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In October of this year, Paul Russo, Ph.D., SPS’s Director of Online Programs and an instructor in the Sociology program, led a team of current CUNY students and graduates to develop a free student-to-student text book exchange as part of the ApplicationsforGood codathon sponsored by the Motorola Mobility Foundation, Center for Social Innovation, Blue Ridge Foundation, and New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.
While textbooks represent 17% of tuition costs in various majors, the team believes that there are simple ways in which technology can make books more affordable. Their application—much like other online communities such as Match.com or Craigslist—combines the broad reach of the Internet with the benefits of local face-to-face interactions. Focusing on urban areas such as New York City offers the project access to a critical mass of potential users, which is necessary to make participation valuable to all textbook swappers.
The team is committed to making the bookswap student owned and student operated, following the OpenSource model, to ensure future use will have only student friendly policies. Their model is also distinct from other services such as Amazon.com because the primary mode of exchange is student-to-student swapping or monitored low cost reselling, to prevent high markups or shipping costs. The group says that over time, they are interested in adding more functionality to the site such as links to affordable housing, health services, and various types of student discounts.
The judges awarded the project the Most Promising Prize, which included a cash award and an invitation to a December 12th luncheon with angel investors. The group currently has a working prototype, and as the next version of the platform comes online, Russo hopes there will be interesting research opportunities for students to study the system as part of a capstone project or in his own course titled “The Digital Revolution and Information Society” (SOC 419). To learn more about their plans for the textbook exchange, see ApplicationsforGood.org. You can also contact Paul at paul.russo@mail.cuny.edu or 646.344.7247.
SPS is participating in a CUNY pilot program this fall of the Beta version of In Your Class, a unique social networking service developed by CUNY students for CUNY students. The pilot launch date is today, September 20th, 2012.
In Your Class connects students with their classmates, professors, and other students with similar interests who identify themselves by groups. Among the features that may interest you are the ability to see who is in your class, collaborate with your classmates online, ask questions of a participating faculty member, create and participate in groups sharing your interests, store files and share them with friends, and view (and post on) an online campus bulletin board that can list everything from textbooks for sale to campus events.
We hope that In Your Class will help expand the community you develop at SPS, allowing you to make connections not just within your classes but beyond them. I encourage you to explore the features of In Your Class by logging in at www.cuny.edu/inyourclass. You will find the students and instructor for each class you are enrolled in already uploaded; you and they need only to activate your participation to start connecting and interacting with them in this new online space.
I hope you enjoy the features of this new service, and I wish you all the best for the fall semester.
George Otte
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, SPS
With the start of the Fall 2012 semester this week, those of us who took the summer off are quickly reminded of the juggling we will need to do in order to maintain our family responsibilities and jobs. Schedules need to be re-arranged, social outings declined or cancelled, and sometimes we have to ask others for help. I’ve already had to ask my brother to spend time with Athena, my daughter’s Chihuahua, because we are both keeping long days with work and school, and in my case, training for the marathon too.
Asking for help has become a new talent of mine. It is how I have been able to raise over $2,500 for the American Cancer Society and how reaching the goal of $3,500 is attainable. Since the CUNY School of Professional Studies has an opportunity to fundraise for Komen’s Race for the Cure, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my fundraising secrets that have made “asking for help” a lot easier than it sounds.
Social media has been my number one source for donations. Using Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Google+, LinkedIn and blogging, I make the opportunity available to many potential donors. I engage my audience of friends, family and colleagues by making meaningful posts about my progress, set-backs, victories and challenges. I invite others to comment, share, and get involved. I offer opportunities to support me with either financial support, moral support—or both.
One of the most engaging tools I’ve used is MapMyRun. While running, it tracks me and my friends can watch me live on the app. (Feel free to add me if you use MapMyRun, user name: xahndra.) One of the coolest features with MapMyRun is that when my run is complete, it posts a map and a custom message with my mapped run. I set the program so that it will automatically post to Facebook and Twitter after my run with a link to my fundraising page. My online community sees that I am doing the work and that their funds mean something to me. (It also socially holds me responsible to stick with my program and training days… Win Win!)
