About Luz
DO GOOD
that is all
‡
The short story: As a web developer and social media coordinator, I connect creatives and educators to their audiences. I develop online identities using social networking campaigns, custom web design, content management, and analytics.
The long story: Years ago, an editor desirous of writing motivation, I started blogging. Soon after, I toughened up enough to seriously experiment with the HTML and CSS on MySpace and other social networks popping up at the time. Eventually, I had Googled and YouTubed and forum’d my way into understanding what is rightfully nicknamed code.
Some time later, CSS3 and HTML5 really starts taking shape. Scripts and plugins become numerous, easy to apply, and their presentation improves. Photoshop’s intelligence and the screencasting community continues to stretch the limits of what’s possible for a web developer without university training. These events and the collapse of the economy at the time when my student loan companies were asking for unreasonable sums per month have convinced me my place is promoting free knowledge resources.
…okay, so it wasn’t that long a story. Shrug. :D
Please feel free to contact me. I welcome any connection, any communication—even if it’s negative. Especially if it’s negative. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, or you can email me at luzmcosta@gmail.com.
Why I Code and Educate
There was never any question what I wanted to be: a writer. Words filled my vision, so much so they often blocked my connection to the world. I could only think of words. Arranging them in a logical pattern that inspired emotion in the reader meant the completion of myself. Without words, I felt, I would never have my full self.
Then code emerged into the popular consciousness. It confused me that an arrangement of words so close to English yet also cryptic were not at all part of my work, yet they affected my sentences and story. I became acutely aware that the visual presentation of content online is more than a digital representation of my hand strokes. Online content has a complex canvas and frame. The arrangement of her strokes is only one of many concerns an online writer has to take into consideration when publishing. A distracting sidebar or slow-loading code can detract from the experience the text aims to inspire in the reader. It’s a much more complex process than choosing paper stock and a font.
So I learned these new English dialects. It all seemed so easy, and it is—HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ajax. It’s all formulaic writing, like the five-paragraph format or the APA style. I learned the formulas within weeks and perfected their application over months and years of daily exercise. I presented challenges to myself without prompting from any instructor. I’ve always known how to learn. The Web makes it easier than ever.
∞
My goal is to contribute to the web’s growth by building online identities and communities—social media networks and brand visibility—through code that degrades gracefully, content management, project management, analytics, and social media
Strengths: 2+ years on Twitter, demonstrated ability to develop online communities and research competitive landscape, staff training in social media, acting webmaster and social media strategist for writer activists like @CharlesBivona athttp://charlesbivona.com; 4+ years as writer and editor of print and online articles
Contact me. I welcome any connection, any communication—even if it’s negative. Especially if it’s negative. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, or you can email me at luzmcosta@gmail.com.
Other Assets
Natural talents: Native Spanish speaker, life-long English student, writing since I could write, hacking since before I knew it had a name, making connections across fields of thought, getting to the point
Offline interests: NYT Crosswords; MLA, AP, and Chicago styles; meditation; human psychology, human rights, modernist literature, poverty, American culture, and the visual arts
Currently studying: ASP.NET and how to relax
