About this site

I’m Ryan Jerz. And this site which is named after a sort of ironic nickname I got in high school (I took German classes and was largely called Herr Jerz by my friends, but herrjerz.com didn’t look good to me) is basically for me to do whatever I want. I talk about nothing in particular, test out new web technologies, screw with the design almost daily, and have a blast the whole time.

The reason I do all those things is that I work in the digital media field and have to stay on the edge. I am the Director of Electronic Media for the athletic department at the University of Nevada. I run nevadawolfpack.com in terms of design, structure, and a lot of the content. I am in charge of making sure our games are streamed live over the internet, I produce television content from short segments that run during television broadcasts all the way to hour long shows previewing teams and games, and I oversee a lot of the in-stadium video production. I also participate in the planning for overall marketing efforts. I started the job in October 2009 after spending two seasons as the contracted director of the stadium feed for home football games.

Prior to this job, I was the Interactive Media Manager at the Nevada Commission on Tourism. I got familiar with marketing there by being the in-house video and photo guy, blogger, and sometimes-liaison for the agency with towns around Nevada. Basically, I traveled and did some awesome things that I shot photos and video of, then came back and wrote about. It was all in an effort to promote tourism to all parts of the state. Nevada has some spectacular places and people.

My education consists of a bachelor’s degree in General Studies and a master’s degree in Interactive Journalism. Both are from the University of Nevada. That’s in Reno, which I have called Reno home since 1993.

Other stuff you may care about:

• I have spoken several times to advertising, PR, and business groups about this thing called social media
• I’m married (sorry) and have two kids (The Boy and The Girl)
• I teach a media production class to pre-journalism majors at Nevada’s Reynolds School of Journalism
• I’ve been blogging for a really long time, so poking around the archives will take you down many roads—some are fun, some are boring, some are heady, and some are just plain dumb
• The only people who will even sort of pose for my pictures these days are me and my dogs, so there’s a lot of that
• I love to “discuss” (read: argue about stuff)
• I’m glad you made it this far

Finally, anytime you see something that you want to be a part of, comment on it. If you want to have a say, but don’t want it to be public, use the contact form. If commenting is closed, you can use the contact form and I’ll add yours as an update. Thanks a lot for coming over here, and enjoy the stay.