"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

I personally have come a long way from the first day of class, for me it’s a bitter sweet goodbye to my dear blogger. The idea I had behind the website and the layout was absolutely perfect on paper and in my head, but of course Photoshop and Dreamweaver had different ideas in store for me. As a whole the website is supposed to be used to promote who I am to future employers. The first page I had made was my about me, this is supposed to give future employers a brief was detailed look into what I am doing currently, what I have succeeded and what my future plans are. I had made sure that some of the few things read are the things I am skilled at followed by the things that make me stand apart from any other applicants and how efficient I can work with the skills I had acquired to showcase why I would be the best possible choice for a future position.

I feel that by having my about me as the first page on my website was the best possible option because immediately anyone can be engaged and interested in reading about who I am and why I should be considered for any future jobs. On my website I have linked all my social media projects. I feel that the only one that might be the most in depth would be my blog. Even though I am also linking my Facebook and Twitter pages to also promote myself my Blogger can pull someone in more and catch their attention. The use of Facebook and Twitter can help show who I am and what my interests are but it might not always be the best approach; unless the job I am trying to obtain deals with social media and it was specially asked for.  I felt a need to provide links to my private accounts only because I know there is nothing bad on my sites and I would want a future employer to see I know how to manage different social media outlets. With that being said many workplaces want to see if you are hiding anything and take pride in trusting their employees, so the discretion of the owner should always be something kept in mind and always to remember that anything put on Facebook and Twitter might not be appropriate for the workplace.  Just because you view something one way (ex: at a bar drinking a beer socially) your future employer might view it completely different (ex: that person is an alcoholic). All social media sites help give someone a good idea of what a person might be like, however the type of person they might be could be judged in a completely wrong manner.

The process of actually putting together the website was somewhat rushed, it seemed like we had a ton of time to put everything together but towards the end of the semester I feel that people felt overwhelmed in what we actually had to do and it wasn’t done with highest potential. I felt that my knowledge of Photoshop was higher than most in the class due to the fact that I had used the program many of times in the past and was able to design things in a little amount of time; but when it came to Dreamweaver it truly became my downfall and put me behind on putting everything together since I had many questions on how to actually put everything together.  I felt absolutely relieved that I had actually finished my website and it looked actually decent for the amount of time I did it in and the fact that it took a while for me to wrap my head around it. I feel that it accomplished the task of giving someone a sense of who I am and what skills I have to offer a position; the fact that I was able to provide many different kinds of written pieces as well as things I had designed in Photoshop and InDesign really help to give people visuals on what I can successfully get done. Having a portfolio to show really allowed me to see everything I had accomplished at Buffalo State and my prior years at Niagara County Community College. It gave me a sense of being proud of myself that I have come this far and never gave up on bettering my future and I have a ton of work to show for all the hard work I have ton to get this far. In my portfolio I included a press release, a story idea memo, media release, fact sheet, an interview, planning sheets, a brochure I had done, as well as a poster, a small storybook and a magazine layout.  The main community client I was able to work for with the major written pieces was the American Diabetes Association and their event they do every year called “Tour De Cure.” There are many different branches of the ADA but Buffalo has their own main office which every year hosts their own “Tour De Cure” which is a bike ride at Niagara County Community College to help raise money to find a cure for Juvenile Diabetes. The American Diabetes Association is very close to my heart as well as my family due to the fact that I have Type One Diabetes which I was diagnosed with at the age of 8. Every year my family and I do the Step Out walk and attempt to raise money to donate and raise awareness to help find a cure for a disease that is becoming more and more common. The American Diabetes Association also contributes to hosting a two week summer camp in Rochester, NY called “Camp Aspire” which is a camp for kids ages 8-16 who have diabetes; this camp gives them the opportunity to learn to live with this disease and not let it slow them down and introduce them to other young and old who deal with all the same things they do. Since the age of 8 (a few months after I was diagnosed) I started attending this camp and never looked back; from 8-15 I was camper every summer, then at the age of 16 I became a counselor, and from 16 to this very moment at the age of 23 I still work at this camp except I have a higher title and I am in charge of my own cabin and get to teach these kids to never give up.

