Making a difference in Whitewater

Here's a link to my audio slide show project. I did it on the Making a Difference Day service project in Whitewater.

How to find freelance work as a writer

I liked this article on mashable.com, it lists five tips to help writers find freelance work; Network, Be Precise, Sell Yourself, Get Creative and Show Passion.

Journalists Maximizing Facebook

http://www.lostremote.com/2011/03/18/sxsw-how-journalists-can-use-facebook/

I thought this was an interesting video about using Facebook as a journalist to engage your audience.

The interview includes three people involved in the business: NPR’s Andy Carvin, Wall Street Journal’s Zach Seward and CNET’s Caroline McCarthy.

Micheal Moore in Madison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApVdPnyJUu4

Film maker Micheal Moore was in Madison on Saturday to show his support for the 14 Wisconsin senators still in Illinois. He also compares the protests in Madison to Egypt, which is a little much.

I like alot of what he says in this video, but he exaggerates alot and seems to go on forever....the guy talks for like a half hour non-stop.

News Feature: Young J Diamondzz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM_uwmPwE8o

Toy Story 3... more than a kids movie.

This is an article about how Toy Story 3 used social media to win at the box office.

I find it interesting that they were mainly targeting college age kids.

It mentions how "Disney and Pixar made it clear that individuals in their twenties would be a big target for Toy Story 3."

I found this interesting, I had no idea this movie was out until two nights ago when my wife brought it home from a REDBOX for our two year old son to watch.

That being said I did watch it with him, and it captured my attention as well as the first Toy Story did when I was like ten. I loved it, I think I liked it more than my son, although I was sad to see Woody get tossed to the side like that by Andy...lol.

Social Networking During an Emergency

http://mashable.com/2011/02/11/social-media-in-emergencies/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29


I thought this was an interesting story and graphic about using social networks to alert people of an emergency.

I think sites like Twitter are an excellent way to get news to people immediately, especially during a big emergency. For example, with the Fort Hood incident it was Twitter that instantly provided the news to soldiers and people around the world.

But, the graphic also shows a real tweet from someone who needs an ambulance. All I have to say is, hopefully someone saw it.

For a major national crisis I think using social media to spread the word on emergencies works great, because someone will pick up on it. But if I was injured on the side of the road I wouldn't count on a "tweet" to save my life, unless I had thousands of followers. It couldn't hurt to send out a message on Twitter or Face Book during a personal emergency, but what if no one was online, or people thought it was a joke.

Although, sometimes it may be the only way to get a message out. For example if someone is kidnapped and can't make any noise, they could just send out their whereabouts.

Overall, I think social media sites can help during an emergency. Just be sure you want everyone to know about that particular emergency.


*For someone like myself who can't "tweet", or use any social media from my cell phone, this issue is less likely to effect me, unless I'm sitting at a computer at the time of the emergency.

Making Butter Burgers Better

Making Butter Burgers Better


Two UW-Whitewater students compete in the Culver's Grillmaster National Championship.

Texans trying to pronounce Wisconsin city names

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcQCtFlENA

With all of the Super Bowl hype going on, I thought this was a pretty funny clip. It has over 160,000 views, so apparently I'm not the only one.

It shows different people from Texas, trying to pronounce names of Wisconsin cities. These city names, that come as second nature to us, are completely foreign to the Texans in this clip, making for a pretty funny video.

The video says it's done by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, so I'm curious if this was actually on the news at one point or if this clip just became popular once they threw it on YouTube.

La Linea interactive and other interactive videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZzlezxLu7s&feature=channel

This is an interactive YouTube video created by .

This is the first web video that lets the viewer decide what they want to see next. I think it's a pretty neat idea.

I think it brings a whole new element to web videos, letting the viewer 'choose their own ending.' I like the idea and would like to see this feature used on something besides a video of a stick figure.

I think videos like this one by Chad, Matt & Rob is more interesting. It uses real actors and you have to help them accomplish their mission by making the right choices. I thought it was really cool, I'm just not sure who has the time to sit and watch these.

The downfall for videos like this is the load time between each one. It only works if you have a fast computer. On a slow one the videos would take forever to load.