Minorites and Higher Learning

2007-05-09T19:05:00.000-05:00

Martha L. Gould

4/25/07

ITEC-333: Assignment #2

Prof. Melander

PRESENTATION of SELF

Migente and Blackplanet

Social Networking sites have grown in popularity over the last six years. When I was a freshman in high school I was part of both the blackplanet community as well as the migente community. Both the blackplanet and the migente online communities are pretty much the same, but the crowds are a little more concentrated towards a racial/ethnic group, hence the different names. Myspace has become very popular in the last few years, but unlike blackplanet and migente, myspace has a more diverse set of online individuals. Now not too many people use either of the sites since myspace has become sort of a merger of the two and not to mention more popular than the two sites. Myspace is a larger community and many who have myspace once had or still have a migente or a blackplanet.

For one to set up a profile on migente or blackplanet, that individual registers with their email and creates a password. The individual then starts by creating a catchy display name/nickname; putting together their background for their site; adding pictures; filing in fields about themselves regarding interests, physical appearance, and any other things about oneself. A user of the blackplanet or migente community is provided with profile backgrounds or may create their own according to their preferences. Many people end up using other creative backgrounds from other sites on the internet, which is also very similar to the way one would set up a background for myspace.

Some people on their social networking sites on migente or blackplanet do not present themselves as the person they really are and some do. Some do this to “spy” on others or just simply out of fun for them. Those who do not present themselves as the person they are, invent a “costume” to their public to either gain more hits (which are views of your site). Others present who they really are, not putting on a front or a “costume.” An observer is able to find a mix of the two.

When representing themselves on their profiles those who are legit to say, do so in a manner which is almost describing them as confident and trusting of others. Persons display pictures of themselves doing normal day things such as: going to parties, drinking, having fun with friends, etc. These sites give the users a chance to express themselves visually and creatively as they would in a diary only it being online and them being more open with their business.

Most of the profiles found seem to be truthful, since a numerous amount of individuals seem to be looking for friends as well as romantic relationships. But there are those certain few which do often mislead others in to thinking they are people they may not be. Many times an observer can tell whether or not a person on a particular profile is truthful or legit by picking up on certain clues and observing the person’s consistency.

The profiles effect the user’s role within the social networking community by how active a user is on their profile and others as well. An individual’s profile’s views is dependent on how jazzed up it is. The more fancy the background, the more catchy the display name and the more attractive the pictures on the profile, the more views it receives. The role of a user in the social networking community is dependent on how much they are able to dress their site up with the previous mentioned factors. If a user has no pictures and their site is not particularly attracting the eye, their role isn’t necessarily that great within that online community.

If someone is looking to achieve a large role within any online community they must be active and have a well presentable profile. With these things any user of any online community whether myspace, blackplanet or migente will receive more views of their profile and more of a role as well as attention in that online community. It is all about how you present yourself or how you “sell” yourself on your site(s).

My Blog for the future

2007-05-02T08:41:00.000-05:00

During the semester I have learned to improve my blog writing. Well the question is, will I continue to write blogs after my ITEC-333: Social Networking class is over?

Of Course I will.

Writing in a blog is like passing a big class note around....***LOL*** I remember those days.

Going back to those note passing days. I remember when you used to like someone in elementary school you would pass them a note saying: "Do you like me" circle one- yes no maybe. People are doing the same thing on myspace now but with their actual picture and posting it on people's walls. Is this social networking too? Of course it is because the picture and the comments about the picture circulate the internet and people beginning to learn who you are.

Something similar to that is the dating websites many companies have on the internet. These sites are social networking because it groups a bunch of people looking for love or romance. Have you ever used one of those sites before? I haven't and I don't know whether or not I will in the future. They kinda creep me out a little. But who knows?

Social Networking and blogging will always stay with me and I will continue to use these tools as a future business professional.

PEN and PAPER are a thing of the PAST!!! TAKE UP the class ITEC333: SOCIAL NETWORKING

2007-04-25T01:51:00.000-05:00

Social Networking this semester has been awesome!!!

Instead of picking up a pen or pencil we picked up our hands and fingers and placed them on the keyboards to write about technology. I mean I think soon enough people are going to give up paper and pen for good and communicate everything through the computer.

Before this class I didn't know too much about blogging, although I did blog once on myspace about bitter relationships. This social networking class has helped me develop my blogging skills; from being able to articulate a bit better through blogs and actually understanding how blogs work. The class also allowed me to explore what my fellow classmates had to say about particular topics we discussed or were going to discuss in class. I see blogging as a technology communication with debate characteristics. Because when you write a blog you are stating what you think and people can either agree or disagree and when they disagree then it can turn into a back and forth thing if people want.