I had the opportunity to showcase a few pieces of work that I had designed. Throughout my college career I had found a few things that I was interested in but not as much as actually being hands on with something and having an opportunity to take a concept and run free with it. I never knew I had such a passion for design and being able to put the ideas in my head on the computer and print out a few awesome things that I can truly be proud of. Along with the pieces I had designed I was able to showcase the video I had made in this class using iMovie. Learning how to use iMovie was one of the biggest things I was looking forward to doing since the beginning of the semester; it didn’t take long to become acquainted with the program. I am very proud with the self-portrait I had put together and the overall group video we had come up with as a whole. From beginning to end my group remained strong and didn’t become frustrated which resulted in an amazing concept brought to life.

In the end, I am extremely ecstatic with my personal website. I originally had a more complex idea in my head but the end result I had made was perfect for the amount of time we had to work on it; everything I had planned on having on it (minus my personal video) was there and easy to find. Many of the new things I have learned from this class will most definitely be brought with me in my final semester at Buffalo State College as well as future jobs and hopefully many of the things learned I will be able to use at my potential internship with After Dark Entertainment (which I have my second interview for on Monday! Wish me luck kids!).

Adieu.

Team Separation- Final video: Lauren, Jessica and Justin

oops interview!! with Vince Saraceno

For this assignment we had to do an interview with a fellow classmate with the goal of showiong professional communication. Unfortunately (just kidding) my partner was Mr. Vince Saraceno. After the innitial issue of Vince "accidently" deleting my previous interview, we got back on track and were able to produce a decent interview.
How do you plan on self promoting yourself?

I plan on self promoting myself by using all social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Tumbler along with using my Blog and Youtube/Vimeo.

Name three goals you have between now and graduation.

Three goals I have before graduation are passing all required classes that I need to get done, finding an internship, and being successful at it so I may save money for traveling.
 

What employment goals do you have after graduation?  Name three of them.

After graduation I would love to work for any sports team in or out of the area, work for a marketing or event planning agency or I would love to be an Au Pair in England or Ireland

Name three best case scenario jobs you would like to have and why.

Three best case scenario jobs would be either working for ESPN, going back to Disney and working in their marketing division, or getting a job anywhere doing sports marketing.

Do you prefer to work professionally with a group or on your own and why?

I think starting off I would prefer working in a group and seeing everything I am capable of and pushing myself to learn from others and then working my way up to being on my own and showing my true talents once I have really learned what I am good at.

What contributions can you make to a group dynamic?  Name three things.

In a group dynamic I can contribute being a good leader if the group needed direction, I am able to think on my feet and fix unexpected issues, I also am a great networker and people person.

What contributions can you make working independently?  Name three things.

Working independently I can give a more personal feel on the project I am working on and put my everything into it, I could work around the clock to meet a deadline to get things done, and independently I can work on all aspects.

What are your pet peeves in a work environment?
 

My biggest pet peeves in a work environment are, people who are sloppy with their things and have no respect for anyone else, people who are late to work and late to get things done, and also people who talk down to others.

Name three things you feel passionate about professionally - this could be school related, current job related, group or organizationally related - and outline why you feel passionate towards them.

I am very passionate about being very outgoing and having the ability to talk to anyone and work with different kinds of people, I am also passionate about my work ethic and the want to get things done on time and done right, also passionate about being able to network and get myself out there without being shy.

How do you handle stress and pressure?

I don't sweat the little things. Stress, pressure and perhaps unnecessary things you put on yourself are most likely avoidable. If stressed or pressure, I sit back, take a minute to breather and get back on track.

Name the last three jobs you had, and the best success and the worst failure you experienced at each of these jobs.
 

Bartender- working with and meeting amazing people from all over, failure: moving a half hour from my job

Camp counselor- working with amazing kids and staff, learning more about different diseases and about myself, failure: not being able to do it full time

Disney World- met people from all over the world, networked with people from a well known company, failure: moved back home

How do you handle criticism?

