Online Reputation: Lacey

TO: Lacey Saxton Nagao

FROM: Lauren Hong

DATE: December 8, 2009

SUBJECT: Your online reputation

The name "Lacey Saxton Nagao" is not a very common name. When one first types it into google, most of the first search results are accurate draws of the person I was searching. Many of them are blog related: Lacey is a member of Professor Ted Pease's news writing class' blog, http://newshounds1.blogspot.com, as well as having her own blog, http://laceynagao.blogspot.com. For one of her stories in that class, she decided to write a story about gays and lesbians living in the conservative environment of Cache Valley, and some of their thoughts on Prop 8. Another was about "brain food," food that might help students be able to focus better, or do better on tests.

According to her public blogger profile, she currently lives in Logan, UT. She lists a few of her interests as public relations, piano, fashion, fitness, research, the sorority Kappa Delta, history, and literature.

If I search her on facebook, her public search listing tells me that she is a fan of the Twilight series, Outblush, the band Brand New, and the makeup company Covergirl.

Upon accepting my friend request, I find out that she is a senior in the public relations program at Utah State University. She married Josh Nagao on August 18, 2009. Lacey and Josh will both graduate from USU in 2010, after which they will move to wherever Josh decides to go for dental school. She works for USU Athletic Media Relations, and her email is lacey.saxton@aggiemail.usu.edu.

She lists her religious views as being Christian: LDS. Her birthday is August 9, 1989, and her hometown is listed as Preston, Idaho.

Lacey has done a good job of presenting herself professionally to the public. Potential employers may skim her blog to hear her thoughts, but as long as she stands by everything she writes, it will give them a representation of who she is.

Team Proposal Draft

Proposal to Vooray

Part One: One Sentence Summary

Utah State University PRSSA is hosting one of 12 regional PR conferences in the nation and would like Vooray to sponsor 300 t-shirts that will be worn by conference attendees, as walking advertisement for Vooray during the conference and for years to follow.

Part Two: Sponsor Appeal

Vooray is a modern, well branded company which many college students and professionals would be proud to wear. The t-shirts would not end up at the DI, but would be worn to school, to work-out and for casual occasions. Vooray has sponsored many dances and USU events, but The 2010 Mountain West Regional Public Relations Conference would provide exposure at an even higher level. Students will be invited from all over Utah, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, California, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. This would benefit Vooray's brand image and help the company expand to markets other then Utah.

Part Three: Problem

Last year, PRSSA held a PR Conference for students and professionals in Utah. The t-shirts, which are still worn frequently by USU students and faculty, have an array of small logos on the back. While these t-shirts fulfilled a purpose, PRSSA feels a higher quality is needed for the caliber of a regional conference. Vooray has the quality and brand image PRSSA is looking for to incorporate into our conference and take the swag gear one step higher than last year.

Part Four: Solution

Objectives:

1. Collaborate to create t-shirt design & choose colors/specifics by Dec. 4, 2009

2. Invite 13,000 people to attend (35 schools, average of 350 PR students/Faculty/Professionals per school) by Dec. 7, 2009

3. Have t-shirts printed by Feb. 26, 2010

4. Pick t-shirts up from Vooray on Feb. 26, 2010

5. Receive 300 registered attendees, allow them to choose t-shirt in his/her size by Feb. 5, 2010(Only registered attendees by this date receive a t-shirt)

6. Allow Vooray employees to attend conference at no cost - Mar. 25-26, 2010

7. Encourage students to wear t-shirts to Mar. 26, 2010 - Friday conference sessions

8. Allow Vooray to set up a table to sell/promote products at conference during business fair onMar. 26, 2010

9. Result in awareness of Vooray brand and increase in customer purchases

10. Result in positive feelings towards Vooray and PRSSA Conference for receiving a high quality t-shirt

Time-and-Task Chart:

*create chart of above objectives in calendar form

Part Five: Capabilities

1. Credible Organization: Utah State University PRSSA *why

2. Credible Idea: Promote Vooray & give conference attendees a quality shirt and reminder of the event *explain

3. Credible Project Director: Natalie Curtis- Director of Sponsorship *verify credibility through outside reference

Part Six: Budget

300 t-shirts with multi-color logo on the front & Vooray logo on the side or back

Approximate cost per t-shirt = $8

Total donation cost = $2,400.00

Part Seven: Conclusion

Please let us know your level of interest in this opportunity for donation, sponsorship and regional exposure.

Additional sponsorship options are available.

