9-1 Blog: Multimedia Tools

Multimedia when done right is unmatchable! But when multimedia is done wrong it is blatantly obvious.

During the State of the Union Address, President Obama's team released an 'enhanced' experience with over 100 slides, 25 charts and videos for the public to review during the speech. Chart Check: Did Obama's Graphics 'Enhance' his Big Speech? highlighted how multimedia can go wrong. The various charts were appealing to the eye as far as color and clean lines, however the information on the charts was hard to interpret and some appeared to be smoke screens over the real numbers.

Multimedia should be used to enhance the content of an article or speech by relating the content to the audience through visuals or audio. The article Snowfall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek incorporated multimedia as if it was a Hollywood production. The opening gave off the feeling of watching a movie. The article was well written and the author used the correct multimedia tools at the right times to drive home a point, an excellent example.

In late February 1910, ceaseless snowstorms over several days marooned two passenger trains just outside the tunnel’s west portal. Before the tracks could be cleared, the trains were buried by what still stands as the nation’s deadliest avalanche. It killed 96 people.

Multimedia enhances a writer's message when used to compliment the article or post. It enhances the message by peaking the readers interest when music plays, a photo can be used as an exclamation point to a paragraph, and a quick 30-45 second clip is used to highlight a sidebar or bring the story to life.

I believe that as cool as some videos are, a photo is more effective. It freezes a specific moment in time and allows readers to interpret the image based on their experiences and start asking questions. Why is the little boy so happy? What are they doing just sitting on chairs in a kitchen? Are they playing a game? The list can go on.

In reality the children were Skyping with their Daddy and seeing him for the first time since he deployed to Afghanistan.  They were reading Father's Day cards to him and telling him about their day (image from 2012). Yes, the picture is obviously a happy moment but the only way readers can find out the whole story is to continue reading. Photos really do speak a thousand words.

It is difficult to mention multimedia without talking about the importance of it in the business world. Multimedia is a crucial part in the marketing industry to bring buyers and to showcase the product. Here is an example of how videos allow a business/person to introduce themselves, their product, mission, and encourage interaction with consumers while building a brand. Also popular way to get across the infamous 'How To' guides.

Daydreaming through Blogging Best Practices

Life Lessons of a Military Spouse blog chronicles a woman's adventures as a military spouse while living overseas in Europe. She utilizes her posts to deliver tips and insights for others stationed in Europe that want to travel and sight see. She uses a healthy mix of text, photos, and links to outside blogs and sites. Her style of writing is easy to read and follow while enticing you to continue to read more. I spent at least 45 minutes on her blog reading the different posts, following links, and returning back to her blog. At the end, I wanted to travel Europe and asked my husband if he could retire there!

In my opinion, a blog must have a developed form that is easy to follow and navigate. If a blog's content is not organized and posts are hard to find readers will loose interest and not revisit the blog. A blogger should state the function or purpose of the blog at the beginning, whether as a subtitle or in the 'About' section. This way readers know up front what kind of content they will receive and is a great place to embed SEO (search engine optimization) key words/phrases. Utilizing SEO will bring more unique readers to a blog. The substance of this particular blog, "Life Lessons of a Military Spouse" is great. There are a lot of posts and the blogger posts frequently. She writes 'To Do or Top 10' posts on the blog along with stories about her families adventures. Good substance balances the need to put in facts and research with writing fluidly so readers follow. Everything in this blog is based on her knowledge and experiences, but when necessary the blogger attributes outside sources that have added to the content. A blogger should use outside sources or guest writers on their blog to keep content diversified while bringing in new readers that may have never found their blog otherwise.

I enjoyed searching through various blogs for this assignment. I read blogs about politics, finances, marketing practices, and journal blogs. This one grabbed my attention because it was enjoyable to read and not flooded with hard facts, numbers, and quotes. Sometimes we all need to take a step back from hard facts and enjoy the lighter side to life - daydreaming about traveling the world.


To view this blog, visit: http://lifelessonsmilitarywife.com

For research purposes: http://www.dailyblogtips.com/steps-to-successful-blog/

Joe Paterno Dies from Lung Cancer at age 85

Press Release

**This is a mock press release written as an assignment for Knowledge & New Media at Southern New Hampshire University. Please look at references below for more information.**

Penn State Athletics
University Park
State College, PA 16801
(814)865-4700

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Michele M. Jackson
Penn State Athletics
(814)865-4700
michelemjackson@psu.edu


Joe Paterno, the longest serving head coach in college football until he was fired in the wake of a child abuse allegations against a long time assistant, Jerry Sandusky, died Sunday from lung cancer. He was 85.

In a statement released by his family Sunday morning announcing his death, "He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, though only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community." 

