| About this blog
About this blog.
This blog is a record of my thoughts, ideas, and musings about social media, the Internet, and the pursuit of my PhD. As a new student in Penn State’s Information, Science, and Technology program I’m leaving the business world behind to more fully explore the impact of the Internet and social media on our society.
Posts prior to July, 2009 have been brought over from my previous Erickson Barnett corporate blog. To see all post from Erickson Barnett go to the EB Blog.
About the author (just in case you actually care).
Name: Lee Erickson
Email: lbe108 at psu dot edu
Twitter: @lerickson
Blog: (you’re on it)
Current degrees:
Master of Arts, Educational Communications and Technology, NYU. Professional specialization: Designing, Producing, Using and Researching Media for Use in Training and Communication Programs in Business and Industrial Organization and Administration of Media Centers. Master’s Project: An Educational Problem Solving Program.
Bachelor of Arts, Elementary Education, Virginia Tech.
Background:
Over the past 20+ years, there’s been one common thread which has run through everything I’ve done – the fascination with new technology and how people react to, work with, and adapt to it (or it adapts to them).
As an elementary school teacher, an instructional designer, and owner of a marketing agency, I have seen first hand how new technologies have transformed personal communications, impacted how we do business, and forever altered how we disseminate and gather information.
As an instructional designer in the late 80′s, I was lucky enough to be at the leading edge of user interface design for both computer-based education and training. With the introduction of the Internet for business use in the early 90′s, I shifted my focus and started a company to leverage the Internet for business-to-business marketing.
Recently, with the emergence of social media, I focused my efforts on understanding the uses and application of social media to business-to-business marketing. I have become fascinated by how social media, user-generated content, and the availability of information on the Internet has fundamentally changed how we engage with and communicate with each other. It’s an entirely new way of thinking.
In the spring of 2009, I decided to leave the world of business behind so I could more fully understand and explore, in a deeper and more scholarly way, the cultural and societal effects of the Internet and information design on today’s world. My ultimate goal is to obtain a teaching position at a university where I can work with students and conduct relevant research to help advance our understanding of the Internet, social media and its effects on society.
