CLC's Corner

Keeping Up With It!

2008-05-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

So I'm going to try really hard to keep up with both my blog and my wiki. Especially the wiki because I am really curious to see what kinds of responses I get....hopefully good ones! I think the blog is going to be harder for me to keep up with because of time but I have worked really hard in this class and I don't feel like I should throw it away now. So I am determined to make things work out with both of these things.

Reflection on my Intentions!

2008-05-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

When I read over my intentions the first time...I thought wow I think I really accomplished this, but at a closer look I think this goal is going to be ongoing. And while I will accomplish learning new advances as they are thrown at me, I am never going to be able to understand all of them or even use all of them. This class has helped me learn so much about something that is probably one of the most international technologies known to man. It makes me feel much more educated now that I have all these new tools that I didn't even know about before, like bubbl.us and delicious. I especially feel more advanced when I talk about my project and how I created a wiki, because there are so many people who don't even know what I am talking about. Although I mentioned that I will never have a grasp on all of this....I am not going to let it be overwhelming anymore, because there are so many resources out there to help you understand all of this stuff and new technologies are meant to help you not stress you out. I would highly reccomend everyone to learn about all the features of the web and what you can do with them. I think that out of all the things we learned about I will use bubbl.us the most....this is a great tool for just about any assignment that you could have. I really enjoyed this class and its ironic because I was so unsure about whether or not I should stay in it after the first day :) but I am glad I did!

Reflections on my Project!

2008-05-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

As I look at my wiki...which is completely done :) all I can think is that I can't believe that I made this myself, and that I really hope that it helps out other people that are just like me who have a desire to work for the FBI someday. This project has not only taught me a lot about the things we learned this semester, but it has taught me so much on my career path. It has put into perspective a lot of the preparation that I need and will go through in the next couple of years of my life. I hope everyone enjoys my project and that I recieve a lot of feedback from it and maybe even make some connections! Because that would be awesome! So check out my wiki:

http://fbiknowledge.pbwiki.com/

And what a great end to the semseter!

Presentations Day 2

2008-05-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

Today as we listened to the other half of the class talk about their projects I realized that this project was really awesome...because we got to run with it and take it any direction we wanted to. I feel that everyones projects are really good, and that everyone enjoyed doing them....mainly because we got to pick our own topics and there were no boundaries. Today's presentations were really immpressive and once again showed me some insight into other things that I could do to make mine better. I'm glad that a lot of people chose to use the same type of wiki that I did it has really helped me to figure out and piece together exactly what I am doing.....and everyone in the class has been really helpful in providing feedback not just to me but to a lot of people. :)

Revisions

2008-05-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

I made some revisions today and finally figured out the disappearing information. Today I worked on fixing all the URL's and making them the actual names of the websites which honestly did make a huge difference and made my wiki look a lot better. And yes there is no more lost information. However my solution was kind of lame and took a lot of extra time, but I made it work. First I tried to copy and paste the information into a word document but the information was non existant....which was extremely bizaare to me but who knows. So I retyped the information into a word document and then deleted the information from the wiki. Then I copy and pasted the information from the word document back into the wiki....but it still didn't show up. So I retyped the information onto the wiki and then saved the word document just incase. This time it finally showed up....it is skewed to the left instead of being in the center, but I guess I'm just going to have to compromise with the wiki...because I'm too afraid to touch it now :)

About Me

2008-05-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

So I added an about me page today. I included information about myself like school information, my career plans and hopes, and why I wanted to create this wiki. Hopefully people will understand why I chose this topic for my project and why it is reasonable that I can give input for this project and within my research. Other than that I am not sure what all to include....so if there is anymore suggestions there I am more than willing to consider them. I am also looking for any suggestions that anyone has about the just for fun page...I hope that if people find interesting things they will add them to the page.

Feedback

2008-05-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

I got some really good feedback today! However the problem of the dissappearing information has yet to be resolved....but let's focus on the good things for right now. I found that most people responded well to my idea...which makes me really happy and satisfied with this project. I also learned how to change the background color, which is a bittersweet topic because although I figured it out and changed it and it looked pretty good...it only lasts for three hours, which is a little ridiculous but I guess that is what you get when you take the free route so oh well, it will look pretty for three hours. I also got a compliment on the picture that I put on my first page :) And I recieved a couple of suggestions. I was told that I need to add an about me section so people know why I chose to do this and what qualifies me to add input into the things that I am researching. I was also told and taught to change the url's to real words so that it looks more creditable and professional and clean. I'm really happy with the feedback that I got today. It helped me out a lot.

Prepared

2008-05-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

I think I am prepared to present tom. I can only hope that I get some really good feedback. Especially since I have a lot of questions and I'm totally open for suggestions. And I'm really interested to see how other people approached there projects and how mine compares. Hopefully I don't have to make immense changes and I can spend the next couple of days focusing on adding things to it. My biggest question and problem is that I have been making a lot of revisions but they aren't showing up when I view the page...however when I click on edit its all there. This doesn't really make sense but hopefully someone else ran into this problem as well and maybe has solution that will help me out. Another thing that I have been unable to figure out is how to change the background color...now I may just be really dumb but I really can't get it to work. And other than that I haven't had too many issues...so hopefully I can get this stuff figured out tom. in class when I present and then I will be set and the wiki will be done!

