ecampus blog

I found this several weeks ago, but have held it back because it seemed might it be most helpful during midterm and final weeks. Self-Control is an app that prevent you from cruising your Facebook and Twitter feeds and email for a specified amount of time, ideally forcing you to focus on your essay/project/exercise/research/studying.

This brings to mind a FB friend who is also a SCAD student, and how at 8:30 p.m. EST the Sunday night of week nine of fall quarter I spotted a FB post lamenting how she still had half her final paper to write in the next 3.5 hours….Omgosh, get off Facebook then! You’re giving me heartburn!

But I’ve been there, I’m sure most of us have. So a little self-control would not go amiss. Check out selfcontrolapp.com or others like it, create some new habits while on deadline! (And I’ll report at finals week, too.)

http://selfcontrolapp.com/

~Sara

Just kidding, I don’t think any of us are actual rock dwellers. But if you’re new or took a couple quarters off, you might not know that SCAD and Adobe teamed up and are offering the Creative Suite free, Free, FREE! to SCAD students.

This is an awesome benefit, you’re able to download it for free and spend a few bucks for shipping to get a disc. I recommend getting the disc, you only get one download and if your machine implodes from all your schoolwork it will be nice to have the disc as a backup.

Word of advice: start by reading the Adobe FAQ page in MySCAD, then start the download/disc ordering process. If you have any questions, the FAQ page will direct you to the appropriate support staff, either someone at SCAD, Adobe or Journey Ed.

1) Login to MySCAD
2) Go to the Resources tab
3) Scroll down to SCAD Deals
4) Request Adobe Download is at the top

~Sara

Alumnus Gregg Bernstein continues his thesis research into user experience at http://madebygregg.com.

Does your department have a blog? Interested in exploring other disciplines? Use these as a starting place…

Arts Administration

https://blog.scad.edu/artsadministration/

Cinema Studies

http://www.thecine-files.com/

Foundation Studies

http://blog.scad.edu/foundationstudies/

Graphic Design

http://blog.scad.edu/graphicdesign/

Painting

http://scadpaintingnow.wordpress.com/

Photography

http://scadphoto.blogspot.com/

Sequential Art

http://seqalab.com/

We all know about the attendance requirements for eLearning courses, up until now logging in two separate days each unit week will keep students clear of any absences.

But U.S. federal requirements have required SCAD to further clarify the attendance requirements: starting winter 2013 you need to log in AND actively participate two separate days each week. Active participation includes completing a quiz, posting to the discussions, turning in an assignment or composing a blog post. Actions like that, taking place within the course in Blackboard Learn, will keep you active within the class and free of absences.

These are still the minimum requirements, if you’re only logging in twice a week and completing work on those days I think you’re probably missing some components of the class. Use it as a baseline you should exceed.

~Sara

Let’s talk publication.

If the first thing to come to your mind after reading the previous sentence is purely literary publication, then get ready to have your knowledge expanded. While it’s true that many literary arts magazines focus on prose or poetry, there are still many others in need of your artistic skills. This post’s focus will be on that side of the literary arts magazine world, though many of the links you’ll find will also provide information on guidelines for written work, if that’s of interest to you.

So what is a literary arts magazine? In simple terms, it’s a publication, either online or in print, that takes submissions from people. Some can be restricted to a certain area or school, while others allow people all over the world to submit their work. Some have set themes, like environmentalism or southern living, themes that change with each new issue (a Fall issue might have a Halloween theme, to put it simply), while others have no theme at all and simply ask for your best work.

In short, the world of literary arts magazines is vast, and offers a wide variety of opportunities for writers and artists to publish their work. The trouble is, of course, finding the right opportunities for you.

The simple act of a Google search, while not all-encompassing, certainly gives you a good start. But like many thing we’ve talked about in this blog before, the more specific, the better. And what could be more specific than a large database of literary magazines?

Newpages is, for all intents and purposes, your best bet in finding compatible magazines to send your work to. The database contains information on all sorts of magazines, from general purpose ones to alternative ones that deal with very specific themes. The great thing about this website, besides the sheer number of magazines to look through, is that it gives you more detailed descriptions of each magazine when you click on their names. It’s an easy and convenient way to check if a magazine is the right fit for your work, or, if you’re really smart about it, if you can easily make your work fit the magazine.

