Donte RowellFinland has been given many nick names, one in particular refers to months in the summer where Finland is referred to as the land of midnight sun. Just like the sun rises and sets we are starting to see technology become more of a theme in education. Former president Barack Obama calls the transition to be critical in improving schools to produce some of the highest achieving students. Now no matter what device you are reading this blog post off of it is some form of technology, correct? Would you say that you would have the same effect reading a blog post if it was handed to you in paper form or better yet written on a chalk board? I would hope that you find these examples to be boring and if not more power to you. In this blog post you will find out how a school in decide to do something radically different with technology and how it worked out for the best. You want to know what really grinds my gears? Nails being scratched on a chalk board, nothing in the world drives me crazier than hearing that noise. Many things come close, example when a teacher writes something on a chalkboard and as I begin writing, the information down the teacher erases it. Now the information is forever gone and forces me to ask my fellow classmate if they got the information. In Finland this is something students may have to deal with on a daily basis because the school system does not believe in using technology in the classroom. Despite Vikki School being tech-less it is one of the top schools in math and science. You’re telling me that a school in the 21st century is teaching students without the use of technology and actually doing well? Crazy to believe or is it really? Taking notes with pen and paper seems to be the wrong or vintage way of learning now a days, but did you know that if you are taking notes by hand you are more likely to learn and retain something you wrote down as opposed to something you typed? In Finnish there are very few computers that are available for students use, in fact students are assigned laptops and are told to only bring them when told to. Funny thing is even when students are told to bring laptops to class teachers sometimes still reframe from using them and focus more on traditional teaching style. Once in a blue moon teachers allow students to bring in laptops and use them. A school in Finland that rarely uses technology is a top-notch education program ranked higher than the United States in three categories: science (5th), reading (5th) and math (12th). Now all of this is great statistics, but what do students actually think about this démodé? Students that attend the school finds the everyday process of carrying books to class quite a hassle. When the blue moon appears and teachers take the class on an adventure to the computer lab. When the class gets to the computer lab waiting for them there are roughly one computer per student, whereas here in the United States a computer finds a student like Oprah Winfrey is handing out computers. Finland not having a computer for every student at first is a shock yet, when weighing the population of Finland compared to that of the United States it helps with the understanding that Finland’s population is 1.7 percent that of the U.S population. For every good argument, there is always a counter argument. The use of technology in class has almost become an essential for students to get the most out of school. Technology is everywhere and students tend to use it with or without the permission of their professor. There are good arguments to why students should not use technology in the classroom, the most common is that teachers don’t want the technology to become a distraction from the students actually learning. The amount of reasons why technology should be used outweighs the arguments that it should not. Technology, if used correctly, can be used to prepare you for your future career. Preparing you for the future and giving you more of a chance to receive one of those jobs that involves technology in it’s everyday usage. Technology can be so much fun when you use it correctly, yet it can also be considered a burden to students in the classroom. Now I would say that in order to succeed one has to be able to find a Gabriel Douglas type balance. Finland would disagree with me because of the way they created their schooling system with out the use of technology and succeeded at it. I guess at the end of the day it really depends on what your cup of tea is.
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Shuka WongMany companies use emojis for their internet marketing campaigns and compete against each other because they try to grab the attention of people. There are three reasons why companies use emojis. The first reason is that people like to use emojis. They can use emojis as their facial expressions, and they use them to make posting fun. People can use emojis of face, genders, animals, foods, gestures, and shapes (2016). They are allowed to use those emojis by all platforms, and they send over six billion emojis with over 45 billion texts to other people (Rosenthal, 2016). The second reason is that 92 percent of people use emojis. Emojis are languages for people (Winkler, 2017). In addition, companies use emojis because emojis are very valuable for internet marketing. Emojis make articles and information shorter and convey them by only a few emojis (Grennan, 2016). Because of these reasons, many companies start using emojis today (Winkler, 2017). The companies use them to make their internet marketing succeed. Jesse Tao, a blogger, says that internet market companies that use emojis are increasing each year, and depending on the company, how to use emojis is different (2016). Many companies create their original emojis and their own original articles with emojis to engage people for their internet marketing campaign (Wade, 2017). For example, during the presidential campaign, a political team of Hillary Clinton made emojis and GIF of Clinton that were called Hillarymojis. These emojis were created to support Clinton and encouraged to vote her. In addition, Domino’s Pizza also created an emoji of a piece of pizza and they allow people to use it on Twitter to order products and to ask them for delivery to their houses. Domino’s Pizza created a simpler system for ordering, and 500 people use the system primarily. (Wade, 2017). Disney company created emojis of Star Wars when they released a new Star Wars film (Racheld, 2015). The Coca-Cola company also created their original emojis. This company created their own emoji the first time. When people type “share a coke”, an emoji of cola shows up (Nudd, 2015). Ross Hoffman, senior director