Never take anything personally, criticism is supposed to help you better yourself

Outline three strengths you have in school.

Have an amazing ability to work well with others, get along with all students and professors, am always on time to school and with assignments.

Outline three strengths you have in your workplace.

Am always on time, make my staff and customers feel welcomed, amazing work ethic

How has creating a WikiPage strengthened your communication skills?    Name and elaborate on three things:

Creating a wikipage has strengthened my grammar in a more professional aspect, helped use visual communication more, and help me to elaborate more on a step by step discussion that was clear, and easier to understand.

How will Facebook be used to promote yourself?

Name and elaborate on three things:

Facebook can be used to promote myself by people being able to see who I am with pictures and videos. People can see what I'm interested in, can see who I associate myself with, and also see what my likes are.

How would you promote an organization on Facebook?

Name and elaborate on three things:

I would promote an organization by creating a separate page for said organization that had a complete detailed biography, included the company logo with some other separate pictures along with a video, make sure to mention special events. I would also put a link to the organization's website, I would also put a link on my facebook page leading to the other page so anyone who sees my page will hopefully go look at what im promoting along with posting status

(If you want to answer this question on Tuesday/Thursday, that is acceptable, since we will be well into our Twitter project by then)

How will Twitter be used to promote yourself? 

Name and elaborate on three things:

I would beable to use twitter to promote myself by connecting to different organizations and tweeting on their pages with my thoughts and getting my name associated with them, I can get my name out there by tweeting specific things and showing who I really am and what my thoughts are, also use twitter to network with many people around the world who are interested in what I am and people who could help me get further in my career.

Graphically what do you want to have on your website.

Name and elaborate on three things:

Graphically I would like my website to have bold colors that show off my personality and an amazing text going throughout that is easy to read. I would also like pictures of myself and a video to be embedded, along with a biography of myself and postings of my previous work and also my resume.

What can you constructively criticize about the interviewer. Name and elaborate three things:

Three things that I can constructively critize about the interviewer are: he did a good job at reading the questions clearly and making sure that I understood what he was asking, he took his time to carefully record everything I had answered, and also he took precise notes during the interview before going back and constructing full sentences.

During the interview process I feel as if I learned a lot about the expectations and about what Vince also planned on accomplishing and who he really was. Interviewing is a great tool for organizations and other people to see who you really are. The ket to a successful interview is to be calm and enjoy yourself; don't be uptight about it, you want to show who you really are. I feel that this was a exercise most classes should do to prepare students for future experiences


 

"Having the worst day ever. All traffic lights I passed were green so I had to stop on the side of the road to read tweets."

Well before I walked into this class I never had a Twitter; I only created this account because of our Twitter project, I was always interested in seeing what the hype was about it, almost everyone I know has a Twitter account and talks about it quite often.  Facebook has always been the top social media site that I have used, so when we started using Twitter it took me a little bit too really get a hang of it and truly wrap my head around the concept of it. When I first started using I absolutely didn’t like it; I felt that it was just another way to lose all daily life interactions with false hope that a celebrity would tweet you back. It has a weird setup that was nothing like using Facebook; it’s hard to see where and when interactions are actually happening since the comments show up about the tweets. As soon as I started getting followers and not just my classmates, I started becoming more interested in the site. More things were happening and were easier to see how I could use it to my advantage.

My very first followers were my classmates from this class who had started their class Twitter account at the same time. Most of everyone in the class had a Twitter account already and were very familiar with the site. I remember when Twitter first became a big deal and all my friends were into. It's funny what kids would say on Twitter but in real life very quiet and keep to themselves, it was almost like they finally found their voice via the Internet. After using my new Twitter account for a few days I started following more people and organizations. It’s pretty cool that celebrities have their own personal accounts; the ability to follow a celebrity and see into their life almost makes you feel connected to them on a personal level. The first celebrity I started to follow was Ellen DeGeneres, she is by far one of my favorite comedians and talk show hosts, I enjoy following comedians, actors/actresses and musicians along with different organizations. Following well known people really makes you connected to them with the ability to feel that these people are actually human. Now days during television shows you can see the people from the show tweet things live; the trending topics was something that I newly discovered which engages you in conversation with many people around the world about the same topics. The more and more that I use Twitter I am beginning to enjoy it way more than I have before.