For more information and to discuss this proposal contact Director of Sponsorship Natalie Curtis at 330-317-0077 or nataliejoycurtis@gmail.com

Press Release 4: ASUSU Diversity Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oct. 26, 2009

Associated Students of Utah State University
Krista Bustamante
Vice President of Diversity and Organizations
(435)-797-5555
kb@aggiemail.com

Diversity Week Highlights Unity on USU Campus

Themed "Pieces of the Puzzle," Diversity Week focused on the interconnected relationships across campus

This year’s Diversity Week focused on the variety of organizations that exist on campus and in the world that we have access to. Many events were held highlighting things currently happening in the world, such as the showing of the documentary “Congo and the Cost of Consumerism,” or the keynote speech on racism.

The keynote speaker of this week was Joe Feagin, winner of the Harvard Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award, nominee of the Pulitzer Prize, author of Ghetto Revolts, and current professor at Texas A&M. Specifically, Feagan spoke on racism on college campuses. He had a book signing after his speech.

Said Krista Bustamante, ASUSU Vice President of Diversity and Organizations, “This year, we really wanted to focus the week’s events on the diversity that we, as USU students, have contact with. Our school does have a lot of representation from various countries, ethnicities, cultures, lifestyles, and hobbies. Diversity Week is all about letting people experience this.”

Throughout the week, a poetry, art, and photo contest was on display in the TSC. The theme for the contest was “Pieces of the Puzzle,” also the theme of the week. The Thai Student Association had a cookout on the patio on Wednesday afternoon, and the Independent Music Club had a music marathon that night.

Associated Students of Utah State University (ASUSU) is an organization for the entire student body acting as the liaison with University staff, faculty, and administration. The leaders of ASUSU work closely with the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, whose mission is to strive for excellence in holistic student development. “We intentionally create meaningful learning opportunities that teach and challenge students though student leadership positions, service opportunities, leadership training, development, and campus activities,” said a representative. More information on ASUSU or student involvement can be found at http://www.usu.edu/asusu/.

Contact:

Lauren Hong
PR Specialist
ASUSU Diversity and Organizations Committee
lauren.hong@aggiemail.usu.edu
208-543-6879

- END -

Final: Media Pitch

E-mail Subject Line: CVAIA: Recognizing Opportunity

Emilie Wheeler, News Editor
Herald Journal
75 West 300 North
Logan, UT, 84321
(435) 752-2121

Local Organization Teaches Smart Investing

CVAIA's goal is financial independence through passive income

Dear Emilie,

The Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA) is a local organization focused on achieving financial independence through passive income. Passive income is money that supplements one's existing income without active recruitment of it. Members of CVAIA meet together to learn new knowledge through speakers and other lectures, while sharing their existing knowledge about investments and entrepreneurship with each other.

President and founder Preston Parker said that he started the club to meet a need he saw in the community. "I see a lot of people that are unhappy with their jobs. If they utilize passive income correctly, they will be able to work the jobs that make them happy without worrying about paying the bills. This principle is what CVAIA is built upon," said Parker.

CVAIA’s meetings are held every other Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Cache County Chamber of Commerce (160 N. Main St., Logan, UT). All people with interest in the subject are welcome to join. There is no cost to join CVAIA. More information can be found at http://www.cvaia.com/.

Readers of the Herald Journal would find this interesting and relevant to their lives due to the subject matter that CVAIA addresses. There are many in the community that would benefit from learning more about investing wisely, and supplementing their income through passive measures. For more information, feel free to contact me.

Lauren Hong
Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA)
Chief Executive, Public Relations
208-555-1234
lauren.hong@aggiemail.usu.edu

Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA) teaches people how to increase passive income. CVAIA embraces the Law of Attraction, Law of Abundance, and Law of Exchange. CVAIA began in August 2007 and now has members from many geographical locations from all walks of life. The members come together with the same belief: that education mitigates the risk of investing.

- END -

Final Press Release 3: Cause Promotion

For Immediate Release
September 24, 2009

Cache Valley Area Investors Association
Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce
160 N. Main St.
Logan, UT 84321

Recognizing Opportunity: CVAIA
Local Organization Promotes Passive Income, Financial Independence

LOGAN, Utah— The Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA) works to promote financial independence through utilizing passive income. Local members of the community make up the organization, meeting every other Thursday to discuss subjects such as smart investing and money management. They meet based on the idea that a person should have the job that he loves. Passive income is what makes this possible.

Said Preston Parker, president of CVAIA, " We believe people should be able to spend their time doing something they love, not just a job that provides an income." CVAIA teaches their members how to manage their money, time, and assets in the most effective manner.

CVAIA meets every other Thursday. The next meeting is on October 1, 2009, at 7 pm in the Cache County Chamber of Commerce. Guest speakers include local businessmen, investors, and other people with useful expertise. Presentations usually last about one hour with time for questions afterward. CVAIA meetings are open to the public.

