mousewords

 

Hello, world!

Welcome to mousewords 2.0! It’s been a while since my sites have been up and running, but it’s been a busy year, with a lot of exciting news to report. I’ll have a sum-up post soon, and will continue to fine-tune the widgets around here for a while.

In the meantime, let’s jump right in to today…with a new media event:

 

 

NEW INTERNET RADIO SHOW/PODCAST ON NEW MEDIA

CINCINNATI – TILBURG (NL) – Internet Radio Station iJoy Radio will be premiering a new show this Saturday. Ed Ovett, known from the Podcast “Ed’s Mixed Bag”, came up with the idea to bring Zack Daggy’s MothPod Productions and iJoy Radio’s Mark Baars together, resulting in this New Media Stampede, called “Tomorrow’s Media Today” (TMT)….Read the rest on ijoyradio.com

I have the honor of being one of the panelists on this new show, along with Ed, Zack, and Mark. It’ll be a blast! C’mon and stop by!

When: Saturday September 19 (Which also happens to be Talk Like a Pirate Day)
Where: www.ijoyradio.com
What time: 10am Pacific; 12pm Central; 1pm Eastern; 5pm GMT

See you then. And welcome back.

 

Tags: Social Media by mousewords
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My Dad and I were discussing the latest drama in the “Luann” comic strip. Two characters are trying to figure out how a third character–who has no obvious means of employment–makes his money. They guessed that he engaged in illegal activities to support himself.

My Dad and I, as we are wont to do with the comics, began discussing the subject with a measure of seriousness.

“I bet he is Mafia,” my Dad postulated. “What do you think he does?”

I pondered the character for a moment, then said, “I think he monetizes his blog with affiliate content.”

[Raised eyebrows from Dad.]

“Ooookaaayy….”

Welcome to a new world, with a new vocabulary.

I don’t usually realize how unusual today’s online vernacular sounds until I speak it out loud to others.

Tweet.

Failwhaling.

I can haz.

Microblogging.

For that matter, blogging.

And a new kid on the grammatical block–plurk.

Each word, however strange and odd, seems to make perfect sense when used in context.

Tweet: Noun or verb. Referencing a status message on the site Twitter.com. As a verb, the act of posting such a message.

Failwhaling : Verb. To break down or fail, especially in reference to a failure to meet expectations. From the whale illustration on the error message that appears when the site Twitter.com temporarily breaks down.

I can haz : I am allowed to possess; or, when used as a question, “May I please have…” From “lolspeak,” originated on Icanhascheezburger.com.

Microblogging : Posting a running stream of thoughts in messages of 140 characters or less on a site such as Twitter.

Blogging : Writing a journal or series of articles on an internet web log site.

Plurk : Noun or verb. The name of a microblogging site, Plurk.com, and also the messages posted. As a verb, the act of posting messages on the site.

So in other words, I can tweet about my wi-fi failwhaling, and plead, “I can haz new router?” then plurk a link to my latest blog post about modern society’s dependence on technology.

Make sense? Kthanksbai.

 

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© 2008 Christine Taylor

Tags: Family, Humor, Internet, Social Media by mousewords
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Tags: Humor, Internet, Musings, Social Media by mousewords
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All the events of life pass over the screen of social media–birth and death, joy and sorrow. Milestones are shared by communities of people from all across the globe. And this week is no exception.

Just in time for Valentine’s month, Twitter is witnessing the power of romance! Artist and craftsman Keith Burtis is hoping that “with a bit of tough work, some perseverance, and some social love,” he will be able to purchase an engagement ring for his lovely girlfriend by Friday, February 22nd–two days from now. To achieve this goal, Keith is feverishly turning incredible wood bowls and offering them for sale on his blog. Each work of art is unique, each different type of wood has a personality of its own.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I invite you to visit Keith’s blog, read about his Social Media Miracle, and perhaps help to make it happen!

Tags: Friends, Inspiration, Internet, Love, News, Social Media by mousewords
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Today was the kickoff of “My ooVoo Day With…”, a “week-long experiment in blogger to fan interaction.” What’s ooVoo? According to the website, it’s “the next evolution in online communication.” It enables up to six people to participate in an online conversation, at the same time, via video chat or text. Other features include video messaging, file transfer, even phone calls. The name makes me smile, since it reminds me of an old comedy routine quoted by Myrna Loy and Cary Grant in “The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer.” (“You remind me of a man…”) But the technology has me intrigued.

To showcase the ability of the technology, well-known bloggers are hosting chat sessions throughout the week, covering a wide range of topics. Anyone is invited to grab an available slot and join in the conversations. As a thank-you to the hosts, ooVoo is making a donation to each blogger’s charity of choice.

I didn’t even own a webcam—but the opportunity to talk with these bloggers on a face-to-face basis was too good to pass up. So I ran out and got a webcam, and had it set up just in time for the start of “My ooVoo Day With…” I had the privilege of participating in a chat with artist and new media consultant Susan Reynolds and communications specialist Connie Reece, founder of Every Dot Connects. Susan’s battle against breast cancer inspired the creation of the Frozen Pea Fund, which is working to raise awareness and funds for the fight against breast cancer. The FPF is one of the organizations benefiting from the ooVoo Day event.

The site proclaims that ooVoo is “remarkably easy to use,” and I agree. Being familiar with web chat, I was able to intuitively use the features of ooVoo, even though I had no previous experience with video chat. The design—with its theme of black, gold and gray punctuated by bright primary colors—is aesthetically pleasing, and makes it easy to identify things at a glance. I quickly found myself looking at my own face onscreen, alongside those of the other participants.

For the first chat, I was on my laptop, with a high-speed Wi-Fi internet connection; but found that it had trouble keeping up. The audio and video were erratic, making it tough to follow the conversation. Thankfully, the simultaneous text chat capability helped me have a say even when my voice couldn’t make it.

A quick query to Scott Monty garnered the advice to use a wired connection–so I moved operations to the desktop PC. An ooVoo chat from there worked just as it should–decidedly cool. I noticed that if a chat participant is using external speakers rather than a headset, I hear my own delayed voice in the background–which makes it kind of surreal at first–but beyond that the chats were as easy and normal as sitting across the table from people at a coffee shop.

The possibilities of using ooVoo have me enthusiastic—whether it’s to connect with my siblings in the same state or get to know my readers from all over the world.

And I’m also looking forward to other “My ooVoo Day With” chats coming up later this week. They remind me of a place, actually. What place? A coffee shop. Who do? ooVoo.

 

Tags: Articles, Friends, Internet, Musings, News, Social Media, Technology, Video, Women by mousewords
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