Thursday, November 20, 2014

VoIP and Skype

Skype is beneficial because it allows you to connect with people through voice, video, and IM.  Thi shas both personal and professional benefits as you can keep in touch with friends and family that are far away as well as conduct a meeting via video conference. Additionally, there is a feature that allows for multiple people to be in the same communication, which makes that video conference or connecting with both your parents and your siblings (for example) at the same time very doable.

The advantages for VoIP are that the cost for service is much lower than traditional phone service or wireless service. IN fact PC to PC calls via Skype are free. There are also many services included in VoIP that are free of charge, such as caller ID and call waiting.

The disadvantages are that you must have an internet connection and power in order to use VoIP, which makes it unreliable in an emergency.  Additionally, when calling 911, your address is not automatically provided to the operator which can make communicating your location challenging in some cases. Lastly, the call quality can be reliant upon your internet connection and your PC or device, thereby providing more potential variables affecting your communication. 

Linked In

I have had a linked in account for years, however I do not use it very much unless I am looking for something specific that I feel my connections there can help with. For example, before I got the job I have now, I used my connections there to find out about openings in fields I had worked in before, as most of my Linked in connections are work related contacts.  I also feel this sight is useful in providing some professional background to your online presence.  It is common for potential employers to review an applicant's online presence prior to making an offer, as parts of a background check of sorts.  This site provides not only a professional profile but also gives you the ability to not only list your professional skill set but to have those skills verified by people you know professionally. I would recommend having and keeping your profile up to date if you are looking for a new job and actively putting out resumes.  You could also use this site to connect with professional contacts in order to find other professional service referrals, without having to do so much research on your own. 

Social networking site comparison


Networking
Features
Navigation
Users
Security
Search Features
Facebook
- Music streaming
-Personal information
-Interests
-Photo sharing
- Video sharing
- Can use account to register for other online accounts
- Easy links to friends, interests, messages, search, newsfeed and profile information.
- Has Mobile app
13+ years of age
Worldwide

-Can block users
- Report Spam and abuse
- Profile privacy settings
- offers safety tips

Find friends by:
Name
Email
Schools attended
City
Interests
Work history
Keyword
Suggests people you might know
Google+
- Music streaming
- Personal information
-Interests
-Photo sharing
- Video sharing
- Review publishing
- Links to other Google accounts
- Some easy links but navigation is less straightforward than Facebook
- Has Mobile app
13+ years of age
Worldwide

-Can block users
- Report Spam and abuse
- Profile privacy settings
- offers safety tips

Find friends by:
Name
Email
Schools attended
City
Interests
Work history
Keyword
Suggests people you might know
Friendster
- Features the same personal information as Facebook
- Interests are video game focused.
- Photo sharing
- Can share items via Facebook
- Bought by Facebook.  Can even use Facebook log in to register.
Forum page

- Many of the same navigational elements as Facebook
- Has Mobile app

18+ years of age
Worldwide

-Can block users
- Report Spam and abuse
- Profile privacy settings

Find friends by:

Email
Schools attended
City
Interests
Work history
Keyword
Suggests people you might know

Sunday, November 16, 2014

What is a podcast?




A podcast is a basically a combination of audio and broadcasting.   Podcasts are to blogs what audio books are to books.  They are simply an audio version of information that could be found in a blog. They are usually fairly editorial and can be about anyone and anything that interests the author enough to speak about it. The ones that I researched for this week's assignment flowed in very much the same way as a talk radio show does, which I listen to almost every morning on the way to work.  Some of them were more intellectual and others were more on the bawdy side, but all of them were designed to hold the listeners interest about the topic at hand and create a returning audience. Bottom of Form

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Podcast.com vs podcastalley.com

View my Voki video


With regards to the 2 websites suggested in this assignment, podcast.com vs podcastalley.com, I definitely preferred podcastalley.com.  Podcast.com was almost impossible to use and there was not a lot of information there that I found interesting.  Podcastalley.com was slightly more user friendly but it still was difficult to find any podcasts other than the featured ones. I did use one of those for this assignment, however the other 2 podcasts I got from websites I found using Google or podcasts I had already heard of. I did find several sites like these two however by using Google and I also found some that were specific to a certain genre of podcasts, like the comedy podcasts I found for my second entry.

