Reading to Kindergartners

On Thursday I went to my mom's class to visit her and meet her class for the first time. They were a rambunctious group, but that's okay. I walked them back from lunch with my mom and volunteered to read them a book, something I enjoy doing with my mom's class.

Initially I was going to pick, but then my mom remembered that the Star of the week needed her book read. So I was shown the book, a small Lion King book that could fit in the palm of my hand. I began reading. I had them on the edge of their seat, with a story most of them knew my heart! It was so neat to see how engaged they were with a story they had probably heard a hundred times, but it was like they were hearing it for the first time.

They would predict what was going to happen next, ask questions, and were over all very interested in the plot line. After being in Writing for the Digital age, it was neat to see how much these kids still enjoyed reading, like the project about the kids interviews that we saw. They loved hearing the story. My mom said that they could probably be read to all day and be content with just that.

On Graduating...

Tomorrow is the end and a beginning for me. I have been talking about it all semester and it is finally here, graduation day. The light has finally appeared and I am not sure how I feel about it. I am excited to graduate, but now what? I have always had a plan, until now. I just know I am going to apply for jobs, but where will I work? Until now I knew what I was going to be doing from day to day. Now it is a lot of unknown. I have come to embrace that it is okay to not know. It can be intimidating at times, but you learn to go with it.

I have also learned that there are a lot of people out there that care a lot for me. They ask me how I am doing, offer to send my resume to company x, y, z and so on. They reassure me that something great will come along. I know they are right. I think that for now I am just going to enjoy being a graduate and a little R&R from all the homework, late nights of studying, pulling my hair out because it only took 3 hours to grasp a concept, and I am going to just enjoy a little but of life. I have a lot of living left to do, something I discussed with a friend a week ago, no sense in worrying that time away.

So here is to a new chapter. An unplanned chapter, but one that is in a good brainstorming session.

Always On

Social media is always on. It is open for business, good or bad, 24/7. It does not have an off switch. This is something as a PR major that we explore constantly. How to manage the "always on" media of today's world. This is especially difficult because there is no equation to tell you that you have successfully dreamed up an amazing social media plan. It is all trial and error. A plan that you think is fantastic may fail miserably, while a plan that you think is not the best works with flying colors.

As a PR specialist, it is our job to always be aware of what is going on. From current news to pop news, we always have to be at the ready. I could honestly never give up my Facebook or Twitter account in fear that I would miss something big. It is not that I have to be posting constantly, rather that I need to be in the "know." This is "always on" media at its finest.

Always on means that you want to be the first to break or react to the news. This is both good and bad. It is tough to have all the facts that quick, but you are expected to know everything you can, as soon as you can.

What is Freedom?

On the banks if the Ohio River there is something very special. A symbol to many of the past and how far we have come. The Freedom Center is an embodiment of resurrection from a past that is unspeakable. Yet we are living in a present that still has many aspects of that past still living in our neighborhoods.

The Freedom Center is a symbol of how everyone should be free. Free to choose where they want to live. Free to live the life they pursue. Free to not be kicked out of their homes. Free to the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Where is the happiness in OTR? In the boutique shops that are owned by those who are apart of gentrification or how about in Washington Park where the voice of the people was not heard. 

Freedom is a complicated thing. With freedom comes great responsibility. We have the choice, with freedom, to live our lives as we please. That is what we are told at least. Freedom is something we are told to cherish and cling to. What about those without freedom? What do they have to cling to? What do the residents of Over the Rhine have to cling to when their neighborhood is being taken over?

Many Over the Rhine Residents are deprived of these freedoms. With such an iconic center in Cincinnati that embodies these ideals why are the residents of the neighborhood deprived of these basic freedoms? Freedom should include the choice of where you want to live, not someone taking over your home. Freedom is having some say in the development of your neighborhood. Not being pushed aside and ignored.

In a country founded on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, where are these rights for the resident’s of Over the Rhine? Doesn’t everyone deserve these parts of freedom as well? A home. Food. Adequate space. Where is that? Where is their freedom? Their freedom is lost in translation of a “new” neighborhood that is victim of gentrification. Or succumbing to 3CDC and a gauntlet of boutique shops. Over the Rhine served as a haven, now it is slowly becoming anything but. So what is freedom?

