Social Media Project: The Wally-World at Wiki Example

Screen Shot: http://www.facebook.com/walmart - 04/17/2012, Hawiane Tidwell.

Wal-Mart by Group#8 
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been learning about peer production, Web 2.0, and on a much broader scale - the pros and cons of social media and social media networks.  Our social media project was a group project which I will admit to dreading.  Not because I thought the assignment itself would be difficult but because sometimes working in groups with people you've never met and have no ties/connection to, can be very, very difficult.  Well, I am relieved to say that I worried in vain.  Group#8 was awesome, we worked really well together, we divided and conquered the assignment and we finished early!  Below I will share details about the assignment and more about the collaborative experience. 

Screen Shot: http://ism3004socialmedia.wikispaces.com/Wal-Mart - 04/19/2012, Hawiane Tidwell. 

The assignment: we were tasked with choosing a company to 1) research its social media activities, 2) create a group report with our findings, and 3) share the report with the other groups by creating a wiki for the company and adding the report information to the wikipage. 

Coming together as a group was a little rocky in the beginning - everyone was trying to figure out which team they were assigned to, find out the best way(s) to communicate and who was doing what as far as the specifics of the project.  One thing that I did find remarkable about this phase was the fact that right from the very beginning 86% of us were on the same page in that we all wanted to complete the project as soon as possible so we could focus on finals. 

We spent the most time selecting a company. Several companies were nominated; we narrowed our choices down to three (3) companies - Facebook, Wal-Mart, and Google. And I'm sure you know by now, we chose Wal-Mart. Once we chose the company, the rest of the project just flowed. 

Screen Shot: http://www.walmart.com/ - 04/16/2012, Hawiane Tidwell.

We used the divide and conquer mode of attack to get as much done as quickly as possible - there were eleven (11) tasks that were assigned to individuals (I was responsible for our wiki and I helped keep our efforts organized and on schedule).  Also there were three (3) tasks that were assigned to the group as a whole for collaboration.  We mostly used the discussion board in Sakai, email, text messages, phone and Google+ to communicate.    

About Wikispaces - I think this is a very useful tool in that it does make collaboration possible in situations where getting together physically is just not a viable option and the learning curve was as low as you can get - it was very easy to use and to navigate.  However, I did find it to be somewhat antiquated and very laborious as you can only "copy and paste" text.   You cannot "copy and paste" images, docs, etc.  So anything you wanted to embed in your page other than text had to be first uploaded to the site folder and then inserted into your page.  This really sucked up an enormous amount of time as our page has 40+ screen shots. 

About the company - Wal-Mart has some pretty interesting, engaging customers who use social media extensively.  Although Wal-Mart has a strong presence on some of the more popular sites like Facebook and Twitter, there is no official presence, nor published guidelines for monitoring content referencing the store or engaging customers that use some of the other social media outlets like Instagram.  Here's a link to our wiki:  http://ism3004socialmedia.wikispaces.com/Wal-Mart 

Screen Shot: http://ism3004socialmedia.wikispaces.com/Wal-Mart - 04/19/2012, Hawiane Tidwell.

And speaking of Instagram, I will make this final comment - Attention: Wally-World Shopper's beware, someone in isle 9 just might be taking your picture...

Week 13: Clear - "Keystrokes Are Giving the Pen a Run for Its Money"

Social Media Is Here To Stay...
As I mentioned in a previous post, for years I had resisted partaking in the obvious and inevitable integration of Social Media (SM) into the fabric of my daily life.  Until August of last year I had successfully avoided social media and networking like they were a plague.    At that time for the most part I was a Web 1.0 person, my only indulgence in the Web 2.0 world was Skype which I had begun using four years prior in 2007.   This might prompt you to ask how/why would such a Web 2.0 illiterate be a Skype user.  Well, it was out of necessity, my son was in an exchange student program in South Korea and Skype was the least expensive (free) way I could not only talk to him but most importantly see his face (priceless) - but that was the extent of my indulgences and experience with Web 2.0 tools.  Here's a list of Web 1.0 and 2.0 offerings: 

Web 1.0		Web 2.0
domain name speculation	→	search engine optimization, fans, and followers
page views	→	cost per click
screen scraping	→	Web services
publishing	→	participation
content management systems	→	wikis
directories (taxonomy)	→	tagging (“folksonomy”)
Britannica Online	→	Wikipedia
personal Web sites	→	blogging, status updates, and link sharing
Ofoto	→	Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter
instant messaging	→	Twitter and Facebook
Monster.com	→	LinkedIn
RealNetworks	→	YouTube
YellowPages.com	→	Yelp
Travelocity	→	TripAdvisor
Vonage	→	Skype

