Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Literal:

• (a) I, Krystal Lam, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
• (b) Sources used:
• Mimi Orth, my mentor. 
• The Editor-In-Chief, by Benton Rain and Coleman E.P. Patterson. 
• (MLA: Patterson, Benton Rain, and Coleman E. P. Patterson. The Editor in Chief: A Management Guide for Magazine Editors. Second Edition. Ames: Iowa State, 2003. Print.)
• The Yearbook Bible (Chapter: The Elements of a Yearbook Spread), by Dolores Sanders and Mimi Orth. 
• (MLA: Sanders, Dolores. "The Elements of a Yearbook Spread." The Yearbook Bible. By Mimi Orth. 4th ed. Charlotte: Herff Jones, 2012. Print.)
• (c) My log of hours dedicated to this independent component is located on the right sidebar of my blog, called "Independent Component 1 Log." Also on the sidebar is a document titled "Independent Component 1 Completed." Some previous blog posts of mine contains photos and descriptions of what I did while working on first deadline.
• (d) I completed the first deadline of the 2013-2013 yearbook. The first deadline consisted of the cover, endsheets (also known as the "space for signing and signatures"), and pages one through thirty-two.

Interpretive:

• I worked on completing the first thirty-pages of the yearbook, where I had designed a few of my own spreads, brainstormed on coverage ideas, assisted and taught the design team, gathered and organized content such as photographs and writing, and edited or revised spreads before they would be turned in. The first deadline is honestly the most important, because it contains many of the color pages and has the most impact on the school body, being that it contains the cover as well. I was responsible for making sure that all of these spreads would be turned in on or before the due date, November 18, 2013. I dedicated many hours to creating and editing spreads, as well as directing, helping, and guiding the design team on their assigned pages. I had to refer back to my sources every now and then to ensure that the spreads would turn out to be quality ones, where the overall aesthetic of the spreads would be pleasing and interesting. I also spent time going over and checking all of the photos and writing from staff members. Going along with the ideas given by the designers and their respective spreads, I personally picked photos and chose the stories that were suitable for each spread. The evidence can be located on the right sidebar of my blog, titled "Independent Component 1 Completed," as well as in a few previous blog posts where you can view photos and descriptions of what I worked on for the first deadline.

Applied: 

• This component helped me understand the foundation of my topic, Editorial Publishing, much better because it showed me the kind of work an editorial publisher puts into the creation and creative process of their product. In my case, I had to dedicate a lot, and I mean A LOT of time, thought, and creative vision into my product, which was the 2013-2014 yearbook. Being that this was only the first deadline, this independent component also prepared me for the onslaught of more deadlines to come, a main component in an editorial publisher's duties. Independent Component 1 has also pushed me to continue learning how to produce a quality yearbook, by teaching, directing, and working with your fellow designers, editors, and staff.

Grading Criteria:

• Link on sidebar, "Independent Component 1 Hours Log."
• Link on sidebar, "Independent Component 1 Completed," as well as some previous blog posts containing photos and descriptions of what I did working on first deadline.
• This is the LIA, and it is on my blog once I press "publish." (・∀・ )

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I'm proud of how strong my content section was, and how my PowerPoint just helped visually support what I was talking about, rather than just relying information to the audience. I made sure to focus on understanding the content I presented today and not read off what was on the slides, so that way I interacted more with eye contact and engaging the audience.

2a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

• I would give myself an AE or a P+. I met P requirements, and felt that I went above them. I included a lot of examples, both of what helped me formulate my answer, as well as examples I had created for the presentation itself. I made sure to refer to my mentor, my sources, as well as experiences that regarded the content multiple times. My PowerPoint was also interesting, so it really helped in keeping everyone engaged throughout the entire time.

