Advice for Spring 2008 Students

Hello to whoever reads this entry, I'll share a few pieces of advice for what to expect from your upcoming semester. First about the client project, it may sound like a daunting assignment at first, but once the work is broken up into the separate groups, then broken up again amongst the members of the group, it becomes quite manageable. The easiest way to go about it is to make a general game plan early on in the semester regarding who will be responsible for which part, that way there is no last minute organizing that needs to be done, and everyone can merely focus on completing their specific assignments.

I did a very poor job keeping up with my blog this semester. Most of that was due to the fact that the entries were due Sunday night, and I would procrastinate them until Sunday. Due to my Sunday schedule, I would end up forgetting about the blog entry until before class on Monday. I am used to having hard copies of homework assignments, and I never developed a good strategy for reminding myself to complete the blog topics regularly. My only advise would be come up with something that works for you. In hindsight, what I should have done, is written in BLOG under every Friday on the syllabus, giving me a physical reminder that I have weekly homework to do.

The e-portfolios are a very easy aspect of the class, and if you keep up with your work throughout the semester, when it comes time to turn in your compiled portfolio, it should take less than an hour to set it up and get it submitted. Don't do what I did, after giving my PowerPoint presentation to the class, I didn't think I would need it again, so I deleted the presentation. When it came time to do the e-portfolio, that was one of the required contents. So, keep everything from the class, in case you want to put it in your portfolio at the end.

Other than that, just enjoy the semester. It is a fairly laid back class, and you won't be very stressed on any of the assignments. Good luck, and have a great semester.

Dual-Coding Theory

I saw an ad on television this week for a local jewelery store. I was intrigued not only by the quality of production of the advertisement, as local businesses usually run hilariously un-polished commercials, but I also noticed some of the dual-coding techniques used in the ad. In the background was a black and white scene of a husband presenting his wife with a diamond necklace for their anniversary. They were in a fancy restaurant, and they were clearly having a pleasant evening, and when he presented her with the necklace she was positively radiant. Meanwhile, the narrator was not talking about the scene that was transpiring, rather the wide selection, low prices, and quality handcrafted jewelery offered by this local business. He advised that buying jewelery there would be a wonderful birthday or anniversary gift for your significant other. The dual-coding in this advertisement deals with hearing about how patronizing this local business would be a smart move, while seeing the results of such an action in the background of the ad. Any guy naturally associates with the husband in the scene, and would be equally thrilled to have his wife be as happy as the woman in the ad. By encoding different aspects of the same message both through video and audio the content of the commercial was received, processed, and stored on multiple cognitive levels. While just a minor example of the effects of dual coding, the fact that I remembered the ad enough to write my blog post about it proves it's methods effective.

PS. I actually remembered my blog post for this week...I think the end of the world might be swiftly approaching.

The Foo Fighters put on a terrific concert at Cricket Arena in Charlotte, NC on Friday night. The show followed the release of their sixth album, but featured a wide spectrum of material spanning their 13 years of existence. Dave Grohl, the band's energetic lead singer demonstrated his awesome stage presence by wowing the crowd with both his passionate vocals and intense showmanship. HiFi Handgrenades opened the show, they are a new punk band out of Detroit. Their sound was far from unique, but surprisingly polished for a new band. A lot of their material sounded similar, but in general, they were one of the more tolerable opening acts I have seen. The entire atmosphere of the venue changed the minute Foo Fighters took the stage. Their opening song was a surprise to many fans, "Let it die" is a track off the new album with a mellow opening that gradually broadens into a crunching electric jam. It opened quietly, in stark contrast to the uproar from the crowd, but escalated to the level one would expect from a concert opener. The most well received songs of the evening were without a doubt some of Foo Fighter's older classics, such as Times Like These and Everlong. The band truly was worth the price of admission, playing for almost two and a half hours. Everyone at the show certainly got their money's worth, and experienced one of music's greatest post-grunge bands. The band's long musical history was clearly evidenced by their supreme stage presence. They were as professional as they were passionate, playing studio quality songs with the added energy of a live performance. It was my second time seeing Foo Fighters, my previous experience with them, they shared time with Weezer. While that was an incredible show, I enjoyed the simple short opener, long main event format of the Charlotte show. It really let the band open up their musical "playbook" and not worry about time sharing constraints. It was an awesome show!

