MacyL's blog

With the informality of Instant Messages, it is easy to forgo proper grammar on the Internet; so in order to maintain professionalism, it is important to try to remember at least the most commonly used errors. Some of these are mistakes that spell check can catch. However, many of them are things that we simply have to watch for. So here are a few of the more popular mistakes. They may seem intuitive, but you would be surprised how many references agree, these are killers.

Here are the highlights that were particularly helpful to me:

Proper punctuation:

We have all heard horror stories about people falling victim to the
dangers of the internet. We get rattled and resolve to remain more anonymous, maybe start using more than one password for everything, but we ultimately go on with our regular internet behavior. While online security is a concern for everyone, we need to be especially sensitive to protecting young people as they navigate cyberspace. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 87 percent of youth, or about 21 million teens, go online.

Tomorrow morning I leave for New York. Thursday I will be attending a conference and Friday I will be traveling to Boston. I hoped to make the four hour trip from NY to Boston by train in an attempt to be a bit greener and as homage to my grandfather who sold trains for GE during his life. I visited Amtrak's webpage to purchase tickets for a morning train into Boston a week and a half ago. Short timing I realize but the decision to go was very last minute. No seats were available. The site was easy enough to use, it wasn't user error but nothing was offered.

With Social Networking Sites on the rise it is interesting to see how sites differentiate themselves. There are some great niche specific networks pertaining to: the social good, business applications, medical applications and various personal pursuits. With all these options available, I think it is important to focus and to be involved in the networks that offer what you need.

In correlation with our new pro bono project, I thought it could be good for all of us to keep current with how technology is being utilized in charitable capacities. The New York Times article Technology and Food Yield Choice at Charity covers the story of how a food pantry, in Brooklyn, is using technology to give optimal variety to their patrons.