This is the end.....

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end 

And just like that, this semester is coming to a close.  Tonight marks my last appearance (in class at least) for Tech 621, aka the class that got this blog off the ground and running (or at least quick limping).  It is pretty bittersweet as I learned a lot in this class (such as having a higher intelligence because of my use of Twitter) along with the darkside and pitfalls that can exist using social media.  As the great Dr. Hunter S. Thompson once said, "Buy the ticket, take the ride," which is exactly what I did this semester, from moving to Indiana 4 hours away to a place where I only knew my loving fiancee who came with me, to enrolling in classes as a Ph.D. student and meeting new people, to even the joys of Tech621 and making up a new word (EPICLY).  It's been a blast and only the beginning of what will be my overall short time in Lafayette.  

There are things to take from this class, esp. on how to make social media work for me (note to readers, Google yourself every now and then see what comes up, also join linkedin, and remember to keep Facebook/work life separate).  Social media is here to stay so having a class like this definitely can enhance the experience.  I would recommend anyone who has a chance to take Dr. V's class, or any social media class, to please do so.  Your only hurting yourself if you don't.  

From here on out, I'm trying to figure out how which direction to take this blog.  I have some ideas along with a lot of free time due to my still lack of employment (seriously if someone is around Purdue and even needs a pool boy I'll do it, but I'm not wearing thongs....unless the price is right).  

Tomorrow is a new day.  Thanks everyone from Tech621 for providing feedback for the blog, it's been a blast these past few months...

I HATE YOU CHARLIE SHEEN

There are a lot of ridiculous pictures when you type in the words, "Charlie Sheen Not Winning"  and that picture easily takes the cake because...well it has kittens and puppies and how can you not like that?


Next week (well technically May 3rdish) will be a bittersweet week.  It's my last week of Tech 621 and I really can't think of a better class to have experienced to be baptized in the black and gold of Purdue.  I made several friends in that class who are epicly awesome, and had an instructor who encouraged my rambling, babbling, sometimes incoherent thoughts, that have become this....my blog.  However, as much as will miss this class, I will not miss the subject of my final paper.

CHARLIE FREAKIN SHEEN

I've already gone over my relationship with Sheen (no I was not previously the unnamed Goddess contrary to popular opinion) and how I decided to tackle his downfall as my project study of Image Restoration Theory with Radian 6 software.  At first this was a fun topic, he was "duh...winning" and I thought that by researching Sheen, I too could be a Vatican Assassin Warlock.  However, I was wrong on this being both fun and becoming a warlock.  

Sheen has become a headache that I am ready to take two advils of and be done with.  He is a talented actor and I will always enjoy Major League and consider it on par with Shakespeare's Hamlet, but as a person, well he's immersed himself in a reality where he believes that he can do know wrong and instead of apologizing and trying to call amends he's continuously digging himself a deeper hole.  Me going against Sheen may classify me as a "troll" but if that's where all the sane people are then I'll be more then happy to be in that hunting party.  The two months of research, and countless TMZ articles I have read along with news interviews is more then enough Sheen for me to handle for my next three life times.

Long story short, Sheen may be telling himself he's still "winning" but research I've done, people leaving his shows, and polls I've looked at beg the differ.  Do yourself a favor Sheen, look at Benoit's IRT and stop ignoring the last step, Apologize.  

Article Analysis 5

Charlie Sheen's image goes up among many fans: poll

The before mentioned link is to the poll that will be used for my fifth and final article analysis.  Is it whole heartedly scientific? Probably not.  But is there good data and criticism for the poll?  You betcha.  I decided to mainly include this poll because it was the most thorough poll I was able to find in regards to my final project for Tech 621:Charlie Sheen.

The poll was conducted early February 2011, right when the whole Charlie Sheen bandwagon wheels were just starting to turn and a little bit before said wheels became coming off.  It was published in The Hollywood Reporter magazine to show that people were behind Sheen based on their results.

METHODOLOGY
The method that they used was to survey 700 people aged 13-59 who described themselves as "Avid fans" of Two and a Half Men.  In that statement lies at least two problems. One how did they conduct the survey?  Was it by phone, email, website, outside of the local Wal-Mart? That question is never answered.  For instance, if they surveyed people outside of a mall, then that is merely a convenience sample and in no way could be representative  of how people across the nation felt about Sheen at that time.  The other problem is how did they describe someone being an "avid fan"?  Were they simply able to say there were a fan if they mentioned they liked the show, did they have to admit to watching a certain amount of hours of the show, was there a test involved regarding the background of the show only people familiar with Two and a Half Men would know? The poll does make mention of men and women but doesn't give data out on how many of each gender participated or an age group graph to show differences. These may seem like trivial questions, but if you're going to put information out there, then you need to be more clarified on how you collected your data especially when dealing with human subjects.

Another quick note is that this poll result was based just on fans view, not those who may have indifferent views of the show/Sheen, or negative views which is a whole different animal.

RESULTS:
From their results such statements were made as 28% of men and 42% of women thought Sheen should be removed from the show
56% believed that a future episode should address Sheen's personal issues (again this is when the continuing production of the show was still a realistic possibility)
96% wanted Sheen to return to the show (wait...isn't this kind of in contrast with the first statement?)
22% actually have a more favorable view of Sheen due to his current drug and personal issues
50% believe he should take time off to get better for the show while 34% believed he should work through his personal issues (apparently the other 16% didn't care)
and the best stat for me
59% believe Sheen isn't playing a character on the show, but actually just playing himself.

