Week Of Media



Week three was a great week for improving skills that most people with multimedia already have.  Being in school for years has allowed ample time to create slideshows, wiki's, webpages, and for the first time a blog.  However, just because one might know how to put informatoin into these multimedia formats does not mean that one was ever taught how to do it well. 

I am glad that I was able to improve my skills that will later make for more professional and effective presentations of information in many different formats.  When trying to get a point across to someone or a group it can be difficult if the format being used is boring.  This especially holds true in business if you are trying to get people excited about what you're talking about.  No one will get excited about an idea, business plan, or new company if the information appears dry and extremely uninteresting.  Being able to add a variety of pictures, audio, design, and layout feautres to any multimedia format can make a world of difference in the message one portrays. 

This is a set of modules that a variety of different professionals can benefit from and should use!

I have included a short video about the bad...bad...power points that so many people make.

Whoops.....I Dropped My Box!

I downloaded and tested Dropbox last week and I was semi-impressed with the program.  Cloud Computing is the next big thing on the internet and a lot of major companies are jumping on board.  This flows right into that idea and is a pretty good interpretation.

Being able to upload and access files from anywhere is a great idea.  I don't like having to remember to carry a flash drive around with me and Dropbox solves that problem.  Dropbox boasts about their "file sharing" feature though and this is where I think they come up short.  Being able to share files is a necessity, but assuming that everyone will want to download Dropbox just so they can access your files is asking a bit much in my opinion.  Yes, it is easy but not everyone wants to download a sizeable application just to see files from one person.  Dropbox should allow users to create a "Guest ID" that you can give to people you want to share files with who don't want to download the application.  Of course, Dropbox would then need to allow you to restrict the "Guest ID" to only access certain folders instead of the entire box like the main user sees when accessing Dropbox through the website. 

Overall I like the idea and implementation of Dropbox.  I did not see that there was a web-based option for accessing files at first and almost wrote the applcation off all together.  I would refuse to use the software if they expected you to have the actual application on every computer you used, but they made a smart decision by allowing the use of  the Dropbox application via a strictly web-based solution.

WIKImania



This is the second or third time that I have come into contact with a Wiki.  In two undergraduate courses I have made a Wiki or used one in a group project.  While the Wiki is a useful tool, I don't think that the Wiki is something that works well in every industry. 

The Wiki site states that it can replace e-mail and keep information from different users all together.  Many business people who are on the "go" and might be working on projects while out of the office still need a quick way to send ideas and thoughts electronically.  The mobile e-mail systems are still the best way to do this.  No one wants to go to a Wiki website, sign in, use the browser on a smart phone to navigate a Wiki editing page, write information, and then hope it all gets saved in a format that is legible to those who need the information. 

So, I do believe the Wiki is a great tool and I have seen some excellent uses of the Wiki.  I just don't think that it works well in every industry or is as quick and easy as the idea is pitched as.  The newspaper that used the Wiki to post an editorial online and let users edit it as the saw fit was interesting as well.  This is a perfect example of where a Wiki just won't work.  Users were abusing the Wiki and basically caused the Wiki to have zero value to any reader by posting nonsense on it.

With all of that being said, I did enjoy making the Wiki and I can see that they can have value when used correctly.  In an age where businesses can thrive from using instant feedback from customers, the Wiki fits nicely in the web 2.0 category.

Appetizing Delicious Tags



When I first saw the name of the site I can't say that I was thrilled about using it.  Delicious just doesn't scream out AWESOME to me.....  The idea of  "cloud bookmarking" is a good idea though and an obvious step in the direction of cloud computing.  By including the feature of tabbing each bookmark, Delicious is able to link users together and create a sort of social bookmarking site.

I am not completely sold on the idea of having to go to an individual site to look at my bookmarks though.  Yes - I understand that it can be useful when your computer falls into a lake, is ran over by a car, or you are away on vacation and want to visit your favorite obscure website, but is it worth the hassle of another user name and password to be able to NEVER lose a bookmark?  I'm just not sold that it's worth the trouble.

HOWEVER, I do like the idea of being able to use other user's bookmarks.  Most people are going to bookmark sites that they think have quality and by being able to see those through similar tags we can save time and probably find sites that we would have otherwise never have found.  Not all sites are going to come up on pages 1-5 of a google search.  By having people bookmark sites that we might not be able to find otherwise is a great idea.

My thoughts on Delicious are about as deep as my thoughts on my turkey sandwich with guacamole I had this afternoon.  It's pretty good, but I'm not excited about it........

Four NETS Exercise



Using and understanding the princpals of the four NETS searching has been helpful and will also be useful in the future.  When I search for something specific I often try to use as many descriptive words as possible in the basic google search bar.  I had not really given much thought to how google was actually using my inquiry to grab results.  When I do not find exactly what I'm searching for I simply adjust the words in the basic search to get a new set of results.  Understanding the difference between google searching for many individual words and google searching for a phrase or words in combination will be a huge help in finding more accurate websites that pertain to what I"m searching for.

As with most things in life, a little training can go a long way!

Here I Am!

Hello to everyone in the class.  It looks like it is going to be an intense month!

My name is Josh Nichols and I am a MBA student here at MSU.  I graduated last December from MSU with a BBA degree in Accounting and I am on to finish up my hours to take the CPA exam and complete the MBA program.  I am an accountant at MWH Group here in Wichita Falls where I started right after graduation.

I'm married to my wonderful wife Lauren with two little Yorkies to round out the household.  She actually graduated in December as well so we both started our post-graduate lives at the same time. 

I'm in to golf, fishing, football (please come back), tennis, politics, business, and did I mention golf? Who wouldn't like a good round when it's 105 degrees outside? =)

Although I'm not in the field of education as most of you probably are, we will all have to teach others at some point using technology.  I will probably learn a lot from everyone here and I'm sure I'll discuss things in a bit of a different light than most of you might be used to seeing or hearing. 

There is a short teaser about myself and I look forward to seeing what kind of people we have in the class.  Good luck everybody!

P.S. This is the most recent picture of my wife and I.  Our nephew is joining us in this shot and he DOES have a diaper on.  He's three years old and cute as can be so I figured it'd be OK to show him as well.