So first impressions… Not thinking about it? Not sure whether it matters? Then maybe play it a little safe… Here’s a sample email inquiry that you’re welcome to use and redraft to your delight. It’s a safe way to introduce yourself, give a a few details, and make the ask to talk/meet. That’s it. Can’t hurt to just put yourself out there…

Dear Ms. Olgyer,

I hope this email finds you well. My name is Simone Carter and I am in my final year studying Communications Technology with a concentration in television production at York College/CUNY. I was excited to learn about you and your work while looking for internship opportunities here in New York. You have clearly had success in the field and I wonder if I could connect with you for an in person informational interview or a quick phone call.

At York, in addition to my studies, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a short portrait documentary about my sister’s experience immigrating to the US from Puerto Rico. As I finish my studies at York, I am eager to begin making connections with other people in the field (like yourself!) and, ideally, to find an internship. If you have a moment, i would be very grateful.I’m happy to come to you or to call you at a time that is convenient for you.

Warm regards,

Simone

You’ve defined some future peers based on some future goals, and now it’s time to build a path toward working with them. Use your research from those two weeks to identify workplaces that you think align with your goals. Don’t worry about whether they have internship programs or placements defined, just worry about the actual workplace and activities which suits your goals.

Find five workplaces that suit your goals, for each one define the following:

• The name of the organization and contact information
  • Address
  • phone
  • Email of HR and/or relevant individuals.
• A list of activities and the roles that you can define and believe likely exist in that workplace

You’ve spent a fair amount of time researching future peers based on your BIG GOAL. It’s time to take a closer look at the kinds of work those future peers have completed in the recent past and see what opportunities for work you might complete with their models in mind. The works they’ve produced might not be exactly what you’re interested in making, but it can give you an idea of the level of proficiency in the work that is expected. It’s good to think about the skills required to complete the work and how that work represents those skills.

Often it’s not just the ‘work’ itself, but the value is in the presentation of the process and the manner in which creating the work was achieved. Your ability to present your process and be accountable to a process is as constructive and instructive as the work itself. Future peers will have the opportunity to learn about you through the narrative you give to describe it.

That’s why as a condition for entering final project class, we ask that you propose not just a work to make, but a plan based on research and models. And during the final project class you’ll be expected to present regular updates with artifacts of your work and adjustments needed to your plan in the face of problems. What processes are important to track in order to be successful? What did you learn in situations where you were not successful?

To organize this proposal you will use a slide “deck” also known as a powerpoint or Google slides. Have a look at the format I’ve created which includes a couple of examples.

This week we’re going to start the process of looking for an internship which befits your BIG GOAL. But instead of diving right into resumes, letters of inquiry, identifying business, etc. – we’re first going to look for “future peers.” Individuals that are a in places and positions of work, early in their career that in a role which could help on the pathway toward the BIG GOAL. These people are in jobs that appear to be a way to “get in and get started.” They not necessarily grand jobs, usually assistant and/or junior in role, but part of a team in a workplace that creates the kinds of work you envision in your BIG GOAL.

So let’s find some actual digital presences of “future peers.” They must be a number of them online somewhere right? A LinkdIn profile, a personal website, an Instagram account with more links to other profiles, etc. What are the actual titles of the jobs they’re doing now, done in the past, or even internships prior?

Research and Document

So the task is to find a “future peer” and their profile at least one, better two or more that is working in a role that is appealing to you. How do you find these people? General Google searches are probably not going to do it. You need to be more specific. Here are some examples:

• Look at the TV credits of a show or series of interest. Find the names of production assistants and associate producers. These people tend to be earlier in their careers. Google their name with the name of the show.
• Identify graduate schools which have masters programs in areas of interest. Look for sites that list current MFA students or recent alumni. Google their names and the program they’re working in.
• Look at various Tech Meetups in meetup.com. See what profile information exists for people that have attended meetups. There’s even a CUNY Tech Meetup.
• Find design firms / production companies that have credits for junior developers and/or assistants. Again Google names and organizations.
• Look at companies advertising remote jobs in the tech industry, look for ones that ask for HTML and JS skills.
• Use Linkedin to find individuals in particular junior roles at various companies. If you don’t have an account, you might need to create one. Search within the platform, but also Google names and organizations.

Document what you find:

• Site(s) where the person hosts their profile(s)
• A person’s name, their job title, and the skills required for the job.
• Find examples of the work that individual is currently working on, or has completed in the past.
• Describe how that piece of work is presented. Is it just a line in a resume (like a production credit) or are there artifacts (images, video, titles, descriptions, links to sites and or code, etc…)
• What is an example of a piece of work you’ve completed and/or should complete and how should it be preseented? Why should it be done and presented in the way you’ve described?

Peer Report

We’ll follow the usual peer reporting pattern and share our findings with one another.

Having big goals vs. knowing how to accomplish them can be overwhelming. But hopefully the work you’ve been doing in the Communications Technology program and the classes in particular are contributing toward your goals. At least they’re helping you get a degree!

But the degree doesn’t guarantee a job or an amazing project in your portfolio, it is a sequence of courses designed to help you develop fundamental skills for careers in tv or web. They are really a starting point and it’s up to you to develop goals beyond your degree.

