IT begins

LIS4910-Info Tech Project. At first glance just another title of yet another IT course. Do not be fooled, so far I think this class may serve up to what I consider "the standard" of what a course should do. I'll explain further - it lets you learn something hands on about IT that propels you into the real world actually knowing something instead of basing your experience on theory. Now don't get me wrong, there have been a few courses in the program where I have learned some good skills, just nothing as free as this. By "free" I mean that as of today I was given the opportunity to pick an IT related project, and just go for it, anything valid. On top of that I also project having a better understanding of what IT professionals do out in the real world, smiles and frowns included.

The Project (Level 1) - Aside from my passions in IT, I also have some passions deeply rooted with my creativity. Acting has always been one of those passions and something that i enjoy as a hobby and a form of entertainment. Recently, I had wanted to do some more and perhaps include some close friends in an "up in the air" project which consisted of making an online show. Some of my friends and I really got into the NBC show "The Office" so I thought, in lieu of the writer's strike, wouldn't it be great to just make our own show - enter "The Apartment". To be written in a similar style, "The Apartment" was going to be about young adults living in a college atmosphere with a roommate setting and a college job to go with all of this. I immediately began to think up mediums and ways to achieve this idea so that we would all be able to look at it and, well, laugh. I knew I wanted to use Youtube and i already had some script writing software on my computer. All systems were a go. Well, I began working with a rough script winter 07. It had some dialogue and a few characters. With the winter break at hand, I left the script alone and waited for classes to start and for me to adjust to new morning classes and work schedule before I could pick up the script again.

The Project (Level 2) - Now that I had my classes down, I had one class in particular that presented a sort of challenge to me. The challenge was that I had to pick an IT related project and over the course of the semester complete it. I was at odds as to what I could do and then it hit me. I was sitting in class, a senior in IT and I did not know how to build a website. I knew a lot of the logistics behind a website, how to make it look, how some information should be placed, but I had never really gotten into the coding. Even in all my other classes, I guess I was more of the person that told the coder what to do and I never really joined in the experience. This was my chance, my opportunity to learn something new, and to take action into my own hands. I was going to create a website. The question now was what to make it about and why? I thought about this for a while and just like Archimedes shouted "Eureka!" I had an epiphany with a similar outcome. Why not make a website about this show I was producing? The idea was tangible, feasible, and undeniably cool. The hard part was getting this idea approved. Luckily for me, my instructor Melissa Raulston understood my concern with my inexperience with web development and gave me the go ahead. So now that I had a project...how do I launch it and make it happen.

The Project(level 3) - I already had some things I wanted to include on my website. I had looked at other "T.V." show websites and I knew that I wanted pages about the actors, about the show, maybe include some photos, and of course clips. Now, I'm not some romantic that just fell off the cloud, I KNEW for a fact that this was going to be a challenge. I would have to read up a lot on coding and obtain the necessary skills to reach my goal. Also, I knew I would need a lot of help along the way. My first mission is to make a content inventory and a wireframe, so I know what I want and kind of where I want it on the site. Also, I have to finish writing the episode and check out schedules for the people involved. Am I in way over my head? That's something we'll have to see. I'm ready to start this though, for better or worse, in sickness and health, till big red X's in squares do me part.