question about polling

Hey does anyone know if you can add a poll to each of your post? I really wanted to have a poll for each of my books for my other blog.

Today's class was really cool just to see how far everyone has come with their projects. I've been messing around here and there looking at all the gadgets that blogger has to offer. I've been messing with the header and such. 

i'm not just a blogging nerd, i'm a cool blogging nerd!

That's right! My blog is officially cool. It's got the videos and the pics. (notice I used "pics" because I'm cool and down with this internet lingo!) It's a small step, I know, but it's so much prettier and cooler because of it!

listible

My delicious account has been coming in handy lately. I have found a lot of sites from other people's list about blogs and how to make them cool. Tonight when I got off work, I logged in and was browsing through the list. I came across www.listible.com. It's a website full of list such as what you need for your wedding, how to cure certain things, and a list of the best facebook applications! (That one was a favorite.)

my blogging style

Today I added a few more blogs to my site. It's coming along. I found it interesting today how many people are writing out their blogs before they post them. It makes sense but I always post them and later come back to edit. For some reason seeing them posted and up makes me go back and reread them again. I'm horrible at editing my writing because I know what I mean to say. The only way I am able to edit is to write it out and come back two days later. (Usually this doesn't happen because I always seem to wait to the last minute with everything.)

the end of the night

So after countless hours of research and posting of many blogs, I convinced myself that it is time to go to bed and stop working on my blog for the night. One would think that after those hours I would be tired of working on the project, but oddly enough, I'm not. Writing about the things that opened my eyes to different aspects of life, came very easily. It was even enjoyable. Writing about my favorite novels that I read years ago, reminded why I loved them so much. Although I'm not even close to being finished, I am satisfied by what I got accomplished. 

My new rep

I reread Tim O'Reilly's article and found myself intrigued by Web 1.0. I kind of felt bad that I missed out on that era. (Or I just wasn't aware it was taking place.) Maybe I did. If it wasn't for this class, I would never have been aware that I was using Web 2.0.

One thing I appreciate the most about this class is that I honestly feel smarter because of it, at least when I am talking to my friends. I have never been very good with computers. But now that I am able to throw out phrases like "web 2.0" or discuss the role of a wiki, I have given off the impression to my friends that the computer and I are bff. I have been going along with this new label; however, I have been avoiding their request to take a look at the problems they have been having with their computers. I don't want to ruin my new rep or anything :)

my blog process

I spent most of this week posting books on the list. Right now I'm just giving a simple summary of the book along with a picture of its cover. I feel like just putting the picture of the book's cover makes my blog more visiually appealing. I still have quite a few more blogs to post. I've sent out emails to a couple of my friends, asking them to go post their comments on the blog. Once I have a few more post up, I plan on listing the web address on my facebook and maybe even creating an "event" under my facebook account asking people to comment.

a new blog with a new burst of energy

So, I'm really enjoying working on my new blog. I'm interested in the material and I am even more excited to start getting other people's responses. I just checked my email and I had over 10 responses from friends that I wrote to about the blog. Knowing other people are interested in the topic makes the blog ten times more exciting for me. Right now I'm trying to blog about as many books as I can on the list. I have been adding images of the book covers to some of the blogs. (For some reason the image loader would not work today.) Once I have at least 20 blogs in, I am going to go back and add more things to the blog itself.

Getting friends involved

Yesterday I sent out an email to many of my friends informing them of my new blog. I sent them of the list of books that some of my other friends I have made up and asked for their opinions about the books and if they had suggestions for other books. I gave them the blog website and told them to visit it at the end of the week when more blogs about the books were up to make comments.

My new blog!! :)

I can't explain to you how excited I am about my new blog. I feel like I have been refilled with a new burst of energy. I wish I would have started with something like this from the beginning. It is always helpful to do a project on something you are interested. As a bookworm, this new blog project seems to be a perfect match. I'm not too worried about making up for lost time. The rest of my classes don't have anything else do for quite sometime, so their shouldn't be much to get in my way of working on my blog. Plus, working on my blog project will not be on the bottom of my to-do-list anymore. I also decided to switch over to a blog b/c I feel like I can experiment with more visuals. Don't get me wrong. I still love my wikis. But as a wiki creator, let's face it, I'm not that swell. I plan on still working on it though; if at least for the mere experience.

