Twitter

Students need to create a Twitter account. Please post your username in the comments so that your fellow students and I can then follow your feed. Over the next week and a half, you must post at least 15 tweets. Your tweets can be on any subject, but MUST be focused on one subject. For example, CNN's twitter page only posts news, while the record label Sub Pop's post relate to the bands on the label.

At least two of those tweets must include a link. Please use either tinyurl or bit to create a shorter url that you can fit into the 140 characters Twitter allows in each post. Additionaly, you must post one photo.

Finally, you must write a 500 word paper answering the following questions:

1. How is microblogging different than blogging?

2. How is microblogging different than social networks like Facebook?

3. If you have used Twitter before, what purposes have you used it for?

4. If you have never used Twitter before, how do you think you can use this site in the future?

5. How has Twitter been used beyond socializing?

6. In what ways can Twitter be useful as a journalistic, political and/or organizational tool?

You must cite references to the reading posted on Angel. The readings for this week are The Twitter Explosion, Iran: Downside to the Twitter Revolution and New Media Brings Youth to Politics Like Never Before.

Due Monday, July 2nd.

Facebook

Your new assignment is to create an account with Facebook.

It's very straight forwards if you don't have an account already, so I'm not going to detail exactly how to join. But, once you join, you must:

1. Friend me (Brian Milbrand) and your classmates (leave a link to your facebook page in the comments here).

2. Create a Facebook Group or Event. It may be for a group or event of your own choosing, but it must be for a real group or event, and the event must be a public event.
On your group page, you must include a photo and a video. They can be original or embedded from YouTube or Vimeo. Extra credit for an original video.

For help with your Group page, here's the info from Facebook. And here's help for an Event page.

3. Once you've created your group or event, you must invite me. You can invite anyone else you'd like. 10 points of extra credit will be given to the person who gets the most people to join their group or page by the due date of this project.

4. You must sync your blog to Facebook. You then should write a new blog post that will also post automatically to Facebook. The post should discuss the articles "Examining Students' Intended Photos on Facebook," "Social Media for PR" and "A World I Don't Inhabit." Discuss the following questions:

a. If this is your first time using Facebook, what are your first impressions?

b. If you've been a long time user of Facebook, how do you utilize this site (socializing, business, education, etc)?
c. What other uses are the for Facebook aside from the ways you use the site?  

c. Was it acceptable for your instructor to require you friend him on Facebook?

d. Do you feel that your information on Facebook is private or public?

e. Are there rules of etiquette on Social Networking sites? Give examples.

f. Have you ever had an awkward situation arise because of something you posted to a social networking site?

The post should be 500 words long.

As always, please contact me if you have any issues. I can be contacted via e-mail and now Facebook. This project is due Monday, June 25st.

Video on the Web

Your new assignment is to create a video for your blog. You must create a 2-5 minute video that will be embedded in your blog and posted on 2 of the following sites:

Youtube

Blip

Vimeo

Your video should be about yourself or something important to you. It must feature an interview and b-roll. Internet Archive has some free videos you can download to include in your video.

This project is due Wednesday, June 20th at 10AM. If you need help, please contact me.

In addition to creating your video, you must also post a written blog of 500 words in conjunction with the video that adds to the information presented in the video. The blog post must contain a link to a source of additional information about your subject matter.

You must also post a 500 word paper to Angel. The paper should discuss the differences between the 2 sites you chose to post your video to. What are the good and bad points of each of those sites? What struggles did you encounter when you were shooting, editing and posting your video? Why use video as a communication tool instead of writing and/or photographs? Did the public nature of your video affect the subject matter you chose to discuss? Please cite examples from the article posted on Angel under the YouTube heading. Post your paper to the YouTube Paper drop box on Angel.

Wiki

For your next assignment, you will be creating a wiki page with a partner. Your assignment is to create a wiki page on one of the following wikis.

Wikipedia

WikiHow

Buffalo Wiki

Your topic should be something not covered in the wiki site you'll be posting to. With your group, find an area of expertise that you can discuss in depth to start a wiki strand. Here's more information about wikis if you don't know what they are:

What is a Wiki

By Friday, June 8th, you should complete your new wiki page and post it to the appropriate wiki. Your wiki article must be at least 1,000 words long, and must include at least 1 image. It should follow the rules for wiki creation according to the central wiki site. Any information you got from another website must be cited. All images must be your own images. Here are links to how to create new pages in the respective wikis:

Create an account in Wikipedia

Creating a page in Wikipedia

To create a new page on BufWiki, go to the site, search for what you want to write about, and when the results come up, click create new page. 

To create a page on WikiHow, click on the Write Article button on the front page.

Additionally, you must write a blog post of 1,000 words about your experience writing the wiki with your partner. You should discuss the different ways that you used to communicate while making your wiki, cite references in the articles in order to discuss issues related to wikis. You also must include an image and 2 links in your post, one to your wiki page, the other to another reference about wikis. This is also due Friday, June 8th.

Welcome

This blog has been created as a way for our class, Web Publishing and Social Media, to share our thoughts, and share with the community. Your first two assignments are to:

1. Subscribe to the RSS feed for this site. This will automatically download the content I post to this site to a RSS Reading software. You can check out this site for more on RSS feeds:

Blogging Pro

2. Please read both articles about Web 2.0 on Angel and the Web 2.0 articles at the link below.

7 Habits of Actual Web 2.0 Services

Web 2.0

Amid the Rush to Web 2.0, Some Words of Warning

The History of the Internet

And these articles about the difference between blogging and journalism.

Why I Blog

Blogging vs. Journalism

3. Write two different articles about Web 2.0, each 500 - 1,000 words. One article should be journalistic, looking at Web 2.0 from a variety of viewpoints, analyzing the facts and presenting them in an organized fashion. The second article should be from a personal point of view. Write about how Web 2.0 will affect you and your community. Both posts should include links to new information about Web 2.0 that you discuss in your articles. Once finished, post the best of the 2 articles to your blog. You must post an image with a caption giving the website the photo is from to accompany the article you post to your blog. Submit the second article in word format to the drop box on Angel. Finally, post a comment here about how and why you chose which article to post. This should be completed by Saturday, June 2th at 1PM

Over the weekend, you should read your fellow student blogs, found in the Student Blog link list on the right side of the screen. You must comment on at least 3 blogs. Comments should discuss the article the student wrote and what you think about their interpretation of Web 2.0. Each comment should be at least a paragraph long and add to the discussion. "Great blog" is not a valid comment. Comments must be posted by 10:30AM Monday, June 4th.