Keeping Your Blog?

So have anyone decided to keep their blog active. I would love to know mainly because this was such a cool class but secondly I would like to see how you guys projects evolve. I know some of you have other blogs to maintain but I was just wondering. I think I will keep mines up. Now that I don't have to post we will see how up to date I keep it but from time to time i might log in just to say hey! For the people who never blogged before...what is the likelihood that you will keep your blog??

Reflection Post

I looked back over my posts and noticed that I have posted about everything for celebrities, to businesses, to of course myself! My first post said this

"I am really excited to see how people evolve and grow to love this
technology. In the beginning I was against the idea of putting my thoughts out
for the world, or at least the class, to see. I also thought that blogging was
going to be time consuming and forced. But now I like it and I hope everyone
else sees the effectiveness of this technology." (Jan 23, 2008)

From the beginning I was excited about the idea of wikis and blogs. However as the semester progressed I started to get frustrated with having to blog all the time. I hated that it DID start to feel forced. All of a sudden towards the end of the semester I regained a love for this technology. I think it was in part because I started the like what I was doing. The readings were cool but I learn better when I actually get to do things and try them myself. My intentions for the class were to
1. gain a greater appreciation for web 2.o and expand knowledge
2. learn how to apply web 2.0 to everyday life
3. get used to proofreading my work and blogging everyday
4. become more web 2.0 savvy.

I have come to the conclusion that three out of four isn't that bad!! If you read some of my past posts like this one or this one would can see that wikis were certainly in my future!! I feel as if I have fulfilled my intentions for this course. I am always talking about wikis..blogs...not so much :) I am confident in my ability to explain wikis, blogs, social bookmarking, etc. I use my del.cio.us account WAYYYYY more than I thought would and I am inspired (and determined) to make web 2.0 work for me! When I was taking this class it was for one reason only. I love Mrs. Donna and I know that she has a unconventional way of teaching English classes. However in the long run i learned so much and will certainly be taking this knowledge with me!

Check it out!!

I am now the point where I am ready to reveal my wiki. Check it out and add. If you would like to be added as a writer to my wiki comment on this post and I will add you. Make sure to include your email in the comment. Hope you all like it!!

Completion...Sorta

Well I am at the point where i can say "I Done". I decided not to add a local page at this point. I just don't have the information to add. I went back and forth on whether to add it but I wouldn't feel right having these places on my wiki that i have never visited. Maybe as this thing takes off more people will add to it and they will fill that void. I was talking to my mother about my project and she was like "why you didn't do a St. Louis guide!" I simply laughed! I don't even want to think of all the work that would go into making it. Anyway back to my project....im not touching anymore! It is what it is. I make a few of the suggested changes and I am happy with it!

My Other Wiki

I am also doing a wiki for class. It will cover transnational feminism . The point was for it to be a "idiots" guide to understanding the topic. In a perfect world anyone could access the site and by the time they were done could be much smarter. In a attempt to be different i decided not to play it safe and go with pbwiki but instead to step outside of the box and use wetpaint. I really liked how Juanita's wiki looked yesterday so I decided to try it out. I am on the fence whether I will use it or not. I like how it is easy to pick templates for just about anything. However i have had some trouble adding pages. I also want to add a tag cloud and a concept map and I'm not sure i can figure it out on wetpaint, mainly because i am distracted by all the other features. I might create a wiki on pbwiki too just to play it safe. If wetpaint doesn't make sense to me by friday i'll use pbwiki

Presentation Feedback

The feedback that I got today was much needed. I am glad that I stopped at the point that I did. The advise I got was to add instructions or more information about the function of the calender, move the calender up higher, add videos featuring local bands, and add more info about local restaurants. All of these are doable and will be added within the next few days. I am glad that I was able to get feedback before we turned it in. Its good to get feedback from your peers because they look at your project with a more watchful eye. I was just proud that I had that much and from my standpoint it was complete but now I have at leasy four other things that I can add or modify. I was also considering adding a space for the local radio...still grappling with that

Presentation Day!!!

I present my project to the class today. Its all Ive been thinking about hence the fact that this post is so early in the morning. I was excited yesterday but the more I looked at it the more I want to change certain things. Like I think that it looks sorta plain and the huge "FrontPage" is driving me crazy. I don't know maybe I'm just freaking out because i want everyone to like it and not be hard on me. Oh well!!! We shall see. I will probably add some graphics and see what the class things of it. I think we can make changes after we present it. That would only be fair because a wiki is ever changing!

Back to Work

I decided not to touch my blog yesterday and I am haapy with that decision. I showed it to a few people and they gave me feedback, as well as other specials and events, to add and change. So in my opinion stopping wasn't such a bad idea because gave me time to get feedback. I can pretty happy with the finished, or semi-finished project. I can't wait to share with the class and see what they think

Weekend Blogger

I have noticed that I get some really good blogging in on the weekends. I know we are supposed to keep our post to the weekday but the weekdays are so busy that blogging seems more like a task than a natural flow of words. I actually woke up this morning thinking i need to blog. Most weekdays start off with OMG!!! I forgot to blog, and check this wiki, or submit this assignment, etc. What I'm saying is that the weekends are more relaxed and so are my thoughts. If we are trying to adopt new rules to writing my favorite would be stop. And it seems like the weekend is the only time I can do so



BTW...I am not touching my project today. I worked on it yesterday and feel as if I am at a happy stopping point. I just want to look at it as is.

