Digital Footprint Quiz

So for our group assignment we were to make a podcast on a social media topic. Denise, Melanie, and I decided on speaking about digital footprints and how other social networking tools emphasize the impact of digital footprints. While doing some research on digital footprint, we stumbled upon a survey like website that scored us on how much digital footprints we leave behind on a daily basis. The survey/quiz would ask questions such as, "To commute in the mornings, do you use public transit, car, or walk/bike?" To use my car I have to put gas which means I would more than likely use my credit card therefore tracking everything. Using your school id card also tracks where you are and what you are doing. Emailing, using the phone, walking down a sidewalk, all has some sort of tracking device mechanism to see what you are doing at pretty much any time of the day. I was horrified to find out that my every move is being watched! To see what score you get go to this link and take the quiz http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/koppel/interactive/interactive.html

Podcasting - Grarge Band

Podcasting for our group project was definitely an adventure. While I never really focused on the importance of podcasting, I found it even more interesting to work with the GarageBand software program. I loved playing with the sounds, jingles, the recording, and all the other features it had to offer. It actually reminded me a lot of editing music for cheerleading when I would choreograph routines. It came naturally for me to use it therefore making it easy on our group to get in there record and edit really quickly and easily. Podcasting is very useful and a great tool to use for any type of social media. It allows you to record anything and everything and gives you the opportunity to do a hands free "blog". Over all I think our podcast was a success with the information we gathered and the ideas we inputted into the activity.

I have posted our podcast so feel free to browse through it...also here are some show notes in case you want to listen to the key points.

10 sec: Melanie introduces show, concept and participants.

15 sec: Melanie talks about digital footprints: what they are, what they do and who they effect.

2 min: Denise is introduced and talks about googling her name and what information she discovered about her digital footprint.

3 min: Denise talks about how her digital footprint could potentially affect her (positively or negatively)

3:45 min: Denise reveals her outlook on the future of podcasting.

4:20 min: Mandi is introduced and talks about her digital footprint within Facebook.

5:25 min: Mandi reveals how she uses Facebook as a social networking tool.

5:45 min: Melanie begins to conclude what effect digital footprints have on us and how they affect us daily.

Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty in America

In 2005 the census bureau calculated 37 million people living in poverty. Within the past three years you would assume that with this poor economy and raise of gas prices it has increased, and indeed it has. "For most Americans, the word "poverty" suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter. But only a small number of the 37 million per­sons classified as "poor" by the Census Bureau fit that description. While real material hardship certainly does occur, it is limited in scope and severity. Most of America's "poor" live in material conditions that would be judged as comfortable or well-off just a few generations ago. Today, the expenditures per person of the lowest-income one-fifth of house­holds equal those of the median American household in the early 1970s, after adjusting for inflation." This was taken from an article on America's Poverty. After reading this article it is safe to assume not all of America's poverty is living in bad conditions. There was an abundance of examples that show that poor people have a place to live, have a car, have air-conditioning, and experience slight food shortages. I'm not saying that its not a problem because it is especially when it comes to their health. However, after reading this article I'm a bit confused as to how to feel about it. Compared to Africa, even the poorest of Americans are living way better than Africans.

National Coming Out Day

They finally recognize a day for The Gay, Lesbian Education Network. Today was National Coming Out Day and GLEN's goal was to educate gays and lesbians that they are valued and respected for being who they are. It is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established nationally in 1995, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Having a couple of friends who are gay and lesbian I found that this was really interesting because I had no clue that such an organization existed and I think their mission is definitely a positive one and a respective one. To find out more here is their website www.glsen.org

Olympics & NBC

Recently I came across an article on NBC and their revenue on the Olympics. Surprise surprise something had to be wrong. Although the Olympics had a great turnout they somehow managed to mess things up with General Electric, their parent company. Apparently, they were able to rank up $1 billion but still wrote a loss the event. You would think otherwise but NBC is refusing to disclose how much they lost instead of profiting. Should they have cut stuff out in order to save money?

