The article that I read for class is “What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software.” by Tim O’Reilly. In this article he is hoping to help readers understand what Web 2.0 is. O’ Reilly says Web 2.0 can be visualized “as a set of principles and practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate some or all of those principles, at a varying distance from that core” (O’Reilly n.p.n) This definition is quite broad and still does not make the idea of Web 2.0 clear.
In the article O’Reilly also breaks down the core components of Web 2.0, in regard to companies, into seven key principles. The first is “services”, the more people use these services the better they become (O’Reilly n.p.n). The second is gaining an advantage over unique data sources. The third is “trusting users as co-developers” (O’Reilly n.p.n). The fourth is “harnessing collective intelligence” (O’Reilly n.p.n). The fifth is “leveraging the long tail through customer self service” (O’Reilly n.p.n). The long tail is basically saying that companies need to incorporate every aspect of the Web instead of the focusing on one part. The sixth part is “software above the level of a single device” (O’Reilly n.p.n). The last one “lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models” (O’Reilly n.p.n).
One part of the article I found interesting was about how Itunes is one of the first devices that was able to mix portability with the Web (O’Reilly). I absolutely love my Ipod and I can’t imagine not having it with me. In order to use an Ipod you have to have access to the Internet. The only way to download music to your Ipod is to have Itunes. The computer also charges the device, so having a computer is a necessity for owning an Ipod.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Essay 2 Email List
The pre Web Internet used many different ways for people to communicate with one another. Some ways that this was done was through using different communication media such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC), MUDs/MOOs, Email lists and Usenet. Each of these communication channels function in a different way and they vary considerably through close examination. The Email lists are similar to the Bulletion Board System (BBS). They both enable members to post messages that are visible to all of its members (Kollock & Smith 1996). In order to learn more about the pre Web Internet I observed the Email lists channel. While observing this channel I discovered that gender plays an important role in communicating online.
What are Email lists? Wikipedia.org describes it as “a special usage of e-mail that allows for widespread distribution to many Internet users.” With an email lists someone can sign up for a group or forum. Whenever there is a question asked you are sent detailed messages; in these emails there is usually the question as well as responses. The beauty of an email list is everything is sent exclusively through email, so you would not have to worry about checking in with a group because you are being sent emails consistently.
The email list that I joined is titled “What do men want anyways?” I choose this because, 1. The members seemed pretty active and, 2.I knew a topic like this would stir up some great interaction. I know many people are dying to figure out the answer to this age old question. Clearly, through the title of this group, this is a group more for women, but I did observe that there were some men present.
Gender issues can often play a role while communicating on the Internet. According to Brenda Danet, there are people “experimenting with gender identity in typed encounters on the Internet” (1998:129). She also says that this text provides a “mask”, which makes it easier to impersonate any gender online (Danet 1998). Gender identities in the names that they use are not always clear. There are some names that are feminine and then some that are masculine and others that are neutral (Danet 1998). In my group interaction most of the names that I encountered were obviously female such as “ladyhawke2900”, obviously male such as, “jeff_miller983”and “josephbseaman” and a couple that I was not sure about which was “physicsnerd1” and “advice on the fly.”
When it comes to Gender online, I think one way of finding out whether the person is female or male is to look at their content. Most of the members of this group are women so I assumed that everyone responding was women. I realized that “physicsnerd1” was a guy after he wrote “I think that I would qualify as a good man and so would most of my male friends”, in response to a woman who was pretty much ragging on the opposite sex. I discovered “advice on the fly” was a woman when she said “I understand not wanting a child. I had two unwanted pregnancies in my youth, back when women couldn't get birth control unless they were married”, in response to woman who contemplated abortion after having an affair on her husband.
Through this observation I also noticed the ways in which women interacted. I think men and women generally interact with others the same, whether they are offline or online. The women’s interaction was stereotypical of how women act. It was caring, warm, and friendly; the women usually had longer posts than the men. This plays into the fact that women tend to be more social than men. A good example of this would be a woman was hoping to get advice on knowing whether or not a man means it when he says he loves you. Since no one had responded to her post yet she questioned whether or not anyone cared about her problem. Then another woman types that she was sorry because she did not have chance to see it. The woman “advice on the fly” helped the woman break down the problem and by the end the woman, who was called “lilredride_68” said, “well i want to thank you very much for breaking this down and helping me get my head round it all.” This is how women in reality tend to communicate, in a thoughtful manner.
