Ashleys blog

Qualifed College Graduate Seeking Employment Position

2007-12-04T11:31:00.003-06:00

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Ashley K. Underwood ([Select A Contact Type])

Austin, TX 78745

Email: aunderw@acad.stedwards.edu
Web site: http://.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=19100178
Web site: http://.php?id=57802769
Blog: http://underwood04ashley.blogspot.com/

Qualifed College Graduate Seeking Employment Position

College graduate having earned a bachelors degree in communications with emphasis in public relations and advertising from Saint Edward's University is actively aspiring for a position utilizing her communication skills.

Graduation Date: December 15th 2007

IN FIELD EXPERIENCE:

-Inspired Streams_Advertising Assistant to the Executive Advertising Coordinator December 2007- August 2007 Created and designed advertisments for local disbursment as well as assisted with weekly company meetings. I was also responsible for coordinating executive staff schedules, organizing the clientele directory, and assisted in the quarterly fashion shows.

-St. Edward's Campus Ministry_Assistant to Senior Father Richard Wilkinson November 2005- September 2006

Organized ministry records, and files. Assisted in Campus Ministry events. Organized chapel function including daily mass. Designed and implemented weekly schedules.

-HCA Gulf Coast Division_Executive to Diana Boswell chief Recruiter October 2004- August 2005

Organized and coordinated schedules for executive staff including confrences and meetings. Disbursed daily schedule to all staff. Greeted and oriented clients. General data entry and office filing. Maintained calendar and daily agenda for seven recruiters.

Qualifications:

Knowledge of Web 2.0

Creation of podcast using dream catcher

Creation of viral video using IVIDEO

Knowledge of microsoft office, powerpoint, excel, outlook, and photoshop

MULTIMEDIA ELEMENTS
View in YouTube
Blog
Podcast

PR for social media project

Viral Video

podcast

RELATED LINKS

Poll Vaulting

2007-12-04T06:07:00.000-06:00

People like to make their voices heard-especially when it only takes a minute or two to participate. It’s no wonder at all that more organizations are using online polls to get a “one-up” on research and feedback from their audience.

Most poll creating tools are inexpensive, fast and easy-to-use. Online polls allow an organization a quick method for market research, and they also keep the audience engaged. This type of audience interactivity is also more enjoyable when compared with the intrusive feeling that pop-up ads may stimulate, or the invasive qualities of spam.

By conducting polls on multiple audiences, one may better understand different perspectives on a subject. Also, running the same poll on a regular basis may enable an organization to identify and track trends in their target market. There are a number of other ways to use polls to provide an organization with specified information about any area of their choosing. Online polls are one more form of social media that, due to their many advantages and growing popularity, should be considered by an organization.

Social Bookmarking = More Traffic??

2007-12-04T03:56:00.001-06:00

In April 1996, the concept of sharing online bookmarks was launched with the publishing of itList.com. This concept allowed users to store, organize, share and even search bookmarks of web pages via this online bookmark service. As the concept matured and increased in popularity over the years, some services added extra features to enhance user experience.

The fact that social bookmarking is not widely known as a “traffic increase method” (for both web sites and blogs) sparked inspiration to say a few words on the subject. When this method is applied correctly, it can spread your links at an extremely fast pace. The traffic generated from this method will also be highly targeted and you will notice many returning visitors. If you are looking for new ways to increase traffic to your web site or blog, I highly recommend looking into how to develop such an effective system.

Why Blog?

2007-12-04T03:54:00.000-06:00

Okay, so it’s all the craze! Everyone’s doing it!

Now, aside from it becoming the “ever so increasingly popular, trendy thing to do” among businesses, what exactly are the real benefits and advantages that blogging can provide an organization? I mean what would you say to the business owner, who is not concerned so much with trends, and really wants to know the nitty-gritty details about blogging?

I was involved in such a situation just a few days ago. I was discussing my enrollment in this course with another, who knew very little about the subject (blogging), and he asked me exactly the previously mentioned question. Stumbling around on my words, I managed to rattle off a few things, but I really wanted to be able to answer the question more intelligently. This prompted me to actually sit down, read, think, and write a better answer to that question.

Here is a list that I assembled of a few excellent benefits and advantages that blogs can provide to an organization.

Blogs can:
Ø Give you increased presence on major search engines.
Ø Allow you to build personal, long-lasting relationships with your viewers (customers, employees, etc.)
Ø Provide a way for you to speak directly and honestly with your viewer.
Ø Serve as another brand building tool.
Ø Allow you to set yourself apart from the competition.
Ø Provide a means for managing your reputation online.
Ø Enables you to articulate your knowledge and viewpoints, positioning you as expert.

