My Web Portfolio

Ta-Da!!

Welcome to the Culmination of my Efforts as a Professional Writing and Editing Student!

(I was having some trouble loading it, but a friend with another computer said it worked fine, so I'm assuming it is my connection.)

Wrap Up

So my internship is officially over. It was fun, an interesting learning experience. I've made a lovely new contact person for future job opportunities and am glad to say that. Experience is so crucial (or so I'm told). I am thankful to everyone I met at the WVU Business Incubator for giving me the opportunity to work as a professional writer and for being there when I needed help with something. It was a very laid-back and stress-free environment, which was an awesome thing. I don't think I could have asked for a better interning experience.

Reflective Essay Brainstorm

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End of Week 9

I remember that the first thing I wanted to talk about was definitely the informal "meetings" we have sometimes. I will just be sitting here in my cubicle, and suddenly both Matt and Dusty are behind me. While I continue sitting, they both lean over and discuss a document that Dusty wants to talk about - the Locus markups, in this particular example, and we discuss the fact that somehow some of my edits did not make it to the copy that made it to his desk - and also that some of the edits I did make (and I have proof of them being saved and sent to the correct person) never made it to where they should have (there was a "fiscal year" report of sorts, where all the WVUBI tenants had their products displayed...I don't know...this is a perfect example of how you don't have to be absolutely sure what it is you are dealing with, to deal with it..but anyway, all the numbers were with the wrong companies as if the formatting had been messed up at some point. I went back and corrected everything, put it all in the right place, and sent it to the graphic design intern...and it was not fixed. I have the email I sent to her saved in my Sent box as well as the correct document saved in my files.) I think it's important to note here that you should always keep your work for future reference. I mean, not only did I need to keep everything for the end of the term web portfolio / presentation, but it's good to have stuff on hand in case a question comes up as to who's fault something is.

But I may have gotten a little off topic. I wanted to comment on how interesting I found it that Dusty came to me for a meeting, not the other way around. In a more formal setting, I'm sure the boss would want all meetings with him..maybe. Or maybe he just likes to walk around and get out of his office for a while. This is not a negative comment-but Dusty does tend to jump from one idea to the next fairly quickly, so it would make sense that he just walks here to talk about something that is on his mind. It was all very informal - not a formal meeting. I just thought it was interesting. I could have been asked to go to Matt's cubicle as well. Anyway...enough about that.

So last week, Matt and I had our field trip. I was so excited at the prospect of doing something outside the cubicle, and it did turn out to be very, very cool. My interviewing skills are obviously not what they "should" be (or perhaps they are, considering I am not a journalism major...) but I did get enough information to actually write the piece, so I consider that to be alright.

Going back to two paragraphs up, I kind of wish there weren't informal meetings here. They kind of take me by surprise, I am not expecting them, and therefore cannot prepare for what I need to be familiar with or remember...we hadn't spoken about Locus in a good three to four weeks prior to this meeting, so I had to be a little rusty when I spoke of what I knew - which is not professional.

Well, until next week...

reminder

(talk about 'informal' meetings)