There were a few other scattered stats that were insignificant for my research, but I felt that the previous statements were ones to take a look at.

In hindsight, I do believe that the intentions of the data are somewhat good.  During this timeframe of Sheen's downfall people still viewed him in a positive light and it seemed genuinely wanted Sheen to get better not only for him, but also for the show itself.  It seemed that when people were dealing with Sheen in such a small quantity before his "Winning" ways, he maintained a favorable view with his key demographics, those who enjoyed his show.  It would have helped if there was also a poll showing the views of those who had either an indifferent view/negative view of Sheen during this timeframe to concur that Sheen was still held in a favorable view overall.  Unfortunately, no such poll was able to be found.  Fast forward two months from this poll and it seems that the public has flipped on Sheen as even as recently as last night, people could not find the exit signs fast enough for his nationwide tour.  The downfall of Sheen has been a fast and violent torpedo downward.  Sorry Charlie, maybe defeat is an option.

Article Analysis 4

Michel M. Haigh. "'The Cream,' The 'Clear,' BALCO and Baseball: An Analysis of MLB Players Image." Journal of Sports Media 3.2 (2008): 1-24. Project MUSE. Web. 21 Jan. 2011. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.


The article above is one of the many articles I reviewed for my final project for my Tech 621 class involving image repair theory.  Again I'm reviewing articles on IRT for my paper on good ole Uncle Charlie (Sheen that is).  


This article touches on how baseball became so impure as many of baseball's brightest stars fell due to their involvement with performance enhancers.  Some of the topics it covered ranged from the athletes stats before, during, and after their involvement with performance enhancers, to what/if any thing they did to try to get back in the public's good graces.


The methodology that Haigh employed was by using code readers for content analysis of over 292 articles that were reviewed featuring statements from the accused.  The one thing I really enjoyed about the methods were the articles were compromised from The NY Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, and Sports Illustrated.  The researcher's method of choosing the newspapers were they were the 4 biggest in differing parts of the United States which made sense, the others were chosen due to their appeal to a national audience as well as SI being one of the leading publications for sports related material.  Dates were chosen from Sep. 2003-March 16, 2006 and even then, those were chosen for significance.  September due to that being the time BALCO was raided (hq for being the company that was giving out steroids like candy) and March being right after the time of the congressional hearing regarding the case.  


The researcher later expanded on the keywords that were used and all keywords were relevant to the matter at hand.  The issue I have with is that the content analysis was done by two undergraduate assistants.  Though they agreed on findings for the majority of the time, and could incorporate statements from the accused into varying levels of Benoit's IRT there still remained problems.  Some of the analysis could not be fit into the IRT and either had to be directed into a category that was deemed appropriate or dismissed.  Though that may seem problematic, my problem is that I believe either high level graduate students should have done the analysis or professor's themselves.  My reasoning for this is even though the undergraduate students may be pretty good at content analysis, I know in my particular case, it wasn't until I was a graduate student where I learned more regarding research methodology and gained a better impression on how to conduct proper research.


Never-less, the findings were the most interesting part of the research.  An overwhelming majority of the accused came out and offered attempts for forgiveness and apologized for their actions.  Others, like Mark Mcgwire, refused to acknowledge that they took performance enhancers.  Then there is the story of Barry Bonds, who basically breaks the mold.  Bonds was seen as the one person who not only didn't acknowledge taking any enhancers, but was trying to blame everyone else (teammates, coaches, media) for the hoopla and placed none of the blame himself.  The researcher makes note that Bonds was one of the few whose case was not resolved by the time of publication, 3 years later and the Bonds trial is just now possibly coming to an end, and again Bonds is not taking responsibility.  


Overall, I felt like the article was pretty well conducted and the findings were interesting.  Of the articles I read for IRT, this was one of the few that tried to combine findings with stats and I felt that the use of stats helped punctuate the researcher's main points and question at hand.  It is def worth a read for anyone who is into sports and particularly what has been labeled as the "steroid era" of baseball.

The Dark Side

So within the first what 10 seconds of this post, you have have to be intrigued.  From the post title to the cute/disturbing pic of Lord Vader tempting you to come to the dark side your initial reaction is probably that I'm going to launch into a full scale rant about how the first two episodes of Star Wars should have never been released (I still hate you Jar Jar).

"Me's a going to ruin a franchise"

Instead the focus of this post is about the dark side of the internet (all those who have been mislead of a Star Wars rant are dismissed).  This is a topic that we are set to cover in class (What up Tech 621!) this coming Tuesday night and to be honest I can't wait.  From some of the topics I've seen that are going to be covered I'm sure some interesting questions/perspectives/insight will be gained.  

My topic is porn at work.  Yep, that's right, I get to help open the Pandora's box lead discussion on what may or may not be seen as a taboo topic.  I've looked at several interesting articles about just all the repercussions and downfall of people who can't control their urges at work.  Some of the stats I've seen have been that before the recession only about 18% of people were glancing at porn at work, however during the current recession that number has jumped up to as high as 25% (Newsweek).  Why the increase?  A lot of people responded because they feel like with all the problems that companies have going on that their bosses have bigger fish to fry then their porn habit.  I even saw a video of a state senator from Florida caught looking at porn during a debate about abortion (I'm not even going to attempt to make a joke out of that....not touching it with a 10ft pole).  It's like the hits keep coming with just stories upon stories of people being caught with this.  I even got a great story from my future Mom-in-law who works in HR, about a guy who got caught there and his excuse...well it breaks the mold for worst excuses of all time (sorry got to wait for class to tell that one).  

