Left, Anna and her daughter Bee in Paris.

A spokesperson for Vogue has said that the magazine hired the creators of Blue State Digital to work on Vogue’s online presence in both editorial and business. They’re focusing on outreach to readers and subscribers.

Blue State is most famous for the creations of my.barackobama.com, the online site that organized phonebanking, canvassing, and donations to the Obama campaign.

Tom Florio, a publisher, is said to be actively involved in the new Vogue online presence, but after seeing The September Issue, I have a hard time seeing this decision being made without Anna Wintour’s express approval.

Interesting choice by the woman who once famously refused to even say the word blog. Maybe she was influenced by her daughter’s decision to take a job at Collegehumor.com instead of working at a traditional print or magazine outlet.

Anna Wintour is famous for, among other things, catching onto the trend of celebrities in fashion/beauty early. It’s nice to see that she’s finally recognized the power of online media, and maybe even blogging!

Source:Jezebel

It’s FATBIDIN.TV update time! If you ain’t sick of it yet… that means I haven’t spammed you enough! Hahaha!

FAT BIDIN PRESENTS…
THE LIFE & TIMES OF AN ISLAMIC INSURGENCY
Part 4 of 15
Zan attends a marriage course in Pattani. Apparently, 31 is too late if you want to get married! And the film is still banned in Malaysia.

WE THE PEOPLE… Chatting with academicians about media censorship
Censorship… we never get tired talking about it.

THE P1 NET SHOW
Episode 4 – QTM… and Michael Lai singing!
QTM is when the P1 team gets together and finds out what is going on with everything. It’s also an excuse for a little rock star fantasy!

Oleh Hejis

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MEDIA BARU DAN FUNGSI MEDIA MASSA
Dalam dunia politik kita telah lama mengenal media massa yang memiliki ciri-ciri sebagai media yang bersifat massal, serempak, menjangkau tempat-tempat yang jauh, massa yang bersifat heterogen. Media massa politik digunakan sebagai media komunikasi antara tokoh politik dan massa, antara tokoh politik dan tokoh politik, dan antara anggota-anggota masa. Bentuk media massa adalah buku, koran, majalah, radio, film, televisi.

Kini muncul media internet yang mewabah ke seluruh penjuru bumi dengan karakteristik yang merangkum semua ciri-ciri yang ada pada media massa konvensional. Ini yang disebut para ahli sebagai “media baru” (the new media). Di dalam internet kita bisa membaca buku, majalah; mendengarkan radio; menonton film dan televisi. Bahkan muncul media untuk membentuk atau mempererat jaringan sosial (social network), seperti Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, chatting, dan lain sebagainya. Di dalam internet, bahkan, orang dapat membuat medianya sendiri, seperti web dan blog.

Fungsi-fungsi media massa yang tradisional dan media baru itu pada pokoknya adalah untuk memperefektif komunikasi yang bertujuan untuk mencari hiburan, mencari informasi, memberikan informasi, memerintah atau memersuasi (to persuade), mengajar dan mendidik atau membelajarkan, melarikan diri dari masalah-masalah psikologis individual, dan beriklan.

FUNGSI FB DALAM RANAH POLITIK
Pada awalnya Facebook (FB) digunakan sebagai media untuk mempererat jaringan sosial saja. Namun, seiring perkembangan penggunaan FB telah menjadi kekuatan untuk melakukan fungsi-fungsi politik. Di Amerika Serikat, misalnya, FB telah membantu Barrack Obama menapaki tampuk kekuasaan tertinggi sebagai Presiden. Atau, di Indonesia, FB telah menjadi kekuatan penekan bagi publik terhadap perorangan atau lembaga yang dianggap mencederai kepentingan publik. Kita dapat mengambil contoh kasus Prita Mulyasari ketika ia berseteru dengan sebuah rumah sakit yang tdk melakukan pelayanan dengan baik. Dalam kasus ini dukungan para facebooker mencapai ratusan ribu. Kasus perseteruan antara Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi dan Kepolisian RI, juga dapat diambil contoh untuk membuktikan kekuatan FB sebagai media komunikasi politik untuk melakukan tekanan kepada pihak pemerintah.

Sejatinya, selain berfungsi untuk melakukan tekanan, hal yang tak kalah penting adalah bahwa FB dapat menjalankan komunikasi politik antara aktor-aktor politik. Di sini para pihak dapat mengambil peran yang positif untuk mencapai tujuan berpolitik secara bermartabat. Pihak-pihak dalam komunitas FB dapat mencari dan memberikan informasi, menyosialisasikan kebijakan-kebijakan partai atau pemerintah, mencari masukan dan memberikan masukan, mengajarkan nilai-nilai yang baik untuk hidup bernegara, dan menyampaikan kritik.

