Mastery Journal Entry: May 2016
So here we are. The fourth and final week of the first core class in the accelerated New Media Journalism master’s program. Honestly, with my work schedule and the course objectives, coming back here was not something I had thought to do. Thankfully, I was reminded by my course activities page. And that brings us to the Mastery Timeline and how I am doing in keeping up with my objectives.
For the month of May, I was in a course called New Media & Communications. The primary objectives of this course focused heavily on social media and web presence. We also began the process of creating personal websites. I think I may have gotten a little too eager with this part of the course, dipping into previous knowledge of having both a personal website and a WordPress online portfolio for my film work. Couple this with nearly two decades of HTML, Photoshop and being married to an IT professional who can answer my questions regarding what works best in x scenario, my website is looking pretty good so far. You can check it out at www.paratripping.com
So what were my major goals for this months course prior to actually knowing about the course objectives? Well, I had two. One of which I can admit I failed at doing, but I’ll be sure to try a little harder next time, I swear. My first objective, the one I actually did, was ‘Begin to reach out to target demographic and inspirational figures’. Having accounts on the major social media platforms, I did, in fact, make some connections on all of those platforms which did lead to others finding me. A few of those who found me are in a related field of study (paranormal journalism) and several of them are from outside the United States. So I guess I could call that a success as I’ve reached across the sea.
What I failed at was keeping up with this particular account; the so named Mastery Journal. In my defense, as I stated earlier, I have both a hectic work schedule and spent a lot of time and effort into making my website at the very least, functional. I have a lot of ideas brewing for it, some of which I’ve begun putting into place. The core function of the site is reporting localized news as it pertains to history and the paranormal. I say paranormal because while it would make sense to narrow the scope a little, it also gives flexibility in that I could choose to do one piece on a local house with a dark history as well as look into the so-called Bigfoot story going around town. Yes. In coastal Carolina there is apparently a Sasquatch. While text cannot convey tone all that well, rest assured my eyes saw my brain as I wrote that. I’m sorry if I offended anyone who believes in the idea. I’m not saying it’s real or fake. What I can say is that the images I saw (which I would share if they were still online) looked very clearly like an inebriated person in a ghillie suit. I may not be the best person to come to with regard to bigfoot lore, but I’m pretty sure its fur is not made of several shades of green nylon.
Next months course should prove to be a good fit. While I do already have a few posts available to read on the website, this next course will be all about the writing and I’m looking forward to being able to get out there and deliver weekly content on top of the content I have planned in the present. If you just happen to be a fan of checking out some creep locations for the sake of it, I highly suggest you come over and join the party as I have to major parts of the site in the works that will hopefully forge a community of like-minded folk from all over. And hey, it wouldn’t be farfetched to hope that I may eventually look for contributors. The world is a very big place and I can only explore so much of it from where I sit.