Presentation Day!!!

What went right? I think our project turned out very well. I think the other projects turned out well too. We were able to include all the elements required. Our design of our page matched the title of our blog. The main thing is that we learned a lot by doing this. Even myself, being a "techy" learned some new things. I loved that the blog was interactive. This is one of the funnest classes I have had!

What went wrong? Oh boy, I think that students were not aware of the time needed to invest in a project like this. The second thing that went wrong was the fact that my map did not show up. The third thing is I could not figure out how to add my background music that I wanted. I will figure it out though, you just wait and see. I think everyone should have added some backgrounds and color to their blog to help make them more cohesive.  I think a bit more practice on everyone's part would have been helpful. It would have been nice to see the posts in order, it was a little confusing having to go up and down the pages.

What enhancements can I suggest? I think first of all a tutor should be assigned to assist with these projects. There are very few that understood every aspect of this project. Second, I think it should be stressed that this project is not to be left until the last minute. I think students should be told to be more aware of their design matching their project. There are many ways to take your blog to the next level by adding code to the html file, this of course, is advanced for most, but it would have been neat to touch on.

GPS Maps

I chose Edgewater Fl. because that is where my mom lives and I visit.
I also chose Disney World in California because I have aways wanted to go to the "real Disney World".

Job Fair Observation

1. What technology is being utilized today? Is it effective? Why?

There were only a few peices of technology that I saw being utilized. The first piece of technology I noticed was the resume writing workshop. Their was a full computer lab made available for visitors to utilize in their resume writing process. Their was also an instructor in the room to help with any questions or concerns a visitor may have.

The second piece of technology I witnessed was that of the computer room being utilized for online job applications. The instructor was present for any questions or concerns. The computers were equipped with Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Firefox, making them compatible with any job applicaiton out there.

The third piece of technology was the fact that the companies were taking down e-mail addresses for future reference. Although this is not technology in its digital form, it is technology in its simplest form. Another piece of technology that one of the companies was utilizing was the stereo equipment from the DJ table.

2. What digital technology could/should have been utilized and why?

I think many of the tables could have benefited from using laptops linked to their website. They could of also utilized business cards with QR codes on them.I only saw one QR code and that was at the BBB table. Most companies had information to hand out with their related websites, but this is not really utilizing technology. I think it could have been beneficial to create some sort of welcome program, such as a power point, that people could view and sort through. Some people just are more comfortable getting their information from a computer even though good people skills are required for a good job interview.

Fairy Tale

It seems the farmer is heading out to the field,. He is armed with his sharp blade of steel. To cut off the chickens head he preyed, so instead of cluck the moo is what they said. In hopes that the farmer would not cut off their heads!

GPS maps and businesses

Creating maps can be very beneficial to businesses in several ways. A business can create a map with all their locations of their stores for reference material for customers and employees. They can create maps with all of their suppliers on it for the sales department to refer too. They can create maps for delivery drivers to use to access locations. It is also an easy way for someone to pinpoint the map and get directions to that place. It would be especially useful for businesses that have companies all around the world.

Final project email

We have decided to do a blog about teaching how to go green. The reason for this is not many people are aware how severely going green is affecting the world. Going green is probably one of the most important topics right now. We are running out of landfills, we are also facing soaring gas prices. By going green and recycling products to be reused instead of thrown away is saving a huge amount of energy. People seem to think that them, as an individual, can not really make a difference, but you would be surprised how much it does. Education is a key feature of making people realize that going green is extremely important.

Photosharing

Here is the link for my photos on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/96609848@N04/ obviously by the link you can tell I used flickr for my photosharing site.

I think photosharing has a lot of opportunities for businesses. Think about it, if you are an architect and you want to share your blueprints with many offices in town all you have to do is upload it to your photosharing account and wham! Everyone can now view them from one single place. Also memos to employees or announcements about the company can be posted on your photosharing site and all employees can access the information without you having to duplicate it to every employee. A simple sign off sheet saying you viewed the information hanging by the time clock would ensure every employee views it. Photos of company picnics can also be posted on the site. Photos of new employees with a profile can also be posted so the other employees can get to know a little about them. I am sure there are many other things that would be useful these are just a few I came up with.

