Second Wikipedia Edit for MGIC

With my second Wikipedia edit to the MGIC article I chose to add more to the company's history as I did for my other Wikipedia articles. I added, "He was a real estate agent whose eyes were opened unto the troubles his clients had with paying for their new homes. They did not quite know how to save for the down payment. [[Max Karl]] believed that it would be better if there was a company that could insure the top part of the mortgage not all of it. Support from friends, family members, and executives led to MGIC's continuing success for almost over 50 years providing customers with low down payment loans." This is a very brief history, but I thought that that is all the article really needed. The history given on the website was also not too specific because it seemed like it was just a thought that turned into a great company. There was nothing too exciting about the process of how it came to be. Also, the company website probably did not add alot about the history because it wants to show off its products and the features and for this type of business the history does not have a huge impact if people will use their service or not. I still think that it may be interesting for people to know how it started so that is why I added it to the article.

VA Tech...Class Material Comment

I thought I would write about the article we talked about in class concerning the horrible incident that occurred at VA Tech and how computers and "instant tools" could have helped warn people alot sooner. The thing that most people are concerned with is that fact that the first incident occurred at 7:15am, but students were not informed of this until 9:26am through an email. Students who had classes before 9:30 had no idea what went on just hours earlier and so they went to class not knowing that there was a gunman on campus. Now even though they sent an email not everyone checks their emails before going to class. The article we discussed in class explains how there are so many tools out there that students use in which information is sent to them instantly.

One such thing is text messaging. I think by now 98 or 99% of college students have cell phones and text message daily. If the school somehow had an emergency system that sends an alert to students in a text they would have seen that news right away and maybe would have not gone to class which could in effect possibly have saved those 30 lives. I heard on the news that Drexel University was trying to implement this text alert system and I think it is a good idea. One of the setbacks though is if all those cell phone numbers got into the wrong hands somehow. Could our cell phones turn into email in the way in which we get spammed? Or could cell phone numbers get leaked out to people such as stalkers who will use the numbers for harm not good?

The article also mentions that students started making blog posts by 9:47am which shows how instant and viral blogs and Web 2.0 can be. The school took 2 hours to send an email to warn students about the first shooting, but blog posts were up 2 minutes after the second one. This is a perfect example of what we are learning in class. We have such great technology out there, but not everyone is aware or involved in it. I am also sure that the majority of students visit Facebook.com several times a week, maybe even everyday. I thought it was interesting how on the top of the sheet we got in class it says, "Virginia Tech: If You Are OK, Please Update Your Facebook Profile." I thought this was a very good idea because students go on Facebook for just about everything. I myself looked up one of my friends from high school on Facebook to see if she was OK and she had over 200 wall posts saying how they were glad she was OK so I knew her status through that in a matter of seconds.

I would not have imagined that a domestic fight would have continued 2 hours later involving 30 more innocent people. Because of this I do not think that the school is to blame for this incident, but I think that they should have researched better ways to warn students if something like that were to occur. Hopefully this event will raise awareness of every school, business, organization, etc. I think that they are even giving RAs here on campus extra training on what to do in a similar situation. Everything happens for a reason and as horrible as the VA Tech incident was, maybe it will prove to be good in the fact that it helped other institutions to realize that things like this can happen to anyone anywhere and they should have the best possible plan set up in case of emergencies like this one.

For more on the story, mainly about his supposed girlfriend and the courageous RA that went to her aid and was killed in the process you can go to the website here.

Second Wikipedia Edit for Forever 21

For my second Wikipedia edit of Forever 21 I added a little about the history as I did for the Fuze Beverage Wikipedia article. I added, "The first store was on Figueroa Street and was only 900 square feet. The store became so successful that the founder was able to add new stores every six months. By 1989, the first Forever 21 store was placed in a mall and increased from 900 to 5,000 square feet." I also clarified that, "These [Forever XXI]stores are typically 24,000 square feet, a huge increase as compared to the first store's size of 900 square feet." I think that after reading those facts that someone reading this article will realize how successful the company has been. Also it shows how the store has grown and developed simply by noting the drastic increase in the square feet of the stores. Something I found a little strange was that on the Forever 21 official website it does not mention Don Chang and his wife as the Wikipedia article states. The official website just says the founders. I wonder if Mr. Chang for some reason wanted to keep his name secret because I could not find his name anywhere on the website. If I find that out I am sure I will blog about it later!

