The New York What?

Hey wow its Corey making a post! ready? k here goes.

Oh no pretty soon we wont have those crazy huge pieces of paper to read for our daily news, and we wont have to walk ourselves down to the store everyday to get it. Darn. But seriously i think its safe to say that Its About Time. What can be better than getting rid of that darn nuisance and developing an easy access version on the web. I mean whoever says, "Yeah, but what about those people that dont have internet access?" is completely out of the loop. EVERYONE practically has internet access now, and even so do you think that people who read the New York Times are within the small group of people in urban areas who dont have access? If so get your head out of your you know where. Now personally I don't read the times and even with it being on the internet i doubt ill be reading it there. Why? Cause its boooooorrring. Id much rather read something else, actually nothing at all cause reading is overrated except maybe sports articles and the occasional laugher.

Poo Dork Slimes

Does anyone actually take the time to read a news paper these days? I basically just flip to the funny pages and then make a hat out of the news paper.

The Internet is where it’s at, baby. All the information you can find at the click of a button.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

That’s where I find all my information. It’s my homepage for when I open Fire Fox.

What’s my point you ask? Well, the Internet is better than news papers. It’s easier, more affordable (Free $$) and has fancy pictures. It’s also up-to-date. As in, it can be instantly updated as soon as ‘news’ happens. Ya dig?

As far as the New York Times goes… You won’t see me paying for news. (Especially from America).

And now for no particular reason, here's a dung beetle:

The Times they are a changing (Get it?)

The New York Times is fighting the future predicted in the googlezon(ugg) video. By going online they will be able to attract people like me who get most of their news online, mainly because of their name recognition.

I don't visit blogs for news because I don't trust them, but at the same time, I don't really trust "The Most Trusted Name in News" either. I think that with the state of the American press, in regards to their coverage of politics and the war in Iraq and on "Terror", is pretty sad. But an online news site, like the New York Times would be able to report more unbiased news because they would be able to post it immediately and not have to run it through the spin cycle. But at the same time, I think that I would trust news from a source like the Times more then say some dude who heard about it and posted it on his blog, he probably wouldn't have checked his sources...which will be the great danger of the googlezon type of news sources.

In closing, 300 comes out on March 9th and Ben is not allowed to see it because that would ruin it for everyone.

Black History Month

I believe that the African-American history should be taught all year and incorporated with the regular history curriculum that is taught in schools. I agree that some do take the month to remember but that is only for a moment and then it back to work and on with there lives. I believe that the history of African-Americans should be all year. That way students can learn more about a different culture other than theirs.

I find some of us white people have our heads in the ground. We only care about getting our bills paid and trying live our lives. We need to get our heads out of the ground and take a good look around us and maybe just maybe take the time to care and learn more about another culture other than our own (money).

We have to be more aware of what is going on in the world and one of them being that African-American history is once every year. That is not right. It should be every month and in the school so kids or our future kids can learn about it.

Does chocolate milk come from brown cows?

I don't mind that Oreos are black - 'cause they're white on the inside.

Haha... Jokes aside, I think there should be a black history month... or at least something dedicated to educating us about the history of African-Americans. It should be embedded into our educational systems and taught in schools world-wide.

I don't really care how it's done... just as long as it is. Make sense? Good.

As far as the other article about "White Privileges" goes... Sure, I guess we do have unfair advantages simply because we're white... but I mean, what do you want me to do about it? Paint myself Green or Purple? The article made very fine points which are true and there is really nothing I could do about it.

I'm not a racist person and I do my best not to be prejudiced... I think that's about all I can do to help out. Teach my youngins that life is more than oppression. I don't know.

Stop the hate! Vote Racism off the island.

Me and Stephen Colbert

Like Stephen Colbert, I don't see color. So I found this article strange and confusing.....just kidding.

