Final Website Post

            Hopefully my website will be finished by tonight but I do plan on using it to promote myself. I had a LiveJournal for the longest time and never got any traffic on it so I’m very excited to have a website that actually has a chance at traffic.

Firstly, I think that having a website to put on business cards and as a contact will be a beneficial way to promote myself as well as a good way to make me sound official. It’s one thing to but published on a site but it’s another thing entirely to run your own site.  I feel more professional already! Hopefully, tying my website in with my facebook and twitter will get it some traffic as well.

            My social media projects have definitely helped me to write my website. Firstly, they have taught me to write in a simple language. Secondly, my experience on Twitter has taught me that people mostly skim through posts so the shorter I can say something the better. Likewise, my experience on facebook has taught me that graphics, pictures and designs will make my website stand out to the viewer. The more enticing visually I can make a website the better.

            The final way my social media projects have helped in the creation of this site is linking. Being able to but a link to my social media sites is a lot safer than linking my phone number or personal address. I’m very glad we made professional social media sites as well so no one sees any embarrassing photos as well.  Also in the social media active age we are in having multiple social media tags seems to make websites seem more legitimate and employees or people seem more reachable.

            My experience making the website has been really interesting to say the least. As of me writing this my website isn’t completed yet but I can tell you what I have learned so far.

            Firstly, photoshop is a great designing tool. I always seem to forget how useful and easy photoshop is. I used photoshop not only to sketch out my first drafts for my website but also to bring my plans into dreamweaver. I found this extremely interesting and helpful. 

            As for the actual designs for my website I used a minimalist concept that was the brainchild of both my laziness and the actual design articles we read on our blog. I tried to keep the color scheme simple as well so I went with a black and white theme. I did this to make my website look a little like a notebook.

            Content wise, I focused on writing for my portfolio. I tried to show that I could write in a diverse amount of styles. I included some of my schoolwork as well as creative writings and scripts for commercials.

             I spent an entire class making images out of my creative writing pieces so I hope that it really looks nice visually in the final website because I spent a lot of time in photoshop. I did this to all of my pieces so that they could be viewed as an image and can’t be edited or copied by another party. I also did this because I know how much more convenient looking at an image is compared to downloading the PDF file.

            For the background texture I tried to choose interesting visuals that were at the same time subtle enough to not distract the viewer. I chose a metallic black texture for the background, a crumpled paper texture for the banner and a soft Victorian style fabric texture for the navigation bar.  I hope these textures won’t overpower the overall visual experience of the website but I dulled down the colors so hopefully that will balance out the images.

            Dreamweaver I found to be an extremely confusing program. I thought I understood coding when I used it to create my BUFF Wiki page but in dreamweaver everything changed. The coding became even harder because now I had to not only position the text on the page but also position the text on the page over a background and make sure it was readable.

            The one thing I seemed good at was creating hotspots, at least until the properties toolbox disappeared. With dreamweaver it is essential that you name everything something simple and easy to remember because you will likely be forced to type that file in several times exactly the same way so that the software knows exactly what file you need. This sounds easy on paper but when you have several photoshop images and have to replace the several times for a project you can lose track of what you’re doing really fast.

            There was a huge confusion with something called DivTags. Thankfully, we were able to avoid this monster by making out files images and slapping the text onto the image.

            Then there was the whole nightmare of making the background image stay the same size on the portfolio page. I still don’t understand what I was doing there but my image was 960 X600 pixels hopefully it counts for something.

            I found the software obnoxiously confusing. I felt really bad for our professor who had to walk around and help of with every unfortunate thing dreamweaver tried to put us through.

            At every single task it seemed dreamweaver had another problem or just wanted to stop working altogether. I don’t know if this is the fault of the actual program or simply the computers we were working off of. The computers we used had a bad habit of quitting on us as well. Photoshop in particular decided to just stop functioning at a couple of points when I was working on it.

            I hope what I want for my website comes through. The more experience I have with dreamweaver the less of a chance I feel like I have. 

Website 2.0

The first point in the article I found really interesting was the idea of simplicity. To be completely honest I wanted my website to be simple because I thought it would be easier. However, according to the article there are a few key benefits to simplicity.

Firstly, since the viewers on the internet tend to act impulsively having less content to distract them with offers the opportunity to hone in their focus on specific elements of a website, such as shopping. The article is careful to point out this does not necessarily mean minimalist. There can still be several items on a page just not an over abundance of distractions such as the old Geocites. According to the article the result of a simplistic set up is, “that you have to look at the content. You find yourself interacting with exactly the screen features the designer intended. And you don’t mind – it’s easy, and you get just what you came for.” This approach keeps the viewer's attention exactly where the website creator wants them to notice.

This applies to my website as I am trying to keep the web pages simple by having only a few articles per page. I am also only looking to do one flash element on a drop down menu as opposed to several icons or animations.

The second point I found important was the avoidance of multiple columns. Keeping everything in one simple flowing pattern will definitely help keep the navigation easy. My website only has one navigation bar located on the left-side. Using this space and only this space for navigation will insure all of my links work and the viewer has access to everything on my website. Too many columns will leave the viewer with a sense of confusion. According to the article there is a major flaw with multiple columns, “The downside of this layout is that you don’t know where to start looking. Everything is somehow low-priority”.

