When I was in primary school, my teacher read The Hobbit to us. We made topic books about WWII and the eco-system. We used pen, paper, and occasionally colored pencils.
A lot has changed in a decade.
According to this article, the British government wants to do an overhaul on the current elementary education. Their proposal would make teaching newer forms of media such as blogging, podcasting, Wikipedia and Twitter mandatory at the younger levels.
Seriously? I got to color pictures and these kids get to update their Twitter pages. Jill, I know how thrilled you must be to hear about such young twitterers, being an addict yourself. But, what's even crazier about this proposed overhaul is the idea of teaching about podcasting. I'm not even sure what podcasting is and i'm in college.
I did what any "self-respecting" college student who lacks information does, I went to Wikipedia. As stated by the trusty site, 'A podcast is audio made available for download via syndication. The files are usually retrieved with software applications (generically known as podcatchers) such as Apple's iTunes so that subscribers can listen at their convenience on devices that have intermittent, slow, or are otherwise lacking Internet access.' Basically - a podcast is some version of a 'broadcast' on your ipod, available to you when ever you feel a hankering to listen.
What's so cool about a podcast is that you can find one about almost any topic you want. According to digitalmedia.oreilly creating your own podcast is as simple as 1. producing your own audio files and 2. publishing them somewhere online. Apparently it's super easy and can be done completely free.
Podcasting has endless opportunities. Anyone with a hobby can probably find at least one podcast about their favorite activity. iTunes, for example, offers more than 100,000 podcasts to users all for FREE. We know that Gen Y loves free stuff...With podcasts ranging from CNN to Sesame Street it's easy to find something you like.
It's cool to see that kids could be leaning how to podcast in school. It's a growing medium that is vastly accessible and having knowledge of these technologies will prove very handy in the years to come.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Job Search...
The internship is in Chicago for the CBS owned WBBM-TV. The internship is for a public relations intern who would work with the public affairs and communications director. Assisting with station-sponsored events, talent appearances, and preparing promotional materials are just some of the duties of this internship.
It seems like a good experience and is interesting because it takes place at a television station. There is a lot of public relations work done at t.v. stations and the skills one might develop here would certainly help when looking for a job. Assisting with station-sponsored events is, for me, the most intriguing part of this internship because I am interested in event planning.
To prepare for an internship like this, simply taking the required classes is not going to satisfy. Although I am working on my degree, I am currently interning at Emmis Communication in downtown St. Louis. Emmis owns four of the major St. Louis radio stations, KHITS 96, 105.7 The Point, KSHE 95, and 97.1 FM Talk. I work with the Emmis Marketing Group, specifically with the Event Management Specialist, Ellie Sertic. I have helped on numerous events for all of the radio stations that include all the planning leading up to the event itself and also creating promotional materials for the events.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
NO SOLICITORS.
Gen Y is coined as the hard-to-reach marketing group. In fact, marketers have even joined the name calling of Gen Y when they describe us as "the untouchables." It's true. We are harder to pin-point, but once you've got us - we're pretty loyal.
Millenials are considered the biggest group of spenders since the baby boomers. I've heard numbers of our spending habits thrown out anywhere from $150 billion to $200 billion in just a year! That's some serious cash flow. Which is why marketers are so interested in targeting us.
Instead of employing the usual techniques, companies are catching on to what gets us interested. They have started putting their messages in places where Gen Y is most likely to be. Of course the internet comes up, since Gen Y is always on their favorite social network or catching their friends latest video on YouTube. Marketers are also popping up at places like snowboard tournaments. According to a USA Today article Mountain Dew has figured out a way to reach Gen Y effectively. They call it the "Pavlovian connection". Mountain Dew hands out samples of the drink at these 'extreme' events. "There's a Pavlovian connection between the brand and the exhilarating experience," says Dave Burwick, a top executive at Pepsi.
They've got it! Gen Y wants an experience. We want to feel like we are getting more than just a drink. Recently I have seen Monster energy drinks out on the street being given away after concerts and at festivals. Gen Y LOVES this because it's free. If we like what we are tasting it's possible we will actually go buy the product next time we have to stay up until 3 am to write a blog post.
Other than giving us things for free, marketers have discovered that concentrating on smaller groups is working well. If you work to satisfy a group of teens, they are more likely to talk to their friends and rave about their experience with the product or company. Personally, I am a huge fan of personal referrals and generally tend to purchase things I know have worked for my friends.
Apple won Gen Y over when it created the 99 cent song. Instantaneously you could have the music you want without having to purchase an entire cd. I thought this was awesome, so I invested a little more money in Apple, buying an ipod. But that wasn't all. The computer I sit here typing on is, guess what - a Mac! I was so satisfied with my experience at Apple that I continued to buy their products. They drew me in with iTunes, but kept me. I am also a prime example of peer referrals. I recommend the products to anyone who asks.
