Scott Golden Learning Internet Marketing

Disaster Research Wiki Summary

2006-05-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

Considering that I have spent a good portion of my last year working in this field, I felt like it would be good to start my own wiki article on Disaster Research.

For my first edit, I decided to create a strong foundation on which to build by basically defining disaster research, adding an extensive history (including key figures), and adding links to two of the main Disaster Research Centers in the United States. While there is really no wiki community along with this article, I did get some help from some of the wikipediabots with ‘wikifying’ the article and with basic organizational troubles I was having.

For my second edit, I decided to discuss the main purpose of disaster research as well as list some of the main funders of this type of research. I also put up a list of the academic and national policy boards that are in the disaster research world.

Lastly, for my third edit I decided to add a section discussing undergraduate and graduate opportunities in this field considering the field is greatly expanding and getting degrees in this or similar fields will be a very wise decision for students. When I searched on google and other engines I could not find a comprehensive list of institutions offering these degrees so I decided to add my own list to the wiki.

Overall there is basically no community surrounding this wiki at the moment. There are thousands of people involved in disaster research so I am sure eventually, individuals will start adding and editing and ‘wiki wars’ will begin. Until then, I am going to continue adding on to this wiki article and monitor the page. It is pretty cool knowing that I, Scott Golden, am the sole creator of one article in WIKIPEDIA. Not bad, eh?

Sunday River (Maine) wiki Summary

2006-05-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Considering it is one of my favorite places to vacation, I figured editing the Sunday River (Maine) wiki would allow me to think about the good times while doing work.

For my first wiki edit, I decided to edit a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes that were causing the article to lose credibility as well as add facts about the snowmaking capacity at the mountain and a link to the mountain’s e-newsletter. While the wiki community liked my grammar changes and facts, they did not approve of the so-called ‘commercial link’ and removed it right away.

For my second wiki edit, I added a section full of facts about the mountain’s terrain, lift capacity, elevation, skiable area, etc. I think this section made it easy for a wiki user to quickly get the facts they were looking for. I believe the community approved of this addition because it is still up in the same form as when I added it.

For my third wiki edit, I added a big section discussing one of the great attractions to the resort in the summer, the Sunday River Golf Club. I added a lot of facts about the golf club as well as some recent rankings it had received. Again, my edits seemed well-liked and remain on the site.

While this wiki article does not have a very active or aggressive wiki community, I did learn that you have to be careful when doing wikis for places such as this to avoid using point of view. A couple of edits by others were edited by one user who felt it sounded too much like an ‘advertisement’. I guess there is a very fine line you must walk when you are putting tourist attractions into an encyclopedia. However overall this was an enjoyable article to edit and I believe that since I am one of the main editors, I better continue to watch the page.

Boston Marathon Wiki Summary

2006-05-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

I decided to edit the Boston Marathon wiki this semester because I have always been an avid spectator of this event.

For my first wiki edit, I decided to add some cool facts discussing the international magnitude of the event and added a big section on Dick and Rick Hoyt, two inspirational figures in the marathon. While one fellow wiki editor did not like my facts about the race, saying that they were ‘iffy at best’(despite me getting them from a credible online source), the community liked my idea of including the Hoyt Family and continuously added on to that section.

For my second wiki edit, I decided to discuss the unique aspect of wheelchair and disabled divisions in the Boston Marathon. The wiki community seemed to agree that this was a section that should not be missing and showed that they liked my changes by pretty much keeping them in their entirety.

For my third wiki edit I made a pretty big expansion onto the history of the Boston Marathon by finding various sources and constructing a summarized version of the origins of the race. While I thought I wrote a pretty good addition, this one wiki editor did not like it and removed the entire edit. Maybe I’ll start a wiki war with him in the near future!

Overall, the Boston Marathon wiki was harder than I thought it would be to edit because there was an active community constantly putting up new things and they were all very crazy about what should and should not be on there. However, I think my additions, particularly with regard to the Hoyt family and Wheelchair Divisions were very necessary and beneficial changes.

Westborough, MA Wiki Summary

2006-05-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

Westborough, MA Wiki

For my first wiki edit, I decided to give a basic overview of the structure of the school system in my hometown as well as the range of extracurricular options in sports and the fine arts. The wiki edit made my mom (a fifth-grade teacher) proud, and apparently the wiki community proud as a majority of the added section is still there, apart from one or two edits and sentence structure changes.

For my second wiki edit I thought that it might be nice to include some information for individuals considering moving to my hometown. Therefore, I added a lot of material discussing the various religious organizations in the town, leisure and cultural activities, a short section on crime as well as some rankings by Money Magazine listing our town as a ‘100 Best Place to Live’. The wiki community was not completely supportive of my second wiki edit. While they liked most of it, they deleted my entire section on crime, stating that ‘it was based on a non-governmental metric’. I guess you can’t always win!

My third wiki edit returned to the topic of the school system as I added a HUGE section that listed facts about our school system and rankings in the state. I think these facts really supplemented the earlier section I had made by giving concrete data to support my claims. While a few minor fixes were made to this edit, the wiki community liked the idea and kept it.

