My First Time, Buzz Me

This is my first time; will you show me how to do it? Blogging that is. That is obviously not the problem of the A-listers mentioned in the Blogs to Riches article written by Clive Thompson. These bloggers are seasoned pros; they know all the tricks in the book and have made a “recreational” activity into a full time job. Kudos to them, they have been able to attract public and entertain them enough to make them want to come back every day and sometimes every hour.

Blogs and I don’t really have the same relationship. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t let myself be exposed to blogs or if I am just really self conscious of people reading what I have to say. Maybe it’s both, the only blogs I read before this class, were gossip blogs. I dislike writing, and I would rather speak publicly in front of 100,000 people, at least there you can recant a dumb statement or the grammatical errors that you make. This class has truly been my first in-depth experience with blogs. I have read some of them before and I have visited Perezhilton.com a couple of time while I was bored but blogs and I, not really friends. To be completely honest I really don’t think I am that interesting. I don’t have access to breaking news celebrity photos and I think blogs that are about personal thoughts like diaries are lame.

Magazine Blogs

While I was working at Rolling Stone Magazine my cubicle was next to their on staff blogger Elizabeth Goodman at the time I was shocked that they had a on staff blogger but after this class and reading the Clive Thompson’s article I can see that it is imperative to have a blogger on staff, especially at a magazine that only comes out every two weeks. I remember over hearing her talking to some editors about reaching out to some other blogs to help get some attraction for the Rolling Stone Rock and Roll Daily Blog. During the time I was at RS online I am guessing that the blog was a C-list blog, they were only beginning to show to a slight concern about putting emphasis on it. But now visiting the site I can see that there has been an increase of posts and comments, as well as more authors contributing. I remember talking to Elizabeth and asking her about what she would include on the blog each day, she told me breaking news or just interesting things that were happening to artists that would not make it into the magazine but still news worthy. One day she was trying different ways to bring attention to the blog, she came up with Top Ten Albums and other rating polls that engaged the viewer and was controversial enough to make people comment and come back to view the blog. In weekly RS Online meetings we were always discussing how much traffic we were getting and how we could increase it. Setting up polls on the website or a place where people could get more news information was always brought up but as my time there continued they moved further away from building up the main site and more toward the blog. I don’t think that Rolling Stone Rock and Roll Daily blog is a A-list blog, (I think it may be a B-list) but they have made tremendous steps in creating more buss for their blog.
Random Thought* I think blogs are a very important element for a magazine to have. It gives your readers a place to go to get additional information. It also allows the magazine to stay updated so that its content does not go stale. I love magazines and I think that they will be around longer then newspapers but do you think that they might be forced to go online so that they can have more advertising and create higher revenue.

Buzz Me

The significance of advertisements in blogs is amazing. Before I read Thompson’s I just over looked the ads and considered them just an annoying page distracter. But I can completely understand why they have to be there, without them Perez Hilton would just me a fat obnoxious guy from Miami (or wherever he is from). He must have a ton of money in the bank because he whores out his blog like a pimp on Sunset Blvd. He has gotten to the point where the background is now a constant promotion for a television show or some lame movie. He does his job well and should be rewarded for it, lets be honest I visit the site about five to ten times on average everyday. But how does this help me? I think it is pretty clear that my blog will not be in technorati top 100 anytime soon. Let’s be honest I was ecstatic that 5 people linked to me last week (p.s. I had no idea what that meant, but it is good). I would like to think that my blog would have a more specific audience and therefore according to Thompson, I would make some money with a smaller audience and less hits but because with a specific audience I could target companies and ask for more money because the demographic of my blog is very specific. Unfortunately I do not have the patience to write up to date, interesting information every moment of the day nor does that interest me.

Popularity contest
I do not have an expertise in any subject, I am not a witty and interesting writer and trying to gain attention for a blog seems like a high school popularity contest and I was never good at that. I do not consider myself a blogger and I don’t think I will ever be one. I am perfectly content with writing responses papers and maybe a few additional blogs on the side. I will say though, my interest in blogs has increased exponentially in the past two months, but like most things my interest will fade eventually and I will look for another thing to entertain me. In the future when I become a magazine art director (one of my many career aspirations) I will have a blog that accompanies my magazine, because I know the importance of the blog and the potential profits it brings (In fact that magazine will be mostly online and the magazine will be a mere addition to the site.) Once again, I would hold your breath.

Second Life’s 2nd Try

This is my second time signing up to join Second Life. I first signed up last Christmas after I read an article about it on an airplane. I was excited to join; it was going to be the perfect way to waste time while I was bored at home during winter break. Too bad I couldn’t get off the stupid welcome island. I knew how to talk, to read a map, fly and I even made my Advatar into the perfect Girl Next Door. It was so frustrating. It kept me occupied but frustrated as well. I wanted to experience what the article had written about and I couldn’t even beat the first level. I gave up, thinking to myself there is a reason I don’t play video games and stick to other entertainment.

