Gaming the Search Engine, in a political Season

I had never heard of a link bomb and was quite informed when reading this article. I never realized how people could mess with the system to try and fix peoples searches. I always figured that when I searched for something online with a search engine that I was directed to the most important, correct and most visited site. I was amazed at the example of the pranksters who were able to get people directed to sites where negative information was given regarding republican candidates. I felt bad for the link bomb which directed users who searched for "miserable Failure" to "George W. Bush's official white house Biography." I found it very interesting that fewer than one percent of internet users use advance searches. I really enjoyed this article and felt that it was very informative. I would suggest others read this as well.

Spoof, Spam, Lurk and Lag: the Aesthetics of Text-based Virtual Realities

This article was really confusing for me and made it hard for me to follow. I tried to understand it but became really bored with most of it. I didn't understand a lot of the terminology that they were using. Spam was one that I kind of understood and was informed that people could use three types of spam when it comes to typing a message:playful, ambiguous and pernicious. I can see why people would use the first one. After reading over the article a few times I can better understand the article. I see that a "spoof" (unattributed communication) something that shouldn't be said but is said for just because. "spam" (excess of communication) and is often takes up space and time for people to read and often will slow things down for everyone, "lurk" (refusal to communicate)This would be hard to deal with when trying to have a conversation with anyone online.

Conversational Terrorism

These are some great ways to annoy a lot of people and make some people very mad. Some of my favorite ones that I think would be great to use are....

COMPLIMENTARY INSULT:

"You're looking less repulsive than usual today."

DISTORTED ACTIVE LISTENING:
"If I hear you correctly, your point is... (get it all wrong)."

"It sounds as if you are saying that torturing children is a good idea...."


I KNOW BETTER:
"Johnny, the reason I can't give you permission to go to the party is because I know that deep in your heart you'd rather spend the time here with me."

SELECTIVE MEMORY:
To bring up a past event and GET IT ALL WRONG, or even to make up a past event. The intent is to get the other person confused, angry, and defensive.

"You never admit defeat. Remember that chess game I beat you in?" (The one you lost.)

"But last week (or a minute ago) you said the opposite! Make up your mind!"

"Remember last time we had an argument, and you turned out to be wrong and wouldn't admit it? Now we're in the same spot we were last time."

KNEE JERK:

"I would like to answer your question directly, but considering your past reactions / ability to cope with the truth / emotional instability, I feel that to do so would be a disservice to you at this time." [Other person gets (justifiably) upset.] "See, what did I tell you. You are flying off the handle already!"

LOOK AT YOU:
After using any of the previous ploys, point out any physical manifestations of the other person's irritation as further proof that they are wrong.

"You seem to be sweating a lot. Of course, I would be too if I had to try to support your flimsy position."

I can see how a lot of people would be really bugged by all of these great tactics for any conversation.

The Coming Tug of War Over the Internet

I can see how the telephone companies would be mad and would want google and yahoo to pay a fee for using the bandwidth. The telephone companies are the ones that are having to foot the bill and feel they need to be compensated for the money that they are making. I can see how they would be mad that any time some one uses google or other search engines that they are using their banwidth and not being compensated for the space. I don’t like the idea of one company being able to buy the power to be able to control the Internet or have faster access to things because they can afford it. I feel as if I am being forced to choose one website over another because they have the power too. I think it should be an open game and let the best man win and let people choose for themselves. I can see where googles Davidson is saying that he worries about the new people coming into the Internet market and not being able to have the chance to compete. I agree that it is important for the laws to be changed. The Internet has come a long way since 1996 and things need to be re-evaluated and re written to make sure things are done correctly. The Internet is a great place but can definitely be a place where if it is not monitored and controlled can become a problem.

When is Google not your friend?

I can understand how people would feel that their privacy is being threatened and can see how people can view this as a very bad thing for google to be tracking others searches. I think most people wouldn’t care if google or other search engines were tracking the things they searched frequently. It seems to me that this could help me when it came to searching for things that I have searched for in the past or common things that others may be searching for as well. I find it very useful to have suggestions pop up when I am looking things up on the internet. I can see how some people may feel that this is invading their privacy but as it stated in one of the stories that lawyers were able to use search engines when it came to solving their cases. I would prefer it if they deleted my searches after a few months as stated in one of the suggestions. I hope that they can come to an understanding and set some laws to protect us though when it comes to searching for things and being on the Internet.