ZOON POLITICON, SIKAP DAN PERILAKU POLITIK FB-Er
Manusia pada dasarnya adalah makhluk politik (zoon politicon). Ini sudah dikenal ratusan bahkan ribuan tahun yang lalu sejak zaman kerajaan-kerajaan di Yunani, di Mesir Kuna, di Babylonia, dan lain-lain. Oleh karena itu, kita sebagai manusia tak bisa lepas atau melepaskan diri dari dunia politik. Dunia politik adalah dunia kita sehari-hari. Selama kita hidup di bawah satu negara, maka selama itu pula kita berurusan dengan dunia politik, baik suka maupun tidak suka. Politik adalah urusan tentang pengelolaan kekuasaan yang mengatur orang hidup bernegara. Urusan ini mencakup mulai dari pembentukan dan kewenangan pejabat-pejabat negara hingga urusan menentukan harga sembako. Mulai dari pelantikan anggota DPR hingga penggusuran pedagang kaki lima. Mulai dari pembuatan UU anti-korupsi hingga pengaturan pajak kendaraan bermotor.

Jadi, sekali lagi, kita tak dapat terhindar maupun menghindarkan diri dari dunia politik. Namun, mungkin karena praktik politik yang dilakukan para aktor politik (misalnya para pejabat negara, partai politik, elite politik, penegak hukum, anggota parlemen) di negara kita sungguh membuat rakyat kecewa, maka sebagian orang (termasuk facebooker) menghindarkan diri atau bahkan tidak menyukai dunia politik. Ini sikap yang keliru. Karena, seperti telah disebutkan di atas, dunia politik berkenaan dengan urusan kekuasaan dalam hidup bernegara. Dengan kata lain, urusan politik adalah urusan kita sehari-hari.

Oleh sebab itu, alangkah baiknya bila kita peduli terhadap urusan politik walaupun mungkin tanpa ikut terjun langsung sebagai anggota partai politik. Kepedulian ini dapat diwujudkan dengan mencari informasi-informasi yang cukup tentang kebijakan pemerintah, landasan-landasan hukum, praktik-praktik politik oleh para aktor, dan lain-lain yang pada prinsipnya berusaha untuk tidak buta politik. Manfaat dari usaha itu adalah, sebagai pribadi, orang akan dapat memberikan kontribusi untuk kebaikan bersama dan tidak dapat dengan mudah dikelabui oleh aktor-aktor politik yang jahat, serta dapat sebagai bekal bila kelak mengambil pilihan untuk terjun di dunia politik.

Pemikiran-pemikiran seperti tersebut di atas mendorong lahirnya sebuah grup di Facebook dengan nama PARTAI FACEBOOKER MERDEKA. Partai ini (waduh, sebutannya partai. Menyeramkan! hehe…) cukup mendapatkan tanggapan yang antusias dari para facebooker. Dalam waktu seminggu, facebooker yang mendaftarkan diri mencapai 4.546 member dan terus bertambah tiap menitnya.***

KUNJUNGI Situs grup PARTAI FACEBOOKER MERDEKA

KLIK DI SINI PARTAI FACEBOOKER MERDEKA

Hear green LA girl talk about Blogging as a Profession at LMU 11/18

Yes, I blog for a living — though this blog alone doesn’t pay my rent. Curious about how you can stay solvent as an online writer? Then come to the Online Journalism and Blogging as a Profession panel I’ll be speaking on next week:

When: Wed., Nov. 18, 4:30 pm
Where: University Hall 3226,
Loyola Marymount University,
1 LMU Dr., Los Angeles
Cost: FREE — and refreshments will be served

The two other panelists are Richard Kearns, a blogger and activist on HIV and AIDS issues at aids-write.org and HAVVACC; and Simon Samano, associate editor of NFL.com.

Yes, this panel’s an LMU event, so most of the audience will be students. However, everyone’s still welcome to hear the panel — and enjoy the refreshments. Hope to see you there –

H&P partner, Barbra Pleadwell, spoke on the panel  “Tools for Change: The evolution of mass marketing and social media” at the Envision Hawaii conference at the State Capitol  Saturday (Nov. 14, 09).  A grafitti artist, a slam poet, a singer/songwriter and a digital media expert joined Barbra in the diverse panel.

The audience were excited over the potential of social media, followed by a healthy dose of nerves and questions on how to use tools like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs and Myspace to help your business or non-profit.

Barbra said that before you jump in, you should know the demographics of  your targeted audience.

These FREE tools have garnered plenty of interest.  Our firm is cautious in how it uses social media tools to spread messages for our clients.  It’s important to pay attention to the language you are using on each social media outlet.  Here, Barbra discusses how a message you put out on Twitter, may not be appropriate for Facebook.

Traditional media outlets are integrating these tools to reach more people.  Hawaii News Now is the best example in our local market.

Jared Kuriowa, director of interactive strategy, is the brains behind social media at Hawaii News Now. Here he talks about the most important rule of social media – be social.

