Disconnect from the WiFi and connect to learning

There has been an on-going debate among professors in academia on the topic of whether or not to ban technology in the classroom. Students are becoming more dependent on technology - using laptops to take notes, look up concepts they don't understand, using their phones to take pictures of written notes, or record a professor's lecture, or even keep in contact with students in the class. While technology proves to be convenient and useful there is a trade off. Now, more than ever students are having a hard time retaining information, focusing in class, and scoring well on tests. This is due to the relationship between technology, multi-tasking, and the brain.  While professors in fields that don't rely on technology are quick to ban it but what about classes that have a focus on technology? Is it possible to teach a technology reliant course without technology? The answer is yes. 

Losing focus 

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Clay Shriky, a professor of media studies at New York University, is considered a leading voice on the effects technology has on society, has recently ban technology from his classroom. His classes teach heavily about technology and social media- teaching the theory and practice of social media. Shriky has been teaching technology dependent classes since 1998 where originally he had a hands off or "laissez-faire" attitude toward technology use in his classroom. He originally did not want to ban technology because he felt what he was teaching was more interesting than anything a student could do on technology during his class. Shriky also felt like banning technology was not treating his college students like adults and did not want to baby them, As the times changed and technology advanced, he noticed the level of distraction in his class grew. 

The rise in distraction has a direct correlation to technology. When Shriky started teaching in 1998, technology was not nearly as advanced as it is today. Computers were not portable or the ones that were, were very expensive and phones only had the ability to make phone calls. Fast forward to current times and virtually every student has a laptop and a smart phone. These devices allow students to access the web, talk to their friends, play games, and access a slew of distractions all at the tips of their fingers. The ability to resit the temptation of using technology in the classroom has become nearly impossible. Even if professors allow computers for "note-taking" it is easy for even the best students to get off track when the device itself is made to create distractions. 

Shriky said that when he told his students to shut their devices "lids-down" that there was a sense of relief in the classroom. 

"...it's as if someone has let fresh air into the room. The conversation brightens, and more recently their is a sense of relief from many students," Shriky said. " Multi-tasking is cognitively exhausting; when we do it by choice, being around to stop can welcome change." 

today.uconn.edu

By banning technology use from the classroom Shriky is in a sense forcing students to disconnect. This disconnect however, is not a bad thing. This day and age attention- spans are at an all time low and attempts are multi-tasking are at an all time high. Students feel as though since the technology is there and convenient to them, that they now have to use it. They play music while studying, text friends while writing a paper, and even update their social media while in class. By making students disconnect, it allows them to focus on one thing or one subject at a time. This in turn leads to a better understanding of what they are learning and gives them a better chance that they will be able retain and recall what they have learned. 

In college, students feel the need to multi-task because of the overwhelming work load they are equipped with. While this may work short term in getting assignments done, the question comes into play- How does this affect the quality of the assignments? The answer is poorly. In a study preformed by Stanford in 2009 on the effects of multi-tasking on the brain, it was discovered that multi-tasking is psychologically impossible. In the study it put people who claimed to be good at multi-tasking to the test. It had them identify rectangles while facing the distraction of triangles. When the participants were flooded with information, such as the triangles and rectangles that they could not focus on what was in front of them. The scores of their tests were poor when compared to people who did not multi-task. This furthered the notion that people who claim that multi-taking is effective and they are good at it were actually proved false on all accords. 

Banning technology in the classroom has become more common place due to students becoming worse and worse. Not only are the effects evident in their work, it is also evident in how they prioritize it. A quote from a Washington Post article entitled "Why a leading professor of new media just banned technology use in class"best summarizes multi-tasking and priorities, 
"Multi-taskers often think they are like gym rats bulking up their ability to judge tasks, when in fact they are like alcoholics, degrading their abilities through over consumption,"

Students often feel as though the more they multi-task and the more work they pile on at once, the more efficient they are being. But the reality is few can actually handle multi-tasking especially in an academic setting. Students may think they can carry on a text message conversation while taking notes but the reality is they cant. 

engagecomms.co.uk

Teaching technology without technology 

Just because a course teaches subject matter such as social media it does not give students a pass to use it while in the classroom.

"The problem (technology use) is especially acute with social media... social information is immediately and emotionally engaging,"  Shriky said. "Both the form of the content and the Facebook update are almost irresistibly distracting especially compared with the hard slog of course work( "your former lover tagged a photo you are in" vs. "The Crimean was was the first conflict signifying affected by use of the telegraph")"

Clay Shriky serves as an example that it is not only possible to teach a social media or media reliant class while banning technology, it is also beneficial for the students. 

By forcing students to turn their phone off ,it not only allows for a more focused, attentive classroom, it also limits distractions. 

Students do not need to use technology to understand it. If a student is on their phone or distracted on their laptop during a lecture they will actually learn less. 