Emailing and Networking Etiquette:

Email etiquette is a very important aspect of any business that you work in. It can be a breaking point for a sale or a future customer. It is important to realize the basic rules when it comes to sending emails. It can be the breaking point for business relationship.

When reading through the information I learned some very important information that caught my attention and there were some good things that I felt I needed some reminding on. When sending emails some of the important things that stuck out to me were:

 Be concise and to the point.
 Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions.
 Don't leave out the message thread.
 Mailings > use the bcc: field or do a mail merge.
 Do not request delivery and read receipts.
 Use a meaningful subject.

I think that these are few of the most important points that someone should be reminded of when it comes to sending out emails in a business setting. I hope that each of you will take the time to check out this website when it comes to being better at emailing no matter who you are emailing.

To find out and learn more tips on how to write better business emails check out
http://www.emailreplies.com/#18receipts


Networking is an important part of business and it is important to know and use. Networking is a great opportunity to promote your business and for other people to network there’s. When networking businesses it is important to realize that when meeting in person or online you can help them grow their business and they can do the same for you. There are quite a few techniques that can help you when it comes to meeting potential customers. Networking online can harm your business if you don’t know how to proper way to handle yourself online.

Here are a few basic principles to use in solving your own Netiquette dilemmas.

 It's easy to misinterpret your correspondent's meaning. And it's frighteningly easy to forget that your correspondent is a person with feelings more or less like your own.
 Computer networks bring people together who'd otherwise never meet.
 Humans exchanging email often behave the way some people behind the wheel of a car do: They curse at other drivers, make obscene gestures, and generally behave like savages. Most of them would never act that way at work or at home. But the interposition of the machine seems to make it acceptable.



 When writing online proposes this useful test : "Would I say this to the person's face?" If the answer is no, rewrite and reread. Repeat the process till you feel sure that you'd feel as comfortable saying these words to the live person as you do sending them through cyberspace.
 You don't have to be engaged in criminal activity to want to be careful. Any message you send could be saved or forwarded by its recipient. You have no control over where it goes.
 People seem to have a lower standard of ethics in cyberspace because there is less risks of being caught.
 When you enter a domain of cyberspace that's new to you, take a look around. Spend a while listening to the chat or reading the archives. Get a sense of how the people who are already there act. Then go ahead and participate.
 Don’t waste people’ time. You don’t want them to waste yours.
 You won't be judged by the color of your skin, eyes, or hair, your weight, your age, or your clothing. You will, however, be judged by the quality of your writing.
 Know what you're talking about and make sense.
 Don't be afraid to share what you know.
 Of course, you'd never dream of going through your colleagues' desk drawers. So naturally you wouldn't read their email either

To check out more tips and rules on how better to present yourself online check out this website.
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

Speech outline

Speech and Presentation Outline

Executive Summary: Ariel
We at Kappa Delta are trying to make a difference in the community and want to help you become involved the worthwhile cause of child abuse prevention. We know that every little bit helps and a donation of any kind would be a benefit to the children in need. The education and awareness gained through our programs are priceless because of the many lives that have been saved. Donations of time, service, raffle tickets, gift certificates and monetary donations would help facilitate this great cause to move forward in preventing child abuse among families and communities nationwide. (Expand) (Feel free to change this or add to it, you can also change or add anything to the letter as well.)
Fliers: Jeff and Monica (Ariel did you say you had something like this or did we need to create this?)

Background on organization and campaign:
Jeff (Ariel can you provide us with more information on the sorority and the campaign, I have the information from the letter but any extra info would be very helpful)

Benefits for Kappa Delta and Donating Businesses.: Monica

CALL TO ACTION: Ariel


Conclusion: Ariel, Monica, Jeff
(Ariel this needs to be posted to our blog by Wednesday, here is a brief outline we can post and any information you can add would be helpful. We can meet together this week or next week and add and discuss things for our final but we needed an outline. Let us know anything we can add and then we will post it and then discuss more in depth when we meet together. See you Wednesday.) (Wednesday is a work day so let’s plan on meeting at the Library to finish up everything. )