Who the **** Are You?

*recall The Who‘s song. I really want to know.

Aside from being a cool song it is a relevant topic in new media today. Personal information is at a premium in today’s world. Looking for a job? The perspective employer will not only  check your criminal record, but also you credit bureau reports, and use other investigative  websites as well as google you to see if  there is anything else they can use against you before even considering an interview with you. New love interest? Cyberstalking is common. Really in all aspects all types of entities want your personal information. Mainly not because they are interested in you personally, but because there is something they want from you personally. Your information . Believe it or not it is valuable….. And accessible.

Few people realize how many digital footprints they make in a typical day.

Your cellphone constantly reveals your approximate location to anyone who can tap your carrier’s computer system. A GPS-enabled phone or a stand-alone device reveals your exact location and may store the data indefinitely.

Banks and credit card companies record everything you buy,along with the time and location of the purchase. Merchants also record your purchases, and some of them sell the information. This practice eventually builds a reasonably complete and readily available profile of your spending habits.

Nearly all Web sites note your computer’s Internet Protocol address whenever you stop by anonymously. If you use that same computer to purchase something, the merchant can tie the IP address to a name and sell that information. Web sites can thus determine your identity without your ever revealing it.

The companies that sell telephone, television and Internet service most likely know every number you call, every show you watch and every Web site you visit. Most of the big names don’t sell that data today, except sometimes with personal data obscured, but many reserve the legal right to do so.

Increasing use of cameras at traffic signals, toll booths, parking lots and other public venues probably pick you up several times a day. Most cameras already recognize license plates. Security companies are working to make cameras recognize people, too.

Only hermits and outlaws fly entirely under the radar, but regular folks can protect their privacy somewhat without sacrificing all of today’s modern conveniences:

Download software, such as Tor, that prevents your Internet service provider from seeing what Web sites you visit and prevents those Web sites from being able to determine your physical location.

Sign up for an encrypted e-mail service and make your telephone calls over an encrypted Internet service. Neomailbox is a well-reviewed e-mail and IM service. Skype encrypts calls and text messages.

When possible, pay with cash. When shopping online, use a third-party payment system such as PayPal.

Avoid frequent-buyer programs, customer surveys and anything else that requires you to share your address, telephone number or e-mail address with a merchant.

Check out the privacy policies of all the businesses you must share information with and opt out of as many data-sharing programs as you can.

5 Life “Hacks” for Students

http://zuzn.ru/metka/life-hack/

A life hack is anything that solves something in a non- obvious way, and at lifehacker.com there are countless clever hacks to make your life more productive, less expensive, or at least just more interesting.

Here are my fave top 5 for students and why I picked them:

1. Supermemo-Because I am constantly trying to figure out how to fit my life in my life, and I thought this would be a good reminder program. My biggest problem is remembering everything, and it stresses me out which causes me to forget more… It’s just argh!

However, it turns out this is a program that helps you retain what you learn. Someone has found a way to teach computer algorithms that know “the best time to remember something. Easy- when you forget!

If it does work, it will be very helpful to me-If it can fit it in my busy schedule.

2. Don’t Trust College Ratings When Choosing a school

I chose to read this one because it intrigued me. “Don’t trust” the college ratings. The college doesn’t “make” the person. Many people have made fine lives for themselves coming from all types of colleges. Vice versa I suppose. I speak to many people about going to school, or going back to school, so I like to learn what people are saying and stay in touch on the most current ideas in education.

cheapism.com

3. Five Best Places to Buy Cheap Textbooks

Actually I thought maybe I would pick up one more site I didn’t know about. After reading the comments under the article, I found a few websites that offer free textbooks. And I though Chegg was good.

Oh so helpful, I cannot stand paying $100 for textbooks that I use only once

4. Where to Get the Best Free online Web Education

I had already known about some of these  like Yale but not Textbook Revolution. Also they did not mention some of them. I don’t think this really substitutes for the almighty pigskin. The sarcasm may show. I love learning. In college it can be more about deadlines, and immersing yourself within academia and the connections- all that grown-up stuff. Taking unnecessary classes you wish you could just test out of and buying textbooks way too expensive, but you have to in order to take a certain subject because you find out too late that professor wrote his own book and it is the required  one for his or her course. Craziness.