Stressed

2008-05-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

I just really neede to make it to the end of this week. I'm starting to feel overwhemled with finals and such. And naturally I am wondering if the perks of being an english major are going to be enough to out weigh the disadvantages of being an english major. Incase you don't know what I am referring to I have found that being an english major that I don't really have finals so much as final projects and portfolios, and not really during finals week either....it lies the week before instead. And while this means that finals week I just get to hangout with my friends or go home early this week is just really stressful. I am close to wrapping up this project and I present very soon. However, I don't really know if I can say the same for my other classes...I have tons of papers and such due within the next couples of days it is really going to be a challenge getting all this done and making sure that everything is done 110%. I dunno this week will for sure be an interesting one.

Something That Makes It Pop!

2008-05-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

So I'm back on my first page now and it was definently missing something today when I was looking at it. So I decided to look for a picture that I could maybe put on the front page to make it more exciting. I thought the best idea for this kind of thing was to stick with something very original and make it excting. I just picked the general badge for the FBI, its really simple but it says a lot about what the FBI stands for. And to make it exciting I made it huge and put it in the center of the front page. I think that it definently adds a lot to the project and makes it more attention grabbing for sure. Hoepfully others feel the same way.

Just For Fun

2008-05-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

Today I decided that I would add a just for fun page. I think the purpose of this page will be to post some links of things that have to do with the FBI, but aren't necessarily vital in knowing in order to work for them. I started by posting some links for america's most wanted and the top ten most wanted by the FBI....Osama is still on it, obviously. I looked into the website that tells you what people ask for as their last meal when they are on death row, however it didn't really look like the site was being kept up (it hadn't been updated since like June of last year or something ridiculous like that) and I thought it would just be a waste of space, although it was kind of interesting. So i moved on to looking for interesting articles that have recently been put out regarding the FBI. I found some pretty interesting stories...even ones that pertain to my age group. And lastly I decided that I would put up the link of how the FBI came to be, along with some history on what it was when it first started and what it has become. Hopefully this portion provides a little bit of entertainment.

Secret Service

2008-05-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally able to move on with my page on the background check page....because I have connections :) I called a friend of mine that works for the secret service (don't ask me what he does, because I have no clue and he won't tell me) and asked him if he could help me out a little bit. I knew he might not be able to tell me a lot of the really cool stuff....but I just asked him if there was any information he could give me about what the government wants to know about you before they hire you. He did e-mail me one of the forms that he had to fill out and told me some pretty cool stories about all the people that they talked to without him even knowing about it until later. It's good to know that they really do take into consideration a lot of things about you before they hire....we don't want just anyone working for our government. Hopefully these 'secrets' don't get my friend in trouble because he helped me out a lot! I'm hoping that he will check out my wiki and maybe make a few edits of his own. So for now I am set to move on.

Just about to wrap it up....maybe

2008-05-13T00:18:00.000-07:00

I think my last page....as of right now, is going to be information on background checks. I knew that this one was going to be really tricky. I spent all day trying to find in depth information about background checks, but I eventually decided that this in depth background check information does not exist. This posed a huge dilemma in my research and kind of stopped me dead in my tracks....I'm not sure I am going to accomplish much more today since I don't really know where to go from this point. I need to sit down and think of a way to beat the system :).

Just more progress.

2008-05-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on the page that includes information on jobs that you can get within the FBI. I also discoverd a lot of new information and websites today when I was researching types of jobs. I also got a directed to a really great website that describes pretty much any job you could ever think of. It is the department of labor's occupational outlook handbook and it is pretty much awesome. Overall today was pretty successful and I today's research provided a lot of insight into what I have to look foreward to in the future. Some parts of this research prove to be kind of overwhelming because it is making me realize just how much I have to do. But, at the same time it makes me understand just how important it is to me and how awesome it is going to be when I get my dream job!

Another Page

2008-05-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today I created my second page of my wiki, which was the page on physical requirements. This was a hard page to do not only because it had so much information but it also made me realize that I need to get to work....I have a lot of conditioning to do :). The requirements went further than just exercises, but it also talks about the vision requirements and hearing requirements. I also found a really great video to post about how to achieve the fitness requirements in a safe and logical manner. I really just hope that all these things help people who are in my shoes!

Still Wiki'ing away

2008-05-12T21:02:00.000-07:00

Today I worked on one page of my wiki.....the college preparation page. This page includes courses you can take, scholarships for this career path, and internships that aspiring FBI agents and people who want to serve the government can take advantage of. A lot of the stuff that I included on this page was stuff that I didn't have to do too much research on because it is stuff that I already knew about since it is stuff that I am going through and researching on my own right now. So most of the research for this I did by looking through e-mails with my advisor and using a website called fast web. Which is a website that my mom found when I was a senior in highschool. The website is a fantastic source of internships and scholarships for any major or student, it was a huge help for me when I was preparing for school and I will be using it a lot this summer to apply for internships. I would reccomend this site to everyone!

