Filtered Judgment

The internet is everywhere; even in the air you breathe. It is made up of everything. It’s there when you do your homework, when you relax, or when you pay your taxes. How can something so comprehensive not be a part of my life, for better or worse? The internet hasn’t been around for too long, but I have grown up with it (as one of the first generations to do so). The internet has been, at times, the bane of my existence. It has been my addiction. It is like a girlfriend: a love/ hate relationship exists, but you always go crawling back in the end.
I am part of the few generations out of thousands to come that can say they survived “the dial tone” stage of the internet without losing sanity. I remember AOL, the exact tonal pattern of my dial up connection, and the headache those tones used to give me. I couldn’t have been older than ten or eleven when I first had the urge to go online. It was when the Disney Channel had special games on their site that synchronized with the television shows during the afternoon. I would have traded all my Power Rangers and Pokemon cards to have my username associated with a high score on those commercials. However, this was not meant to be. In general, the internet provided mild entertainment for me as a child, and no, I don’t still play those games.
I am living now in the growing stages of broadband internet, social networking sites, and streaming video. As in Colonial times, these new waters may be littered with piracy, and a need for new laws, but the rewards for discovery and breakthrough are many. I can go online and check email, and read all the pointless details of my friends lives (even some things I wish I didn’t know). Or, I could streamline the latest Jim Gaffigan comedy routine and discover if my football team has lost any more of their most valuable players. I could shop. I sometimes wonder if there is a need to leave the desk at all. That’s usually when I go to the bathroom. Doing all of these things at the same time may describe a new plateau for laziness, but ease of access to so much information is the sole reason I have for gleaning it. I don’t need to read a newspaper. That would take an hour, and I’m already spending several online. I don’t need to call my friends, if I can have several conversations at the same time on AIM, a messaging program.
I would say that the primary reason for me to go online at this age is to stay social. I have friends in many states and countries that I can only talk effectively and cheaply to from the internet. I have cousins in Spain, and I can talk to them much more on the internet than long distance over a phone line. Websites like Facebook have changed the way I communicate. I now check my email and this website multiple times daily, and keep track of news about several people’s lives. I never forget a birthday! Facebook reminds me every time. Not unlike an addiction, however, it controls a lot of my free time.
My mom always used to say that watching too much television would turn my brain to mush. This scares me, because I spend more time on the internet daily than I do watching television in a week. The only difference between them is that my fingers are cramping, and slowly developing carpel tunnel while I go on the internet, as opposed to their near-death stillness while watching television.
As I think of all the wonderful things I’ve learned from going to the internet, though, my fears melt away. I have answered too many questions by consulting the internet to count. I just built a desktop computer the week I got to State College. I was able to troubleshoot eight separate problems that I had by going onto the internet and searching for the answer. I got those answers in an average speed of five minutes from the comfort of my room, with all the parts in front of me as reference. One would assume that you could find anything online. This is what makes the internet the most frustrating.
The internet is so vast, that when I can’t find what I’m looking for I might as well give up. For me, the internet is so reliable; I’ve forgotten how to use other sources of information efficiently. The only thing more frustrating than not finding your answer on the internet is the knowledge you would have it already if your connection wasn’t so slow. The internet has been a major contributor to the mentality that gratification is instantaneous. People in my generation want starting salaries above last generation’s average for beginning employees. They want them the way they want their internet: fast, and with little work. The Slowskies, commercial advertisers for Comcast digital cable, illustrate this point in beautiful satire. Slow downloads can be agonizing for those used to faster internet speeds. I am guilty of actually yelling at the internet from my desk chair, as if it could hear me, when it is remotely erratic in behavior.
Perhaps the most interesting topic is how the internet has the potential to change the way I live in the future. What other tasks in human life that required work will be done from the computer chair? Will there still be a need for desks when the wireless phenomenon takes hold? It’s possible I could do my grocery shopping, pay my bills, or meet the love of my life. I may not know the exact way that it can affect my future, but I do know that whatever I do with it will be fundamentally different than how I use it now. When I was a boy, I used it to play games. Now, in my quest for answers to the questions of life, it is my principle resource for information. In the future it’s a possibility a career path could arise involving the creation or maintenance of websites, essentially the creation of the same media I absorbed in my youth. That would bring the entire argument “full circle”! The internet hasn’t changed since I started using it necessarily as much as my needs have changed. The beautiful path of discovery, to asking questions, to providing answers to those questions for others, is really what it’s all about: sharing knowledge.
The effect the internet has had on me is as intangible as the internet itself, because it has affected me in so many diverse and unique ways that it is no longer possible to separate my life from it. I have hated it, praised it, used it and abused it. It has been an invaluable resource to me. Whether I like it or not, it’s here to stay. And I when need it, I’ll always be glad that it’s there.

