Sail On

The Making of #votesocialmedia

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:55:00 -0500

When we first discussed the guidelines for our final group presentations in our “Social Media U Need To Know” class, the idea of a group project conducted almost exclusively through different social media platforms seemed very daunting. We were instructed to use several tools that I had little to no experience with, and I initially felt that they would just slow down the process. But as we began our research on the advantages that social media tools present for political candidates in their campaigns, it was soon evident how helpful these tools really were.

My first reality check what realizing how great Google Docs is. I’m embarrassed that I hadn’t used such a great tool until my senior year of college. The ability to share and edit documents with my teammates was an awesome way to collaborate and made it easy to update our own sections of the presentation as we completed them. In the past, I’ve done group projects where one person is selected to put all the pieces together to make it a cohesive presentation, but that need no longer exists because of tools like Google Docs.

Other Google tools that I really enjoyed using were Google Alerts, Google+, and Google Hangouts. After setting my alerts, I received daily e-mails with relevant articles and posts about politics in social media, which gave us great information and sources to use in our research. If I came across a good article that I thought we could use, I would post it on Google+ to our group’s circle. Not only was it a great way to share the info, but it kept all the articles in one place that was accessible to all of our group members. And Google Hangouts has to be one my all-time favorite tools, make the whole idea of a “group meeting” ten times simpler, since you don’t have to find a convenient place for everyone to get together and you can chat in the comfort of your own home. Not to mention the new mustache feature that applies a mustache to your face while you chat…

Of all of the tools I felt that we used the LinkedIn group the least. I felt that everything we could do on LinkedIn, we could do just as well through Google+ or Twitter.

Twitter was a major resource throughout the entire project. We communicated as a group through tweets, which helped us to get in touch as quickly as possible, since our tweets were sent to our smart phones. We also connected with our interview sources through Twitter. I was surprised at how quickly I received a response from Archie Smart at Targeted Victory after tweeting him to ask about an interview. Until this project, I thought that using Twitter to contact professional sources was a bit unprofessional, but I’ve realized that if the people you want to get in touch with are engaged in social media, and if you go about it the right way, they’re usually very receptive to your questions.

We chose the hashtag #votesocialmedia because we felt it was playful and applied to our topic of political campaigns. Our group members used the hashtag as we put together the project just to make it easy to keep track of our conversation. During the actual presentation our hashtag actually trended worldwide for about 8 minutes according to TweetStats! (thanks to our TA, Heather Cosson, for looking this up).

And according to Hashtracking we made 89,863 impressions as well! Overall I really enjoyed the project, and our conclusions about social media as it pertains to politics proved to be very interesting. Please take a look at our Slideshare presentation (embedded in the post below) and let us know what you think!

#votesocialmedia is my group’s final presentation for our...

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:59:09 -0500

#votesocialmedia is my group’s final presentation for our social media course, exploring the advantages that social media resources present to political candidates during their campaigns. Please take a look, any comments or questions are welcome!

Check out my pearls!

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:17:29 -0400

Check out my pearls!

My Pearltrees

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:13:14 -0400

My Pearltrees:

We’re trying out Pearltrees in class, so I’ve begun putting some together. First is one compiling links and info from our #NewhouseSM4 class with @DR4WARD. I’m also working on adding to my pearl containing news and links to blogs about food, one of my personal obsessions! Feel free to check them out, I’ll be adding to my tree as the semester goes on.

52 Cups of Coffee: Cup 48

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:00:34 -0400

52 Cups of Coffee: Cup 48:

52cups:

Person: Steve Schram

Drink: Green tea at the Michigan Radio Headquarters

.

Nobody can do it all by themselves.

…

The Monday I drove to Ann Arbor to meet Steve Schram I wasn’t in the best spirits. I’d had one of those weekends where everything felt uncertain: the ground I was…

6 Options for Organizing Your Social Media Universe

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:55:00 -0400

Welcome to my blog! Originally I created this blog to update my family and friends on my adventures when I lived in NYC for an internship last summer, and then when I studied abroad in Strasbourg, France last fall. Please excuse the abrupt transition to the topic of social media. I’m currently taking a class called “Social Media U Need To Know” and I’ve tested out several tools for viewing updates from several social media sources. I hope you enjoy!

Hootsuite:I enjoyed using Hootsuite, and it reminded me quite a bit of TweetDeck. On the other hand, there’s something about the layout or colors that makes this interface overwhelming for me. I don’t like that each column pops up with an alert when there are any new tweets, which I have to refresh in order to see them. I do however think that this is a very useful tool. I like that there are different tabs for each social media tool. Go to hootsuite.com to try it out for yourself.

