Abstract: Almost Ready for the Conference

We are almost ready to begin the conference--only three days away! Things have surprisingly been pretty slow probably due to the fact that we have all been working so hard for the past three months on this conference, and everything seems to be in order. I received an email from plenary session leader, and she wished to receive an abstract and a bibliography in order to introduce my presentation.
Unfortunately, I realized that my audience is much, much more different, and now, I am forced to take another direction with my presentation. The first presentation on my research was in my capstone class: the assignment was to present on something that we felt like presenting on. For maybe half of the presentation, I read excerpts from my research paper which was on Barbara Kingsolver's novel, The Bean Trees. I looked at identity and how the main character, Missy, wanted to get away from her rural surroundings. However, like I said, I am going to have to change my presentation somewhat. I feel that my audience is going to be different and they really won't find any relevance for me analyzing a book. Therefore, I am going to present on out-migration in West Virginia and use an idea of a "fossil" which in this case acts as a negative thing that sticks in someone's mind and changes other ideas that come their way. I am re-writing much of my presentation and I will be briefly describing what I started researching to get to what I am presenting on now. First, I introduce myself and then talk about the problem of youth out-migration, what a fossil is, how it works, some of the "fossils" that we get like the media calling us hillbillies, rednecks, etc., and then talk about what this does to our mentalities. I think that this approach will be much more effective in touching someone's life.

Press Releases

I just finished work on two press releases on the Appalachian Studies Conference and the music that will be offered after the conference. I found this to be a challenge. I had to become familiar with the layout of Marshall University press releases. Most seemed to introduce the event broadly in the beginning and then go into detail in the middle and beginning. I found that it was difficult to fit all of the information into the nine to ten very short paragraphs. Also, I had to be very specific in which words to use to describe the conference since it was so limited: I felt like I was writing a poem! Thankfully, my boss only wanted a rough outline of each press release, so he could tweak and add where he saw appropriate. He did include some quotations from the president of ASA, Shauna Scott. He also included some information about the plenary sessions. He has not reviewed the music press release yet, but I believe that he will find the press release to be better than the first. I tried to organize it in chronological order--performers on Friday and then Saturday. I used phrases from the little information he sent, knew, and was available on the local musicians. However, he will be completing two paragraphs on artists that I do not have information on.

WPG Tasks 2 and 3

WPG Task #2

My portfolio will be a best work portfolio that will display all of the previous documents that I have edited and created. I am only half way through my internship and I already have five or six large projects. Since my internship is a little bit different in being that I am not a Professional Writing major, I want to show the broad range of skills I've learned and basic concepts I have learned about being a Professional Writing major through the course of work in my internship. I will be including all of the documents I have stated already in the previous posts. I'm not sure but I don't think I should have a goal of showing how knowledgable I am about all of the things I've been doing: I have just started this process this semester and can only expect to understand a broad range of topics and tasks that can be taught in a semester of Professional Writing instead of four years like many of the other majors. Again, I wrote all of the different sections of the web portfolio in the "Internal Portfolio" as in stating the different classes I've taken, the pictures that inspire me, the projects, etc.

Task #3

Like I said earlier, I want to show that I have gained some hands-on knowledge of different tasks. I touched on some of my goals in the "Internal Portfolio" again, but I have decided not to include other classes with my writing process. I want to show my progress through all of the projects. I am going to restate what I want to do within my portfolio though

1. An introduction page for what to expect in the portfolio, my purpose (to show that I've engaged and worked with others in producing the best documents under certain amounts of time), my goals (to show that I have gained some initial PWE knowledge), how to navigate through the webpage, and briefly discuss how I achieved my goals
2. A conclusion that restates what I achieved and how I achieved it
3. Separate the writing into processes with reflections that intervene between the drafts (with the help of the blog reflections I have been writing)
4. Design an easy, yet creative way to navigate through the pages and display links
5. Include an inspiration page with pictures of my daughter, fiance, nature, passions, my home, etc. that keep me grounded and motivated
6. Include an about me section
7. Inventory of classes (not sure if this fits with my new goals)

TAKING STOCK 7 - 8 PG. 34 & 39

Taking Stock 7

Honestly, I am not very familiar with West Virginia University's writing program qualifications and what they specifically want their students to know how to do basically before they graduate. However, I looked on the West Virginia University, Professional Writing degree, and they give some standards that they would like their students to strive for. I will state the following standards in order of what I believe to be importance. Then, I will include why I believe these to be very important standards.