How Fast Will it Go?

I have been working on a project for another class creating a social media plan. The company I chose to look at was terrible at managing their social media. The Facebook page was made up of their material with negative comments flourishing and unanswered at that. Many would sit unanswered and fester with customers.

It was amazing to see more and more people band up against this business negatively in such a short amount of time. It was the same story over and over again, but from different people. The company chose to address each comment directly which is good, but it seems that they should be posting an apology at this point with how much negative feedback that is occurring.

I believe that this most interesting bit from this all is how fast people can rise an issue over social media, whether it be a social issue or just the matter of getting their order fulfilled from a company.

Not so permanent writing...

Writing can offer many of us an escape from the everyday. However, most of what we post on the internet, including this blog, are here forever. They will forever be accessible and saved somewhere on some server. What if that was not the case. What if there was a space where you could write to get things off of tour chest, but they disappeared as you wrote them? Well there is such a place.

Today we were shown, http://thequietplaceproject.com/thethoughtsroom/, a site that allows you to type and it all disappears into nothing. It is not saved or can be seen by others. This is a place to let out everything and see it all dissipate into thin air. All your worries melt away.

I think that this space is really neat. It is like a diary that your siblings could never read. A place that you can just let it out without judgement. Writing should be freeing, just like this site allows you to be.

Live Tweeting for a Class

I love Tweeting so I loved Marc's idea of spending a class Tweeting. I think that this would help perfect the skill for the class as well. We could implement a hashtag that we would like to use and go from there. It would be neat to do a scavenger hunt with that. It would be an opportunity to learn more about NKU as well.

Tweeting is a good opportunity to learn how to get a snip of information out in a small amount of space. It also is a good way to remind yourself of what you have done like Dr. Alberti noted. I think that Twitter is the food for those who want their information simple, not a shoot the bull kind of manner.

I also like how Marc would like for us to discuss the drawback of the digital age. What he did himself on texting and driving earlier this semester was very interesting and opened the eyes of many of us in the class. I think that this would also be an area to explore with the class.

Responsible Social Media

Our digital footprint is something has raised more concern over the years. What we post about, who can see it, who we interact with all have taken center stage to a debate of what is appropriate to share. The other end is when is it okay to bring what is on your social media in the workplace and have use it against you.

LeNora did a good job of walking the class through how to monitor our social media so that we are not targets of being put on the spot from an employer for our actions over social media. I found it very interesting that she had a friend who lost their job due to a social media post.

Being in PR I know that you have to control your own brand and that it is crucial that the "you" that is on display on social media is the "you" that you present in public. Now that does not mean that you can't show a photo of having a beer, legally, or talk about the fun you had at a local hot spot or New Year's party, but it is responsible posting that is important.

Post should represent you and the brand that you want to portray. It is as simple as being the same person that you are on the internet as you are in public.

Personal Branding

Kerry shared some great ideas and concepts in her presentation. Many that as a PR student I am expected to know. However, I do have some differing opinions on what she was told about creating a personal brand. I do think that you should be where the people are- the popular sites that is- and develop a brand there. I believe that you should perfect your skill level on a few choice medias then go to another that you feel is important.

As far as being on every platform I think that is unrealistic. There are some platforms that just do not or have not worked in a long time. Google+ being one of them. If you have to have it for work- great, if not, I do not see it as a place to waste time. You want to be on the big names, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. This is where you want to perfect and push your brand. Focus on interactions here and your social media presence will blossom. Putting time into a platform where you do not have a lot of exposure is not worth your time.

Finding key players on the platforms is also a key to success. Generally if you are interacting with bigger names, a larger audience will see you then there is more of a likelihood of being picked up by others. From there your exposure will become greater and your brand will then be even more credible as well.

A good person to check out about personal branding is Jason Molica. He offer a lot of branding advice with his tag being #CEOofYou. His twitter can be found here, https://twitter.com/JasMollica, where you can find more of his information and his personal goals.

Badges!