The final point I found important was the separation of the top banner. Aesthetically, this is like the cover to a book. It gives off a formality to the viewer and tell them that this is where to start. According to the article, “It also starts the site/page experience with a strong, bold statement. This is very “2.0″-spirited. I like strong, simple, bold attitude.” This means that even if the viewer instantly navigates away from the page they at least know vaguely what it's about. In many ways the top banner is like a welcome mat welcoming the viewer to your website.

I found this important for my website as I also will have a top banner. I tried to make this eye popping and bold by using a crumpled paper texture. Because my website is mostly white on black I feel like this banner will really pop on the screen.

There are also a few of these conventions I am not following with this website. I am not using the recommended strong colors. I wanted to keep mine simple with black and white to make the pictures and word files fit in rather than stand out. Overall, I would like my website to sort of seem like a journal. Hopefully, this will be effective as even without bright colors I try to separate space with my colors. 

Website Design Guide: http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/web-design/web-2-0-design-style-guide/#simplicity

Twitter Post II

Point One: The Revolution Will Be Tweeted

Twitter and social media have played an interesting role in the Arab spring revolutions. The face-paced instant nature of Twitter allows protesters to set up flash protests, monitor the presence of an authority such as the police or army and even spread the news of tragedies or scandals. The downside to social media as a tool of protest: the government can shut down internet access at any time.

Point Two: How Companies Use Twitter

The instant nature and popularity of Twitter make it a great market place for advertising. With millions of registered users a company has a very large audience that very likely has spare money (the internet is still some what of a luxury). Using promotions disguised as tweets or open questions for public discussion Twitter can generate interest in a product or service. It can also gather public opinion on a product or solve customer complaints.  

Twitter

Twitter is a time consuming, life-altering website designed to distract people from the real world. However, it has many other applications that have helped to change the way we communicate as a society.

Firstly, twitter can be used as a news source. While trusting twitter with facts is like trusting your thesis paper to Wikipedia twitter has changed the speed at which information is circulated. According to CNN writer Doug Gross, “With Twitter, it's fast on steroids.” Gross describes twitters popularity as, “In the Twitter echo chamber, all it takes is a few users with big follower counts to share something. With one click, those followers share it with their own followers. And the wildfire is set ablaze.” This describes essentially how news travels on twitter. The Kony 2012 film is a great example of this. By using celebrity twitters and their mass followings the video spread so quickly it gave new leverage to the term “viral video.”

Secondly, twitter can be used as a marketing tool. Your favorite website or TV show is a lot more interesting when it has daily updates. These updates make the product feel more like a friend than a product and because of the lighting fast speed of twitter this feeling can be re-tweeted by thousands of users within days. However, the tweet can just as quickly fall under the radar and disappear into the unknown regions of the internet where my live journal hides in obscurity – but the possibility is the regardless.

Twitter has a lot of uses from a journalistic perspective. Although according to CNN the top 100 twitter sites are still celebrities and “old media”, “nestled not terribly far below are hundreds of bloggers, podcasters and online journalists who have found a bigger audience on Twitter than they probably would have without it.” On twitter a strangers tweets have just as much standing as CNN and MSNBC. This leads to the fast travel of news that isn't always trustworthy. This is shown in China's reaction to what the government calls “rumors”. According to Tania Branigan writer for The Guardian, “China has 300 million registered microblog users and while services are censored – blocking prevents sensitive terms from being posted, and other material is often deleted – authorities are increasingly concerned at the speed at which information can spread.”

The other criticism of Twitter from a journalistic perspective is that is dumbs down ideas. According to Technology Bloggers writer Marc, “Tweets are cute, but they lack the intellectual and creative substance of a more sustained thought. 140 characters or even a single paragraph cannot provide enough context to tell the whole story.” Thus while tweets spread information and opinions quickly they do not spread ideas, concepts and solutions quickly due to the word limit.

Despite it's flaws twitter is great at promotion. Twitter can break down the shell surrounding celebrities and politicians. While emails are formal and can be deleted and ignored tweets are public. Everyone can see what a celebrity or politician chooses to respond to and how. This makes it harder for a celebrity or politician to hide behind a publicist but makes the internet and the people all the more interesting and real.

Twitter can also help an organization prosper and advertise. Because twitter is free to use non-profits organizations use it frequently. The American non-profit, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals uses twitter to encourage donations, share news about causes and promote protests. These tweets are completely public and thus all twitter users have a chance at this exposure.

Twitter can also help advertize other websites. Using a Tiny Url allows users to tweet links to websites or pictures for when 140 characters just aren't enough. All a tweet needs is an interesting tag-line to draw users in to a longer narrative.

Twitter also encourages conversation and discussion. However, short this conversation is. The recent controversy that spilled over twitter about the casting of an African-American character in the movie the Hunger Games helps to highlight public opinion and has lead to a discussion of race that might not have otherwise been noticed.

The organizations I chose to follow reflected my interests and causes. I chose to follow PETA and the SPCA because they constantly update and offer news about protests and controversies. I would love to help spread this information by re-tweeting it and adding comments. Being a follower of these organizations makes me feel like an activist even if all I'm doing is clicking an icon.

I chose to follow Game Informer because having video games attached to a magazine makes it feel more like a reputable hobby. I found most of their tweets were just links to the website but I still found following them interesting and I enjoyed tweeting about what I thought about the article.

