The interesting background behind “aj wms”

I sometimes get asked why I use ajwms or aj wms as my online “handle” or nickname. It started back in those heady days of Web 2.0 in the early 2000s when I was signing up for EVERY new service as part of my role of instructional technology specialist in higher education. I needed to learn about things like Twitter (RIP) and del.icio.us (RIP) and the like so I could help faculty understand what these tools did and how they might work in the classroom or for their students. But the services I use still have it…I’m looking at you LinkedIn and Bluesky.

Most of these services required an account and, frequently, some kind of nickname or screen name. At the time, Twitter had a 260 character limit so having a long username like “audreywilliams” or “audreyjwilliams” took up precious character count, I wanted something short but still representative of myself. And, then, I remembered something my dad did…

My father was an engineer and it showed. But, one day, he came home with new license plates on the car.

AND THEY WERE VANITY PLATES!!!

Whaaat? My dad was not the kind of guy to get a vanity plate – at least that is what we all thought as his kids. But, there is was: GLWMS embossed on the metal tag on the back of his car. WMS? Short for Williams – ah, of course.

So, back to creating my Twitter account. I wanted something short and sweet. And, it just made sense to honor my dad’s “handle” from back in the day and “ajwms” became my online name everywhere and A WMS went on my lab coat. Not sure why I dropped the J then.

Fast forward to launching my voiceover site and it just made sense to keep that going and aj wms voices was born.

I think it fits because I give a lot of credit to my dad for encouraging my science and technology interests while also showing me that you can be creative as well – you should see his wood turning work! He might be the original techy-feely kinda human.