LIS5313

Jane Barrager

Beginnings & Endings ~ Mystery & Beauty

“Beautiful nature. Explore” by sergecos is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Lights Writing by Milky_Blue (c) copyright 2021 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial  (3.0) license.

Sunrise – the arriving light marks the beginning of a new day full of mystery.
Is it promising or foreboding? 

Sunset – the departing light shares a burst of color or fades from gray to black.
Does the mysterious darkness bring rest, fear or loneliness? 

This photo caught my eye for a few reasons. The curving angle of the clouds and hillside, the contrast of the sky and the silhouetted trees, and because I am unceasingly enthralled by the endless variety and beauty of sunrises and sunsets.

The audio file adds to the mystery of the dark spaces in the photo, the awe of the beautiful colors, and the quiet peacefulness of the sunrise/set moment.

January 19, 2022 by Spring 2022 Student Posts 1

A Night at Home

“Record Player” by yarenlen is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
“Glitching, Vinyl Record Player, A.wav” by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org

I have a love for vintage audio. I long for the days of spending an hour or more in record stores as a kid looking for something interesting. I have hundreds of records today, so it was natural for me to hunt for an image that shows my hobby. The sound, while not always something you hear on a record, especially a brand new, clean, well pressed one, is still reminiscent of those record players I had as a kid when I could not afford the high-end stuff and bought dollar records out of the used bin at the shop.

January 19, 2022 by Spring 2022 Student Posts 3

Wonderland?

“Bailey Covered Bridge” by Algorithms Riven is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

“Herat 7” by ERH is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0

Wonderland. Dangerous -or- Beautiful?

For the photo I chose “Bailey Covered Bridge” by Algorithms Riven the photo was an interesting combination of gray scale and the bright yellows, blues, and purple hues. Something seems slightly ominous with the photo but the colors are so bright that it seems too pretty to be dangerous. The composition was off kilter and one that you can’t help but look around the photo even though your eyes get drawn back into the middle.

I chose the song “Herat 7” by ERH because it was slightly eerie but also beautiful and serene. Though you can tell something isn’t quite normal, I found that it added to the composition. I named it “Wonderland?” since the verdict is still out whether it is dangerous or not. Afterall Wonderland was both magical AND dangerous.

January 18, 2022 by Spring 2022 Student Posts 2

Climbing the Mountain!

Hi everyone!

My name is Joel Vasquez and I am in the final stretch of my MSI program.

I am currently lucky enough to be a branch manager in Nassau County despite having an incomplete degree.

https://nassaureads.com/

I live in Yulee, Florida at the moment but I spent most of my life in New York City, specifically, the Bronx. I worked in a College Library as an assistant for roughly 9 years while I was slowly but surely finishing my undergraduate degree. I ended up living in Japan for a year and moving back on and off for a couple of years at a time but for now I am settled in the land of beaches and no snow…

As far as degrees go, I studied East Asian Studies and received a Minor degree in Japanese. I taught English for a bit and eventually moved back due to some family emergencies but I am trying to make the best of it!

Some fun facts about my traveling life:

I have climbed Mt. Fuji and my clearest memory of it was the smell! (Plumbing on mountains is interesting…)

I have lived in Kobe, Kanagawa and Tokyo and somehow managed to miss out on traveling to Hokkaido (I love snow and I am denied this luxury by Florida). I studied Cultural Informatics in Kobe University!

https://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/en/index.html

I have been getting into quite a few creative projects at work so I am definitely looking forward to learning some new tricks in this course. I am looking forward to bringing some of what I learn to my job. I can already see this is going to be a fun time since I use WordPress for the website at my job as well!

Myself somewhere on Fuji (ignore my star friends haha):

I look forward to working with you all! I ay be finishing my degree but the climb continues!

January 18, 2022 by Student Posts 2

A little glimpse into my life

Hi everyone! My name is Cameron Chisolm and this is my second semester in the MSIT program. So far it’s been going very well and I learned quite a bit. My family currently resides in Orlando, Florida but I grew up as a military child so I lived all over the country. I also completed my undergrad at FSU so I’ve been in Tallahassee for a while and I’m ready to travel and see what else the world has to offer.

In my free time, I enjoy watching tutorials about graphic design. I’m really interested in the creative side of technology because it allows you to have the freedom to make anything you want. I’m still a beginner but I would one day like to maybe create concert merchandise or album cover for artists. I listen to music almost 24/7 so most of my designs are catered around it. Right now, I’ve been listening to Adele’s newest album “30” on repeat. I’m excited to learn more about digital media in this course!

A graphic I made for Summer Walker’s album “Over It”

Feel free to follow me on my creative Instagram @_camdidthat 🙂

January 18, 2022 by Student Posts 2

It’s Never Too Late….

Hi, everyone! My name is Angela Wylie. I started my coursework in the Masters in Information program in Fall 2018, and I’m slowly working through the program one class at a time. At this point, I have five classes to go. Last semester, I completed an internship with The Ringling Museum. This was a wonderful opportunity to develop my skills and knowledge in cataloging and utilizing controlled vocabulary and name authorities. I have a strong interest in working with museum collections, so this was a valuable experience for me.

By way of background, I graduated from FSU with a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs in 1990. I was born and raised near Orlando, Florida, but I’ve been a permanent resident of Tallahassee since 1990. I live here with my husband and daughter (a freshman at FSU) and our sweet puppy, Reese. For more than 30 years, I have worked as a paralegal, primarily in the private sector. My work experience ranges from all types of litigation (federal, state, administrative) to legislative practice and regulatory work, with lots of research and writing. I have always loved reading and research and spent lots of time at the Orlando Public Library as a child. My work experience, combined with my interest in reading and research, made the MSI program a natural choice for an advanced degree. I’m enjoying my studies and we will see where it takes me!

