aaron hill & the deserted island

12049663_848945278553917_8815424870552009994_nEpisode 42 is our first episode back with a guest, and this week it’s Aaron Hill, Web Programmer/Analyst at the Cornell Hotel School. We chatted about Aaron’s most recent project – a complete redesign and restructure of the Cornell Hotel School website – and all the small details that went into the process. This tangents into a conversation about fonts, footers, and brand consistency between schools within a university. We also chat about the ghosts of social media’s past; MySpace, Friendster, Xanga, and more…and Jackie reminds everyone how young she is…again.

Links to Cool Stuff: 

jackie, lougan & the apology episode

Photo by: ConfabEDU

Photo by: @ConfabEvents

Episode 41 is our apology to you, listeners. We’ve been busy, and although it’s no excuse, we’re ready to get back on track with super awesome announcements! Lougan is handing new responsibilities with a growing fleet of student workers, and Jackie had just returned from a trip to New Orleans for the annual ConFab conference. All that, plus, some really exciting news from Jackie! Don’t miss it.

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aaron rester and the search bar

11034292_10155465576415634_7304217489445098985_nEpisode 37 starts with a nice glass of wine and Aaron Rester, Assistant Vice President of Web Development at Roosevelt University. We “kick off” the episode discussing sports (get it?), and Jackie reflects on another loss for the Buffalo Bills. We also chat about work-life balance, specifically checking our work emails and discussing the most efficient way to submit work requests; through Snapchat or Vine. Apple has released its most recent iOS update, and we give a quick review on the highlights while talking about some photo features that we still don’t completely understand. We reflect on the movement of technology, failed demonstrations, and the internet, which leads to a discussion about the most effective website structure and navigation for an educational institution. And, we attempt to answer the question: which is better, audience-based, or task-based navigation?

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anna mahalak & our first periscope

308084dEpisode 36 is with Anna Mahalak, Coordinator of Planning and Outreach at George Washington University. Anna is a part time graduate student in GWU’s Higher Education Masters Program, and through her new position, gets an interesting glimpse at marketing, fundraising, and student affairs simultaneously. We talk about having senior leaders on campus having a strong presence on social media, such as GWU’s vice provost and dean of student affairs, whose Twitter presence is known throughout the college community. As we know, social media has the potential to greatly impact a large fundraising campaign, and Lougan and Anna swap ideas from recent initiatives they’ve tried out. We spiral down the rabbit hole of social media on campus, discussing commencement, Snapchat, and finally, Periscope.

 

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Videos of Cool Stuff:

Bruins4Bruins

The Periscope

Kerry Washington’s Commencement Speech

luke haumesser & the beepy thing

Baird Point Head ShotEpisode 33 starts off with an ice breaker, introducing Lucky Luke Haumesser, Assistant Director of Student Activities and Governments at the University at Buffalo. After our ice breaker session, we’re comfortable enough with each other to argue about the correct pronunciation of ‘gif,” and make animal noises. Move in week is coming up, and in his new role outside of Residence Life for the first time, Luke talks about the Welcome Week events that he’s helping to plan – including the overhead “interlocking UB” photo, break dancing, and all night pancakes. We also talk about IKEA and Home Depot, in part to celebrate Luke’s transition from a live-on position to his own apartment.

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Pictures of the week:

Lanky Lougan

Lanky Lougan

Luke's Bitmoji

Luke’s Bitmoji

tim nekritz & the bilingual monkey

Screen Shot 2015-08-04 at 9.02.33 PMEpisode 31 features Tim Nekritz, Associate Director of Communications and Marketing/Director of Digital Communications at SUNY Oswego. Tim tells us how he got his current job wearing many hats, all thanks to this thing called “the internet” that got really big a while back. Naturally, we talk about using social media on campus, and interestingly enough, Tim describes how social media works to break down departmental silos that exist at so many institutions across the country. Oswego is in the midst of a website redevelopment initiative, and we talk about content, “front end” and “back end,” and the most effective use of time with a new project like this one. We mention Slack for a second, but then Lougan and Tim dive into a deeply passionate conversation about children’s television shows. There’s singing. You don’t want to miss it.

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Super Why – Hip Hip Hooray Song
(because you need it stuck in your head)