In filling a brand-spanking-new job in Web Communications, I'm defining what I do daily. I write features for the MU home page, I edit text that comes my way, I brainstorm about future projects, and I sit dumbfounded in meetings by the geek-speak that flies over my head, mostly in the form of tech acronyms. (On a side note, I speak geek, too, just of a different sort. I'll have my revenge during the next staff meeting by starting a heated debate about the use of subjunctive mood and the rampant misuse of the em dash.)
I have a publications background, specifically in magazines. My title is editor, but I will be writing, too. The big project on our plate is to create a news site to cover the dazzling array of work that goes on at the university. Sometimes that will be easy. Other times, it will require boiling down difficult science or mind-numbing academic language into something the average reader will willingly digest. A lot of that will depend on solid storytelling. It's all about the three second rule — not the one about eating food that falls on the floor, but the one that says we have minimal time to hook modern readers.
In my spare time, I enjoy making noises, some harmonious and others a little raunchy, on musical instruments and devices. Jason now has competition for the title of office music snob. It'll be my mix of obscure instrumentals and weird pop versus his thunderous mountain of rock. Everybody wins.
