From my first blog, to my final one I have made many mistakes but learned a lot from them. Learning to blog in the first place was overwhelming and on top of that, to learn all these other social medias, well I don't know how I did it. The first assignment was blogging and I think it was by far the easiest assignment once I actually figured out how to do it. Its nice to know that you can just type and type and say anything you want, sort of like a stream of consciousness. Also I can choose who sees my blogs and don't feel as though I have to sensor what I say to the extent that I do for Facebook. For the second week we learned how to use Wiki's and I'm still not sure I really know how to use them. After finishing my final project I have learned a lot more about Wikispace's, but still couldn't teach anyone how to use it. The Wiki was a great idea for group projects and really made sense because the teacher can see who does what work and therefore a group project can't be one sided. I definitely think I would want to use the website for more projects during school but think that it would be easier with just one page rather than all the ones we needed to create. Week three was Facebook and Twitter which was definitely up my alley. I learned a little more about Facebook but a lot more about Twitter. I have never been a "Tweeter" and still don't think I will be but it was nice to learn how to use the site and my organization used Twitter as a huge source to inform the public through. I never realized that Twitter could be used not only to follow celebrities but also to follow different organizations. The next week we learned about RSS feeds and I personally hated this assignment. It was cool to have one website with all the different social medias together but I didn't like how hard it was to navigate and also you still have to search this one website to view the others. It was similar to my GMail account which helped make the navigating easier but it still wasn't easy enough. Week number five was to create a podcast and I think I laughed the entire time I did this assignment. It was funny listening to myself and talking to a blank screen but in the end I didn't think utilizing podcasts would help me in school or in my career. It was interesting though because it was the only media tool which involved sound so far and was much like a blog only instead of typing you could talk. For the final week we did Flickr.com and YouTube. YouTube is a website I visit almost at least once a day but I never knew the amount of things you could do for it. I had never created a profile or created playlists on that profile which I liked because it made it easier to remember which videos you have watched and liked. Flickr wasn't as exciting though, I have put my photos online on Walmart.com to print them offf and Flickr reminded me of this. The thing that I liked about it was it allowed you to create an album, look at it any time, and share the album, much like Facebook allows you to do. Overall I learned a lot from this assortment of media tools. I not only learned how it helps me and can help me in my career but also to how it can promote organizations.
Personally I think that in my professional career not many of these sites will be utilized other than Facebook. But, with our generation the way it is with technology I wouldn't be surprised if many of these websites because everyday uses. If this happens I think that RSS or Blogs would be the most common. The only reason I think RSS would be popular is because you are able to type in a keyword to search all articles on the internet. These articles could be geared towards teaching me things in my profession. I could also see blogs becoming a part of daily life in my profession because different physical therapists all around the world can communicate and express concerns online with each other.
If I had to teach this class myself I would change the time restrictions put on assignments. For people working full time it was very difficult to keep up with deadlines. I had to check each website every day to make sure a new assignment wasn't posted so giving out a syllabus with what is due when and giving the assignment on Sunday and having until Sunday to complete it would help because we would only have to check it once. Also it would be easier if there was one place where everything was handed in or just one place to check such as the Facebook page, which made everything a lot easier. Also the articles were very long and boring and didn't really help to tell a lot about the media tool so I would have students find an article because then you know it would be one in which the students would be interested in. Overall the class was very fun and helpful in teaching me about the different uses of media tools.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
School-bus--Mickey looking lun
I really don't know why this picture is funny but I think its part of the whole "cute" aspect of it. I worked all day in retail and wanted to search funny retail pictures hoping I would find someone like trying on huge pants (which the Canadians seem to always think an XXL fits perfectly) or something funny along those lines but this picture reminded me of shopping as a kid. And begging my parents to let me pay 25 cents to go on one of those little rides. Even though this wasn't what I was looking for it still made me laugh and its nice that this is someones real child instead of a photo-shopped image which seems to be making its way more and more into our media.