In addition to reading, I love to travel. I have been blessed to visit a number of places over the years, including Hawaii, California, New York, Wyoming, Washington (state as well as D.C.), Vancouver, and Jamaica. Although we have not traveled much in the past two years, we did take a memorable trip to France in 2018 – a first trip to Europe for all three of us.

Angela at the Notre Dame Cathedral Paris, July 2018

I am excited about this class for a number of reasons. I think the digital media skills we will learn will have practical application in a variety of work settings and for personal use. I enjoy photography, so I look forward to learning some new ways to edit and use my photos and videos in this class. And in addition to gaining more practical technical skills, I anticipate the creative opportunities afforded by digital media. This class offers a great balance between the practical and creative.

Wishing all of you a great semester! I look forward to getting to know you.

January 18, 2022 by Spring 2022 Student Posts 2

When In Doubt, Read the Directions

My name is Amy McMullin. I am an MSIT student in my 4th semester here at FSU.  I live in Naples, but I work an hour away in Immokalee where I have taught Computer Systems Information Technology and Applied Cybersecurity at Immokalee Technical College for 9 years. Before that, I was a network engineer for 16 years.

Outside the classroom, I have 5 children, four of them teenagers still living at home. This is a picture of them when they were little and cute.

Caution: Cute kids turn into teenagers who want to borrow your car.

We also have 3 cats running around the house. I like to describe my home as managed chaos, but most people would probably find it just chaos. This is one of my cats and I this past weekend, very interested in a noise.

What was that?

My “spare” time is spent on the baseball field either coaching my daughter’s little league baseball team or watching my son’s HS/travel teams. If you find yourself in southwest Florida with nothing else to do, check out our schedule and maybe you can catch a game!

In case you are wondering about the title of this post, it is pretty much 90% of what I get to teach my students and my kids to be successful at life. It’s not about knowing everything. It is about knowing how to find the answers.

January 18, 2022 by Student Posts 3

The Mind of a Nurturer

My name is Delia and I have always run into the issue of my name pronunciation. As a quick lesson, the easiest way of pronouncing my name is by saying deli like a meat deli and then “uh.” So deli-uh.

I am currently a second-year student in the MSI program with barely any experience in the field. I was able to attend USF to gain a background in Anthropology and also have the opportunity to be an intern in the Special Collections. Currently, I still reside right by USF in Tampa, Florida, where you can see many other attractions like Busch Gardens or the Florida Aquarium.

Other than focusing on my work and studies, I love being a nurturer of my family, friends, and dependents through many different outlets. One of those outlets is baking for my family and friends, specifically bread. Any bread is a friend of mine, especially conchas!

A type of bread, called concha, placed on a small plate.
A concha that was baked recently

Another outlet that I have been able to slowly grow is the dependents that I mentioned earlier. As you can guess from my mention of “growing,” those are my plants. I have slowly started to understand how to master my green thumb and have fifteen plants and counting! Some are flowering plants while others are my precious cacti and succulents.

A picture of a blooming desert rose, held by a hand; in the background can be seen a flowering cactus.
A glowing picture of my desert rose and flowering cactus

Finally, another way that I have been channeling my nurturing side is through knitting for my family. Currently, I have a couple of projects for my aunts, that includes a couple of hats, a scarf, and a shawl for the current winter. It can provide an excuse to watch a show for the fifth time (*cough* Criminal Minds) or listen to your favorite podcast.

Although I am familiar with the digital world and its many ways to show media, I do not have any experience with the backend of it and I’m excited to learn about that from this class! I hope to learn from you all too!

January 18, 2022 by Student Posts 1

A Tale of Three Kitties.

Hello everyone! My name is Elizabeth Anderson. I’m a Tallahassee native, graphic designer, and cat mom.

I started a job at Florida State in the Office of Distance Learning in March of last year, but I’ve worked as a graphic designer and artist for almost six years. I’ve gotten a chance to design logos, posters, billboards, and a lot more. I’ve worked in product design, communications, branding, and lots of other areas. My favorite thing is branding and brand development so I’d hope to become an Art Director or Creative Director in the future.

A billboard I designed while working at the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. It was actually on Tennessee street in town which was pretty fun!

Personally, I thrive on spending time with my fiancĂ© Andrew and our three kitties, Leota, Zazu, and O’Malley. We enjoy taking trips, playing disc golf, watching new movies and shows, going to watch sports and generally just spending time together.

These are the sleepy fur babies. (From left) Zazu, O’Malley, Leota.

Graphic design and art is definitely a career where there is always room for improving and learning which is why I decided to take this class. It’s an opportunity to flex the creative muscles and learn more about copyright which is an area I am excited to learn more about. This class is my last to complete the Graduate Certificate in Information Architecture, but it was definitely the one I was the most excited to take.

I’m very excited for this class and to get to know everyone!

January 18, 2022 by Student Posts 2

One more to go

To introduce myself, this is my last semester as a grad student here at FSU. After I graduate I plan on working for FWC as a law enforcement officer in Miami, Florida. I currently am a manager at Bullwinkle’s saloon. I really enjoy working there and have been able to learn a lot for my future. With knowing how to lead, work with customers, and how to do manager work.

I grew up in Miami, Florida, and came to FSU as a freshman in 2017 and graduated as an undergraduate in 2021. I have learned a lot while at FSU and took many different classes and meet many different things.

I am also a volunteer Firefighter in South Dakota at the Silver City Volunteer Fire Department I have been a firefighter for two years now and has also been a very been a good experience for my future.

January 18, 2022 by Spring 2022 Student Posts 3