:(

this is hard... or rather, bitter sweet.

if you are reading this blog, you are probably a member of this class... which makes me wonder... why are you reading this blog? class is over, sadly, but i have to say this was probably one of my favorite classes at au so far.  i can't get over the atmosphere created in the class by our teacher, nicole melander.  it seems that i am not the only one that loved her teaching style and what she taught; i found out recently that one of my fraternity brothers that recently graduated is creating a class with her for the fall of 2008.  i am definitely excited for that class and hope to be lucky enough to take it.  

i say this experience is bitter sweet for several reasons.  the most obvious, of course, is the fact that i won't be heading over to sis at 11:20 on wednesdays anymore... no awesome middle of the week class to help the week go over the 'bump' easier... i will definitely miss that class... the 'sweet-ness' of the bitter sweet comment is two-fold: one, i learned a lot and developed an interest and a second major :)  the second side of the 'fold' is that i signed up to be her (nicole melander) student again next semester in itec 200... kinda going down in course levels... i am definitely looking forward to that class!

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on that note (the course levels), this school has disappointed me in regards to its communication program (this class is part of the business program, which i recently became a part of as a double major).  i was taking 300 level classes (and even testing out of one) as a freshman.  this semester, i am taking a graduate level (course level in the 600's) course as well as 400 level courses... 'w' 't' 'f' mate.  not cool.  i am not learning much, not as a fault of the teachers (they are wonderful btw... i highly recommend K "kylos" Brannon for Comm courses dealing with Photoshop and After Effects), but a fault of the school's offerings.  as a result, i am working 35 hours a week at Apple, Inc. in Bethesda as well as starting a Double Major with a Triple specialization (but I might streamline it and reduce it to a double spec).

o well.

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i think i might keep up this blog thing.  it is kinda cool to just post to the world not knowing who or what (pets read?) is reading this.

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i am excited to go home for a month and see friends and family.  no parties tho, right dad ;)

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thanks to all reading this, and i plan on re-designing this blog and keeping it going posting daily or weekly or however i feel at the time... probably the latter.

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much love to everybody and blog to you soon :)

morgan!

and remember... Blogs are Nice, Yay!

The Blogs have been nice, Yay!

The title of this post has two very important meanings.  First off, it deals with how blogs and social networking have been nice to the community - triggers for change (that has a weird but interesting sound to it... but sounds more like an NRA slogan), as well as the fact that posting for this blog, Blogs are Nice, Yay!, has been, well, nice.

Let's just jump right into it.  Social Networking sites as well as user-generated websites have been the catalyst for change since they first came around.... Heck (see mom, I didn't cuss), the invention of the internet was for change - how can we speed up the sharing of information to help society?  Social networking as well as UGC has been able to allow like-minded individuals the ability to communicate and meet up (mentally and physically) to help promote their cause.  Although this isn't specifically about giving back (although my roommate would advocate that it is), the success of Ron Paul ("Ron Paul in '08!" - my roommate as I am writing this) is mainly due to the amazing power of the internet.  People have found each-other on social networking sites as well as on forums and user-generated websites.  With this, Ron Paul has been the best, the...best, at raising campaign funds.  The most incredible part about this whole thing?  Ron Paul doesn't organize these events, they are that of his followers, curtsey the awesomeness of the internet.

Second part!  Thank you thank you thank you to my teacher Nicole Melander as well as my fellow classmates of AU's ITEC-333 Fall 2007.  This class was an amazing experience in educational learning.  The format of the classes has been wonderful, completely catering to learning out of desire, instead of need.  The classroom environment as well as the teaching style was perfect.  Moreover, the students who were in the class were all motivated and energized to learn - a wonderful experience to be a part of.  Learning about blogging (I never followed blogs, ever, even though I would consider myself very tech saavy) and doing it myself has been an eye opening experience.

thank you all.

UGC - it's nice!