In a study conducted on the effects of laptop use during class, it was found that laptop use not only inhibited the user but also the students around them, Students who are tying to focus on the information or lesson in the classroom became easily distracted by screen use around them. If someone in front of a student trying to pay attention is say online shopping rather than taking notes, their attention is subconsciously pulled to the screen and they lose focus despite their efforts to pay attention. 

In the Washington post article, screen time is compared to second hand smoke. Test results found that not only were the scores of people multi-tasking on screens were lower but also the results of the people around them who were in direct view of the screen were lower. 

As a result of banning technology in the classroom, Shriky noticed that students now focus as a collaborative process where the professor  and students work together to attain a goal of  creating an environment where students  that want to focus now have the best shot at it. Shriky made the observation that students who don't want to abide by his new policy tend to avoid his course, leaving students that want to focus and learn to the best of their abilities. 

A world so connected has never been more disconnected 

Technology use has caused students to be disconnected not only from the classroom but from many other aspects of their lives:

1.Conversations falling short

Constant texting and communication through out the day has lead to decreased social skills and inability to hold face to face conversations. In an article published by the Huffingtonpost entitled "When students text all day, what happens to their social skills?" held an interview with Melissa Ortega, a child psychologist at New York’s Child Mind Institute Conversation takes practice, Ortega said, and a dependence on devices can make it that much harder for children who are already struggling socially.

“Another thing I’m noticing is they may have trouble initiating interactions, those small talk situations. They don’t have as much experience doing it because they’re not engaging in it ever. They always have something else going on,” she said.

2. A need for approval 

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In current society, people now have a motive to do things based on how their social media followers will react. Phrases such as "Do it for the vine" or "take pics for Instagram" become commonplace. This leads to a disconnect between real life and virtual life. Dr Rima Sabban, assistant professor of sociology at Zayed University said in an article published by Gulfnews, 
"We are witnessing the generations that were brought up spending time with family, visiting neighbours and being taught the importance of being sociable; unlearn their skills after becoming dependent on communicating with friends and family on social media. If this is the case with the older generation, it is even worse for children aged 13 and 14, who were never brought up with these sociable skills."

3.Living in the phone not in the moment 

People now more than ever are not living in the present, but rather in a suspended state in their phones. Instead of enjoying the world around them they are comparing their lives to the people they follow on social media. What they fail to realize is the grass always seems greener on the other side and the things that the people they are following is skewed. They only present the best parts of their life. This causes people to be unhappy with the life they are living, thinking that it should be like the fake ones that they follow. Instead of enjoying their surroundings people are now planning on ways to achieve lives like the people they follow. Going as far as to alter their body or spend excessive amounts of money. When it comes down to it, people are missing out on living by looking at their phone.

It is possible to teach a technology class without technology. In fact it is encouraged. In society today even the most tech savvy people need to learn how to exist without constantly checking their computer and phones. In order to properly learn students must cut out all distractions and focus. Banning technology is a step in the right direction.

A midsummer night's Dreamweaver

Society today is all about branding. Whether it be branding on cereal, clothing, cars, hotels, branding is prominent in everything a person does. While society is lead to believe that brands are important when it really comes down to it the only branding that matters is the way we brand ourselves.
The question can be asked of how one goes about branding themselves. The answer to that is simple- social media.
Now, more than ever, people are reliant on social media to interpret who someone is and what they are like. That is why it is important to have an organized place where someone (potential employers) can easily access information and social media links. A perfect place for this information is a personal website.
Having a personal website is more important than ever. It not only displays that a person posses the skills to design and code a website, it also gives the creator the ability to showcase their best work and link pages and contact information to a central location.
When linking social media accounts to a website it is important to ensure they are professional caliber- meaning no party pictures or obscenities. A website is a way to brand yourself and set yourself apart from the rest, by staying professional it gives potential employers the right message about you and your image.
Taking a social media class offered by a local college can serve useful for the future, not only in online presence but also in the context of having a better understanding of what people see. SUNY Buffalo State offers a web and social media production class where students go through a series of projects, each dealing with a different platform. They start off small using the platform Blogger, and then progress to iMovie, wikiHow, Twitter, and then finish with the creation of their very own website. This course builds proficiency in media and the tools that are used to create it and also provides a background of how the web and social media became what it is today. At the end of the  course a student walks away with a high caliber, professional grade website and online portfolio that serves useful in the context of college and the "real" world.
The projects and assignments may prove to be time consuming and frustrating for some students but the hard work that one puts in to the class is evident.
The social media class also assists students in the aspect of personal branding. Through out the projects emphasis is placed on professionalism. Each post a student makes is combed through for grammatical errors and problems with content as well as looked at in terms of personal pictures and messages. Special attention is placed on the Twitter assignment where a student creates a Twitter page and treats it like a professional entity. In this case the Professor looks at each individual tweet and interaction to ensure it not only meets the criteria for class but also for the professional world.

