Courtney D. Wright An organized and dependable worker.

An ideal candidate for positions requiring a creative driven personality.

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Work Samples

The Reconnect

Project Overview..............................................................3

Sample Contribution......................................................5

Without Paper

Blog Overview and Writing Sample..................... ....6

Twitter Participation

@CourtDortWright.........................................................7

Digital Interactive Plan

Paul-Ish Project................................................................8

Appendices

Unofficial Transcript.......................................................12

Letter of Recommendation.........................................13

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The Reconnect “Disconnect 2 Reconnect”

The Reconnect is a collaborative project which aims to challenge

and question an individual’s media consumption habits, with

particular attention to Social Media and emerging technology

trends.

Through a series of challenges The Reconnect team and I dare

followers to disconnect from popular forms of Social

Media and technology such as Facebook, and reconnect

through forgotten formats like letter writing. As our Mission

Statement says “We want to initiate a conversation about the

lifestyles we lead online and help people tailor their own.”

This mission has allowed our team and followers to openly

explore the implications of various Social Media forms and

technologies in our lives. The first challenge The Reconnect

proposed was “Face Value” which asked readers to deactivate

their Facebook for a week. The challenge received a lot of

backlash, but also acquired the project enthusiastic participants.

The Reconnect team alongside our participants had begun

documenting our experiences through a series of blogs, vlogs,

videos and tweets. Before long we had acquired over a 100

followers willing to read our reflections, and participate

themselves. We also gained attention from our schools

newspaper the Radix, radio stations such as Radio Laurier, and

esteemed members of the blogging community.

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My participation in The Reconnect allows me to not only explore my personal relationship with Social

Media, but connect with a variety of members in the Social Media community. This has contributed to my

knowledge and passion for using tools such as Twitter to connect to a wide array of unique individuals.

Through this project I was also able to define what it was to be a member of Generation Y. This

understanding allows me to efficiently communicate in a variety of web environments to a desired

audience.

Throughout the project I employed web tools to complete tasks, such as collaborate efficiently through

wiki-spaces. I have since learned how to quickly adapt to using a wide assortment of web based tools and

technologies.

While The Reconnect has temporarily halted publication, I intend to re-initiate in Summer 2011.

For a list of some of my contributions to The Reconnect please click here.

For more please visit: disconnect2reconnect.tumblr.com/archive

@The Reconnect

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One of my favourite stories since I was a child was Alice in

Wonderland. This is a common fact about me, and it is not

unknown for me to receive an Alice in Wonderland themed gift

from friends and family.

One of the greatest lessons I learnt from the story was the need

for self exploration, and as my favourite passage describes it is

a constant journey. It reads; “I wonder if I’ve been changed in

the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember

feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s

the great puzzle!” Recently I have begun to associate this concept of self exploration to The Reconnect ,

recognizing that we constantly have to examine our personal media consumption habits.

Ever since we’ve begun learning about “media” we have been told what our relationship to it has been,

is, and should be. Video games for example make us lazy, violent, and if we play them we are trying to

escape our own reality. If we are on Facebook for example we are careless about our privacy, socially

inept, and probably horribly narcissistic. These two examples describe some of the stereotypes that

have been placed on our generation’s media consumption habits. However the only way to accurately

define our habits and consumption is to examine them ourselves.

No other generation has experienced these “things” the way we have, so how could they possible

understand what it is like. The outsider’s perspective has never been an accurate or insightful one, and

as in Alice in Wonderland, we cannot have others define our world, because no one sees what we do.

As we continue this week, and move into tomorrow’s challenge, we hope you consider the self reflexive

component of this project.

Continue to e-mail us your comments and thoughts at disconnect2reconnect@gmail.com

Posted by: Courtney D. Wright

Sample Contribution:

For more please visit: courtneydwright.wordpress.com/ the-reconnect/

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Without Paper is a personal blog which I began in

October of 2008 on blogger under the name Mixed

Signals. When I first began blogging I was extremely

hesitant to enter a world with which I was so unfamiliar.

My first post captured not only this hesitation, but the

beginning of my understanding of the blogosphere.

A Mess of Ideas

I write this blog to collect

my ideas, my interests,

and the things I find along

the way.

There’s A First for Everything Right? So what is this magical world they call blogging? I have always imagined it as world filled with clever quips and more opinionated writers than one reader could possibly handle. Now here I am immersed in this world that I know so little about. I admit have only read one blog in my entire life, and now I am expected to write one of my own. Not only must I now be witty with my writing, but I also have to think of something intelligent to say. The pressure is big!

It took me a long while before actually setting up my blog (as some may notice), but not because I had nothing to say. I have always had something to say whether intelligent or not. My hesitation came from this high anxiety I had over naming my blog. The name after all is one of the most important parts. It is a newcomer to your blog’s first impression. It is their first

impression of what you will write about and who you will be as a blogger. A name must be all encompassing, and I doubt I will ever come up with a name that is worthy enough for a blog.

However I needed to put a blog together though so I settled on the name Mixed Signals. I know not very creative, or clever. It is not really what I would consider all encompassing either. The name just kind of came to me one night as I laid awake thinking of all the homework I had to complete. I began to think about Mass Communications class, and thought about the media often sending out mixed signals to the masses. Since my blog is essentially a self reflective

analysis of the world of communication I found it to be an appropriate name. I suppose in a way I myself interpret the signals the media is sending me, and I am ultimately analyzing my place in the world of mass communications as well. Even with a name now in mind I am still nervous about creating a blog. It is extremely nerve racking to put your opinion out there for not only your peers to scrutinize but the entire world as well. What if I do not use the right words in my sentences? What if my grammar is poor? Or

even worse what if my writing is just terrible and boring? When I went off to university this year creating a blog was the last thing I expected to have to do; now here I am on blogger, and now an academic blogger, or so I think.

