Thing 11: Visual Thesaurus

I decided to look up “copyrite” using the Visual Thesaurus, in light of Thing 10 post.  I was surprised to find only three related words, these being secure, procure and rights of first publication.  Wanting to find a more popular word, and one with more results I randomly chose the word “paper,” which provided many more outcomes.  A few words related to paper include: newspaper publisher, article, material, stuff and cover.  “Paper” is the root word, and each word stems of off it alongside a colored circle which connects each related word.  The root word can be related to many, and the words stemming from the root word can be related to other stemming words.  It sounds confusing, but it’s really not. 

Lexipedia is similar to the Visual Thesaurus, but it provided more results.  I searched the word “school” and words like, schooltime, establishment, cultivate and knowledge popped up.  I noticed that I could select certain parts of speech that I wanted to search.  This site gave me the option to only search the nouns,, verbs, adverbs or adjectives, depending on my preferences and needs. 

With all this being said, I really never found any desirable alternatives to my root word.  Having something visual is fun to look at, but for this particular tool the visual aspect was not that helpful.  I’m a huge fan of Thesaurus.com, so much so that the site is my homepage on my laptop.  I use the site constantly.  Comparing Thesarus.com to the Visual Thesaurus, I would say that the latter is more useful to me.  Thesaurus.com provides many more results, and when I’m strapped for time or have writers block, more results means more ideas to get my brain moving again. 

Thing 10: Creative Commons

“Creative Commons is designed to save the world from failed sharing,” notes the video.  Creative Commons can cover anything that copywrite covers.  This concept may be difficult for some to understand.  The tool does not give free reign to anyone and everyone in terms of copy write and copywrite infringement, but rather, it has “Given you the right to exercise your copy write in more ways than was once available.” Copywrite laws were, and still can be, very static and rigid.  Now, Creative Commons gives creative minds a place to share ideas, making them more malleable and perhaps aiding in connection and communication around the world.  “Free expression…that’s the kind of commons we’re trying to create.”

This seems like the next logical step in the internet-crazed social networking world that we’ve become.  It seems that individuals are more willing to share, and are excited to share, their work.  CC allows individuals to communicate with others around the world, share ideas and create new ideas.  To me, it seems only good things can come from such a mind set, allowing others to freely share ideas and becoming a less rigid society.  I enjoy the notion of collaborative work, as opposed to one person hording an idea. 

The CC website says, “Realizing the full potential of the internet — universal access to research, education, full participation in culture, and driving a new era of development, growth, and productivity,” as their vision statement.” As stated before, this is a great idea that is the next logical step in the social media landscape.

However, I can understand where things may get sticky.  If I posted a photo and someone else edited it a bit, and ended up submitting it to a magazine and the new individual made money from the photo, I may get upset.  When money is involved, things always get messy.  However, the point is that I had the choice to post that photo, knowing that someone else may edit it and reinvent it, making it something new.  Because CC is voluntary, it’s up to whoever created a certain piece to post it to the CC website.  A person should be very knowledgeable as to how the piece could be changed, seeing as how collaboration is the motto of CC. 

Thing 9: Google Reader

This tool was really easy to get started since I already had a gmail account; plus I’m sure the entire planet uses Google, so becoming familiar with Google Reader should be fairly easy.  Immediately I signed up for the Cedar Rapids Gazette to be sent to my Google Reader.  After that, I wasn’t sure which sites provided RSS feeds and which didn’t.  I searched to see if Fitness Magazine provided RSS feeds, and I found that they didn’t.  The New York Times provided some interesting topics, so I subscribed to a few health related feeds. 

Now that I know about Google Reader, I’ll be looking for that little orange symbol on all the sites I visit.  As for now, I’m having a difficult time trying to think of which sites I frequently visit or which to subscribe too.  This being said, I’m excited that I know about this new tool. 

