The Nook Took. . .

Barnes and Noble’s Nook Color is a luxury model e-reader. The current model is one bug color touch screen. The Nook Color can be purchased at Barnes and Noble. It costs $249 at NookColor.com, as opposed to $139 monochrome Amazon.com Kindle. The Nook costs $100 more than last year’s model, and connects to the Web only using Wi-Fi. Despite the increase in price, the Nook Color has exceeded expectations of sales, both online and in stores, as of the second week in November.

The current model of the Nook Color is built on the Android 2.1 operating system. This is the same mobile operating system used to run on many smart phones. Currently users have access to a full web browser; early next year the Nook Color will upgrade to Android 2.2, allowing it to play Flash videos.

In order to access e-books, readers can use Barnes and Noble’s library of 2 million downloadable books and over 100 magazines and newspapers. ArticleView displays magazine articles in a clear, readable format. A LendMe feature allows readers to digitally lend books to their friends for 14 days.

The Beginning of the Galaxy

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is similar to the iPad. It uses Google’s Android operating system. The Tab is essentially a slick slate that performs the same actions as a laptop. In addition to the Google Android operating system, the Tab is also able to run a large variety of third party applications. The Tab was introduced by three major U.S. wireless phone carriers approximately three weeks ago. It costs $400 with a cellular date contract. The Tab costs $600 with cellular capability but no contract. The Tab does not come with a Wi-Fi only capability; you have to have cellular service to connect to the web.

The diagonal dimension of the Tab’s screen is 7 inches, as opposed to the iPad’s which is 9.7 inches. The area of the screens, however are significantly higher than those numbers would help predict. The Tab is less than half the size of the iPad. The Tab is much smaller and lighter, and you are able to navigate it with one hand. This makes the Tab sound less and less like a laptop and more and more like a cell phone! The Tab is two inches shorter and three inches narrower than the iPad.

The Tab claims it can last up to 13 hours on one charge – but this has been proven false. Walter S. Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal Online tested the battery life of both the Tab and iPad. He put the screens on full brightness and left the Wi-Fi on. The Tab lasted 6:50, but at 6:10 the screen dimmed so dark that the device was unusable. Last spring, Mossberg tested the iPad the same way and it lasted 11:28. Mossberg claims: “The Tab is attractive, versatile and competitively priced, though monthly cell fees can add up. It’s different enough from the iPad, yet good enough, to give consumers a real choice.”

Children Love Cell Phones

The way that cell phones work is quite complicated. I could not imagine explaining to a child. It is far more complicated than just stomping away on each key to force out a mean of communication; I could be referring to dialing or texting.

When you turn your cell phone on, your device is recognized by a “tower” and broadcasts its presence. The “towers” are set just as far apart so that you are ideally communicating with one at all times. When a call comes in, the system pages your phone through the nearest “tower,” which contains an antenna. A determination is quickly made regarding which channel on the network that the “tower” sets forth to place your call on. When you leave the parameters of a “tower” you call is not dropped, but instead placed on another channel from another “tower.”

1996 Converge

The main impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has been the converging of companies to create larger companies that would basically run the communication of that specific area. “The Telecommunications Act triggered a merger frenzy among infrastructure companies intent of offering “one-stop shopping” for conventional phone service as well as cell phone, cable TV, and Internet and making themselves big enough to compete globally. . . The Telecommunications Act had other impacts besides the enabling of mega-mergers. Long distance is perhaps the biggest success story, with hundreds of competitors slashing rates in half their 1996 levels. Internet telephony (calls placed over the Internet instead of conventional phone networks) is an innovative technology that further cut costs” (374). As you can see the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was influential in many communicative ways. In fact, now companies that once offered only traditional telephone services currently also offer cable TV, and Internet services.

New Media Ideas

If I were a PR practitioner hired to promote the New Media Area of Study, I would most likely utilize the tools that the courses allow for to enhance a reaction.