TweetDeck: This tool was probably my favorite of them all. I think it’s by far the most visually appealing and easy-to-read interface. I really like that I have the ability to create columns for separate lists, making it easy to stay updated with certain groups of people that I’m following. I downloaded the desktop version, and I also have the iPhone app which is still very easy to read, even in a smaller format. Give it a try at tweetdeck.com.

Seesmic: I like the layout and the quick, automatic updates. I also think it’s a great idea to put the “marketplace” right in the interface. This makes for easy-connecting to other forms of social media (i.e. Flickr, Tumblr, etc.). I also like the available channels that streamline your content to certain sources, like the Huffington Post. seesmic.com

TweetGrid: I’m not at all a fan of the layout of tweetgrid. A grid seemed like it could be very cool aesthetically, but I was very disappointed. It’s not visually appealing and it’s too busy. I prefer the column setup, which makes everything easier to read.

Monitter: I think that Monitter is a useful tool for competitive purposes, since you can track what’s trending and can search keywords to find related tweets. This would be great for a business to use, but I don’t think that I’d be interested in using it myself.

Socialoomph: I didn’t understand how to use this tool at all. The layout is very wordy and list-oriented which is not visually-appealing and it difficult to decipher. This is probably my least favorite of all of the tools, mostly because I couldn’t even figure out how to access my Twitter updates.

Heading to this lovely location this weekend: The Netherlands!...

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:08:48 -0500

Heading to this lovely location this weekend: The Netherlands! (or Pays-Bas)

Cannot wait to explore Amsterdam, even though it is sure to be VERY chilly!

egidius:

Inntel hotel in Zaandam

Hola Espagne!

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 19:01:49 -0400

Fall break has sadly come to an end, which marks the halfway point of the semester. So hard to believe that I’ll be leaving Strasbourg in less than two months!!

Had an amazing time over break…left a rather frosty Strasbourg on the 22nd and hopped a plane from Karlsruhe, Germany to Spain! First stop? Barcelona!

(from left: Mike, Rita, Jacquie, Lauren, Matt, me, Chris)

Traveled with “the six” and got off the plane to discover much warmer, sunny weather! We met up with Rita’s boyfriend Mike at the airport and caught a bus to Barcelona and did the tourists-with-huge-suitcases walk of shame to our hostel. The hostel was super nice, and the room was very cool…complete with bunks that were like our own private rooms. There were seven of us in a room made for ten…I think we may have annoyed the other people staying in the room with our constant giggling.

After settling in we ventured into town to find some dinner and sangria. Walked to the beach to find some overcrowded clubs, decided they were lame, and then hung out on the beach for a while (a few decided to take a quick dip).

Saturday we visited the Picasso museum which was right near our hostel, visited an amazing market,

and went to the beach while the sun set. That night we went to a bar called Chupitos (which means shots in Spanish) where the wall was covered in hundreds of names of different shots. We had no idea what they were so just chose a few with interesting names such as the Boy Scout which involved the bartender handing me a skewer with a marshmallow on it which you then proceeded to roast over the liquor that she set on fire on top of the bar. Others included the Bob Marley, the Harry Potter (sparks were involved), the Willy Wonka (whipped cream and mini Hersheys on top…yum) and more…

Slept late on Sunday and had a giant paella for lunch before visiting the Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell, both works of Gaudi.

Hung out at the hostel and played drinking games with a bunch of Europeans that night and spent the next day lounging at the beach before we headed to the airport to fly to Madrid!

After the worst flight of my life (thank you Ryanair), we finally arrived in Madrid around 11 pm, had a late dinner, and went to bed. The next morning we met up with Tara at the SU Madrid Center and she showed us around the city, including Retiro, a beautiful park. Stopped for lunch at a tapas bar and did some shopping before going out to meet up with some more Syracuse friends who were studying in Madrid!

Went on a tapas tour with a cute Australian guide on Wednesday and got to try some tapas such as chorizo with tomato sauce (so good), octopus (not so good) and drinks like sangria and tinto

Then did one of the strangest things I may have ever done…ventured to a nunnery where a group of nuns live and have no connection with people in the outside world except by selling macaroons which they give to you through a window with a rotating table. They give you the cookies and then put the money on the wheel and spin it to them…all you hear is the nun on the other side saying Gracias! So weird…but the cookies were good! Ended the day with a tour of the Royal Palace which was beautiful, but we were all exhausted from walking around. After a siesta we went to dinner and to a popular club for our last night in Madrid.