-Kayla Samascott

To: Jim Brady

The beauty of local news is that one is writing for a small community. This small community will respond better to social media interaction than a non-cohesive national audience. The best way to interact with and engage this audience is to give readers their own avatars so they feel like part of a community when they are on a site, then encourage them in various ways to make their unique mark all over aspects of the site. Some sites already do this to a certain extent, but I think it is a strategy that hasn’t been explored to its fullest potential yet.

Every reader is an individual

DCist, a local news blog, has many active users. The most active 50 each week can be viewed here. The site tracks how often they post comments. I think this could be easily expanded to include how often they send in story tips, on-scene photographs, or post on message boards. For a breaking news event, these unique users will be more inclined to send in their content if they know it will be obvious who the credit goes to. Unique users who post comments regularly will begin to interact with each other. If these comment threads are monitored to make sure they don’t disintegrate into personal attacks, the users can build atop each others ideas, respond to each other, etc. With the advent of Twitter, comment threads are already moving in this direction, with many users making reference to “@Anonymous 4:35 a.m.” or however another user wishes to identify himself. Of course, some users will still choose to remain anonymous, but I think a majority will like the idea of having posts tied to a unique identity. The anonymity of the Web also won’t necessarily tie a username to a real name.

Tools

• Twitter Lists: Our site can make lists of users grouped by certian categories (the categories they choose). For example, some Twitter/avatar users of the site can be grouped into lists by neighborhood, by interest, by job type, etc. Because these lists are open, the users can interact better with each other and keep conversations going with like-minded individuals.
• Sidewiki: This Google application works like a sidebar conversation on a web page. On a news story, it could act like a different kind of comment box for regular unique users. Users can add not just insights but pictures, video and other content.
• Alerts: Today’s readers prize instant knowledge. They should be able to create through their personal avatars specialized alerts so they can filter out what they aren’t interested in and keep the alerts they really want.
• Google Wave and Google Latitude: These brand-new Google applications have different journalistic uses. With Latitude, a unique user can interact on the site with their phone from a certain location, and that could be tracked. For some, this might be too much of an invasion of privacy, but I feel many users would like the idea of being able to be located geographically and differentiated from a user in another neighborhood or city. For Wave the uses would be similar to Sidewiki, with side conversations going that can include various types of media like videos, pictures and live conversation.
• Phone Applications: BlackBerry and iPhone applications are the way of the future for mobile readers who want their news instantly. Our local news website would have one of these that would work on smartphones of all types. Their phone could be linked to their online avatar so that if they post a comment or add to the conversation in other ways, it will be tracked.

In the future of social media, I believe all users will have one unique identifying avatar that they can use across all platforms — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, etc. For now, we don’t have the technology to intergrate like that, but I feel like our site would be on the cutting edge of social media if we used this approach. Our readers would like it too.

Earth to politicians, candidates, and political activists:

If you choose to do or say something, and people don’t like it….stop blaming everyone but yourself.

“Bloggers” didn’t say that Catherine Crabill blamed the OKC terrorist attack on Bill Clinton, she was quoted word for word. “The media” didn’t say that proximity to Russia gives you foreign policy experience, the McCain campaign did.

Today, the Danville Tea Party said that the property owner doesn’t want them to burn Pelosi and Perriello in effigy…and they still blame bloggers!

Coleman said he was upset that people had gotten the wrong idea about his plan. “I’m disappointed that the story got out of hand and people misinterpreted something we thought would be a little historical lesson. They made people believe that we were committing an act of violence,” he said, adding that the “they” in question were the “liberal blogs.”

Social Media Marketiers fürchten kaum etwas mehr als die Folgen von Verbraucherrechtsverletzungen, die z.B. dank massenweiser Versteigerung von Bewerbungsunterlagen bei eBay, als vermutlich illegale systematische Aggregation persönlicher und urheberrechtlich geschützer Daten bei Yasni oder als tausendfach bei Google gelistete persönliche Kontaktbeziehungen aus XING mittlerweile tagtäglich Tausende von Konsumenten in ihren unmittelbaren Persönlichkeitsrechten schädigen. Auch im deutschsprachigen Raum wird der Ruf nach einer stärkeren (Selbst-) Regulierung des Marktes lauter.

