The Masses

Have you ever heard the saying “Two heads are better than one?” Multiply that the total number of internet users and you get crowdsourcing. Late last year the Pew Internet & American Life Project released a study revealing that 57 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds online – 12 million individuals – are creating content of some sort and posting it to the Web. Crowdsourcing is based on the framework of collective intelligence (Levy 1997), the idea that knowledge is more accurate when it consists of inputs from a population. Together we are smarter than individually. The Internet allows people to engage with other people and on a much larger scale than previously imagined by communication scholars.

The term “crowdsourcing” was coined by Jeff Howe in 2006. Crowdsourcing has been with us for quite a while; it just got its new catchy name recently. Howe identifies four types of crowdsourcing that all depend on some contribution from a crowd:
1.       Crowd wisdom
2.       Crowd creation
3.       Crowd voting
4.       Crowd funding

Crowdsourcing is becoming more popular among organizations looking for solutions with design, product development and problem solving. Compared to the cost of hiring a trained professional, entrepreneurs have saved time and money on research and development.  Resources are provided on the global scale when using this approach. The power of the crowd is driving the future of business.

Companies like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk provide a web-based marketplace that gives businesses access to a diverse workforce and gives workers a selection of thousands of tasks to complete whenever it's convenient.  The tasks include such things as identifying items in a photograph, skimming real estate documents to find identifying information, writing short product descriptions or transcribing podcasts. Traditionally, tasks like this have been accomplished by hiring a large temporary workforce which is time consuming and expensive. Amazon calls the tasks HITs (human intelligence tasks); they’re designed to require little time, and they offer very little compensation. Every little bit counts and the cents add up and soon enough the cents will add up to dollars. It’s like an online piggy bank for doing various chores.

iStockphoto is a great place for businesses to go when they are searching for images for their advertising or promotional materials. iStock offers  photographs, illustrations, videos, sound effects and more at affordable prices and are exceptional quality. Artists, designers and photographers from around the world come here to create, work and sell original content of their own. 

Innocentive offers a network of scientists. Companies like Boeing, DuPont, and Procter & Gamble now post their most difficult scientific problems on InnoCentive’s Web site; anyone on InnoCentive’s network can take a shot at cracking them. The rewards can vary anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 per solution. That’s pocket change compared to paying the salaries of a group of scientists that it would take to solve your problem. Not to mention the money the company will make off of the product. It’s a win-win situation.

Brands often seek engagement with their consumers through crowdsourcing with requests for feedback, contests, polls or surveys. Starbucks “My Starbucks Idea” campaign encourages feedback on the brand and product level. Starbucks is getting a steady stream of feedback and ideas while deepening the bond with their customers. Starbucks has created their own social network webpage where consumers can all gather and submit ideas. The site allows participants to view, share, vote, and comment on ideas submitted. They also keep consumers in the loop on what ideas they are implementing. Below is a list of some of the great ideas that came from consumers:

·         Gratuity when using gift cards

·         Rewards card

·         Free drink when you purchase a mug or tumbler

·         Make Starbucks an after dinner destination

·         Design a cup contest

What a great concept. Starbucks is improving their business with external feedback from customers. Sometimes it’s difficult to think like a customer and what better way to know what the customer want than giving them an opportunity to show you.

Crowdsourcing is not the solution for every business, but it is another tool that businesses can use to improve their brand. If used appropriately it can be a great success. As with anything, there can be cons to using this method with the masses. It takes a lot of time to sort through the many ideas that come your way. Finding the right idea could be like finding a needle in a hay stack. Also, make sure to cover yourself legally. The person submitting the idea may want to sell the idea as intellectual property.

Once an organization decides to give crowdsourcing a try, it is important to motivate people to participate. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivators have been proven to be successful. Intrinsic motivation is internal and provides a benefit to the participant, such as enjoyment.  Extrinsic motivators provide an incentive such as money or a prize.