Paterno died at 9:25am at Mount Nittany Medical Center due to lung cancer spreading throughout his body, according to a spokesperson for the hospital. He was surrounded by his family, who have requested privacy at this time. Paterno was survived by his wife, children, and 17 grandchildren.(biography.com)

Paterno became the head coach for Penn State's football team in 1966. After a staggering 46 years as head coach, two national championships, named the National Coach of the Year five times, and a final record of 409-136-3.

His coaching career came to an end in 2011 after his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, was charged with assaulting 10 boys over a 15 year period. Paterno was supposedly informed of one incident in 2002 at the universities sports complex and did not follow up on the allegations. As a result the university announced his release as head coach on November 9th, 2011. As a result two additional top university officials stepped down after being charged with perjury following the Sandusky investigation. Even after the child abuse scandal, Paterno's legacy still remains intact. 

"You can't ignore the great years he had at Penn State and the great things he did for Penn State. That university is known for Joe Paterno and Sue. It's just a great tragedy." - Bobby Bowden, former Florida State Seminoles head coach from 1976-2009.

-30-

Facebook Post

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of the longtime football head coach Joe Paterno this morning at Mount Nittany Medical Center. He was 85. Paterno had been battling lung cancer since November 2011. We are keeping his family and friends in our thoughts and prayers. Visitation and funeral details will be announced once arrangements have been made by his family. 


References: 

Hyland, T. (2012). The Lion King: Joe Paterno. About.com website. Retrieved 09:41pm, Aug 02, 2014, from http://collegefootball.about.com/od/coachinggreats/a/coach-Paterno.htm

Paterno, J. V. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 09:57pm, Aug 02, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/joe-paterno-9434584#final-days

Social media is all around us and is intertwined in our everyday lives. Business, schools, government, and non-profits are all relying on social media more and more everyday. I personal love some social media platforms and dislike others. This week I took a look at three different social media platforms and test drove them for myself. iTunes podcasts, Picasa, and QR codes.

I took a moment to watch a TED Talk on iTunes. This particular TED Talk was Julian Treasure: How to speak so that people want to listen. Treasure's talk was a little over nine minutes and was engaging right from the start. I am sure the transcripts to this talk are published somewhere but the text transcript would not have caught the intentional pauses in his speech, or the video clips from the audience during an interactive portion of his speech. Podcasts bring content to life. Businesses can and do use podcasts to make their brand or product approachable. It lets consumers feel like they are getting an inside look and the hot-off-the-press scoop when watching. Podcasts are a very successful and cost efficient way to reach consumers or ones target audience.

After watching the TED Talk podcast, I moved onto Picasa - a photo sharing site. It required me to download the program onto my computer and then pulled ALL of my photos out of my iPhoto Library to be used within the program. Once everything was set, I was excited to edit a few photos and see what master pieces I could come up with. However, I was sadly disappointed. With every photo I tried to edit I had to make another copy and than there would be something wrong with that version and I still couldn't edit. Out of frustration, I gave up on Picasa and opened my Instagram app. So much easier! Here is my Instagram creation:

Before

After

Instagram, Picasa, and other photo sharing apps are very effective in reaching the masses. Whether it is a business trying to strengthen their brand by encouraging consumers to post pics via Instagram with a specific #hashtag or a non-profit raising awareness for a cause, it can all be done visually through photo sharing.

QR or "quick response" codes were all the rage when they first appeared. I was working in a real estate office at the time and the realtor were scrambling to get their personal QR code onto their business cards. I took a moment to create a QR code that, would benefit the Marines, Sailors, and families that I work with, in one quick click they would be directed to our commands eMarine website - a secure website that is used for official communication. My thought behind this code was to put it on the back of my business card and when checking in a new person to the command they could just scan the code instead of trying to remember the URL. So far it has proven effective and efficient.

eMarine

QR codes are perfect on the back of products at the store, it allows companies an opportunity to give consumers more detailed information (or my favorite, recipes for their product when it is a food item) regarding their product and ways to use their product. QR codes are fun, but a little impractical as well. If a person doesn't have the scanner, they have to download the scanner to use it. The codes also prove dangerous when advertisers place them on billboards along the highway - Do advertisers really hope that drivers will scan their QR code while driving 60mph down the highway? I hope not.

Social media is fun and trying out all the new social media trends can be exciting. It is something that is always changing and expanding. I look forward to the day when the next big trend of social media is released. I also find myself wondering what the next big social media trend will be or asking myself what is after social media. Social media is forcing everyone to stay on their toes both personally and professionally.