Twitter- short and sweet

Tweets- more than random thoughts

In recent years social media and marketing efforts have changed drastic
ally. Social media now allows its users to communicate to a vast audience and allows marketers to reach niche markets.
Social media platforms such as Twitter not only allow marketers to reach an audience, it also allows them to see how the audience reacts to the messages. After sending a tweet, they can see how many favorites and retweets it gets and in turn see how effective the message is. On top of this, they can use a Twitter analytic application to view a more in depth analysis of how viewers interacted with the page and the tweets they sent out.

www.theodysseyonline.com

Analytics display how many times people viewed the tweet, how many times people expanded for more information, how many times someone clicked on a picture, and how many times someone clicked on the twitter handle to go directly to the page of the tweet sender.
Social media is evolving more than ever. Using twitter analytics marketers can now spend money to promote their tweets. When they do this it not only promotes their tweets, it does so to the niche market they are trying to reach. For example if a makeup company marketer was trying to promote their makeup and paid to promote their tweet, Twitter will direct the tweet to be displayed as a sponsored tweet on the twitter pages of Females between the ages of 16- 40.
Twitter is effective at conveying messages because all of the messages are limited to 140 characters. This day and age the attention span of a typical message viewer is very limited. The shorter the message the more likely it is to be read. Due to the tweets being limited to 140 characters it forces marketers and people who tweet to be more creative and to the point when tweeting. If the message isn't original and to the point it wont stand out from the hundreds of other tweets that were sent out at the same time.

Following people (in a non-creepy way)

Twitter allows users to have control over the messages they are receiving. A Twitter user can follow pages and people that interest them to ensure that content from these pages shows up on their news-feed.
When deciding who to follow it is important to keep a balance. Following people and pages that convey similar messages can lead to a skewed view of the world and events. Following someone does not necessarily mean the user agrees with what they are saying but rather gives them a different perspective.
An example of a balanced twitter account would be:

http://tcais.org/

1. Following accounts that has an opposing point of view
A person who identifies with the Democratic party would not normally want to listen to the messages of people in the Republican party but that is why it is important to follow them on Twitter. By following someone such as Donald Trump, it gives an opposing perspective and a more in depth understanding of the way the person thinks.

2.Following accounts that provide entertainment 
While it is important to stay up to date on the events unfolding in the world it is also important to enjoy scrolling through Twitter. When users follow accounts that provide things such as comic relief or motivation it makes the user want to return to the application and in turn be exposed to more messages. By following account such as cat celebrity Lil Bub, it provides cute pictures and anecdotes that make users smile.

3. Following accounts that are relevant to personal causes 
celebrity accounts, marketers, and friends are not the only ones utilizing Twitter- Organizations also use Twitter to reach the public and gain support or tell about important events. When users follow organizations such as the Alzheimer's Organization because a loved one had Alzheimer's disease they can keep up to date on events that support that cause and discover ways to support the organization. They can also connect to people with similar experiences.

Now everyone is a journalist 

Twitter gives its users the ability to instantly share what is going on around them. This is both a positive and a negative. There is now the problem of oversharing where twitter users will share everything around them(weather it is of interest or not). For example, twitter users can "live-tweet" a show they are watching or a sporting event they are at, or even what they are doing through out the day such as brushing their teeth and eating lunch.
While the ability to instantly tweet may be a nuisance to some, it also has its benefits. The instantaneous power to convey messages can turn Twitter users into news reporters. People who are experiencing events can update their followers on what is going on and if something unexpected happens they now have the ability to update Twitter users on the events unfolding.

An example of Twitter users becoming journalists  would be when terror attacks occur. Due to the nature of attacks it is hard for people outside the experience to get information. When the event first occurs people rely on people inside the event to obtain information. Although useful as a source of what is going on, sources don't always know what they are talking about or are not completely informed. This causes a problem with social media and misinformation.  A quote from a recent online article from the Guardian encompasses the idea of misinformation by stating
"Twitter does its best work in the first five minutes after a disaster, and its worst in the twelve hours after that." Meaning that the moments right after the event happened are important because what is being tweeted is mostly sensory information such as what the person hears, sees, smells, or tastes then after the event is on the internet people that were not at the event start tweeting and making assumptions with no actual knowledge of the event.
The amateur  news reporting ability has many positives but it also has detriments. The biggest downfall of this aspect of twitter is now, more than ever, people are reporting events and tragedies wrong.
One of the best examples of the link between misinformation and social media in recent times would be the social media coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The media relied on secondary news sources such as tweets for information and because of this it caused them to misinform the public in many ways according to The Guardian:

Boston.com

• The main brunt of the casualties were identified as families from the Newtown massacre. In one case in particular it was reported that there was a young girl participating in the marathon who was killed while running in honor of her friends that died in the Sandy Hook massacre. In both cases these were later proved to be false.( kids are not even allowed to participate in marathons)
• The suspects were speculated on and misidentified. When the bombing first occurred an image of two people wearing backpacks was circulated and people claimed and identified the two were the ones responsible for the attacks. One suspect was thought to be a missing Brown University student, Sunil Tripathi. It wasn't until Tripathi’s body was found in a Providence park on April 23, 2013 that he was no longer accused of the crime.
• There were also reports that after the attacks the people running the Marathon continued running to the hospital to donate blood.(This was later proved to be false).