I really believe that I did a good job on the Westborough, MA wiki edit, and was very happy to receive mail in my wikipedia account the other day from this guy who said the following: “Hi Scott, thanks for the good work adding to the Westborough article. I made a few minor changes, hope you don't mind.”--CapitalR 18:12, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Whoever this guy is, it was great of him to tell me that he liked my work and since he is the major contributor to the wiki, I feel as though I have earned my stamp of approval. Considering there were few changes to the wiki made by anyone except me and him over the course of my edits, I think that if we work as a team we be able to make sure that our town will be nicely represented on wikipedia!

Third and Final Westborough, MA wiki edit

2006-05-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

I just made my third and final wiki edit to the Westborough, MA entry that I have been adding to throughout the semester. I decided to add more on the school system, especially concrete facts that I knew potential settlers in our little town may appreciate. I found the results of our town's MCAS tests, which are newly-implemented state tests that allow twons to make sure they are teaching the correct curriculum and that students are progressing well. Students must now pass these tests if they want to get their diplomas upon graduation. I added a lot of great facts about how many teachers our town has, student-teacher ratios, drop-out rates, special education percentage, as well as rankings compared to the other 328 districts in Massachusetts. As you will see, our town consistently ranks very high on these rankings.

I also made a few small edits to some of the demographic and town census information that was outdated, including an update on the population, unemployment rates, etc. I believe that my changes today were definitely pretty significant, especially to the school system section, and that they were a nice last edit to make.

Disaster Research Wiki Edit #3

2006-05-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

I just made my third and final wiki edit to my article on Disaster Research in which I added a large section titled 'Emerging Opportunities in the Field'. In this section, I discussed the fact that the disaster research field is currently expanding a great deal due to the fact that we have had so many catastrophic disasters recently that have effected the entire world on a global, not regional scale. Events such as September 11th, the South Indian Ocean Tsunamis, and Hurricane Katrina have made inviduals and organizations aware of the fact that they must engage in some type of continutity planning or else they are really gambling. Therefore, getting degrees in fields such as Emergency Planning and Public Policy are starting to be very highly encouraged and lucrative degrees to have as one enters the job market. I thought it would be good to add this section along with a list of many of the schools I know to be the best schools to go to in this field (due to the fact that I have been working/researching with nerdy disaster people for over two years). I searched on google and could not really come up with any good list, so I made my own. I think this definitely adds nicely to the wiki and will come in handy with the technologically saavy students who might be considering a degree in this field and are smart enough to browse on Wikipedia.

Boston Marathon Wiki Edit #3

2006-05-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

I just made a pretty significant edit to my Boston Marathon wiki article. I just realized that the history section of the Boston Marathon was really lacking. There was no information on how the race was started or who started it. The section merely discussed how the race had grown from a local event to worldwide event. I ended up finding some great sites discussing the real origins of the Boston Marathon. I found out that John Graham was actually responsible for starting the marathon in 1986 and found some cool information on how the course layout and distance has changed throughout the years. I feel like the two big paragraphs I added definitely give the wiki a lot more credibility and nicely explain how the Boston Marathon, which is now considered one of the greatest marathon races in the world, originally began.

Sunday River Wiki Edit #3

2006-05-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

I just made my third and final wiki edit for Sunday River (Maine). I decided to update what was then the 'Summer' section of the wiki article. In this section there was merely one sentence saying that the Sunday River Ski Resort transforms into a golf course in the summer. I decided to add some details about the course, including information about the designer, the awards the course has won, the 'Stay and Play' options, etc. Basically, I give the wiki reader a pretty good idea of what kind of a golf course Sunday River Golf Club offers and what features the golf course presents. I then switched the title of the section from 'Summer' to 'Sunday River Golf Club' considering that the entire emphasis of the section was on the golf. I tried to maintain a fairly objective tone considering that the wiki community hates when you express opinion since it is an encyclopedia, but this was hard because I was fortunate enough to play on this course a year ago and it is absolutely AWESOME. Oh well, I guess if I can't say my opinions in the wiki, I can always unleash them on my blog.

Cheers!

Wiki Edit #2: Westborough, MA

2006-05-11T01:53:00.000-07:00

I just completed my second wiki edit for my hometown of Westborough, Massachusetts. As I tried to think about how I wanted to contribute to the wiki I started thinking to myself who I thought would be using wikipedia to try to find out about my town. First, I thought the most hits probably come from individuals looking for historical figures such as Eli Whitney. However, I couldn't help but think a lot of individuals who look up Westborough, Massachusetts are probably potential homeowners or individuals thinking about moving to New England but not sure of where to settle. I thought it was important to include some information that would help them try to determine whether Westborough would be a good fit for them. While I had sort of done this with my first wiki edit with the school system, I continued by putting up data discussing the religious organizations in the town, the leisure and cultural activites, and a short section on crime in the town. Oddly enough, I also found out that not only was our town ranked one of the 100 Best Places to Live in 2005 by Money Magazine but also one of the 100 Best Places to Retire 2005 by Money Magazine.
While I lived in Westborough for 18 years and thought it was fairly boring, evidently these people at Money Magazine think the town is a pretty hip place to live. I posted both of the articles discussing these rankings in the external links section of the wiki. That is about all I did on this wiki edit. I hope that my additions helped round out te wiki definition for my town which was mostly discussing the history.

MySpace Issue Hits My Home State

2006-05-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday, we were lucky enough to have a Skype Presentation by Travis Katz, a Vice President at the hugely popular social networking site MySpace.com. Travis gave an incredible overview of the business model at MySpace.com and gave a great history of the company and idea of what the future may hold.