Update

Today I decided that my sports and rec section wasn't needed. Although it seemed like a good idea in the beginning I came to realize that people aren't really looking for things do during the day. I had all my sections done expect for that one because I was trying to figure out how to make the park sound exciting. Also the parks and recreation centers didn't usually have events on a regular basis so the most I could do was talk about the amenities of each place. Call me lazy and not up for the challenge but I really didn't want to deal with it. Next thing was to go back and make sure that I liked the wording of the descriptions. I'm pretty pleased with that part. My next big task will be to add events and specials to the final section of the wiki. This shouldn't take me long to do. After this is completed I will be at a stopping point and ready for me presentation.

Making Wikis Work For Me Pt. 2

I have realized that I have a new found love for web 2.0. I have come to the conclusion that this love has to go somewhere so I have decided to attended grad school. I plan to get my masters in marketing. The plan is to focus on event planning and marketing. I want to be able to apply what I have learned in this class to real life issues so that I can present real life solutions using web 2.0. Given my recent situation with my friend it amazes me how much time people spend on the Internet doing the some ole things when they could be experimenting other other application. I hope to be the person who introduces this to others. Also I have no been able to get corporate blogs out of my mind. I am very interested in how I can implement that for small business..maybe even my own one day. I am really excited about the possibilities. Earlier in the semester i said that the only reason I took this class was because i loved Mrs. Donna. Who would have thought that by the end of the semester I would be framing my career around web 2.o Funny how things work out.

Wiki Woes

I posted in the previous post that I have been tyring to explain wikis and blogs to people so that they can use them and make them work for them . For example the introduction of the Wire wiki to my family during break. My brother likes it so much it checks it once a week. More or less to dispute facts and post but he likes it. I was pretty confident in my ability to explain a wiki, its functions, and why they were useful. I know Mrs. Donna had to convince some of us because aside from Wikipedia we didn't see the point either. Well last night I was trying to explain wikis (AGAIN!!!!) to my friend who wants to start the dessert business. We went over and over the same info like five times and she still didn't get it. I told her to use pbwiki. Because I am familiar with it I could help her and it was free. She told me "well I want a wiki that only deals with food. their isn't a cookiesandcakeswiki". ARGGHHHHHH! So i said research different ones and when you find some you like you can save it to a site called Del.icio.us. Why did i say that. She just looked at me with this blank stare. I was so frustrated I just left. She didn't understand that you could create any wiki on any site. She felt like" @pbwiki.com" didn't sound right at the end of her wiki name. Needless to say she doesn't have a wiki :)

Making Web 2.0 Work For Me

I have found myself talking more and more about blogs and wikis and how they can be used in everyday life. A guy at work is thinking about starting sneaker business and whats to know how he can get in contacts and find his target audience. I suggested that he go on blogs about sneakers and find bloggers from Columbia that either maintain the sites or post. That way he can connect with them. So a friend wants to start a dessert business I suggested making a wiki and post how-to videos and recipes. I figured a wiki would be most effective because she modifies her recipes often and she could go back and change them as she goes along. I think that one of the msot useful and valuable things I will take away from this class and a better understanding of web 2.0 is. I know that sounds cliche but its the truth. I stated it in my intentions and I think I have acheived what I intented to acheive. I know that this information will be worthy in the future. I can see myself using blogs in my future plans

Well my wiki is actually more than just links and pictures. Today I added a video that shows all of the places that I talk about on the way. That way people have a visual of the places rather than just a map. I also added mini descriptions of some of the places. The descriptions are more like marketing spots than actually descriptions however that might change. I wanted to add the history context of some of the places like the berg or the newly opened Delana's but i don't find that too important on a place like chili's. I also figured out how to link my dates on my self-made calender so Im pretty proud of that. So I made each date a page, 31 in all for May, and I added a little info to some pages such as graduation and senior discount day, both of which are very important to me. Next step will be to finish adding the little blurps about each place and adding the specials to the calender pages.

Update

Sharing my concerns and progress in class today was a big help to my project. I learned how to deal with my major problems. Had I not asked I would have wasted alot of time today tyring to figure it out. My biggest obstacle was how to link my calender and thanks to Josh...and Mrs. Donna...I figured it out. So from the looks of things my main page will be info about each place I chose to research. Most of them have links directly to their homepages. Then as you click on a date on the calender you can see exactly what is going on at that place on that date. I might add some other special events to the calender such as concerts, campus events, etc. as they come up. So far so good. My next task is to figure out how to incorporate more images into my wiki. Right now it looks really plain.

