Graduate Assistantship
When I was originally hired for the Technical Services Window, I applied without the intention of being a graduate assistant - not knowing the entirety of the "type" of role. I applied for employment while I was an undergrad, but had better luck for grad school. To my surprise once I learned I was awarded the position, my entire graduate tuition was going to be waived!
Social Platforms
Twitter is the most important platform for communicating with current and alumni students and WPUNJ Communication Department professionals. Other than updates regarding bookings and campus closings, we shared numerous re-tweets and articles from a lot of the manufacturers we use equipment and software from!
LinkedIn is the weakest platform for the Window, however this was a great tool to use for its employees to build up their professional profiles.
Whenever I develop a Facebook page and create a social media brand campaign, I treat Facebook as a duplicate homepage in addition to the website. In this case once sharing all new releases from our YouTube page to Facebook, Matthews Studio Equipment, Inc. shared our video!
Three Types of Social Media Posts
WPUNJ loved sharing stories on their students from all across campus from any alumni year. In addition to these, we also shared #TCSpotlight showcasing our own work from short films, artwork, and upcoming performances and achievements.
At the end of every semester, we shared the items that we had found from SD cards to a glove missing a pair. #TeamHobart is how we reached our network for both students, professors, and faculty.
Everyday, I scoured the internet for the most effective articles that could benefit beginner filmmakers from using different lighting kits, to understanding film theories, and how to achieve a freelancer's goal.
YouTube Channel
Before 2016's winter break, I suggested to my boss that we needed a way to tell people what the window was. Not many students in the department knew about all the resources we had available and the processes in order to check out equipment. Within a few hours of our initial meeting, I took the time to write out this script to introduce the window once you go to the homepage and YouTube channel. Here's the finished clip! (From Facebook.)
The most important and prominent piece of equipment for the window has been the Sony PMW 200. With views reaching just over 11,000 (2017), this is quite a milestone for the small team.
This camera can be used by eight (8) separate WPUNJ Communication Department production courses, as well as non-class (registered) students, faculty, and various communication clubs.
This competency tutorial covers the basic usage for this camera from putting in the battery to changing advanced internal settings. Many of the suggested videos on YouTube have been viewed by the Technical Services Window staff and linked to generated playlists.
The most important aspect of making sure the Technical Services Window's YouTube channel was accurate was to do a thorough clean-sweep of every video and updating all the descriptions. Before my contract ended, I took the time during the summer months to curate a Social Media Guidebook for whomever was to follow-up with the role. One of the diagrams I included is the photograph below.
This screenshot of the "TSW Final Cut Pro X Competency Tutorial" shows everything needed to help describe what the video is, the chapter markers, additional links to our website and related YouTube videos, and how to contact us through social media.
BREAK DOWN:
The first line of every TSW YouTube video should state the following:
"[name of equipment or software] Competency Tutorial is to help those enlisted in WPUNJ Communication Department production courses at William Paterson University of New Jersey. This competency tutorial reviews the [name of equipment or software] with [various video elements]."
There are a variety of additional links placed with our YouTube videos.
1) Playlists -- As a student service-based company, we always look for other videos to highlight on, use for reference, or to generally share additional material that the window hasn’t covered in different settings. Each equipment and software program has their own playlist.
[TSW YouTube Playlists: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClz0FJdJbn86eYCIFSzMC2Q/playlists?view=58&flow=grid]
3) Eligibility & Test -- To further ensure a successful “pass,” students would like to see the questions on the competency test and if they are permitted to use it during their time at William Paterson University of New Jersey.
During Summer 2016, my friend and I took a few days updating the various tip videos on the website and YouTube. She came up with a great idea to showcase these less popular ones on our website, which in turn, gave me the idea to cross-sell other video links and update descriptions back to the window's homepage.
