Final Post!

I just wanted to wrap it all up here by saying thank you to Professor Brown for a great semester. I do not think I have ever had a more interesting and interactive class experience & I am so proud to be able to say that I edited Wikipedia articles & that I created and maintained a blog throughout the semester!
I think I have done a lot of good, hard work, but I think it's value is far-reaching. I am sure that the skills I have learned and applied in BUAD477 will be very useful in my future in the business world. If nothing else, I have really come to realize how much the world of media and communication is really changing, and it's hard to believe that looking back to Febuary, minus Facebook, I had been missing out on this online community rage of our day.
Anyway, thank you Professor Brown, thanks Team F (we rock!), and I hope everyone has a great summer! Professor Brown good luck with everything in your future and all of your horse racing and saving efforts. When you are ultimately famous, remember your Spring 2007 BUAD477 classes! =)
au revoir!

2nd Comment on Teammate's Post

This post is in response to a post by my teammate Andrea that can be found in its original form, here!.

Anyway, this article & Andrea's response post are really intriguing - now that I think about it, with the way social media sites are working today, trust really is at the core. Basically, with content being determined, added, edited, etc. by interactive user communities on sites like digg.com, myspace.com, Wikipedia & others - trust among members of the community is very important. For example, on Wikipedia.com, if I am an active user that is constantly committed to editing articles, ensuring their accuracy, providing good conent, etc. I will be respected on Wikipedia and treated well within the community & my work will be TRUSTED by other users. But say I was constantly vandaliizing and not citing my content, adding incorrect information, etc. I am not going to be considered a valuable asset to the Wiki community & my work will not be trusted.
In today's world where content is changing constantly and being provided from many different sources, trust is very important. And a community of honest users can ensure the integrity of any site and allow for utmost trust among members.

Comment on Classmates' Blog

Jess recently posted about John Battelle's Searchblog & the article regarding Cox's possibility of instilling a non-fast forward function into some of its programs on certain networks. I do agree with both Jess and with Battelle - here's why. Jess is right that this practice chttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifould really be a potentially good idea so that viewers do not fast forward through all of the commercials of a program. But on the other hand, this is almost SURE to cause a backlash - I mean, being forced to watch commercials?! How fair is that? We have to remember that we, too, are viewers and I do not think that the average TV watcher would be very happy if they sat down to their TiVo-ed program & the fast forward function was no longer allowed.
In fact, I just asked my brother to TiVo a show for me that I was missing tonight while working on this project. And believe it or not I hope to sit down to that show without having to watch any commercials - and I like commercials personally!
It's just all about convenience and consumer control - as discussed below. Rights and essentially privileges that have been given to consumers in the past - it is not such a good idea to take these away. Giving control & then taking it back will cause tension between producer and consumer & leave a lot of very unhappy, commercial-watching audiences.

2nd post on class material

In class on May 2nd, we discussed digg.com & its influence on the world of news and http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifmedia. I particularly enjoyed the CNNMOney.com article, "How Digg.com is democratizing the news."
I thought it was really cool to read about digg.com - I didn't know anything about it previous to reading this article & class discussion about 'digg' but now that we have talked about it - I started noticing some webpages when I was doing a research project having a button for "Digg this." I think it is very true & really cool that WE, the consumers, basically control the content - especially on sites like Digg.com. It makes sense, I mean why not have news websites geared toward the content that people actually want to see and read.
This actually reminds me of a music website that my friend at work recently introduced me to - it is called Pandora and you can find it here. You should definitely check it out because it is basically a Digg.com version of Internet radio. How it works is that you basically enter a search and add artists or songs that you are interested in. Pandora then begins to play music based on your initial clues and preferences. From there, as each song comes up, you can choose to give it a "thumbs up," indicating that you like it & want to hear more music similar, or bury that choice & give it a negative rating, telling Pandora not to play that song or artist or music type, etc. again.
Basically you use your preferences to refine an Internet radio station that caters to your desires based on your ratings and commands.
Pandora + Digg.com = how cool! WE are in charge.