I decided to travel home to Massachusetts this weekend and as I sat and relaxed on Saturday morning I grabbed the newspaper to be met with the headline "Massachusetts Requests Higher Age Limit for MySpace Users". I found a similar article online that discusses this 'hot debate' that is currently brewing in my home state.

The long story short is that our current Attorney General, Tom Reilly, believes that MySpace has not taken enough precautionary measures to ensure the safety of minors. This follows the recent arrest of a 27 year-old man for illegal sexual contact with a minor he met on MySpace.

Christina Slenk, the director a nonprofit internet safety organization called Web Wise Kids discusses the amount of sexual predator crimes related to social networking websites stating, "It's happening more and more all the time, both through MySpace and through chatrooms and other blogging sites." Despite reports by MySpace saying that they have numerous measures in place to protect minors, including verification systems and flags for words that would most likely be used by children under 14, Reilly and his staff claim that their investigation proves that these safeguards fail, and that more precautions must be taken.

Reilly and his staff call for numerous new measures to be taken, including the installation of an age and identity verification system. Additionally, they are asking for the site to equip Web pages with a "Report Inappropriate Content" link allowing users to help the site flag potentially disturbing material. The Attorney General also wants MySpace to respond to any disturbing content within 24 hours and in order to do this, to hire more staff to review images and content on user profiles. Reilly wants the site to blcok any explicit images, to delete profiles or users who have used the site in abusive ways, and to take off any advertisement that are not well-suited for children. Last but certainly not least, Reilly wants the site to provide parents free softward allowing them to block MySpace.

While Reilly's actions seem very extensive, he has a lot of support from the public, especially worried parents who are aware of the real dangers posed to their children on a site like MySpace. However, there is also a strong following on the other side of the issue, saying that it is impossible to protect children in all aspects of their life, and that as long as good parenting has instilled within them good values and judgement, children will remain safe.

Travis Katz spoke briefly to our class concerning this issue and seemed to echo what many of the spokespeople at MySpace are saying, that there are adequate safeguards in place and that as long as base rules are set by parents, MySpace should be enjoyed by anyone age 14 or older.

I will definitely be following this controversy and will let you know how Reilly makes out with his campaign for a higher age limit.

Have a great week,
Scott

P.S. I have to thank Professor Brown quickly. My family was watching the Kentucky Derby on Saturday and as is tradition, we made some bets about who was going to win. I am not very horse saavy, so I usually pick whoever the news has made out to be the underdog. However, I had some faith in Professor Brown and his knowledge or horse racing, so I decided to go with Barbaro as he suggested. Let's just say that the rest of my semester's bar tabs will be paid thanks to Professor Brown!

'Blog Editor' position listed as Top 7 Trendy New Jobs

2006-05-01T00:33:00.000-07:00

Considering that I am a huge AOL News geek, I was recently perusing the fun and weird news that I can always rely on them to provide and stumbled upon the following article I thought the class might enjoy: Seven Trendy New Jobs. While there were some funny positions you would never think existed, I was shocked to find 'Blog Editor' rounding out the list. The following description was listed under the position:

I blog, you blog, we all blog apparently, judging from the proliferation of blogs in the past two years. The success of influential ones like Wonkette.com has companies wanting in on the perceived edginess of the blogosphere.

"Blogging" is not only starting to creep into people's job descriptions, but recruiters are starting to see blog-related job listings.

One on Monster.com seeks a blog editor "to manage and moderate blogs for clients and to write for the company blog on PR and new media topics."

All I can say is that I definitely am starting to realize the advantages of this class. The fact that we all know about the blogosphere and are developing blogging skills puts us far ahead of the majority of college graduates. I am definitely going to at least discuss the fact that I am a proficient blogger in my upcoming interviews and am starting to think it would be a wise idea to throw 'blogging ability' onto my list of skills on my resume. As I think about potential jobs I would possibly enjoy doing after graduating, I wouldn't throw 'blog editor' out of the picture. Who wouldn't like to know they were working one of the 7 most trendy jobs out there?

Disaster Research Wiki Edit #2

2006-05-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

I decided to edit the Disaster research wiki tonight. Just last week I traveled to Puerto Rico to present my undergraduate research in the disaster research field. What I noticed while there was that there is a general lack of understanding as to the benefits of disaster research. For this reason, I added a paragraph to the wiki discussing the impacts disaster research has on developing more effective policies, programs, and planning to reduce disaster impacts. Additionally, I added a section discussing the various organizations that fund the researchers who dedicate their lives to researching the social science impacts of disasters. I also included a section that lists the different advisory boards and committees that have been created as forums for this field of research. I hope to continue to add to this wiki but am kind of disappointed that no one has been contributing to the wiki. I am thinking of possibly sending out an email to a big listserv I was put on when I attended a convention at the Natural Hazards Center in Boulder, Colorado in order to see if some others will start to contribute to the wiki. This listserv is full of crazy graduate and post-docs and I think they would go wild if they knew that there is a wiki for the field of research about which they are so passionate.

