technology and life

so i signed up for an account in secondlife, downloaded the program, and created my avatar. except it wasn't that easy. i tried to set up my account during class on tuesday, but of course i couldn't get the confirmation email that sets up your account for several hours. that was pretty much a wasted class for me. awesome. then i had to download the program, which of course takes up a bunch of bandwidth. since i have more important things to do than immerse myself in unreal worlds, i was not accustomed to moving around, interacting, etc. so i went through all of the tutorials, and even figured out how to make my avatar look different. then thursday in class, we pretty much spent the entire class time in our little ISTania world, conversing with each other and Andrea, and exploring the world. i have no idea how i'm going to get better at this when i have so much other stuff to do. i just don't understand how people can get so immersed in these games and worlds. i have things to read for class, plenty of homework to do, and i have a part time job. i dislike this project almost as much as i disliked the video project.

For this project, I chose 2 popular social networking websites (Facebook and Myspace) and 1 that is slightly less common (LinkedIn). While everyone else is probably also doing the more common websites, I decided to use them anyway, and give my opinions on them. I'm also hoping to introduce you to other types of social networking sites.
Facebook
Let's be honest here. I'm addicted to it. I check it multiple times a day, knowing that nothing has changed. I check my friends' pages to see what they are up to. I know, I know, I'll look into therapy. I promise. Anyways, here are the facts:

Anyone can join. I won't go through the entire history, but it used to be just for college students. A few weeks ago, however, the creator decided to open it up to anyone with an email address. You select your "network" (for example, I'm in 2: Penn State, and Trenton/Princeton, NJ), add a picture, and fill in your information. So once you join, you want to meet up with friends and to join groups, right? No problem. Type something into the search bar on the right hand side. It could be the name of your best friend. It could be your favorite sports team, or the elementary school you went to, or the name of your favorite class. Most likely, you will find it. To connect with a friend, you search for them in that search bar, and when you have found them, you click a button called "Add to friends." This sends a request to that friend to allow you to be friends with them. They can accept you and edit details about how the two of you are acquainted, or they can reject you. (Hopefully, if you're friending them, they won't reject you). Other types of interactions include sending messages, "poking" and writing on their "wall." Messages allow you to send a message to someone even if you are not friends with them, and it will not be seen by anyone except the person you sent the message to. It's a nice way to have a somewhat private conversation. Poking is irritating. All that happens if you click
the "poke him!" button is that they get a message saying they've been poked. Rather pointless, but I'm in an ongoing poke war with my best friend, and it is somewhat entertaining. "Walls" are public. Any of your friends can see your wall and what people have posted on it. Lately, there have been all kinds of applications added to Facebook. Examples include Fishtank, Tetris Tournament, and Jobster. They have different purposes, but most are to jazz up your profile or let others know what you're interested in.

Myspace
Time for more honesty. I hate Myspace. It's too much work, finding layouts and making sure they work and all that. I'm just too lazy. Also, I don't like that bands or random businesses or porn stars can friend you and see all of your information. Whatever. Here's the basics...

Same idea as Facebook as far as friending is concerned. It also has a comment wall, messages, groups, just like Facebook. There are a few differences, though. On Myspace, you can rank or block a person's profile. You can also add them as one of your favorites. It tells others the last time you logged on to the website. There is an option to add your favorite song to your profile. Of course, now, there is an application for that on Facebook, but Myspace has always had this available. There is a blog available on Myspace, and an area to post bulletins, which get sent to all of your friends' profiles. There is a feature called Notes on Facebook, but it is more of a combination of these two Myspace features.

LinkedIn
This social networking site isn't so much for your peers as for your potential employers. It's more of an online resume. You post your education background, areas of expertise and work experiences on your profile. You can search for job openings based on what you are good at and what is in your area. Connecting to people is different, but it is still easy. Let's say you, me, and Andrea all have LinkedIn profiles. You and I would be "connections." But Andrea, as a professor, can "recommend" you for something. She can vouch for your work. These different types of connections help employers narrow down their searches. Additional information you can add includes interests, groups or associations, honors and awards. All of these things can be typed in, rather than searched for. The one thing that does bother me about LinkedIn is that most of the areas are drop-down menus. This can be very helpful. But different areas have different titles depending on the company or area. They might not always have what you're looking for (for example, in the education section, they don't have a major called Security and Risk Analysis, or anything very close to it). So you might have to change things a little bit to make them fit what you need.