About CVAIA

Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA) teaches people how to increase passive income. CVAIA embraces the Law of Attraction, Law of Abundance, and Law of Exchange. They practice the methods found in the ideologies of books including Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Wealthy Barber, The Millionaire Next Door, Atlas Shrugged, The Automatic Millionaire, and The Secret. CVAIA began in August 2007 and now has many members from many geographical locations, and from all walks of life. The members come together with the same belief: Education mitigates the risks of investing.

Contact

Lauren Hong
Public Relations Specialist
208-716-0953
lauren.hong@aggiemail.usu.edu

- END -

Draft: Press Release 3: Cause Promotion

For Immediate Release
September 24, 2009

Cache Valley Area Investors Association
Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce
160 N. Main St.
Logan, UT 84321

Recognizing Opportunity: CVAIA
Local Organization Promotes Passive Income, Financial Independence

LOGAN, Utah— The Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA) works to promote financial independence through utilizing passive income. Local members of the community make up the organization, meeting every other Thursday to discuss subjects such as smart investing and money management. They meet based on the idea that a person should have the job that he loves, and passive income makes this possible.


About CVAIA

Cache Valley Area Investors Association (CVAIA) teaches people how to increase passive income. CVAIA embraces the Law of Attraction, Law of Abundance, and Law of Exchange. They practice the methods found in the ideologies of books including Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Wealthy Barber, The Millionaire Next Door, Atlas Shrugged, The Automatic Millionaire, and The Secret. CVAIA began in August 2007 and now has many members from many geographical locations, and from all walks of life. The members come together with the same belief: Education mitigates the risks of investing.

Contacts
Lauren Hong
Public Relations Specialist
208-716-0953
lauren.hong@aggiemail.usu.edu

- END -

Final: Press Release 2: Image Management

September 21, 2009
Burger Planet
CEO James E Muellenbach III
3679 Veal Way
Indianapolis, IN 46298
317-248-5359

Burger Planet Goes Lean, Brings Opal Whitcomb's Jayne Petersen to the Table

GARY, IN--Supporting their attitude of balanced, active lifestyles, Burger
Planet has hired Jayne Petersen as the spokesperson for their recently
announced line of healthier choices on the menu.

James Mullenbach, CEO of the company, said that “Jayne Petersen and Burger Planet share a commitment toward health.”

Draft Press Release 2: Image Management

September 21, 2009
Burger Planet
CEO James E Muellenbach III
3679 Veal Way
Indianapolis, IN 46298
317-248-5359

Burger Planet Goes Lean, Brings Opal Whitcomb's Jayne Petersen to the Table

GARY, IN--Supporting their attitude of balanced, active lifestyles, Burger
Planet has hired Jayne Petersen as the spokesperson for their recently
announced line of healthier choices on the menu.

James Mullenbach, CEO of the company, said that “Jayne Petersen and Burger Planet share a commitment toward health.”

Press Release 1: Announcement

For immediate release:
September 8, 2009

Preston Parker, President
Social Media Club of Cache Valley (SMCCV)
851 N. Main St., Logan, UT, 84321
661-772-7537

Social Media Club Opens Chapter in Cache Valley
A global club counts Logan as its own

Logan, Utah—The San Francisco-based Social Media Club has expanded to include Cache Valley in its list of chapters.

Starting with seven on the original board, the Cache Valley chapter has grown to 28 official members, according to who has registered on the smccv.net website. The three original members decided to create a Cache Valley chapter after realizing the drive down to Salt Lake City every month was unnecessary, because they had enough interest in Cache Valley to have their own meetings.

SMCCV has meetings every month, often featuring people with an interest in social media as their speakers. Preston Parker, the President of SMCCV, said that some of the goals of the club are to help people become more informed on social media, what it is, and how to use it, and also to provide a network of like-minded people to collaborate and share ideas on this rapidly-growing subject.

The next meeting of the SMCCV will be held on September 10, 2009, at Club New York (359 N. Main St., Logan, UT) at 6:30 pm. They will be featuring a "mommy-blogger," Loralee Choate, who was recently featured on the homepage of whitehouse.gov. She will be talking about her experiences with blogging, tips on how to make blogs better, and will be available for questions after her presentation.

Anyone that wants to is encouraged to join the SMCCV. It is an excellent resource for both those people that already are experienced in social media, and also for those with no experience, because it provides a resource to learn about it. Membership to the SMCCV is free.

Local businesses are encouraged to attend or sponsor events of the SMCCV. The marketing or advertising from the blog posts, Twitter "tweets," and other social media updates that the members provide is an excellent resource for free publicity.

For more information:
Lauren Hong
Public Relations Director
208-716-0953
lauren.hong@aggiemail.usu.edu

The Social Media Club of Cache Valley, founded in July 2009, is one chapter of a global organization. It is a growing organization, due to the high use of many social media outlets on the web today. All members of Cache Valley with any interest at all in social media are encouraged to attend the meetings, join the club, or contribute in other ways.

