Social Media Ethic(quette)

I expect people to tweet about tennis matches, bar mitzvahs, breaking news and everything in between, but even in such a liberal social world, someone has to draw a line that extends farther than 140 characters.

A woman who tweets her abortion is insulting to life itself. It's like a murderer tweeting about his plan to kill Joe Shmoe. I'm all for empowering women--trust me. But publicizing an abortion is making it an ordinary thing, and an abortion is beyond ordinary. It is an intimate moment between a woman, her body and her never-to-be-born child.

I certainly have developed a new love for Twitter (love in the non-mushy-gushy way, but because I've discovered its unique abilities that enable the spontaneous gathering of news), but like in anything new, there is always that doubt and that question concerning ethics.

This doesn't just involve Twitter, this extends to all social media. Like uploading scandalous pictures on Facebook or posting questionable comments on MySpace, Twitter will encounter its brow-raising situations.

Obviously, "to each his own." I do my thing, you do your thing, but like in real life, what you do can get in the way of what I do. In this case, though I'm not directly affected, it really does bother me that real-life ethics/rules do not translate into our virtual world. This may just be a network, this may just be a screen we look into for hours and hours every day, but this is still life. It is humans that drive these virtual relationships, not the other way around.

What we do online counts as much as what we do offline.

I did not intend to blog about this..I was actually going to blog about my group's idea for next week's assignment, but as always, I checked out a news Web site and there it was.

I just want to clarify--I don't judge people for getting abortions. I judge people who don't treat it as a serious matter.

Jitter, Twob, Twittob, Jotter

Lehigh U is looking for a new Residence Life Coordinator.

How do I know that? One word. Symbol is a bird. 140. Yeah, Twitter.

I wonder, will Twitter become the new Monster.com?

Have people even realized the power of Twitter in terms of job searching?

Do those who embrace Twitter have an advantage over those who don't?

Oh, the power of Twitter.

Mountain hawks don't tweet

I have something to confess.

For our last lab assignment I was only there half of the time. But for a good reason: class.

Trust me, I would have preferred to have been there the entire time--intro to planet earth just isn't as interesting as staking potential interviewees. It's just not rockin'. Pun so intended.

However, I did manage to be at 3 of our 6 or 7 interviews and of course, the editing process, which I took care of (I think this evened things out in terms of me not being there the entire time).

These are my mental notes about the entire process:

1. If you're going to shoot indoors, there must be enough lighting. Stay away from dark corridors or obstructed windows that don't let enough light come in.

2. Rule of thirds! I think in general, we didn't really follow this rule...But after watching the video, I see why it's important. It's easier to focus on the subject speaking when they're not in the middle. Must be some psychological thing, but the rule of thirds is a basic guideline that, although it's not hard to follow, it's sometimes easy to forget.

3. Audio. Oh Dios. I think this is a hit or miss for each particular setting because you never know what sound is lurking around the corner or if the voice echoes too much or if you can hear the wind "slapping" the camera. These are things that can't always be seen until you play the video, whether in the camera or on the computer. Nevertheless, picking a quiet place is a safe spot for filming.

4. Subjects. Just pick anybody who's walking around where you're supposed to shoot. Some will reject you, some will accept, but one must ask all potential subjects because you never know what you're gonna get (sometimes, the best responses are the ones you're not looking for).

So, here's the video. I hope this explains all of the above. (I just realized that I speak mostly with one side of my mouth...like a twitch on my lips. You'll see what I mean. )

The plane truth

My brother lives in Austin. He lives in North Austin to be exact. He lives by Research Boulevard.

Today, after I somehow woke up for my 7:55 and made it through my two classes, I came back to my apartment and did the usual: sat in front of my computer and browsed at multiple Web sites.

All of a sudden, I receive a breaking news alert from NBC.com. It said a plane had crashed into an Austin building. Double click.

The NBC web site didn't have much information. The I remember I have to send an email, so I forget about the whole thing.

My stomach grumbles, it's time to eat. I make myself some food (ok, I microwave Amy's organic enchiladas--they're the best!) and I turn on the TV and change to channel to CNN.

BREAKING NEWS indeed. For the next hour, I went back and forth between my TV and computer to tweet about the incident and to find out more information.

My brother works in a public school, so I wasn't too worried, but I've passed by that building a million times and it felt strange seeing something tragic happen so close to home (well, my brother's home).

I called my brother--he answered. Hence, he was fine.

Then I hear about the United Airlines incident in Salt Lake City. And then I kept reading all of the headlines in the bottom the screen, from a killing in Germany to the death of a Mexican mayor, among many others. It was barely noon.

The man who crashed the plane intentionally, Joe Stack, left a suicide note online.

I haven't read all of it, and I don't intend to.

What amazed me is how quickly this story unraveled. If only we could have known about his letter yesterday, somebody could have stopped him from taking his life and the lives of others.

Video (almost) killed the college student

Well, I have yet to tell my multimedia group, Becca and Anya, that the video you're about to see took about 8 hours to make.

Wait, what? 8 hours? But...didn't we finish it on Saturday?

Not quite.

I saved the project on my USB because it wasn't finished, but the next day it's not there.

I mean, it is..but it isn't. For some reason, I saved only the project, not the actual individual videos in the project. All I could see was a series of red "X's"and the organization of the entire video, but NOT the videos. Crikey.

So of course I downloaded and converted all of the videos again (thank God I didn't delete them). Of course I reorganized them and then edited them and then edited them AGAIN.