Apple has it figured out, you draw them in with something they want and keep them with other great products and service. Many companies out there could learn a lesson from Apple. It doesn't matter how hard you try to reach us "untouchables," if you can't keep us your efforts are lost.
Millenials are considered the biggest group of spenders since the baby boomers. I've heard numbers of our spending habits thrown out anywhere from $150 billion to $200 billion in just a year! That's some serious cash flow. Which is why marketers are so interested in targeting us.
Instead of employing the usual techniques, companies are catching on to what gets us interested. They have started putting their messages in places where Gen Y is most likely to be. Of course the internet comes up, since Gen Y is always on their favorite social network or catching their friends latest video on YouTube. Marketers are also popping up at places like snowboard tournaments. According to a USA Today article Mountain Dew has figured out a way to reach Gen Y effectively. They call it the "Pavlovian connection". Mountain Dew hands out samples of the drink at these 'extreme' events. "There's a Pavlovian connection between the brand and the exhilarating experience," says Dave Burwick, a top executive at Pepsi.
They've got it! Gen Y wants an experience. We want to feel like we are getting more than just a drink. Recently I have seen Monster energy drinks out on the street being given away after concerts and at festivals. Gen Y LOVES this because it's free. If we like what we are tasting it's possible we will actually go buy the product next time we have to stay up until 3 am to write a blog post.
Other than giving us things for free, marketers have discovered that concentrating on smaller groups is working well. If you work to satisfy a group of teens, they are more likely to talk to their friends and rave about their experience with the product or company. Personally, I am a huge fan of personal referrals and generally tend to purchase things I know have worked for my friends.
Apple won Gen Y over when it created the 99 cent song. Instantaneously you could have the music you want without having to purchase an entire cd. I thought this was awesome, so I invested a little more money in Apple, buying an ipod. But that wasn't all. The computer I sit here typing on is, guess what - a Mac! I was so satisfied with my experience at Apple that I continued to buy their products. They drew me in with iTunes, but kept me. I am also a prime example of peer referrals. I recommend the products to anyone who asks.
Apple has it figured out, you draw them in with something they want and keep them with other great products and service. Many companies out there could learn a lesson from Apple. It doesn't matter how hard you try to reach us "untouchables," if you can't keep us your efforts are lost.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Retouching
In this high-tech world where anything can be manipulated with a few clicks of a mouse, it is hard to look at a picture and determine if what we are seeing is real or enhanced.
Photo-retouching refers to the process of warping an image until the desired result is achieved. I say that it is easy to manipulate a photo with a computer, but retouching has been done since photos have been around. At the start of the 1900's, photo manipulation was used as a form of propaganda. Compiling collages and enhancing parts of photos was something used during the wars and especially practiced in WWII against the Nazi Regime.
Computerized manipulation saw one of its first big controversies with the retouching of a 1982 National Geographic cover in which two pyramids were moved closer together to fit vertically on the page. Due to issues such as this one, the National Press Photographers Associaion (NPPA) set a code of ehtics for photographers. In this code of ethics, the NPPA advised photographers to be weary of photo manipulation for published photos that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.
When we speak of photo-retouching, we are most likely talking about the magazine covers or billboards we see in which the models are made to look flawless. This type of retouching constructs ideals and leave the viewer having trouble differentiating between fact and fiction. Such retouching is a strong factor in the self-esteem issues of men and women.
Lauren Collins wrote an article for The New Yorker in which she talks about photo-retouching and its guru. "Pixel Perfect" describes the work of the infamous photo-manipulator, Pascal Dangin, and how he deals with a photograph that needs to be 'retouched'. In the March issue of Vogue, Dangin altered one-hundred forty-four images, one-hundred seven advertisements, thirty-six fashion pictures and the cover. Dangin was quoted in the article saying, “I think retouching is too much when it reaches the point of disfiguring. I want people to have an understanding of the skeleton and musculature and how it works. There is nothing worse than looking at an ankle or a calf that’s wrong. This is what bad retouching can do—you see in magazines girls having their legs slimmed and they no longer have tibias and femurs, and it’s weird.”
Take a look at these pictures. The celebrities photographed in them have very different before and after shots.
In a world where everything around us is digitally enhanced, it is hard to know if anything we are seeing is ever real. According to this video, it takes more than some make-up and hairspray to create the kind of look that goes onto a billboard.
Photo-retouching refers to the process of warping an image until the desired result is achieved. I say that it is easy to manipulate a photo with a computer, but retouching has been done since photos have been around. At the start of the 1900's, photo manipulation was used as a form of propaganda. Compiling collages and enhancing parts of photos was something used during the wars and especially practiced in WWII against the Nazi Regime.
