WOW, was not aware that existed.....

Ok, I have to admit that when I first read the topic of this week, I thought, hmmm, second life, what is second life?? The readings shock me a little bit. I had no idea the whole real, 3D, animated virtual world existed. I researched some more you tube videos and was surprised even more.


The whole idea of imagining and building anything you want seems to be great. As an individual, I can set up what I look like (not that I am not satisfied with my looks), and I can experiment in a some-real world like environments any thing I want. I can also setup places and designs and would only be limited by my imagination. I can even meet more people online to build my social network! What I wonder is why would I want to do that? I understand that some stores like Apple and Adidas would use it to get to the mass that is on second life, as a marketing tool but it would be interesting to see if there's a way to track the actual benefits these companies are having from using second life.

While writing this blog I read Carolyn's post, and thought well, I don't think I will be using it or sigining up for it. I mean what is the advantage of using second life? Is it something I really want to sink in? Instead of going virutally and wasting my time with this, can I be doing something more productive. The topic suddenly brought back the discussion from least week whether the internet is making us dump? I was so against the idea, but now I am not too sure. Are people running away from reality into a virtual world and is this going to affect the way people interact on a regular basis?

I guess as with anything new, only time will tell. What do you think?


Image from http://nanobugle.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/second_life-nanobugle.jpg

Rely on the experts, no thank you...

The articles for this week were really interesting. Like some of my friends, I really had a hard time putting my post together. I really understand where Keen is coming from in his article, The Digital Emperor has no clothes about the elite, and getting the expertise of the professionals, but I have to say I do not agree with him. Well, I am not saying that the experts' opinions are not needed and required in some instances, but for me, it is different.

In my profession, I deal with evolving technologies almost on a daily basis, and with that comes the challenge of dealing with new problems that we have not encountered before, whether it is software or hardware related. A recent example was some problems my users were facing in scheduling and updating meeting invitations and calendar items on a Microsoft product. I contacted Microsoft and worked with them for almost 2 days on the issue with no luck.

Knowing that my users will keep on complaining until I find a resolution, I used Google, my best search friend, which came in handy. It's true the search was not very intuitive, and I had to really dig to find the answer, but hints to the answer were not provided by the experts. In my case it was provided by a user with a similar problem.

Now, I totally agree that we rely on experts, like doctors, accountants and tax consultants for a lot, but when it comes to informtion online, for me it does not matter who wrote it. I try to read and make sense out of it. A lot of what I read comes up as non-sense, so I end up just disregarding it, but when what I read is logical, I really enjoy reading it and use it no matter who wrote it. So I guess the internet is not making up dumper as Lessing claimed, on the contrary, I think it is mkaing us selective readers and giving us more things to consider and weigh on.

Check out this link, that claims Google is also making us stupid, and tell me what do you think? Do you agree? Do you rely on experts opionions for everything?

Networking, too much or too little!!

I have to admit, I read more than 2 articles, in an effort to find one focus for me to write about. All the assigned readings got me thinking about my networking status and what I should be doing now and every day. In one of our consulting classes, I asked a Deloitte consultant what's the chance for getting a job if you do not know an insider, and her response did not surprise me. It was exactly what the articles imply. Networking is everything.

Now that I remembered that fact, I directly logged in to my linkedIn Account and tried to remember people that I have worked with before and have not been in touch with for a while and sent them an invtation. One of the invitations was for a friend I rarely see, who actually works at Deloitte. I also was happy to see my contact list growing to 81 people, not bad for just recently joining LinkedIn, right?

Now, after the readings, I got mixed up signals, maybe it's just me, but I thought I would bring it up. In Lindsky's article, he mentioned "Let one pushy semi- outsider into your network, and you've polluted it", while Ryan Mapes, emphasized that weak contacts can come in handy in a business opportunity and that its better to build the biggest network possible.

After giving this too much thought, few questions popped in my head; Is having more contacts in my profile better, or should I only add people that I really trust and have a smaller network?? Should I aim at increasing my network and include people I just know on the professional level, or should I make sure I know them really well? How much influence will my LinkedIn profile have on any potential employer, and does that change from one employer to the other? Can one employer perceive things negatively while others see it positively. It's all questions that I would love to find answers for. For the time being, I am happy with my job and not looking for one, but I know I might decide to leave any minute. I guess though that until I find answers to my questions, I will just stop hating networking, and try to do more of it. What do you think?

Picture taken from http://www.theathomecouple.com/images/real-social-networking.jpg

Too many cooks....

After reading Stross's article in the NYTimes, I couldn't stop thinking about the Fairfax county Parktakes service. For those who are not familiar with it, it is a set of services that Fairfax County provides through its recreation centers, whether it be a list of summer camps or 4 week swimming classes, you name it, it is all there. The first time I checked the service was of course, when I had my first son who I wanted to register in a swimming class at 18 months.

Well, the registration was easy and I created an account on the site, as a Fairfax County resident. What I noticed then is that instructor names or rankings were not pusblished. To make a long story short, I was not pleased with the class, neither did I think the class was appropriately sized. It ended up being a waste. That experience made me reluctant to register my kid in another swimming class with the county. I was even looking for private lessons, which tend to be expensive, depending on where you end up going.