Global Neighbourhoods Article Response

An article on Global Neighbourhoods about marketing to women caught my eye.
Shel talks about his surprise at how long it has taken for women to spend more online than men. What I liked best about the post was learning that I fit right into the most highly attractive demographic for companies today - especially online companies. Personally eventually going into the Marketing world I hope to use my personal preferences as a basis for consumption desires of the target market I fall into - being a young woman may prove very resourceful in the near future if a company I may be working for wants to know how to best target and satisfy a target market that I fall into.
Shel explains that just as it is taking longer than he thought for blogging to be second nature, so too did it take a while for women & the Internet to collide fully.
The buying power of women online is rising. I still did not understand fully from the article whether or not sales of consumer products online has outnumbered computer sales online. But regardless, young women have become the most attractive target market for online retailing & to me, this makes sense - women do typically have a lot of purchasing power within the home and now this influence is moving online. It seems that the most successful companies will recognize this fact & take it into account in starting up a business or in deciding on the appropriate product offering mix. And that is bizarre with the Amazon connection - is that true?! Wow.

Diva Marketing Blog Response

So being that one of my majors here at UD is marketing - one of Toby's posts caught my eye about the American Marketing Associations proposed new definition of marketing.
The best part about this blog post is the responses to it - with which I 110% agree! The new proposed definition is ridiculous & I hope someone from the AMA comes across Toby's blog & the comments that go along with it. The new definition they were proposing is LONG, boring, wordy, etc. - and focuses on institutions - ironically everything that marketing is not!
Being a potential candidate for the marketing world I do NOT want to see that as the definition of what I am doing - the 2004 version is much better which discusses the "delivering of value to consumers" and I like what other bloggers suggested about 'listening to consumers,' and 'delivering the right product at the right time...' and also basically defining marketing as learning what your consumers desire and then matching those needs or showing them that you are able to match them. Much simpler, to the point & realistic. I do not believe that someone in the world of marketing willingy wrote AMA's proposed 2007 definition of marketing - it just does not seem feasible to me.
Anyway, I think it's way cool how Toby posts information that she saw/heard/gathered, etc. and then opens it up to her readers for comments, their opinions, etc. It's such a cool community-building experience.

Evolution of Facebook Wikipedia Article

The Facebook Wikipedia article was by far the most comprehensive and detailed article that I chose to edit (probably why I put it off the longest because that definitely made it the most difficult to make changes to).
Anyway, I found some things to add (especially regarding Facebook's role in the VT shootings & its increasing prevalence http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifas a dominant form of communication in today's social networking and media society).
The article was very well-written & I hope that users take my content additions seriously & view them as good enough to remain on the site for some time to come! Afterall, they should really take it from me - afterall, I am an AVID Facebook enthusiast to say the least. I even have Facebook linked on my main blog page - referring to it as something like 'the main source of my procrastination' which it is! It amazes me that what started as a Harvard sophomore's laptop creation is now a HUGELY profitable worldwide network. Go Mark Zuckerberg! I am guessing that with the high level of accuracy and professionalism throughout this article, that my edits may be changed around a bit in the near future. As of now, all of my changes still stand as they were first published.
Here is a chronology of my Wiki edits for Facebook:

First Edit
-Added some info about privacy & Mini-Feeds

Second Edit
-Created "Status" section under "Additional Features"

Third Edit
-Contributed content to "Facebook memorials" section and even mention VT shootings


Hope you enjoy all of my Wikipedia work! It is often tedious & required a lot of time, but I think it is all worth it & hopefully my contributions overall prove useful to the Wikipedia community.
I ABSOLUTELY learned a lot in this process, and in fact was just showing off some of my changes the my roommates. They were impressed & I am impressed with myself! Afterall, I am not going to lie I came into this class & this project not knowing that Wikipedia is freely edited by anyone. That is certainly something important to know!

Evolution of Bubble Tea Wikipedia Article

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Well, well, well I just noticed that within 40 minutes of my last Bubble Tea edit, it was taken down!! I had added a "Nutritional Information" section just to give readers a ballpark of information about what they may be ingesting, but someone took it down saying that 'it can't possibly be accurate for all teas and that my edit did not include what type of teas these facts were for. Wow, people are really serious here, but I guess it is good because then the content is up to date and accurate. But WOW that was quick. AKMask is the user who has done some other edits on the page. Clearly the Bubble Tea article is of interest to people, and I had trouble adding large amounts of content to this page because it is already fairly comprehensive.
Check out my edits:

First Edit
-My favorite edit that I did for this article, some information about the derivation of the tapioca pearls - untouched!

Second Edit
-Small addition regarding rainbow jelly/composite jellies.

Third Edit
-Addition of Nutritional Information section which was quickly removed.

I had fun with this article & it's cool because it, too, relates to my life being that I work at a Bubble Tea shop here in Newark, DE called T'Licious. Anyone who's ever on Main St. stop by (next to the Delaware Book Exchange!)