'Twas my fault, though. Thou shalt not trust Microsoft. (That's the 11th commandment, by the way).

What a way to spend Valentine's....

Gates, you owe Anya, Becca and me a box of chocolates. EACH.

Rewriting the Book of Job(s)

After professor Littau twittered about the new job opening in Obama's staff, I got to thinking about unemployment.

Now, I may not know much about jobs, namely because I've been a student most of my life, and the closest I've ever gotten to a "real" job is writing cover letters (necessary bullsh--), but somehow, I feel the job market lacks creativity.

Why do we have to wait for the perfect job position and why, if we know what we want and we know our skills, can't we create the jobs for ourselves?

I'm sure plenty of people have gone that route, but for those who have not been so recession-proof, THIS is the opportunity to put some meaning into "building" a career.

It's late, I'm hungry and I'm kind of sleepy (no real valentine's plans...) so I may be rambling here, but there must be some truth to what I'm saying.

Step outside the cubicle.

Twitter rules!

Twitter is quickly becoming a favorite pastime.

And, like anything you enjoy, you care about the rules because they determine what you can and can't do and thus, how far you can push the envelope. Some like to play by the rules, while others prefer breaking them or tweaking them.

I've live my life by playing by the rules (it's a long story). But it worries me when something as seemingly harmless as Twitter creates a set of guidelines, and God forbid I break one without knowing.

For example, here are some of the Twitter rules that may keep me up at night:

• If you have followed a large amount of users in a short amount of time;

What if all of a sudden I just feel the need to follow more people? Or what if it's a class assignment? What constitutes 'large'?

• If you have a small number of followers compared to the amount of people you are following;

I may just be so desperate to make friends through Twitter....or I have lots of enemies and I just want to see what they're up to...

• If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates;

I may be linking to my blog because 140 characters is just not enough to express myself...

• If you post multiple unrelated updates to a topic using #;

I blame it on computers...A scenario: I'm typing something to reply to someone, but I end up not liking what I wrote so I delete it and by accident I press the update button once but my computer reads it as 10 times--well, that would only happen on Windows--but still. It could happen.

Ay, ay, ay...

(that's 13 characters, but a LOT of uncertainty).

Bear the cold

Now, I don't want to be the next James Cameron, nor the next Quentin Tarantino, BUT producing and editing videos is becoming quite appealing and much more enjoyable than I could ever imagine. So, when I see a video I like now, I have a greater appreciation for the entire process behind the making of the film.

Here's one I saw at the Huffpost--it's from Super Blizzard 2010 (and no, that's not the new name of Dairy Queen's new frozen treat).

If I could, I would do this for the blizzard that's supposed to be coming our way tonight.

(Poor teddy...)

Super Tweet 2010

I'm still getting used to tweeting....you know, adding the "#" before a word so it can act as a "hash tag" so people who are tweeting about the same thing but don't know each other can find a common ground in the world of Twitter, and making links fit by shortening them through bit.ly.

However, props to Prof. Littau for showing us the power of live tweeting. I honestly don't follow sports (unless it's Lehigh-Lafayette--I'm all for tradition), so I opted to "watch" Twitter instead of the game (and because I could do other things online simultaneously).

One thing that I believe is a hindrance to tweeting is having to have your computer at all times (if you don't have a smartphone.......like me--I promise I'm not a Luddite), especially if you're watching TV and eating messy, greasy food and people around you are drunk--I mean--clumsy.

Microblogging is for microtechnology--like phones or iPads (ugh, great concept, Jobs; horrible name).

And thanks to our professor's livetweet, I got to see the new Google ad, which everybody MUST see. It probably cost like $10 to make.

A Really Simple Search

Reading Briggs' "Next," I'm making it a personal goal to subscribe to RSS feeds (I'm a little behind the times). There are a few news sites I visit and I'm always looking for others, but I really don't have the time to be searching for everything--so it should come to me, n'est-ce pas?

To remind myself to do this and how to do this, here are the three easy steps Briggs lists:

1. Select a reader

2. Find a feed and

3. Add it to you reader

I have a Gmail account, so I can just have a personalized homepage. Or, I can get Google Reader....I'll look into that--soon(ish).

Bad Romance, decent video

I can finally say that I'm comfortable using Windows Movie Maker!

The objective for this lab was pretty clear--film someone doing what they like/do best and interview them about it. Done and done.

But wait--there's a twist: OVERLAY audio and video.

Ok, so it's not as scary as it sounds...really. I actually had a ton of fun doing it and it didn't even feel like work, which is ALWAYS a plus.

Here's the result:

Mind-blogging

Professor Jeremy Littau gave us a comprehensive beginner's guide to blogging--my blog probably inspired him (and not in a good way).

There are so many elements you have to think about when blogging, from "branding" yourself through your blog (and pretty much anywhere you leave your trace on the net) to search engine optimization (seo).

If I had to pick the most important thing about blogging it would be to create a blog that focuses on a narrow topic, or in the words of Littau, a niche. That way you don't have to constantly bang your head against the table when thinking of new posts...if you like cars, stick to cars, if you like cats, stick to cats. It's the stick factor.

I would love to copy and paste the entire guide (without infringing any copyright laws), but I don't have a digital copy..so, I googled these (don't know if they completely promise what they promote, but still) The Newbie Guide to Blogging on Lifehack and this guide to blogging eponymous blog, Guide to Blogging and, if you're REALLY gung-ho about this, then buy The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging (Personally, I'm a fan of the Huffpost) I'm sure many others exist, though.

Happy blogging!