I chose to follow Metallica because they have a lot going on right now. They are on an international tour and I enjoyed getting to see their pictures from the tour. I also enjoyed that they advertised for so many contests.

Finally, I chose to follow the WWE because they are insanely entertaining. They literally blow up twitter with hundreds of tweets a day. While a user may have to search to find a decent one they are usually bursting with hilarious tweets from muscular men with serious ego problems. There is “internet tough guy syndrome” everywhere. In all seriousness the WWE also has a non-profit program through the creative coalition to stop bullying. Sure its probably just a way to market the WWE to weak depressed children but its still adorable that they try.

My experience with twitter has been a lot different than blogger and social media. The most important detail being I found it really ineffective. Tweeting to me felt like commenting on a post. It seemed like everything I did was shoved down the tweet list to the bottom. I didn't feel like I had many original ideas. Instead I felt like I was just updating the information someone else sent me. I suppose my experience would have been a little different had my twitter been for personal use and my tweets been completely my opinion. However, even then I feel like my tweets would still be unnoticed.

References: 

Doug Gross for CNN:

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-15/tech/twitter.status.taylor_1_jack-dorsey-ceo-dick-costolo-twitter-usage/2?_s=PM:TECH

Tania Branigan for The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/06/china-cracks-down-microblogging-rumours

Marc for Technology Bloggers:

http://www.technologybloggers.org/blogging/blogging-vs-microblogging/  

Picture: 

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/100-remarkably-beautiful-twitter-icons-and-buttons/

Interview

Q, How do you plan on self-promoting yourself?

A, I want to be a writer, and the best way to get your work out there is threw websites like word clay which can make a hard copy of your work.

Q, Name three goals between now and graduation?

A, 1, Get published in the school news paper or any paper

2, Get my motorcycle license

3, get a better job

Q, What employment goals do you have for after graduation? Name three.

A, 1, be a freelance writer, I want to be able to make my own schedule.

2, Publish websites

3, if all else fails some sort of position in marketing.

Q, Name three best case scenario jobs you would have and why?

A, Best selling author, because writing is my passion and I've always dreamed of being a author.

Create a social website which would help aspiring writers get punished.

Freelance writer, it seems like a nice lifestyle.

Q, do you prefer to work professionally with a group or on your own why?

A, Alone, because I find I do my best work without other peoples opinions, I find it distracting.

Q, what contributions can you make to a group dynamic? Name three.

A, I am an extremely organized person, I am very Tech savvy and I always bring food to a meeting.

Q, what contributions can you make working independently? Name three.

A, I am a very diligent worker, I am task oriented, and I let nothing get in the way of finishing my work not even sleep.

Q, what are your pet peeves in a work environment?

A, Drama! Keeping personal and professional life separate. I don’t like Social media in the work place it’s a distraction. And teasing I am very sensitive.

Q, name three things your passionate about professionally

A, In a group dynamic im a passionate about everyone doing their far share, all finished work to look professional with no errors. Anything that is written be easy to read and not too dry.

Q, How do you handle stress and pressure?

A, if alone I have no problem putting my head down and doing what I need to get done. In a group I'd try to motivate without coming off bossy and meet the deadline.

Q, name the last three jobs you had, and the best success and worst failure you experienced.

A, I have only had one job, at Burger King and since I’ve been there I have been able to get friends jobs, they gave me a grant for college and my personal skill have improved from dealing with dissatisfied customers.

Q, How do you handle criticism?

A, I can handle it, if I were to be at fault I would take responsibility and fix the mistake.

Q, outline three strengths you have in school.

A, communicating with teachers, I am always on top of my assignments and check Angel constantly and try to stay on task in class.

Q, outline three strengths in the workplace.

A, I am always on time, will stay after hours to complete my work, I have always had a great relationship with management and stay in the good graces of my employers.

Q, how was creating a wikipage strengthened your communication skills?

A, I got better at researching and finding reliable sources, learned a lot about coding and how to tell people what they want to hear while still getting what I want.

Q, How will Facebook be used to promote yourself?

A, I am best at expressing myself threw writing so Facebook is a good platform for that. Writing my Bio will be the best way to promote myself. I like designing WebPages and I think my personality will shine threw with my color scheme ETC.

Q, How will you promote an organization on Facebook?

A, use a lot of picture and mostly make it easy to use and share.

Q, how will twitter be used to promote yourself.

A, establish a solid network of people who are interested in what I'm doing. Establish myself as a businesswoman.

Q, graphically what do you want to have on your website

A, I would want it to represent me; simple, word heavy, not flashy just black whit lots of texted (like my dark Emo soul)

Constructive Criticism

1. I probably shouldn't make fun of myself during the interview.
2. I need to work on being nervous.
3. Just in general I have some pretty obvious social awkwardness and self-esteem issues.   

The Good, The Bad and The Emo

Many, many years ago a great creator known as Yahoo bought a gaping black hole known as Geocites. This cancerous tumor on the metaphorical brain of the internet allowed almost any user to maintain their own website. This meant you, your sister, your cat, anything with internet connection and a keyboard could create their own web-page. The results were catastrophic.

Luckily for the champions of the internet in 2009 Geocites was permanently taken off the internet. For the days following the incident the average IQ of internet users jumped a staggering 25% . 