My overall point is this, thanks to Al Gore and his invention of the internet has helped further man's quest of knowledge, from making shopping at home easier, to editing  reading interesting articles on Wikipedia, staying in touch with loved ones, following your fav sports team, etc.

you  better listen to him, he's super serial

At that same time this abundance of technology has also produced new evils.  Online social sites/chatrooms are making it easier for children to become prey for psychopathic (nicest word I could think of) adults (To Catch a Predator anyone?). It also has made it easier for people to cheat on their spouses, become addicted to the internet/porn, socially withdrawn, etc. As good as the internet has been to mankind, there are a lot of dark alleys that people need to be aware of both for their own benefit as well as those that they love.  To put it in Star Wars terms, the balance of the force is unstable from the light side/dark side of the internet.  

115 hours, not 127 hours but close enough

Can someone update my Facebook status to "HELP!"

On Tuesday, March 15 at 7:00 PM I decided I couldn't do it anymore.  After hours of toying with my emotions of whether I needed a break or if I could keep going, I quit.  I decided I need to unplug myself from the machine that is social media.  

"Why?" You may ask.  The simple question is I wanted to see if I could control my ritual which I'm sure an ongoing majority of Americans find themselves in. Wake up, and instead of turning on the TV check my Facebook and Twitter accounts to see if I missed anything of importance or received a new message, mention, or even poke. Then log back on throughout the day because of habit, plus the time it can waste being on social media sites. It's been a habitual situation I have found myself in for some time now and I know I'm not along.  

To expand further, it was also Spring Break and I was headed to KY for a few days and knew that besides a limited window of time, I would have no service in any of the locations of wilderness I was planning on inhabiting.  That itself made the transition of the break that much easier to cope with and gave me even less of an ability to "Check In."  

Moonshiner's arch behind my campsite, where you guessed it they use to make moonshine at

So how did it go?  Better then I expected. I didn't maim anyone, shake, or hallucinate from the lack of Twitter/Facebook. Even though I was tempted to look, given I had service on my phone on Friday (my big 28th bday) I stayed strong and weathered the storm (Let's face it everyone has to check their Facebook on their bday to see the wishes they receive!) and did not return online until 3:00 PM on Saturday, but only to post a short "Thank You" to all those who had wished me a happy birthday (I didn't want to seem like an ungrateful Facebook friend!).  Even then I actually had reluctance to log back in because I was enjoying the time away from Twitter and Facebook and the break from the overload of information that can happen when addicted to social media.  

Since Saturday I have fell back more into the old routine of checking, but at the same time not as much as previously.  To me, it seems once you have taken an extended break from using Facebook, Twitter, etc. not only do you remember how life was before revolving around friend requests, retweets, new followers, with the possibility of getting more done in the real world, appreciation can be made toward the positive benefits that social media enables users to have.  In my case throughout the ordeal it was not only to thank people who remembered me on my big day (you love me, you really love me) but to remember how it was social media itself (Facebook) that enabled me to coordinate with friends back home to organize my birthday party location for that Friday night (*coordination took place before my boycott) which I'm sure others have used the outlets for similar situations.  

Its easy to get lost on not only social media forums, but the internet in general (anyone who has used Wikipedia knows that), but at the same time it is what I think crucial for every once in a while take a break and enjoy what you have physically in front of you and though sounding cliche, "stop and smell the roses."  

Plato's Cave and how I think it may or may not apply to this past Tuesday night class and wow this title is extremely long

This past Tuesday night in Tech 621 one of the topics that we discussed was how the accessibility of knowledge has changed drastically in such a short period of time.  The original way that people were able to gain knowledge was in the physical form and by that I mean books, lots and lots of books.  However, as anyone in today's time knows, that would mean what you could and could not learn would be limited to what books that you had access to.  So to wrap this up in a bind, if the only books that you had access to were coloring books, you may not be able to read to much, and your knowledge on worldly topics would be limited, but you would be hands down the best colorer around (though in the long term I don't think this would pay to much dividends unless you were going to be an artist and even then you would need to be able to read your contracts).

What happens when you're only exposed to coloring books

However, as technology developed (Three Cheers Digital AGE!), including the internet, more transcripts were transferred to an online format, the ability to access a grand archive of works that one may not have been entitled to prior was readily made available.  Kind of like going from having to slave over a stove for hours to make dinner, to being able to fix dinner via T.V. entrees, that is how easy it is to gain information on any topic that an inquisitive mind wanted to inquire about.

Not only is knowledge tasty, but it now comes in eco-friendly trays

During class I had an epiphany that may or may not be a way to describe how big of a change the evolution of technology has been.  It all deals with Plato's old story about the prisoners in the cave story that his teacher, Socrates, told him ( he also told him that whenever you are double dog dared to drink hemlock you have to do it, though he regretted this later in life).  In this story, Socrates described to Plato a scenario where prisoners who were born into a world of bondage (kind of like a Lady Gaga video) and immobilized in a dark cave, were only basically given a marionette show the entire time they were there.

