Delson Cox, a senior double major in Professional Writing and in English for Secondary Teachers, was recently published in The Journal for Undergraduate Multimedia Projects, abbreviated as JUMP+. As an online-only publication, the journal features exceptional digital and multimedia projects by undergraduates from around the world.

Delson was recently featured in the journal for his project “Let’s Talk about Miiverse (9.1).” In his project, Delson notes that its purpose is to “examine Nintendo’s Miiverse social media platform and describe the use of the platform for community building.”

The project was originally an assignment for Dr. Daniel Liddle’s Writing and Technology class. Liddle played an important role in helping Delson revise and publish his work.

“One of the many joys of Delson’s project was that it reframed the possibilities of the assignment,” said Dr. Liddle, “helping me to remember other links between technology and rhetoric.”

Delson recently took the time to answer a few questions about his project and about getting published. Read on below!

Could you please provide a brief description of the project?

My project is a webtext that I coded using HTML5 and CSS that analyzes the Miiverse as an online community building platform. I discuss what did and didn’t work with Miiverse, how it led to interesting and creative communities, how and why it died, what replaced it, what was lost when it died, and what we can learn from the Miiverse.

How did you go about getting your work published on Jump+ ?

It took a lot of revisions. After Dr. Liddle first suggested I submit my work for publication, I spent a few months revising and editing. Then I submitted my project. After that, TheJump+ showed interest in the project and gave me a list of edits and encouraged me to resubmit in a few months. So I went back and did a few more months of editing and revising. I made appointments to discuss the project with Dr. Liddle on a regular basis, and they really helped me focus my work into something worthwhile.

What was your reaction when you were accepted to the publication?

I was ecstatic!  It felt like all of my hard work was finally starting to pay off. Seeing my name attached to a publication is still surreal to me.

What role did Dr. Liddle play in getting you published?

This whole project started as an assignment for his Technology and Writing course. After giving me feedback on my work, Dr. Liddle encouraged me to shop my project around for publication. We made appointments to discuss the project throughout the entire revising process. He helped me see some of my blind spots as a writer and pushed me to develop my rhetorical skills. I honestly could not have asked for a better advisor on this project.

Is there any advice you have for students who may want to publish their project/work?

Find something you're passionate about and write about it; this will help you keep going as you slave over your draft for months.

No one gets published on their first try. Don’t take a rejection letter as a sign that your work is bad; use it as a growing experience.

It’s a lot more work than you think it will be. Your job isn’t done once you get accepted. You still have to address whatever suggested editing your publisher wants before you are even close to being done.

Try and match your work to a publication. A big reason I chose TheJUMP+ is that they publish unconventional undergraduate writings. Make sure that where you choose to submit your work is a good fit for you.

Just submit something. What’s the worst that could happen, it gets rejected?