In honor of Geocites' destruction I present to you five awful websites that would put geocites to shame:

http://www.myotaku.com/users/scarredswordheart : I'm sure that this emo kid has a terrible life that they're just dying to whine about. Unfortunately their interesting taste in text and wall paper makes this website virtually unreadable. 

http://www.myotaku.com/users/worst_nightmare : Yet another emo kid but this one was at least kind enough to give us their name. Under the “real name” section the website proudly reads: "u are a fuckin ass hole". Apparently the word “asshole” is now “ass hole” which is apparently a name. Who knew? Also the site brilliantly proclaims this using lime green against a white background. For all of it's simplicity this site actually takes a hideously long time to load. Which gives the viewer plenty of time to consider navigating away.

http://www.1112.net/lastpage.html : I hope the person who made this site was joking . . . It's cold outside! Also the award for the least amount of creativity goes to this guy! This page is literally blank, with a few sentences centered in the middle. I guess I should be glad they are centered.

http://www.sixtiespress.co.uk/ : This UK website makes me think of a bill, an overdue bill by a very angry company. The letters bolded in white with black highlights form a rainbow of colorful text that is about as ascetically pleasing as it is readable. I know the sixties was a time of experimentation but I think the person who made this site had too much LSD.

http://www.valweb.org/ : This color cyan is atrocious all on it's own. It's not teal. It's not light blue. No, it is cyan like the color your printer prints when it's out of ink. What's borderline pathetic is that this site is some type of art exchange. The two alien characters on the black banner are supposed to be art apparently.

Actual good websites are hard to find in a world where Web 2.0 dictates comments from random internet denizens have as much right to be posted as actual content but here are five websites I think are actually worth your time.

http://tosh.comedycentral.com/blog/ : No matter how bad my life is this man always gets me to laugh. His website is as funny as it is cool and interactive. Every week they do hilarious “caption this” contests and everyday they post funny/creepy pictures. The site has a pretty easy navigation four main categories line the top banner and the small banner above that connects the user back to comedy central. I liked this design because it was very interactive and it helped draw in a great audience which the Tosh.0 brand now gets to advertise products to. I also like that it's a dark background.

http://www.livejournal.com/ : I always liked the way live journal was set up. They never bothered you if a post was increditably long. In fact you can pretty much write a novel in post form. You can make groups and communities pretty easily too. I think this would be a good way to post an online portfolio too.

http://www.cnn.com/ : I always felt this website had a good mix of adds and content. The adds are usually the things on the farthest to either side. The content and navigation is in the center which makes the website look very direct and current.

http://vimeo.com/ : As far as video formatting and flash graphic goes I liked Vimeo the moment we did that project on it. The little sun in the corner that dances ever so subtly, the crisp modern colors and a sleek smooth design are all graphics I would like in my personal website, just a little darker.

http://www.redirectdigital.com.br/ : I openly admit there is no way my site could ever be as awesome as this site. Rather than simple scrolling down to see a box this website incorporates some really cool abstract line art into the design of its website layout. Literally the entire page looks like something that strolled out of the Albright Knox art gallery, on a skateboard, wearing an awesome t-shirt. 

Following

There are a lot of organizations doing interesting things out there but it takes something really special to get my attention! Yeah, that was a flat out lie. Here are five organizations I chose to follow and why:

Erie County SPCA: This organization saves the lives of the fuzzy creatures that make my existence on this planet livable. To add to this the SPCA holds all sorts of fundraisers and awareness programs that they can advertise through Twitter.

PETA: This organization helps free animals trapped in labs and makes sure perpetrators of animal cruelty face the full extent of the law. This organization also blows the whistle on animal cruelty that goes under the radar. PETA is a good group to follow because they are always looking for new stories and are never short of articles.

Metallica: While calling Metallica an organization is a bit of a stretch I believe Metallica has a huge following and now that they're on tour I'm sure they'll be some pretty cool pictures posted! Metallica also has a new album coming out so it will be interesting to see if anything get leaked over twitter.

WWE: Technically, this is an organization by the way. Wrestling is the greatest thing on television so it has to be pretty cool on twitter. Well, it's still a million times better than the Kardashians. Tell me what could be better then a bunch of angry guys slapping each other around? Nothing. In addition to re-tweeting everything the wrestlers say, WWE also sponsors this anti-bullying program called “Be a Star” that has some pretty cool programs.

Game Informer: This monthly magazine is pretty much the hypnotic advertisement that drives me to Gamestop every month. Game Informer is actually an independent Gaming magazine so I'm sure they will have interesting tweets of press screenings and sneak peeks of games. 

The World of Micro-Blogging

Micro-Blogging is very different than traditional blogging. Blogging is like making a flyer and handing it out on a street corner to people who you think might care. Blogging is as precise and proof-read as it is formal. Blogs are expected to be decorative with pictures and graphics as well as thoughtful and interactive content.

Micro-Blogging is like sending a shot 140 word text message to everyone on twitter. As Marc, writer for Technology Bloggers, writes: “Most days bloggers write nothing at all because the sheer pressure of creating a masterpiece of a post is just too overwhelming. But on Twitter, one snarky tweet can say it all with less.” Micro-Blogging is a new medium that explores communication with a less is more mentality.

Micro-Blogging is also different than social networking. Facebook posts are only seen by friends, or people stalking your profile. Twitter tweets, by contrast, can be seen by anyone who logs onto the site. Twitter is far more archaic and crazy but creates an entirely different flow of information light-years faster than Facebook.