Exactly how Socrates imagined the prisoners

 Instead of knowing these things to be fake, the prisoners would accept everything they heard and saw as the absolute truth since they never knew anything different.  This was their reality.  The next part of this story focuses on what would happen if one of the prisoners were freed and found out that everything they knew was fake and orchestrated and slowly was introduced into the real world, sun, seasons, markets, etc.  Finally, Socrates concluded his allegory by stating to Plato to imagine what it would be like if the prisoner had to go back to the cave and how life would be different for him knowing that everything he was seeing again was fake and not real after being exposed to what is reality, how difficult it would be.

To me this relates to the topic discussed in class because we, as society, are no longer bounded by the "cave" that we once inhabited due to the digital age and the ability to learn anything about everything from online formats because of the rapid access we have of information readily available at our fingertips.  At the same time, what has seemed like a longtime mainstay, the digital age and internet, in reality is still a new and developing technology. I myself can still remember growing up in a world where there was no internet, cell phones, etc.  Where the information and knowledge I was able to achieve was only through books (along with teachers, parents, invisible friends, etc.) which even then was a small library in the grand scheme of things. Needless to say, after being freed from the cave due to technology, that cave, is one I wish not to visit again.

I Use Twitter So I'm Smarter

I use Twitter (follow me at scottabney3) so I'm smarter than you.  That is unless you are also on Twitter than there's a good chance that both of us have a higher level of intelligence than the average person.  I know it's a tough pill to swallow and even when I heard it at the beginning of this semester in my Tech 621 class I scoffed at the idea and found it preposterous.  There is no way that could be true, I was one of the first people at my university and the first person in my city to use Facebook back in 03' (maybe 04', possibly 05' time goes by so fast these days).  I was Facebooking when Myspace was still the happening place to be and not the trailer park of the social media outlets.

Artist rendition of current state of Myspace

Tech 621, along with other articles I've read, have changed my perception of that. It's like taking the red pill over the blue pill and opening my eyes to the truth.  I just can't believe that it took me so long to figure this out.  Then again, I was holding my own prejudices against Twitter which blinded me from this inconceivable truth.  Smarter people really are on Twitter.Why is that I wondered? Several of the articles I read stated the same overlaying theme.  Those who seek knowledge are those who use Twitter.  Facebook on the other hand is used by those who want to a chance to express themselves through photos, groups, etc.

How the first day of Tech 621 began

I do believe there is something else to consider, its the evolution of the social media outlets.  When Myspace was the veteran and Facebook was still the new kid on the block, Facebook was EXCLUSIVE to those who were in college.  See where I'm going with this, at one point Facebook was for the smart kids.  What changed this to what we have today is that Facebook did what any good business model does, it expands.  When it opened its doors to everyone some contaminants where let in and lowered the IQ pool of Facebook.  Twitter then launched and it seems that people who have evolved to Twitter are wanting to get the most out of 165 characters as possible through links and other informative methods and not as concerned with the extras.

There are exceptions to the "smart people on Twitter rule."

When I first used Twitter I never thought it would come to this, but I'm slowly turning my back on Facebook because of the contaminants.  Seeing the status updates of broken hearts, drama, and other unbearable information that has became all too familiar in the land of Facebook instead of the links that I am now getting accustomed to in Twitter has left me with a sour taste in my mouth.  Will another mass social media outlet develop that outsmarts Twitter users, probably, that's how evolution works just like Myspace and Facebook before it.  Will I adapt to it? Yeah if its going to keep me informed of areas of my research along with other topics, as well as if using it makes me appear smarter.

There's Something About Charlie

In case you have been hiding under a rock the past two weeks or so, then you have missed the awesomeness that has been Charlie Sheen.  The above picture captures Charlie in an unflattering manner, but at this current time (8:39 P.M, March 3, 2011) I doubt that picture is high on Charlie's priority list.  Before I get to much further let me post a few quick links for you fine people sitting at your computer regarding Uncle Charlie and some of his finer moments in the past couple of weeks 

Charlie Sheen is Winning!

Charlie on CNN

Charlie Montage

If you took the time to look at some of those several great comedic (whether intentional or not) quotes stood out that Charlie said such as the tiger's blood, I am a warlock, I'm not bi-polar I'm bi-winning, etc. 

However, the one thing that no one can deny (unless you have been living under said rock) is that Charlie Sheen is everywhere right now, there is a 75% chance he is behind you as you read this sentence.  He has taken the media by storm and dominated in a fashion that is unfathomable. 

 March 1st, 2011 will be a day that will live in Twitter infamy.  That was the day Charlie joined the social network, within 24 hours he had over 1 million followers, as of right now its quickly approaching the 1.5 million mark.  Will this number drop off anytime soon, probably not as long as Charles keeps on ranting, people want to see what the next crazy, outrageous comment he may say and they want it in a way where they can have first hand access to it.  That is what his Twitter account allows people.  Even right now #tigerblood is the most used thing that is trending on Twitter.  

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing man that he never existed.  The greatest trick Charlie Sheen may be pulling before our very eyes is convincing everyone he is crazy while he really is "from some other terrestrial plane."  His statement today is that he is using Twitter as a way to make extra cash (the avg price for a celebrity tweet is $10k) which is plausible but I don't believe that is his only reason for doing so, nor should you.  TMZ did report that the picture of Charlie holding a jug of chocolate milk did make that company's sales go through the roof and the owner of the company stated Charlie acted on his own showing the milk (though he offered to pay him in chocolate milk next time he stopped by the farm). Coincidence? I highly doubt it.  Back to the point though, Charlie is on Twitter for one thing, to promote the Charlie Sheen brand, and its working.  