of global brand strategy at Twitter, said, “Coca-Cola is a massive global partner of Twitter and they have been pushing us for some time on building a custom emoji” (Nudd, 2015). Many companies use emoji because many people like to see photos and emojis, so they identify emojis as one of consumers languages (Winkler, 2017). Many companies also use emojis for their internet marketing campaign because although emojis are simple, it is fun for people to look at emojis, and emojis support marketing (Joanne, 2016). SEOPressor, a Wordpress site, said, “Emoji helps people to re-establish some of the cues that are missing in text, as well as making the text feel friendlier and more informal.” Taco Bell is a company that uses emojis for their internet marketing campaign. They created emojis of their products to promote selling, and they succeeded (Joanne, 2016). On the other hand, some companies make their original articles and emojis, and post them on social networks like Facebook to engage consumers. The companies use social networks because they want to know the reactions of customers and get comments from their customers. Customers can express their emotions with emojis and post their comments, so companies know what their customers think about their business. Companies use social network for feedback. Moreover, they also want to connect with their customers through social network so they use them for advertisements. People use emoji on social network instead of typing words because some social network has limitations like Twitter. On Twitter, people are allowed to type only 140 characters. When companies use emojis, they do not have to type whole words and do not have to waste characters. Companies can convey their products by using their own original emojis to promote their products. For instance, Sportify, an internet music streaming service, advertises their products by posting emojis on Twitter (Barysevich, 2017). Furthermore, Emma Watson used her original emoji that is made by gender symbols for her He For She campaign. She got an achievement for her campaign because the emoji powerfully affected people. Her emojis worked (An Image from Twitter Account of Emma Watson) because they were clear and straightforward. The World Wide Fund for Nature, an international non-governmental organization, also created 17 emojis of animals to ask people to donate for endangered species. People can donate ten cents every single time when they tweet one of 17 emojis. This campaign was succeeded because those 17 emojis are cute and the people motivated to support endangered species (Joanne, 2016). Chevrolet, in a press release, wrote an original article with general emojis had readers try to it (2015). Emojis are useful for not only people but also companies. Companies use emojis because they are very valuable and engage their customers, and let their internet marketing succeed. Therefore, emojis are important tools for companies, so companies keep using emojis for their internet marketing today. References Barysevich, Aleh. (Jan, 17, 2017) Web. “How to Use Social Media Emoji to Humanize Your Business” Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-social-media-emoji-to-humanize-bus ness/ Chevrolet. (Jun, 22, 2015) Web. “Chevygoesemoji” Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved from http://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/help.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2015/jun/0622-cruze-emoji.html Grennan, Todd (Jan, 22, 2016) Web.“Why Emoji Might Be Just What Your Marketing Needs” Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved from https://www.appboy.com/blog/emojis-might-just-marketing-needs/ Joanne. (Jul, 16, 2016) Web. “Emoji Marketing: 8Best Campaigns and What You Can Learn From Them” Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved from http://seopressor.com/blog/emoji-marketing-8-best-emoji-campaigns-what-you-can-learn -from-them/ Nudd, Tim. (Sep, 18, 2015) Web. “Twitter Unveils Its First Paid Brand Emoji, and It Is For (Who Else?) Coca-Cola” ADWEEK.Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/creativity/twitter-unveils-its-first-paid-brand-emoji-and-its-who- else-coca-cola-167019/ Racheld. (Apr, 16, 2015) Web. “Introducing Star Wars Emojis” Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved from https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/a/2015/introducing-starwarsemojis.html Rosenthal, Vivian. (Aug, 19, 2016) Web. “Why Emojis and Stickers Are Big Business” Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/vivianrosenthal/2016/08/19/why-emojis-and-stickers-are-big-business/#622dd4849651 Wade, Jessica. (Jul, 17, 2017) Web. “ How Brands Have Used Emoji Marketing Successfully” SmartInsight. Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved from http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/brands-used -emoji-marketing-successfully/ Winkler, Janina.( Jul, 7, 2017) Web. “Emoji Marketing and Its Role in the Business World.” Awantego. Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved from https://www.awantego.com/en/emoji-marketing-role-business-world/ (Jun, 21, 2016) Web. “Unicode 9.0 Released With 72 New Emojis.” Oct, 18, 2017 Retrieved From https://blog.emojipedia.org/unicode-9-0-released-with-72-new-emojis/ Joshuan McNealHere are 12 transitions of mobile phones that were affected by new media at its time. Mobile phones are created based off new media development. People like myself never notice the change of phones created by new media. The effects old media have on old mobile devices influence new media and the development of new mobile devices today because of consumer demands. I-Phones and Androids today are all created based on old media affects that I will address. DynaTAC 8000x Although mobile phones were started off only available in cars, in 1984, Martin Cooper created the first (true) mobile phone. Cooper also help start the phone company Motorola, which developed a prototype cellular phone, in 1973. At the time the new media effects were people having the access to walk around with a wireless phone. Although walking with a wireless phone seem absurd to some, before Cooper’s invention the only way a person could use a phone was with cords connected to it. The DynaTAC was a bulky phone that featured huge number buttons. Nokia 3110 In 1997, Nokia created the Nokia 3110. The effects new media at the time had on this phone still has its mark on phones today. The Nokia was the first mobile phone to have a digital screen, which influences phones created today to have digital screens. Also the Nokia took away the bulky style mobile phones had during the 1980s. Black-Berry In 1999, Blackberry was