This week Liz and I surveyed technology at Geneseo that could be used in our research and I continued to familiarize myself with WordPress. Our search started in the library when we went to Computing and Information Technology (CIT). In the past, I had thought of CIT exclusively as printer/laptop tech support and not a group that could aid in a project of this nature, but I was pleasantly surprised. CIT loans out a variety of technology for free for various number of days depending on the demand for that piece of equipment. Of special interest to Liz and I was their digital voice recorder which students can borrow for three days at a time. Looking to treat our work for this research as seriously as we can, a digital voice recorder is a step up from a phone in terms of quality, storage abilities, and also less chances of getting distracted i.e. not getting a phone call in the middle of interviewing Trish Warren next month. Later on, Liz and I may decide to make use of CIT’s “Creative Media Assistant Hours” where trained assistants can work with students or faculty on media creations or projects. Also in the library is the Teacher Education Research Center which I have access to from the School of Ed. TERC gave me a copy of Rainbow Boys from their YA collection, and I know TERC is making increasing efforts to advance the technological aspects of the center and the faculty that manages TERC will be good resources to keep in mind.
Reflecting more specifically on WordPress, I’m looking to maximize resources I can access when it becomes time to load a lot of our content onto our site since I lack any sort of background in this. I discovered last week WordPress is making its presence felt in multiple aspects of my life as my English Editing and Production class (which Liz is also in) publishes the SUNY-wide literary journal on a WordPress site at the end of the semester (https://www.gandydancer.org/). The first time I saw that site I reflected on how it’s nicely organized and has a lot of content in a few different menus with good visuals, so I was pleased to find out it was constructed through WordPress. Even better is that Alison Brown, the Digital Publishing Services Manager for Geneseo, worked with the class to construct the journal site and also could help Liz and I for some local WordPress expertise on this project. Meanwhile, Liz and I opened up our WordPress site for the first time and began to play with some of our options for developing our page. What I’m finding is there is a lot of features to consider but that I don’t really know how to use many of them. WordPress tutorials will be of use, for which many are online, and any and all expertise passed my way I will be appreciative of. Luckily, I think between instructors, Leah, CIT, TERC, Alison, and Liz we will find our way to a useful, lawful, and aesthetically pleasing website.