If anyone is interested you can visit my wiki i guess. Feedback is appreciated

Excitement

Today was the most productive day! I really got alot done with my wiki. Although I haven't gone to a tutor, i still have figured out how to do alot on my wiki by just playing around. My biggest challenge to do was trying to get a calender on my page. i tried to just create a graph but it didn't work out the way i thought it would. i am not sure if i should just copy and paste one. My only concern with this is whether or not i can link the dates to the special that falls on that day. i made some changes to the intro as well as the side page. my next task will be to psy with the layout and color scheme. I am so excited that I actually have a wiki that is starting to actually look like a wiki and not a word doc.

Getting on the Ball

So I have a wiki and thats as far as it goes. I have been playing around with it for some time now and I just can't bring myself to add content. The main reason is because I have no idea how to do it. I was in the computer lab the other day and I saw that they offer web 2.0 tutoring. My first thought was why would you need a tutor. My second thought was that I MIGHT actually need one. Its interesting that these people even exist. Who thinks that someone would need a web 2.0 tutor? I wonder who many people know about this service and how often it is used?

I have a Wiki Now!!

Its official... I have a PeanutButterWiki. I must say that I am having a hard to navigating it but I guess with time..which isn't much...i will learn to use it. I was a little intimidated by this blank whit screen staring at me. I didn't know where to start so I went for the basics. I put up a mission and vision of the wiki. That way all visitors will understand my intent on creating as well as clearly state its purpose. Until less you want to party with college kids you shouldn't read my wiki. Well I guess people still can be I wanted to make it clear what my target audience is. I also played around with the setting such as color schemes and fonts. I believe that my wiki needs to be just as visually appealing as it is informative. I also added a logo to the front page. Not for any reason just because I could. I will probably have to go through the help pages in order to fully understand how to use it. I am used to going on wikipedia and already having the info in front of me. I am open to any suggests, tips, or help in general on how to use this site.

My "BD"

So far I have been gathering a lot of useful info. At the time it is a mess of notes, websites, scribbles, pamplets, and so on. I need away to organize it all. A smart idea would be to start putting in all on my wiki and see where it takes me. From the comments that I have gotten everyone seems pretty positive about the idea of having this wiki. Until I read Nawal's blog I was pretty sure that I wanted to use pbwiki. It was recommended in another class so i assumed it was user friendly. Now....not so much. The next step will be just organizing, omitting useless info, and putting it all together. So to move on to the next step I guess I'll "stop"

moving forward

I am at the point in my project were I have most of the info about the bars and restaurants but I am having a hard time contacting the Amory and DeLena's due to irregular hours or some other problem. I have been asking around to see what would be the best site to sue to make a wiki. Overall people are saying pbwiki. I have to create one for another class and that professor gave me some other options. In the end it is going to depend on which is easiest to navigate. Other than constantly gathering info and organizing it there isn't anything else to do with my project. It is moving along nicely.

Applying New Knowledge

I was at work today and my manager asked me to apply a concept that I learned in class to a technology that can be used in the store. I work for a cell phone company so it wasn't that hard. I made up this whole presentation about portable web 2.0 applications. Which, in essence, is just using web 2.0 on your cell phone. I used a PDA to pull up youtube and wikipedia. What makes the whole experience portable is because you can access these applications from anywhere you can take a cell phone. My manager was pretty impressed with my ability to make a really complex topic sound really simple. I pitched my presentation to lots customers and they were able to understand what web 2.o was. At my job we position web 2.o as just Internet access. Now we have a whole pitch that makes it more appealing to the customer. I convinced three customers to add the feature to their phones and they have 30 days to try it out. This reminded me of media convergence. The fact that all these forms of media and technology can be condensed into one device is pretty cool. My manager's request was also quite similar to the activity we did in class were we had to find videos about web 2.0 and its many uses. Im pretty sure if I tried I could apply web 2.0 to any aspect discipline or industry

project progress

I decided to work on my project a little more today. I am trying to figure out how I can get my wiki to jump to certain spots on my page like the girl who presented to us page. i think that this would be a cool feature. It would allow people to jump to a certain spot on the wiki to edit or if they are looking for something to do a particular night. As far as information goes I am slowly gathering it. I have decided to stick to the places on my concept map and allow others to add to the finished project. I have decided to announce my project on facebook the week before finals week. That way people can use it to find something to do during finals week if they needed a break. Don't know how well it will go over but hopefully people will add to it and it can be used by other students for years to come

Random Post

I know we are not supposed to post back to back so consider this one a freebie but I was going through some of the other blogs on the site using the "next blog" link and I came across the most interesting and diverse blogs. I know we did the exercise in class were we tried to find links between our blogs and others but this time around I was just being nosy so I got to look at the blogs differently. In four or five clicks I saw a postcard collection, a stupid american fansite, the growth and development of a handsome little boy, and much illegal activity promoted by a Hispanic gang. Only in the blogosphere would these people/things be lined up together. I would have to say the that most interesting ones were the one dedicated to the people who believe americans are stupid. It was a picture of the evolution on man that had man going from a ape to a pig over the course of five generations. I guess that would be poking fun of our domestic weight problem and obession with fast food. There was also pictures of people and their pets that were actually pretty fun especially one with this big buff guy holding a tiny little puppy. The whole site was in a differeent language so no telling what was really being said but the visuals said it all. There were also a lot of exclamation points. I guess to show passion.

