New Media Journalism @ Seton Hill University

This morning I found this in my e-mail in box (no, I'd rather not call it an "inbox").

NAME THE NEW CAMPUS PORTAL! Win CASH for Renaming JWeb Want to leave a lasting mark on the Hill? Now's your chance, and you can win a $100 gift card in the process.

Seton Hill University will be upgrading JWeb and CampusConnect into one new information portal in June 2008, and we want YOU to name it! Submit the catchiest, snappiest, most apt name for our new portal and you'll not only add a new word to our campus lexicon, but also win a $100 Visa Gift Card.

The "J" in JWeb stands for Jenzabar, which is our not-exactly-beloved course management system. Campus Connect is our internal database, where we report grades and see what students have signed up for our courses.

Entering your idea is easy:

+ If you could rename JWeb or CampusConnect, what would you call it? Invent a snappy, catchy title that aptly describes what it is that a portal page combining JWeb and CampusConnect does. You might consider how other large websites (MySpace, Yahoo, iTunes, Google) are named, but originality counts.

+ How will your new name relate to Seton Hill? Names that specifically tie into the college's university's mission, institutional history, and unique identity will be more likely to win. You might turn to the campus catalog, local landmarks, or the university website for inspiration.

+ How will the name be interpreted? Avoid profanity, slurs, double-entendres, or any language that might potentially offend others.

SUBMIT as many entries as you like by e-mail to contest@setonhill.edu. Anyone attached to SHU can enter. The DEADLINE is November 20th at 6pm. Include your proposed name(s) for the new portal, your own full name, and the mailing address to send your prize if you are chosen as the winner!

Posted by jerz at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Workshop on Dramatic Writing
Monday, April 2nd, 2:00-4:00 PM
St. Mary Classroom

Continue reading "Workshop on Dramatic Writing" »

Posted by jerz at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's that time again! Get your art, photos, short stories, and poetry ready--Eye Contact is ready for YOU.

The deadline for the Fall 2006 issue is October 20th.

Visit our blog or click the "read more" link for full submission guidelines.

Continue reading "Call for Submissions: Fall Deadline October 20" »

Posted by Karissa at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Head's up. The University of Pittsburgh @ Greensburg is hosting "Creative Nonfiction Week & Literary Festival" on 2/13-17. Journalists, memoirists, and creative writers might find this interesting. Here are some quotes from the UPG Event Calendar. After kicking off with the band Marah, guest writers will lead workshops. Visitors include Cathy Day, Sheryl St. Germain, BJ Ward, Heather Mull, Al Hoff (Pittsburgh City Paper Staff) and more.

For more information, call 724-836-7481. Or e-mail Lori Jakiela at mailto:loj@pitt.edu

Posted by Dr. Mike Arnzen at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Award-winning Author David Morell to Speak at Seton Hill January 10

Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction master's program welcomes award-winning author David Morrell to campus on January 10. Mr. Morrell, the writer of "First Blood" (the award-winning novel in which Rambo was created), and co-president of the International Thriller Writers organization, will speak at 7 p.m. in Cecilian Hall on "Platforms, Viral Marketing, and the Seismic Shifts in Today's Publishing World."

Posted by jerz at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Find out at one of the following local events, where you can hear me read from my fiction and poetry, or pick up a good (?) book for the Halloween season. Everyone's invited.

October 7th, 7pm
Barnes & Noble | Monroeville Mall, Monroeville, PA
Reading/ Play Dead Book Signing

October 8th, 7pm
DV8 Espresso Bar & Gallery | 208 South Pennsylvania Ave, Greensburg, PA
Poetry Reading featuring Gorelets, 100 Jolts, and Rigormarole

October 29th, 7pm
Barnes & Noble | HWY 30, Greensburg, PA
Reading and Play Dead Book Signing

Also: Look forward to this week's issue of the Laurel Mountain Post. I'm the cover story!

-- Dr. A
gorelets.com

Posted by Dr. Mike Arnzen at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just a quick note to remind everyone about EYE CONTACT -- Seton Hill's literary magazine. We are currently open for submissions of art, fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction (and this year's issue will be "open themed", so there are no restrictions on content). See the developing Eye Contact weblog for more information and sample work from the past. We will be hosting an open all-staff meeting soon after the club fair (hopefully we can post news of this on the blog).

Questions? E-mail our editor in chief, Mike Rubino. You can also request a sample copy from business manager, Mike Diezmos.

