SSU-TV Logo

As Public Relations head of SSU-TV I wanted to, obviously, raise awareness about the station. The first project I gave myself was to create a new logo. This would, in the end, would increase our brand recognition and would be an improvement over the old logo we had.

               NEW                                                                                                 OLD

So to start out, I had people help me research logos. There are a lot of free logo generator sites online. That gave me an idea of what I wanted. From there I added some of my own ideas and designed a logo that, through symbols, explained what SSU-TV is all about. First is the record, for the filming process. Next we have rewind and fast-forward to symbolize the editing process. After that, the play symbol for viewing the finished product. And finally, 27 for the channel we broadcast on campus.

After the logo was created, I decided it would also be appropriate to have a catch phrase to go with it. Having taken the on campus radio station, KSUN, for two semesters, I knew that their catch phrase was, “Pretty Good.” I tried to stay in the same line of thought with it and came up with, “It’s Kind of Like That.” I thought it was pretty catchy and  there could be some good promos with it, both informative and humorous.

Making the logo and seeing it used on SSU-TV posters, networking sights, and other places, gives me a huge sense of accomplishment knowing I completed what I set out to do. I will advise Ed and the student leaders to use it as a letter head on all official documents next semester. With it I am leaving my mark on SSU-TV, until someone changes it, which of course is perfectly ok.
  I was hoping for it to look a little cleaner, but my graphic designer did not have a whole lot of experience. I will suggest to the future leadership that they should clean up the logo or create a better version if they can.

First Annual SSU-TV Film Festival

The 1st Annual SSU-TV Film Festival took place in the Commons, on Thursday evening April 26, to great success. We gave out first, second, third, and a honorable mention, to our four entries. I hosted along with my public relations cohort, Danielle. At the beginning we introduced ourselves and explained the schedule for the night. We present three awards ending with first place, in between each we would play a movie produced by SSU-TV, in the last two semesters. The tiles included, Looking For a Roommate, Out of Options, Out of My Mind, and Boys Will Be Girls/Girls Will Be Boys. We choose the best of the films in order to promote SSU-TV during the festival.


One of my favorite parts of the experience was getting to judge the films. The four judges gave three scores out of ten, for technical aspects, artistic choices, and overall excellence. It was an enjoyable experience to discuss the merits of all the films with the other judges. There were some aspects I had not considered when initially watching the film, until another judge pointed it out. I have always taken pride in being a tough critic. This exercise in judging has further honed my critical eye.

Third place went to Suburban Legands, a story about a man who gets out of jail and tries to get back into the hustling life style. Second place went to Green Light, a new romance is blossoming, but someone else is watching through the web cam. And first place went to El Patron, a Latino stylized Godfather. There was also another submission El Patron: The Untold Story. We, unfortunately, could not accept this as a submission, because it was the same movie just a different cut. When discussing this with the SSU-TV staff, the general manager put it a good way, “You can’t submit Bladerunner and then Bladerunner: Directors Cut, we can only take one seriously.” So in the end we decided to accept the better of the two as the submission and give the other an honorable mention.

Co-hosting was somewhat difficult. I have hosted events before, like the Master of Ceremony for Boy Scout Court of Honors, but never with another person. I was unsure whether or not Danielle was hosting with me till the night of. Next time I do something like that with another person we shall rehearse beforehand. We had issues starting at the same time and talking over each other. We eventually got into a good rhythm, and by that I mean I did most of the talking (Danielle gets to host next year anyway).

Hosting my first event at SSU was an exciting and fun time. The energy of the crowd was warm, receptive, and a little rowdy, which threw me off for a sec. But nothing went wrong, we had a good couple dozen people in attendance, and we had fun.

Things I could have improved on include getting the posters up sooner, but we just had design issues, and once that is done have more frequent tabling. I should have also sent out a press release to the Press Democrat, in the hopes of getting publicity and recognition outside of campus. I would have liked to make a t-shirt for the event as well. I would suggest to those who are taking over PR next semester. Use the fall to prepare, and then begin you PR blitz the first day of the spring semester.

Know the Code

With the introduction of social media into pop culture, the old Vegas motto of, “what happens here, stays here,” is under attack. A recent post talked about what I called digital documentation, which I define as the ability of digital technology, to document any event easily and regularly due to its convenience. This is a great example it doing just that and the consequences of such. When you are drunk in Vegas your judgment and inhibitions are compromised, which will lead to making poor decisions and then an even poorer decision to post about you or someone else. After a few years, there is a certain unspoken understand of social media etiquette, but some people still need to be reminded. So the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority though their website VisitLasVegas.com has launched a campaign “Know the Code.” The code is as follows.

