Blog Assignment 1

What should international students know about the Dutch people and their way of life.

The Dutch people are very open to each other. It is in our nature. We accept new people into our social groups very easily. We don’t judge people on their appearance or how they walk. We pick our friends based on common interests and how other people react to us. When Dutch people bond, they feel a lot more confident about sharing personal experiences and feelings with each other.  That’s why the Dutch people work better in groups than they do when they work alone. So if you’re very social, you are a people person and you like to study abroad, then The Netherlands is your best choice.

When it comes to studying, we don’t differ from any other country. The basic cliques will always be there. So it’s best to just be yourself and be friendly to each other. We don’t have different visions on educations and our future than Americans do. Sure, there will always be people who don’t take their work as seriously as other people, but we all share one goal: getting a diploma.

Listening Assignment B

1. What is remarkable about the comments and the bloggers of the Federal Reserve Bank?

They are anonymous. Besides that they allow anonymous bloggers.

2. The Federal Reserve Bank opened a blog to create “buzz”. What is meant by this,     in other words, what was the purpose of opening a blog?

Buzz was created to expend their internet infrastructure.

3. What was the female recruiting manager’s blog mainly about?

She blogs about her challenging life as a full time mother and a full time recruiting manager.

4. What was the purpose of her blog?

She tried to open up to their colleagues. She thought that she could manage that by sharing personal things about her life. She expected that more managers would start their own blog.

5. Which words show that the FED does exercise a form of control on the blogs?

They react to people asking questions to their blogs. ‘Why can’t Melissa work part time’ has been a controversial point.

6. By what kind of people were the very first FED blogs written?

The senior management. Staff from around the bank could comment on it anonymously.

7. Have the blogs changed the way that people who work for the FED think about           internal communications ?

There is just plain engagement between the staff members. It has changed the way of bringing information to the people.

8. What is the latest development in the company as far as media are concerned?

A monitor is placed in every elevator. This monitor displays the feed from the social media. When the staff is gone home, they are able to see from the intranet what is showed on the screen.

9. Catherine Cummings says that this medium to communicate with staff is better than an older medium. Which more old-fashioned way of communicating with staff does she mention?

Another memo on the board saying ‘Don’t forget to…’

10. What is the next big thing in social media at the FED?

Redesigning the intranets at the Chicago FED.