Twitter has been mostly used for socializing; but also used for marketing yourself to the people involved with the Twitter lifestyle. Twitter gives people more of an insight on your beliefs, what you are interested in, and gets your name out to people who don’t know who you are. Facebook gives an all-around package of a person; Twitter is probably more beneficial for politicians and marketing campaigns; it’s easy enough to get followers, follow people, send direct messages, and market a person to different companies by tweeting and re tweeting.

Twitter is a very convenient source for many journalists, newspapers, magazines, and news stations; it is extremely easy for a company or magazine to post a link to any article, or on someone's Twitter wall who is famous to instantly gain more followers and get a name out in the public. Some celebrities are paid large amounts of money to tweet about different things to help with promotion. For people who don’t watch the news or read the paper Twitter can help keep those people updated on different things they are interested in whether they are just around town or traveling the world; it’s easy enough to always stay connected.

If or when a socialite or politician uses twitter, it’s an easy and free experience to post any kind of link, articles, or any kind of picture to keep the public updated. Twitter is easy to use by everyone and very convenient, you can follow whoever you want and anybody else has the ability to follow you; unless your account is set to private anyone can see what you say or have on your page just by the click of the follow button. The last election was a big deal for most people on Twitter because they were able to follow both the candidates and keep up with every single update regularly.
Basically, all of the social media sites are connected and serve the same purpose; this purpose to be able to make communicating and staying in touch with people an easier process. The ability to directly connect with someone half way across the world is mind blowing; at this very moment while typing this blog I am talking to the family I will be staying with in Ireland; such an amazing thing to easily communicate with people who you can’t see every day. Web 2.0 has made it so everyone has the ability to directly connect with millions of people in more way than one through the availability of instantly using different websites to broadcast themselves.

Facebook gives everyone the ability to add friends to their page, the option to keep their page private is also a key factory, as well as having the ability to share all sorts of information, photos, telling people where they are at that moment, and posting statuses.  Facebook is an easy enough site that anyone could use not only for a personal/private account, but anyone can make a fan page, business page, and set up events.
Another social media site frequently used is LinkedIn; LinkedIn is an awesome way for businesses to stay connected, whether with other businesses or people. It is free for anyone to use and a good way to present you in a professional way and market yourself in the business field. You are able to post a photo of yourself and upload your resume.

Twitter is really starting to grow on me for a few reasons; I am able to post whatever I am thinking at any given time of the day which I am able to do with ease without having to go through the traffic on a Facebook wall or getting on other people's nerves with what I have to say. Twitter doesn’t have to be directed at anyone or anything; I am able to post my own thoughts and feelings without someone getting upset. Sometimes using 140 characters is rough since I have a lot to say.

Twitter is like the younger step sibling to Blogger; my first experience blogging was in our class, I personally have found a love for it. When I blog I feel as if I’m getting a lot off my chest and letting my feelings out in a more professional way. I have a lot of things to say about many topics and having a blog is a good way to reach out to people; having a blog is also good for future employers to see how you can write and what interests you and what opinions you have on different thing, as well as having people follow your blog and re-blog (almost the same as twitter when you tweet and re-tweet). Twitter now has to be my number one use of networking sites; I have become Twitter happy over the last couple days and tweeting everyone.

Twitter is here to stay!

"google before you tweet is the new think before you speak."

"A Great Movie Evolves when Everybody Has the Same Vision in Their Heads"

"There is no reason why challenging themes and engaging stories have to be mutually exclusive – in fact, each can fuel the other..." -Edward Zwick

 

Through the use of my iPhone and iMovie I was able to put together a short movie about myself and the separation I have in my life, the separation of me being a bartender and me also being a camp counselor. It was one of my first times using iMovie and playing around with the program, I wasn’t so much nervous about the project as much I was excited to jump into it and see what I could actually do with the program and see what kind of movie we could produce as a team. Having the experience to sit down and take the time to create something with iMovie was something that I really needed to learn and wanted to learn.