-- Dr. Arnzen

Posted by Dr. Mike Arnzen at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

2005 Results

An international literary parody contest, the competition honors the memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). The goal of the contest is childishly simple: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Although best known for "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1834), which has been made into a movie three times, originating the expression "the pen is mightier than the sword," and phrases like "the great unwashed" and "the almighty dollar," Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the immortal words that the "Peanuts" beagle Snoopy plagiarized for years, "It was a dark and stormy night."

The contest began in 1982 as a quiet campus affair, attracting only three submissions. This response being a thunderous success by academic standards, the contest went public the following year and ever since has attracted thousands of annual entries from all over the world.

Posted by jerz at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SHU English faculty member Lee McLain will be giving a writing workshop at the Greensburg Barnes & Noble tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7pm, followed by a signing for her new teen novel, My Abnormal Life.

If you were planning to stop by the bookstore some time in the near future, I'm sure Dr. McClain would love to see you there.

Posted by jerz at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This call for papers arrived in Eye Contact's e-mail account over break. Looks like a worthy magazine. But do submit to Eye Contact first! -- Dr. Arnzen
***********

Delos National Undergraduate Literary Magazine's entirely undergraduate
staff has published the first truly national undergraduate literary
magazine. The inaugural issue is available for readers at
http://www.delosliterary.org.

Our mission remains to publish the best undergraduate work in the nation,
and to expose our authors to the national publishing market.

Our next issue, due out 1 July 2005, will be a print edition. We expect
the competition for publication to grow stronger, so please visit
http://www.delosliterary.org/su_home.html to submit your best
undergraduate work. The best submission in the issue will, once again,
receive the $100 Delos National Undergraduate Literary Award.

Our staff is also looking for undergraduates with strong language
abilities to serve as readers and editors. Those interested should visit
http://www.delosliterary.org/st_home to find application instructions.

All the best, and happy new year,

Bradley Gorski
Editor-in-Chief, Delos National Undergraduate Literary Magazine
editor@delosliterary.org
AIM: deloslit

Homepage: http://www.delosliterary.org
Submissions page: http://www.delosliterary.org/su_home.html
Staff page: http://www.delosliterary.org/st_home.html

Posted by Dr. Mike Arnzen at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Theater faculty member Denise Pullen just sent out the following note:

Just want to make you aware of a special topics course offered in through the theatre program Spring 2005: Special Topics: Playwriting. It is a 3 credit course that meets M,W, and F from 10:30 am to 11:50 am. The student will study playwriting form and will write a one-act play.

If you are at all interested in writing creative new media (interactive fiction, hypertext literature, fictional works in blog form, etc.), or if you simply want to flex your writing muscles, I would recommend this class. I presume it will count for "artistic expression," so talk to your adviser when you get the chance.

Posted by jerz at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Transcending Madness is a monthly newsletter aimed at writers of the community, most specifically members of Seton Hill University and the surrounding area. Our audience is currently huddled at their computer monitors waiting desperately for inspiration to strike. Transcending Madness will deliver that inspiration. We will offer bits and pieces to spark the budding writer’s creative spirit. We provide information on finding local writers and writer-type gatherings of souls. We pick the minds of published writers in order to find out the illustrious key to publication.

Visit now for your FREE subscription to our e-newsletter.

TranscendingMadness is a group project produced by members of Dr. Jerz's Writing for the Internet class. If you sign up for our newsletter, you will get a great newsletter chock full of contenty goodness. You will not receive a bunch of spam, we promise.

Posted by Moira at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cuz I am!!!

From the *official* Nanowrimo website:

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Continue reading "Are You A Wannabe Writer?" »

Posted by Moira at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Every generation has that one defining moment in time, that singular event that marks the passing of time forever more, that one moment that later shines brilliant in the darkness of memory because you know, you knew at that moment, that this day you would remember for the rest of your life. For older generations, that day may have been the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Or perhaps it was the day that civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed. For some, it was the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed. For others, the day the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. For my generation, that day was was September 11, 2001.

I just posted about my September 11th memories, if you are interested.

Posted by Moira at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Wow! I used to be the only one posting my poetry and now I have a ton of friends in on it with me! I love the fact that I can now read what others write. Here are a few bloggers sharing my passion:

Sue Myers
Amanda Cochran
Stephan Puff

Hope you enjoy their poetry as much as I do!

Tiffany

Posted by at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)