Also the blog of the Hispanic gang was different. They had pictures of drugs and guns just posted on the net like it was legal, free, advertisment. I couldn't believe that they had that stuff up. It was pictures of people posing with guns, throwing up signs, and everything. What I couldn't understand was why would they have a blog? Real gangster wouldn't put their business out their like that. So that begs the question of whether or not that was a real gang blog. It was up to date but in Spanish so I wasn't sure what it said but it was interesting to say the least

Actor Network Theory

I have read this piece twice and I still do not completely understand the meaning of this theory. The chapter is written as a Q&A interview between a student and professor. The professor seems to be talking in circles and further confusing the student. The Professor describes this theory as a negative explanation to structures or the way things are shaped. It does not set out to explain existing shapes or structures but should be applied to new ideas. There seems to be a big play on words and nothing is as it seems. Maybe that was done on purpose as a way to apply the theory as it is being explained. If it doesn't anything but does explain everything then my guess makes sense. I believe that the purpose of this reading was to encourage thinking outside of the box. It promotes that idea that everything doesn't fit into these perfect structures and can't be easily expected. As I was reading it seemed like every time the student was getting closer to an understanding the professor confused him more. There was a constant challenge to revise his thinking and stop trying so hard to apply this theory. But like the reading said it isn't so easy to throw tradition out the door and try to apply these new concepts. ANT tries to do that but because it is so hard to understnad people don't want to deal with it. Its focus on the "effect" and "following of the actors" leads to a whole other line of thought that we just aren't used to. I can see why it is so hard to apply this theory. Effect is the byproduct of a situation. It would be pretty hard to apply a theory to something that hasn't even happened yet!

Blogging and Literacies

As someone who considers themselves as a "blogger" I never really took time out to think about all that goes into this process or how it is improving my writing skills. The piece "Blogging and New Literacies" helped to put this process into perspective. I agree with the fact tha virtual communication is aiding in most people's writing. I, personally, am more aware of the words I use and how I want to persent information. As the reading said many different aspects go into a blog post and you havr to be cautious of what you write. Also you are taken out of the traditional student-teacher relationship because a blog is public. Therefore the audience expands as well as the number of critics. This also makes a person more cautious of their work.

The reading points out four benefits of effective blogging. 1. is that blogging encourages fluency in writing. Students want to do it more because it is fun and not views as school work. 2. Encourages cooperative learning, students can review each other's blog and provide feedback. 3. Encourages critical thinking, bigger audience means greater preparation for assignment. 4.Encourages perfomance-based learning, allows students to think as they write and improve or develop ideas....writing inproves as blogging improves.

These points make sense because any time you seat down to write whether it is in a classroom or a blog you want to present the best work possible. I believe that a blog is better because it takes the pressure off and allows you to be critiqued by your peers instead of just your teacher. It is obvious that this idea of educational blogging as taken off. I have blogged in four classes to date and I can see this idea becaming a requirement in many other classes

Update

So I am probably the last to put my concept map up but I just came to an understanding of what I wanted to do. I have taken on a big project so I have to map out how I want to present this info. Previously I said that I wouldn't visit the spots that I wanted to get info on but I have to because talking over the phone was effeevtive. Also I have decided to include sport/recreational spots as well. This inclusion was a result of my mother thinking that I am turning into a drunk, which of course isn't true.

As I was doing my concept map more and more ideas came to me. I wonder how my project might have been different if I did my concept map first..who knows. I actually figured out how to post my map by going to Nawal's blog and reading Anne's comment to her post about not knowing how to post it. I guess my classmates can help me even outside of class. Because I remembered that Nawal posted that I was able to learn how to do it as well. This reminded me that we have a wiki help page on our class wiki. I checked it but there wasn't anything new on it. I thought about posting Anne's instructions but it seems like everyone already has their map up. Oh well....maybe people will start using the wiki page more as projects go on

Concept Map...Finally

In the Field Research

As I stated earlier I tried to call different places to get information about their specials. I did not have much luck so I decided to drag my good friend out in the rain to visit area bars. We visited Tellers, Sky Hi, and the Heidelberg and got some pretty good info. As I predicted in a earlier post the managers were happy to share info after I told them that I was going to be using the info for a class project. Although I did not get any thing free I did get happy hour prices at all the locations even after happy hour which was a good perk. I should have started this project earlier.

progress so far

Last night I called some local bars and hang outs to get current specials and deals that they were offering. I ran into many problems because most places did not know. I started making phone calls around 5 yesterday and I don't know if that was a bad time because I had a hard time getting information. I thought that calling during the week would be better than on a weekend because it would be last crowded, also with everyone gone for spring break I figured that I could get some some good info but I guess not. My new plan is to call early afternoon like around 130 or 2. If I keep running into these problems I might have to visit the differeent businesses and look and see what they have posted on the wall. I know for a fact that "Trops" has a big Happy Hour poster on the wall that would come in handy!