As a white male who has all the privileges in the world as I struggle to pay bills and stuff, I do find it some what hard to relate but at the same time I think that being Canadian also factors into this. I personally judge people on how they act and to some degree on how they dress (does that make me a dressist?) But I can still see the authors point. I don't know what its like to be black in the US just like I don't know what its like to lose a child in a horrible accident, its something you have to experience.

We do live in a white society, most of the people are white, the business owners are white and they control everything. I've never believed that a black president would change anything (Sorry Obama), a black CEO of NBC or CBS would have more effect on the world. And I have never been a fan of the Canadian way of fixing these issues, you know, give Quebec more money because the English beat the French in a war 200 years ago. And Canadians aren't perfect with residential schools being a perfect example.

The world needs more people like BET and Charlotte Bobcats owner Bob Johnson. This is a man that has succeeded, being the first black television network owner and the first black sports franchise owner. He is the type of person that can influence the world because I think that the media will do more now than ever to influence the younger generation's view of other races.

One thing that has changed in terms of privilege would be sports. I read an interesting article on SI.com, I think, that talked about how NFL coaches (which is a racial issue in itself) don't look at white players for the position of running back anymore, in fact there isn't a white running back on any team in the NFL, at least in the starting and back-up roles, they may be a couple of third stringers. And before you say "But Mike, all the quarterbacks are white." Not anymore, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, and now Vince Young coming up are just a few and have made coaches look at black quarterbacks even more. Its same in the NBA. Steve Nash and about 5 Europeans represent all the top white players.

Now maybe if some of these guys finished college, instead of dropping out early to get drafted, and went on to careers after sports, they could make some changes?

And don't worry racists, you'll always have NASCAR.

Civic Journalism and Civilian Journalism

Civic journalism is when a professional journalist writes about their experience. For example they could write about the war in Iraq that they are in the midst of or even witnessing a fire. Well I'm not sure on the last one but I remember Jill talking about a journalists and the war in Iraq. Civic journalism is a professional writing about their experience.

Civilian journalism is when a civilian can write about things that have happened to them or about the things that are going on around them. For example hurricane Katrina was a devastation to everyone in that area. The people that were there or have homes there can write about the tragedy they have been through to let other know what it must have been like. Another example would the twin tower and the tragedy with that. Civilian journalism is a citizen writing about their experience.

The wiki is changing the way we are getting information now a days or even giving out information. All you have to do is go to the wikipedia site and type in what you are searching for and a tun of results show up for you. I think it is great that you can change or add to the information in case the info is wrong or missing stuff. With so many people giving out the knowledge that they have about important dates. There is bound to be some errors in the information that is given but that can be fixed by someone who knows the correct info. Most of the time we can count on wiki to give us the correct information that we asked for.

Rarities and B Sides

Retain this...

Difference between civic and citizen journalism.
- civic journalism is when a real journalist goes and become part of the situation/event they are covering. Like ... a journalist stationed with the troops in Afghanistan.
- citizen journalism is when an amature writes/blogs shares they experiences with whatever news happens to ah ... happen. So, a person living in a war-zone reported on the days events.

How wiki's are changing the way we gather information:
- I suppose they're giving us more information that before, because there are so many contributers. But not all the info can get correct all the time. Because there is such a large number of people contributing to wiki's there's also a lot of different interests and opinions being shared, so there's lots of variety of info. You also (perhaps) get a chance to see one topic from a different angle, completely unlike the views of people in your immediate surroundings. (People from a different part of the world perhaps see things differently than we do here in Canada...)

Stuff About Journalism...

The difference between Civic and Civilian journal is that civic journalism is an attempt to abandon the notion that journalists and their audiences are spectators in political and social processes
Civilian journalism is when people write about there experiences in life as a citizen. It isn't necessarily written for everyone.
Wiki has changed how we gather information all of the information is right there infront of you and usually in a short form and in a way that you actually understand whatever you are researching for. So I think now, that we have Wiki, we do not have the patience to really read anything on the internet, at least I don't. It honestly cannot be more than like three paragraphs. It could possibly be my A.D.D. too... Anyway, I know that people edit the information that is on there and sometimes they edit it falsey to purposely make people pissed off, so in a way it is sort of a bad thing to actually trust the information all the time. You also see other peoples views on different topics, so that makes it kind of interesting and makes you want to go back and see more.