After a miserable delayed flight we arrived in Paris in the afternoon and I met up with my parents! They had rented an adorable little apartment in a very lively part of town, complete with a view of the top of the Eiffel Tower. We had a wonderful few days in Paris walking around and exploring the city and of course some major sites such an l’arc de triomphe. On Saturday we did a bike tour through Giverny to see Monet’s garden and house. We woke up to pouring rain which killed our excitement, but by the time we got to the town where we would begin to ride the weather had taken a turn and it was beautiful! We shopped for lunch at the farmers market in town (wine, roasted chicken and potatoes, olives, baguette, cheese, etc) and had a picnic by the Seine before being out bike ride to the gardens.

It was great to see and spend some time with them, but I was happy to finally return to Strasbourg after a long and busy week and a half traveling! Strasbourg does kind of seem like home now…of course everything was closed when we got back, and another strike is scheduled for this weekend. Home sweet home!

Lost In Translation

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 07:34:09 -0400

Third week of classes already? Time is flying by so fast, its unbelievable. So I’m becoming more and more acclimated to life in France and am having some wonderful adventures along the way, but living in a foreign culture really keeps you on your toes at all times. I don’t think a day has passed where I haven’t encountered something completely new (and most likely confusing).

The one that was really stumping us for a while was the fact that virtually all businesses close by 10 pm in Strasbourg. I’m not talking just restaurants and stores either…EVERYTHING is closed. I’m sure you can imagine the horror that a group of young Americans experiences after leaving a club on a Saturday night, and discovering that even McDonalds is closed. We finally realized that this is undoubtedly one of the many reasons that Americans are fat and the French are string beans, but regardless, our longing for a late-night double cheeseburger is worsening daily.

I made pancakes for dinner last Thursday to accompany the Michigan maple syrup that I brought as a gift for my host mother. I didn’t realize until a week after I gave it to her that she had no idea what it was for or what it tasted like. Her son, who lives in Paris and speaks some English, explained to her that you have to make pancakes to go with them, and hence I was summoned to do so. Converting an American recipe for pancakes into European measurements was interesting, but actually worked out wonderfully. I learned how to measure dry ingredients in grams using a mini scale and melted butter on the stove for the first time in probably 10 years (madame doesn’t have a microwave, and thinks thinks that they are awful things). Now my dinner table communication skills are not the best, but I’m gonna go ahead and guess that when Madame jokingly motioned as if she were pouring the maple syrup into her glass, she was telling me that she liked it. She even asked for a double batch next time! Cooking something that is considered “American” and seems so normal to me was a fun experience…I’m going to have to brainstorm some more typical American dishes to cook for Madame this semester.

I’ve spent what seems like endless amounts of time looking up flight schedules and prices for weekend trips during the semester. Finally it looks like our Fall break trips are handled…first to Barcelona, then Madrid, and then to Paris to meet up with my parents before returning to Strasbourg. Also…Oktoberfest is quickly approaching and I can’t believe that we’re actually leaving this Friday!! Our train leaves from the station in Kehl, Germany around 7 a.m., so hopefully everything will work out and we will get there on time! I have no idea what to expect out of this weekend aside from quite a bit of beer and plenty of people donning lederhosen, and I couldn’t be more excited!

This week will be spent researching for some class papers, doing lots of reading, and hopefully getting all my ducks in a row before this weekend…god knows once we board that train, all thoughts of school will be left in Strasbourg.

Not. Fair.

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:50:54 -0400

Not. Fair.

Vive La France

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:44:28 -0400

Bienvenue a Strasbourg!

Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming. This is without a doubt one of the most beautiful cities that I’ve ever seen, and I LIVE HERE?? I’ve officially been here for one week, and already there are so many wonderful things to report that I’ll probably forget to mention some of them.

For almost two weeks I traveled by bus from Berlin, Germany to Wroclaw, Poland to Brno, Czech Republic to Vienna, Austria, and to Regensburg, Germany before finally ending up in Strasbourg, France. The traveling seminar was amazing and we got to visit some awesome cities, although I wish we’d been able to explore them more! It was the perfect way to get to know everyone in the Syracuse program (I believe there are 38 of us) and to kick off a semester of exploring Europe. After making some wonderful new friends and spending every waking moment together, the arrival in Strasbourg was a bit scary…suddenly we wouldn’t be living down the hall from one another in various hotels, and the realization that we would most likely be speaking French in our new homes really made us nervous.

We arrived at the SU Center, which is right near the Strasbourg city center in this adorable little house-turned-school, and we had a short orientation session and were given bios of our host families. After having a mild heart attack since I was so nervous, I was introduced to my host mom whose name is Marie-Beatrice. She’s an adorable older woman who is divorced and lives alone. I’m living with her in a cute little apartment outside of the city center, and another American student from Pennsylvania named Cheryl is living here also.