End of Week 8

Kind of...I'm having my wisdom teeth out tomorrow, so I figured I would go ahead and post now, since I will be rather incapacitated when I would normally make my posting. This week has been CRAZY. There's a to-do list on my desk that's like a mile long...and I walked in this morning and had to spend an hour on something Jo needed help with, she's writing a grant for WVUBI to get some money from the stimulus package that's out right now. I had a couple articles to post yesterday that Matt wanted me to work on - I have a FIELD TRIP next week to go on that I am super excited about (even though I'll have to play more like a journalist..that's ok) and the huge project that Dusty wants me to work on that seems like a super massive thing to really get into this late in the game, but he said that he didn't expect to finish it before I left, so that's ok too. It's just a general framework for something they've never done here before (kind of like an annual report) so whatever I do will be a helpful guideline for whoever comes after me. I'm waiting on Matt to get back from lunch so I can ask him about this thing that I'm not really sure about - I vaguely remember him telling me about it yesterday, and I wrote a short note on it, but since I got like five assignments yesterday and this was something he told me just to do "whenever" I must have not listened as well as I should have. Something about Morgantown though...I've got the notes in front of me. But I don't remember how he wanted me to compile the information...it's on the website, the first version of it, and he just wanted me to update the website with more current statistics (since they haven't done it in about four years). Thursdays are always a little different than other days, because I stay longer than normal and I'm here while every one else has lunch - so if I have a question, I just have to wait and do something else until they get back. I hope I did what Jo wanted me to for that grant - it is two pages in like a questionaire format and she just wanted me to use information that they had previously put on another grant that had been written a while ago - she was working all the numbers and (I'm guessing) the bulk of the grant itself, and she just told me she wanted me to make it "flow" (she is always really hard on herself, saying she can't write and whatnot...I'm sure this is not the case and either way...I'm here! PWE Intern to the rescue!) haha...no, I felt pretty important though, because in part of the previously written grant, there was a section dedicated to what the WVUBI does for tenants, all the survices we provide them, and "expertise in professional writing" was one..teehee. I loved that. I love how people come to me and ask my opinion on stuff, or they just automatically assume that I know better than they do how to "professionally write" something. Its a really cool feeling. I had a meeting with Dusty this week to discuss this project he wants me to work on, the annual report they've never had before, and he scheduled a time with me and got the room for us and said he valued my opinion and was really listening to what I had to say - it's a really awesome experience to be in this kind of situation, I didn't really think I would be treated like this in an internship (and I'm sure my colleuges may not be having the same experiences I am...it's just that the WVUBI is very...young.) Not that being young is a bad thing...I wanted to say hip and fresh and new and inexperienced and kind of flying by the seat of their pants...there is not a feel of any of this being a negative thing, everyone here is very professional and there is no question of their work ethic or anything of that sort - but I think in another company, being an intern wouldn't be this experience of feeling that my opinion and knowledge matter....really matter in the workplace. They really treat their inters with respect - I'm sure it would be different somewhere else if there was some sort of writer or editor on staff, and I was under them, persay. I hope I am making myself clear here.

Shame on me for all of that being one paragraph.

End of Week 7 (is that possible?)

So here I sit at the Business Incubator, watching the clock. Fifteen minutes until Spring Break (wow). That seems a little crazy to me. I thought I should write in my blog now because I would probably forget to later on and wanted to make sure I could document this week freshly from my memory. I've just sent out a reminder email regarding that annual assessment Dusty had requested that I work out - I never got one email back from anyone about it, although Jo did say she had it typed out and just kept forgetting to send it to me. I think maybe that's why it seems like there's not much to do here...I'm going down a rabbit hole (?) but anyway...it seems as though in life people aren't willing to do things until it absolutely HAS to be done RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND..it's strange. I don't understand procrastination when you look at it rationally. I've been in college four years now and have spent countless hours on Facebook (of which I am not proud) but I have learned something, and seen it as well - procrastination is pointless. It is better to just do something and get it over with than to sit around and wait until it's almost too late to get it done. The same principle applies to other things in general, things that are not necessarily necessary - like this report. I mean, yeah I could be working on something else that NEEDED to be done, but since I've not been given an assignment like that recently, I started working on this idea Dusty had - I brainstormed out a rough outline of what I thought he was talking about and and sent that out to the people he wanted to be included - questions they could answer survey-style about their job for the past year. I realize this is not a pressing issue, especially since it's not something that's ever been done before, so they were not prepared to document what they've been doing and will therefore have to just rely on memory for the most part - but still. I realize they are busy and they have their own jobs to attend to and that my little survey is not the most pressing thing they are doing. But I am not given much to do. What I am given, I want to do quickly and precisely to make a good impression. I try to do assignments that way so it seems like I am capable and eager for work, but it seems like it just ends up being me not having anything to do. Sorry about this rant. It was a little pointless.

Everything is fine, I'm not aggitated that I haven't had any response yet - I wasn't really expecting any.

Have a nice break and see you on the other side.

Ciao.

MidTerm Self Assessment

I didn't notice any questions on page 23 of Portfolio Keeping, but we'll just see what happens. The examples all had kids taking a look at their writing processes, and trying to decide what to do to better themselves in the workplace. I think I'll go with that approach.

Here is what has been typical thus far:
1) I receive an assignment (whether writing or editing a previously existing document
2) If writing, I check up on background info that I need to know, and then write
-If editing, I edit
3) I step away from what I am working on, whether it's because it's time for me to go for the day, or I just get on Facebook for a minute to stop thinking about it and clear my head
4)If writing, I surface (typos) and deep edit (does it make sense? am I saying what needs to be said and not saying things I shouldn't?) , usually simultaneously
-If editing, I go back over what I have edited
5)If writing, I go back over what I have written and then edited, just making sure one more time


and if I have more time, I check over it again once more...

