09 autumn reporter 1-20 - Franklin College
09 autumn reporter 1-20 - Franklin College
09 autumn reporter 1-20 - Franklin College
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FC talks<br />
tech with<br />
Intellagirl<br />
Sarah Smith-Robbins ’96<br />
stands back-to-back with her<br />
avatar, Intellagirl.<br />
By Amy (Kean) VerSteeg ’96<br />
Editor<br />
She’s a self-described “researcher,<br />
academic, writer, speaker, marketer, mom<br />
and geek.” She spends her time blogging,<br />
researching and traveling to speak to<br />
groups about Second Life, virtual worlds,<br />
Web 2.0 technologies and “general digital<br />
coolness.” She’s also a Ph.D. candidate<br />
and digital coach who helps people use<br />
available technologies to become more<br />
productive and creative. In the past two<br />
years, she’s lectured on social media at<br />
conferences in Brazil, Finland, the United<br />
Kingdom and the United States.<br />
She’s “Intellagirl” Sarah Smith-<br />
Robbins ’96.<br />
We recently caught up with Smith-<br />
Robbins after the Independent <strong>College</strong>s<br />
of Indiana Sixth Annual Instructional<br />
Technology Summit, where she was<br />
keynote speaker. We asked her to take a<br />
few minutes to share her perspective on<br />
social media, ideas about technology in<br />
higher education and thoughts on the<br />
<strong>Franklin</strong> <strong>College</strong> liberal arts experience.<br />
Our Q&A session follows:<br />
FC: Tell us about your alternate identity —<br />
Intellagirl. Who is she, and why is she<br />
important to your work?<br />
I wouldn’t say that Intellagirl is an<br />
alternate identity but rather my<br />
nickname or logo. My maiden name<br />
is Sarah Smith. Fifteen years ago<br />
when I created my first e-mail address<br />
“ssmith” was already taken. After a few<br />
years, I got tired of trying to find new<br />
user names and came up with<br />
Intellagirl. At first, it was just a<br />
handy nickname, but when I<br />
began working in Second Life,<br />
Intellagirl became a person,<br />
my avatar. Since then, my<br />
pink streak and nickname<br />
have become really effective<br />
personal branding.<br />
(Editor’s note: Avatars are<br />
computer users’ representations<br />
of themselves; they can be either<br />
pictures or personalities associated<br />
with a screen name.)<br />
FC: How did an English major end up<br />
making a career in the information<br />
technology field?<br />
It’s a bit of a misnomer to say that I’m<br />
in “IT.” My doctoral work is in rhetoric, the<br />
art and study of persuasive communication,<br />
which I think is key in just about all areas<br />
of life, from personal relationships to<br />
education. Because most communication is<br />
now mediated by some kind of technology,<br />
I became intrigued by how technology<br />
changes how we communicate and<br />
especially how we learn.<br />
When I graduated from <strong>Franklin</strong><br />
<strong>College</strong> I went on to work at a technology<br />
publishing company, and I became<br />
more interested in how technology was<br />
changing the way we all work. I got to<br />
work with dozens of tech authors who<br />
were immersed in the industry, and I<br />
made some great contacts. When I went<br />
on to the University of Indianapolis for<br />
my master’s degree I focused on English<br />
higher education, and I guess all the bits<br />
came together.<br />
FC: What are some of your duties as<br />
senior director of emerging technologies<br />
for Indiana University’s Kelley Executive<br />
Partners?<br />
My primary duty is to help develop<br />
technology-augmented education<br />
programs for executives at Fortune<br />
500 companies. I’ve created alternate<br />
reality games using iPod touch and<br />
Twitter as well as social media tours to<br />
help large companies learn to leverage<br />
Web 2.0 tools to increase employee<br />
learning and satisfaction. (Editor’s note:<br />
Web 2.0 examples include social-networking<br />
sites, video-sharing sites, blogs, etc.) I’m also<br />
responsible for helping the Kelley School<br />
of Business make decisions about<br />
implementing new technologies for the<br />
graduate and undergraduate programs.<br />
FC: Your career shows a consistent overlap<br />
between work in the fields of education<br />
and information technology. What can you<br />
tell us about the correlation?<br />
IT is now inseparable from any area of<br />
our lives. From the cars that we drive to the<br />
phones in our pockets we’re surrounded<br />
by technology, and all of these tools change<br />
the way we live and how we learn.<br />
60 FRANKLIN REPORTER WWW.FRANKLINCOLLEGE.EDU