Here's what I think. Myspace is the most personal. You can change your font, background, etc. It requires some work, but isn't hard to do. Facebook is getting more personal by adding these applications, but layout, colors, etc still cannot be changed. The LinkedIn cannot be changed at all, but this is probably best, as it is more of a professional social networking website. Overall, Facebook is my favorite. Everyone has their own opinions, though.

Also - I'm sure you've heard this plenty of times, but please don't put too much personal information on these sites. There are people out there who will use it. =\

I can't stand when smart people misuse grammar. Actually, I can't stand when anyone misuses grammar, but it especially bugs me when smart people do it. How is it possible to graduate at the top of your class but not know the difference between "your" and "you're"? "Hear" and "here"? Come on now. Who vs whom is slightly harder, but all you have to do is type grammar into Google and about 5 million helpful websites will come up. I've included a few of the better ones for you. learn it! your future depends on it...

www.englishdaily626.com/grammar.php
www.learnenglish.de/grammarpage.htm
www.grammarmechanics.com/
www.grammarbook.com/
www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/classicerrors/

I found another good one, but it is from the Purdue University, so I am refusing to post it. Those should be enough, though. Check them out, okay?

well, this company involves technology, but not necessarily computer technology. anyway, it's a pretty sweet company that my grandmother worked for since it was founded in 1984. it used to just be called WorldWater Corp. lately, though, it has been making some awesome breakthroughs and progress, so they've officially changed their name to WorldWater & Solar Technologies Corporation. maybe i'm impartial, since my grandmother worked there for so long, but i think what they are doing is awesome. i'm sure some of you will come up with negatives about what they're doing and why they shouldn't do it. but i'm for it. so what is it they're doing? here's the breakdown:

it can all be summed up like this: they use solar radiation to run water pumps and motors, bringing clean, running water all over the world, especially to less fortunate areas who could not afford it otherwise. their website offers a more in-depth look at what they do, their products, news, etc.

to anyone doing research in these areas, the company has added the option of purchasing their latest research reports. these are not available directly from their website, but i found them through hoover's, a search engine for businesses.

since my grandmother worked at their U.S. headquarters (in pennington, new jersey), i know personally a lot of key people, including chairman/ceo mr. kelly. upon looking into the other key people, you can find information including their ages and their annual salaries. (also on hoover's)

i won't bore you now with their history and everything, but i encourage you to look into this company, and keep your eye on them in the future.

Company website: http://www.worldwater.com/index.html

Hoover's general site: http://premium.hoovers.com/subscribe/

Hoover's site with WorldWater information: http://premium.hoovers.com/subscribe/co/factsheet.xhtml?COID=59271&cm_ven=PAID&cm_cat=BUS&cm_pla=CO1&cm_ite=WorldWater

Yahoo! Finance info: http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/59/59271.html

no really, that's their slogan. one of them, anyway. schoolr is a pretty sweet site, so i thought i would share it with all of you. it seems pretty basic when you log onto the main page. but it does a ton of stuff for you. there are 8 different search engines! one being google, of course. but it will also look up definitions, acronyms, wikipedia, thesaurus, book summaries, even urbandictionary entries. it will do measurement conversions, and there is a text translator. as a multilinguist, i usually don't trust online translators. i haven't gotten to play around with this one yet, though. it will also show you how to do citations. it's very helpful. and if you're cool enough to have a blackberry or some other phone with internet capabilities, visit m.schoolr.com for their mobile version. check it out!