On the other hand having too many reviews did not help me this last weekend either. I actually looked up a restaurant on Yelp before going there this Saturday. We were told by an Italian friend that it was one of the best Italian places to have pizza (I wont mention the restaurant name so I wont sound like I am writing a review). The restaurant was Ok, acceptable atmosphere and very family oriented. The tables were uncommonly high and shaky, but I was not impressed at all with the food. My point behind this is that in both situations of having no feedback or plenty of it, I did not matter.

I keep on asking myself, if there was a magic formula to know for a fact what's good and what's not. Maybe we will get to a point where we can determine whose review to take into account or not from a personal perspective. I know its true to please everybody, but I guess if all else fails, we go back to the old way of trusting our own instinct, RIGHT!!

Image from http://www.cartoonstock.com/

All-in-One - you ought to love that

Well, while surfing through one of my friend's blogs, I noticed that she was right. Having Google and Yahoo try to implement a social network would be too big of a burden not only on the companies, but also on the users subscribing to those sites. The world does not need any new shining tools. A refine of the existing would be nice. Here check out her blog here.

Which network are you ON??

I cannot stop thinking about the number of social networks out there, and the possibility of having even more. As if having facebook, my space, and now the new Live MSN network is not enough, now google and Yahoo are also looking on expanding their service offerings to include a social network. That's exactly what the world needs, a new SOCIAL NETWORK!!!


When I first heard about facebook, I was excited. Finally something is available for me to get back in touch with old friends. It was not too intuitive, from security standpoint or usage, especially with having a new flavor and design every few months. The friends I have on facebook are not the same friends I have on Linked-in. At least some of them aren't. I do not maintain my network on MSN, nor do I have a twitter account. Now I keep on asking myself how many networks should I be connected to in order to be really social, and even if I am on most of those networks, how easy would it be for me to maintain my information up to date on all my networks.

How many invitations should I send for the same people to join my seperate networks, and how many systems will I have to learn, and secure in order to not be totally out there? I had a bad experience when msn came with their new network. I suddenly saw more than 10 albums straight from my PC uploaded and available to my network contacts. I got the freak and almost had a heart attack unti l I looked through all of them and realized than none of them was non-publishable material (If you know what I mean). I think choices are good, but having too many of those would be just too confusing even for a tech savvy. I am satisfied with the 2 I have for now. Maybe the future will prove me wrong and linking all those together would be an option. For a person with so many hours in a day, i keep on wondering, what's next??

Picture from http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/pagirly/social_network_confusion.jpg

Networking... how hard can it be??

I have to admit, the whole aspect of networking is pretty new to me. I came from a small city where believe it or not, almost everyone knew everyone else. Now that I think of it, we kind of had some sort of networks. They were based on people working in the same area, going to the same social clubs, and hanging around in the same places.

To get a job though, you had to be politically affiliated to one party or the other. Without that, its as if you do not exist, and of course, you cannot dream of getting a decent job. After graudation, I found a job almost instantaneously because my sister worked for a training company, and they happened to be looking for a new instructor. The opportunity for me to come to the States was almost as easy. A friend submitted my resume, I interviewed, mind you not a technical interview, then I was hired. Easy right??

Well, it was till I started at AU. I always thought it's about what you know; work hard, and be good at what you do. I had a Facebook account, and I used it like everybody else, to get in touch with my old friends. Some I have not talked to in 12 years, I found online and was so excited to see how they all turned out and where each one was. At first I used to log in daily, then slowly slowly, I started logging in twice a week or so.

At one class in AU, we were asked about our Linked-In accounts. I looked around, everybody had their hands up, but a few, with me being one of the few. All the speakers we had emphasized the importance of networking. Even some consultants mentioned not being able to find a job if you do not know an insider.

It then struck me. I am not on board. I was not one of a few that really knew everybody else. I looked at my network, and it was mostly of people at my organization that I encounter on a regular basis, and friends who have kids same age as mine. I opened a linked-in account, and started adding people I would meet in a professional environment. Yes I do have a Linked-In account, but how often do I login, or how often do I check or contact a person within my network? I also have a 200+ friends on my Facebook account, but I ask myself the same question. How often do I contact my friends, or even yet, how many of the 200 do I actually contact.

The answer is very rare and very few. Yes, I am aware it is something I should do, but I guess with a busy life of working full time job, going to school and having 2 kids, it is harder than I thought. It'll be interesting to see how my future job search will turn out......Wish me LUCK...

My First Blog

Well, well, it finally happened. Never thought i would be blogging any time soon :)
even though it is for a class, I think it will be an awesome experience. I can't wait to get more involved in the whole thing.

My name is Samar, and i am a part time student in the MS. ITM program. For those who never heard of it, its the IT Management program at AU. YEPEEEE, i will be graduating this May, if everything goes well and I am already counting the days...

"On my Honor, i pledge that everything i write in this blog is strictly my own opinion, and does not reflect the ideas or opinions of AU in any way"...