There were many more false reports and tweets sent out the day of and days following the bombing. In an online article entitled "How the Boston Marathon explosions reveal the two other sides of Twitter" the author Simon Ricketts discusses how social media is causing a downfall in media specifically when it comes to news. He says the underlying cause of people oversharing or reporting falsely is that people have a desire to feel involved and connected to the situations they are in.   

"There is human need to feel involved, concerned, part of the conversation. We all saw those poor people, struggling across a finish line, only to be blown backwards by the force of a truly shocking explosion. We all want to say "I'm the kind of person who is appalled by this," but in doing so, it can so sometimes come across as trite," Ricketts said.

Ricketts makes the point that Twitter is a good source for basic information about an event, but for more reliable, fact-checked information it is best to stick with actual news sources that funnel fact from fiction. 

Some events that Twitter covered include:

• The Golden Globe awards, which were live tweeted by those in attendance and those watching at home. One event in particular sparked a trend on Twitter- Leonardo DiCaprio winning a Golden- Globe. The following weeks news feeds were flooded with pictures of Leonardo with the award. He became a meme. The coverage of the event was a success highlighting both the good and the bad aspects of the award ceremony (including Amy Poehler wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

• The presidential campaigns which included where the candidates were giving speeches, what was happening at the events, and what the candidates were doing and saying. Coverage of these events has been successful in terms of information but the balance of the tweets is off. Due to the fact that not many opposing views would attend events of candidates they did not support, so they could not input what was happening at the events and give a different perspective. 
• The NHL Draft was covered by Twitter, this included which team was most likely to get the first round draft pick and which players were top of the draft. After these were unveiled many memes were created about where players ended up and how it was going to affect the future of the teams and the league.  Twitter coverage of this event was successful- updating fans on what was happening as it happened and fans provided instant feedback. 

Learning how to utilize Twitter 

In terms of scholastics, projects that use Twitter as a platform help better a students understanding on the media and in turn teach the student how to be a more effective social media user and message receiver.
For example a project that requires students to make a professional twitter, and interact with not only classmates but also other pages on twitter, helps the student realize the importance of social media and specifically how to get a point across in 140 characters or less. It challenges the students and pushes them outside of their comfort zone but in the end it helps them develop a page that shows professionals and potential employers that they know how to utilize the platform.
Twitter is relevant in society today and is quickly becoming a more popular news source than actual newspapers.
By learning how to use Twitter and interpret tweets people learn a set of skills that will prove useful in the social media dependent future.

Warning: Movie Making is Not For Everyone

Have you ever heard the expression "A picture is worth 1000 words"? Well, if that is the case, then it is no wonder why videos are becoming the most effective means of  conveying messages. They use both visual and auditory elements to draw a viewer in and have their message resonate in the viewers mind.Whereas writing and photographs can be misread and overlooked,a video is captivating.

Professor Pabico assigned her COM 336 class the  task of individually creating a minute long video that conveyed an assigned theme while at the same time conveying who they are as a person.

Creating a 60 second video based on a theme seems like an easy task, right? WRONG. Producing a video comes with many trials, tribulations, and unforeseen difficulties. The end product may give the illusion that the project was easy, but in reality it was particularly challenging.

The First Challenge: The Message

For the assignment, the COM 336 class was broken down into groups. Each group was assigned a topic (Time, Separation, Politics, or Abstract). After the topics were assigned each group member had to convey the topic in an original way, without being cliche. Some topics were easier to brainstorm than others. For example the group that got the topic "separation" had a difficult time at first coming up with ideas. 

How do you display separation without being morbid or depressing? It took a long time for the group members to overcome this hurdle. They tossed around ideas such as driving separate ways, sitting on a park bench and having someone leave, going separate ways when walking, but all of these ideas were cliche. Finally, a group member suggested an idea that was more original and easier to convey a sense of self. The idea was to convey the message through the "separate"  lives an individual lives at home versus in public. 

The daunting task of conveying the message became easier but still the task at hand was not an easy one. Now that the means of conveying the message were decided each group member had to figure out how to make a "self-video" that was separate from the group. The question arises "How does one create a video the encompasses both who they are and the main theme of the video?" This brings us to the next challenge encountered when creating a video...

