Alright, as I promised, you the faithful readers of the ICM weblog get to have some input into the intern application process. Here is a list of the intern applicants with their application essays. You get a vote, but you don’t get to see the vote (because I’m trying to be cognizant of the applicants’ feelings) and the final decision still rests with the CICM leadership. Poll is at the bottom of this post. So here goes – in no particular order:

Jenna Staul – Kent State University (Click the link to read her essay)

Sarah Wyland, University of Tennessee – Knoxville

Essay:

As someone who is interested in online journalism, I believe I would have a lot to offer Center for Innovation in College Media. Some ideas I have for the CICM site include even more utilization social media such as Twitter and Facebook and including more photographic material by using sites such as Flickr, as well as blog posts on new ideas in media I gather from both my studies and my experiences. I am an avid user of Twitter and Facebook and also use Publish2 for my website, www.countrymusicnewstoday.com so I feel like I have a lot of knowledge on social media.

The University of Tennessee offers me many opportunities to learn more about what is happening in the media industry, particularly the movement towards online content. I would like to blog about the information I learn not only from attending panel discussions offered by Tennessee’s journalism program but also about information from my classes. For example, I am currently enrolled in a class on online journalism and the information I am learning is brand new in the media world, something I feel would be beneficial to other college students entering the media field. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was a recent topic we discussed and that is not a topic that is widely taught to my knowledge – this class was the first I heard of it.

Podcasting and audio slide shows are two particular areas I am interested in working with. Ideas I have for podcasts include, again, topics from classes and panels, but also information I find. I am often the first in my circle of friends to find and try new media and I have recently discovered some new sites I would love to share with others.

I would really like the opportunity to work with CICM. I believe that I not only have a lot to offer but have a lot to learn. This would be an excellent opportunity for me to develop my skills as an online journalist and I appreciate the chance to apply for this internship.

Lance Conzett, Belmont University

Essay:

The problem with many industry blogs is that they’re on the outside looking in. Because I’m currently the editor, and have previously been the online editor, of a student newspaper, I can discuss the issues affecting college media because I’m constantly having that conversation with faculty advisors, fellow journalists and practically anyone else who will listen. We’re dealing with how to manage an online product with a print product, how to engage an audience, how to promote multimedia use and creative storytelling without burning out writers, and countless other factors on a daily basis. Granted, the paper that we work on is small, but it doesn’t matter what size the media outlet is—we’re all having the same problems. I think that being able to bring those conversations to the blog would help ground discussions of innovation.

In addition to accounts of what we’re doing as a student media group (successes and failures), I’d be happy to continue to share new media innovations and how they can be applied in a campus setting. For instance, I just ran across Vuvox today and am trying to figure out how it could perhaps be used for future stories. I have no problems with using the newspaper I edit as a Petri dish for cutting edge technologies; I would be doing it anyway except with the CICM internship, I’ll be able to share the results with the blog’s audience.

Ryan Thomas, Bridgewater State College

Essay:

I can contribute my passion for the media-based arts to the website with my particular bent for being rather skeptical about what headlines the mainstream music industry. I support human-based music consisting of manually operated instruments (as well as the talent behind such) and strongly believe the industry, currently geared and advertized as being more visually appealing than sonically, is losing its authenticism by the wheel-barrow full(if it had any to begin with). But more so lately, good-sounding music seems to be pushed with forceful intent to the back burner (I defy Rolling Stone labeling Lil’ Wayne, in his shamefully unironic cover issue, as a musical genius, alongside every other hack dubbed as such by their excessively loose- lipped editorial staff). I would like to provide the dissenting voice of the lesser heard and underappreciated listener of rock that need not rely on heavy gimmickry and adherence to popular conformity.

I am an active spectator when it comes to keeping up with entertainment news (especially in music); I like to know what I’m consuming should I decide to slug down everything the entertainment industry excretes at the same rate as my gluttonous college peers (I typically don’t have so competitive an appetite). As a guitarist and writer, I am prone to such an obsession. I seek quality in every detail. I, hence, am actively involved with media on a daily basis from a dichotomous perspective: as auteur and voyeur.

I would like to be an intern for your website as it appeals to my interest in such matters and developments associated with media technology, and experience is in no short demand as I bait myself before an over-stuffed job market. I keep up with and am familiar with most contemporary platforms for online interaction (Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, etc.) as a 21-year-old senior at Bridgewater State College and English Major; I realize my interest in journalism, especially in these modern times of economic depravity, requires me to be so tech-savvy for fear of the newspaper’s mortality. Thanks for the consideration.

Vote Here:

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