User Generated Content is the future.  In technology today, and in the future, user generated content controls the web.  User generated content can vary from YouTube videos about a cat to widgets created for your desktop on Leopard, OS X on a Mac.

One of the coolest new things to come out of user generated content is the careers of many successful people.   One of the more noticeable succesors from user generated content is Andy Samberg from Saturday Night Live.  Andy Samberg was back home in California making funny videos with his friends and then posted the videos online - user generated content.  After becoming wildly successful on the internet, he was picked up my NBC to do Saturday Night Live... that is pretty awesome.  No resume needed, just his user generated content he did for fun.

Another cool success story comes from a New York college student who loved Apple.  As a result, he took all the videos showing the iPod Touch and edited them together into a new 30 second commercial... his version.  He posted the video on the famous user generated content site, YouTube, and let it blossom.  Like with Andy's videos, his commercial became extremely popular.  Apple took note, and then flew the student out to California to work with them on the new iPod Touch  commercial.  The commercial was virtually identical to that of the student's.  Pretty cool stuff.

User Generated Content is the wave of the future, and it is the hot topic of the present.  The ability the create your own content at your home and then let the world see it with extreme ease is the future of media and technology for years and years to come.

A New Topic... Blogs!

Well, I am happy to say I have broadened my horizons and decided to talk about something completely new... something completely revolutionary and exciting... something I think nobody has heard about ever before... 

...blogs.

That was way to anti-climactic. Anyway, this week I read up on blogs as a representative medium of a person similar to that of a resume.  The only difference, however, is that it isn't a resume, and unless you are going into a job as a blogger, it shouldn't be a resume. (Here is a link to an article on this topic: Linky)  So, that is the brunt of my opinion.  However, this is not to say that blogs could not or should not be an adjunct to a person's resume, as if they have a blog, it is: a) open to the public, and b) shows a little more personality than a boring page long resume.  I would agree that when acting as an adjunct to a typical resume, blogs can show the true personality, or essence, of a candidate.  Because blogs are a space for free thought, you can understand how their mind works (thought processes regarding issues) and their level of confidence.  If somebody is a hesitant writer constantly going back on what they said to cover their tracks and seems too political, you might realize that this candidate doesn't have the confidence to make a good junior executive.  He needs to be strong and steadfast (that was a little redundant, perhaps), and show that he sticks to his guns.   

One of the good points of the article (which lists why blogs are a resume) is that blogs "are an archive."  I very much agree with this point.  In a similar sense to the words above, a potential employer can see the history of the way you act, in type form.  When you get comments, do you take constructive criticism well, or do you lash out in a cowardly manner.  These are all things to think about when you are posting blogs as well as reading them.

So, blogs as resume? Not really... I hope not at least.  Blogs as an adjunct to a resume to show the persons true nature (at least what they portray online)?  Sure.

At the end of the day, Blogs are Nice, Yay!

Yes, I believe we've met...

In the days of old, when one wanted to get a job, they had various avenues to pursue.   One of the easiest ways still exists, referrals.  One of the scariest, however, was that of a "cold call".  If you don't know what a "cold call" is, it is when you call a company without having any referral or connection to the company.  The company, "company x," has no idea who you are but you have the "cohenes" to call up the company and inquire whatever it is that you want to inquire about; i.e. a job.  Those days have faded, I feel, due to the rise of business networking sites such as LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a company which networks people in a similar manner as Facebook, but much more business oriented than "social casual."  The article,  ABC News: Will the Web Replace the Business Lunch? makes a good point that the internet is replacing the common practices of the past.  The web has set new paradigms for the employment process.  People have already had fufilling interactions before they ever meet, making it seem as they their first encounter is one prefaced with the statement, "Hey... yea, I believe we've met... we'll... [chuckle] I guess not really but..." etc etc etc.

