Final Entry

This project was a great experience!

I worked in a group which out of the whole three years I do not think I had worked with anyone except maybe Natalie. It was interesting and fun and we worked well together, we all had different qualities which helped to make the group a success. For example Natalie and Amy had previous experience using html and editing software, Nadia likes to write, Fahima liked looking at academic text and I loved researching and finding images.

Edgar Guest wrote: ' The greatest of workers this man would have been-tomorrow. The world would have known him, had he ever seen tomorrow. But the fact is he died and faded away from view, and all that he left here when living through, was a mountain of things he intended to do -tomorrow.' I am pleased that are group did not adopt this ' I will do it tomorrow' attitude and as a result we were able to have the group task finished 2 days early. This is an example of good communication and understanding. 

Some of us in the group had problems understanding Html and I have to admit in the beginning I was one of them. Before this class I had never done anything like this, but after a weekend at home fiddling about i soon began to get the grasp of the basics. My group has kept me on my toes by posting such high quality blogs, presentation and layout and it gave me the drive to want to maintain the  group standard. This standard I think is also reflected in our group Wiki, the pages have a continuity style and is quite simple it does not have to much going on which is a factor of a good web page.  

We have continually checked our group Wiki for mistakes and hopefully you should find none, as five people have been checking looking out for errors.

Some sections could be said to be  too long but we did try to edit it down to what we think is essential and so everything that is on the pages we feel needs to be read.  In terms of how it is written that is an area which I feel can always be improved.

My role within the group was to help find images which I felt would enhance certain pages, I also conducted research about 'MySpace' and 'FaceBook'. I always did my research and write up when i told the group I will do it as what I do or do not do when it comes to our group work effects more than just me.

Nine weeks ago when I started this project my perception about blogging and virtual communities was quite negative but through Howard Rheingold, Nigel and my group as we looked at positive aspects. I have become more optimistic.

If you check out our group project you will see Niasi Education a virtual class room set up for children who cannot attend school for various reasons. They educate youths  all the the way to A level.   You will also see how helpful it is for people who travel often to keep in touch with their love ones.

If i could change anything about the project it would be time as in terms of the technical side i would be able to be more hands on. I did my best visually and gave my opinion and described how i think it could be changed. My strength was giving ideas, sticking to deadlines and findig images.

We all worked hard and I hope it is reflected in the Wiki. 

Please view our project using FireFox if you can. Thanks!

No More Weeks!

I can not believe time has gone so quick. It is true time waits for no man, well in my case woman.

I am pleased to say our group project is almost finished! There is just one more section which needs to be completed. The last session we spent the time going through all the complete sections, we were checking for details such as whether everything was referenced properly and the images were suitable sizes and complemented the text.  The images really gives the pages character.
I have finally decided on my home page that I would put a picture up of Barbados. This is the view from my room where I stayed. In terms of reflection afterall this hard work I have put in I would like to reward myself by going to maybe St Lucia for the summer. 
I had to put the picture in from the LCC PC's as i was not able to upload pictures at home. It seems it is another Wiki problem according to Natalie, she Enlightened me I have a Mac Book and use the Safari browser she said that it does not allow you to upload pictures in Safari but it does if you use FireFox. I don't know because the blog entries allows me to upload images. I have kept the cell properties around the image white as I asked a few people how they thought it looked and the overall feedback was good. I did try it with the Blue background in the cell which the image has been inserted in but the white looked much bolder and complemented the text.
The links are also underlined as I have acknoldeged that most links are blue and underllined so I have used the line and added a tag. My name is not underlined so hopefully the difference would be distinguished.
Nigel your apology is accepted! It's not your fault but the force of nature : -).
Imagine poor little me was getting dragged left right and center by the wind. 

Reflection 1 week 2 go

Does time not fly? I can't believe 8weeks have gone! It has been challenging and i have learnt a lot of new things such as cell padding which allows you to move the font way from the edge.

Today in the lesson Natalie was transferring what i had written up on to the Wiki, i emailed it to her. I then searched Google for images to support the text after all images are just as important as the text. Once we found the images we thought carefully about where would be appropriate to insert the images. Progress is going very well for the group and i am very optimistic about us finishing on time despite the other work load we have. With all this workload that we have had this term planning has been the key to stayinng on top.