In Clay Sharky’s YouTube video he explains the internet brings us a different kind of society. “Group action just got easier.” We are living thru the largest increase in him human expressive capability and crowdsourcing offers a way for businesses to take advantage of this. 

What are your thoughts on crowdsourcing? How can you see organizations successfully implementing crowdsourcing into their research and development process? 

Blogosphere

Welcome back to week five of Communication Station. I have learned a tremendous amount about blogging this year thanks to my professor, Dr Padgett. Instead of taking tests and writing scholarly papers, our class maintains a professional blog. I really enjoy this unique approach to learning. This week are going to discuss blogging, digital democracy and citizen journalism. The term blog is a shortened form of web log. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and the person who creates the blog and updates it with information is a “blogger.”

Why do we blog? Several studies have examined why bloggers blog. The studies found five motivational factors for blogging: documenting one’s life; providing commentary and opinions; expressing deeply felt emotions; articulating ideas through writing; and forming and maintaining community forums. (Nardi et al. 2004b)

Blogs provide a venue for people to express their ideas or organize their thoughts as well as influence others opinions and provide viewpoints that are alternative to mainstream media. Some scholars say that blogs promote citizen journalism and digital democracy.

The act of citizens playing an active role in collecting and reporting news and information is citizen journalism, also known as “participatory journalism” or “internet journalism”.  The internet can be used as a tool for citizen’s to report news. Bloggers provide a personal feel to the story. Blogs have changed the way we read media and news and the way journalist report the news across the web. Blogging isn't journalism but journalist do blog. Many news organizations require journalist to maintain a blog. Running a blog creates a way for bloggers to connect with their audience on a whole new level.

The availability of new technology has made it easier for citizens to report incidents quicker than journalists are even made aware of the event. New media technology, such as cellphones and media sharing websites have given the citizens the power to report, unscripted, unedited, real-time information 24 hours per day. In some situations the citizen journalist would be approached by news organizations or investigators for more detailed information about an event.

Blogs are important tools used to promote digital democracy. They enhance the participation in political decision making by citizens. They represent the public interest in the digital era.

How many blogs are out there? Professional blogger Eric Pangburn posted the following stats on his blog on April 7, 2013:

• Tumblr.com shows it has over 101.7 million blogs with 44.6 billion blog posts
• WordPress.com has over 63 million blogs
• Livejournal reports to have 62.6 million blogs
• Weebly states it has over 12 million blogs
• Blogster has over 582,754 blogs

This information was posted over a year ago. The numbers are astounding and they continue to grow. There are blogs about any topic that you can think of. With so many blogs floating around in the blogosphere, how do we know which blogs are reputable? You cannot believe everything you read on the internet. Bloggers need to let readers know that the information they are reading is quality. There are several things bloggers can do to let their readers know that the information that is posted is quality information.

The blogger can list their credentials in their bio. When I stumbled upon Eric Pangburn’s Snitch IM blog, I read his bio and realized that blogging was how he supports his family. If your blog has ever won an award or was mention in a popular news article, it’s a good idea to flaunt that information on your blog. Pangburn’s bio says that his blogs have been featured in several top websites including NY Post “Best of the Week”.

When bloggers post numbers and statistics, it is important to reference where they found the information and provide links to studies or websites.

The blogger could feature trusted logos and awards to their site to establish credibility. Recently I discovered that my dear brother-in-law, Mike Fish, is a blogger. Mike is an attorney specializing in workers compensation. The name of his blog is Alabama Worker’s Comp Blawg. On the cover of his blog he has the law firm’s logo. There is also an image displayed showcasing that the blog was named one of the top 25 Workers’ Compensation blogs by LexisNexis in 2009. I have never heard of LexisNexis, but the fact that the blog won an award makes me think it’s a credible source in the workers’ comp world. If you click on the LexisNexis image you can read the reviews that the blog received.

Best Blogs to Watch:

One of the best newcomers this past year has been Alabama Workers' Comp Blawg, which covers both state and national news. What we like about this blog is that it tells you in plain English what the real impact of a court's decision or other change in law will be, and provides practice pointers and opinions of the writers.