Mad TV-Can I Have Your Number
This video still makes me laugh every single time! I think the first time I watched it was when it was first out in 2008 or whatever and it hasn't gotten old. I still even use lines from it like "the back of your head is ridiculous". When I started reading the comments I realized that most people who watch this video really aren't paying attention at all and just want to be entertained. In the description it says the man in the video is yes, a woman. Yet a lot of the comments say things like oh he looks like a girl or no way its a girl! Most of the comments though were just catch phrases from the video and weren't that entertaining to read because I've seen the video so many times and they really can't add or detract from that.
Flickr. vs. YouTube
Personally I like either one. I have used YouTube for a good five years now and still remember the first time someone said "Oh I saw this really cool video on YouTube last night" and I proceeded to be like "What the heck is that?!" I think if anybody asked me that question right now I would laugh in their face. YouTube is such a universally known name that is shocks me that I ever lived without it. The convenience of the videos and vast variety of them still astounds and intrigues me. I'm constantly on the site trying to find a funny video or stupid video somebody at work has told me about and I am almost never disappointed in what I find, even if it wasn't what I was searching for. I like the concept of Flickr. but feel that Facebook is a much easier way to publish and tag people in photos. Also when I upload photos onto any site other than Facebook its to Walmart.com so I can print them out. Flickr. really doesn't seem to offer that much more than either site and maybe this is just because nobody really knows about it or uses it much. Also the whole reason I think I use sites such as these are for entertainment and there isn't much entertainment in searching through random people's photographs of everyday stuff, if I wanted to do that I could just creep on Facebook :) The only real use I think for Flickr. would be to have a backup of all my images in case my laptop crashes or to organize them for later viewing when I'm older.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Here goes nothing!
But I'd rather say it this way....
Podcasts... oh podcasts I don't even know what to say about them. The pros more than likely outweigh the cons for most people, but that must be if they are only listening to them rather than actually making them (which is pretty hard). It amazes me that this audio file can be in your pocket all day long and you can play it whenever you want. Trying to upload this file onto my blog actually wasn't as difficult as I had thought because I read conversations on Facebook and other classmates blogs before I attempted uploading mine to get a feel for what to do. Its really interesting that I can not only blog about my podcast but have my podcast in my blog as the audio file itself. I'm not so sure that I would start podcasting instead of bogging but it is a really interesting way to get information for things such as classes or for organizations to get information onto the internet.
I personally don't think I would ever again make or use a podcast. Trying to find all the information and downloading the files necessary took a lot more time than I would have if I didn't have to do this for a class. Also for my profession I couldn't really see people using podcasts in their daily lives unless they wanted to record and listen to lectures on athletic training updates and stuff like that.
But I'd rather say it this way....
Podcasts... oh podcasts I don't even know what to say about them. The pros more than likely outweigh the cons for most people, but that must be if they are only listening to them rather than actually making them (which is pretty hard). It amazes me that this audio file can be in your pocket all day long and you can play it whenever you want. Trying to upload this file onto my blog actually wasn't as difficult as I had thought because I read conversations on Facebook and other classmates blogs before I attempted uploading mine to get a feel for what to do. Its really interesting that I can not only blog about my podcast but have my podcast in my blog as the audio file itself. I'm not so sure that I would start podcasting instead of bogging but it is a really interesting way to get information for things such as classes or for organizations to get information onto the internet.
I personally don't think I would ever again make or use a podcast. Trying to find all the information and downloading the files necessary took a lot more time than I would have if I didn't have to do this for a class. Also for my profession I couldn't really see people using podcasts in their daily lives unless they wanted to record and listen to lectures on athletic training updates and stuff like that.
Friday, July 29, 2011
And I thought it couldn't get any worse...then came RSS
This had to be the most confusing site I have used so far. I have never even heard of it to start off with so I didn't know what it could do for me. At first the directions were extremely easy setting it up until I had to find people and then had to figure out all the settings. There were no easy to follow directions on the site itself, which was very odd since it was a Google site and you would think they had everything all step by step. It was really cool how when I logged in, immediately all my blogs that I follow were right there in front of me but from that point on I was beyond confused. Finding subscriptions took a while to figure out at first because I couldn't find the subscribe button (which happened to be right in front of my face) but once I found it, it was so easy to follow more RSS pages. So far I have added The Environmental Working Group, which is the group my project is on and random other interesting ones. Nothing in particular impacted me when subscribing other than the amount of other people who had already subscribed. It kinda told me whether or not the site would be interesting.
