Self Publishing

One aspect of e-books and e-book readers that doesn't seem to get much attention is the proliferation it has brought to self publishing. This article in the Wall Street Journal shows how the number of self-published book titles increased 160 percent between 2006 and 2010. E-books are given much of the credit, as well as an increase of businesses that promote self publishing. Interested? For those wanting a more visual description, there are a number of tutorials on You Tube explaining the process of self publishing. You can be sure I'll be discussing this in Introduction to Mass Communication when we get to the unit on the book industry.

Blind Your Ponies

I just finished this book by Stanley Gordon West and it's a truly motivational read. I've never rooted harder for a group of fictional characters! I laughed, cried and cheered, sometimes all on the same page! While the book is about a high school basketball team, it's main themes are love, persistence and forgiveness. It's long at 500+ pages, but definitely worth the time.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

As an optimist, I love stories that show the positive benefits of a good mood. Here's another, with emphasis on starting the day happy. Smile as you watch.

Still Haven't Learned

It continues to surprise me so many organizations are AFRAID of their employees use of social media websites.  I guess I understand why, but if they don't trust them, why did the hire them in the first place?  Here's an example from Sam Houston State University, which wanted the right to edit the social media website postings of anyone with a campus account. 

Again, as Chris Brogan stated at the 2011 PRSA International Conference, organizations should be looking to "get everyone involved" in their social media activities.  It is encouraged, of course, to have social media guidelines at your organization.  Here's a good example from IBM.

"Make the Customer the Hero"

One of the keynote speakers at the 2011 PRSA International Conference was Chris Brogan, an influential social media expert.  Chris shared a number of insightful one liners that really made me think about my individual presence on social media and how I can teach social media  to public relations' students.  Here are some quotes I found useful:

• Make the customer the hero
• Talk about other people on Twitter (rather than yourself)
• Record more video
• Exposure is not leverage
• Get your whole organization active in social media
• Facebook should not be your home base.  Get your own website
• Google+ is important because of searchability through the Google search engine

It's that last point I need to get a start on, as I have been delaying acquiring a Google+ account.  His reasoning to avoid the procrastination, though, makes sense.  Below is a video from PRSA with Chris speaking about media relations.

Round and Round

OK, I know I said I was going to blog the next few days about the 2011 PRSA International Conference, but I simply had to share this article and video with you from the Wall Street Journal about the reemergence of cassette tapes.  I love cassette tapes!  When I did more radio play-by-play of sporting events, I would record many of my games and listen to them.  I also bought most of my music on cassette tapes until about 1990.  One good point the article makes is a cassette tape makes it more likely you'll listen to every song on the album more than once, since it's not so easy to skip tracks.  Ah, the good ol' days!

PRSA International Conference

Over the next few days I'll be posting some thoughts regarding the 2011 PRSA International Conference in Orlando.  As you can see from the first photo, the setting at the JW Marriott was gorgeous.   

My overall takeaway from the conference is this:  Find what's newsworthy and tell it with passion and from the audience's perspective. 

 Soledad O'Brien, who gave a wonderful opening keynote address, said statistics are not a story.  Who those statistics affect and how they're impacted is a story.  She would know; Soledad is one of the better documentary producers on television today.

 I'll post more from my six days in Orlando in the coming days.

Is a Tablet Essential?

In one of my classes I generate a discussion about whether access to the internet is an essential part of today's world or merely a "want" or convenience.  Most students tend to settle on the convenience side of the argument, though I have a feeling if you took computers, the internet and their phones away from them for any length of time their thoughts on the topic might change.

I raise the issue in this post because of this news story that describes a $35 tablet computer now being offered by the government in India to help lift those who live in the countryside out of poverty.  This struck me as odd seeing as how the Associated Press reports there are still hundreds of thousands of Indian villagers without basic necessities like electricity and clean water.  While I'm all in favor of providing access to as much information as possible, I guess I'd like to see the government in India help their citizens take care of other basic necessities first.  

Learning New Things

I've been spending the past couple of days at strategic planning training for the university. While the main focus is a basic SWOT analysis, the method of implementation has been interesting. There is a lot of individual contributions, even though we're in a fairly large group of 40+. Providing input has felt easy, which is a credit to the trainer Pat Sanaghan.  In fact, I have learned several techniques that I will likely try in my classes to increase student participation.  Anything to get students motivated and talking is at least worth a shot!

Selling Product and Goodwill

Here's a great ad by a foreign beer company that does a wonderful job of selling the product, while developing a theme of social acceptance for all. It's also a wonderful example of a persuasive advertising strategy we discuss in Introduction to Mass Communication called the Bandwagon Effect.

In my Introduction to Mass Communication class we discuss the Federal Trade Commission's role in policing deceptive advertising. Here's the latest example of what can happen to a business found "guilty."

Kindle Fire

As an owner of a Kindle, Amazon's e-book reader, I was intrigued by the announcement of the new product called Kindle Fire to be released on November 15.
 

Obviously, a continuation of the digitization of media content.  I think I'll be getting one.

Going Long-oria

In what was one of the most exciting conclusions to the end of Major League Baseball's regular season ever, the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals concluded an improbable September with victories that cemented their place in the 2011 playoffs.

Both teams were seemingly out of the wild-card hunts at the beginning of the month, only to have historic collapses by the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox help them back into the National League and American League Wild-card races.

The Cardinals' 8-0 win over the Astros Wednesday was boring compared to Tampa's come-from-behind win against the Yankees.  Trailing 7-0 at one point and down to their last strike in the bottom of the ninth, the Rays used two home runs by Evan Longoria and one from Dan Johnson to beat the Yankees 8-7 in extra innings.

Baseball fans can only hope the playoff and World Series matchups showcase similar thrilling finishes.

When Spellers Go Bad

It's good to know there's people to keep track of the most commonly misspelled words.  This graphic is quite helpful and a good thing to have next to your computer when typing.  Still, no matter how difficult some words are to spell, misspelling words is usually caused by laziness.  Proofreading.  Is it a lost art or the difference between a professional and an amateur?

More Proof I'm Getting Old

My favorite band was popular in the early 90s?  Check.

My bones ache after a day of physical activity?  Check.

I go home at night and enjoy reading the newspaper?  Check.

I put two spaces after a period?  Check.

Regarding that last one, I have NEVER even considered not putting two spaces after a period. It turns out, though,  the two-space rule is a thing of the typewriter age and went out the window with word processors. Since humans are creatures of habit, re-training myself will definitely take some time.

Am I stubborn enough to resist change?  Check.