Mike Fish

 High five bro-in-law, so proud of you!

People are starting to take note of the power of influence some bloggers have. Kelly Cutrone, a judge on “America’s Next Top Model” and owner of fashion p.r. firm People’s Revolution tells the N.Y. post “Bloggers are being paid to sit in the front row, and editors are not. They’re talent along with reality-TV people and actors.” There are famous bloggers that are treated like celebrities because of their devoted fan base. Some bloggers are getting six-figure deals.

In conclusion, I want to encourage you to give blogging a try. Don’t be afraid to explore the blogosphere. Sit down and do some deep thinking about a topic that you find interesting. Do some research if necessary and share your thoughts. You would be amazed of what goes on in your mind once you take the time to organize your thoughts and deliver.

What are some of your favorite blogs?

Thank you for your time. I look forward to reading your responses. 

Social Mediarites

Welcome back to this week’s edition of The Communication Station. Our topic this week is social media and the many nightmares communications face. Social media is defined as the interaction among people in which they exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Generation Y (born between 1979 and 1997) outnumber the Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1964) and 97% of the are active on social media.Social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn have increasingly grown and will continue to do so. The world is becoming more global and social media is a part of everyday life for most people. It’s the way we stay we connected with family and friends, we gather our news, and it is where we advertise our products and services. 

Many communication leaders shy away from social media because they fear of making a huge mistake that could affect the business negatively. They could also get overwhelmed with comments from consumers. The birth of social media has brought us a new type of leader. Social media literate leaders are in high demand. These leaders need to know how to use social media tools and teach others how to use them effectively. Each platform provides a space for individuals to communicate and share information with people from all around the world, but each is unique in its own way. In order to get the most out of using social media for business purposes, it is important to be familiar with the various platforms available and how each could benefit you.

Social media has been functioning as a strategic communications tool among marketing, advertising and public relations practitioners for nearly a decade and the phenomenon has exploded in the last two years. The article Social Networks Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship outlines that most sites support the maintenance of pre-existing social networks, but others help strangers connect based on shared interests, political views, or activities. Sites also vary in the extent to which they incorporate new information and communication tools, such as mobile connectivity, blogging, and photo/video-sharing. Social media is a marketing tool that allows organizations to get to know their customers and prospects in ways that previously was not possible. Below I will give a brief description of some of the most popular social media sites that we use today and give examples of how businesses could possibly use each medium to effectively communicate or promote their products and services.

Facebook- The most popular social media site out there and the most user friendly of them all. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest with 800+ million users. Facebook allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. Facebook can help boost your business and find new customers. Facebook uses the social graph and activities to target demographics and people for Facebook advertising. Businesses can create and share their page to give incentives that become a "fan" and share their page.

Twitter- Combines elements of blogging, text messaging and broadcasting in 140 characters or less in messages known as “tweets” and shared with anyone who has elected to receive them. Twitter has an average of 190 million tweets per day. Users often add the hashtag symbol (#) before words or phrases in their Tweets to categorize then for others or to organize conversations around a theme. Users can click on hashtags to see similarly-themed Tweets. It’s a global dialogue where people talk about their interests. Businesses could reward members for posting tweets or use the site as a customer service tool. 

YouTube- YouTube is a video sharing website. It is the second largest search engine in the world after Google. More than 1 billion users visit YouTube each month. Businesses can create mini commercials, video blogs, interviews, tours and demonstrations to promote their brand.

LinkedIn- LinkedIn operates the world's largest professional network on the Internet with more that 277 million members in over 200 countries and territories. Registered users maintain a list of contact details of people with whom they have some level of relationship, called Connections. Organizations can create a LinkedIn company page and engage followers with company updates, news, events and relevant content.

Whichever social media site you feel works for you it is important to deliver valuable content, monitor trends and join the conversation.