After my Tech 621 Class where the possibility of researching online self image and identity and tying this into Charlie Sheen became available, I feel that this is a topic that would be not only fun, but very informative.  Giving the ability of the software that is at our fingertips in class, another nod to you Radian 6, it would be interesting to just see how much Charlie Sheen has influenced the online media in the past week through both primary (Uncle Charlie) actions as well as secondary actions (how products he hocks including the chocolate milk).  

Research Ideas

So for the last few days I have been exploring Radian 6 and trying to get a feel for all of its capabilities.  At times I feel like I'm asking "What is the meaning of life?" because everything it shoots back at me can be overwhelming.  I had hoped to somewhat stay in college athletics and social media for this assignment, but as noted in previous posts the lack of good quality of research is greatly deterring me from going down that road.  I've explored some things on the web and the areas at this time that I am looking at for research is between how companies use social media platforms and consumers respond (broad topic at this time I know) or to fall back on my poli sci degree, look at how social media is being used for government purposes because I really feel like between policies and individual politicians a lot can be explored.

Behind Enemy Lines

So after being bogged down on the Iphone 3G I finally decided I needed a change.  As hard as it was to switch from my beloved Apple product that goes hand in hand with my MacBook I decided to switch allegiances to the Android technology and purchased the Motorola Atrix 4G.  Now I will not go into all the neat bells and whistles that this phone does (it can double as laptop, go run and tell that homeboy), but however this blog is to focus on some of the bigger aspects of what happens when you GO BEHIND ENEMY LINES and try to run Android technology on an Apple Macbook (cliff notes version: it's frustrating at first).

The biggest problem was the fact of trying to download all the music from my Apple Itunes to my phone.  It would be great if it worked just like the Iphone and all I had to do was plug into my computer and Itunes recognized I needed music, however this was not the case.  Instead I had to download the Android version of Itunes, Doubletwist, which acted as the 3rd party vendor and got the music from my library and openly obliged to letting me sync music on my phone.  I stress music because all of my Itunes movies and videos have the dreaded DRM on them and I am now looking at ways to transfer video over.
After what seriously took 2 hours to finally load music I was satisfied with my switch and all was right in the world.

Perhaps the biggest aspect of this phone that I like is how open the Android app market is compared to the App Store of Apple.  One of the best apps actually came installed on my phone and it is Social Networking.  With this app I can look at all recent posts from both Twitter and Facebook (Myspace as well if I had an account) and comment, like, or retweet messages.  However the drawback to this is not being able to do a status update.  Even with that I find this app very easy to use and I like how it combines both of the major social networks that I am on and lets me stay up to date instead of switching between the two.

Also, when I was in the AT&T store and purchased my phone one of the first things I was able to do automatically on start up was register my Twitter and Facebook accounts before continuing on to the home screen.  To me, this moment showed just how far society has come with social networks.  Just a few years ago to stay up to date through mobile devices you had to use the browser to check in, then came apps, and now phones are already installed with software.  This is comparable to automobile features, years ago electric windows were an added luxury, then slowly overtime it became the norm in production.

It seems as phones continuously evolve, so will their ability to keep us in touch with our social lives.

NCAA Athletes and Facebook

After what seemed like days, months, years, millennia, etc. to comb the internet and academic databases, I finally came across an article that had some empirical data regarding NCAA student athletes and social media. The bad part is this was published a few years ago (2008).  Another problem is that for the purposes of the article it grouped all social media outlets together as "Facebook" so it did not break down its data specifically to individual social media sites.

Frank Butts "NCAA ATHLETES AND FACEBOOK"

As with previous articles I have explored, the main focus of this research was to look at how colleges are combatting image problems as well as protecting student athletes from themselves basically from the misuse of Facebook (I'll be like the researcher and just group everything together in this manner). It seems that in all articles I have looked at, the recurring theme is that there is way to much grey area due to the fact the NCAA still (as in February 25, 2011) has not taken a solid stance on its views on social media outlets.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: The way the researcher, Frank Butts, approached this was by trying to gain an overall sample of NCAA student athletes that included male and female athletes, along with schools being selected (6 total) ranged from Division I to Division III schools. Butts, obtained his information regarding social networking sites through the use of a survey and promised that all responses would remain anonymous, 522 responses were collected total of those 308 were male and 214 were female.

FINDINGS:  Butts determined through analyzation of data that the views of males and female athletes regarding certain aspects of social media sites (personal image projected on Facebook, athletic depts. image, athletes recommended level of how athletic dept should monitor Facebook) differed greatly between the two.