 Gallaugher. Information Systems, Chapter 7, Table 7.1  Web 1.0 versus Web 2.0*


However, as the result of a class I took, Summer 2011, I first got my toes wet at several of the major sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, and Google. Yes, as I said before, I am ashamed to say, I did go kicking and screaming but after a couple of weeks in that class I began to see the power and the value of SM.   I was amazed at how much easier it was to stay connected and I was surprised when I realized how businesses were also utilizing these Web 2.0 tools for their advantage. 

In UF's ISM 3004 - Computing for the Business Environment, I have learned even more as I've delved into the deep of blogs, Google+ and other Web 2.0 methods of communication.  I've come to realize that blogging can give anyone a very real and powerful voice and presence in our society. Many businesses have wised up to this fact and not only do they blog - they also constantly monitor electronic media to ensure that there isn't "anything out there in cyberspace" that could jeopardize their reputation. The old quote, "The pen is mightier than the sword", can certainly move over and make room for "Keystrokes are giving the pen a run for its money". 

Today many businesses also realize that SM should be a vital part of their strategy for marketing as SM can be used as one-way and/or two-way communication and marketing tactics which allows companies to send a highly targeted message to a large number of potential customers. And do it very quickly and at costs extremely lower than traditional advertising. 

Successful companies are those companies that proactively embrace "Our Forever Connected World". They become a part of the social media community by creating Blogs or Twitter feeds or establishing pages on social networking sites like Facebook, etc. This helps to set them up to successfully achieve their goal of gaining a sustainable competitive advantage. This is just another of the many reasons why SM is so vital and necessary to businesses. For more information and/or to see real-life examples, check out these sites on the Web:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogtrafficexchange.com/why-big-companies-are-blogging/
http://www.sitepoint.com/15-companies-that-really-get-corporate-blogging/

Just these few reasons I have touched on in this blog post is assurance to me that our society has no intentions of letting Social Media go - it's here to stay...



*Wrtten consent for reuse with attribution granted in front cover of textbook.

Week 12: Clear - Big Brother Isn't the Only One Listening & Watching

Be Careful Little Children What You Say and Do... 

Telecommunication, as defined by Dr. Means:

1. electronic communication: the science and technology of transmitting information electronically by wires or radio signals with integrated encoding and decoding equipment 
2. information transmission over communications lines

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fensterbme/64985745/sizes/z/in/photostream/

by fensterbme

  

The power and convenience afforded by telecommunications, coupled with the power and convenience afforded by the Internet, has already radically changed our world - and shockingly enough, it's not over yet.  There are still things to come that exceed the capacity of my limited understanding of the subjects. 

 With telecommunication and internet (TAI) usage growing exponentially every day, the number of questions regarding societal issues associated with using TAI has also increased.  These issues include but are not limited to privacy rights, security, net neutrality, unproductive time online (gaming,  Facebook, etc.).  The jury is still out on these issues so it's really too early to tell the final outcome.  However, we should remain vigilant and keep an active watch and voice regarding anything that could strip our privacy, security, etc. away from us. 

This is why it is so important that we remember that anything we say and do online, could ultimately be seen and heard by others.  Electronic media is not just monitored - every second of every minute of every hour of everyday of every week of every month of every year - information is being collected (24/7 - 365) by sources we don't even think about and servers and search engines are the biggest culprits. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fensterbme/5074208506/sizes/z/in/photostream/ 

by fensterbme 

   

Why should you care you might ask.  Well, this means that even though you may delete something off your page, blog, etc., unless you have the ability to delete it off every server, search engine, index, personal computer, thumb-drive, CD, etc. that saved a copy of the information - it could still come back to haunt you.  We have no way of knowing who is collecting our information or how it might be utilized in the future. 


