I suppose to begin with the question is what is Web 2.0? There are plenty of technical definitions and some will say there is even a stylistic definition. As explained by Tim O'Rielly, Dale Dougherty originally coined the term in 2004 as part of a conference brainstorming session. Now as a concept, Web 2.0 has been with us for somewhere near 4 years, personally I like O'Rielly's compact definition of Web 2.0, it's concise and sums up all the aspects of Web 2.0.
For me the web is like a Swiss army knife, it has so many practical uses from social media to knowledge retrieval, self publishing but above all communication. But the internet has always allowed that I hear you say, what is it then that differentiates the early days of the internet to that of now?
Blogs, micro blogging, social media, web apps, cloud computing, crowd sourcing, mashups, Ajax, wiki's.
For one it's the concept of user contributed content and the ease of contribution. The web has gone from a place where to have website takes special knowledge and content is presented in a single direction manner primarily to hock a product, to a place where we communicate and share ideas. Many websites and web applications now allow us to contribute and add to the content they provide. Not only that they can also allow us to take their output or data, to integrate into our own sites or even create entirely new concepts and applications.
No more is this difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 highlighted than in this task of comparing the social book marking site Delicious and a static HTML page of links. The latter of these two fits well into the concept of Web 1.0: Static information presented on a page with no further interaction or contribution from the user. Delicious on the other hand is a dynamic database driven, user contributed, social bookmarking site. Here users can bookmark sites, adding comments and tags (folksonony) to their bookmarks, then share their lists of sites with other users.
This user contribution and communication. This creation and sharing of knowledge epitomises what is Web 2.0 to me. The more I explore these avenues the more I find how the web is changing the worlds we live in.
So I suppose now the question is not what is Web 2.0, but what will Web 3.0 bring us?
What do you think?
Friday, January 9, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
It's All About The Comments Baby
On a little ramble through the interwebs I came across this great article about the possible future of comments on blogs. For me, a big part of the appeal with blogging, is the interactive nature of comments. Of course then I found this recent attempt to improve the nature of comments very intriguing.
Does it stop there though? Oh no! In true form I ended up clicking through further and discovered some further interesting ways of managing my blogs comments. InstenseDebate and Discus are third party providers of commenting systems that offer a comprehensive means of managing your blogs comments.
So in the spirit of independent learning, I have gone and added Discus to my blog, and now I eagerly await new comments to see how my shiny new system works.
Care to help me with my learning? :)
Does it stop there though? Oh no! In true form I ended up clicking through further and discovered some further interesting ways of managing my blogs comments. InstenseDebate and Discus are third party providers of commenting systems that offer a comprehensive means of managing your blogs comments.
So in the spirit of independent learning, I have gone and added Discus to my blog, and now I eagerly await new comments to see how my shiny new system works.
Care to help me with my learning? :)
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Module 3 - Blogs
What can I say about blogs? Before Net11 I had tried my hand at writing a blog but failed miserably. Now though through "forced blogging" and my learning log for Nett11 I am having a ball!
Blogging is something which I am finding is allowing me to express concepts and ideas to more than just myself or partner or lecturer. By blogging through this unit I am sharing my thoughts with an audience of billions (ok, ok, potentially. Maybe). This instant act of self publication is gratifying and I can now see why blogging has taken the internet like a wildfire.
Now blogging it seems is part of the mainstream. The humble blog is now one of the preferred methods to disseminate information on the internet. From personal opinion to news to political commentary, celebrity gossip, ground breaking technology or reviews of all types; the blogosphere has it all. And it's still growing.
To see how much the blogosphere is growing, check out Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2008 report; the report presents some really interesting stats regarding blogs and their growth worldwide. Compiled and published since 2004 Technorati has tracked the massive growth and interest in blogging and is considered one of the key authorities in the blogosphere. In fact through Technorati you can find the top 100 blogs in the world. Of course if you want to find out the top 100 Aussie blogs (and no I'm not in it) I would suggest Blogpond as a good starting point.
Not only is blogging a great opportunity to self publish, the idea of starting conversations through comments and the further development of your ideas through this interaction is one of the most powerful aspects of blogging. I love the thrill of the comment and the possible further avenues a readers opinions or thoughts can take my own. It is this social interaction, act of communication I find so powerful. A recent Australian study has also found that this blogging and commenting process can help lead to a more fulfilling social life both online and face to face.
Have I developed a greater understanding of blogs since post number one? I know I have definitely gained a greater understanding of the compulsion to blog. I also now truly realise the power that a blog holds. In fact the mere fact that we are using blogs as part of our course work and for relective processes within our learning is simply amazing.
So it's probably obvious then that my thoughts have changed, how have yours changed over the last five weeks?
