Jane Barrager

Love, Learn, and Create are the three words I use to order my life.  I wake each day with a morning walk around the beautiful lakes near my home, enjoying the sunbeams reflecting on the water, and listening to a multitude of birds.  These morning walks remind me to love the simple treasures that each day holds.  You might be skeptical, believing it impossible to find beauty amid the bustle of city life in Orlando, Florida.  Moreover, living in the vacation capital of the world, some of us regularly visit our neighbors: Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter.  We can spend a day traveling around the world at EPCOT, eating exotic foods.  Further from the city, we can enjoy the sounds of crashing waves at the beach.  We might sit quietly at a fresh-water spring and watch Manatees meander lazily about.  We really need only walk outside our door to begin our next adventure.  

Captured adventures add up to stories, and I also love stories.  And this love of story drives my desire to learn.  I am a wife, mother of two, teacher, accountant, IT Manager, and a lifelong student.   For the last twenty-two years,  I have worked for DaVita Inc., a healthcare dialysis company, at their laboratory in DeLand, Florida.  I started off my career there as an accountant.  I have been granted many opportunities to learn new things over the years and try out new talents.  An accountant and teacher by trade, in the business world I have: taught Excel classes, puzzled out advanced analytics, developed a data warehouse, and managed an IT team who oversees the financial systems.  It has been an adventure.  I describe work as my extended-family.  In fact, I met my husband through work 20 years ago.   But, the thing I love the most about my job is the ability to learn new things and seeing where that knowledge will lead me next.  

My desire to learn doesn’t stop with my career, but bleeds into my hobbies as well.  Eight months pregnant with my second child, I decided I wanted to learn to knit.  So, I took an afternoon off work and went to the local yarn shop.  I sat there all afternoon learning how two needles and a ball of yarn can create beautiful patterns.  Fourteen years later, I am still an avid knitter.   My journey has taken me on road trips to sheep farms, yarn festivals, and yarn mills throughout the United States.  I often feel I have been transported into the past to learn about the Bluestocking ladies of the 1700s, or women of the Shetland Isles in the 1800s.  I purchase my yarn directly from small US sheep farms.  And for the last two years, during the pandemic, I have started growing plants like madder (red), marigolds (yellow), and indigo (blue); enabling me to naturally dye the yarns that I use.  I have learned so much in my hobby but I am constantly amazed that there is always so much more to know.  I have a passion to share this love with children, and actively seek-out opportunities to teach knitting and natural dyeing when I can.

So, how did I end up in this Masters Program at FSU for Information Science?  A few years back I tried to picture what I would be doing in ten years.  By that time, my kids would be off to college and I would miss having them here at home.  But I will not have changed.  I will still need to keep learning new things.  And, that means I will need a creative outlet.  I did not see myself still working in an IT management role as I approach my mid-50s.  And I don’t see myself retiring either.  Since I love stories and teaching so much, I decided to set out on the path to become a Children’s Librarian.  With the blessing of my family and the financial support of my employer, which encourages the pursuit of higher education, I enrolled.  

If you find me, I will always be following my love of story into some new adventure, and creating beautiful things in a natural setting.  Yes, Love, Learn, and Create are the right words to describe me.

by Tiffany Walters (@thelaststoryguard)

Happy New Year 2022 and welcome to my blog!

I am super excited to join you on this 14-week journey through the course LIS 5313 Digital Media-Concepts and Production.  I look forward to working with each of you on our various digital media production projects and assignments, and I am sure we are going to learn new skills that will take us far beyond our wildest dreams.

As we begin this journey and get settled into our LIS5313 virtual class seats, we should probably get to know each other a little better, so let me start by telling you a little about me.

My name is Deidra Lynn Jones, but my friends and family call me Dee or Deidra Lynn. If I had to describe myself in three words, it would be LIFELONG LEARNER. I love to learn new things which I get my passion for education from my mom and Dad who were both educators. My parents taught my sister and I that education is the passport to a better life for ourselves. My grandmother (Sarah Christian) only went to the eleventh grade and my grandfather (Evans Christian) only went to the second grade, so I know I am standing on their shoulders because they scarified so much for me to have my virtual seat in this class.

