The benefit of a BloG

I do think there are many benefits to having a blog. Not only getting to express your ideas and having a place to say what you want, but because it is a space that you own. Not really... Blogger.com owns it... but it gives the user a feeling of owning something.

To tell I cool story, a close friend of mine got the opportunity awhile ago to start her own blog on Myspace. She interacts with kids around fifteen and tells them what college is like, makes videos around campus of random stuff, and uploads pictures and is paid to do it. It is a good way for her to do something she likes to do and make some cash on the side. She blogs once of twice a day and even does things like surveys at her school (Indiana U) for high school kids to read and get excited about college. This is all through Seventeen Magazine if anyone is interested. Anyways, recently she has been getting job offers due to her good blogs and probably the fact that she has been doing this for awhile. The fact that she is a journalism major also helps... since all the job offers are within that field.

The truth is I don't think that having a blog necessarily helps you getting a job, or even boosts your resume necessarily. If you are looking for a job in journalism or are a writer... of course having a blog or publishing a book will help you. But I don't think an aspiring architect necessarily needs to create a blog. It might be better to take some drawing lessons and an extra math class or two.

However, I do think the Internet does give those competing in the job market a great opportunity to create web-pages, blogs, and even the opportunity to open a store online. But to me a blog is really a place to express your personal opinion on issues of your choice, advertise, or maybe just practice writing. I do not see it as a resume booster except for those in the field, but who knows... maybe blogging is the future of the resume.

Check out Caitlin's blog---- www.myspace.com/freshman15caitlin

The Modern Day Function of Phones

Rave CEO Roger Desai says "The phone is the primary tool for planning and organizing lives today." (From "Students' New Best Friend: 'Mosos'"

As a blackberry user, I use my blackberry more often than I use my computer or telephone. I use it for email, and I even use it to do the reading assigned to us in this class. As a result I really hate how much I use my blackberry. I find myself checking it for new messages and such all the time, and whenever I hear that "ring bing" i reach for my phone, when it is often someone else's blackberry. I use the calender function religiously, making it my primary tool for organization.

The idea of the Drift though completely freaks me out. I think adding GPS feastures is taking things too far. Of course this is just my opinion, and as cool as I think the technology is behind this tool, I think it's just taking social networking/cellular devices too far. GPS is a great tool in general, and i have made a few 911 calls in my life, and I know the police use GPS when tracing those calls, but to use GPS for networking seems like using an advance tool in a not necessary way.

I was happy to read that GPS system is making you able to opt in or out, so security will not be as much an issue, but I am sure regardless of that we will soon be reading about security concerns relating to MoSoSo phones. I really am excited to see if MoSoSo does well. I know there are probably many people really excited about it, but I think it is just superfluous and dangerous.

Citizen Journalism

"One day, stories with a thousand people on the masterhead might become routine"

Is open-source pro-am journalism a possible future for reporting? The mission of Assignment Zero is to find out! Assignment Zero is taking the story of: "the spread of crowdsourcing/peer production accross wired society" and seeing if they can report on this in an open-source manor by distributing duties to a variety of people online. Will people find the motivation to do this without pay, because this is going to be a mostly volunteer project...

I think this idea is very smart, and will propbably be a huge trend in the future. Blogs, personal websites, social networking sites, and just general posting on websites has become more and more popular as more people learn about the internet, and I think it is just going to take the good idea such as Assignment Zero make something with Citizen Journalism to work. Imagine people in the Middle East and cities like New York City collaborating online to publish an article about the war. If it was put together well, why wouldn't someone want to read that article over a one-sided article about the same subject off a different site.

I guess that brings about the subject of reputation. However with a reputable magazine like Wired helping out Assignment Zero, I see this project really working. It is going to take some good promoting though. I am sure there are lots of people who would be willing to help out on these projects if they hear about it. You just need to find the right people. People who write for free....blog people.

