I’m very happy to announce that I’m officially joining ReadWriteWeb as their full-time Webmaster starting on October 5. (Check out Richard MacManus’s tweet announcing my hire.) I don’t know if text can appropriately convey how excited I am to work with such a high-quality and well-respected publication on a full-time basis, but I suspect a video would just be downright embarrassing and ultimately detrimental to my “personal brand.” ;) I’ve been working with RWW part-time since April on a variety of small projects, and when the opportunity arose for me to work with them full-time, I knew it would be a good fit going forward. The crew at ReadWriteWeb is brilliant, and if you don’t read them, you’re missing out on fantastic analysis and commentary on this wild, wild Web we all find ourselves in.

The ReadWriteWeb move ends a six-year chapter for me at College of Charleston, my alma mater and my employer since I was 19. I got started there in October 2003 as a student worker in the helpdesk; my initial assignment was primarily the preparation of Windows machines for deployment. My role at the helpdesk gradually expanded and I worked as a field technician for several years until I was hired as the College’s webmaster in June 2007. My time at the College shaped who I am — period. I’m so fortunate to have worked with excellent and downright fun folks at the College, where we did some fairly outstanding things, including a dramatically revamped website with not only a new design, but also a new content management system and supporting infrastructure to go with it. I’m really proud of what we did there. I’ll freely admit that it’s very hard to leave a place you’ve known for a good chunk of your life. However, the Web is in able hands there, and is in a good spot to move forward. And, for the Web-and-Linux-inclined, I do encourage you to apply for my old job when it comes out. I’ll tweet when the job becomes available.

The Twitter response has been incredible. Thank you, everybody. :) A lot of people are wondering if I’m staying in Charleston; and that answer is yes — for now, anyway. ReadWriteWeb operates virtually; our meeting room is Skype-based, for instance, and we’re spread out all over the world. (Founding editor Richard MacManus lives in New Zealand, for example.) The job’s virtual nature is very advantageous in that I won’t have to move at all — and who likes to move? So, I’ll be in Charleston for a while yet, I suspect. I’ll still be fully active in Social Media Club, and hope to continue contributing to the good work that we’re doing with nurturing and expanding the local tech community.

More to come here, including updates on BarCampCHS and what we’re doing with SMC — stay tuned!

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The program on Thursday featured discussion from Bill Hawkins, the executive editor of the Post & Courier who spoke for the state of print media; John Palmer, a former NBC News correspondent who now works with Retirement Living Television, testified to the state of broadcast news; Noel Mermer, publisher of the Charleston City Paper discussed the role of “alternative” weekly newspapers; and finally, Phil Noble, president of Phil Noble & Associates, represented “new media.”

I got a nice surprise when Jason Zwiker stopped in, notebook and camera at the ready. It was especially cool to have a fellow blogger stop in for a very relevant topic (I’m surprised I didn’t see more of you out there!). We both frantically took notes as Bill Hawkins discussed the increasingly locally-focused role of the Post & Courier and how Charleston.Net is about to drive their newsroom when they launch the new site next month. I was impressed with his confidence in his Web strategy, as he declared “I am an editor that embraces the Web.” That’s how a newspaper survives (and thrives!) in this 21st Century media climate, and I’m very impressed with it. (I think that what has transpired with the Lowcountry Blogs group has done a lot to instill this confidence in the upper echelons of the P&C editorial staff. I don’t think I’m too far off the mark with that thought, and I have a feeling a lot of you agree.)

John Palmer was intriguing, as well, because I have always admired broadcast news. His anecdotes were quite interesting and quite hilarious at times. I do think he was more poignant about broadcast TV’s role in the new climate, though. He spoke of the decrease in bureaus in cities, and seemed to think that broadcast news was going to have to find a way to shift to the Internet in order to continue to thrive. He did reiterate to the crowd of mostly students, though, that there will always be jobs for writers, reporters, and producers — Internet, broadcast, or otherwise, those values are all still needed.

I’ve been a fan of Noel Mermer’s City Paper since I first came to the College of Charleston. I’ve watched it grow in popularity and enjoy its unique perspective on Charleston. I’ve also found it to be a great way to find out what’s going on if I ever get that itch to leave the house. He spoke on how it doesn’t get easier from the early days — it is, as he calls it, a “constant battle.” He spoke of how the Web is especially important to the City Paper as they only publish once a week (Wednesdays), though he reiterated that the City Paper doesn’t necessarily intend to compete with the daily paper. Mermer noted that alternative newspapers present many opportunities to embrace technology, and the City Paper certainly has, running a great blog called The Back Channel. Think of it as the City Paper’s irreverent view on topics far and wide, updated daily, with a few reminders of shows and stuff mixed in. It’s a great thing to keep tabs on to help keep tabs on the pulse of Charleston.

