Gaming

This week we learned about how gaming can be used to both teach and learn. I personally am not big on games other than board games, but the idea makes good sense to me. We talked a lot about Second Life and how people have used gaming to connect the the community. Many people totally rebuild their image and lifestyles over the computer with games like this. This can even help some people learn better.

Gaming can be helpful in the field of Advertising because it is a field that is very free and fun. Many people who already work in ad agencies say that the best work and creativity comes when they are playing around with games and having fun. This helps them teach each other better, relate better and most importantly, learn better.

HERE is an artical from RollingStone about Second Life and how people really get involved in it. I posted it because it tells a lot about how gaming is at an all time high.

Distance/Virtual Education

This week we dicussed distance education and all of the involved issues. This type of education can include online, virtual, blended, etc. which could have both negative and positive attributes. The good thing about this type of education is the fact that it could be on your own time. By this I mean you can have a very flexible schedule and work wthin your own comfortable space. However, the negatives include the fact that it is very hard to be self motivating and it can be costly. Many colleges including UF have online courses that students can take. I have taken some online courses during my three years here so far. However, I enjoy live lectures a lot more because it is hard for me to force myself to keep up with class assignments when they are not right in front of me.

Online education is more beneficial to my major more so than the field as a whole. In advertising there is lots of work that needs to be done online, therefore taking classes like this can help me get better at using the computer all the time with my job.

HERE is a Web site that lists some pros and cons of distance education. I posted it just in case some people are considering taking classes online but want to do a little more research.

Professional Web Presence

This week we have been discussing the importance of professional web presence. With a project coming up we have been learning how to utilize google sites. This made building a Web page very easy and fun. We learned how to make our sites as professional as possible because future employers may have to use them to see our resumes, personal lifestyles and so forth. Anyone can use google sites to make Web sites for anything they want. It is very self explanatory. You can make it as personalized as you like by changing your theme, background colors, fonts, and by adding all types of images and videos.

This can be very useful in the field of Advertising because clients want to be able to research an agency before they hire them to take on the responsibility of creating their company's ads. By looking at a Web site clients are able to see your previous works and other things that are appealing to them.

HERE is a Web site that discusses the importance of having a personal site. I posted it because it shows the benefits and how it helps assist in employment.

Open Source Software

This week we learned about open source software. Open source software are programs that can be found online for use and download for free. There are many sites that offer open software. These type of sites allow for many programs that usually have to be purchased such as Photoshop to have something similar and less expensive for people to use. This concept is a good way for smaller companies to get their products out on the market because people are most interested in what is least expensive.

Open source software is great for Advertising because it allows for members and workers to go home and use some of the same programs that the use at work, therefore they can finish or get a head start on some of the assigments that have to be created for a client by a certain deadline.

HERE is an artical from the New York Times that features the idea of open source software. I thought it would be very useful to read about how it is rapidly picking up in pace.

Critical Thinking

This week in class we learned about the importance of concept maps, and how to create them. I had not made a concept map online prior to the one in my previous post entry; however, I have done them on paper for many of my english classes. Doing this on paper took a lot of time but at Bubbl.us this concept was a lot easier to create.

This tool can be very useful in the field of Advertising because this field is very strict of brainstorming. There is no way that you can start a project for a client without fully planning it first. This tool can allow you to get out all of the ideas that you have in order to create the best project possible. It can also be useful when trying to show your client some of the ideas you have come up with in order to see if they have any other ideas of their own.

HERE is a Web site that discusses concept mapping in a little more detail and I posted a link to it because it also discusses how you can benefit from them.

Mind Mapping/Concept Map: Homework

Here is a concept map of all the ways I can use different social tools within my field.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Copyright Laws

This week we familiarized ourselves with copyright laws. Though lots of the information was known to me this was still a very important lesson. Beyond my expectations, I found that I learned some things that I did not know. I realize now why things that are not tangible cannot be copyrighted. One thing that was presented to me that I had no idea about was the concept that teachers are not allowed to bring a video in to class from home and show it to their class because it violates copyright laws. That was strange to me and to this day I still do not understand why. We also learned a little about Creative Commons, a group that seeks to help people edit copyright laws on certain things that seem faulty. This group can be really helpful I think, especially with the rising idea of better creations of original works between artists both musically and artistically.

The Creative Commons might be really helpful in my field of advertising because this is a field that can easily be violated by others not applying to copyright laws or violate the laws themselves without even trying to. This lesson was very important because by knowing the information presented, I can protect the work of myself, company and clients from copyright violations.