Sunday River (Maine) Wiki Edit #2

2006-04-30T23:57:00.000-07:00

I recently updated the Sunday River (Maine) wiki with some important facts and figures about the mountain, including information on when the ski resort opened, the number and types of lifts, the lift capacity, elevation statistics, and information on the types of runs (i.e. the percentage of beginner runs versus intermediate, etc.). I thought it would be important to include these in bullet form due to the fact that most people looking at this wiki will probably find this information very useful in order to compare the mountain to other mountains of their liking, to figure out whether the mountain is the right skill level for themselves, and for other fact-related purposes. Therefore, having these facts in nice bulleted form makes them easy to find and nicely breaks them down. Though I doubt the wiki will get many views until next season considering this season recently ended, I hope my edits will increase the usefulness of the wiki!

I love Southwest Airlines and you should too!

2006-04-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

I was recently reading one of our required class blogs, Naked Conversations, and was struck by an article discussing Southwest Airlines and recent efforts by a man named Brian Oberkirch to show Southwest what he could do for them if he helped them start a blogging campaign. Clearly Mr. Oberkirch is a huge admirer of the service and overall aura of Southwest Airlines and would like to offer the company his ideas. He offers four examples of the types of blogs he would start if he were in charge of Public Relations at the company. You can find these examples here, here, here, and here. These ideas basically all involve harboring the widespread public admiration and loyalty for Southwest Airlines and placing it on a blog for all to see.

I think that Oberkirch's ideas are brilliant and would be the first to comment on the blog if Southwest took his ideas and ran with them. I started using Southwest Airlines my sophomore year of college when I realized that instead of purchasing a $180.00 roundtrip ticket on Amtrak to travel home from Delaware to Massachusetts, that I could fly on Southwest from Philadelphia to Providence, RI for a mere $70.00 roundtrip. Not only did I love the price, but the service I have experienced over the past two years has been incredible. I have had one bad experience with the airline which I wrote to them and told them about. Within two weeks of sending the letter I received an apology letter with a $200.00 voucher that I can use within the next two years.

In the article, Robert Scoble discusses the fact that he has also offered Southwest a free half-day of his services yet they have politely declined his offers. I do not understand why a cutting-edge, fun company like Southwest would not be quick to jump into the world of the blogosphere but I am sure they must have some good reason. I have learned about Southwest Airlines in numerous marketing classes and have always thought of them to be on the forefront, willing to take risks and try out things that others would think to be 'out of the question'. Therefore, I am surprised they are being kind of hesitant about a blogging PR campaign. I am definitely going to keep my eye out and will let you all know if they finally cave-in and accept Scoble and Oberkirch's advice.

This article only makes me more excited to try to incorporate some type of blogging into my internship this summer at Amelia Island Plantation in the Real Estate Marketing department. Considering that I have hit the point in school where all I can think about is summer, I have been doing a lot of google searches about the company and the island where I will be living. I have stumbled upon so many blogs discussing the great experiences people have had on the island and blogs by individuals who live on the island and love the close-knit community the island provides. I truly hope that I can talk my boss into letting me create a blog where current homeowners can post their experiences, where I can post news about new houses on the market, and where prospective homeowners can ask questions and find out what the island has to offer. I guess I'll have to wait to see if this will be possible, but the more I read about businesses using the blogosphere, the more pumped I get about the possibilities.

I guess that is all for now. I can't believe I am truly becoming a blogosphere nerd!

The Internet Explorer versus Firefox issue hits UDEL

2006-04-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

As I was going about my usual business today, checking my 'My Courses' account to make sure I was caught up with my online classes, I saw something that I thought would interest our class. One topic that has come up a lot this semester is the competition between the Internet Explorer browser and that of Firefox. While we all know Professor Brown favors Firefox, we heard Robert Scoble discuss how the new version of IE is going to be great.

On the 'My Courses' homepage there is the following announcement from the administrator to all 'My Courses' users:

"On April 11, 2006 Microsoft released a critical Windows update that changes how Internet Explorer handles dynamic content. Initial testing has shown that these changes may require clicking a confirmation before accessing some content as well as general stability issues when accessing MyCourses. Firefox is available for both Windows and Macintosh systems at:
http://udeploy.udel.edu. More information on the upcoming changes in Internet Explorer and implication for other web sites is available at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912945."

Not that Microsoft hasn't had enough problems lately considering their need to push back the deadline for the introduction of their new browser, Vista, but now, their biggest competition is being promoted because of serious flaws in their Internet Explorer product. I honestly believe that as more students start switching to Firefox, they will soon realize how easy it is to navigate and will have no desire to test out Vista when it finally hits the market. I have been using Firefox for about a year and greatly prefer it versus IE. I have switched many others over to Firefox and truly believe that nothing Microsoft does will come close to making me switch back to them.

I commend UD for recognizing the superiority of Firefox, recognizing the downfalls of IE, and urging students to make the switch. I will keep my eyes open for more examples of organizations/institutions doing this. Sorry Mr. Scoble!

Boston Marathon Wiki Edit #2

2006-04-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to make my second edit to the Boston Marathon Wiki considering last Monday was "Marathon Monday", marking the 110th running of the historic race. While the wiki is definitely a work in progress, I was shocked that it did not mention one aspect of the Boston Marathon that definitely distinguishes it from other marathons: the fact that individuals with disabilities and impairments are able to competitively compete in the event.

