Great Blog Post

Blog Post

My Comment

Freakonomics blog on the bailout.  The blog contains an open letter from economists to congress about the bailout and its recommendation.  It recommends patience, to clean up its ambiguity and to be more specific on its long term effects.  This is a great post because even though the government has proposed the bailout, it is helpful to know economists’ opinion of it.

Digg

http://digg.com

digg.com is a website where users have the option to “digg” internet content.  Every day, news articles, pictures, videos, blog posts and other forms of internet media are posted on the website.

youtube example

When someone “digg”s the content, is reported to digg and then other useres can also “digg it”.  If enough people digg an article, it shows up on the main page.  Digg Upcoming, now in its beta form, allows people to see stories that have been “dugg” but not enough to make the main page.  Digg specializes in the sharing of content.   Other websites have now started their own form of sharing internet sites.  Myspace, Facebook, stubleupon, and del.icio.us are also sites where information can be shared.

Class Day 2

The second day of class is now over and I am getting a better understanding on what the class will entail.  We talked about the blogs again, but a little more in-depth this time.  There are many little options that can make a blog a lot better.  Characterizing each entry and the way a link is posted make a real difference in the effectiveness of a blog and makes its functionality and the way its presented appear a lot better.   Going over the article “IT doesn’t matter” was interesting.  There are many different perceptions on what and how IT should be used in the workplace.  I believe that how IT is used depends on the nature of the business in which it is used.   Some companies have more use to IT than others.   I believe that IT is important for all companies, and how they utilize it can determine how competitive they are in the work place.

some beginning information for group project

Microsft excel
From the website: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA101656321033.aspx
Price 229/109

create and format spreadsheets, and analyze and share information to make more informed decisions.
navigate, sort, filter, input parameters, and interact with PivotTable views directly on the Web browser.

* Sorting and filtering are two of the most important types of basic analysis that you can do with data. New options for sorting and filtering, such as multiselect in AutoFilters, sort or filter by color, and “quick filters” for specific data types make Office Excel 2007 the ideal tool for working with large amounts of complex data.

* Create a PivotTable or PivotChart view more easily by using data fields to reorient data quickly to summarize and find the answers you need. Simply drag the fields to where you want them to display.

# Centrally manage sensitive information by publishing spreadsheets to Office SharePoint Server 2007 to help ensure the members of your organization are working with the most current business information and prevent the spread of multiple versions of the same file.

# Protect confidential business information while helping to ensure people can view the data they need with report management features.

# Connect to external sources of information using the Data Connection Library. Quickly connect to and import information from external sources of information like databases and line-of-business systems using the Data Connection Library. Using Office SharePoint Server 2007, your organization’s IT staff can set up and manage “trusted” Data Connection Libraries that enable people to more safely connect to external data sources without assistance.

Google Docs
docs.google.com/
Free

Can upload existing styles
Share instantly
Edit and present with others in real time
Edit and access from anywhere
Safely store work online (has autosave)
Easily save and export copies (in different formats)
Folders available to organize work
Can publish/ unpublish information on the web and control who sees information.

Microsoft workspace office live.
http://workspace.officelive.com/LearnMore
Cost free

Can access and preview docs with out having office installed
Works with office
Export to excel
Main purpose, sharing information.
However only shares up to 100 people.

Microsoft Access
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA101656301033.aspx
cost 229/109

Track and report info
Collects info through email or import data
Create and edit detailed reports that display sorted, filtered and grouped info in a way that helps make sense of the data.
Can import from Microsoft outlook
files and sorts data
can work with multivalue fields
can group info
collect data with office
web collaboration with windows sharepoint services
improved security

Great Website

www.factcheck.org

As a MPA student with a specialization in State and Local Government, I am always curious to see which parts of politicians speeches are factual and which are not. With the upcoming presidential election, speeches and accusations are being heard by the public. The website factcheck.org takes claims made by each candidate and evaluates them on their factual content. This website can help make people make informed decisions on November 4th.

First Day of Class

Being a first year student in the MPA program at UD I wasnt sure on how the graduate classes would go. I attended UD for undergrad, but I knew that it would be difference now that I was in graduate school. Classes have gone well, but I was looking forward to the IT class the most. It was a subject i admittedly know nothing about, and it was also going to be more interesting than statistics, no offense Professor Robinson.

As class went on, I was excited to know I was going to learn how to use a wiki. After the brief demonstration, I realized how easy it was to use and how useful a tool it would be to know how to use. Creating a blog was also something that I have never done before.

I will also learn a lot from the group project. Honestly, I was slightly confused when my group was discussing their ideas of how to make a sortable database, because a lot of that information was way over my head, but by the end of class I understood the problem that was being presented.

It has been a good first few weeks in classes here and the Buffalo Bills are 2-0. I think that its going to be a good year.