I try to think of gimmicks and mini-goals. For example, the hashtag on Twitter, #FF stands for FollowFriday. Many Twitter users actually search for that hashtag to see what fun people to follow on Fridays. Also, people pay attention to the #FF in their Twitter feed. So, I made #FF stand for something else. FUNDRAISING FRIDAY!
Fundraising Friday works best when you have some sort of mini-goal associated with it. For example, a few Frundraising Friday’s ago, I was very close to the 50% mark. I needed just a hundred dollars or so. By the time #FF Fundraising Friday was almost over, I needed just $19.25 to hit 50%. I sent out a tweet and status update requesting that amount and instead I received two more $25 donations pushing me well over 50% of my goal. It’s fun because now some of my teammates are using #FF Fundraising Friday and having success as well. Try using #FF this Friday as a member of the CUNY SPS team for Komen’s Race for the Cure. Let me know if it worked for you too!
In all my tweets and updates through social media, I try to engage others. If I can get a well known handle to retweet me or donate their status update for me, it’s a good day for my awareness. I always tag organizations on Facebook and Twitter. I’ve actually been retweeted by authors, sporting good stores, and the American Cancer Society. When this happens, it’s a great day for my awareness campaign! I’ve even asked for a status updates and tweet donations from my friends and followers. It’s really helped me reach the friends of my friends. In the last 3 months, I’ve actually doubled my number of Twitter followers. This will really help me for the next time around.
Outside of social media, I write bi-monthly email updates to all my contributors, family, friends and colleagues. This keeps them engaged and aware of the huge impact they’ve made in my life and reminds them of the good cause they have contributed to. I write updates to the blog on my fundraising page regularly, reporting my progress and milestones. I’ve held two happy hour fundraisers with friends and colleagues and I plan on doing a bake sale in the office. There really are so many little things that a #CharityRunner could do to raise big money without costing too much time.
So, here’s my personal challenge to the CUNY SPS community. As a team, let’s try to raise some serious cash for the Susan G. Komen #RaceForTheCure! So far we have 17 team members. If each of us raised $100, we would be making a huge impact with $1,700 raised as a team. That’s almost half of what I am raising on my own for the American Cancer Society. Can we do it? I think we can! To join our team and efforts, please visit http://bit.ly/CUNYSPS.
Alexandra Hertel is an Ohioan living in Brooklyn, New York. She attends CUNY’s School of Professional Studies and works full-time in the events industry.
The wonderful world of Twitter is to thank for my latest blog post! A little over three weeks ago now, I was going through my normal morning routine by surfing through my three favorite websites (the NY Times Homepage, Gmail and Twitter) when I came across the actor Ed Burns’ latest post about a winner for a song for his new movie “Newlyweds.” That is where I quickly clicked on @mrpatmccormack and found the man who won the contest; which then lead me to his website and contacting him personally. At first I had to congratulate him on his winning and of course than thank him for us little people who try very hard to follow our dreams. He entered a contest and won a once in a lifetime dream! After a few emails back and fourth I asked him if he’d let me interview him for the CUNY blog and he said yes!
I asked Patrick to tell us a little bit about himself before we started the questions …. I’m a singer, songwriter and film composer originally from New England. Last spring, I recorded and independently released my debut EP, “Fresh Paint.” I pride myself as a self-sufficient recording artist, performing guitar, drums, piano, vocals and all other instrumentation. I’ve spent the past 3 years living in Chicago, playing in my band, T & The Wonder, while writing and recording my original songs. In addition to singing and songwriting, I spend equal time composing and producing instrumental music for independent films.
· If you had to describe your music in three or four words, what would you call it?
Sentimental | Folk | Pop
· What made you first realize you wanted to pursue a career in music?