introduced. Of course this phone included a digital screen, but what this phone introduce at the time was legendary. New media at the time influenced Blackberry to feature wireless e-mail, print and fax e-mail attachments, and headphones for music. This was legendary because these new features still have its effects on phones today. Phone companies, such as IPhone, keeps its consumers based on the demand for music and communication with work. In 1999, e-mailing became big in the work force, this created an urge for employees to get phones with email so it could be faster/easier to communicate with work. Motorola Flip Phone In 2002, Motorola introduce the flip phone that feature a camera, keyboard, and a new color screen. This was huge in terms of sales because new media at the time allowed people to interact with others by taking picture on their phone. A big part of phone sells right now it pictures features. New media today allows consumers to add filters to pictures, but also send pictures to others. Motorola introducing the camera is helping new media today create better features for cameras. Chirp Phones In 2003, the beep-beep Motorola flip phone introduce loud phone call talking. At the time this seem simple and obnoxious, but this old media feature help pave the way for new media features that mobile phones have today, such as FaceTime and Skype. New media today help phone companies create features on the phone, such as FaceTime, because of the loud talking the chirp phones recommended people are more acceptable today when it comes to loud phone call talking. T-Mobile Sidekick In 2003, this phone consists of a swiveling rectangular screen, web browsing, e-mail, AOL messaging, camera, and calendar. The old media affects this phone have that influences new media today are web browsing and AOL instant messaging. Introducing these two features affects new media today because phones today rely heavily on the internet and other ways to communicate rather than text messaging, such as I-message, Facebook messenger, and social media messaging. Motorola Razer Flip Phone This phone features the V3 model and thinnest clamshell phone. The influences these old media features have on new media is forcing phones that are created to have a thinner model. People today, such as myself, prefer phones that are thin, which allows a person carry a phone in their pocket. Blackberry In 2005, Blackberry introduce another phone to the world. This phone was so good at the time there were tendonitis and addiction cases. This specific Blackberry phone featured Wi-Fi and a bigger color screen. Before this phone was introduce phone screens didn't have color, which is essential in new media today. New media today allows people to watch movies and video call others on their phones, which cannot be done with color screening. Also having Wi-Fi as a feature is essential as well because this allow people to not use their data for internet services. Consumers of phones today can still use their phone if their phone bill isn't paid because of Wi-Fi features. Apple 1 In 2007, Apple released the IPhone 1, which featured internet communications, large multi-touch displays, and no finger buttons. The old media effects of the touch screen influences new media today, because all phones created today have the touch screen model. Having a phone with a keyboard can be bad if you drop your phone in food because crud can get stuck in between the keys. Android In 2008, androids were created. Some androids still featured the keyboard, but what was big in terms of these phones were businesses. The old media affects forced more competitors to create new phones because more people than ever were buying phones. Similar to new media today, new media is changing the way people use phones. More people are getting rid of their land line phones and buying mobile phones. Apple 7 In 2016, IPhone introduce a water resistant phone with wireless headphones and a cordless charger. The camera also featured a 10x digital zoom. These features are influenced by new media today because all consumers of headphones and phones support the idea of wireless headphones and water resistant phones. Majority phones today that are made consist of water resistant phones and cordless chargers, such as the Galaxy 8 and IPhone 8. IPhone X The IPhone X will consist of water resistance, face recognition (unlocks your phone by recognizing your face), true tone technology, ambient light sensor, inductive wireless charging, A11 bionic chip, and 3D emoji. This phone will be release November 3, 2017. Mason Ross“Let me take a selfie!” This phrase was once, and unfortunately it’s still being used for the media app Snapchat. Ah, yes, Snapchat, the app where we can communicate with our friends through pictures, for ten seconds. Snapchat began as the place where you could send that perfect selfie to your crush hoping they would snap you back. But now, it’s more than that. Now, Snapchat is a new way corporations market to their consumers. In my last blog, I talked about how companies were creating vlogs on YouTube, and how that was a new way to reach their customers. Now, companies are going with a younger new media app, Snapchat. I am going to tell you why businesses should be using Snapchat to target their customers through. Why should companies make the transition to Snapchat? Well, they have sustained an identity on being trendy and different. This is why they have millions of users, and why those users keep coming back. With Snapchat being so trendy, that there are numerous ways companies can reach their audience, such as, Geofilters, Snapchat stories, influencers, geotags, sponsored lenses, and like I mentioned earlier, Snapchat Discover. In addition, engagement to your audience has never been easier. I will inform you on what all of those are, later on. Snapchat was created by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. They created this app because they believed pictures were not as personal because they lasted forever, so why not create an app where they only last 10 seconds. Snapchat has come a long way since then, and in 2017, they added the, ‘Discover’ feature, where companies can reach their audience without users needing to first ‘follow’ a company. Through ‘Discover’ you can now stay up to date on the breaking news, the score of the big game, or what your favorite celebrity is doing. Companies like ESPN, GQ, BuzzFeed, People Magazine, CNN, WSJ, and many more have subscriptions on Snapchat As of January 2017, Snapchat was the third most used mobile networking app in the United States, behind Facebook and Instagram. Snapchat has over 300 million monthly users, in the world. There