I found this site extremely helpful when looking at the blogs I follow. By breaking it down by people and their blogs it made it easier to see who has a new blog and how many blogs each person has. Also it just put all the blogs into one easy place rather than me having to go to their blogger page and try to see if I have commented on their most recent blog or not. I think having all these sites connected onto one is a great idea (Good job Bistra!) I was having difficulty checking each website and remembering which site I need to post things on each week, but now I can look at this site and all mine are right there in front of me at the same time. Overall I think that using the RSS will be easier to connect all my sites together but I don't particularly find most of the articles interesting because I don't really have enough time to read them all. This class in general has been very time consuming and this website will help but having deadlines for each assignment is very hard to keep up with when your schedule gets hectic.
I found this site extremely helpful when looking at the blogs I follow. By breaking it down by people and their blogs it made it easier to see who has a new blog and how many blogs each person has. Also it just put all the blogs into one easy place rather than me having to go to their blogger page and try to see if I have commented on their most recent blog or not. I think having all these sites connected onto one is a great idea (Good job Bistra!) I was having difficulty checking each website and remembering which site I need to post things on each week, but now I can look at this site and all mine are right there in front of me at the same time. Overall I think that using the RSS will be easier to connect all my sites together but I don't particularly find most of the articles interesting because I don't really have enough time to read them all. This class in general has been very time consuming and this website will help but having deadlines for each assignment is very hard to keep up with when your schedule gets hectic.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Twitter isn't as bad as I thought
So far, Twitter is surprising me in numerous ways! I always thought it was just some weird website to follow celebrities on but now I can see how easy it is, like Facebook, to connect with my classmates and friends. I was able to create a list to easily find people in this class. The list allowed me to group people together so I could actually tell how I know them. I still have not fully understood the trends because Twitter is worldwide and a lot of specific "trends" I have never heard of, but with the "hashtags" it allows you to just click on a specific trend and it actually brings you right to that page so I can read about it then and there. I don't particularly like the "replays". On Facebook it is a lot easier to see when a person comments on one of your posts because you get a notification, where on Twitter it doesn't show up anywhere except on the timeline. Although you can see who comments on your tweets by going to the @mentions, its hard to know which tweet they are commenting on. Does anyone know how you can more easily tell?
On Facebook my privacy settings are on friends only, just because I don't want people searching my name and creeping on everything. But on Twitter I left my settings open because I think I'm only going to use it for class so it will make it easier for my classmates to find me.
Luckily on Facebook I'm very careful about what I say and what is said to me. My parents, grandparents and many other influential people in my life are my friends on Facebook and I want them to still feel the same way about me no matter what they see on my Facebook. I try to never post any pictures that would be degrading towards me or anyone else and do always think about what other people will say when they see a post or comment made by me. Most of my status' are boring, just about me doing this and that but never too revealing in case the wrong person sees my profile. Most of my post's too are just like hey I miss you type things and I don't think there are many things on my Facebook that could get me in any trouble.
Professionally I think there is nothing that would hurt me during an interview if the employer saw my Facebook profile. I do however think that Facebook and Twitter would be really helpful during my professional career because I can connect with people all over the world regarding physical therapy. I feel that it would help me connect with physical therapists all over the world and would allow me to talk to them about different techniques and even problems we are having.
The Environmental Working Group has multiple Twitter pages, one is the group itself and then another is done by the press secretary. On Twitter there are many tweets involving new media and news but on Facebook the page basically just talks about the group. I think that it will be very helpful following the organization on Twitter because there is an array of information that can tell me more about things people will actually care about.
On Facebook my privacy settings are on friends only, just because I don't want people searching my name and creeping on everything. But on Twitter I left my settings open because I think I'm only going to use it for class so it will make it easier for my classmates to find me.
Luckily on Facebook I'm very careful about what I say and what is said to me. My parents, grandparents and many other influential people in my life are my friends on Facebook and I want them to still feel the same way about me no matter what they see on my Facebook. I try to never post any pictures that would be degrading towards me or anyone else and do always think about what other people will say when they see a post or comment made by me. Most of my status' are boring, just about me doing this and that but never too revealing in case the wrong person sees my profile. Most of my post's too are just like hey I miss you type things and I don't think there are many things on my Facebook that could get me in any trouble.