United Breaks Guitars

In class on Tuesday, we talked about the Youtube video, “United Breaks Guitars.”Even as my professor was merely giving us background information on the story, I was downloading the video to watch on my laptop. In 2008, Dave Carroll, a Canadian musician, was sitting on a plane at Chicago’s O’Hare when some people started yelling that the baggage men were throwing guitars. Carroll’s $3500 Taylor guitar was severely damaged, and he called on United to fix it. United repeatedly refused to pay the $1200 he asked for in compensation. After a year of being redirected all over the place, Carroll decided to write a song about his story. In just ten days, this video had over 3 million hits, according to a blog post by Visible Measures, an internet video measurement company.

Chris Ayres claims this video cost United $180 million. Whether or not this is true, United did contact Carroll and tell him they would pay for his guitar, but he turned them down. He has now released a second song, and is said to be releasing a third as well.

I think that United’s PR didn’t do a very good job with this situation. This video reached out to a lot of people that could empathize with their frustrations with the company as well, and merely offering to pay for Carroll’s damages is NOT enough to make the millions of people watching the video feel better about the company.

One of the most important things to keep a company in the public's good graces is their customer service. Customer service is that determining factor that tips the scale to a positive impression or a negative impression on the organization when a customer has a problem. From this scenario, unfortunately, we see that United's customer service seems to have much area to improve upon. After reading many of the comments under the original Youtube video, I discovered that many people also were unhappy with the way they were treated when dealing with United. I think that one reason this video was so popular was just because there are a ton of people who have to deal with problems every time they go to the airport, often with no relief, and this video was a tasteful, humorous way for them to feel that their emotions were being told to someone. People could easily relate with the story. I'm sure that is because many had been in a similar situation of being pointed from person to person, redirected from department to department, until they end at a wall of "NO." That is, if they were persistent enough to even find a wall. I'm sure other people liked the clip because it was entertaining! Knowing nothing about the situation, I still laughed at the somewhat melodramatic parts of it--that was half the fun!

I think that this reaction was an awesome way for Dave to get his message across. It was effective. It expressed his side of the story. It was catchy. It spread like wildfire. And most importantly: it got the attention of the people he was trying to reach.

Excellent PR work, Dave Carroll. Maybe United should think about hiring you as their new PR guy.

----------------------

Here are some articles also discussing this story that I found informative!

NBC Chicago

Mashable

Huff Post

Letter to Cousin

Hey, Todd!

You recently just sent me an email asking what exactly a public relations professional does as a career. I know that grandma asks me if I want to change my major at every family reunion, but little does she know how valuable PR people really are. Public relations is all about information transfer, whether that be finding out how people perceive a company, the company sending out new information on its new product, research on a topic relating to both sides, or even event planning! As the BLS' Occupational Handbook states, public relations professionals build and maintain positive relationships with the public. The entry they have listed explains many facets of the work very clearly. You might want to check it out! Here is the link.

Most organizations, whether they be businesses, non-profit organizations, government entities, or other consumer-related entities, have PR professionals working with them, though their titles may differ from industry to industry.

We do a lot of press releases, and often work in busy offices with busy schedules.

If you have any more questions, feel free to give me a call! If your schedule allows time this week, I'd love to sit down to some lunch with you. Let me know.

Thanks,

Lauren

Special Olympics Held Last Saturday

Special Olympics athletes from all over northern Utah competed in track and field events last Saturday at Sky View High School.

Many athletes from Utah State, Weber, and Davis County, among others, showed up Saturday to enjoy some warm weather and compete in their respective events. Many volunteers also showed up from Utah State to help time, record numbers, and award medals.

Said Eric Lund, a freshman majoring in economics, "I just came for class at first, but it was actually really cool! I liked helping with it a lot more than I expected."

Chris Axtell, sophomore in entrepreneurship, said that he tries to volunteer at the Special Olympics whenever he can. "It's one of the best feelings in the world to feel like you're here supporting the athletes and what they can do."

More information on Special Olympics volunteers can be found here.

The Special Olympics has been giving people with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to succeed since 1968.

The Special Olympics is held many times a year, with over 30 sports available to compete in. Utah State hosts the State Indoor Games competition every year.

Twitter

The past few weeks, I have been exploring this new phenomenon: Twitter.

Background info on company: http://bit.ly/UFP2o

I don't care what the haters say... it is excellent for information transfer. It's all about your subscriptions. A plethora of fascinating people are beginning to get into it, including a ton of recording artists and other celebrities.

Oprah got it last friday: CS Monitor article CNET article her actual twitter page

Another discovery: Larry King. His Twitter page has actually been way informative... I love CNN!