In 1975, one wheelchair racer competed in the race and was able to finish the entire race. Since then, the Boston Marathon has been dedicated to providing disabled persons an event that can test their athleticism and bring their divisions to a new level of excellence. Currently, the Boston Marathon has three divisions besides the traditional men's and women's running division. These include a push rim wheelchair division, a visually impaired/blind division, and a mobility impaired program. In my wiki edit, I discussed how these divisions still have qualifying times and numerous rules and regulations, but have truly become as much a part of "Marathon Monday" as the actual running races. When I used to attend the marathon, I was extremely inspired by the determination these athletes demonstrated. I think it is incredible that the Boston Marathon offers these divisions to help show the world that individuals with disabilities should not be pushed to the side, but should have the opportunity to compete if they so desire.

The Blogosphere....Growing Exponentially!

2006-04-23T23:50:00.003-07:00

As I was recently perusing my feeds I came upon an incredibly interesting article on ClickZ Stats discussing the growth of the blogosphere since its creation three years ago. The article discusses the findings of Technorati, which is a real-time search engine that keeps track of what is going on in the blogosphere. Specifically, Technorati tracks over 36.4 million sites and 2.3 billion links and is therefore an authority figure in the blogosphere.

In Technorati's State of the Blogosphere Address for April 2006 the company releases incredible findings on the growth of the blogosphere. First off, Technorati found that the blogosphere doubles in size every six months, and has become over sixty times bigger than it was three years ago. Additionally, there are currently 35.3 million weblogs with 75,000 new blogs being created each day. These facts boggle my mind and make me feel extremely 'out of the loop' considering that I didn't really understand the concept of the blogosphere until this semester. Before reading these facts, I thought I was fairly saavy when it came to technology, but now I see that I am definitely not in the first user category, and am more of a laggard when it comes to starting versus following trends.

Technorati includes other facts and figures that lead me to highly doubt what some critics say about the blogosphere becoming too crowded and eventually losing momentum. Technorati found that 55% of the 19.4 million bloggers still maintain blogs with new posts after three months of blogging and that about 3.9 million bloggers update their blogs weekly (our class composing 32 of those 3.9 million in a 'perfect' world). I feel as though if the blogosphere was really being negatively effected by the so-called clutter, these numbers would not be nearly as high or would show negative trends. The fact that so many individuals are creating blogs and staying committed to making entries demonstrates that people are recognizing and experiencing the value of the blogosphere and are becoming dedicated to contributing to it.

After learning firsthand about the value of blogs this semester, I plan on attempting to implement a blogging strategy at my internship this summer at Amelia Island Plantation, a resort island off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. Considering that my internship is in the Real Estate Marketing department, I feel as though a blog discussing new properties and the overall quality of life on Amelia Island would effectively generate discussion and draw some potential home buyers to look at our properties (pending my ability to acquire sufficient Google Juice). Additionally, I plan on creating a personal blog that tracks my experiences on the island considering I will be away from my friends and family during this time and want some way to converse with them and let them know about my adventure. I plan on posting my pictures, and basically letting them know how my life is going.

Seeing how much I have become a fan of blogging leads me to pretty easily understand how the blogosphere is able to double in size every six months. However, I found Technorati's facts and figures to be very interesting and am happy that hard evidence supports the fact that blogging is a force that is here to stay for a long time.

Happy Blogging to All!

The Boston Marathon Wiki Edit

2006-04-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

I recently edited one of the wikis I follow about The Boston Marathon. I found some cool facts that I thought could not go without saying on the wiki. One fact was that other than the Super Bowl, the Boston Marathon is the second largest single day sporting event in terms of on-site media coverage. I guess that since I am from Massachusetts and used to regularly attend the start of the race, I never realized that others from all over the world watch this marthon and are as intrigued by it as us New Englanders. I also found out that over 500,000 spectators line the course to cheer on the competitors from all over the world. I found this fact much more believable. I used to watch the race from the start in Hopkington, Massachusetts and had to get to the start more than six hours before the race to save a good spot where I could see all of the world-class athletes get ready for their 26.2 mile hike.

In addition to these and other cool facts, I added an entire section on two Boston Marathon legends, Rick and Dick Hoyt. This father and son team is unique because the father pushes the son, who is disabled, the entire route and has done so for the last 24 years. Spectators are always inspired by this pairing and love to watch them throughout the race. I knew that the Boston Marathon wiki would not be complete without adding these legends to it.

Origami Never Used to be so Exciting

2006-04-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

I was recently reading my classmate Bob's blog and was particularly interested in his post entitled 'Origami for Dummies' that discusses an interesting new technological innovation at Microsoft that until recently was called the Origami Project. This project was dedicated to attempting to create and spark widespread use of an all-in-one PC that will replace your laptop, ipod, dvd player, cell phone, palm pilot, etc. Origami was the code-name for this project until March 9th, when Microsoft unveiled the results of this projet, what they call the Ultra-Mobile PC. The motto for this new piece of technology is "Go everywhere. Do everything." and it seems as if this motto will truly come to fruition. Microsoft catches my attention as a customer when they say "With small, lightweight, carry-everywhere designs, you can connect and communicate, accomplish any task anywhere and at any time, and be entertained and informed wherever life takes you."

While I knew that technology would eventually allow for something like this device to be achieved, I didn't realize it would come so soon. There are actually Ultra-Mobile PC's (UMPC) on the market right now. Therefore, The Origami Project is no longer attempting to create this device, but rather try to make Ultra-Mobile PC's accepted by society in a similar way as cell phones, as a device "you won't leave home without".