Moving Along

2008-05-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today I taught myself how to post url's onto my wiki pages. I also decided what things I was going to make seperate pages and that I could comprise my sidebar out of all the websites that I included throughout my wiki so it would be easy to revisit and find what website that you are looking for. I also learned a lot of information myself today when I was looking up jobs for the FBI. This project has really helped me to understand a lot of the things that I need to be preparing for in the next couple of years. Especially the stuff that requires physical training which is important to start doing now because that isn't something that you can just pick up in a couple of weeks before the test. On another note I also used my bubbl.us web a lot today, just to organize my thoughts further and put things in the place that I want them for each page.

The Begining.....A very good place to start

2008-05-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

So I started my wiki with the front page...finally! It was really hard to get started and even after a few hours of really hard work I still don't feel that confident on how it appears to be going. I don't like that I can't change the colors, it make me sad and my first page looks really boring. Now to most people this probably wouldn't seem like a big deal but to me this poses a huge delimma. I feel this is a huge deal because it is hard to feel that my project is going well if I am not happy about all of it...even something as small as color. Overall though I pretty much just posted general information today. Tomarrow I will probably focus on posting some of the websites and deciding how many pages I want to include.

Infotopia

2008-05-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

In the article Infotopia I thought an interesting point was made about wiki's and how everyone has access to them and anyone can add and make changes to them. The point is brought up that wouldn't people cause destruction to things if they can edit whatever they want? I would say that most people wouldn't want to waste their time editing wiki's to make them say things that are false or fake.....and if they do it is just disrespectful. If someone wrote an essay or a book you wouldn't just rip it up or write things all over it that don't pertain to the topic. I feel like this would prove true for any form of writing.....and isn't a wiki comprised of someones thoughts, just electronically....and isn't that what writing in any way or form is made up of? On another note it is also good to point out that there is no reward for creating a wiki....so everything is purely based on self-interest. Which makes wikis even more interesting because the fact that they are out of self-interest means that who ever wrote it is dedicated to what they are writing about and wouldn't just bullshit information. This is what makes wiki's and new forms technology successful.

Craziness

2008-04-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

So I decided to look at more possiblilties for my wiki page instead of jumping into pbwiki. They all just seem really complex and like they were going to be difficult and time consuming. I mean clearly a project wouldn't be a project if I didn't have to put work into it. Basically I feel really lazy right now. I think I am in some kind of writing slump, I don't think I am producing up to par work for any of my classes. Kind of ironic considering that we have like three weeks of school left, which of course means my plate is going to be full, and yet I can't seem to find any source of motivation. I am totally already in summer mode...or lazy mode, I probably watch tv or just sit and talk to people more than I sleep at this point. It's honestly pretty sad. I guess I need to find something that motivates me to move on with this project and get my stuff together....it is definently time to move on. I'm excited for the final outcome of my project but I just got to get to that next step. Hopefully that happens for me tom. I don't think today is looking very promising :(

Searching...

2008-04-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

I spent the majority of today looking for the right wiki for me. I look at people's blogs first to get an idea of what other people are thinking about using to create their wiki's...I would say that, that probably helped the most. I also used google by typing in "creating a wiki" so I checked out a few of the sites that seemed decent and free (of course). Really before today I have only truely used wikipedia for the most part. Besides the wikis we have used in class and what not, wikipedia has been my only "on my own" sort of discovery (and even with that I'm pretty sure I heard about that from a friend). As of right now I think I am going to stick with the pbwiki, because it seems like a few people in class are going to be using that same wiki, so if I were to have any questions it would be easy to discuss them with classmates. I noticed that some people felt that pbwiki was complex and hard to naviagte, but in all honesty (at least for me) I feel like most wiki's are going to be just as overwhelming. So the goal for this week is to just buckle down and start this thing. I don't think there is any other way around it!?

Patience.

2008-04-10T12:58:00.000-07:00

I wanted to blog in response to the "activity" I guess that is what you would call it, a few weeks ago. I am referring to the one where a timer was set to go off every fifteen minutes during classs while we were working. At first I thought wow this is going to get annoying...especially interupting me while I'm trying to write and do research for my project. So the first one went off and I wasn't really sure what to do I just kind of stopped typing and took my hands off the keyboard and mouse, but I remained looking at the computer screen, thinking to myself okay what can I get done without touching anything...that was unsuccessful. However, the problem there was that while my hands had stopped working my mind was still 100% on the project...which I collected to be not the right idea. So the break was over and I went back to work not really effected at all by what had happened, then the next one went off. During the second break I was like okay stop working and just stop thinking....I was pretty tired by that point, I mean we had been in class now for over thirty mintues. Thats break was a little more of what I was thinking it was suppossed to be. However, now here I am working and praying for the next break...I am starting to realize that my mind is tired and that I am not really getting any work done anymore. Finally that last break hits and we all stood up and stretched. That was the best break that we took. Physically standing up and moving around..not really being able to look at the computer screen and think about my project or about making another blog post really helped. I was able to finally clear my mind and just be thoughtless for a moment before going back to work. I think the thing I realized most from this activity is that a lot of times I force myself to just sit down and finish things...and although I get things done on time and have time to spare it may not be the most effective because it may not be my best work...mainly because my brain is just fried. I'm going to work hard on allowing myself those tiny breaks because I think it will make the quality of my work that much better.