But not everything can be perfect. Newpages, unfortunately, is geared a lot more towards written work. The magazines themselves can have opportunities for artwork, but you won’t be able to search for those specific magazines without scrolling through all the entries. Tedious perhaps, but our advice is to simple do a word search for ‘art.’ Newpages makes a point of listing the kinds of works each magazine takes, so the word search should yield most, if not all, of the relevant results.

Of particular note to photography majors is the fact that many of these descriptions make a point to list photography separate from the term ‘art’ for some reason. So make sure to keep that in mind when doing a word search on the website.

So you’ve been to Newpages and you’ve found some magazines that will accept the work you have. Whether it’s prose, poetry, art or anything else, you’re now at a position where you can take the plunge and share with the world the fruits of your labor at SCAD, and get yourself some sweet, sweet recognition. Except you’re still not exactly ready.

You have to research those magazines a little more and find out what format they’re published in, and if it works for you.

One of the most important things you’ll likely find yourself debating is to go with an online magazine or a print one. Each option has its pros and cons.

Online magazines are generally easier to work with. Because the people in charge are already working in a digital environment, they’ll be more likely to accept submissions through email or other forms of digital submission. This saves you some money in shipping and makes it less likely that you’ll lose your work in the shuffle of submissions.

Of course, online magazines tend to be newer publications as well. There’s nothing wrong with starting out being published in a new magazine, but it’s easy for online magazines to come and go. Worst case scenario, you might find yourself linking to a publication in your resume or portfolio that either no longer exists or is obviously abandoned. For that reason alone, many people choose to go for print publications.

As advanced as the literary arts magazine world has had to become, print publications still hold a certain allure. Something about holding a physical copy of your work is just attractive to those who create art, and we’re sure SCAD students are no exception. And, to tell the truth, the fact that your work was printed in a physical magazine still carries a lot of weight, professionally.

Unfortunately, print publications are less likely to accept digital submissions, which means you’ll have to make a copy of your work and send it through snail mail. Depending on the size and weight of your submission, it could get a little pricey. Still, it’s a great opportunity to get noticed and a great resume item, so there’s no harm in going this route if you can afford to.

But what sort of magazines should you be looking to? We’ve come up with two examples of typical literary arts magazines.

First is Oxford American. This magazine deals mainly with writing and art that touches on subjects of the American South. Their submission guidelines are  fairly open, especially for art submissions. There’s opportunities for photography, illustration, and fine art. Want even more reason to give this magazine a shot? The editor of Oxford American recently visited SCAD Savannah and remarked that he was always impressed with work from SCAD students.

In contrast to Oxford American’s longstanding reputation and years in publication, Paper Darts is a very new literary arts magazine. With only three issues published so far, it’s one of those publications that seeks out fresh talent and exciting new styles of art and writing. This is the kind of young publication that’s safe to start out with. It’s got a few issues under its belt, and the website design shows care and professionalism in all its details. What better way to start your career as a recognized artist and showcase your talent?

It’s a crazy business, publishing. There’s a lot of research involved, and it can be daunting your first time out. But for those of you interested in taking your hard-earned SCAD experience and using it to create a buzz for yourself, it’s a very lucrative step.

By Carlos Serrano, editor-in-chief, Myriad

Big things are happening at SCAD Myriad. For those of you not in the know, Myriad is eLearning’s student dispatch. It’s not a straight newspaper like Savannah’s District or Atlanta’s Connector, it’s something different, something that stands out. Over the past academic year, we’ve worked to make Myriad a stronger online outlet of information and interesting articles for the eLearning community, and our hard work is paying off.

Of course, that hard work comes from many different people, not just us here at the eLearning office. Our current staff of writers works hard to deliver a constant stream of quality content that deals with a variety of different subjects. Thanks to them Myriad has articles on subjects such as technology, historic preservation related to music and advice on using eLearning resources to their full potential. That’s not even mentioning the field reports from a student currently interning at Disney.

Yes, although we may be a small group at the moment, we’re nothing if not spirited and focused.

What really sets Myriad apart, however, is a willingness to include members of the eLearning community in all capacities. Besides our main staff of writers, we welcome ideas from any and all students. Whether you’re a designer, writer, both or something else entirely, we’ll listen to your ideas and give you a place to express yourself.

