Alex's+Special+Interest

For my special interest community practicum assignment, I decided to join discussions, blogs and chat rooms filled with individuals interested in traveling & working in different places. I’ve always been obsessed with traveling, and these sites are nice because they give you opportunities to find work in a variety of great places. I joined a site called coolworks and created a profile (Below). This is a really neat site because they have links to thousands of jobs full of adventure in great places. · I have joined the New Zealand CW style group for those interested in working in New Zealand, and the Photo Phanatics group, which I plan on entering a lot of my travel photos into · I’m not going to lie, but I think I may become obsessed with this site. I just found it a couple of hours ago and I have a feeling it might become the next facebook for me. I’m going through the interview process for a job at Mt. Mckinley Village in Alaska this summer, and I just realized that the employees have pages on this site. This is going to be awesome.

I have also joined job seekers at summerjobs.com which also offers a variety opportunities. I also joined overseasjobs.com. I’m not sure if these count because although they have members, they do not have the blogs and social networking options that coolworks has. I thought I would just join a bunch and then see which ones were the best. I also joined student traveler who’s motto is Live/Learn/Explore http://www.studenttraveler.com/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=6 Finally, I also joined the travel social network WAYN which is mostly used as a travel social network in which people can meet up with other travelers. This sight seems neat, and it seems like there are a lot of opportunities there. My favorite so far is the coolworks, which I think is amazing...but i'm sure with some more time on the other sites I'll get into those more as well. Update: These social networking sites are very cool, but they are starting to take over my life. Officially the ones I've joined and worked on are coolworks.com, WAYN, and DOPPLR. 1. Coolworks-

This site is very interesting, because it really has a lot to offer. Throughout my time on this site I have been commenting on groups, gotten a comment on one of my photoes one of my photos ->>> I put up a slide show of 120 of my travel photos on my website, but it's only had two views. Coolworks would be amazing but it seems like there's not a lot of frequent action going on. I look at the comments left for my groups like the Alaska Addicts and Photo Phonatics group, but I friend-ed about 7 people that haven't gotten back to me in a couple of weeks. It's very helpful also in the fact that since i'm working in Denali National Park this summer, there's a specific group for people working at my same resort, Mt. Mckinley. But they are not on often either. About the site in general though, there's really two parts to it. One is just http://www.coolworks.com/ who's motto is "bout you finding a seasonal job or career in some of the greatest places on Earth. Get a summer job in Yellowstone, Yosemite, or another national park. Find a summer job as a camp counselor. Ski resorts, ranches, theme parks, tour companies and more are waiting for you. Let Cool Works.com® show you the way to live out your own amazing adventure!" They have links to National Park Jobs (how I found my opportunitiy in Alaska) Conservation Corps, Resort jobs, State park, camp, ranch, jobs on water, ski jobs, guide jobs, and jobs for teens, older people, and volunteers. Basically, this site has links to a variety of interesting, amazing experiences which is why I am obsessed with it. I have spent hours glancing at the hundreds of different opportunities, which they have neatly categorized, with descriptions, and if you like a certain one you can click on a link to apply to it right from the website! For example, say you're looking for a job on Lake Tahoe. It takes you to a site that gives you info about the season they're hiring, the types of jobs (ex. food and beverage, lodging, maintenance etc., the housing, staff size, age requirement, and place its located in. It also shows you a pic of the place, Fun Facts, Sleep and Eat, Getting there and Getting Around (with links) for fun and how to apply (with links)

So as you can see, they have a lot to offer for everyone. They also have special links you can go to by selection the place first, and it shows you all the jobs for that specific place. Also whats new, help wanted jobs, and it offers a free email account. Then there is a link to mycoolworks.com, which is more of the social networking aspect of the site. Here is where i designed my own page (it gives you the opportunity to make it personalized, kind of like myspace) and able to invite people, add friends, join groups,, events, forums, photos or blogs. Currently there are 4,019 members on the site, which is why i thought it was impressive that 7 out of the 100 employees in Denali this summer are on the site. On their events, they have different chats you can join. For example, on Feb 22, 2010 from 6-7 pm you can log onto my.coolworks.com for a chat organized by the chat director (Kari Quaas) who happened to be the same person who commented on my photo. This chat is dedicated to summer job expectations. Including topics such as What you hope to get out of the smmer? and What are your biggest goals? or What are unrealistic expectations? Because I just agreed to do this Alaska job, I think I may attend this chat (9pm Easter/6 pm Pacific) time to hear some good advice on what to expect for my summer working in the Alaskan Wilderness. I continue to apply for different ones (although the application process can be long and tedious so I haven't in a while) just because of the hundreds of opportunities out there! I would definitely advocate for this site, its my favorite and I've never seen such a helpful site on obtaining a summer seasonal job which includes nature, water, resorts, ranches etc. WAYN-WAYNE is quite different from coolworks. (see below)