Blogging is something which I am finding is allowing me to express concepts and ideas to more than just myself or partner or lecturer. By blogging through this unit I am sharing my thoughts with an audience of billions (ok, ok, potentially. Maybe). This instant act of self publication is gratifying and I can now see why blogging has taken the internet like a wildfire.
Now blogging it seems is part of the mainstream. The humble blog is now one of the preferred methods to disseminate information on the internet. From personal opinion to news to political commentary, celebrity gossip, ground breaking technology or reviews of all types; the blogosphere has it all. And it's still growing.
To see how much the blogosphere is growing, check out Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2008 report; the report presents some really interesting stats regarding blogs and their growth worldwide. Compiled and published since 2004 Technorati has tracked the massive growth and interest in blogging and is considered one of the key authorities in the blogosphere. In fact through Technorati you can find the top 100 blogs in the world. Of course if you want to find out the top 100 Aussie blogs (and no I'm not in it) I would suggest Blogpond as a good starting point.
Not only is blogging a great opportunity to self publish, the idea of starting conversations through comments and the further development of your ideas through this interaction is one of the most powerful aspects of blogging. I love the thrill of the comment and the possible further avenues a readers opinions or thoughts can take my own. It is this social interaction, act of communication I find so powerful. A recent Australian study has also found that this blogging and commenting process can help lead to a more fulfilling social life both online and face to face.
Have I developed a greater understanding of blogs since post number one? I know I have definitely gained a greater understanding of the compulsion to blog. I also now truly realise the power that a blog holds. In fact the mere fact that we are using blogs as part of our course work and for relective processes within our learning is simply amazing.
So it's probably obvious then that my thoughts have changed, how have yours changed over the last five weeks?
Net11 Reflections Week Five
Well week five as come and gone just like 2008, and like 2008, week five offered me lots of exciting new opportunities and a few challenges on how I look at things.
Last week saw me finishing up module two and starting to tackle module three, Contributing to the Infosphere, and in particular how we write on the internet. Jamming all this in around work commitments (yes I still worked over the Christmas new year period) and social commitments, has proved a challenge albeit a rewarding challenge.
In fact it has been this time hungry schedule which has caused me to stop and reflect on a few discussions I have had with fellow students over the previous weeks, plus a comment Peter Fletcher made refering to Barry Wellman's paper "Connecting Community: On- and Off-line". Simply put Wellmen posits that technology, online communities, communication on the internet allows us more face to face time of greater quality with our friends and family.
As a result I have begun to take notice of the quantity and quality of the face to face social interaction I have with my friends. Through this self appraisal I have found myself in agreement with Peter's comments and Wellman's paper. I am beginning to see how keeping up to date with my friends via social networks and technology is allowing me to have deeper personal conversations with them. My partner also pointed out how she is able to keep up to date with those friends she is not so close and doesn't see as frequently and as a result those friendships are far stronger.
This it seems is not a random phenomena linked only to myself. Recent studies have also shown that social networking and technology can indeed benefit real life skills, even the business world is starting to realise the benefits of customer interaction through online social networks and media. I think that we are now only starting to see the beginning of how technology, internet communication and particularly social networks can change our world.
Last week saw me finishing up module two and starting to tackle module three, Contributing to the Infosphere, and in particular how we write on the internet. Jamming all this in around work commitments (yes I still worked over the Christmas new year period) and social commitments, has proved a challenge albeit a rewarding challenge.
In fact it has been this time hungry schedule which has caused me to stop and reflect on a few discussions I have had with fellow students over the previous weeks, plus a comment Peter Fletcher made refering to Barry Wellman's paper "Connecting Community: On- and Off-line". Simply put Wellmen posits that technology, online communities, communication on the internet allows us more face to face time of greater quality with our friends and family.
As a result I have begun to take notice of the quantity and quality of the face to face social interaction I have with my friends. Through this self appraisal I have found myself in agreement with Peter's comments and Wellman's paper. I am beginning to see how keeping up to date with my friends via social networks and technology is allowing me to have deeper personal conversations with them. My partner also pointed out how she is able to keep up to date with those friends she is not so close and doesn't see as frequently and as a result those friendships are far stronger.
This it seems is not a random phenomena linked only to myself. Recent studies have also shown that social networking and technology can indeed benefit real life skills, even the business world is starting to realise the benefits of customer interaction through online social networks and media. I think that we are now only starting to see the beginning of how technology, internet communication and particularly social networks can change our world.
Time Is On My Side, Yes It Is
Ha! Yeah, no.
It's 12:24am Wednesday morning and I have just spent the evening catching up on some really great blogs from fellow students and reading a few posts on WebCT. Oh, and I got to finish off a post which I started a couple of days ago.