War of the Roses

Th last podcast that I chose was the War of the Roses podcast by John Jay and Rich.  John Jay and Rich are radio hosts that have a morning show.  I regularly listen to the show on iheartradio and I heard on there today that they do podcast so I went to the website to see what I could find.  The radio show does different segments that involve the listeners bringing them their own situations and then the hosts get involved in one way or another.  In the War of the Roses segment, a listener will call in and explain why they think that their significant other is cheating on them. Then one of the three hosts on the show calls the significant other posing as a floral sales person and offers them a free bouquet of romantic roses to be sent to whomever they choose at not cost to them.  The point of the call is to see if they send the flowers to someone besides their significant other. After they say who they want the flowers sent to they are confronted by their SO and calamity usually ensues.The show is entertaining in a sick way, similar to the way one is unable to look away from a tragic accident as they pass it on the highway.  In this case the woman caller though that he husband might be having an affair with their female marriage counselor. Spoiler alert - he does send the flowers to the counselor! Check it out - here is the feed.

Monday Morning Podcast

+

The second podcast I chose was the Monday Morning Podcast by Bill Burr.  I found this podcast on the allthingscomedy.com listings.  I was looking for something comedy related.  I chose this particular podcast because it was by Bill Burr and I happen to like his particular brand of bitterness as well as his frequent use of the f-word. In his podcast, which is a weekly event, he basically gives his opinion and tells storied about a few very random topics each week. In this particular one, he talks about the Comics Come Home show, plane crashes and going down on your boss.  Probably not for everyone but I find it amusing.  Here is the feed.  Warning - not for those with delicate sensibilities. 





Why do people keep having Children?


I found the podcast titled "Why do people keep having Children?" on Podcastalley.com/  I chose it simply because of the title. The podcast is actually from an economics stand point and discussed the biological, sociological and economical reasons why people have children. It also discusses cultural events and ideals that affect fertility.  It was really interesting and quite intellectual actually.  Fair warning - it is really long. Here is the link to the feed- enjoy!


Sunday, November 9, 2014

Wiki on Wikis

The name of my Wiki is wikiwikiwack2 and can be found at:

 https://wikiwikiwack2.wikispaces.com/home

One of the data points that was shared in the Did you know 2.0 video, is that in 2007 (when the video was (published) the average 21 year old had sent approximately 250,000 emails or instant messages. When I was 21 years old, I had not even sent 1 and that was in 2001.   

http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/The+6C%27s+for+21st+Century+Competency

I found a post that discussed the "6C's for 21st Century Competency". Specifically, the post is in relation to education but I think that the 6C's listed actually are relevant to many aspects of life int eh 21st century at least so far. They are:

  1. Connect
  2. Create
  3. Collaborate
  4. Communicate
  5. Compute
  6. Think Critically

I feel that the popularity of email, text and other communication tools fulfills the Connect, Collaborate and Communicate aspects.  

Educational formats in the future

http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/share/view/63302352?replyId=64284620

In this discussion, the main subject was the fact that Kindergarten through 12th grade students are being offered educational opportunities online.  This discussion was started by a mother who had seen advertisements for this type of shoo on television and wanted to some information from someone who had been involved with these types of schools to ask what their experience was like.

I thought this particular discussion was interesting particularly as I myself and an online learner and have been pursuing my college degree this was for several years.  I have also seen the commercials the initiator of this conversation had scene and had many of the same thoughts that she and the other contributors had.  There was also concern that this type of learning environment is not for everyone and some children may not thrive in this environment.

There was some discussion about how this type of learning environment could be detrimental to the social development of children in that age group, which I myself have sited as my own concern about online educations for children. There was also some talk that every child should be required to take at least one online or hybrid course during their formative years, which is also an interesting perspective.

Preparing Students for the future of technology and connectivity

http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/share/view/1658333?replyId=3052521





The conversation I reviewed for this topic was started by Jennifer Kolb, a teacher from Kansas. She started the discussion to create conversation about how technology will affect the both the performance and education of the sciences and what services she could use to connect with her students.

The conversation quickly included social media and using the internet to find businesses that provide educational resources to students and teachers.  Further into the conversation you will find several people who disagree with the use of technology in education and several more that embrace and encourage it as a means to keep up with the way the world is operating.

What I liked the most about this conversation is that is connected people across the world and the educator who started the conversation was provided with numerous resources as she requested that had worth to her pursuits.  This saved her time in vetting various resources she could have found herself by letting her take advantage of others research on the same topic.