Growing up in the 1990′s was a very inspiring time for popular music. When I heard stuff like Beck, Beastie Boys, or Cake all over the radio, it just seemed so relatable. Even if it got me nowhere, making music is such a versatile form of expression. I felt like such an underachiever by NOT having a band, even when I was 10. As far as actually pursuing music, I saved up for a four track cassette recorder. The first batch of simple folk songs I made on cassette really kickstarted my obsession with layering instruments and vocals. That’s also when I realized you can make a record completely by yourself. With enough practice, and commitment, I learned bass, guitar and drums; the brick foundation of every rock song.
· I saw through Ed Burn’s personal Twitter Account that you’ve recently entered a contest sponsored by him through Twitter; can you tell us about that experience? How has it changed your career?
It was a huge surprise to me. My friend Giancarlo even had to talk me into entering the contest. Burns chose “Ovenbird” from my “Fresh Paint” EP. This could not have been any easy choice for him, I think there were about 100 song submissions from some very serious musicians. Luckily, they had a pair of tickets to the premiere for me, so I flew into New York about 36 hours after finding out I had won. Very surreal. The film was amazing, so just being attached to it was such a thrill. Edward Burns was extremely encouraging when we spoke in person. Getting complimented by such a legendary filmmaker,I couldn’t even mentally process it. A large part of my career focus is composing music for film. Right now I’m scoring a few short films and other instrumental projects. Getting the credit of an Edward Burns film is a huge boost for my future in cinematic music.
· What are your up-to-date performance plans? New Releases? Tours? News?
Sometime in the next week I will be releasing the “Mile Away” single, along with some other material. This is a prelude to a new album, which has no official release date yet. I’m at my home studio just about every day, working out the details of my new songs. Should be around mid summer, so look for that. Currently, the “Fresh Paint” EP is ‘name your price’ on bandcamp.com, in other words, FREE. I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in independent music to download and listen. Each track is original, and every instrument was performed by me, including all vocals. I’m very proud of this EP and I can’t wait to share my next one.
I’d like to personally thank Patrick for lending me his time to answer these questions for his blog post! If you’d like to find out more about his work, check out his website or follow him on Twitter @mrpatmccormack
Louise Marie Russo is currently an undergrad at The School of Professional Studies majoring in Communication and Culture. She enjoys traveling, cooking, baking, photography as well as volunteering. Her goal one day is to work with a non-profit organization advocating for the homeless population of New York City and one day publishing a book of photography.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, crowdsourcing is a marketing concept that sees establishments reach out to their audience to perform tasks normally reserved for staff and employees. Despite what it may sound like, this isn’t a mark of laziness, but rather an ingenious way to engage a community and get everyone involved in a creative process.
With the rise of social networking, crowdsourcing has become easier and more prevalent than ever. And we here at SPS, are excited to announce our first ever crowdsourcing campaign. We are opening up the design of the School of Professional Studies’ first ever mascot to all students and alumni. And we can’t wait to see what creative ideas you all come up with.
To participate in the first round of this campaign, you can visit the mascot page and send an email to submissions@sps.cuny.edu. The deadline for submissions is April 15th. After that, we will be continuing to croudsource the mascot by opening voting to the SPS community at large.
We look forward to the results of this particular campaign, as well as further croudsourcing endeavors.
Shawn Abraham is SPS’ Virtual Campus Manager, which means he gets to have a lot of fun building an online community for the school. He also has a lot of fun reading books about zombies. These two things rarely intersect.
When you want information on something, it’s likely that one of the first ways you go about seeking it out is through a quick Google search. It’s fast, it’s easy, and it’s comprehensive. But have you ever googled yourself? Because if you’re not, and consequently you’re not doing whatever you can to manage those search results, you’re putting yourself at a severe disadvantage.
Taking control of your search results is a key part of managing your personal brand online. It allows you to control (to a certain extent) what people see when they search for you. This is something that can be very important if you’re looking for a new job. And even if you’re happy with your current employment situation, it’s never a bad idea to try and manage what people see when your name comes up.
The first time I googled myself, I found out I was on the FBI’s most wanted list, that I thought my University was doing a great job of bring events to campus thanks to a quote in the student news paper, and that I was a hip hop artist. Only one of those actually pertained to me (my ranking FBI most wanted list, naturally), so I went to work figuring out how to make the search results actually reflect me and my online presence. It’s not an overnight process, and you’re competing with a lot of other people with the same name, but it’s an important process nonetheless.