Helpful- very, in fact. If you are just interested in learning something for learning’s sake at your own pace, an online education cannot hurt you.

http://blog.echoenduring.com

5. Expand your Brain with Evernote

I am so glad I read this one. Evernote will clear up my desktop!! I will be able to save and search everything via a scan, photo, handwritten or typed. Keep my digital files and my drawings, and handwritten ideas and notes on whatever topic together and not scattered all over my life. Face it, in life, sometimes you have paper and pen and sometimes you have access to a computer. I do not always carry a laptop around and do a lot of hand journaling of ideas. Oh my. Family recipes, receipts, design ideas, book marking, personal library.

This is helpful beyond my expectations. I can use this for many purposes. Oh, but will I?

Wiki Wiki Wiki

http://lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com

Every time I see the work Wiki, I think of when DJs would “scratch” to begin a song. (I included a link to what scratching is, since lately I have noticed some of my references are from a time that may as well be the stone age– i.e. longer than 10 years ago).

Really, I hasten to admit, I actually needed to find a definition for what the particular term “Wiki” means. Just like anything foreign to someone, once it is learned or experienced what was once a mountain turns in to a molehill. Ah the perspective of time. Back on track. So in case you didn’t know (don’t scoff at me) Wiki simplified just means a collaborative website.  Yep found that out on a Wikipedia page. This one as a matter of fact.

Wikipedia really is a useful tool. I personally remember using the Encyclopedia Brittanica,  which every teacher expected you to have access to make reports. That and whatever your local library had is the basic access you had to information. Wiki may have fault because of anyone’s ability to add information, but it is fathoms upon fathoms more informative about just about any subject then a standard encyclopedia was. Wikipedia is not only more informative, but much easier to use. Wikipedia has an information trail at the bottom to follow that many times lead to very credible sources of information. It also has its information linked up to any other reference the page makes to any other thing covered on Wiki.

This editing a Wikipedia is a whole different monster to me though. I wonder if my information is first hand then aren’t I the credible source? But without references to your sources your addition may just be deleted. Also, so many emerging subjects that are starting now that may or may not be noted by a “credible source” because it hasn’t been a subject of a credible source yet. Curious minds want to know…. and that is what Wikipedia is for.

I do like this I came across on John M Jones’ twitter feed. Putting Wikipedia into a type of book bound encyclopedia of the “histiography” of the Iraq War in this case. It includes all the edits and additions. Like a history of how history was written. A tangible item about a virtual world.

http://blog.makezine.com

I love this project. Although it is made from Nat Geos, I think I have found a use for my old encyclopedias.

Random Surfing Find

I just love accidental surfing. Aimless drifting through random links posted on twitter this week I came across some interesting finds. To me it is like garage-saling  and happenstance- you find that item you’ve been searching for- but didn’t know you needed and now you can’t do without it.

Like coming across the Online Education Database @ OEDb.org. Many useful items here. Really like the listing of 200 free online classes to learn ANYTHING. Free classes offered from MIT, Yale, and Tufts to name a few. I found a few related to the field of new media, for instance: Producing Films for Social Change offered by Tufts, and Technology for Professional Writers offered from Utah State. There are a lot of links to classes that are related to ATEC, EMAC, and of course writing and research in new media, but some links were broken. I recommend scrolling to the bottom of the page and going to the individual school websites to see what is currently available. You may be surprised with what you find 🙂

http://appirio.force.com/cloudecosystem/CloudEcosystemMap

http://appirio.force.com/cloudecosystem/CloudEcosystemMap.

What Makes a Good Presentation?

Since beginning college I have been given many assignments that require me to “present”. Basically: here is a subject/argument/style of speech- find your group- and make a presentation. I always used PowerPoint. It was all I knew… all most everyone knew those years ago. When I first encountered PowerPoint, I was enamored. Keep in mind that was back in 2000, when I first started learning how to use a computer. I never used the templates, always had to design my own presentation, and like George Lucas with Star Wars, boy did I like those transitions. I loved the option to add sound, and yes, I quite annoyingly overused said option on my first presentation.  Every time a bullet popped up so did a “bang” noise. My teacher was quite shaken, uh I mean taken by the end 🙂 ahh fond memories. Well you get my point right? Don’t overdo it. Or a very simple acronym: KISS Keep It Simple Stupid (not very PC, but easy to remember) article here.