It's nearly mid week of Week Six! It may have been on Mick's side, but time definitely does not seem to be on mine :/
It's 12:24am Wednesday morning and I have just spent the evening catching up on some really great blogs from fellow students and reading a few posts on WebCT. Oh, and I got to finish off a post which I started a couple of days ago.
It's nearly mid week of Week Six! It may have been on Mick's side, but time definitely does not seem to be on mine :/
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Module 3 - Copyright
First of all let me get this out of the way. I used the OUA and Curtin logos on my HTML page. In hindsight, and after a fair bit of research and reading of both the Curtin Copyright Policy and Proceedure and the Curtin Logo Use Proceedure, I have come to the conclusion that I have indeed breached Copyright.
Bugger.
Copyright and Intellectual Property is such a complex and touchy subject. There are so many differing points of view held by so many different people with so many different things at stake, it's hard to find a middle ground, or so it seems with the debate that is constantly going on.
I found it interesting to read the Copyright Website and Curtin's own excellent Copyright at Curtin page. Both gave a good balanced view of what Copyright is and how it is applied with some good guidelines and practical scenarios. A little further reading on the sites also gave me some interesting information about Fair Use, particularly around study which will be very useful indeed. Though all this reading material was good, I was a disappointed the course material didn't contain any reference to Creative Commons as a Copyright instrument.
Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation which publish the Creative Commons License. Originally inspired by the GNU GPL, this license works in tandem with traditional Copyright, the difference is with Creative Commons you have much greater flexibility. In that you can change your Copyright from All Rights Reserved to Some Rights Reserved and the like.
In my mind Creative Commons is the way of the future when it comes to online Copyright, or Copyright of any nature for that matter. I feel that initiatives such as this, and the Open Source software culture, will eventually change the way people look at Copyright and IP in general.
Bugger.
Copyright and Intellectual Property is such a complex and touchy subject. There are so many differing points of view held by so many different people with so many different things at stake, it's hard to find a middle ground, or so it seems with the debate that is constantly going on.
I found it interesting to read the Copyright Website and Curtin's own excellent Copyright at Curtin page. Both gave a good balanced view of what Copyright is and how it is applied with some good guidelines and practical scenarios. A little further reading on the sites also gave me some interesting information about Fair Use, particularly around study which will be very useful indeed. Though all this reading material was good, I was a disappointed the course material didn't contain any reference to Creative Commons as a Copyright instrument.
Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation which publish the Creative Commons License. Originally inspired by the GNU GPL, this license works in tandem with traditional Copyright, the difference is with Creative Commons you have much greater flexibility. In that you can change your Copyright from All Rights Reserved to Some Rights Reserved and the like.
In my mind Creative Commons is the way of the future when it comes to online Copyright, or Copyright of any nature for that matter. I feel that initiatives such as this, and the Open Source software culture, will eventually change the way people look at Copyright and IP in general.
Module 3 - WWW Standards
This current module regarding WWW Standards and usability has thrown up some very interesting reading courtesy of Jakob Nielsen and ultimately raised a few more questions for me.
As tasked, I read through through a large chunk of the related material on Nielsen's website Useit.com and also went trawling through the other recommended readings at Dennis Jerz's site and a good piece at Web Style Guide. While there were a few discrepancies between sites, all concurred on what could be described as the principals for writing on the web. I found that these principles could be broken down into the following points.
* Write scanable text - Use highlighted keywords, bulleted text and meaningful sub-headings.
* Reduce the word count - Reduce the overall words used in your writing.
* One idea per paragraph - Keep your paragraphs simple.
* Use simple langauge - Avoid marketese, write for a broad audience.
* Utilise an inverted pyramid writing style - Conclusion first and then expand from there.
I found Nielsen to come for the internet marketers angle. While I believe his theories and studies still hold some weight, his approach is to that of the conversion of readers and visitors to your site into sales of your product. The question which I feel this raises is: Are these approaches applicable to Web 2.0 social internet, blogs or opinion pieces? Does all web content need to be broken down and made scanable to be successful? If so, I think the web would be a much duller place to visit. Fellow Net11 student Kieth makes some interesting further observations about this point in his own blog.
So yes there are times where having the information scanable is pertinent, and I have taken away some very good tips on making my own writing more readable for the net. Yet still I find that if I have found an interesting and well written piece, it will engage me regardless of if it's chunked down with bullet lists and concise headings. The net is a constant and changing place. Making it more usable is not a bad thing, but at the sake of content, opinion, thought, interaction. That's not the internet I want to experience.
What about you, what kind of internet do you want to experience?
As tasked, I read through through a large chunk of the related material on Nielsen's website Useit.com and also went trawling through the other recommended readings at Dennis Jerz's site and a good piece at Web Style Guide. While there were a few discrepancies between sites, all concurred on what could be described as the principals for writing on the web. I found that these principles could be broken down into the following points.