Evolution of Pearl River High School Wikipedia Article

I am the proudest of my Wikipedia work with the article about my high school: Pearl River High School.

I actually discovered that I am pretty sure I know the kid who created this article & I believe if anyone is going to edit my additions, it will be him: harrism84. He created this article about 2 months ago in March; I had originially chosen my town, Pearl River, as an article that I wanted to edit for this project, but then one day when I was looking at the Pearl River article, I noticed that there was a link to my high school! The article had not been in existence at the start of this project, but there it was and with the permission of Professor Brown I changed to editing that one. Anyway, I added a lot of content to this page, including a picture. Here is a summary of my edits:

First Edit
-Grammatical/spelling/punctuation corrections

Second Edit
-Added aerial picture of PRHS

Third Edit
-Lots of content additions!

As of now, my edits still stand how they originated, but there is plenty of time for change. I think harrism84 and I both added open-ended content and sections that have plenty of room for additions. I do not think that Pearl River High School is an article on the top of many users' lists to edit, but hey - you never know! I know that I LOVED my high school and will continue to ensure that its Wikipedia legacy remains intact.

Wikipedia Evolution of Alpha Sigma Alpha article

So I am happy to say that as ohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.giff now, the majority of my edits are still a part of the Alpha Sigma Alpha Wikipedia article.
The user "Immortal Goddezz" seems to be a fairly active member of the Wikipedia community & corrected my first edits which were a failed attempt at adding "S. June Smith" to the philanthropy section of the Info Box.
My ASA edits have not been up there for too long and I am sure that someone will eventually edit my recent additions in some way, shape or form.

Here are my posts in reference to my changes:

First Edit
-Failed attempt at adding S. June Smith to info box

Second Edit
-Minor edit "dominate" to "dominant" and another attempt at S. June link (failed)

Third Edit
-Linked UD chapter of Alpha Sigma Alpha's website (Delta Iota) to Wiki article

Final Changes
-I decided to take it a bit further and add a "Timeline of Important Events" in ASA history section.

I think I did a lot of good work on the Alpha Sigma Alpha article & hopefully my changes prove useful to the community & stay there for a while. I enjoyed editing the ASA article because my sorority is something that I am passionate about and I even learned a bit about our history - enjoy! =)

Final Facebook Wiki Edit (#3)

Here is what I added to the Facebook article for my 3rd update:
"Additional usage of Facebook as a tool of remembrance is expressed in group memberships on the site. Now that groups are community-wide and avaiable among all networks, many users create Facebook groups to remember not only a deceased friend or individual, but also as a source of support in response to a great tragedy such as 9/11 or the crisis at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in April."
I added this text to the "Facebook memorials" section which is part of the "Responses" section of the article. I thought it was an important contribution because Facebook is becoming an important source of connection for people - and even a place where they 'gather' virtually to grieve, remember, and support one another. Especially since VT, groups are popping up all over as forms of remembrance for individuals, etc. I didn't include this but groups function not just as a form of support/remembrance but also rallying for a cause, jokes, informational, etc. They serve a lot of purposes and function in different ways and I felt group memberships had a place here in this article.

Wikipedia: Facebook Edit #2

For my second Wikipedia edit for the Facebook article, I created a new section under "Additional Features" called "Status." Facebook status is a recent addition to the site, allowing users to inform their friends of their goings-on and current location, etc. It is a fairly useful tool - often used as another form of personalization or many times to joke around and have fun. I also included its relevance and usage during the Virginia Tech tragedy. Check it out.

Facebook Wikipedia Edit #1

This particular Wikipedia article is already very developed & I can tell it is going to be a hard one to make significant and lasting contributions to. But as I was reading through the article, and being an avid Facebook user myself, the "News Feed and Mini-Feed controversy" section caught my eye. Earler this year, opposition to Facebook erupted with the introduction of a News Feed and Mini-Feed that basically informed your friends in the Facebook community when you made certain changes to your account. There were Facebook groups created opposing the changes, privacy concerns, and the Facebook account managers issued a community-wide apology & informative statement, handling the situation well. I noticed that something was missing from this section regarding privacy controls that can be used to alter your Mini-Feed and News Feed so I added this to the statement:"...and through privacy settings are able to to control what is actually published in their respective Mini-Feeds."
Check it out!

Final Wikipedia Edit - Bubble Tea

Working at a bubble tea shop on Main Street, T'Licious has made my Bubble Tea Wikipedia edits fairly easy. I was struggling a bit to decide what to do for my final edit to this article, and then I remembered a question that we are often asked at the store - regarding nutrition facts of bubble tea drinks. I myself like to watch what I eat & drink, so this topic is of personal interest to me. I decided to add a "Nutritional Information" section to the Bubble Tea Wikipedia article using information I got off another website. You can check out my final bubble tea edits here.