are 323 million people in the United States. Out of those 300+ million, 71 percent of the users are under the age of 34. That last stat is important because businesses are trying to reach the younger generation. The older generations are more loyal to brands, so companies are trying to acquire the younger generation, so they can get more people trusting them. Snapchat has so many active users because of how trendy it is. A Snapchat story is one of the biggest advantages that Snapchat has over every other new media platforms. Facebook and Instagram have both tried to copy Snapchat Stories, but theirs are not nearly as effective. Snapchat stories allow companies to give a behind the scenes look. Fashion brands like Michael Kors have used Snapchat on numerous occasions to debut their collections before they even hit the runway. Not all businesses are as well-known as Michael Kors, you can still use Snapchat Story because it can put a face to your company, making you more personal. Influencers are just as popular as, if not more popular than Snapchat stories. An influencer is a famous person who has thousands if not millions of people follow his or hers Snapchat. They will market your product or service on their Snapchat Story. This not only gets consumers to see your product, but it puts a recognizable face to your brand. Aaron Rodgers tells me to use Harry’s shavers on his Snapchat, now as a fan of Aaron Rodgers; I am going to want to get those razors. Again, Snapchat is popular and trendy that they can reach the younger generation without even having to be a part of Snapchat. I could go and put on my story a video of a new pair of Nike shoes I just bought and people who follow me can watch my story and think those are the coolest shoes ever, and go and buy a pair. Businesses are able to advertise their company logo and get their name out there with ease on Snapchat. Companies are able to create their own Sponsored Geofilter. A geofilter allows people to take a snapchat and depending on their location, there will be a little filter with a company around your location. The company is able to create their own geofilter, making it personal to the brand. A geofilter can be also applied nationwide under a certain theme or holiday, like national coffee day, Starbucks could create their own geofilter for that day. A sponsored lens is different and more interactive to the users, which is why it is more popular than the geofilter. Lenses have special facial recognition technology, which allows the user to become part of the company. Starbucks could create their lens for national coffee day, and the lens would be of them drinking a coffee with the Starbucks logo all over the image. Using new media platforms is an easy way to reach their audience. Each platform has something that no other platform has, and that’s what makes them so popular, because everyone is unique. Snapchat is unique because it can put the brand in the person’s video or picture. With Geofilters and lenses, companies can take advantage of those daily selfies and put their logo into that selfie. Snapchat makes businesses more personable with their Story. Rather than making a television commercial, it allows them to put a face of the business in it and talk to their audience. And, because of how popular and trendy Snapchat is, famous people can promote companies to their audience, which is an audience that the company may not have been reaching before. From now on, those Snapchat selfies are going to be more of a billboard than what a typical selfies used to be. Reference Page Aslam, Salman. “Snapchat by the Numbers: Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts.” • Snapchat by the Numbers (2017): Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts, 11 Aug. 2017, www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/. Corcione, Danielle. “Snapchat for Business: Everything You Need to Know.” Business News Daily, 5 Apr. 2017, www.businessnewsdaily.com/9860-snapchat-for-business.html. http://delmondo.co/23-creative-brands-already-using-snapchats-branded-geofilters/ Lockett, Elena. “4 Reasons Why Businesses Should Use Snapchat to Promote Themselves.”Fourth Source, 27 June 2016, www.fourthsource.com/social-media/4-reasons-businesses-use-snapchat-promote-21112. Snapchat Support, support.snapchat.com/en-US/a/discover-how-to. Emma SchadImagine the year is 1970. Your car just broke down and you are stranded on the side of the road. What do you do? You have two options: either you start walking or you patiently wait for someone to stop and offer you a lift. Today, you would not have to pursue either of those options, as you would simply use your cell phone to call for help. In 1970, however, there was no such thing as a cell phone, as a landline phone, an immobile device, was the way of communication. With that being said, this post focuses on how the transition from landline phones to cell phones allows you to be safer. Like in the previously stated situation, a cell phone allows you to call for help from any location. You can be in your backyard, at your town’s library, or even at an out-of-state relative's house and still make a call with your cell phone. With a landline phone, that is not possible, as the device must be close to its base for a call. In other words, you must be in your home to use your landline phone; it is not a mobile device. With cell phones, you can program emergency phone numbers, such as your local police department, into your contacts. You can also program other numbers, such as your immediate family members or close friends, allowing you to reach them in a quick manner in case of an emergency. By having them programed, you can contact them by simply pressing or touching their contact name. On the other hand, with landline phones, you must remember the phone numbers off the top of your head or have a running list of numbers to refer to, as you must type the seven-digit number into the phone. Cell phones can also keep you from getting lost. Let's say you are going to visit your cousin that lives a few hours away. You thought you knew the way, but you end up taking a wrong turn, causing you to be lost. Prior to cell phones, you would have pulled out a paper map or even asked a stranger for directions. However, that is no longer needed, as cell phones have GPS systems. With the GPS system, you can quickly put in the address of your cousin’s house, bringing up step-by-step directions on how to reach the final destination. The GPS will also provide visual and audio cues, and if you do happen to take a wrong turn again, the GPS will automatically reroute you. The GPS allows you to know where you are always, making you feel