Well, its almost the end of the week, and once again, I cant believe all the new things I've learned about in my classes. They have become minor addictions, growing every second. This is why it falls under the jurisdiction or filtered judgment. I choose to become addicted to these things (explained later) based off of all the ways it should save me time or better my online experience. However, I also ignore all the many ways that these new things are sucking my soul into the next realm. Hence filtered judgment.
Take my PSU017 Seminar class. During class on monday, we toured the IST building at Penn State. I was casually introduced to del.icio.us. This useful site allows you to save your favorites on their website, allowing you to have the same favorites list as long as you have an internet connection, on any computer. It is a free service I have employed and now use religiously; I highly recommend it.
RSS Feeds!! I love them. I always knew what they were, but I never used them until This week in class. What a time saver! Checking all of your news or updates to your favorite web sites in the same place is great. Google Groups? I now have two. I cant believe I ever emailed a paper to somebody. I have groups where my high school friends are posting funny pictures, music, essays, essentially anything they want for our downloading pleasure. It is a remarkable way to keep in touch that goes beyond the capabilities of facebook or myspace.
Didn't I say that all of these things were supposed to be time savers? Well, I cant keep up with all the news on the rss feeds, so Im really wasting time there reading things that I cant process as fast as they come in. That is really hard. All in all, I think Im spending 3x as much time on the internet as I did before. So much for saving time...haha

Ok, I'll admit it. I am a self proclaimed gamer. I often make the filtered judgment to find some game to play on a rainy day like today rather than something productive, like my homework for this weekend.
Like all hobbyists, i follow all the latest news pertinent to said hobby: what new games are coming out? Do they have features I like? How was this game reviewed? All questions worth asking in the world of inflation and rising game prices. The blog I will break down today is sc2blog.com. This stands for one of the games I anticipate most this upcoming year (with any luck). Starcraft 2.

Starcraft was a title released for the PC by the Blizzard corporation in 1998 (Mac in 1999) that re-defined the genre of "real time strategy" games. this is, for all the non-gamers, a game that is not turn based; every player is working to accomplish their objective at the same time against eachother. Starcraft was based in very simple logic. You are one of three generals leading opposing armies: humans (known as terrans), the Zerg, best described as the creatures from the blockbuster "Alien" and their brood, and the Protoss, a highly evolved race of psychic beings. Each army had different strengths and weaknesses. The key to the success of this classic, like many games, was its replayable nature (It is still played avidly today). It was so well balanced that any army could win, pushing players to be better tacticians, or faster, aka pushing into the realm of skill. After nearly 10 years, Blizzard is finally releasing a sequel. Starcraft 2.