2nd edit to Bubble Tea article - Wikipedia

My second edit to Wikipedia's Bubble Tea article was in the "Variants" section. I work at a bubble tea shop & noticed that they refer to "rainbow jelly" as a substitute for the traditional tapioca pearls in bubble tea beverages. At the shop I work at we refer to these as "composite" jellies and I noted that in this section. Check out my edit.

3rd & Final PRHS Wikipedia Edit

Whew, so I just finally finished editing my high school's Wikipedia article: Pearl River High School. My last edit is really a series of a lot of edits & additions to the page that was once rather bare. I am pretty impressed with my own work, if I do say so myself.
First of all, I added a larger version of the picture I mentioned in my last post. I also added the address of Pearl River High School. I created the "Believe you can achieve" section, the "Senior Class Traditions" section, and the "Clubs" section while also adding content to the "Alumni events" section and "Awards and Honors" section as well as re-formatting the "Sports" section. There is a lot to know about Pearl River High School and still plenty of room for improvement, but I think I did a lot and hit on the most important points. Check out my final edits here!

Pearl River High School - Wikipedia Edit #2

In my second edit to Wikipedia's Pearl River High School article, I added an aerial view picture of my high school. It didn't really come out as nice as I expected because it is really small - but I uploaded it to Wikipedia & then had to do all of this licensing stuff (which I hope is legal that I took it from google images??). Anyway, you can click on the picture and it takes you to another page that has a larger version of it, so that's cool.
Check out my skills here.
Also, something cool - I just noticed that one of the edits to this page came from a user "harrism84" who I believe I know from my hometown. I think he is the older brother of one of my high school classmates that went to PRHS also and graduated a couple of years before me - they are also from Pearl River & it makes sense for him to have edited this page because he went to Pearl River himself. Hm I wonder if his work was for a class or if he is just that motivated & does Wikipedia editing on his own...
Actually, now that I look closer, he created this page on March 11, 2007 - if you remember, my original plan was to edit the Wiki article for my hometown - Pearl River, NY. But instead I discovered that a new article had been created about my high school which was a lot more in need of attention & I switched!

Victory!!

Just a little update in the middle of all of this Wikipedia business - I am HAPPY to report that the Yankees defeated the New York Mets tonight, thank God, 6-2. The game was the third of a mini-series between the two Empire Sate teams & this win for the Yankees ended the possibility of a sweep for the Mets & also ended the Yanks losing streak. You can check out game highlights, scores, etc. on ESPN.

Wikipedia - Alpha Sigma Alpha final edit

So I decided to do one more thing to the Alpha Sigma Alpha Wikipedia article because the content was really lacking. Hopefully people will continue to edit this article, as there is a lot to know about ASA that is not expressed in the article. But as for me, my edits stopped here...with the addition of an entire new section - aren't you proud?!
I added the "Timeline of Important Events" section to the article, including some major dates & highlighting important events of Alpha Sigma Alpha's history. I think I included the most important ones that really contributed to the development of ASA but there is still much room for improvement - and that's why it is good that Wikipedia is a community forum where anyone can add to and/or edit my changes! =)

Wikipedia - 3rd & Final ASA Edit

Yay I am thrilled with my last edit to the Wikipedia article for Alpha Sigma Alpha. I actually may add another edit if I have time because I am afraid that my edits were not content-oriented enough. Anyway, this time I had the good idea of in the "Current Chapters" section - linking the Delaware listing of my chapter here at UD to the website that our chapter runs here at the University. So I made an external link saying "Delta Iota- University of Delaware, Newark" linked to our webpage which is "http://copland.udel.edu/stu-org/asa/" and now that you have the link, you can check it out Professor Brown!
I think this is a great edit because now anyone that uses Wikipedia to check anything out about Alpha Sigma Alpha can link to Delta Iota chapter at the University of Delaware's page directly from the site! You may even find some pictures of me on there...
But I hope that no one removes that change because I think my friend Rosie that maintains our chapter's website has done a great job & the whole Wikipedia community should be able to share in that! Give credit where credit is due, right?!
Check out my final edit here.