Doug Gross, writer for CNN also notes this very useful feature of the site. “As a result, news spreads faster than ever,” he writes, “Twitter's real-time news flow has been cited as a tool in citizen uprisings in Iran and Egypt and as invaluable for fundraising efforts for crisis situations like last year's floods in Haiti.” While this spread of information can be rumors or flat-out lies it can just as likely be truth. According to Tania Branigan, writer for The Guardian, “Microblogs have spread news of protests, exposed scandals and became the locus of public outrage at the high-speed rail crash in Wenzhou this summer.” Another example can be seen the the Arab Spring and uprisings in the Middle East.

When I personally use Twitter it is for a lot less of a cause. I use Twitter to stalk guys that don't know I exist, usually celebrities. As far as use for the site Twitter makes it pretty easy to stalk any celebrity or person with an account. Twitter proudly posts the number of your followers like it's some type of contest and anyone can follow you unless you dig deep into the settings. While I do follow a few organizations I find it much more interesting to follow people. As seen with the Kony 2012 video that spread so quickly through Twitter by posting first on celebrity Twitters, the number of followers can become an unstoppable web of information.

While the potential for amazing communication is there, just like on social networking sites power seems to be wasted on the irrelevant. Twitter has the potential to be millions of headlines from across the globe or insight from people hundreds of miles away that could affect the minds of viewers everywhere. Rather than breaking news our Twitter feeds are clogged up with postings about some irrelevant person's horrible day waiting in line at the DMV, or me, just re-blogging something cool some guy who will never know I exist said.

My Twitter account for this class can be viewed here: https://twitter.com/#!/KatherineGuenth

Facebook: The Final Boss Battle

The first time I used Facebook, like all my pointless misadventures, it was to try and talk to a guy that didn't know I existed. I got about twenty emails from other classmates before I got the email from him that changed my internet experience. I didn't know it at the time but my email from him was from an automated system that ran through a users email address book searching for people to invite. The younger version of myself took it as a personal invite rather than spam. Like a Trojan virus that infects an inbox when I joined Facebook it did the same thing to me. Facebook uses the same effective strategy that teenagers use at parties: peer pressure.

According to the authors of A World I Don’t Inhabit: Disquiet and Identity In Second Life and Facebook, Stuart Boon and Christine Sinclair this type of marketing campaign is what made Facebook grow into the huge network it is now. “As such, the application’s reach is global,” the article reads, “and its method is viral: you might not be looking for Facebook, but Facebook is likely looking for you.” It was this very strategy that first drew me in.

Currently, I now use Facebook to keep in touch with friends from High school and play another addicting game called the Sims social. I find that Facebook's networking ability is what draws me back to it. I used to struggle to keep a few close friends that I talked to daily now I find it easy to manage a network of hundred of friends by simply liking comments.

Despite my lack of exploration of the site, Facebook offers many mediums for companies and celebrities. For companies group pages can be a great way to meet together and discuss policies or changes in the company. Company public pages can also be a great place to offer deals to consumers or get consumers excited about a particular event. Since getting a follower is as simple as getting a customer to click “like” companies can amass a large following of potential customers in a few short days.

Public relations is another benefit of Facebook. According to TopRank Online Marketing's article, Why Use Social Media for Public Relations, the personal appeal of social media is what makes it so potent for PR. “We crave authenticity – and digital channels reward it higher than traditional,” the article reads, “This is because they are personal versus the fact that traditional channels produce content as the result of a polished, refined process.” In short, Rihanna's tweet about her new puppy is a personal appeal to her audience. “Look at me! I'm just like you; I have a dog,” this message implies to the viewer. This indirectly effects her record sales as it changes Rihanna from untouchable pop sensation to “that-woman-I-follow-on-twitter-with-the-nice-dog”. The same can be said for companies as well. Burger King is no longer just a franchise of restaurants but a “Facebook friend” who posts the “Burger King Prank of the Week” to make you laugh every weekend.

Given all the resources on Facebook I can see why our professor wanted us to make separate accounts. Facebook is a lot less fun without friends but a lot less distracting. However, I do feel like my projects would have been more interesting if I had my friends to add to my group pages.

For my personal Facebook page I set much of it to public simply because I don't feel I post anything interesting anyway. However, according to Joy Peluchette and Katherine Karl, authors of Examining Students’ Intended Image on Facebook:“What Were They Thinking?!”, this idea is more of a generational question. “Although some studies suggest that users’ comfort with revealing intimate details about themselves comes in part from a perception that their postings are somewhat private (Lupsa, 2006),” the article reads, “others have suggested that young people today have a “willingness, bordering on compulsion, to broadcast the details of their private lives to the general public” (St. John, 2006, Section 9, p. 8).” I find this idea really fascinating. It seems especially true for me and my friends. If it didn't get posted on Facebook afterwards, it's like it never happened.