Okay, who doesn't like winning an award or being recognized for an achievement? If you don't, then you can leave. Autumn's idea of the reward system is awesome! I think that it adds encouragement to social media, especially for those who are not proficient in the social media game.

This is a good way to see who catches on sooner  and who needs help. I think it would almost be a neat social experiment. I like the point system and how it is broken down for Twitter as well. I think this system makes social media more attainable for some. Since there are not many "true" guidelines in social media- this adds guidelines to the whole thing. For those who do not have a good handle on what they are doing, this is a way for them to show progress and competency for social media.

I think it is good to tie it all together with the messaging system and as a tool to share how to to everything that the different platforms do. I believe that this adds some connection amongst people. Generally people like helping people- especially in these situations. I think that it is a good way to share social media skills.

The Future of DIgital Writing

I will have to agree with Jordan on a lot of her presentation. I loved our textbook because it did not read as a textbook. The book way more conversational and it did not seem to be talking to us, but carrying a conversation. This is a pet peeve of mine with textbooks. Many times I feel that their tone is one of a "talking head" or that we are being talked down to because we are merely students who do not know anything. So with that, I also vote that you keep the text!

I think that digital poetry is a novel idea! I think implementing that aspect will just bring one more realm of digital writing to life. There is so much being added to the web day after day- I think that digital poetry would be a fine addition to the class.

Live tweeting is also an aspect that I loved! It allowed us to continue a conversation and chat about what was going on in the class. I also agree with the blogs, although I may suggest that it be cut to two blogs a week.

I think that what Jordan shared were all good suggestions for the class!

Video Games as Literature

Video Games as literature, who would have thought? Nate Powers did, and her presented it to our class as a final project. Now, I will have to admit that I am not into video games, I think the closest that I can claim at this time is Candy Crush and I don't even play that consistently. Maybe when I was in elementary school and played Organ Trail like the rest of the 90s product.

Back on track though, Nate along with the class made some very valid points about video games being literature. By playing the game you are a part of a story. You are the master of what occurs in that story through triumphs and failures. I think that video games are a neat way to interpret a story. Also to the fact that you can be a part of a planned story or create your own. It is a neat extension of the story as well if the book already exists. I think that it allows the readers to visualize a setting and brings that to life for the reader.

I do not think that video games should be solely relied on for giving the setting, you should be able to envision that for yourself to some degree. I do think that using the game as an extension of what is already there or to make your own story a brilliant way to have interaction with a story that you have read. I think that it could potentially increase more discussion around books, especially in the classroom.

Exploring Blogs

I have never really had a blog that I follow religiously. I do however have a friend that does a pretty good job of keep up with her blog. It is one that I will look at often to see what she is thinking and up to. The name of her blog is “What’s in Coco’s Hair” she keeps it light but explores everything and anything on her mind. 

I will also keep up with blogs of my friends who are traveling for study abroad. I like to live vicariously through them during their experiences. Sometimes I find it neat to see how they are being conditioned by the new culture that they find themselves in. 

This summer I had to blog about my internship experience that I was having while interning with 4-H and Youth Development. I really enjoyed this because I got to share what I was doing with the rest of the interns that were scattered throughout Kentucky. It was neat to keep up with their experiences as well. 

Blogging is something that in PR we talk about a lot. It is a key tool to build website traffic when that can be lacking. Finding the right style for a blog can take a while though. There are services that will even write and develop a blog for you. I am not sure how I feel about this. When those who are writing the blog aren’t actually having the experiences I think it discredits the blog and those who it is written for.

I think that finding a blog that you like with content you can relate to is important. However in this digital world it is hard to make sure that there is credit within that blog and information that you are looking into.

Dear Digital Diary...

Blogging itself is like a digital diary, one that can be full of secrets or the truths off our lives. We can hide behind a screen name if we want, or let our full blown identity out for everyone to see. Just like a diary, a blog can be written at your own pace on your own time. You can write about anything and everything. 

Blogging adds a new vulnerability to our lives if we allow it. Asking for the world’s feedback is just what may happen. There is a lifetime of knowledge that can be found when you ask for it on the web, it may not be what you want to hear, but you will get an answer. 