My writing methods

I was thinking about our class from a week or two ago, when we stopped what we were doing every few minutes to pause. I took some class my freshmen year about different ways to study. One of the methods the instructor told us to do was stand up and stretch every 20 minutes. I thought the idea was crazy, but I had paid a lot of money to take the class and figured I might as well try it. Honestly, this method is very helpful when I have to study for a long period of time. After taking a few minutes to stand up and stretch, I get this sudden burst of energy. When I sit back down, I am able to look back and see what I have accomplished which also fuels the new energy in me. I do have to say that taking breaks while I am writing is a little harder. I am the type of person that has to be in the mood to write. And when I am in the mood to write, you better watch out. I can bust out dozens of pages in a snap. When I am in the zone, I am not stopping. I have tried to stop and stretch like I do when I am reading or studying, but the break interrupts my flow. Maybe I am doing something wrong. Or maybe I just have it in my head that I will loose my creativity if I take a break.

still in search

Today I feel like a loser b/c I spent the whole class period trying to find websites that would give me advice on how to make my wiki look cool. Not too much luck.... I did find some of my websites that I had saved on del.icio.us helpful. (Who would have known those would have come in handy?!) Although I have some pictures and videos, I still feel like my wiki is missing something.... Wikipedia did have a large selection of things that one could do with a wiki. Of course I came across the page when class is almost over so I'm going to have to save my exploration for this weekend.

Wiki Wiki

This is why the word wiki has a bad rep!!!!

just info

Today I went on a hunt for more information. I also took time today to look up articles on how to make your wiki more appealing. My design of my wiki is still pretty blah. (Actually there really is no decision at all yet.) I've tried to stay focused on getting as many different sources as possible about Greenpeace so it's not just the basics about them. I want a variety of both good and bad things. Thursday I plan to work more on the design.

a new name for the wiki

For one of my other classes, I had to meet with a group to discuss our group project. (I'm not a group project fan by any means.) We have to do a presentation and again I suggested a wiki. Maybe it's just the work wiki that scares people. Instead, my group decided to do a poster... Really? A poster? So instead of creating a fab and quick resource/presentation through a wiki we are going to do it on cardboard paper...
I was discussing the situation with my mom and she even said that a wiki sounds like it would be harder to do. Poor wikis. Such a weird name gives them a bad rep.

steroids for rhetorics

After re-reading the articles on Silva Rhetoricae, I noticed how helpful blogging is for rhetoric compositions. By using more visual tools, one is able to help bring their point across. Not only by the colors and the format of the blog, but the pictures and videos also help a great deal too. A wiki is also beneficial because it helps with organization. For example, when I first began my essay on Greenpeace, I had a very difficult time trying to get my point across. With so much information, it was hard to organize. The wiki made me stop and list my information under the different categories that I felt were needed. I enjoy the convenience of being able to go back and adding information. The information now flows together a lot smoother because with just one click, the visitor is able to change to a new topic on a new page. Wikis and blogs are the steroids of rhetoric compositions!

Whiteboard Friday - Wiki-Wiki-Wiki WHACK!

Interesting....

Wikis in Plain English

trying to remember where i came from....

Today I went in and added more information to my wiki. My biggest problem is that I will mess around with the wiki for awhile, just to see all the different things it has to offer, and then I forget how I got to the space that I am at. For example, I already forgot how to go back and add a source. During my search though I found out cool things you could do with your sidebar. I told myself I would go back and look for it after I found out how to add my sources but when it came time to go back, I had forgotten how I got there! I started looking for more pictures to make my wiki more appealing but first I have to enter all the information in which has been taking me awhile!