The website for the Origami Project has awesome videos that show images of what these UMPC's look like and the way this technology will be marketed. I liked Bob's comment about how this device seems like one more of Bill Gates' ideas to monopolize technology. However, it seems as if this technology will not instantly be a huge hit. Critics are finding downfalls, which include the fact that it cannot instantly be turned on and off, that you cannot save a lot of data on it, as well as battery issues like those of a laptop. However, most critics agree that Microsoft has done a good job of planting the seed for this technology and will have to guage the reactions and recommendations of current users to adapt the UMPC and make it a more effective piece of technology.

Thanks to Bob for the chance to learn about this cool new innovation. If Microsoft needs users to test these UMPC's out, they should know I would be more than happy to do so!

Loocsixela: The best football team EVER!

2006-04-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

Being a big fan of the New England Patriots my whole life, it seems wrong to put a link for loocsixela in my profile, but the learning objective for this task seems worthy of the task. My Internet Marketing class will soon be learning about Google and the methods used by this search engine to filter results for queries and rank what are supposedly the most relative articles. In order to learn a little about this complicated and very secretive process, my professor is having all of my classmates and I link the completely made-up word loocsixela to the Green Bay Packers homepage. We will then see whether our results actually become linked to the Packers and learn many other cool things about search.

All I can say is that while I wish the word loocsixela could be linked to the football dynasty we all know as the New England Patriots, I guess the Green Bay Packers will have to do for now.

Stay posted for the results of the loocsixela experiment!!!

Will UDEL be next to give out Ipods to students?

2006-03-25T11:20:00.000-08:00

I recently read a post by Deborah Zachar about the use of internet technology by Boston University and Duke University in two very different ways. Debbie discusses how Boston University has decided to begin using podcasting to broadcast sports games in order to reach the many BU alumni who do not live close enough to get the games through any station. While I thought this was interesting, I was even more intrigued by a story Debbie mentioned about Duke University's use of Ipods.

Duke has decided to give each of its 1,650 incoming freshman a free ipod this year in an attempt to foster more uses of technology in the classroom. While most students would be thrilled at the idea that they can now store over 10,000 songs on their ipod and use it to watch videos and television shows, the Duke administration has other ideas of how these ipods can be used. Duke plans on pre-loading the ipods with things like freshman orientation literature, the academic calendar and other pertinent information to help the freshman transition be as smooth as possible.

The ipods will also be used to do things like download coursee content, recorded lectures, foreign language lessons, audio books and music from a website that Duke University has sponsored that mimics the website used by Itunes. Duke estimates that the cost of implementing this project will be about $500,000 but believes that students will help expand the project and find even more useful ways to use the ipods, such as putting out an audio student newspaper, etc. Duke plans on assessing the project at the end of the year to see if the merits warrant an extension or long-term commitment to the program.

The article also discusses various schools that have made deals with companies such as Napster to offer streaming music to their students. However, the article fails to mention UD, who recently made a commitment to this by signing a deal with Ruckus, a digital entertainment network designed specifically for college students. In addition to getting free, legal music downloads, on-campus UD students can, for a small fee, get access to hundreds of Hollywood movies and hit TV shows.

I think it is pretty incredible that UD has decided to combat illegal file sharing by providing safe ways for students to get the music and videos they want, at an affordable price. Despite the fact that UD does not get the national attention it deserves for taking such honorable actions, I think all of the students appreciate the university's efforts.

I hope everyone has a great Spring Break! I'm off to Myrtle Beach!

Disaster Research is GOOD STUFF

2006-03-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to creating my wiki entry on Disaster Research just now. I could not believe the fact that no one had made any entry on this field of research considering that it is growing so quickly and that there is such a long history connected to it.

The reason I have become invovled in disaster research and have decided to keep track of this entry is that this past summer I completed a fellowship sponsored by the National Science Foundation at the University of Delaware Disaster Research Center. Our center is actually the oldest and most comprehensive center in the world with the largest library of disaster-related documents in the world. This summer I was part of a program called the Research Experience for Undergraduates through which myself and nine other undergraduates from all over the country took part in an intensive nine-week fellowship. During this time, we learned and acquired all of the necessary skills to complete our own undergraduate research project in the disaster field. The REU program allowed us to meet many of the most reknowned researchers in the field and travel to conferences in New York City, Washington D.C., as well as Boulder, Colorado to enhance our learning experience.

My specific research project deals with the September 11th tragedy and focuses on the waterborne evacuation that took place in the New York and New Jersey harbors that helped an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 people get out of lower Manhattan after all other modes of transportation were disturbed. Since my project is part of a larger, three year project being conducted by a faculty member in the Sociology Department, my project focuses on a smaller portion of the event. I am looking at the role of harbor pilots and whether they facilitated or impeded the improvisation taking place in the harbor during the evacuation.

While I am a business major, I find the disaster research field to be incredibly interesting and definitely not known enough about by the general public. The work done by researchers in this field has helped save the lives of many people because it helps organizations such as FEMA and local search and rescue organizations to better mitigate and respond to disasters. I hope that my wiki will lead others to add more information and to spread the positive contributions of disaster research throughout the wikipedia and larger community.

Amazon is in BIG trouble!