New York, München, 10.11.2009, von Sebastian Paulke – Mit den zunehmenden Aktivitäten von Unternehmen und Organisationen im Social Web steigt auch die Zahl und Bedeutung ethischer und rechtlicher Verstöße gegen die Persönlichkeitsrechte der Verbraucher, gegen nationale Datenschutzbestimmungen, Verbraucherschutzgesetzgebungen und Presserechte. Um qualitative und ethische Mindesstandards für das Social Media Marketing zu etablieren, haben wichtige Player im angloamerikanischen Social Media Marketing-Markt (SMM) nun die Brancheninitiative „Social Media Marketing Council“ gestartet: Vor zwei Wochen haben die Social Media Marketing Serviceprovider DMRS Group, Merkle, TargetBase, Engauge und Harris Interactive und die SMM-Technologieanbieter Acxiom, Alterian und Epsilon auf der Marketing-Kongressmesse DMA 09 in San Diego als ersten Schritt zu einer freiwilligen Marktregulierung den SMMC als unabhängigen Rat zur Regulierung des SMM-Marktes und Förderung verantwortlichen Handelns der Akteure gegründet. Ziele des von den beteiligten Unternehmen getragenen, für alle interessierten Akteure offenen Social Media Marketing Council sind, 1. den Umgang mit Verbraucherdaten besser zu regulieren, 2. einen Branchenstandard für verantwortlichen Umgang mit Informationen aus dem Social Web und 3. Leitlinien „guter Praxis“ in SMM treibenden Unternehmen zu etablieren.

Florian Haarhaus, Deutschlandchef von Alterian, dessen online-Marketing Technologien und Services von über 1.500 der weltgrößten Unternehmen und Marken eingesetzt werden, begründet das Engagement seines Unternehmens im angloamerikanischen Ethik-Rat mit der offensichtlich ansteigenden Gefahr mißbräulicher Verwendung von Informationen und Daten aus den Social Media, die letztlich neben den Verbrauchern auch dem Markt schadeten, und fordert auch für den deutschsprachigen Raum eine Brancheninitiative für ethisch korrektes Unternehmenshandeln im Social Web: „Fälle wie die Versteigerung persönlicher Bewerbungsunterlagen bei eBay, das Auftauchen tausender persönlichkeitsrechtlich geschützter Informationen von XING.com bei Google oder die systematische Werbe-Verwertung rechtlich höchst zweifelhafter Informationsaggregationen über Millionen von Verbraucher bei yasni.de zeigen, dass auch im deutschsprachigen Social Web Marketing teilweise die reinsten Wild West-Methoden herrschen. Um Konflikte zwischen den berechtigten legitimen kommerziellen Interessen von Unternehmen einerseits und den gesetzlichen Rechten der Verbraucher im Social Web andererseits auszuschließen, müssen Unternehmen nach unserem Verständnis schnellstens Qualitätsstandards, Verhaltensregeln und Konventionen vereinbaren, die den berechtigten Interessen und Rechten der Verbraucher entsprechen und Verstöße dagegen verhindern.“

Aufgrund der extrem heterogenen Struktur des Social Webs, in dem per definitionem alle Informationen von den Usern selber bereitgestellt werden, sei es wenig erfolgversprechend, auf die regulatorischen Initiativen der vielen zuständigen Gesetzgeber zu hoffen, so der Fachmann für Dialogmarketing in den Neuen Medien und Kanälen, Florian Haarhaus: „Zunächst kann nur eine Selbstverpflichtung der Wirtschaft z.B. in Form einer von der gesamten Branche getragenen Selbstregulierung weiteren Schaden von den Konsumenten abwenden, schon weil die Umsetzung der Vorstöße der Gesetzgeber einfach viel zu lange dauert. Ich lade daher alle Akteure im deutschsprachigen Social Web, also insbesondere Agenturen, Service- und Technologie-Provider sowie die entsprechenden Verbände und Interessenvertretungen dazu ein, in die Diskussion über eine deutsche Brancheninitiative zur Einführung und Verabschiedung von Industrie-Standards einzutreten, die die Interessen der Verbraucher umfassend berücksichtigen und so Freiräume für ein wirksames, von den Empfängern akzeptiertes Social Media Marketing zu schaffen.“

Vertreter aus der Marken- und Kommunikationsberatung wie z.B. Volker Neuhaus, Mitinhaber der Düsseldorfer Brand Strategy Consultants NeuhausSchulz, oder Sascha Wolff, Inhaber des Berliner Dialogmarktingproviders Wolff Consulting unterstützen den Aufruf von Haarhaus: „Konsequente Markenführung heißt auch, stets einen relevanten Dialog mit seinen Konsumenten aufzubauen – wenn die im Social Web agieren, dann auch dort,“ erläutert Neuhaus: „Skandale, wie sie sich in der jüngsten Zeit zu häufen scheinen, verstärken die Vorbehalte der Verbraucher gegen online-Dialoge mit ihren Marken und gefährden so die Relevanz dieses Kanals. Wir unterstützen daher den Aufruf von Haarhaus – die kommunikativen Freiheiten im Social Web sind ein zu wichtiger Kanal zum Kunden, um ihn auf dem Altar kurzfristiger Revenues von Unternehmen zu opfern, die schnelle Profite ohne Rücksicht auf das ‚große Ganze’ suchen.“

