After interviewing Ms. Guo, I had another interview with Dan Jones from Facilities Management the next day. Yes, I might be crazy to extensively remember so much stuff from a month ago, but I'm trying my best to catch up.
I went to see Dan Jones to get an update on the construction projects that Tech is doing for the summer. Having something about the construction on the main Tech website is something that should deserve more attention. At least Public Information would have the official story.
I talked with Dan earlier in the week to set up the interview. It was important that I actually see the map and plans to get a better idea of what is going on with the construction. Dan is great to talk to because he gives you details down to the specific names for the terms. After spending two hours talking with him, my entire morning was already used up. I knew I had a great story. He was very helpful and followed up with an email with pictures of the maps to put alongside the story.
One thing to note, all construction projects are all subject to funding; however I can't say that in the article. I had to carefully write the article to make it sound like the projects are ongoing, but that there is no guarantee that they will come out the way Dan said they would be.
In the afternoon, I spent a lot of time getting things sorted out for the following week. I had plenty of articles to work on and get to finishing them and uploaded on the Tech website. I finished the article in-time before leaving for Philadelphia, yet it got lost in the emails that go to Kathy for one last-check before being uploaded onto the website.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The shortfall of a failing memory
Okay, so I should have heeded Dr. Ford's insistence that I keep an updated blog of my adventures at PIO. At least I can remember pretty far back that it is scary to even think that.
To recall, I went to interview Ms. Guo for the Langmuir award. Thankfully that was quite an easy task to accomplish. She seemed to be very shy for an interview. I really didn't mean for it to be that way. But I guess that if you never have had to be interviewed for a news story, it can be quite intimidating.
I can wonder how much stress this is for people to just sit down and give out information to a writer. Rest assured, I love talking to people, it took a while to get her to warm up and give me good answers. Unfortunately, Dr. Zhang answered most of my questions and it was kinda decent in the article. Dr. Zhang seems to be more experienced at answering them than her Ph.D student. Hehe.
I got a bit confused on a few things in this interview, but I managed to get a good story out of it. Later that day, I got an email from Ms. Guo about how she felt nervous and she apologized for being that way. She answered the remainder of my questions that she was confused about. I replied back to see if I can get a photograph of her and the award so it can be posted on the Tech website. (I went back the next day in the afternoon to get the photo.)
My next interview was with Dr. Heizler. Let me say that this is going to be one of my most difficult stories that I will cover. I spent nearly an hour and a half talking with him about plenty of things. I still don't know what I'm going to do with this project. I have about five pages of notes from interviewing him, but it seems to be so scattered around different projects and I'm trying to find something to tie them all together and it is not working. I asked Thom for advice and he suggested to start typing and then go from there. Ask questions, figure out some other things, and proceed further.
Getting to know my office has been interesting so far.
To recall, I went to interview Ms. Guo for the Langmuir award. Thankfully that was quite an easy task to accomplish. She seemed to be very shy for an interview. I really didn't mean for it to be that way. But I guess that if you never have had to be interviewed for a news story, it can be quite intimidating.
I can wonder how much stress this is for people to just sit down and give out information to a writer. Rest assured, I love talking to people, it took a while to get her to warm up and give me good answers. Unfortunately, Dr. Zhang answered most of my questions and it was kinda decent in the article. Dr. Zhang seems to be more experienced at answering them than her Ph.D student. Hehe.
I got a bit confused on a few things in this interview, but I managed to get a good story out of it. Later that day, I got an email from Ms. Guo about how she felt nervous and she apologized for being that way. She answered the remainder of my questions that she was confused about. I replied back to see if I can get a photograph of her and the award so it can be posted on the Tech website. (I went back the next day in the afternoon to get the photo.)
My next interview was with Dr. Heizler. Let me say that this is going to be one of my most difficult stories that I will cover. I spent nearly an hour and a half talking with him about plenty of things. I still don't know what I'm going to do with this project. I have about five pages of notes from interviewing him, but it seems to be so scattered around different projects and I'm trying to find something to tie them all together and it is not working. I asked Thom for advice and he suggested to start typing and then go from there. Ask questions, figure out some other things, and proceed further.
Getting to know my office has been interesting so far.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Day Three
Today was the day I began on a different story. I was assigned to write about the Chinese Ph.D. student, Ms. Yanyan Guo, who recently won the Langmuir Award in Research Excellence.
This was a new mission. I had to research what the Langmuir Award was, who Ms. Guo was, and find out who to contact. My first bets were to find emails of all of these people, the professor who nominated her, graduate office, etc.
It was not that difficult to find information about the award; I had a hard time with patience waiting for email replies. It wasn't until after work was over that I received emails from both Dr. Zhang and Ms. Guo. We set the meeting for Thursday at 1 p.m. This worked well with my scheduled interview at 2 p.m. with Dr. Matt Heizler.
I wrote most of the story for the Langmuir Award through the research I picked up about it. Now for the next day to interview these people.
This was a new mission. I had to research what the Langmuir Award was, who Ms. Guo was, and find out who to contact. My first bets were to find emails of all of these people, the professor who nominated her, graduate office, etc.
It was not that difficult to find information about the award; I had a hard time with patience waiting for email replies. It wasn't until after work was over that I received emails from both Dr. Zhang and Ms. Guo. We set the meeting for Thursday at 1 p.m. This worked well with my scheduled interview at 2 p.m. with Dr. Matt Heizler.
I wrote most of the story for the Langmuir Award through the research I picked up about it. Now for the next day to interview these people.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Day Two
I had an interview with Annine Gabaldon at Physical Recreation today. She was my second interview for the Student Association Appreciation Awards. I was quite happy getting her interviewed. My previous work with Annine has been with the Student Association and she is familiar with me and my line of business.