safer in unfamiliar areas. Besides getting lost, you may also start to run out of gas on the way to your cousin’s house. Thankfully, the GPS system will inform you on the nearest gas station. This can be important since you are not familiar with the area and do not know where such places are located. When emergency situations arise, such as child abductions, your cell phone will receive an alert about the situation. Because of the cell phone alert, the news will spread to a large amount of people in a quick manner. Another emergency that your cell phone will receive an alert for is severe weather. This allows you to take immediate action to stay safe during the storm. Before cell phones, you needed a television or radio to be notified of such news. And if you did not happen to be watching the television or listening to the radio at the correct time, you had no idea the emergency was even going on. Thankfully, more people are hopping on board with the use of cell phones. A U.S. government study revealed that 50.8 percent of homes and apartments strictly had cell phone service toward at the end of 2016. “Renters and younger adults are more likely to have just a cellphone, which researchers attribute to their mobility and comfort with newer technologies,” stated a CBS News article. If you know someone who is not part of that 50.8 percent, I am asking you to encourage them to start becoming reliant on a cell phone, for their own safety. Maybe it is your mom or maybe it is your grandpa. Either way, encourage them. Even though they may be stuck in their old ways and habits due to not growing up around advanced technology, remind them of the safety benefits that come along with cell phones. They never know when a cell phone will be the key to their safety. A cell phone can allow them to call for help from anywhere, quickly access a family or friend contact in an emergency, keep them from getting lost in an unsafe neighborhood, or even notify them of an emergency situation through an alert. It is always better to be safe than sorry. References: http://cellphones.lovetoknow.com/how-can-we-use-cell-phones-keep-us-safe https://gochargenetworks.com/blog/cellular-survival/ Linda XiongIf you haven’t heard or used Venmo before, you are so not trendy at the moment. Venmo is all over the place with its exclusive features. This is a fairly new, trendy app where you can transfer money for free to your friends or families when you link your debit or credit card to the app anytime at anyplace. Sounds familiar right? Have you heard of Google Wallet? Apple Pay? Paypal? Square Cash? Venmo is really similar to all those services but Venmo is different because it creates the ability to own a digital free wallet on your phone. Ever since PayPal bought Venmo in 2013 for $800 million dollars, the total users for both company had doubled. Venmo already had 6 million active users from the start and PayPal with 197 million accounts--with some simple math, you can witness the two companies having a little over 200 million users today---most of them millennials. A huge number isn’t it?! Venmo is a really easy app to use. Its features offer the option to put a description with your transfer to whomever you owe, even with emojis . Shocking right?! There has been cases where transferring money through Venmo is entertainment, or as Millennials would say today, “trolling. ” Venmo is unique because it does not just give you the option to write a description with your transfer, but you can like and comment on your friends payment activities and feed. There is also no minimum but a maximum of $2999.99 before verifications with more personal information. That is because of security and privacy purposes. For more hilarious Venmo payment descriptions, click here: (https://www.popsugar.com/tech/photo-gallery/36938651/image/36938736/Regrets) In the photos above, you can see the humor Venmo Users carry. Although the users are using it for a financial purpose, they perceive it in a hilarious and casual kind of way. In larger cities, like Los Angeles and New York City, Venmo is probably one of the most active apps when going out at night with a group of people. It just makes splitting the bills so much easier and saves so much time, especially when you are in a rush. From experiences, I personally love using Venmo. My friends and I always use the app to track our expenses and to make sure we all did pay each other back. When the money is transferred, Venmo will send you an alert message saying, “____ just paid you x of amount.” It organizes the app by indicating deposits with a green “+” sign and withdrawals/transfers with a red “-” sign. Venmo will also give you the option to deposit it straight in your bank account or just leave it in the Venmo Balance, which can be reused as cash--This is totally up to your preference. However, with Venmo being so popular and trendy in larger cities, smaller cities, such as Milwaukee, WI and Sheboygan, WI has never even heard of Venmo before. Venmo is still a very new app that is still rising in the market. With this curiosity in mind, I decided to create a poll on my Facebook Status asking my friends to “Like” my status if they had heard or used Venmo before, plus comment if they like it or reacting a “sad face” to my status if they have never heard or used Venmo before. Branching off the image below, it shows the reactions I received on my status. I have about 1400 friends and most of them are from the Milwaukee Area and a few from different bigger cities and states. Nevertheless, based on the number of “likes” and “sad faces,” we can assume that smaller cities doesn’t use or know Venmo as much compared to larger cities. In a 30 minute time span, as you can see, there are more “sad” faces, which can be assumed that there is a slight chance many people do not know about Venmo. Venmo’s success had set some competition against banks and credit unions. Since many millennials use Venmo quite often, it will eventually be harder for financial institutions to get service. However, this doesn’t mean financial institutions are losing, it actually gives them a brighter idea to update their apps and services they offer. But of course on the other hand, Venmo may be overtaking cash and checks in the future. This is a huge concern for banks and credit unions because this prevents customers from going to the banks to make simple transfers or deposits into their bank account. As of now, more people are adapting to the new technology and the access to applications are getting easier. Everything is getting digitalized and portable that it may decrease the traffic in financial institutions. Venmo is a free application that does so much