Lost without Connection

The plan for Spring Break was to spend a relaxing week in St.Louis working on my project and getting other work done. Well we lost our internet connection at my moms house so I was lost without a connection to the web. I haven't gaot any work done so I will be returning to Columbia tomorrow. The new plan is to play catch up once again to try to make up for hours lost. I have however ran my idea pass a few MU students and they think its a great and much needed idea. This has made me more confident about my project. I have decided to veto the idea of visiting every spot and just focus on providing the information. It was a good idea but a but much for what I am trying to do.

Project progress

Somewhere along the line my project has finessed itself into like three other projects. Actually I am just playing with the idea of changing my project. Everyone in class thought it was pretty cool but I would wonder how it would function as a blog instead of a wiki. This was my first variation. I considered doing a blog and call it "Consuming College Town, USA". Instead of just doing a wiki and posting information I would actually visit these different places and do reviews on them. This thought sparked another thought. To put a spin on it I would only visit restaurants, bars, etc. that were exclusive to Columbia such as Shakephere's and Shaky's. That way I am giving outsiders a look into Columbian cuisine, sort of like virtual culinary tourism. Im not sure if i will change my project or not. Actually going to these places would take up alot and time and money that I don't have. I wonder if I would get them to give me free meals by telling them its for a class project. If I could convince owners of that I would surely change my focus.

Too many thoughts at once!!!

I have spent the past 30-35 minutes trying to sort out th thoughts in my mind. Going into this project I was sure that I was going to create a fanpage for my favorite sitocom. As I began to search for resources I came across a site that had the same exact focus and was done pretty nicely might I add. Plan B was to create a wiki for recent grads to use to post job listings, interview skills, resume links and examples, etc. However, this is a pretty popular topic so I couldn't think of anyway my page would be different from the million of ther pages that are out there. Plan C was a comprehensive "things to do" page foe the MU student. I wanted to create a web page including all the bars and resturants that college students frequent. It would be aons stop page that broke down specials, scene, musics, etc. all by day. I feel as if this is going to a mighty task to take on but it seems to be the most unique idea that I have. So the latter part of class was spent brainstorming how I could obtain all the info I needed and how to condense it into this website....now if only i knew how to create a website :(

Where's My Inspiration :(

So I have logged into my blog everyday this week and I just couldn't find anything to blog about. I had gotten used to trying to blog everyday and all of a sudden I had nothing to say. I think that the fact that we got our reading late had an effect on that. Also that class was cancelled might have something to do with it. I feel as if new nothing is new..which is impossible when it comes to WEb 2.0. So I guess this purpose of this post is to just express my recent disattachment...is that a word? Oh well its a blog, any word is a word....likeabilityness is a word...i just made that up of course. See I need inspiration. I know you all don't want to read a week worth of crazy Quetta tangents, do you? Can't wait for class Tuesday

Web 2.0 Media

I my quest to find interesting web 2.0 media a came across a very diverse set of videos. I guess that goes to show how diverse Web 2.o is. I noticed that many were made by your average person and very low quality. Most were just personal thoughts and ideas on how to use or become wealthy with applications. I believe that most American think that web 2.0 is a pretty profitable business from blogging to online businesses, many videos were tutorials on how ro make money. The video that I liked the most Aaron posted to the class blog. I thought it was a pretty cool video that actually showed all you can do with the applications. I'm kinda mad he posted it first. So i guess my second runner up would be this video. I liked this video for two reasons. One, I had never considered the impact of web 2.0 outside of the business realm and two I had never associated podcast with web 2.0. I thought that this assignment was going to be easy but most of the videos on web 2.0 are junk!

WIKIMANIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went home this weekend for a much needed break and all I heard about was HBO's The Wire. I have never and will never watch that show. Its about drug dealing in B-More, MD. Everybody I know watches the show. So I told my brothers and parents about the wiki I found last week dedicated to the show. First they were like "wik-a-what"?!?!?! But after I explained to them what it was they got excited. Each swore they could find something that was wrong or that they could add. So as a family we got online and found the wiki. For about two hours they were going through the pages, following links, and all that great stuff you can do with a wiki. My brothers were calling friends asking them if they knew certain facts that were on the wiki. It was a crazy sight to see. That was probably the most time my family has spent together in a long time. After all that I still refuse to watch The Wire. On a higher note, the wiki knowledge is spreading!

