Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is totally new to me! I bookmark sites often, but only on my own computer, not through a browser. I usually only bookmark sites that I visit repeatedly - nothing interesting, mostly bill-related like AT&T and Citibank! So I did a bit of research first to see what this could be used for...

According to About.com:
"Even if you don't bookmark a lot of websites, you can still benefit from a social bookmarking website. The most valuable piece of information we have on any product -- be it a book, a movie, a computer, a car, or something else entirely -- is what other people have to say about it."

This is interesting, but it makes me think about the other question posted in our syllabus - "can we add to the message without increasing the noise?" I looked around delicious but really didn't even know where to start looking for a site that I would find useful and/or relevant. But I do find it interesting and I can see where this would be particularly useful with a specific project/job in mind. Many of the articles I read referenced social bookmarking's usefulness to teachers - sharing sites that can provide good lesson plans, etc. I can see how it could be useful as a student in working on group projects - to be able to share sites with research information.

Anyway, I've added my delicious site as an RSS feed on my blog. I tried to look for others in the class to share my bookmarks with but it's impossible without knowing user names.. So come find me, user name = shann7998, I've only bookmarked the articles I mentioned above regarding social bookmarking!

Anya at La Salette

This is a Maynard (my mom's side) family Christmas tradition - the annual trip to La Salette, a park dedicated to a Christmas light display! The video is of my cousin's baby Anya, and her first trip joining this time-honored tradition ;)

Social Networking

My Social Networking Experience...

Ok, my experience with social networking recently has been more work than social. I think (according to Wikipedia) that MySpace began around the summer of 2003, following Friendster and copying its more popular features. I never joined Friendster, and I think that I joined MySpace around the winter of 2005?..

It was addicting at first, especially for me because I've lived/worked around the world. So many of my friends I keep in touch with via email/phone because we don't live anywhere near each other. I would mean to only check MySpace, and then spend hours catching up with people, seeing what they were up to now, looking at photos, etc.. As a performer, my friends and I tend towards the nomadic.. It is hard to keep up with a group of friends that have new jobs in different continents every few months or so!! So MySpace was addicting because it wasn't stagnant like email, but I could look through their sites - at pictures, blogs, etc. (this was a little before video posts were common, I think) - and 'feel' like I was catching up with them.

But now, I have a hard time keeping up with everything! I use social networking (mostly Facebook) for marketing purposes in the various internships I've had and for communication on behalf of the TC student organization I'm president of. I'm interested in arts marketing, and my internships have primarily been involved with online media. So when all of this becomes work instead of 'catching up with friends', it makes it a little less fun..

That said, I do still think social networking sites are great marketing tools, and much more fun to build a 3D mailing list than just send postcards from a list of database-generated addresses. But I do participate in it less as myself, just for fun..
That could have something to do with being a graduate student, as well :)

http://www.myspace.com/shannonmariehouston
http://www.facebook.com/people/Shannon_Houston/1039613434

Online Audiences - Passive or Participatory?

From Rebecca Blood, author/creator of Rebecca's Pocket Blog
http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

In Douglas Rushkoff's Media Virus, Greg Ruggiero of the Immediast Underground is quoted as saying, "Media is a corporate possession...You cannot participate in the media. Bringing that into the foreground is the first step. The second step is to define the difference between public and audience. An audience is passive; a public is participatory. We need a definition of media that is public in its orientation."

This quote from Greg Ruggiero is very interesting to me, and speaks to one of my earlier posts. Although as a performer (former dancer), I would disagree with the thought that an audience is passive. I think an audience can be passive, if the speaker believes it to be true. But for me, as a dancer, the best performances were the ones in which the audience was actively engaged. Instead of feeling the imaginary 'fourth wall' separating the audience from the stage, that is stripped away and the audience is pulled in to the action. So Web 2.0 has allowed for the media 'fourth wall' to be stripped away. The audience is only passive if the subject chooses. Prior to Web 2.0, the subject (media) didn't have a choice, only those sophisticated in HTML could participate. But now everyone can, and so the question is how media can take advantage of the opportunity to pull the audience in.

Instructional Video-Spanish Web

Welcome Tyson!

My brother's new boxer puppy Tyson's YouTube debut!