Second life in Org Comm

2007-11-29T11:28:00.000-06:00

For the past week Stephanie Poole-Martinez's Organizational Communication class has been meeting in a virtual classroom in Secondlife during our scheduled class time. The classroom looks a lot like any other physical classroom does with desks a podium and even a place for you to upload power points in the virtual world.
Though this concept is new and exciting here are of course several kinks that need to be worked out. It is hard for Stephanie to get the classes attention at times because students are flying around and experimenting with gestures like dancing and bowing. Another issue associated with the virtual classroom is that the way to communicate with everyone is set up much like a chat room where there is one large conversation going on but you also have the capability to privately message people in the class one on one. Which at time makes the conversation hard to follow and easy to miss out on important information. One last thing that I found distracting was that if classmates "teleport" in late they land in the middle of the classroom disrupting the class.
There are also many benefits to the virtual classroom, for example being behind a computer I noticed that my classmates that are generally on the shyer side felt more comfortable speaking and contributing to the class discussion. Another upside to the virtual classroom is the freedom that you can accesses it anywhere. People who work or have a family or even disability or dont feel well wouldnt have to miss class because they can access it from their own home, office etc.

Keep Austin Weird

2007-11-29T11:24:00.000-06:00

This is our viral video promoting the "keep Austin weird" campaign
that focuses on buying from and utilizing local businesses and services
Hope you like it

The PR podcast

2007-10-25T11:19:00.000-05:00

http://myweb.stedwards.edu/aunderw/PRCast.mp3

embarking on second life

2007-10-23T11:53:00.001-05:00

http://www.secretlair.com/index.php?/clickableculture/entry/steve_rubel_on_second_life_public_relations/
Rubel analyzed the concept of implementing public relations tools into the world of second life. Getting in on the ground floor so to speak would allow PR professionals the ability to experiment their tactics in second life without suffering any repercussions which would occur if professionals divulged into more popular mediums.
http://www.thestreet.com/newsanalysis/second-life/10324949.html
Justin Bovington, who controls the in-world character Fizik Baskerville is a pioneer using second life as a way to spread his public relations tactics. Justin Bovington is and executive of a Public Relations firm that is based out of London called a River Runs Red. Bovington has found success with the ability to hold conferences with partners as well as clientele through second life . He continues to speak about the success of a conference held in second life with a company based out of Los Angeles.
Second life has seen success in many different aspects. Through my org comm. class (where we are required to sign up for and attend second life class) I have been able to on my own explore this "virtual world." For the most part creating and accessing a second life identity is fairly simple. Once your avatar (character chosen by the user to represent themselves) has completed the brief orientation session you are at your own will to explore places all over the second life map. You can venture into seminars and classes (if the institution allows) and meet other avatars and have conversations

Cambodia no lights but they love blogs

2007-09-25T10:39:00.000-05:00

Blogging has begun to reach even those areas that have not evolved to be completely up to date as far as technological standards are concerned. The average Cambodian household still remains without electricity but that has not kept the bloggers from emerging. Even though Cambodia continues to be for the most part an underdeveloped country, the new trend of blogging has rapidly flourished amongst the youth and technologically savvy.
Bloggers are using their new outlet to express themselves through online diaries and discuss issues that plaque their country.
For a country that was only introduced to e-mail a little over ten years ago in 1994, they have quickly evolved to blogging as a favorite past time.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/24/cambodia.blogs.ap/index.html

Ikea case study

2007-09-20T11:14:00.000-05:00

The point of the America at Home campaign is to globally involve Ikea consumers by encouraging to participate in a "movement." The movement is basically a video or pictorial diary of the consumer and or his or her family in their home. The movement is intended to capture the emotion of home.
I think that the Home is the most important place is a beneficial theme because it directly targets the heart strings of all people specifically Americans. Based on the consideration that our world has become a place where families have little or no time to do more than cohabit ate under the same roof. the days of the daily family supper have been replaced with fast food and football practice. the home is the best place in the world directly targets those who are missing out on that enjoyment through guilt tactic.
The UK campaign differs slightly in its approach. While the US campaign encourages everyone its target audience seems to me to be families. The UK campagin is focused on keeping your house. not selling, but settling into your house for a long period of time. Instead of creating a pictoral diary of you in your home the UK version wants to celebrate memories and loved stories of ones home.

Dove

2007-09-20T11:12:00.000-05:00

It is no mystery that Dove has launched a campaign to empower women through their advertisement campaigns about "real women." This is their latest video that I came across that is geared towards effecting mothers emotions about their daughters being exposed to the thin media images that frequent the covers of magazines, movies, television, etc. However the way that I stumbled across this video was from a news story that discussed how Doves parent company does not uphold the same image and "moral value" that Dove adheres to when advertising and campaigning. The parent company in fact uses images of women chasing after men because they are attracted to the way they smell (the ax bodyspray for men commercial )
kind of ironic

2007-09-11T17:38:00.000-05:00

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130740-page,1/article.html
Wikis, Blogs, RSS Aim for Workplace
Web 2.0 Expo opens to discussions of simpler, more effective collaboration online.Part 1 of a special five-part series. -->
Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service
Sunday, April 15, 2007 11:00 PM PDT