The Second Challenge: Filming 

Attention: a 60 second video requires far more than 60 seconds of film. In-fact a 60 second video can be comprised of edited film from 5 minutes of filming to 500 minutes of filming. This point can not be stressed enough. If you expect to film a video and not have to film more than the expected film length, you will fail. 

When creating a video, filming is the most important component of the process. You could have a perfect idea, have a perfect plan, come up with a great soundtrack, but if you don't have video footage to go along with that-- that is not only eye-grabbing but also concise-- the video is worthless. 

In order to film you must allocate yourself an ample amount of time. Filming is a process. You must first brainstorm. In this brainstorm think about what you want to film, what angles you want to film from, what perspective you want the shots in, locations for filming, the time of day you want to film... the list goes on and on. 

The brainstorming process for the separation group was taxing. Each member not only had to figure out all of the technical and creative aspects but also how to show separation within the shots. Each group member came up with their own way of doing so. One member did so by filming at multiple locations, wearing only two outfits(one outfit for "private" and the other for "public"). On top of this the group member shot the same concept but from different aspects. For example the shot they envisioned was listening to music. For this they filmed two separate shots-- one of her listening to music in public, the other of her listening to music at home. 

Due to the fact that many students do not have professional-grade filming equipment, the students were allowed to film with their cell phones. It is important to note though, that to film with a phone you have to hold it horizontally-- or else the footage will not display properly in iMovie. It is convenient to film with a phone, however the process of extracting the video from your phone and getting it on to the computer is something that many students had difficulty with. There were issues of Android versus Apple and the devices not being compatible. There were also issues of the videos not opening up after being exported. All in all don't expect smooth sailing when filming a video. 

The Third Challenge: Editing 

Editing can make or break a video. The platform that the COM 336 students used to edit their films was iMovie. In this application you can edit, trim, add transitions, add music, add effects, add title and credit screens and so much more. For beginner movie makers iMovie is a good start. It is relatively easy to figure out and after using the application several times you can easily master it.
Now, just because the application is simple does not mean editing is. Editing requires you to go through all of your film and find the best shots that convey your message. This was especially hard for the assigned video project because the film had to be exactly 60 seconds -- no more and no less. To make the film exactly 60 seconds was extremely difficult because you could have the perfect shot but in order to fulfill the time requirement you have to trim it. Because of this, the film you first envisioned rarely turns out to be the final film.
After you have edited your film down to the best segments of film, you must figure out how to make it coherent. You do this by adding transitions and filters. Adding these to your film can add emphasis to the message and make it more clear what is trying to be expressed. One member of the separation group used the filters to her advantage. She added the black and white filter to her "public" film while keeping her "private" film in color. This emphasized the theme of the movie while also adding an underlying theme that her public life was dull and "black and white" while her private life was fun and in color. As you can see from this example, editing is powerful.

Unexpected Challenges

The key to success is being able to deal with adversity, even when it is unexpected. This holds true to the movie making process. There are many struggles that are expected but there are also many struggles that are unexpected. One of these unexpected challenges is the process of uploading your video to social media platforms. Depending on your videos format and the computer you are using this process can be a walk in the park, or a walk in hell. If you have a PC and are using iMovie to create your movie, it is very difficult to upload a video file from your PC in the iMovie format. 

Another unexpected challenge is fear. When filming it is easy to do stupid things and exaggerate scenes for the sake of the film-- some of these things could be considered embarrassing. It's all fine and dandy until you remember that you are not the only one that will see this video. Once you realize this, it is sometimes hard to remain focused on the video. Instead you consider editing it and removing the embarrassing scenes. DO NOT DO THIS. Those scenes make the video. For the COM 336 project the embarrassing scenes added to the sense of who the student was. It turned the video from just a theme to a personality. Although you may doubt yourself, remember why you put the scene in the film to begin with. 

After reading this post you may be scared to make a movie,that is okay. Making a movie is a challenging and time-consuming process. However, I encourage you to try. Making a movie is not for everyone but, you never know if you never try. 

Creating a WikiHow: Behind the Screen

WikiHow is a community based website that allows its users to interact with, edit, and create “how to” articles. These articles can range in topic from “How to: Make a Milk Steak with Jelly Beans” to “ How To: Be Brave", basically if you can think of a topic, wikiHow has an article on how to do it. WikiHow is able to have a plethora of information due to the fact that it is not a privately run website. By allowing anyone with a computer to create or edit wikiHows it utilizes the wide array of people and in-turn the variety of information each individual possesses. 