I spent a good half-hour interviewing Annine and getting some good quotes for the article.
I also went to Thom to give him some more updates on my progress. I finally got a return call from Dan Jones and scheduled a meeting with him for the article about La Raj. It's important for the Tech community to know what goes on on our campus.
In the meantime that I was giving Thom updates, I received an email from Vanessa Barela about the Student Appreciation Awards--she's on vacation in Europe. So an interview in person or via phone isn't going to work. I replied back requesting that she send in a couple of good quotes, such as why she was inspired to help, and etc.
Thom and I corresponded via email and first thing tomorrow morning we'll look at my first article for the Public Information Office.
I spent a good half-hour interviewing Annine and getting some good quotes for the article.
I also went to Thom to give him some more updates on my progress. I finally got a return call from Dan Jones and scheduled a meeting with him for the article about La Raj. It's important for the Tech community to know what goes on on our campus.
In the meantime that I was giving Thom updates, I received an email from Vanessa Barela about the Student Appreciation Awards--she's on vacation in Europe. So an interview in person or via phone isn't going to work. I replied back requesting that she send in a couple of good quotes, such as why she was inspired to help, and etc.
Thom and I corresponded via email and first thing tomorrow morning we'll look at my first article for the Public Information Office.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Day One
My first day at the Office for Advancement was quite interesting. I arranged my paperwork in order to get paid for the job. Thomas Guengerich is my internship boss and he is the Public Information Officer for New Mexico Tech.
After getting the paperwork to Thom, we discussed a few topics of interest to begin writing articles on behalf of the school. I jotted down a few ideas, among them were the Student Association Appreciation awards, academic awards, and graduate awards.
Since this was my first day on the job, it was kind of slow because Thom needed to talk to a few other colleagues to get more ideas and information. We talked to Kathy Hedges, she updates the Tech website and calendar. She gave some more ideas, such as the construction effort being done in La Raj.
Thom gave me two assignments to work on. SA Appreciation Awards and Construction Update on La Raj. I emailed the three award winners and requested an interview with them, and emailed Dan Jones, architect at Facilities Management to get information about La Raj. I received a response from Dr. Claudia Wilson thirty minutes after sending her the request for an interview--which I promptly responded and interviewed. She was leaving for D.C. the next day and it would not be until next week that I could catch her.
I asked Thom for some guidance and advice in interviewing people. I may be good at talking and approaching people, but I'm shy at asking the right questions and getting the right responses from people. I don't want to misquote them or misrepresent their thoughts in my writing. He suggested that I ask "open-ended" questions and let them answer for me. I also asked what I should do if a person talks to fast and I'm unable to jot down their info. He said to politely ask them to slow down so that the info gets noted down.
Before the day was over, I went to Dr. Claudia Wilson's office and interviewed her and gathered details for the article. I really enjoyed talking to her and got to know a new person. I mentioned that she is my first interviewee for my internship and that this is something new that I've been doing. I at least gave her some background so I didn't feel so awkward for being there--that seemed to help.
We'll see how this goes. First day and I get my first interview.
After getting the paperwork to Thom, we discussed a few topics of interest to begin writing articles on behalf of the school. I jotted down a few ideas, among them were the Student Association Appreciation awards, academic awards, and graduate awards.
Since this was my first day on the job, it was kind of slow because Thom needed to talk to a few other colleagues to get more ideas and information. We talked to Kathy Hedges, she updates the Tech website and calendar. She gave some more ideas, such as the construction effort being done in La Raj.
Thom gave me two assignments to work on. SA Appreciation Awards and Construction Update on La Raj. I emailed the three award winners and requested an interview with them, and emailed Dan Jones, architect at Facilities Management to get information about La Raj. I received a response from Dr. Claudia Wilson thirty minutes after sending her the request for an interview--which I promptly responded and interviewed. She was leaving for D.C. the next day and it would not be until next week that I could catch her.
I asked Thom for some guidance and advice in interviewing people. I may be good at talking and approaching people, but I'm shy at asking the right questions and getting the right responses from people. I don't want to misquote them or misrepresent their thoughts in my writing. He suggested that I ask "open-ended" questions and let them answer for me. I also asked what I should do if a person talks to fast and I'm unable to jot down their info. He said to politely ask them to slow down so that the info gets noted down.
Before the day was over, I went to Dr. Claudia Wilson's office and interviewed her and gathered details for the article. I really enjoyed talking to her and got to know a new person. I mentioned that she is my first interviewee for my internship and that this is something new that I've been doing. I at least gave her some background so I didn't feel so awkward for being there--that seemed to help.
We'll see how this goes. First day and I get my first interview.
Disclosure of Information
This post is to inform anyone who visits this blog about the disclosure of information.
I will try to keep this blog as professional as possible and maintain a high level of quality while blogging about my internship at the Public Information Office of New Mexico Tech.
It is noted, we are people and we act in a familiar fashion--make mistakes, work in teams, express emotions, and communicate.
Most of my items here are about the people I work with, the people I interview, and the people I am in contact with. There is so much to gain from reading the experiences of others, but it is important to understand that people act like humans and continue to do so until the end of humanity.
Basically, this is to cover my bases on the acts of blogging about a job. I have informed my employer and he was interested in how the blogging will be.
I will try to keep this blog as professional as possible and maintain a high level of quality while blogging about my internship at the Public Information Office of New Mexico Tech.
It is noted, we are people and we act in a familiar fashion--make mistakes, work in teams, express emotions, and communicate.
Most of my items here are about the people I work with, the people I interview, and the people I am in contact with. There is so much to gain from reading the experiences of others, but it is important to understand that people act like humans and continue to do so until the end of humanity.
Basically, this is to cover my bases on the acts of blogging about a job. I have informed my employer and he was interested in how the blogging will be.
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