I would:

• Use CCTV to play a commercial for the department, but I would mandate that only New Media students could be a part of this project – both in front of and behind the camera


• Hire a second professor to offer more introductory courses, allowing students to experience the area of study, without yet committing to it


• Turn KAC 212 into an open MAC Lab for all students to use, regardless of their majors; in said room I would hang digital artwork done by New Media students to promote their talent and what they have learned


• Hold additional receptions in the spring semester; probably in late March, because the course schedule comes out in early April for the next year and people would be more likely to remember and register


• Talk to the registrar and get Intro to New Media / Intro to Digital Film Making listed as one of the Distinctive/required Discipline Support Courses – why would we promote Christian Perspective, Mathematical Reasoning, World Cultures, Human Behavior and Physical Wellness and not promote the arts?


• Revamp ConcordiaNewMedia.com, in order to use it as an updated resource for all (both past and present) New Media students at Concordia

I would take these ideas and morph them following a further evolution of the techniques that would take place.

Models to Attract an Audience

“The model of early press agentry is most commonly associated with P.T. Barnum’s style of publicity. . . He used creatively almost any means to attract audiences to his enterprises” (315). There are two one-way models of communication and two two-way models. Press agentry and publicity are used to manipulate the public’s opinion and behavior. Public information and journalism are used to disseminate information to the public. These are the one way models. The two way models consist of symmetric and asymmetric. Two-way asymmetric is used to persuade and find out how the public reacted. Two-way symmetric is used to gain a mutual understanding and find a win-win common ground.

I think that two-way asymmetric makes the most sense, because you are persuading and evaluating, something I mentioned earlier was a specialty to public relations.

Keys to the Public

There are key elements to public relations. Four elements combine to form a successful system. First is the research. This includes public opinion polls, surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and literature searches. There are three basic phases to research – preparation, implementation and impact. The second element of public relations is a detailed strategy. One cannot play guessing games when it comes to the public’s reaction. Additionally, public relations coordinators have the goal of gaining and keeping public support. They are the liaisons for their clients. The final step is an evaluation of the campaign. What has worked? What did not? Public relations uses all facets of our media communications – digital, electronic, print and personal. “They are vehicles that carry information back and forth between private and public interests” (317).

Public Relations Specialties

Public relations is a demanding a hectic job. One must be on the move and act on their twos at all times. Why? “Public relations practitioners advise and counsel the organization’s management on communications questions affecting its publics, they serve as an early-warning system on emerging issues related to its success, and they respond to a crisis.” How else does PR respond? “PR departments and agencies also provide technical support for other management functions with an emphasis on publicity, promotions and media relations. In addition they act as gatekeepers with the press, legislators, and government officials. Most managers prefer their PR person to be their representative to the public” (314). Other specialties of public relations include publicity or media relations, promotion or selling, community relations, government relations, public information, special events, employee relations, issues management, reputation management, crisis communications, and lobbying.

I think on of the most hilarious examples of someone who works in public relations is Billy Crystal’s character, Lee Phillips, in the movie America’s Sweethearts. Despite the persona he hold with this clients, the job always comes first – in this case promoting a movie; and Lee Phillips is willing to sacrifice Eddie and Gwen (the stars of the movie, played by John Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones) to do so.

Mash, able?

Do not let Mashable.com fool you. It is not your average news site. Though it is organized and contains many articles, it is a much more specific site. Mashable.com promotes social media and internet trends. For example the site shared “Google, Facebook & Yahoo CEOs Speak at Web 2.0 Summit” by contributor Ben Kerr. In the brief article, Kerr describes how the Web 2.0 Summit is a premiere technology conference. The summit began in 2004, and this year will be streamed live. The conference is from November 15th to November 17th. This is just a very small example of what Mashable.com has to offer. A second example of internet trends, and ironically live streaming videos, is ““Harry Potter” NYC Premiere to Stream Live on MTV.com” by Radhika Marya. The premiere of the movie was being held at Lincoln Center in New York. The article explains that this is not the first live premiere streaming – it was done with past two Twilight movies, receiving over 100,000 hits. Mashable.com is a great website for social and internet trends.

Obsolete books?

Recently there has been a question as to whether or not books are obsolete. I think it depends on your definition of a book. Are E-readers books? Kindles? Hardcovers? Paperbacks?

I do believe that with the emergence of electronic media into the print word, the book will in fact expand. Writers will be able to publish their own material via PDFs. (Portable Document Formats). They will then be available to load onto computers and electronic readers.