Starcraft 2 will be an amazing sequel and I wont bore you with the details.. But obviously fans like me will have many questions about new features, release information, and gameplay videos to wet our appetites. The official website by Blizzard is oddly enough not very helpful at answering these questions. SC2blog.com is a one stop shop for a massive wealth of information about it.
SC2blog.com has information on new units categorized for easy access, databases of question and answer sessions regarding changes, the nifty language translation bar, for those fans that don't speak English, and the original storyline outlined for new comers to catch up.
By far the most useful feature of this blog that the official website cant do is harness the community. It has many articles, forums, and comment archives about what the fans are talking about, something I find almost as interesting as the game itself. Giving the fans a place to discuss, theorize, and shape there hopes for this game is far more valuable than most marketing techniques out there. Let the public hype your game; it saves you, the company, the trouble..
What a valuable tool for user input! The game hasn't yet undergone beta testing, which is when they release a limited multi player only version of a new game and collect data on how things play so they can tweak unbalanced facets of the game before shipment. Until that beta test is finished, anything is subject to change. Having this blog means an organized view of the fan base for Blizzard, as well as a display of what the fans really really really want to see (excuse the bad grammar). In the end, isn't the point to make a game that your fans want to play? What's my blog doing for the community? Hopefully encouraging you to do something...What it is, who knows?
SC2blog.com is maintained by Anderson McCutcheon. His other major project is terranozergus.com.

Many things they tell you about college before you get here are relevant and wise. For instance, changing your sheets more than four times a semester is wise. Also, on a serious note, making sure you make time for studying. The truest thing anyone can tell you, though, is that you have to prepare for diversity. They weren't kidding!
After class today, a classmate and I went to lunch at the hub. We went to Chic-Fil-A, a fast food joint that is one of my favorites. I would get it back home all the time. As expensive as it is (stupid meal point-$ conversion rate), He had never been, and that is like sacrilege!! Hence, the title..
We got talking about where we came from and our backgrounds. For privacy, solely because I haven't asked him, I wont use the name. I talked about all the opportunities that I had been given in high school to perform in various places. I talked of my trips to Europe and musicals I've been in, both of which blew him away. I don't always remember how lucky I've been to do that so early in my life. On the opposite side of the spectrum, I found it really interesting and cool that his school had a large section dedicated to the automotive industry. He conversed nonchalantly about how in class he would diagnose engine problems and work on body detail. My high school wouldn't have had the ability, facility, or the "cool factor" necessary to do that. If I had had that opportunity, though, I would have taken advantage of it.
This isn't the only example of differences in youth I have encountered. Simple things, like how my roommate enjoys sleeping with the television on. Or how one man on my floor requires that if you are to sit on his bed, (we are in East; it's that or the floor), you sit on the comforter. Now, I know my pants are clean. I promise. I know your concerned, but he asks that of everyone. I checked. I have been told that I have a quirky habit of hitting the "snooze" button on my alarm clock more then I should...say seven or eight times. In my defense, I don't think that I'm awake when I'm doing it, but obviously, somebody noticed.
The beauty of college is that it forces you out of your comfort zone. It is a blend of things you know and are comfortable with, and those that are so outlandish to you, you are forced to wonder how it's possible they are done!!

P.S. Anyone else who has never been to Chic-Fil-A: I forgive you. Check it out in the bottom of the hub. Next to Nathan's, you wont regret it....

Since a lot of my classmates have written about how blogging at work or as a career, I wanted to look for people that recommend blogging, or at least a profession where it was common practice. Here is what I found.

There is a site called Lexblog which is a personal webspace hosting a significant number of blogs written by Lawyers.
One in particular, Kevin, wrote about 15 ways to become an influential blogger. As the author of the site, Kevin has quite a history. Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs is the leading source of information and commentary on the use of blogs, RSS, and social media for the marketing of law firms.

Kevin, President of LexBlog, Inc., was a trial lawyer for 17 years. Practicing law in rural Wisconsin, he successfully marketed his own law firm on the Internet in a such a positive way that USA Today said "If O'Keefe isn't careful, he may wind up giving lawyers a good name.

(information taken directly from his "about Kevin" page)

He ran his practice virtually online, and then moved towards blogging about bloggers in law, in a blog called prairelaw.com. This was later bought by lawyers.com, which unfortunately requires an account to sign in, so no link.