Madame and I touring the city during “Dimanche en Famille”

After taking a year off from French, I’m definitely a bit rusty, and several verbs have completely escaped my memory…but I’m relearning! Hopefully I’ll make quick progress since my french class consists of only two other students! I’ve been doing my best to communicate with Madame, but there are usually confused looks involved in our conversations. She just laughs because she forgets to speak a little slower, and I usually just nod and say “oui” or “d’accord”. Hopefully the conversation quality will improve as the semester progresses! Madame often corrects me if I make an error in a sentence, which was intimidating at first, but it will be helpful I’m sure.

We just started classes last Wednesday, and I love my courses so far! Other than french, I’m taking a French Cinema class, Religious Conflict and Freedom in Europe, and a Communications course. They should all be very interesting!

Other accomplishments since arrival in France: rented a bike, bought a cellphone, learned how to use the buses/trams (not without struggle), sampled regional cuisine (tarte flambee…mmmm), drank wine next to the canal, discovered that Europeans don’t wear shorts, began to explore the Strasbourg clubbing situation, went to my first circus, experienced TWO strikes, learned how to shower without a shower curtain, ate the best gelato in the world, did some grocery shopping in a french supermarket, rode my bike to Germany, got a flat tire….

and that’s all in one week. Hopefully I’ll be able to update soon on more adventures : )

"I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list."

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:22:15 -0400

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”

- Susan Sontag, 1977 (via travelhighlights)

Guten Tag!

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:01:43 -0400

New York City chapter is officially closed. Had a great experience this summer! Was glad to get a two-week R&R break before taking off for my next adventure…

Chapter Two: SEMESTER IN STRASBOURG!

I’m currently writing from my first location…a hotel in Berlin, Germany. seriously jet-lagged, but resting up tonight in anticipation for tomorrow’s events and tomorrow evening’s shenanigans.

Will try to post as much as possible! Stay tuned.

so pretty : )

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:17:22 -0400

so pretty : )

Dave Matthews concert at Citi Field!! interesting evening…

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:09:49 -0400

going...going......gone.

Dave Matthews concert at Citi Field!!

interesting evening…

Various adventures in Central park

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:30:35 -0400

Various adventures in Central park

BIG BAMBU Exhibit at The Met such a crazy contraption made from...

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:03:42 -0400

BIG BAMBU Exhibit at The Met

such a crazy contraption made from only bamboo and climbing rope…would not want to be in charge of taking it apart, but it was a cool stop on the mini NYC tour with dad : )

(via sealust)

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:55:29 -0400

(via sealust)

"I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque I love it to see everybody in short..."

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:07:34 -0400

“I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque
I love it to see everybody in short skirts, shorts and shades
I like it in the city when two worlds collide
You get the people and the government
Everybody taking different sides”

- Adele

So I’ll admit it, I may be a bit of a complainer at times. When things get tough, I often take...

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:19:36 -0400

So I’ll admit it, I may be a bit of a complainer at times. When things get tough, I often take a few moments to wallow in self-pity…maybe shoot off a few texts or update my facebook status to let other people know that I’m feeling sorry for myself (I believe that my current status is complaining about being at work…go figure)…and then finally, suck it up and move on…everyone does that, right? Well from now on, I will attempt to quit my whining, because frankly, thinking back on all of the amazing places I’ve been and awesome things I’ve done lately, I really should just zip my lip. This weekend alone was an adventure that took me to several wonderful places I’d never been before!

Cutting my work week short, I boarded a Megabus to Boston last Thursday morning, excited for a weekend away from my tiny dorm room where I could see some of my favorite Syracuse friends : ) If only the bus systems on the East Coast were available from Midwestern locations. Usually for less than $20, one can travel to places like Boston, Philly, Syracuse, Albany, Washington DC, etc. as easy as pie! Just show up 10 minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive (I showed up a whole hour early and had to compete with many for a seat on a cement block in front of Penn Station…you would think that there might be benches…there is nothing resembling a seat of any sort), show your ticket, hop on the bus, and you’re on your way!