MY TAKE: There are several things that I felt was lacking in Butts research.  The first was in regards to his methodology.  Not once does Butts list exactly which school were chosen and why, as far as we, the reader, knows, this could merely be a convenience  sample taken due to connections that Butts had.  Also, though 522 responses were noted, not once does the research mention how many surveys were not completed which I felt would have been interesting to see what the response rate was.  As far as the actual results, one area that stood out was that the % of athletes who viewed their image as negative or somewhat negative was around 0-1%.  As someone who has read dozens upon dozens of research articles along with philosophy papers, I think it is easy to say that the reason why this number is significantly lower then that of responses that ranged from very positive to neutral is due to the fact that even though these responses remained anonymous, people tend not to view themselves in a negative light.  The discussion area also lags behind. One conclusion in particular that Butts reaches is that Div II athletes have lower awareness of self image on Facebook and he states that this is because there is less staff available to help the athletes, however how this conclusion can fathomably be reached is never discussed in details.  Though I felt like Butts did try to make an honest attempt at shedding light on how athletes view social media sites, in the end his research seemed to have too many holes in it for me to take it as conclusive.

Tech 621 Article 2

This past week I continued my research in exploring the relation between social media and college athletics.  I used Google Scholar this time to locate articles to sift through.  In doing so I found another interesting piece that the USA Today wrote back in 2006.  A quick citation of this is as follows:

Brady, Erick & Libit, Daniel. “Alarm sound over athletes’ Facebook time.” March 8, 2006. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/other/2006-03-08-athletes-websites_x.htm. Accessed through Google scholar February, 2, 2011.

Brady and Libit's article related to last week's article in relation to recruiting that is being doing regarding Facebook specifically.  Though it lacked plenty of examples as the Maher article, it did provide some insight into how coaches are having to deal with social media.  The best example regarding recruiting was how the assistant coach of Baylor's mens basketball team, Matthew Driscoll, had to intervene on a player's behalf on the players Facebook profile. What caused the intervention was due to a "runner' for an agent trying to convince the player to go ahead and sign a contract.  Luckily for the Baylor staff, the player quickly notified his coaches who then notified the school board of what was going on.  Coach Driscoll used the player's profile to tell the agent to cease all communications with their team.  After examining this example, one can wonder that though this is one case that was reported, if would be foolish to think that other cases go on unreported.

The article as a whole was more geared to how Facebook is being dealt with on the university level as coaches and schools try to protect their players.  One way that colleges are dealing with Facebook dilemmas is by notifying their players that they have to "scrub" their profiles.  Some of the colleges that were listed as doing so were Kentucky, Baylor, and Florida State. In the case of FSU, athletes were told they had exactly 10 days to have profiles "scrubbed."  Now in regards to what "scrubbing" means, it is not taking out an oxypad and wiping down their keyboards, instead it is to let the players delete all pictures and comments which may be considered offensive or show behavior that could be considered risque such as underage drinking.  

Speaking of, the universities that did go on record and discuss issues that they deal with for Facebook it seems that underage drinking photos are the number 1 thing that lands student athletes in hot water.  Dave Bezold, coach of Northern Kentucky mens basketball, found several photos of his underage players drinking alcohol in pictures on Facebook.  After investigating between himself and the athletic director, other athletes in other sports were also investigated.  The athletic director, Jane Meier, stated that she believed that between their 13 college athletic programs as well as their cheerleading squad that around "70% of the student athletes had pictures involving them with alcohol."  The way that NKU dealt with the situation was by having a conference with the athletes and letting them off with a stern warning as well as making them delete the pictures that stirred the controversy to begin with.

The last point the article raised was again how universities police these sights on a regular basis and even though the student interest is one thing that they are watching for, it appears the universities are also trying to make sure that nothing their student athletes due forms a black eye for the colleges from pictures and comments that are posted.  A letter to Baylor athletes was shown that notified the athletes that everything they do on Facebook can be seen by others and may cause themselves and/or the university to look bad and to be aware of what exactly they are posting using the social media site.

In conclusion this article built upon my previous article by Maher through giving more examples of how Facebook is being used/monitored for recruiting as well as expanding the concept of how social media itself plays a role in today's college athletics regarding student athletes.  However, like Maher, though this article was informative some of the information did seem a little time dated.  One problem that has occurred while exploring articles to use for this research assignment has been trying to find articles that I don't have to purchase through other sites.  Hopefully, by the time next week rolls around and my third article is analyzed, a more timely piece can be presented.

TECH 621 Article 1

Since my post about being a habitual line stepper, I actually further researched to see if any scholarly articles had been written regarding the matter of college athletics and social media interactions.  Using Ebscohost and Academic Search Premier I was able to find the following:

Maher, Matt. You've Got Messages: Modern Technology Recruiting Through Text-Messaging and the Intrusiveness of Facebook. Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law; Spring2007, Vol. 8 Issue 1, p125-151, 27p.


Now the first thing to point out regarding the article is the year of publication.  A lot of things have changed since 2007, the article itself lists Myspace as being the 6th most popular website at the time, while Facebook was a mere 66. As anyone can tell the sites are reversed with Facebook being in the top 5 sites everyday.  Regardless, the information the author was pertaining to did give more insight and thoughts about how social media is shaping and changing the way recruiting is being done, as well as the way NCAA violations may occur.  Maher presents his research through looking at NCAA bylaws as well as the way current universities monitor interactions and their own athletes time and usage on social media sites.  One university, Loyola University in Chicago, actually banned all of their athletes from using Facebook.  However, Maher points out that at what point does a university infringe upon an athletes right on the First Amendment, or do student-athletes relinquish this right when they accept the opportunity to play for a college.


