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Tanpura:Music for the Soul

https://youtu.be/qi0JE-PA7N0

Philographics?

Genis Carreras , A graphic designer and an illustrator, born in 1987, live in London.

He is a fan of philosophy and graphic design.

I read Thus Spoke Zarathustra at the age of 15 and since then I loved philosophy. The design came earlier; I think I loved it since the first time I drew.

On his project Philographics, he used minimum colors and simple imagines explain the philosophical definition.

His own definition about Philographics:

Philographics is all about explaining philosophy through basic shapes, using geometry and color. This means that the outcome can work as both pieces of design and educational resource. My purpose was to turn something complex into something simple, allowing people to understand it quickly and almost instinctively.

Some of the examples,

#bc #data visualization #philographics

Facebook is Looking For New Friends

I was a bit surprised to see a television ad promoting the king of social media. Facebook has taken to advertising their platform in an “old school” manner.

According to cheatsheet.com “Young People Think Facebook is Lame.”

Facebook is losing users in the most influential demographic, teens 13-17. They have dropped 7% in the last two years.

The young people of today don’t trust Facebook, they don’t feel their information is safe. They are replacing it with Instagram, a platform that does not require you to be identified by your “real name”. The youth are also turning to messaging applications such as WhatsApp do do their chatting as apposed to Facebook messenger.

Facebook is still the most popular platform on the world wide web, however this is the first time they are losing influential users. Will TV advertising bring them back, time will tell.

-LC

#facebook #advertising #tv #lc

This Map is important!

About

The WorldMap platform is being developed by the Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) at Harvard to lower barriers for scholars who wish to explore, visualize, edit, collaborate with, and publish geospatial information. WorldMap is Open Source software.

The system attempts to fill a growing niche between powerful desktop-bound mapping applications, and lightweight web map solutions with limited capacity.

If you find WorldMap data or technology useful in your research we would love to hear from you. Understanding how the system is being used and where it needs improvement is critical as we evolve the system together.

WorldMap provides researchers with the ability to:

Upload large datasets and overlay them up with thousands of other layers

Create and edit maps and link map features to rich media content

Share edit or view access with small or large groups

Export data to standard formats

Make use of powerful online cartographic tools

Georeference paper maps online (http://warp.worldmap.harvard.edu)

Publish one’s data to the world or to just a few collaborators

Get Started!

#bc #bigdata #mapping

What Data analysis can do

http://www.dataminr.com/

About Dataminr

Dataminr is the leading real-time information discovery company. Dataminr transforms real-time data from Twitter and other public sources into actionable signals, identifying the most relevant information in real-time for clients in Finance, the Public Sector, News, Security and Crisis Management. Dataminr has pioneered a groundbreaking technology that identifies, classifies, and determines the significance of real-time information and delivers relevant signals and contextual analytics through high-value applications and customizable APIs.

Dataminr Raises $130 Million in Growth Capital from Leading Financial Industry Investors

Since our founding in 2009, reliance on Dataminr has become widespread not only on Wall Street, but also across many industries that depend on real-time information. In the public sector – cities, states, parts of the Federal Government, both domestic and abroad, are leveraging the unique power of Dataminr today to receive the earliest possible warnings of disasters and other major incidents in order to better protect their citizens and help save lives. Across the media industry – Dataminr has rapidly become the real-time information standard for news organizations. Since the public launch of Dataminr for News last year, Dataminr has grown from a single newsroom to more than 150 newsrooms, establishing itself as an essential tool for any journalist seeking to better, faster, and more accurately cover breaking news events and information. And, at security and crisis management watch centers around the globe, Dataminr is providing crucial early warnings to some of the world’s largest corporations on emerging threats and crises so that their assets, interests and employees are better protected.

#bc #dataminr #twitter #big data

#Hashtag In June 2014 the pound symbol otherwise known as the hashtag was recognized in the Oxford English Dictionary. This powerful symbol links keywords or phrases into groups of trending topics on many social media platforms. Twitter is the OG of the hashtag but this little symbol has branched off to many other social media hubs such as Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. It allows an electronic search to return all messages that contain it. Jimmy Fallon and JT could use a little help on the hashtag front, Nicole Brown gives gives us “4 Rules for Using Hashtags the Right Way”. Hashtags encourage engagement and up a messages exposure. The optimum number of hashtags depends on your platform of choice. When tweeting keep it to a minimum, you don’t want a 140 character tag, try and keep it under three. If we’re talking about spreading a message via an instagram photo, hashtag your heart out! Instagram has the highest hashtag interaction rate. If you’re thinking about hashtagging on Facebook, DON’T. The introduction of hashtags on this platfrom has been a marketing #fail. Posts without hashtags outperform those that contain them. Hashtags are responsible for topics going viral, they are the powerful vessel that connects keywords across the world wide web. The following infographic dives a little deeper into why hashtags are so great!