Professionally I think there is nothing that would hurt me during an interview if the employer saw my Facebook profile. I do however think that Facebook and Twitter would be really helpful during my professional career because I can connect with people all over the world regarding physical therapy. I feel that it would help me connect with physical therapists all over the world and would allow me to talk to them about different techniques and even problems we are having.
The Environmental Working Group has multiple Twitter pages, one is the group itself and then another is done by the press secretary. On Twitter there are many tweets involving new media and news but on Facebook the page basically just talks about the group. I think that it will be very helpful following the organization on Twitter because there is an array of information that can tell me more about things people will actually care about.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
What have I got myself into?
So setting up my Wiki was challenging but not at the same time. I felt that it was a perfect follow up to creating a blog because they are rather similar, but at the same time neither site is exactly the same and I have had to figure out how to now create a Wiki when I finally started getting used to my blog. But overall I understand why we are using the Wiki space and found that the tools on there were very helpful once I found out where they were. It also took me a while to even figure out how to create a new page but I realized that was just my fault and the "add a new page" link was right in front of my face.
Our organization "The Environmental Working Group" is basically a group aiming to help people in relation to their health and the environment so the pages of our Wiki space were set up surrounding that. Our Wiki is still a work in progress but I think we will both try to take one or two pages for ourselves and research what we can on them so that we don't conflict with each others findings.
Personally I would have my Wiki page be hot pink...but I didn't think that was appropriate for our organization and didn't exactly think Matt would appreciate it. All the other settings we left alone because its easiest to keep the page simple and uncluttered.
So far the research for this organization has been really interesting. Their website is extremely helpful and has a lot of interesting facts and articles on it. I read this one article already on how to choose the right sunblock (which obviously I haven't because I'm beet red). The website has such an array of topics from the health of children to how to use alternative forms of energy. From what little research I have done as of now, the most interesting thing I found was about how to limit our exposure to cell phone radiation. My parents tell me how bad it is yet I know that I have always just laughed and said yeah right! This article told me how to limit this radiation and what phones are the best to limit that too which I thought was really insightful. Its not like I'm getting a new cell phone anytime soon but its really interesting to see that cell phone radiation actually exists and can effect anybody.
Overall creating the Wiki wasn't too bad of an experience, creating the blog definitely warmed me up to using online tools such as these two. I actually enjoy creating a site that is all my own and that I can say whatever I want and have other people help me to elaborate on my ideas or thoughts
Our organization "The Environmental Working Group" is basically a group aiming to help people in relation to their health and the environment so the pages of our Wiki space were set up surrounding that. Our Wiki is still a work in progress but I think we will both try to take one or two pages for ourselves and research what we can on them so that we don't conflict with each others findings.
Personally I would have my Wiki page be hot pink...but I didn't think that was appropriate for our organization and didn't exactly think Matt would appreciate it. All the other settings we left alone because its easiest to keep the page simple and uncluttered.
So far the research for this organization has been really interesting. Their website is extremely helpful and has a lot of interesting facts and articles on it. I read this one article already on how to choose the right sunblock (which obviously I haven't because I'm beet red). The website has such an array of topics from the health of children to how to use alternative forms of energy. From what little research I have done as of now, the most interesting thing I found was about how to limit our exposure to cell phone radiation. My parents tell me how bad it is yet I know that I have always just laughed and said yeah right! This article told me how to limit this radiation and what phones are the best to limit that too which I thought was really insightful. Its not like I'm getting a new cell phone anytime soon but its really interesting to see that cell phone radiation actually exists and can effect anybody.
Overall creating the Wiki wasn't too bad of an experience, creating the blog definitely warmed me up to using online tools such as these two. I actually enjoy creating a site that is all my own and that I can say whatever I want and have other people help me to elaborate on my ideas or thoughts
Monday, July 11, 2011
HELP ME!
I am beyond confused about this class in general...