Ultimately, that has been the secret to Myriad’s growth this past year. What started off as a small, slowly-updated website has steadily become more active and focused. Our early posts, while informative and well-written, focused almost entirely on entertainment. A popular subject, to be fair, but it wasn’t indicative of the true variety (or, myriad, if you will) of interests that SCAD students can have.

Thankfully, our push to recruit more writers worked. The new subjects that these new writers talk about, which I mentioned briefly before, offer a wider range of subjects that begin to paint a clearer picture of SCAD students.

But we’re not going to rest on our laurels. Myriad still has a lot of potential for growth, and we aim to take advantage of that potential with every opportunity we have available. In the coming year, we’ll be pushing for more artists and writers with varied interests. We want to open the door for SCAD’s talented art and design students to showcase their work and put it out there for people to see. In particular, we’ll focus on getting visual artists. There will be opportunities for everything from weekly comic strips to editorial cartoons and everything in between.

Of course, writing will still play a major part in Myriad’s focus, but with a concentrated recruitment drive for artists, we’ll be able to explore new avenues of expression that will allow for a more open and inclusive forum for eLearning students. That, in essence, is Myriad’s ultimate goal. We hope you’ll join us for the ride.

If you’d like to become a regular contributor to Myriad, send an email to myriad@scad.edu. We’ll help you think of ideas if you’re unsure, but if you already have some, feel free to let us know.

Continuing our coverage of summer/end of the year-related posts, this week we’ll be covering a valuable school resource available during the summer. As you probably have guessed by now, thanks to the title, we’re talking about Lynda.com.

Even if this happens to be your first quarter, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about Lynda.com from one of your professors. Depending on your major, you might have heard about it from all of them. The quick description you’ll usually hear is that Lynda.com offers tutorials for various software programs like Photoshop, Flash, etc.

While that is definitely a part of it, there’s a lot more to it. Keeping some of these things in mind during the break, and using them, can do nothing but help you in the long run.

We’ve mentioned briefly the software tutorials available on Lynda.com, so for now we’ll leave them be. It’s safe to assume they’re the most familiar aspects of the website to students. Instead, we’ll start with a Lynda resource that is a little more obscure: documentaries.

It’s true, Lynda.com has documentaries available for instant streaming. And this isn’t just one or two of them, we’re talking about 52 documentaries ranging from 15 minutes to 1 hour in length. A large majority of these are closed captioned and they all focus on the art field in some way.

Documentaries on Lynda generally fall into two categories: those that focus on a particular artist or company, and those that focus on a broader subject of the art world. The great thing about both kinds of documentaries, is that they focus on people and subjects that have value to your education.

Take for example the documentary on Italian artist and designer Simone Legno. Creator of the popular tokidoki clothing brand and designs, his documentary focuses on character design in Adobe Illustrator. Not only do you get a glimpse into the artistic process of an established, successful artist, you also get an insight into how that artist uses the same software you are more than likely using in your classes.

This one-two punch of information gives you the advantage of knowing what goes in the mind of a successful artist, while also picking his brain, figuratively of course, for the best techniques to use when developing your own character designs. And all of this in a quick and easily accessible video format. If your summer happens to be particularly busy, this is arguably the most efficient and least time-consuming resource available at Lynda. Try having one on while you work, inspiration may strike you depending on what you watch.

But, let’s say you’re looking to have a more hands-on summer. Maybe you’re looking to work on something new, something different from an art-related program. Well, Lynda is still a valuable source, believe it or not. See, not only does Lynda offer design tutorials, it also offers plenty of business-related ones. Thinking of brushing up on your branding/self-marketing skills? Maybe you’d like to know more about how to work social media to your advantage? Or would you prefer to just go over some Microsoft Word functions to create a better resume? All of these options, and more, are available through Lynda’s “Business” subsection.

Don’t let the word “business” throw you off. There isn’t any stuffy or dry language here. It’s just a collection of tutorials made with a design focus in mind, so the language will be familiar and accessible. And, if you could spend your summer doing even something small to increase your business sense, is that really so bad? Your bank account will thank you in due time.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Lynda without the opportunity to learn more about design software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. Here, finally, we come to some familiar territory. But don’t rest on your laurels, this section of Lynda is just as important to keep in mind during your summer as the last two sections. Whether you’re searching through a broad subject like “Photography” or looking for help in programs b a specific company like Adobe, Lynda.com remains one of the best resources. Plus, since you’re a student, it’s all free. What better way to learn while saving money from any summer job/regular job/freelancing you might have?