http://www.schoolr.com/

so here's an interesting website i found yesterday. it's a list put together by the people at collegehappenings.com of the 20 inventions or innovations that have changed our college experience. i don't know about you guys, but i'm always hearing it from my parents about how easy we have it and how different school was when they were there, blah blah blah. you know what i mean. anyway, i found this list very interesting. for the most part, i found it pretty true. there were a few things i either really agreed with or completely disagreed with, but that can be expected from any such list. check out the site, and compare what you think should make the list.

here are a few of my opinions:
#1 - cell phones. duh! did you read my last post, about parents texting?
#2 - online role playing games. i've never played any of these, and i turned out alright.
#5 - google. i can find ANYTHING online, and i love it!
#8 - ipod. i hated the ipod i used to have. i gave it to my mom. i do have a zune now, though, and i don't know what i would do without it.
#17 & #18 - coffee machines and energy drinks. i naturally have a lot of energy, so i see no point in addicting myself to caffeine. if you're really having that much trouble staying awake, go to bed earlier instead of playing online role playing games.
#19 - myspace/facebook. i'm not so crazy about myspace, but i'm totally addicted to facebook. it makes it a lot easier to get in touch with people and sort of get to know them.
#20 - time shifting tv. not up here at school, but at home, we have tivo. and it is the greatest invention (innovation??) ever!! i have a "season pass" recording each episode of my favorite shows, and i can put in a general topic (like penn state) and it will record anything about that topic.

when you're finished reading the list, go through some of the reader comments. it's interesting to see what else people would consider important. what do you think should be added to the list??

http://www.collegehappenings.com/college/20-innovations-that-changed-the-college-experience/

it's lunchtime. i'm just finishing up my lab work for my meteorology class. in mypocket, my phone vibrates. it only happens once, and it is quick. i know i have a text message waiting for me. i sneak a peak, expecting the message to be from one of my friends, asking if i want to meet up for lunch. instead, i see my mother's cell phone number. "Hi, Sweetie! Can you give me a call after class? No emergency, I just miss you!" i smile at the message, but i am not surprised. my parents are always texting me, rather than trying to call and have to leave a voicemail for me later.

moments like these make me think back to middle school, when text messaging was just starting to become popular. my parents would always give me a hard time about it. not so much the cost, because i usually paid them to have a texting service plan. they just didn't understand it. they figured it's just so much easier to call that person. well, as i continued to text, and when my younger brother got his cell phone and started to text as well, we starting sending text messages to my parents. not a lot, since they never had a plan, but just once in awhile saying that we couldn't call but this was what was going on. they started to catch on. now, everyone on our plan has the unlimited texting option.

my mom prides herself on looking younger than she actually is. i mean really, how many 44 year olds do you know that drive a convertible mustang, have a razr cell phone, and have red hair? she's in good shape, and we share tastes in music and movies. she fully supports my penn state education, but you'll never catch her in a shirt that says penn state mom. she doesn't want anyone to know she's old enough to have a child in college! while my dad is not quite so crazy, he acts younger than he is, too (i hear that a lot of men do...). so it's no surprise that they would be up to date on the latest technology. but my parents are not the only ones texting their children.

my parents jokingly call my cell phone "an electronic leash." in a way, it's very true. they can get in touch with me anytime, anywhere, whether i'm in the next room at home, or 250 miles away at school. text messages just make that even easier. but my parents are not that strict or overprotective. i have friends who MUST call their parents every day, or else their parents will get mad at them. my roommate's parents are threatening to shut down her cell phone service because she doesn't call them often enough. news reports are calling cell phones "the world's longest umbilical cords." some controlling parents are picking up on the text messaging as an easier way to get in touch with their children and see what they're up to. the news has dubbed these parents "helicopter parents." so why do parents feel the need to hover over their children? i realize that it is the parents' responsibilities to teach their children and help them grow. but as a mom, you should not be driving up to your son's college and doing his laundry for him. by the time we hit college, we should be self-supporting, or close to it. when you hear stories like these, it's no wonder people my age are unruly, bratty and mooch off their parents for so long. this generation is spoiled rotten.

here's a few sites on the topic:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234282,00.html

http://www.news.com/Software-lets-parents-monitor-kids-calls/2009-1025_3-6195666.html

http://education.zdnet.com/?p=732

Code of ethics. To quote Captain Barbossa and the other pirates, “it’s really more of guidelines.” A code of ethics in blogging is no different. There are no actual rules. There is no group of police officers who will come and arrest you or throw you in jail for not following them. But they are important. Following these “rules” will not only keep you out of trouble, but will get bloggers to respect your blog, work and ideas. Here are some of the rules and ethics I found most popular, or stood out in some other way.