VW loves Brooke Shields

Volkswagon has recently made Brooke Shields as their new spokesperson for their new line of minivans. "In a promotional four-and-a-half-minute video, Shields refers to a "Routan boom," where there is a dramatic rise in children being born to families that believe they have to have more children to justify the purchase of "German engineering," or a Routan." As funny as that sounds the ads are witty and clever but haven't quite helped market their sales. Their goal is to sell close to 40,000 but are finding it a bit difficult and finding they're minivan percentage is down 19.5%. However, maybe Brooke Shields will have more face time (if she doesn't already) and keep endorsing those minivans!

KXAN Mayhem

As of October 1, KXAN has canceled their channel and has opened their doors to payed programmers. For those of us who watch NBC religiously to watch Deal or No Deal, My Own Worst Enemy, Heroes, SNL, and of course Football! this has become a burden. Unfortunately, this may be our fault. I recently went to their website to understand why this signal was being pulled off the air and found some interesting stuff. "They want to charge Time Warner Cable customers across the United States in order for you to see your programming. To make up for lower ratings and advertising revenue, broadcast stations are demanding millions of dollars for permission to carry their channels; fees that will fall, ultimately, to you." However, this signal is free so why should we have to pay to watch our programs. They want to add to their revenue and take advantage of a signal that is already free. I personally think this is ridiculus and negotiations better move along quickly.

The Google You

Google is in fact the biggest search database known to internet history. Its amazing to see how much information it contains and searches by just a single keyword. I'm sure that everyone has Googled themselves at some point and probably not found anything. However, corporations and businesses are now Googling prospective employees and making sure there isn't any dirt on their potentials and making sure that they have clean internet faces. I recently mentioned this to my roommate and she asked me if I had Googled myself and I said yes. Thankfully, the only thing that can be seen after searching my name is my Facebook profile, but because I have privacy settings on it the only thing that can be seen is my profile picture. She then asked me to Google her name to see what came out and we definitely got so many hits of her name and every single person we found was not her. To her surprise, we found another girl with the same name that also lives in Austin but looked nothing like her. She was a little terrified to know that if businesses were actually doing this, they would never find her and that could possibly cost her a job opportunity. So is this a good thing or a bad thing? There obviously isn't anything bad about her on the internet but then how can people find out if thats the real her or not.

Facebook Privacy Matters

It seems like nowadays Facebook has just gotten bigger and bigger than expected. It first started as a college social networking base but has now grown and expanded to almost every country and every person. However, because Facebook is constantly outdoing themselves, its becoming difficult to understand their new layouts and applications. Their newsfeed application has become permanent and an enemy to most people because your business is out there for everyone to view it. Recently, my friend decided to miss a class and stay home to catch up on some zzzs that were long overdue. Out of habit, when she wakes up she goes to her computer checks her email and gets on Facebook. Making sure that none of her classmates would notice she was online at that very moment instead of in class, she logged herself off of Facebook chat and began uploading videos from the previous weekend. Little did she know the Newsfeed application kept informing her classmates that she was uploading video after video while they were in class being lectured. For those who werent paying attention and on Facebook noticed and called her out. Looks like someone got caught. As funny as that sounds, it has happened to a lot of people in different situations and its a bummer. Facebook has either become everyones friend or enemy by putting their business out there. Even relationships have gone down the drain because of that one little application and its a shame we can't get rid of it. I can't help but think, is Facebook running our lives or ruining it?

Southwest Airlines Hallelujah No FEES!

As everyone knows our economy is at its weakest right now and it seems like everything and everyone is being affected by it. Traveling has become very difficult to do because of the ridiculus amount of fees we are being asked to pay. Southwest Airlines however, have made it economical and affordable to fly through them without having to pay for every single bag or drink or pillow we want to use. About a month ago my roommate flew with Airlines and had to pay $20 for the two bags she was taking, her trip before that she had to pay $15 for each. In their new commercial, Southwest Airlines makes it a point to enforce the no fee brand it seems to be working. According to a Dallas News article, Southwest Airlines went from 17% frequent fliers to 24% frequent fliers in the past 2 years. For those who don't fly very often, here's a list of the changes most airlines have made that is hurting their consumers.

• First bag fees (that’s in addition to fees for bags after the first that have already been in place for awhile)
• No more pretzels and snacks or snack and beverage fees
• Fuel surcharges
• Fees for phone reservations
• Curb-side check in fees
• Ticket-change fees
• Fees for breathing the air inside the plane cabin