6) I then turn everything in

So far, I see this as an effective way to accomplish tasks at my internship. I never have anyone bothering me, so I can work at my own pace with minimal to no distractions. This, for me, usually produces a clean and polished document

The only problem I can see thus far is the amount of time I am dedicating to each project. This is not a problem at the Business Incubator, as I am not ridiculously busy with work (thus far) and can spend (usually) as much time as I want to on any given document. However, this could and most likely will be an issue when I get into a job, as I will be dealing with deadlines and....more colorful people (those with less patience and more demand). I feel I will need to learn to work more quickly to produce the highest quality documents I can, but I am not sure that the environment within the Business Incubator is the precise place to test this assumption and hone this specific skill.

So...that's my midterm assessment.

End of week 6

So this past week at the Business Incubator was a little more busy than usual. We had a couple of people sick because of the weather - but that's irrelevant. Matt sent me a couple links that he wanted me to use to put together a new feature to put on the website. I sort of remember him telling me about this assignment early on in the week and I was worried about it 1.) because I had forgotten how to post stuff to the website and 2.) because the lingo in these articles, dealing with one of the Graduate Tenant's new machines, was a little hard to read without my eyes glazing over. I didn't start cracking on it the day Matt told me about it because he told me right as I was about to leave, and I hate not being able to start something and really put effort into it. The next day I read over the three links he had sent me from various sites that were reporting on the new machine, and I ran into a problem - one of the sites, a news television site based out of Charleston, said at the bottom that the information within the article could not be, among other things, "rewritten". The last article I wrote the way Matt wanted me to, I made sure that if I used their wording, I cited the information and definitely gave links to where readers could refer to the original content. Matt was never intending me to write something fresh and new - or he wouldn't have sent the links he did. I was, however, still wary of what the website said, and he and I chatted about it on AIM (the chosen communication tool of the BI for when you are too lazy to stand up and ask a question), and he decided it was ok as long as I put "refer to HERE for more information", and made it blatantly obvious that I was not writing it myself, but that I was getting it from somewhere else. I don't know...I don't think I could do that as a job (I'm sure there's no such job in the world)...but I still feel weird about it, even though I cite. So anyway...after I wrote it up and edited it out a little bit, I fiddled with some titles, sent those to Matt (because with a place like the BI I don't think a cut and dried title is appropriate since it's such a "hip" place, but going overly artsy isn't their style either) ... and somehow by mistake came across the website editing tool. I posted and saved so Matt could look it over, and he then came over to remind me of a few little things...he wasn't mad I had forgotten, but I will sincerely try to remember next time...repetition is the key, I think. And that was that.

Another project that came up the same day - only this one was from Dusty, my boss boss. Matt actually came to talk to me about it first, said he didn't really know anything about it. The next day, Dusty comes in and tells me he wants me to do this, but says he talked to Matt about it and that Matt would have more information for me. Then Matt is sick for two days. Finally Dusty comes back and tells me he wants a report of the past year, what all the Business Incubator employees have been doing, to show HIS boss. (and that's not tenants of the BI, but people actually working for the BI itself, like Dusty and Matt). He says maybe I could write up a survey and email it to them, Jo, and Sarah (the four people he wanted included) and we could all have a meeting to discuss what they felt needed to be in this report. I sent out my version to the four of them last week, and only Jo - the accountant - has said she will try to get it back to me soon. No one else has said anything about it. I don't know, it kind of sounded like a fun thing to do - he said that there really were no guidelines as nothing like this has ever been in place before. He said he just thought they really needed some sort of - record of what they had been doing the past year for his boss.

So that's where I am right now. Things are going swimmingly. Everyone is still nice. Have a good one.

Goodbye Week Five

So ... what to talk about? Matt knocked on the partition of my cubicle one day last week and told me I had an assignment from Dusty. He said Dusty had come in to see me the day before but I hadn't come in yet. He said that Dusty thought it would be a good idea to get some sort of document together for the "higher ups" containing all the latest information for all tenants of the Business Incubator for the past year - sort of to let Dusty's boss know what all the companies had been up to in the last twelve months. Matt told me he didn't really know anything else about it, and that I would need to email Dusty to talk to him to get more information, so that is the very first thing I did. I still have not heard back from Dusty about this document he wants me to produce. I IMed Matt and told me Dusty had not responded, to which Matt said he wasn't surprised because Dusty is an extremely busy man, and that I should just start trying to find the information through the WVUBI website, based on the tenant's information. Each of the current tenants has an information section on the BI website, and then most of them also have a link to their own company website. I start checking these, and really can't find any sort of "Recent News" sections...there are a lot of "here's what we're about to do" but not a lot of "this is what we have done" since, I'm guessing, many of these "start-up" companies are newer and not as focused on previous events - and more focused and upcoming events, since they don't have that many things they have already done. So, anyway...moral of the story is that I haven't really had anything to do recently at the Business Incubator.