All the things that you can do to edit a movie and create something with this program is amazing. It was fun experiences watching everything come together and watching different parts of my footage bond together in way I didn’t even see at first. Even though I had to re do my movie at least 6 times because it constantly disappeared or didn’t save, and it was also a very tedious process with every single different option you could choose from along with remembering absolutely everything I did on the previous movie (putting in music, taking out background noise, putting in transitions, etc.) I feel as if I know the program very well now and any future projects I do will be done with no stress because of all the times I had to go back into my project and edit everything and re do everything more than once. I suppose practice does make perfect.

I went in to it this project with an open mind and not becoming too stressed out about it because I knew it was going to be something that I wasn’t familiar with so if I got myself all worked up about it then the whole learning experience would of been ruined. I’ve seen many other people in our class get all stressed and shut down because of the iMovie program or fed up with the computers. All that none sense affects the whole group there for setting the whole groups movie back because they couldn’t just finish their own part of it. Many aspects of this was difficult, from cutting the music to be perfect, to having the right amount of 1:20 on your video and exactly 5:30 as a whole, dragging and dropping different things, projects not saving, and not having abrupt endings. But without all the difficult things happening we would of never learned the program properly. Everything in life isn’t easy and I for sure didn’t expect this to be either.

I am very happy to of had the group I had and happy that this project is finally complete and we are now able to present everything everyone has been working on. It has been a fun ride and the outcome of mine and my team member’s work has been better than expected. My group was very open to everyone’s ideas and took everyone’s criticism very well; we all contributed ideas for different things and knew how to communicate in a professional manner without biting each others heads off. When it came down to the footage everyone did an awesome job at getting everything they needed together and on time and each had the right amount of work done to make the video 100% completely done.

I think that our topic of separation really fit in with our team. We all were extremely different from each other in many ways but for our movie we basically all did the separation of our jobs in some aspect. It was a pretty easy concept to grab on to and run with because we didn’t have to really show a traditional beginning or end to the movie since we were trying to reach separation anyways, we had a lot of freedom to do whatever we wanted with our own personal movies and the movie as a whole could stand out and be different. Everything fit together really nice with all the transitions separating our three different videos and the music that we used had good transitions. I personally think we did an amazing job portraying separation and the class watching will understand our topic. We used very minimal text and a few pictures to tye up the ending of the video. Being OCD about the movie really paid off because going in and fixing every detail to make sure it look exactly how I wanted it and how the group wanted it is really going to pay off in the end.

For never using this software or having to add music to anything I feel like I did a really good job cutting music to fit it in. In my own personal video I used two different songs where they would stop and one would start again and then in another area had to start back up at the same spot it ended. For that task alone I did the best I could with little knowledge that I had and it came out exactly how I wanted it and wasn’t choppy or abrupt. I do wish that maybe we spent one day learning about how to make it a little bit smoother but I love being hands on and teaching myself new things.

I love the aspect of being able to use video to convey a point or show anything at all, when I moved out my mom sent me videos of my dog everyday which I loved way more than just a picture because I could actually see him doing cute things like I was actually with him. Also, in most cases its much easier for someone to grasp something but seeing it and also people can pay more attention to something they are watching being done and not spoke at. Growing up I never read books as much as my mom tried to force me to read I just couldn’t get into a book, It didn’t have the same effect on me as other people. But, once books started being made into movies and I could see the book in "real life" that is when I started to appreciate what people could do with making movies and finally put those visions in my head, the same ones people got from reading.

Videos are a very positive tool that is used to grab a person’s attention and not let go. By having something be loud and eye grabbing with colors and text you can easily grab on to a person’s attention, describe what you want that person to know about and they are sold. Commercials are the best example, without eye grabbing commercials with catchy jingles companies wouldn’t be able to sell any of their product, the new mini iPad commercials they use a jingle that everyone knows and loves with a image of a iPad and someone playing a keyboard on it and that very moment you want to download that ap or go get a new iPad. Boom...sold.

