Coni is a sophomore at the University of Mary Washington pursuing a double major in marketing and digital communications. Outside of class, she is a peer mentor and works for Student Activities and Engagement. Coni grew up in Virginia with her family, which consists of her mom, dad, twin sister, & younger sister. A fun fact about Coni is that Dancing With The Stars is her favorite show.
Summer Koontz is a sophomore Communications and Digital Studies student at the University of Mary Washington where she is also a part of the university’s competitive and sideline cheerleading team. Prior to UMW, Koontz grew up in Culpeper, VA. While there, she attended Germanna Community College for her Associate’s Degree. Koontz currently works under Culpeper County Parks & Recreation where she is shadowing employees that specialize in social media, newspaper, website and radio marketing for sports and cultural programs in the area. Post-graduation, Koontz hopes to pursue a career in media management and marketing.
Meaghan is a Creative Writing major from Williamsburg, Virginia. She is co-president of the Fine Print Poetry Club on campus, and loves reading, writing, baking, and spending time outside with friends. She has a goldendoodle named Ziggy back home who she misses very much.
Kaira, or ‘Kai’ Otero, is a senior at the University of Mary Washington, majoring in Historic Preservation. Her favorite drink is her post workout chocolate milk and her favorite place to eat out is Chipotle. If you asked her where she’d rather be right now, she would say, “the beach.”
Alexa is a senior psychology major at the University of Mary Washington. She was born and raised in Fredericksburg, VA, along with her two older brothers. She graduated from Germanna Community College in 2023, with an Associate’s of Arts and Sciences, with a focus in biology. She currently works at a local dog daycare, where she has been employed for the past two years.
Openness on the internet or the web refers to the ability that anyone with access to the internet has to post or create something and share that with others. To read more in depth about internet accessibility check out The Internet Policy Review.
Making open content allows your creation or whatever it is you decide to post reach the largest amount of viewers. This can seriously inspire other people working on their own passion projects or simply help someone fix a common household problem.
Making open content and sharing it on the web can be as simple as making a public twitter post or uploading a tutorial video on Youtube. However, you can also use openly available content to make a profit, such as by running advertisements or sponsorships on your video.
Accessibility is ensuring that the content you create or share publicly is available and usable by the most amount of people possibly.
Ensuring content is accessible to the most people possible is important from a moral but also a more pragmatic side. First of all, content should be accessible because it is the right thing to do, providing informative or other forms of content should not be restricted based on any kind of disability. Secondly, many countries, such as the United States and Europe, require content to be accessible to at least a certain standard mandated by law. Failing to follow these guidelines can result in legal action. But, making your content accessible shows that you took the time and effort to go through the steps to ensure accessibility resulting in a gain of goodwill from the public.
Tools to ensure accessibility can include things like the use of headings to accommodate those using screen readers or by including alternative text on image. For further visual mediums, like videos or games, the use of subtitles or the inclusion of a color blind picture mode can greatly increasing accessibility to those programs or services. These features are also very useful to people who do not necessarily need them, but find them helpful regardless.
Erin is a transfer student at the University of Mary Washington. She grew in in Northern Virginia with her family which consists of her mom, dad, and younger brother. She graduated from high school in 2022, and decided to go to NOVA Community college for two years. She has two cats and a dog who she spends all her time with.
Makenna Hadden is a Sophomore at the University of Lacrosse. She grew up in a small town called Blairstown in New Jersey. She loves spending time with her family and dog, going to the Jersey Shore, and playing lacrosse. She has played lacrosse for several years and is currently on the UMW Women’s Lacrosse team. She is also studying to be a Business Administration Major and minoring in Sports Management.
KelseyAnne is a senior at Mary Washington studying accounting. She has lived in Virgina for ten years. She is a military brat and has lived in California, Massachusetts, Texas, North Carolina, and Virginia. She enjoys playing soccer and golf and is part of UMWs Womens Club Soccer team.
Christian is currently a senior political science major at the University of Mary Washington. He is originally from South Florida and has lived in Virginia for five years. On Saturdays you can usually find him rooting for the Florida Gators football team, despite the past few seasons.