Auch Sascha Wolff befürwortet eine Branchenoffensive für verantwortliches Social Media Marketing in Deutschland: „Wenn die Wirtschaft auf die zunehmende Neuorientierung der Verbraucher hin zum Informationsbezug im Social Web aufgrund der kriminellen Machenschaften ‚schwarzer Schafe’ und des resultierend ansteigenden Mißtrauens der Verbraucher keinen Einfluss auf Konversationen im Social Web mehr nehmen kann, können auch die kommunikativen Potenziale des user-zentrierten Kundendialogs von der Wirtschaft nicht mehr gehoben werden. Das heißt nichts anderes, als dass online-Dienstleistungen, Self Service-Angebote und verbrauchergerechte Produktentwicklung durch Social Media-Analysen und –Angebote nicht mehr funktionieren werden, mit allen Nachteilen für Konsumenten wie Anbieter: Wenn es zukünftig aufgrund begründeter Verbrauchervorbehalte keinen echten, ehrlichen und für beide Seiten fruchtbaren Dialog zwischen Verbraucher und Wirtschaft im Social Web mehr gibt, werden Produkte und Services teurer und weniger präzise auf die Bedürfnisse der Konsumenten angepasst sein.“

Hintergrundinformationen

Alle Unternehmen, die im Social Web Werbung treiben, treiben lassen oder Technologien und Services zur Werbung in den Social Media anbieten, sind eingeladen, sich der Initiative „Social Media Ethikrat“ anzuschließen und eine gemeinsame Position zu erarbeiten, gemeinsame Handlungsstrategien zu vereinbaren und durch gemeinsame PR- und Lobbyarbeit umzusetzen.

Interessenten kontaktieren bitte:

Herrn Florian Haarhaus
Alterian Deutschland
Theresienstraße 6-8
80333 München
Deutschland

Telefon: +49 (0)89 288 90 164
Telefax: +49 (0)89 288 90 45
E-Mail: info@alterian.eu

What is scanning?

Scanning is used to view documents by the majority of web users. Web users do not read documents in entirety. The eye scans the document looking for important information quickly. Techniques used to take advantage of this include;

• Lists – This is a list.
• Bold text – Darker text that stands out.
• Hyperlinks – Links to other pages, content, media, or interactivity

Headings – Large font, bold

Subheadings – Same as heading but slightly smaller.

We always scanned.

Evolutionary development led to the process of scanning. Scanning is an efficient way for us to process information quickly. The English language, using roman based characters can show us an example of this process.

We don’t read words as individual letters. Instead we scan the word quickly and associate it with a retained word. Usually, all that is required to read a paragraph is that the first and last letter in each word be correct.

Ardncciog to a rhecacsehr at Cgaridmde Usrievtiny, it dneso’t metatr in waht oerdr the lrteets in a wrod are, the olny inpoertmt tnhig is taht the fsirt and lsat lteetr be at the rghit pcale. The rset can be a ttaol mses and you can sltil raed it wthiutt a pbolrem. Tihs is bscueae the hmaun mnid deos not raed eervy lteetr by iltesf, but the wrod as a wohle.

Any experienced native English reader should be able to make sense of the paragraph.

Reading jumbled words, more detail.

Web eye-tracking studies.

Jakob Nielson is a guru in the science of User Interface. His group has done numerous studies on how users scan the web with their eye. A dominant scanning technique was found throughout the study.

The F-shaped pattern. Shown below is a picture of the heat register of a human eye scanning a webpage.

This is important to understand, as content placement, can decide how effective it is.

F-shaped pattern, more detail.

Impact and Challenges.

As a potential web content writer, I have many things working against me. The user may not give me;

• Time – Very short chance to catch their eye.
• Dedication – No commitment. Can leave my article at any time.
• Patience – Efficiency is important. Long pieces will not be read in entirety.
• Full attention to my text – The web user expects savvy media rich content, not just plain text.

It is important not to over-use scan ability techniques. Doing so, will cause frustration for the user. Understanding the way we view web pages can lead to great new media content.

Article Notes

The Cambridge University logo is copyright and property of Cambridge University. The Nielson Norman Group logo is copyright and property of The Nielson Norman Group.

If you provide or create content online, you should know about Creative Commons. The short explanation, from their blog is, “The Creative Commons licenses enable people to easily change their copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.” It’s a good way to share info – whether you’re the creator, borrower or buyer.

Bernadine Joselyn sent me an article that highlights the need for and application of Creative Commons and talks about how the Creative Commons opens a door to innovation. It’s a good example of how the Internet (and broadband) have changed traditional business models. Before the Internet, everyone seemed to work in silos; since the advent of the Internet, most successful businesses work more collaboratively. Google is the prime example. Google creates tools that are intended to work in most environments for free, such as Gmail, Google Maps or Google Analytics for web statistics. They have gone so far as it open up some of their code to developers around the world, making it possible for developers to make improvements to Google tools as well as create entirely new tools.