That’s what this class is for, setting aside time each meeting to work on what more you want to accomplish beyond the classroom. And you’ll approach this by identifying and working in small but meaningful ways toward a BIG GOAL. Each week we’ll follow a structured process that is described in the syllabus, and each week you’ll get a little closer to your goal.

So let’s get started with some research,

1. What is your actual big goal? Why have them? Is it to get a particular job of some sort? Complete a particular project you’ve had in mind? Get accepted to a graduate school program? It must be your goal and you have to define it.
2. Next, it’s time to pick something, anything you can do right now that is very specific that works toward this goal. It should be small, and it must be specific.
   • Does it require research? Probably.
   • Are you even able to define the goal specifically enough? It might be too broad, that means research too.
   • Do you know people that have already accomplished this goal? That would be awesome if you did, but if you don’t you could do some research about them.
3. Now go up to the white-board and write your name to the #portfolio-chat in Discord and tell us what you’ll be doing.
4. And now you’re going to commit to 20 straight minutes of work. Take a break. Then another 20 minutes.I’m going to move through the classroom message you in Discord and check in with you as you start working.

Now it’s time to discuss with a peer

1. Share what you discovered with a peer and make sure that peer takes notes.
2. Your peer next shares on the white-board under your name what your big goal is and what you’ve being working on.
3. Your peer finally presents this to the class so that you can get some advice.

Get your thoughts on the blog

Finally start and if you can finish, a blog post about what accomplished in the class. Remember you’re responsible for completing a post for each meeting and recognize these posts are responsible for the majority of your grade. So to do well in this class basically all you have to do is show up, be an active participant and report on the blog what you did.

But to accomplish your goals, well:

It is up to you to put yourself in the best position to succeed.

See you at the next meeting and expect to follow this process again and every meeting with new tasks.

Two Positive & Two Negative

Find two courses you’ve taken in your college experience that you ascribe positive qualities – I learned a lot; the professor was good; the assignments were meaningful; the subject was important to me; etc. Also find two courses that you would associate negative qualities – I struggled to pass the course; the instructor was not very good at explaining things; I didn’t find the subject interesting or useful at all.

With these four courses answer with a partner the following:

• Was this a class you chose, was it required, and what made it required? Basically how did you end up in this course?
• What were your goals while taking the class? Or did you have expectations of this class and were they met?
• What do you think the goals of the instructor and/or the institution were for you to take this class? You might think of this most narrowly from the perspective of the instructor and the learning objectives defined in the syllabus or more broadly from the perspective of the mission of the college and/or the values of the community that the college exists in.

A proposal either in a document or slide presentation (Google slide presentation recommended) to be reviewed for final project must include the following:

1. A title slide with a tentative name for your project (does not include the phrase “final project”) and your name (or username if you wish to post online and not use a real name).
2. A section that clearly and meaningfully articulates what you are making for your final project. Give it a working title that is meaningful to the content of the project. You should address what exactly you will “deliver” – the scale and scope of this will vary depending on project type.
3. A description of your “Big Goal” and how/why “Future Peers” will respect the type of work you’re planning to complete in your final project. A link to an example future peer and her/his work should be included.
4. A section that includes artifacts and explanations of the research and personal craft that will inform the manner in which you will undertake your project. Artifacts include media examples of all types that you’ve discovered or produced. You should be explicit about how the artifact presents an understanding of particular aspects of your project to be completed. Be sure to be specific. For example if you are inspired by the video work of another, write the time points in the piece and how you envision incorporating their ideas into yours.
5. A section that has a defined timeline with milestones and/or deliverables associated with specific dates. Your timeline should be shown in its entirety before and across the semester in which you wish to complete your final project.
6. A section that speaks to concerns that you have undertaking this final project. What aspects to you expect to be difficult to achieve and why? Which others do you feel comfortable accomplishing and why? This is about recognizing what things you should prepare for most given your concerns.

Sample Proposal Presentations

• example web design proposal
• example animation proposal
• example portrait documentary proposal

I recently in the month of November made a presentation pertaining to what I want to on my future life. I finally have vision as to what I would like to achieve. I see it but I have put it into visual presentation. This is the link.

I will be modifying it.

There’s a lot we’re going to sort through on this first day of class. We’ll walk through the Web Development 1 and Web Development 2 syllabi as well as figure out the accounts and tools you’ll need to be able to be successful in the course.

But no coding today (ok a tiny bit), only getting your ducks-in-a-row with your workspace. Here’s the rundown:

Topics

Additional details for these topics can be found on the accounts and tools page if needed.

• Mac or PC with regular access;
• CUNY Academic Commons Account and Blog Author
• Discord Account
• Reclaim Hosting – Domain Name and cPanel and File Manager Review
• Visual Studio Code – Customizing and Workflow Basics
• Google Chrome – default browser and extensions.

Tutorials

• Visual Studio Code Basics
• Visual Studio Code Customizing
• cPanel and File Manager Review (coming)

Problem Set

The following files/folders described in the Visual Studio Code Basics Tutorial should be uploaded to your server and linked to in your post.

• dev1 OR dev2 folder
  • 00week folder
    • test.html
    • test.css
    • test.js

For the Blog

Link to your dev1 OR dev2 folder on your server. Make sure this is linked text not a pasted URL in the text like this: https://makercommons.org/dev1

Describe your setup and comfort level with all the accounts and tools you’re being asked to setup and use. Review the accounts and tools list to make sure you cover everything!

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