confidential actions Brianna JohnsonAmazon. When you hear that name a million things could run through your mind anywhere from books, movies, clothes, shoes, food, household goods, the list goes on and on. That’s because this $500-billion-dollar company provides us with all of those things and then some. This powerhouse of website was originally launched in 1995 and strictly sold books. Initially, founder Jeff Bezos wanted to call the website “Cadabra,” to give the website a more enchanted feel. However, he finally settled on “Amazon” due to the fact that his site would be named after the largest river in the world. This was very fitting for the Internet sensation which would become the third largest online retailer in the world. Now we are faced with the question how has this online icon changed the way we shop? In 1997 Amazon introduced us to this idea of “one-click shopping.” This “buy now” feature removed the need for shoppers to enter their credit card information every time they wanted to make a purchase. This was a convenience that promoted the idea for consumers to “just buy it” instead of think about it too much. This feature is one way Amazon started making the money it did. When you make a process so easy for the shopper it’s hard for them to say no. This is also one of the reasons Amazon customers keep coming back. No one wants to be stressed while shopping, or have to fill out the same information in order to buy one item every time. This feature eliminated some of that nonsense. The National Retail Federation tells us, “In the past 12 months the company has invested in thousands of trailer trucks, moved into ocean shipping, partnered with Atlas Air Worldwide for cargo services and last month debuted Amazon One, its first branded cargo plane.” Speed. Amazon prides themselves on their ability to get their costumers the products they want, and fast. Amazon prime members are offered free two-day delivery on mostly everything the website has to offer. This style, and speed of delivery is truly amazing and what makes costumers keep coming back as well. For some people Amazon has made it faster for them to buy their items online and have them delivered rather than leave their house and go get it themselves. In the past year Amazon has even started to do same-day delivery allowing the customer to have their item within hours. That sort of convenience and speed is unrivaled by any other online retailer out there. Amazon is the future. Their innovation and forward thinking is what helps them to be the best of the best in the online shopping industry. They are constantly trying to better the way they do things and often a step ahead of their competitors. Amazon has already started to work with drone technology in order to become even faster than they currently are. Amazon Prime Air has been in the works for a little bit now and testing has been happening over in the United Kingdom. This would allow Amazon to deliver packages to the consumer within 30 minutes. Amazon currently has a statement on its website, which says, “We're excited about Prime Air — a delivery system from Amazon designed to safely get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles, also called drones. Prime Air has great potential to enhance the services we already provide to millions of customers by providing rapid parcel delivery that will also increase the overall safety and efficiency of the transportation system.” I personally got hooked on Amazon Prime three years ago, and now I do not think I could live without it. That sounds extreme, however as a college student that goes to school in the middle of a cornfield some necessary items are not easily accessible, and that is where Amazon comes in. I am literally able to order things straight to campus anywhere from laundry soap, to clothes, to food through Amazon Pantry. This has saved me tons of time and money. Amazon gives me the opportunity to purchase things that would otherwise only be found in bigger metropolitan areas. More and more companies are trying to compete by investing additional funds into their online presence in order to become what Amazon already is. Over the course of the past year we have seen this trend predominantly through Walmart and their “.com” site as it is commonly called. Walmart has recently collaborated with Google to sell their products on Google Express. This partnership was created when Google discovered that people are starting to search for items through Amazon before a Google search. The two companies felt this was essential, not necessarily for their growth and business presently, but for the future of the companies. The plan is that eventually people will start ordering products from Walmart using their Google Home. This is the new way of shopping, online. In addition, if companies do not get on board with it I fear for their future. Zachery MockA country just across the border can feel like worlds apart when talking about aspects of culture. A leaf instead of stars and stripes, the Mounties instead of the police force, and Canadian bacon instead of ham (realistically the same thing). Our “Around the World” segment this week takes us to our friends just north of us: Canada! Home to about 5.1 million public school students, Canada is a thriving country as is the United States when discussing its education system. We are going to discuss the comparison between the two neighboring countries and see if one of the largest shared borders in the world splits just two countries apart. Or rather splits two opposing ideas apart. Who truly is more technologically advanced in the classroom? First we must observe what the main differences are between the United States and Canada with the addition of technology in their classrooms. Canadian schools obviously have some differences compared to American schools. To begin, Canada has a different outlook on internet usage when compared to the United States. 