So first I created my first blog, then I commented on other peoples but what are the due dates for these. I have received a million emails and instructions about this and don't have the time to try to pick apart every single one and figure out this schedule. Could anyone help me with at least one of the assignments (like when its due)
Also this whole Wiki thing is killing me right now.. I can't figure out how to do anything! I finally figured out who I'm working with (Matt) and that we have to research the Environmental Working Group but I can't figure out how to invite him to view the page I created and also how to even set up the site.
I really hope I'm not the only one struggling with the assignments on this class because I don't exactly feel that we have had adequate time to read the articles and post this and that on them. I work full time and the workload for this class is a bit much for me right now. If anybody could help me figure out any of the assignments or due dates for them I would really appreciate it! :) thanks
So first I created my first blog, then I commented on other peoples but what are the due dates for these. I have received a million emails and instructions about this and don't have the time to try to pick apart every single one and figure out this schedule. Could anyone help me with at least one of the assignments (like when its due)
Also this whole Wiki thing is killing me right now.. I can't figure out how to do anything! I finally figured out who I'm working with (Matt) and that we have to research the Environmental Working Group but I can't figure out how to invite him to view the page I created and also how to even set up the site.
I really hope I'm not the only one struggling with the assignments on this class because I don't exactly feel that we have had adequate time to read the articles and post this and that on them. I work full time and the workload for this class is a bit much for me right now. If anybody could help me figure out any of the assignments or due dates for them I would really appreciate it! :) thanks
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
My first blog
Hi, I'm Marika Stayte. I live in North Yarmouth, Maine and have created this blog for my social application class which I am taking over the summer. Ive never really been one to tell people everything about myself but here's a little bit. I am a sophomore in college and this summer I am working full time to try to pay part of my way through school. I love my job but sometimes get frustrated because the retail business isn't always that much fun. I want to graduate college with my degree in physical therapy. I love traveling and recently visited Niagara Falls. I also love nature but my favorite thing by far is water falls. No matter what I always happen to find them.
From this course I hope to gain insight into how to better use the technology our generation has graciously been handed. No other generation has had the option to be able to do the amount of things in which we can. The world is in our hands and I would love to find every possible way to utilize that.
Setting up this blog for me was very different but seemed easier as I went along because directions aren't that hard to follow. Also now I will forever have a blog in which I can interact with many different people. In my professional field I could even discuss matters with other physical therapists and seek advice when I don't know exactly what to do.
My privacy settings I left alone for now because I have no clue which ones will be best but the information in which I put in this blog should be seen by whomever. I feel that if you put something on the internet you wanted it to be seen and that is why young adults and kids need to be careful what they post on any website.
I also chose the layout I did because I think it goes along with the title of my blog. My life right now is all about college and books are a huge part of college. I set it in the format because I have used Facebook for a while and this layout reminds me of that so hopefully it'll be easy to navigate. The colors are also my favorite colors.
Overall this blog will be a work in progress but I am very excited to learn about how to blog and how blogging can help impact my life. I always love to try new things and this will also help me to reach my goal of completing college which of course isn't a bad thing :)
From this course I hope to gain insight into how to better use the technology our generation has graciously been handed. No other generation has had the option to be able to do the amount of things in which we can. The world is in our hands and I would love to find every possible way to utilize that.
Setting up this blog for me was very different but seemed easier as I went along because directions aren't that hard to follow. Also now I will forever have a blog in which I can interact with many different people. In my professional field I could even discuss matters with other physical therapists and seek advice when I don't know exactly what to do.
My privacy settings I left alone for now because I have no clue which ones will be best but the information in which I put in this blog should be seen by whomever. I feel that if you put something on the internet you wanted it to be seen and that is why young adults and kids need to be careful what they post on any website.
I also chose the layout I did because I think it goes along with the title of my blog. My life right now is all about college and books are a huge part of college. I set it in the format because I have used Facebook for a while and this layout reminds me of that so hopefully it'll be easy to navigate. The colors are also my favorite colors.
Overall this blog will be a work in progress but I am very excited to learn about how to blog and how blogging can help impact my life. I always love to try new things and this will also help me to reach my goal of completing college which of course isn't a bad thing :)
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