How to Profit from Web 2.0 - Part 1

2008-04-10T12:55:00.001-07:00

Here is one in a series of videos I found on youtube. I picked this video to share because I personally find it very interesting how people can make a living off of site and such on the internet. So why not learn how to profit doing something we are using in class :).

*If I am not mistaken there are 6 videos from this same man all about profiting from using web 2.0

Where to start....

2008-04-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

I guess I am having one of those days that we just talked about in the begininng of class. I pretty much feel useless...between tests, papers, friends, and tons of family stuff, that is kind of how I have felt all week. And let me tell you the weather is not helping, especially this business about snow this weekend....I mean seriously it is April. Anyways back to stuff pertaining to class. I feel like I have come to a standstill in reasearch...which yes I have a lot of information, but I continue to feel like it isn't enough and isn't good enough. Maybe this feeling stems from the idea that anyone can look at this once I am done...however I most likely will not tell my friends about it...which makes me laugh because they still continue to be unsuccessful at finding this blog. Which makes it more amussing (seriously don't know if I spelled that right) because when they ask me if I write stuff about them...I just smile and don't say anything. Although I have never written about them its fun to make them want to track down my blog even more. But yea the whole thing about anyone being able to look at or criticize...basically anyone that would be able to say that this is dumb or uninformative....freaks me out. I guess that is just something that I am going to have to get over esepcially since my grade depends on it. I'm thinking what I need to do is let go of the research for a while and focus on designing my wiki page. Seems like a huge step though...but then I look at my calendar and realize I have how many weeks of school left? WOW.

Catch Up!

2008-04-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

Today in all honetsy was a day of catch up....as you can see the previous blog entry was one from a long time ago. I spent today trying to figure out what assignments I might have accidently overlooked....in order to beef up my number of blogs that I have written. Since spring break it has been a huge struggle for me to maintain my focus and to write everyday. So it looks like todays challenge really hits home for me :). But, I accept it and I am determined to get caught up and to stay caught up. Not just in this class, but in all of my classes, because as the school year winds down all I have left is final test and projects (as I am sure we all do). So I think that what we talked about in the beginning of class is very vital for right now. Staying focused and working on each thing (or final project...it just sounds less stressful when I say I have "things" to work on) for a little bit each and everyday will probably make it easier in the end. I think the biggest struggle isn't going to be getting things done on time, because of course I am going to turn in final projects and show up for my final tests (because we all want to get A's)....but the challenge is going to be not saving it all for the last minute and truely making it the best work that it can be. Wish me luck!

A Wiki I Admire...well live by :)

2008-04-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

I have found that college and life has forced me to look elsewhere for information....and yes stray away from google and ask jeeves. Although those are both great and still useful sights, how cool is it to view a site that has been editing by just more than one person and contains collective information from so many people who felt that they knew enough about the topic to add or change what information was being provided. I have fallen for a wiki, which I can use just about everyday. I love wikipedia! The purpose of this wiki is to serve as a online and collective encyclopedia that anyone can be a part of, and thats what makes it so great. I think overall its creators are simply just trying to make a place where people can go for information that they can trust (most of the time). I think that everyone uses wikipedia...and if they don't then they probably should. However it probably is better known and more widely used with our generation...but maybe we need to change that. I know that I don't just go to wikipedia for information for school, although I did just use it this past week to research a historical event that was referenced in a poem I had to read and write a paper on in my other class, however people also use this wiki to learn simple things that they were just curious about. For example, not too long ago for some strange reason I was wondering about weather or not IZOD and Lacoste were owned by the same company. Simply because they both use the little alligator logo. I know its dumb, but I looked it up and found that there is a whole background story on how this came to be. Weird and probably useless information I know, but hey I was curious...and I had the resources to find the answers so why not put them to use :)

Progress Today!

2008-03-19T00:23:00.000-07:00

So if you don't know already my final project is on what it takes to work for the FBI. I chose this topic because I am using my major in English to go to law school, and rather than be a lawyer I want to work for the FBI, more specifically I would like to work with the K-9 unit. Anyways I have a rather giant concept map going on with bubbl.us, which I love by the way...probably because it is so easy to use, so I am still currently working on expanding and organizing that. Today I basically spent most of the time searching the internet, mostly google, and looking for more websites to find more information and more detail. Interstingly enough this is rather harder than I imagined. I guess because it is mostly information put out by the government there aren't that many different sites, but the sites that do exsist are very detailed so I have a lot of information it just isn't coming from a lot of sources. Hopefully I can find so information in some unexpected places....I'm sure I can I just need to be really clever and observant. I'm excited to keep investigating this FBI information.

Cha Cha Changes....

2008-03-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

So I made a few changes to my blog today. Probably the most noticable and biggest change that I made would be the addition of the profile picture. This picture is of me and my brother over Christmas break in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Wow that was a lot of Christmas' in one sentence. I chose to add this picture for now because I feel like a lot of my post have to do with my family...regardless of how things may appear when you read my posts a lot of things that are running through my mind when I post these ideas have to do with people that are close to me. So I thought it was fitting that I would put one of me and my brother up for the time being. As far as the Christmas part it has nothing to do with anything, but its the most recent picture that I have of me and my brother since I really haven't seen him since I got back to school this semester (Your probably thinking that that is sad...but honestly he is in middle school, I love him, but he can be annoying so I will live...trust me). A few other things I added was my birthday and my main interests including music and activities. Hope you enjoy the new changes...more to come (once I can figure them out :) ).