2b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

• I had definitely met all P requirements in professionalism by keeping things fun, interesting, and interactive. I made sure not to just read off slides, and spoke nice and casually, so it wouldn't sound like a typical formal presentation. For organization and creativity, I went out of the box with my PowerPoint by adding a lot of relevant photos, graphics, animations, the props I brought which were the yearbooks, my activities, and so on. I really enjoyed how people participated in my activity, not just because of the candy prizes, but also because of how everything I had taught before was made clear by having actual yearbooks to find things in. My justification and answer also met P consideration, but I went more in-depth with referring to my two sources and mentorship throughout the presentation, almost on every slide. Finally, for audience involvement, I went above P consideration by having my hook activity be an attention-getter and point out a problem, and answered the problem we saw in that activity with my other activity. Everyone use what I talked about in my lecture to understand the purpose of the hook activity, as well as understand why my answer of designing a spread that portrays content is prevalent in my EQ and topic.

3. What worked for you in Lesson 2?

• What worked was the templates we had to do beforehand, because it really helped me organize and put together the presentation itself.

4. What didn't work?

• I guess what didn't work was how much time I spent on the lecture content section. It was difficult trying to keep time of myself while I was actually presenting, when all my focus is diverted to talking and whatnot, so I feel like I went a little over time on that, resulting in reaching about 30-32 minutes overall. To better state that, I would say the timing of my presentation.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

• This time I think it would be "having emotionally compelling copy about the student body." Still not too sure at this point.

One Deadline Kind of Done. Three to Go.

That's right, the first 32 pages of the yearbook are DONE. Sort of. Unfortunately, as every yearbook publication goes through, we are still in the process of making editing adjustments to our spreads. Our "proof" files are here; the large printouts of what we've turned in to Herff Jones, where we make corrections online and resend it back to the processing plant. In the midst of this all, deadline 2 has creeped up on us, leaving a rush to get things done. I mostly spent today's elective planning out the NEXT deadline, which is in three weeks. Ridiculous right... But that's what yearbook is! Deadline 3 has a lot of spaces to fill, since we don't know what will be happening on campus for the next month. I also spent a lot of time helping each team leader with their assignments. The designers are working hard at and after school. We've had 3 Skype "work" meetings from home, so not every second is wasted. We also got some more new students, so we took a good chunk of elective time to teach them the basics. As I was working in the back, I saw that main issues I've come across lately is the lack of content due to the winter break, as well as there being not much happening at iPoly lately. So I'm going to be busy trying to plan out the content that we will be needing, as well as the two other deadlines that are on our backs. Oh boy.

Anyways, here are some updates regarding Yearbook.

A profile that will be going into the senior portraits. I've revamped the photo to become a cut out of the person, so it's not as boring, as well as a better headline.

Elijah and his spread. He's working on the "all coverage device", which covers what happened during the week in photos and caption, much like Instagram. 

A proof file we got back, of the senior class and the best and most winners... We fixed it, big time! Nathan is in the works of it.

Nitjasin and his layout of a spread. This is honestly the hardest part of creating a spread, because you don't have any content to work off of yet. You've just gotta visualize.

Panorama of the room, busy with deadlines.

Bryan editing some copy writing, which will go into a spread about Model Assembly.

Strand paused the class today to teach a crash course to the newbies. They need to improve their interview skills, so they did an activity.

Hannah, a photo editor, going through each and every spread to mark down people in photos, so that each photo has a different person.

Bryan and I had to go over Hannah's list of people to see who's been in the book too much, versus who hasn't. 

Deadline 3 planning! Still in the works as well.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

1. How can an editorial publisher produce a quality yearbook?
2. What defines a quality yearbook?
3. What are all of the components of a quality yearbook?
4. What characteristics in editors make for a quality yearbook?
5. What characteristics in staff members help create a quality yearbook?
5. What are some common issues that result in an unsuccessfully executed yearbook? How can an editorial publisher resolve these problems?
6. What must an editorial publisher do to keep the creative process of the yearbook running smoothly?
7. Where can an editorial publisher draw inspiration for quality spreads?
8. What is the best way to strengthen the overall aesthetic (design, photo, and copy) of a yearbook?
9. How can an editorial publisher best help their fellow editors and staff members in creating spreads?
10. What can an editorial publisher do to make sure that quality spreads will be turned in on time for a deadline?