Alpha Sigma Alpha Wikipedia Edit #2

I just made another edit to the Alpha Sigma Alpha Wikipedia article. In the "Creed" section I changed "dominate" to "dominant" for the line about finding "dominant beauty in art, literature, nature, and friedships." Check my edit out here.
It's pretty funny to edit this section because I had to memorize this creed during my new member period in Spring 2005. It's almost like the Pledge of Allegiance now for me - I don't think I will ever forget it, seeing as we recite it at the beginning of every chapter meeting.

Also, I am really frustrated because I still cannot figure out how to change the "Philanthropy" section of the large text box on the right to add our other national philanthropy, the S. June Smith Center. I think it is because the same formatting rules may not apply when editing an Infobox. Anyway, that's fine - I can make other changes, but I am happy to see that someone added an external link at the bottom of the page to the S. June Smith page. At least our affiliation with the organization is noted in some way.

OMG I AM #45 ON GOOGLE FOR STIUQXELA!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO I am excited..I mean it's not #1, or #2 even...but I'm ranked higher than a good amount of people - cool!

I think I am procrastinating?

I'm good at that. ;-)
Anyway, I just added a list of links to my favorite pages on the
<----------------------------------------- Left side of my blog!
Check it outtttttttt if you want!
Alright, really study time now.
Bye!

So I just linked Mike Meschisen, his roommate Chris, & Cynthia's blogs to my page in hopes to get a last burst of google juice in this STIUQXELA challenge! The results will be announced today around noon, and although I have no chance of winning right now, I would at least like to be towards the top! That would be nice. And I am really glad we did this challenge - I think it was a really cool idea of Professor Brown to demonstrate real applications of the concepts he was trying to teach us throughout the course. Also, a little competitive spirit is always nice - it basically makes people work and they don't even realize they are doing it!
OKKKK but the only thing I am not a happy camper about is that it says in a post on Mike's page that his roommate set it up so that Cynthia would win?! Is this true?! I hope not..not fair! (Even though I obviously was not the one who would have won haha). Anyway, it's also awesome that Professor Brown is donating $500 in honor of the winner of this challenge - what a good cause!
Anyway, it's time to go study more for the final (ah!)...hope it's not too hard.
And of course, just for kicks one last time . . .
STIUQXELA
STIUQXELA
STIUQXELA
STIUQXELA
STIUQXELA
STIUQXELA
STIUQXELA!

*NeW aDDitions*

Don't you like the new picture I just added to this page?? I do! I have to admit, Andrea's pretty flower picture on her blog homepage gave me the idea. Go team F! And actually, to relate to class (as usual), I found this picture of the letter "S" (for Sharon, in case you didn't make the connection haha) on Google's image search! Just another source of proof that yes in fact, Google is taking over the world. But on a serious note, it is obvious that Google does provide a lot of very useful tools in addition to its traditional search function.
That's all for now, time to work on 2 projects. But I am having trouble moving around the page elements when I try & customize my page. WHYYY???! It's so frustrating, but I think it may be because I am on my laptop. And also, FYI for anyone with a Mac that may be reading this - if you use Safari as your internet browser, Mac's do not have the posting function to create links within posts. I had not realized until now because I have been doing a lot of my posting & computer work in the computer lab (not using a Mac), but Lauren had pointed this out to me a while ago & I just remembered now that I am on my own laptop. Anyway, that's all. Except for:
stiuqxela!!!!!!!! stiuqxela, stiuqxela, stiuqxela, stiuqxela, stiuqxela...trying to do this with HTML!

I forgot to say that I also added links to my teammates blog on the left side of my own page. And also, I think I am going to link MIke Meschisen's blog to my own because a) We are partners for a project in another class & b) Maybe that can help me with the STIUQXELA challenge since it's his roommate that is #1!! We shall see!

Google's AdSense

I just added Google AdSense to my blog! It wasn't too hard. Wonder if I will make any money?? Hmmm...anyway, I will fool around with it later to change some colors & stuff maybe. Now, time for class!
Oh, and stiuqxela!

10pm update: I just messed around with the customization option of AdSense & I think I like the black background best. I can't decide. But I did change the text color of the template they offered to orange. I like it better - I think it looks good when compared with all the colors on my page. Also, it's cool how AdSense gives you a link with "What colors are my best options..." something along those lines & then links you to Google's AdSense page which explains different options for colors of AdSense on your page. It's pretty cool because some people that are trying to make a lot of money off AdSense want these recommendations & want to increase the likelihood that people will click on their ads. Goooo google! OK & I also just realized that I can link things while using my Mac, but I have to do HTML to do that, & you know what, I am going to give it a try, especially after the fact that we reviewed HTML in class today...how perfect, it relates so well!

