http://www.blackle.com/
http://www.gewgle.com
http://www.google.com
http://www.mysterygoogle.com
These are just a few of the sites owned by Google. I'm sure they own countless others. It hit me today just how much google owns. If you click on a few of the above links, you will find www.gewgle.com will take you to www.google.com. How many websites can afford to simply purchase another url, just for fun?
I do know I am heavily reliant on google. Without it, I have no idea where most of my research for my papers would come from.
I find it somewhat disconcerting that one website can become such a force on the web.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Networking: social? nope. website.
Social networking has gone through the roof. It has exploded onto every site possible, even yahoo.
However, I've noticed recently that the netowrk of the web is quite interesting. For example, I was on MyLifeisAverage, and I kept seeing posts about mystery google. I, naturally, googled it, and wound up on Mystery Google. You type a search into Mystery Google and it takes you to the website the person before you typed in. The next person will get your search, etc. *warning: some website may be unsuitable....for anyone*
Overall, it is very entertaining.
It is amazing how netowrking, and linking websites together can increase traffic. In an article I read about doing missions online, it said you need your website to be about 3 clicks away from your target audience in order for thm to find it.
Maybe we need to start linking The Glue Factory to find more success.
However, I've noticed recently that the netowrk of the web is quite interesting. For example, I was on MyLifeisAverage, and I kept seeing posts about mystery google. I, naturally, googled it, and wound up on Mystery Google. You type a search into Mystery Google and it takes you to the website the person before you typed in. The next person will get your search, etc. *warning: some website may be unsuitable....for anyone*
Overall, it is very entertaining.
It is amazing how netowrking, and linking websites together can increase traffic. In an article I read about doing missions online, it said you need your website to be about 3 clicks away from your target audience in order for thm to find it.
Maybe we need to start linking The Glue Factory to find more success.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Limited awareness leads to apathy
Given the fact I do not have cable, or a television compatible with the recent digital signals, I do not watch the news or weather. If there is a bad storm at hand, I try to get on the internet to monitor the storm. If the internet goes out, I wait it out, old-school style, with no T.V., or call my mom, who watches the weather for me, even though she lives an hour away.
That being said, I do get my daily dose of news. Every day, I log on to msn or yahoo at least....let's say, about 5 times. This is my main news source. Sadly, it is soft news.
For example, my favorite article of the day so far was 'Surprising uses for your dishwasher'.
I would say that most college students are like this. Our limited funds lead to using internet as our main news source. I would also venture to say that very few of us visit reliable, hard news sites on a regular basis. I will admit, ashamedly, that I know something happened at Fort Hood a few days ago, and that some were killed. However, I have little idea what or to what extent happened.
I say that to say this: our generation is becoming more focused on Facebook and our own happenings than world happenings or political issues. Sad day for our future.
That being said, I do get my daily dose of news. Every day, I log on to msn or yahoo at least....let's say, about 5 times. This is my main news source. Sadly, it is soft news.
For example, my favorite article of the day so far was 'Surprising uses for your dishwasher'.
I would say that most college students are like this. Our limited funds lead to using internet as our main news source. I would also venture to say that very few of us visit reliable, hard news sites on a regular basis. I will admit, ashamedly, that I know something happened at Fort Hood a few days ago, and that some were killed. However, I have little idea what or to what extent happened.
I say that to say this: our generation is becoming more focused on Facebook and our own happenings than world happenings or political issues. Sad day for our future.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Too many hats.
I know this on is a little different, but I just wanted to say:
Conflict of interest. Blurring lines. False accusations.
If there's one thing I've learned about mass media in the past week, it is that being involved can immediately make you the target when someone is upset. It's easy to say, "I'll represent you, I'll be your voice." until things get sticky and heated.
The Glue Factory has been a fun media outlet, and I've loved having a part in it. I've seen the number of hits go from 300 to more than 3000. It's a little bit of a baby for me. I've watched it grow, and I can't wait to see it flourish without pushing from our class (it's almost there, it seems) They grow up so fast!
Being (one) the newspaper editor has also enlightened me on a few things. There is a lot of responsibility and tough things about the job. According to the poster on our Journalism offce wall, we are to "Hold the powerful accountable" and "Give a voice to the voiceless."
Much media, especially that of secular colleges and the secular public achieve these goals... with their own agenda. They take no effort to respect people in authority or to avoid hurtful comments. I think we need to take a higher road.
It is our job to glorify God is every story we write. It is our job to give the students a voice, and to hold administration accountable ( or commend when appropriate). It is our job to be fair and accurate, which is very difficult when we have our own biases.
Now I understand why we don't allow sports players to write stories about their own sport. Someone...objective. can more easily write an objective story.
So, this time it's not about a specific media. But these are a few things I've learned about the media over time.
Conflict of interest. Blurring lines. False accusations.
If there's one thing I've learned about mass media in the past week, it is that being involved can immediately make you the target when someone is upset. It's easy to say, "I'll represent you, I'll be your voice." until things get sticky and heated.
The Glue Factory has been a fun media outlet, and I've loved having a part in it. I've seen the number of hits go from 300 to more than 3000. It's a little bit of a baby for me. I've watched it grow, and I can't wait to see it flourish without pushing from our class (it's almost there, it seems) They grow up so fast!
Being (one) the newspaper editor has also enlightened me on a few things. There is a lot of responsibility and tough things about the job. According to the poster on our Journalism offce wall, we are to "Hold the powerful accountable" and "Give a voice to the voiceless."
Much media, especially that of secular colleges and the secular public achieve these goals... with their own agenda. They take no effort to respect people in authority or to avoid hurtful comments. I think we need to take a higher road.
It is our job to glorify God is every story we write. It is our job to give the students a voice, and to hold administration accountable ( or commend when appropriate). It is our job to be fair and accurate, which is very difficult when we have our own biases.
Now I understand why we don't allow sports players to write stories about their own sport. Someone...objective. can more easily write an objective story.
So, this time it's not about a specific media. But these are a few things I've learned about the media over time.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Newspaper consumes my life::but I love it.
For those who know me well, they know of my passion for newspaper. The Tower Times in particular.
I enjoy writing on occasion, but primarily I love design. I like making things look streamlined and professional. I love going and cleaning up the pages after they are (hopefully) done by the page editors. Straighening a crooked line, adding hairlines to photos, resizing a graphic to fill gray space. I enjoy it (I know it's odd). I picked up the Arkansas Democrat Gazette today and browsed while on break at work. As I glanced through the columns and editorial cartoons, noticed some major design errors made by this newspaper. I was incredibly disappointed.
It's a big newspaper. It should be wonderful. False. I pictured them frantically trying to design pages and finalizing stories everyday like we do for our tiny collge paper. I garnered much joy from the image. While I don't know for sure they experience that same stress, I guess I can no longer assume that just because it is a popular paper they would not have some last-minute botchy pages.
I enjoy writing on occasion, but primarily I love design. I like making things look streamlined and professional. I love going and cleaning up the pages after they are (hopefully) done by the page editors. Straighening a crooked line, adding hairlines to photos, resizing a graphic to fill gray space. I enjoy it (I know it's odd). I picked up the Arkansas Democrat Gazette today and browsed while on break at work. As I glanced through the columns and editorial cartoons, noticed some major design errors made by this newspaper. I was incredibly disappointed.
It's a big newspaper. It should be wonderful. False. I pictured them frantically trying to design pages and finalizing stories everyday like we do for our tiny collge paper. I garnered much joy from the image. While I don't know for sure they experience that same stress, I guess I can no longer assume that just because it is a popular paper they would not have some last-minute botchy pages.
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