These are the tools of my trade. As a writer, editor, videographer, and social media manager, I depend on a wide variety of software applications for my marketing and communication projects.

My workstation

My workstation is built around a 27-inch iMac and a MacBook Air laptop. Multiple connected screens allow for spreading out my work. My workstation is equipped with a digital audio interface and a boom-mounted microphone for recording voiceovers for videos. Apple’s Final Cut Pro X video editor is on the large central screen.

Office Productivity

  • Microsoft Office, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. In particular, my expertise in Microsoft Word dates back to the late 1980s when I created workshops to teach the application to faculty and staff. I also developed a reputation for being able to solve difficult formatting questions posed by Liberal Arts faculty and staff when they were trying to get a document to look “just so.”
  • Apple Notes and EverNote.

Video & Audio Production

  • Apple Final Cut Pro X.
  • Apple Logic Pro X.
  • Apple Motion.
  • Open Broadcast Software (OBS).
  • Nicecast.

Page Layout & Graphic Design

  • Adobe Photoshop. Graphic designers achieve a “Jedi master” level of familiarity with Photoshop, a deep and intuitive understanding of how to create and manipulate designs. I use Photoshop every week and have been familiar with the app since the 1990s, and I am able to create and manipulate multilayered designs and to do common edits of photographs. That said, it may be years before my skills reach Jedi status; my background focused on writing and audiovisual production, and my graphic design skills are largely self-taught.
  • Adobe InDesign. I started with “desktop publishing” apps back in the Aldus PageMaker days. InDesign is a tool I use less frequently than the other apps discussed here, but I am comfortable in my ability to navigate the app and to grow my skills when the need arises.
  • Pixelmator.
  • Adobe Spark.

Social Media Management

  • Hootsuite.
  • TweetDeck.

Email Marketing & Automation

  • Delivra.

Web Design & Management

  • Adobe Dreamweaver.
  • Zope, Drupal, WordPress, and Cascade.

Operating Systems

  • Macintosh. I have been a Mac user since the original 1984 model, and my expertise with the platform helped start my Purdue career. I have been fluent in the installation, use, and maintenance of every version of the Macintosh operating system from the original to the present macOS High Sierra (version 10.13).
  • Windows. During my 23+ years as a Purdue information technology staffer, most of my time was spent diagnosing and solving problems faced by faculty and staff on their Windows-based computers. I am fluent in the operation and troubleshooting of every major version of Microsoft’s operating system from Windows 95 to Windows 7.

I also keep a variety of additional, miscellaneous applications in my toolkit. One of the advantages of being a communication professional with 23 years of experience as an information technology staffer is that learning how to use new software and adapting to newly-released versions is something which I enjoy.

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