God Bless Virginia Tech

Well it has certainly been a while since my last post (Internet trouble, etc.), but on the good side, I have lots of things that I have wanted to write about over the past couple weeks!
On a heavy note, I wanted to acknowledge the awful tragedy that occurred on the Virginia Tech campus not too long ago. So many unnecessary deaths, unprompted violence..it's baffling. Being a college student, I really can't even get my mind around the enormity of this event. I mean our parents send us off to college, warning us not to drink too much, to party too hard - always walk with a friend especially at night...and then this happens?! In the 'protected' environment of a school building classroom?? My heart certainly goes out to all VT students, faculty, & staff, and even more so to the victims, and their friends and families.
This incident of course sparked a series of "What If's?" and prompted analysis on many other college campuses, including UD. Students here are now being asked to post their cellphone numbers online so that we can be on the list to receieve group text messages in the event of an emergency. Strangely enough, the horror at VT also led to some discussion related to the topics I have been studying in my classes, including this class as well as my English class. In ENGL312 (Written communication in business), we were scheduled to discuss Crisis Communication right around the time of the shootings. Oddly enough, the incident fit right into our curriculum & actually sparked a lot of coversation that relates to topics in this course (477). Basically, there was a lot of finger pointing and lots of debate over how the events of the crisis were communicated to the students and staff at VT while all of this was occuring and beyond. Basically, VT did not necessarily do the best job informing the campus of the first shooting (because they did it through e-mail over 2 hours after it occurred). The campus was not locked down & then the second part of this massacre happened.
All of these happenings forced VT & many other colleges & universities throughout the nation (including UD) to look at their emergency communication plan, rightfully so. And all if this comes down to the question: what is the best way to communicate in the event of a crisis? And that answer has changed over the years, which many campuses including VT had failed to acknowledge. Relating to our couse, social media & forms of communication have changed & the best way to communicate with a campus in the event of an emergency has been determined to be mass text messaging and blogging.
If nothing else, we can see that courses such as this (Info Tech in Marketing) are very important to add to our course curriculum because the world IS changing. VT actually started asking students to update their facebook accounts to let people know that they were ok. And UD is now asking all students to post their cellphone number online so that we can be a part of the audience to receive a mass text message if that becomes necessary. It is unfortunate that it took an event like this to make us change our ways, but perhaps lives will be saved down the line in learning from this catastrophic event.

STIUQXELA Challenge

So before I get into discussing this new challenge we have been working on in BUAD477, let me just document the fact that I just worked a little bit on the layout of my blog page. I just managed the 'untouchable' left side of my blog by adding to it the list of links of required blogs for this course. Check it out! Now people that may visit my page randomly & see what I am blogging about can also jump to the Diva Marketing Blog or Adwords with just a click!
So now onto the challenge. Professor Brown has a hypothesis (which has already been proving true). He made up the word "stiuqxela" that had no search results on the Internet before this experiment began. Then, the BUAD477 classes were assigned to blog this word as much as possible, but when blogging, link it to www.packers.com, the official website for the Greenbay Packers. Anyway, besides the fact that Professor Brown just happens to be a big Packer's fan, this experiment served another purpose. Alex hypothesized that blogging stiuqxela on our individual blogs, while linking it to the Packers' website would lead not only our blogs, but also the Packers website to appear in search engine searches for the word stiuqxela. And so far is has done both of these things in Google! Hopefully if I blog it enough, my blog will show up in this search!
Now - 2 things learned about Professor Brown through this experiment
1) He is a Packers fan
2) You can find out #2 by decoding stiuqxela (hint: think backwards!)

We'll see how this challenge plays out...game on!

Happy Spring Break!

Well now that this is my last post for today, I will soon be heading home for Spring Break! Nothing too exciting, but it will be nice to relax for sure. Also, I just went to class before & I think it was cancelled & I didn't know. I'm not sure, but no one else was there so I get that feeling...
Anyway, I just commented on my teammate Jessica Erskine's blog. She had posted about doing a vanity search through google, so I decided to do one myself. My blog unfortunately did not show up like Jess's, but a the 5th link directed me to my sorority, Alpha Sigma Alpha's, page at UD that introduces all the sisters, etc.
I posted to Jess to let her know & it was pretty cool, but kind of scary that people can SOO easily access information about you. But vanity searches are useful so that I can see what's out there & what others can see publicly on the Internet about me!
Well, feels good to be done for now & I hope everyone has a great spring break! Hopefully those points for being on top of my game are headed my way! =)