Todd Wasserman reports three marketing tricks used by top brands in his article Steal These 3 Social Marketing Tricks From Top Brands:

• Passion - connecting with one of your passions and/or interests
• Personality - entertaining you with their engaging personality
• Transparency - providing interesting and/or important information to you

Following one of these strategies can help clarify which is the best practice for your brand. "These approaches are interchangeable, and a brand can not only switch back and fourth between them, but also use two or three at the same time," says Caitlin Francke, SVP, and Director or Social Strategy at Publicis Kaplan Thaler. "The most important thing is for a brand to stay true to their DNA, identify what they are best at, what they can offer the customers the most of, and focus on that."

In conclusion, social media is good for business. Using social media as a marketing tool for boosting business goes a long way. Attract your audience, pull them into your business and get them involved. 

What is your social media strategy?

The Mobile Evolution

There are 6 billion people in the world, 3 billion are connected. Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase travels the world to study our behavioral patterns. He’s found that the top three things we carry with us where ever we go are our keys, money and our mobile phones. We feel these things are needed for survival. Keys symbolize shelter and warmth, money buys us food, and our mobile phones are great recovery tools. I cannot deny the deep emotional bond that I have with my smartphone. I love my phone, it is my everything. My phone keeps me connected with my close friends and family, it wakes me up, keeps me organized, it tracks the miles I run, I can shop, listen to music, watch videos, pay bills, play games, take pictures of my kids, share pictures of my kids, the list goes on. It’s just amazing that all of these features are bundled up into one mobile device that fits in my pocket. I can take it anywhere and access it anytime.  I know I am not the only one that finds great value in their smartphone and so do organizations trying to find the best way to market their brand.

This week our class readings and discussions were centered on mobile communications. The way we connect has advanced and we are living in a multimedia environment. Smartphones and tablets have certainly changed the way we consume information, interact with each other, and do business. The role of strategic communication professionals has increased the need for trained multimedia communicators in order to succeed in today’s mobile evolution. Mobile technologies have created a whole new process in which organizations market their brands.

Some organizations have adopted the “Mobile First” strategy. This is where they create content for the mobile medium first and everything else next. This strategy works for companies such as news establishments, but “Mobile First” does not tailor to every organizations marketing plan. Instead of “Mobile First” maybe “Mobile Too” is a better solution for most businesses. Integrating seamless customer experiences across all mediums of communication is important for today for most organizations. In this mixed delivery market, consumers will choose the best available device at the time or place they are connected. Marketers must be available on each platform in order to grab the attention of the consumer.

With new social networking platforms popping up from behind every corner, it can be hard to know exactly where to commit your time and resources. The world of social media is evolving at a rapid pace. Mobile social media marketing is on the rise and falls under the mobile marketing umbrella. The mobile device allows mobile marketers to know the geographical position of the consumer with technologies such as GPS and Bluetooth. Mobile media offers data on the consumer’s time and place. We have phones that not only know where they are, but know which direction they are pointing and how fast they are moving. No other channel offers these two pieces of information. Mobile social media allows marketing messages to be distributed at certain times and locations.

Geo location apps like Foursquare have been created to send you deals and tips based on your location. from anywhere in the world to interacts with friends so they know exactly where they are and what they are doing. For marketers Foursquare offers a opportunity to use geo-location based services to promote their brands in real-time.

Due to the mobile evolution, marketing strategies are not only mobile, but they are social too. In the article If you love something, let it go mobile, Andrea’s M Kaplan describes the 4 I’s of mobile social media to help firms in this new environment.         

Four I's of mobile social media:

1. Integrate their mobile social media activities into the lives of users to avoid being a nuisance. 
2. Individualizing activities to take account of each user's preferences and interests. 
3. Involve the user through engaging in conversation.
4. Initiate the creation of user-generated content and word-of-mouth, which allows for tighter integration into the users' lives.                 

There are endless opportunities for brands to engage with their customers. Good customer engagement strategies make it easier to promote new features and updates, collect feedback and build a loyal fan base. 