Alongside all of that the professor(shout-out to Prof. Melander, one of the two professors that provoked me to specialize in ITEC) is also great. Not once did I feel like I was wasting my time in that class keeping in mind that it was a BLOCK class on WEDNESDAYS!!! She always had my attention, especially with the lateral puzzles in the beginning of class.

With what I have learned in this class it has allowed me to develop blogging skills which I will need later on when I develop my own business and/or when I work in the ITEC field.

P.S. The discussions are really stimulating.....

I don't know Jack $**t and I still got a better job than you!!! (Post for 3/28/07)

2007-04-25T01:36:00.000-05:00

You know when it all comes down to it at the end of the day. It is what they say. "It's not what you know, but who you know."

Thanks to my aunt who works at the Department of Justice I basically....As people call it. I GOT THA HOOK UP! And its because she knows people that know people. ***SMILE*** I mean honestly if it weren't for her help I would've never been able to get my foot in the door. With government jobs its easier when you know someone that knows someone because it's pretty much a shoe in. You know what I mean. I mean unless your a convicted felon, which might hold you back.

AND THIS CAN ALSO BE APPLIED TO BUSINESS.... In family businesses, when they are looking for employees outside of the family they check with close family friends first before they put ads in the local news paper. My friend that goes to Frostburg State University used to work for a small cafe in Wheaton and the owner had a hard time hiring outsiders. So most likely even if you didn't know the owner personally, but knew my friend you would have a much better chance over someone else who could've worked at Starbucks prior to that and has an advantage to you since you have never worked a day in your life. Do you see where I am getting at with this?

With places of employment this is very common because they want to try their best to keep their business in tact so they hire people who they have heard about through their existing employees.

So hey keep in mind that your potential employer is not always necessarily looking and observing your GPA. BUT IT IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING TO SHOW OFF ANYWAY. LOL

Note: this post was for 3/28/2007

Hmm I didn't think Uncle Sam was that Tech Savy! (Post for 3/21/07)

2007-04-25T01:17:00.000-05:00

WOw!!! Uncle Sam is now giving tax advice in his own new GOVERNMENT CERTIFIED BLOGS!!! LOL!

Knowing that the government is getting to that point is a little SCARY. Don't you think? Even the idea of Uncle Sam sitting in front of a computer about to blog to me is super scary.

Blogging to me has just always seemed as a technology type thing that would be used in businesses mainly. Not really government. But that's just my opinion.

Blogging for the new political candidates would be good so they could have contact with their admiring public(sarcastically speaking). Hahahhaha.
But no seriously. Howard Dean, Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani could all use blogs for their campaign. So they can see and hear what their public wants from them as a political candidate.

Blogging is becoming a universal thing. I mean you either blog or your in the dark pretty much. So which one would you choose?

Note: this blog was a post for 3/21/2007

1 WEB! 2 WEB!! 3 WEB!!!.....4?

2007-04-25T00:53:00.000-05:00

Web 1.0......
Web 2.0........
WEB 3.0...........
COMING SOON TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU!!!

Now there is all this talk about sooner or later the computer/the internet will know the difference between what is important and what isn't.

WELL! If you ask me I don't think that is completely true. The computer is only as smart as you, the operator, are.

Even now that we have 'intelligent' search engines such as google and yahoo and others, some of the results you get back from an "IMPORTANT" search, aren't the ones your necessarily looking for, or just aren't classified as important to you. So that wouldn't be so important now would it be?

We never know, however; what types of new technologies are capable of being discovered. Before you know it in the year 2067 there will be a fingerprint scanner on the computer telling the computer what website to go to according to your mood and your daily patterns or something. Weird, but you never know.

WHAT DO YOU THINK???

PROFILE PICTURE

2007-04-25T00:44:00.001-05:00

I FINALLY GOT IT TO WORK!!!!! YAY!! CONGRATULATE ME

R.I.P. to the lost ones...This one's for you Sintia!!!(NOTE to Part 1)

2007-04-17T23:30:00.000-05:00

It was my intention to make my last post look like a poem. Hint HINT!!! ;-)

R.I.P. to the lost ones...This one's for you Sintia!!!

2007-04-17T22:20:00.000-05:00

I am going to piggy back on Jordan's approach on today's blog.

A little over two months ago I lost a loved one. It all started thinking that she was just going to a salon and then a meeting at work. Come to find out she never made it to the meeting. So everyone started to worry. Sunday morning it was confirmed that Sintia Mesa was missing.

