Paragon Media One Blog

A Very Paragon Morning

nicole — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:23:21 +0000

Of course, all good days start off with a good cup of coffee. So naturally, this morning before work I head to Starbucks. One of my favorite quotes, which can found on a decorative paper towel roll (an excellent source of information) reads, “With Coffee, Anything is Possible!” I am a firm believer. Hand me a double-tall-iced-skinny-vanilla latte, and motivated I am and productive I will be. We are on the top floor of our building, and I’m a bit clumsy to say the least, but I make it up all of the stairs without tripping and spilling, and for that I am thankful. I say my hellos to everyone, and today, Lou is extremely excited about some great ideas he has for a project we’re working on. So excited, that I wonder to myself if I should really be giving him his coffee! I do anyway, mainly because he drinks a half-caf so I think we’ll all be safe. Feeling a little like a coffee-carrying intern, I deliver the remainder of the coffees, and I sit down at my desk. Now, time to sip my latte while simultaneously reading and replying to e-mails. Today is Friday. If you work in an office, you can always tell the difference between a Friday and any other day… because the overall morale of the office is much higher than that of another day. Everyone’s mentally planning their weekends, working harder, and looking out their windows like sad puppy dogs waiting to be free. Fridays are great brainstorming days. Want to test the theory? Have a meeting on a Monday morning, and compare the thoughts to those of a Friday meeting. So, we have our Friday meeting, and we all buzz back to our own little bee-hives to get to work. What does this mean for me? Well, I’m the writer, so today, I write this blog. When I’m done, I’ll work on writing some copy for clients and for our in-house projects. My job is quite fun, I must be honest. For instance, take a look at what words can do. I write the general ideas, but then, by adding adjectives and spicing up the wording, I can make you want to read the ideas. Watch.

The girl walks down the road.

I bet all of you are having different pictures in your mind. What does this girl look like? What kind of road is she walking down? Where is she going? Now, read what I’d change this to.

I look out my window this morning, and see a blonde-haired girl. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, she walks down the busy street, bustling with people. She is heading to work, coffee in hand, trying not to spill on her light-colored suit.

That’s why I’m a writer. Writing is more than just sitting behind a desk, researching and typing. Writing is painting a picture, a vivid one, for the reader. Take this blog for instance. I could have said, this morning we drank coffee, and had a meeting. I checked my e-mails. And that would have been it. Pretty boring morning. Instead, you know what type of coffee I had, the general mood of the day, and the great meeting I attended. That’s just a small peek into a writer’s perspective. What else will you learn in the next blog?

The Behind the Scenes Campaign

nicole — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:56:53 +0000

So, because we want you to get to know us, I decided to start a “behind the scenes” campaign. What does this mean for you? This means that you get to find out what we do, and you’ll find out through the eyes of the employee – me! I’ll go through a day in the life of a writer, let you know about the drive to work, where you can go after making a stop at Paragon Media One. You’ll hear exclusive updates, news, funny stories, and get to know who we are not just as a company, but as people, working together as a team. So stay tuned, and hop on board! You’re about to embark on a journey through my eyes!

Nicole

Searching for Top Searches

nicole — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:01:03 +0000

Are you bored? You’ve come to the right place. I was too, for a little while. One of the first things we do when we’re in front of a computer and bored (well, at least I know I do) is start surfing! We might look up that random question we had in our minds two days ago, but forgot to look it up. We might check the stats on our favorite team, or see what’s going on with the latest celebrity gossip. I decided to go a different route this time. I wanted to see what other people are doing when they’re bored. Because let’s face it, if you have something to do, you’re probably not aimlessly surfing the web. So I decided to look up, well, what other people are looking up. Here are the top ten searches on Google for today. If you want to learn more, search! I hope you’re nice and bored J

New York Red Bulls
Bristol Palin
Bastille Day 2010
Is Lindsay Lohan Dead?
July 14^th
Kristi Lynn Gibson
The Hills Finale
Molly Norris
Elyse Taylor
Javier Bardem

Erie County Police Virtual Historical Museum

nicole — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:42:40 +0000

Working in our community here in Erie PA is something we enjoy doing the most. It’s fulfilling to be able to see the impact we make locally for all different types of companies. Recently though, we provided something with a little bit of history behind it. Paragon Media One combined efforts with the District Attorney’s office to create a virtual historical museum honoring past and present law enforcement. This unique design allows the viewing of different photos and videos in a twisting and turning carousel, depicting men and women who have dedicated their lives to the protection of Erie County. Paragon Media One was honored to have the opportunity to work on this project. Anyone in Erie is welcome to honor their ancestors who were involved in law enforcement. This can be done simply by e-mailing the photo with a description and date, if possible, to Chief County Detective Larry Dombrowski at ldombrowski@eriecountygov.org. As always, Paragon Media One can provide your company with any solutions you need for your website. Check out our solutions page.

