Hello everyone!

The semester is coming to an end and so this will be the last blog I post to share with you all. In the spirit of goodbye, I will share that I have had an amazing experience with this course. In 4 short months, I have become more able with a computer, with software and with technology in general than I ever thought possible. This course allowed me to discover my hidden passion for all of this stuff and steered my concentration in this graduate program towards technology and the Internet. I have signed up to take Journalist Toolkit and Electronic Publishing in the Fall in hopes to continue to broaden my knowledge and ability in this area. These are skills that I know will prove immensely valuable in December when I start marketing myself for jobs. I am thus very thankful to this course, Dr. Robinson, and all of my classmates for the experience and everything I have learned.

Also, thanks to all of your insightful comments and suggestions, I have made changes to my Web site (our final project), and I think it's looking really good now! Check it out at http://plaza.ufl.edu/soniaa

I hope you have enjoyed my blogs and especially this corny but very honest one! Comment and let me know what you've gained from this course!


Sonia :)

I just can't get enough of New Media!

I have recently become very interested in the study of new media both through this course, my mass commnication theories course and the realization of just how much space this concept is taking up in my daily life. I remember seeing a video on someone's blog last week and thought, wow, this is cool. Something different and a little more exciting to post. Having said that, I found this cool video on New Media that I really enjoyed. It is from last year but still very interesting. The interviews offer some thought-provoking insights. Check it out!

HELP!

Hello everyone,

This week I don't have a Web treasure to share with you, instead I'm hoping you will have one to share with me. I am building a Web site for my final project in this class and would like to add some kind of blog or comment page for visitors to give feedback or share information with each other. I am having a really hard time figuring out how to do this or finding good information on how to do this. Does anyone know of any free software that might allow me to create a blog or comment page on my site? Maybe some good information on how to do it or a tutorial of some kind?


Let me know! I really want to add this component to my page!

Digital Learning Sites!

Because we are all working on our projects and creating digital learning for others, this week I thought I'd look for Web sites on digital learning. I was certain I'd find something, but I was surprised to see just how many sites out there are dedicated to this topic and more interestingly these sites were based in many different parts of the world. Sometimes in the U.S. we tend to think that we are among the most advanced in areas of techology but if we take a closer look, we can find that a lot of the world is concerned with technology and increasing education in these areas. This digital Learning site is based in India and offers all kinds of news on digital learning, conferences, policy, etc. The organization who runs the site, the Center for Science, Development and Media Studies(CSDMS) strives to provide solutions for underpriviledged societies through advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in these areas. This site offers a lot of fun and interesting navigation if you are interested!

Another site on digital media and learning funded by the MacArthur Foundation also contains a lot of great information. The site offers current research in the area, experts in the field, young people's thoughts on how digital media and learning is affecting their lives, and a Blog that interested parties can participate in. Another fun journey of navigation if you can find the time!

Of course, there are many more such sites, but I will not go on and on about them here. If you can, take the time to do a search for digital learning and see what you find. This is obviously an area of booming interest and it'd be interesting to see just how much depth and breadth of information is out there.

I am S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D!!

I don't know about the rest of you, but 12 credits and four final projects has got me on the edge of insanity. I decided to search the net for stress management tips, avoiding burn out and relaxation techniques. I found a lot of interesting information but liked this "Burnout Prevention and Recovery" site the most. It was honest, to thbe point and offered some good suggestions and at times a much needed slap in the face.

Check it out. It might make you feel better too! :)

Spring Break & Thoughts on Technology

Hello fellow bloggers! I hope you all had a great spring break. I had an amazing time traveling to Miami, Michigan and Chicago to visit friends and family (I was a busy girl!). Throughout my vacation, I kept noticing the role technology, mainly the Internet, was playing in making my vacation easier and in my surroundings as well. It's funny. I often don't consider myself a technological person, but the more we talk about it in this and other courses, the more I realize just how much of a "digital native" I have become.

Throughout my vacation, I thought, what did I do before the Internet? From booking my flight to Michigan online in just a few minutes on the days and times that were convenient to me, to getting step by step driving directions from my friend's home in Michigan to my other friend's home in Chicago (There is no way I would have made it there without MapQuest), the Internet was there every step of the way. While in Michigan, I was able to be the good grad student that I am, and do research through the library Website, communicate with professors and keep in touch with other family and friends. At the airport, I could skip long lines and e-check-in in seconds. My friends' roommate, obsessed with sports, spent the whole time reading sports blogs online. I was fascinated as I saw how she could enjoy sports on a whole other level by interacting with other fans and commentators online. She continuously announced the minute by minute news on all the different sporting events going on, and here I was seeing the true power of communication on the Internet.


The Internet is something I started using in the 10th grade, not at 3 like my younger sister, yet it has become such a central part of my life, that I often cannot wrap my head around how anyone did anything before it. How did one register for classes, find information on a restaurant, do research? Yes I realize it all got done, snail mail, the yellow pages, the card catalog, but oh my, what a slow way to function!