 

YouTube has single handedly become one of the most popular video streaming sites on the web. People have become world famous because of YouTube whether it was because you were a singing sensation, or in my friend Jack's case he did a stupid stunt on his BMX bike and made a lot of money because he was put on Rob Dyrdeks show "Ridiculousness". Also if you get enough hits on your YouTube page YouTube starts paying you money and again I know many people who get checks every month for all the stupid shit that they do.

I have never used Vimeo or even looked at it before I came into this class. I have noticed that it is more for people who want to post videos of just themselves or videos that they have made (such as projects like the one we had to do). Everyone seems to have videos more on the creative side which is probably why they don’t use YouTube because knowing their luck it would probably be taken down and all their hard work gone to waste. YouTube is a place for people to do awful renditions of other people’s songs, post dumb pet videos, watch music videos and vent. Vimeo is a place where artists go to be creative. The community of Vimeo is large and filled with indie filmmakers and vast numbers of people with a passion for film; numerous popular entertainers have used Vimeo to host content, even the White House posts high-definition versions of its broadcasts to Vimeo.

YouTube has come a long way and has done amazing things for people and giving them the free opportunity to post whatever they want but within reason. People are getting noticed more and more because of YouTube, many famous singers that we know today had been discovered because of YouTube. There was a TV show called "Opening Act" where new opening acts for top notch performers such as Bon Jovi were only found because of using YouTube (mind blown). Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although media corporations including CBS, the BBC, VEVO, Hulu, and other organizations offer some of their material via the site, as part of the YouTube partnership program.

But, in any case all good comes with bad. It’s amazing how people get the courage to post videos of them singing or playing an instrument or dancing and knowing that millions of people could see you but it’s also that chance that those millions of people could bad mouth and break you down into a million pieces. On YouTube there is this girl and her name is Nicole 337, my friends tear her apart with her daily videos of her singing off key and doing weird things. It’s sad because she definitely has some kind of autism but she still does what she does even though people leave her awful comments telling her to stop.

http://youtu.be/ioKPqVPC-eM <---Nicole337

 YouTube in the end still does an amazing job helping to spread awareness for different things and getting out certain important information with their ads and videos.

Vimeo vs Youtbe: The Ultimate Showdown

In this day and age everyone has grown accustomed to using Youtube for all their video watching and video uploading needs.  But, in the ultimate showdown between YouTube and Vimeo I have asked myself, will there ever be a winner between the two?  Both video hosting sites has its share of ups and downs along with many pros and cons. It all boils down to your own personal opinion and which service you feel satisfies your uploading needs.

Undoubtedly YouTube has a very large population of users along with followers. The name YouTube has become a household name that has reached 450 million visitors on a monthly basis. Due to YouTube being so popular it makes it more recognizable and reaches out to more people wanting to use a well-known video sharing site that help you embed items and view many things around the world. Vimeos viewing population is very small with only around 17 million visitors a month, but with that being said just because Vimeo doesn’t get a lot of traffic doesn’t mean it’s a bad site to use.

Yes, YouTube is very popular and well known by millions which allows more videos to obtain more exposure but sometimes that exposure can be a bad thing. The whole reason of getting people onto your channel and is make them stay there and continue watching what you have to put out there, but because at the end of every video they offer options to go watch videos with the same category YouTube is contributing to people being led away from pages more often.  This just makes it more likely that viewers are going to forget about your channel and forget about your vide. In this case Vimeo is a very personal site. People who use Vimeo are kept on the videos page when they are done watching it, so they get the opportunity to watch the video again or watch another one of your videos. The overall look of Viemo is much cleaner than YouTube which almost makes it more inviting. Youtube embeds their own link in very single video posted; this is very annoying and overbearing. Vimeo does not place their logo anywhere near the videos, but rather they give you the permission to embed your own logo and do your own personalizing.

