PREZI

This is how you Prezi...

GBU Prezi on Prezi

The Difference between Prezi and PowerPoint is the use of Flash media. While not all computers have PowerPoint almost all computers have Adobe and are able to use flash (unless it is an iPhone or iPad). The flash media use allows you to splash around or puddle jump through the presentation. Instead of a click here click here click here next slide blah blah blah redundant form it incorporates a fun and freelance form of presentation. Also the templates that are pre-loaded are designed to make your slideshow fun and interesting. There is little need to go out and create a whole new presentation from scratch. Another big advantage is not having to purchase the software for your computer. This allows for a greater amount of storage on your personal machine for using other programs or storing data.

SOCIAL NETWORKING ETIQUETTE

Social Networking Rules of Engagement

          Being able to communicate on the fly twenty-four hours a day seven days a week and three hundred and sixty five days a year 

Twitter Etiquette

The Tweets That are Heard Round the World

          Well, quite a lot has changed since 1775. As opposed to a shot being fired it's now mainly the "Tweet's" heard round the world. Most of us know once something goes "online" it is almost surely impossible to get it off of the Internet. So how can we avoid these costly Tweets? Well, it is actually fairly simple. Follow a few bits of etiquette and you may be able to avoid much controversy.

          In the article "Top 7 Twitter Etiquette Rules (Please RT!)" seven basic rules can be followed to upload a quite quaint Tweet. For starters a pretty basic rule of business email format should be followed. Secondly, you don't need to brag about someone complimenting you (if you are important people will already have read it). Third, do not check in every location you are at, it just says "I have nothing else to do but hope people see where I am at". Fourth, asking someone to re-tweet you is a lot like asking someone to spread your useless information. Fifth, no one wants to know what you are doing on Fridays (unless it includes an invite, free food, music, or a free good time). The sixth one I believe is most important. If you wouldn't be seen in public with the people following you do not follow them or allow them to follow you. Doing so just says you will allow anyone into your circle. For general purposes I am going to include this just because its a good rule to follow and I got it from an accounting professor "Don't say anything your grandma wouldn't be OK with hearing".

          So to sum this all up if its generally not nice don't say it at all. Its something we all learned at an early age and its root values can still be applied today. Keep it short and sweet. Good luck tweeting it up and remember "The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword".

My Web Use

Changing the Way, I Will Use the Web

          Upon taking this course I believed that having a technical degree in computer information and networking technologies I would simply breeze through the class with a minimal amount of material learned. BOY WAS I WRONG!

          During this course I have realized that my technical degree only supplied me with the know how, why, and security functions of the Internet. I had no idea that this class offered such a more in depth view of the capabilities that we are now able to use on the Internet. The use of; Wiki's, Flickr, blogging, online testing, data management, social connectivity, and Internet applications have now been open to me for future use and reference. The way I view the web now has changed to such an extent that I have almost re-programmed the way I use the Internet in day to day use as well as in practice. I have begun incorporating the old method of basic Internet use with my new found knowledge acquired from this course. I can see myself in the future (after completing my degree and after a few years of experience in the business world) applying the Wiki power to my consulting firm in order to expedite client requests using specially formed teams for each project. The use of blogging can be used to update my clients on our services offered and new innovations. Using social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ I can see my business grow without having to spend as much money or personal capital advertising. By using online applications I will be able to reduce the amount of overhead, network downtime, digital storage space, and technical support. 

          The Web 2.0 lessons learned will be valuable throughout my career not only as a student finishing my undergrad but also in grad school and the working (Social Security provider) world. I am excited to contribute my knowledge derived from this course into real world application. 

Wordle

SLIDESHARE

Here is an example of a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation I had to do for Accounting Ethics 465 uploaded via Slideshare.net.

Acct 465 case 6 8 presentation from joshsmith8604

This is a very detailed Social Media trend by GlobalWebIndex.

GlobalWebIndex - GWI.6 trends - February 2012 from GlobalWebIndex

PRIVACY POLICY

One of the Most Common Lies

        Each and every one of us is in a hurry in our own way. One of our biggest lies almost every one of us has committed at sometime or another is checking the little box that says, "Have you read the terms and conditions? Do you agree to these terms and conditions?" WHAT A JOKE!?!
       