Wikipedia Edit #3 - Bubble Tea

So my 3rd Wikipdia edit is on Wikipedia's "Bubble Tea" article. I chose to edit the bubble tea page becauuse I actually work at a bubble tea shop on Main St. here in Newark called T'Licious. It's located right next to the Delaware Book Exchange..stop by!
Anyway, I edited some information in the top general section of the article regarding the source and origins of the tapioca pearls, an essential component of any bubble tea drink. I added "These tapioca pearls are made mostly of tapioca starch, which comes from the tapioca, or bitter-cassava plant. In other parts of the world, the bitter-cassava plant may be called manioca or yuca. Cassava is native to South America, and was introduced to Asia in the 1800s." Check out my updates!

Wikipedia Edit #2

So I just noticed that there is a page for my high school - Pearl River High School in Pearl River, NY. I was originally going to work on the page for my town, Pearl River, but I just noticed that there is finally a link to PRHS from the Pearl River article. This must have been added recently because when we were first assigned this project, I could not find a matching article when searching for Pearl River High School. I may e-mail Professor Brown now and ask to switch because it seems that this page needs more work than the one dedicated to my town. And I just made some minor grammatical edits in the "Rival" section. I made sure that the periods of 2 of the sentences were inside the ' marks & I also corrected a spelling error from "knowen" to "known" in the last sentence of that section. Check it out here. More to come (as long as I am allowed to switch to editing this article!

Spam, the Law, and e-mail Marketers

So I just read an article from ClickZ called "Spam, the Law, and e-mail Marketers" by Derek Harding, and it was thought provoking. Something I had never considered, but is a huge problem, is spam & its interference with the viability of e-mail. Derek discussed how spam is increasing at ridiculously exponential rates, and that eventually servers may be receiving millions of spam e-mails per week..that's right, MILLIONS! And what do people immediately want to do, but block these annoying messages? But there lies the problem, because in filtering spam, marketers are concerned that their advertisements and promotions will not get through to consumers. These marketers argue that this is, in fact, illegal. But Derek brings up another good point in that even if these messages from marketers DO get through, won't they just be lost in a crowd? Most likely. I know personally, I get SO much spam and it is terribly frustrating - I don't give any of those e-mails a chance..it's just delete, delete, delete. In my opinion, Derek is right & we have to ensure that we work toward saving e-mail...And maybe marketers should just find another method of reaching their target audience.

Bloglines Article Response #1

So I just read an article that I got through Slashdot. It was called "12-step program for e-mail addiction stumbles" by Paul McNamara. Anyway, it caught my eye because sometimes I do consider myself an e-mail addict! I feel that I check it compulsively, and go out of my way to find a computer if I am out & about all day. It is good to keep yourself up to date on what is going on, but I mean c'mon..sometimes I take it a little too far. Now that I have started blogging and realized that Facebook is essentially a blog, or at least an online community for sure, I realize how addicting all of these things can be - because I, along with the rest of the college students out there, am definitely a facebook/e-mail junkie & addict. But obviously, we are not the only ones.
Anyway, Paul's article was basically commenting on a 12-step process put together by an executive coach named Marsha Egan. And I am not going to lie, I totally agree with Paul that the process is a sham! I actually think that it is not really directed at people who compulsively check their e-mail, but rather would help someone cut back the amount of time the spend with their e-mail. For example, she suggests ways to keep your inbox neat & organized, and has a lot of suggestions about creating folders, and sending concise e-mails. None of which will help myself or the rest of the people out there who just can't stop checking our e-mail! Anyway, I guess she tried . . .
Maybe she just doesn't understand what it truly means to be a slave to your inbox...and here are the rest of us, stll checking. But hey, there are WAY worse addictions & for now, if I am a little hooked on e-mail & Facebook, I'd say I am doing just fine.

Random!

Sooo I am about to do some Wikipedia work & other stuff to update my blog so hopefully I can get those 10 points! But I think I have been doing a pretty good job of keeping up, all things considered. I think Wiki is where I need the most work. Anyway, I just noticed that I received a comment on my blog from Shel - who runs Global Neighbourhoods & wrote Naked Conversations!..cool! I think I'm really getting to like this whole blogging thing & connecting with other people, having them enjoy my posts, etc. I commented back & I think I am supposed to post about that - so check out my Toby's Skype Presentation post & comments to see that!
The other random thing I wanted to comment on before I get down to business refers to a previous post of mine about my work in ENGL312 on that service learning project. We actually had a woman that works for the Center for Disabilities Studies here at UD come speak to our class (because several groups are working on projects affiliated with the CDS). Well, turns out, she gets alerted any time "Center for Disabilities Studies" is mentioned online & my post came up! She mentioned it when she was presenting to the class & said it was a really nice post! So cool! =) Anyway, she may be reading this one, too haha. But yeah, just another example of how we are all interconnected & how blogging may be changing the world as we know it. Good for her, though keeping up to date on the material out there regarding her place of employment - like we always say in class, it's good for businesses, people, etc. to know what is being said about them out there..both good and bad!
I just thought I had to share that because it was so cool! Now..down to business.