Similar to Delicious, this site makes life easier.  Instead of going to multiple sites for information, the information can be sent to one spot, Google Reader.  To those in the public relations professions, this could be a life saver.  I like the idea of staying on top of what’s going on in the world, my hometown, or silly celebrity life.  Anything that I find interesting can be sent to Google Reader. 

Thing 8: Social Bookmarking

My Delicious Page
Username:  Katie Ricklefs

Although Delicious is a site knock-off of yahoo, I was able to create a Delicous account with my gmail username.  This was nice because I didn’t have to create an entire new yahoo email, which I didn’t want to take the time to do. 

Social bookmarking sites ,like delicious, are handy because the sites I save can be found from any computer.  What’s more, the saved sites can be categorized into groups of like bookmarks.  In this way, I don’t have to search through a long list of websites (which was the old way of doing things).  I can save the pop cultures bookmarking sites in one place, the book lover sites in another, and on and on and on… I’m a bit organizer so I especially liked the tag feature.

I added Jane, Jason, and Pranav to my network.  This was simple enough, although you have to know their username in order to add them, which could be tricky.  It was fun to see what other people bookmarked.  After that, I searched around the types of sites I could bookmark and tag.  I looked through various food sites, hoping to find some good recipes and tagged a few of those.  It’s nice because although I don’t have time to look through everything right now, I can simply tag the site and come back to it later to look through whatever interests me when I have more time. 

Thing 7: Twitter

I’ve had a Twitter account for the past year, and use it about once a week to update my friends on what I’m doing.  The tweets that are sent by my “real-life” friends, like friends from high school or whatever, are sent to my phone.  My friend, Michelle, sends multiple tweets daily, which can be a bit much for me.  I’ve changed my settings so that tweets are not sent to my phone from the hours of 12-10 a.m. so that they never wake me up. 

For this assignment, I created another Twitter account just for this class.  My personal Twitter account is personal and I must accept friends in order for them to follow me.  For this class, I’ve made my account public for simplicity purposes.  

The only “professionals” I’ve seen or heard about using Twitter are celebrities.  Most often, these tweets are inappropriate or unnecessary (I’m thinking Lindsay Lohan or Charlie Sheen).  That being said, I can most certainly see how PR professionals could use Twitter in a more effective way.  Event planning could be one of the most prominent ways that Twitter updates could be used.  Reminding the public about events could help increase revenue, participation, or raise awareness for whatever the PR person wants.

I like tweeting to personal friends, and have not used it in a professional manner.  I’m sure I’ll have to get more comfortable using social networking sites in the future, but right now I feel like a sales person when I try to urge people to do something through Facebook or twitter. 

Thing 6: Following Blogs

This assignment was surprisingly easy, mostly because I was able to sit back and watch videos that my classmates had posted.  Jason, MJ, and Garrett all had really entertaining videos so it was no problem to comment on them.  I think that’s usually the way it is, commenting doesn’t have to be a chore if it’s something you’re interesting in. 

Commenting embodies a connection, a connection between two parties.  Because I commented on my classmates blogs, they are now more likely to check up on my blog in the future.  That’s what it’s like in the real world.  It’s flattering to know that someone is reading what you’ve written, which then leads you to spread the joy and the comradery.  However, in the business world this could mean dollar signs.  Building relationships and putting your business out there, in the form of social networking is absolutely key. 

Thing 2: Here's the Deal Link

Here's the Deal

Maybe it’s the 40-year-old soccer mom in me, but I love coupons.  Coupons make me feel like I know a secret that no one else does, it's silly but true.  I most likely end up spending more money that I would have had I not seen the “deal” in the first place.  Either way, I’ve subscribed to “Here’s the deal,” and the website sends me these deals every day for free.  It’s true, most of the time the deals are unappealing to me, but every once in a while I’ll find a real gem of savings.  The last one I bought was a $20 gift card to Blue Strawberry Coffee Company, which only cost me $10.  It's like ten dollars of coffee for free! That's how I think of it anyway...