        Do businesses and companies honestly think or believe we are going to read the lawyer written, highly encoded, over used English verbiage that is unnecessary to explain a simple paragraph of words? Heck no they do not. That is exactly why they do it. With the excess verbiage and complex terminology they are allowed to squeeze in their little additives as to what they are going to do with your information once they have ascertained it and you have agreed to their terms and conditions. The businesses may sell your information to a third party or allow other party's access to your information as far as your account with them is concerned. The whole agreement is basically a waiver of your rights to whatever you post on twitter is at your own discretion. It will be public and can be terminated at any time without liability to the user. The company is trying to cover their behind in case anything accidental happens or someone has a malicious intent using the provided website. 

       When you are feeling the need to tweet anything try and remember "think before you speak" because sadly, your words will be in black and white. 

Text Messaging Etiquette

In the Absence of a "Plesant" Phone Call

In todays world a phone call can be a cumbersome task. It seems as if we have ventured from our instantaneous voice connections to our somewhat primitave form of communication in written form, which is called today as "text message". The text message is essentially a letter, but it has nothing to do with the postal service.

DIGG

Here is a website that could more or less save you a ton of time online. Notice that I said more or less.. Digg has a ton of content on it. Which makes it super hard to use right off the bat. A person can be overwhelmed with the shear amount of content provided at one instance by what seems to be just one of the World Wide Webs largest RSS feeds.

BLOG ETIQUETTE

A little etiquette goes a long way

          In the web article "Blog Etiquette in the Educational System" written by, Dean Lodes it is explained how students and teachers should go about posting a blog and the manner in which they are to compose the literary works in proper form. The rules of blogging are outlined as strict and to be followed precisely. Also included in the blog etiquette article are examples of improper and proper commenting. A list of pros and cons can be found within the website as well. One of the examples of etiquette is a list of teacher/classroom blog pros and cons and a student blog with a list of pros and cons. Interactive links are on the website and allow the user to practice and review correct blog etiquette. Once the correct choice is made the user may advance to the next question to practice their blog etiquette.

          As far as giving someone a basic crash course in blog etiquette the website and article are very handy and keep a person from falling asleep while reading. The interaction forces one into actually reading the etiquette and rules of blogging. If anyone needs a quick crash course in online etiquette this blog will get you there.

COMPANY USE OF RSS

On a Need to Know Basis

          The most important thing in business is and has always been information. Information controls the company's stock prices, production choices, operations, and day to day operations. The person with the fastest and most reliable information wins the race. In our fast moving society controlled by time and money, the person (or company) with the best of both always wins the race. 

          Since technology has made such a quantum leap each person with access to the Internet can find out anything almost instantly with a quick search. There is a problem with this having to search for information though. Searching for information costs what? Searching for information costs; TIME, and since TIME = MONEY the less searching a person has to do, the faster they can obtain the information they need in order to make precise business decisions.

               

                Financial companies and institutions are using RSS feeds to update their customers on a number of things financially related. Here is a list provided by Sharon Housley in her article "Financial Companies Use RSS Feeds" posted on FeedForAll of the feeds most institutions use RSS for; 

             Bank Rate Changes, Stock Monitoring, Mortgage Rates, Employment Opportunities, Currency Exchange Rates, Foreclosures, Auction Opportunities, Financial Industry News, Venture Investment Monitoring, Personal Finance Tips, Tax Laws, Investment Properties, Continuing Education, Monitor Real Estate Sales, Investment Advice and News, Bankruptcy Announcements, Corporate News, Loan Rates, and Tax News (Housley).

              The article goes on to explain how each of these sites RSS feeds are used and to what benefit they can be to their customers. As far as needing to know things as soon as possible, the web article also includes examples of websites with RSS feeds available for anyone who wants to add to their own RSS's and do a little of investing or stock trading. 

GOOGLE READER

 A Convenient Inconvenience

         Lets begin by saying I was a SUPER skeptic about signing up for another service, application, or another freaking email reminder about how to save time and money in your day.

          I am proud to say my curiosity got the best of me. I had to try out this "time" saving RSS junk.

After learning a little bit about it in GBU 310 class I immediately found the RSS links to some of my favorite websites online. As most Americans do on monday nights after a SUPER long day of school and 10 hours of work I watched the Tivo'd football and browsed the internet during commercials. The first commercials came on during the game and instead of browsing 10-15 websites I only had to check my RSS google reader to see all the updates for my favorite sites.