Privacy-to be or not to be

Privacy has become a huge issue in the age of technology. Is it right for companies to track their employees internet use? Some agree and some do not agree. On one side the company has the right to make sure their employers are not using company time for leisure time, on the other side it is not fair to employees that their information not be protected. Another issue is behavior following. It is not fair for outside sources to have access to what you look at on the internet. Unfortunately, as of yet technology has not found a way to prevent this. Behaviour patterning uses cookies which are small files stored on your computer. The only way to prevent behaviour patterning is to not have any cookies. but the problem lies in the fact that your computer will not work without cookies. A good way to slow this down is to delete your cookies from your browser before shutting it down. This can be done by going to the security tab in your browser settings and deleting cookies. Spyware is another problem for privacy. Spyware attaches itself unbeknownst to you to other programs. Spyware then collects information about your browsing history and sends it out to other people. There are a lot of anti spyware programs that you can purchase to help prevent spyware. Malwarebytes is a free download and although it may not catch it all but it does a good job of cathcning a lot of malware and spyware on your computer. I think the opt out button the book discussed is an excellent idea. Unfortunatley there is always a hacker out there that can crack any protection you have implemented on your computer. To help safeguard set up alerts on all financial accounts and keep track of them daily if not at least weekly to avoid fraudulent use.

delicious

Save this on Delicious To add my blog  to your delicious account use this link.

Delicious

Here is a link to my delicious account https://delicious.com/#staci39. Feel free to visit at any time I add microsoft.com, cisco.com, malwarebytes.com, piriform.com, cognizant.com because these are all web sites that I use for working on computers which is my field of study. I added foodnetwork.com because I love to cook. I also added blogger.com since I am constantly going there for this class. I added vitalsource.com because this is where I get my online textbooks for my online classes. I also added blackboard for the obvious reasons
Microsoft is a website for purchasing and viewing new and improved products for any of the microsoft programs. There is also a neat feature built in where you can get help if you are having problems.
Cisco.com is a little more complex, not for the normal computer user. Cisco gets in to selling switches and routers and more complex type of network materials. Cisco is a good place to start to learn command line codes.
Malwarebytes.com and piriform.com are both sites that have free downloads if your computer is running slow or you think you may have a virus. These are easy to use even for beginners.
congnizant.com is similar to a technology magazine, it talks about the latest improvements and future breakthroughs when it comes to technology.
Vitalsource.com is where you go to download all of your books for your online classes.
We all know what blackboard is so it needs no explanation.
blogger.com is the website we are using to create our blogs, we should all be familiar with this site.
TATA
Staci

Hummingbird Avatar

Meet my avatar!

Practice you tube video

Word of the day!

Verboten, meaning prohibited or not allowed.

QR code practice

http://goo.gl/yrmcP

chapter 10 response

The internet has enabled marketers to reach millions of people at a much lower cost than traditional media. By being able to reach this many people marketers can target certain audiences. They can also gain feedback into what is working and what is not working. Social networking also enables a company to reach a lot larger audience. The wisdom of crowds is a saying used by marketers that means the opinion of a huge audience may be better than that of a panel of experts. They can gain feedback on what products are selling, what the customers think of the products, and how to improve their products. Behavioral targeting allows companies to follow the browsing history of customers. It allows them to see where and what pages the customer follows. By doing this the company can learn what the customer likes and tweek their ads to fit the customers taste. One bad thing about this procedure is it can violate the customers privacy, once a customer feels violated they most likely will not purchase from that company.

The Non-Verbal Work Environment

Their are two ways people communitcate; verbal being the one where you actually hear what a person is saying, and non-verbal being the one where someone is using hand gestures, body language, or facial gestures. Both are utilized in our everyday lives with more non-verbal language being used rather than verbal language. We played two different games in class. The first one used non-verbal as well as verbal. The CEO was allowed to answer yes and no questions only from the forman. The foreman was allowed to communicate non-verbally with the worker. I was the foreman. I was allowed to talk to my worker but he could not talk to me, I then was allowed to ask yes or no questions to the CEO. We were given a lego puzzle to try and put together; we did not succeed! It was very hard to communicate to my worker because he could not talk to me and it was very hard for me to communicate with the CEO becuase I could only ask him yes or no questions. The other game was mostly verbal because the two people could not look at each, although they were allowed to talk. Our job was to make something out of building blocks and walk our partner through the steps to make the exact same thing without being able to see our partners or wether or not they were doing it right. We did not succeed in this game either. We did, however, get alot closer to success in the second game. These two games taught us that verbal and non-verbal communication go hand in hand. It is very frustrating not to be able to use both. Could you imagine not being able to speak English and having to rely on non-verbal communication only?