It too lets you decorate your page kind of like myspace. Here I was able to choose from a number of different actvities/likes to place on my profile which people may have in common things with me etc. I chose 32 activities that I enjoy encluding Holidays, Travel in general, hiking, rock-climing, trekking, Round the World Trip, Mounaineering, City Breaks, Desert Safari, Adventure, saling. These groups have a lot more members in each one than didd coolworks. For example, the Mountaineering group has 1,087 members alone! People put pictures up and blog about there experiencess here, kind of like a fan group or group on facebook. The thing about this site, which is different from coolworks is that you get a lot of creepy people on this one. I have been rated as a 'cute chicks' rating system, asked out to meet someone, and friend-ed by a bunch of people from around the world I don't know. I even got a message asking me for my email so someone could email me a picture of there kids. Very strange things on this site. Another thing it does is have its own WAYN IM which I have but haven't used. One of the cool things this site does is allow do a "Map of Trips" which I got to click a certain color for the countries I visited, one color to click for current countries (aka the US) and another for places i Plan to visit. According to this map, i've visited 8% of the world's countries. The thing that's cool about this website is that there is a lot more interaction. Signing on this morning, i had 11 notifications including friendship requests, people who have viewed my profile, ratings, 'credits' for adding a profile pic, and birthdays. For joining WAYN I got a free year long membership to WAYN dating but i'm not sure I'll join because it may get too annoying. The last site I joined is called DopplrBlog Here, this site lets me plan my trips. Such as my trip to NYC from April 7-11 and to Anchorage from May 17-September 9th. It even includes detailed maps of the flights and time it takes to get there. Also, there is a 'Social Atlas' which which helps with exchange tips on places to stay, eat, and explore in cities around the world...basically you get advice from past travelers for wherever you are going. You can even put in information to figure out your own carbon footprint! Steps for this site include 1. 1. Add your travel plans (which I have done but only my ones i know for sure on (NYC and Anchorage...will be able to know more when I have something planned) 2. Add your tips to the Social Atlas- You can click on the green “+” next to any place on Dopplr to say you’ve been there. Click a second time to say you’ve been there and especially liked it. If you want to undo all of this, just click a third time. This is how I know i've been to 8% of the world's countries. 3. Invite people and share your travels and advice- am still working on this 4. Enjoy the journey- Dopplr alerts me in on travel tips and advice on hotels, restaurants and other places of interest on the Social Atlas. So far my coolworks is still my number one, but all of these sites have so much to offer!!

I have completed the 15 hours of the time on these sites, and I must say coolworks has been my favorite the entire time. A couple of weeks ago i decided against going to Alaska for the summer in order to do an internship in Boston that could lead to a career. I was able to message with the people I had been planning on going with, and let them know. It's still fun to navigate around the site and look up new opportunites, and hear about the people in my Photophanatics group and Alaska Addicts. I frequently get emails when someone posts on my groups, or when there are online chats that are organized, which happens fairly frequently. The WAYNE site clogs my email inbox literally everyday. I'll get a message informing me i have 14 new friend requests, 28 profile views, and two 'likes' which means people claim they like my profile, kind of like facebook style. I get many messages and most of them are creepy. It's more of a dating site for internationals who want to come to the US and meet Americans. Or just leave their home country in general. Dopplr is much less hectic. I barely ever get emails from them and when I do it's usually just promotional ones about where to go and cheap flights etc. I don't often go on that site, and probably will not at all now that the 15 hours are over. I bet I will still go on the coolworks site fairly frequently because I am still very interested in how the Alaska Addicts enjoy their summer, and the numerous opportunities the site has to offer. I may have to actually close my account with WAYNE because that site is out of control. Overall, I learned a lot through my participation in these special interest sites, and its realistic relations to what we have been learning in class.