Maher also examines points that I had previously gave little thought to.  As far as messaging on social media sites goes, Maher determines that it is improbable for the NCAA to "police" every message an athlete receives and therefore one can only guess that messages may pertain to violations such as illegal recruiting (here's looking at you Cecil Newton) or as harmless as a child rooting on their favorite athlete and just sending a message saying "HI."  The other dilemma that Maher  raised was the fact of how hard it is to authenticate a student athletes profile on social media sites.  For example, I typed in Jujuan Johnson into Facebook and received over 20 profiles all claiming to be Jujuan Johnson, even more fake profiles exist for former UK player Demarcus Cousins.  In this instance, Maher posed the question of whose responsibility is it to protect the athlete from fake profiles and negative publicity, is it the NCAA or the University, or does the answer lie somewhere in the middle?  Thinking about this for several minutes, I believe that the answer does lay somewhere between the university and NCAA level, more on the university level.  However, I do also see Maher's points of what could go wrong if someone decided to make a fake profile of an athlete and then just destroyed that persons image, it could have lasting effects both emotionally and professionally on an athletes credibility just because how hard it would be to authenticate whether or not that profile actually belonged to said individual.  Maher gave the example of Myron Rolle, who enrolled in FSU, but before that had fans posting on his wall encouraging him to go to other schools.  The biggest drawback of this was someone did in fact create a fake profile as Rolle and entered into several chat rooms and made others to believe that he was actually going to college elsewhere, something the media picked up on as fact.  


In conclusion,  Maher related earlier points, that the university and NCAA will both have to monitor what athletes do, as well as try to monitor and protect athletes from unruly fans as well as those who are trying to cause harm.  As far as recruiting goes using social media, Maher again focused on how much of a grey area there is and how hard it would be to police all messages recruits are getting, which is something I completely agree with.  However, I do believe that as social media continues to be incorporated in everyday life that one or the other, NCAA or colleges, will have to make a hardline stance and rules in order to make sure they cover all bases not only for their own personal benefit and safety, but the players and athletes as well

Where We Are Going, We Don't Need Roads

One of the best things regarding social media is how at times it can become a fragile time capsule of what was.  This is even more prevalent when you were once active on one site (Myspace) and stop using this media outlet only to revisit it years later.  Though you may have abandoned the network, the network did not abandon you and kept everything the same as when you left it.

Revisiting my Myspace profile was probably on some levels the same as when archaeologists explored the lost city of Pompeii decades later to see everything preserved as if nothing had changed when the reality was that everything had changed.  That is what Myspace overall has become to not only myself, but others, a forgotten city.

I spent several minutes re-reading what blogs I had posted throughout the span of 2-3 years (yes, I occasionally blogged before it became a classroom requirement) and just reflecting on the events of life that I covered during those years was both insightful and showed how much can change in life within 5-6 years (it had been around 2 1/2 years since the last time I even logged in to Myspace).  Its funny, the main topic that I was continuously discussing during my blogs was life after graduating from EKU and whether I would continue my studies at EKU, NKU, Ole Miss, or Florida State (though I really have no recollection on why I even considered FSU) while debating on pursuing a law career (which I'm glad I didn't, the last thing the world needs is another lawyer).  I found humor in those postings as life has a funny way of laying out a completely different path for you and while I was re-reading my past entries, I was doing so from my apartment in Lafayette, Indiana where I now attend Purdue in search of a Ph.D.

I finally decided enough time had been spent on my past and deleted Myspace account (which since they redid the site has become easier then previous attempts).  In doing so it left me to wonder this, will Facebook one day fall the way of Pompeii and Myspace and itself become a "forgotten city" where people will leave a piece of themselves and their past only to stumble upon later in life? I personally do not believe this to be the case as Facebook had/has a better business layout then Myspace, but I'm sure other social media networks will follow the same way as users are constantly shifting to the "NEXT BIG THING."

Don't Be A Habitual Line Stepper

One of the cool things about social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook is the fact you can keep up with all your favorite celebrities and athletes among other notable famous people (if your into that kind of stuff).  It's one thing when you just follow your favorite person on Twitter or even get an accepted Friend Request on Facebook.  However, there are certain rules of etiquette of what you don't do to these people.  Let's face it there is a fine line between being "friends" and crossing the line into stalker or some other amount of ridiculous territory or as I call it, being a line stepper.

On Twitter it seems that since it is so easy to follow someone (unless they are paranoid of becoming too popular like me and only allow people to follow them through approval) that the interactions between fan and celebrity are happening on daily basis due to retweets, mentions, etc.  Sometimes this can be cool such as UFC President Dana White who is famous for interacting with fans, giving away tickets, and tweeting during fights.  Other times, people can cross into line stepping territory and seemingly blast athletes and celebrities esp. if its over something as stupid as not seeing a picture that Kim Kardashian posts on her account.

One of the main problems with Facebook and athletes has been in regards to college recruits or athletes.  Mention the name Mark Hamilton anywhere within the vicinity of Central KY and you hear a lot of groans along with some few curse words. Why? (in case you didn't click on the link) because Mark crossed the line in a major way and ended up as a major blemish in UK fan/player relations.  Another way fans are reaching out are by actually recruiting high school athletes through being accepted on their profile or even sending messages, to come to their favorite college.  The sad part is the ones doing this aren't even around the same age or even college kids, but grown adults in their 40's and 50's who have taken up the cause.

I'm not one to name drop, but I count Forrest Griffin, Ryan Bader, Erin Calipari as my friends on Facebook. I've talked to all 3 of them, the first two regarding UFC fight chats/comments they had going on at the time and Erin because she commented on this sweet picture of me and my snuggie.