Cross-platform campaigns increase product awareness across a variety of mediums.Beats by Dr. Dre launched a very successful #showyourcolor campaign. They identified their target audience and found they cherished individuality. The campaign was driven by the self-expression of the fan base. First, television ads were run on major networks featuring popular sports, entertainment, and social figures posing with their Beats product of choice. Next, consumers were invited to like Beats by Dr. Dre on Facebook, where they could design a custom profile cover with the same design as the TV ads. The most creative were rewarded. Finally, Beats took over Times Square for a day, allowing pedestrians to take photos in a photo booth, posing with the Beats products. Their photos and caption of choice were then displayed on one of three digital billboards in Times Square. As a result, Beats by Dr Dre increased Facebook likes by 1.7 million, Instagram followers by 76 percent, and YouTube subscribers by 57 percent.

Pew Research estimates that by 2020 a mobile device will be the primary Internet connection tool for most people around the world. Generation Z or the Net Generation born between 1990- 2000 do not read newspapers or watch regular TV. Social media has been present for the majority of their lives. A study on GenZ by Wikia finds that teens users are connected nearly all waking hours of the day; engaging with open-platform communication and information sharing. In the next decade strategic communication professionals will have to develop new strategies to marketing to this generation.

What social media strategies do you foresee in the future?

Moore's Law on Steroids

This week our readings covered digital technologies and media convergence. I found the readings to be interesting because I never thought twice about the amount of data we produce and what it takes to make our devices to run seamlessly. Due to the progress of technology, various different types of media are combining into one single media. Smartphones are a great example of how one device can deliver several media platforms. It amazes me how you can read the newspaper, watch television, listen to the radio, search the internet and so much more, all from one device. Searching the internet is also becoming a thing of the pat. Today we have app's for just about everything allowing one-touch, instant access. Consumers are choosing their dedicated platforms over the web because they fit better into their lives.

The ability to send, share and receive right at your fingertips, contributes to the endless information stored in our digital universe. Moore’s law states that the power of technology hardware doubles approximately every two years. The law is named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, whose prediction has proven to be true for almost half a century. The music we download, the messages we tweet, this blog I’m writing all require data storage. New technology such as the I-phone and I-pad has made it easier for individuals to create and share information digitally. The volume of information continues to grow relentlessly creating digital chaos, also known as “Big Data”.

A study by EMC Corporation measured and forecasted the amount of digital information created and copied annually. The study found that the world’s information is more than doubling every two years. In 2011, 1.8 zettabytes were created and replicated. The article Worl' Data More Than Doubling Every Two Years—Driving Big Data Opportunity, New IT Roles gave some great examples of equivalents of 1.8 zettabytes of data to help you put things into perspective:

• Every person in the United States tweeting 3 tweets per minute for 26,976 years nonstop 
• Every person in the world having over 215 million high-resolution MRI scans per day
• Over 200 billion HD movies (each 2 hours in length)-would take 1 person 47 million years to watch every movie 24x7
• The amount of information needed to fill 57.5 billion 32GB Apple iPads. With that many iPads we could:
• Create a wall of iPads, 4,005-miles long and 61-feet highh extending from Anchorage, Alaska to Miami, Florida
• Build the Great iPad Wall of China-at twice the average height of the original
• Build a 20-foot high wall around South America
• Cover 86% of Mexico City
• Build a mountain 25-times higher than Mt. Fuji         

Media has evolved so much that IT professionals need to make changes to data in order for everything to operate seamlessly. More data requires more storage, which requires more IT professionals. EMC’s study reports that the skills, experience and resources are not keeping the pace to manage the data. Over the next decade (by 2020), IT departments worldwide will experience:

• 10X the number of servers (virtual and physical)
• 50X the amount of information to be managed 
• 75X the number of files or containers that encapsulate the information in the digital universe, which is growing even faster than the information itself as more and more embedded systems, such as sensors in clothing, in bridges, or medical devices. 
• 1.5X the number of IT professionals available to manage it all. 

Technological changes are creating a challenge for data experts. More data does not always equal more value. More data is making it difficult to extract meaning from too much data. Decluttering our digital lives is important to protect us from the digital dirt that may live out there.