oh and by the way stiuqxela

Second Wikipedia Edit for Fuze Beverage

I decided to edit the Fuze article in Wikipedia because all it had was that it is a beverage company and it listed the four types in which I had previously added one. I chose to add the background of the company. I thought this would be useful because knowing the background of a product often helps the consumer be more connected with the company and understand the hard work and great ideas from which the product got from a basement in this case into their hands. I specifically added, "Fuze is a brand of beverage that was created in the year 2000 in the basement of Lance Collins, an experienced man with a passion for beverages. He teamed up with Paula Grant, a designer who helped give Fuze its unique and popular look. The two enlisted the help of Joe Rosamilia and Bruce Lewin, two exceptional businessmen who took the dream and visions of Collins and Grant to make Fuze the successful and growing company that it is today. The company started off in Northern Carolina in 2001 and it grew to a real office in 2002 with more than 30 employees. In 2003, Fuze was sold on both coasts and even as far as the Caribbean representing the success of the company. Fuze spread to Asia, South America, and Europe selling millions of bottles showing the world's craving for energy drinks. In 2005, Fuze was offered in all major places that similar beverages are found and also featured in several sporting events and concerts. Fuze's slogan, "Refreshingly Smart" , is applied to Fuze beverages, but also to the creative ideas of its creators." I think that showing the company history made this Wikipedia article more interesting and useful to those who are curious about Fuze and want to know not just of the flavors, but about the company itself.

John Battelle's Searchblog article comment

As I was looking through my bloglines I discovered an article that caught my eye in John Battelle's Searchblog. The article is titled Google and AFP Settle Dispute. I was attracted to this article because at first it reminded me of the article we talked about in class. This article was the one where Viacom, who owns MTV and Comedy Central, sued Google for "massive intentional copyright infringement" on its YouTube. The article or a similar article on the Viacom vs. YouTube lawsuit can be found here. Google ended up making some changes in order to stop users from adding Viacom material to YouTube. They avoided totally erasing the Viacom clips by telling Viacom that they are responsible for alerting Google when they see their material on YouTube. This is sort of an impossible task for Viacom, so in my mind Google kind of got away with what they did.

In John Battelle's Searchblog article he discusses another lawsuit against Google, but this time they have even defended a company in a different country. The Agence France-Presse (AFP)is a global news agency headed by Pierre Louette. This Paris based company has also sued Google In March 2005 for copyright infringement. This dispute does not concern Google's YouTube, but it concerns Google's GoogleNews. The AFP argues that GoogleNews was publishing news summaries with headlines and photos from AFP journalists without the permission of the AFP. The argument settled and the "deal will allow Google to use headlines and photos on Google News and other services that drive online traffic to sites displaying AFP news." They did not disclose the financial outcomes of this deal, but from such a large company as Google, I am sure that AFP received its fair share. The article also mentions a separate lawsuit with The Associated Press from August 2006. This dispute also end with Google agreeing to pay the AP for its headlines and photos.

After reading about all these lawsuits I think that Google should be a little more careful about how it deals with other companies. At the time Google probably knew that what they were doing was violating copyrights, but they were probably going to continue its practices until the other companies found out or spoke up. This does not seem ethical at all. I am not saying that that is what Google was doing, but after seeing just three of probably many more lawsuits of the same issue, copyright infringement, I feel that Google was well aware and could have made more changes concerning this after its first lawsuit of this type. What I find funny about this situation is that John Battelle's Searchblog links his readers to an article that covers this lawsuit found in Yahoo News with the headline Agence France-Presse, Google Settle Suit. I am sure that Yahoo jumps on the chance to publish any downfalls of its' competitor. From all the lawsuits I found involving Google, Yahoo has many opportunities to point out Google's flaws.

Second Wikipedia Edit for Villa Maria Academy

I made my second Wikipedia edit for Villa Maria Academy. I added the following, "In addition to the offerings listed above there are also many events held by Villa Maria. In the beginning of the school year there is a picnic for all students to kick off the year. There are several assemblies held throughout the year including liturgies and the ever popular Magazine Drive assembly. A few pep rallies are held before athletic games and some concerts are performed frequently during the year. A Mother Daughter Tea is open to all students and their mothers towards the beginning of the year. There are also several dances that are always highly anticipated by the students. They include a Soph Hop held for Sophomores and Juniors, a Father Daughter dance, a Winter Formal held for all grades, and a formal Prom for Juniors and Seniors. There is also an Auction held annually in the spring in which proceeds are used to improve the school. Towards the end of the year are Daisy Chain and Senior Sing, two longtime and very memorable traditions." I thought I would add this because I wanted to show that the highschool is more than just academics and athletics. By showing that there are enjoyable events held throughout the year, I thought that the school would seem much more appealing to people and show another positive side of the institution. There are also other events held at the highschool, but I figured these were the most popular and memorable. If I can think of any others I can always add them later, a very helpful and useful feature of Wikipedia!

Search Engine Experiment

For this class we are attempting an experiment that shows just how powerful blogs can be. We are to write about a made up word that before the start of the experiment came up with no matches when you searched for it in Google. When we write about it the keyword, which is stiuqxela, we are to link it to the official Green Bay Packers website which is www.packers.com. Whose ever site is at the top of the search result list at the end will win a prize. After doing this we hypothesized that if enough people do this the Green Bay Packers website will show up in the search results for stiuqxela. Some people already started doing this and it already worked because the Packers website came up as the last search result for stiuqxela. I also wonder if someone does this so well will their website with the stiuqxela posts come up in the Packers results when you search the Green Bay Packers? We'll see!