The bulletins on myspace.com helped me and the family get the information out to everyone
and anyone about Sintia. Within the hour I was reaching out to people I didn't even know with
the help of those that I knew. Everyone was helping us find her within three hours. Friends of
friends of friends were posting information about her and getting the information out to all those
they knew. Information about her has shown up on the nightly news that same night.

With the news out on watch as well as everyone on facebook and myspace keeping a look out
we had a community of people helping us.

Monday night we received the bad news that she had been found in the trunk of her car in an
apartment complex in Baltimore city. Her cause of death had been found as asphyxiation A
couple days later at her funeral more than five hundred people showed up, from friends and
family to coworkers and sorors. News spread so quick so fast thanks to those internet
networking tools.

******************************Virginia Tech******************************
Without networking and such things as myspace, television news and radio, people would have
a much harder time finding information and knowing what's going on around them.
Today and yesterday there was a moment of silence dedicated to the lost ones at Virginia
Tech. It is horrible and terrible to even begin to think why someone would do such a malicious
thing to others, having to leave the families of those individuals in sorrow. The pain inflicted on
the loved ones of those who were massacred is a pain no one should ever have to endure. Losing
someone is bad enough, but losing them as a result of someone else's selfishness is even worse
because they are taken from us before their time.

********************LETS HAVE A MOMENT OF SILENCE******************

THANX FOR STOPPING BY!!!!!

My Brand, Brand Me

2007-04-11T10:48:00.000-05:00

How would you brand yourself?

I was very attached to a particular clothing line in middle school, which was Tommy Hilfiger. Now I don't really stay loyal to a particular clothing line and I just wear what looks good on me.

Sometimes clothing brands are just overrated and not really worth all of the HOOPLA that people give them. When it comes to other things such as toothpaste or hygiene products that is a different story. I stick to Colgate toothpaste instead of Crest because I like the flavors Colgate has to offer compared to Crest, besides Colgate is the overall better toothpaste. LOL! *;-)* Also the shoes that I tend to be drawn more to are the Kwiss brand shoes because they are priced pretty reasonably and they are comfortable. Have you tried Kwiss?

When it comes to branding myself. I wouldn't want to say that I only use a particular brand of something because I often like to change and experiment with different brands and products. No I am not a Tommy Girl anymore, in fact I don't even like Tommy anymore. So I would just brand myself as ME not anything else!!!

2007-04-10T23:23:00.000-05:00

Everyone's building their own bridge

2007-04-04T00:42:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Everyone's building their own bridge

In order to succeed in the business world one must have connections. And yes it is true what the saying says: "It's not what you know. It's who you know."
Building individual bridges for everyone is a business in itself because it allows you to be connected to other people who may at one point need something from you, which then you would be able to negotiate something to exchange.
Building bridges is very important because slowly and easily everyone becomes connected and through interests or commonalities. These being those bridges.
Being able to find a common ground with someone you don't know is a bridge in itself because it is giving you the opportunity to identify with that other person or persons on a similar level/platform.
This is very important for not only business, but for such fields as journalism and public relations.

Everyone's building their own bridge

2007-04-04T00:18:00.000-05:00

Hurray for TOM KYTE!!!

2007-03-07T01:25:00.000-05:00

Last week in ITEC-333 we were introduced to a very intriguing individual who works for Oracle.

When I first walked into class I thought "Oh no, not another boring guest speaker," but surprisingly enough Tom did a great job in being very informational without being boring. The thing that I liked most about him was that he had stories for just about anything he had mentioned during his presentation. And they were all good ones too.

Tom also made me realize that a lot can be accomplished through Blogging, in specific- finding a best-friend. He talked about how some of his most closest friends are people in which he bloggs with and at one point I also believe he had said that the majority were in Australia. ***Correct me if I'm wrong***

He showed us how popular and well known he became by blogging as a hobby through the company. The blogg which the company has named after him was not his job, but his hobby.
I particularly found it funny when he mentioned how some people didn't think Tom was a real person and that it was all a marketing stunt compiled by Oracle.

Tom is AwEsOmE!!!!

LIVING A DOUBLE LIFE!!! What's does ur REP mean to U???

2007-02-27T23:26:00.000-05:00

Should people have to be careful on what they put on their own web page, even if it has special privacy settings?

I don't think so, but we all have to be careful now.

Internet reputations are being built through our sites on myspace and facebook. Reputations which could eventually cause us a good job. And that's just because we thought we were safe behind those 'privacy settings.'