Using what I know with my wiki

After re-reading "Blogging and New Literacies" I have started to reevaluate my wiki. After looking over it today, it is not very appealing. After all of our studying about blogs for the last 10 weeks or so, I still forgot that web 2.0 is not just about words but also about format and design. This project is going to be a lot harder than I had thought. How am I going to grab the interest of individuals who may not know or care about Greenpeace? I have pictures and videos, which are always a plus. Tomorrow I am going to work on the color and size of the font.
I have also noticed with the wiki that I am more cautious, or at least more aware, of my grammar. Although I perform well at editing other people's papers, it is very hard for me to edit my own. I know what I mean inside my head, so when I reread a paper, I seem to skip right through my errors. Because the wiki is open to the public, I find myself going back over my writing even days after I entered my information. Unlike a paper, it is not just a teacher or a few of my peers reading my work, but possibly the entire world. (Okay, that sounds a little extreme, but it is open to all.)

Using the tools we have

I was re-reading some of the blog articles and realized that one of the reasons blogging has began to catch my interest is because one is able to add their own style. I felt that in high school, student's writing was grounded by so many rules. Don't use fragments! Stay away from passive sentences! Always use the five paragraph format! With blogs, those rules are for the most part thrown out the window. By not having to worry so much about breaking the "commandments of writing" one is able to express themselves more freely. This is when great writing starts to appear. I use to hate the five paragraph format in high school. I am glad that I was taught it, but I resented being held down by it. I often think about how I would teach a middle school English class. They have to be taught the writing rules but how far would I enforce them? Or how would I go about enforcing it? As discussed in one of our classes, I would definitely require the kids to journal at least 15 minutes everyday but on the computer. I honestly feel that writing on paper holds back one's thought process. (Unless you are a horribly slow typer.) If we have the tools, why not use them?

convergence of technology

I was reading the article about media and technology convergence and although I agree with the author that convergence of different technoliges are making a fast progress, I disaggree that convergence itself is that hard; at least as far as finding out what to converge. THat has more to do with marketing and finding out what the consumers want. For example, the cell phone companies always amaze me by their convergence of so many application of the available phones. The author discusses how he was laughed at when he went to purchas a cell phone that was able to just make calls. Ironically, I hardly use my cell phone to make actual phone calls. However, the device itself is my life. It is my alarm in the morning, my entertainment with its games during certain classes, my communication metod at class and work through text messaging... Honestly the only person I actually "call" anymore is my mother and that's because she doesn't know how to use text messaging.

Beginning my wiki

It's official. I'm in love with wikis. I don't think I am going to be able to write another hand-written resource paper again knowing that using a wiki as a project/paper can be so much easier. In one click I was able to copy and paste my sources.
My biggest problem with research papers is trying to stay on track. I always seem to jump from one subject to the other. With the wiki it keeps me organized and all together! Who would have known that I can be an organized person!
Today I worked on the welcoming page. I'm doing a wiki about greenpeace. This was an issue I was assigned in my political science capstone. Since I already have all the information, I figure I might as well use the wiki to help me organize the information and help me to write my hand-written report that I will have to turn in for my political science class. I was also able to add video and pictures! What kind of paper can do that?!

Reasons for my resources

In "Worship at the Altar" one of the author's main points is that we use each other as sources because one person cannot store all information. Instead each of us knows a little something and then we are required to interact with one another to put it together. One problem I have with this is that it requires on to have to trust that the information from an individual is correct. Actually, trust plays a huge role with Web 2.0 in general. It goes back to our discussion on the reliability of sources such as Wikipedia. It sounds strange but I am more likely to look up information on Wikipedia then ask my neighbor, even if I know that he/she knows the information. I feel that there are two reasons for this. One, like I stated before, I question the accuracy  of my neighbor even though I realize that he/she maybe a part of my primary source, Wikipedia. Number two: It requires me to swallow my pride and admit that I do not understand something. Or I do not want my peers thinking that I'm uneducated about a certain topic. However, because of interactive classes, it does become easier to use my peers as resources once I form a bond and trust with them. 

Ross The Intern Mathews TALKY BLOG: the very 1st one.

This is the guy from Jay Leno!

"Computer Geek!"

