Yoga By Podcast

Hillary's Yoga Practice: Free Online Yoga Podcast Classes

I was surprised how many yoga professionals have begun to put free classes online connecting people to their voice and their type of yoga, hoping people will tune in more often and buy more of their outside products.  What is interesting is that the online yoga crews have become so prominent that there is an Online Virtual Yoga Conference each year. 

This particular podcast blog has recently posted its 70th audio of yoga.  Hillary Rubin has connections to her Facebook profile, Twitter page, and Myspace account.  She began posting in November of 2006 and continues to post every few months including audio accounts of yoga classes.  There are a few videos and a lot of advertisements. 

While the actual podcasts are focused on content, the first few minutes talk about the program, her sponsors, and the location of their yoga class.  This is meant to connect people to the actual yoga classes taking place and it is obvious by looking at her blog that connecting people to more information about her is the prominent reason for the blog postings.  

The idea is good and the classes seems pretty relevant, but sometimes the sound seems to be uneven and pull you out of whatever yoga position you may be in.  Her voice is calm and soothing once the actual yoga starts, but during the talking at the beginning it seems rather forced and fake.  

Rubin was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1996 and found yoga a healing path that helps her live both symptom and medication free today.  She has been practicing since then and is suggested multiple times throughout the blog to be an expert in yoga.  While her validity remains unquestioned in my mind, the usefulness of her blog wavers.  The colors and organization seems random and unprofessional.  The blog (even with the many advertisements) should be setting the podcasts aside since that is what most people visit the site for; instead, they are hidden within many of the explanations Rubin gives.

I would love to subscribe to a free online yoga class, but as a podcast, it makes it hard to envision the moves which Rubin is explaining.  I think a better way of doing this would be to create a vlog and make connections through that. 

Hillary Rubin's Professional Site

Two Different Ways of Looking at the Same Picture

Many of you probably heard about the horrific incident wherein Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia Lacrosse player, was killed by her boyfriend George Huguely, UVA men's Lacrosse team.  May 3rd, 2010 Love was killed in a drunk fight with her boyfriend wherein Huguely is said to have beat her up and repeatedly bashed her head into a wall (both individuals were drunk). She was found on her bed in a pool of blood later that night. 

This tragedy was immediately covered by national news sources. 

One such news source was the Huffington Post. This post (5/4/10) was very official and referenced a number of sources including The Daily Progress, The New York Daily News, The Associated Press, and The Washington Post.  The article also includes a picture of Love and two videos, one from the chief of police in Charlottesville and another from Huguely's lawyer.  It is very official and informative and takes a very national position.

On the other hand, we find Charlottesville's very own "The Hook" (a local, once-a-week newspaper) with an article about the incident.  The Hook (5/4/10) provides an in-depth look at Love's character and standing in the school; it provides links to facebook sites morning her death and preparing for the memorial service.  Instead of quoting the police chief, the post quotes people who personally knew Love including teachers, coaches, and other students.  The article is written to be touching and personal to the town it inhabits. 

The content in the Huffington Post article is much more aloof and official than the local post, even though it makes more connections to official news sites.  There are however more personal connections being made by The Hook--including those to Facebook sites and VA sports.  The picture posted on the latter article is also much more individualized than most of the ones present in the national posts surrounding this incident. 

The one other thing which exhibits the difference in content and who the article attracts is even more obviously exposed in the titles of the pieces.

Huffington Post (National News Source): UVA Lacrosse Murder: George Huguely Shook Yeardley Love, Took Her Computer (News, Video)

The Hook (Local News Source): Diet Coke 'angel': Yeardley Love made a big impression

One is obviously more focused on the emotional response (The Hook), while the other is more focused on the delivery of information (Huffington Post)

Credibility for Cooper

Current events, although totally worthy of my time, are not always of particular interest when I go looking at blogs. Blogs, for me, are more interesting when dealing with pop culture or different trends; but I am always willing to give a new type of media a chance.

Thus, let's take a look at Anderson Cooper's blog. (If you don't know Anderson Cooper he is an American journalist, author, and television personality who is most well known as the primary anchor for the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360)

A Look At The Blog:

1. The focus is mainly on US News, however, there are other articles which look at World News (as an extension of CNN, it is important to study all kinds of news).

