After completing this project, I have learned a lot about social media within a large company. I personally only use Facebook when it comes to social media sites, but made a Twitter account for this project. I do not have a full understanding of how to use Twitter, and do not have many friends, but now that I have an account, I plan on using it a lot more. I have also learned that one single company can have many different accounts on a social media site. Ford has 13 by themselves.
I have also learned that YouTube is a very large site when it comes to social media for large companies. The good thing about using YouTube is that people enjoy watching videos, and know how to use the website. Most everyone has been to YouTube to watch a video of some sort. Not only can you find videos from the company them self, but also from other private sources that have done reviews for certain products.
This video from LotProCars shows and example of review that they have put on YouTube for viewers to see.
Lastly, I learned that working online with a group is not very easy. Getting in contact with everyone in the group can by very difficult. For example, some of our members did not respond to any emails or messages until the last day of the project. I feel that group work in person is much easier because you can sit down and talk face to face, not hoping that you can get a hold of someone through email.
This week we talked about social media. Most everyone in todays world is in some way part of a social media network. Wether it be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Etc. There are many different views of these sites. Some say that they are great because you can keep in touch with your friends, while others feel that they are dangerous for younger children to be a part of.
I feel that one problem that will become with these websites is the amount of users. Every once in awhile you can see that the websites are running slowly from the amount of users that are on at one time. Metcalf's Law states that the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of users. This can become false when the amount of users becomes to high for the network to withstand.
This photo from Mirnabard.com shows different examples of social networks and how they are classified.
The largest social network to date is The Facebook. This video from Sony shows the official trailer for the 2010 movie titled "The Social Network". Not only has this website been quite successful through their initial use, but are now expanding to many other areas. Recently The Facebook bought Instagram for $1 Billion. With 850 million users, does Facebook really need more?
Thank you for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it!
This week we focused on telecommunications. Although there is alot to talk about when it comes to this subject, I want to focus my blog on the security of the internet. In recent years uses of the internet have become much more personal. I do not mean just through social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, but more along the lines of online banking, and other extremely personal applications. I use online banking all the time, and always fear that someone will be able to tap into my personal information. If this were to happen, it could become a serious problem. One way I try to avoid this is by not logging on while on an unsecured wireless network. Although this is just one small step, I try to keep my information private as much as possible.
This video from Norton explains one system they have come up with to help protect internet users. Norton is a very farmiliar name when it comes to internet security along with McAfee, BitDefender, and many more. Although these different software packages can be useful, it is impossible for them to protect you from all hackers.
This is an image from Gadgetmeter.com that shows one way that they have come up with to protect your personal information in a public setting. Although this is meant to be just a humorous example, I am sure that some people would go to these lengths to protect what they feel is private information.
Thank you for reading my week 12 blog, see you next week!
After creating my Google+ account, I have seen alot of nice features. Although not many of my friends have Google+ accounts, which is very different from Facebook. The article from PC Mag seems to be far fetched to me. Google+ might be an up and coming idea, but the volume of people that are on Facebook cannot be overcome. I personally would keep my Facebook page as my main site for social networking. Many people have become farmiliar with the format that Facebook has set up, and do not have trouble using its features. The fact that Google+ is new, it is still working out the bugs, and is not as ergonomic to most.
Creating my own avatar was a neat experience. The steps we're fairly simple and quite easy to follow. I created my avatar based on own personal style. I decided to put a hat on him, with some facial hair and to dress him as I may dress. When one is given the opportunity to create something solely on their imagination, it's likely that that something is going to come from what you know and who you are. I wanted this avatar to represent me, and I feel that it completely does just that.
This weeks lesson was about Data Assets. For most, a "data asset" does not have much meaning to it. I personally did not know exactly what a data asset was before this weeks lesson. Some examples that were given by Professor Olson were CRM and ERM. These two examples made things very clear to me. CRM as a data asset means that the information you receive from a sales call can be recorded and used for future reference when someone else is learning how to make sales calls. This could also mean that it can be used to look back on as a reference for the outcome of the call.
This photo from EBIZQ.net shows how data can be used throughout a whole business environment, and how it can be used as an asset.
I also found a video from IBMInfoGov on YouTube that also explained how data can be used as an asset for security.
One more thing that I learned about data is the difference between structured and unstructured data. The most useful data that the common person uses in the world today is unstructured data. Almost everyone either texts, emails, or watches a YouTube video in a day. A class like this would not be possible is there was no such thing as unstructured data.
Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope to have such a good time with next weeks class!
Throughout this project I was amazed at how much Access has to offer. From queries, to forms, and even regular spreadsheets. To me it almost seemed like Excel with a lot more features. The function that I learned the most about is the Form function. Before this project I never had the opportunity to use this part of Access. At first it seemed that creating a form would be a complicated task. Now that I have completed the project, the functionality of this feature and the program as a whole are completely user friendly. Also, being able to create the forms from tables and queries is quite useful.
One thing that I would add to the program is video tutorials about the different parts of the program. I know that there is the help link that explains different functions, but watching it done is much more helpful. Being that this was the first time that I used a couple of the different functions of the program, being able to go back and watch Professor Olson work through it step by step was very helpful. If there was a way for Access to put these types of tutorials in their help section, it would be much easier to work through new parts of the program.
Thank you for reading my post, and I hope that Access becomes more useful in future business!
For this week of class, we focused on different skills that are commonly used in Microsoft Access. Access if a very useful tool for the business world, almost more useful than Excel in some ways. I have used Access in other classes before in college, but it has never been as easy to use for me as Excel is. In those other classes, the lessons have been mainly following a textbook step by step, which is not an easy way to learn the program. In our lectures, watching Professor Olson work his was through the different steps was much more helpful.
This video from WWW.GCFLEARNFREE.COM is an overview of the meaning of Access, and a very good definition of databases. There are also many different tutorials on YouTube that can be very useful for Access.
Another thing that I like about Access is the different functions such as Queries, and the way that you can switch back and forth very quickly between the forms. Little things like this make it much easier for the users. Another function that I did not know was possible until browsing through different websites about Access was the ability to add bar-codes to your tables.
This photo from Barcodsewiz.com shows a table with different bar-codes for some products. This could be very useful for small businesses that do not have codes on all of their products.
In conclusion, Access is a very important tool for many businesses, large and small. I hope to learn much more about this application and how to become very proficient with it!
I found this weeks assignment to be very interesting. I have had previous classes that have discussed Moore's Law, and have always found it to be very interesting how factual it actually is. Since Gordon Moore introduced his theory in 1965, it has always seemed to be very true when it comes to the amount of computer speed and pricing that we have seen today.
From Channelintel, this is a comical example of Moore's Law from the Mythbusters.
I personally have a 4GB, 500GB of memory laptop, which is a strong jump from my parents 256MB, 250GB of memory desktop that was extremely high tech when we purchased it.
This graph from Geek.com shows a timeline of how Moore's Law progresses from the early days into the 19th century. The theory seems to be outrageous when you think about it, but it actually has surprisingly come true. This technology has even advanced into cell phones, which were not even though of in the times of Gordon Moore.
I really enjoyed this project using Excel. From talking to people that work in the business world, Excel is a key tool that is used in many different applications. The main tool that I wanted to focus on were the pivot tables. In previous computer classes I have taken, these have been lightly discussed. I feel that these should have been covered extensively considering the usefulness of them. After using them more, and practicing, I now feel much more confident, and understand how they are used with Excel.
Another part of the project that I enjoyed is getting farmiliar with the different shortcuts there are in Excel. I feel like there is not enough coursees for this program in higher education. This program is used in almost all businesses today, and being proficient in all aspects is very important when marketing yourself for a job in the business world. Just small things like being able to jump to the beggining or end of a spreadsheet can be very useful. Staying fresh with little things like this can help more in the work enviroment than most other classes that are required in school today in my opinion.
One more aspect of the project that i felt was very useful was not having a step by step book to follow to figure out how to do different steps. When you have a book like that, it does not help you remember how to use the functions and other tools, it just shows you how to follow different steps. It is nice to have a book to reference if you need it, but being able to use Excel by memory forces you to learn the actual steps you need.
In conclusion, this project was very useful for me, and helped me refresh my skills using Excel. Hopefully everything was done correctly, and I learned the right way to use Excel! Thank you, Austin.
Cloud Computing is everywhere these days. Most have no idea they use it though. The best example of a very common cloud computing system is GMail. Before I reviewed this weeks lectures, I truthfully did not know that I used cloud computing daily either. The advent of cloud computing has really changed how the internet works, and how easy it is to access information. When you are on the run and need to get that very important email, would you be able to do it without cloud computing?
