‘interaction’ Articles
Written by Mark on 19 June 2009
Back when I went to j-school, the Internet wasn’t considered a form of “mass media” yet. It was still pretty well limited to email and clunky browsers with limited information. Well, obviously that’s all changed. Journalism schools are teaching about how social media (things like blogs, twitter, facebook, etc.) are changing the way information is communicated, often making it into the “traditional mass media” (newspaper, television, radio).
Mashable has an interesting article 10 Ways Journalism Schools Are Teaching Social Media. This includes News Gathering and Reporting, something that shouldn’t be much of a surprise to those watching CNN recently. Here’s a funny clip from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on just how much CNN is relying on these new social media feeds:
Tags: CNN, journalism, news, social media
Posted in General, interaction, social media, technology | No Comments »
Written by Mark on 21 March 2009
drop.io has to be one of the simplest sites I’ve ever seen. It’s gotten more bells and whistles over time, but still, it’s dead simple to set up a place on the Internet to share your files. And it’s FREE! Here’s how it works:
Visit their site
Either accept the random drop site name they [...]
Tags: File Sharing, HMAUS, mac
Posted in File Sharing, General, interaction | Comments Off
Written by Mark on 19 March 2009
If you are like most people, you have a work and home computer. They may even be on different platforms — like a Mac at home and PC at work. There are several solutions out there, but the one I want to discuss is Dropbox. Dropbox allows you to easily set up a “cloud” storage space that can sync between your computers. That’s 2GB of FREE storage that you can share, backup, or sync files with.
You can set up hidden or public folders, even share your photos with others through Dropbox. And, best, it just seems to work. I’ve used it since it was beta, and I’ve only had 1 problem with it. And that just was because I was running an older version on one of my computers. Upgraded and all worked fine again!
How does it compare to some other solutions? It’s similar to both Syncplicity and Microsoft’s livemesh, though for me, both of those solutions were more difficult to get set up (and for livemesh, a pain on updates).
If you are looking for a fast, free solution to file storage and syncing, check out Dropbox.
Tags: cloud, dropbox, sync
Posted in File Sharing, interaction, technology | No Comments »
Written by Mark on 12 January 2009
An article today from eMarketer finds that small business plan to spend more online using social networking tools. These tools might include things like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, even YouTube:
More small businesses said they would increase their spending on social networking than on any other format.
via Small Businesses’ Online Plans – eMarketer
Tags: small business, social networking
Posted in interaction, small business, technology | No Comments »
Written by Mark on 11 January 2009
If you own a Mac and love solving puzzles, then you should check out MacHeist. Through solving a series of intricately designed puzzles, riddles, visual clues, and cryptograms, you can get several free programs, including Process. Sign up for an account, and off you go solving clues found in the Briefings.
I tried my first one this week, after learning about MacHeist from their holiday giveaway called, Mac Giving Tree. Reading the briefings, following some of the hints others had left in the forums, visiting the various web sites they had set up, and checking my “Loot” area, I found I had solved one puzzle to get Process.
Be forewarned that if you aren’t familiar with these kinds of puzzles, it will be confusing to begin with. Hang with it, get help from others, and have some fun! Learn more at: MacHeist [This is a great idea for building a community, generating lots of "buzz" (including tons of tweets), and keeping membership high.]
Tags: Apple, free programs, mac, puzzles
Posted in Apple, General, interaction | No Comments »
Written by Mark on 10 January 2009
An upcoming event that sounds very interesting: Unconferenz. Using Pecha Kucha which is basically a open discussion with limitations on each speaker of 20 slides and 20 seconds each slide.
Date: February 7, 2009, Saturday
Time: 8:00am to 4:00pm
Place: JAIMS (in Hawaii Kai)
6660 Hawaii Kai Dr
Honolulu, Hawaii 96825
Attendance: 50 – 100 Limited
Cost: $25 – This will include a t-shirt and lunch
Check out their site to register and get more information!
Tags: conference, hawaii, social media
Posted in hawaii, interaction, technology | No Comments »
Written by Mark on 06 January 2009
University of Hawaii, Manoa campus, has several non-credit web classes coming up for Spring 2009. These are usually great for beginners (and even those who think they know everything!). The schedule is online at: UHM Outreach PNM.
Just a couple of standouts include:
Classes are generally on the Manoa campus or in their downtown location.
And don’t forget about the juried competition for digital images, “Survey of Digital Imagery in Hawaii “. Information about how to enter with your digital images is listed along with the dates and fees. Good luck!
Tags: classes, design, development, social media, web
Posted in General, Training, interaction | 1 Comment »
Written by Mark on 20 November 2008
If you are concerned about your online privacy, then you should already know about “cookies” — small files that are stored on your computer that websites write information to. These cookies are largely used to help with the functionality of the website, maintaining your “session” as you move around the site. They can also store your login information, so you don’t have to enter your username and password each time. On the negative side of things, they can also be used to track you, recording what you choose each time you visit the site. And there are “tracking site” cookies used mostly by advertising sites. Because many websites have advertising on them, and many are from the same large advertising companies, those ad companies can “track” you on the websites that you visit, along with what you might have done on those “partner” sites.
There are multiple ways to handle cookies, but here is just one quick solution. If you use Firefox, you can still have the postive aspects of cookies, but have them deleted each time you close the browser — so, it’s like starting fresh each time with the website. You can control your cookies in Firefox by going to Tools, Options, Privacy (in Mac it’s File, Preferences, Privacy), and “Keep Cookies Until I Close Firefox”.
So, you think you are free of cookies then, right?! Not really. You may be still being tracked using “Flash cookies” — cookies that Adobe’s Flash program uses. Flash is what makes the videos on YouTube work, and are also some of the MOST ANNOYING ADS on the Internet.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Flash, online, privacy, technology, web
Posted in interaction, privacy | No Comments »
Written by Mark on 22 October 2008
Today was Web Weavers Workshop with Lorelle VanFossen, part of Hawaii’s Geek Week. Lorelle had a ton of great tips to go along with the basics of setting up a successful Wordpress blog site. A large part of the information is in Lorelle’s book, but it was her discussions to student questions that often proved most helpful. Some sample tips:
- watch using pronouns in blog articles. Readers might be confused on what “it” is, along with the SEO problem related to keywords.
- do “brain dumps” and THEN edit. Unload your ideas completely and then go back and edit. And edit, and edit, and edit some more.
- and if you are using more than 400 words from someone else’s web site, be prepared to hear copyright problems. In other words, keep your quoting of someone else’s material under 200 words or ask that writer for permission to use more.
Being a power-blogger, Lorelle had several shortcuts using Firefox, GreaseMonkey, and Google Reader, she even had tips on a great mouse that will power through web site scrolling.
It was a good class for anyone interested in learning about blogging, from beginners to those already blogging! Check out Lorelle’s web site for lots more information also!
Tags: blogging, classes, seo, wordpress
Posted in interaction | No Comments »
Written by Mark on 21 October 2008
During the opening event of Mactoberfest for Hawaii’s Geek Week, Lorelle VanFossen asked the audience, “How has Wordpress changed your life?” She showed some great videos of how lives have been changed by using Wordpress as a blogging software application for helping people express their lives. For me, Wordpress has changed my life in two main ways, though not really because of blogging.
1) As a web developer looking to help clients solve their online needs, I’ve found one of the biggest requests I hear is, “How can I get a great looking website THAT’S EASY TO UPDATE for someone with no HTML skills.” I’ve tried finding the perfect CMS solution for those kind of requests, but keep coming back to Wordpress.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: CMS, interaction, wordpress, wpmu
Posted in General, interaction | No Comments »