If Twitter grows like Facebook has, it could be amazing for the networking capabilities. Go ahead, laugh at me, but it's all about the information! Twitter used an example explaining direct messages that I found useful. Say a friend tweets "at jamba juice. love the mango-a-go-go." If you were about to meet up with that person, and you wanted them to grab you an orange dream machine while they were there, you could easily reply back in a direct message and say "d joey grab me one too?" Or you could just call him, now that you know he's there. Either way, you wouldn't be without that sweet smoothie without twitter.

Say your favorite bakery gets on twitter and tweets every time they pull different baked goods out of the oven. You'd know exactly when to head over and pick up that deliciously warm and flaky croissant based on Twitter's capabilities.

Users can subscribe, unsubscribe, get mobile updates, or turn off mobile updates at any time they wish for any particular person at any time. Yeah, the power!

Going to be interesting to see if this twitter revolution gets bigger... or if it hits the maximum point on the parabola in bit and then starts to die down. Very interesting.

Cool!!!

After what Pete said about Google searches, I was quite curious about where I was on this so-called-golden triangle.

Turns out if one types in "Lauren Hong Public Relations" into Google.... my blog comes up as its very first listing!!!!! Cool!!!!!!

I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I mean, it's not like people are going to type (or even know!) my name right off the bat when they're looking for public relations people.... but you know what? Maybe someday they will!! 

How exciting.

Links from the Utah PR Conference

Pete Codella's keynote slides can be found at http://news.codellamarketing.com/uploads/1/multimedia/images/Codella-SocialMedia-SearchMarketing.pdf 

This pdf link was grabbed from this article in his newsroom: http://news.codellamarketing.com/newsrelease-cid-1-id-10064.html 

Codella on twitter: http://twitter.com/codella

Richter7: 

http://www.richter7.com/

http://twitter.com/richter7

Intrepid Hybrid Communications (Chris Thomas, afternoon breakout session): http://www.intrepidagency.com/

Hope you find these useful! 

PR Conference Takeaways

I learned so much from this conference. I got to go to the afternoon speakers, and they were awesome! There is a ton of information, so I'll post what I learned here, and then links from the presentations in another post. We'll go with bullets to be most efficient. 

Chris Thomas, Partner, Intrepid Group

Nile Easton, Senior Public Information Officer, UDOT 

• Knowing how to write is huge. Fundamentals in PR won't change even when the media and other things do change.
• PR is a crowded field. When looking for an internship, remember that networking and background experience are two of the biggest things that will get you the position. 
• Solid writers and strategic thinkers are hard to find, because usually they will get snapped up quickly and then stay where they land. Those are the people that employers are looking for. 
• In communications, most people will pay their dues at some time in their careers. One has to be willing to work for free and still be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done--and get the job done well. 
• Give every job 100%. Even if you aren't getting paid, you could use the experience!  
• Overall, employers are looking for people that are creative, hard-working, and strategically-minded. People that are solid writers, and people that will give the client every dollar's worth of work that they are hired for. 
  

Pete Codella

Codella Marketing

• The corporate web site is no longer the web site that people go to to find out more information on you. Google is. 
• Ever heard of the Google golden triangle? It's where the reader's eyes automatically go on a Google search page of results. I attempted to put it in this, but I think I'll just send you to the slides instead. (It's page 12 of the 44.) Codella used this illustration to show the three most important links of any company. From what I got out of this, it seems that those links inside the Google golden triangle are going to give the reader his first impression on the company. Try to influence which links pop up first. 
• Everyone approaches things differently. Ideas are going to be different. Different is not bad, because as long as it succeeds, why does it matter? There is no magic bullet! 
• Be strategic. Though technology and all of its different services can be incredibly useful, it doesn't mean that one has to use every single feature to be successful. Use what will be useful to you! 
• New technologies don't necessarily replace old technologies, and aren't necessarily "better." TV didn't replace radio. They fulfill different parts of media and information transfer. Again, use what will be the most beneficial to you. Some companies will have no use for flickr, while other companies will thrive off of its visual benefits.
• Diversify! Put eggs in as many baskets as possible. (See slide five) 

   Social Media Tools

• RSS feeds - pull vs push. The media has gone from being pushed upon us to us pulling the information we want and/or need from the media. Codella mentioned Newsgator and Feedburner as two things he likes to use to manage feeds and things like that. 
• Blogging and Microblogging. Things like blogspot (blogging) and twitter (microblogging) are incredibly useful for a company. Bill Marriott's blog has drawn thousands of people to marriott.com's site! 
• The most underutilized tool ever: Online Newsrooms. An additional basket to put information about your company, information that you can control for other people to see, and more information that google can pull from in its search results. Frequent publishing, or certain keywords are two things that draws google to your web pages.
• Social (virtual) networking, such as Facebook.
  