My Concept Map

2008-03-16T23:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the start to my concept map for my English 4040 final project, on what it takes to work for the FBI.

Universal Technology....literally

2008-03-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

So the article Worship at the Altar prompted me with an interesting thought. The part about the game console and the focus on figuring out what was mom going to do with the console while the kids were at school, and what would make people want to give grandpa a game console for christmas. I don't know if this will ever happen for something like a game console (they are pretty straight foreward) but this whole idea of having technological advances that are focused on being able to be used by everyone. I think that the game industry came close to this with Nintendo Wii....or they made a really good attempt. I know that around Christmas time in our local mall that they set up a Wii station so that people can try it out and be more compelled to buy it....and I have noticed that they target every age group that walks by, but I dunno if they are hoping that all these people have a child or a grandchild that they could give this to or if they just want people to see that they could play it too. I think that this is a fantastic idea, I think that people in the end would save a lot of money. Mainly because I feel that if technology was more multifunctional then we could weed out things that no one really needed and get more use out of the things that we do need. A good example of this is like with most game consoles now they double as a dvd player...my family personally uses our Playstation 2 as our set dvd player in one of the rooms in our house. This idea seems relatively great...but I honestly don't know how far anyone could go with it or how acheivable it really is. I Just know that if parents could use their kids toys for a use that they needed...then they would be more practical.

Wiki's

2008-03-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

So I changed something on a wiki for the first time on thursday in class. It is strange to think that people go to these pages for information and I provided some of that information. The first page I opened that I thought I might have some information to add was for Alpha Chi Omega. I couldn't find anything to add but I did learn some very interesting information that I kind of wanted to delete because only pertained to one of our chapters, but I guess you can't hide the truth. So the second page I went to that I thought I could edit was for my high school Lafayette. I was able to contribute to this page. I added our schools colors and a whole little excerpt on our dance team which I was apart of, called Lafayette Escadrille. It makes me feel glad and somewhat intelligent (don't really think that is the word I am looking for, but it will work) that I can help provide information for people that are searching for it. But it also makes you wonder who is posting on the things that you are looking at....this could be good or bad.

The Best of the Best

2008-03-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

Best post that made me see something I hadn’t seen before; Anne
Best use of images; Jaunita
Best use of color; Marquetta
Best comments that add content; Anne
Best responder to comments;
Best use of links ; Nicole
Best riffing off other class members’ posts
Best bringing in of outside content (that’s relevant to class); Aaron
Best application of reading to life/another subject/general use
Best post on writing;
Best post on education; Jaunita
Best post on networks;
Best post on blogging; Julia

Blogging and New Literacies

2008-03-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

I felt that this article was interesting, esepcially with the points it made about how succesful this could truly be. I find the point about making homework fun interesting because I think it is true. Especially with little kids, because it is almost like the teacher would be "tricking" them into a writing assignment. Mainly because any younger child is going to find excitment into doing something hands on, in the sense that they get to use techonolgy, not just a piece of paper and a pencil. I also feel that this would make it so children would learn to use resources from the web more readily and with better judgement. By this I mean by having the internet at hand they can learn what to trust and how to use it within their writing. I also think that, as stated in the article, that childeren would spend more time blogging if it was an option than doing other things. Which I think is kind of bitter sweet, in the sense that this may mean that they are neglecting other homework, or spending their days in front of a computer, instead of balancing their homework and other activities that they should be doing. Regardless, I find this whole idea to be a relatively good idea, because technological advances are inevitable, and I think this is a great way to follow the trend.

My Book....Clear Blogging

2008-02-27T22:43:00.000-08:00

So I just wanted to do a short post about the book that I read, because it was full of some really neat and helpful ideas. I think some of the neatest things that I learned was all the different people who blog. For example, Donald Trump has a blog, I mean granted I don't know too much about him except for "you're fired" but I still thought that that was really neat, meaning that someone who is such an icon right now blogs. Other people I found blogging were wives of cops, who bond together over their husbands fascinating yet risky jobs; I found this really neat because I think that it is a really good way for people to release stress and conquer fears that they have. I also found that cops blog about their lives in their line of work, but they must remain very confidential and never release who they work for, and get too specific about any thing that they have to deal with, Much like soldiers who are blogging. Soldiers must remain very confidential, because many people view this as a huge danger and much too revealing. I also found that doctors and lawyers(which somewhat already knew about, but didn't quiet understand) are bloggin as well. Basically they are blogging about new medical technology and as a way to get new clients. Based on all this blogging seems so universal and simple, I think that this book has really taught me that blogging is for all walks of life :)

Whats A Blog?

