Friday, December 10, 2010

The impact of GTP on me

By Desiree White

Global Text Project's work is beneficial to those who cannot afford an education and I could tell you all about the pleasant feelings associated with making a difference in someone else's life, but I know you've heard that before. Instead, I want to tell you about what its like to be a twenty-something graduating into a globally depressed economy and what impact the Global Text Project has had.

I took on this internship with Global Text Project due to personal interests in the Open Education movement and technology. While I enjoy working with GTP and working with the production staff to put out more and more textbooks for use, I'd honestly never considered working in the publishing industry.

Although I have a semester left, my chance of getting a job initially seemed grim. I have bolstered myself by double majoring, but neither of my majors are in high demand. As graduation nears, nothing short of ongoing waves of semi-latent panic attacks persisted until I made a rather startling discovery.

As I started looking into ads for jobs in editorial or publishing industries, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself quite prepared. Many entry level positions wanted a BA, preferably in English (Check!), computer skills (as the current computer dork among the editorial assistants, check!), and at least a year of editorial experience (CHECK! I'll have a year and a half when I graduate). Suddenly the future doesn't seem so bleak, especially given that my year of editorial experience involves textbooks–and not just any textbooks! These are used internationally. That's a definite edge over a yearbook or a local paper or magazine because it adheres to higher standards of correct information and standardized formatting.

In addition, its a grand slam on the community service front because our books are free for anyone and downloaded all over the world. Between working with the social media and tracking the locations of people involved for a marketing project, I can list a plethora of places associated with GTP. I owe GTP so much for calming some of these coming-of-age fears and I can't wait to see what next semester brings as a production manager.

Look out publishing industry, here I come!




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