Friday, January 19, 2007
Adobe Newsletter
I have found that attending Adobe Seminars, learning Tips and Tricks in Multimedia, reading the Adobe newsletter, magazines, and publications provides me with excellent information and insights into using the software, applying ideas, and exploring my creativity. I'm sure you will agree, by clicking above.
Blogs of Note
Blogger provides a plethora of resources to the adventurous cyber-citizen. Exploring other blogs in the section entitled, "Blogs of Note" provides not only interesting information and people you can connect with--it also provides a method for increasing your exposure and positioning within the almightly Search Engines!
Here are a few Blogs of Note that I recommend:
Hybrid Cars
Conscious Earth
Release of the Elder Chimpanzees
Here are a few Blogs of Note that I recommend:
Hybrid Cars
Conscious Earth
Release of the Elder Chimpanzees
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Exploring Podcasting
Your first experiences with Podcasting begin with you pointing your browser to a podcast website and clicking one of the show links. Here are some links to the perennial best of the podcast world:
The Daily Source Code
Scripting News
Coverville
Reel Reviews
...And in sports....
Triathlete's Garage
Fantasy Focus
The Daily Source Code
Scripting News
Coverville
Reel Reviews
...And in sports....
Triathlete's Garage
Fantasy Focus
What Do Search Engines Really Want?
In an exploration of a topic on the Web, many turn to search engines for a quick easy fix. Just what brings your blog to the forefront?
A combination of factors boosts your rankings to a higher place in the SEs, including:
1. Relevant and Fresh Content
2. Quality Links
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques
For more information go to The Search Engine Weblog
A combination of factors boosts your rankings to a higher place in the SEs, including:
1. Relevant and Fresh Content
2. Quality Links
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques
For more information go to The Search Engine Weblog
Interactive Blog Linking
A blogger in his or her own world, may not be seeing the revolution occuring right under our very noses.
According to Wired magazine, "Poised between media, blogs can be as nuanced and well-sourced as traditional journalism, but they have the immediacy of talk radio. Amid it all, this much is clear: The phenomenon is real. Blogging is changing the media world and could, I think, foment a revolution in how journalism functions in our culture."
For more go to:
Wired Magazine
According to Wired magazine, "Poised between media, blogs can be as nuanced and well-sourced as traditional journalism, but they have the immediacy of talk radio. Amid it all, this much is clear: The phenomenon is real. Blogging is changing the media world and could, I think, foment a revolution in how journalism functions in our culture."
For more go to:
Wired Magazine
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
RSS Feeds and Podcasts
Since true RSS Feeds and Podcasts require specific newsreaders, we will not be required to post them to our blogs in this course.
Instead, this course will focus on substantive postings and providing content that is focused toward our specific audiences.
Since a hyperlink, as you see below, is often much more informative, you will be required to link to informative sites that provide credibility and content to your blog. Oh, yes, have fun, too!
A Video Travel Guide
Instead, this course will focus on substantive postings and providing content that is focused toward our specific audiences.
Since a hyperlink, as you see below, is often much more informative, you will be required to link to informative sites that provide credibility and content to your blog. Oh, yes, have fun, too!
A Video Travel Guide
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Considering Ideas for Business Vlogs
Making Money
One common topic for discussion when videobloggers get together is how to use videoblogs in a business setting, either to make money or improve a business's exposure and promotion.
As videoblogging matures as a medium and an industry, more business applications for it will evolve. If you have the greatest idea for a business vlog, go for it. There is no limit to how these technologies can be used.
Activism
Some businesses are in political hotbeds and can't avoid becoming politically or socially aware, if not active. Some lines of business, of course, are less involved until lack of involvement affects their bottom lines. Some businesses engage in political or social activism, taking action to raise awareness about public issues.
If there is a law or issue that threatens or benefits your business, you would do well to let your customers know. A videoblog can help raise awareness of issues that affect you and make your business successful. A new zoning rule, for instance, may seem like a great idea to your customers — until you point out to them that the new law opens up your community to competition from major chain stores that will almost certainly drive you out of business. A videoblog can help get that message to your customers and your community.