2008-02-25T21:14:00.000-08:00

After reading the article for today...Blogging Heroes....I decided to write my blog entry about what a blog is to me. To me blogging is advertising, personal, work, and most of all communication. Advertising seems like a huge part of blogging...I don't know if I personally will ever use blogging for that use, but it seems like a promising trade. From the book I am reading for my project it is alot more popular than I could of imagined, suppossedely it is a really good way to reach out to people. I guess this could be because people tend to spend more of their day on the computer rather than watching tv or reading magazines...especially if you work all day. The personal aspect is what I think is the root of blogging. Just the simple idea of having a voice, where people can comment and you can network from there. I think that this is a very important feature of blogs...because it is a new innovative way to express yourself and be heard. The aspect of work in blogs I think is the one that surprises me the most. But now a days even jobs have blogs....I think it was Ann who wants to start a blog for lawyers...which I found extremely interesting being my future profession(hopefully) so I talked to my dad about it (he is a lawyer now) and he said that it is on the rise. And of course the most obvious communication....in the sense that this is a way for people to network and make friends with people that have similar interests as you.

My Social Perspective...

2008-02-24T22:56:00.000-08:00

I decided to repsond to this last article by describing what social means to me. To me social means communication, friends, work, facebook/myspace, internet, cell phones, and much more. I think that communication is a very general term for social....but you can't be social or have a society if you don't communicate; whether its talking, or body language. I think that my friends are an important part of my social life...mainly because they are the people that I am most social with. Work might seem like a strange thing to be social, but here is when we make the connection about networking...it is important to be socially advance in order to move up in the corporate world...I feel that the more social connections you have the better off your work life can turnout, its all about networking! The internet is pretty self explanatory, you have to think about facebook, myspace, and e-mail in general. Cell phones are probably one of the most used social connector. Especially with the text messaging craze that has taken over. I will admit that I text more that I talk on my cell phone. Cell phones are fast, convienient, and pretty much everyone has one so they are fairly universal. Thats my perspective on the (my) social world. What's yours?

The difficulty of this Article...

2008-02-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

This article was realyl confusing. Maybe that was the purpose though...I mean this whole thing about networks can be confusing as well, so maybe thats the point. Maybe the idea of what the professor is saying is that networking isn't as simple as just sitting down and doing something like making a facebook account. You aren't just automatically connected to someone through a network...maybe you have to find out what you share with that person. Kind of like what we did in class on tuesday with the people in our group. By trying to figure out what our blogs had in common, like in my group we all tended to use direct quotes from the articles. But does this make use a network...probably not, but we did connect and if we were able to make one connection who is to say that we wouldn't be able to eventually have a network of people who create their blogs similar to ours. I would say that it is probably hard to make a network worth while...I mean something that will actually benefit you in the end, like the job example that I gave in my last post, but I think that the idea of networking, although complex, is something that we should all learn to understand and try to grasp that kind of connection.

Hidden Power

2008-02-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

I think the most important part of this article is to realize that networks and all this new technology is what makes the world keep moving. I say this because many companies have made their business revolve around social networks. I think that many companies make a lot of deals and do a lot of business through networking. I think a lot of business..even personal business. For example, if you are looking for a job at a place that is hard to get in to. Like maybe the FBI, then you would probably look for a connection between you and someone that already works for the government. So then lets say that your friends uncle works for a branch of the government then you could network through your friend in order to talk to their uncle...and then from there he could network out to people that he knows in order to help you out and maybe hook you up with getting an interview for the FBI. That is kind of an easy example but I think that it works in the sense that most of us could probably relate to this kind of networking, furthermore that kind of networking is really powerful.

Why this class is so important...

2008-02-17T22:22:00.000-08:00

To me this class is important, because of much needed exposure. I think that this new technology, new networks, and an uprising in things like blogging is important to understand. To have this knowledge means that we are semi moving at the same pace as technology. I think it is unfortunate when all this new stuff comes out and people don't ever take an interest in learning about it, or playing/experimenting with it. I also think that it will soon be a very dersirable aspect to include on your resume. I think that jobs will mantain and keep up with the fast changing technological world....especially because it tends to make jobs easier and faster. Hopefully everyone can learn to appreciate and use all these new programs because it really is a phenominal advance in the world.

Connected Quote

2008-02-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

I touched on this quote a little bit in my last post, but I feel that this quote strongly expresses how I felt when reading this article. The quote, "the network is impersonal, universal, without a center, but it is also perturbingly intimate, uncannily close at hand." This quote confuses me in the sense that I don't quiet know of I understand how it can possibly be all those things at the same time. So when I initallially read this sentence I feel a sense of being overwhelmed and confused. Which makes me feel like a network is overwhemling and confusing. In a sense I think that this can be very true about a lot of new technological advances. But I don't think that putting like that makes it any easier to understand. Maybe this is why some people refuse to succumbed to the new ways of our time.

Connected?

2008-02-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

I found it very interesting that this article discussed how a network is meant for stability. That statement makes no sense to me, so I read further only to find that networks are also bits of randomness and that its self matienence is a networks main purpose. I find this to be quiet the oxymoron. Mainly because how can a network be stable and random at the same time. This makes networks seem complicated and difficult to figure out. And I don't know what the algebra part is talking about, but that doesn't make it sound any easier :) The article takes it even further with the confusion, by talking about how networks can be impersonal yet intimate, and universal yet close. Which I guess could be argued into making sense, but this article just makes it all seem so complicated. I honestly wasn't really a big fan.