The guy with vIDentity never emailed me back, so I feel like I shouldn't really touch the stuff on Google Docs. I've looked them over and there's nothing ridiculously wrong with any of them (typos, etc)...nothing surface editing would fix. There are no real graphic design stuff at all..it is all just plain wording...but still. Until he emails me again, to tell me what he wants me to edit for, I don't really feel there is anything I can do.

Matt did have something he wanted me to add to the website (not something to edit..just something to post) but I was leaving just as he asked me to do it - my schedule is posted on the outside of my cubicle, so....yeah.

Not much to report.

Week Four Ends _Here_

Hola mis amigos, once again it's time for that weekly intern update. I think today I would like to talk about inter-office-personal-relations (I just made that up). I was sitting at my desk last week, minding my own business, when Dusty walks in (I don't get to see Dusty very often because he is a very busy man...usually I deal on a day-to-day basis with Matt). Dusty asks me if I knew of this kid who is looking for an internship, what I thought about it, etc. - I found this to be quite interesting as a whole. I gave a good recommendation for my classmate and possible future coworker, and went on. It wasn't until Dusty had left that I thought about how odd all of this could seem - he was looking for my opinion on whether or not he should give someone else an internship. Because, yes it would affect me, as this person would (I assume) get half of the work that I have been doing..which in truth hasn't been all that much at all..It was just quite strange to be placed in that kind of situation, where it really seemed like my own opinion really did matter and had weight in the overall decision of whether this kid was going to be hired or not, even though I have only been interning here a few weeks, and will be gone in about as many. I realize it wasn't that big of a deal and Dusty is really a good guy and wanting my opinion on the subject, but I realize that in some work situations this scenario would never take place. I guess it kind of goes to that reading...but I've never really felt subordinate here. This may have to do with the fact that I am not expecting to feel any certain way and if I am - my expectations are low so that I will be pleasantly surprised. However, since I have been here I have been treated with nothing but respect and my own personal space in which to do my job in a timely fashion. This may have to do with the fact that I proved to those I am working for that I can and will get things done as quickly as possible, but the Business Incubator is generally laid back as it is anyway.

Overall, the people here are wonderful for making me feel so at home and not like an intern who will be gone soon. I cannot say much for the workload, as I have said before (and no, Scott...I don't think there should EVER be more than one intern here at a time...ever...), but thus far I have had a completely positive experience with the Business Incubator and look forward to the work they will pass along my way in the coming weeks.

Wrapping up Week 3

Greetings, fellow interns (and professor). I have hit a milestone in my own professional writing and editing career this week, and I am very excited to talk about it. I mean, I know it probably sounds kind of silly (and therefore, is...) but in any event, I felt it worthy to comment on: this week, something I wrote was 'published' on a professional website, in a very important kind of manner. Granted, the majority of the work was spent in accumulating quotations to use, but in any event...a post by 'Vanessa*" was posted to the BI website as its Feature story...so it's the one that you see as you first enter the webpage. Very exciting stuff for me, as this is the first time on the college level that I have been published anywhere that has meant something. And it all came so fast...one day my higher up Matt was like "hey, see this article? do an article like it for the website..no rush" and a couple days later, after I have drafted, edited, and frantically worried about each word choice, he showed me how to publish it to the website. And then bam, not ten minutes later (after he had decided what kind of graphic would best go with the article itself), there it was on the BI website, perfectly able to be emailed to my parents and oogled over. Flaws and all. It's a kind of scary thing...knowing you are THAT responsible for what you've written. I think there is a difference between academic (classroom) writing and this kind of writing in a professional setting. If you plagerize in a paper for class...yes, that is a horrid thing to do and will ruin your academic career and (hopefully) you'll feel bad about it until kingdom come..HOWEVER....for some reason I feel that getting something wrong on this professional kind of level is worse...(although looking back over this statement, I can't exactly see why...) perhaps not so much on the moral level, but on the general "I am a writer and that means that what I write is what I am" level (if that makes any sense). Academic writing is...a personal test of courage, but professional writing is...you putting yourself out there for whoever to read it, make a judgement on, and therefore label you as a writer "good" or "bad" or anything else....I feel like I'm not making any sense.