The men acted somewhat different in the online group. Men in general tend to socialize less than women and when they do it is not as sensitive. I noted on one of my observation blogs there was a woman who had a posts complaining about men. A lot of the women that commented agreed with her and the men pretty much said that she should reexamine herself; “robbyxly” told her “If you are concerned about your welfare then you have to have your sense of values and what kinds to know what you are searching for.” I noticed when it came to really serious issues the men behaved more similar to the women. One woman was being abused by her husband and she was pregnant. A lot of the guys on the post offered her sympathies and advice;”killer8724” suggested she go to a shelter and inform law enforcement.
In closing, observing this has given me greater incites in the ways in which men and women communicate. At times when there is a serious problem, communication between them can become similar. The online world also allows one to hide their identity behind a screen name or email address, making it impossible to know who you are communicating with on the other end. The important thing to look for is context clues that will help, in most cases, determine their true identity. Identity itself can be called into question because transgendered or transsexual people identify themselves as a “she” if it is a “he” or vice versa making it difficult for anyone to truly know.
Cited Works
Danet, Brenda. (1998). Text as mask: Gender , play, and performance on the Internet. In Steven G. Jones (Ed.), Cybersociety 2.0: Revisiting computer-mediated communication and community (pp.129-158). Thousand Oaks, NJ: Sage.
Kollock, Peter &Smith, Marc. (1996). Managing the virtual communities. In Susan C. Herring (Ed.), Computer –mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives (pp.109-128). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Wikipedia.org. “Electronic Mailing List.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_mailing_list#Types_of_mailing_lists
What are Email lists? Wikipedia.org describes it as “a special usage of e-mail that allows for widespread distribution to many Internet users.” With an email lists someone can sign up for a group or forum. Whenever there is a question asked you are sent detailed messages; in these emails there is usually the question as well as responses. The beauty of an email list is everything is sent exclusively through email, so you would not have to worry about checking in with a group because you are being sent emails consistently.
The email list that I joined is titled “What do men want anyways?” I choose this because, 1. The members seemed pretty active and, 2.I knew a topic like this would stir up some great interaction. I know many people are dying to figure out the answer to this age old question. Clearly, through the title of this group, this is a group more for women, but I did observe that there were some men present.
Gender issues can often play a role while communicating on the Internet. According to Brenda Danet, there are people “experimenting with gender identity in typed encounters on the Internet” (1998:129). She also says that this text provides a “mask”, which makes it easier to impersonate any gender online (Danet 1998). Gender identities in the names that they use are not always clear. There are some names that are feminine and then some that are masculine and others that are neutral (Danet 1998). In my group interaction most of the names that I encountered were obviously female such as “ladyhawke2900”, obviously male such as, “jeff_miller983”and “josephbseaman” and a couple that I was not sure about which was “physicsnerd1” and “advice on the fly.”
When it comes to Gender online, I think one way of finding out whether the person is female or male is to look at their content. Most of the members of this group are women so I assumed that everyone responding was women. I realized that “physicsnerd1” was a guy after he wrote “I think that I would qualify as a good man and so would most of my male friends”, in response to a woman who was pretty much ragging on the opposite sex. I discovered “advice on the fly” was a woman when she said “I understand not wanting a child. I had two unwanted pregnancies in my youth, back when women couldn't get birth control unless they were married”, in response to woman who contemplated abortion after having an affair on her husband.