• Multimedia sharing.  = Youtube! 
• Wikis. User generated content. (Wikipedia is one example of a wiki. A wiki is not necessarily an encyclopedia, as some may think.)
• Key takeaways: New technology has forever changed the role of public relations practitioners. Utilize social media tools to secure top search placement. 

This conference was awesome... AND!!! According to usuprssa on twitter... 

"Utah PR Conference just won 08-09 PR Campaign of the Year! YAY! Congrats!!"

I feel that this recognition was well deserved. Congratulations to the USU PRSSA team. 

I'm there!

I just registered for our PR Conference coming up on this Monday!

I can't wait to see what I can learn from it. I think the networking lunch is a way sweet idea.

I'll definitely blog about how it goes next week!

two more reasons to love gmail: april fools + UNDO SEND?!

I love it when I can see companies have a sense of humor.

Did anyone else see Gmail's April Fool's joke this year? I absolutely love how they do one every year. It makes me laugh so hard. This year's was pretending to be an application called Autopilot that one could add that would custom build one's email to sound exactly like the person sending it, depending on the settings it was put to. So, for example, a quick note to your workout buddy would sound very different from the email that this app would compose as a memo to your boss.
Two of my favorite toggles were "brevity" and "emoticons."

Oh my.

So funny.

(Link here)

Originally this post was titled "One more reason to love Gmail"

Okay, make that two reasons. Check out this sweet development I just found on the gmail blog. UNDO SEND?!?! NO WAY! Yes way

Check it out.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/new-in-labs-undo-send.html

Free Fonts!!

I love the word free. Who doesn't? It's the college student's favorite word!

In class last week, we found some awesommmme free font websites. It had never completely occurred to me that if the fonts on your computer were not enough, you could go online, find one you like, stick it on your computer.. and voila! Your new favorite font.

I would definitely recommend exporting your finished work as a pdf file so that everyone can appreciate your new font, as most computers will take your custom font and turn it into something ugly that came with the default settings... but yes. Anyway.

Who knew it was so easy to get just one font? I had always supposed new fonts just came on gigantic cds with hundreds of new fonts for big bucks, and were therefore not really high on my priority list... but that's why I go to college. I find out new stuff every day!!

Before I start sounding like some plastic advertisement, I'll just give you some of the sites we played with.

My favorite URL is the first one. Totally brings me back to middle school... the era of "da bomb." Gotta love it.

• dafont

• creamundo

• urbanfonts

• 1001freefonts

Enjoy the freeness of it all!!!

Other cool links

This is a sidenote, but I was just browsing some of my classmates' blogs to see what they have been doing, and some of them have some sweet photoshop skills! I think my favorite was Holly's neon picture. So cool! Check it out on my links to the right --->

More Photoshop Workings!

For this assignment, we were instructed to take two pictures that we have shot recently and then do four edits to them using the tools we have learned in Photoshop. I'm just remotely accessing CS1 on my home PC in Idaho because I don't have the software on my macbook at school, so bear with me if the commands are a little different than CS3's.

Original Shot #1

With Edits:
- Eraser tool and copy of background layer to bring color through on milkshake cup
- Magic Wand tool to highlight entire balloon cluster in one click, erased that part of the layer to show color on bottom layer
- Cropped picture
- Used Clone Stamp tool to get rid of the ugly windows and blinds, replaced with continuous wall
















Original #2
(Actually, I edited the red eye out by habit and replaced the old version, not remembering I would need the red-eye version, so this is the original, plus one edit.)






























With Edits:
- Eliminated red-eye, as stated in previous paragraph
- Cropped photo
- Added text
- Using Hue/Saturation tool, changed color of bowl from red to brown so that it isn't so distracting when one first sees the picture.


Hope this shows a little bit of what photoshop can do!

Lauren

Photoshop HW

Here is our photoshop homework, as requested.


Pop can silver --> another color (green, in this case)
Plus we were supposed to add our name on it somewhere


















City with rainbow in background, add shamrock, make shamrock opaque.
I also turned it upside down and rotated it to give it the full "ghost" effect that Shane asked for. I think that it makes it look a little more spooky/haunting.



















This is me in living color. Yes, half of me looks like it is still in black and white, but that is because I am wearing a gray sweatshirt and the girl's black sleeve is covering my other leg. Go figure.













That is all!

Project

Our group presents our project on Ken Garff tomorrow! 

I hope we did everything right. Everyone did their part, and I think the finished project is going to show off our hard work. My group was solid... not to mention cool! I'd work with them for the rest of my life if I could.

Check out the rest of the blog for more fascinating PR workings! 