Phil Noble, Jr. pulled no punches, saying that the students in the room are “coming of age in the beginning of a revolution.” He had some great advice for everyone in the room, and that is that everyone should have a blog — and I agree. That’s really the beauty (and the pitfall!) of this new medium — everyone can stand up and shout out. Certainly the signal to noise ratio is another topic for another day, but the fact that blogging has become so accessible to anyone with a computer and Internet access (with no real knowledge of Web development or anything required thanks to services like Blogger and WordPress’s hosted blogs) makes the barrier to entry a lot smaller. Noble discussed how citizen journalism is making an unprecedented impact (and cited the “Hillary 1984″ video that made the rounds last week as a great case in point) and that it will supplement or even supplant traditional journalism in the next few years (if it hasn’t already, really). I like his closing advice a whole hell of a lot: “You can change the world. Now go do it.”

After the panelists gave their presentations, we were split up into groups to tackle a breaking news story involving a fictional presidential candidate. In this case, Sen. Horace Fudrucker of Nebraska, running for president on a platform of strong gun control, a federal DWI statute, and compulsory military service to name a few, ran his car into a light pole. It was determined he was driving with a 0.18 BAC and was driving with an unregistered firearm in the vehicle, along with his secretary. The objective of the groups were to tackle the story in the style of either a traditional print newspaper, a broadcast news outlet, an alternative newspaper, or a blog. Jason and I were in a group that handled the story like it was an alternative paper (such as the City Paper, for example.) After getting the initial tongue-twister of “Fudrucker” out of the way (yes, I managed to bungle the “f” and the first “r” in a very inconvenient place), we titled our paper The Lincoln Log (and the companion blog — wait for it — The Lincoln Blog) and went on to create an article called Fudruckus. Because it’s an alternative newspaper with an irreverent bent, we tackled the tough questions, such as what he was drinking (his past includes 30 years as a beer distributor, so wouldn’t it have been ironic if he was drinking vodka or rum?), why he, a married man with four children, was with his secretary (great family values there, too bad he didn’t play that card in his platform!), and if he is ready for that mandatory jail sentence for having an unregistered firearm. It turned out incredibly hilarious. I was unanimously voted to deliver the speech, and it went to perfection. Our group’s story had the room rolling. It was truly great.

Afterward, I met up with a few of the Advisory Council members as well as Noel Mermer. It was great networking and a fantastic experience, as usual. It really bothers me, though, that after the speakers, half of the students got up and left. They, in essence, missed the really fun part. I will never understand that. Did they need to get going early to get their party on (c’mon, it was Thursday for crying out loud), or what? I think they missed out on the best part, and that really bothers me. Such is life, though…

It was a great time, and I’m anxiously awaiting the next Advisory Council visit. It’s a guaranteed great time.

The post A recap of the CofC media forum on Thursday appeared first on Jared W. Smith.

I would have blogged during the day, but the Internet connection at the College was out all day. A vital piece of hardware at the College’s ISP failed and they had to ship down a new part. In other words, they were carrying replacement tubes for the Internet(s) inside a big truck. Haha.

See you all tomorrow. Be careful driving over the bridge(s) — it’s going to be pretty windy for the next few hours…

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Last night I made the final steps toward getting the CofC IT pages ready for launch, and it appears that they did indeed get revealed to the world this morning. While I had little input on the design, I took care of a LOT of the plumbing. I likened it to getting in a field of about 1500 cats and trying to round them up and get them to sit straight. Very difficult. You can see the fruits of our labor here. You might recognize the student worker who was recognized…

It’s just so nice to have a refreshing rush of normalcy — and on that note, off to class I go.

Catch you all later…

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I just hope the rain and the markedly colder weather hold off until after, say, 10:15PM or so, when I get to check out. The hour-by-hour breakdown on weather.com suggests it’ll be 52 downtown with cloudy conditions when I leave here. Let’s hope they’re on with that one. I don’t want to get caught in frigid, wet weather with only a sweater-shirt and khakis. My cold tolerance is admittedly faint below about 50 degrees or so, and when rain’s mixed in…look out. Very low on the Valuemeter. I really, really hope the icing scenario doesn’t play out. That stuff just isn’t fun at all. I’ll never forget driving to Greenwood from Charleston that March night in 2003, after getting back from San Diego for my grandmother’s memorial — by the time I arrived, my car was covered in ice and it took quite a bit of force to get out. That was nuts, especially for someone not versed in winter weather at all. Of course, the next month up there, we had tornado warnings on what seemed like a daily basis.

Last night was productive. I popped into the new Tanger Outlet in North Charleston, armed with a gift card that I received for Christmas. I left with four pairs of pants and four shirts (including the sweater-shirt I’m currently wearing) from the Gap for a shade under $130, most of which was absorbed by the gift card. Clearances really are a beautiful thing. It’s also nice to finally have some recent new clothing, to boot.

Everyone was extra nice to me at work today after the Chargers’ loss. I wonder why. :P

Hope you all have an enjoyable evening — catch you on the flip side of the front!