        A big positive about being able to hit all the websites in one swoop has got to be the fact I dont have to spend 2 hours on the computer. I only have to check out one site! Another benefit of RSS feeds is that you can subscribe and unsubscribe willingly and freely. There is very little commitment.

        One of the biggest strengths is also one of my least favorite drawbacks. I am one of those people that likes to finish everything the first day they receive it. Well, if you have 10-20 RSS feeds and they update the websites at the same time, you may just find yourself attempting to read 10-20 websites of new content. The second downside I did not like was the inability to be able to select which sites you wanted to say you have read or have not already viewed. To me it would help alleviate a few of the subscribers issues if they had that feature.

       Overall, I am happy to say using RSS feeds can save you some serious eyestrain, with minimal side-effects.

WIKI ETIQUETTE

     Wiki What Wiki Who?

    Wiki popularity in reference to the article Wiki and Blog Etiquette is becoming more and more popular. However, this does manifest some new concerns in the growing popularity and use of Wiki's in the workplace. A couple of concerns are security and information leaks both inside and outside the company. As far as managing your Wiki's Infoworld.com has a Do's and don'ts for managing IT projects with wikis article for reference.

     The Inforworld article begins by introducing a forgotten aspect of the wiki which is removing content that is no longer pertinent. This can be a huge concern when ten or a thousand people are updating, adding, and forgetting to delete old issues that have already been solved. Another issue presented in the article is wiki's can be a little difficult to learn for users who are not computer savvy. Some people are not used to having to actually look for information and they can be unwilling to give the wiki a fighting chance. Wikis are for people to share info they are not supposed to be used for project management as a CEO of a company states in the article. As previously mentioned no matter what IT guys are securing your wiki they are not secure. Setting back the wiki craze another step is the inability to share data from one source to another. Although, some wikis are taking steps to alleviate the current issue of data and device sharing.

     No matter what you perceive to be the downfalls of the wiki, the benefits can be far greater outweighing the pitfalls. That is of course you use the wikis right. As my old computer instructor always said, "The error of computing is between the chair and the keyboard."

WIKI

    Today more and more big corporations are benefiting from the use of wiki's. As the article               7 Effective Wiki Uses and the Companies That Benefit From Them reports seven big companies that are currently using Wiki's for team collaboration, design, and work groups. The companies that participated in the article are; SAP, IBM, Pixar, Red Ant, Sun Microsystems, Sony Ericsson, and Carbon Five. The article describes and goes on to explain how the Wiki's began inside the company via the "techies" within the company creating their own work groups in order to expedite a project and to keep it organized. Also discussed in the article are references to how some of the companies ask their consumers or clients about a particular product or design  and how it is currently suits their particular expectations. The companies then use the feedback to perfect the design for the client or adapt the design to the consumers wants/needs. A particularly unique feature that Sony Ericsson uses in it's Wiki usage is the English language. All posters and contributors to the wiki must use English. The companies that participated in the article are from around the globe. The global perspective gives readers the assurance that wiki's are not just a US tool for workload collaboration and organization.

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INTRODUCTION

Hi bloggers and thanks for visiting my blog.    

 I am Josh Smith. A little about me, I am currently a college student finishing my senior year. I enjoy sports, movies, cooking, fishing and hunting. I am an avid computer user and am a class shy of having an associates degree in computer networking and information technology to go with my bachelors in general business. Three websites I visit the most are; www.woot.com, www.wikipedia.org, and www.online-utility.org.

     Woot.com is a website that sells select items for 24 hours until they are either sold out or a new day begins. The prices are drastically reduced from retail prices and no matter how big or small the item is shipping is only $5! They also have one day and two day shipping option at a slightly higher price. The site has 8 main categories which are; woot!, tech!, home!, sport!, kids!, shirt!, wine!, and sellout!. Check the site out daily for the newest deals and maybe get ahead on any Christmas or gift shopping you want to get out of the way.

     Wikipedia is a site I use almost daily. Whenever I have a question about sports, terminology, word I don't know, or even a movie quote I use Wikipedia to find out the answer. This online encyclopedia gives any person web browsing or searching for an answer an updated and current reference to their particular search.

     Online-utility.org can be a lifesaver of a site when you need to convert an image or PDF file. With the online image conversion you can upload a BMP, JPG, PDF, or PNG and convert it to one of 40+ different file types they provide. This conversion will allow you to save space when sending an email or convert your files to save space on your computer.