved in my scholarly formation in regards to this program.  But maybe that makes my story all the more unique.  Since childhood, my interests have always been shaped and informed by music, visual design, film, television and print.  In some ways it seems this course of study was inevitable. In any case, I know why I am pursuing this degree, and in this essay we’ll look at the progression of circumstances and choices that let me to this point.

In high school my interests always stood firmly grounded in the technical side of media.  As an audio technician I learned the skills of removing distraction to let whatever voice or message I was amplifying be understood as clearly as possible.  This philosophy was one I developed on my own and succinctly stated to as many people as would listen to my yammering.

I learned the basics of the art of video editing in an internship under Tony Mercado. His experience as both a cameraman and editor for various documentary films, along with his prowess for technical processes, further developed my love of multimedia.  At the same time, it definitely played up my computer geekiness. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve heard a lot of great feedback from people (even if they’re NOT commenting here) on the new design. Yay! I still like it one full day later, so I guess that’s saying something. And my blog hits jumped from 5 the day before I released it to 175 after the announcement. Not too shabby!

So, other things in life. I have decided to apply to The New School for the Spring. They have a MA in Media Studies available for online study; and though I would miss the on-campus aspects of networking and living in New York, I really need to get on with this or we’ll be stuck in Greenville for a long time. Plus, from what I’ve read, many students think the online program is more intensive, because it forces you to interact with the class as opposed to just showing up.

If that works out I would be starting in January. I’m not exactly sure how long the program lasts, but I’m guessing longer than the SU year-long masters. In any case, I’m excited about the possibility.

In other news, we dropped our standard satellite package with DishNetwork and picked up one of their HD-only packages. It’s saving us about $5 a month and we’re only paying for channels we watch (and some friggin’ sweet ones I didn’t know existed – like Palladia… OH MY GOSH. So good.) and they’re better quality. I’m excited to watch LOST tomorrow night in High Definition. There are only two channels we miss that aren’t in HD yet, and those are IFC and BBC America. BBCA was supposed to release in HD last year, but didn’t. So BBCA, get your act together and give me Top Gear in HD, please.

And also exciting is that Jessica has been unpacking our kitchen! She said it was like Christmas morning yesterday and it made her want to write thank-you notes to people all over again. Most of the stuff we have has been packed away since we first moved out of Greenville about 6 months after the wedding. It’s nice to get all of it out and cleaned. We have awesome dishes that I had forgotten about.

So. That’s the wonderful world of me right now. We need a vacation sometime this year since we’re not moving. Anyone have a recommendation? We need not-too-expensive and preferably someplace with history. That or we could save up and go visit Harry in Yeovil, Somerset, UK. That would be fun. But not so “not-too-expensive”. We’ll see.

Jess and I have decided to stay in Greenville for one more year. Not the plan we’ve been trying to have, but one that will probably work out better for us in the long run. In the meantime I’m looking for graduate programs in New Media Management or production to apply to for the 2010 Fall semester.

Here in Greenville I have a good, solid job that I won’t lose and Jessica has more opportunity to get a job here as well. So we can spend the next year saving and paying down school debt before making a move to one of the coasts.

Right now I’m looking at programs at Emerson, Syracuse U and the New School. But I haven’t done much research yet.

I’ve got a good amount of freelance work here and don’t see that letting up anytime soon. Plus we’ll have a year to enjoy our finally finished house (done this summer… or else!). Maybe we can finally unpack all of our things! We haven’t been able to do that since we were first married.

So. There it is. Midwest, you are home for a little longer.

Conversing with people over social media is no different than conversing with someone on the phone, or through a letter. I don’t understand why people still think there’s a disconnect between the internet and outside world. Is this the 90s?

I think that William Gibson touched on this in his book Spook Country. One of the running themes is that there’s this second layer on top of our physical world, that always exists even if it isn’t always seen. The premise is that these two layers are merging to a point where there is no longer a difference between what is physically there and what is virtually projected.

But past that, we shouldn’t even think in this layer analogy. The people we interact with online are flesh and blood persons with thoughts and feelings and opinions regardless of the medium we choose to interact through.

There’s a lot of questioning and attacking from certain circles, right alongside the curiosity and exploration and excitement those of us in love with social media are generating. Many of my HigherEd web colleagues have been talking about the recent media explosion over Twitter.

@bradjward tweeted:

So mainstream media is talking about Twitter a lot. Good? Bad? Why? Seeing mixed reactions from the crowd.

@jesskry tweeted:

Im sick of the media trash talk about Twitter’s ‘What are you doing’ icebreaker. We’re doing much more than that people. Much more.

People aren’t just hanging out on Twitter, shunning real life. Twitter is real life in that we are communicating on any number of personal, professional and other topics that pertain to how we live.

Just this past week I’ve had help in choosing a new chair for my desk at home, thoughts on web design projects, invitations to visit friends in other cities, and have stayed up on world events.

I think that is what scares traditional media. They can’t control when people get their news anymore. They are at the mercy of rapid-fire communication and at a loss on how to adapt and use it. But it’s not so much about strategy as it is about embracing changes in the communication landscape.

There is definitely a huge paradigm shift happening and like history has demonstrated, those not embracing the inevitable end-result will lose out and probably be bitter about it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand it–a lack of understanding does not equal *bad*.

New tech will always scare the established old-fogey power — look at what’s going on with Hulu and Boxee — but the traditional, physical world will eventually meld with the digital, electronic world and we’ll see that there really is no difference anymore. And those of us who keep pushing will see things get better and better.

I work for a small college (1600 total) in Southern Illinois, about 45 miles East of St Louis, MO. I work in the Office of Advancement which includes PR, Development (giving), Alumni Relations and Web. My entire department has 14 people in it at the moment. Everyone is in everyone’s business.

This also means that I end up working a lot of weekends. Not only am I the web guy but I’m also videographer and photographer for events. Such as Homecoming this weekend. I have to get up early in the morning tomorrow and go take photos of the Panther 5k run, then the women’s alumni volleyball game, and finally an alumni luncheon.

Jessica and I are also very nice people. We let our friends stay with us when they come out for these things. Even if it’s over, say, Jessica’s birthday which happens to be today. Yes, tonight we have a friend coming to stay with us. Which is fine. I really wanted to take Jessica out for her birthday at some point near the actual date.

We also need to go buy coffee. This has been a blah week.  But the election is less than two weeks away, which means I won’t have to listen to arguments and discussions anymore. Or get stressed out by them. Instead I can read and study more history so that I am even better informed for the next election.

I’m tired. I’m tired of my work and of being blocked from actually making improvements where they need to be made. I haven’t heard yet about my grad school app and probably won’t until after the first of the year. Maybe as far away as March. But I’m praying all the time I’m accepted so that we can leave here and start doing something more fun/worthwhile.

We read Twilight. It was “eh” – we’ll read the second one but I might actually write a review of the first novel in the saga. I think I might start doing book review/reports here. That might be fun. And an incentive to finish reading the mountain I’ve already started.