That being said while I believe Facebook has no rules I do believe there are some rules of etiquette that site users SHOULD follow. Firstly, profile information should be true and realistic. Setting your employment history to say, “Death Star Janitorial Service” is only funny the first time someone reads it. If that person is trying to identify you this information is just irrelevant. The same can be said for being married to your best friend Grandma, and dog and listing every member of your cheer squad as your sister. It's just weird and it takes up space on the news feed. Speaking of news feed, another rule should be that if you have to post a semi-nude photo of yourself with the caption: “Am I Pretty or Ugly, Tell Me the Truth” you are a hideous ogre with nothing to look forward too in life but the cold embrace of death. On the subject of death trolling should be something responsible users abstain from. Yes it's fun to be a bully but it's not fun to be bullied. Another rule should be that Facebook games should be illegal. They're like being addicted to Heroin and will ruin your friendships as people get sick of the constant posting asking for “help”. Facebook should ask when you first create an account if you actually have a computer. Users who use Facebook solely from a cell phone and then complain when they get trapped in a Facebook conversation application they can't get out of because they “don't have a computer” are a cancer that deserves to be cured before AIDS and world hunger. The final rule that should exist for Facebook etiquette is that you should never say anything online you wouldn't say in person. Trust me, if more people accepted this rule internet drama would decrease tenfold.

That being said there are no etiquette rules on Facebook because they are impossible to enforce. In fact, even if someone posts a naked photo with a bong and a gun outside of an elementary school chances are that photo will never be taken down because there is simply too much information for anyone to enforce.

Communication and Facebook

Part of the fun with anything online is that you can pretend to be anyone. With this Facebook assignment I pretended to represent three organizations I had only barely heard of. One would think this task would be hard but it was surprisingly easy considering all the information available on the web. This made me really consider how important communication is on Facebook. Anyone can make a page but without an audience one's group or event is nothing but a post no one will see. Communication can get your web page out there and seen. A well put together page is interesting but in order to get page views for a group or event one must network and communicate with other Facebook users. Communication also shapes the way a group looks online. The first thing a potential customer or reader sees on Facebook are the pictures and graphics. Thus, pictures on Facebook have to be unique and professional. A simple logo ripped off Google images would make one's page seem shady and unofficial. Graphics and descriptions must be unique enough to seem like they came from the original owner but not so casual that they seem like the work of some ten year-old in a basement.

Communication is also pivotal to the success of events. Facebook allows users to invite friends to events through Facebook. While this seems fool-proof a lot goes into making sure the user doesn't simply dismiss the message. The wording of the invitation can not be so long as to have the reader skip it but descriptive enough to make the reader want to attend.

Another important aspect of communication is maintenance. The Facebook page of one's group or event must be well maintained. A Facebook page that looks inactive or abandoned is likely to draw viewers away. In short communication is pivotal to Facebook because it draws in the audience.

My new Facebook Page can be viewed here: http://www.facebook.com/comm336student

Screens Restaurant can be viewed here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/215051835269192/

SPCA at Eastern Hills Mall can be viewed here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/202582486514893/

Clarence High School can be viewed here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/278137125595713/

Facebook

Well, I already had a Facebook so I made a new one for my ferret!

http://www.facebook.com/odintheferret

Here are five Organizations that don’t have a Facebook Presence

1.       Club Infinity – well this technically has a page it just doesn’t have anything on it. This is a concert venue and night club. It’s a pretty cool local business that caters to the younger crowd so a Facebook page would defiantly help advertise the business.   

2.       SPCA at the Eastern Hills Mall – This one sort of has a page too but it doesn’t have any pictures or descriptions. Having a Facebook would defiantly help with adoptions. Look how well Pet Pardons does on Facebook.

3.       Main & Transit Burger King – This is the specific Burger King I work at, thus it should be a national landmark. While Burger King the corporation has a page my specific Burger King doesn’t. It would help with all the work gossip if we all had a Facebook page. Wait, actually, no it wouldn’t . . . this is a horrible idea.

4.       Screens – this is a bar/concert venue spot in Williamsville. It doesn’t have a Facebook page at all but it could definitely use one. Screens is a really cool bar with a gaming room and multiple local concerts. A Facebook would defiantly help connect them with the younger audience.

5.       Clarence Senior High School – I went to school here; it was a pretty funny place. There is a page for this but it has no pictures and is really god awful. So god awful only 50 people have liked it and I defiantly remember going to school with more than 50 people. I would like to make a group specifically for my senior year as kind of a reunion over Facebook type page. I think it would really help people connect and booster the opinion of the school.

Makin' Movies

I got a new camera last Christmas and I told everyone I was going to start making movies with it as soon as I opened the box. Months later, I finally finished one with my fellow directors Tyeisha (http://priorcom336.blogspot.com/) and Tony (http://amconstantino.blogspot.com/).

Separation - Class Project from Katherine Guenther on Vimeo.
Going into this movie making experience I was really expecting a lot more 'technical difficulties' than what happened. Having been a die-hard PC user all my life I was really leery about using I-movie. Horrible flash backs of the Mac computers in high school with their virus infected hard drives and lack of memory filled my mind as I started the editing process. However, I found I-movie to be a really simple and glitch-less program. The set-up of the time line was a little different than what I was used to but for all my complaining I felt I-movie really had my back during this project. The transitions were easy to instal and the few special effects we used were really easy to find and use.

In fact the only really technical difficulty we had was on my part. I never realized my camera was set to HD record so it took a little under an hour to import my footage into I-movie. At first I was extremely annoyed but after I realized what happened I'm just glad it imported them at all!

The filming process was a little hard at first but it got better when I began filming with my group. I struggled with some of the self-portrait filming because it was hard to film and act at the same time. I ended up doing a lot more, “stuff in static” than I originally hoped for. However, all my “stuff in static” actually helped me to establish a theme. The objects and personal effects that represented me stayed stationary as I rushed through life separated from the outside world.