I think that the blog platform just gives us one more way to express and share. There is also the aspect of sharing and dialoging with people you do not know that is a major appeal of blogging. You can respond to a question that is posed and interact with someone who is halfway across the world and have a heathy discussion. 

Personally blogging can be difficult for me, I have a hard time sharing what I think in writing. I love sharing my ideas with other people but I have a hard time doing this in my writing without being paranoid of judgement of my writing style. My style is more honed now than ever now, I feel like I have my own style that is reflective of me. 

Moving with the Times

When I was in high school I had a geometry class that I loathed. The class was taught to us the same way the teacher probably taught for their entire career. Put up a sample problem, work it out, then we were expected to know how to solve all the problems in the chapter. This however proved to be very difficult for me. Just the one example was not enough for me to understand the concept.

This is where I ran into issues with the teacher. He could not bring a concept down to my level for me to understand what was going on. I was in an advanced class, but I could not get the concepts to click. I think that teacher was stuck in another realm that did not believe in differentiation. Or technology. Or anything that wasn't 30 years old for that matter.

Teachers get so hung up on test scores and loose their students in the cracks of the system. Not all teachers are guilty of this, but I know a handful. There is another flaw though. We go through elementary, middle and high school with a plethora of differentiation, manipulatives, creativity, and so on. Then when we enter college there is a reverse effect. Again, not all professors are guilty, but I have had my share. We get to college sit in a hall for 50 minutes to over an hour being talked at, without a chance for group discussion. Research shows that we can learn form our peers and that peer to peer learning in beneficial. So what are we suppose to do when we are being taught on way for the better of 13 years then are dumped into another environment that expects us to just listen.

There does have to be a fine balance between lecture and discussion, but fundamentally there should be discussion. Where else are new ideas generated? Part of this is my personality that thrives on a good conversation, but there is another point here. We have to know how to interact in these types of academic settings with our peers. Without discussion ideas die and are not shared.

A New Genre, A New Language

For centuries, shorthand writing has been a form of language used to jot quick notes. Many times journalists can be found using this form of language. Why do I bring up shorthand? Because as the web and technology further developed, we also developed our own version of shorthand writing. Transforming phrases into series of letters. We went from complete sentences to a short hand language of texting.

Something that was always buzzing in the media is that if we are using this new language in our social writing that it will start to enter our academic writing. So with that said, how many of you have used an LOL or TTYL in a paper. That's what I thought, none of you. We have discussed this phenomena in class as well. There is social writing and academic writing, both of which we as students can differentiate from.

I like to think of it as when I was in middle school and we all learned how to speak in Pig Latin. Did we speak that when we were in classes to our teachers, no. To each other though we spoke it all of the time. We knew when that language was appropriate and not. I find that today kids are not given the slack sometimes for how competent they (we) are. We are considered many times to be the dumbest generation that lacks all respect. It is statements like these that discourage.

My brother is working on a paper for his U.S. History class for the VFW writing competition. The topic this year is "Why I’m Optimistic About our Nation’s Future." My brother is 16-years-old. He has a lot of future ahead of him. Something he cited in his paper is that we are deemed to be one of the worst generations to have happened. How can we still have faith in ourselves when this is being crammed down our throats? We are recognized for our failures, and when we succeed everyone gets a ribbon.

So where is the credit for being individualistic? We have developed this short hand for communication but it is cut at the knees because it is believed that it will be misused. Our society needs to step back and see what we can do before assuming what we will do.

A New Age Genre

Until reading the chapter, Writing on Screen, in, A Better Pencil, I forgot to really consider email, instant messaging, Twitter, and other digital forms of writing as their own genre. You would have thought that at my age I would have thought of that, but I did not. I think I will default that it is because it is so new that I forgot.

Especially considering email in this new genre, I have had several classes that focus on how to write a good email. Something that we have talked about in class that at one time had no rules and now has a certain "structure" to follow and even policies to abide by. I think that with all new genres there is a "beta" that they go through even after the actual beta testing of a new technology. Your focus group may have defined a way to use the new genre, but when the public gets a hold of it, there is a whole new beta that begins.

