Personal Blog for Professor Tutt's 'Social Media for PR' class!!

Today is the one month anniversary of my engagement. I am overly blessed to be able to say that I have found the one I will spend the rest of my life with, at such a young age. It feels like everyone is searching for the love that we have found. It feels like I live in fairytale sometimes!

All my life I have dreamt about what my wedding day would look like, but now that it is becoming a reality… I am extremely scatter-brained.

Though both of our parents have offered to help diffuse the costs of all our wedding plans, Davis (my fiancé) and I have decided that we want to tackle the majority of it on our own. But, this doesn’t come easy when you’re both finishing your undergraduate degree and jobless. So that’s where “planning a wedding on a budget” comes in!

Through extensive research, I have found myself burring my nose into wedding planning books, using various social media sites to get budget-friendly ideas, and asking friends or family for any leftovers from their weddings! My personal favorite book would have to be “Plan the Perfect Wedding On A Small Budget”, by Elizabeth and Alex Lluch. Their book features real couple’s wedding plans and explains every little detail that went into that planning. I can’t even being to explain how much that has helped!

But, my overall favorite way to get budget-friendly wedding ideas is from Pinterest! It gives me the ability to make my own “board”, where I can put every idea, in an organized and visual manner. Pinterest has millions of wedding ideas, especially ones with brides on a budget. This almost seemed like a blessing to me, when I first started using it. It seemed to open up the door to many things I could have never imagined would fit into the budget of our wedding.

Attached at the bottom of this blog is a picture of my “wedding board” on Pinterest. There are so many D.I.Y wedding ideas, party favors, dectorations, you name it! They seem to have it all!
The use of this social media platform has brought light to so many potential wedding ideas that I originally threw out, due to our small budget. Thanks to Pinterest, my dream wedding is in the works. Now we just have to pick a date and start all of the actual planning!

…Here goes nothing

Podcast #2

Podcast #2

Processor Wysocki's Blog Post #4

Online privacy seems to be on the minds of many Americans these days, due to the immense growth in the use of various social media platforms.

These users are continuously being tracked, whether or not they set their personal profile to the "private setting".

Here's what happens: Internet surfers spend time looking at whatever pages they like, and private companies then track what they're looking at, then sell that information to other companies, who then turn it into governmental companies and/or law enforcement.

This tracking technology is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and is rapidly changing, which makes it virtually impossible for these Internet surfers to keep their surfing private.

There are multiple websites that offer help to these Internet users, to try to increase the privacy and lower this selling of information. They offer suggestions that can help one become more private or more aware of the tracking that they are being put into without permission. Some examples are maybe asking the government to make the users aware of what is being tracked, so they can then protect themselves, or even have these companies disclose how often they submit this information to the government. Either way, innocent Internet surfers should be made aware that they are being tracked, whether or not their information is actually being sold to the government.

I feel that many Americans would be shocked to know that so much of their information is being tracked and sold to the government or random law enforcements.

Though us Internet users are aware (hopefully) that everything we do on the Internet is open to be analyzed, it still probably isn't on their minds as they update their Facebooks, tweet, or find recipes on Pinterest. As one chooses to have their social media platforms to be private, that doesn't necessarily mean they are actually private to everyone, unless their allowed viewers. Here is the problem, American Internet users need to be educated on this issue, because I personally find it frightening that my Internet use can be tracked and sold to the government and law enforcement.

For anyone who also finds this frightening, use the link below to find examples of websites that can educate you on this topic and also give links to different webpages that can help you become more private.

http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/internet-privacy

Professor Wysocki's class- blog post #3

According to the Christian Science Monitor online magazine, the Pentagon futurologists that created the internet, are now attempting to begin a new era of cyberwarfare. They state that the Pentagon has always been open in regards to need of defense against potential cyperattacks, but their actual ability to attack enemies with cyberweapsons has always been a mystery.

​The Pentagon’s Defense Advance Research Products Agency has just launched “Plan X”, which is an effort to improve the offensive cyberwarfare capabilities “needed to dominate the cyber battlespace,” according to the announcement for the workshop.
​Though the Pentagon is making an effort to move in the right direction in the sense of defending ourselves to a cyber attack, it is still very concerning that many Americans don’t even know what the word “cyberwarfare” means. But, cyberwarfare is something that needs to be learned about and needs to have a defense against it.

​The Pentagon’s program is going to be closed to the press, but they are making it very clear that their program is going to help against potential cyberwarfare attack. I think that this extremely important that the government does do something to protect our internet usages and their program shows that preparing for this warfare is essential for any potential conventional war.

​Plan X looks at bids from groups that can help it plan for a cyberwarfare and then can expand it’s technology. This means that the window can open into the highly secretive world of offensive cyberwarfare and I feel that this defense movement is both necessary and crucial for protection.