Advertising
The most blatant use of a videoblog — and the least successful — is to post an advertisement for your product or service to your videoblog. This particular method of videoblogging isn't known for its effectiveness, because when people download your videos, they want something valuable in exchange for their time; they see a blatant self-promotion as a waste of their time and bandwidth. Since advertising is something that you as a business normally pay other people to show, asking people to download it of their own free will is counterintuitive.
Announcements
Whenever your company has an announcement or event, in addition to your standard press release, you can post the announcement in video format to your videoblog. Delivering a keynote speech? Video the speech and post it, or excerpts of it, to your vlog.
You can do this for product launches as well, with a video showing the product and your announcement, though this runs perilously close to an advertisement if it's done with too slick a style.
In the vlog post, include a link to the related press release, and at least provide contact information for media outlets to license your announcement video. You can even put the licensing in the vlog post itself — if you do, more casual vloggers will feel comfortable re-vlogging your company's news.
Behind the scenes
One advantage of a business vlog is that you can show parts of your business that no one else would normally have access to. You can show the world what your work process is like, or how you take an idea from its bare concept into full implementation.
If you're an artist, musician, or filmmaker, this behind-the-scenes look will fascinate your fans and help promote your work. If you're a businessperson with a product to sell, showing off the parts of your development cycle that are cool or effective gives your customers greater insight into your business and greater pride of ownership of your products.
Educational
The easiest application for many businesses is to create educational videoblogs. These can be instructions or training for employees or potential employees, of course, but a more general application is to create a videoblog that helps customers understand and use your product or service better.
For example, if you run a vegetarian restaurant, you could produce a videoblog teaching people how to cook a healthy vegetarian meal, a vlog on the meat industry and its impact on society, or a vlog about organic local farms in your area. Another example is that a law firm can use videoblogs to explain how to behave in court, what particular acts are considered criminal, or to show interviews with experts on legal issues.
Games and contests
Would you like to play a game? Businesses have used contests for years to promote their products, and you can use your videoblog as a delivery mechanism. Contests like these work well when promoted in a business videoblog:
Sweepstakes: These use a random drawing to pick a winner.
Trivia/knowledge contests: These use trivia questions or knowledge questions to pick a winner, or to qualify entries for a sweepstakes.
Skill games: These are often competitions of contestants' abilities, such as essay contests for kids, or film-festival contests.
Other games: Puzzle-solving games and riddles can challenge contestants' minds and logic skills.
Games and contests don't necessarily have to have prizes, though simpler contests such as sweepstakes usually need a tangible reward. For skill contests, bragging rights work (though providing a prize is also nice). Prizes can be cash, products, services, trips to events, or even a simple certificate.
If you hold a contest in your videoblog, check your local gaming laws to make sure you aren't breaking any of them. All those "void where prohibited/ no purchase necessary" rules in the fine print of contest entries are basically there to protect the contest sponsors from legal liability.
Media delivery
Some of the most commercial vlogs aren't even called videoblogs. They're called video podcasts or just videos in the iTunes Music Store. When Apple announced that iTunes would start carrying video in the store, the door opened for quick, inexpensive, video-on-demand downloads. It's now possible to miss an episode of Lost one day, and then buy and download it the next.
If you make your commercial media downloadable, eventually it will escape into the Internet. Although there's a lot of argument about the rights of creators versus trends toward sharing, consider which is more valuable to you: the cost of a download subscription, or another viewer eagerly snapping up your video. The business impact of your videoblog is in your hands.
One common topic for discussion when videobloggers get together is how to use videoblogs in a business setting, either to make money or improve a business's exposure and promotion.
As videoblogging matures as a medium and an industry, more business applications for it will evolve. If you have the greatest idea for a business vlog, go for it. There is no limit to how these technologies can be used.
Activism
Some businesses are in political hotbeds and can't avoid becoming politically or socially aware, if not active. Some lines of business, of course, are less involved until lack of involvement affects their bottom lines. Some businesses engage in political or social activism, taking action to raise awareness about public issues.
If there is a law or issue that threatens or benefits your business, you would do well to let your customers know. A videoblog can help raise awareness of issues that affect you and make your business successful. A new zoning rule, for instance, may seem like a great idea to your customers — until you point out to them that the new law opens up your community to competition from major chain stores that will almost certainly drive you out of business. A videoblog can help get that message to your customers and your community.
