Thanksgiving Travel: Done Right

For students traveling this Thanksgiving, here are some tips to make your trip more enjoyable and easier.

Whether you are flying by plane, taking the train or driving to your destination the key is to have something to occupy your mind.

Traveling is always physically draining but mentally it can seem like a drag that lasts far longer than reality.

If traveling by plane I suggest bringing along your favorite book to enjoy reading while waiting in the terminal in case your flight is delayed.

Thanksgiving week is known to be one of the craziest weeks to travel in the United States.

Movies like “Home for the Holidays” depict how difficult traveling on Thanksgiving can be.

Since prices for plane tickets have risen as the cost of fuel has, many have decided to travel alternatively by train this Thanksgiving.

Though not the smoothest means of travel, train rides are quite enjoyable.

On my first train ride I spoke with my neighbor for the majority of the trip which distracted me from how long the train ride lasted.

On the train you can easily start a conversation with fellow riders and you may end up learning a lot about them and yourself as you travel.

In my opinion, time spent riding in a car seems longer than it is.

If you do not have the option of knocking out in the backseat of the car, its probably a good idea to bring enough music to last one and half trips.

Music can keep you awake if you sing along as well as keep your mind occupied.

Its important in car rides to be able to focus on driving (if you are the driver) and keeping the driver awake (if you are the passenger).

Whatever way you travel this Thanksgiving just remember its worth the time and energy you put into planning how to get home.

Social Media Aggregation come to Occupy Wall Street

http://news.yahoo.com/social-media-aggregation-comes-occupy-wall-street-204006749.html;_ylt=Aja4PpA2x2e8YMhEDF2803d5Hrd_;_ylu=X3oDMTQ4bW1yNjllBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBUZWNoU0YgU29jaWFsTWVkaWFTU0YEcGtnAzZiMDMxZjJmLTM5ZjEtMzdhMi1hZDU2LTcwMWRhOWNkNDViMgRwb3MDOARzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5BHZlcgM1ODk3N2Y4MC0wN2VlLTExZTEtOWY3Ny1kODQyODE0YzU3NGI-;_ylg=X3oDMTF2cjIwNjg1BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAN0ZWNofHNvY2lhbCBtZWRpYQRwdANzZWN0aW9ucw--;_ylv=3

The World-Wide Web

My favorite quote from the article, “The World-Wide Web”, summed up this article quite well. “The Web does not yet meet its design goal as being a pool of knowledge that is as easy to update as to read.” The article has two main ideas to tell us what a W3 is and to tell us how the web is every growing and adapting.

Before I had never heard of the term W3 but the article defines it as several things including boundless information world where all items have a reference by which they can be retrieved, an address system, a network protocol, a markup language, and a body of data. The article explains these definition more in depth.

The second main point of the article was to discuss the development of W3 that are recent. As well as the future of W3 in technology. It points out how there is developments in technology that influence W3.

A Virtual Death and a Real Dilemma

The article “A Virtual Death And a Real Dilemma: Identity, Trust, and Community in Cyberspace” discusses online blogging and how one person’s actions can influence a community. As I read the article I did not think that bloggers could form a sense of community online. Their means of communication connects them to one another through what they share on the blogosphere. The deception of Debbie Swenson made many people think about how much they trusted what they read on the Internet. For years I have heard from librarians to always have “dependable and reliable” sources because the Internet can lie.

The article touches base with how identity is shaped in a virtual community and it causes a true dilemma. It was interesting reading the reactions of those who found out that Kaycee Swanson didn’t exist and that her story was a hoax. The reality of her story made the community fall apart because it did not know how to communicate their feelings and the confusion they faced. If I were in the same situation where I felt my trust was betrayed I do not know how I would react.

"The Rise and Inglorious Fall of Myspace"

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_27/b4235053917570.htm

On businessweek.com they had an article by Felix Gilette discussing how Myspace rose and fell. The article was the featured cover story in June but the article is still relevant now because of how it influenced social media. Myspace had millions of users logged on and networking. Now there is significantly fewer Myspace users despite the company’s effort to compete against Facebook and other social networking sites.

I found this article to be very informing about the business side of social networking web sites. It explained how News Corp. spent $580 million purchasing Myspace and put it on sale for $100 million. That is the loss costs the company faced when Myspace’s popularity fell. The article also discussed the millions of dollars spent on advertising on the website. I remember when I was getting more into Facebook and less into Myspace when I noticed that Myspace began to bombard users with ads on the home page and the personal pages. I thought this was a good lesson on how fads come and go especially in today’s culture where popularity of something only lasts so long.

"Blogging: self presentation and privacy"

The article, “Blogging: self presentation and privacy” by Karen McCullagh discussed blogs and its place in our social lives on the Internet. It pointed out how much privacy blogs give bloggers and how the data they share is not very ‘private’.

One of the main ideas of the article that I read about discussed how bloggers should control the privacy settings of the blogs. It gave multiple suggestions including being careful about what personal information you share that can distinguish your online life to your personal life. More suggestions included blocking IP addresses and using privacy filters to further conceal who you are on your blog.

A second main idea the article had discussed identity bloggers have on blogs. Bloggers can have multiple blog with different identities. This is an option for bloggers because of how easy it is to set up a blog on line. The audience of blogs also have the freedom to follow blogs without letting bloggers know their identity. It give blog users freedom to say what they are thinking or feeling.