​According to Jim Lewis, the director of the Technology and Public Policy programs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “If we have a robust public discussion of nuclear weapons, then why not a robust discussion for cyberstrategy? Up until now, cyber been kind of an ad hoc. What they’re doing now is saying that this is going to be a normal part of US Military operations.”

​I agree that the US military and government should indeed have some sort of defense against cyber warfare, but I don’t think that it should be a “robust public discussion” for the sole reason that word of mouth spreads very quickly. Meaning, if other countries or enemies found out about how we are going about defending against the warfare, then may then be able to find ways around our defenses.
​Cyberwarfare could potentially be an extremely aggressive warfare, so US government officials most definitely are doing the right thing by preparing for defenses against it.


http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2012/1012/Pentagon-s-Plan-X-how-it-could-change-cyberwarfare

Professor Wysocki's Podcast #1:


October 16, 2012

Link to Net Neutrality Podcast

Wysocki's Web Publishing Class- Blog #2

Digital Divide:

According to Steve Kastenbaum, from CNN News, “The so-called digital divide has all but disappeared. But there’s a huge gap in knowledge of how to use that technology.”

Steve Kastenbaum believes that the digital divide is becoming less and less of an issue due to advancements in school systems; more specifically in schools located in New York’s Lower East Side.

Children in the Lower East Side of New York are finding it more and more normal to have classrooms filled with computers, even if they haven’t ever touched a computer at home.

Because of the digital divide and many Americans not being able to afford internet in their homes, children in our public school systems have minimal computer experience.

Even though schools are trying to do a better job in adding computers and Internet access to a child’s day-to-day schedule, I feel that the digital divide still plays a significant role. A child can only get so much internet and/or computer access when at school and if they don’t have that access at home, they hours they are on the computer at school just are not enough; therefore, the digital divide still stands.

​Northwestern University professor Eszter Hargittai believes that bridging the gap is the key to creating a path out of poverty for students and I definitely agree, but how big of a role of internet within the schools is going to affect the child? Yes, the child will become more comfortable with a computer, but they will not be nearly as comfortable with it as a child who has a computer at their home; hence, the digital divide.


Though many schools that are “in the bad part of town” are doing their best to have their students get more aquainted with computers and the internet, I feel that they will never be as familiar with it as students who have the luxury of a computer in the privacy of their own home. Children who have computers at their houses probably don’t only use the computer for school work, they may play games on the computer, they may take part in online shopping, or even use social media platforms. Children who only use computers at school don’t have the ability to do those things, due to the use of their computers are only in a school setting, so doing these things at school is almost nonexistent.


The digital divide is still a huge factor in America, regardless of whether or not schools are adding computer use to the classroom.




http://cnnradio.cnn.com/2012/10/05/helping-kids-cross-the-digital-divide/

Online Identity. Professor Tutt's class blog contribution!

Does having a different personality on social media lessen one’s integrity?According to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.”  

            Having the ability to create a separate identity online can be both beneficial and hurtful. Many people believe that being able tocreate a completely separate identity online is controversial. On one hand, aperson as the ability to start fresh online, meaning that if they cannot fullyexpress their identity in real life, then they can do so online. But many look at this almost as a way of “false advertisement”.

            Much controversy has risen lately with Google+ when they decided that all accounts would be deleted if the registered person did not usetheir real name, but then quickly changed the rules and allowed people to havetheir names be whatever they choose.

            I feel that someone should be able to make whatever identity they wish when logging online. With the use of social media always increasing, I feel that the opportunity to make an online identity is always growing, also!

               There are plenty of circumstances where someone does not have the ability in their lives to fully express who they want to be, and that is where social media sites have allowed these people to express themselves and find happiness.

            Even though Google+ originally did not allow users tohave a profile without using their actual names, I think that they quickly realized their mistake and transitioned back in a professional manner. I am a firm believer in accepting responsibility and admitting when a mistake as beenmade, so for Google+ to realize that they had made a mistake, I feel that they should be commended for it, rather than reprimanded.

            In response to Facebook’s founder and CEO, I feel that just because someone has a separate identity online from their real-life identity,it does not put their personal integrity in question. Just because some people portray their lives differently online, than they do on a day-to-day basis, does not mean that they are putting their integrity on the line. There are so many different reasons and circumstances in which cause people to portray theirlives differently online and who am I to judge that? I feel that if someone wantsto act different online, then they have every reason to be, and if their followers don’t like it, then they can easily be deleted from their friend lists. After all, it’s their online identity, which means they can easily choose who can be a part of their online life.

 Below is the link to the article I have responded to.

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/internet-identity-crisis-137991?page=2

The link added below is an interesting video of Doctor Mark Kossmann and Charlie Seymour Junior. I foudn this video on YouTube and it really helped me understand some of the different views of having an online identity!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VsWFTZdGIk&noredirect=1