Link to things in your blog. It will make your post more credible. Anyone can spew out some random information about something. But if you say something and include a link to where you found that information or used the information to form your opinion, readers will realize where you’re coming from. That tells people that you are not just on a rant, but that you are using real, proven information.

Don’t give out personal information. Go ahead, rant about your boss or spouse or the lousy day you had. But make sure it can’t get traced back to you. Use an alias, and don’t use personal or company names. In today’s world, everything is traceable. Anything can be a clue, and some people know how to find what they need.

Following that, be respectful. Feel free to express your opinion. But don’t say that anyone who doesn’t agree with you is a bad person. Don’t curse others out or use threats. That scares people and is cause for alarm. Also, don’t be stupid! If you are privileged enough to know secret information, DON’T GIVE IT AWAY!! That’s just common sense.

As far as blogs for work, make sure you say that the opinions or views that you mention or try to prove are YOUR views, not the company’s. If you say something about a rival company or maybe a politician or disaster, many people will get upset. You might get in trouble or fired, and your company might face legal issues.

These are some of the sites that used these and other policies:

Groove networks: http://www.ozzie.net/blog/2002/08/24.html

Sarasota Herald Tribune: http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOG0104

The Corporate Weblog Manifesto: http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOG0104

Okay. I'm clumsy. I know that. But it really irritates me when some things are designed to screw you up. I'm sure that's not what they had in mind when they designed the laptop. But it really messes me up sometimes. Not the whole thing. Just that pain in the arse mousepad thing under the keyboard. First of all, I don't like it. I got an optical mouse to use instead. It still screws me up, though. I type really fast. The keys can usually keep up with me. However, on these stupid laptops, my hand brushes across that little mousepad and registers it as a "click." Usually, since I keep bumping it, the mouse is not in the same place as where I am typing. So then once my hand "clicks," the cursor is somewhere else. Since I type so fast, I don't usually realize this right away. All of a sudden, I'm typing in a completely different area. It often involves separating a word and typing in there. It's highly irritating. I am told, however, that I can turn this feature off. Excellent! Except that it's not. Since my personal laptop is a piece of garbage, the USB ports are rather temperamental. Sometimes, they don't work at all. So, if I turn off that little built in mouse and then my USB ports decide they are PMS-ing and don't want to work, I am screwed. Fantastic.

I chose a blog by a woman using the name knotty grrl. Her most recent post struck me because it was about the loss of her mother. Apparently, her mother had died about seven months ago, but she was still feeling the effects. It was a short, simple post, but it jumped out at me because I can relate. While I (fortunately) have not lost my mother, my grandmother passed away just over two weeks ago. She had been sick, but it still hurt us to deal with, especially my being away at school. So I feel this woman’s pain.
This is a rather short post. In fact, most of her entries are short. They are usually just a random post to inform readers of the latest thing bothering her, or to share a funny quote. She writes about things she learns in her classes, and how they affect her life. She always usually includes a Question of the Day for us to think about, and she provides us with what her answer to that question is. There are very few postings up on this current blog; however, the first post says that she has moved and this is now her third blog. I’m looking into finding the other two, but it’s rather difficult due to her anonymity and the hundreds of blogging sites now available. As soon as I find it or learn more, I will be sure to update. For now, though, you can check her out at: http://knottygrrl.vox.com/library/post/missing-my-mom.html.