While it is true that anyone can create a wikiHow, this does not mean that every wikiHow submitted will get published.The process for creating a wikiHow is a contradiction-- simple yet complicated at the same time. The first step is arguably the hardest one-- this step being, finding a topic to write about. Now, as simple as this sounds, it is surprisingly hard.It is a challenge  because wikiHow has so much information and such a wide array of topics that finding something original and relevant to write about is a feat. The trick to overcoming this obstacle is to brainstorm. Sit down and think of as many topics that you can feasibly write about as possible. Chances are one of the topics on this list has not been covered. If you are one of the unlucky ones who has every topic on your list covered, do not fear-- there is a trick to overcome this too. This tick is to make your version vary from the other ones. You can do this by adding or subtracting elements from your original idea to make it more unique. For example if you wanted to write about "How to make a protein bar" after one search you would find many pages have been written on the topic.By adding a component such as "How to make cookies and cream protein bars" or "How to make green tea protein bars" you can still create a post involving your topic of interest.

Just as "A whole is greater than the sum of its parts" a wikiHow page is nothing without all of the proper setup.  Words will not cut it in the wikiHow world. A wikiHow post must contain pictures to accompany the information you are providing. The process of obtaining photos is not always the easiest. You not only have to take photos, you also have to ensure that they are high enough quality for the web and that they are edited to fit the required space. If that wasn't enough, it is important to remember to make your photos aesthetically pleasing. Photos are important in conveying messages hence the saying" a picture speaks 1,000 words" If your images are low quality and poorly set-up the reader will not take your post seriously.

Notice how the photos to the left draw the attention of the reader while peaking their interest. If you post a bad quality picture the reader will not only be detracted but there is a chance they would not even read the article.  The photos you put to accompany are just as important as the words. With that being said, make sure your words and photos correlate. If your topic is pigs and you have

pictures of puppies, the post will not be taken seriously. It is also important that you cite where you got the photos and if you took them yourself-- it is important to reference that(in case it becomes famous one day)

Okay! So you have your ideas and you have planned out how to go about photographing the idea, now what? The answer is to figure out how you are going to create the wikiHow-- The thought involved in this can range anywhere from getting groceries for re-creating a recipe, factoring the weather into account for pictures to doing a practice run of the recipe or topic to make sure it is correct and well worded. Keep in mind that the wikiHow title and picture has to grab a readers attention. Making a title with a funny line or something that gets people interested will draw in a wider crowd of readers.

No wikiHow page is perfect. It is important to remember that after you have published your wikiHow post, a team of editors go through and make changes. With that being said, it is very important to be as thorough as possible when listing each step. Something that may seem like common sense to you, could not be to other people.

The other wikiHow pages on the website are a valuable resource. Using them as a reference makes the process as a whole easier. You can get a grasp of the syntax, expectations, coding, and many other things just by looking at other wikiHow's. When deciding what pages to use as reference, try to find something similar to the topic you are doing. . How to Make Chocolate-Chip Cookie Bars   and  How to Make-Chocolate-Oatmeal-No-Bake-Cookies are helpful references for making Green Tea Protein Bars.
In order to create a wikiHow page it requires some basic coding. This can serve as a challenge for people who have previously never coded before. WikiHow has "how to" pages that can help assist people on the coding process. As mentioned before, other wikiHow's are helpful for coding too. If you open up another page and click "edit" for the how-to, you have access to the coding behind the page. This can serve as a template for your own post.

Balancing time during this project is a must. It is easy to get overwhelmed if you don't manage time properly.  By creating a list of what needs to be done and how you are going to do it before you even start, saves you time and stress in the long run. Once you have the project scheduled out, you can utilize your time to the fullest-- taking photos on certain days, practicing the post and writing on other days.

Creating a wikiHow is a great accomplishment-- once published you are now an author on a national database. It is not an easy process to reach the point of being published but it is possible. If you focus on detail, are creative, have good photos and  use references when needed your article should be published in no time.

Click here to see my wikiHow

The Web: Not Just Spiders Play Anymore

A Network of Threads Becomes A Network of Friends:

Thinking about Web 1.0 is a concept that is hard for me to grasp. Growing up, the Web interface was always on Web 2.0 meaning that I never got to see the rudimentary design of Web 1.0. When reading and learning about Web 1.0,2.0, and 3.0, I was amazed at where the web started and how far it has come.

The Web started out as nothing more than a place for people to post information, it was as useful as a poster on a wall(the information was out there but was hard to get noticed). Users could not interact with the information they were given this made it a very one sided tool. With the development of Web 2.0 the concept of the Web did not change but rather how websites were created and how users could interact with them. To me,Web 2.0 was one of the most important advancements of technology. It served as a gateway to many of the media forms we are familiar with today such as Youtube, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, the list goes on and on...

When Tim O'reilly separated content from form he made the web user friendly. This advancement meant that people on the web could easily interact, contribute, and utilize websites and the information they contained. O'reilly realized the importance of user interaction-- In order to be successful you have to give users a reason to come back. It was this mindset that lead to the creation of  "Web 3.0". Web 3.0 takes user interaction to a whole new level. It scares me to think about how much this version of the Web knows about its users and how it can essentially predict what a user wants and needs.

