The thing that I liked the most about this webinar was the ability to go back and review exactly what was said. It was great to go back and review the exact information that I missed when jotting down a note on something interesting.

I really like to see who is talking when listening to a lecture. I feel that there is a lot of information that can be passed in the speakers nonverbal gestures. These little movements can tell an audience what is some of the most important parts of the topic.

Never Run a Marathon Barefoot

Anne Miller, 9 November 2009, 4:30 pm

1. The brain remembers visually and responds emotionally.
2. Metaphors are associative and should be tailored to the individual clients or client group. You should use what you know about a person to help model your metaphors to interest and be understandable to your audience.
3. Know your clients/audience as well as possible. This will allow you to communicate more effectively with them. You will be able to reach them in ways that others may not which may be the little extra that seals the deal. You will be able to find other ways to pass along information in a way that is well received.

For this week my new thing I have tried was to use electronic version of numerous magazines for research. I have found this to be a great tool for a student or even an employee who is on a time crunch and doesn’t have time to spend in a library search through articles. Using the search feature allowed me to narrow down the multitude of potential articles without having to skim every one of them. The potential for learning is only limited by the articles that are online.

The benefits of using online copies of magazines and newspapers are the time and resources saved by a company. Employees will now have access to numerous articles from print that a company may not be have access to otherwise. Articles are posted daily to most sites and many of these sites keep an online library of past articles. There are drawbacks such as employees using the data and ideas from others and claiming it as their own. It’s also very easy to get into reading other articles that do not pertain to what you are working on and waste a lot of time.

One of the problems I had was information overload. There are so many different news sources out there that it is easy to become overwhelmed. I found this was partially alleviated by using a site such as Ecbohost.

Part 1

1. Myspace.com
2. Facebook.com
3. WVUP OLSIS
4. Suddenlink
5. Verizon
6. West Virginia Housing Development Fund
7. United Bank
8. WVSCPAs
9. Credit card 1
10. Credit card 2
11. Navy Federal Credit Union
12. TRH Family
13. Liberty Mutual
14. SRC insurance
15. Benefitsweb 401k
16. Parkersburg & Wood County Library
17. Audible.com
18. Barnes & Noble
19. Amazon
20. PayPal

Part 2

1. The name of the organization is the West Virginia Society of CPAs (WVSCPAs).

2. The information in the online database came from information that I supplied to the organization when I applied for the membership. To gain membership I filled out and submitted their membership application.

3. In addition to my name the organization has my 1. Address, 2. Phone number, 3. Birthday, 4. E-mail address, 5. Work phone number. They also maintain when my membership expires and my gender.

4. The organization has a page where members can go to update their information online. A member can update as often as they have a need to. They do this to maintain the most accurate records possible to allow them to provide the best possible services for their members.

5. The information is physically maintained at the organizations home office in Charleston, WV. From what information I can see the organization maintains records in electronic and paper formats. Members can get an electronic or paper directory listing all members.

6. The information maintained on the website is pretty basic. I wasn’t surprised by what they maintained because it was only the information I supplied. I think that it is pretty interesting that they supply the information to other members. This information is limited to the name of the company the member works for, their work address, and their e-mail address.

Part 3

The organization uses my e-mail address to keep me up-to-date on what is currently happening with the organization. They also use my physical address to send me a monthly newsletter that informs its members of the general business of the organization as well as highlighting some of the members’ achievements. From the perspective of a student member, the organization uses the information they have collected very well to keep their members informed. The organization could gather a little more information from their members to tailor the way information is distributed and to whom. Student members don’t need the information about continuing education information when they are trying to finish their initial education.

Part 4

For my new thing this time, I have tried reading an eBook. BarnesandNoble.com has released a free eReader and has a number of books in the public domain that are offered for free (I downloaded all 36 that I could find). For the most part the program is really easy to download and use. I love to read and this seems like a great feature for my computer. It allows me to have a number of books to read at my fingertips without having to carry a library with me. The program can even be used with the iPhone and BlackBerry’s, since I have never used either of these phones I don’t know how well the pages would appear.

I cannot say that I learned a great deal from using the program itself but there are always things to be learned from books. I did learn how to use the program and navigate through the books. I also learned how to make notes about the book in the program.

An eBook reader offers a large range of benefits to both business and consumers. For consumers who enjoy reading, eBooks offer a great way to carry around a number of books in a small electronic package. From some of the reading that I have been doing on eReaders it seems that the ones like the Kindle offer a few more features to users. For travelers this could potentially be a wonderful item. Instead of lugging books through airports and hotels a traveler would only need to keep track of a single item. A benefit for business is that these eReaders can support pdf files and can be used wirelessly. Instead of printing up numerous reports and memos employees can now read them on eReaders saving the company money. EReaders that are not part of a computer are very small and can be carried much easier than a laptop when traveling.

For me the downside is simply that I like paper copy of books to much to give up right now. That could change as the price of portable eReaders and digital books come down. Portables eReaders seem to lack a key feature that I think would cause them to really catch on to a more business type consumer. If they had a screen like a tablet computer and the software to make it function the readers could also act like a notebook that could be linked to a computer.

