Too many architects apply Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s famous axiom Less is More to their public relations efforts – particularly when it comes to the Web. I researched AIA Philadelphia member firms' Web presence, from individual Web sites to social media. Find out what I learned.

Podcasting 101: A Student's Step-By-Step Guide is an easy to read 10 step list on how to do a podcast effectively.

Podcasting 101: A Student's Step-By-Step Guide is an easy to read 10 step list on how to do a podcast effectively.

For Information Architecture, I designed a presentation using Prezi’s Zooming Presentation Maker. In Information Architecture, our class examined information in several different contexts. We first looked at how language, one of the most popular vehicles of information, is structured to help people make meaning out of what they see, hear, and read. Metaphors We Live By (1980), by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, was both influential and helpful as it laid the foundation for many of the other things we would read later. From evaluating language, we then examined how …

Sorting Things Out, by Bowker and Star is an examination of classifications that have become woven into lives without us even realizing it, how these classifications affect us and the way we think about things, and how they were formulated in the first place.
 
That being said, I found this book to be near impossible to get through.  The subject had great potential to be interesting, but the academic jargon and over-the-top writing style not only put me off from the get-go, but it nearly put me to sleep at the …

I feel like I have a knack for picking stuff with weird names.  Either that, or there are some real strange folks naming these online applications and Web 2.0 things.  If it were up to me, I'd be calling stuff “Dragon Fire”, or “Steel Blade”, or maybe even “Crank 2: High Voltage……” (Well, come on, who's more manly and tough than Jason Statham?)  As if Twitterlicious wasn't odd enough, this week, I'll be talking about LuLu. 
 
LuLu was founded in 2002 as a way for independent publishers to publish their work (as an option …

I’ve always found the concept of advertising to be sort of curious. Why, after all, would I want a company’s best pitch-man/woman selling me their wares? That opinion is going to be light on criticism and high on hyperbole. I’ve always preferred to get my information from “experts” of one kind or another who can give me an educated opinion on what types of products I should buy. By this, I don’t mean I have no mind of my own; rather I seek out information about whatever item I wish …

I thoroughly enjoyed Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics.  It was a book that gave a great in-depth analysis of an art (and I know now that it is an art) that is often brushed off as being “for kids.”
The first thing that really interested me was McCloud's distinction between “realistic” and “iconic”.  I found this point to be especially powerful when, on page 36, he has a side-by-side comparison of the iconic version of himself and the realistic version of himself, stating that if he had illustrated himself in the realistic sense throughout …

It looks like there was a Web 2.0 expo held in San Fransisco last week.  This article claims that, at the show, the big claim seemed to be that with the economy in such a slump, now is the time to focus on new innovations and cast out the technologies from the past.
Interesting article, and it also talks about the way the expo was held and how presentations were given, raising the question; is it time to update the way we talk about and discuss new technologies, or should we stick …

Review for CiteULike, a Web 2.0 application.
     CiteULike is a Web 2.0 application that enables users to bookmark and organize academic research for later use. While non-academic material can be put into the application, the makers are quick to point out that they prefer refereed articles and that non-scholarly articles will not be displayed in user searches, though they can be placed in the individual’s library. The application was developed with a specific purpose, and the developers are keen to make this distinction between refereed and non-refereed sources clear. I think …