Kevin outlined a blog post by Skelliewag, another lawyer blogger, describing ways to blog like a professional, and become influential in your blogging community. Although geared towards other lawyers, its content is really universal. Some of my favorites:

# Respond to criticism with dignity. Every blogger with a readership will be criticized at some point. The way you deal with such criticism will leave a distinct mark on your profile, so make sure that mark is a positive one. Getting involved in a tit-for-tat may cause your credibility to spring a leak. As LexBlog's Creative Director, Greg Storey, would say, don't be an asshat. Lawyers are known for infighting. The blogoshere is not the place for it, word of it spreads far faster and wider. At the same time, defend your ground with passion, the blogosphere respects people with a spine.
# Use an authoritative voice. And no, that doesn’t mean talk like a police officer. There’s a common trait amongst most influential bloggers: they write well, they write fluently, they care about things like spelling, grammar and expression. They write with clarity. The more people who can understand you and ‘get’ what you’re trying to say, the further your ideas will spread.
(taken from the blog directly)

One very interesting concept he brought up was interviewing people and posting on the result on the blog as a great way for new quality content. I think this would be a good thing for many members of our class. It is a method to get to know each other as a unit, as well as give us blog posts. I, for instance, would love to talk in depth with someone who has a wealth of knowledge in the subject of programming, for I am an interested enthusiast that could use information gleaned from such a source. If not that, How about someone in the interest house willing to share the pros and cons? I would love to hear an insiders view on the subject. I'm looking at it as a living option currently and I'm very curious. This would also, obviously, add posts to our blog, which increases our grade (in some way, right?).

If you are interested in the blogs mentioned above, out of curiousness or an interest in Law, here are some RSS links:

Skelliewag

Kevin's Lexblog:

Particularly, for those interested in the plenty of valuable tidbits Kevin's blog may have to offer you all individually, this is his home page. The right column has several topics that may be of use to you.

Policies on blogging, in my opinion, seem largely dependent on the nature of the institution and the regulation of communication to protect its interests. The three institutions I chose to analyze are IBM, Sun Corporation, and Harvard. The first two should serve to demonstrate that two companies of similar interests have similar policies on blogging. The last example shows how a different institution, such as an academic one, could vary in its interests and therefore its policy.

Wow. That was very dry and boring! I felt like I was falling asleep in (a non - IST110) class again... Essentially, What are companies afraid could be leaked through blogs? Why wouldn't this bother a University? Now may be the time to press the "Wow that was Easy!" button next to your stapler.

Starting with IBM's policy, linked here, thanks to James Snell of the IBM blog as of 2005.

IBM has been a leader in pioneering new technologies for a long time. When blogging became popular, and most importantly when companies began trying to shut it down internally, IBM supported its employees. They were encouraged to blog for the purpose of applying open-exchange learning and for contributing to the company PR. They issued guidelines, not rules, for blogging safely. Highlights include:

• If you publish a blog or post to a blog and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with IBM, use a disclaimer such as this: "The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions."
• Don’t provide IBM’s or another’s confidential or other proprietary information.
• Don't pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don't alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
• Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective.

Sun Corporation agrees wholeheartedly with IBM in this regard. They take it one more step down, from guidelines to even more informal "advice". The Sun Corp. policy highlights include (full document here):

• It's a Two-Way Street The real goal isn't to get everyone at Sun blogging, it's to become part of the industry conversation. So, whether or not you're going to write, and especially if you are, look around and do some reading, so you learn where the conversation is and what people are saying. If you start writing, remember the Web is all about links; when you see something interesting and relevant, link to it; you'll be doing your readers a service, and you'll also generate links back to you; a win-win.
• Write What You Know The best way to be interesting, stay out of trouble, and have fun is to write about what you know. If you have a deep understanding of some chunk of Solaris or a hot JSR, it's hard to get into too much trouble, or be boring, talking about the issues and challenges around that. On the other hand, a Solaris architect who publishes rants on marketing strategy, or whether Java should be open-sourced, has a good chance of being embarrassed by a real expert, or of being boring.