Check it out now! - Erie County virtual historical police museum.

A Digital Battle of Convenience

nicole — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:41:59 +0000

The recent invention of the camera phone might have started out as something that may have seemed like a useless invention. However, now, it seems that the camera phone is turning the digital camera to be an obsolete piece of equipment. It seems as though the cameras in cell phones are now getting higher and higher resolutions. Camera phones now have five megapixels (HTC Hero, Motorola Droid, Nokia N97, Nokia X6, Motorola VE66) and the HTC incredible has broken the eight megapixel barrier! While I can certainly understand the point of view that says the camera phone will replace the digital camera, however we will still always need real digital cameras for print photography and for any type of professional photography for that matter. The convienience is nice with a camera phone. Send pics to your friends, send them online, even mess around with the effects, and all that is well and good. Believe me, I love a good camera phone as much as the next lady. All I’m saying is no matter how many megapixels a camera phone has, it could never replace a Canon EOS Rebel T2i… an eighteen megapixel camera. Get where I’m coming from?

The Violence in Video Games Debate

nicole — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:22:10 +0000

A recent review of the 70 top-selling video games shows that 88% of the games contained some kind of violence. In 41% of the games, violence was necessary for the player to achieve their goals. 43% of violent scenes in games involve humor directed toward the violence, and 75% of violent scenes on television show no immediate punishment or remorse by the criminal after being caught in the act of violence.

While researching the subject of video games creating violent children, those were the ones I found most interesting. I’m just the average person, not a gamer. The last time I played a video game, Mario was hitching a ride on to Yoshi’s back, and the most violent act they committed was jumping on top of an enemy to “kill” it. So, while I am no video game connoisseur, the subject still interests me.

During my research, word “desensitization” continuously popped into my mind. The word means the elimination of a natural or acquired reactivity or sensitivity to an external stimulus. Let me explain why this word was coming to my mind. I’m going to use the example of a child, let’s say nine, maybe ten years old. He’s playing a game, the latest and greatest video game with the graphics that are so “realistic”. (And for the record, yes, I’ve researched the games themselves, and I don’t think they could get much more realistic unless they’ve used real actors and sets.) The game calls for shooting at people, realistic characters, not made up fairytale creatures, but people like you and me. Sometimes, you can even purchase a pretty realistic looking gun to plug into the console. Let’s say that little boy comes across a gun in his near future… he doesn’t know any better, so what’s his first instinct? To point, and shoot. Sure, these circumstances are extrenuating, however, it does happen, and kids may be old enough to play these video games, but may not be old enough to fully understand that what they’re seeing isn’t the real world. To put it into perspective a little better, and to elaborate on my desensitization theory, I’d say that a child witnessing an act of violence may not feel so emotionally sorry for the victim had he been an avid video game player. A person who does not come in contact with blood, shooting, and violence often will be a person who will see such things and feel sorry for the person being attacked. A child who does not play video games will sympathize with the prey, while a child who plays the video games will sympathize with the predator.

All in all, while I’m aware that these games are only able to be purchased by certain age groups, they’re created for adults, and blah blah blah, the fact of the matter is that children still get their hands on these games. The video game most certainly isn’t always the deciding factor of a child’s violence, but I definitely think it plays a role in it, and a big role at that.

Is Data Mining Intrusive or Helpful? You decide.

nicole — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:34:08 +0000

You’re at the store, shopping for something to wear for your night out. You’re buying a CD to listen to on your way to work. You’re going to do some yard work, and you need to buy some mulch and top soil. Regardless of what you’re buying, you must go to the check out, and pay the clerk or sales associate. As they’re giving you your total, a clothing store might ask you for your e-mail address and phone number, with area code. The e-mail address is for special offers, but what is the phone number for? At the grocery store, or at Wal-Mart, you might be asked for your zip code. It seems simple enough, just a simple question, and we answer. The stores asking for your zip code, or phone number with area code, are using that information for something called data mining. Data mining is the process of extracting patterns from date. As more data are gathered, the better the company can figure out what it’s consumers are buying. How this works is by asking for your area code or zip code, they will know where people are buying certain things. The easiest example I can give to you is this: people from the zip code of someone up north may still be buying coats in April, yet people down south are getting ready for summer with flip flops and shorts. Data mining can help companies to do better by knowing what their consumers are purchasing and where. However, data mining isn’t always used for marketing, and that’s where the line gets a little fuzzy. The government is starting to use data mining for national security and law enforcement purposes. As a matter of fact, the Total Information Awareness Program, specifically, has raised privacy concerns. The Total Information Awareness Program would be achieved by developing an enormous computer database. This database would essentially store all of the personal information of every single United States citizen, including credit card records, phone records, medical records, social network analysis, personal emails, and anything else that they think they should be able to see. The scariest part of all of this is that they wouldn’t even need a search warrant. What they would do with this information is analyze it, piece by piece, to ensure that there is no suspicious activity performed by any individual, in hopes to lower crime rates. The program has already been established, and is sounding like a good idea for those worried about terrorism. I, for one, think it’s a great idea for marketing, but as for taking all of our personal information, not so much a good idea. What do you think?