More Changes

So I know we were supposed to make changes to our wiki pages but after i looked at mine's I really didn't see anythink that need to be changed. I played around with the site a little. You know how blogger has the next blog feature..well our wiki has a similar feature called "random page". I didn't know that. I clicked it a few times and most of the pages were school related since it is the University's wiki but I still thought it was a pretty cool feature. I also played around with the special pages. I wasn't really sure what to do on it so I uploaded a pretty picture of some pink flowers...my fave!! After I had ran out of things to do on the class wiki...well for today...i decided to make some changes to my blog. I had told myself weeks ago that I would do so and since there's no time like the present I said "why not?". I think I pretty happy with the changes. It seems brighter and reminds me of Spring. I found some really cool pictures to add and the picture of me is darn cute if I do say so myself!!! The cool part about this is that in the process of finding images I came across a really cool blog . (By the way I just learned how to link words...Yay!) I saw a picture I really liked on flickr and wanted to more about the photographer. Well one click led to another and I found the blog. You gotta love technology :) As I said in my previous post..my passion has come back

Feeling Pretty Good!

I feel like today was one of the best classes in a while. I felt as if I was productive and actually understood what was going on. Josh's presentation was the best. He was confident in what he was presenting and funny as well!!! I really like the idea of having a help wiki because I have a hard time working with some of the applications that we use. With the wiki I can ask for help outside of class and get a response anytime which will be helpful in the upcoming weeks with projects and all. I have a renewed love for Web 2.0!!! Oh yea and it's official....I'm addicted to wikis...I think :)

My #1 happens to be Top 10!

When I began to search for wikis I had a hard time finding a subject that I was well informed about. Each page I went to I learned more than I could add. I visited wikis dedicated to Law and Order( SVU of course!) hip-hop, Old Navy, and truffles…just a few of my favorite things. Each page was so well designed and researched that I was intimidated by the amount of knowledge these people had on the page. Here I call myself a fan of these things and I could not think of one thing of substance to add. Also in my search I think it is important to talk about the things I happened to stumble across. First there was EntreWiki, which a “paid wiki site for Entrepreneurs who are looking for Money Making Business Ideas” as the descripation says. I have a real problem with this. Wikis are supposed to be free site for people to go to get and give ideas…again FOR FREE!!!! Secondly I was playing around with the search engines on wikiindex and did a people search. 116 pictures popped up of who had profile on wikiindex. I was amazed at the diversity of the people. Although they were prominently male, they ranged in age, race, and nationality. For example one man looked well over 70 and appeared to be Middle Eastern. Fascinating!!! You never know where your information is coming from. In my search for a wiki that spoke to me I also came across several wikis that I thought would be of interest to my friends and family members. For example my cousin is a project manager and there was a wiki for that. My partner and most of my friends are HUGE Wire fans…yep they have a wiki as well!! So my journey in wikiland ended when I found the wiki Top Ten http://top10.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page. It’s a wiki that lists the Top Ten…..well EVERYTHING! Songs, Bush quotes, cities, reason to call off work, I love it! I decided to edit the Top Ten love songs of the 90’s page. I wasn’t sure how to add links, lyrics, and all that fancy stuff so I hope someone comes behind me and edits my post. I’m starting to think that wikis are way cooler than blogs!!!

I'll Wait

So today...and most of the semester I have been playing "catch-up" on blogging. I have decided that it makes more sense to blog after class than before because I have a better idea of what I'm blogging about. So for today I plan to analyze a wiki page after I hear what our guest speaker has to say. Maybe she will give us some advice on what to look for and how to find mistakes or determine if something is false...i don't know. but at least now I have some questions to ask?

Lady Dee's Blog

I came across this blog by accident. I was actually looking for a site to conform some celebrity gossip. After a few clicks I came across Lady D’s page. http://www.layddee.com/ At first glance it looks like a regular gossip blog but it has a few things that I have never seen on a blog. First, it contains a few ads but not so many that it takes away from the overall visual appeal of the site. Second, it contains a scroll box that lets you pick which post you want to go to with having to read all the way down. Another interesting feature is the chat box which allows you to chat live with Lady Dee if she is online too. Lady Dee also is in the business of self- promotion as she has links to her MySpace and a Blog Radio show that she does. I also find it cleaver that other bloggers with similar topics can link their post to Lady Dee’s blog as well as links from youtube. This is all contained in the blogosphere.
As far as what this blog’s function is, it is clear that it is a gossip blog. However it is very classy. Lady Dee reports on actresses philanthropy works, celebrity deaths and deaths of loved ones, as well as everyday out-on-the-town goings on. In m y opinion she isn’t trying to get rich or famous off of this blog. I didn’t see any “you saw it here first” statements that many “trying to be famous” blogs have. It seems as if the people who read this blog are pretty diverse. I say this because she covers a diverse set of topics. However I noticed that most of her posts don’t have comments. It seems to me that this blog is more for herself than anybody else. What I also found out about Lady Dee is that she has a second blog. http://allthingsforwoman.blogspot.com/ which is dedicated to Women’s Month. Maybe creating blogs is her thing?

Blogging about Blogging

First things first...IM ALIVE!!!!!!! I know you all were worried sick about me :). I have a terrible case of strep throat and could not come in contact with too many people. I was actually removed from the University twice..true story! Anyway Blogging....