In all likelihood, you’ll have a busy summer. However, part of the beauty of Lynda.com is that the resources available aren’t time consuming. The documentaries are relaxed due to their nature as something you watch and the tutorials are separated into small sections that you can go back to at your will. It’s easy to fit time in your schedule for them, and we recommend it, because knowledge can only help your career.

The time has come, the ecampus blog said, to speak of many things. Specifically, things relating to graduation. Yes, while it feels like the quarter just barely started, in reality we’re recently past midterms and its time to consider what to do for this very important ceremony.

First, congratulations on graduating! While there’s no doubt it’s been hard work getting to this stage, you should feel proud that you’ve stuck to it and are now almost at the end. In order to make things a little easier for you, we’ve compiled some of the most important information you need to know for graduation.

Good news is, there’s going to be a small party. As we mentioned in an earlier post, SCAD eLearning will host a graduation celebration on Friday June 1, from 4 to 6 p.m. EST. The party will be held at Pulaski Square, just outside of the eLearning offices.

You’ll be able to relax after a hard day spent at graduation rehearsal, as well as meet and greet faculty, staff and other eLearning students. It’ll be a good opportunity for some last minute networking, for those business-oriented among you.

Need more of a reason to stop by the party? Well, it’s also the place to go in order to pick up your tickets to the graduation ceremony. If you’ve received approval from your graduation auditor (which, at this point, it should be a given) then you can stop by and pick up four tickets for the 9 a.m. Presidential Conferment of Degrees and six tickets for the Presentation of Degree ceremony.

The former ceremony will include every graduating student, so expect large crowds and help your guests plan accordingly. The presentation of degrees will be split into two groups. One group will go at 1 p.m., the other at 4 p.m.  While this means there will be less of a crowd, you should still advise your guests to arrive at an early time.

But of course, that’s not all. Right after the eLearning graduation celebration, you can take a short walk down to Forsyth Park, where the annual New Alumni Concert will be held. Starting at 7 p.m., the concert will feature Grace Potter and the Nocturnals as well as JJ Grey and Mofro. We’re not very hip to the new jive these days, but a quick search shows that you won’t want to miss it.

Some of these announcements may not be new, but it’s worth refreshing them every now and then. You’ve worked hard for this day, why not make sure you know everything you have to know in order to make it as fun and stress-free as possible?

For more information on graduation, visit the SCAD Graduation blog at http://blog.scad.edu/graduation/

By Carlos Serrano

I’m going to break the fourth wall for this post, because it’s so avant-garde. Okay everyone, let’s “rap” as the kids say these days about social media. At this point, it’d be safe to assume that fair amounts of you are using some type of social media platform, whether professionally, personally or both.

By now I’m sure the more experienced students have a very clear idea of how to use social media to market themselves ad their work. If you’re not experienced, there’s a good chance you’re still doing it, you just may not recognize it.

For example, do you ever post your work on a blog or on Facebook? You may think you’re only letting your family and friends look at what you’re doing in your classes, but you’re also getting your name out there.

Maybe one of your friends ends up meeting someone who needs certain talents. Your friend, thinking back to the work you posted, suggests you. Bam, possible job opportunity.

I’m not going to say that it’s always that easy or that you should put all your eggs in one social media basket, but it’s a powerful tool that you should know how to use. For this post, I’ll go over the four biggest social media platforms that you’ve likely heard of: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest. I’ll look at their strengths and weaknesses and give an introduction to using them effectively.

Facebook: Arguably the most well known and used of the four websites I’ll take about, Facebook has become synonymous with the term “social media.” From fan pages to fully animated 3-D games, Facebook is still a hub for the majority of people and is a good way to begin making your mark in social media.

There are a couple of ways you can use Facebook to promote yourself. The obvious one, which I mentioned briefly, is to just post your artwork to your regular profile and share it with people you already know. This isn’t a bad idea, but you could take it a step further. Facebook allows you to make pages for businesses.

“But Carlos! I’m not a multimillion dollar business!” you say.