2006-03-19T19:39:00.000-08:00

I thought Wedneday's discussion of the Amazon.com scandal was extremely interesting. The article disucsses a recent phenomenon that Amazon customers slowly caught on to that made loyal customers question whether this company valued them or was taking advantage of them in every possible way. Basically, regular customers began to realize that they would get larger discounts when they posed as first-time vistors than when they logged on with their regular account. Therefore, the loyalty they had developed was actually negatively impacting them and they were getting charged a higher price for the same item a new customer was buying. Naturally, Amazon denies the controversy, saying any price problems were attributed to a price scheme that went bad.

To me, the most interesting part of the article has to do with how the controversy came to the surface. Basically, a group of individuals on a DVD Talk Forum were exchanging tips they found that would help them get better prices and eventually the larger controversy was realized. This proves how important the internet is becoming in allowing consumer's to discuss products, companies, and even unearth scandals. Companies truly have to watch their backs and can no longer think that they might get away with something. Consumers are smart, and they now have the means and modes of communication that will force companies to perform ethically.

Considering that I am a fairly frequent user of Amazon and have my doubts about what they say in response to the controversy, I am thinking I might make a new account prior to making my next purchase. After all, better safe than sorry!

Green Beer? Mmm, Mmm Good

2006-03-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

Having just finished a weekend of excessive celebration of St. Patrick's Day, despite the fact that I am a whopping 0% Irish, I was excited to find an article on Slashdot that discussed the concept of Green Beer. However, this was not green beer in the traditional sense of the words. Instead, the article discussed a brewery located on Brewer's Row in Brooklyn, New York called Brooklyn Brewery. This brewery uses wind power for 100% of the brewery's energy needs. While the brewery's energy bills are about 10-13% higher than they would be if they used traditional sources of energy, the company is committed to running a environmentally friendly, 'green brewery'. Steve Hindy, the founder states, "It's the right thing to do, and not too many years down the road it will be a common choice. If you are going to be in business, it's good to have principles." The brewery does not have its own wind turbines, but instead pays a high rate to a company called Con Edison to replace the 285,000 kilowatt hours it uses by wind power produced at a wind farm in Madison County in upstate New York.

I became particularly interested in the transition of companies from being environmentally disruptive to being green companies last semester when I took a business class on sustainability issues in business. This was by far one of the best classes I have ever taken at the University of Delaware considering that we learned about companies that are devoted to the three forms of capital: natural, social, and econonmic capital. Natural capital refers to the environmental measures taken to preserve our resources, such as those of Brooklyn Brewery. Social capital refers to putting effort into providing employees and customers with a positive experience and placing value in these two groups. Lastly, economic capital is what has always been the traditional lone value in companies, that of making money as quickly as possible.
During the class we looked at various sustainable companies and had presentations by some of the major player's in the move toward making corporate America more committed to the three forms of capital. Oddly enough, we discussed a different brewery, Coors Light, and their commitment to sustainability.

Coors engaged in sustainable practices with regard to water processing by creating Colorado’s first biological water treatment plant that allowed all waste from the use of water to be re-used at some other point in the process or sold to other potential users of the waste. Additionally, Coors used spent grains as fertilizer and feed thereby not allowing them to leave as wastes.
Lastly, Coors took the cans that were thrown out and developed a way for them to be recycled so that they could be used again and filtered back into the process.

Overall, I believe sustainability is an important issue and highly recommend all business students to take a class that discusses the issue prior to entering the business world naive to the problems that businesses can create when they are not 'green'.

BUZZZZZZZZ....Marketing?

2006-03-14T23:57:00.000-08:00

I thought Tuesday’s presentation by Mark Hughes was probably the best presentation I have ever listened to throughout my college experience and that he was BY FAR the most impressive speaker to whom I have ever listened. I am not going to lie, during the entire presentation I was wondering how much of the 300 million dollars he received when he and his colleagues sold Half.com to eBay. However, his techniques and sheer enthusiasm for the world of marketing made me an instant fan. When I got home, I jumped on my computer and ‘googled’ him, trying to find out about the mystery man who has recently changed the face of marketing. I visited his website and found out a wealth of knowledge and became even more impressed by this man’s accomplishments. I was shocked to learn that he has a radio talk show called 'The Buzz Factor' on every Sunday with himself and a high-powered and intelligent woman discussing the latest happenings in the world of marketing. I also couldn’t believe that Mark Burnett was on the list of previous guests considering that I am a reality-show junky and think that man is a genius.

I definitely look to Mark Hughes as a career role model considering that his main reason for jumping on the half.com bandwagon was that he was merely bored with his former position. I hope that one day, important individuals like Bill Cobb, the president of eBay, will be saying things about me like he has said about Hughes, such as “[He] is one of the most resourceful minds and creative marketers in the industry”.

I was shocked to read the article on our class blog discussing the renaming of towns by businesses and dotcom companies and to learn that Hughes is leading the initiative for another town renaming. He is currently helping Secretsanta.com, a website that helps individuals organize Secret Santa’s and events such as Yankee Swaps. It seems as though this man is everywhere, in prestigious newspapers, on the radio, on television, etc. All I know is that I’ll be happy if I can accomplish half the things Mark Hughes has accomplished in his life.

On a final note, I am still confused as to how Professor Brown was able to get Mark Hughes to come into our little classroom when he probably costs big bucks to do lectures. While I know Professor Brown is also a big-shot in the internet marketing world, he must have worked some magic to accomplish this guest lecture…..but I am happy he did!