I feel that this has both positive and negative attributes.  Let's start off easy; the positives.  The web allows the employer to get an unbiased (by tone or body language) opinion on an employee, similar to that of a college application.  This is easily accessible and can be viewed anytime, anywhere.  Moreover, the web makes it extremely to send in information or communicate instantly with a prospective employee/employer.  The negative side, however, comes from losing that personal touch.  An employer can learn a lot about a lot of people very quickly through the web, but you need face to face interaction, or at least vocal interaction, to get a truer sense of the person.  A prospect may seem perfect on paper, but if you don't hear confidence in their voice and they are going for a regional speaker position, thinks might not work out.

You get what I'm saying... what do you think?

Anytime, anywhere.

Online collaboration is a beautiful thing.  Thanks to the internet, we now have the ability to work with others at any time from anywhere, as long as there is an internet connection.  There are various web apps that allow this to happen.  One of the most famous is made by Google.  If this was done a couple of years ago, I would have just said "Google Docs," but they have expanded their online collaboration tools to a multitude of software.  Online collaboration spans from filling out a spreadsheet to making a slideshow presentation.

Apple computers is also trying to put online collaboration into the homes of its users.  With the release of the Leopard operating system this Friday (get pumped) upgrades to the current iChat will take place.  These upgrades include being able to remotely control the other persons computer THROUGH iCHAT (!, crazy!), share presentations within the chat convo, play movies live within the window, or even open an excel spreadsheet that is fully editable.

The future is here (by definition is kinda has to be ;)) and online collaboration is taking the world by storm.   People are starting to realize the power of working together anytime, anywhere.

p.s. for my web theories class last year, I worked on my final project paper through Google Docs with my partner and nothing has been easier.  It is an amazing theory and is amazing in practice.

Don't forget to bring the Google if you're going on a blind date...

Well well well... it is about time this topic came up. With social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and user-generated-content sites like Blogger and YouTube, it has become increasingly easier to get your name out on the web. This can be a good thing and a bad thing, depending on what you post - obviously.

Again, all of this fun posting and content on the web could, however, pose a danger to yourself if you are looking to get a job or perhaps a nice girl (and then have her parents Google you after they hear that you are dating their nice innocent daughter).

Thank the lord for companies that clean up your internet trail. Or, an easier way, is to watch yourself and what you post. Websites like Facebook have internet search options that will limit the availability of your information to the public through search engines like Google or Ask (Ask is a really good search engine btw).

It is scary to think about how much of one's own life is on the web. Like my title, before you go on a blind date you can feel like you've been married to the person for years if they have a blog or a part of a social networking site - you can just read up on them to lengths that might disgust you... crazy


Cover your tracks.

Can Ya Digg iT?

I am so happy I get to write a blog about Digg.com. Digg is a social news and social bookmarking site for the internet. It is a place where users choose the stories and then vote on what is important. These topics can range from a Ron Paul speech to a "noob" getting "pwned" in Halo 3.

Accompanying the website are one of the creators and his friend, Kevin (creator) and Alex (former TV Show co-host). They add so much to the website by adding personality in the video podcasts. All they do is drink while going over 2-5 stories and reading viewer emails.

Digg.com is a great site where communities develop. You can definitely notice the same people generating the best stories and commenting on stories. A great thing about this is that different communities sprout up under different topics, and some communities span the wide-range of options that is Digg.com.

Digg is all about good times with fun and interesting stories. It is the new way of getting news - scary but true. People are checking out Digg.com and other sites similar over BBC NEWS.com or CNN. I am a little scared as the stories from Digg are always one-sided and brief.

I love Digg, and I have been a user since the beginning... Can ya Digg it?

There is still nothing like a first life over a Second...

So this week's topic is the lovely game known as second life. for those who don't know what second life is, Second Life is:

Join a burgeoning new online society, shaped entirely by its residents. Here you can be or do anything. Explore an ever-changing 3D landscape. Meet new and exciting people. Create a masterpiece - or an empire. Second Life is yours - to imagine, invent, and inhabit.

