I Am What I Am. I Am Me.

A Family Homebody

I am what I am. My name—Oldham coming from a family of four—one loving mom, one caring dad, a heck of a best friend who is my twin sister, and me, Natalee, the all encompassing daughter, sister, and companion. I am the only blonde to the all the brunettes in my family keeping the spunk alive. With a spelling of –lee, I stand out from the rest. I carry this family name with pride. I encompass many traits from my family as a whole. And without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am a family fanatic and believer of God the Almighty. I am a brown-eyed girl, my daddy’s brown-eyed girl to be exact. I am fun, talented, wacky, lovable, warm, and a thoughtful 20–something year old. I am a native of Chattanooga. From the Valley of Lookout Mountain to be exact.

I am what I am. A five-foot three-inch, small, young woman with a big personality and huge heart. I am joy and I am light. I am a carrier of quotes for an uplifting day. I am your southern belle with a splash of tomboy wearing oversized t-shirts when it’s time to relax. I am a curled up ball of love on a rainy day watching lifetime movies with my family. Some say I am your innocent Natalee, well I say I am a thrill seeker in the best of ways. Your dress-up queen and Britney Spears dancer when I nanny my two little girls down the street. I am one who worships memories and cherishes them forever. A picture collector and photo album storyteller. I am a bag lover, school supply hoarder, and sticky-note-list kind of girl. I love schedules and laying out my day. You do too? Then I know we will be great friends.

A Dependable Friend

 I am the gatherer of friends, a party planner of sorts, one who makes sure all is accounted for. I am that one college student who never misses time to hang out with those who mean so much to me. I am a listener, a talker, a pick-me-up best friend. I hate to admit it, but I am a sucker for flowers. Gerber Daisies to be exact. I am a sleeper, a big sleeper; I need my rest. But not too much rest because I refuse to sleep my days away. I am not a driver, only when I need to be. I would rather spend my time outdoors, walking around, riding bikes, or even just laying in the grass (who cares if I am allergic). I am what I am.

 You can take me to the beach, where we can have fun till the sun goes down. I am not afraid to say I carry the fairest skin of all my friends and family, but could never give up the sun on a beautiful day. Sand between my toes is my favorite; I am a water lover, wind taker, bathing suit kind of girl. The beach is my home away from home, where I am a sunrise and sunset watcher. I am a catcher of crabs and a good one too. I am an adventure seeker.

I Am No One Else

I am a go-getter, hard worker, someone who puts her all into everything’s she’s got. I am what I am. I am a leader and I am involved. Some say I may be too involved, but I love what I do and could never see myself turning away from what I have been given the opportunity to do. I am the Student Government Executive Treasurer and Furman Ambassador sharing my genuine love for this prominent school. A believer, a dreamer, a black cat softy, and recently a lover of my Caviler King Charles Spaniel. I am what I am.

 I do not know where I will be in the recent years to come, but I can assure you I will be doing something I do not regret. I am outgoing, bold, brave, and a lover of life itself. I am an indulger of all experiences, one who wants to do it all. I am living out my dream while receiving the most wonderful education—A pursuer, chaser, follower of my fantasy job. Children’s Programming is where I belong when I grow

up. I’m a never ending learner who will never giving up! I am thankful, thankful, and more thankful for the life I have been given, and I am not afraid of what comes next.

Most importantly I am an individual; the only one. Natalee Oldham. I am me. This is who I am.

Taking on Capitol Hill

Anxiety Awaits

After what seemed like a few long months of waiting to hear back, I was very fortunate to get a call back from the office of one of Tennessee’s Senators, Bob Corker. I applied to work in his Washington, D.C. office for the first six weeks of this summer. Once receiving the call and accepting the offer, I felt a wonderful summer ahead.

The Beginning

I started May 13th, and my six weeks are already half way over. It seems as though it was yesterday my sister and I were moving in and getting settled before our first day arrived. Not only am I able to experience what it is like to be a staff member for an incredible man representing the state that is most dear to me, but I have also been given the opportunity to explore D.C. to its fullest.

Experiences of a Lifetime

We have taken a tour of the Library of Congress, the National Archives, as well as the Dome of the Capitol! I must say seeing the city of D.C. over the top of the Capitol was probably one of the most thrilling experiences I have ever felt before. It was definitely a beauty.

Throughout my time here, I have met so many wonderful friends, and every weekend we try to get out and explore a little more of the city. Memorial Day Weekend was a weekend that should go down in the books. We started the weekend off with lounging on the National Mall for a few hours and then going to visit a few of the different Smithsonian Museums. On Memorial Day, we all woke up extra early to travel to the Arlington Cemetery to see President Obama speak.

It was such an honor to be so close and to be able to pay our respect to those who have fought and continue to fight for our beautiful country. I will never forget those who have given their lives to keep us safe.