Another very important security system of cloud computing is the login system. For GMail you get to choose your personal information such as username and password, which is yours to keep forever. This makes it much easier to remember your credentials, and have a secured system. The one problem with this feature is that people do not try hard enough to make a hidden password. There are man common passwords, such as "password", that people use. One way to avoid this problem is by putting different numbers, or signs in your password to keep it authentic to yourself.
This photo from Innovationsimple.com is a good cartoon that is very accurate to how some perceive cloud computing. Although these types of people have never used a computer in their life, they can still imagine the advancements that we have achieved.
Another great example of cloud computing is iCloud from Apple. With this system, you can update your pictures, music, etc. from your phone to your computer on the go. It is hard to believe that you can be thousands of miles away, and still have a back-up for a picture you just took right on your home computer.
Here is a video from apple that explains how iCloud works.
I did my presentation on the American Farmland Trust. After going through information, and reading up on the organization, I realized that they are fighting for a very important cause that most might not know about.
Reviewing my presentation did not go as well as I had hoped. I thought I did a great job, without any mistakes, but I was wrong. My intro did not really jump out and grab a hold of the listener. It was informational, but not flashy. I tried to answer different questions, and some background about the organization in my presentation, which I feel that I did a good job of. With a time constraint of 2-3 minutes, it felt like things were left out that there wasn't enough time for. I would have liked about 5-6 minutes to fully get my points across, but that was the point of the speech.
All of the claims that I made during my presentation were completely factual. I am the kind of person that requires factual information to get my points across. I also tried to validate the claims about farmland loss, but probably could have had more information to solidify that area. Again, more time could have allowed more information.
One large problem that I noticed after reviewing my project was reading from slides. I did not preview the slide before I showed it. This seemed to be hard to do without boring the viewer in my eyes. I feel like if I were to tell what my slides were about before I showed them, there would not have been enough time for the viewer to read over them and absorb the information on the slides.
Overall I felt like this was a good learning experience. I was able to read up on an organization that I feel very strongly about, and improve my presentation skills. Here is the link to my video presentation, I hope you enjoy!
Welcome to week 6! Throughout this whole segment, the component that was most interesting to me was software licensing. Everyday people buy products, or even use products that have certain licensing agreements that they have no idea about. An example Professor Olson used was iTunes. Most everyone today has an iTunes account. I personally have an account, and have not read any of the agreement that I accepted when I signed up for the program. When a new user signs up for a program like this, the chances that they thoroughly read over the licensing agreement is slim to none. The problem with this is that consumers do not know exactly what they are signing up for.
This video from "GoogleTechTalks" shows how people are becoming more aware that licensing agreements are not gone through by consumers like they should be, and what can be done to help this problem.
This picture is a small portion of the iTunes software license agreement. If you read through just the first few lines of the agreement, it seems as though there could be some very important information within the agreement. For most though, the only piece that gets read on the screen is the "Agree" section.
Overall I feel like there is very important information in these agreements that should be read before agreeing. They are long, and not the most interesting material to read, but in the end, you know exactly what you are signing up for.
Welcome to Week 5 of my blog! This week we discussed presentations and how to enhance your presentations for the viewers. Almost everyone that has recently been in school, or worked in a managerial position has had to do a presentation, mostly with powerpoint. This program has become the go-to tool for creating presentations. If you think about the use of hand written displays, the level of professionalism cannot be matched when compared to a digital display. With the use of charts, photos, embedded videos, and other enhancements, presentations are a very valuable learning tool.
One person that gave presentations a new style was Steve Jobs. He would always appear in his blue jeans, and his black shirt. The way the Jobs spoke to his audience, everyone felt involved, and that they were almost friends.
This video from "BNETvideo" explains how Jobs captivated his audiences.
For most, presenting in front of a group of people is one of the hardest things to do. Statistically, people fear talking in front of a group more than death. For our Presidents, there is no room for this fear when it comes to their speeches. This photo is from President Obama's inauguration.
Welcome to my Week 4 Blog! This week we focused on Strategy and Technology in different types of organizations. I had a clear understanding of all of this material and really enjoyed this weeks lectures. The concept that I have the strongest grasp on is the "Value Chain". I have seen this concept in other classes, but the technological twist that this week covered made it a lot more interesting to me. After watching the interviews with several different employers from different sectors of the workforce I realized that without technology, value chains would be almost impossible to function. Technology allows each function in the value chain to easily communicate and integrate.