77% of homes in Canada are equipped with internet access. This is surprising since only 73% of American homes have broadband access to the internet. Personally, I always figured that the U.S. statistically had broader connection when it came to the internet. It is also an interesting fact when you consider that there are more cityscapes spread across the United States than in Canada. Another major difference between the two countries is the access that each student has with devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers. For students in Canada grades 3-5, about 18% of them have easy access to a tablet (Editorial Team). Compared to students of the United States, the ratio of students to number of technology devices they own is 1:3.6 (EdTech in the United States); these statistics do not surprise me. Every time I turn around I see another kid with a piece of technology. I was never actually scared about the future of humanity until I heard of a 5-year-old receiving an IPhone for a Christmas present (this is no joke)! Pulling from my past, my classmates and I never received tablets/laptops throughout our times in middle and high school. I always thought I was cheated out because of this, but I am glad at the same time that I got to learn how to use a laptop and tablet on my own time and at my own pace. Looking deeper into the facts about Canada’s technological advances in education facilities, it is clear that they wish to continue moving forward in the advancement of technology for students. And it is clear that the students want to continue this advancement, as well, with 46% of students saying they want to electronically connect with their teachers via e-mail outside of class time. In college this function has worked wonders for me. I can name multiple times where I desperately needed help with an assignment and contacting my professor outside of class time saved my life. It makes sense why students are pushing for the ability to advance their technological uses within the classroom. Speaking from personal experience as a student at a school in the United States, I feel technology for educational purposes is rapidly increasing faster than we can ditch the old chalkboards. Laptops, tablets, and smart phones all come into play on a daily basis in order for me to live up to my full potential as a college student. Even as a high schooler, I was challenged with tasks of papers that I typed on my laptop and the occasional Kahoot! game one had to access from their smart phone onto the Smartboard that was all monitored by our teacher. The main concern for Canada being behind as far as devices per student is because there is more device activity here in the U.S. The top largest cities here in the United States add up to over 20 million people approximately. In Canada, the top largest cities do not even reach 10 million people. A big issue with expanding technology in Canada is the number of people that reside in the country. The less people there are, the more likely government funding is going towards projects to improve the growth rate of the country as a whole and not solely the education system. This lack in funding cuts down on public school’s opportunity to expand themselves technologically and from there the students are expected to continue learning through older media. The other aspect that puts the United States ahead in the technology race is the diversity of our device access we have. As I mentioned before, a fun day in the classroom for us in high school was using our smartphones to play an online game against one another in the class with trivia questions displayed on a smartboard. The U.S is constantly updating normal ways of life by vamping up the technology we include in our daily lives. This includes vamping up the classroom experience, as well. It allows us to become more advanced with the usage of technology, but it also means that less money is being put in opposing areas of the educational system. So, who is the top dog in this battle? Both countries continue to advance their educational technology usage as time goes on; however, Canada is just slower in its progress than the U.S. But the U.S. is so rapid with their classroom updates that it is tough for some teachers to keep up with the times. I feel both countries have the right idea and are just going through the process at opposing rates. These two countries may be split by one border. But truly are two worlds themselves. Works Cited Editorial Team. “[Infographic] How Canadians are Integrating Technology Into the Classroom.” EdTech Review. 18 September 2014. Web. 15 October 2017. “EdTech in the United States Infographic.” Educational Technology Infographics. 28 July 2015. Web. 15 October 2017. Rainie, Lee & Cohn, D’Vera. “Census: Computer Ownership, Internet Connection Varies Widely Across U.S.” Pew Research Center. 19 September 2014. Web. 15 October 2017. Joshuan McNealThe development of I-phones, social media, and the internet has changed the shape of distribution in the music industry. New media has changed distributing music from hard-copies to streaming music. This transition of selling music has created a more instant influx for consumers. I love instant consumption, which foretells I am a part of the streaming music era. This generation and I love instant consumptions, because it produces instant gratification. The instant gratification I am talking about range from buying items online with one click, to taking a quick picture on our phones. If an individual has not accepted streaming music I will explain why they should, and how new media help create the transition from hard-copies to streaming music The common used music streaming apps/companies consist of Deezer, Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, Sound cloud, Groove Music, Pandora, and Google Play Music. With the development of the android phone and I-phone people quickly stopped purchasing hard-copies of music and started downloading music. This transition of new media helps open up business for devices made, such as MP3 players, IPod, and IPod shuffles. People started downloading music on laptops and phones, but that was not the big issue. The big issue was artist and music companies losing money from consumers easily downloading free music, but also listening to free music. Consumers could listen to music free on YouTube, but now some artist have made their music available on YouTube (due to streaming). Upper echelon artist, such Jay-Z and Drake figured out streaming music is not only beneficial for the artist, but the companies they have deals with. With the enhanced use of applications streaming music became more idealistic for companies to enforce, because people apart of this generation love instant consumption. Steaming music dissipate high rates of illegal downloads, and actual numbers for billboards or music companies. Some streaming applications are different than others. Here are some companies that differentiate: (1) Pandora and Apple Music (2) Spotify and TIDAL (3) Sound Cloud and Deezer. Pandora is different than Apple Music because it has and everlasting free-trial. People who download the Pandora app can always listen to the music genre they like, but cannot pick specific songs they enjoy or skip songs; Pandora free is similar to a radio app. Apple Music only gives a 3 month free-trial, which asks for credit card information. After the 3 month free-trail the consumer cannot use the app