Viemo is a great sharing site. It’s a better site used for any type of advertising or marketing, whether it be for you or a company. Vimeo is very personal and protected, Vimeo also a better choice due to it not leading people away from certain channels. Web 2.o is a constant of today’s aspects in today’s society. This all involves that way that YouTube and Vimeo operate. Due to Web. 2.0 we all have the ability to make anything ours wither personalizing, sharing, and interacting with many people. YouTube and Vimeo you are able to leave as much feedback as you would like underneath the videos and allows for any viewer to interact with anyone they choose. YouTube and Viemo both allow for students /viewers to interact and leave as much feedback as they would like.  They are able to post their opinions with people all over the world. Vimeo allows for the personalizing of your videos by adding your own choice of a logo onto your video.

 

 

Good job team!! muy bien

For this post we had to do critiques of other student’s blog posts. In my group for the iMovie project I had Jessica and Justin so therefore I had to do their critiques on the following posts. Doing this sort of blogging was not my favorite since I myself am awful in writing anything so to critique somebody else was a challenge. But, the following is split up into Jessica's and Justin's own sections so there was no confusion.

Jessica's Posts:

90's Child

Jessica and I had similar experiences with the Internet the first time around. Although she set up her parents email address and my mom set up mine, we both used email. She is right on topic with the amazing advances of the Internet and how far it has come. When she states that the Internet was “amazing and lame” she never really specified why it was lame, but she went on to describe the problems she had with it. Those problems were definitely problems we all dealt with when it came to using the internet for the first time, including sharing the slow dial up with the phone line in the house. I remember being able to look up lyrics to my favorite songs online and that was the coolest thing you could do. She backs up her statement “the internet is the only way I can function” by listing several reasons how she uses it daily. A lot of the things she does are more for convenience. It really makes me wonder how we could do all of these things that she does, before we could search anything online. Especially navigating our way around.

Web 2.0

The article has very strong viewpoints of what web 2.0 is as well as a personal insight on what Jessica learned. She didn’t know that everything she has been doing on the Internet was considered 2.0, but now that she knows it has lived up to her personal expectations and she has begun to notice the difference in speed and how much better the graphics look. The links Jessica chose to include in this review supported her points very well, especially the one at the end about how web 2.0, as wonderful as it is, leads to an invasion of privacy because of its openness. However as much as people are worried about this there would be no turning back to Web 1.0 only moving forward to Web 3.0 which may or may not have better security settings. Jessica presents a very forward and simple front for those who might want to find out what Web 2.0 without all the technical terms. Especially with the list of 6 things that web 2.0 is. She supported her links and statements with appropriate material.
Danger, Will Robinson!

I do not agree with the first statement in the positives section, although there are many things we can do easily and cheaper on the internet, in no way is it the same as real life. People do things on the Internet that they would never do in real life. However Jessica backs up her reason for agreeing with the statement by stating examples of things made easier in her everyday life that’s to the World Wide Web. I agree that social networking creates an easy bond between people and their loved ones who may live far from each other. The fact that Jessica’s family and friends stay in touch through Facebook is awesome. In the negatives of social networking portion Jessica said she thought that using ad space on Facebook was a good idea. I agree with that, it is a quick easy way for word to spread, which is what social media is good for. When she gave the example about the scientist and the photographer, I was a little confused but she was correctly stating that people should be aware of what they post online because once it’s out there, it’s out there. I 100 % agree with Jessica’s last statement, on the proper grammar and spelling use. The language used on the Internet even has its own name. “Leet Speak” is shorthand, slang of the English language, which is most common. Social networking is not meant to be scholastic, so I see nothing wrong with improper spelling and use of grammar as long as someone can see the difference.

Inspire me!