Advertising
The most blatant use of a videoblog — and the least successful — is to post an advertisement for your product or service to your videoblog. This particular method of videoblogging isn't known for its effectiveness, because when people download your videos, they want something valuable in exchange for their time; they see a blatant self-promotion as a waste of their time and bandwidth. Since advertising is something that you as a business normally pay other people to show, asking people to download it of their own free will is counterintuitive.
Announcements
Whenever your company has an announcement or event, in addition to your standard press release, you can post the announcement in video format to your videoblog. Delivering a keynote speech? Video the speech and post it, or excerpts of it, to your vlog.
You can do this for product launches as well, with a video showing the product and your announcement, though this runs perilously close to an advertisement if it's done with too slick a style.
In the vlog post, include a link to the related press release, and at least provide contact information for media outlets to license your announcement video. You can even put the licensing in the vlog post itself — if you do, more casual vloggers will feel comfortable re-vlogging your company's news.
Behind the scenes
One advantage of a business vlog is that you can show parts of your business that no one else would normally have access to. You can show the world what your work process is like, or how you take an idea from its bare concept into full implementation.
If you're an artist, musician, or filmmaker, this behind-the-scenes look will fascinate your fans and help promote your work. If you're a businessperson with a product to sell, showing off the parts of your development cycle that are cool or effective gives your customers greater insight into your business and greater pride of ownership of your products.
Educational
The easiest application for many businesses is to create educational videoblogs. These can be instructions or training for employees or potential employees, of course, but a more general application is to create a videoblog that helps customers understand and use your product or service better.
For example, if you run a vegetarian restaurant, you could produce a videoblog teaching people how to cook a healthy vegetarian meal, a vlog on the meat industry and its impact on society, or a vlog about organic local farms in your area. Another example is that a law firm can use videoblogs to explain how to behave in court, what particular acts are considered criminal, or to show interviews with experts on legal issues.
Games and contests
Would you like to play a game? Businesses have used contests for years to promote their products, and you can use your videoblog as a delivery mechanism. Contests like these work well when promoted in a business videoblog:
Sweepstakes: These use a random drawing to pick a winner.
Trivia/knowledge contests: These use trivia questions or knowledge questions to pick a winner, or to qualify entries for a sweepstakes.
Skill games: These are often competitions of contestants' abilities, such as essay contests for kids, or film-festival contests.
Other games: Puzzle-solving games and riddles can challenge contestants' minds and logic skills.
Games and contests don't necessarily have to have prizes, though simpler contests such as sweepstakes usually need a tangible reward. For skill contests, bragging rights work (though providing a prize is also nice). Prizes can be cash, products, services, trips to events, or even a simple certificate.
If you hold a contest in your videoblog, check your local gaming laws to make sure you aren't breaking any of them. All those "void where prohibited/ no purchase necessary" rules in the fine print of contest entries are basically there to protect the contest sponsors from legal liability.
Media delivery
Some of the most commercial vlogs aren't even called videoblogs. They're called video podcasts or just videos in the iTunes Music Store. When Apple announced that iTunes would start carrying video in the store, the door opened for quick, inexpensive, video-on-demand downloads. It's now possible to miss an episode of Lost one day, and then buy and download it the next.
If you make your commercial media downloadable, eventually it will escape into the Internet. Although there's a lot of argument about the rights of creators versus trends toward sharing, consider which is more valuable to you: the cost of a download subscription, or another viewer eagerly snapping up your video. The business impact of your videoblog is in your hands.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Subscribing to RSS Feeds
A great shortcut to accessing information and news reading from other blogs is to try a newsreader. It will revolutionize your online lifestyle. Web-based readers include:
Bloglines, My Yahoo, Google, Headline Viewer, and Outlook (which is my personal favorite).
After you decide on a newsreader, the next step is to load it up with feeds. The presence of an RSS feed on any page (such as the New York Times) of any Web site is usually announced in some combination of four ways:
Bloglines, My Yahoo, Google, Headline Viewer, and Outlook (which is my personal favorite).