Computerized manipulation saw one of its first big controversies with the retouching of a 1982 National Geographic cover in which two pyramids were moved closer together to fit vertically on the page. Due to issues such as this one, the National Press Photographers Associaion (NPPA) set a code of ehtics for photographers. In this code of ethics, the NPPA advised photographers to be weary of photo manipulation for published photos that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.
When we speak of photo-retouching, we are most likely talking about the magazine covers or billboards we see in which the models are made to look flawless. This type of retouching constructs ideals and leave the viewer having trouble differentiating between fact and fiction. Such retouching is a strong factor in the self-esteem issues of men and women.
Lauren Collins wrote an article for The New Yorker in which she talks about photo-retouching and its guru. "Pixel Perfect" describes the work of the infamous photo-manipulator, Pascal Dangin, and how he deals with a photograph that needs to be 'retouched'. In the March issue of Vogue, Dangin altered one-hundred forty-four images, one-hundred seven advertisements, thirty-six fashion pictures and the cover. Dangin was quoted in the article saying, “I think retouching is too much when it reaches the point of disfiguring. I want people to have an understanding of the skeleton and musculature and how it works. There is nothing worse than looking at an ankle or a calf that’s wrong. This is what bad retouching can do—you see in magazines girls having their legs slimmed and they no longer have tibias and femurs, and it’s weird.”
Take a look at these pictures. The celebrities photographed in them have very different before and after shots.
In a world where everything around us is digitally enhanced, it is hard to know if anything we are seeing is ever real. According to this video, it takes more than some make-up and hairspray to create the kind of look that goes onto a billboard.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Electronic "ink"?
So most of us have heard about the Kindle. If you haven't check this out. It is a wireless reader device, as the website says, that lets you read books, magazines and newspapers on the six inch screen. It claims to use an electronic paper technology that 'eliminates the eyestrain' of reading on a computer. Great stuff, huh?
According to an article in Fortune Magazine, the Hearst Corporation plans to release it's own electronic reader in hopes that "it can do for periodicals what Amazon's Kindle is doing for books."
Wait a minute...does this mean we are going to eliminate not only newspapers in their original form, but magazines as well? According to this article, magazine publishers are looking for a way to bridge the gap between the declining print revenue and the online revenue. These e-readers would lower costs for publishers, and eliminate all the waste created by printing on paper. The costs of putting out a periodical might be reduced by up to 50% by switching publication to the new e-reader.
I have to say that as much as I like saving the environment, there is something about flipping through the pages of your favorite magazine that just wouldn't be the same on a screen. On the bright side, this device is rumored to be about the size of a standard sheet of paper. According to the article, "the larger screen better approximates the reading experience of print periodicals, as well as giving advertisers the space and attention they require."
It sounds like the experience will be close to the same, but it will allow you to use wireless technology to download participating newspapers and magazines in seconds. The new e-reader is believed to debut in black and white and then move to color as the technologies develop. There is no price speculated for this device yet. Hearst plans to sell the e-readers to the publishers and make money from selling magazines and newspapers on the gadget. They are leaving the branding and payment models up to the publishing companies to decide.
Overall, it's a pretty intriguing idea. It would be very convenient to have magazines and newspapers available at my fingertips fast and practically weightless.
According to an article in Fortune Magazine, the Hearst Corporation plans to release it's own electronic reader in hopes that "it can do for periodicals what Amazon's Kindle is doing for books."
Wait a minute...does this mean we are going to eliminate not only newspapers in their original form, but magazines as well? According to this article, magazine publishers are looking for a way to bridge the gap between the declining print revenue and the online revenue. These e-readers would lower costs for publishers, and eliminate all the waste created by printing on paper. The costs of putting out a periodical might be reduced by up to 50% by switching publication to the new e-reader.
I have to say that as much as I like saving the environment, there is something about flipping through the pages of your favorite magazine that just wouldn't be the same on a screen. On the bright side, this device is rumored to be about the size of a standard sheet of paper. According to the article, "the larger screen better approximates the reading experience of print periodicals, as well as giving advertisers the space and attention they require."
It sounds like the experience will be close to the same, but it will allow you to use wireless technology to download participating newspapers and magazines in seconds. The new e-reader is believed to debut in black and white and then move to color as the technologies develop. There is no price speculated for this device yet. Hearst plans to sell the e-readers to the publishers and make money from selling magazines and newspapers on the gadget. They are leaving the branding and payment models up to the publishing companies to decide.
Overall, it's a pretty intriguing idea. It would be very convenient to have magazines and newspapers available at my fingertips fast and practically weightless.
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