• Explore a boundless world of surprise and adventure.
• Create anything you can imagine.
• Connect with new and exciting people.
• Compete for fame, fortune, or victory.

Whatever your goals, whatever you choose to do, your Second Life starts now.

So that was a lovely snippet from Linden Labs, the creators of Second Life (SL). In a nutshell, SL is a second world, a second life where everything can be built, changed, and adapted. SL took the world by storm.

More people have decided that a second life is better than a first than any other MMORPG save for WoW (World of Warcraft). Interestingly, though, SL has taken a significant downturn from it's once hay day of 'million dollar' subscribers (click here to learn more about the games' first millionaire). The world of Second Life is diminishing, and the ability to see that comes from looking at the number of active members versus the number of subscribers.

One of the major problems with SL is the very steep learning curve. I played a game called Star Wars Galaxies in 10th grade and the learning curve was fairly shallow and it when the game picked up people, they tended to stay because they became personally vested in their character - it was so easy to get started you could start progressing faster. SL doesn't have this benefit.

The other problem with SL is that there really is no objective. As I read a blog on the topic, I learned that SL actually isn't considered a MMORPG, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, but rather something called a Virtual Interactive Enviornment (VIE). With this comes my second reason as to why things aren't as interesting on SL as they are with other games:

Second Life (SL) is a game-like environment, but it does not really pose as a game, per se. It proposes to serve as a social platform. It is a virtual interactive environment (VIE), and it holds many similarities to a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Users login and assume control of digital puppets (avatars), and interact with one another. Users have control over their environments, and can purchase items such as clothing for their avatars. But there the gaming comparisons end. There are few other game-like objectives in SL: no levels to attain, no bosses to defeat.

With no real objective, things get boring really fast - especially when the graphics suck and the user interface is atrocious. So why did so many people sign up in the first place? I guess your first life has to be just as bad, or worse... but it's always good to remember... there is still nothing like a first life.

O Companies... Where Art Thou

When will companies step it up and realize that they need to jump on the technological bandwagon and start firing up some blogs.

Blogs are a great way for companies to build up customer support and rapport. If you can shop at a company that fully discloses (or appears to fully disclose) their daily activities, wouldn't you feel more comfortable shopping there? I forgot what company did this, but one company made a blog (believe it or not this was public) where employees could post however they felt about the company, different ideas they had about the inner-workings of the company as well as product ideas. One may think that this is corporate suicide, but the company started to see an increase in sales, increase in productivity and customer service points went up! It turned out, the consumer felt more comfortable knowing that the company was listening to all concerns and felt that the company had nothing to hide - all problems would get fixed.

Even if a company doesn't go to this extreme, it's about time they realize how amazing of a marketing tool this is. Just a simple blog will allow the company to build a stronger following as well. If more people invest time in reading a blog about a company, they will subconsciously, and consciously, develop a stronger bond to that company over that of a blogless competitor.

O Companies... Where Art Thou

Chow down on some sweet blogging...

Engaging and fun... heartache and triumph.... experience the Emperor... experience the Chow.

Do you know what Capoeira is? HINT: It's not a mixed drink...

Every time I went through the links on this course's web site, I couldn't help but think of Capoeira. Um... yea... that word... Most people have no idea what that is. So, why is it that I kept going through trying to read these links but kept getting pulled back thinking of Capoeira?

Well... first off, let me explain a little of what Capoeira is. Capoeira could basically be generalized as Afro-Brazilian dance fighting. Interesting. Well... Capoeira (keep track of how many times I say 'well'... it will be, well, interesting) was created by slaves as a chance to develop martial arts skills while disguising their actions as a dance involving instruments and song.