Adding information to the digital universe leaves a digital footprint. A digital footprint is a trail of your digital interactions. Your digital footprint is your identity. Everything from your name, age, address, sites you have searched, things that you have shared or purchased online leave a trail of what you have done digitally. Unlike the footprints I made in our recent snowstorms, these footprints live somewhere out in cyberspace and can last forever. My college friends and I always say “thank God we didn’t have Facebook while we were in college”. Not that we were extremely wild and crazy in college, but our digital footprints would have been the last things on our minds. We would have been careless with what we posted and shared. Internet users are becoming more aware of their digital existence and are more careful about what they share. Educators are increasingly teaching their students to be cyber smart. A negative digital image can affect your relationships, entrance to a university, and employment.

Pew Research has found that more than half of all adult internet users have used a search engine to follow others’ footprints. When asked about eight different groups of people one might search for online—ranging from family and friends to romantic interests and business colleagues—53% of adult internet users said they had looked for information connected to at least one of these groups.

• Most are casually curious in their searches for others. Just 7% of those who have searched for information on key people in their lives report doing so on a regular basis.
• Users are most likely to search for someone they have lost touch with. Fully 36% of adult internet users say they have used a search engine to find information about someone from their past.
• 19% of adult internet users have searched for information about co-workers, professional colleagues or business competitors.
• 11% of adult internet users say they have searched online for information about someone they are thinking about hiring or working with.
• 9% of online adults say they have searched online for information about someone they are dating or in a relationship with. Perhaps due to safety concerns, online women tend to do their dating homework more than online men.

While you are researching information about a potential employer, they are researching you right back. According to a survey from CareerBuilder , one in five employers search social networking sites for information about job applicants. 

It is important to think about what we are contributing to our digital universe before we share. Is it digital clutter? Do you want it stored somewhere forever? How much data space will be required? Would you share with your future employer? 

The Sometimes Picayune

In my last blog I mentioned that my posts would probably not be as frequent as they were, but my Strategic Communication and Emerging Media class also encourages a weekly blog. Lucky for you there will be more blogging from me coming your way. For those of you just joining, welcome to my blog.  My name is Nicole Johnson. I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. I studied Spanish at the University of Southern Mississippi (Go Eagles!). Currently, I am a Marketing Communications Coordinator at a health insurance company. I decided that I enjoyed working in the field of communications and wanted to learn more, so I enrolled in Troy University’s Strategic Communications graduate program. I feel that continuing my education will help me excel in my current position and advance my career in the future. The primary purpose of this course is to explore the quickly changing world of strategic communications and how it is being transformed by digital and social media. My topics will cover information based on our readings and discussions in class. The topic of this weeks blog will touch on the decline of traditional media due to the presence of new media sources.

Growing up in the out skirts of New Orleans, I was raised to appreciate tradition, which is why I’m a bit nostalgic about the local newspaper, The Times Picayune. We would celebrate Mardi Gras, go to Jazz Fest, eat beignets, and enjoy our crawfish boils. I can remember grabbing the Times Picayune from the front porch to lie out on the picnic table for our weekly crawfish boils with family and friends. I use to make copies of the comic strips on silly putty by flattening the putty with my elbow. On weekends that we would drive out to visit my grandma in Slidell, we would sit at her dinner table and help clip coupons. As I grew older, I would read the Lagniappe to see what’s happening around town. The Times Picayune was unlike any other newspaper for a city unlike any other city in the world.

When I moved off to college I did not really think twice about my local newspaper. If I wanted to see what was going on in my hometown, I would rely on the internet and view the news on www.nola.com instantly. Well in those days we had dial-up and the internet wasn’t near as fast as it is now, so it wasn’t instantly but it was quicker than looking through the newspaper. 

In 2012, the two time Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper announced that The Times Picayune will only print the news three days a week in order to focus on its online "new media" source, www.nola.com. They began to only publish on Wednesdays, Fridays and a special Sunday edition to be distributed the night before. This was a first after 175 years of service to the Crescent City. The decision makes New Orleans the largest city in the United States without a daily new publication.