  I have mentioned in previous blogs how I wanted to start a wiki for my final project for my Political Science Capstone. I am in a group with five other people and our time restraints make it very difficult to get together to discuss our project. Our teacher allowed us ten minutes today to meet and discuss with him our progress and to agree on a time when we could all meet again. When we tried to bring up what time would work for all of us, I mentioned making a wiki. Not only did I receive stares but I was actually laughed at! Responses like "What's a wiki?" "Do you mean like a blog?" were thrown upon me. When I told them about this class and how helpful a wiki is for projects such as this one, the only response I got was a few snickers! I reassured them that I wasn't some "computer geek or anything" which just led to more chuckles. Although I was slightly embarrassed at first, I realized after that I had no reason to be. I was the same way when I heard that this class was on blogging. I began to think about were this stereotype of having blogs and using web 2.0 made one a "computer geek" and how I became a "computer geek" now myself.  I am still determined to convince them to do the wiki because I really think that it will make the project a lot easier. But I'm first going to have to show them how cool they actually are in the process. Who knows! Maybe I can turn everyone into the "computer geek" that I've become!

Wikibooks

So in my search to find a wiki that I enjoyed I came across one called Wikibooks at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page. For all you book lovers out there or those of you who love to learn this is definitely the site for you. It is a free library full of information that anyone can edit. It has different subjects that one could easily use for homework or research questions. the site began back in 2003 and is run mainly by volunteers. There are over 28,000 pages to its users. It is very user friendly and even has a guidebook on how to use and edit wikibooks. The difference between Wikibooks and Wikipedia is that Wikibooks is made up of actual textbooks, which unlike encyclopedias they instruct and teach the reader. Like a regular textbook they seperate the textbook pages into gloassries and prefaces just a normal textbook. They have a variety of different subjects and even have cookbooks and a Wikijunior for younger kids. 

The downfall of this site is that it does not use links a lot. The creators wanted the site to be like your normal textbook and believed that links in the middle of the sentences was too distracting. I personally like the links in the sentences better so that if I do not understand the word or concept mentioned, I can just click on it and find the answer. Overall though it's a great site and amazing for those of us who are too lazy to walk to the library. :)

Youtube and Wikipedia: Liberal Bias

politics and web 2.0 mixed together

Trailer 1 from

a trailer of a movie for a wiki nerd like me

Democracy equals popularity

One of the reasons I love wikis so much is because I'm a strong believer that two heads are better than one. As much as I love the world of wikis through, it frightens me how someone can go in and just change something someone else has written. For my final project, one of my ideas was to have blog where someone could submit their writing pieces and other could critique them. But I enjoy wikis a lot more (for some reason they just seem cooler...) The problem with the wiki though is that I don't like the idea of someone else being able to change what someone wrote. I know that's why many teachers tell student to stay away from sites wlike wikipedia when they do research. I personally trust wikipedia more than I do other websites. So how democratic do I have to be when it comes to my site? Could it be more like MediaWiki wehere administrators have special serves.

Further on in the chapter of "infortopia" it discusses how Wikipedia has become more popular than the New York Times. I do not feel like this is a fair statement. As much as I love Wikipedia, it breaks my heart when I heart about the decline in  traditional publishing. Maybe it's the conservative in me who hates change but I feel like Wikipedia and the New York Times is hard to compare as far as both research sources and popularity go. As a research tool, I would argue that Wikipedia is better because of the speed of the search method. But if one is looking for an intellectual opinion over a certain topic, the New York Times is a better tool. If the number of visitors to each site calculates the amount of popularity, then Wikipedia would be the winner. Looks like the New York Times needs to become a little more democratic if they want to win this popularity contest. 

the wiki nerd in me

I've had a slight obsession with wikipedia since I first discovered it a few years back when I was studying for a test I definitely was not prepared for. I had the notes from the class and I read the book but I just was not understanding the concepts. I got onto the Internet and began searching for some terms. I opened up wikipedia and it was love at first site. All I had to do was keep typing in words I was not familiar with and up popped my answers to links to any other word or concept I did not understand. I'm a complete nerd in the sense that I love to learn, so you can understand why wikipedia makes my heart skip a beat. Almost everyday I log in just to read some of the articles on wikipedia. If I have a day off (which is almost never) instead of completing my projects on the to-do list of things I have not completed in months, I instead head to the wikipedia site and just begin exploring.