The Connected Age

2008-02-12T01:03:00.000-08:00

The first thing I found interesting about this article was it comparison to a battery operated laptop to electrical power. I guess to me the idea of the battery on my computer dying sounds like a huge pain and even bigger inconvience. And when it was compared to electrical power, and was considered more convenient than electrical power I was really shocked. To me the idea of walking into a room and turning on a light seems a lot more simple and convenient rather than plugging my computer into a wall just so I can use it...especially when I'm only going to use it for five minutes. However, as I got further into the article I realized that when your power goes out much more is taken away from you...causing a much bigger inconvenience than a dead battery. So in theory I guess battery operated power would be a convenience...but I think that it would eventually have many faults too, and people would want something better than that once again. Furthermore I thought the idea of networks being universal but hard to understand was interesting as well. Mainly becuase that seems kind of like an oxymoron, but I guess in my opinion when I think of something being universal I would generrally think that, that would mean the majority of the people in the universe would have to grasp some concept of the idea, and I find it hard to believe that most people do. Who knows maybe I am the only one that doesn't get it :)

DELICIOUS :)

2008-02-07T18:57:00.000-08:00

At first thought this site seemed kind of pointless to me, because I was kind of thinking it was just another search engine....so I thought to myself why would I want to join a site just to search for something when I can do that on google. After investigating the site I realized that I could do much more from this site. Not only can I save all the site I want to for easy access, but I can invite my friends to be part of my network, and look at the site that they have saved too. This makes things very simple...especially if someone was to reccomend a site to me. It is much easier for me to get onto their network and find the exact website than it would be to just go into a blind search. So really I have found that this website is very helpful for many reasons, and is just a search engine.

Thoughts on the "medium"

2008-02-07T00:17:00.000-08:00

When reading this article all I could think about was the idea that no one is ever satisfied with how fast or slow something is done. There is this joke by Dane Cook, where he jokes that one day we are going to be able to teleport everywhere, so it will take us like 1 second to get from our houses to our jobs, but people are still going to be unsatisfied with something. In this case he uses the DMV as the root of that joke...because we all hate the DMV and freaking long that it takes. However as we can teleport and what not, and while things are taking no more than 3 seconds to happen....the DMV will still take nine seconds :). I mean if the DMV took even 9 minutes now everyone would be happy, but how long would that last. Nine mintues would only be good enough for a while, and steadily people will become just as agitated as they were, saying that nine minutes is too long. So where do we draw the line? In this article they touch base with the idea of headlines, and how long they remain the current headline....especially on the internet. Because someting that is consistently changing like that she be changing for us as well. As soon as there is something new to know we should know immediately. Just like many common news stations stress these days...."we brought it to you first"...or...."you heard it first on new channel _______".....regardless of what the say the simple message is all the same, who is going to give it to you the fastest after it occurs. As crazy as this may seem it is what we as humans in the twenty first century we only expect this or better for that matter.....always want something better. As I am sure that one day we will find something such as teleporting that will make life faster....but then I have to think, you only have one life so why would you want to speed through it? I guess it is all about how you look at it....

Bookmarking

2008-02-06T00:25:00.000-08:00

So I guess in a sense I have used bookmarking a lot and never even realized it. I never realized just how many times a day I use bookmarks, like today I was looking for a church to attend for Ash Wednesday...since I don't live here I am not too familar with things off campus, I started my search by just typing in church and Columbia, Missouri. Unfortunately I looked through those results hoping to find the church I went to last year for this same thing, but since I couldn't remember the name of it I was kind of just out of luck. Then I tried adding Catholic the the search, and I was able to narrow the search a little bit further....and then yet again I realized that the church I had gone to was close to the Columbia Mall, and as we all know the Columbia Mall is basically off of Staduim. So I added Staduim to my search on top of all that other stuff, and I am pretty sure I found the right one....hopefully, I mean I guess I will find out tomarrow. Needless to say this probably wasn't the easiest way to find this information out, but I did finally accomplish my goal by using social bookmarks and tags. If those specefic things that I was looking for hadn't have been tagged to the page for the church then I may not have ever found it...well at least not using the internet. Another example....well this maybe a slight stretch or may not even be pertainent at all, but I also use a lot of bookmarking on my computer....with site that I enjoy going to or even need to go to on a dailey basis. It is much more convienient to click one button on my computer and have it take me straight to the spot that I want to be, as oppossed to typing in the web address and naviagting to the spot that I need or want. However, on a different note I don't know how I feel about del.icio.us quite yet, it seems confusing, but I guess I will have to get back to you on that once I get to play around with it a little more. Until next time...peace.