anymore without paying for it. Consumers must have an apple product to use Apple Music, if not he or she cannot use apple music. Apple music consist of radio stations, playlists, and personal songs/albums. Spotify and TIDAL has the same differences with Pandora and Apple Music, what’s not different is anyone with any device can use TIDAL (all he/she have to do is download the app); individuals with Apple products can only use Apple Music. Sound Cloud is similar to Pandora and Spotify, but Sound Cloud allows anyone to put their music on the cloud. This means while listening to music a random guy from Wyoming music will pop up within your playlist. Deezer is an app that is installed within most androids, which allows people to listen and download music legally. Streaming music has helped artist economically. Music artist don't only have deals with their record labels, but they have deals with music streaming companies. Artist signing a deal with a specific streaming company means that specific application gets to drop an artist album out first for a week before any other app can. For example, if you were signed to Apple Music and you released an album, Apple Music would drop the album first before TIDAL or Google Music. Here are some advantages of streaming music: (1) Unlimited Storage (2) Access (3) Affordable (4) Monitoring. By streaming music consumers have unlimited storage. If he/she has a IPhone they can put all of their music in ICloud, ICloud allows people to take music off their mobile device and place it in ICloud. Consumers no longer need a CD holder, or have no room for CD’s in house or car. Access is an advantage because individuals can manage their music. Some devices such as IPod shuffles didn't allow people to choose their playlist on the fly, but also consumers didn't have to wait to get home to buy new music. Consumers can buy music on their mobile device, with MP3 players people had to wait to download new music from their computer at home. Affordable is an advantage because consumers do not have to buy one album for one song. If an individual likes one song on an artist album they can buy that one song, instead of waste a lump sum of extra dollars for songs he/she don't even want. Monitoring is an advantage because it allows companies to see who are legitimately getting the most people listening to their music, before too many people were downloading illegal music. Being a part of both era’s, streaming music era and hard-copies era, new media has not only changed how music is distributed through the evolution of mobile devices, but new media have changed how people interact with music. People are competitive about who has which app or phone. The transition for hard-copies to streaming music was necessary because everything about streaming music is instant gratification, and we all know that’s what we love the most. Chase Lindgren While the coverage of events remains the same, the way that they are reported can have varying outcomes. When people get their news from an online source, instead of a newspaper or television they open themselves up to receive misinformation, or misunderstand what was meant to be reported, at a much higher rate. This is because the priorities for many online news outlets are profit, so it is important to approach many online articles with some skepticism. So with the influx of different online news sources what does this do to the credibility of any online source of news? It reduces it dramatically. According to Pew Research Center of the 38% of Americans that get news online, only 7% of web using adults trust the information they are given at face value online. That is an overwhelmingly large amount of distrust. This negative view towards online news can really damper news outlets that try to be credible and check all their facts. Not only is this an issue because of the public mistrust, but it also breeds an uninformed and uninvolved generation. This can make for uninformed voters, or people who simply do not care about the world events that are going on around them. News can become a tool for the outlets that it is dispensed through, for example: Google has been known for showing political bias in its search suggestion bar. This happened during the most recent election, the suggestions were mainly pro-democrat, in the sense that they did not suggest some of the legal issues Hillary Clinton was affiliated with. Another strong bias is simply profit, the audience that the websites write to is worldwide, so why would they need to cover small-time, or not well-known events? For example a local or city newspaper may have their own worldwide content coverage, but there is still often small time articles. When it comes to the news that shows up when we go to check online what’s happening in the world today, it is another story. According to the Pew and Colombia Jay school the top 14,000 stories that appeared on Google News’ front page all covered the same 24 events. Let that sink in a little, for the casual internet explorer those are some rather hefty blinds to be wearing. Below is a map of the world based on the average GDP per person per country, or rather their “worth”, this map can be used to accurately look at what most areas and countries online news will prioritize. When we think that we are caught up with the current events of today’s word there is certainly a chance that that is not true. This is because it really takes some digging to find out about areas such as Africa, India, and South America, as they don’t even contain news bureaus from the United States (Alisa Miller T.E.D). I’m sure all of you have seen the clickbait articles and links that will surface up on your Facebook feeds, some of them might even seem ridiculous just from the titles. Don’t be the internet surfer that reshares or reblogs news that turns out to be false. One of the most important things for America, and really humans in general that want to be involved in the rest of civilization is to be properly educated about the world around them What I’m asking you all (the readers) to do is approach many of these online news sources with a critical eye, and don’t just trust the facts they present to you without some elaboration. Try scrolling down to the bottom of the article and checking the sources, do those sources seem scholarly, and do they match the information you saw? Little things like that will save your butt in the academic field, and make it look a lot nicer in everyday life. |
New and Social MediaOn this page, students provide reports and opinions on various developments and social concerns in new media communication. Categories
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