David Lee, the co-founder and creative director of Projeqt.com, was supposed to be with us in class today, but wasn’t able to. Rick Reo, though, an instructional designer for GMU’s Division of Instructional Technology, was!
TBWA Worldwide, a part of Omnicom Group Inc., is a global advertising agency that sponsors Projeqt.
“We wanted to make sure that it was usable by people with limited Web browsing knowledge,” said an employee via Skype. “You don’t have to be a super designer to use this.”
Along with many other personalization options, one can use either a grid mode or a linear mode when designing one’s project.
Former Chief of Staff for the First Lady Anita McBride video conferenced with us today, and, boy, has she worked in the White House for quite a while.
McBride said that she never looked back after campaigning in 1980. Between 1987 and 1992, she was the Director of White House Personnel under both President Ronald Reagan and President George H. W. Bush. More recently, though, she was the Chief of Staff for First Lady Laura Bush from 2005 to 2009. Check here for more background information.
Above all, McBride, who is now a professor at American University, discussed in the conference the responsibilities and the life of a First Lady.
She says that being the First Lady of the United States can be “very painful,” but can also, at the same time, “help to humanize” the president. She cites President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird Johnson as a great example of this.
After all, First Ladies, throughout history, never “run shadow governments” behind their husbands. They’re there to help and support them.
On the First Lady she worked with most, McBride said that Laura Bush was “typecast” as a house wife right off the bat. Instead, as most First Ladies should, McBride said that Bush put herself out there to do all the interviews and show genuine interest in the country’s issues and interests.
First Lady Michelle Obama demonstrated this recently with her coverage of bullying in schools across the country.
If the First Lady does that and makes the attempts, McBride calls them a “champion.”
But what happens when a First Lady tries to cover too many issues at once?
“It’s certainly a risk,” McBride said.
She believes that one can “absolutely” lead a normal life as a president, and that knowing our presidents and their wives give us comfort. We can relate to them… or as least think we can.
What surprised me most was when McBride told the class that the First Lady is an unpaid job, but that her staff (which is technically not even her staff but her husband’s) is. What a job to have to not even get paid for!
“I don’t miss getting up at 5 AM,” said McBride, commenting on her job. However, she said that she does miss the camaraderie and the ability “to get terrific things done” each day.
If she was given the choice to work with any First Lady in history, McBride answered either Dolley Madison or Abigail Adams.Both were fantastic hostesses and patriots.
Overall, a very interesting interview and probably one of my favorite parts of COMM 361 thus far!
The managing editor for digital news for National Public Radio, Mark Stencel, was with us in class today.
“It’s kind of hard to say anything you’ve been doing for 16 years ‘new,’” Mark began.
According to Mark, NPR only works nowadays because people are stuck in traffic for hours, especially in the District. People can’t do anything while stuck in traffic, so their only choice, if they’re not listening to music off of a CD or an mp3 player, is the radio.
When deciding which stories to cover, Mark states that the challenge of figuring out which stories to tell and which stories not to is the biggest challenge of all. He wonders about which part of the story the readers want to hear about most and exposes it prominently.
Students said they listen to NPR instead of their favorite other station to seek a “more professional” atmosphere.
In the old days, the viewer didn’t know what they were missing out on — now, there’s so much information floating out there, considering that anyone can be a Reporter, the Reader/Viewer is in charge.
People that would’ve never been able to be heard can now be heard — “they have voice where they’ve never had voice before.”
“YOU are the new face of journalism,” Klein said to the class. “Journalism doesn’t look like us anymore.”
There’s more pressure on professional journalists than ever before due to the rise of citizen journalism.
“News used to be a one-way proposition,” Kalbfeld said. Not so much anymore!
“It’s participatory.”
Investigative journalism, though, is special. It will get you noticed because the average Joe isn’t going to do it. It’s more intensive work.
Here’s a selection of interesting posts from across onMason. “Federman Beats Cancer” by Gregory Connolly Gregory Connolly’s article takes a highly sympathetic and insightful look at Jacob Federman, a junior sports management major at George Mason who has twice beaten Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After first beating the cancer in high school, he experienced a relapse as a freshman at Mason, […]
Let’s check out some of the most interesting posts from last week throughout onMason. “An interview with Mason Dining’s Dietitian Lois Durant” by Nicole Merrilees This interview with Lois Durant provides insight to the life and hard work of a Mason employee who likely often goes unrecognized for her role in maintaining the high quality of life students […]
In the new onMason round-up we take a look at some of the most interesting posts throughout onMason. “Tragedy and Twitter” by Karina Schulthesis This is an account of how social network sites like Twitter have changed the way people respond to and deal with school shootings. In order to make her article more effective, Karina begins with an […]
David Lee, the co-founder and creative director of Projeqt.com, was supposed to be with us in class today, but wasn’t able to. Rick Reo, though, an instructional designer for GMU’s Division of Instructional Technology, was!
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