Westborough School System Wiki Edit

2006-03-12T17:47:00.000-08:00

I finally decided to try my luck once again at wiki edits and edit the blog for my hometown, Westborough, MA. When I told my mother (a fifth grade teacher) that I was editing this wiki, she said that I was obligated to write something nice about the school system considering that is what has allowed me to get where I am today. Therefore, I decided to add an entire section on the wiki this time discussing the school system. I mostly used facts I already knew, such as the fact that our town was ranked by Money Magazine in 2005 as the 36th best place to live in the United States primarily due to the excellent financial support and staffing found in the school system. I definitely agree with Money Magazine's finding. I went to preschool through 12th grade in Westborough and could not have had a better overall experience. We were exposed to the arts and sports at a very young age and were given all of the opportunities and resources in the world to guarantee our success upon leaving for college. 98% of my senior class graduated from high school and considering that we all basically knew each other, I know that only a handful of students that did not go on to a traditional four-year college. While I never realized how thankful I should have been for attending the Westborough School System as a student, I now realize the importance of the strong education the school system provided me. I am happy that I could let all the Wikipedia users out there who may check up on the town that the school system is absolutely everything the other sources say it is.

Dating Never Used to be This Easy!

2006-03-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

A recent article I read on the Click Z Blog discusses a concept that I have been interested in after witnessing its success firsthand, Online Dating. During the spring of my senior year of high school I experienced the true power of online dating as I completed an internship in a fifth grade classroom. The teacher I was working with was a very successful young woman who was getting out of a very long and involved relationship and knew that she could not wait around any longer for the man of her dreams to suddenly appear. Therefore, she decided to sign up for a dating service that catered to her needs and helped her find the man of her dreams in no time. They got married a little more than a year after they had originally met and now have a beautiful baby and great marriage.
I found the ClickZ aricle to be fascinating because of some of the statistics included, such as the fact that a report released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project states that of the 10 million single online adults looking for relationships, 37% have visited an online dating site. It seems unbelievable to me that over a third of relationship-seekers are visiting these dating sites despite the fact that they are a relatively new phenomenon. Another fact I enjoyed was that of the online adults that use the internet for dating purposes, 9% admitted to having used the internet to break up with someone. While I think this is a pretty sad way to cut it off, I find it very easy to believe this percentage.
Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at Pew Internet & American Life Project states, "We know from the past that print personals was seen as a somewhat stigmatized activity. It's (online dating) taking it from a sub-cultural activity to a more mainstream activity." I can completely understand why some people would think some of these dating sites are are a little sad, but I honestly believe that with the busy lives people live nowadays online dating sites are perfectly reasonable tools to narrow down the field faster and find a compatible soulmate.
I think that my story and some of the facts included in the report speak for themselves. The report found that 31% of American adults know someone who has used an online dating site, that 26% of American adults know someone who's been on a date with someone they met on an online dating site, and that a whopping 15% know someone who's been in a long-term relationship or married to a person they met online.
Anyone interested in enrolling on a dating site? Count me out for now, but who knows what the future holds?

Just call me 'Encyclopedia Brown'

2006-02-21T18:12:00.000-08:00

The big news of the day is that I actually just made my first Wikipedia edit...many more to come I'm sure. I decided to start out editing the entry for Sunday River (Maine). Sunday River is a ski resort that I have been visiting since I was a little kid. I used to go every February Vacation with my friend Aj's family, and just last month I went with three of my roomates for College Week (five days of intense skiing and parties). This is a picture of one of the best trails on the mountain:
Surprisingly, there was only a short entry about Sunday River in Wikipedia with numerous misspellings and sentence structure problems. I corrected most of them and then added a link at the bottom to a webpage that allows individuals to subscribe to various e-newletters the ski resort sends out concerning mountain reports, lodging deals, etc. Hopefully the other person who edits the page will appreciate my changes and work with me to enhance the entry. If not, we'll just have to declare WAR!

~Scott

Blogging Like a Champ

2006-02-19T11:49:00.000-08:00

While I thought this blogging stuff would be a bore, I have actually started to get into it. Last week while I was searching for a good google blog, I searched for some blogs about this town I lived in during my study-abroad last winter in Brazil. I now follow a few blogs that Americans living in the town have started such as this one. It is fun to see this older man take in many of the cultural events and attractions that we took in while living in Joao Pessoa, a beautiful ocean town in northeast Brazil. Considering that the month I spent there was the best month of my life, I guess I will live vicariously through the blogs I have found until I am able to return again to PARADISE.
Well, now that I am yet again thinking about the beautiful beaches, ninety-eight degree weather and awesome people I met while in Brazil, I will return to my homework in frigid Newark, DE.

Hope everyone had a great weekend,
Scott Golden

P.S. If anyone is thinking about going abroad during winter session, I highly recommend the Brazil trip and would love to talk to you about it. If you are looking for a trip that is a blend of paradise and parties for a reasonable price, the Brazil study-abroad is the trip for you! This is a pic of a booze cruise we went on that took you out to a sand bar and coral reef in the middle of the ocean where you could snorkel or visit the numerous 'boat bars' that would anchor on the sand bar.

I finally have a blog!

2006-02-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

My roomate made it seem like this blog stuff was hard, but I can't believe it was really that simple to create a blog.