#hashtag #viral #keywords #socailmedia #lc

SEO

SEO has to be one of the most daunting acronyms on the internet.

“Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's unpaid results - often referred to as "natural," "organic," or "earned" results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search,[1] news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.”

Matt McGee of Search Engine Land narrows down this massive topic into a how to article featuring “21 Essential SEO Tips & Techniques”.

At the beginning of your project you need to consider three things if you want to pop up at the top of Google. First of all....is my website awesome? If it’s not improve it, if your domain is going to show up in the top 10 it better look the part. Make your URL’s user friendly, use your key words and don’t over hyphenate; avoid looking spammy, it’s hard enough to get people to click in the first place. Do keyword research, make sure you are focusing on the right words that people like! There are free and paid tools to help with this, give WordTracker a try.

If you choose to do your own optimization you need to do your research and know it is not going to happen overnight. Doing it, and doing it well takes a long term commitment and constant learning. The internet evolves by the second so you need to be prepared to change your strategies with it.

You need to fill your website with great content and elevate it with the right keywords and internal linking. Take advantage of social media platforms which will entail more linking!

You need to make sure you are not doing all these things for nothing, make sure you are measuring your results and see what is working and what is not. That brings me to analytics, something you should have in place from the very beginning. Depending on your budget and the detail you require you can find free versions or upgrade to paid software.

To do SEO well you need to make a commitment to consistently update your website and use the different strategies I briefly touched on. If that sounds overwhelming and far to time consuming, don’t worry their are pros to do it for you!

-LC

#seo #keyword #optimization #lc

I haven’t had any formal Photoshop training, however it is a skill I want to learn...I feel between Google searches, infographics, Youtube tutorials and a heck of a lot of practice it’s something I can get a grasp of.

Practice really does make perfect but thanks to the internet I can fake it until I make it.

Youtube tutorials can get boring and monotonous so I like the idea of quick tips and tricks in an easy to read infographic, enjoy!

-LC

#infographic #photoshop #lc

Hootsuite is a well known social media management tool. It manages social networks, schedules messages, engages audiences, and measures ROI right from it’s dashboard.

I really enjoy the blogs they post and came across “The Six Under Appreciated Skills of a Social Media Professional.”

This peaked my interest as I would love to be a social media professional and wanted to know exactly what they are looking for.

The Skills Listed:

1. SEO

2. Writing

3. Analytics and Revenue Tracking

4. Photography

5. Photoshop

6. Project Management

So far in school I would say I have learned or am learning three of the six. Half way there, but I’ll look at the glass half full because the ones I’m lacking (SEO, Analytics and Revenue Tracking, and Photoshop) can be self taught through internet research. Looks like I have a few new topics for future Tumblr posts.

-LC

#hootsuite #socialmedia #lc

The VICE Network

Vice is a print magazine and website focused on arts, culture, and news topics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the magazine later expanded into Vice Media, which consists of divisions including the magazine and website, a film production company, a record label, and a publishing imprint.

The VICE Network

VICE’s capabilities stretch into just about every aspect of modern media. VICE creates, distributes, and monetizes content globally, allowing for a bespoke, fully customizable approach to client needs. With expertise in strategy, short and feature-length online digital content, music, television formats, book publishing, world-class events, and advertising networks, VICE is positioned to get the most exposure for clients’ and partners’ content.

VICE covers global news, culture, art, and music aims in an immersive, unique way that reaches trendsetting millennials. The magazine and website’s frank and poignant articles provide a new model for media by combining video reportage from warzones with coverage from a range of subjects important to young audiences. VICE’s immersion journalism offers a point of view unparalleled and unrivaled in mainstream media. With a focus on news coverage, VICE is leading the charge to define “news” in the 21st century. In 2012 alone, we sent reporters to cover conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, Liberia, and Congo, and we are devoted to bringing hard news to young people in VICE’s idiosyncratic style. Check it out

Vice News

No one is reporting journalism that speaks to today’s youth. As traditional news audiences are getting older, the dearth of engaging outlets for young people must be filled and we’re here to do just that. Working in partnership with leading social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, and boots-on-the-ground youth correspondents, VICE is creating a channel dedicated to global video-driven journalism for young people by young people. VICE News goes to places no one should ever go, meets the most elusive human beings on earth, and tells important stories through immersive journalism.

