Design & Innovation

I attended a workshop with intention of learning WordPress.  I did not want to learn how to work with WordPress for the elective project to which I had to complete for the MIS elective.  That was simply a side bonus.  I wanted to learn how to use it because of its broad content management ability and the demand to produce and develop Web 2.0 technologies in a form in which was both accessible and high customizable to the end user and the adept developer.  I found the number of simple add-ins to be really impressive but I learned the value of determining the usefulness and functionality of these add-ins before actually implementing them.  As it was my experience that the implementation of an instant messenger add-in was able to disrupt the functionality of the entire application.  But I was really that through the use of templates one could greatly modify the appearance of their WordPress site without a great amount of modification.  And after add-ins were selected and a few boxes checked, one could have a very effective, very technically precise website and not merely another web blog.

As per a recently released survey, teenagers apparently cannot tell the difference between writing something for formal purposes, and writing something informally.  This mass “disruption” in thought is essentially linked to the use of typographical shortcuts and emoticons…you know, facial expressions, moods, and actions formed using a complex formula of colons, semicolons, commas, apostrophes, and parentheses.  Smiley faces and LOLs have been creeping into students’ formal essays and papers more and more over the past few years, and it’s surprising to me.  This survey was done by The Pew Internet and American Life Project and included phone surveys of over 700 U.S. residents ranging from 12-17, and their parents.  What’s surprising to me isn’t the fact that teenagers are using these forms of shortcuts, or even the emoticons, because it’s probably safe to say that the same amount of people that are my age use them as well…my mom even uses smiley faces sometimes.  However, not really “growing up” with them has lead people of my age and older to be able to distinguish between times when they are appropriate to use, and when they are not; this skill has apparently eluded members of our society under the age of 18.  Obviously, the fact that we are required to use a blog for this class begs the question, “Is this an appropriate forum to use LOLs and >:P’s”? (I’m not even sure if you can use an apostrophe-s after an emoticon)  I tend to think that because this is an assignment related to a formal setting of a college level class, that the answer is no; but essays and papers turned in by teens in recent years have shown that these Internet-born idiosyncrasies of language have crept in some how.  Does this mean that when my generation gets to a higher level of management and we’re interviewing for new positions, that we will not be fazed by resumes and cover letters ridden with j/k’s and slews of punctuation?  I would hope not.  In the end, I think it is important that younger students learn to tell the difference between something they write for creative, personal, and extra-curricular purposes and things they write for school, jobs, bosses, teachers, and the like.  Everybody understands that as one ages, the younger generation seems more and more distant in terms of slang, clothing, attitude and many other things, but, in my opinion, formal writing is something that should not stray too far from the norm.  As a side note, and a completely opinionated statement, I think these LOL-type shortcuts are also an impairment to children in terms of how they spell.  Not that they wouldn’t know how to spell ‘laughing’, ‘out’, or even ‘loud’ for that matter, but sometimes these shortcuts are invented and virally spread to the teenage masses simply because the creator was unsure on how to spell certain words, u no wut i mean?  To look at the article, click on this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24294592/

As I was enojying my FIOS TV I came across the DIY (do it yourself) network.  Being a self-proclaimed do-it-yourselfer I like the network.  It provides basic knowledge to accomplish tasks for the everyday joe.  Due to our discussions on Web 2.0 a program caught my attention, Blog Cabin. 

It is pretty cool how viewers are able to have input into the construction of the building through a “blog” of sorts.  I’ve also come to realization about how far we have come in the past ten years or so.  A decade ago you talked about a Blog and most would think of a movie about some slimy creature.  Now the word is a household name and used in everyday conversation.  Pretty neat stuff.

I was curious to see if there was a place where a blog is defined, or rather, what collective characteristics of a web site would make it a blog. Mainly because there are sites that refer to themselves as blogs, that don’t look to me like what I would consider to be a blog. (not that I’m an expert) Anyway, Wikipedia has an entry for blog that lists these characteristics:

Blog basics

A blog entry typically consists of the following:

• Title - main title of the post,
• Body - main content of the post,
• Comments - comments added by readers
• Category (or tags) - category the post is labeled with (optional, multiple categories possible)
• Blogroll - other blogs that the blog author reads/affiliates with
• Permalink - the URL of the full, individual article
• Post Date - date and time the post was published
• Track back - links to other sites that refer to the entry

So, my question is, what are the five most important features of the blog?

This is an easier way for people to do podcasting on the go. There is a number that you can call that allows you to record your voice through your cellphone and then it will save in a folder online. Then you can do whatever you want with that audio file. I think that this is a genius idea. Not everyone has a microphone, and I actually see this changing how Universities do lectures. I know that I personally have to had to record my voice in my Portuguese class, but needed a microphone which isn’t a huge hassle to buy, but making sure it’s compatible with your computer can be iffy. I think the diagram above explains the concept really well. I’m also thinking that this could be used in my innovation idea room for Second Life…

I enjoy reading many of your posting. I am glad to see activities on-line taking off. Here are some suggestions.  First, I hope that all of you will edit your profile so that your posting will show your full name — no nick name or initial, but full name. Please edit your profile so that your full name is displayed. There is an option to display your full name. But in order to have that option, you must type in your name. Again, you choose whatever login ID you like. But, if you put your real name in the proper field your profile, you can display your name for your posting. Second, choose ’student posting’ as the category of your posting. Third, please add few tags at the end of your posting. It will be fun to see the changes of our tag cloud change over time.  Fourth, it is a requirement. But generally, the blog is a way to connect contents. So, it will be nice to see links, pictures, and videos in your posting. You can include YouTube clips, for example, right inside your posting. For example, here is the new version of the video clip that we saw in the class, “did you know”:

You can also quote the contents from the source, using block quote feature.  If you have some other suggestions for the posting of the blog, please let me know. For example, there was a story on New York Times on Target’s response to a blogger’s complaint.

“That was the message the cheap-chic retailer seemed to convey in an abrupt e-mail message to ShapingYouth.org, a blog about the impact of marketing on children. Early this month, the blog’s founder, Amy Jussel, called Target, complaining about a new advertising campaign that depicted a woman splayed across a big target pattern — the retailer’s emblem — with the bull’s-eye at her crotch. “Targeting crotches with a bull’s-eye is not the message we should be putting out there,” she said in an e-mail interview. Target offered an e-mail response: “Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets,” a public relations person wrote to ShapingYouth.

So, make your posting more colorful and interesting. But, make sure it is rich in your OWN thoughts, more than anything else.