The hosts of these new genres even go through and evolution to suit the genre. Just consider the evolution of Facebook from 2004 to 2012. It went from a platform where you just shared information to a place where you share thoughts.

The Time-Warp of YouTube

Today we had a presentation all about YouTube. When I think about the site, I think of my sister and I when we go to Wal-Mart. We get sucked in. You get onto YouTube to watch that one video, then two hours later and about 10 clips in your eyes are glazed over and you forget when you went to the site to begin with. I will be the first to admit, I get sucked in by YouTube!

We discussed the many uses of YouTube as well today. Specifically YouTube as a writing platform. I think that I would consider it more as an expressive platform. While this is very similar to writing, I think there are aspects of writing that are used on YouTube. Considering the comment section as a platform to share and express ideas about the videos at hand.This is a place where expression and idea generation can happen. While some of the conversation is crude, there are some ideas that are generated from YouTube conversations.

YouTube gives us access to information that once was only seen in certain places or at certain times. Now we can explore almost every part of the world through these videos. We can learn how to do pretty much anything from this platform, from knitting to things that aren’t as innocent. YouTube unleashes a plethora of knowledge, expression, and entertainment all in once place. 

Writing for a Social Media Platform

Last week we did our group project on Business Writing in the digital age. We specifically talked about good and bad Facebook and Twitter posts. As a Public Relations major we talk a lot about social media outlets because social media management is where we could end up for a job. Writing for social media can be very tricky because there is no exact formula. It is not like in high school when you are told to write a five paragraph essay. You can go ahead and throw that concept out the door. Rather it is a lot of trial and error. 

When you are preparing to post especially multiple posts, look to set up a social media schedule. Decide a theme of what you want to post, is there an event coming up? Get followers involved. You want your audience to participate so you know they are receiving your messages. Finding your social media niche also helps that way you know what messages that your audience participates the most with. 

Another good way to figure out how to run a social media campaign is to look at campaigns that have succeeded in the past. This will not guarantee you success, but it will help generate ideas to have a successful campaign. When deciding what to post do not limit yourself, think broad and creative. Utilize photos, quotes, original content, questions, participatory posts that ask for responses, and more. Your options are endless. Be sure to not just get hung up on one form of posts, but mix it up. Also, if you will be posting to multiple platforms, be sure to change what you are posting from platform to platform or you are tailoring the message to the platform. 

Overall, just don’t be afraid to try anything until you find something that works for you. Keep in mind that it may work for a while, but you have to freshen up your ideas so they don’t become stale. 

Who Do You Trust?

“I read it on the internet,” a common phrase that many of us hear all too often, but do we trust what we read on the internet? Many of us come from the generation that was told don’t believe what you read on the internet, don’t site Wikipedia, and definetly don’t use websites as your main work sited page. What is there to be afraid of, legitimacy, well yes. As A Better Pencil describes, people have been questioning what they are reading since text was invented. This comes with any form of technology. As this newest technology evolves, we will find more legitimacy and fallacy within it as it grows.

We are trained to look for text that is false this does help us sort the facts from the fiction. Something that we must come to terms with is that we will always have to be on the look out for someone trying to impersonate another and so on. Consider Twitter, how many people have a “fake” account where they act like they are a celebrity or act as an alter-ego? We wouldn’t trust these as legit sources, but we know to sift them out when considering the facts.

As the internet evolves, we are able to evolve with the internet. There are now Twitter accounts that are the actual celebrity that is verified through their information. I think that more and more sites will be seeking this legitimacy in their text.

Confronting Challenges of a Particapatory Culture

We were asked to take a look at Henry Jenkins' article, "Confronting the Challenges 

of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century," for writing in the digital age. Immediately I began to think about my mom when I first explored the paper and browsing through. I even read a few excerpts to her while I was riding in the car down to visit my sister in Pikeville this weekend. 

Reading this to her lead to discussions about what is asked from teachers and what is expected of them in today's society. Let me tell you what is being taught now is already so different from what we were taught not so long ago. I read the listed skills to my mom and to her excitement, she practices many of these with her kindergarten students. Even distributed cognition, which she described as interacting with manipulatives in the classroom. This might be blocks, tens units, plastic farm animals, and so on. 