Moving on.... I would like to talk about the workplace today, as well. Matt is extraordinarily laid back and I've only even seen Dusty (THE boss) like...twice. Other interns feel free to answer their cell phones..AIM is the main source of communication (which could lead to potential other problems if your friend is IMing you jokes while you should be working on a document). I don't know..apparently there was a bowling tournament at the Mt. Lair that BI employees were a part of...they talked about that a lot, and I wasn't invited so I wasn't there..there's just a general feeling of very laid-backness in the whole lot. I find it an easy atmosphere to work in, but then again I am very good at tuning sounds out when I concentrate on writing (well...usually). I hava a cubicle with my own computer, but I can hear every conversation and phone ring on the entire floor. Usually there aren't that many people present and I haven't had any dire deadlines yet, so it hasn't really been a problem (and wouldn't be if it came down to it....I can do what I have to do to get done what needs to be done).

But in any event....I read back over the syllabus this evening and realized my previous blog postings may have been lacking in the "write for 15 minutes" department...so this is me making an effort to go for the entire allotted time.

Until next time,

End of Week Two

I think this week the main thing I could say I learned is working with coworkers, peers - it was an interesting thing to find out. I was assigned to work on the Locus newsletter, editing and whatnot. The computer in my cubicle was not equipped with the correct version of the software I needed to work on the actual document itself, so I had to work at another desk for a day while I edited. I then emailed myself what I had not finished, as another girl was coming in the next day to use her computer. This girl was the graphic design intern - and she and I were expected to work together to get this particular job done, as when I had edited the content, it was then her job to incorporate it onto the page and make sure it looked good. She and I had a lot of communication on one day in particular as we relied on each other to complete tasks-it was difficult to have to sit there and not have anything to do as I waited on her to complete what she was doing, so that I could get on to what I needed to do. You really have to learn patience when you work with other people because sometimes they will not work as quickly as you will. However, I finished my end and everything worked out the way it did. Week two went well.

Greetings from the other side of the first week

So I've officially been an intern at the West Virginia University Business Incubator now for a week (how exciting). It's really..not what I thought it was going to be at all (I always think things are going to be much, much worse than they really are). Anywho, pretty much everyone I work with is really easy to get along with. The first couple days were rather easy as I was just getting used to my workspace and proper protocol for things I needed to know/do in different situations. I actually walked in in the middle of the week and was told I had my first meeting with a tenant (meaning someone who works with a business that the BI is working with) and I'm not sure how in detail I'm supposed to get into this blog, so I guess I won't go into who the tenant was (maybe let me know if you want me to go into more specifics, or if I should?) but basically he was wondering about my technology skills - if I had any idea about html, what experience I had with dealing with making webpages, that sort of thing. He said he needed someone to help him sound better (to which I replied that that was sort of what I did...but that I was more into just editing). He said if I did end up working with him, we would work solely through GoogleDocs, which I have no real experience with (however I told him I learn quickly). My boss at the BI said to let him know if I thought I could help this guy out or not...because he didn't want all my time jeopardized with just one tenant when I had general BI stuff to work on as well as things for other tenants, should the need arrise. I gave the guy my email and he said he'd send me some stuff to look over, to see if I was into doing it because from the way he pitched the job to me I couldn't really tell if I would be able to help him as a PWE person or not (Multimedia writing, yes...but idk) and he still hasn't gotten back to me yet.

So...is this the right format? Just...what I've done in the course of a week? Oh and I spent a considerable amount of time on Locus, which is the BI newsletter, editing that. That was fun..and I'm not really done yet.

More later!

p. 7, Establishing Expectations

I did a portfolio for both my Editing and Professional Writing classes a couple semesters ago, so I'm pretty familiar with the paper-format of a writing portfolio. I'm sure an electronic portfolio would not be much different, if at all.

I think I will do well in this course (I sincerely hope I will). I was rather hesitant about the fact that I had to "find my own" internship, given the hardships I had last year finding someone to shadow, however, Dusty and Jo at the WVUBI were amazing to talk with and seem like they will be really easy to get along with at this internship. I think the class will go well; I somehow fit 140 hours into my already ridiculous schedule, I'm not worried about maintaining a blog as I already do, coming to class has never been a problem for me, speaking in front of people doesn't really bother me all that much, and I'm sure we will get all the instructions necessary to complete the electronic portfolio that is due. As long as I keep on top of my work and assignments (which I have every intention of doing), I feel that I will do well in this class.

In The Beginning...

I start my new internship at the West Virginia University Business Incubator tomorrow! I'm really excited!

Tune in again for more exciting details...