Jessica painted a picture in her blog for someone who might not have seen the videos she was watching. However this post had a few spelling mistakes that showed she might not have re-read it before posting it. Also she could have started off with a brief description of what a self-portrait is. Her description of the first self-portrait had some points I agree with, including that the text in the video was helpful from keeping it too monotonous. The second description, Jessica said that it made her think of “a picture is worth a thousand words.” That is a very solid reference to describe the video, especially since she backed it up by stating that the author didn’t use text or music with words. Kia is right on with her third review. She makes solid points about why everything in the self-portrait works with the message being conveyed, for example that the portrait was in Black and White which helped portray the raw emotion and that the use of animation fit perfectly. I agree that it was definitely one of the best videos we had to watch on the creative side, and how brave the man was for putting his story out on the Internet. I hope it was an encouraging thing to help him lose weight, I feel as though if you want to do something telling everyone you’re going to encourages someone even more in order to not let others around them down.

Justin's Posts:

 

All Access Pass

It is very true that kids used the Internet instead of the phone to talk to more than one or two people at a time. It’s too funny that for a while I also used my old AIM screen name for user names for the longest time. With all the different log-ins and passwords it’s easier to keep most of them the same. Justin uses great examples of the differences between the Internet back then and now. When he states that it was more convenient than using the phone even with dial up and now it has pretty much replaced the phone that is very true. When he mentioned that people use social media to meet other students at their school, it was interesting because originally Facebook was created just for college students to be able to network with each other. How awesome that you could literally meet your roommate before you lived with them. The point about the businesses using Facebook is also very true. Things on Facebook and twitter have the power of spreading like wildfire, which is great for any business or message to reach mass amounts of people at a time, and because of Web 2.0 they can interact with the people receiving the message.

Web 2.0 and You

The first sentence “is thought to be a bunch of things in one” sounds a little weird, maybe “is considered to be many things in one.” Also “can create there own page” should be “their.” Wikipedia is a unique example of Web 2.0, I never thought of that being Web 2.0! I guess you could say it is Web 2.0 in its rarest form, because anyone is allowed to contribute and change whatever is put on there. Justin statements about people wanting things now and right at their fingertips and how they are always looking forward to the newest thing are very true. Some of the information, though very good, is repetitive. For example how Web 2.0 cannot be defined is mentioned twice and how people want info at their fingertips. Web 2.0 is great for anyone being able to create their own websites is true, but why? Why would someone want to create a website for anything?

Pros and Cons of Social Media

Justin’s opening statement is very true, social networking is a huge part of every one’s life, and it makes it incredibly easy to stay in touch, and communicate with each other. He mentions that it might be affecting face-to-face communication, which is very true. Now that everything can be done alone, people no longer need to talk to each other in more intimate settings which can lead to a lot of negative things. He makes an interesting point that the privacy issue on Facebook isn’t a big deal. That you can see what someone is like on Facebook, but you can also see what someone is like when you see them at person in public places, and you can’t turn off those privacy settings. He also mentions that marketing off Facebook is a positive instead of a negative which is true, however I believe that ads on various websites are getting to be over abundant in which most people tune them out until the content they want to watch is ready, so the point never really gets across to the viewer .I agree with Justin’s point that social networking can make people feel included with their peers despite the fact that they might be different. It is again also great for businesses to spread word about their product and receive feedback from the customers.

Self Portrait Discussion

This blog post could’ve started with an intro about what a self-portrait might be instead of just going right into the video reviews. In the first review the word “text” was used in almost every sentence. Also there could’ve been a little more background description on what the video was to give the reader a better photo of what else was in the video. Justin mentions that the person should have used more images, what kind of images? In the second review Justin painted a better picture of what was happening in the video. There were a lot of typos though, such as “unique angels” and a lot of repetition about how he really liked the video. He did make strong points about how the self-portrait was creative and that the person in the video narrating it himself really reinforced this. The third review is also really repetitive about how he liked the video, thought it was professionally done. It was also a bit confusing because then he went on to say that there was too much text and someone would have no idea what was going on without the text. Again, he could’ve painted a little bit better of a background on the video for someone reading it instead of repeating how much he liked the video, how it looked professional and how much he enjoyed watching it.

 

 

The task of critiquing someone else’s critique was a task all in itself. When you become so close with your group members you want to give them praise, and relate to them instead of tearing apart what they had written. But, in the end the things you say and the edits you make can only help better a person. Overall I think Jessica and Justin did a great job.