More than Illustrations

There is more than just pictures on the homepage of Sports Illustrated's website. On the site, there are numerous accessible links around the site. Some of these links connect the homepage to photos, articles, videos, sports pages, and sponsor pages.

Sports Illustrated's name is in no way a misnomer. The Sports Illustrated homepage is plastered with photos of all sorts. Many of the links on the page are paired with a relevant photo as well as a caption explaining each respective photo. Even the advertisements are coupled with photos.

Just like most news sources, SI has articles. As a source for sports news, SI's articles are generally relevant to the sports community. These articles are categorized by various sports, including NFL, college football, MLB, NBA, college basketball, golf, NHL, racing, soccer, MMA and boxing, tennis, and more. There are also featured articles under the "Top Stories" link.

Other featured articles include opinion pieces from the SI writers. These articles offer an expert viewpoint on sports events and performances. Less credible opinion pieces may be found under the "Truth & Rumors" section. This section includes articles and commentary about possible trades, recruits, and unconfirmed rumors.

Another section,"Special Features," has information and raw recruitment data, staffing issues, podcasts, and more. Pop culture mixes with sports info when you visit the "Extra Mustard" section. Finally, you can follow the site through many media including your phone, facebook and twitter, and RSS.

NHL's Winter Classic

NHL's Winter Classic (Interview) by JOEKthePANDA

Teens in the Workplace

Snow Storm Hits Northeastern PA

Plowed roads are coated with residual snow after Tuesday night's snowfall.

Super Searching and Databases

The process of accessing information on the internet is facilitated by the easy to use search engines and databases. Users operate a basic search engine by entering certain keywords and pressing the search button.  Several of these search engines have an advanced searching option; they allow the user to search web using more specific parameters. The most commonly known search engine is the famous Google Search engine. Google's Advanced Search system allows the user to enter queries and entries that may search for specific words or phrases, as well as omit unwanted content. The user may also search for material of a selected reading level and files of different types. An even more specific search filter allows the user to search for material of a specific domain or host name.

Although using an internet search engine or an advanced search can be practical to find specific information, online databases are generally more reliable sources than web searches. These databases allow users to access their collections of filed historical documents, encyclopedias, and libraries that cannot be physically accessed. In our exponentially changing technological world, easily accessed information is paramount, from a single webpage to historical documents, these archives are highly useful.

Updates on the Feed- Hot, Fresh, and New

Netscape's original RSS (RDF Site Summary) evolved over the last decade into the "Really Simple Syndication" that it is today. Back in March 1999, computer scientist Ramanathan V. Guha designed the first RSS on the My.Netscape.com portal. This RSS feed could read and write simple RDF files, facilitating updates. While this portal soon lost RSS support because of lack of use, Guha collaborated with other computer scientists from O'Reilly Media and Moreover to form the RSS-DEV Working Group. This group worked with Dave Winer to produce a new and improved RSS with backwards compatibility. Because the original RSS was designed for Netscape, neither the RSS-DEV Working Group nor Winer legally owned the name and format. The team fought for the right to the program, yet to no avail. Determined to continue their programming, the experts produced RSS 2.0, changing the name to "Really Simple Syndication." This version of RSS quickly rose in popularity, and is the core version for most RSS feeds today. Nowadays, RSS feeds are used to update oneself with new information that comes up on sites that are being followed. Users create an RSS reading page, then subscribe to multiple news sources. These sources send news to you, rather than needing you to visit the sources. Simon Zafrany, 17, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., says, "RSS feeds are a convenient way to get vital information on a mobile device... they're a perfect way to read headlines."Zafrany, an experienced RSS user, primarily used his mobile device to read RSS feeds. USA.gov says that you may use their RSS feed to, "stay on top of important government news and information."

1000 Tweets a Night for the Postless Man

Are Twitter and Facebook controlling the lives of their users? According to Facebook's website, there are currently more than 500 million active users, with about 50% of the active users signing on daily. These active users spend a combined total of over 700 billion minutes per month on the site. How do so many people manage to spend so much time on a single website? Garrett Konecke, 19, believes that "Facebook users are interested in upping their popularity to increase their statuses in the real world. Users feel like they need to be online because they don't want to be left out of the social loop. Because they see this as a productive, they do not see a problem with spending countless hours online." One controversial aspect of Facebook is the lack of default privacy settings on the site. Many users neglect to hide personal information and photos, leaving their photos open for complete strangers to view. This invasion of privacy has come to be known as "creeping." Jamie Williams, 16, offers a more seasoned Facebook user's opinion on creeping. "Users like to have constant updates, because they like to know what's going on. They don't have to actually talk to someone, or even be friends with someone, to know what's going on in their life. That's why we all creep so much." Although it may seem that some users seek multitudinous updates, there is such a thing as too many updates. The micro-blogging/social networking site, Twitter, presents this issue. Ally Yuscavage, 16, believes that "Twitter is just another reason that people are glued to technology all day long...for some reason people feel the need to tell everyone every mundane detail about their lives, when they should be out there doing something." An individual may post over a hundred "tweets" (Twitter posts)  per day without receiving a single page view. Why continue posting then? On Twitter, users may find some specific field that interests them and follow pages relating to that field so that they are constantly updated with the latest information. Those annoying "tweets" never have to be seen if one selectively chooses feeds to follow. Facebook, on the other hand, is a useful tool in communicating with peers, but occasional "creeping," whether you are the "creeper" or the one being creeped on, is inevitable.