Second try, I made a new name and advatar. (That always freaked me out about the last names having to pick one, what do they mean? People with the same last name as you are your family? I don’t get it.) Anyway, this time I didn’t really have time to waste, I wasn’t bored or trying to occupy my time, I just wanted to complete the assignment and get past Welcome Island. Well 3 hours later I still got nowhere. After the same frustration that I had the first time set in, I decided to quit again. So if anyone would like to help me my Second Life name is Mimiyo Myoo and I am stuck on the Welcome Island. I hate Second Life but I am willing to give it another try just get me off this freaking Island!!!!!

The Game of Life…

We are all gamers and we have been since birth. As we have grown up some of the games have changed but many have stayed the same, just will an updated version. Games are involved in every part of our lives and we cannot escape them. My question is how do these games impact and help develop our human psyche and how are they used today?

Your parents and teachers have used games to stimulate your mind and help teach you. Through games and puzzles you have engaged your mind and have experienced, learned or practiced something. Most of the time learning through a game is more effective then any other way. As you grow you take part in different types of games which are usually involving people. As a young boy or girl you may have taken part in some games such as “War” or “House” in these games you use your imagination to create a world that is all your own. This progresses to real life games, whether it be playing mind games in a relationship or playing the corporate game to advance your career. All these games are related. We are learning people, how to manipulate and use them to win the game of life. This reminds me of Social Darwinism, which is the idea that Charles Darwin’s theory can be extended and applied to the social realm, i.e. that just as competition between individual organisms drives biological evolutionary change (speciation) through “survival of the fittest” (not a scientific term itself), competition between individuals, groups, nations or ideas drives social evolution in human societies.

How does this relate to us in today’s everyday life?
As technology continues to advance there are more ways to reach people, more avenues to play these games, more methods to connect to people. The Internet is a game in itself. We go on to find out information, to learn, to communicate, and to just waste time when we are bored. Many companies have realized this and have taken advantage of how the Internet can affect our lives and game playing. Just as Pine, B.J., & Gilmore, J.H. states in their article Welcome to the Experience Economy, it is all about the experience. When you log-in to Second Life you are entering into an experience. The experience is what makes you want to come back and play again.

Why do we play games?
I was not a big fan of the article Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon by J. Huizinga, so I looked up another article that might explain why we play and its attributes a little better. I found this article about games and play called “Why We Play Games” by Nicole Lazzaro and in the article it states that emotion is the most important aspect of the games we play and that there are four key factors that need to be used to continue to bring players back to your game. Coincidentally these four factors are also involved in “life’s games”. Below is an excerpt from the article.

Emotion and the Fun of Games
As experts in player experiences we see a huge gap between “market research” and what players most enjoy about play. Players may check “good graphics” on a online survey, but our cross-genre contextual research reveals a more interesting story. We know how games deliver more emotions than frustration, excitement, and fear. The secret is in the gameplay.

The 4 Fun Keys create games’ four most important emotions:
1. Hard Fun: Fiero – in the moment personal triumph over adversity
2. Easy Fun: Curiosity
3. Serious Fun: Relaxation and excitement
4. People Fun: Amusement

These four main reasons why people play games are how bestsellers create more emotions for more captivating play. Each key unlocks a different set of play experiences. Because players alternate between them during a single play session best selling games offer at least three of the 4 Fun Keys.

How do games and experiences to reach consumers?
This leads me to my final thought on games. Just as teachers and parents have used games to provoke a child’s knowledge, I believe that many marketing and advertising agencies may use the same tactic through games to influence potential buyers. Second Life as an example is growing with more and more companies using it as a tool to reach potential buyers. Instead of advertisements in the form of Pop-up Ads they are creating games and experiences for the customer to the play and be involved in. This type of play influences the viewer in a subliminal way and is less obtrusive. We have to ask ourselves is the way of the future? I think it is, it might not be in Second Life (I hate Second Life) but these tactics will be used other places on the Internet to manipulate consumers.
There is a great article on this in Communication Arts Magazine Sept/Oct 2007 issue; check it out!

Network Neutrality

Tonight’s meeting with our group went very well. We had a friend of mine, Austin Hamilton come to the meeting to explain Net Neutrality to us. Austin works as a web developer and gave us the abbreviated rundown of network neutrality.

Network Neutrality — or “Net Neutrality” for short — is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet.

Put simply, Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.

Net Neutrality is the reason why the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation, and free speech online. It protects the consumer’s right to use any equipment, content, application or service on a non-discriminatory basis without interference from the network provider. With Net Neutrality, the network’s only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service.

This is very important information to know not only for our final whitepaper but also as avid users of the Internet. We keep discussing the Internet and its cost in class but until now I never really was that concerned or thought it had anything to do with me. However, as I continue reading more articles about it I realize that this is an issue that is only going to increase and its affect will be on everyone who uses the Internet.

Please take a moment and visit this site and educate yourself! Thanks!!
www.SAVETHEINTERNET.COM

Today’s Top Stories

Paper or LCD Screen?