Should Companies Market to Children?

nicole — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:34:02 +0000

As an employee for a company who’s very involved in marketing, and a mother, I came across a lot of forums complaining about how kids are being marketed to for certain sugary cereals, expensive toys, and elaborate games. At first, I too thought, wow, who would even be marketing to kids? They don’t even understand. After thinking about it for a second, I nearly slapped myself in the forehead because I’d completely forgotten about commercials (my daughter is still too young to be asking me for the toys on TV). I quickly thought, well, from the marketing perspective, yes, that’s a great idea! Of course, I completely disagree with making smoking look cool (which I think hated this at one point, and is why they are no longer allowed to advertise smoking on TV), and I also disagree with advertising unhealthy cereal to kids, especially with the obesity rate so high. However, what’s wrong with marketing to children if the product being promoted is completely harmless? Everyone who markets a product or service has to find a certain demographic to market to. It wouldn’t make sense to advertise a bubble blower or an activity table to a 40 year old CEO. Some argue that advertising is more or less instilling materialistic values into children at an early age. While I can definitely understand that opinion, it prompts me to ask, isn’t that what children have parents for? I think that as parents, we have a duty to teach our children not to be materialistic. There’s nothing wrong with a child asking for a toy on television. However, the parent can either run out to the store and purchase the toy, or the parent can tell their child they must work for it through good behavior and chores. So, on the subject of marketing to children, and the question of whether or not it’s ethical, I say, take a look at the ethics of the entire situation and all of its tangents. Where do you stand?

Does Google Need to Zoom Out?

nicole — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:32:46 +0000

Google Mapping. It’s all the rage right now, being used for finding a certain location via an actual picture of the location. I can understand why it was invented. To help make directions easier, so I would hope. However, you can see where it may be a problem in regard to privacy. I’ve been shown various places, and even used the google map to see a house I was traveling to in another state last February, just to get an idea of where I was going. Yes, it proved helpful, but was it really necessary that I see the house before I arrive? No, it wasn’t. That was the last time I’d used google maps. Until today, that is. I started doing research on the general public being worried about the privacy of their lives, and it’s a unanimous concern. One woman zoomed into her house, and could see her cat sitting in her window. That’s a little extreme, don’t you think? I decided to look up the house I’d lived in previously, with my parents, a few years ago. I figured they wouldn’t take an individual picture of the townhouse in which I live, since it’s in a complex. What I found was this. The garage door open, and I was able to even zoom in to see what was inside. I could see the cars in the garage, and in the driveway. This is quite alarming. I could see the door that was inside the garage, showing anyone on the internet how to get into the house. Just being able to see the types of cars a person drives makes me a little uneasy when I think about the creeps that could find that information, and stalk you. What do you think? My advice to you is this: look up your own house, the house where your parents live, the house where your siblings, or children live. That’s the only way you’ll fully understand how I felt when I saw my parent’s home. Of course, looking at someone else’s home is always going to be a little fun, see where they live, be a little nosy, but until you actually look at your own place, you won’t understand how truly invasive this type of technology is. What do you think? I know I’m going to draw my shades a little tighter.

Computer Addictions?

nicole — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:45:31 +0000

It may be hard to believe that there was enough information to be researched on the following topic. Computer addictions. It’s happening fast, and has become one of the newest addictions that is actually starting to be researched by psychologists. What sparked my interest in this subject was a Dr. Phil episode in all honesty. The spot was on computer addictions, and it was absolutely insane to me, and I didn’t take it seriously until I continued to watch and saw the stories of these patients’ lives. There was a woman who was addicted to Farmville. She planned her entire life around the harvesting of her crops. It seems funny, yes, and I’ll admit I laughed at her expense, but the woman had children. The kids would need the computer for school, and she’d have a fit because they were cutting into her Farmville time. She’d forget to cook dinner, bathe her children, clean her house, and make a scene about taking them to school or a friend’s house. Instead of grocery shopping, she’d order in, and if her kids needed the computer, she’d unplug the Internet for a bit to pretend it was down so they couldn’t use it. Had I given only the symptoms and behaviors, and not the addiction, you might think it were a drug problem. The compulsive checking of e-mails, or obsessive video game play or constant instant messaging is referred to as CMC, or Computer Mediated Communication. IAD refers to Internet Addiction Disorder. Although the American Psychiatric Association does not currently consider computer addiction as a valid diagnosis for any medication, there are many practices that offer counseling and cognitive therapy for a patient who is addicted to computers and the Internet. Remember, it’s safe to use computers daily, we all do, but when a person begins to neglect daily activities, their hygiene, or their lifestyles revolve around the Internet, that’s when you may want to step in and help.