Before the Internet, businesses seemed to think that such openness would devalue their products or services; in a post Internet world, openness adds value. Businesses that have understood and acted on that shift in openness have flourished; those who are still playing according to the old rules are dying on the vine. The Creative Commons has been able to step in to help some businesses take advantage of the openness.

I thought about that transition into openness last weekend when I was at the TMCA Fall Conference. We heard from several traditional media resources that are creating intriguing media web sites that encourage reader interaction. That focus on interaction is great and a nod at the changes brought about by the Internet – but most of the sites we saw stopped short of being truly open. They will not be opening up their code at this point and they are not creating ways to interact with other web site. I contrast this with the new media tools – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs – which seem to be finding more and more ways to work seamlessly together – or at least allow users to work seamless with multiple tools.

If you think about broadband a lot, it’s tough not to make the connection between this story and net neutrality. What we need is a new business model that makes sense for broadband providers and users. To quote the article on Creative Commons, “while the technology is frictionless, the collaboration faces another hurdle”.

Nella società contemporanea i new media sono sempre più presenti nella vita di ciascuno. La nascita e la diffusione di Internet e delle potenzialità ad esso connesse (e-mail, blog, chat etc.), sta cambiando il nostro vissuto quotidiano. Nuove frontiere cadono, nuovi spazi si avvicinano, il mondo sembra rimpicciolirsi. Nonostante le innovazioni e i vantaggi, bisogna tuttavia porsi il problema di educare ad un consumo sano e consapevole dei new media le giovani generazioni, a cominciare dai più piccoli. La facilità con cui i bambini possono accedere alla Rete pone in essere alcuni interrogativi circa l’attivazione di percorsi di responsabilizzazione tra adulti e minori. Internet offre, infatti, molti vantaggi ma anche dei rischi. Se a questo aggiungiamo che spesso la fruizione del medium avviene in completa assenza dei genitori ci accorgiamo che la questione diventa ancora più delicata. Che fare? In primis cercare di attivare dei percorsi di educazione ai media, introducendo la media education come insegnamento interdisciplinare, trasversale a tutte le materie, come disciplina che sia in grado di responsabilizzare i più giovani, sviluppando in loro quel senso di autonomia critica e di cittadinanza. Inoltre sarebbe opportuno, come ha sottolineato già da qualche anno il Commissario Europeo per la società dei Media e dell’Innovazione Viviane Reding, un aggiornamento degli insegnanti e dei genitori sulle nuove tecnologie quale mezzo indispensabile per sensibilizzare i più giovani ad un uso sano e consapevole delle stesse. La conoscenza dei new media e delle potenzialità sprigionate, non solo in termini di rischi, ma anche di stimoli positivi e risorse culturali, spingerebbe famiglie e educatori a comprendere meglio i contenuti offerti dalla Rete e dalle nuove tecnologie in genere e contribuirebbe, tra l’altro, a superare la dicotomia tra apocalittici ed integrati.

Andrea Magliocco, Med Master

some interesting insights in the article, mainly shows most affiliates to not really be working at it.

info i have gathered shows that many of the big affiliate markets (gambling, insurance (similiar:), banking, travel) have some very strong affiliates that really deliver and earn major bounties. always hard to figure out how to effectively do this as a media business as its all about low costs and (the perception) of skating close to the edge.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/commission-focused-affiliates-overlook-new-tech-tactics-11062/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink

If you are in Hastings MN, be sure to stop in and say hello to KillRoys. They are now using Qittle mobile with some killer deals.

After not being in university for 21 years, I’ve decided to return to school to pursue a Master’s Degree in Media Production at Ryerson University. This blog will detail my trials and tribulations, as well as the cool things I’m learning about traditional and new media. Come along on my journey! Welcome!

A week ago, on Monday, November 9, 2009 the Social Media Education Club organized their first twitter chat on social media education. Last week the questions asked were about measuring success of social media in education, developing the quality of social media curriculum, assessing schools using social media and identifying research or materials about social media courses or educational integration. My summary of last week’s chat is here. You can also read the one written by Andrea Genevieve here.

Today it was the time for a second one. Unlike last week when there were more attendants, it was only me and @yongclee with a brief intervention from @brett (Events Director for Mashable according to his Twitter bio). Unfortunately I would say especially because this week’s chat even had a sponsor: the Richmond Grid Magazine. The questions were really interesting and would definitely benefit from further consideration and attention. Below you can find the questions asked together with a selection of my answers

1. Flexibility, tailoring tools for course makes sense. What tools (eg wikis) would benefit all classes?

• SM tools in classroom – I think it depends on the course; I use and define general concepts and invite students to come w/ examples #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee i guess it depends if the school has an online platform like blackboard or moodle or not #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee from the free available ones i’d recommend blogs, wikis and @slideshare #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee voicethread http://bit.ly/VWC2Z has now options for both K12 and universities – here’s an examplehttp://bit.ly/1AHnQN #smcedu