Which do you prefer? I am torn between old school and new school, inky hands and strained eyes, extra recycling and hundreds of blog subscriptions. I struggle between my love for a tangible piece of graphic design and the ability to get a specific story brought right to my finger tips any time day or night. In this week’s readings the authors discuss online news and how new technology has affected our society.

The article “All about the “Daily Me” written by Walter Bender talks journalism and the Internet. He questions whether the Internet’s ability to give users instantaneous information to any topic they would like is actually hindering or enhancing our personal lives. He discusses electronic systems that would provide news based on the users interests and how would that affect users ability to get news and information. He states, “The goal was to more deeply engage the reader in the news, ordering priorities and expanding scope rather than restricting it.” These electronic systems were intended to enhance the users lives and I do believe that they succeed in doing that however they also restrict users from experiencing culture outside their normal realm. I am the perfect example of this. I go on the Internet for many different reasons, to look up information, to shop for something, or to just kill time. Most of the time I do not go to the BBC website to catch up on current events (even though it is on my bloglines), I usually will end up wasting sometime looking up some celebrity gossip at Perezhilton.com (its like junk food, not good for you but sooo yummy!). I don’t think that the Internet is responsible for restricting my scope. I believe that in this case I the user am responsible for restricting my scope. The Internet offers me the opportunity to engage on many different topics, I just choose not to read them. This is not an Internet phenomenon either because when I am a bookstore I do the same thing. But this brings up my next question, if the pop culture news that I get from Perez or the other sites were limited would I go to find and read other things? Where in culture today can we expand our horizons and get involved with something new? The Internet makes it easy to learn about new things however we have to want to do it. I think that is what Walter means when he says the internet restricts us, I am comfortable in what I like to read about and engage in and the internet makes it easy for me to stay in those comfort zones.

Dane Cook

In Axel Bruns, article Wikinews: The Next Generation of Alternative Online News? he talks about produsers,

“Overall, it is notable that most alternative online news sites rely heavily on their user communities for their coverage of news and current events. In contrast to a traditional producer/consumer dichotomy, on most of these sites users are able to participate directly as producers of content (whether by submitting or editing news stories – often based on gatewatched content – or by providing extensive commentary and discussion) – they become user-producers or, as we might call them, produsers (Bruns 2005b).”

After reading this portion of the article I could not help but to think about Dane Cook’s stand up routine about a car accident and everyone wanting to be a part of the police investigation. Basically everyone is saying the same useless thing and just talking so they can be apart of the event. This is not true for every news event and sometimes there are great produsers video from their cell phones that get aired on MSNBC or Fox but most of the time is not well done and often looks like crap. (the video is kind of lame but its for the skit not the annimation!)

Final thought…

I do believe that the newspaper will always be around, I think people like its aesthetic quality and the coupons. The Internet is a great tool to use but until to we become a less self-involved society I think it will restrict our cultural growth.

There is no I in TEAM but there is in Virtual

I was having a little trouble deciding what I should blog about this week in response to the readings. Should I talk about the experiences I have had on the many teams I have been involved in? Maybe chat about the many seminars and workshops I attended in undergrad which focused on how to become a better leader and team player? I could probably go into vivid detail about the many tools I use to stay organized and my OCD tendencies with planning and organization but I don’t want to scare people. Finally I thought should blog about how while I was reading Working Smart the thought of making a digital Team handbook got me very excited? But that’s pretty weird too. So I decided just to go for it, and write whatever came to me while thinking about these readings.

I really enjoyed these readings. I have been taught these team concepts over and over again but it is always nice to go back a rediscover the basics and the foundations of a team. It helps you remember and focus on what is essential in order to become and work as a team. I think one of the most important things in order for a team to succeed is for the members of the team to know what their role is within the team. Being able to understand what your task is and its importance in facilitating the teams overall goal is imperative. With this in mind it puts pressure on the leader to be aware of his team members and communicate to each person their importance no matter how small or menial the job. One of the biggest problems I have faced while being on a teams is member indifference and a lack of interest because they believed that their task was not important because it wasn’t as involved as other members. Being able to motivate and control the groups moral and attitude across the board is often a difficult challenge. This challenge seems to be even more difficult when you remove the face-to-face interaction time. However, I can see how their might be a positive side to the virtual team as well, team participants would not be able to compare and contrast themselves to other members and they would not directly see interactions between members which may relieve this problem of indifference. I really cannot say for sure though because I have never been a part of a virtual team.

I think being a part of a team is an important aspect of my life. I have been involved different kinds of teams all of my life from athletics to service. In my experience I have felt that I have learned more and experienced more as a participant on those teams then I have in any other part of my life. After college I joined a company because I liked their focus on the team environment, and wanted to continue to have that team aspect in my life. Now as a member of the ESPN team I am interested in seeing how we will incorporate new technology and other principles that were discussed in the readings to become a more technologically advanced team. Don’t get me wrong ESPN/Disney’s virtual team is very advanced but I am interested to see the innovations that they move toward as virtual teams become more and more popular.