For me, this has always been "A LITTLE TOO SCARY!!!  So I have always been conscious of my on-line reputation and I'd like to share some good advice that's lasted me for a life-time and is still very relevant today:

• From my mother many, many moons ago, "IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO REPEAT IT VERBATIM TO THEIR FACE, DO NOT SAY IT BEHIND THEIR BACK..." 
• And not quite as many moons ago but still a very long time, from a UF Trainer.  As I was a UF employee and I was required to attend a training/in-service regarding business communications and although I do not remember anything personal (height, weight, sex, race, etc.) about the instructor, I do remember the main point of the session and I have made it a matter of practice and I know it still applies today, perhaps even more when you think about the craziness on some of the popular sites, "IF YOU WOULD NOT WANT IT READ ALOUD AND DISCUSSED IN COURT - DO NOT PUT IT OUT THERE..."   

Telecommunications and the Internet is here to stay because responsible use adds value to our lives and increases productivity, etc. but I think it would be a nicer experience for us all if everyone would just choose to use a little restraint and discipline...

Week 11: Clear - Solutions to Some of the Problems in Paradise

Data Asset - Data and Information

Every business today faces the expense and other issues associated with analyzing information and  collecting, storing, and retrieving data.  As a result of incompatible systems, transaction processing systems and live operational data, even the information itself possess problems for every business, website, call center, etc. 

This week's material discussed solutions used to handle the issues mentioned above:

Gallaugher.  Information Systems, Chapter 11, Figure 11.2*

                        

 

1. Data Warehouse - a set of databases designed to support decision making in organizations as it stores current and historical data. 
2. Data Mart - a single database or databases focused solely on addressing the concerns of a specific problem, question or business unit. 
3. Data Mining - using computers to identify hidden patterns in, and to build models from, large data sets.  To use this process to look for trends and patterns the data must be accurate, organized and consistent. 
4. Business Intelligence (BI) - combining data exploration, ad hoc queries, aspects of reporting and sophisticated data modeling and analysis.  As a result, users have access to various reports:

Gallaugher. Information Systems, Chapter 11, Figure 11.3*

• Reports are no longer just "canned" - easy to use and all parameters are predetermined by the programmers, but users have access to 
•  "ad hoc" reports - puts users in control as users create their own reports as needed.  This type of report is harder to use as knowledge of the system and the information is necessary. 
• "Dashboards" - another BI tool, gives an at-a-glance view of critical indicators that allow managers to get graphical performance metrics more quickly. 
• "OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)" - this is one of the most valuable BI tools and is a method of querying and reporting that takes data from standard relational databases, calculates and summarizes it and then stores it in a special database called a data cube (a special database used to store data in OLAP reporting).  

Data and Information are mong the most valuable assests available and there will always be the need for solutions to store and handle it properly.  Without data and information, businesses cannot make the proper analysis necessary to forecast and prepare for future trends and patterns.  

Turning data into useful information which can be used to answer questions, to solve problems and to help reveal innovative ways firms can improve, is the key benefit.  This benefit is the reason firms are willing to weather the storm to continue the quest for more effective and cost efficient solutions.




*Wrtten consent for reused with attribution granted in front cover of textbook.

Access Project - More Power and Functionality Brings Complexity

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Microsoft ACCESS - Serious Business Tool, Much More Powerful Than Excel But Not As User-Friendly...

Microsoft Access can do so much more than Excel, as Access provides more power and functionality.  There is one small drawback though, and that is that this attribute in and of itself, makes Access less user-friendly and much more difficult to learn.  However, the benefits businesses gain from utilizing Access far outweigh the high level of difficulty Access's learning curve can present. 

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

This past week Access was the project assigned for ISM 3004.  Time only allowed for limited hands on experience but the project requirements weren't overly easy.  Even though we only touched the peak of the iceberg this project was still challenging and I'm very thankful Dr. Olson had mercy on us as this could have been a very, very difficult project. 

Over the past week I have created databases, imported data into Access (data from Excel files and from CSV text files), created tables, queries, forms, and reports.  As I stated before, this is only the tip of the iceberg of what Access can do, however, with these limited skills, I still possess the knowledge and ability necessary to facilitate the needs of most businesses. 

Also, with the additional information provided in Dr. Olson's "Access Skill Track", I was able to enhance the functionality of the database that I created by using features in Access that increases the integrity of the data or increased productivity: 

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012

• After I created (per the project specifications) the "Members" table and the "New Members Entry Form", I cut down the potential for errors by adding validation rules to the "gender" and "membership type" fields. 
• After I created (per the project specifications) the "New Members Form", I added an informative text label and I changed the "tab order" of the form so that Access would not tab through the "ID" field and only tabbed through the fields provided to enter new member's information.
• After I created (per the project specifications) the "Recently Departed Individual Members" report, to make all pages of the report more informative I moved the "report header" to the "page header" section and I changed the formatting so that "section headings" repeated.   