For the sake of repetition, I didn't post statements that overlapped with the IBM policy, but they also talk of disclaimers and protecting private information. They want an employee to make the company look good!
Now to take a large step out of the box, I'm going to explore a university's blogging policy, specifically Harvard's. Full article here, highlights below:

• Rights in the Content You Submit: Unless you specify otherwise, any and all works of authorship copyrightable by you and posted by you to any blog (“Content”) are submitted under the terms of an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons Public License. Under this license, you permit anyone to copy, distribute, display and perform your Content, royalty-free, on the condition that they credit your authorship each time they do so.
• By posting your Content using the Services, you are granting Harvard a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, and worldwide license to use your Content in connection with the operation of the Services, including, without limitation, the license rights to copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Content, and/or to incorporate it into a collective work.
• You agree that you will not knowingly and with intent to defraud provide material and misleading false information. You represent and warrant also that the content you supply does not violate these Terms, and that you will indemnify and hold Harvard harmless for any and all claims resulting from content you supply.

As you may have guessed from pieces of their policy, Harvard wants to protect itself like every other company, but Harvard has a larger interest: rights. Harvard assumes that most blogging will take place for research purposes, and therefore wants rights to that knowledge as intellectual property of the student, and for the bigger picture, the University.

After reading a blog by an Apple employee, I answered one of the questions that has been forming in the back of my mind since the beginning of this discussion. Posted here, he forcefully, and at times crudely, explains why Apple Corp. has no official blogging policy. Essentially, He asserts that you don't need one if you have a comprehensive policy on communication already. They overlap. A policy that defines what can and can't be discussed with members outside of the company naturally covers blogs, which can be read by anyone. The writer may need a reminder of their "universal" audience from time to time, but according to chuqui, the alias of the author of this blog, most parts of a blogging policy are already covered in some other policy agreement.

This doesn't mean that the valuable advice inside the policies above shouldn't be given by a company to its employees. Also, it doesn't necessarily apply to a University setting, because of the nature of education and the need for shared learning. One reason might simply be that students and grad students don't sign contracts to become students with communication restrictions.

I think a good standard practice would be a disclaimer for the company, and in general to blog about topics you feel you know well. If forced to make a strong opinion, do it in a way you would let your boss read. Remember, your content is your responsibilty. If you develop an online presence that is respected, then you have succeeded in this goal, because few people read blogs that are rude and respect them.

I found this exercise a little trying, but altogether helpful in developing awareness about what is expected if I were to continue blogging in the workplace. This is always very important to me: defining real world applications for whatever I learn in school. Shouldn't that be everyone's goal?

Youtube's finest everyone: enjoy!!

My Mom is very interested in what I do. I'm sure most of my classmates share a family member or friend that have listened to you talk about the course work of IST 110. Has anyone else caused that person to pick up blogging?

My Mother is a teacher at my old elementary school. She is considered to be the technology "go-to-gal" among the faculty there, teaching older teachers the values of e-mail and Powerpoint. She has had all that she can stand watching me have all the fun; she has joined the Blogoshere as a Teacher that is trying to incorporate technology as a resource to strengthen the learning relationship a teacher has with her students and colleagues. I am very proud of her. I love my Mommy. She now has this in writing - I am not ashamed to call her Mommy. Why should we have all the fun?

She is using Blogger.com. Seeing as how almost all of us have google accounts, you can use them to set up a blog for free at Blogger.com. Maybe if you're not already swamped with your current blog, and want to write about something that interests you, that is a way to get free webspace.

To close, I had sent an email about mindjet's Mind Manager Pro to the class. This is the demo that mindjet has on their website... See you all at class tomorrow!

- As a note, this post has been slightly edited from its original form. I changed the song to the final cut of the song: Walk Between Two Rivers. I also was mixed up. The album name is Fortunate Accident, not the Band name.

My 16 year old brother never ceases to amaze me... He plays the guitar, and for a long time now he has been working on putting together a band. He took a pause from that to do a solo acoustic album of original songs. He wrote, recorded, played, and sang all of the lyrics. I think that for his age he is immensely talented. if you like this type of music at all, you'll hear that he is just beginning and already he is enjoyable. I am currently praising (before it even comes out) this solo album. With any luck, i should have the finished copy in my hands when he comes to visit me this weekend. If you want to hear more of him, you can contact me at any time. I'm just a proud older brother (and a little biased...).