After the presentation on Thursday, I think I have pretty much decided I'm going to do my political science capstone project wiki style. It's comical because I've been dreading to do this project since I was informed about it at the beginning of the semester. I love to write, but the organization required for research projects is just not my forte. Now that I have my wiki as my tool, I'm actually pretty excited to get started on the assignment. 

blogging vs. posting

I loved the article by Richardson about blogging vs. posting because I feel that is where I am right now. When I look over my older posts, you can tell which ones I have actually put some deep thought into and which ones I put up because it was time to post. But is that necessarily bad?

I mean, no it's not as good as blogging but one is always going to have those days that, let's be honest, you just don't want to think anymore. I've always been told in any writing class where I've had to keep a journal that when one's brain get like that to keep on writing. Anything! One teacher even told me to just keep writing, "I don't know what to write" just so the blood in my brain would start pumping. I feel like it's a slow process and hard to do when one hasn't written a lot in awhile. Kind of like dieting. One is not able to run four miles when they ahven't been to the gym in years.

I'm also like Richardson in the sense that I read to write. Looking back on stories and essays that I have written from previous years, I can tell what I was reading at that time because I always try to mimic different styles. (Or at least test them out.) And of course for ideas. When I was taking three sociology class one semester, it seemed like the topic for all of my papers (like the ones in my other classes) I would base it around the study of gender and race. I guess you are what you read.

my winners

I went to Technorati and reviewed their top 100 blogs. (I also did some Internet exploring and found some others that sparked my interest.) Here are the one winners with small explanations of why. Many have to do with my own interest but even more had to do with the organization of the blog and the visual aspects. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

This blog satisfied the political junkie in me. The big pictures and organized appealed to me visually. There was not a lot of advertisements, which I believe distracts from the rest of the blog and man times causes to much confusion. They place their main stories along the page but also broke the news up in different categories both at the top and bottom. It respects your normal newspaper but one in which the reader can also state his/her own opinion.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

I enjoyed this blog because it certainly was able to tickle my funny bone. The downfall was that I felt that the advertising got in the way. Although most of the advertisements are set to the side, for someone reason a lot of advertising turns me off. Also the colors could be brighter. A delightful blog like this one with such a comical concept such be presented in a brighter color instead of brown and yellow. A little to retro for me...

www.tmz.com

This blog represents the celebrity gossip queen in me. I admit I'm a sucker for any interesting or new news on celebrities. Like http://icanhascheezburger.com, this blog also has their advertisements on the side but the difference is that it is separated off by a line. That small line really makes a difference in the organization. The black and red of visual appealing and it has videos!!! Like your typical lazy American,   watching a video instead of having to read is always a plus. (Very sad, I know.)

http://www.bookslut.com

I love this sight and the articles on books they have to offer. They also have a really cute header also! It's easy to follow the links to figure out how I post my own comments. Granted I'm a little slow when it comes to technology, but I feel that it is important for blogs to be clear for even those who, like me, aren't as familiar with the blogging world.

http://www.themovieblog.com

This blog lacks a bit of color but it has enough movie clips to makeup for it. Most of the time, I enjoy many bright colors but this blog's color scheme of just red, black and white works. It brings more focus to the videos and the reviews. The structure of this is very organized. They have their advertisements to the side separating it with a vertical line. (I swear that simple line dividing the advertisement from the rest of the blog does wonders!)

http://beatle.wordpress.com/

This blog is a favorite of mine because I am completely obsessed with the Beatles. But the organization of the blog is great too. There is not a lot of advertisements; it's easy to read and there's great pictures that go along with the discussion. Every Beatle fanatic's dream!

So those are my winners. The one thing they all have in common is bright colors and organization. 

blog importance and what they have brought us

The beginning of Boxer's article made me realize how blogs are kicking some publishing companies butt. Now that I'm on my "blogging kick" I have turned to more blogging sites for information rather than my traditional newspaper or books. Not only for information but also for opinion about movies, politics, television, etc. Why rely on one source from the newspaper of a magazine when I get get hundreds from opening just one blog. I'm even going to blogging sites after my favorite shows (like Lost) to see what everyone else thinks is going to happen next. Forget waiting for People Magazine or Entertainment Weekly to come out; I have the voice of the people at my fingertips. Also, unlike books, magazines and newspapers, blogs offer links to hundreds of other sites with even more information on different subjects.

