One of the features I enjoyed about bookmarking with del.icio.us, as opposed to my computer, was that I could access my links from anywhere. Initially, I only bookmarked sites related to class. I tagged IT links, such as news stories about Microsoft Vista. Once while in the undergraduate library, when I wanted to get my blog post out of the way, I was able to access a story about Obama’s campaign announcement that I had bookmarked earlier, which was very convenient. Therefore, I posted all sites I routinely visited, whether they were related to class or not, such as “The Caucus�, a New York Times political blog, the Internet Movie Database, and Reel Classics, so that when I had spare time to complete work or enjoy myself, I could access my links anywhere.

Another feature I found interesting was being able to explore other people’s networks and discover new sites. For instance, on Amy’s network, I found a site from MSN Careers about how to find a first internship. Since I will soon begin an internship search, this tool proved very useful. The search feature was also very convenient because it returned results very specific to the search criteria, while other search engines, such as Google, often return any site that used the key search words, regardless of how relevant the site actually is to the topic in which I am interested. The search results are also even more comprehensive and informative than the ones provided by normal search engines. For these reasons, I often consult del.icio.us first when searching new topics.

When I first started tagging, I found that the lack of folders to organize my links made it very difficult to find sites I wanted to revisit. The bundling option under settings helped me group my entertainment and political stories together by putting similar tags in one category. Although this helped, the feature still had one problem. I could not include all relevant tags in a bundle because those tags were also used with stories that were irrelevant to the category. For instance, I used the tag “Iraq� to refer both to international stories regarding troops in Iraq and to political stories about Congress’ and President Bush’s positions on the war. Therefore, I could not include it under the category “politics.� However, this was a minor problem since I was able to group enough of the other tags to make finding relevant sites very easy.

Overall, I have enjoyed working with del.icio.us and look forward to using it more often in the future and discovering new features with which I am not yet familiar.

The presidential campaign, which Gita has been covering, has been heating up. Senator Obama officially entered the race in February, having an advantage in his positions on Iraq and a disadvantage in his lack of experience. But although the media coverage of him was very complementary, he needed to gain much more support before he could rival Senator Clinton for the nomination. He also needed to increase his numbers among African-Americans. Now, he leads Clinton among black voters as well as having set up an online fundraising effort in which people make small contributions to his campaign, nearly equalling her in terms of money for the campaign. It will be very interesting to see where his campaign goes throughout the next year.

The local news segment of the blog had a specific aim in creating its blog each week. That aim was to encompass all sorts of news events, which Michigan residents would find as relevant, interesting and even sometimes ammusing. By choosing a variety of stories from Michigan's current economic forcast to suspected Bigfoot sitings, hopefully this goal was fufilled. For these reasons, summarizing the developements of the local news stories as a whole would be very difficult; however, the collection of blogs could be used to illustrate the expansive and varying stories that can take place within a single state quite well.

Neha has been briefly updating the blog with important news from different countries from all around the world. BBC and New York Times have both been vital sources of information, which cover essential topics from countries like the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Iraq always seem to have the most explosive news, as it is deeply affected by American policies. Currently in Iraq, an alliance of insurgent groups linked to al-Qaeda says it carried out the deadly attack on the Iraqi parliament.In New York, the UN Security Council also condemned the bombing, describing it as a "heinous act of terrorism".

We have greatly enjoyed writing this blog throughout the semester, as it has increased our familiarity with current events and taught us skills that we can use to communicate with others about serious, work-related issues as well as lighter fare.

Gita, in relation to her blog topic Washington/Political News, found the New York Times political blog, "The Caucus" to be very informative, with entries regarding the candidates political positions, speeches, fundraising initiatives, etc... This was very helpful in finding news to write about regarding elections. For instance, she decided to write about Obama's fundraising numbers for the first quarter after viewing it on this blog.

She also found many blogs related to one of her major interests, films and television. She found TV Squad, which posts weekly reviews and news about episodes of The Office and Grey's Anatomy. She consulted this site whenever she missed an episode of her favorite shows. Equally interesting was the "Greenbriar Picture Show", a blog site about classic film. Posted on it were interesting stories about the movies. One featured Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall on location in San Francisco to make Dark Passage. A weekly feature was "Monday's Glamour Starter", about both highly regarded actresses such as Ingrid Bergman and ones less famous today, such as Veronica Lake.