Quotes from Wired's "Citizen Journalism Wants You" by Jay Rosen 3.14.07

Your Crew

(http://ozguru.mu.nu/Photos/teamwork.gif)
I loved the idea from "How to pick your million dollar crew" of the 4/5 person team. The descriptions were great. Leader, Brain, Anchor, Soldier, and the Freelancers. It was a very good blog, but I would argue that there are other ways to get a mission done than compare it to robbing a bank and hiring freelancers. Not everything is like "The Bank Job" or "The Italian Job" although those are some of my favorite movies.

Sometimes you will have one person with an idea who just tackles it in his head and executes it and is successful. Other times you will have someone who steals an idea, like the Brain and will just get it done. Sometimes there are numerous teams who have to coordinate and sometimes there are none. I know when we did the puzzle project in class the other day I was not in the mood to do puzzles, and some people on my team picked up the extra slack. I think there are a lot of variables in teams which need to be accounted for... Motivation, or areas of expertise to name some.
I love comparing things to sports so I do it a lot, but you can't compare all teams to sports either.

I can't help but mention Pinky and the Brain, a show I use to watch on Cartoon Network. The Brain always has the ideas and Pinky who I guess is the Soldier is a really horrible Soldier and always screws things up... pretty funny...

LinkedIn is in my opinion is a very useful social networking tool. It is very professional and easy to use. When I first became a member last year, it was mainly used for employers and employees to connect and now, students at college also have the option to join. I personally hope however that they do not expand the network anymore than that.

One thing I really like about LinkedIn is that it is very professional. On Facebook, anyone can join and be members of numerous networks (a school, or a hometown to name a few) or there is always the option of “no network”. Hopefully, to become a member of LinkedIn you will have to join one of their networks (a school or a university/college), because I don’t think giving the option for anyone to join would be helpful, and I am worried that the value if LinkedIn will decrease.

When anyone has the option to join these networks, advertising seems to kick in more. I hope that the next time I log into LinkedIn I don’t have a poke or a party invitation waiting for me.


*Here is a picture of a search on LinkedIn where you can see users and some limited information about them. This information was taken from the website www.askdavetaylor.com in an article teaching the basics of LinkedIn called "How do I use LinkedIn to find a job?"

A QUESTION OF SECURITY

I feel as though there are so many people now a days who are concerned about privacy on the internet, but at the same time there are more people than ever who are displaying personal information about themselves on programs such as facebook and myspace. To me it seems very contradictory. People use these programs often to promote themselves as some sort of person or another, and post all sorts of private information... and I feel as though much of the same crowd also complains about privacy

There are many different categories of privacy on the internet, but it seems as though there are more programs out there that give out private information, than programs that protect peoples information. In my opinion, the internet is a place where people display much information about themselves, and if one does not want to do this they should not have an account such as facebook or myspace.

A Conflict of Worlds

With the internet becoming more and more advanced, problems are beginning to arise even with the concept of creating new virtual worlds. The questions that arise with the emerging of new worlds are such as: with many worlds being creating, what kind of problems will it cause when users have to create numerous avatars to join different worlds.

The question I pose is much simpler and can have some sort of an answer from anyone from a "gamer" to a stay at home mom. Is it healthy for kids/adults or people of any age to spend long amounts of time in virtual worlds, and what affects does this have on the social life of someone who spends more time online than in their actual world.

It's obviously up to whoever is on the computer how much time they want to spend in whichever virtual world, but an individual really should manage their time carefully. I’m sure it is exiting and to some point addictive to spend time in a virtual world which might attract that person who is in it. I truly think that individuals needs to monitor how much time he/she spends on the computer in these worlds.

The article I read is clearly focused on more technical issues such as getting enough people in one world to make it fun/exciting or making it easy enough to create an avatar so people can easily join the world. I am sure that eventually virtual worlds will 'blow up' if you will, and they will probably become quite a business. The question on my mind is: what is this going to do to the social lives of kids who don’t manage their time well?

The Copy/Paste Generation??