I love my RSS feed. I just used the basic Google Reader feed, since I already have a gmail account and use it regularly. I customized it to what I am interested, which includes sports (college and professional), food (hey, I’m Italian), thinkers (for that nerd in me), fun stuff (news-like things but they usually aren’t serious), real news (I love the New York Times) and, of course, all of our blogs for this class.
http://www.google.com/reader

Some other interesting sites:
http://www.littletoncoin.com/html/Quarter_Release.html

It really doesn’t have anything to do with our class, but it is the release schedule for all those state quarters. Being the nerd that I am, I collect these quarters, so I like knowing what is out and when.

http://www.wordsmith.org

It’s a site dedicated to languages, and how they come to be. There are posts daily involving new words, words that come into a language from another language, and so on. I even have the Word-a-Day option selected. They send me a fun new word via email everyday. I usually try to find some way to use it in a normal conversation during that day. Hey, I told you I’m a nerd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)

This is the wikipedia article about RSS feeds. It explains the history, things that work or don’t work, and gives an example. I found it rather helpful.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1463

This is an interesting article I found regarding social networking sites like myspace and facebook. It mentions some of the main things we know, like the privacy issue. It also describes some of the trends of these sites, and how it is affecting the world, now and in the future.

Okay, this is just a rant and really doesn't have anything to do with our class. It does involve technology, though. Yesterday afternoon, I got my right tragus pierced. That's the cartilage flap covering the opening to your ear. Well, it hurt. But here's the important part: I can't wear earphones! Being the clever, devoted music-lover that I am, I improvised. I have another set of earphones that have a special design so that they go over my ear and hold on. So the left one is fine, and the right one is strategically balanced so that I can still hear the music, but it's not hurting my tender ear. Sometimes I use my sunglasses to hold it in place. It probably looks ridiculous, but I really don't mind what people think of me enough to do something about it. I started writing up a real post for this, but it's not finished, and now thanks to today's class, I have a few sites to check out instead of actually working. As if I needed something else to distract me. I guess I'll post that tomorrow...

Okay, I said in my first blog that I have gone skydiving. Here is the proof! And yes, I know that it looks like I am praying...

It was just another boring weekend during the summer. My aunt and uncle were in town, and they brought my ten year old cousin along with them. Being said boring summer day, we ended up walking around a flea market, checking out what junk people were trying to sell. We came across a woman trying to sell her old –and by now, obsolete– typewriter. My mom started explaining to my cousin how she used to have to type reports and such on a typewriter when she was in grammar school. My cousin listened to every word, obviously fascinated. Finally, she looked up with a puzzled face and asked my mom, “Aunt Linda, when you had to use a typewriter, how did you get out to the internet?” We all laughed about it, but the idea got me thinking. Is the internet really that popular now? The internet has had a huge impact on the world, but I was curious about how much it affected me. I was determined to find out.
The internet has been around for a long time, but it became common in the 1980’s. Since then, it has grown incredibly. Now, almost everything has a website. If it doesn’t have a website, you can find information about it via another website.
In my early years of grammar school, reports and papers were usually typed. As I grew older, it became a requirement. Some of the other kids in my classes would complain about this, but I always liked it. Things were so much easier on the computer. If you messed up, you did not have to worry about erases and how they smudge. You did not need to go wandering through the house looking for a bottle of White-Out. And you certainly did not have to write the entire paper over again. It takes much longer to get cramps when you use the computer, and it looks so much more professional. I guess some people just don’t like doing work in general. Even the reports got easier. Sure as we got older, they got longer. But now we can do them in one place. I can sit down at my computer and start typing up a document. When I need information, I just pull up the internet browser. I usually use Google, but there are plenty of other search engines available. Thousands of websites show up when I type in my search. Now I have my document and all my information all together right in front of me. Making a trip to the library is no longer necessary. I do not need to worry about being able to check out a book on my topic. When I was in grammar school, we all had reports on the same topic. Then, if I was not the first person in the class to make it to the library, I would not get a copy of the books since others will have already taken them home. Looking online, we can all be on a site within a few minutes of each other, or even at the same time. Being able to search and find all that information –and more– from the comfort of my own home is much more convenient. Also, I can send out a mass email or instant message to my classmates to compare information while I am working on my report. I do not have to waste time calling one person at a time to try and figure something out.
The convenience factor is clearly a positive impact on my life. That same point, however, is also on the negative end of the spectrum. How lazy have we become? People keep demanding that things are made easier and easier for them. As if it was not already easy enough to just type up a document, computer designers have invented a program that lets me speak into a microphone and the program transcribes the words right into a document for me! Now I can sit in my easy chair and just TELL the report what I want it to say. I have made friends recently who have never checked a book out of a library; they don’t even own a library card.
Laziness is only one of the negative effects of the internet. There is also the unreliability factor. Certain websites are user-created. That means that someone can type up and submit an article that is false or has untrue pieces of information in it. Certain controversial issues are very sensitive. Someone who disagrees with an issue can go in and change the article to say horrible things about the issue and the people who believe in it, and vice versa. As a student who does not know much about these issues, when I log onto a website to find information, I expect it to be a neutral website made strictly for informative purposes. Also, I work best under pressure. I tend to wait until the last minute to do my work. There have been instances, however, that there has been a power failure or the internet has been down. If I had been using books or periodicals, this would not be an issue. I am positive that I am not the only one with this problem. So lately, inventors and programmers have been working to make the internet more steady and reliable.
I believe that the internet has had effects on everyone, both positive and negative. Anyone who says they have only had positive experiences, or only negative, is not telling you the whole story. Or they are not looking at the big picture. Sure, everything gets easier, but we get lazier and start relying on things that are not completely reliable. We are also becoming less personable, as we can contact each other without meeting up with them. I can send out a few emails and get information or material things without even meeting the person I acquired them from. This cannot be good for us in the long run. While the internet has been helpful, I hope we all start realizing that we need to have back up plans, and we need to meet face to face. How can we call ourselves one nation when we are not even willing to meet face to face?