Eventually I learned how to tone it down, and by that time was bored with the limitations of the program.  Even so, I have made many presentations over the years in PowerPoint. I liked using it because it was easy and easy to impress my professors (NOT related to my major) with them. One even used my “Sushi” PowerPoint as an example of how to make a presentation. Today I would be embarassed to share it.

Now the playing field for presentations is more vast, and the more we have made the more we have learned how to properly design a presentation to be entertaining and retainable. Here are some ideas of what to think about when making a presentation for class.

• Do not use bulleted lists. They can make you feel forced to oversimplify the information presented and infer hierarchy of knowledge which may have ill effects on how important the reader may think a point to be.
• Do not be too wordy. If need be, have a presentation style that can refer back to the original point.

So, don’t do what I just did 🙂

Graphics

Keep graphics simple, and to elaborate on a point. Maybe to indicate a transition to a new part of the presentation.

Please no low res graphics. They are just plain ugly and hard to read.

Be sure and credit any graphic to it’s original source.

And if you are to use a graph, please have it comprehensive or you have wasted your time.

Well I haven’t covered all points but this should get you started. Also try Prezi.com. I like the almost animatic style and flat page format instead of the dreaded “stacks” of slides in PowerPoint.

Color

Color can be used to signify a change in the presentation from one part to the other and to emphasize a word or phrase as well as format and unify.

Fonts

Font style, size, and color are good for emphasizing or de-emphasizing a point.

With all this in mind I am going to  present two presentations. One I think is more well designed than the other, can you tell me which one and why?

Number One

Number 2 (click below for the .pdf)

cloud-computing

Mini Digital Media Moguls

Digital media is changing the world . Not really a news flash. Anything occuring more than 10 minutes ago is considered old news by many who live so much of their lives online. With that in mind I found this little bit of information quite intriguing.

Some college students are using digital media to their benefit to bypass those silly old college traditions such as: internships, advanced courses, work- study, and yes, even a college degree. How ironic. Now we can go to college without the actual premise being “to graduate”. How are they doing this? Here are just a few examples: Derek Flanzraich started a web-based satirical news program and an online television network, Harvard Undergraduate Television Network, while at Harvard University. Brian Stelter, now a reporter with the New York Times, began TVNewser, the must-read broadcast news industry blog, while at Towson University. Ryan Dunn and Dave Hendricks co-founded an online college media content sharing service while at Ohio University. Josh Abramson and Ricky Van Veen launched College Humor, the web’s leading comedy site, while at the University of Richmond and Wake Forest University.

According to an article by Dan Reimold via Mediashift on www.pbs.org entitled:How College Students Became Mini-Media Moguls in School “the real learning is not happening in class. Instead, students’ online start-ups and personal brand building have become their most influential educational vehicles.

Ideo An Innovative Company

What a joy it must be to work in such an environment as Ideo with their  “focused chaos” and their motto “Fall often in order to succeed faster.” Ideo (pronounced “eye-dee-oh”) is an innovation and design firm that uses a human- centered design based approach to help organizations in the business , government , education and social sectors innovate e and grow. (www.ideo.com) And my favorite- the first to find fault gets the project!!  You will not be waisting your time to watch this video about ideo.

Little Did I Know

“Don’t hate the media, become the media”

This is a quote from ex-Dead Kennedy Jello Biafra.  His birth name is Eric Reed Boucher, but named himself to contrast the ridiculous and the tragic. (Biafra is a place where there was a civil war going on at the time) Here are more of his quotes , and his record label Alternative Tentacles.  I think he is interesting and I use that quote often when people around me complain about the media and media bias.

Hello world!

Ahhh! My very first wordpress.com post… I am making this for my “Writing and Research for New Media” class. However, I plan to use this for a general blog to include my other classwork and personal projects.

This is not my first blog however. I started blogging a few years back and here is a link to my first attempt at blogging. The only way to see it is to add me as a friend. I plan on this blog being more evolved *high hopes*