2. Do students need to be pushed to use collaborative tools?

• ana_adi: @yongclee they certainly need to be encouraged to use them as not all of them are aware of them #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee platforms that students might usually use aren’t always good 4 academic demo as they might pose data security threats #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee voicethread, google docs and now google wave are good as they can restrict/control access to a group#smcedu
• ana_adi: @ana_adi on that same token, this is why edu institutions prefer blackboard & moodle apps – security, privacy and control #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee but purchased or not, uni owner or freely available both teachers and students need to be aware of + & – of these apps #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee threfore, all these apps require learning, practice and analysis – for some educators w/ busy agendas this is overload #smcedu

3. Do students/teachers NEED academic approval? Value of SM is proven in different jobs every day.

• ana_adi: @yongclee educators and academic approval –> i guess they do as it’s part of the contribution to and sharing of knowledge #smcedu
• ana_adi: @yongclee educators and academic approval –> if professors don’t have the approval, students cannot benefit from their teaching #smcedu

4. Academia seems to be late adopters. Is it then a matter of time for SM to be approved by majority.

• ana_adi: @yongclee academia as SM late adopters –> i think so; it’s not only a matter of teaching but also of publishing research#smcedu

The question about publication returned this week did the question of why social media tools and applications, although available, aren’t used extensively in education. My thought would be, that social media is too new to be widely accepted and therefore it needs its explorers and experimenters as well as it trials and errors. What academic institutions could do is allow for this process to happen by encouraging educational experiments and then replicate the successful ones.

As for publications, for a new method, new publications are needed. Maybe the Social Media Education Club could launch its own electronic journal and select its reviewers from its growing community. This would maintain the peer review process necessary in academia but also create a niche publication dedicated to social media and education.

Finally, today we reached one conclusion (or at least we agreed on this statement):  that schools don’t need to sanction social media per se but rather make students aware of how and why social media is being used in specific jobs.

Information obtained from Richard Prince’s three-times-a-week online column, Journal-isms:
Freelance writer Katherine Reynolds Lewis, former money/work reporter in Newhouse News Service’s Washington Bureau, has organized a free teleconference on “How to Succeed As a Freelancer or Consultant.” Co-sponsored by the Washington chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association and CurrentMom.com, the teleconference runs from 2-3:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday. To register, visit http://workfreelance.eventbrite.com/

According to AAJA, the speakers include

Speakers include:
* Joe Grimm, creator of JobsPage.com, Poynter columnist and visiting journalist at Michigan State University
* Stephenie Overman, freelance writer and DC Society of Professional Journalists’ freelance coordinator
* Katherine Reynolds Lewis, freelance writer for outlets such as About.com, MSN Money and Parade, and founder of CurrentMom.com, a site for entrepreneurs
* Victoria Lim, media trainer, freelance journalist, consultant and convergence expert
* Arnesa Howell, freelance writer for magazines including People and Money.

Topics to be covered:
* Starting a freelance career on the sidelines of your day job
* Balancing fun or prestigious assignments with bread-and-butter work that pays the mortgage
* Is this the golden age of freelancing? Or a good time to flee to the safety of a solid employer?
* Pitching and cultivating relationships with editors or other clients
* How to think like an entrepreneur, not an employee

BJ Fogg on the Web as persuasive platform: “The New Rules of Persuasion.”

At the last DigiPharm congress we spoke to John Pugh, Director Corporate and External Communications at Boehringer Ingelheim. John is well known for bringing Boehringer into the Twittersphere, and has quiet some success with that initiative. Using Twitter to communicate with journalists -his primary target in his role as External Communicator- he “can establish a dialogue with them”, according to John himself.

John started in the new/social media space about ten years ago, the time that websites were still written in Comic Sans. You could call John a real internet veteran, in that respect. During DigiPharm 2009 he shared his vision of the future of pharma, and the role new media will have.

In our interview John talks about his passion for new media and the challenges pharma is facing when deploying new media into their communication mix. John is a firm believer of new media and focusses in the opportunities rather than the threats, like we see way too often around us. We need more johns….

I’ve seen a lot cause marketing campaigns, so perhaps my expectations are high for this one, particularly.

The presentation by Ogilvy Earth (yes they did set up a group with this name for sustainability-related clients) is eye opening,.

It hinges on the word ‘Hopenhagen‘ which initially struck me as yet another clever pun. But it’s been well thought out, to focus on this city less as a destination for activists and tree huggers, and more as a symbol, a buzz word, a starting point for conversations, individual and collective actions…

Two things going for it:

• An impressive media-backing. Speaking of media, those donating TV, print, radio, online and ‘out-of-home’ media include The Economist, EuroNews, The Financial Times, GOOD Magazine, Google, Harvard Business Review, International Herald Tribune, Reader’s Digest, National Geographic, Newsweek, Scientific American, Business India, Time Warner Cable, and a host of others. JFK and Los Angeles International airports, the Thomson Reuters building in Times Square, and even The Wall Street Journal, typically not supportive of such global warming attention, is also in this group.