Until Next Time

These are just a few of the experiences I have been given through this amazing opportunity. I look forward to the next three weeks and for everything that lies ahead. Keep reading in the near future to learn more about my time up here on Capitol Hill!

Website

Tags

organization, website

As a final project for the semester, we were to build our own websites, where we are able to showcase our work. Please take a look at my website, and let me know how I can benefit your organization! Hope you enjoy. Click my homepage below!

Open Sky: Part III

Tags

cyberspace, Paul Virilio, perception, questioning, reality

In Virilio’s last section of Open Sky, he goes into deeper thought about the visual aspects of digital media. The questions in which are raised throughout the chapter are based around the quote by Gary Hill, “Vision is no longer the possibility of seeing, but the impossibility of not seeing.” Virilio then goes on to explain and examine how our visual world is replacing our written world.

Perception of the World

In his Eye Lust chapter, he talks about the ethics of contemporary perception. In regard to our contemporary perception, he raises the question, “Is what we are seeing an optical or, more precisely, an optoelectronic fetishism?” (p.90). Think about the visual world in relation to our written world. Like Virilio is questioning, I can see how in a sense this is confusing for our world as a whole.

Check Back to Reality

I thought it was very interesting to read Paul Virilio’s book at the end of this course. He took a different approach to digital media as a whole, and made it a point to get us to step back and check back to reality. Cyberspace is an upcoming popular phenomena if it isn’t already, but as someone from the outside, we need to slow down and appreciate the little things in life a little more than being caught up in the virtual world.

Your Thoughts

What do you feel as though the visual world is taking over? Anything at all? As a whole, are you one to agree with Paul Virilio and his notions on digital media and taking over our society today?

A New Look into Technology: Open Sky Part II

Tags

individuality, law of least action, miniaturize the world, Open Sky, personal touch, speedy communication, use of technology

As our class continues to read in Open Sky by Paul Virilio, a clearer message can be sought out. Virilio speaks a lot on the fact that the technology today consists of a deeper meaning within. As he picks apart the way he views our rise in use of technology, he states some important points for the public to consider as a whole.

Effecting our Bodies

Virilio brings up a point regarding how scientists are coming up with some sort of microrobots that they believe will soon be placed within our bodies. This notion brings up the idea that these machines will more or less control every part of our actions and so forth within our bodies. Think back to “Wall-e” the movie; these minds were being controlled through high-tech machinery causing the people to become “worthless” when it came to walking, speaking, and even thinking.

The Law of Least Action

Virilio discusses how it is our desire to “miniaturize the world”, meaning that we want to create an like as we know it to have the least amount of space or time because it is subject to internet, technology, and speedy communication. This is important when defining “the law of least action”. We want to take the initiative to follow the least amount of steps it may take to get anywhere. All effort is lost; we are miniaturizing our world as a whole.

Danger within our Society

As one of the main points throughout this part of Open Sky is Virilio’s notion of technology bringing danger to our society is a bigger issue to ponder upon. Our upcoming generation with all the technology that we are getting ourselves into can change us for the better or worse. Throughout Virilio’s book, we can see the ways in which technology takes away from individuality, personal touch, as well as the travel component as a whole.

Your Thoughts

Do you think Virilio is right when speaking of the dangers technology is bringing to our world? How do you use technology in everyday life, and is it something you would say is taking over society?

The Third Interval – Real Time and Real Space

Tags

mobility, Open Sky, personal connection, third interval, unconscious state of being

In Paul Virilio’s Open Sky, it is brought to the readers’ attentions that it is important for us to consider what we as a rising generation are getting our hands onto in terms of technology and the global media. Virilio takes an in-depth look at critiquing our global media as we see it today.

Personal Connection

With this third interval, as Virilio calls it, there is the accidental loss of mobility meaning an actually loss of people moving around. Instead we are transitioning into a more unconscious state of being. Therefore, is this a state of being?

Another big point Virilio brings up is the loss of the journey throughout the concept of real time in the third interval. These journeys we encounter on a personal level loses that value of the experience through the third interval.

Personal Beliefs

As I began reading the first chapters of this book, I began to think back to my Mass Communication course where we talked about how Mark Deuze states in his article on media, culture, and society that “media are not crucial to everyday life and public communication because of their potential to reach an entire national or otherwise mass public with a restricted range of content and experiences” but instead talks of how it is the public in which who does the voluntary action immerging themselves within the media at hand.

All in all, our children are our future and digital media are not going to go anywhere any time soon. Some would argue the importance of where our technological based world is leading us.

Your Thoughts

What are your thoughts on real time and digital media/technology on the rise? How do you think it will effect our future as a whole?

