BUS656: Social Media and Virtual Communities

Social Media and Virtual Communities (old course number 659)

Submitted by dthoma7 on Mon, 2008-04-28 13:28
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This is a course for the students with a strong interest in new technologies and how they may be used to create new business opportunities, particularly new social networking media.

 

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For every good idea there are hundreds that fail... woofer.

Submitted by dthoma7 on Mon, 2009-08-31 02:58
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 I do not want to pronounce the immanent failure of a site just as it is getting launched, but I am concerned about the prospects for Woofertime (Woofing rather than Tweeting, get it?).  The idea is that you must write 1400 words to post.  Hmm... looks mighty similar to Tweeter...

WooferTime Front Page

 

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Facebook Application Design Favorites

Submitted by dthoma7 on Fri, 2009-06-26 18:30
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How might one take advantage of the many potential help pages and information sources available concerning building a Facebook application?

 

This page is dedicated to answering this question.

First, join the Facebook Developer community and add the developer app within your Facebook account. You will gain a login to the URL http://developers.facebook.com/

 

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Portable Security and Control on the Horizon

Submitted by dthoma7 on Mon, 2009-05-04 17:57
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touch screen USB deviceWe see interesting devices from time to time that prompt re-thinking the potential of how we behave and what we are able to do.  I saw an interesting USB key fob today that did just that.  It is a small device that will enable a person to carry files along with an identity and interaction method!  What does this mean?

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Drupal Design Favorites

Submitted by dthoma7 on Fri, 2009-04-24 15:01
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This site is maintained using the Drupal content management system, the system that provides the best overall power and activity among Open Source solutions.  In building and updating this site over the past 8 years, I have seen Drupal evolve from a very simple solution into the robust framework for collaboration that it is today.  I am taking this space to list out some of my top code favorites for use with Drupal.

Modules:

  1. Project Vote Smart api
  2. Calais and Calais api
  3. RDF
  4. FCKEditor

Tutorials

  1. Ventura Cottage Squares, Mailhandler and More
  2. Front-page Squares
  3. Introduction to Auto-Tagging (Calais and RDF)
  4. How to add images via Mailhandler using Email
  5. Nice set of tutorials.  I particularly like the jQuery / Media tutorial.

 Themes

  1. Nice packaged themes at Adaptive Themes.
  2. To generate themes from PSD files PSD to CSS is not bad as a jump start.
  3. Or, a better but more expensive way is to use Artisteer, which is Windows only.

As a general design tip, we should design for a general audience by designing at an 8th grade reading level or below.  Here is a nice discussion of this need for the medical community.

Here is a print out of the $user variable for username: .
stdClass Object ( [uid] => 0 [hostname] => 38.107.191.108 [roles] => Array ( [1] => anonymous user ) [session] => [cache] => 0 )

Integrated communications are becoming more ubiquitous and profitable

Submitted by dthoma7 on Thu, 2009-04-02 14:10
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Recently I have attended a number of symposia hosted by unified communications vendors including Microsoft, Google, and Siemens.  I have been impressed by the level of interest and dedicated effort going toward integrated multi-media solutions.  Presence is getting built in to backbone systems that can deliver/gather presence information from multiple mobile platforms, use geo-location data, translate between text / voice / video, and auto-incorporate organic groups of interest when topics emerge.  These tools will have an extraordinary impact on business in the future.

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Virtual Worlds enable New Business Opportunities

Submitted by dthoma7 on Wed, 2008-10-29 02:40
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Second Life Business GuideVirtual worlds enable whole new business opportunities. Have a look at this article about second life and how successful businesses are using the medium to make real money. Note that the majority of this business usage currently centers on marketing and fashion. Other common uses of the virtual world include social clubs and advertising. Second life businesses article on CNET

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Open Source Tools

Submitted by dthoma7 on Thu, 2008-10-16 14:56
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I frequently try out and contribute to a variety of open-source online community-type tools including Mambo, Tiki-wiki, Drupal (a commercial version of Drupal = Acquia ), and Moodle. I have several currently installed and use some of them for testing out comparative features.

Several guides on the Web provide discussions of the various tools available. Wikipedia provides one of my favorite general lists here.

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Digital Archives Make Massive Content Available

Submitted by dthoma7 on Mon, 2008-09-22 14:21
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When I first published this article, I noted that there is a massive movement in content acquisition and management. Old uncopywrited materials are being scanned and placed into digital media. In some cases they are being opened up to the public.

Here is a nice story on NPR that brings a piece of this movement into perspective.

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Children and New Media

Submitted by dthoma7 on Thu, 2008-05-15 13:51
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This is a forum for discussing children and new media and collecting insights into how children expect and react to new forms of electronic stimulation. Having my oldest son in a ore-school with a strict no-media policy has prompted a fair amount of thinking and discussion concerning whether computers should be allowed or not. Perhaps the issue is not just whether they be allowed but also what forms of interaction must be limited or encouraged to make the experience productive and beneficial.

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