A nerve, there we go, you got a network.

It is very controversial that online professional networking site are worthy.   Two articles supports totally different sides about job seeking in online professional networking site like LinkedIn: "Search for a name and these profiles generally show up in a search engine's top 10. This is a low-stress way to control your image and, incidentally, make yourself a passive job seeker (It's not just who you know by David Lidsky) and "applying networking skills is truly the way to an active, productive job search" (Networking for students by Priscilla March). But both still admit that it is a convenient, useful tool when you use it properly. 

Yea, that's the problem.  To what extent it could you PROPER?  Who knows? everybody is different... thinks differently.

Well, in my opinion, if you want to expand/discover your network through online professional social networking site, you would have to be a nerve unless you know somebody veryveryveryvery well.  

Ok. For example, can you add your professors of currently taking courses at LinkedIn or Ziggs? Ummm, this might be a hardcore.  The reason I found out LinkedIn was that I googled my one of my previous professors a while ago.  And I figured out that whenever I googled a name, Linkedin was one of almost top 5 results.  I joined LinkedIn made account.  But I couldn't ask them to accept my request, no I never requested it.  Although the person I wanted to add and I  knew each other and I was a good student(really? haha) it is never easy to ask. Another instance,  I interned at AU athletics last summer and I found my boss(director of marketing, promotion, and sales) at LinkedIn.  I could haven't send him a request for a long time after I knew that he had used it (to be really honest, everybody like me!! and I worked hard!!! no kidding!! I worked overtime.... without getting paid!!!).  I was a bit scared what if they think that I am using them for getting a job or something like this.  It could be a guilty conscience, but if it really happens I would destroy the good relationships.  And what if I asked them in person(not online) and they rejected it... It could hurt the relationships.

You can add your close co-workers there, but what about other people working at the same place, not from the same team but just same company or neighbor teams, can they be a network? So hard to define "network" itself.  

I am still confused and don't know how to use.  Ah, yea I am not still out there in the  competitive job market.  But still, it seems to be hard after I graduate the college.  I hope there is a specific situational tutorial in using those sites.  To be honest, the stuffs in Networking for Students aren't new.

analog and digital/virtual team and technology

There is always a dilemma between analog and digital.

(Analog meaning old-school like meeting in person,  digital meaning technology-included virtual team)

Just simply, what is better? having original copies of photos or having electronic copies of them? I experienced my hardware crush and lost all the invaluable electronic data. I couldn't do nothing, but sit there with glassy eyes.

If I possessed them with hard copies, I wouldn't happen unless I had a fire.

However, this doesn't mean that I had to have hard copies instead of digital photos. Since the more advanced digital era is an inevitable change, it would be ideal to have plan B in case of system crush.  Technology is crucial now.

Back to the virtual team, 

Both article Teamwork, super charged in Business week and working together... when apart by Lynda Gratton  talk about how to be the effective virtual team.  In some of the facts, both say that well-made technology supports the successful virtual team.  It really is hard to bring to a successful virtual team without good technology because virtual team doesn't mean anything without technology and it is not a physical meeting and interaction.  For instance, when I was in Korea(I went to Women's university), we had so many group presentation and it was so hard to set a time for meeting for every 6~7 member. So what we usually did was separating the part voluntarily, researching the given part, and uploaded to the school's club homepage or cyworld club(it is like a google group).  Or we tried to meet online MSN messenger to discuss something.  Would this work well?   Hell no!!! Every time I do my group project in this way, there were people doing in late and being confused about what it has to be.  My conclusion for this was NEVER EFFECTIVE. 

Kind of advanced version of technology is wikidot.com. I used this in the ITEC-200 the edge of information technology class last semester for the first time.  For the group project we used this under professor's help.  It worked better when we collaborate many different ideas.  However, after all, when we made a real powerpoint and prepare the rehearsal and presentation, it was better to meet in person and had a physical meeting.  Well, anyway, from my experience, I believe that technology have been advanced and there will be a better/best technology supporting virtual team eventually. But it has to lead virtual team members overcome the downsides of physical separation and interaction or it has to make people feel that they are really work together in the same place.