They want to drink without getting fat!

As best I can remember the thing that we listened to did not feature anything on Thomas Hayden Church. But it have stuff on civil and civilian journalism.

Civil Journalism is when the reporters are involved in the story, not just showing up later and asking questions. Kinda like a journalist in a war or Lois Lane taking down Lex Luthor (Bet you didn't think I could fit comics into this one, eh, Jill?).

Civilian Journalism is a regular person, who witnesses the events and then writes about them on their blog. I bet there was some interesting civilian journalism coming out of New Orleans after God sent the hurricane to clean it of it's wickedness.

Another segment on the thing was an interview with Wikipedia co-founder, Mr. Jimmy Wales. The interview revealed that Wikipedia is mainly self regulating and that even on controversial figures like George Bush the debate about what to put on his page is fairly low-key and controlled. An interesting feature of Wikipedia is that they can just reset a page with one click of a button, making it hard for people to really mess with the site. Wiki's are the new main source for info, while not always accurate, it has enough to at least point you in the right direction.

A thought occurs to me, Does Morgan Freeman have a blog? And would it be as interesting to hear what he has to say if you can't hear his voice?"Ever since I was a young child, people have been fascinated by the sound of my voice."

Gelatinous Blog.

It was difficult to retain any of the information from that radio… dinger… But I will dig deep into the bottomless pits of my mind and recall what little knowledge I absorbed.

Civic Journalism: When a journalist actually goes to a specific place and becomes part of the situation. Uh… Jill mentioned a Journalist being embedded in an Army over in Iraq. That journalist would be able to write reports based on their experiences during the war.

Civilian Journalism: An untrained, civilian writing about their experiences as an everyday citizen. For example: Jill mentioned people living in Iraq. The civilians caught up in this war write about how it has effected their lives and other depressing aspects.


How ‘Wiki’ has changed how we gather information:
Well… Everything is point and click these days. If we want something, we want it now. Wikipedia provides instant access to information on basically anything you are looking for. This information may not always be 100% accurate but that’s where we come in.

Wiki’s rely on people to edit and post accurate information relating to a certain subject. If a vandal ignorantly posts false information, it can be changed by anyone or previous information may be restored by an administrator.

Uhhh…. Something was also mentioned about a black guy… and how the whities were keeping him down.

They should have radio too. Stop the hate!

business related blogs are lame, at least these ones were

http://blogs.ebay.com/

Sure this blog would be great... if i was 10 years old and still played with GI Joes, seriously theres like 4 topics on GI Joes. and another post some guy needed to broadcast that he changed his ID name to Phantom... whoopdi doo.
I dont shop on ebay and reading this blog doesnt make me want to.

http://weblogs.macromedia.com/mxna/

ok so first off the first 5 posts that i saw were the exact same post made by some idiot. And secondly this is a Macromedia XML blog which means that if you dont know how to put a post up correctly you DONT BELONG. This blog is filled with technical mumbo jumbo that is really not interesting in my opinion, but maybe some geeks like blogging about that sorta stuff.

http://blog.nbc.com/hiro_blog/

Whats with all the damn symbols? is that a pokemon? is this supposed to signify that he is asian? cause if so its a really stupid idea. All this blog does is describe what has happened in the show Heroes that airs on NBC through the eyes of one of the characters. This character can apparently bend space and time in the show. maybe he should go back in time and unwrite this blog cause its terrible.

Grandma's 3 Bean Salad

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

Although it has been mentioned before, I’m gonna post about Google’s blog. It contains various info regarding tech-y stuff that nerds would be interested in. (Mike, for example).

Uhh… I suppose it does apply to the demographic it was set out for..

