Blog 5: Photoshop

Photoshop is a program that allows users to alter or create pictures. This is important because as a people we depend on visual literacy for many things. Whether it is recognizing a favorite McDonalds by the giant golden arches, or the sign for which bathroom to use, we as human being rely heavily on visual literacy. I was recently overseas and did not speak the language of the country so I relied heavily on depicting pictures to know where things were and what not.

The public relations field can use Photoshop and programs like it to create images for promotion. Some ideas would be if you had to create a new logo for a new company, banners or anything that a new design would be needed for. As for visual literacy, we can use the program to make images that people translate and can relate to, therefore remember. Recognition among people will make your product more known and would be better promotion.



I chose this tutorial because it goes step by step working in Photoshop and making a logo. This pertains a lot to me because working and dealing with promotions and such having tutorials and tools with Photoshop will come very useful.

Blog 4: Copyright (Extra Blog)

We have been taught from the time we first make a mistake to do something right, the difference between right and wrong, ethics. Copyright protects an author of an idea and product, from theft from sources who are not permitted to use them. Plagiarism is the taking of someone’s work and calling it your own. The copyright lasts for 70 years after the author’s death. After the death of an author, the copyright can be inherited by kin or given to someone else.

In every profession there are ethical standards and public relations specialists should be held to an even higher one because they are dealing with a company’s public image. So it is important to have a strong knowledge of what is ethical and what is not. The way I see it, you wouldn’t want to have something you worked really hard, physically or mentally, to be claimed by someone else so don’t do it to someone else.



I chose this video because it asked a few questions that I thought were interesting. Does copyright infringement lessen creativity? In the video he gives examples of people who have posted replies to their favorite songs, and their versions of copying their favorite artists. Yet when the mom of a 13-month-old child is asked to remove a You Tube video of him dancing to a song because she is violating the copyright of the song. I feel that this is really not an issue but a demonstration of how the law doesn’t necessarily help us.

Blog 3: Web 2.0 Technology

Everyone is talking about it! That’s right Web 2.0 which now makes the internet a more interactive place rather than just a source of information. Social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and plenty of other applications that impact the learning environment. Rather than meeting in groups to do assignments, groups can use websites such as wiggio.com to post and discuss topics. As mentioned in the assigned readings, Web 2.0 is taking internet to the next level and from just a read only format to a read-write format. Students can interact, making it more interesting for them to learn.

It is important to know this information and learn about the ways to use Web 2.0 because in the field of public relations, you have to understand what is going on around you. Also you can use programs as such to locate a target audience to promote different concepts, ideas and products. Using programs such as Facebook to create a “fan” page of your company, allowing you to promote and communicate with your public. They can interact with you, so it makes it more interesting for them and they are more prone to do it.

Web 2.o...oh yeah!

I feel that this video is a great representation of Web 2.0 because it is interacting with people. This video contains footage from a lot of different people saying what they like or dislike about Web 2.0. Before with the Web 1.0, there was more of a telling and explaining rather than an interaction when signing on to the web.

Blog 2: Mac vs. PC

The top two competing computers are Macs and PC’s. The commercials and advertisements have allowed each’s customers to identify with a group. “I’m a Mac,’ or “I’m a PC” are popular statements. Each computer platform and operating system works differently and has separate features that the other does not have. I personally have grown up using Windows and didn’t start hearing of people having Macs until I started college. Then when I used a Mac, I was completely lost because of the differences from a PC.

It is important to understand both operating systems, even if you are more comfortable with one more than the other. Either in the public relations field or military, you never know which operating system you will be given or told to use, so knowing both is beneficial to you.

How to use a Mac

I chose this video, because I thought it explained how to use a Mac pretty well. As I said earlier, I have only used Windows on a PC so using a Mac is a completely different place. I thought this was a good explanation of how to use a Mac.

Blog 1: Educational Technology

According to the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, educational technology is defined as being, “the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and the evaluation of processes and resources for learning.” Over the years educational technology has gone from slides and radios, to computers with wireless internet and DVD with Blue Ray and high definition. Technology is changing the way students are learning material and even the military.

As a public relations major, understanding how educational technology impacts the community, students and those who use it, allows a way to understand our audience better and create better lines of communication. Better knowledge of how they learned something, what was available, what is the best way to sort of say, “be on their level” and know how to interact with them, would be ideal and the best way of doing your job as a public relations specialist. Also going into the military, knowledge of educational technology will help me to understand what my sailors and enlisted personnel are working with and find ways to help them.

VOA Special English Education Report

I chose this video, the VOA Special English Education Report, because I think it has a lot to do with the different advantages and applications of educational technology. The video mentions different factors that play into the amount of technology or type of technology including budgets and goals of teachers and schools. There are such devices such as the Smart Board that allows students to become involved with a n interactive white board. Other education professionals are integrating newer technology, such as I-pods and mobile phones, into the curriculum to make learning in the classroom more effective.