Well, good news, you don’t have to be. If you’re a freelancer or have a small studio, you can still create a page and use it to advertise your business. You can even use it as your homepage if you’d like. The important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t open a regular Facebook account in the name of your business. You’ll be shut down very quickly, and that’s just not fun. The Facebook Police might get you.

What you have to remember about Facebook, and really that applies to pretty much all the websites featured in this post, is that you have to be careful with the images you update. There’s quite a scare among artists that uploading pictures to Facebook is risky business, as far as copyright is concerned. To that all I can say is to be vigilant, and careful. Read the Terms of Service (I know, I know, we all love to skip it, but we must.).

Maybe search for your favorite artist, studio or company and see if they have a page. Check out what they’re doing and take a page out of their Facebook. Pun very much intended.

Twitter: Compared to Facebook, Twitter is a much less daunting task for those of you who don’t want to go through the trouble of setting up a page. Starting to tweet is easy, all you need to do is to open an account, play around with settings like your profile picture, profile background, etc. and you’ll be ready to go.

For those unfamiliar with Twitter, think of it was a Facebook status update restricted to 140 characters. It’s true that a lot of people look down on it for it’s apparent irreverence and focus on inane subjects like “What I had for lunch was…” However, it’s still a very powerful promotional tool, if you know what to do.

Obviously, try not to go with tweets about what you had for lunch. It can be funny from time to time, but you have to be confident in what you’re saying and its value. Your Twitter account is there to act as your voice on the Internet, remember that. It’s important to give any potential employers or clients a feel for your professionalism.

Don’t think this means you have to be boring or stuffy or anything. You can make witty or weird tweets as much as you want, if it fits your voice and your brand. The trick is to compose your tweets in a professional manner, especially if the Twitter account your using is for your business/art.

The downside to Twitter is how easy it is to fall into the trap of writing boring tweets. Don’t be afraid to go a day or two without updating it if you don’t feel like you have anything to say. Forcing thoughts to come out will result in a strained tweet and a blow to your brand.

You must also keep in mind that most of the time, having just a Twitter won’t be enough. If you have a Facebook page, you have your work as well as your status updates, and it keeps everything well-rounded. On Twitter, even though you can post pictures, you don’t have that structure. You’ll have to have an existing website or portfolio that you link people to.

Above all, be confident, follow people related to your industry and participate in the overall conversation.

Tumblr: Ah Tumblr, crazy, crazy Tumblr. Recently, Tumblr has become the new big thing for people looking to share their art and thoughts in a fast-paced, relaxed environment. It’s actually a really popular social media platform for artists, because of one thing in particular: reblogging. With just a click of a button, people can reblog, or repost, your Tumblr posts to their own page. From there, people that follow them can do the same, and so on and so forth.

Make a popular enough post, and it can be reblogged and liked thousands of times over. But before you go rushing off to Tumblr and start posting all your artwork, take note. You probably already do this, but make sure your art has either your signature or a watermark of some sort. While reblogging does show who was the original poster, it gets less and less noticeable the more people reblog a post.

Still, Tumblr can be a very fun platform to use. While you should still keep in mind that you’re representing your brand to potential customers, the atmosphere is generally relaxed and welcoming, with a focus on fun. If you’re looking into setting up a sketch blog or anything that’s not too serious, consider Tumblr.

Pinterest: The new darling of the social media world, Pinterest is an interesting concept. Built around the idea of sharing pictures, Pinterest takes its core design from the idea of pinning things, obviously.

After making an account, you’re able to create boards to hold the things you pin. You can then browse the website, search for something in particular and pin the picture you find to one of your boards.

However, I would advise you to be cautious with Pinterest, perhaps more so than with the other websites I’ve talked about. It’s very easy for someone to pin your work to their boards without giving you any credit. While Pinterest has instituted new policies to try and curb that practice, there’s no guarantee that it won’t happen.

Pinterest is still a new website, and it’s going through a transition stage as more and more people join. My advice would be to get situated on other sites before taking the plunge.

To be fair, there’s a lot of other ways to build an online presence, from personal websites to blogs and everything in between. However, these four sites are an integral part of many people’s online experience, and by using them to their full potential, you have the opportunity to reach a wide audience. So, get out there and socialize.