(image credit: Marknad)

"Newly awarded Nobel Prize winner, Doris Lessing, used her acceptance speech to tell the world that our relatively new-found best friend, the Internet, makes us dumb, as Duncan Riley of TechCrunch.com noted."(From:Internet Makes People Dumb, Methinks Says Nobel Laureate. By: Vlad Constandes, SEO News Editor)

Are search engines and the internet in general making youngsters less creative? Is it a 'creativity CRIME' to read sparknotes in bed rather than walk to your nearest library to check out the whole version?

Without a doubt the internet has made it much easier to skim books, check movie times, read periodicals, and even looking up historical figures all in one place: your laptop. This is extremely convenient and has and will continue to overcome some of the more traditional ways the public accesses information. But is this source of convenience also a potential source of making our younger generations dumber? I personally don't think so. Although it may make them lazier, the resources on the internet keep expanding and expanding, and the number of users on the internet keep expanding with it. With this growth I see the internet as solely a valuable source of information which hopefully will act as a partner to paper resources rather than an alternative.

The Nike Palace

The new Nike ID section of Nike-town in New York City is never very crowded. However that isn't because they aren’t popular, or because the high price of these shoes scare away consumers... rather it's because in order to create a custom pair of Nike ID's you need to call and make an appointment for a hour block to personalize and talk to a customer service representative at Nike Town.

Nike's newest hot idea is taking personalized shoes to another level. The option has been available to personalize shoes for along time, however never to the extent Nike has recently taken it to. Regardless if you want stripes, neon colors, low tops, or a leather tongue, Nike probably has an option for you with their new Nike ID's.

This idea of consumers becoming the designers also has brought about another change. This is the option to be able to share what you created with your friends. To quote Business Week's article "Customer/designers can then email their creations to themselves or to buddies, or buy the new design inside Nike-town."(Nike's New Public Design Studio -- Where Consumers Become Designers. Posted by: Reena Jana on October 04).

Is this trend of customizing new shoes bringing along a trend of new ways to share your newest purchases with friends? One thing is for sure, Nike has more than just new shoes, Nike's new marketing strategies may also help to shape the way we shop.

Click here to learn more about Nike's global idea for Nike ID.

Paintball, a study of teamwork

Teamwork is currently one of the most beneficial skills in this era's job market, and after my experience this weekend paintballing, I feel as though I now have a new perspective on teamwork (especially under pressure). Before this weekend my experience in teamwork has consisted primarily of teamwork in terms of school, which is really mandatory teamwork. This weekend I experienced teamwork in a new way.

Five of my friends and I went back to New York City this weekend to play a group of strangers in paintball. And to cut to the chase, we ended the night bruised and bloody. However more importantly, the pressure that was put on us during the match really made us all bond together and communicate in a way that would not have been possible under other conditions, such as school.

Although I feel as though in high school/college professors are doing their best to promote teamwork, and teach the importance of teamwork, I believe teamwork is a skill which people learn themselves under pressure. I believe teamwork is a skill which one learns 'in the field' if you will. Although teamwork is learned/taught in school, it is a skill that I believe students will truly learn once they get into their field of desired study and have experience under pressure working towards a common goal.

Relationships in your Network

Are all of my relationships defined by statements such as homophilous relations or a connection with propinquity. No, but these two words are discussed in depth in “Introduction to Social Network Theory” by Charles Kadushin.

When I transferred to American University from New York City last Fall I remember the first conversation starter amongst other students was always "Where are you from?" And with some reflection, it doesn't take long for me to realize that I have a pre-disposition to believe that I get along better with people from New York City, or that have shared a significant mutual experience, such as attending a New England Boarding School with me. In my personal experience, almost all of my relationships however are through the propinquity property. Whether it is because I feel people from New York all share a certain quality, or just because I like being surrounded by people from New York, all of my friends are from New York City. Strangely, I spent all my middle school/high school years at boarding school in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Montana. Additionally, at these schools, most of my friends are in not way homophilous connections.

Think about your network of friends, and see if your relationships are more homophilous or follow the propinquity property.

Blog#1

This blog has been created for ITEC 333: Social networking & business at American University.


"On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own"