Credibility of Sources

The New York Times article written by Laura M. Holson, " Social Media's Vampires: They Text by Night, Vamping Teenagers Are Up All Night Texting" brings to light the raising concern of teenagers use of social media. Their constant need to be online in order to be "one of the cool kids" using #vamping or #notsleepingatall. Within the article there are four sources: 1. A poll on Sleep in the Modern Family by the National Sleep Foundation, that surveyed care givers with a child aged 6-17 years living in their household to ask about sleep practices and beliefs in the modern family.  This is a source from a credible organization and moderated by a number of researches from Duke University, University of Chicago, and George Washington University. 2. The article written by Temitayo Fagbenle, a rookie reporter for WNYC is written using Firsthand Accounts. This article is published on an organizations website operated by a non-profit that accepts donations on its homepage. 3. Donah Boyd, a scholar and senior researcher @ Microsoft Research is the author of "It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens". She is the Expert Source and Analyst offering two reasons for the phenomenon, teenagers desire to connect and this is the way teenagers are reacting to overbooked schedules. 4. Another firsthand witness is Owen, a 15 year-old that admits he uses social media as an outlet at night to become lost in his hobbies. 

After reading the article and looking through the sources, I find the article to be credible as a result of the research and researchers that contributed to the story. If this article would have came up as unreliable it could have had the potential to be reckless news spread through mass media such as Facebook , Twitter, and Blogs, especially if the topic was related to national security for instance. Each author must take on the responsibility of what they right and fully vet their sources to be reliable and the facts accurate. 

Holson, L. M. (2014). Social Media's Vampires: They Text by Night, Vamping Teenagers are Up All Night Texting. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/fashion/vamping-teenagers-are-up-all-night-texting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LargeMediaHeadlineSum&module=photo-spot-region&region=photo-spot&WT.nav=photo-spot&_r=0

Montecino, V. (1998). "Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources." http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm

Do you know what incident started World War I?

I can honestly say that I could not recall what, who, or how World War I (WWI) actually started. That is until last night as I was browsing my Facebook news feed and happened across the post with all the details of how and why WWI began! (I am a closet history junkie, BTW)

It didn't matter to me that it was midnight and I really needed to get to bed. The post, The man who started WWI: 7 things you didn't know written by Tim Butcher for CNN.com, took me on a journey through various other blogs and articles by historians in regards to WWI. What I learned through social media today was that a 19 year old boy, Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife from a Balkan street corner in Sarajevo. His actions set off a chain of events that Princip could not have imagined. He was only acting as a supporter of a group of activists wanting unification of all local Slav people in Bosnia. Butcher wrote: "Their dream was to drive out the Habsburg occupier, so shooting the Archduke was seen as a "grand gesture" to inspire others to rise up against the foreign power. 

Aha…So that was what happened. The article goes on to list more detailed information about alliances, country borders, battles, leaders, and more. It really was a great article on CNN. Oh, and his nephew, Nikola Princip, 81, lives in Sarajevo is still alive! (The Huffington Post)

When I first saw the post I didn't immediately start fact checking, I took it as fact. After reading that entire article, multiple clicks and articles later, I took the time to do a bit google research. Only to find that every major network from BBC to NBC to The Huffington Post was running pieces about the 100th anniversary to the start of WWI.

Social media site can be credible sources for obtaining information but every reader should take the extra steps to verify what form of content they are reading to understand the purpose behind the article, info graphic, or video before sharing it. (Kovach and Rosenstiel, 2010) Readers can do this by paying attention to the source they received the information from; the person, company, or interest group that originally posted the information and use some common sense. Unless it is someone posting yet another funny info graphic about cleaning your house while children are still living in it; take the news and information on ones news feed with a grain of salt. 

_____________

References

Butcher, T. (June 28, 2014). The man who started WWI: 7 things you didn't know. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/27/opinion/7-things-gavrilo-princip-man-who-started-wwi/index.html?sr=fb062814WWI2pVODtopLinkhttp://cnn.it/1iPlmNc

Robins-Early, N. and Maisel, M. (June 27, 2014). The Man Who Ignited WWI has a Nephew Who's Still Alive (And Other Crazy Great War Facts). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/27/world-war-one-crazy-facts_n_5534822.html

Kovach, B. and Rosenstiel, T. (2010). Blur: How To Know What's True In The Age Of Information Overload. New York, Bloomsbury USA.

New Media in My Daily Life

New media is intertwined throughout my everyday life. I use email throughout the day six days a week, I am constantly on Facebook updating the two pages that I manage for work and browsing news feed for my personal enjoyment. I read multiple blogs regarding my profession, career growth, development, ideas, and more. I peruse pinterest for everything from a menu for this weekends BBQ to how my kitchen will look in my dream home. LinkedIn has become a staple in my social media realm now that I am coming up on a life and professional shift. Instagram and Twitter are fun but those are utilized occasionally throughout the week.

New media has made me more aware of everything happening around the country and world. I have always been a bit of a news junky and now I am able to absorb and seek out the news that I interests me. Social media has turned everyday life events into monstrosity sized events because of the added exposure and fast past spread of information.

Social media in general is a positive influence into my life. I am able to monitor my usage of it and not allow myself to be overrun by the need to post or update my profiles while spending time with my family. However, at work social media can have a negative influence in the sense of time management. It is easy to become fully engaged in the social media aspect of my job and loose sight some days on the day-to-day administrative side to work.