Thing #13 Reflection

This blog actually did turn out to be what I expected. I expected to be taken through a bunch of different features on the internet that I wasn't familiar with. I actually did learn about what every single thing's function. I expected to be able to get tips on some tools that I could use later on in school since I have a year left to go. I could see myself using some of these tools on future projects and maybe even in a profession.

I wasn't familiar with anything that we did. I was still unaware of what Twitter was and what it was all about. It was good to learn about the different ways professionals can use Twitter to better network and easily get information out.

The wordle of my blog didn't really give me much insight. The biggest words weren't very surprising. This is why I think wordle could just be used as a fun tool. It would be fun to copy celebrities' press conferences and see what words are used the most.

I think my favorite post was either the word map or Twitter. The word map helped me be able to throw a bunch of random ideas out that I had and put them in an organized matter. This is what really got my Red Lobster blog off the ground and still gives me inspiration on new post topics. I liked Twitter as well because I think this gave me the most insight. I see a lot of peers using it so I figured it was pretty much just like Facebook. It is cool to see organizations using it to get information out quickly. I think the reason it has caught on so fast is because of the short posts. Blogs can get pretty wordy and go on for a while. Twitter forces users to get the important stuff and down and leave it at that. The mind map and Twitter are something I could see myself using in the future. Also Google Reader is something I think I will take advantage of to easily see what sites are being updated.

Life after Coe I think the delicious site will be very helpful. Being able to see what others with the same interests as you are looking at will be very useful. The self-discovering part of this exercise went pretty well actually. I forgot to look at the deadline for the whole project and that is why I have a couple posts that I had to fit in on the last minute. I just figure it would due at the end of the semester so I didn't get the last posts spaced out. Other than that the no deadlines worked pretty well. All the exercises gave me insight about something new online so it gave me time to sort of discover the stuff on my own and see what else was out there. Overall this was a pretty helpful project

Thing #12 Word Cloud

This tool gave me insight into the profile I created of recent Coe graduate. The project was called Writing after Coe and two of the biggest words are Writing and Coe. This is a fun too that I think could be helpful when looking over papers that you yourself create. It could help you see what words you are using the most and then you could go back through the paper and see if there are any instances where you could change the words around. This could also be used professionally when looking over pieces you create for any profession you are involved in. Other than that I think it is just a fun tool to play around with. It would be interesting to be able to document all the words you say during the day and see what word cloud appears from that.

Thing#11 Visual Thesaurus

For this exercise I wanted to use the word company. I chose this word because I have been using it a lot in this blog and the blog I am doing for the Personal Statement project. I also have used this word a lot in other classes when writing papers trying to compare separate companies. When I typed this word into the visual thesaurus a ton of suggestions popped up. Two of the obvious ones that stood out were establishment and institution. The other stuff that popped up would actually be helpful if I was doing a paper about a certain type of company. The other words had a bunch of different industries before the word company. One of the best features of this site is when you hover over a word and definitions pop up that help you better understand what the words mean. When I do need a thesaurus I usually use the one that Microsoft Word provides when writing papers. If I am online I just go to dictionary.com and they have a thesaurus on that website that I use. Other than that I don't really use a thesaurus.

Thing #10 Creative Commons

I like the idea of this website. Looking at it from my prospective as a college student; it could become a lot more easier to do a research paper or post pictures on a project I am working on. After watching those videos, the need for something like creative commons became obvious. It makes no sense if others want their work to shard by other people for someone to have to go through a bunch of legal stuff to get to it. I wouldn't mind having all of my work shared. I don't think I have had a project in college so far that has gotten so personal that I wouldn't want others to see my work. I also like this idea because I have been getting interested in the electronic music that has sort of been taking over college campuses. This is music that is usually made with different beats or a couple songs that are put together to create a bunch of different sounds. When researching some of my favorite artists from electronic music, a lot of google searches come back as illegal music. This website is a great website for others to post work onto that they actually want to see what other people can come up with from their work.

Thing #9 Google Reader

I thought this was pretty cool. I normally visit the same websites on a regular basis. By adding these websites I could easily see when something new gets posted to those sites without having to visit them and browse for new content. I definitely think this would be a website I will continue to use. Using this site out of college kind of depends on what work you will be getting into. For instance, if your profession would be something that has to do with the stock market. A person in that profession could easily see what has been going on at those companies' sites. Even out of college when people move away from each other it would be a good way to keep up with a classmate's blog or website and see how they are doing.

Thing #8 Delicious

I could see this tool useful when people are in a certain profession (teaching being one of them) to see what other people in that profession are looking at and trying to get tips from them. That is a pretty cool concept that I guess I never thought could be useful. As a college student I don't really see much use I could get out of it. I don't know that I would be able to utilize the website to the best of its abilities. I normally view the same webpages on regular basis. When I do find a website I like and want to remember it I just make a book mark on my browser. I don't really have the need to keep a ton of bookmarks until I am doing a research project. That could be an instance where I utilize the website. As I said before though, when someone is out of college and into a profession I could see this website as being useful so you could get ideas from someone else in the same profession. My delicious username is: ericcroskrey

Thing #7 The Twitter

My twitter name is ecroskrey. I am following Jane, and the 4 things at Coe College. I also am following KCRG.