There is a growing number of other newspaper organizations dropping to only three publications per week and focusing on the online editions. Online news is becoming more and more popular. Instant news updates make online news more attractive to news readers. By the time news is printed and delivered to your door, the news you are reading is yesterday’s news.

Mass media’s landscape is quickly changing. There are many new ways to get the news these days. The internet and digital devices such as the smartphone and IPad make accessing the news you want to read so much more convenient and it’s free.

Pew Research reports that 50% of the public cites the internet as a main source of national and international news. Among those, younger Americans ages 18-29, 71% cite the internet as a main news source. Ages 30-49, not far behind at 63% get their news online.

Pew research also reports that more Americans consume news on mobile devices: 64%of tablet owners and 62% of smartphone owners said they got their news onmobile devices in 2012.

Technology has played a major role in the digital switch from traditional media. Our smartphones are more than just phones. They allow us instant access to the information we desire to read. Why would I pay money for information that I have on my I-Phone, laptop or tablet for free? It’s not really free, because I’m paying my monthly phone bill and internet connection bill in order to have the luxury of digital access at my fingertips. I choose not to read the newspaper because I prefer to look up my news online. The newspaper would create unwanted clutter in my house, which I do not need with a family of five.

People are different and not everyone has internet access or a digital device. Even if they do they still appreciate traditional news. A traditional media generation still exists and they want to feel and smell their news in their hands. They enjoy the whole experience of it. As long as this generation still exists, there will be a market for the traditional news. The problem is, the news organizations struggle to accommodate this generation with the decline of subscriptions and advertisers.

Newspaper designer Jacek Urko made some interesting points in his Ted Talk video Can design save newspapers? He has proven that design can reconnect people to the newspaper. Design can change your brand, product and workflow. Urko redesigned newspapers by experimenting with artistic pictures, type and illustration and had fun with it. The front page was his opportunity to grab the reader’s attention with an artistic statement of reality. Then he treated the entire newspaper as one composition. Like a musical piece with ups and downs. He spread articles over two pages instead of one. In Bulgaria alone circulation increased 100% after redesign.

Maybe newspaper organization should give the power to the designers like Urko suggests. Redesigning the newspapers may be what they need to help them survive a little bit longer. If it worked for so many other countries, why not give it a chance?

What are some things that you think could help save newspapers? 

What the Future Holds

Well this is the last week of my Leadership and Media Strategies course. I have truly enjoyed and learned so much from this course. When I discovered that I would have to create this professional blog each week I felt a little intimidated at first. Blogging isn't so bad and you just might see more blogs from me, but maybe not as frequent.

This week we watched a Ted video, Medicine’s future? There’s an app for that by Daniel Kraft, which spoke about the future of medical technology. This video caught my attention since I have worked in the health insurance industry for the past ten years. I have already started to hear about virtual office visits/telemedicine at work. This is where the physician can treat a patient from a video chat type setting making it easier for a patient to visit their doctor. Kraft also spoke of mirrors that have pulse rate monitors, artificial retinas, assisted living contact lenses, telephonic microscopes and scar less surgery. Stethoscopes are now digital and there’s an app for that.

Medical professionals are now moving toward digital medicine. Medical records are stored digitally, eliminating the need for paper. Digital records make it easier to transfer information from doctor to doctor and information can be accessed from where ever you are from any digital device.

Electronic devices like the Fit Bit and heart rate monitors are now available. These devices allow people to easily track their own health and this information could be shared with their doctors to help make critical medical decisions. I recently bought a Fit Bit and I love how it monitors my sleep. If I ever need to see a doctor about trouble sleeping, I will show the doctor the reports I get about my sleep from my Fit Bit. 

The advancements in medical technology are so fascinating and I look forward to learning more about them in the future. Like the way we communicate and get our news, the medical industry is changing to be more accessible and convenient.

Thank you for reading my blog. I look forward to reading your comments.