Still, 

As Teamwork, super charged from BusinessWeek  pointed, it seems that it is better to have a physical team for me...

Am I too conservative and not innovative? 

Internet and Anonymity

I believe that every human has an evil side in his/her mind.   And one shows that when nobody is watching him/her.  It is same on the Internet like Seth Godin said in his article.  Fraud in ebay and Vandalism is Wikipedia are the examples of that.  When you just see these kinds of activities, it seems that we have to make the Internet without anonymity in order to make it clean.  

But still, online auction is still going on between anonymous sellers and buyers like Rheingold said in Smartmobs.  And many users have trusted on line and did good job in the anonymous world.

Also,  I understand that Internet's anonymity has made web activities more active and different from reality.   I've seen many people show their different personalities in the web or their blog.  Especially, for those of people who are introverted and very shy the Internet has done a good job introducing the whole new world and attracting them to participate and show more of their reactions.  Well, this is not applied to every shy person, but it is better for them to face computer screen than to face the person.

What could be the better idea? well, with all the same information about us, it will the duplicated world of reality. But then, we are still gonna have the same problems related to anonymity.  

My opinion is that we can make higher access for something important websites. Or we can make people to use the very accurate, real information to join the community or websites. But after that, make them use anonymous name in there, so that everybody can't see who one are, but when one did a bad thing, like a cyber police can find out to accuse one.   Well, it may raise more security problems as well.  It is so complicated and it is too late to return to the back.

What do you think?

who get the best information?

I had my computer broken last winter break while I went back home.  I lost 5 years of works including powerpoint files and photos.  I was kinda obsessed with powerpoints and photos because I did a lot of works with corporations(like a project and sometimes intern) and taking pics was my big hobby.  Seriously, I yelled at my young brother(it wasn't his fault, it was because of the guy from the computer fixing office that he did the stupid things--he cleaned up the whole HDD)  and eventually cried...  I lost all the portfolios... after I entered the university.  I felt like I was nothing without that.  But I calmed down myself thinking 'it is the past, I can even be more creative without past works.'   And there wasn't the way to revive them.  I told myself 'ok, fine.  There is no way I can do now, so forget about it!' I felt better after that.

(even still I don't want to remind me of that awful event, it is ten times worse than the combination of losing all the phone number after you graduates, kicking out of the facebook account, losing de.licio.us and LinkedIn account, and losing a $10000.  

HOWEVER, all of sudden, I thought of the star, which presented the favorites (websites).  My home desktop's OS is windows, so yellow star sign means the Favorites.  I almost cried that I realized that I lost all the websites and blogs I marked.  Can you imagine that? I was so pissed that I really wanted to kill the computer fixing guy.  (He saved his life from not meeting me at home).   

Bookmarking someone's blog is the shortcut to get good information.  Too many data are out there.  It takes more time to find what you exactly want.  Although every portal sites have been tried to develop the better search engine, it is now perfect yet.  So when you find a good blogger with the same interest like you.  You are saving tons of money because time is money.  Especially the blogger did a good job, then you don't even worry about getting new info.  That blogger is going to keep you updated.  After that, when you find another one, the pleasure and results double.

Social bookmarking/social news/tagging/etc seem all about the better/best information in the data web where you can't see the end.  Exploring Internet means wasting you time.  I better find string(website) so that you can be pulled(get good info).  what would be the other purpose of the whole work of social bookmarking?   Anything better. Yea. that's it.  There is too much useless information now.  

But, bookmarking might produce useless information.  For instance, badly tagged or bookmarked pages can mislead the data search; those kind of thing could be even worse that just one datum.  It is because not every blogger is smart and careful.  Social bookmarking has let the Internet surfer get what they want.  But also, it could mislead them to the wrong place.