In the three years since my introduction to blogger I have learnt to enter unfamiliar territories, particular

those of Social Media, with a sense of curiosity oppose to hesitation. I recognize the value of employing

Social Media tools as a way of advancing my learning in various fields of interest. I continue to blog and

on February of this year I moved my blog over to WordPress.

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Like any Social Media fanatic I have a Twitter account,

dedicated to spreading information to my followers

concerning topics like Social Media, Marketing, Public

Relations and other content that I find of interest.

I have also used Twitter to broadcast and promote various

events in which I partook such as Hello. UGH and the

Power of Movement.

I currently hold a Klout score of 42 and have managed to

reach a total score of 50. An active member of Twitter as

of this September I have managed to become an

influencer of 245 individuals according to Klout, and a

dubbed “Explorer” engaging in the social web.

I have become familiar with a variety of programs such as

Hootsuite, TweetDeck and paper.li to advance the success

of my account. One of my recent achievements on Twitter

was becoming one of #u30pro’s (a chat stream dedicated

to discussing the careers of professionals under 30 years

of age) “Featured Participants”.

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While I have not had privilege of

employing Social Media as a

content marketing tool

professionally, I have been able to

practice my skills in school projects.

I recently designed a Digital

Interactive Plan as a component of

an Integrated Marketing

Communication Plan for a new line

of fictional nail lacquers from O.P.I.

This Digital Interactive Plan focused

on representing the new collection

online, and providing the brand’s

consumers with engaging and

entertaining information. The

sample content created to enact the

plan demonstrates my ability to

target audiences’ pre-existing

interests and incorporate them into

a brand’s image.

A strategy focused on engaging

audiences in conversations, rather

than a direct sales approach fosters

a trusting relationship between the

consumer and the brand. This is

essential to generate brand loyalty,

an increasingly difficult

achievement in today’s markets.

Catering to the unique motivations

of the readership on each Social

Media channel employed allows the

brand to enter these realms with a

sense of authenticity. Instead of

disseminating the same messages

throughout each network the

channels used were unified through

a unique tone specific to this line of

lacquers.

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Each account was run under the

persona Paul-Ish, and written

from the perspective of an

unidentified male character.

Writing through the perspective

of a company can be one

dimensional, in contrast a

characterized approach allows

readers to develop a personal

connect with the brand. For

example I created a Facebook

profile instead of a fan page. This

allowed the O.P.I customers to

become friends and not followers

of the brand. The tumblr account

was also created under the tone

of an everyday user, not a

company, creating a sense of

familiarity amongst users of the

micro blogging site.

A focus on integrating a company

into the Social Media sphere,

rather than integrating Social

Media into a company can prove

to be more successful approach

to content marketing, and is one I

tried to enforce in this plan.

Created content

samples:

Tumblr

Twitter

Facebook

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Appendix

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Unofficial Transcript

0642314 Courtney Wright

Course/Section and Title Grade Credits Repeat Term

AHSS*1050 S1 Sociology of Consumption S11

MDST*2060 01 Marketing Communications 086 0.50 W11

MDST*3030 0101 Event Management 093 0.50 W11

MDST*4050 01 Examining Public Rel Sectors 085 0.50 W11

SCMA*3020 0202 Statistics for Media Studies 072 0.50 W11

AHSS*1230 01 Intro to Classical Culture 076 0.50 F10

AHSS*3080 02 Web Design 079 0.50 F10

AHSS*3220 02 Law and the Media 082 0.50 F10

MDST*2040 01 Media Relations 087 0.50 F10

MDST*3010 01 Fundraising Principles & Prac 092 0.75 F10

AHSS*2020 02 Presentations & Persuasion 082 0.50 W10

AHSS*2130 02 Subcultures and the Media 073 0.50 W10

AHSS*2280 01 Popular Music 075 0.50 W10

MDST*2070 01 Digital Design 087 0.50 W10

MDST*3170 01 Writing for Public Relations 084 0.50 W10

AHSS*2010 0101 Documentary Film & Television 072 0.50 F09

AHSS*2030 01 Contemporary Narrative 070 0.50 F09

AHSS*2250 01 Politics: An Introduction 080 0.50 F09

MDST*2020 01 Media Structure & Policy 073 0.50 F09

MDST*3080 02 Writing for Public Relations I 074 0.50 F09

AHSS*1070 0101 Film Study 076 0.50 W09

AHSS*1080 01 Ethical Issues 081 0.50 W09

AHSS*1090 02 Communication, Tech & Culture 083 0.50 W09

MDST*1030 01 Visual Communication & Design 079 0.50 W09

MDST*2010 01 Intro to Public Relations 073 0.50 W09

AHSS*1060 01 Mass Communications 077 0.50 F08

AHSS*1210 01 Reading & Writing Effectively 072 0.50 F08

MDST*1010 01 Internet Survey & Research 070 0.50 F08

MDST*1050 05 Introduction to Media Writing 085 0.50 F08

MDST*1070 03 Photography & Digital Imaging 087 0.50 F08

Total Earned Credits 14.75

Total Grade Points 1175.50

Cumulative GPA 79.695

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