Musical Mind Readers!

I'm pretty sure this is loosley based on my life. But maybe I'm just being a little paranoid...maybe.

For all those fellow National Public Radio junkies out there, enjoy this Ode to NPR!

Punc.tuat-ion?!

Just in case you missed it, yesterday was National Punctuation Day. A day set aside to celebrate the importance of proper punctuation.

In honor of this important event, I'd like to pass along a thought on the subject that I ran across on Twitter (from @SLWorona, retweeted by @ NPRWeekend):

How do you celebrate National Punctuation Day? Periodically, of course!

Made me chuckle.

If you're interested in finding out more about National Punctuation Day, check out the official Website where you can learn all about how the day is celebrated, how to properly use various forms of punctuation, and how to make the all-important Official Meatloaf of National Punctuation Day.

Mmmm. Meat. Just watch out for your :

To emote or not to emote? That is the question.

Okay. Admit it. How many of you out there use those cute little emoticons to help you make a point in your emails and texts :-?

Until recently, I would have guessed that the majority of you out there raising your hands (because I'm sure that you're getting that interactive with my blog ;-) are females. You know, because they're cute and all that.

But here's the thing: email is notoriously bad for communicating feeling. Humans use facial expression and body gestures far more than anything else in trying to 'read' a person's true feelings. The telephone can be somewhat helpful because it allows you to hear the inflections and tones of a person's voice. But email...not so much.

And that leaves all of us, men and women, with the problem of expressing our feelings through our various electronic devices.

Hence, the emoticon :-)

I would be willing to bet that these little expressions were first picked up, for the most part, by women. However, my recent experience has shown me that we have all come to understand the importance of using these faces as a way of expressing how we feel.

They have apparently :-), :-(, and :-/ their way over the gender barrier!

Not only do I find these guys popping up in emails and texts from friends, but recently, in researching for my story on the Annie Lytle School building, I saw emoticons showing up in emails from grown men that I was contacting about information. One of which was the host and producer of a local television show! And wasn't it my husband that first introduced me to this little guy, :-*, via text message?

So here is my question, just how acceptable are emoticons in our contact with others? Does it depend on the situation or the person? Somehow, I just don't think that this one, >: -( , would be taken seriously in an angry email to your phone company or lawyer, etc. But who doesn't feel good when the little smiley face shows up, regardless of the situation? :-)

So maybe it has to do with the emotion itself? No one wants to receive an angry email or text, but send out those happy, funny ones any time. I guess it's just part of being human that makes us feel like we have to find a way to show our emotion in emails.

There are, of course, other ways to do that. Such as the use of italics to stress a point. One could even use color as a way of evoking emotion in a reader. But nothing seems quite as effective as those little emoticons. Not to mention that they actually look like a human facial expression, which as I mentioned earlier, is one of the main ways that people read feelings in others. That alone may be why they are so appealing to us.

Whatever the case may be, they've somehow become as common as the question mark in our electronic communications. Until technology develops a way for the computers themselves to talk and show facial expressions to clarify what we mean, those little emoticons may just be a fact of life in today's world. Even to the point that a number of programs, this one NOT included, give you the option of a variety of little yellow 'smiley' faces with different expressions to choose from in place of the colon/parenthesis face.

So don't be surprised if you find yourself trying to find a way to make your intentions clear in that next email and feeling that the cute little emoticon is the way to go. You won't be the only one!

Here's to many more :-) in your future!

Ghostly Graffiti

Wonder what the story is behind this warning?
Click here to find out!

Summer School

This summer I've had the opportunity to take an advanced reporting class. This has given me the chance to try my hand at some real reporting, including researching and interviewing people for my stories.

What I've discovered is this: I really like it!

Our first task was to write a story that had to do with the school (The University of North Florida for those that don't know). Since my work outside of class has to do with support for individuals with disabilities, I decided to see what is available at the school for those individuals. What I found was very encouraging!

My story was more-or-less a profile of the Disability Resource Center at UNF. I was able to interview two staff members and one student receiving services through the center. This was my favorite quote from the interviews, said by Danika Dodd, a sophomore at the University of North Florida,“I really think someone could walk in here and be half-dinosaur and we would accommodate them!”

After spending a little time at the center, I think she just might be right!

To find out more about the DRC, check out my May 26, 2010 Disability Resource Center story.

Acting Out: Use of Social Media

Traditionally, many people have used big-name nonprofit organizations as a way of donating to specific social causes.Others have tried to get a little more hands-on through volunteering a couple days a year or maybe finding an occupation that allows them to work with a specific people group or cause such as the mentally ill and/or homeless. Unfortunately, all too often, we simply choose to look the other way when faced with such issues in our own cities or neighborhoods.

The introduction of the Internet and social media has opened up an interesting new door for individuals to find ways of becoming active in a specific cause. Using outlets such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter can allow someone to become a voice for the voiceless in ways that have never been done before. Through the use of these media tools, individuals that may never have heard the stories of people in different situations from themselves that live in the very same community, can learn what the people behind the stereotype are really like. I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR this morning and heard about a man that is using these media tools to bring a voice to the homeless in the US through simple video interviews on his blog, http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/.

I find this to be a both fascinating and encouraging way to use the Internet and social media. Having been homeless himself, this man understood and sympathized with the situations of those that remained homeless around him. He started his blog in California and has since traveled around to other places in the US to interview people throughout the country. He is using a very simple tool, an interview, to allow these people to tell their story. His main motivation does not appear to have anything to do with getting donations, although he does have a link to allow individuals to do this if they so choose. You may have to search to find the link, however, as the main page is just the interviews that he collects and links to use social media to spread the word.

Admittedly, I have reservations about the use of blogs and the Internet as a means of attempting to report on news stories and issues by people without training or proper research. However, I truly feel that the way that this blog, http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/, has been set up by simply using interview style to allow others to just tell their stories, is a positive, beneficial way for individuals in society to report and use social media for the greater good. It makes me want to run out and buy a video camera myself. There are so many stories to be told....