                             Wearing a snuggie will make you raise the roof whether you want to or not


My conclusion for this rant is simple, if you want to become "friends" with your favorite athlete or celebrity on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter, that's one thing.  Do realize that when you have that connection however, that the person on the other side is someone too and having access to write to them directly does not give you the privilege of ripping into them and being an internet tough guy, or as I put it, being a habitual line stepper

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe....

Last week for class (Tech 621, The Social Internet, the main reasoning behind this masterpiece of a blog) I, along with others had to find 20 social media sites that I was previously unaware of.  I did learn several things from this research project, such as if you can think of it, there is probably a social media site for that interest.  Two things I did find out specifically were as followed:

1. There is a dating site for men who have/ladies who love guys with mustaches  I can not begin to define the awesomeness of this.  If me and my fiance, Amanda, ever do come to an end then the first thing I will do is grow a Fumanchu and join this site if for no other purposes then to garner a good laugh.

                        A fumanchu gives you mystical powers, and a championship belt...automatically


2. Never, under any circumstance join the website Badoo.  During my research this was depicted as being the "European version of Facebook."  It even allowed me to sign up using my Facebook credentials which I thought was ok and piqued my interest.  However, once entering this site, it was on par of not wearing a costume to a Halloween party, you felt out of place.  Long story short, it's mainly a dating site and now I'm continuously getting updates about how many people in my area want to meet me (its like an older version of to Catch a Predator).  I am still figuring out how to discontinue these emails but at the same time I will admit I've been to busy to give this problem my full attention.



Now, as far as creating an umbrella to put these varying category of sites together, there seems to be a couple of categories you could go for.

For sites like Linkedin, it would be easy to classify sites like these for Professional use.  The main goal is to act grown up and use network connections for your company or to further your career.

Another group for me would be Personal, this could include your sites like Facebook and Eharmony.  These are the sites where you can "express yourself" or at least your online equivalent of yourself and post likes, dislikes, stay in touch with friends, meet new people, etc.

The "Common Thread" umbrella would consist of sites (mainly forums such as Topix, Ebaum's World, Youtube, and even my beloved KSR (Kentucky Sports Radio)) are the sites where you visit to discuss (or attempt to discuss) issues or topics with those that you have mutual interest in.

Lastly would be "Other" though I'm not currently for sure what would compromise this group, give me time and I will try to come up with something I forgot for the other groups.

Now you may be saying, "Hold on Scott, can these overlap" and the question of course is yes, yes they can.  For example on Facebook even though most people are on there for personal use, they can still join groups with others who they do not know to discuss "the common thread." That is one of the advantages/disadvantages of social media's continuous improvement, that it is constantly blurring the line between categories.

Tech 621 Blog Comments

1/20/2011
KSR BTI Rants (Posted as Manbearpig)  which led to to this article later KSR Billy G Texas Tech Facebook Post

1/21/2011
Halee's blog


Cincinnati cops don't play around (posted as Manbearpig)



2/22/2011
Solar Power Growth up 70% (posted under Scott A. Abney)

2/22/2011
Making Solar Power Cheaper (posted as Scott A. Abney)

2/22/2011
Hydrogen-Powered, Solar-Inspired (posted as Scott)

2/22/2011
Halee's blog (Posted as Scott)

2/26/2011
The Guardian "Kentucky Coal" (Posted as Sabney318)

3/1/2011
Research Area of Interest (posted as Scott Abney)

3/4/3011
Power of Twitter (posted as Scott Abney)

3/5/2011
Top `10 Twitter TRends (posted as Scott Abney)

3/7/2011
All that is wrong with Social Media I learned from Charlie Sheen (posted as Scott Abney)

3/7/2011
Who Needs Website When I have Facebook (posted as Scott Abney)

3/12/2011
Tom Whitby Blog posted as Scott Abney


4/9/11
Adam's Blog


4/10/11
Brandon Blog


israa blog


Jack's blog

Rachel S. blog


4/24/10
Adam's Blog

Amanda Blog

Brandon Blog

Kenie Blog

Rachel Blog

Vanessa Blog

Bangelmore Mirror

When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong

Internet Damage Control Gone Wrong

Posted above is a recent article from Cracked.com regarding company and other individuals attempts at doing damage control regarding social media and other various internet outlets.  Unfortunately/fortunately, the company and individuals involved fail miserably.

This article, through its humorous approach shows just how much power one individual can wield over a company through using social media as an outlet.  I'm sure everyone has heard of someone being fired due to posts regarding their facebook/twitter accounts.  Though people will argue that the lines between "Freedom of Speech" and censorship from their corporate life is becoming blurred, that is just a trend that will continue as technology continuously evolves as it has within the past 5-10 years.  If you are going to use a social media outlet then you have to be ready for the repercussions of what may happen in the future when others look upon your online personality.

Just think for a second when was the last time you went a day without looking at your cell phone to see if you have a missed call, text, facebook message, etc.  If your like me, then its only happened once in a blue moon and the main reason it probably happened was because you forgot your phone at your house and had no option but be thrust back into medieval times and use....phones....with...chords or possibly even smoke signals, though I hope for your benefit the latter option is not true.

Anyways, this is the first of what I'm sure will a semester full of rambling thoughts, some incoherent, others maybe bits of wisdom.