Through this observation I also noticed the ways in which women interacted. I think men and women generally interact with others the same, whether they are offline or online. The women’s interaction was stereotypical of how women act. It was caring, warm, and friendly; the women usually had longer posts than the men. This plays into the fact that women tend to be more social than men. A good example of this would be a woman was hoping to get advice on knowing whether or not a man means it when he says he loves you. Since no one had responded to her post yet she questioned whether or not anyone cared about her problem. Then another woman types that she was sorry because she did not have chance to see it. The woman “advice on the fly” helped the woman break down the problem and by the end the woman, who was called “lilredride_68” said, “well i want to thank you very much for breaking this down and helping me get my head round it all.” This is how women in reality tend to communicate, in a thoughtful manner.
The men acted somewhat different in the online group. Men in general tend to socialize less than women and when they do it is not as sensitive. I noted on one of my observation blogs there was a woman who had a posts complaining about men. A lot of the women that commented agreed with her and the men pretty much said that she should reexamine herself; “robbyxly” told her “If you are concerned about your welfare then you have to have your sense of values and what kinds to know what you are searching for.” I noticed when it came to really serious issues the men behaved more similar to the women. One woman was being abused by her husband and she was pregnant. A lot of the guys on the post offered her sympathies and advice;”killer8724” suggested she go to a shelter and inform law enforcement.
In closing, observing this has given me greater incites in the ways in which men and women communicate. At times when there is a serious problem, communication between them can become similar. The online world also allows one to hide their identity behind a screen name or email address, making it impossible to know who you are communicating with on the other end. The important thing to look for is context clues that will help, in most cases, determine their true identity. Identity itself can be called into question because transgendered or transsexual people identify themselves as a “she” if it is a “he” or vice versa making it difficult for anyone to truly know.
Cited Works
Danet, Brenda. (1998). Text as mask: Gender , play, and performance on the Internet. In Steven G. Jones (Ed.), Cybersociety 2.0: Revisiting computer-mediated communication and community (pp.129-158). Thousand Oaks, NJ: Sage.
Kollock, Peter &Smith, Marc. (1996). Managing the virtual communities. In Susan C. Herring (Ed.), Computer –mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives (pp.109-128). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Wikipedia.org. “Electronic Mailing List.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_mailing_list#Types_of_mailing_lists
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Observing Yahoo Groups #5
I notice that since I have been observing this everyone has been discussing the same topics. The topic that has been going for the last few days is a posting that is titled "what is the deal with men?" This is driving me crazy reading the responses time after time. I find it annoying reading over 100 responses to the same question. I know that this is one of those topics that people usually have strong opinions about, but I wish they would jump to something new. While reading it, I noticed that the answers to the questions were similar to one another and then there were some that were off topic a bit. In my opinion, a question like this can go on forever because it is something that can never be answered.
The woman who posted it is complaining that all the men that she has had interaction with has been jerks. She has a negative outlook when it comes to men and she wants to know why they are the way they are. Like I said before there has been a lot of response to this, but one person told her that she needs to create her own forum so she can complain. I also felt that she was complaining, but I guess that would be the right place to do that. These forums are at your disposal and as long as you obey the rules of the community, you can use them anyway you want.
The woman who posted it is complaining that all the men that she has had interaction with has been jerks. She has a negative outlook when it comes to men and she wants to know why they are the way they are. Like I said before there has been a lot of response to this, but one person told her that she needs to create her own forum so she can complain. I also felt that she was complaining, but I guess that would be the right place to do that. These forums are at your disposal and as long as you obey the rules of the community, you can use them anyway you want.
Observing Yahoo Groups #4
I'm looking at my email right now and it is full of emails from my group. This is one of the annoying aspects of this. It can also be annoying because it makes it hard for me to keep up with everything. I have about 100 new emails from just a couple of hours ago. I guess this is also a good thing because that shows the high level of activity going on in the group. I notice that the same people are usually the ones giving advice. They are active in not just one question, but many others. I like this community they seem to respect one another and they seem to really care. Observing this interaction makes it seem as if a group of friends are conversing with one another. The members have a vested interest in the group and that is what will keep their community together.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Observing Yahoo Groups #3
Today, I admit, I was a bit excited to check my email. I am enjoying my experience with the email lists. I really enjoy it because you get to read some of the most random things that you will ever read in your life. The situations vary from person to person, but they usually fall within the range of "relationship problems." Occasionally, you will see an email that just says "HI, let's be friends" and that is quite annoying, but mostly it's serious. I am playing the role of observer, but some of the questions are so touching that I want to give advice.
