Image Gallery

Artifact: Image Gallery Web Site

This is one of the biggest projects I completed during my internship, also one of my favorites. The purpose of the image gallery is to provide high quality images of the Texas Tech campus to all who desire to use them.
I was charged with creating the gallery from scratch and working with another intern to populate it with images offered in three different resolutions and sizes. This project allowed me to display a number of my skills in HTML, layout and photo optimization. I learned the universal Web standards for high and low resolution images including the importance of optimizing images at 300dpi so they can be printed in high resolution. This was important for our image gallery because the primary audience of the gallery is media personnel who may use the images in a newspaper or magazine.
I also became proficient at optimizing images for the Web, particularly landscape images. The optimization process involves altering the brightness, contrasts and clarity of an image, among other aspects, to create an image that “pops” or stands out on a Web page.

RSS Project

Artifact: RSS Web page

The purpose of this project was to provide Texas Tech Today readers with information about RSS news feeds and how they work. I was charged with the tasks of researching RSS technology and developing a Web page to explain how TTU Today users can use RSS to deliver their desired news to them.

This project was a great opportunity for me to learn about a poplar technology utilized on the majority of high-content Websites today. I learned how RSS uses XML code to create basic news feeds and how an RSS aggregator distributes the news feeds directly to a users internet browser. Developing a Web page based on my research allowed me to gain some experience in technical writing. I also gained experience in process writing or writing instructions because I was charged with the task of creating simple instructions that TTU Today users could use to set up their TUU news feed.

TTU Facebook

Artifact: TTU Facebook Page

I am responsible for the Facebook project, which is a part of a larger project currently underway by the Office of Communications and marketing. The purpose of this project is to provide an official TTU facebook page where prospective and current students can get TTU applications, student-centered news, event information and more. Although this project has not been completed I still have learned a great deal about social media and higher ed marketing to this point. The page has not been made public yet but is nearing compleation.

Through research and meetings with the professional staff members of the OCM I have learned that social media has become a major recruiting tool for universities. Web Sites such as Facebook, Myspace and YouTube offer colleges a place to connect with perspective and current students where they spend the majority of their time on the internet. I have learned how to secure an “official” page on Facebook for TTU and how to create a “vanity” URL, one that lacks the normally long syntax of a personnel Facebook page.