Application...

I am interested in the non-profit organization Services for Vision and Hearing Impaired. I think this is a valuable organization that does not get the credit or attention it deserves for the great service it provides. That being said... I think it would be a good idea to create a Facebook application to raise awareness of this organization!

The application would be to add a "Service Animal" to your Facebook. After adding the initial app, you would have many ways of customizing it to your own preference. The first option you have is what service you want the animal to complete:

Visual Assistance:
Dog: German Shepherd, Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers
Miniature Horse:
Name
Design harness
Determine alert system (dog noises=notifications; ie. 1 bark=wall post)

Hearing Assistance:
Dog: (choose from all breeds)
Name
Design harness
Determine alert system (different visual affects= notifications; ie. paw prints flashing over poke section=poke)

The user also has the choice to interact further with their service animal by playing or feeding it although it is not required for the survival of the animal or functioning of the application.


I would hope this application would be fun for the users and bring a subtle awareness as well. There are many people in need of what Services for the Vision and Hearing Impaired offers; maybe not the user themselves, but I'm confident that everyone knows someone that has a difficulty, from age or disease, and those are the people this organization aims to serve.

Pacers beat Cavaliers

Last Tuesday, February 10th, I embarked on journey to Indianapolis. My class split up into two groups that traveled in "party buses" from Marion, IN to the capital. After a hour and a half trip we got to a parking garage and went up and up and up. After we parked our group crammed into the elevator and stopped at every floor until we found the right one. From there we walked into the Conseco Field House, home of the Indiana Pacers (NBA). After proving that we were weapon free we filed into a conference room where we waited for Mr. Rob Laycock to meet with us. He is the Director of Interactive Marketing and took the time to talk with us for a bit. He explained what his job was. What he would like to see happen, comparing the Pacers' website to that of the fan site of the Suns' "Planet Orange." He talked about Web 2.0 and how it allows for his marketing to be useful. With that he explained the difficulties of relating that technology a board of 50 year old men. He encouraged us in whatever we do, to do it well. To be persistent and competent. He was a very fast paced man; a 'what you see is what you get kind of a guy.' We then had the opportunity to submit our resumes and take his business card which will help our networking abilities. I was grateful for this experience because it exposed me to the type of a person it takes to be in this business. The character required, the mindset. I was impressed by how gracious he was with his time; he fit a lot of information and experience into a very short conversation. So after this meeting, we went to a dandy place called Scotty's Brewhouse where we had some fine eats. Then we caught the Pacers vx Cavaliers game and got free T-shirts because we are in college! (Tuesday nights are college nights!!) And what an intense game that was!! After a few terrible calls, the Pacers came out victories, which was very disappointing for me since I was born and raised in OH and support the Cavs. Anyway, that was over and we hopped back in our 'party' buses and started on our journey back to the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University where we would not soon forget the a Fantastic Field Trip of '09.

Laundry Day...

Some of my frustrations with getting started with Flickr:
1. I had to create a yahoo account. Whatever. No big deal.
2. You have a limit per month of what you can upload!!

So I'm not always the most creative person.. and I've been thinking and thinking about this assignment and it finally hit me! I can make a story about washing my sheets (in preparation for my new mattress topper!!). So I take great time, energy, effort, blood, sweat, and tears... you get me? All to have to cut back in order to stay under the LIMIT Flickr puts on its members. Unless of course, I want to spend some of the few monies I have on "upgrading." I think not. And then after narrowing my selection three times... it still uploads them in the wrong order! And some of the photos within were messed up. So I had to make a separate set to put them in the right order!

But in the end, I prevailed... and here is my visual story:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35238890@N02/sets/72157613585238360/

Mmmm.. Delicious...

Bookmarking. I can do it... and so should you! Here's my link: http://delicious.com/missalexandra

Some say it's a better search tool than other engines.. I guess I'll find out. It's really not as hard as you would think!