The skills that stood out to me and that I felt that I have been taught include: 

Play — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving

Distributed Cognition — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand

mental capacities

Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information

Now when I first read these words, I thought there is no way that I have been taught these things. In reality, I really was. First "play" this is something that my mom alway encouraged and promoted as well. It continued for me through school as I participated in the FIRST LEGO League (FLL). When I was in seventh grade I was briefly introduced to the concept of the LEGO robots. I was reintroduced in the eight grade where for an entire semester I "played" with the LEGOs and problem solved with them. We had a board of tasks that we had to program the robot to complete. It was through play that we solved these problems. We got to build, rebuild and build one more time different gadgets for the robot with LEGOs. There were also team building aspects in which we had to build together and a project we did about how to clean our water ways. Sometimes it could be grueling, but we had so much fun. 

I am the one with the trophy, circa 2006.

The FLL also added Distributed Cognition as well. I was using tools, LEGOs, to expand my mental capacity. I may have not recognized this at the time it was happening, but it did. Using these manipulatives to problem solve expanded my knowledge and allowed me to solve a problem and complete tasks with the LEGOs. 

Networking was apart of our challenge as well. We had to be able to take in the information about issues with our water ways and pollution and devise a plan to clean them. Our solution? Activated charcoal. Would I have known what that was before this, no. I was able to learn all I could with my team about the water ways and then synthesize the information and in turn share that information with those who asked about it as well. We even made a demonstration of how such a system could be achieved through the dam systems. 

Reflecting on the opportunities that I was given through Robotics and the FLL are amazing. They taught me so much. Things that a traditional classroom did not. This brings me to challenge the research and articles that so many follow. Like my mom, I see the sense is some of it, but where is the breaking point? Learning is no where as interactive for most as it was when I was in school. There is not as much hands on either. The "new" skills that are proposed by Jenkins aren't necessarily new, but need to reemerge in our society.  

Writing on Clay

After reading Baron's chapter "Writing on Clay" I never realized how much effort that it took to write something when clay was what you wrote on. Having to flatten the clay, then find a utensil to write with, followed by figuring out how to write what you want on the clay. And oh boy if you mess up... This is where I begin to think about what we had to say about revisions and that they really did not happen. Once you got what you wanted down that was pretty much what you had.

I think that just being able to write, even if it was not great, was deemed a very prestigious skill. So who cares if you had a few mistakes (where was my high school teachers and why was I not around in this age!?). Writing is intertwined into everything that we now do that it is an essential skill to have some what perfected, boring or not. You have to have the skill.

Could you imagine if your scratch pad was clay? That would be funny, "Alright class get out your scratch clay to show your work for the ACT."

From clay, to paper, to screen, the art of putting the letters on a page has transformed so much.

I think that this brings us back to Helvetica. The design of the letters is an art. Maybe one that we poke fun at, but someone did have to take the time to design each letter precisely as well. So we are not writing on clay, but we are now writing on screen. If you told someone that a hundred years ago, you would be called a witch, and what do we do with witches?

I guess from this chapter I have understood more of the "art" behind writing.

Kentucky Virtual Library

I have been reflecting on our class and I was trying to recall when I saw the first bit of "digital writing" in my learning. Then I started thinking about where I saw digital writing for the first time. That brought me to remember the Kentucky Virtual Library (KYVL). When I was in school I remember using this tool very much. We would use it for research, looking at articles, finding books, and giving useful search engines as well.

From this I began to consider how people will get their information in say 10 years. Will everything have switched to digital versions or will we still offer hard copies? Where will the pivot be that causes us to go digital? Personally I like the digital because it makes a book searchable and I can find what I want that much quicker. Not to denote actual books, but it is great to find something that quick especially in a textbook.

I think that we will have paper for some time, but I am sure that I will witness the transition to the all digital books and our libraries of books will be virtual!

Handwriting: Then and Now

After we talked about cursive and handwriting in our last class, I began to think, will handwriting ever die out? I truly do not think that it will. Like literacy it is one of those things that is engrained into us. We will forever write things down and the notion of a personal note will still remain relevant as well. I think that there is something about a handwritten note or letter that signifies importance and that you care.