It’s terribly bland and unappealing, I must admit. I had trouble keeping my short attention span on track while reading their posts. I figure it needs to be more entertaining and not just techno-babble. I guess it is helpful for anyone interested in new releases.. but otherwise, it’s stinky poo.

http://www.visuallizard.com/

A Web Designing company we visited in Winnipeg. Their entire site is basically one big blog… a crappy one at that. At least this blog is more “down to earth.” The authors post interesting links and funny quotes they’ve come across. Updates relating to the company could also be found. Yup.

http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/community/default.mspx

Microsoft has a whole team of bloggers and employees dedicated to posting. They mainly consisted of things relating to Microsoft products and the like… but there were other interesting facts. It primarily applied to Microsoft consumers and other jerks that use computers. Lousy Jerks.

-----

None of these blogs made me want to visit these sites ever again. They were all dry and basically humourless. Blogs should be entertaining and generally non-sensical! Well. I guess professional sites should be sensical… but they could at least add some wit. Nothing is worse than boring material. (Curt’s notes, for example! Hiyo!)

…"Sensical"’s a word right?

Number 2 - Read this one and ignore the last...this one is correct!

I have to admit that I wasn't really in the mood for doing a big explanation on each business blogging site that I found today, but I am on it right now. So the three sites that I found are:

Forbes.com - This site is a big corporate site that deals with..well.. I would have to say a lot of business "things" such as taxes and stocks and all that good stuff. So I think how the blog works on this site is there is an article that deals with a business topic. Like the article that is on the site now is called "Carbon Tax Time?", and then people who are interested and/or have opinions on this specific topic post them with blogs. It seems that it would appeal to those who are interested in the business world because even I have heard about Forbes and I am really not into all that business mumbo jumbo! SITE: http://blogs.forbes.com/digitalrules/

IBM.com - The blogs posted on this site basically all have to do with the world of computers and technology. That is what I would think a blog on IBM would be about, so I think that the blogs to relate to the company.
SITE: http://www-03.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/Turbo?blog=533

Dallas Morning Views - The blogs on this site have to do with the Dallas Morning News and what is obviously happening in Dallas or perhaps around the U.S. So people just express their opinions on the current issues that are happening around America and Dallas with blogs on this site. I think that news sites, such as this one are great for blogging, because there is always opinions that need to be expressed with news and this is a great way to get them out.
LINK: http://dallasmorningviews.beloblog.com/

Rarities and B Sides

Business Blogs

http://csr.blogs.mcdonalds.com/default.asp
Yes...McD's has a blog. Some categories of blogs on their sites are Balanced, Active Lifestyles, Community, Environment ... yes. Excellent. Basically they're all about how McDonalds is really trying hard to make the world better and denying Supersize me. There's also alot of blogs either about or from people who work the McJob, and them saying how wonderful it is, and how it's not as easy as it looks, how it builds community. Effective...I can't figure out who their target demographic is - they write as if they're writting for corporate sponsors and such ... perhaps? If that's the case, then I suppose they are effective.

http://blog.ford.com/BLOG.CFM
The Ford blog is customer/employee testimonials about how wonderful their trucks and cars are. It gives potential buyers a (prejudice) opinion on the vehicle they may be interested in. Usefull, but bias.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
More propoganda! Yay! It gives lots of technical information, but I suppose that's who they're aiming at.

Three Corporate Blogging Sites

http://www.forbes.com/fdc/blogs.html
http://www-03.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/Turbo?blog=533
http://dallasmorningviews.beloblog.com/

These sites all basically have blogs that reflect on a certain topic within that site.

Blogs and why Ben sucks, this and more on 60 Minutes

Here's 3 sweet ass blogs that I found.

GM's blog, which is updated regularly and makes it sound like some dude in the company is letting you in on secret GM features for your car, like warranties!

Sun Microsystem's Jonathan Schwartz, aka Super Computer Nerd, has a blog. And if the president of a company blogs, then you know you can trust them.

McDonald's has a blog and it has informed me that McDonald's is the greatest place to work, EVER! Because they read books bashing them and change to fix stuff. Awesome! And once a year, the big wigs work a day in a "real" McDonald's so they know what its like to work there.

