Monday, April 26, 2010

Collaborative Project

I think that we should do either a fiction story, collection of short stories or poems, or maybe even a screenplay. For a fiction story, I think the genre should be along the lines of a drama or a comedy/humorous story. For short stories or poems, we could maybe pick a topic/mood/setting to all write about but have everyone write a different story/poem with that common element or theme.
I think it'd be really cool to have everyone just write a page of whatever they want and then try to link it somehow to everyone else's writing. Another idea would be to have one person start of a story or drawing and then have the next person somehow tie their own idea to the previous one. This could be a mix of drawings, poems, stories, basically anything.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Future of Communication Video- Free Writing

One thing I found interesting was that many people are now "prosumers"- people who create information and also use the information.
I think that while many of the things mentioned in the video are possible, I don't think all of it should be done. A big focus towards the end of the video was the ability to recreate reality or basically have a virtual life. While I think that'd be really cool, I don't think it's necessary. I also don't want to spending half of my time on the computer/internet in order for me to fulfill some needs in my life.
I think that many media forms, such as newspapers, magazines, and even television will eventually go completely digital. This is already happening today, where many newspapers and magazines are now online. I remember reading a recent report on how some newspaper subscriptions are loosing a large number of subscribers because people are now getting their news from the internet. Many people now watch many shows and movies online on sites like YouTube and even from the channel's official site.
However, despite that most media can go completely digital, I don't think it's current forms should be completely terminated. I enjoy being able to open up a book. I like sitting in my room watching the tv and flipping through channels.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Email Etiquette Notes

Composing:
*Be sure to have a meaningful subject line.
*Use standard spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
*Compose e-mails in MS Word/spellcheck, then copy and paste into e-mail.
*Be friendly and cordial, but be careful about jokes/joking around.

Responding:
*Respond as quickly as possible.
*Answer questions, can answer them inside the e-mail.
*Trim back, delete stuff on the bottom.

*Double check everything (careful of reputation)

Focused Free Writing- Social Revolution Video

I was completely surprised by all the numbers and statistics related to social media. What I found the most interesting was that if Facebook were a country, it would be the 4th largest country. What was even more surprising was that China's own social network alone was larger than Facebook's and had over 300,000,000 users.
I think that social media is not a fad. It makes a lot of things convenient. It makes communication easier. It's easier to stay in contact with other people. About 1 in 8 people have found their significant other online. In the past, it was uncommon to meet someone online or it was looked down upon. Now, it's probably a common way.
Wikipedia has over 13 million articles and is said to be more accurate than the Encyclopedia Brittanica. This just shows how much more of a convenience technology has made it to access information.
I do think, however, that there are way too many social networks these days.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Free Writing Activity

She stood in front of the platform, just waiting. Waiting for the unknown. The unknown feelings that would surge through her. The platform lights flickered above her and the ground beneath her rumbled. A train passed by, sending a breeze of mild, cool air. She let out a sigh and looked behind her at the giant clock. The time drew nearer to what would be the most nerve wrecking moment of her life. More trains passed by, and more time flew by. She was growing restless in the wait. Not long, a train came to a stop. Afraid, she swiftly walked towards one of the benches, sat down, and cupper her face in her hands. She heard the chatter