VICE ON HBO

VICE has teamed up with HBO and executive producer Bill Maher to produce an original documentary program exploring news, culture and current events from all around the world. With episodes like Escape From North Korea, Toxic Iraq, and Assassination Nation, VICE on HBO is a powerhouse news source of underreported and unexplored international news. Critics have described the show as "Rolling Stone-meets-The BBC-meets- Real Time With Bill Maher." VICE on HBO will take you to places no one's ever been and give you the stories you didn't even know you were missing.

The Creators Project is an award-winning partnership between VICE and Intel and a global art and technology media channel dedicated to supporting artists and providing resources for them to realize their creative visions. As a celebration technology and creativity, The Creators Project hosts a series of international events free to the public showcasing leading artists from all disciplines including Daft Punk, Karen O, Hussein Chalayan, Anish Kapoor, Florence and the Machine, United Visual Artists, Mark Ronson, Mick Rock, David Bowie, and many others. With distribution capabilities across the website, social media, a dedicated YouTube Channel, and global events, The Creators Project has been the most successful branded content program VICE and Intel have ever done.

Motherboard is VICE’s digital channel devoted to the investigation of the culture and innovation of technology. Through original online content, editorial articles, and trending technology, Motherboard fills the gap between sterile gadget reviews and industry news with a fresh youthful voice. Motherboard has seen a huge increase in viewer and readership and boasts content partnerships with influential outlets such as CNN, Pop Sci and The Smithsonian.

Noisey is VICE’s music platform dedicated to uncovering the newest trends, artists and scenes across multiple genres from around the world. Noisey offers music fans and extensive slate of original online music programming, covering not only the artists that matter most, but the trends and opinions that make up today's music culture. Content ranges from kids reviewing Skrillex, to exclusive music videos from the likes of David Lynch, to documentaries about creative geniuses like Karen O’s, Stop the Virgens. Noisey is the most successful independent music channel on YouTube with over 250K subscribers and 145MM video views.

Fightland, a joint venture with UFC, celebrates mixed martial arts and the culture of fighting—a world of tacticians, moralists, spiritualists, traditionalists, eccentrics, disciplinarians, and innovators. Fightland tells the story of fighters and the culture as it is today, an ever-expanding, constantly evolving way of life where athletes sacrifice their blood and bodies in a shared search for something like art. Episodes range from Sitdowns, where fighters talk about MMA, training, and their worldviews, to The Work, where we see what it really takes to be a world class athlete to Worldwide, which profiles the international influences of what make up today’s fighting culture.

#vice #bc

The Internet is flooded with "How To" articles, and I'm guilty of trying to learn just about everything this way.

Travel writing/bogging is something I want to do in the future so it would only make sense for me to research "How To".

After combing through many sub par articles I came across the one linked above, and it is being bookmarked on every device I own.

This article goes way beyond how to pick a name and how to use social media (those topics are important and touched on in an impressive way if I do say so).

This article gets into the nitty gritty, the stuff us wander lusting free spirits forget to take into account.

1. How To Host

2. How to Use Wordpress

3. How to Pick a Professional Theme

4. How to Add Plugins

This may seem like common sense to most, but when you spend the majority of your time daydreaming about trekking Machu Picchu or surfing in Nicaragua the nuts and bolts get pushed to the side.

This will be my Bible when I take the plunge into the ocean that is travel blogging.

-LC

#travel #travelwriting #blogging #wordpress #plugins #lc

We use social media to project a carefully crafted image to our followers, and travel journalists are no different.

A huge component of travel journalism is photography which would make creating an instagram account to document your journeys an obvious step for any savvy travel writer.

This article brings up the question of staged photography when it comes to travel posts on instagram.

In my opinion the ethics of this matter really depends if you consider yourself a travel journalist or a travel writer.

When I hear the word journalist I think unbiased therefor staging would be a big no no. As a journalist you should be reporting on the issue fairly and capturing the true essence of the story both in words and in pictures.

I believe a travel writer would have more "creative leeway". A travel writer is out to paint a beautiful picture of a foreign land for its readership. Sometimes you need to set up a shot to paint that perfect picture.