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College of Charleston’s student government ought to be commended for their efforts in shutting down the piledrivers for exam week. Not only did they, according to Senator Seaton Brown (the public face of the effort), manage to land over 2,000 signatures (including those, I’m told, of high-level administrators), but I and I’m sure a lot of others wouldn’t have heard of this (at least before it made news) if it weren’t for Facebook. For those of you still in denial over the power of social networking, look no further than the piledriver shutdown as a fantastic example of how social networking has totally altered not only day to day college experiences but also empowered people to organize who may have never done so before. Think of it — this story made the local news and eventually the Associated Press, and was picked up nationally. And you know what? It forced action. The idea of earplugs was ridiculous (because not only is there that large BANG of the steel, there’s also the ensuing vibration that can be felt two blocks away). This was, really, the only sane solution. Next time, the College should time the start of these construction projects a wee bit better and perhaps build dark periods into the project’s budget so further clashes can be avoided.

The other day, Patrick and I were talking about that velocity limit I thought was imposed in the WiiSports baseball game. He told me that he hit 95mph in baseball on WiiSports, and I was befuddled. I thought he had misread, but he stuck to his guns. Last night, once again, I was at Ale’s in celebration of his impending birthday (it’s on Sunday). Naturally, the Wii was the centerpiece of the evening. After having my ass handed to me at tennis (and then promptly handing it right back courtesy of the turbo-serve), it was time for baseball. I went into my usual pitching routine…and lo and behold, on my second batter of the first inning, I hit 95 on the radar gun. E-gad! I had everyone else there check me on it, and yep, it was 95. No misreading. :) I couldn’t reach 95 again, though — I guess that’s extremely difficult to do. But yes, it is possible. Sorry, Patrick, for ever doubting you. ;) I wonder if Jake Peavy or Roger Clemens could get even faster.

This brings us to today — I began the day in a haze at 11:30 am and promptly sat in my computer chair for four hours or so eating Crispix doing random mundane things. My arm doesn’t feel bad at all, though — a major improvement over last weekend. I have a fair number of CDs that still need to be ripped, so I made healer useful and it is ripping CDs with Audiograbber as we speak. It’s doing a damn good job, if I must say so myself. Having the 15-20 additional albums in my Winamp library is a plus, too.

Tonight I’ll be stopping in at a party at a friend’s for a little while. I don’t anticipate being there too long as there is much to be done tomorrow, including closing out a website project and hoping for yet another Charger victory against the Bills. The Panthers, for the second time this season, have the opportunity to make asses of themselves on national TV when they play the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. This is the game that will define whether the rest of the Panthers’ season is for pride or for a playoff push, I think.

Catch you all tomorrow with a recap of this evening’s impending events and other random things I’m thinking — you know, the usual. :)

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Also, Channel 2 News knows about the petition and a reporter from Post and Courier was at Senate tonight- so it sounds like we’re making some news! So tell all your friends and sign the petition! Thanks!

Let’s hope some sanity is restored to the campus for at least a few weeks. The piledriving is hella annoying, and can literally be heard across the entire campus. If it weren’t for the hustle and bustle of Calhoun St., I’m sure I’d hear it from my Ashley Ave. apartment, too.

Kudos to SGA for taking action on this on behalf of the student body — my many thanks to you.

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• It sure seems wrong that I am going to be wearing shorts today. With a high near the coast estimated around 75, it’s going to be quite a beautiful day. Enjoy today and tomorrow, for Friday will bring along the winds of change: a northwesterly flow which will cool us right down to where we were during the middle of last week. Expect it to get warm again next Tuesday, though…so bizarre.
• If you’re at CofC, check out the Sustainable Campus Initiative folks behind Addlestone today. They’re doing a lightbulb exchange (exchange standard lightbulbs for flourescent ones) and have a branded coffee mug deal where you can get the mug and take it into select local coffeeshops and get a discount for not using their paper cups. It’s really good stuff, and I strongly recommend everyone stops in there.
• Also at CofC, incoming president Dr. George Benson and his wife, Jane, will be doing a welcoming ceremony at Alumni Hall. I’m disappointed that my schedule won’t permit me to attend this event — I’d like to see how this guy is. Apparently he’s a really good fundraiser — let’s hope they got him for more than his fundraising prowess, though.
• I hope everyone had a safe Halloween weekend. On Saturday, I went up to Tom’s (as usual) and did an impromptu party with them. It was fun. My costume? A far-thinner and hairier version of the Tourette’s Guy (warning, EXTREMELY vulgar!!!). No, I didn’t get off on an incoherent rant like he does in his videos, but I did have the khakis, the authentic Tony the Tiger t-shirt, and a neckbrace. It was pretty classic, if confusing to about 98% of America. I didn’t get any trick or treaters last night — at least none that I was aware of. I was up in the office researching Vista stuff until 8:30 or so. That, coupled with a paper for my Biology lab, pretty much killed any idea of going out last night (though it almost happened). Speaking of which — does anyone out there in IT have any insights about deploying Vista in their enterprise? I’m curious to see what the rest of the world is doing.

I may catch you all a little later tonight, as at this point I don’t foresee any other major assignments coming down the pike (but never say never…)

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