The more you study the media and especially new media, the more you start to realize the impact of these on your every day life. Throughout my spring break, I just could not help but notice the amount of ease and convenience the Internet, and technology, in general, adds to my life every day.

Do you ever stop and suddenly find yourself amused by the times we are living in or am I just a huge dork?!

Interview with Adobe CEO

While reading through some of the week's digital music news and technology news, I came accross this particular article and thought it could be relevant to many of us in class. The article is basically an interview with Adobe's CEO Bruce Chizen in which he talks about the ever increasing number of free photo editing, Web page design and layout tools available on the Internet and the possible losses this is creating for Adobe. There's also some interesting info on whats to come with newer versions of software like Dreamweaver and Photoshop. There are some pretty cool advancements to come in the future as Adobe tries to compete with more and more free resources. Check it out. I thought this was a really good article, maybe you will too!


http://news.com.com/Its+Adobes+game+to+lose%2C+CEO+says/2008-1012_3-6164519.html?tag=nefd.lede

Have a great Spring Break everyone :)

Digital Storytelling Association

Look what I found! I don't know if any of you have come accross this Website, but apparently there has been so much interest in and belief in the "power of digital storytelling" that professionals from all over the world came together to create an association dedicated to digital storytelling in November of 2002. The Website tells you all about their mission, why they were founded, and offers news and events related to digital storytelling. Anyone can join! The networking possibilities, I imagine, are extensive! If you join, you can also get access to an archive which has many examples of digital storytelling projects which might be helpful in creating your own. Take a look...

http://www.dsaweb.org/

Barging Into the Bloggers' Circle

Last week in my Mass Communication & Society class I gave a presentation on Advertising. One of the articles I found to supplement my presentation was a Washington Post article from August of last year called "Barging into the Blogger's Circle; Web Logs Are Fertile New Territory for Introducing Products, Welcome or Not."

The article talked about this idea of the "digital grapevine" through which "companies can reap the marketing rewards of free publicity, higher rankings on search engines & immediate access to conversations with consumers." In the article, several avid bloggers commented on the desireability of this, that is marketers using Blogs to dissiminate product information. Some said they were not bothered by it and are happy to allow marketers and advertisers on their sites in exchange for the newest products and product news while others felt this practive made their blogs less credible to their readers in addition to taking the fun out of the whole blogging experience (turning it into a consumer vehicle and not a place for people to share ideas and insights with others).

In thinking about this, I thought what a perfect article to share in my blog. What do you guys thinks about this "digital grapevine?" Is allowing marketers and advertisers onto your blogs selling out or just business?

If you want to take a look at the whole article, I could not find a direct link but if you go under the library Web site and connect to Lexis Nexis, and search the title, it is the first one to come up. It's quite an interesting article. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Digital News

Hello everyone!

Check out this article on the latest in digital music. I am very big on music and thought this was very interesting. I need music at all times; while I study, shower, clean, eat, whatever! Everything is better with some tunes in the atmosphere so I like to keep up on new ways to aquire more of my favorite songs without getting into a tight spot with the law! Ha ha. It also has some cool new things happening in the music industry and talks about a cool new program, called PodSafe that gives podcasters access to music and other royalty free content for listening or podcast making. Check it out and as always, I hope you enjoy this week's little digital treasure, as I like to call them.

http://news.com.com/This+week+in+digital+music/2100-1027_3-5843521.html

Class Blogs...

I just wanted to add that I am loving finding out about all these useful little Web site treasures and reading all of these interesting stories. There's so much out there if you just look. This blogging stuff is fun! Thanks everyone for your contributions.

This is kind of freaky!

Technology seems to be getting creepier and creepier. Check out this new product I found, talking lips. It is designed to allow people to have phone conversations free of hands or head sets by moving its lips ha ha when the caller speaks. Essentially you'd be having a conversation with a metal mouth! Scary, but quite a unique idea I must say. This is a UK site and although I'm not sure if it is available in the U.S., I'm sure you could have it shipped if you really want a little talking friend on your desk to help you with multi-tasking. I cannot get over this thing, it is too funny.

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/5162.htm

Hello everyone....as I searched the internet for cool digital media stuff....I came accross a great Web site that allows you to hear interviews from people in the digital media industry. I thought what a better way to learn than to listen to some experts. There is also lots of news and blogs on stuff that's happening in digital media. You can download the interviews in the form of podcasts, downloads, and streams. I listened to a few, and they are quite interesting. I myself am not too technology savy and find things like this quite useful.

The URL: http://www.insidedigitalmedia.com/

On a different note, I want to work in marketing when I graduate and as I've learned in my internships, PhotoShop and Illustrator type programs are a must. I have some working knowledge, but not a lot. If anyone finds any exceptionally great learning tools for such programs, please send my way!


Sonia :)

Cool Web site!

Welcome to my first blog! I found a cool site that allows you to create cool slideshows and photoflicks for Myspace and other Web pages in a few easy steps. Add some jazz to your pages. Tell a story in pictures or add to a presentation to keep your audience interested. I love them. Enjoy!


http://www.picturetrail.com/

Sonia :)