I am well into my 10th week as an intern with the OAAI. My time as an intern has consisted of participating in ongoing projects such as, helping with Smithsonian Voices blog submissions outreach, posting the blogs, coordinating a meeting with Craig Saffoe (curator of Great Cats at the National Zoo), attending various webinars and meetings, as well as the beginning stages of moving towards the StoryMaps project I will help collaborate on this coming semester. Throughout all of these opportunities, I have built upon my business communication skills in a professional setting. Good communication is such a large part of the work that goes on in any professional setting, and for me and my work as an intern, I have had so many chances to communicate with a variety of people for all different manner of things.
Throughout my collaborative efforts on the Smithsonian Voices blog, I have also become increasingly better at project management within a professional setting. Project management in my coursework is something that I have always been comfortable with and good at, so the ability to transfer that skill set in a professional setting.
Looking forward, I am excited to delve into the possibility of social media collaborative management as a possible extension of my responsibilities. While I have had to opportunity to manage social media accounts before, my own and other institutions included, I am looking forward to the possibility of adding that to my responsibilities as a Smithsonian OAAI intern. Social media is such a big part of personal and professional lives now, I think that having a good foundation and understanding of running an institutional social media account is a great opportunity to have.
Additionally, I am looking forward to collaborating on the other project I have talked about in my past couple of posts, the StoryMaps project. While it is still unclear what direction we are taking it, I am excited at the opportunity to learn another digital platform. Having another digital platform that I will have learned to use under my belt, only adds to my growing skillset.
And I believe overall, and as I have reiterated over my past post, developing networking skills continues to remain constant in my time as an intern. I have discussed with my mentor, Chris, the possibility of networking with an individual across the Smithsonian Institution next semester so that I may foster connections that are meaningful on my professional career path.
My experience as an intern for the Smithsonian OAAI has been incredibly rewarding and continues to shape my professional development. I look forward to seeing what other skills I can pick along the way!