Video on the Life of Student Assistants

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Admissions Office, Furman University, iMovie, Student Assistants, video presentation

Digital Video

As we are almost coming to an end for the semester, one of our final projects was to come up with a video presentation of our topic we have been following throughout the semester. Below you will find my work with iMovie and Audacity combined together to produce my video on Student Assistants in the Admission Office at Furman University!

Your Thoughts

Please let me know what you think! Hope you enjoy!!

User Experience and Its Importance

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aesthetics, conceptual framework, effective content, effective website, pleasing to the eye

In The Elements of User Experience, Jesse James Garrett talks about how the user experience is “the experience the product creates for the people who use it in the real world” (p. 6). It’s all about how simple the product is and how easy it is for users to find what they need to find when searching throughout.

Let’s talk mainly about a product such as a website. Websites are used throughout each day into the night; websites are always being used. Users must be able to interact with a product, such as a website, on a level where the user is able to understand what it being shown within the site as a whole. If users cannot determine how to navigate within, then it is not an effective website.

Aesthetics

Another thing to think about is the aesthetics of a site. When creating a website, you want to keep in mind the looks and how it may attract different users. No one wants to look through a boring website. If a user were to go through a website that was not pleasing to the eye, then he or she may choose to return to your competition’s website instead. The most important thing to think about is how to design a site that is pleasing to the eye yet not too overbearing with its aesthetics.

Effective Content

Let’s say your site has the majority of content within the different links, but not any products to be sold. Then another important thing for you to consider is “[communicating] that information as effectively as possible” (p. 12).

The Surface Plane, Skeleton Plane, Structure Plane, Scope Plane, and Strategy Plane are the five different elements that make up a full website. Garrett talks about how each of these planes all rely on the each other to form a decent website. They “provide a conceptual framework for talking about user experience problems and the tools we use to solve them” (p. 21). This is just one of the many things to think about when creating your own user friendly website.

Your Thoughts

What do you think is one of the better ways to lay out a website? Have you ever produced a website that needed its user friendliness changed?

It’s All About the Audience

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audience, characteristics, people, personas, user groups

People, People, People

In Janice Redish’s Letting Go of the Words, she emphases how our audience members and understanding them is the most important aspect when creating a website that will benefit the creator in the long run. To be a successful writer, you will consider your audience and focus on what’s best for them. There are seven steps to better understand who your audience is, and Redish describes them as thus:

List your major audiences

Gather information about your audiences

List major characteristic for each audience

Gather your audiences’ questions, tasks, and stories

Use your information to create personas

Include the persona’s goals and tasks

Use your information to write scenarios for your site

When listing your user groups, you always need to be sure you are referring to actual people. This way it is as specific as possible when reaching out to your user group.

Once you begin to gather information about your audiences, you are able to get to know them better and their “realities”. It’s best to gather this information through surveys, interviews, feedback, as well as ethnographies. This way you can then list the different characteristics for the audiences. As someone gathering information, you may come across different emotions of the audience members. This is good to use within the characteristic step.

It is a good idea to gather different questions that your user group will want answered on your website. After doing so, you can use all of this information that you have gathered to create personas of the website, include the personal goals, as well as be able to write different scenarios for the website. This is important because then the website can be of live use and personal feel for your user groups. When creating these scenarios, it is important to remember that they will be able to help you produce a well thought out website.

Your Thoughts

What would be one thing you would like to add onto a website of your own? Do you think it is important for a website to be specifically directed at one user group?

Point of View

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audience's POV, character's POV, point of view, storyteller

In Douglass and Harnden’s chapter on Point of View, they state that the one of the most important aspects to both the storyteller as well as the audience is the point of view. They are significant because they help tell information about the story that is being filmed. Also POV shots are all about the perspective of a certain character, whether that’s of the storyteller or character with the story.

Storyteller

There are different perspectives of the storyteller: First Person, Second Person, and Third Person.

First Person: This perspective is often told in a documentary format. This is when the storyteller wants to tell the story in his or her viewpoint. When the audience views a documentary, the first person point of view gives the viewer an opportunity to give remarks on what is being seen. This format usually has a voice-over narrative with a picture being shown.

Second Person: It is all about “you” as the viewer. Throughout the clip or film, the picture is there to be directed towards you. This is rarely used in productions, but it is often used in advertising, where the sponsor is trying to talk you into buying the product that is being sold.

Third Person: This point of view is most commonly used in production. Chapter 3 states that this is when “the actions of characters and people on the screen are rendered from an observer’s point of view” (p. 35). This is then connected with the first person when used in production with the narration aspect to the production itself.

Character and Audience

Not only is there the storyteller’s point of view, the producer has to take into consideration the character and audience’s point of view. The character’s POV is one of the most important decisions when deciding how to tell the story as a whole. The audience’s POV is also important because this is how the audience depicts what he or she is watching.

Your Thoughts

Have you ever shot a film in first, second or third person? What do you feel is the most important aspect to consider when producing a film for an audience?