We still do not view a document as "official" with out a signature. Something about that hand written name makes the document official, even more important. It signifies that the person writing felt that it was important enough for them to take the time to sign their name. Now, it means even more to me at least. Now companies use a digital signature that has been made into a JPEG image and put it onto the paper.

I think handwriting will remain apart of our lives for years to come. It is not just an important social thing but important to developing out critical thinking skills.

Live Tweeting an Event, Yes or No?

I will have to be honest, Tweeting is something that I have had to train myself to participate in. When I first got my account, I really just enjoyed all of the snarky things that people would say or the clever ways people would put something in so few words. I also used Twitter as a constant source of news and information of what was going on but hardly participated in the conversation.

To me Twitter was something of a feat. I felt and still feel that you have to constantly Tweet to remain relevant or what you say will just get lost in the other information that is being put out and broadcasted. This is where I had the most trouble with Twitter, I did not want to be a constant flow of information, good or bad. I have found that it is fun to Tweet during an event. You can quote a speaker, give a shout out to people you see there, I have even participated in a national TweetUp with PRSSA this past August. This was really interesting, it was like a giant conference over Twitter that anyone could see by simply following #PRSSA. There is a TweetUp planned for one of my classes this semester as well.

So to the whole, Live Tweeting and event, from movies to concerts, I say there is a certain etiquette that must be followed. Should you Tweet during a broadway production, probably not. Midnight showing premiere of a movie, I'm going to have to go with a no on that as well. What about a concert? YES! Speaker? Go for it! Class? We do in writing in the Digital Age!

To me, Tweeting is like taking little notes and sharing them with the people that follow you. It a sweet simple message and if it is coined right can be retweeted time and time again. Then again everything that is retweeted is not always that great, but that is social media for you.

So all of you Tweeters, go and Tweet you hearts out about what is going on around you!

Weaving Two Styles Into One

Well here we are yet another shooting tragedy in the United States this morning. While this is a tragedy, it struck me how the story was reported on WCPO's website when I went to read about what exactly was going on at the Navy Yard in D.C. First, I am not dismissing this tragic event, rather I am looking at the style of reporting that occurred.

When I began to read the article that the Associated Press had published, I scrolled down to find something interesting, hashtags. The entire reporting scheme was laid out in a Tweet timeline

Personally I really enjoy when two mediums come together to create a story, I think that it gives the writing layers to go by and lets the reader see different writing styles. Just like incorporating pictures, adding the Tweet timeline gives the story just a little more to go on.

Adding Twitter, video, tumblr, or any other medium amplifies the story for me. I think that it add more character to the piece and shows other sides to writing as well, but delivers the facts.

Techno Genius: That’s what they think!

Technology has been intertwined in my life since I can remember. We had a computer since I was at least five and have had one ever since. With that, I have, well we as a generation have been targeted to know everything about technology. But guess what, we don’t! Novel idea, yeah I know! However, it is the truth. I do know a lot, but not everything about technology. We have entered a transitional stage though. We have gone from a paper pencil society to a screen and touch screen. 

Many view these changes as negative and think that they are hurting our children and they won’t learn as much. I will have to say that I am skeptical, but I know that children are actually learning more tablets and interactive readers than I did as a child. A prime example is to look at what children are expected to know when they leave kindergarten now versus when I was in school. We are from an age where kindergarteners blog, tweet, and are learning with more technology than ever. My mom, who is a kindergarten teacher, had a student come to her during free choice time who couldn’t remember what her blog password was and wanted to blog during free choice. Holy cow! I didn’t even know what a password was at five, let alone a blog!

While I think that technology is wonderful, I think that we should still encourage kids to play imaginatively and not be in front of the “boob tube” as my grandma use to call the television! However, we have to embrace technology and what it can do for us, especially writing. Technology potentially can improve how and why we write because now our audience is not just the teach or class that is critiquing our work, but potentially the entire world if we want. 

Technology will forever be changing our lives and has forever changed our lives, from pencils, to chalkboard, now computers, technology has always been apart of our lives. Technology has made our lives better and worse in some respect. 