That was an adventure. I have no idea what I am doing on twitter. I really have no ambition to keep using the website but since a lot of people are using it and are getting addicted to it I'm sure I will become the same way. For now I'm not really interested.

Thing #6 Commenting

Commenting is important to blogging because it helps give the blogger feedback. This could help them with future posts in determining what their audience is interested in hearing. Commenting could also be troubling for some websites. I go to the KCRG website usually during the week just to keep up on the news. It is always interesting on the news stories that occur on NE side of town of around the Coe neighborhood because the comments are usually disabled. Obviously they have had trouble with offensive comments being posted on stories. Bloggers or people commenting on other's blogs should be conscious of this too. Also the 'digital footprint' we discussed in class. Putting offensive material in comments can also be traced back to you easily with technology. I am following Jason, Katie, and Garrett's 13 things blog. I have made comments on their blogs sharing my opinion on their certain blog topics. I also created tags on my blog for the previous posts because I didn't do a good job of titling the posts. The tag gives the reader a better description of the post is.

Thing #5

This is my mind map for creating my Red Lobster blog.




I enjoyed using this tool. At first I thought this mind mapping thing was a weird thing to use. As I started using it I started to like it more. It was good to get the ideas for my Red Lobster blog down in writing so I can remember them. I could see this tool being useful for school projects or bigger assignments where you haven't started them yet and have a lot of ideas. I also like the computer version of mind mapping because I tend to get sloppy with writing. This way is easy to keep organized and also easy to navigate around to different ideas.

Thing #3

This is my mashup for my favorite musician, Dierks Bentley.

Making this mashup of Dierks Bentley was a little challenging because I don't think a lot of my viewers are familiar with Dierks. Its hard to explain really the type of musician Dierks is with mashup because the only way to type text is to add a bunch of sticky notes which I think looks tacky after too many. I tried to give an example of his music and what types of videos he tries to make for his fans to give them an inside of view of what his life is like. An advantage to mashup is the media aspect in itself. I think it would be good to include with a digital news story or profile of something. It is easy to put multiple pieces of media together to give viewers a better idea about the subject.

Thing #4

On setting up a facebook page for an organization:

With having no experience on setting up a facebook page for an organization, my advice would be do not set it up like you set up a personal facebook account. You would want to make sure that the information posted on your site is good for your business. When going to facebook and seeing how to set up a site for an organization it doesn't look very complicated. Just enter in the information and hit a couple of buttons and the sit is made. Just make sure the information you are adding is information you would want available from your business.

On advice for posting:

The organization should determine whether or not they want mini-advertisements on their facebook page. It depends what company's goal is for the page. Typically users aren't wanting to look at a bunch of advertisements on a webpage so I would recommended avoiding them if it is possible. I also understand that this is a pretty good way to make some money though so using advertisements might not be a bad idea. Photos are always a good idea. Especially for younger audiences, I don't really see a drawback to them unless they are irrelevant. I think any interactive activities you can post for the people visiting your site to use is a good idea. I would make sure they are fun activities to keep the visitors coming back for more

On good professional websites I have seen on Facebook:

Post Secret- This is a good page because it shows users new content they have received and also about events that are happening that might interesting to go to.

Dierks Bentley- I am a little biased on this page because I am his fan. His facebook page is linked to his twitter so there are usually pretty entertaining posts by him, similar to any celebrity. Recently he was writing an album but put live feeds into the studio on his facebook page so users could see what was going on in the studio while he was in there.

Thing #2

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• My name is Eric Croskrey. Here is a picture of myself. This is a link of my previous blog from Journalism class.
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• Here is a writing video from youtube about a blogger getting into trouble:

Post #1

a) So far, how have you been using web 2.0?

I have used web 2.0 in the sense that I shop online and I also have a facebook account. I also keep on the news from online websites or social media sites. I haven't created a wiki or done a blog really. Last year in Journalism class we had to create a blog. This is really the only time I have created a blog. It was also the last time I used a blog. I failed in maintaining the blog and keeping up with it.

b) What interests me about web 2.0?

Web 2.0 interests me in the way it has grown. I am eager to see in what ways it could impact my future in the world and my future with an occupation I get after college. It is going to be interesting what the limits, if any, cell phones reach. The way iPhones keep getting better I don't really see a limit on them. I have also heard that cell phones are going to eventually replace our wallet. They will have technology on them that simulates a credit card. We will be able to tap our phone on a device to pay for something rather than reach for our wallet. The future is really what interests me with web 2.0