In case you want to visit his music myspace (I think the songs currently posted there are versions of past work)... His album is called "Fortunate Accident." I personally like "Am I Ok" the best...

Movable Type Publishing Platform may not have all you're looking for. I was looking for a way to embed music into my blog yesterday. If anyone is interested in how I was able to do that, for their own curiosity, or to better their blog, here are some tips about HTML.
HTML is the programming language that governs the design of web pages. Most people are familiar with this term. There are several good online resources for beginners in HTML. I found two for the lazy:

• Tag Syntax Resources: "Tags" are essentially the vocabulary of HTML
• A Guide to Your First Web Page: Written by Dave Raggett (links to his homepage if you liked this)

I have had some formal background in HTML. I took a class a few years back. I don't claim to be an expert, but I do feel comfortable with the basics. It would be difficult to read (or for me to write) HTML in this blog, because It won't let me actually write the code without implementing it before publication. This means I see code, you see what the code does. This
is a document I wrote about the basic structure of an HTML document. This is the output of the code I wrote. I spent a good amount of time with this, but if it helps one person, it's worth it.

HTML tags can be used in the entry body box when you write entries to the blog. If you wanted to add a song, like I did, you would just need to upload the song to your webspace and use the embed tag, the source being the address of the song. For specific questions about this and formatting, ask. I only don't write them because they get complicated. For instance, what if you upload an itunes song in the .m4a format? People with itunes would be able to play the song, but others who don't will be left out. Make sure the music file is a .mp3 file. Nearly (if not) everything can play this.

If programming interests you, HTML or otherwise, I have to make this recommendation. Notepad++ is an open source text editor from heaven itself. It supports over 80 programming languages, color coding tags or statements or functions to ease the eyes. It's very easy to use. If you want it, the download link is here. Give it a try. It can't compile it for you ( for languages like C++ and Python) but you could write in it, save it with the correct extension, and compile it using something else (if this applies to you).

Let me know if I could have been more explanatory about a specific topic, or if you have any questions and want to talk to a human being about them. Happy coding!

The purpose of this section of the class was to show us the "wonders of the blogoshere" and all its benefits. I feel that it has, to the point at which I may now become a blogger! I really enjoy writing to an audience, but I am feeling like the rules of this assignment are starting to become restrictions... I thought that in the beginning of this project the assignments counted as entries. I guess I'm wrong, but I threw my energy into those assignments, and some of my best posts no longer count towards my final project. I by no means am saying that posts like my Youtube video or my brother's song should count towards my academic blog, but what about our general college experiences? I have written about things that I've learned while at PSU that extend beyond the scope of my IST 110 Honors classroom. It's ironic, because the vibe I always got from that class was that it was about pushing the envelope, extending beyond classroom limits, using everything from the technology to the "open forum" style in which class is conducted to do so. It seems counterintuitive to have our blogs filled only with the topics at hand. Our lives are full of experiences that could make our blogs creative, unique, and fun to read. Do these types of posts count simply because they make our work more creative?
The course material has succeeded, but did it do so as it intended? I may in fact become an active blogger, but it has more to do with wanting to get out and write about things for which I have a passion. I feel better about it! But what about those kids that may not be getting into the the class assignments, but would write about something that kindles their fire, loosing in them that beautiful spark of human spirit? It takes time to put these posts together. I have spent a good couple hours on my blog posts from time to time, and it's hard to find that time. The thought of keeping some level of creativity while doubling the output of my blog is daunting to say the least. Sometimes it's hard to make the posts about class topics creative.
To recap: of course, we need to have a curriculum, and we have to do those posts for the class. I have no intention of complaining about them, because I learn more interesting things after each one. I'm only saying that practically speaking, if it was only meant to be academic, then for future classes it should be called an academic blog and not an academic/personal blog. I have become personally attached to my blog. I want it to be just as much about me as a person as a student.

~~ As to the earlier version of this post (it has been made less scathing), I apologize. I have to learn to not post in my blog until I can speak like a big boy about the topic at hand.