Day in the life: College Recorder
When she is not experiencing a day in the life of someone else and writing about it here, what does our College Recorder get up to? Here she tells all.
No two days as Pembroke's College Recorder are ever the same. My job description says that I am to 'record and broadcast through various media what is happening in the College on a day-by-day basis, so that those who are interested in Pembroke achieve a better understanding of what life there is like.' What this means in practice, however, varies from day to day.
Sometimes I spend most of the day sat at my desk, on others my feet barely touch the ground as I dash from place to place. I might be clutching a notebook, camera, video camera, dictaphone or a relying on my trusty iPhone. Whatever the case, I am most likely on the hunt for an interesting anecdote, a quirky picture or a good story to fill this very blog.
The diary below is representative of some of the tasks I do, but what makes it so much fun is the variety of people I get to meet and events I get to attend. Hour by hour it might not sound exciting, but trust me - it's the best job in the world!
7.45am Alarm goes off. Groan. Shower, spruce, Special K.
8.45am Leave the house for a stroll along the backs, or down King’s Parade, to work.
9am Stop off at the Porter’s Lodge to say good morning and find out what we’re expecting to happen today. Snap a quick photo of Old Court in the sun and post it to Instagram.
9.10am At my desk. Check our various social media pages for activity and plan our posts.
9.20am Spend some time checking my emails and planning my work for the day. My job is to ‘record’ what is going on, so it is important that my schedule is always flexible.
10am Often at this point I have someone to go and interview. It might involve some filming, but more often than not I’ll just speak to them. I’ll either record using a Dictaphone or take plenty of notes. I like to write these up as soon as possible while it is still fresh in my mind.
11.30am Another important part of my role is photography, so I am often to be found roaming around getting shots. If not, I usually spend some time downloading photos that I’ve taken from the camera, editing them and making sure they are stored with all the correct data so that other people can find and use them easily.
12.45pm Lunch. Eating in ‘trough’ every day is one of the wonderful bonuses of working at Pembroke. Fingers crossed for Aubergine Parmigiana and chocolate brownie!
1.45pm Having caught up with some colleagues it is back to my office to start writing. Early afternoon is a good time to work on blog posts and news items without interruption.
3pm Post to the social media accounts and then pop over to the library. There are always interesting items being delivered for the archives so I might end up taking some photos or discussing ideas for future articles. I often end up coming away with a book too!
4.30pm I finish off with some video editing. It can be quite time consuming so doing it last means it doesn’t have the chance to consume the whole day.
5.30pm If there is a special event going on in College I might stay for the evening to take some photos. Otherwise it is time to head home for drinks with friends or a night in with my husband and a box set.
You can keep up with the College Recorder's work on this blog, or by following the College on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.