MONEY, PROFIT, JOB

Well hello all my faithful readers!!

This week our reading assignment talked about how Google is making us stupid. Haha I mean how crazy is that? I think I better Google that to see if that statement is correct. Just playing with you! The article talked about how students and people in general are using Google as a quick fix to answers and even to spell words. I mean I am guilty of both. However I am not on board that Google is making us stupid. To me having a world of information at my finger tips is electrifying! The one thing that I agree about is that having all this information at our finger tips is dangerous in one aspect...CREDIBILITY! Most people forget/ dont know that the top hits on Google go to the highest bider. So the information found on the internet and Google searches aren't always the most reliable. 

Ever since I was a freshman in high school I have been doing research for classes. I fortunately ( I googled this for spelling...) was taught how to find quality sources in high school. If a teacher could Google your topic and find your source on the first page of results it was discounted. I was forced to dive into research and get my finger tips wet! However for these of you have don't have any training here is a quick tips video to help you identify credible sources. 

 My assignment this week was to pick a topic related to my communication and new media class and do a mini research project on it. However I was limited to using Google, Google Scholar and Loyola University Library Database. Most of you are probably familiar with using Google and a library database but if your like me your asking WTFun is Google Scholar ? It is a search engine directed at scholar research, imagine that just what the name says. I think I was more taken aback that I had never heard of it before! 

Vera Wang Fall 2012

 In class Amy Creyer the author of the Fashion blog Chicago Street Style spoke to us how her blog has grown bigger then she ever imagined and how she came to profit off the blog. This really intrigued me so I decided to do some research on this business venture. I went through several key phrases before I was able to find the best phrase to find the needed information. 

First : Blogging for money...no great leads. 

Second: Blogging for Profit...some great finds. 

Third: Blogging as a Job...resulted in the most credible finds

Google= just resulted in blogs from bloggers blogging about their experiences about getting paid and produced some how to websites.

Google Scholar= Also produced many how to links. And some articles about the success of the blogs. However most of these are books. 

Loyola= The most comprehensive searches because it pulled articles, books, videos and more on the topic. This isn't shocking seeing that loyola's database is more focused to academic articles and resources then Google. 

Source 1

NATION - Blogging for Fun and Profit - Should online journals be a money spinner?

This is a great source cause it is a article found in the Beijing Review. This is a international publication.

Source 2 

Why blog? : Motivations for blogging

This is a great source because it's a book that comparse american and british blogging as it progresses into a monetary industry. 

Source 3

How to Earn Money from Blogging

This is a great source because it is a article by News and World Report. A widely published and recognized leader in journalism. This would be a great article because it would help you understand the process. 

Well I hope you enjoy and can take away something from this post. Check out Amy's Blog it is quite amazing if you love fashion! TALK TO YOU SOON! 

DONT FORGET TO BLOG OUT LOUD!

How Digital Technology Found Utopian Ideology

Here is the link to week two power point done by Luke and Chelsea!
Enjoy!!!
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AesZekJ4ML2EZGhkanh3cmJfMmY2N2ozNnE5

''Sometimes you have to say f**k Myspace cause I need my space and tell Facebook I want my face back!"

When was the last time you remembered a friends birthday without Facebook reminding you? or the last time that you actually chatted with a long distance friend on the phone? or held your best friends summer picture album in your hand? To some these questions dont carry the same weight as they do to me. I enjoy Facebook but there comes a point where trying to stay connected and personal just becomes down right impersonal and fake. Its also scary what information one can find on social networking sites such as Facebook. To me it is letting anyone and everyone into your personal lives. The below is a perfect telling of all the scares of the excess of social media.

Shannon makes several really good points about how devices are replacing face to face human communication. However I think that the most important thing that she says is about filling out information and how the government could very easily get ahold of it. Especially with the Patriot Act, who is to stop the government from taking and using our personal information. Im not opposed to the patriot act but the more and more people but personal stuff on the web the more and more it could be used against them. So many things are on the web now a days its scary to think if it every was shut down...not Facebook, online banking, all free information not at our finger tips. If we keep consuming and out putting information and relying on the internet, at the rate we are will be very impersonal place.

The dystopian that could occur, would be ruled by a controlling party that has power over all the personal information therefore enslaving people. However a more scary future to realize is one like that of the Matrix where the machines now control us. This would be a sad ending for this beautiful world.

A DELICIOUS READER A DAY KEEPS YOU UP TO DATE!

I am actually thrilled to write about this assignment! I am so excited because this assignment has forever changed the way I use the internet and organize my thoughts. This assignment consisted of two parts, creating both a Google Reader account and a Delicious Account.

For those of you who do not know what these are let me explain! Google reader is a avid web consumers best friend. This site stores all of your favorite sites, blogs, and news sources. It then displays recent updates from the sites in a Facebook wall or Timeline format, with most recent at the top of the page. This service allows you to easily navigate and find updates on your favorite sites in the quickest of ease. Delicious is a sharing site. The thing that is unique about it is that you share your bookmark list. A user creates whats called a "stack" of their favorite websites and then publishes it so others can subscribe and follow it. Many stacks are topic focused.

Using delicious was a new experience that took a lot getting used to.  I enjoyed learning how to use a new website and believe the idea to be brillant, however there are some things that I am not to hot about. The only negative comment I could come up with about the site is that it doesn't have that big of a following. All the stacks that I subscribed to only had a handful of followers. I believe if this had more of a user ship the stacks would be added to daily and the site would be utilized to its fullest potential. 

http://www.delicious.com/lukecharbonneau

There is the link to my account. My first stack is pretty lame but I made a stack of my favorites. I named it A COLLEGE KIDS FIX. My stack was full of fun websites and social media links. More to come as i build ideas and find websites to publish. 

The Google Reader is my new best friend. I literally have every new post from my favorite sites all on one page! I subscribed to several new technology websites and blogs as assignment for Communication and New Media along with some major news websites so I am always informed :) Forbes Tech, CNN Technology, Gizmag, Technology Review and Wired are the sites I have subscribed to on Google Reader. I ook forward to learning alot from using this program. 

Well thats all the time I have for today! Have a great day and never for get to CHARBIE OUT LOUD again! 

PEACE AND BLESSINGS ...PEACE AND BLESSINGS :)