• The campaign is bristling with social media elements –with the usual suspects – Twitter, Facebook, a YouTube channel. There’s an interesting ‘passport’ to be obtained. I like how someone has setup a simple way to use the campaign as a Twitter background, at Twibbon.com.  The flash mob, that was also part of the campaign, and turned intio a video,  ’sunbathing’ is very funny, though it’s not gone quite viral. Watch this:

But while all this is impressive and works well in the digital world, I was hoping to see more real world events, local visibility, community calls to action. Passports and online petitions can go so far.

The city of Copenhagen itself has adopted the campaign. Why stop with that?

• Why shouldn’t citizens of other cities adopt the idea as well? Or claim ’sister city’ status with Hopenhagen?
• Where are the meet ups, the walks, the school programs, the spontaneous –copycat flash-mobs events, even– the engagement of utility companies, art venues, universities, churches and temples etc?

We get so focused on digital media, with its global reach, we often forget to communicate, through local channels, and our human networks. If people can change their Twitter background, they will be ready to change some aspects of their analog life as well, if only for a few weeks.

It’s not too late. If only Ogilvy Earth could get slightly more down to earth …

Professor Douglas gets criticized…for other bloggers’ opinions.

New Left Media produced a short documentary on the last two days of the No on 1 campaign, and posted it in two parts on Youtube.  Worth a watch and it raises an issue that I’ve neglected to blog about  so far (among other things).  That is the proposed boycott of Organizing for America (formerly Obama for America) and the DNC.  The full info on the boycott, or “pause,” is at AMERICAblog.

Here is the long and short of the effort:

We are asking voters to pledge to withhold contributions to the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America, and the Obama campaign until the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is passed, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) is repealed, and the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is repealed -– all of which President Obama repeatedly promised to do if elected.

Here’s my take: I think the idea of pausing in our donations is a great one.  However, it does mean that we need to be more informed about the individuals to whom we should direct our donations (which we really should do anyway…).  People like Rep. Chellie Pingree Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Patrick Murphy who have been incredibly strong leaders and advocates for equality issues.  Groups like the Victory Fund can also help us identify these politician.  The key is that we keep giving in the mean time, just not through OFA or the DNC.

Do I agree with all the reasoning behind the fundraising “pause?”  No.  If you look back at my posts since I began blogging here, you’ll see that I disagreed pretty strongly with some of the complaints listed at AMERICAblog.  Given the extraordinary times we’re witnessing right now, I give Obama a bit more wiggle room than some.  However, the DNC and OFA have made some big faux pas.  ESPECIALLY their silence on Question 1.

The only other qualifier I’d add to my support for this “pause” is the point at which I’ll start donating again.  I’m on board until 2 of these three happen.  Again, these are all long overdue steps, but we live in extraordinary times.  One important step has already been taken in the signing of federal Hate Crimes Legislation, and I don’t think that should be overlooked.  I don’t consider this settling; I think it’s a sad reality and I recognize the huge strides that will have been made with the passage of any two of these.

You can sign up here.

Part 2:

Scoyo.de is an online learning platform for the 1st to the 7th grade. At scoyo.de pupils can create an own profile where their learning development is represented. There are a children’s, a parent’s and a teacher’s page which provide different information. The page for parents for example, informs about the learning success of the children, the learning content, prices etc. The subjects German and math are offered for the grades 1 to 4. Amongst other subjects, English is offered from the 5^th to the 7^th grade.

There are pros and cons using scoyo.de which I try to illustrate in the following.

Pros:

- the online learning environment is secure: only verified users have access to the learning platform and all content on the site is appropriate for children

-learning with scoyo is fun: there are a lot of story-based adventures focused on the different subjects and many exciting worlds to explore which allows contextual learning

-students work individually: they set their own pace and get personal feedback in order to improve their skills

-the learning content meets the current curriculum

-insight for parents: parents can inform themselves of their child’s performance

Cons:

-untransparency: the costs are not represented very well ( at first sight it seems that you pay 14,99€ for 6 months and 19,99€ for 3 months, but the stated price refers to one month only)

-low choice: there are only three fields for the subject English (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar), there are no tasks for listening comprehension, communication or writing texts but too many multiple choice tasks

-expensiveness: if you consider the low offering and the above mentioned prices per month, scoyo is too expensive, if you need help you can call a hotline, but it costs 0,14 €/min.

All in all, I think an online learning platform where children can learn playfully is a good idea but I would not recommend it in its present state because I think the tasks are too one-sided. Expecially for the subject English as a foreign language communicative tasks are preferable. There are no communication, listening comprehension or text creating tasks which is very important for learning a second language. I would recommend scoyo.de to my pupils, if tasks of such kind would be added to the platform.