What was so great (and is so great) about Capoeira is the communication involved. New slaves introduced into society to assimilate into new social circles and prove themselves and/or have fun by advancing in the art. Not like in some martial arts, you don't advance by kicking the shit out of your opponent... no. Capoeira is a conversation in itself. The two people participating, or "fighting" work with each other with non-verbal communication. Moreover, the songs themselves reflect what is going on in the game, or "fight." Unlike in modern culture where people communicate so bluntly and succinctly through text message and IM, Capoeira is fluid and is done subtly through eye and body movement. That is why I am so in love with this martial art. It is a throwback to an older time where we communicated with body language and not finger-typing language.

Capoeira became a niche society as time progressed and is now one of the few sports that is practiced in every country in the world. Because so much of Capoeira is based on communication between the two people playing, or fighting, I doubt it will ever become an Olympic sport. Too bad. I invite anybody reading this to Google Capoeira and look into it. Or, if you know me, just ask me and I will be happy to teach you a few things.

[link for below article]

http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2370

Where has all the rum gone? I mean, personality...

I know what you're expecting... "Morgan is in ITEC-333 so he is going to list facts and figures of the history of social networking blah blah blah"

Nawww... how about how social networking has changed our interactions from the early years until now.... "Niiiice."

I was checking out Digg.com and I saw an article on the front page called "7 Reasons the 21st Century is Making You Miserable." The seven are:

#1. We don't have enough annoying strangers in our lives.
#2. We don't have enough annoying friends, either.
#3. Texting is a shitty way to communicate.
#4. Online company only makes us lonelier.
#5. We don't get criticized enough.
#6. We're victims of the Outrage Machine.
#7. We feel worthless, because we actually are worth less.

This all resonated for me. I've talked with my dad who is obviously older than me (sorry dad, it's true) and he would talk about how all his interactions involved going outside and participating in activities which were ... well... active. Now, our social networks on the internet permit us to be "active" while sitting at home on our computer playing RPG games. Sometimes I find myself playing more Fifa or Madden than actual soccer or football! Until I got to college, my life was dominated by the outdoors. Now that I developed a new social network centered around technology, I find myself not needing to communicate as clearly or as with much tone. Simple answers to simple questions.

Another interesting point in the article talks about how we are loosing the art of real conversing. Through AIM and Facebook, people partaking in online networks don't have the need to have a real, one-on-one conversation with each other. Instead, it is done through quick responses to even quicker questions. With sites like MySpace and LinkedIn, you have people who have never met bond through virtual interaction. 93% of what a person says is communicated in ways other than words, e.x. body language, inflections. How are you supposed to really understand a person when all you get is 7% of them! Damn, I can't understand most people and I get the full 100!

All-in-all, social networks have detracted from more personable forms of communication from the early days, but as a community we will grow and understand these new forms of conversing while still getting the full 100 percent of what people mean... not just 7.

The Physics of Social Capital

It was interesting reading about "social capital."

Social capital refers to the collective value of all "social networks" [who people know] and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other ["norms of reciprocity"].*

When you look around you, it is fascinating to see that so much of American culture is based around one's social capital. Social capital is essentially one's social circle... and in America, social circles follow the rules of physics... the larger the mass, the greater the attractive power. Too often, people are not judged on the quality of their connections and networks but rather on the quantity. These people ignore the massive benefits that come along with social capital:

benefits flow from the trust, reciprocity, information, and cooperation associated with social networks. Social capital creates value for the people who are connected and - at least sometimes - for bystanders as well.*

I feel that quality social capital is also necessary to establish a proper network in life. Whether it is in business such as discussed with Rob Cross or in personal networks that establish a strong emotional base, quality social capital is at the root of everyday life and an important staple for a stable life.

*http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/saguaro/primer.htm

We all remember our first...

Remember your first ________? Well, this is my first blog post. Brought to you with no commercial interruptions by American University's ITEC 333 class with the BALLA Nicole Melander.

I am sitting in front of a DELL right now... btw, DELL's suck. Really... DELLs are horrible systems. I am looking at this iMac right behind me and I can tell the DELL is getting jealous. It wants it. I want it. Life is never fair. Remember that.


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