Survey Monkey

So before I head to class I didn't want to forget to blog about Survey Monkey. It's a funny coincidence that we were talking about this online survey creator the other day because I am currently working on a project for my English312 class about Survey Monkey, and another 477 student, Mike, is on the same team as me for the project. This project is through the Center for Disabilities Studies here at the University of Delaware, and we are basically responsible for marketing a Survey Monkey Survey to families of children with disabilities. The survey is an inquiry about after-school and summertime care needs of these families and their children.
But it is interesting because we need to look at the world of marketing today, and how to publicize this online survey to people who may not at all be familiar with the Internet, etc.
Anyway, we have our first meeting today with our sponsor so hopefully all goes well! Just wanted to share because I didn't in class. And now it's time for class! =)

Toby's Skype Presentation, etc.

So in class on Monday (March 5th), we had our first virtual guest speaker through a Skype presentation! It was so cool. I was only familiar with skype because my roommate uses it to talk to her brother (who is living/working/going to school in Austria & Germany). I have heard her use it before, but making it function for a class presentation is such a neat idea, and really expands our oportunities. Essentially, Prof Brown is able to expose us to any number of people throughout the country, and even the world! I really enjoyed Toby's presentation, she seems like a really cool lady, and she was a good presenter. And lucky her, she was working from home in warmer Atlanta as we sat in the classroom in cold Newark, DE!
But on a positive note, her presentation was engaging and elightening & her message was clear: Don't be the deer caught in the headlights! Blogging is a necessary and strategically advantageous part of marketing in today's world. I really enjoyed her examples of viral marketing and word of mouth advertising (videos on YouTube, etc). Hopefully we can have more of these interesting speakers throughout the remainder of the semester!
And I should really work more on my Wikipedia article edits soon. Pretty much all of them have lots of room for improvement that I need to take advantage of soon. That's all! Off to read 'Naked Conversations.'

=)

So cool, I just noticed that Diva Marketing Blog gave us a shout out & welcome a while ago on their page! Prof Brown is mentioned in the post titled "Welcome U of DE students." The post just gives a briefing on our purpose in the world of blogging & includes the names of all the other blogs we are required to subscribe to. I didn't realize we were famous in Diva's world of blogging..haha!

First Wikipedia Edit

So I did my first Wiki edit today. It was a very, very small edit because I am still learning how to do everything on Wikipedia, but I wanted to change something while I get the hang of the edits. My change was on the "Alpha Sigma Alpha" page of Wikipedia. Alpha Sigma Alpha, also known as ASA, is the sorority I am in on campus, and we participate in 2 philanthropies nationwide: Special Olympics and the S. June Smith Center. Only Special Olympics was listed on Wiki's page, so I added "S. June Smith Center" to the 'Philanthropies' section of ASA information. I still need to make further changes because I can't figure out how to make it not appear as a link on the page. Check it out here.

BUAD477

One of my courses this semester is BUAD477, also known as Information Technology Applications in Marketing. I am a Marketing/Management major with a minor in International Business & I believe this course, taught by Alex Brown, has recently become a requirement for all marketing majors.
Basically, 477 is designed to familiarize students with Internet applications to the world of marketing through class lectures, group projects, and interactive online work such as blogging. Personally, I feel that I have a lot to learn as far as IT goes, and have already been exposed to so many new things in this course. For example, this is my first time in the blogosphere, both blogging and keeping up to date on the blogs of others. In addition, I will be editing articles on Wikipedia (which I had no idea was even possible!).
I feel that this course is very forward-thinking and practical, in that business as we know it today cannot possibly be conducted without the Internet and all of its technology and resources. I hope to learn and experience a lot in BUAD477 that will be of use to me in my future career.

This crazy weather!

After today's snowfall, Newark is apparently in for some wet winter weather tonight and tomorrow. I'm hoping for snow (and class cancellations!), but check here for the updated forecast & current conditions. This is nothing like the weather we had in Australia . . .

Test

...to make sure this works.