"I PROMISE TO FOLLOW THE CODE OF LAS VEGAS BY NOT TWEETING, TAGGING, POSTING, TELLING, WHISPERING, EMOTING, DEFINING, DRAWING UP, WRITING ABOUT OR IN ANY WAY REVEALING THE ALL-POWERFUL WHAT HAPPENS HERE, STAYS HERE MOMENT OF ME OR ANYONE ELSE IN MY PARTY TO OTHERS NOT ON SAID TRIP DURING OR AT ANY TIME AFTER SAID TRIP'S DURATION – I.E.: THE MOMENT BEING THE PART OR PARTS OF THE TRIP THAT SHOULD STAY IN LAS VEGAS. THE OTHER PARTS ARE FINE ... SO SAYETH THIS PERSON.

This is an example of how the tool of digital media can be used for good or for evil. In the early days of social media there was a lot that new social media users had to learn about posting content about them online. Not only is that content visible to your friends, but employers, present and future, your family, and maybe even law enforcement. Posting inappropriate material for whatever reason now can create serious repercussions personally and professionally. This is due to the fact that social networking has caught fire and now even more people are now online communicating. The problem for Vegas is some are doing it too much communicating putting at risk the motto of Sin City. The campaign even encourages people to call those out that have shared something on social media that others wished them not to. They call it your duty, practically obligating you to do so.

While I understand the mentality of where they are coming from with the tradition of Las Vegas being threatened by this type of digital behavior, it’s also really quite simple at the same time, if you do not want others to be talking about something you did, then don’t do it. 

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Reddit: Front Page of the Internet

Reddit is known as the front page of the internet. Reddit possesses many hundreds if not thousands of lists, that link to sites across the internet.  There are many subreddits that exist for any subject you can think of, from news specific to a country, to (This was a real test I put it through) snuff (Google it if you do not know but beware). You can find anything that you are interested in. Simply type reddit.com/r/then subject you are interested in, to go to that particular subreddit URL. It is a communal place where discussion and interaction takes place. Each list has specific rules to what you can and cannot post. The rules keep the conversations in line with the topic as well as prevent unauthorized advertisements, spam, and scams. The site is about substance and information. The only ads allowed are the ones the benefit the sight and keep it running. You can subscribe to specific reddits that you are interested in, which will then appear in the toolbar at the top of every page. You can edit this tool bar to allow easy and quick access. There is also the option of making a Reddit that does not exist.

When you log on to reddit.com you are brought to the front page. Here the most recent and most up voted posts are displayed. The Reddit lists work on a thumb up thumb down fashion. The more it is voted up the higher it shows on the list. If you really don’t like something you can vote it down in an attempt to send it into internet oblivion.

 At the top of each Reddit there are several tabs. “Hot” shows the posts that are being talked about the most right now. “New” shows the most recent posts. “Controversial” is my favorite because it is where the combative and opposing arguments, that I find fascinating, takes place. It lists the posts that have the greatest ratio of up and down votes.

Here’s a great example.

 On the top of Reddit politics under controversial, the top post is about how Ron Paul and his delegate strategy is winning over caucus states. This post is not in favor of what is happening and so it speaks in very negative terms. Ron Paul has a huge following online, myself included, so there are plenty of people to push back against this as well as others that agree with the post. In the comment section an open and honest dialogue about the election and the Ron Paul revolution takes place that anyone can take part of by commenting. The great thing about Reddit is that the comments are also vote able. So if a person says something you agree with vote up, if not vote down. This is a great way to get a statistical glimpse at what people are thinking.

You can also access the site on your phone by downloading the app “Bacon Reader.”

If you want to post a picture to Reddit you must have an Imgur account. This is important to know. If the user wants to use Reddit to its fullest potential they will have to get at least two accounts, Imager and Reddit.

Reddit is an amazing tool to measure the zeight geist of the internet culture. If you want to hear about things first you go to Reddit. It is like intellectual democracy at its finest.  This is one of my favorite sites that I have reviewed because it is both informative and fun. The format allows for those to back the ideas that they agree with and oppose those that they disagree with.  It is through these types of social networking sites that that allows different aspect of society come together in one place.

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