Skillz

I am realizing that a lot of careers have some crossover in skill sets one learns. In PR, for instance, I am learning that English/writing skills are obviously very important, as are quick reaction and analyzing skills. Good reading comprehension is a plus in any career, as in any part of life, and it always helps to know how to understand numbers. It also takes creativity to brainstorm new innovative ideas for the company.

When I first got in this class, I was terribly intimidated. I felt like everyone knew what they were doing, and I was still exploring this whole PR idea.

After the first two assignments, I still felt lost.

But this midterm project is really helping me see how things work! I'm really glad he moved it from being the final project to being in the middle of the semester. Plus, it means that there's that much less at the end of the semester for me to stress about.

Business

In my Intro to PR class last week, we had a guest speaker, Heather Mason Bertini, with A Caspian Production. She graduated from Utah State, and had moved to the Bay area, specializing in event and project management with nonprofit organizations.  

One of the biggest things I got out of her lecture was how beneficial it is for PR people to have a background, no matter how slight, in business. She pointed out that most of the companies that PR people work for are out there to make money. That's business. After thinking about it, and talking to some other friends, I started to realize how having some sort of business training is valuable in any aspect of life! Money is passing from hand to hand in some aspect of life at any given time, and if one doesn't understand how it works, he or she could miss something. 

The other day, I decided I would love to study abroad. I looked into a bunch of the study abroad exchanges Utah State has, but a lot of them are business programs only. If I could make it work, though, I would love to go study business somewhere, and then come back and see if I could make a business minor work with my schedule. It never hurts to have a background in business!

I'm actually kind of excited about these plans. That would be pretty neat if they worked out. Studying abroad is just expensive. I don't like debt. Exploring more options will be on the calendar for the year...

HTML Progress

I'm making progress!!! I got the background template thing for this to finally work. With a few custom edits, I'm actually halfway satisfied. 

Now for that HTML/CSS coding assignment due tomorrow.

Oh well. One hurdle down, another to jump tomorrow.

Isn't that the way life always works?

Sigh.

Go figure. 

Pet Peeve

Throughout my life, there has been one thing that has always bothered me. When I was younger, I wrote it off as the inexperience of youth, thinking that it would go away when I got to high school. After I got to high school and learned that it was still a problem, I figured one must break out of it when one gets to college. Now that I am in college, I'm realizing that this problem never goes away. What is this problem? Well, I will tell you.

Spelling.

Spelling, spelling, spelling!!!

It isn't just the fifth graders spelling "too" and "to" wrong to me anymore. I can sometimes write off text messaging spelling errors, but when sixteen people reply to me the word "definitely" spelled in any combination of incorrect letters (for instance: "definately," "defenitly," or "definitley"), I start to get frustrated. T9 predictive text is not a good way to spell check something! T9 recognizes all sorts of letters that definitely are not words. However, many of my friends think that if T9 recognizes it as a letter combination, it must be a word. False!

Ah, the agony.

I think the worst part about this spelling pet peeve is that my professors can't even spell. Oftentimes I sit in the back row of my English class, shaking my head, because another word on the board is spelled wrong.

Alas. At least I can make my best effort not to spell things wrong.

We'll go from there.

Accuracy in websites

A few weeks ago, we had to do a little scavenger-hunt-type assignment. We were given a bunch of sites, or pictures, or website prompts on a list. We then had to analyze the website, figure out if we thought it was reputable, if the information was correct, what the design (layout) of the pages was like, and if it was good for the reader or not.

One great site I came across for this background checking was snopes.com. It has all sorts of urban legends in it, from email forwards, to frauds and scams, to random old wives' tales. I actually first heard about this website in my folklore class, but hadn't really perused it until now.

College has taught me that research is huge. It is really important to make sure one can back up all of his or her material before posting it anywhere!

I'll cover the design part in another blog post later on.

Parents on facebook

I have facebook. I have facebook friends. I also have parents. And now I have my friends parents as friends on facebook. Facebook is very functional--the networking tool really is a fascinating little piece of technology. I won't lie... Many days, I find myself passing the time looking at my best friend's sister's neighbor's cousin's friend's page, who I am pretty sure is in my English class... but I want to check and see if it really is her before I start talking to her on Tuesday. 

 

It's not that facebook is anything too personal to share. I'm aware that all of my friends can see all of my wall posts addressed to the new boy in town, the photos of last Saturday's raging 80's dance party at Becky's house, or the bumper sticker with peace signs all over it that my roommate just gave me at 4 in the morning. 

It's just the idea of my parents reading it along with my friends that bothers me. Do I need to censor my comments? Spellcheck my wall posts five extra times before posting? Not mention that new friend I just met?

I've accepted some of my friends' parents on facebook. Perhaps it's just the novelty of the idea. There's a chance I'll just delete them in a month anyway. 