Boxer's articles continues on to discuss the language of the blogs. Not being a loyal blogger myself (until this class) I still was affected by the blog lingo. I found myself using abrivs(a.k.a. abbreviations a lot because of the lingo of my peers. OMG (oh my gosh!); bff (best friends forever); bf (boyfriend); idk (I don't know); ttyl( talk to you later); obvi (obvious). Yes, I am one of "those" that gave into the blog lingo craze. (It drives my mother crazy.) Is it any wonder that our youth's vocabulary has gone downhill? 

Review on Small Pieces

I admit that I was not really looking forward to learning about Web 2.0. Yes, it is an interesting concept but I was not quite sure it was worth the time. I believe I blew it off  because it is a concept that is completely knew to me, and although I love to learn, I hate to feel stupid, and when you are learning something for the first time, you are going to feel stupid first. But this book truly helped. It actually made sense. The analogies that were used had me saying every fifteen minutes, "I get it!"

He discusses four main points: space, time, self, and knowledge.

"Space: The geography of the Web is as ephemeral as human interest." The space of the web seems to be infinite. Just look at eBay and its endless about of pages filled with information regarding thousands of products.

"Time: Real-world time is a series of ticks to which schedules are tied." They way Weibnerger describes it, time spent on the Internet is not measured in units of moments but our interest in what we are working on. For example, he gives the example of shopping on eBay. While he was shopping, his son came home, so he stopped what he was doing on the Web to spend time with his son. Later that night he was able to get right back on the leave off where he started.

"Self: Unlike real-world selves, these selves are intermittent and most important, they are written." Weinberger discussed what has come to be known as "Internet Intoxication." He gave the example of Michael Campbell who in 1999 used AOL to talk to Erin Walton, a student from Columbine High School. During their chats he warned her not to go to school the next day because he didn't want "her blood on my hands." Campbell was arrested and was taken to court. Campbell tried claiming that he was just trying to take a new role and be like his favorite actor, John Malkovich.

Although Campbell is a unique and extreme situation, Internet users do use the Internet to try on new identities. Especially when we are chatting with other people online; we are able to sometimes speak our minds more freely.

Knowldge: The Web is full of knowledge! Weinberger discusses how much he learned about quilting from just browsing the quilts he was looking to buy on eBay.

The main concept of the book is that the Web isn't put together in one smooth line. It's made up of "small nuggets" that are loosely connected to other "small nuggets."

"... The Web gets its value not from the smoothness of its overall operation but from its abundance of small nuggests that point to more small nuggets."

Most importantly the Web does not just connect the different pages but it also connects us as humans. We are able to communicate and connect with other people half way around the world in seconds.

It discusses how the Web breaks traditional publishing by being more open. In the past, publication was about control. No one could add. No one could contribute. Because of this openness, the Web has been able to grow into the phenomenon that it is today. 

Facebook Song

social networks.... why have i ignored you?

Today's class really made me start contemplating on the power of social networking. I've noticed that as the weeks have gone by, the class has become more comfortable with one another have therefore began to use each other as social networks. Anne's activity today made me realize that I'm not taking full advantage of my social networks within the classroom. There have been many times when I have looked at fellow classmates' blogs and saw something cool that they did to their page, like put up a picture of something. I'll think to myself, "That's really cool. I wish I knew how to do that." But instead of using my social networks to my advantage, I go on about my day letting the opportunity pass me b. Although putting up a picture or two on my blog really isn't that big of deal, it's the fact that I'm not using the tools of these social networks. 

the "never-too-much" guy

One quote in Shaviro's article is when he states on page 12 "... information remains a scarce resources because even too much is never enough." I think this quote sums up why it is important to read up on networking. There is so much information on the Internet, without the proper tools and guides one can easily get lost.