I know you said in class not to sound fake by saying your group worked perfectly, but I don't know what to tell you. We really got along great. We agreed to meet outside of class to film together, we all equally contributed to the editing process and we came up with great ideas. In fact, if my group were to have one problem it is that we had too many ideas and not enough ways to work them all in. One of the ideas we came up with was to tone the color scheme down to a gray-ish tan color and make certain colors pop out to sort of enforce the separation theme color wise as well. However, it turned out there wasn't a really effective way of doing this in I-movie so we ended up scrapping the idea.

One of the themes we came up with that I felt really worked was the idea of video games separating us, but being the common thread bringing us all together. Over the course of working together we found out we really do have a lot in common and although we are separated from each other by our different paths we still have something other than this class to bring us together.

On the subject of Vimeo and YouTube I find myself more attracted to Vimeo over Youtube. People hardly ever say anything nice over the internet so the less places people have to complain and the less people to complain, the better. Also, Vimeo had less advertisements plastered all over the place to I felt like it was a better medium for video sharing. I would much rather YouTube adopt this policy rather than have two minute long un-skipable Disney's “John Carter” trailers before everything. I am a little worried however that our video will be taken down for copyright infringement as it uses music from different bands we have no written consent from. Hopefully this link will work for grading purposes though:

http://vimeo.com/38385879

Overall, I had a lot of fun working on this project and I hope our ideas have come together to form a good group portrait of our separate lives.

You Tube Vs Vimeo

Videos are a great benefit for a website. They keep viewers and potential customers on the page for longer and offer incentive to watch an advertisement. Groupings of videos liked by a user can also help an advertiser narrow down the field and choose specific users to advertise too. In the world of Web 2.0 there are two major websites that offer streaming video: YouTube and Vimeo.

YouTube:

With it's user base far greater than Vimeo the popularity of YouTube is a major strength. Anyone familiar with YouTube will be familiar with it's slogan, “broadcast yourself.” The major popularity of YouTube is that users can do just that – they can post almost anything. This can be a problem for video makers as one YouTube video will have to compete with a sea of other videos in order to be found if it is ever found at all.

The other major benefit of YouTube is that it is completely free. Users will never have to pay a dime to have full accesses to all of YouTube's features which include unlimited HD uploads (as long as the video is one Gigabyte or less and does not exceed ten minutes.) However, because YouTube's service is free YouTube can at anytime drop in an advertisement before your video. These indiscriminate advertisements can turn off viewers and do not benefit the video creator, only YouTube.

YouTube also offers many ways to communicate with the video creator. Such as comments (posted on the forum), messages (sent like an email to the creator) and likes/dislikes. These Web 2.0 features offer a lot of user feedback and allow for “video replies” as well. YouTube is also very user friendly allowing for video embedding on Twitter and Facebook at the simple push of a button. However, this is not without flaws. Rather than offer constructive criticism the feedback options of many videos are permanently clogged with trolls and spammers. Rather than use feed back as a tool it is mostly abused in many videos as a place for people to start internet fights.

Vimeo:

It doesn't bore well for vimeo's user base that before this project I had never heard of it. However, despite it's fewer users Vimeo has some pretty cool features. Vimeo advertises itself as, “a respectful community of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos they make,” right on the home page. Vimeo tries to market itself as a Youtube alternative for the struggling artist. Vimeo offers all sorts of customization for personal websites or Facebook without the fear of having an advertisement for bleach pop up before the video.

However, because Vimeo does not get a lot of revenue from advertisements Vimeo limits some of it's features for non-paid members. Vimeo offers Vimeo Plus and Vimeo Pro for users who need more than the 1 upload a week under 500 MB offered to free users. The price for extended service can be pricey – almost $60 pricey.

Although debatable, Vimeos imbedded videos look “cleaner” than YouTube's, from personal comparisons between the two video players I found Vimeo's videos had a lot more glitches.

This strange white box is my self/separation video. Enjoy!

Group Video Time

 I hope everyone is as excited about group work as I am! This project is going to be really fun we have the theme of separation. What a bright optimistic topic! Here are some ideas I thought might work:

Idea One: The Boyfriend/Girlfriend

            A lot of people come to college and leave behind a significant other, making them feel separated and alone. I thought for this idea we could follow a girl or boy (we don’t have to show their face if you don’t want) going through their day feeling separated from their significant other. We could tell this story of separation through shots of the student walking around, at normal speed, but with the rest of the world walking faster than here. (Like Slipknot’s Vermillion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppoo1EJ-Vrc&ob=av2e) Then we could tell her story through use of their Facebook and cell phone. I think it should have a happy ending but I’m open to any ideas you have.

Idea Two: Cyber-Loneliness

            I’m always on the computer chatting to people and yet I never feel close to anyone. Playing off my idea for the first video, it’s like to use an empty computer lab with a student constantly on the computer. Then the scene would switch to the cafeteria where the student is again sitting on the computer ignoring the rest of the world. Even for a bit of comedy we could have someone come out of the bathroom only to find the student on the floor outside of the bathroom using the electrical socket. The student would characterize separation because he or she would always be on the computer with the world going on.