This article from the Christian Science Monitor talked about the same thing. I loved it. http://www.shanekrebs.com/jcom/fcbook.swf

The intricacies of html

Wow. 

We've been going over html coding in class, and I must say... I'm rather astounded. Who knew that web design was so complicated!!!! I suppose it doesn't surprise me. A lot of things are more complicated than they seem. 

I just hadn't thought about how one actually controls how a website looks. Turns out it is quite specific... and... confusing. 

Things aren't confusing once one understands them. I just don't understand them yet.

CSS code? semicolon placement? prompts? values? true? false? 

aaaaah. my brain can't handle it all.

but it can handle this website: Colors!! 

 ....I really like this webmonkey stuff. http://www.webmonkey.com/reference/Color_Charts

P.S. Just when I thought I was starting to understand things, I attempted to copy a template for this blog background. WOWWWWWW -- I don't even understand the tip of the iceburg!!! Good grief. It's like a page of solid gibberish. So it's back to the boring template for now. 

PR Textbook

This semester, as every semester, I have a lot of textbooks to read. Usually they're pretty dull.. which is why the word textbook is often synonymous with a boring read. However, I feel like I've been pretty spoiled lately. A few of my books have actually been interesting!!! 

My intro to pr class has one of these interesting books. Titled Public Relations: The Profession and the Practice, 3rd edition, by Lattimore, Baskin, Heiman, and Toth, this book gave me a ton of good information! 

I really like how useful this book is.

Good choice, people. I give it two thumbs up.

Telecommunications tug of war?

When I first read about the idea of telecommunications companies getting to control the speed of certain sites and whatnot, I didn't like it. At all. I guess I can't really picture anything different though--the internet has always been a neutral party.. and I like it that way! I can see where the companies are coming from (every business anywhere is always looking for new ways to look at things, new ways to be competitive, new ways to get the leg up on the competition), but my first inclination says that, hey, if Google is doing better than Yahoo because consumers like the pages better, then why not let it continue? I like how I have the ability to choose which search engine I use, the freedom to buy the things on the websites that I want, or the ability to use my favorite networking tool all based on my preferences. It's annoying when I have to use something just because it's the only thing available. If only one search engine worked at the coffeeshop I was in, I would use it, but only because I need one. It would be annoying if I wanted to use something else, but I guess I would live with it. 

And you know... maybe this is only because this is what I'm used to. Maybe it wouldn't rock my world like I think it would. Who knows. I guess we'll just have to see what the new developments in the laws shape out to be. And who knows... I just might get involved. I guess we'll just have to see what the future brings. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/21/AR2006012100094.html

Email Etiquette

To me, some things are obvious when emailing. There is a time and a place for everything. It is not the right time to send a million smiley faces, winks, and lol's inside an email intended for one's professor. Actually, I don't think it should ever be the right time for a million winks in one email... but that is not the point. We read a few articles for my JCOM 2160 class about what one should and should not do in an email (mostly relating to corporate emails), and to be honest... I was kind of surprised. There was a lot of useful information in the articles (such as using active voice instead of passive), but a lot of it was stuff that was just a given for me. 

For instance,

- DON'T USE ALL CAPITALS (IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING)

- Don't forward chain emails ("send this to fifty people or your grandmother will get hit by a bus")

- Read the email before you send it

- Don't reply to spam

These all seem fairly straightforward, so it makes me wonder how many people out there really don't know proper email etiquette.  

Car Radio

Most of the time while I drive my car around, I have some sort of music on. Usually it is a cd. Sometimes it's the radio. The radio is not as enjoyable to listen to due to the amount of commercials on it as compared to how many are on a cd. (as in some vs. none) However, occasionally the non-music tidbits can be interesting. A day or so ago I remember there was some celebrity news update stuff going on, and the dj mentioned mischa barton. This story was interesting to me because it actually related to stuff I've been learning in my PR class. Apparently she had posted some recent pictures of herself on a/her blog of her vacation in Goa. This reminded me of the Ivy Lee/railroad case we read about in our textbook, so I went and dug a little deeper into it. Upon looking at the blog, I noticed she had left the photos the same--as far as I could tell--as when they were taken. I found a few other blogs pointing out the lack of cellulite-removing airbrushing in these pictures as well. This is an interesting PR move to me! Perhaps by introducing her beach pictures on her own blog, it isn't quite as sensationalistic as the random paparazzi shots that turn up in the tabloids. A picture that many are already familiar with, readily given, seems to fascinate a smaller number of people looking for that negative coverage. Great PR move! Gotta love history...

http://mischabarton.celebuzz.com/2009/01/relaxing-in-goa.php?bfm_index=0&bfm_page=0