I recently read the autobiography “Alexander Hamilton” by Rob Chernow, and NO, it was not because of the broadway play. That sounds hipster but I assure you I had no idea there was a play until later on. I read it because I love history, I was a history major in college ,and I wanted to learn more about the founding fathers, which includes Hamilton.
Before reading the book, my view of Hamilton was not so great. I didn't hate the man, but his personality and certain actions/decisions did not appeal to me. He was stubborn, always needed to do everything himself, and he wanted to be known by everyone. After reading about his early life, what he overcame, and how he managed to become the man he was, I gained so much respect for the man. I now understand why he was stubborn and egotistical. He still is nowhere near perfect, but he was extremely vital to the creation of America. It's hard to hate the man after reading about his life.
Although the book does a great job showing his ups and downs, I feel the book shines too bad a light on both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Chernow seems to want to disgrace these two men. I do not understand why many scholars, and people in general, either love Hamilton and hate Jefferson and Madison, or vice versa. I have respect for all these men and I can see their greatness and flaws. Yeah, we may have favorites, but why like only one or the other?
Anyway, it's a great read for those who love early American History, Hamilton, 700+ page books, or because you want to go see the broadway play and you need some context.
- C
In one corner we have Facebook, and the other corner we have LinkedIn.
What are they good at and why should you use them?
Facebook is primarily good for social interactions, but can also be used for work purposes. Facebook is a great medium for friends and family to stay connected even when not together, and it's good to see what people from high school are up to so that you don't have to go to the ten year reunion. It is also a great place to reconnect to those you haven’t seen in years. So many people have a Facebook now that you can search for someone you haven’t seen in 15 years and send them a friend invitation. If you have a business or the business you work for has a Facebook page, then that is a great way to promote it. I personally share posts for my workplace to help promote what we do.
Facebook is also great to find and explore likes even further. For example, if you click on a school you like or attend, you will be given more options of pages to like. Look at the photo below after I liked the IUPUI Facebook page:
One page can lead to another. Liking more pages from IUPUI will keep you up-to-date with more events and news from the school.
LinkedIn is very much like Facebook, but more for business. LinkedIn can be useful if you wanted to branch out and move to another city and find a job, and this is done by connecting with those in that city or profession. For example, if you wanted to connect with others from other libraries and learn how they do things, the site can be good for that.
Both can be good to help one's career. For library and information science professionals, for example, one can like different library pages on Facebook or connect with library professionals on LinkedIn. Both ways allow a person to contact someone and learn more about the person/library.
Both sites have their benefits so why not use both?
- C
Nothing takes over your life more than MUVEs. I try not to play too many because I know how addicting they can be, especially if you have lots of time on your hands. The very few experiences with MUVE I’ve had were the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) I’ve played. Those games are RuneScape, Star Wars: Old Republic, and Elder Scrolls Online. These video games let you explore fictional worlds, create characters, battle evil (or good, depending on your mood), and you are living another life. For example, people who like Star Wars, they can play Old Republic and immerse themselves in the world of Star Wars. How cool is that?!
Another great MUVE is Second Life, which is a virtual world where you have so many possibilities and options. You can build things in the virtual world, chat with others, and connect several other ways. Second Life, which I have not played but I’ve heard others talk about while at school, is great for people from around the world to interact or for friends to explore together. But for people like me who work in a library it can be interesting and helpful. Libraries can build virtual libraries in the game (let's call it a game even though is really not for the sake of discussion) and they can display information (and links) about their library and collection within the virtual world. That’s just crazy to think about because someone from around the world can see information about your library.
But of course any business can use Second Life to their advantage.
Excuse me, I need to go play Elder Scrolls Online and spend eight hours crafting swords I'll never really use and to go on quests while I ride a horse because I'm lazy in my virtual life, too.
- C
Blogger! Yay! Another site to immerse myself in internet culture! Another site to keep track of!!
So many sites, so many usernames, and so many passwords. Kids in the future are going to have a hard time coming up with usernames. Sorry Billy from the year 2050, but "billy1234567890987654321" is already taken. Please try another username.
I’ve been using social networks since 2006 when I joined MySpace. I was thirteen or fourteen years old, then considered too young to have a MySpace. I do not know if it was actually that good or because it was the first social network site I used, but I really miss it. And I cannot stress enough how much I miss it. Yeah, I have so many memories from that site that I consider 2006-2009 the "MySpace Era" and I look back onto it occasionally and wish I can go back. It was just too cool! But more on that in a bit. When Myspace became “unpopular” around 2009, I switched to Facebook like everyone else. I didn’t stop there. I eventually created a Twitter. I then made an Instagram account a few years later when I bought my first smartphone. I had a LinkedIn account for like 10 minutes to experience what it was like to be an adult. I got scared and deleted that quickly.
Back to MySpace. I know that MySpace is still around. But its nowhere near the same. It doesn’t have the same layout, feel, or appeal. I LOVED what you were able to do on it. You could've customized the page any way you want as long as you knew the coding, which many people learned because of the site! Websites were available with the coding needed for a specific purpose You wanted a picture of a red corvette for your banner on the page? Some sites had those kinds of options with a link to embed and the code provided. People were able to really personalize their page. It was unique them. Social networks now are dull. But somehow they appeal to everyone, including myself. Facebook is actually becoming more and more dull, in my opinion. I’ve been using it less and less the last couple years. Now I say I use it less, but if you know me and see my posts you know that I post a lot. Actually, I just share funny posts or news posts that interest me. I no longer post nowhere near as many statuses as I used to, nor do I read too many posts from other people. That's why I mean "less." Facebook is just so boring! You look at your newsfeed and see what's going on. You're never really on your page. At least with MySpace you viewed your page and people commented to you. And then you went on someone else's page and saw how cool their page was and wished you had that background of abstract art for your own page, but you couldn't because then you'd be a copy cat and who wants that? The only benefit of Facebook is keeping up with news, and occasionally you'll see a post from a friend and then you'll "like" it.
I remember a few years after leaving MySpace, and before it changed to what it is now, I logged back into MySpace and recreated my page. Although, I then remembered why I left. It was becoming too much like Facebook. It wasn't as unique.
So, the order of favorites from greatest to least:
Old MySpace
Facebook (despite becoming boring)
Instagram
Twitter
New MySpace
Please, can someone do us all a favor and bring back the classic MySpace before it turned to crap? Although, my top friends list is going to change dramatically. You'll have that number one slot if this happens...just saying.
- C