The advancement of the Web is a double edged sword, it has both negative and positive aspects. The positive being how easy it would be to find what you want and how simple interactions on the web would be. The negative being the invasion of privacy and personal space.Now more than ever I am noticing Web 3.0 en-cringing on my life. When I am on Facebook and open another webpage I notice that when I return to Facebook there are ads related to the page I was previously on. I understand that it can be helpful to be directed to these pages but it also very creepy. The internet is moving towards not only knowing what you are doing but also predicting what you are going to do next. Are you ready for this type of invasion? I'm not.

Transforming the Web Into A Web of Information: 

What does the World Wide Web web signify beside a"www" at the beginning of a websites HTML? The World Wide Web has become a staple in today's culture-- a concept so normative that no one really stops to think how it works or of its importance. Fortunately, COM 336 is a class that focuses on the World Wide Web and explains aspects that most people would be previously unaware of.

The Web was not always the high-tech, easily accessible device that it is today, in fact in its dawn it could be compared to the classified section it the newspaper-- not useful and hard to get messages across. This form of the Web was known as "Web 1.0". The Web 1.0 was very rudimentary with its websites lacking in the ability to interact. Websites displayed information but that was the extent of the interaction. Users could not write messages, contact people, post content, or perform many of the other aspects of the modern day Web. Websites were simple.

The development of "Web 2.0" transformed the Web from a one-sided platform to an interactive medium. Web 2.0 changed the way websites were designed and how they preformed. Users could now not only use the Web but, also, make changes to the Web. A major advancement in Web.20 was separating content from form, meaning that users did not need to know the complex coding behind the websites in order to upload content. This aspect of Web 2.0 was a gateway to interactive media such as Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, and other user dependent websites.

With all the interaction web 2.0 evokes comes the concept of "Web 3.0" or a "Semanic Web" focusing on data. This version of the Web analyzes data collected each time a user interacts with the Web and turns it into a Resource Description Framework(RDF) data model where the information can be linked-- turning the vast un-linked web, into a linked network that will be able to understand the user and have the Web shape around each individual user. The Web is becoming more intelligent  and connected. Web 3.0 would lead to personalization, intelligent search and behavioral advertising and many more things. The web is continuously evolving towards becoming a fundamental economical instrument in society --connecting everyone to everything.

WikiHow: How To Make Green Tea Protein Bars

How to make Green Tea Protein Bars :

Protein bars offer a convenient alternative to supplement drinks and shakes. These bars are filled with all the protein and fiber of the drinks with the added benefits of matcha green tea powder. Matcha green tea is filled with antioxidants and it boosts your metabolism so you burn more calories after workouts.  If drinking protein shakes isn’t for you, try this easy, quick, simple, and tasty alternative.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Serves approximately: 12

Ingredients:

½ cup vanilla brown rice protein powder

¼ cup coconut flour

½ cup almond butter

4 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons matcha powder

1/4 cup almond milk

6 drops almond flavoring

¼ cup coconut shreds

1 cup dark chocolate (for melting)  

What you will need:

Baking pan- lined with parchment paper

 Medium size pan

 Medium size bowl

Small microwave safe bowl

 Spatula

Spoon

Stove-top

Microwave

Freezer

Steps:

• 1.In a medium size mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients. Mix until well combined and then set      aside.
• 2. Combine the almond butter, coconut oil, honey, almond flavoring and almond milk in a medium pan over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth
• 3.  Once mixture is smooth, remove from heat and add in slowly the dry ingredients anf the shredded coconut, mixing until completely combined
• 4. Spread the mixture onto the parchment lined baking pan
• 5. Melt chocolate in microwave- heating it in short intervals and then stirring to ensure the chocolate does not burn
• 6.  Once chocolate is melted, drizzle over the mixture in the pan
• 7. Place bars in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until the mixture is hardened
• 8.  Remove the container from the freezer, cut the bars up and enjoy
• 9.  If there are left overs, to ensure freshness – store the bars in the freezer.

Tips:

-Can substitute almond butter for other nut butter or sunflower seed butter for allergies (try to avoid peanut butter because the taste will over-power the natural taste of matcha)

-Can use any alternative to coconut flour, but this might make the bars not gluten-free

-Can substitute coconut oil for any oil

-Can omit the chocolate and coconut flakes, they add extra flavor

-removing the bars with the parchment paper makes dividing the bars easier

- make sure to store the bars in the freezer to ensure their taste in texture, wrap in aluminum foil or plastic wrap to avoid freezer burn

Warnings:

-Contains Nuts

-Contains coconut

How To Become The Jack of All Traits and The Master of None

All of life's questions now have answers thanks to wikiHow. The wikiHow website is a database where people can create posts telling an audience how to do something. The topics range and could be anything from "How to tie your shoes" to "How to become an astrophysicist."No matter what you are looking for wikiHow is bound to have answers and steps for it. Now, wikiHow may make life simpler but creating a wikiHow is tricky. There are many obstacles one may face when creating a wikiHow. The hardest obstacle to overcome is coming up with a topic to write about. This can be challenging due to the fact that there is so many things that people have written about. It’s not impossible though it just means that you need to be more creative. It may take many hours of searching to finally reveal what you want to(can) write a wikiHow about (that hasn't been written about before). Here are some ideas:

 First, a wikiHow entitled "How to Motivate Yourself to Run During The Winter." This topic is relevant because many people find it difficult to run during the long winter season. It is tough to motivate yourself to run when the weather outside is cold and dreary. Because of this, it requires tricks and tips to make winter running fun. In this wikiHow post there would be a list steps that someone could take to keep running. It would start with investing in the right gear and then from there branch out to the physical and emotional hurdles that someone faces when deciding to run outside. Once the hurdles are established it will tell ways to get over them. This wikiHow post is easy to take pictures for. The pictures could be taken of people running outside.

Secondly, a wikiHow entitled “How to Make Green Tea Protein Bars.” This topic is relevant because the recipe is unique and no one has published a how to for this recipe on wikiHow. The recipe is a spinoff of homemade protein bars with a secret ingredient of matcha green tea. While making protein bars is not a unique concept, adding green tea is. Matcha green tea has many health benefits and gives the recipe a nutty/tea flavor without being overwhelming. To make this post, the ingredients needed would have to be written first then a step by step with pictures on how to make the bars. The pictures included could include action shots taken while making the bars and the final product. At the top of the page there could be a person eating a bar. This idea is easy to do and easy to take photos of (plus you get to eat them after).

Lastly, a wikiHow post entitled “How to make Chia Seed Pudding". This recipe is not well known and is pretty simple to make. The chia seed pudding only requires a few ingredients and transforms from a liquid solution of seeds and other ingredients to a pudding--which makes this recipe very interesting in taste and texture. It only costs a few dollars for the ingredients causing this wikiHow post to be pretty cost effective. To make this wikiHow there could be a list the ingredients and time needed to make the recipe. After that there could be a step-by-step process on how to make the chia seed pudding. There could also be a list of health benefits of chia seeds and links to other similar recipes to the page such as avocado pudding.

Any of these prospective topics could be interesting to write about. They are all topics that haven't been covered and that can easily have over 600 words written about them. A reminder that the topic you want to write about  you have to be able to actually do, so a wikiHow about  "How to raise a baby pig" will not be very feasible for a college student. One day maybe you can write about baby pigs but for now stick to something you can do like writing about running or how to make food.

Living for the "Likes"

 I recently stumbled upon my first post on social media. It was when I was 12-years-old and went behind my parents back to  create a Facebook  account. I set my profile picture as a candy bar and wrote as follows "Today was a good day...nothing bad happend" not only was I great at spelling, I was also really creative. This discovery as embarrassing as it was, got me thinking about social media as a whole. Why did I post that status and who was I even talking to ?

I may never know the answers to these questions, but, what I do know is that I posted the status for attention. That is the purpose of social media, to get and give attention. As I see more and more "selfies" and vague sad statuses on social media I wonder if people have become reliant on the attention their posts give them. "Likes" have become a commodity with people going to extreme measures to get them.

My lovely view

With the need for likes come habits that impede socialization and society. One habit that really gets on my nerves is the "Selfie-stick". The selfie-stick allows its users to be the most obnoxious people wherever they go. That may be an overstatement but it isn't far from the truth.

When I was on vacation in Europe, I felt the effects of the selfie-stick first hand. This was due to the fact that there was a group of tourists in the same group as me. They brought their selfie-sticks everywhere, causing my view to be obstructed. Instead of enjoying their surroundings they were busy capturing a photo(with them in it) to prove to their followers that they were there.

I am not the only one that noticed the gap between being present in your surroundings and using your phone to record photos for social media. At the last concert I was at the lead singer of the band stopped midway through a song and announced angrily to the crowd "Put your f*****g phones away and enjoy the music, live in the f******g moment!"

While that announcement was quite graphic it got the point across.

I am concerned for what the future of social media holds. The more people are focused on getting "Likes" the less concerned they are for their own sense of identity. People are becoming scared to have an unpopular belief or stand up against popular opinion. Will the future be filled with mindless statuses to get attention?

As I write this post, I want to let you know that I am not better than anyone else. I have posted pictures and then promptly removed them if they didn't get enough "Likes" I have also taken a few selfies in my day. I understand the rush you get when someone "Likes" your photo. That's the problem, the Likes are addicting. The best hope for change is to put a conscious effort into living for yourself and not for the likes.

Fin.