The readings for today were pretty good. I would sum them up as Blogging for Dummies, which Im sure already exists! Each started out with a "what is" explanation which i didn't think was needed. We all know what blogging is even if we don't recognize it as blogging. Facebook has this application called notes where you can jot down thoughts and tag friends to them. Is that not a blog? They have mant different functions and purposes. Its amazing how they are used around the world for some many different reasons. I can't help but to think of blogs as emails for the world to see. I say this because of the intimacy of blogging. Most read like a private letter from one person to the next and at times I feel that way. Like when I am reading celebrity gossip blogs, which isn't very often ;), i feel like the blogger is letting me in on a secret personally. I also say they are like emails because of the style of writing. Like one reading said bloggers have their own language that they use. I actually have to re-read some of my school work from time to time just to make sure that it doesn't have any "web slang" in it. But thats what I like about blogging. I can say whatever I want, however I want without any one coming through with a red pen! Blogging should be natural not focused. You should blog when you have something to say not to keep with the blogs around you. I feel that some blogs are like that. For example I do not need minute by minute blog updates that Britney is crazy...we kno!!! Not to put rules on how or what people blog but you probably don't need on if you don't have a purpose. That is probably why so many blogs are idle. Everyone feels that they need one but then they abandon them. I don't know just a thought. I will end with the quote from Chris Anderson..."Blogging is a way to make myself smarter". Maybe I should try that!

Book Report Reaction

The book I read for my book report was called Six Degrees: The Science of the Connected World. In this book he talks about a new science. A science that combines all the knowledge of the preexisting sciences out there. I clearly had to read this book every carefully because was all very new to me. I actually didn't pick this book for myself it was more or less my pick by default. When I first saw the title I thought it was about the whole Kevin Bacon game thing. And he does mention this game in the book but its a little different. As I mentioned in my presentation I think this new science would be useful and applied to everyday situations. For example the story he gives about the people guessing the passwords after the 9/11 attacks based on the wisdom of crowds. Also the mixing of sociology and math, which is the basis for the Kevin Bacon game. Its all new to me i can see it taking shape in the near future.

Connected World Cont...

I can't say whether I liked or disliked the reading Tuesday. This is all so new to me that I don't quite understand it enough to pass judgement. The quote I blogged about earlier this week stood out to me mainly because of the wording...."he (and we) is “Enveloped in the network, [where] I am continually being distracted. [Where] I can no longer concentrate on just one thing at a time.”(7). The idea of being enveloped in something is a powerful image. Shaviro suggested that we are just pons being controlled by our surroundings. He states that we have so much going on around use that we lose sight. Well at least thats how I took it. I guess my opinion is a little biased after reading Watts.

Living in a Connected World

After today's class my mind was filled with so many thoughts. I find myself saying this alot lately but this stuff is all new to me. Aaron's presentation on the connected world was very thought provoking. The author's arguement that[and i stole this from Aaron's blog]..." he (and we) is “Enveloped in the network, [where] I am continually being distracted. [Where] I can no longer concentrate on just one thing at a time.” (7)"looks towards the internet as an example of this. The fact that images and distractions are all around us causes us to be multitaskers and make connections to all the things around us. This can be seen not just in our use of technology but also in everyday life. The difference is that at least on the internet you can control the distractions. If one too many windows are open you can click the little "x" in the corner and be done with it Or better yet install I pop-up blocker. It isn't so easy in real life. There isn't a pop-up blocker to reduce distractions.

And to shift gears.....

Another interesting statement that got me to thinking was Ms. Donna's statement that the only info that is private now are dreams. Thats a pretty powerful statement. Its scary yet true. Everything about us can be accessed on the internet nowadays. Social networks make this easier than you might realize. Every networking site whether blogging or MySpace has an "about me section". With the rise of online banking and online everything else for that matter it is so easy to tap in others personal lives. It makes me wonder what people think of me or what information I am unconsciously making public through this blog?

Weekend Thoughts

First off let me say that I am having the worst Monday EVER!!!!!!!!!! I think I’m being punished for having such a wicked good weekend L….moving on
So I did a lot of thinking and discussion of concepts that we have learned in class. Somehow I found myself talking about the wisdom of crowds and wikis at a party Saturday. The weird part was that people were actually interested in the topic. I posed Nawal’s question of in what ways are our bodies an extension on to things around us. For the most part I got a lot of example using your hands and feet. I personally had a problem with this. I know that there are other examples, which got me to thinking. As I posted on Juanita’s page, I believe that our brains are an extension of eyes. Hence…”Seeing is believing” or our mouths are an extension of our hearts…”Say what you feel”. These are just a few examples.