Please Wait...
As businesses worldwide debate the pros and cons of using wikis, tagging, Web mashups, syndicated feeds and blogs, the Web 2.0 Expo opened Sunday in San Francisco with a gaggle of vendors betting these Internet tools belong in the workplace.
The promise of simplified and more effective collaboration among employees, partners and clients has caught the attention of business managers. Still, although a hit among consumers, these Web 2.0 products must meet special requirements for business use in areas like availability, performance, scalability and security.
"Some aspects of Web 2.0 are viewed as attractive by businesses. It's just a case of getting over the hurdles," says analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group. "Clearly the market is moving in this direction, but many things prevent it from moving very quickly."
Vendors backing Web 2.0 in the workplace say these new tools, like wikis, can significantly improve how employees collaborate on projects. They also point out that blogs can be effective marketing tools if they are used wisely, while syndicated feeds can improve communications that aren't efficiently handled by e-mail.
Web 2.0 proponents have also embraced the concept of hosted business applications, saying they also encourage sharing and collaboration among employees while reducing the complexity of software management and hardware expenses.
Yet, each cheerleading argument also has a flip side. Companies that used hosted applications run a risk that their data might be compromised or that the applications may be unavailable. They also give up control over whether and when to upgrade those applications.
Critics also warn the companies must evaluate how and whether these new tools will integrate with their existing infrastructure and what level of support the vendors, many of them startups, can offer.
Just last month, Google Apps, Google Inc.'s hosted communication and collaboration suite for businesses, suffered three major outages in its Gmail service. Some affected customers complained that Google failed on its pledge of 99.9 percent uptime for the suite's fee-based edition.
"There has been more reluctance to adopt Internet-based tools by large companies, but less resistance among SMBs," says industry analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence.
Aggravated with Microsoft Corp.'s Word, Shelli Kesler, PhD, senior research scientist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, did a Web search for an alternative word processor and found AdventNet Inc.'s free Zoho Writer. Three months later, Zoho Writer is her primary word processor, primarily because it's a hosted application that she can use whenever she is online.
"I don't have to worry about remembering to send what I've done or worry about which draft is the most current. It's very convenient to work on things in multiple locations," said Kesler, who has gotten some colleagues to adopt the product as well.
On a larger scale, Mike Suding introduced eTouch Systems Corp.'s SamePage enterprise wiki to Citrix Systems Inc.'s Online division, where he is IT director. The tool has improved collaboration in the engineering and sales departments, while requiring minimal IT intervention, he said.
"I can make [a user] an admin of a certain space or project and they can add their own members and invite their own people to participate and post their own texts or graphics or attachments," Suding said. Accomplishing similar goals with the existing intranet and e-mail and collaboration platform would be more complicated, he said. The intranet lacks search and content syndication capabilities, while e-mail collaboration is less than ideal.
"E-mail comes and goes and we wanted a place to collect and build," Suding said. "Web 2.0 is about employee collaboration and empowerment and self service. That's what we're achieving with the wiki."
AdventNet's Zoho division, which has a suite of hosted productivity applications to which Zoho Writer belongs, and eTouch Systems are two of the vendors exhibiting at the event, along with Google, Adobe Systems Inc., eBay Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Fast Search & Transfer ASA, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems Inc.
Keynote speakers include Amazon's Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos and Google's CEO Eric Schmidt. Announcements expected include the following:
-- Intel Corp. will announce the availability of SuiteTwo, a suite of collaboration applications unveiled in November at Web 2.0 Expo's sister event Web 2.0 Summit. Intel's partners for SuiteTwo include SocialText Inc., NewsGator Technologies Inc., SimpleFeed Inc., Six Apart Ltd. and SpikeSource Inc.
-- Nokia Corp. will unveil technologies to link Internet content and Web services with mobile devices using the S60 smartphone operating system. The company will also demonstrate how content and developers can create material and applications for Nokia devices.
-- TellMe Networks, which Microsoft announced it would buy last month, will announce new mobile search products that lets people query search engines with their voice.
Web 2.0 Expo, at San Francisco's Moscone Center, ends Wednesday.

Hey yall I wanted to add this as an example to my first post about using wiki's in the workplace. It looks like this is the new up and coming envasion about to hit the major corporations then filter its way down

Brittany's VMA Performance

2007-09-11T11:29:00.001-05:00

2007-09-11T10:58:00.000-05:00

Hey all I just wanted to add a little snippet about the now
infamous Brittany Spears VMA performance.
I personally think that her PR our team was
completely lying down on the job.
There were several mistakes that with any untrained
eye were completely noticeable such as;
her costume, forgetting her lyrics, mediocre at best dance moves
and her overall appearance. I would just like to wish the Brittany
Spears PR team GOOD LUCK at overcoming
this fiasco

wiki's & pr

2007-09-06T11:44:00.000-05:00

Incorporating wiki's would greatly benefit public relation firms. Having a company wiki would allow all persons involved on a project to access and contribute ideas at anytime, anywhere. This would intern allow employees to assert and respond their concerns or update their employer as to their status on a project. However I think that the wiki's in association with companies and corporations may not be as effective. It could be a double edged sword, meaning that though some customers/ clients may leave positive feedback others would have the opportunity to express their malice as well. And with the addition of the wiki scanner PR personnel would be unable to go into the wiki and edit the callous comment