I also feel that this quote could probably sum up Shaviro's personality in a nut shell. Shaviro seems like he would be the type of dude that would have the mentality that "there is never such a thing as too much." He's probably that guy walking around with so much cologne on that you gag when he walks by. Or the guy that gives way too much information on his awkward sexual encounters from the weekend before. Yes, Shaviro is definitely your typical "you-can-never-have-enough" guy. 

my likes and dislikes

I have to admit that I did not enjoy reading Shaviro's book "Connected." Perhaps it's because I was finishing the last couple chapters in Weinberger's "Small Pieces Loosely Joined," which is an easy read. So switching over to Shaviro was a struggle. After discussing Shaviro's book in class though, I understand what he was going for. I applaud his creativity in trying to make his book resemble that of Web 2.o. but as a reader it was kind of frustrating.

Also, I have to admit to my new love for Google Reader. I cannot believe I have been using the Internet for all these years and have never known about so many of these different sites and tools! I am sadly a very disorganized person (even though I try real hard not to be) so using tools like Google Reader of Del.icio.us to help keep my sites organized truly makes my heart smile. Although Google Reader may not be as visually appealing as the actual blog sites, they sure beat having to jump from blog to blog to read everyone's entries. 

bookmarking benefits

Continuing on with my previous blog on boomarking, I realized that what makes bookmarking so great is the social environment. Honestly, the reason I enjoy it so much is because I get to see what other sites people have found. Before I would use my bookmarking tool on my computer for important sites. That's why I was hesitant to set up a del.icio.us. account. But after class on Thursday, I found myself spending an hour just glancing through other peoples websites that they had bookmarked. One can tell a lot about a person by the websites they bookmark. For example, mine are mainly newspaper websites or sites regarding politics. Although, I do have facebook and both my student and hotmail sites bookmarked which demonstrates I also am a social person.

I even suggest to one of my groups in another class that we use this to help with the process of our group project. Because of del.icio.us, we can share different sites that we found for our final project. This way we can make sure that everyone is doing his/her own part and so that we all stay on the same page. 

Old vs. New technology

The piece we read from McLuhan's "The Medium is the massage" really made me start to ponder the power of words. In the second paragraph he discusses the process of a small child learning how to read. It makes one really think about how the process of the alphabet and the connection of words came about. We don't even think twice about it now a days. 

He also goes on to discuss how the invention of the printing press created a process of detachment while electric technology created involvement. With a book, one goes and reads it by his or herself. With electric technology, like blogging, it connects individuals together. I never had thought about these two inventions in this way. Maybe I was just impacted too heavily by my dad telling me that new technology has created people to become more distant because they communicate through email rather than face to face. Although my dad has somewhat of a point, McLuhan is also right in stating that electric technology has also brought people together

Social Bookmarking in Plain English

wow.... bookmarking has a purpose!

I am not a very organized person. And as skeptical as I was about bookmarking, it really is pretty neat! I'm finally getting why so many people are using bookmarks!

presentation and bookmarking

I thought Juanita had an amazing presentation. Using candy with a crowd will always grab everyone's attention. Most importantly, she not only made it fun, she also made us think. She showed us with the presentation of the Mike's Ikes in the jar how information given to us plays a deciding factor on our own thoughts. After she told us that the shape of the jar would have an effect on how many pieces of candy were in the jar, many people changed their answers. I also thought it was interesting in her other demonstration with the candy kisses in the bags. We all relied on the answer of the person before us to make a decision.

I also received a great amount of knowledge on bookmarking from the article, "Social Bookmarking, Folksonomies, and Web 2.0 Tools." Since I have a Mac computer, I have a bookmarking option under my toolbar. Most of my websites under bookmarks are websites to newspapers or to my email and facebook accounts. But I have never used tags with them. It does make me wonder if these tools are just making us lazier. Are we so lazy that we can't type in an address into the tooolbar? I know that the purpose of bookmarking is so that we do not have to search all over the web to find a certain site but I think that bookmarking does reflect how lazy society has become and how we expect everything we do to go qucikly. 