Blog 11: Mentorship Hours

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

• In Strand's class whenever Mimi drops by to help us on the production of the yearbook, to teach myself and the other editors, or to work with Strand and I on the computers. The tasks vary each day.

2. Who is your contact?

• My contact is Mimi Orth, a Herff Jones Sales Representative.

3. How many total hours have you done?

• In total, I have done 30.5 hours (including summer mentorship). Not including the 10 hours of summer mentorship, it's been 20.5 hours working with Mimi. The hours varied daily when Mimi was here for different purposes, such as setting up the computers, designing certain pages, or organizing programs, which took longer than the hour and a half allotted for elective.

4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did. 

• I have done more than 10 hours, because mentorship takes place every other Tuesday each month. The most that I had done was working with, assisting, and directing the editorial team, Strand, and staff on the progress of first deadline. Majority of the time I taught design team on yearbook design, edited design layouts, helped brainstorm ideas for stories, assigned staffers their assignments, scheduled out events to cover, and look over photo submissions. I also held meetings with design, photo, and copy teams during school and on weekends, and work on spreads at home (Skyping with editors and whatnot). Because I am the "Book Editor-in-Chief," I am solely responsible for the production of the yearbook itself, while Stacy handles funds, elective management, and logistics, so during mentorship I focus on the creative aspects of yearbook elective. 

5. Email your house teacher the name of your contact and their phone number confirming who they should call to verify it.

• Okay.

Blog 10: Senior Project - The Holiday

1. What did you do over break with your senior project?

• Over break, I continued looking at research to help conceive a few ideas, angles, and answers regarding my new essential question. I visited my local library to check out potential articles and books to use for the upcoming research checks, and spent time reading over these materials. I also spent some time working on my independent component, where I contacted yearbook design team members and turned in the remainder of our proof spreads.

2. What is the most important thing you learned from what you did and why? What was the source of what you learned?

• The most important thing I learned is how to manage time while working on a product which involves heavy investment of teamwork. What I mean by this is that deadlines are a huge concern in working on any type of project, in my case, the first deadline of the yearbook. Managing your own deadlines within a major deadline is something that an editor must know how to do. Every assignment given should not only be of high quality, but must be turned in on time, or else it won't be in the final copy of the yearbook. In order to make sure it is, there are steps along the way in which I will have to schedule certain times where a component of a spread is due, before the final due date. For example, a complete spread may be due January 27. It is part of my duties to manage how the spread will be completed. An outline may be due January 1; then, photos for that spread should be due January 7. The source from where I learned this is from the book titled, "The Editor-in-Chief: A Management Guide for Magazine Editors," by Benton Rain Patterson and E.P. Patterson. This book had a whole chapter dedicated to time management, which I personally think was the most important part that I have read so far.

3. If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

• I would talk to the Class of 2012's Editor-in-Chief, Elissa Fultz, who has more than five years of experience in Yearbook, and also worked on other independent projects of editorial publication. If I am unable to be able to interview Elissa, I would interview a fellow Yearbook advisor, Rebecca Chai. Rebecca Chai works at Walnut High School, and has prior experience working as  an editor for a newspaper as well as being a representative for Herff Jones.

New Year, New Research

Hey guys, just trying to squeeze in a quick update about my senior project. So far during my break I've slept in, ate tons, and found some useful articles that kind of help me figure out my EQ (which reminds me, I need to update my header EQ). I checked out this book from the library called The Editor in Chief: A Management Guide for Magazine Editors. Long title. So the first few chapters talked about organization, but then I got to the middle of the book where it covers staff treatment and management. There was a chart/quiz kind of thing that was outlined to determine what kind of leading personality you have, and how you can utilize your strengths to help your staff. In my case, following the chart I found that I am a hands-on type of leader, meaning that I like to do and learn by example. So ways that I can help, say, the designing department, is by showing and creating an example of my own, explaining the process along the way. That way they can see how I did something and do it themselves (give or take a few changes to make it their own designs). I found that really interesting, and it kind of makes more sense now that I think about it. When I get back from break, I'll definitely try to lead like this in Yearbook. Anyways, that was a piece of research I really liked, and I thought I'd share it here.