Saturday, October 20, 2012

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

Thursday, October 18, 2012

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.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

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."