Resume Articles

I was very interested in this article regarding tips for your resume when you have had only one serious past employer. I have worked several positions within the Clemson University housing staff, and the article had some good ideas how to separate and differentiate the various positions, and skill sets that they involved. I have had some ideas of ways I can change my resume to reflect the different positions I have filled. I think out of all the articles I glanced over, this one was the most relevant to my personal experience, and my future job searches. There were really no ethical issues discussed in the article, unlike this one, where the pitfalls of being sneaky on your resume are elaborated. Before the era of digital referencing and ability to browse through a candidates background history thoroughly, resume exaggerating tactics were widely used, today however, they are equally likely to cause your resume to be discounted immediately. While some tactics are not morally questionable, they do still exaggerate credentials. One such tactic, was listing well known companies in your resume which are "similar" to ones where you have worked in the past. In one example, a CNET employee listed Google on his resume as one such company, and added it as a keyword when searching his resume, this generated far more inquiries then he might have received otherwise. I thought this online list of articles regarding resume tactics was very interesting to browse, and it mentioned several application strategies that seem viable, that I had never considered.

In ten years time, I picture myself being one of two places in my life. I hope to be either recently finished with graduate school with a PhD in Economics, or I hope to be working with a internationally focused corporation after obtaining a MBA. Which degree I decide to pursue is going to be a choice I will have to make in the near future. If I have a doctorate, I will likely have completed several years working as a teaching assistant at my graduate school. I will hopefully have a teaching position at a quality university in the economics department. Professionally my goals are still a bit vague, because my experiences in the next two years, and in my subsequent graduate program will greatly hone my focus.

Personally, I hope to be married, probably with children. I hope to start a family, although not a large one. I also hope to be living somewhere as beautiful as Clemson. I feel that speculating on one's future, especially ten years ahead, is difficult to do. Ten years ago I was about to start middle school with no inkling of college plans. So much can change in 10 years, having a rough idea of where I would like to be in the future is more than adequate for me. I am wary of engraving in too many details in my mind, because I have known friends who have been so set on a certain career or personal life path that they have been rigidly inflexible and unable to cope with change. My immediate focus for the future is enjoying, and succeeding in my final two years at Clemson, and being accepted into a graduate program where I am happy. Everything beyond that, I will address when the time is right. :)

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 not only signifies a redesigning and rethinking of internet compatibility, but the term "2.0" also implies a newer, more dynamic environment in which data can commute. The video raises some worthy questions regarding a necessary "rethinking" of certain concepts, most notably, copyright, authorship, and privacy. It also raises the interesting distinction of XML's capacity for separation of content and form. Through XML users can interact, and interchange content more easily then ever before. While in the past, a celebrated author is one who has mastered the presentation of content. In a new Web 2.0 environment, the most uniquely appreciated contributions an author can make may be form related. While the content itself can be easily acquired and meshed from a variety of sources, the form it takes to be most effectively collaborated may take true revolutionary rethinking of form to realize. For those of us entering a business world at the opening of the Web 2.0 era, this means readiness to adapt to new forms of communication and correspondence. It also means thinking of new ways to acquire and utilize information, while maintaining originality and adding value to contributed material. The line between sharing information and plagiarism is becoming increasingly blurred. Without a doubt, human connectivity is more easily achieved than ever before, and new methods will have to be developed so that an individual's contribution can find a way to stand out amidst a torrential amount of data.

Introduction

My name is Andrew Clayton. I am a Junior at Clemson University majoring in Economics. I chose to come to Clemson because my dad is a professor at the university, and I grew up always wanting to be a Tiger. I was born in Houston, Texas, however, my family moved to South Carolina when I was two and one-half years old. I attended high school in Greenville, South Carolina at Christ Church Episcopal School. My primary interests include playing sports such as volleyball, racquetball, soccer, basketball, and ultimate Frisbee. For the past two years I have worked as a Resident Assistant for university housing. I have worked with the living learning community, Clemson Business Experience in Benet Hall for incoming freshmen business students. I have found the job to be extremely rewarding and a great way to meet a ton of new people every year. I hop to either use my college degree to attend graduate school, after which, I hope to either work in international business, or teach at a university. I am minoring in Spanish, not only do I love the language, but I feel it will also be useful to be bi-lingual should an opportunity emerge for me to facilitate international business transactions. I am looking forward most this year to the Clemson football and soccer seasons, as well as intramural sand and indoor volleyball. I am also an avid guitar player, and actively play with a group of friends. Together we form an unofficial garage band, and we cover all sorts of modern rock and alternative music. I have had the privilege of visiting many other countries, traveling to physics conferences overseas with my family enabled me to experience many different international locales. I think this traveling greatly encouraged my desire to integrate international relations into any form of business I might pursue. I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend as much as I am, and I'm sure I'll see some of you out enjoying the pre-game festivities tomorrow. GO TIGERS!