101 East (Blogging)

needing to step up my blog game

I find it funny how that now that I am a senior, many of my classes are requiring the students to use the class blog or to create their own accounts. I was telling my friends about this class and my others that require me to blog. I find the whole thing unusual but my friends seemed really use to the concept. I was also really surprised about how many of them actual blog. I had no idea! Most of them have private accounts that they use to vent. This encouraged me to begin exploring other blogs and to take a closer look at the blogs we looked at in class. It's amazing how much color, font, pictures, and other visual capabilities play such an important role in web 2.0. It's the number one way to catch the audience's attention and keep it. I'm not sure why but anytime something has pictures it always has my attention. (Maybe it's the inner child in me.) One of the reasons I liked some of the blogs we visited in class was because they displayed these ideas. I was very fond of designspongeoline.com's background. The soft colors were pleasing to the eye and it had that homemade type to it. It looks like I'm just going to have to step up my game and join in on this blog craze. 

The rhetorical writer in me

In the reading "The Forest of Rhetoric", I enjoyed the analogy of the forest. That's what many concepts of writing, especially rhetoric writing, remind me of. It all seems so vast and unending. But breaking it down into its different categories (or its different "trees" makes it less intimidating and easier to figure out.

I also think that the writer brought up a great point in discussing the importance of kairos, audience, and decorum. I personally lack in the kaiors department. Knowing the proper time to speak is not a gift I have. I thought the writer's example of Hitler, demonstrated the importance of all three idea, especially kairos.

I also realized after the reading that I use pathos for most of my rhetorical writing. Maybe it's because I'm a passionate person (or maybe it's just the female in me) But I use pathos a lot more than ethos. 

Very Tasteful - Wiki Man

Maybe I should have this song as my new ring tone! I bet the peeps in my cap stone would love that!

the benefits of sharing data

The more I learn about web 2.0 the more it amazes me that not many scientist take advantage of it. I do not completely understand why they don't take advantage of all the information from one another and of open scientific data sets. I understand that there are competitive reasons why the scientists prefer not to discuss their data but if it will benefit humankind, I do not understand why they would not do so. I also feel that by sharing this information through web 2.0, it would bring more awareness to the scientific projects that taking place. In the long run, the growing awareness could bring more donations to the scientist and their projects. If they could look away from the competitive race and just look at the big pictures of what all of the data, knowledge, and awareness could do for our society. With technology like RSS, we are able to get notices of updates on any new data. 

the more the merrier

I believe the most attractive concept of web 2.0 is that it is set up so that the consumer holds the power. For example, in one of the articles the writer compares Barnesandnoble.com to Amazon. Both sell the same products but Amazon appears more appealing to users because of its user reviews and other user activity that helps other consumers search for more results. Before web 2.0, most sites fit more of a business model which limited them to grow. Many individuals prefer facebook over myspace because facebook has fewer advertisements. Sites like Wikipedia and Googe attract more people because it invites all users to take part. "The more the merrier" seems to be the theme of web 2.0. 

trust

After further readings on Wiklipedia other web 2.0 resources, I kept thinking about how much trust the users have to have with these sources. I use Wiklipedia on a daily basis. Anytime I come across a concept or word that I don't understand, Wiklipedia becomes a best friend right there waiting with the answers; and yet I never question if these answers are right. I never really question the sources of this information or double check with another site to make sure this information is correct. I believe that other individuals do the same thing

 A different form of trust issues are present when it comes to sites like facebook. We discussed in class the number of individuals who will display pictures of themselves consuming alcohol. Many times these individuals are under the legal drinking limit. Another example would be the trust we put into friends or those around us to not post humiliating pictures of us. I have talked to many individuals who have experiences this.

 Although both these forms of web 2.0 are great there will always be downfall and for the era of web 2.0 one cannot just trust anyone. 

trust

What is Web 2.0? Is it overused and outdated?

I have to be completely honest in saying that I was rather intimidated when I realized that the class was about blogging and web 2.0. I wasn't really even sure what web 2.0 was. After hearing that facebook was an example of web 2.0 I realized what a huge part of my life web 2.0 actually is. I spend way to many hours socializing with friends on facebook or scanning through different articles on wikipedia. Unfortunately that's as far as my knowledge goes regarding web 2.0. I have never blogged up until now and I'm not quite acquainted with what else web 2.0. has to offer. I am a simple gal and have always been hesitant on trying anything technically challenging. Not that blogging is very challenging but the fact that it is new to me does make it intimidating. I do, however, look forward to expanding my knowledge and finally modernizing myself into the web 2.0 era.