Most recently employers such as government agencies, are getting around such things as the 'privacy settings' on our myspace and facebook accounts. They are getting around that by hiring hackers to break the codes and find out that information about you that you want only your friends to know and see. These sort of things are being considered important for background check procedures in a security clearance at any one of the government agencies.

I don't think we should have to worry about such things. I feel as if it is invasion of privacy. I mean if you have your pages set to public, then that is your deal. I don't have anything to hide, but I also have to protect my information from reaching the wrong hands(i.e. stalkers-ex boyfriends and the like, lol) The only thing I'm saying is I don't want to be judged by my employer just because I like to party or go out a lot. That doesn't necessarily make me an irresponsible person and it also doesn't mean that I don't like work work or I can't be serious.

Reputations are not easily made. But they are easily broken down. When this happens it is extremely difficult to clean it up or make it better. Your reputation is very important!! Believe it or not. You may not think that you are being judged, but you are and that is how people build and destroy reputations, by judging others or even yourself.

Tag YOUR IT!!!

2007-02-21T20:32:00.000-05:00

Why would businesses use tags?
Why would anyone use tags for anything?

Tags are connectors between people, which can be used as a 'six degrees of separation.' Everyone is doing it. Tagging has also become a habit on websites such as facebook.com by tagging things such as pictures, profiles, videos etc. Think of tagging as an extra link or a virtual person if you will, that knows other people and links them together.

By the time tags are used by the majority of business people in businesses, they will be 100% comfortable and very firmiliar with this tool allowing them to be connected to people that aren't only in the business itself, but also other connectors which may help the business either in or out of the country as well.
Tags identify people with similar interests.
Kevin Bacon's people are other people's tags.

WORD OF MOUF

2007-02-13T23:21:00.000-05:00

Word of Mouth is one of the most important ways of getting information around. Especially to those who you are in constant contact with, such as your friends.
I believe that word of mouth started everything that is widely known around the world. As Conversations stated "AIM started on the expectation of word of mouth." Without word of mouth there would be no AIM which is widely used around the world. AIM has been one of the many networking tools that is commonly used in today's society. I would also say that AIM is a type of personal blog that is simply responded to instantly.
Blogging has been made popular with the help of word of mouth. With help through friends, family and coworkers they have been able to pass along the idea of blogging to the people who they constantly interact with. Conversations says that the people who you interact with constantly, mainly your friends and family, you listen to them the most and are very influenced by those people. So that is how word of mouth takes take into affect.
Word of mouth is marketing and has been a good asset to blogging.

Inventing the Innovation Commons

2007-02-06T23:38:00.000-05:00

Internet as the artificial public good right???

The internet would not be a public good if it weren't for the browser that helped it's launch and allowed it to become an artifical good to the public.

The internet was only good for government purposes and hackers before the invention of the browser which happened to be in 1994.

Intro:Bloggers & Blacksmiths

2007-02-06T23:14:00.000-05:00

What does this mean... Blogging is the most powerful tool in business today?

I would say that the internet would be the most powerful! How you might ask. Well think about it. If there were no internet there would be no such thing as blogg therefore our social network would be completely different.

And if the internet isn't the most powerful than let's just make it that the way people may network on the internet through IM, other messaging systems, bulletins, etc. Many years ago blogging wasn't high priority for a business. And I don't think that today it is either. As businesses look for more of a personal relationship with their consumers and suppliers.

So although blogging may be important to the next man it isn't the most powerful tool available to businesses.

[Networking] Figure

2007-01-30T21:49:00.000-05:00

The figure illustrated is very unusual to believe because all departments of business should not be so alienated from each other. All departments should have more connections than shown in the diagram. Each have to be connected in order to perfectly match their assignment or goal that was expected of them to complete.

Networking and business

2007-01-30T21:38:00.000-05:00

Networking is something very valuable in business. Always has and always will be. It is also very important in many other fields such as entertainment, medical, politics and so on, but we're mainly going to focus on business today.
It's as the saying goes "It's not what you know. It's who you know." And this is so true. Well to an extent because you have to know something in order to get somewhere and meet people. But the more connections a person has the more they will be able to get ahead and accomplish what they need to accomplish at the given time period.
Business, all it is, is a huge network and getting people to work in it. You have different departments such as your marketing, finance, information systems. All these people need to interact and network within each other in order to accomplish any duties they were set out to accomplish.

Intro...Me, Myself and I

2007-01-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

Hi... My name is Martha Gould and I am a Junior at American University. On my honor all blog posts are my own. This is blog is used for course requirments of ITEC-333. If you are interested in viewing my more personal blogs you can contact me and I will give you the info.. Thanx!!!