At a huge school like Penn State, it is possible and likely that by the time you graduate, you will only know a tiny fraction of your fellow Nittany Lions. I love this school for the opportunities and experiences it presents me with, but I don’t like how impersonal it seems at times. I know very little about anyone here other than my close friends, and I am sure you are in a similar situation. So here are some interesting things about me. Most of them will never affect your life. But when you head out of Happy Valley for bigger and better places, you will be able to say that you knew me. And who knows? It could be the start of an awesome friendship.

My name is Jocelyn, but almost everybody calls me Joci. I’m a Scorpio – my birthday is November 20th. I speak English, Spanish, Italian and French, and I know some American Sign Language. I love talking; hence all those languages. If I am not eating, I am chewing gum. I am 75% Italian – I talk with my hands, love to eat, and will argue with you until the cows come home. I love stupid expressions, like “until the cows come home” and “more (whatever) than you can shake a stick at.” I also love pickup lines and corny jokes. I am usually happy, and if I’m happy, I’ll laugh at just about anything. I skydive, rock climb, go whitewater rafting and swimming with sharks or stingrays, but I am very afraid of clowns and people in masks. I hate chocolate and sometimes get very claustrophobic. I am completely ambidextrous, and an obsessive-compulsive neat freak. I love shoes and have over 75 pairs, but I can usually be found walking around barefoot. I am an audiophile – I constantly have to have music on; it doesn’t matter what type. I like watching movies and most sports. I am not shy or modest. Dean Koontz is my favorite author. I love reading classics, romance, mystery, and horror novels. I hate the summer – bundle me up and play with me in the snow. I love to be cuddled and I am a big believer in fate. I bite my nails. I have a beta fish named Elvis (after the King) and a stuffed monkey named Mongo in my dorm room, and 2 dogs named Maui and Zeke back at home. I love children, and in the future I hope to get married and have a family of my own. I’m a Jersey girl, and no, I still do not know how to pump gas into my car. I am horrible with directions – I couldn’t navigate my way out of a cardboard box. I have a lot of energy and I am enthusiastic about almost everything. I am constantly doodling. I have a wild imagination, and I tend to be an overachiever. I have 8 piercings - 3 in each earlobe, 1 in my left cartilage, and 1 in my right tragus.

That is just the beginning. If you want to know more, just come and talk to me. I love meeting new people!