One thing I read was about a woman whose husband completely ignores her. I felt really bad for her because according to what she said, she takes care of everything in their home. The only thing that he notices when it comes to her is if she is cheating on him or not. I think this is ridiculous and what makes it worse, they have children and he doesn't pay any attention to them. She is torn between staying with him or leaving because she is hoping that there is a chance things will get better. Reading this made me realize that there is a lot more to just being apart of one of these groups, it is real life.
One thing I read was about a woman whose husband completely ignores her. I felt really bad for her because according to what she said, she takes care of everything in their home. The only thing that he notices when it comes to her is if she is cheating on him or not. I think this is ridiculous and what makes it worse, they have children and he doesn't pay any attention to them. She is torn between staying with him or leaving because she is hoping that there is a chance things will get better. Reading this made me realize that there is a lot more to just being apart of one of these groups, it is real life.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Observing Yahoo Groups #2
So far, I'm having a good experience with my group. I was having a hard time navigating my way around it yesterday, but now I am a lot more comfortable using it. I find this experience quite exciting and interesting. What I love about this experiment I am exposed to so many different opinions and I feel like I am learning so much. The people that are apart of the group seem to be very interested in what is going on. The responses that I read to the questions were thoughtful and abundant. The members of the group seem to care about the other members and are willing to give the best advice they could. Since this is still the beginning I'm looking forward to new discoveries.
New Media and Web Production
Teazia Vincent
COM 430Z
The article that I read for today’s class is titled "New Media and Web Production" by Jason Whitaker. This article describes new media as “a catch-all term applied to the various components that constitute digital production, whether for the Web or other formats such as digital video" (57). This article sheds light on web production and how hypertext, audio and video, digital imagery and html are important components to this “new media.” Each one of these things mentioned has an important role in the development of the web. While reading this article, Whitaker describes to the reader how the importance of image has heightened since the invention of the computer and how issues of image manipulation can be a problem (62).
Image and text are two important components to the web. There are many different formats that are used, but the two most important are Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) and Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) (82). Although they are both image formats, they can be used differently. Text is obviously important because it allows people to communicate, but users are also able to communicate using images (82).
Reading this article introduced me to a lot of different elements of web production. One that interested me most was the layout of the webpage. According to Whitaker, “a web page can be extremely long or wide; in practice, users get bored after too much scrolling and it is generally better to include links to multiple pages" (84). It can be annoying having to scroll down a page for such a long time or having to scroll it from side to side. Whitaker notes that those are common problems if the layout i s bad. Web pages are easier for me when the information is in large print and easy to find. I think the creators of some web pages do not think of the audience. They do not create the page to fit into the browser and that can affect the amount of users visiting the page (84).
COM 430Z
The article that I read for today’s class is titled "New Media and Web Production" by Jason Whitaker. This article describes new media as “a catch-all term applied to the various components that constitute digital production, whether for the Web or other formats such as digital video" (57). This article sheds light on web production and how hypertext, audio and video, digital imagery and html are important components to this “new media.” Each one of these things mentioned has an important role in the development of the web. While reading this article, Whitaker describes to the reader how the importance of image has heightened since the invention of the computer and how issues of image manipulation can be a problem (62).
Image and text are two important components to the web. There are many different formats that are used, but the two most important are Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) and Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) (82). Although they are both image formats, they can be used differently. Text is obviously important because it allows people to communicate, but users are also able to communicate using images (82).
Reading this article introduced me to a lot of different elements of web production. One that interested me most was the layout of the webpage. According to Whitaker, “a web page can be extremely long or wide; in practice, users get bored after too much scrolling and it is generally better to include links to multiple pages" (84). It can be annoying having to scroll down a page for such a long time or having to scroll it from side to side. Whitaker notes that those are common problems if the layout i s bad. Web pages are easier for me when the information is in large print and easy to find. I think the creators of some web pages do not think of the audience. They do not create the page to fit into the browser and that can affect the amount of users visiting the page (84).
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