A Change has Come

So I know I am a little late with the blog changes but I was actually happy with the way my blog looked. I LOVE PINK!!!! However, I noticed that my blog was the same as other people in the class and we can't have that so I changed a few things. I will probably add more elements as I begin to play around with it more. Maybe some images of cool sneakers, or jewels, or flowers. I don't know. I'm really not a girly girl. I have three brothers and a partner who hates girly girls so I can't be. I think I will use my blog as a way to unleash just a little bit of that side. I know this blog was random but I just wanted to share :)

Ear for an Eye...Won't Happen

I must say that the readings for today were quite interesting. As I was reading I was filled with so many thoughts. I read the handout first and I must say it took me a while to figure out what the heck these words meant. What I took way from this reading is that the way we communicate has evolved in a major way. Historically it has been what you hear is what you believe. There wasn't any tv's, radios, or other forms of media so there was no way to fact check your source. That has all changes with this new wave of visual communication. The reading states that rationality and visualization go hand in hand. I believe this as well. If I hear a rumor that some celeb has died or something to that effect I instantly go online to see if is true. It is only rational if I can visually see it. An ear for an eye won't cut it.

The second reading sparked the thought on my late night/early morning gulity pleasure of watching MSNBC "To Catch a Predator". These men go online in chat rooms to get young girls (and sometimes guys) to sleep with them. The spin is that the kids are actually undercover cops. When the guys arrive they are met by a host, tv crew, and of course the police. This idea of online personas is in full effect here. Anyone can make up a screen name and become who they want. As stated the web transcend all our limitations in nature of time and space for example. I can become who ever I want and go anywhere I wish. Pretty creepy if you think about it.

Not So Unique

So I would consider myself a pretty unique and unconventional person. So when we were asked to find websites that addressed some of the topics that we have been discussing in class I just knew that I would come across several interesting sites. However that hasn't been the case. Most are pretty redundant and others are underdeveloped. So when I came across the site claming to contain tips on having a richer web 2.0 user experience I thought "cool". Then it was down hill from there. My next site had already been saved by 486 people. Guess everyone's pretty clear on social bookmarking? The third site was added mainly for my own understanding. Even after reading the piece for class and Juanita's presentation I was still a little unclear on the wisdom of crowds. Mainly because I'm studying riots and collective behavior in another class and for some reason I am hellbent on trying to make a connection. So the site, which is actually a blog, has to be my personal fave. Hope everyone enjoys them and finds them useful.

Umm..Social Bookmarking

What I have come to notice as I read more and more about Web 2.0 is that there are a lot of fancy terms for the stuff we do everyday. When I think about tags the first thing that comes to mind is Facebook. I tag the pictures of my friends and I tag them in notes. I never really thought about using that technology outside of that realm. As far as social bookmarking I also do this everyday whether I intend to or not. From my understanding it is a way to connect the things you are interested in all together and also share them with others. I wonder if an example of social bookmarking would be when you find a interesting item online the site has a "share this item" button and you can email your friends the image. Or how about emailing youtube links to each other? Does that count?I personally never use my bookmark or "favorites" on my computer. I have two sites saved as "faves". One site is called drinkmixer and it has every drink recipe known to man and the second is the link to the class wiki because I can never remember how to get to it. So on one hand I can see how there is a need for these large bookmark sites. In most cases when you are surfing the web for information you only want what is relevant to the search and I guess social bookmarking helps to achieve that.

The Madness that is FACEBOOK!

I was one of those people who was so anti-facebook. I thoughtv it was a total waste of time to sit in front of the computer for hours looking at pictures and "poking" people. Until one day I get a welcome to facebook email. I hadn't joined so I was confused. Well my roommates made a page for me and put alot of false info on there. I was set-up! I was forced to go on there and edit the fake page they made. I've been hooked ever since. One of the major functions of this site is that it (re)connects people from all over the world. I have reestablished many friendships due to facebook. A really good friend of mine was in Ghana for a semester and facebook was our primary source of communication. I got to see the pictures she took the same day they were taken and met the people she was there with just by going onto their pages.As I look at the pictures of some of my friends most of them are drunken party pictures. The interesting thing about albums are that there are also many of family celebrations such as hoildays and weddings. In recent months facebook has added so many new features. In my opinion its annoying because I get at least 10-15 emails a day that I have new messages or someone has updated their moods. Most people go onto the site to post pictures, look at new pictures, checks status, and emails. Alot of people use it as free pub for their events. The downfall of this is that this virtual communcation is that it is starting to replace face-to-face interactions. Also you get those crazy, stalker people that you met at a party, they take a picture of you, post and tag you, then never leave you alone. Aside from that its a pretty fun site and a effective social network.

First Impression

To be completely honest with everyone I only took this class because Ms. Donna was teaching it. I was introduced to this world of blogging and wiki in one of her summer classes and I actually found it interesting. Alot of times in classes you get a few people talking and others just sitting back listening. After awhile you tired of hearing the same opinion, rather it be the professor or a fellow student. This use of blogs gives students who care shy or afraid to talk in groups a chance to express themselves. Is also calls for a great analysis of the course materials. I am really excited to see how people evolve and grow to love this technology. In the beginning I was against the idea of putting my thoughts out for the world, or at least the class, to see. I also thought that blogging was going to be time consuming and forced. But now I like it and I hope everyone else sees the effectiveness of this technology.