After you decide on a newsreader, the next step is to load it up with feeds. The presence of an RSS feed on any page (such as the New York Times) of any Web site is usually announced in some combination of four ways:
- XML chicklets on the page (right click and copy--sometimes called RSS, sometimes XML)
- Subscription buttons on the page (these will specify a newsreader type or name)
- Subscription links on the page (some Web sites use just plain links on their pages)
- A bookmark on your browser (you can also use your browser's own bookmarking mechanism).
Podcasts are audio programs distributed in RSS feeds as MP3 files. They are repeating programs that are produced daily, weekly, or according to a schedule. Podcasts resemble scheduled radio shows. They are connected to blogging in that they are available through directories for easy browsing and listening.
Try one at: http://podcasts.yahoo.com. www.odeo.com, or www.loomia.com.
Have a good day off tomorrow, Everyone!
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Mastering the Link
Blogs use embedded links freely. An embedded link turns a word of phrase in the entry text into a link.
As noted in class, earlier, linking is de rigueur for tracing the blogger's influences in writing the entry and crediting sources within the Blogosphere Community.
Four blog search engines can provide you with excellent ideas and blogs to link to:
Technorati (www.technorati.com)
Feedster (www.feedster.com)
BlogPulse (www.blogpulse.com)
Bloglines (www.bloglines.com)
Additionally, Blogwise (www.blogwise.com) allows you to increase your credibility (especially if you are planning to earn money from your blog). Give it a try if you are so inclined.
Have a great weekend, Everyone, and Stay Warm inside by Blogging!
As noted in class, earlier, linking is de rigueur for tracing the blogger's influences in writing the entry and crediting sources within the Blogosphere Community.
Four blog search engines can provide you with excellent ideas and blogs to link to:
Technorati (www.technorati.com)
Feedster (www.feedster.com)
BlogPulse (www.blogpulse.com)
Bloglines (www.bloglines.com)
Additionally, Blogwise (www.blogwise.com) allows you to increase your credibility (especially if you are planning to earn money from your blog). Give it a try if you are so inclined.
Have a great weekend, Everyone, and Stay Warm inside by Blogging!
Link, Don't Quote
Any use of another person's content, even if done with respect, is generally done with permission only. Some judgment is required. If you are writing a long entry whose multiple points key off another blogger's entry, lots of quoting might be called for accompanied by a link. When a long quote makes up most of an entry, whose only point is to quote someone else's entry, you are basically stealing that person's traffic. That might seem like a harsh judgment, but a more appropriate entry would offer a small quote and a link, so readers can get the goods at the source, not from your blog.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Students Are Really Communicating!
We are building a community of communicators in this course!
Since the Internet, by its very nature is a dynamic environment of ideas, opinions, and information exchange, our bloggers are becoming Netizens (Active, Responsible Citizens of the Internet).
Here are some examples:
David
Since the Internet, by its very nature is a dynamic environment of ideas, opinions, and information exchange, our bloggers are becoming Netizens (Active, Responsible Citizens of the Internet).
Here are some examples:
David
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Political Thoughts
Ran across two blogs that my students may find interesting. These are conservatives who are critical thinkers in many ways:
Kevin Phillips
Andrew Sullivan
Kevin Phillips
Andrew Sullivan
Monday, January 08, 2007
The World Is Flat
Lindenwood Faculty Jill Schroeder, Communications Department, provides this reference by Thomas Friedman to explain the newly evolving phenomenon of blogging and how virtually anyone can become a "journalist", "book publisher", or "major political influencer" in today's wired world. More information can be found at:
Thomas Friedman
More information on the book is at Amazon:
Read Excerpts From the Book
Thomas Friedman
More information on the book is at Amazon:
Read Excerpts From the Book
Linking to Your Blog
Since my blog is focused on the Web and video production, this particular link provides updates regarding current events in the industry:
If you are interested in what's happening on the Internet, you will appreciate this Save Access resource.
If you are interested in what's happening on the Internet, you will appreciate this Save Access resource.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Creating more excitement on your blog!
Everyone is off to a great start!
Next week, starting Monday, January 8, we will begin adding more elements to our blogs, such as photos, graphics, links, and images.
Our assignment for Monday is to upload a YouTube video to our blogs.
Next week, starting Monday, January 8, we will begin adding more elements to our blogs, such as photos, graphics, links, and images.
Our assignment for Monday is to upload a YouTube video to our blogs.
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