Although I am a big, BIG fan of electric readers, and I mean for pleasure not scholarly material, I can also appreciate a good paperback novel. I notice my tendencies are to purchase new authors, one’s I have never heard of, for my E-reader. Meanwhile, I will purchase a paperback in support of my author that I may or may not have been following for many books or years.

I also do not believe that pleasure books are obsolete because many authors now write in series and draw readers in. Readers eventually become fans of the author and not just the characters, plot, setting, etc.

I think that the 2007 release of the Kindle and the mass sales it caused just proves that reading is not dead. Neither is a good book. My personal E-reader is pretty awesome. It is ink pressed against a page. I have an early model so things have changed and Sony now releases touch screen apparatuses, but I still like the original model.

I suppose, like I said earlier, the book may be obsolete but that depends on your definition of a book. Personally I think a book is text or photos, not a physical object.

What I am Going to Do to Kill my Internet Connection?

I was searching the web and horrified to how easily you could find information on me. This is specifically true in terms of photographs. It is sickening and frightening how you can just google and search to find a photo of me. I do not like it.

Although it is probably too little too late – and I will throw this up to naivety – I am going to change my passwords through the completion of college and then probably shut down my blogs and facebook.

What is unsafe, and I am going to continue to do regardless, is I am going to own my own domain where I will place my resume and portfolio. This is probably more detrimental than a facebook page for example, but at least I will be in complete control of it, and no one will be able to change that.

I hope to be able to use the internet to my advantage and still remain safe. I believe it is professional tool and should be treated as such. I do not like the idea of unsafe people scooping through my personal connections with other people. I will no longer update my status on facebook for my own safety. No one needs to know where I am or what I am doing.

Conglomera-Bookstore

Conglomerates in print media are especially are especially an issue with book stores. Stores range from the small, independent, local store to the national chains. Waldenbook is an example of medium sized nationally ranged bookstores. Medium sized stores like those tend to be located in malls. Larger stores tend to stand alone; this may include Barnes and Noble, Schuler’s, and Borders. The stores excel by selling large numbers of books and magazines, offering knick-knacks and coffee and having available reading areas for costumers. “By 2008, however, there was a crisis in bookstore budgets that led even superstores, like Borders, to consider closing some locations” (79). I know that Waldenbooks closed some locations around my area.

I think there is a benefit to conglomerate bookstores. Customers are able to find new releases at a faster pace. One of the negatives of large bookstores, however, is the loss of older material. Generally you cannot find something published in the 1940s on book shelves in stores like Barnes and Noble. I think if you were able to merge the pros with the cons, you would be more likely to have an extremely popular bookstore.

Call Me Copy, Right?

Copyright issues have emerged since the introduction to print media. One of the main issues is intellectual property. Even professors and students run into a problem with this when photocopying materials that have been copyrighted by publishers. When going to a print shop, they are charged additional fees. Also, with the change in types of media, “if you copy a photo of your favorite star onto your website from a magazine, by law, whoever holds the copyright-the photographer, her photo agency, or the magazine itself-would like you to pay for the use of the photo. After all, they had to pay the celebrity and the photographers for the photo shoot and foot bill for travel, rental of set, and lighting and camera equipment” (84). So as you can see the idea of copyrighting print media is very fuzzy.

Trending Publishing

There have been three major trends in publishing. The first trend was print publishing. This excelled in the 1846 with the emergence of the rotary press. This contraption would use rotating cylinders to print on both sides of continuous, large rolls of paper. Typesetting was an issue, despite this emergence, until linotype machines were introduced. Additionally images became an issue in publishing. “After World War II, offset printing was introduced so an entire page of print, complete with illustrations, could be photographed and then photographic image transferred to a smooth metal plate” (72).

The introduction of computers vastly changed the publishing world. Computer-to-plate technology includes software such as PageMaker which could be used on any personal computer. Another interesting facet, following the information age, was the communication between book sellers and publishers. Print-on-demand became highly popular. The use of cash registers and electric scanners allowed for best-sellers lists to be compiled.

E-publishing, something I am a big fan of, has introduced the e-book. People can read books on their computers via the internet. In 2007, the introduction of e-readers allowed for users to take a mobile device a place their books on them allowing them to be readable. Currently, thanks to e-publishing, it is very easy to publish your own book. Now it is just an issue of marketability.