I am from Statesboro, Georgia (Go Dawgs), but I have lived in Tallahassee, Florida since I was 6 years old. Ever since I was a young girl, I have been interested in film and media production. I even worked at WCTV Channel 6 for over 8 years.  I wanted to be the next Spike Lee; however, to pay the bills, I became an IT project manager instead. Currently, I work for the Florida Department of Transportation  (FDOT) as an Enterprise Project Manager, and I am dedicated to continuing to grow both professionally and personally.

Also, I am working toward my Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) degree, and I have taken several courses in the MSIT program including LIS 5275 Usability Analysis and LIS 5487 Information Systems Management as well as a few other courses. I am hoping to complete the program by Spring 2023 semester and continue in my education towards a doctorate degree. I want to follow in my daddy’s footsteps. I have over 18 years of experience working as an IT project manager where I have assisted organizations in delivering diverse technology and business optimization projects. The Deidra’s Resume Project  is my resume portfolio of my career. The website is under construction, and I hope to continue to improve it each year. My LinkedIn page is another resource that has information about my professional background and accomplishments.  

Hallo! Guten Abend (Good Evening) classmates. My name is Lynn. I am Vietnamese, but born and raised in Florida. I used to live in Seoul, South Korea for the last 2 years and just moved to Vilseck, Germany a few months ago. I am currently studying MSI and unemployed at the moment. But I am currently volunteering at a U.S. military library and helping run the Silent Book Club. My special interests are anime, video games, especially Animal Crossing, and journaling. In my spare time, I try to learn some German and explore around the economy to experience the German culture. Let’s just say I have been eating lots of schnitzels and bratwursts since living here.

Something that interests me about this class is the final project at the end of the semester. I am looking forward to making a creative story telling video. Something I hope to gain from it is this will help me improve with my video editing skills. With basic skills, experience, and knowledge of digital media, I hope to incorporate that into future videos I will create. I have been uploading YouTube videos about my life and my travels for some time, but my skills are basic and minimal. Feel free to check out my channel and see slight improvements of video quality over the years. I am still learning as I go though.

Hello class ! My name is Channetta pronounced (Sha-net-ta) I am wife to an amazing Firefighter, we’ve been married for almost 10 years ! We got married on the top of Smoky Mountains what feels like yesterday. I am currently a stay at home mom that resides in the BEAUTIFUL city of Jupiter. We have 5 adorable kids with our oldest being 8 and our youngest 3 months, so coffee is my best friend.

In my free time (the little I do have lol) I love to do mini vacations to local places, and window shop. I have recently peaked an interest in candle making and plan on launching a new side business soon. I also love to binge watch DIY projects on YouTube. Im looking forward to learning lots of new techniques and things from this class so that I am able to start back up my family YouTube channel and actually have better quality video designs, transitions,and overall layout, check it out and let know what you guys think. I look forward to interacting with you all this semester.

Hello Everyone!

My name is Kayla Murray I was born and raised in Florida! I have worked in libraries in different capacities for around 8 years but I still have much to learn! I am looking forward to learning in this class more about audio editing since I am not as familar with that.

I am aiming to graduate this semester (if all things go as planned) and am equally giddy and terrified about where the next stage of my life will take me, but that is indeed how life is!

My hobbies are trying different ethnic foods and fawning over my two roborovski hamsters, Sherlock and Watson. Being a hamster mom I regale my co-workers with stories and pictures of my two babies. Since I can not miss an opportunity to share their cuteness see below.

I taught myself to sew about 5 years ago through Choly Knight’s blog where she has a slew of free patterns (primarily nerdy stuffed animals) with tips and tricks.

I love a variety of different nerd culture things including but not limited to; all things Star Wars, anime, books, and movies.