2. There are multiple authors working with this blog. The explanation states that Anderson Cooper, the Staff at CNN, and other contributors write for articles on the site.

3. The articles are posted continuously on the blog.

4. The blog uses different forms of media to continue knowledge through video (CNN based) and images (mostly CNN based as well).

5. CNN is a credible news source, especially with its use of many contributors and a variety of staff members willing to check stories for their reliability and accuracy. Since Anderson Cooper is such a big name, it seems evident that the posts would be credible since his reputation and the reputation of the company are on the line. Without credible information, that reputation may decrease over time for both Anderson Cooper and CNN.

Flogging Wal-mart

It's September 27th, 2006 when a folksy blog breaks into the blogosphere. A journey from Las Vegas to Georgia made by two people...

Imagine this couple.

Let's call them Jim and Laura.

Jim and Laura decided to take a trip to see some of their children (one in school in PA, another in NC).  They decided to make it a road-trip and travel via an RV.  Someone mentioned to them, while they were planning their trip and trying to figure in finances, that RVs could park for free in Wal-mart parking lots. Since Laura had become a part of "Working Families for Wal-mart", the couple decided to get permission for Laura (a freelance writer) to write a number of pieces chronicling their experiences.

"We are not bloggers, but since our lives have always been more journey than destination we are explorers at heart…. We figured we'd give it a go." (Laura's First Blog Entry)

This was the perfect opportunity for Wal-mart to get some free (and good) press. So, the sneaky Wal-mart executives decided to fund Jim and Laura's entire trip (flying them out to Las Vegas so that their trip was longer) including gas and a new mint-green RV; the company also created the blog "Wal-marting Across America" and compensated Laura for each blog entry.  

The two were already fans of the mega superstore, however, their posts are particularly one-sided and work towards knocking down the stereotype that many people had for the way Wal-mart treats their employees.  People began to question the validity of Jim and Laura since it seemed the blog did not give any negative information. Was the Wal-mart corporation behind this?

Yes. 

BusinessWeek.com exposed the ploy, which was really the fact that no one in the situation was upfront about the exchange of money and thus inherent bias in the process.  The stunt was especially bad for Wal-mart's Public Relations firm Edelman, since it violated ethical guidelines it helped to write for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. Prior to this blog, Edelman had the reputation of leading PR firm for social media; if it was not for their immediate response to the situation, the case may have been more widely recognized and destroyed both companies.

"The tale of how they started the blog reveals how hungry Wal-Mart is to find people who have anything positive to say about the company.” [BusinessWeek 10/8/06]

The identities of Jim and Laura eventually surfaced and the blog was taken down. Wal-mart Watch, a group critical of the Arkansas store, disclosed much of the information in October of 2006.  Since then many critics of Wal-mart as well as other bloggers use this case in discussions of Web 2.0 ethics.

Fan Sites.

Most of us have at least ventured onto some of these relating to our favorite piece of media; there are many others who play a much larger role in fan culture: commenting, blogging, and even meeting in person at conventions surrounding the program. The most recent fan site that I have been involved in is that of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, located at doctorhorrible.net.

These sites are often set up in a blog format with a message board and RSS, covering a range of topics.  

These types of websites offer an interactive location for fans to communicate with other fans, discussing different aspects of the program through the message board (discussion forum) or in reply to blog postings. This is also a good place for fans to share new content relating to the program or characters—this could be an article, a video, or just an image. This cooperation brings people, who have never met, together to celebrate a common interest.

Many of the websites offer ways for fans to participate in the creation, often of discussion threads surrounding a topic of interest. Doctorhorrible.net also uses the contact tab in particular to allow fans to collaborate and make adjustments or suggestions for the site (Whedonesque.com, another fan blog allows posts from many individuals collaborating on information).  

The last term Niall Cook references in his text is that of connection. Most of these sites (I would say virtually all of them at this point) reference a facebook, twitter, or other social media account with which people can find another outlet for information and connection (often found through tags). These articles are combined with discussion forums and question sessions which produce a sort of “mashup” culture in fan sites. Their many different functions make room for the Web 2.0 user to find an outlet for their particular level of fandom.

Whedonesque.com

Dr. Horrible Facebook

Dr. Horrible Twitter

A few other common fan sites:

Buffy the Vampire Fandom

Lost Fandom

Star Trek Fandom

Star Wars Fandom