Final Reflections

Wow! What a semester! Experimental class. Digital literacy labs. Missionary fireside. Epic final showcase. This has been one of the most fun classes I have ever taken. It has also been one of the most time intensive classes. Here are some things I learned.

• Blogging consistently is HARD!
• Maintaining a blog gives you more credibility
• The Value of knowledge is multiplied when it is shared 
• Knowledge is like networks, it is only as valuable as the number of people it connects
• Digital technology is a tool to facilitate human interactions more easily
• You can learn a lot from books, but it's sometimes better to find an expert and learn from them

These are only a few of the things that I have learned. I would like to post a few of my 'new year's resolutions.' Or ways I will continue to use the things I have learned.

• Continue a blog, at least one about my next adventure (teaching english in china) and another about venture capital and start-ups
• Continue to connect with experts to learn more 
• Connect others. I have helped at least one person get an interview and I want to do more
• Continue to stay up to date on technology with my own digital literacy labs

Throughout this semester we have learned a lot about history, technology and human interaction. Sometimes it is easy to get enamored with any one of those, but when you can manage all three of them effectively that is when you can create value and help people. We learned a lot about tools but I realized that the tools only facilitate human interaction, they don't compensate for poor content. This class has actually made me want to live a more exciting life. Mark Twain has a quote that goes something like this,

"If you don't have anything to write about in your journal, then change your life"

This class has had a tremendous impact on my academic career, technological knowledge, business prospects and social life, and it will continue to do so long into the future. Just remember the 3 c's Consume Create Connect. See you Soon!

Blog recommendations

This week's topic is about recommended blogs.

Consume-
First recommended blog is Eric Collyer's. First, he uses Wordpress, which I think has a nice format (I am tempted to switch from blogger for the backgrounds alone) and second he is an interesting person that has unique insights. The blog I recommend of his is a book review about a book he read concerning Einstein and Picasso. Eric does a great job of outlining enough of the book that I get a solid feel for what it is about, yet leaves enough to the imagination that it piqued my interest to learn more.

Connect-
I think Ariel does a great job of sharing how to be involved in web 2.0. She probably didn't have that as her intent when she wrote this blog but I think this blog perfectly illustrates the 'wisdom of the crowds' and web 2.0. She is in her linguistics class, finds a resource that is useful for getting ideas for papers and she shares it with her classmates. Boom, instant value created. She didn't have to read a manual about how to be involved in web 2.0 or anything else. She just added value to her friend's lives and that is really what is at the heart of successful bloggers and web 2.0

Digital Latter-day Saints - SUCCESS!

Well, last Sunday was a success. The missionaries decided to make a last minute change and came in person to the fireside instead of skyping in. It was fun though because the audience got to interact with them more comfortably.

There were four people that sang a musical number, and a girl shared her experiences sharing the gospel with her friends and making a mormon.org profile. If the missionaries gave the most inspiring message of the night, she gave the most motivating portion because it showed that what we were talking about was possible.

James Wilcox added his experiences of translating a Prezi presentation that the missionaries use into another language.

We ended by showing a slide show of all the websites that the church maintains.

It was a great and uplifting experience. The next event we have planned is the final showcase. December 9, 7-9pm in the JKB.

Come check it out!!

Web 2.0 - Advergaming

Web 2.0 as we become for comfortable with the internet we are discovering more ways to use it in innovative ways. One of the ways that I found interesting is Advergaming.

When the internet was new, advertisers and marketers applied old marketing tactics to the new internet medium. If they wanted to advertise a certain product or service they would have a standard picture with text advertisement. They even called these, ‘banner ads’, like the billboards and banners they were modeled after.

The problem was, banner ads fell woefully short of the potential of the internet. The beauty of the internet is that it doesn’t have to be static. It can be interactive. A natural defense of humans is to notice quick motions as compared to static images or subtle changes. Marketers discovered they could capitalize on this natural instinct if they made a moving advertisement. They noticed the advertisements that had motion were much more effective at catching people’s attention.

This idea has gradually been developed until entire games have been produced with the sole purpose of advertising a product and boosting brand or product awareness.

Digital Latter-day Saints- This Sunday

We skyped again with Elder Spencer and confirmed our outline for the fireside this Sunday. A few of our team members were not able to make it but it was nice to be on the same page with the elders about what they will talk about.

We asked them to talk about 4 topics

1. Their story and how they came to serve in the Referral Center Mission
2. Tools they use to teach others about the gospel of Jesus Christ
3. A success story of someone they have taught
4. Commitment to the audience to get involved with missionary work


We noticed that although our fireside had a good program, we were lacking a historical element for the final project. Kurt with his quick thinking and Andrew with his mad computer skills decided to build a website that outlined how our ancestors heard about the gospel and how people can hear about the gospel today.

It used to be that the only chance people had to hear the gospel was if missionaries showed up at their door. Now, there is a multitude of resources that people learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

So for our final project, we are going to report a media portion about the fireside and a historical portion about the accessibility of the gospel.

Come on Sunday and learn more!

Digital Latter-day Saints update

BYU 61st ward is going to sponsor our digital missionary fireside! The event is this Sunday November 21 from 7:00 pm - 9:00pm.

We recently skyped with LDS missionaries Elder Spencer and Elder Ahlstrom at the Referral Center Mission in Provo, Utah. We learned about their teaching techniques and how they use the internet to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ and His restored church on earth. 

Passwords, Future Shock and Bookclubs

I recently learned in my Digital Civilization class how poor most passwords are. I was amazed to learn that my professor had hundreds of passwords. He creates a new password for every site that requires password authentication. He does it through a password program that creates and remembers his passwords. So I decided to experiment.