There is a lot of grey area on this topic, including whether an instagram account can be considered journalism. But I'll be leaving that discussion for a future post.

-LC

#instagram #travel #journalism #photography #lc

Chapter 2 Post 1- Has the Education Kept Up?

Photo Source:

http://searchlightsandsunglasses.org/c2

The main thesis statement of chapter two of Searchlights and Sunglasses is that there is a disconnect between how the professional world of journalism is adapting to the digital age and whether journalism schools are teaching students about how to use digital technology correctly.

Newton points to the Carnegie-Knight initiative for the future of journalism education as an example that journalistic education is possible of adapting with the outside world.

I am uniquely positioned to wrestle with the question of whether journalism schools are doing enough to prepare students for the digital world that awaits them once school is over. And I must say that I have already reached many of the conclusions that Newton came to on the topic. Besides the two classes that I have taken, literally labeled "Online Journalism", I would say that my technology education at TRU has been minimal.

By continuing to be resistant to change the people in charge of the program fail to see that there is no longer a distinction between online journalism and regular journalism, they are now the same thing.

A link provided by Newton shares an excellent piece written by Gary Kebbel, who is a mass media professor at the University of Nebraska, and he provides 5 things that he believes journalism schools need to do change to better prepare their charges for the online world.

1) A curricular change is the first thing Kebbel points to, as he feels that the typical University style of classes just plain don't work for journalism and he calls on the schools to create more temporary, fluid classes that can change with the technology of the outside world.

2) Kebbel then points to a switch to a Teaching Hospital model of education. More on that particular subject in my next post.

3) Extracurricular projects being used to test new ideas are the next change that Kebbel posits and this makes the most sense of all the changes suggested by Kebbel. University is the perfect time for failure and experimentation, particularly when it comes to the idea of audience interaction, a skill that journalists now need that they never have before.

4) Maker Hours are the key to creating better online journalists says Kebbel. Essentially workshops that allow students to explore different issues and problems that they will run into after school, it is impossible to argue with Kebbel that these hours would not have improved my time here at TRU.

5) The final change that Kebbel introduces is that educators need to begin taking risks. The world of journalism has changed so much since the explosion of the digital age that it is only by taking risks and trying to be innovative that journalism schools can keep up with the world of journalism.

There can be no doubt that if TRU adopted some of the policies suggested by Kebbel that the level of education would be extremely helpful. However I also understand that change may be slow to come and that the two online journalism classes that I have taken have done a great job of preparing me for the online world.

#SearchlightsandSunglassesChapter2Post1 #Failureofeducation #CD

Benefits of Yoga

Irrespective of your age yoga can transform your body and soul. The practice, which has been around for more than 5,000 years, can transform the inner self.

Power Yoga has gained immense popularity with the Westerners.

Power yoga’s effect on the total body

Here's a list of some of the most beneficial aspects of power yoga:

It increases endurance, strength and flexibility. Mental endurance and physical stamina are tested through holding postures for extended breaths. Arm and shoulder strength is multiplied as you use your own body weight for resistance. Lats and other back muscles begin to support the spine better than before. Abdominals and obliques are refined and sharpened through building core muscles. Poor and average posture begins to correct itself over time. Hip flexors are stretched and rebuilt. Glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves are tightened and lengthened where they need to be.

Source:http://life.gaiam.com/article/benefits-yoga

#yoga #benefits #power yoga #hamza #anton #sonveer

Searchlights and sunglasses: Chapter 5

NON-PROFIT NEWS ORGANIZATIONS

The advent of these organizations and their growth is a signal of economic well-being. However, there are questions related to their sustainability in the long run. There are various problems that these organizations face and one major consideration is financial inefficiency.

Image source:http://features.journalism.org/nonprofit-news-outlets/

#non-profit #news #financial contrains #sonveer kaur

Searchlights and sunglasses: Chapter 5

Digital literacy is very important and also beneficial for the online marketplace when consumers start trusting it.It helps in the development of the communications technology industry and educational sectors. it helps in balancing traditional ways of working with new techniques in every field that needs development.

#empowering through literacy #digital literacy #sonveer kaur

Searchlights and sunglasses: Chapter 4

Social media has made things easier for investigative journalists. There is ample information online that can open avenues for big investigations. The online world is a hub for investigative stories and also clues to support it and make them more comprehensive. Information avaliable online saves a lot of time for journalists who then do not have to physically exert in search for information.

#social media #investigative reporting #sonveer kaur

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