Since this is such and important issue, here is a link to an article from IndependentDealer about the importance of copyright laws in advertising and marketing.http://www.independentdealer.com/marketing/marketing3.asp

Digital Storytelling

This week we did some things with Digital Storytelling. This is something that is very useful in society. Now in times people love to take pictures and videos to capture some of the most memorable times they experience, and digital storytelling is a way to keep up with those memories and make them come to life. By using digital storytelling you can tell stories to people through pictures, audio, texts and so forth. It is very easy to do and once the pictures come together the story created is unforgettable.

Digital storytelling is detrimental to the field of Advertising because it can be used to both create and effective ad or teach others how to do so. It can also be used to get the attention of others and draw them to your concept. By simply talking about an idea, product or brand can bore a consumer or client that is interested in your ad agency but if you use digital storytelling they will a lot more likely to hear you out and understand your idea.

Click here to view an example of a digital storytelling project that a girl created about an advertising internship that she did. She was really able to show us her experience rather that just talk or write about it.

Visual Litercay

This week we learned about the benefits of visual literacy and how to use photoshop. I used photoshop in high school but I was very excited about using it in class because I had forgotten how to use some of the assets. Photoshop can really help you to create the perfect picture. Though the activity we demonstrated with was not the best it really helped to prepare us for a big assignment coming up. We also learned a little about iMovie. I am looking forward to what is coming up in class with these programs in the future.

Visual literacy will be very beneficial in the world of Advertising. It is a lot more successful to create a creative concept when others can actual see what you are trying to say. Also it sets a standard for creating any type of media. It can be helpful for TV, newspaper, internet and so forth. People seem to react better to things they can actually see and make perceptions about.

Here is a link to some videos and commercial examples the use visual literacy to advertise about different things.

Web 2.0

This week we familiarized ourselves with some Web 2.0 applications. Web 2.0 allows Internet users to control what they see on the Web. There were so many applications and lots of them were new to me. I found lots of applications that I like and that would be useful to me. One of the apps that was very cute to me was the Kideos app. I liked this app because it is basically YouTube for children. Considering the fact that I have lots of young cousins I found this very appropriate for their use because all of the videos are monitored and safe for children unliked some of the content on YouTube. Feel free to check it out. http://kideos.com/

I am planning on being in the the field of advertising so lots of these apps will be useful to me because I can use them to see what consumers like, therefore I know exactly how to target them.

Though I chose to give a link to this particular app there are many more available and related to all types of fields and career choices.

MAC OS X

This week we learned how to use Mac computers and other educational technology. From familiarizing ourselves with the main screen to learning how to locate and save files, the presentation taught it all. This was a very fortunate situation for me because prior to this point I was very unfamiliar with MacBooks and how to use them. All of the information was very new to me, however it is not that hard for me to learn something that is related to computers because I am pretty good with them. Though Macs and PCs have some similar features, many of the Mac features are a little better in my opinion. The tutorial did not cover how to operate all of the features, but there were commercials available in the presentation that highlighted and touched on each feature in comparison to PCs. They were really funny



Being an Advertising major it is very possible that I will have to use Mac computers so this lesson was very beneficial to me. Macs have many creative features which is important in the field of advertising. I still have a lot to learn about Mac computers in order to be successful in my field, however this was a great start.



MacBooks are very creative and many ad agencies use them. Here is a link to an article on MacDaily about an ad agency using Macs to create a PC ad.

Homework: Podcasting

Since we learned about digital storytelling, I decided to do my sound podcasting assignment about how I did my digital story. It was very easy to do and I realized that podcasting could be very useful in a career in Advertising. Sound can be used to explain all of the creative ideas used in your advertisement. It can be used to also keep your clients informed on the progress that you are making with their advertisement, because people like to be informed about how their projects are coming along. There are a number of other ways sound can be used, but those were just a few ways.

Here is my podcast

Outdated Copyright Laws and Society

Lawrence Lessig

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The video covers how we are becoming a sharing economy with websites like Wikipedia. These sites are free and content is constantly added by users, and the only one that benefits is the company (financially). In today's society young children are being turned into "criminals" because the constantly make illegal downloads everyday, which are shared with a lot of other people. It is said that the outdated copyright laws are to blame.
This relates to advertising because content is created and must be original. If not, there will be issues when it comes to using someone's ideas or content. It is a must to know the rules and regulations of copyrights when working in advertising. If not followed, a brand, lablel, company, or ad agency can be terribly affected.
The outside source I chose limewire.com. This is a site where anyone can download the program for free and illegally download and share video and music files. I think this is a good source because you can actually go and see what is being done. I actually know how it works and I can see how a lot of children wouldn't think that what they are doing is illegal. I think that if it is a major issues, it should be taken more seriously and strictly enforce copyright laws.