Amy, in relation to her blog topic, Local News, found the website mlive.com to be extremely helpful. The website,whose slogan is "Everything Michigan," provides news stories and information on everything from the state senate to local high school sports. This site proved to be a huge help for generating ideas and stories for Amy to write about. The website Detroit News Online (www.detnews.com) was another bountyful source of interesting local news. Amy found that while checking these sites regularly for good stories, she also enjoyed reading the websites to keep her connected and up to date on the news in Michigan.

Aside from finding interesting stories on local news websites, Amy also found several of her del.icio.us tags by browsing the "popular" section of the del.icio.us website. There were numerous interesting, as well as useful, sites within the popular grouping with extensive variety. She never knew what she would find! Amy also took time to track her classmates del.icio.us accounts to see if they came up with anything particularly intriguing. In doing this, Amy found that you can learn a lot about people by scanning their bookmarks, which she found to be very interesting.

Neha found her stories on the world news by www.bbc.co.uk as well as www.nytimes.com. It was good to read about an issue from both the UK and American point of view. They give an extended coverage on the story, while trying to be as unbiased as popular. By having BBC as her homepage, she was always aware of important issues going on in the world and blogged on those she found most interesting.

Also, Neha found del.icio.us helpful in finding new and interesting sites. She enjoyed searching on the "popular" and "network" tab. She liked to search on categories she found interesting, such as movies, and found a variety of intriguing sites from critiques to movie clips. She liked finding blogs about stories that other people found interesting, as well as new updates in technology

Cuban leader Fidel Castro is "almost totally recovered" from intestinal surgery last year, his ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said.The 80-year-old Cuban president had resumed a good part of his duties, Mr Chavez told journalists in Caracas. Mr Castro has not been seen in public since July 2006, when he handed power to his brother Raul.

His continued absence from politics has fuelled speculation about the seriousness of his condition. Mr Castro's health is treated as a state secret in Cuba, but Mr Chavez has offered a number of updates on his ally in recent months. "Almost totally recovered is the very reliable information that I keep receiving," Mr Chavez told a news conference in the Venezuelan capital. ]]> http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/~glovisa/archives/2007/04/world_news_7.html http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/~glovisa/archives/2007/04/world_news_7.html BIT200W07 Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:54:00 -0500 "Stem Cell Bill Passes in the Senate, but Bush Promises a Veto"

On Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill that eases the restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The bill passed 63-34, with almost all of the Democrats and 17 of the Republicans supporting it. Many Senators, such as Orrin Hatch, expressed hope that stem cell research will lead to remedies for Parkinson's and diabetes. Polls show a substantial number of Americans support the research.

However, President Bush promises to veto the legislation, saying that it crosses a moral boundary that he feels should not be crossed. He vetoed similar legislation which passed in the Senate last year, the only time he has used his veto power while in office.

For more information, see the New York Times article.]]> http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/~glovisa/archives/2007/04/washingtonpolit_4.html http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/~glovisa/archives/2007/04/washingtonpolit_4.html BIT200W07 Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:28:16 -0500

Darfur Collides With Olympics, and China Yields

After being warned by the state to either tone-down its controversial content or face funding cuts, the Ann Arbor Film Festival said no thank you to the government and decided to decline funding from the state entirely.

The government is attempting to "discreetly" talk to the Iranians to secure the release of 15 Royal Navy personnel, Downing Street has said.

Tony Blair's spokesman said that if the talks were unsuccessful, the government may have to become "more explicit". He said they were "utterly confident" the 15 had been in Iraqi, not Iranian, waters, when they were captured.

Earlier, Mr Blair warned of a "different phase" if diplomacy failed to secure their release.His spokesman said he was referring to a "different way" of handling talks, which could involve making public reasons why the UK was certain the group was in Iraqi waters. It is understood this could include producing evidence such as boat co-ordinates and details of the searched vessel apparently still anchored in Iraqi waters.

For more information, click the link below.

AAFF chooses to go without state support.