What's the big deal about RSS?

What is an RSS feed?

RSS stands for really simple syndication. Simply put an RSS feed allows businesses ways to create web feeds. It is a standardized format used to publish frequently updated works. Any information the business wants to get out into the world can be posted using an RSS feed. Entertainment, chronicles, announcements, newsletters, updates about new products and services, changes in policy, and company outings can be posted into an RSS feed. RSS feeds have typically taken over the email system. When companies used to email their information they had to send out an email to everyone they wanted to inform. RSS feeds allow a company to create one feed instead of many. Big businesses use RSS feeds to generate clients, maximize profits, and to generally let everyone know what is going on with the company. Small businesses need to also use RSS feeds also. A small business can grow their customer list by using RSS feeds. It is a way for small businesses to be able to reach out to just as many people as big businesses do. It actually can help a small businesses growth potential. There are two other advantages; a company can actually make a profit by using RSS feeds. There are websites that a company can utilize tools to allow outside advertising to be put on their RSS feed. The company then generates a profit by charging the advertising company for use of their space. Some companies pay per click and some pay a flat rate. The second big advantage is that RSS feeds do not cost any money; it’s almost like a free advertising tool for the company to utilize. The internet consumes such a large part of our daily lives it is crucial that businesses use RSS feeds to reach out to everyone involved with the company.

Happy Spring!!

Okay guys I know the weather this weekend was kind of nasty and everybody is fed up with the cold and the rain. Lets be a glass half full kind of class and keep our chins up. As you all know my favorite color is pink and I found a picture of a Hummingbird entering into spring. It really brightened my day so I thought I would pass the smile onto you all.

Chapter Six Response

A database hierarchy starts with bits, this represents a 0 or a 1. Their are 8 bits in a byte, the bits are grouped together to form a byte which represents either a number, letter, character, or symbol. Related bytes form fields, and related fields form a record. Related records are collected to form a file, and related files is what forms the database. A record describes an etity. An etity is a person, place, event, or thing on which we store information about. An attribute is any characteristic used to describe an entity, for example red would be an attribute for a red car with car being the entity. Every record has a primary key, this key is a unique identifier for all rows in that record. Primary keys cannot be duplicated and allows a person to look up information by entering the primary key. All other keys are called foreign keys. Foreign keys can also be used to look up related information and canned be duplicated, eg. The record for Car which would be the primary key may have a year key which would be foreign.

Traditional file systems were created within different departments amongst a company. Accounting may have their own financial file system and human resources may have their own financial system. The problem with this is data redundancy. Data redundancy is data that is duplicated in different departments through out the company. For instance, the accounting department may have information about a supplier in their financial file and human resources will have the same information about that supplier in their financial file. This creates a waste of storage and creates inconsistency. Although the information stored in both files is the same, chances are it is not named the same. By using a DBMS the primary key deletes this problem. A DBMS stores everything in one place and every department pulls their information from one spot. This leads to having little or no data redundancy. It also keeps employees up to date on changes made to a file because every employee is using the same file from the DBMS. It also speeds up processing time, for instance if accounting needed a file from human resources they do not have to physically go to human resources to find where that file is stored they just look it up in the DBMS.

What is a digital firm?

Digital firms are businesses that run almost 100% of their firm digitally or by using management information systems. Firms use teleconferencing now to conduct interviews, conduct meetings, and brainstorm information. This cuts the cost of having to fly salesman to another country to do a sales pitch, it can now be done online. They also use different softwares to figure out answers to problems and create an environment that makes it easier for the firm to run, such as accounting software. Management information systems consist of collecting, storing, and disseminates information. These systems can be used to collect customer information, fill orders, coordinate with suppliers, conduct business oversease, track orders, keep in contact with customers, advertise on the internet, create blogs and open forums, run meetings, etc. For a business to be a successful digital firm they must have an up to date management information system. They must also be able to utilize the system to the fullest extent. Management information systems may be expensive, but if utilized right they can save a business money in the long run.

Welcome!

Hello everyone! My name is Staci and this is the digital firm class. Welcome to my blog, now if I can just remember how to get back in to the blog all will be bright and shiny in my world. Wearing my sparkles today! So now that we have our blogs up and running, let's play with them and make this class fun!