Business that use Blogs

http://theappleblog.com/
The apple blog is okay, it keeps up to date and lets you know what is going on at apple. They try to put humour in it which is a good thing to keep the readers attention. Though they don't keep the blog day by day so you kinda feel like you are missing out on something they did not post that day.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
The google blog doesn't make posts every day but keeps you informed of what is going on there and also what is happening in the media. There are some interesting blogs/articles you get to read on the "Google" blog.

http://www.germancarblog.com/2005/09/vw-get-connected.html
Yes they have blogs but from a long time ago well from last year. But still that is ridiculous! The way it is set up is nice but they have to get with the time and post blogs that are to date.

Dont be so self absorbed......

Starwood Hotels resorts and Fortune

These people do a good job promoting different places to travel but for a blog it is very impersonal and should be considered more of a promotional page instead.

Google Blog

This blog is very boring and no normal person would want to read it. Normal people use Google... The planet uses Google.... what is wrong with them to think that this is going to reach their target audience and actually keep their attention....we dont care how you get our results we just want results. I give them an E for effort because I mean they are trying but come on....

Techdirt

Well I am not gonna lie, I didn't read this all, not even one paragraph to tell you the truth (if I had time i would have) but I will have to give this blog 2 thumbs up. Reason being the comments there are 10 after the top post and they continue down the page. Maybe I am not interested but someone is and i mean isn't that what it is all about. They must be doing something right... and they aren't afraid to write about something other then their company YAY people like that. It is refreshing.

Business Blogs

We've been discussing how businesses are using blogs to promote their sites - two examples being Esurance and Dell. Find three business blogs that you feel do a great job of maintaining their blogs.

Ask yourself these questions:
Does the blog effectively target its demographic?
Is the blog updated regularly?
Does the blog encourage you to visit the site more often?
Would you consider purchasing a product from this company?
What do you like about the blog?
What would you change?

Ben is amazing.

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that I've foolishly posted my "Article review" on my own blog page. I wasn't aware that I should have posted it here...

In closing, Mike is a jerk.

Thank you.
-El Presidente Senor Beano Van Manuel.

feb 1 - blogging at work

Generally, I agree with most of this article. Some good points have been made and argued.

However.

The best way to avoid being fired from blogging: don't write about your bosses severe case of foot fungus. Really - who cares? Write about something that matters. The net is already cluttered up with useless junk - don't add to the pile.

Keep it for home: you go to work to work. Not blog. Sure it's a good idea to know your companies policy on blogging, but your best bet - just wait til you get home.

Blogging just seems to be a way that people think they can write things "anonymously", but really it's just a way for people to hide behind a persona. If you can't say something to someone to their face, don't bother saying it.

hey everyone Judy had an Affair

Alright people being fired for blogging when you think about it does not sound that unreasonable when you take into account what the content of there blogs must have been. Employers should have the right to fire someone when the Business could suffer over what they are saying, or if they are insulting co workers.

People have a right to free speech but when it comes down to it you wouldn't go around your place of work talking freely about people, or run through the streets screaming company secrets...so why would you be able to publish it online without consequence. For example I don't think that Judy from down the hall wants the world to know about her affair vis your blog.

In the end it comes down to the simple fact that if you think that your boss wouldn't like it don't write it. You never know who will be stumbling across your blog. If you do however feel the need to talk about work or co workers or whatever be prepared to face consequences if they arise.

It's only my opinion

Really, this article is just about common sense. You don't go around work bitching about your bosses and I don't think it would be smart to do it online either, especially if you're posting under your own name.

The idea of telling your company that you blog is a good one. In fact, I would hope by now, almost two years after this article was written, that most major companies would have guidelines in place about what their employees can and cannot say in their blogs.

Anyone who reveals company secrets should be fired, especially if you're stupid enough to do it online and not make any cash for it!

And of course, who's going to blog on their own time? Just don't get caught!