Idea Three: Dogs > People

            Completely reversing the role from a human protagonist in this idea we follow a dog around campus while he or she looks for their owner. I happen to have two dogs we can use for this, by the way. We can have the dog pose in a bunch of interesting places around campus showing humans simply walking by her. Finally, (this I will not compromise) there has to be a happy ending. The dog reunited with her owner and the separation is over.

Well guys, no joke I’m really looking forward to hearing about your ideas. Please let me know in a comment what you think about my ideas. See you in class tomorrow guys!!

Self-Portrait Ideas

I’m really not a big fan of self-portrait videos. I’m sure if I was more interesting I’d be better at them. For my group assignment I was excited to find I was assigned to the “separation” group. Being an emo kid I think this theme will be easy to incorporate into my self-portrait film. So here are some of my ideas:

Idea One: My car

            I haven’t cleaned my car since last summer so it’s loaded with a ton of junk that describes me. I have a lot of my music hidden in the dash board and the console. I have a lot of wrappers from Tim Horton’s and my job lying around. I have a LOT of books and pamphlets from stuff I’m involved in stuck to the floor in the back seat. I would incorporate the theme off separation by how I first approach my car from the parking lot. I always park in this lonely desolate parking lot next to the highway so hopefully I will be able to incorporate this feeling into the video.  

Idea Two: Places I Haunt Around School

            I’m really good at hiding in lonely place around school. So I’m thinking of maybe filming my usual haunts around school and placing some objects around that describe me. I know I will want to include my laptop sitting by itself in the upstairs cafeteria. Having all these objects without a human by them will create the feel of separation I’m looking for. I’d also like to have my cell phone in the empty classroom in Ketchum I always hang out at.

Idea Three: Places I Haunt

            When you have two crappy ideas the best thing to do is combine them into one suitable idea. Rather than focus on one specific area such as my car or school for this idea I will capture footage of places I haunt around my house. (Especially, in my room; I never leave it). I think this offers a better picture of me. Also, I will not include myself or any other people in my video so this will create a feel of separation for the viewer.

            I’m probably going to try and follow along the lines of idea three and do a self-portrait of myself using the places I hang-out with one or two objects that describe me snuck in. I’m really excited to film this but I’m more excited about editing this. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the class has come up with as well.

Wiki Review Post

http://www.wikihow.com/Learn-the-Positions-in-Football

This is really informative! I honestly thought there were only three positions for offence and defense but this definitely proves me wrong. I really enjoy how in depth your wiki coverage is. Not only did you list the different positions but you really helped describe them so that they seem like more than just the words. The second paragraph the one involving the “line of scrimmage” definition I found exceptionally good. I’ve been on this earth 19 years and I’ve always heard that word and never understood what it was. I really enjoyed this article; I feel a lot smarter already!

http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-Him-You-Have-a-Child

This was definitely a good read. The first paragraph was pretty funny considering how nerve wreaking a task this seems. I felt really calm reading your wiki; it had a very positive feel to it. Your steps were very easy to follow and your formatting was very good. Another thing I liked was how you embraced an honest be-yourself attitude but you were funny about it so it wasn’t so cheesy. My only suggestion would be to add another picture. The one you have is very cute but I think maybe one at the end would make it look a little more professional. Overall, I’m very impressed with how you simplified a very stressful topic. Good job!

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-an-Anti-Valentines-Day-Nail-Design

Hey, I thought this was a really cool article. It's an interesting design and felt like a really fun project. My only suggestion is to move the “Things You'll Need” section up top more before the actual steps. It will help the reader follow better. Other than that all your links worked and were very helpful.  Also, I looked at the links you put up and I found the one on “healthy nails” to be really interesting. Perhaps you might want to include more of the information in that article in your how-to. Such as, the first step being to evaluate the condition of your nails. It would add more facts to your article as well as get useful information out there. Overall, your wiki is very well put together and professional. You did a great job!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Elenni12

Wow, this is really cool. Your Wikipedia page looks really professional. I had no idea any groups like this existed but it was a very interesting experience to learn about. I only have two suggestions for the actual article. The sentence, “Suggestive imagery has been incorporated with music for…well for as long as many of us can remember,” seems a little out of place. The article starts in a professional way and this is more casual language. While the statement itself is completely true it might make your article look more professional if you re-worded it. My only other suggestion is for the article’s topic sentence. Most Wikipedia articles start with a topic sentence like “something” is an American “something” started in “whenever” by “someone.” That way if someone doesn’t want to read the entire article they could just find out real quickly what it’s about. However, the “What is it” section is still very well written and easy to understand whither you choose to use a topic sentence or not. Overall, it looks like you put a lot of time into this article and it looks great!

http://www.wikihow.com/User:Stephecr01

Hey,
The first paragraph to your article was hilarious! I loved the Call of Duty reference; it’s like you know what my life has come too. I really enjoyed the steps too, especially the one called “combine your ideas together”. I found this to be a really useful idea. I never include my significant other’s ideas in date night. The only recommendation I would make is under the step 2 “Find a space that’s comfortable” section there’s some strange text that’s stuck floating over the paragraphs that says, “one on one”. Also the title says “How to Convince Your Boyfriend to Celebrate Valentine's Day” but the word “day” floats over the actual body text. Perhaps shortening the title to “v-day” would make the text fit on the page better. Overall, it was really good and really funny. I enjoyed reading it. Thank you!