Can you help one person stay in Detroit?

http://www.ticketsinseconds.com

I am a young professional… Well young into my career anyway, I took the LONG road through my college career and currently I am working 2 jobs trying to find my ENTRY LEVEL position in either Public Relations for a Tech related company or Interactive/Marketing Coordinator.

There was a time in my life not so long ago, when I would have LOVED to have moved out of the D.   I am a born and bread Detroiter! I will LEAVE if the opportunity arises and I am networking IN and OUT of the state.

I have been networking a lot on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In.  I have made connections through #BlogChat which might help me if I do get a chance to demonstrate my abilities to the Red Cross in Washington, DC.

But why would anyone want to stay in MI? Why wouldn’t you want to leave?  As one of my friends stated, if I was going to make my break away it would have to be RIGHT now.  I would never make it, moving away from my Red Wings at the start of the preseason.  To most people preseason, does not matter but to me… Well I have a hockey problem.

I have started networking… I do it every week.  #tweetea has been a staple and something I plan on.  I was invited to a Menu Tasting at Olga’s Kitchen today by another group of people,  who started Eat Ups.  Which I was totally impressed with.  Everyone should eat food with Joe Foodie! He knows his stuff!

I have never been to Olga’s and it is a MI staple which has been around as long as I have been alive.  I met one of the people, who were in charge of the event, he is a coach for Team in Training which helps benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Through Twitter I made the connection during my early days of campaigning for LLS.  Small World.

The food was fantastic.  The service was great and we were treated like Rock Stars!  I would definitely go back!

Why Detroit is home.

My family is small.  I am an ONLY child, my Dad, Godmother, and aunt are here.  I would like to be closer to my cousins and hopefully the social networks will allow this to happen.

My Mom who passed away 7/3/07, grandma (06) & uncle Dennis (01)

I have rediscovered some old friendships, made new ones, and well I am not sure if I can handle moving.  I am fine with doing things on my own but moving cross country or elsewhere.  I don’t know.

http://www.palmettoscoop.com

I don’t want to be part of the brain drain.  I would feel guilty with all the relationships I have worked hard to create, build and maintain.  I am not sure if they feel the same way.  But I like this networking thing!

I have broken out of my shell and actually am organizing something which I never thought I could do.  I am planning a #journchat LIVE meeting, Aug 17 from  7:30-10  p.m.  Plus, I am writing membership profiles for PRSA Technology section. I am doing things I never thought I would have the leadership for.  In the past, I would just let things go and never contribute.  Now I am working on leadership skills.

I don’t want to leave the D.  Can you help me stay here? I do not want to be part of the brain drain.

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What will be the next wave of journalism?

From Stacy Lukas

For the past few months, I’ve been involved behind the scenes in a very exciting project that will change the face of journalism forever. It is called uwemp (a conglomeration of the words “you, we, me, empowered”), an open-source media company offering experience-based content in a new concept called “dialogue-based journalism.” Our writers provide feature and profile articles on people and organizations changing the world we live in today. All content focuses on experiences—challenges, setbacks and lessons learned—that have led to sustained success.

My friend Stacy Lukas is working with them.  Which I find ironic because I am working with another company called FWIX (feeds with in the mix) both of these organizations are trying to be the next form of journalism.

FWIX is a blog aggregation service which  grabs the most trafficked blogs relevant to the city .  FWIX created an iphone app  to tell you the hot spots in the city.  When I used this app I did not see how this was working.  The app just told the person the location of the story and failed to say where the hot spots were.

Everyone is  thinking journalism is dying.  Which is why people are blogging when they are let go from a newspaper.  Instant publishing allows them to print their own stories as they see them.   TMZ winds up breaking  the Michael Jackson story.

So what do you think is the next wave of journalism.  A blog aggregator, traditional journalism in a new form, or a group effort?  What do you think will change the communication industry forever?  Will journalists and PR people get along because of the changing landscape?

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#journchat LIVE Aug 17, 2009

#journchat LIVE
Monday, August 17, 2009
6:30 – 9:00 p.m. CST
7:30 – 10:00 p.m. EST

The mission of #journchat has always been to improve the relationships between public relations professionals, journalists and bloggers. Together we’ve created a safe environment to explore each industry and ultimately how social media is influencing all of us.

The goal of #journchat LIVE is to have simultaneous live events occurring at the same time around the United States (and elsewhere if time zones permit). We’ve spent more than seven months sharing our thoughts and opinions online. While this format may not change, it was suggested that we incorporate a face-to-face event.

@prsarahevans created this weekly chat and this is from her email to me.  I was urged to take control and be the #journchat Champion for Detroit.  So far I have emailed and through some of my connections received positive feedback on the situation and a warning.

I am new to Public Relations field but I do believe in collaborative learning and I have found my way around the digital landscape and am very active in the community.  I am active in PRSA Technology but still need to get into the game and call people to interview them.

I have never been a leader.  Normally, I would rather sit behind the sidelines and then add to the conversation.   I am conquering my fear of leading, doing something positive for Detroit, and am going to try and do it maybe with out a laptop.  Which is going to be hard because a Tweetchat screen would be great on a screen so people can see the syndication.

As I have said before this is going to be a challenge.  I haven’t worked in the industry really  long and I am trying to bring everyone together .  I have included radio as well.  I believe they are in this with us and maybe if they are on Twitter they can chime in too.  They are losing jobs at a frequency close to that of the newspapers and DJs are being replaced by voice tracks and MP3 files.  People are turning to their Ipods instead of the radio.

This should be an interesting thing if everyone shows up and is involved in the conversation.

Can you give me suggestions on how to make this a great event? What do you suggest for a first time event planner? HELP!!

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The Digital Divide and being mobile!

This has been awhile in the making and I haven’t sat down and wrote down my thoughts on the entire issue.  I am writing this because I am apart of it to a certain extent.  I do have access to the digital world but I am FAR from being mobile and I do not see me having access to anything really super mobile (i.e. a smart phone or a laptop in the near future) unless I get a full time job.

My computer I am working on is a hand me down and with some love from 2 friends.  I was finally able to resurrect this from death.  The hard drive was really about to die.  So unless I got a new one it was liable to crash.

It really hasn’t bothered me until I started going to digital conferences, having a Razr instead of the 3G network, and basically NOT being mobile.  I wrote about this briefly when I attended Start up Weekend and couldn’t really be useful because I lacked the laptop to do the work.

I have gotten by and really enjoy working in the digital space.  I grew up in a lower middle class home and even after college I wasn’t able to secure a position just yet.  With out a laptop you feel like you are out of the loop of the entire Wi-fi and everything else mobile.

The world is going mobile and I would like to go with it.  Though I know the Digital Divide isn’t really all about me not having access to mobile communication devices I believe there is a small portion of our economy which can not afford to be mobile.

I am working 2 jobs, trying to land a full time position, and trying to do the right things and NOT complain.   I know I am NOT a part of the BIG Digital Divide but I also do not have an HD television or anything really techie so I feel I may be a small portion of this population which is somewhat divided.

Does this make sense? What do you think? What are your thoughts on the Digital Divide? Was this something from the late 1990s?

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