* Write scanable text - Use highlighted keywords, bulleted text and meaningful sub-headings.
* Reduce the word count - Reduce the overall words used in your writing.
* One idea per paragraph - Keep your paragraphs simple.
* Use simple langauge - Avoid marketese, write for a broad audience.
* Utilise an inverted pyramid writing style - Conclusion first and then expand from there.
I found Nielsen to come for the internet marketers angle. While I believe his theories and studies still hold some weight, his approach is to that of the conversion of readers and visitors to your site into sales of your product. The question which I feel this raises is: Are these approaches applicable to Web 2.0 social internet, blogs or opinion pieces? Does all web content need to be broken down and made scanable to be successful? If so, I think the web would be a much duller place to visit. Fellow Net11 student Kieth makes some interesting further observations about this point in his own blog.
So yes there are times where having the information scanable is pertinent, and I have taken away some very good tips on making my own writing more readable for the net. Yet still I find that if I have found an interesting and well written piece, it will engage me regardless of if it's chunked down with bullet lists and concise headings. The net is a constant and changing place. Making it more usable is not a bad thing, but at the sake of content, opinion, thought, interaction. That's not the internet I want to experience.
What about you, what kind of internet do you want to experience?
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Module 2 - ICQ Group Chat
Tonight I completed a group chat with a number of fellow Net11 students using ICQ. It was a great chat and I found it interesting catching up with a number of students at once in a real-time environment. We were able to further learn about one another and how we are traveling with our study while discussing a few concepts which have recently come up.
A Small Downside
The one thing with large chat groups is the madness trying to keep up with the different conversations, one student described it as being in a room full of people all trying to talk at once. If one is not a proficient touch typist, keeping up with various side conversations can be trying. If you are like me you loose track while taking your eyes away from the screen to tap out your reply.
All up this was a great task which I feel yielded great results for all involved. I believe this may well become a regular session each week as the the unit continues (Tess has set up a Net11 ICQ group to help facilitate this). If so this will offer us a further avenue to share thoughts and ideas as we progress.
A Small Downside
The one thing with large chat groups is the madness trying to keep up with the different conversations, one student described it as being in a room full of people all trying to talk at once. If one is not a proficient touch typist, keeping up with various side conversations can be trying. If you are like me you loose track while taking your eyes away from the screen to tap out your reply.
All up this was a great task which I feel yielded great results for all involved. I believe this may well become a regular session each week as the the unit continues (Tess has set up a Net11 ICQ group to help facilitate this). If so this will offer us a further avenue to share thoughts and ideas as we progress.
Module 3 - HTML Task
For me this was a fun task. I love HTML! :)
I have been dealing with HTML for many years now and I just really love building things with HTML. I wouldn't say I am completely proficient with HTML and I'm definitely no coding pro but the sense of achievement I get from building a page is very real. In fact one of the reasons I decided to return to study was to get a qualification and better organise my knowledge in a more formal manner.
When I first started dabbling with the internet and HTML, tables and images was the way to build a page and all the presentation was done in HTML. Over the years though this has changed, and HTML has become the simple building block for information on the web, the framework of the page if you will.
Now we have separation of structure and presentation through the use of HTML for structure and CSS for presentation. Hopefully as more and more developers embrace this and other web standards, hopefully we will have less browser cross compatibility issues as outlined in fellow Net11 student Brown Boy's blog entry: Module 3 - HTML and Standards.
Of course knowing these underlying frameworks is not needed for successful communication if you plan to use a cookie cutter blog sewrvice such as Blogger. Though if you plan to run your own software or customise your blog by sprucing up your current template, then it is essential that you build an understanding of these coding langauges.
I have been dealing with HTML for many years now and I just really love building things with HTML. I wouldn't say I am completely proficient with HTML and I'm definitely no coding pro but the sense of achievement I get from building a page is very real. In fact one of the reasons I decided to return to study was to get a qualification and better organise my knowledge in a more formal manner.When I first started dabbling with the internet and HTML, tables and images was the way to build a page and all the presentation was done in HTML. Over the years though this has changed, and HTML has become the simple building block for information on the web, the framework of the page if you will.
Now we have separation of structure and presentation through the use of HTML for structure and CSS for presentation. Hopefully as more and more developers embrace this and other web standards, hopefully we will have less browser cross compatibility issues as outlined in fellow Net11 student Brown Boy's blog entry: Module 3 - HTML and Standards.
Of course knowing these underlying frameworks is not needed for successful communication if you plan to use a cookie cutter blog sewrvice such as Blogger. Though if you plan to run your own software or customise your blog by sprucing up your current template, then it is essential that you build an understanding of these coding langauges.
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