Writing for specific purpose and audience
The website states the following statement, "Professional writing and editing courses enable students to work with specialized and complex information... in areas of business, industry, public relations, journalism, science, medicine, and government." I find this the most important because whichever job the student lands, they must transform their writing style and content in order for it to be appropriate with their audience and goals.

Effective, clear, and creative creating
The website states the following statement that students need to "develop skills of graphic and textual production for reports, manuals, grants, research proposals, and other business and technical documents.” This goes hand-in-hand with the above standard because both are key to magnificent work. By providing a unique, creative interpretation of a document and even providing a visual effect to a document may make someone actually read more intensely or become more interested.

Taking Stock 8

The best part about my working folder is that I am highly, highly organized. I made sure to keep all drafts of documents on the computer. I want to highlight many projects so far and my processes in doing them.

1. ASA Conference Program - editing

2. Journal Manuscript - editing

3. CSEGA Board Meeting - minutes

4. Journal of Appalachian Studies Booth - poster design and pricelist

5. Press Releases - conference and music

6. Conference Presenation - Abstract, Powerpoint, and Speech Notes

What I really love most about my work is the diversity of it all. I have done and will be doing--I imagine-- a little bit of everything. I started out editing and now I am typing out notes, designing posters, creating press releases, and preparing for my conference presentation, which is the largest project. I also like the very short deadlines. I feel that my creativity can be really harnessed with these.

I think I already sort of did this in great detail in the post, Organizing my Internal Portfolio.

PR and Design

Designing the booth for the conference seemed to be a little easier than I had anticipated. I ran the Appalachian photos idea with my boss, Mary, and she absolutely loved the idea! I was going to go back to my home, a rural town with much Appalachian soul, to take pictures, but I ultimately decided not to take anymore but to display the ones I already had on with my family. I felt they were real and they were Appalachian. I turned the pictures into black and white slightly to make them look more sophisticated than before. I was really worried about looking professional because I was representing a national organization.
I ended up choosing a large title-- Journal of Appalachian Studies--and included a small, catchy line that says, "Read about the faces of Appalachia." The three photographs include my grandfather, my daughter, and my aunt. I chose these three photographs in order to spark conversation and interest to the Journal. I chose these three because they represent the three generations in Appalachia. My grandfather is eighty-five and was an iron worker for thirty years before he retired. He didn't get to finish high school because he was sent to the Hawaiian Islands during World War II and experienced the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He is part of the generation that remembers living off of the landMy aunt is in the middle--sort of the baby boomers generation. However, she only has a high school education and works as a housekeeper at a retirement home. Finally, my daughter is in the middle. She is only four months old and represents the future of Appalachia. Also, I put her in the center, not only because she is adorable and eye-catching as a little baby, but she has much promise and opportunity left--not really like that of the other two. She also contrasts very nicely against my grandfather since he looks much, much older and sort of physically worn down compared to my daughter who is smiling and full of life. Like I said, I really hope these photographs spark conversation because my goals while stationed at the booth is to create interest in Appalachia, get others to subscribe to the journal and buy from it, and to become interested in ASA's other ventures like CSEGA.

Introduction to Design

I have a new, exciting task for this week--design the entire booth for the Appalachian Studies Journal at the Appalachian Studies Conference. Aside from my presentation, I will be in charge of running the booth. Therefore, I have to design a schedule for volunteers, prep them about the history and information about the Appalachian Studies Association, design the poster and banner, organize the journals to sell, and create a price list for the available journals.
I am finding that creating the vision for the way the booth will look is posing the most trouble because I must understand my audience and how to attract them. Also, I must understand their purpose. First, I find that my audience may possibly be scholars in the realm of academia. Most importantly though, the Appalachian Studies Association has a purpose for the booth--to sell the journal, sell membership, and spread information about the journal for the sake of Appalachian studies. Therefore, I must make the visuals look convincing, authentic, professional, interesting, etc. The problem I am having is taste: my taste is quite different than what I would believe older academia would be. I feel that I must tone down my design to something more sophisticated, yet I am not sure whether or not that will be too boring. Currently, this is the problem I seem to be experiencing. I am not familiar with designing for a specific purpose or audience, but I guess it is similar to that of writing for a specific purpose or audience in finding the best suitable fit. I will keep writing on my progress throughout the design because I will be doing this project for at least a week.
Also, I attended the CSEGA advisory board meeting. Honestly, I usually find these a little stiff, boring, and not worthwhile, but I have had a change of heart with this particular meeting and organization. I even suggested to get the students involved in spreading information about Appalachian research.