Now there’s my website, my social networking profiles, a blog I wrote when I was living in China, and then, below all of that, some results for other Shawn Abrahams. I did my best to make sure that my content was the first thing you’d see when you search my name, and people seeking information about me can see the information that I want them to see right at the top.
Naturally, the more common name you have, the more difficult it is to guarantee that you show up on top. Here are three quick tips to keep in mind if you want to take control of your digital destiny.
1. In case you haven’t heard it from me enough, social networking is kind of a big deal. Google and other major search engines have a tendency of floating Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles to the top. So make sure you register a vanity address for your account wherever possible.
2. If you haven’t done it yet, if someone ELSE hasn’t done it yet, register http://www.yourname.com. Even if you don’t know what to do with it, you’ll find a use for it eventually.
3. Time to start that blog about cross stitching vintage 80′s pop art that you’ve always been talking about. Blogs are a great way to up your relevance in searches. Your name comes up a lot, and it helps define you as an expert in something. This can be a key component of your personal brand, especially if that brand is 80′s Pop Art Cross Stitching Expert.
The idea of developing your brand online will be central to this column moving forward. Now that the semester is in full swing, we’ll be going bi-weekly, but the next installment will pay closer attention to the idea and importance of starting your own blog.
Shawn Abraham is SPS’ Virtual Campus Manager, which means he gets to have a lot of fun building an online community for the school. He also has a lot of fun reading books about zombies. These two things rarely intersect.
We’ve all felt it at one point or another. We’re scrolling through our Facebook news feed, wondering why we’re not doing something else a bit more productive, but unable to look away. And then it sets in. How many posts about sheep and virtual farming do I need to let run past my eyes before I need to throw up my arms and close the browser. Or better yet, step away from the computer.
Social Networking is undeniably a valuable communication and networking tool, but sometimes Facebook makes it hard to see how. The trick answer is that Facebook is far from the be all and end all of Social Networking, and if that’s where your experience begins and ends, you may be missing out on some extremely valuable tools for professional outreach and development.
Exhibit A: LinkedIn. Billed as the “professional” social network, this site has established itself as a true networking powerhouse. The crudest way to describe it is imagining it as your online resume. Your profile should mimic a lot of what your “analog” resume looks like. But as with most web based platforms, it offers many more robust features. From publicly posted recommendations from colleagues, supervisors, and clients, to status updates that allow you to discuss projects you’re working on and articles you find professionally stimulating.
LinkedIn provides many other robust tools for managing your professional network. They have dynamic group pages where you can connect with others in similar fields, people with common interests or hobbies, or classmates and fellow alumni. (You’d better believe we have an SPS Group waiting for you!) LinkedIn has proven itself as the ideal way to stay in touch with old colleagues, and find potential new leads as you move along in your professional development.
But don’t just listen to me. This pitch video hits on many of the key features of LinkedIn and why it is a truly indispensable tool for all professionals.
That doesn’t mean LinkedIn is the end all for all your professional networking. Just because Facebook is dominated by Farmville and other games doesn’t mean it isn’t a remarkably useful tool. Just because Twitter uses a bunch of strange words doesn’t mean it can’t help to solidify your personal brand and get you a job. We will touch on all of this and more as the column progresses.
But as we move forward, I urge all of you to explore LinkedIn, set up a profile, and join the SPS Group. I am happy to work with all of you on this, and if anyone has questions, please post them in the comments. Chances are you’re not alone in wondering about all the oddities that go hand in hand with joining a new social network. As students in a school of PROFESSIONAL studies, you are at a severe disadvantage these days if you don’t take advantage of all the tools available to you. And LinkedIn is a very powerful tool.
Shawn Abraham is SPS’ Virtual Campus Manager, which means he gets to have a lot of fun building an online community for the school. He also has a lot of fun reading books about zombies. These two things rarely intersect.