I believe that if a portable eReader had the ability to be used like a notebook and would allow for annotation of the text in a book, these things would be all over college campuses in a couple of years. What student wouldn’t want all of their textbooks in a small device that is very easy to carry and serves as their notebook?

Overall, I feel that this is one of the few technologies that I can truly get behind pretty early in its lifespan. There appears to be a lot that can be developed with the technology making it very user friendly in the near future.

The site address is http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20090827/bs_bw/aug2009tc20090824902851. I retrieved the article on 2 September 2009, so I hope it will still be active when you read this. My question to you is, do you still use these terms?

I have saved a copy of the article in case it disappears. If it does and you are interested let me know and I will send you a copy.

1. My “love tech stuff” rating

I would rank myself somewhere between a 4 and a 6 depending on the day. I enjoy the technology that I can use for entertainment and to make my life easier. On the other hand I really dislike how intrusive technology can be (there is a reason I have caller id, I am screening my calls). I do feel that some people have allowed technology to take over their lives; whereas, I am trying to simplify my life. I believe that technology has its place and can be a great tool but it is just a tool. Of course this is just my opinion and I have been known to be wrong in the past.

1. Internet Typology Quiz.

Apparently I am an Ambivalent Networker. I use technology in my daily life but don’t like how accessible it makes me. I have a MySpace page but rarely use it. I have a cell phone but hate it. I have adapted tech to my life but not done so gladly.

1. Change model. 

I would say that I fall into the late majority category. I am the type of person who waits until a technology has been out for awhile before purchasing it. I want to know what others who have the item think about it and its feature. I also like to wait for the price to come down. I am always worried that I will buy the first generation and it will have problems that have been fixed in the second generation or that it doesn’t hit big with consumers and is almost obsolete the moment it hits the shelves.

1. Example of a tech I love. 

The tech that I enjoy the most is my iPod. I work in a room by myself at a time when there are very few people even in the building. With no one to talk to and a more physical than mental job it is very easy to get extremely bored. Without my iPod I don’t know what I would do. In the 2 ½ years I have been using it I have listened to over 200 audio books and countless hours of music.

On the other end of the spectrum the piece of tech that I dislike the most is cell phones. Really do we need a device that keeps us connected every minute of every day? If people know that you have one, and nowadays who doesn’t, they expect you to be available at their every whim. iPods good, cell phones bad.

1. My dad is a tech-addict (or a techno-phobic type) and drives me crazy because . . . most of the tech that he buys and uses seems very pointless to me and much of it duplicates itself. How many digital video recorders does one person need. He is the type who would have bought hd-dvd and blueray just because they were the new things on the market. He is definitely a 10 on the tech love scale.
2. Watch the video “Did You Know?”  Discuss what you learned in a couple of sentences.

I have watched this video before but it has been some time ago. I am well aware of the fact that people will switch jobs more often today than in the past but was unaware that the number is as high as 10 to fourteen jobs, I thought it was just me that had that many. I am also amazed by the short amount of time that most people have been working for their employers. I wonder what those numbers would be like given the economy of today. I am amazed at the number of myspace pages, the amount of text messaging, and the large number of marriages that started through meeting on the internet. Does anyone remember how to talk to face to face.

1. Try one new thing from the list provided in the Blog Project lecture notes and instructions. 

1. What “new thing” did you do and how did it go?

My new thing was to take an online personality test.

1. How it is related to business or IT? (You may rationalize a fun thing by saying it is a stress reducer or time saver!)

A personality test can help a person better understand themselves and those they work with. This can help to prevent confrontations and increase productivity.

2. Talk about it, describe how you did it, any difficulties you had with it, and your overall impressions and feelings about using it for the first time.

I used the Jung Typology Test found at http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm. The test is pretty straight forward. I was kind of excited to see my results,

3. Did you love it? Hate it? What surprised you most about it?

I enjoyed taking the test and getting the results. I was surprised by what those results were and who I shared my personality type with, Stephen Hawking and Dwight Eisenhower.

4. If you tried a demo or free trial of a new software, did you buy it? Do you want to buy it? If you did buy it, any buyer’s remorse?

2. What did you learn from the “new thing”? List a couple of concrete ideas that you learned.

I learned the type of personality I have. I have a rational personality to the point of being a mastermind. I apparently am very good at planning and having contingency plans just in case the original plan does not work. I did learn that most of what I think about myself is accurate according to the test; I am introverted and intuitive.

3. What are the benefits?

1. To the business or agency? What economies of scale do they achieve because customers/users use the technology instead of a more traditional way of doing business?

This kind of a tool will allow employees to get to know themselves and their coworkers better. This will allow them to interact with each other on a level not available during normal interaction. This tool will give everyone insight into what make others tick. It could also create an environment in which people consider other more in their dealings with them.

2. To you or the consumers?

The benefit to me is to actually see what type of person I am. This gives me the opportunity to work on some of my deficiencies and improve myself.

4. What are the downsides of using the technology for the business? For the consumer?

The downside is that once people have a better understanding of one another’s personalities they may begin to feel that the other person cannot change. This could lead to one person or group shunning another. it could also lead to people feeling they cannot work with one another because the other person will never be able to ‘understand’.