To further enhance the functionality of this database, it could be used to house and analyze the results of a survey designed to determine how services currently being provided could be improved to increase membership and retention rates.  Survey would be provided to current and past members.  The database would also be used to retrieve the contact information for previous members.

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012

Access is so extensive each time I'm exposed to it I never remember everything I learn to meet the requirements for a class assignment or even to get through a project for work.  I can however say that the number of my core skills (skills I consistently remember) increases each time.  So who knows, I might just become an Access Expert e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y... 

Week 10 - Clear: Got Skills? You'll Need Them!

Mastering Access Requires An Extensive Skill Set

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Although my first interaction with Access was a little over a decade ago and over the years since, I've worked with it sporatically for projects here and there and even after the refresher in this class, ISM 3004 and other computer and business courses, today I still cannot say that I am an "Access Expert" and I probably never will.  Microsoft Access is a very complex application and to master it requires a very extensive skill set as well as using the program on a regular basis.  Dr. Olson's Access Skills Track has reminded me of so much about Access that I'd forgotten which was great but also at the same time, I was reminded of so much that is still to be learned. 



Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Speaking of the things still left for me to learn - I did pick up some new skills and one I am really delighted about is the "Tab Stop".  Have you ever had a record with a ton of fields but you really only needed to edit a couple of them so you had to either, tab through all of them, enter through all of them, use the arrow keys, or take your hand off the keyboard so you could use the mouse to place the pointer in the next field you needed to edit?  Well, I have and let me tell you it is a productivity killer - it wastes so much time.   

Hawiane Tidwell, 2012.

Here's the simple fix!!  To restrict Access to only tab through (or only tab to) fields that you will actually edit:  In "Design View" highlight the field(s) that will not be edited.  Click "Property Sheet", on the right of the screen click the "Other" tab.  Choose "no" from the "Tab Stop" dropdown list, then press "enter".  That's it - problem solved - "tab stop" is disabled and now Access will only go to the fields that will be edited, even if it is only one (1) field.  Isn't that great!!  I think so! 

Week 9 - Clear: Days May Be Numbered for Silicon Computer Chips

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48329209@N03/4427797042/sizes/z/in/photostream/ 

by  Tomizak 

Changing the Rules for Production & Mother Nature's Laws of Physics & Quantum Tunneling Will All Contribute to Silicon Valley's Eventual Demise or Transformation!!! 



Wow!  Or should I say, whew!!
Most of this week's material wasn't totally muddy but it definitely wasn't crystal clear either - more like blurry - but very, very fascinating. I hope that I am around to see how some of the theories, new technologies and predictions play out - especially those involving Moore's Law - Gordon Moore's observation that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles every two (2) years.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwa23/85298610/sizes/z/in/photostream/

                            by schwa23 

In Electronics Magazine, Moore stated "transistors per chip, a proxy for power, would double every two years", which Carver Mead, a CalTech Professor and chip entrepreneur dubbed "Moore's Law".    The Business World gives Moore's Law the following definition:  Chip performance per dollar doubles every eighteen months or next generation chips today should be twice as fast but cost the same as chips from eighteen months ago.
 
   
Consumer demand for smaller, faster, more powerful, yet cheaper chips seems to be the driving force that has given Moore's Law a bountiful playing field for decades but it appears that all may be coming to a screeching halt.  As computer chips are produced smaller and more powerful, size, heat, and power all become significant stumbling-blocks to the possibility of Moore's Law continuing to apply.  The laws of physics (a chip's pathway can never be smaller than a single molecule) and quantum tunneling (Mother Nature has set the actual physical limit - which in all probability is larger than a single molecule - so chip pathways can never be smaller than this without spontaneous disruption of its electrons), are both indicators that silicon computer chips' days may be numbered.  Will Silicon Valley just gracefully bow down or stand up and fight, getting into the game by embracing new technologies, principles, materials, etc. - new rules - all for the production of next generation computer chips which satisfies consumer demand? 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pennstatelive/5188529284/sizes/o/in/photostream/

by pennstatelive  

Efforts to overcome the speed bumps of shrinking silicon chips are already underway and have been for some time now.  Solutions which include the graphene wafer (pictured left), three dimensional transistors like Intel's "3-D Tri-Gate", protein computers, DNA computers, optimum computers, quantum computers and many others are on the horizon. 

The fight is on...