Archive for the ‘Communication’ Category

Facebook Users to Design a Beer?

Published by James Fishman on January 26th, 2012

 

It seems that if you want to design a beer these days, all you need is a Facebook account. Well, not quite, but that’s the first step.  US Beer brand Samuel Adams joined forces with social-media mogul Guy Kawasaki to set up the competition that is asking FB beer lovers to design a beer by February 5, 2012.  Using the FB app Crowd Craft Project, anyone who loves beer has to put in their two cents worth on the new brew.  They will vote on: body, clarity, color, hops (bitterness), malt, and yeast.

Next, brewers from Samuel Adams will take the favorites from each category and implement them in their new recipe for the ale that will be brewed during February. Then, that beer will be debuted at Guy Kawasaki’s Girl + Guy party in Austin the following month.  It will thereafter be available in various bars around Austin as well as the Samuel Adams Boston Brewery and Adams himself will let people know when the beer will be on the markets, through Facebook.

So it’s all about fun and it’s definitely a great marketing ploy on the part ofAdams and Kawasaki.  Good team work guys!

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Posted in Communication
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Tweet, Twitter, Treatment?

Published by James Fishman on July 12th, 2011

Is Twitter more than just another annoying way to irritate people on your profile?  Or can it actually be achieving something productive and useful?  Apparently, according to American researchers, the latter.  In a recent Daily Mail article it was reported that Tweets are now being used to “monitor what illnesses people are suffering from, which medicines they are taking and whether they are treating themselves correctly – or at all.”

Mark Dredze and Michael Paul, computers scientists from John Hopkins University, set about analyzing Tweets.  They looked at a staggering 1.5m of them that were posted between May 2009 and October 2010 on health subjects.  According to Dredze, the main aim of the project was to illicit whether or not these posts could be a helpful public health information source.  They found that they were.  “In some cases,” reported Dredze, “we probably learned some things that even the tweeters’ doctors were not aware of, like which over-the-counter medicines the posters were using to treat their symptoms at home.”

The researchers developed a system that categorized the health-related tweets into subjects such as flu, insomnia, cancer, allergies, etc.  Dredze believes theirs was the first Tweet study to “look at as many health issues as we did.”

The results of Dredze and Paul’s findings will be put together for the International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence).

 

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Posted in Communication
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Talking: It’s Good for You

Published by James Fishman on June 26th, 2011

There is new proof that talking really can heal. According to new research carried out by a team working under Dr. Caroline Watkins, patients who suffered a traumatic event and then went on to be the recipients of “motivational interviews,” had more than double the chance of “being alive a year on compared with those who didn’t.” Researchers at the University of Central Lancashire also discovered that these same patients were “less likely to suffer depression.”

Talk It Out

So what are motivational interviews exactly? Individuals that have to change their behavior following a health problem engage in these, which are basically “talk-based therapies.” Depression often follows a stroke because patients basically have to re-learn to live in a different way, rendering huge amounts of adjustment for them. As well, the earlier this is caught, the better for the patient. According to Watkins, “early intervention helped people set realistic expectations for recovery, avoid some of the misery associated with life after stroke, and may even help them live longer.”

The Study

Over 400 patients (just over 50 percent being men) participated in the study. Most were around 70 years old. The study found that 48 percent of the patients who had engaged in the early, talk-based therapy, a year after their strokes, were reported to have had “normal moods,” as opposed to the 37.7 percent who didn’t have the therapy. In addition, the death rate was nearly double of those who hadn’t had the therapy (6.5 percent to 12.8 percent).

Therapy in this study began a month after the patient had suffered a stroke. According to Dr. Watkins, this, in and of itself, was quite revolutionary since “prior studies targeting depressed stroke patients have had limited success, but the depression may have already interfered with rehabilitation and recovery.” Patients were encouraged to work out their own solutions to any anticipated problems within recovery. The study omitted patients with “severe communication problems.” Watkins and her researchers believe however, that “it’s imperative that further research is supported to ensure effective methods of implementation are developed.” This data just isn’t adequate to be conclusive.

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Posted in Communication, Featured, Health
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“Two” Cute for Words

Published by James Fishman on April 3rd, 2011

This really has got to be too cute for words. Which is why it is only the video that can express it properly. If you have been a twin, raised twins or just been interested in their development then you will simply this video that recently went viral. Enjoy!

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Posted in Communication, Lifestyle
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MyWebSearch – 364,000 Results on Google and Counting

Published by James Fishman on November 16th, 2010

MyWebSearch – A New Approach to Family Searching on the Web

Those of us born before the Web Generation recall the not-so-distant past when terms like “searching,” “surfing,”  “net,” and “web” had radically different connotations than they do today. Now, your son can discuss “MyWebSearch” without ever embarking on a journey, and your daughter’s game on the “net” is not being played with a basketball.

The average teenager will look askance when we remind them (yet again!) of the time when we used a quarter (or even a dime) to make a phone call on the street, when we looked up business contact information in the yellow pages, and the library was a place to take out books, not to use the computer.

These same teenagers may view using the internet as a way to exercise their own independence. “But it’s my computer and MyWebSearch,” your frustrated adolescent may respond, when you, as the parent, attempt to intervene in their online expression.

But rather than a forum for conflict, the computer can become a venue to foster communication and cooperation between parents and children.  Here at MyWebSearch PKOT we will discuss ways and means to use the internet as “family time” to enhance the relationships between parents and children and among siblings. Family time online will take on a whole new meaning as we explore the internet together.

Source

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Posted in Communication, Science and Tech
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Making Time for Loved Ones

Published by Tiffany Brand on August 26th, 2010

Often, when we first begin a new schedule, it can be very difficult to fit everything in.  This is often a real challenge for students, who have moved away from home for the first time and are having to manage everything on their own.  What happens is that they have a hard time getting their priorities right.  It’s not that they are doing this intentionally; it’s more a case of not knowing how to juggle everything. But, this need not necessarily be a problem.  Students would be well advised to write down a list of priorities and then work out how to stick to it.  It is all too easy to forget about loved ones, especially when they are all too often far way geographically.  But these days, with cheap phone plans, IM and even Skype, staying in touch has never been easier.  Remember the days when it would take up to a week for a letter to travel overseas; now you can access those important to you with the mere click of a button.  So make sure you have your Skype or other piece of technology set up ahead of time and that way you will find it easy and fun to stay in touch.

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Posted in Communication, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Science and Tech
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