The Wisdom Of Crowds

2008-02-05T23:47:00.000-08:00

I find this to be extremely interesting. Especially given the idea of who wants to be a millionare. I didn't watch the movie that often, however when I did I always felt that asking the audience or a friend would be the best option. Because I always felt that that the majority of the crowd would know more than just that one person. An answer from a crowd just seemed to make the most sense. This also brings up the idea that two heads is better than one....implying that individual thought is much less enhanced and less intelligent than that of a group. I believe that this make it hard for people to realize that individual thought is okay. I mean being a girl (and I'm almost positive that guys are much worse....but I'm not going to rat anyone out) we ask one another constantly what they think about an outfit, a boy, and many other decisions we make in our lives. So whose to say that their opinions do or don't matter? In a sense I would say that indviduality is important, however I know that I often times find myself seeking the advice of a close friend...somethings just seem too important to decide on our own. So I think the real question is when do you know that you are making the right decision by asking for someones input, and when should you be coming to your own conclusions? I guess that question can never truely be answered.

Rhetoric.....audiences

2008-01-28T23:52:00.000-08:00

I found the part about audiences to be the most striking and relatable. I think that everything in the media is meant for a specific audience. People always say that you have to know your audience, and the older I get the more I realize just how true this really is. I think that we face this sort of thing everyday....especially right now, with presidential elections going on. However in that sense I think the term can become very negative. Like the Presidential candidates will say anything to get your votes. I mean I'm sure most of us ran for some sort of position when we were in elementary school or I guess even middle school. In all honesty I was president of my 5th grade class (I know....I know... you are extremely impressed right now : ) ) And i know that i probably made a promise that everyone knew i couldn't keep....but the way i looked at it was if it got me votes who cares....and i knew my audience was somewhere around 30 other 5th graders, and being one myself i knew what 5th graders wanted (most likely soda or something ridiculous like that at lunch) But anyways...sometimes when i listen to presidential candidates views sometimes....i wonder can they really change this or do they know their audience....meaning they know who is watching tv at that hour. Needless to say i don't want to start a political arguement, but right now this seemed to be the most important part of rhetorical behavior right now.

Web 2.0 - WOW

2008-01-24T17:42:00.000-08:00

So after reading the articles about web 2.0 I can't help but to feel very overwhelemed. I guess I just never realized just how much I use web 2.0 and how much it is part of my life. Oddly enough though before this I had no idea what web 2.0. But I have learned that not only do I use it everyday but most of us do! I would say that my most frequent usage of web 2.0 products are google, wikipedia, and facebook. And the amazing thing is that I use all of these for different reasons. I use google when I'm looking for a place (ie. somewhere to eat), when looking for a website that I have never been to, or when looking for pictures or videos for fun or for research. I use wikipedia when I want a quick definition for myself and I'm just simply curious about something. And lastly but probably the one I frequent the most is Facebook, which as disscussed in the last post is something that I use for social purposes. In the article web 2.0 in science, I honestly felt kind of dumb while I was reading it. I had no idea about any of the stuff that was going on before creation, if thats the right word, of web 2.0. It's hard to believe something that complicated turns into something that anyone and everyone uses...it just seems all so complex. I can also say that this is my very first experience blogging...which is a side of web 2.0 I guess I never thought I would use, and I don't have any experience with any kind of market sites. I have never sold anything on ebay or bought anything on amazon, but from what I understand these cyber markets are a booming industry. I've actually heard of people that will only shop online....whether it is because they feel intimidated when shopping in the store or if they are just lazy I'm not sure. The whole idea of a cyber world can be relatively freaky at times...but I guess times have changed.

Facebook Thoughts...

2008-01-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

Facebook took over my life a little over two years ago....after hearing people talk about it for like 6 months I had to check it out for myself. More recently I have joined myspace, which I don't really like all that much, but in all honesty use to stalk my little brother, who doesn't have facebook, and make sure that during his middle school years is relatively speaking staying out of trouble. I can only assume that many people behave in the so called "stalking" behavior, whether it be your sibling or an ex-friend, regardless I know people must because it is so simple and you don't always have to be friend's with the person to check in on them, when you are using facebook. At a glance though it seems like people use facebook for mainly posting pictures or giving a quick shout out to a friend. Pictures are often display that weekend out with your friends or a special moment like prom or a wedding...but the main purpose is the get them on there for everyone to see. Although I also know there is a whole secret world of messaging in which only you and the person involved in the conversation can read. I would say that most undergraduates at mizzou use facebook as away to meet new people and keep in contact after first meeting someone.....since facebook "befriending" is a little less awkward than giving someone you just met your phone number or asking for someone else's number. Personally I also find excitment in giving my friends "bumper stickers" that I find that we have an inside joke about or simply anything funny or that pertains to us. So in my opinion "bumper stickers" is probably the most popular application, however more recently I have been getting invites to find out what sex in the city character am I or a slightly more ridiculous one, which underwear am I. I think the biggest limitations of facebook comes into play when you are looking for an internship or a job. It seems a new part of most companies' hiring process is checking to see if you are a closet wild person. Anything demeaning they can find of you will be used againist you...obviously. Apparently background checks aren't enough anymore, but I guess we all have to realize we are putting this information on the internet and employers must use the resources available to them. This seems to be the lastest talk about facebook....it started with people loosing scholarships to college because of an inappropriate picture posted of them, and has moved on to something much greater, where people are getting denied or let go from their jobs. Regardless of these kinds of setbacks, I believe facebook, although highly addicting, is a great way of communicating and sharing videos, pictures, or just thoughts in general. Until next time, peace out :)