This chart from Steven Black shows how different value chains have to work together to create a valuable product or company.
One very interesting section of this week was learning about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs working together. This documentary from BBC goes through different factors between Microsoft and Apple. I feel like this friendship that turned into competition has really revolutionized not only computer technology, but tablets, phones, and other devices. In my eyes, competition on this level is what drives innovation in not only technology, but all things in the world.
The sections from this week that seemed to really hit home the most was "Interviews from the Field". This video really put all the things we are learning about technology into real life situations. If you take a minute to sit back and think about how much technology we use everyday, not only at work but in our daily lives, it is amazing. How often can you go through a whole day without checking your Facebook, Twitter, or even check you email? It seems almost impossible to make it through a day without these different types of technology.
In conclusion, this week was very interesting and valuable to me. The implication of different types of technology to everyday life and work is very interesting to me. The way that our lives are encompassed around our smart phones, computers, and other devices would have been unimaginable 50 years ago. Thank you for reading!
Hello everyone, I hope this segment was as informational to you all as it was to me! When I first began going through this section of the course, it seemed as though we were just going to be talking about simple WIFI networks, and LAN networks, which I was already familiar with. Luckily, it got much deeper than that. At my work we have a couple different servers that we run off of. These two servers are what keeps the company moving at our office, and on the road. Before this lecture, I knew how to access information through them, and use them lightly, but I did not know inner workings of our systems.
Most people at this time know what a wireless network is, and how it works. But knowing all the different safety features, and how WIFI has evolved gives you a much better appreciation for it.
http://www.mobileisgood.com/wifi.php
This article from "Imran's Cellular Everything" goes over many different facts about WIFI and its capabilities.
This diagram shows how most households utilize WIFI, or 802.11. Systems such as Playstation 3's, XBOX 360's, and WII's have become commonplace in almost all homes in the United States. All three of these systems have wireless capabilities, which makes it much easier to connect them to the internet. Some of technologies that have come about recently that make good use of WIFI are tablets, blu-ray players that have integrated WIFI, and small handheld gaming systems.
Overall, the advancements that have been made for the internet have made it many time easier, and more efficient since its beginning. The reduction of wires, and the increasing speed at which we can surf the web is would be mind boggling for its inventors to even dream of.
My second post, and I feel like it's a little easier this time! Today I wanted to discuss the clear understanding I received of computer upgrades. I personally have never upgraded certain components of my computer, but have looked into it. Recently the technology and hard drive space of computers that you can buy right off the shelf is almost more than most users would need.
From the people that I've talked to, the most common upgrades done to computers are upgrading the hard drive, and the video card. Although you can upgrade the hard drive internally, in recent years that creation of external portable hard drives have caused these upgrades to almost become obsolete. The most common reason for upgrading the video card in your computer is for gaming. The type of people that do these upgrades usually don't just stop at these two pieces, it usually turns into an expensive hobby.
For most of the older generation, upgrades like these are like a foreign language. My parents being an example. I've tried time and time again to get them to upgrade their computer, but they feel like what they have is enough, and more in unnecessary. For people that have never experienced a computer with more features, the change can be overwhelming.
Video courtesy of YouTube member CrossBrand.
This video is an example of some upgrades that can be done to your personal computer. Do not take this in a way that anybody can makes these changes, it takes an experienced technician!
Overall, upgrading your computer has become more of a plug in experience than remodeling your computer. This has caused many people to be able to upgrade their systems without much technical experience. Low cost, and ease of use has taken over the computer upgrade world. This ease of use has been created through USB drives. Most computers have multiple inputs, adding external hard drives, more disc drives, and many other upgrades.
Thank you for reading, and I hope that my blog has been interesting so far!
Hello everyone, this is my first blogging experience so please bear with me! This class seems to be a good break from the normal online classes I've had. I enjoy the fact that it is not all about the tests but more focused on applications.
For this week I chose to talk about the clear evaluation I got of netiquette. Before watching the lecture on this topic I really never thought about how people can react to the different ways information is portrayed through the internet. The main point that really stuck out to me was the way that all caps can be portrayed. I personally do not use all caps when typing, but have never really taken it as "screaming" like the lecture said. To me it looks somewhat childish and unprofessional.
This video produced by Dr. William Brendel uses old time approach that connects manners from the home and applies them to "E-Manners".
Thank you for reading, and I hope this semester is a success and enjoyable!