Where Science and Art Meet

"Just as scientific formulas may be elegant and beautiful, artistic creations may be informed by science or technology." This is a small excerpt from Not a Cosmic Convergence. This one line says a lot in just a few words. The beauty of something can be lost in what people perceive it to be. Some see formulas for math and science as very geometric and not flowing. However there is elegance behind the connection of numbers and what they stand for and are made in to. The same goes for writing, that some works of art, including writing are background with science or technology.

Writing is intertwined so much into technology and science. Technology would not exist without its own languages, C+, C++, Adobe, HTML, etc. This writing is an art form as much as it is a science. It took a lot of creativity for code to be developed and science too. Writing is happening more than ever today than ever before. Through Twitter, Facebook, texting, and e-mail, almost everyone is doing one of these things once a day, if not more. 

Writing can also be considered a science because there is a process. It just doesn't occur, there is a process behind how and why it happens. We think about what we want to write before it happens same with science. Heck, I would say that writing is more of a science, anything can happen, there is no law of writing that says everything you write will be successful or that writing success happens if you do "A" plus "B" and you will get "C."

Writing is in a new era, you can take it or leave it however you'd like. Just remember, that Tweet you send, status you post, it is all writing... 

I'm hyper on information!

Many of us, well at least I say this, "I am a gauntlet of useless information." I know a little about a lot of may different things. Why? The internet and the constant and instantaneous access to information. I will have to admit that like Michael Ridley says, I do not always process the information that I come across. I just store it and have the information take up space in my head.

I think that Plato was onto something when he said that our memory would be diminished by technology, which for him was writing and literacy. It is true, apparently we remember 50% less now than we did in the Shakespearian times. I read that somewhere, how's that for useless information that is now relevant! Actually a friend told me that...

This is how I feel on information overload!

We are constantly being told to memorize this, don't forget that, no wonder we are on information overload! We live in an instant gratification society. To some degree I don't think that is that we can't remember as well as we once did, but that there is so much more information to know. As a high school student I never saw the point in memorizing certain factoids, but I knew why I remembered others (most multiplication facts). I always was bull headed and would think if I ever went into a field, chemistry or history what have you, I could always look up the information that I needed.

“Long-form thinking looks the way its does because books shaped it that way. And because books have been knowledge’s medium, we have thought that that’s how knowledge should be shaped … But now that our medium can handle far more ideas and information, and now that it is a connective medium (ideas to ideas, people to ideas, people to people), our strategy is changing. And that is changing the very shape of knowledge.”

I do not think that I could say this better than how David Weinberger did in Too Big To Know (2011). We are still teaching and trying to be literate to what was the cutting edge years ago. We are moving into a newer age of literacy, the 2.0 alphabet, where knowledge is changing and how we access and learn is too. Knowledge today is not what it was even 10 years ago. We have finally surpassed what our brains are capable of, but we do not know how to harness what we have created and synthesize all of that information.

What Comes after Literacy? Droids that read our kids to sleep?

Post literacy, just let that sink in. What does it mean to us as a society? Will we all be illiterate bums having stories told to us by computers? Will R2D2 read our children to sleep? This concept is one that I find hard to wrap my mind around. What will become of us if we do not read, more so what will become to our children?

I wonder if reading will be something like the "Book of Eli," (not the whole last Bible deal, just the last of something important) will we dwindle out until there are few then none who can read? Personally, I think that we will continue to read, but be read to as well. Maybe there will be a shift to reading for pleasure again and we will be read the grueling things in our lives.

I like how it is put that we are considering post literacy as a search for alphabet 2.0. Maybe that alphabet is something that everyone across the globe will be able to understand, but will that have negative implications and take away from our culture? If we move beyond literacy and into an age without it, I do not think that I will live to see that day. However, I do not see literacy going anywhere anytime soon. As a race we are still heavily influenced by reading and gathering information. We use it as a way to communicate, express ourselves, make conversations with others and ourselves, and so much more.

Thinking about a post-literate world really freaks me out- but we will see, well maybe not me.

But, what would an age without handwritten notes to read be like, boring, well I think so.