After a fairly painless, yet quite uncomfortable 4-hour trip, I arrived at South Station in Boston, and tested my newly developed city-slicker abilities by finding my way to the T’s Red Line that would take me to Tara in Quincy, Mass! Thankfully, after mastering the New York subway system, finding the train was a cinch. After making lunch and catching up a bit, Tara and I attempted to catch some much-needed sun by laying out by her backyard pool. Unfortunately the clouds went on for miles, but to take advantage of the wonderfully warm weather, we decided to take a walk on the beach instead. With the Boston skyline in the distance, I stuck my toes in the sand for the first time this summer, and I was happy as could be. After stopping by Tony’s Clam Shop…a restaurant where Tara works, I couldn’t resist the smell of the fried seafood, so we came back for dinner before heading to the theater to see Eclipse! The food was delicious, but as usual, my eyes were too big for my stomach, and I almost immediately fell asleep when we got in the car since I was so full. Luckily, Taylor Lautner was just the cure I needed, and we thoroughly enjoyed the third movie in the oh-so-dramatic Twilight Saga.

Friday morning we awoke to the sun shining bright and a cool breeze blowing in, making it the absolute perfect beach day. After meeting up with Lizzie and Adnan, we all piled into the car and drove to Nantasket Beach, where we lay in the warm sand and swam in the chilly but wonderfully refreshing ocean all day long. I went from pasty to quite tan in a few short hours, and somehow managed not to burn, which I was ecstatic about! After the beach we headed over to Dedham where Lizzie, Adnan and I played a game of mini golf which, thanks to my lack of hand-eye coordination, I lost miserably. We grabbed dinner, explored Bed Bath & Beyond, and headed back to Quincy where we watched Clueless before Lizzie and Adnan had to leave. Not long after, Tara and I passed out from exhaustion…the sun seriously drained me of all energy!

When I finally awoke from my extra long sleep-in on Saturday morning, Tara and I spent the early afternoon shopping at an outdoor shopping center nearby. We longingly looked at the beautiful clothes at Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Lululemon, and Victoria’s Secret. I managed to control my urge to buy everything, and bought only a black eyelet strapless dress that I love : ) Oh…did I mention the oatmeal cookie frozen yogurt and raspberry-lime ricky sorbet that we couldn’t pass up? When we returned we spent the next hour getting as much sun in as possible before Tara had to leave for work, and I had to catch my bus back to NYC. I arrived at South Station quite a bit darker than when I arrived, and feeling so relaxed that I could have just returned from a luxury vacation getaway. Tara was a marvelous host, and I’m so glad that we got to see one another before be both take off to various locations in Europe this fall!

I received a surprising voicemail on Saturday letting me know that I wouldn’t have to work at Tossed (my part-time paid job) on Sunday because they were going to be closed. A little miffed that I’d returned from Boston early for a non-existent work day, yet relieved that I wouldn’t have to spend the day inside, I was determined to find a fun activity to keep me busy. Luckily, T Willem returned from Philly just in time to accompany me to Governor’s Island for the day!

I had read about a free She & Him concert on the island on the fourth, so we jumped on the subway downtown, and went off in search of the ferry. When we arrived we sadly were told that the wristbands for the concert had been given away an hour earlier : ( We decided to see how long the wait for the ferry was anyway, thinking that we could just spend the day exploring since neither of us had been before. As we were trying to find the back of the never-ending line for the ferry, we were about to give up when someone suddenly said my name, and there was Sara and her boyfriend Maurice standing in line! They had conveniently already done the waiting, so we jumped in alongside them and were on the ferry within minutes! The weather was gorgeous and standing at the front of the ferry as we approached the island was beautiful. When we exited the ferry we found ourselves on a bustling little island with people sprawled on blankets, having picnics in the sun. We decided to rent bikes, and spent the day riding around the surprisingly large island, escaping the heat by eating ice cream in the shade, and taking in the gorgeous views on Manhattan and Liberty Island.

Our initial plan to watch the fireworks by the river proved to be too ambitious after a long day in the sun, so we headed to Bronxville to make dinner, sip on some Blue Moons, and watch the celebration on TV…as Will mentioned, in true lazy-American fashion.

The next day we packed up a lunch and drove about an hour to Jones Beach on Long Island. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that amount of traffic, comprised completely of people trying to fight their way to the beach! Once we finally got into the parking lot, it was quite a trek to the boardwalk, and then another journey to find an open spot on the sand. So many people in one place! Very different from the peaceful beach in Ontario that I’m so used to, but still a lot of fun! We lounged in the sun, dipped in the icy water, and drank a few mini Bud Light Limes called “Limeys”…so cute!

After such a long day we were starving, so we grabbed burgers and shakes at Shake Shack with Sara and Maurice…finally I can check it off of my list of things to do, although I’m sure I’ll be back, yummmmm!

The perfect end to an incredible extended weekend : ) One more month left in my internship! I’m sure I’ll have plenty more exciting stories to tell before my time in the Big Apple is up!