Reflection Wiki

I have decided to go with a dark blue background and so i will have white text so it is not harsh on the eyes. The text is broken up into each link being in an individual cell they are all the same length. I have decided to go with a simple layout i think it is more effective than having loads of things going on. After all as i stated earlier in my blogs, when looking at web pages the best where the easiest to navigate. I went on the internet to find the different html codes and made sure i used the American spelling 'color' when editing the Wiki.

Reflection 2 weeks 2 go

I have noticed I have written a lot of blogs, they are not long and that is because I have a short attention span and so i tend to go away quite often and do other things and then come back. I am glad that I have identified my way of working, so that i can complete the tasks to the best of my ability.

I also did the research and interview which I said I would do. I did not want to let my group down so i am staying on top but most importantly I would not like to let myself down.

Is the project on track? I think the project is on track everyone is doing their individual contributions to the task and all the pages of our group project is made and so it is just the contents which now need to be added.

On Mondays lesson I allowed everyone in my group to see what I had done and to see if they were happy and how I may be able to improve it. On the whole they were happy and I got constructive criticism from them. I will make the suggested adjustments.

Mike Wesch & Students

This video which Nigel found on You Tube does reflect our own class, a lot of the notes are thoughts and actions of many in the class. The signs that i can remember identified some students in our class. Just today mentioning no names I saw several doing other work that was not related to the lecture such as checking their facebook. These actions and habits seem so normal to a modern students life.

What do the US, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan......Have in common!

Censorship!!!!!!!!
Pakistan recently has banned Youtube.
Have a look at this

Freedom of speech?

"Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. It is one of the most precious of all rights."

Yet freedom of speech is not free for many across the world. Amnesty International is a charity which protests against persecution, false imprisonment and other cruel treatment that many people are facing around the world for freedom of speech.

The Internet is a tool which many people use to express how they feel, this could be political or emotional sometimes both. These feelings are expressed through blogs, forums and other means. Many people join virtual communities for escapism but due to censorship they have to still be careful of what they say.

Journalism needs business entrupernial skills

I agree with this! I think entrupernial skills are what everyone needs if they want to be successful. After i finish this degree I want to do some short courses in business the areas in particular, business law,bookeeping and forecasting. In this group project we are using entrupernial skills we are being innovative and organised.These amongst others are key skills which are needed for business but in life in general to stand out.
I am just thinking of freelance work and it is a route I am thinkinfg of taking, why?
Well i would like to have a steady income and so I would like to have a main job this is in order so I have capital to enable me to venture out in to some of my life time goals.

Face Book is loosing people

I was reading the London Lite on the train home from uni yesterday and there was an article by Mark Prigg.

It was looking at how Facebook has seen a 5% fall in visitors. Luke Peters of gadget magazine was cited in the article he had various comments as to why he felt people were deleting their accounts and others where just not signing up. '"i think people are just fed up with being bombarded by spam emails and being bitten by their friends Vampires or having dozens of requests every time they log on" he also said that it is a trend being seen in the UK with other social networks.

So all you facebook, myspace, bebo members are you getting bored of these social networks?

Reflection: Fiddling about

I am trying to see different things i can add to the page to represent me.

So i have added a video bar with Keyshia Cole songs, i think she is a great artist! Not the best singer but she puts her heart and soul into the songs she writes.

The reason for trying these things out is because i have a technology phobia and it just seems to get worst. I will do trial and error because as Nigel says if you get it wrong how many people die? Well the answer is none so what is the worse that can happen.

Telegraph & Protecting on line

I told you i do not just read the Sun. Nigel spoke to us in class about ways to protect ourselves and computers on line. Today 21/2/08. The Telegraph online had some information on this topic.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/02/21/dlface121.xml

You can visit and check out some information. They also had an article by Nicole Martin the Digital and Media Correspondent for The Telegraph, who was looking at the risk that members of social networks such as FaceBook has to identity fraud.

Refelction: 3 weeks 2 go

The clock is ticking.

1st Thing i will not panic, as that will not help.

What we have done so far?

Well Natalie has looked at Deviant Art which is the largest art community in the world! It was founded in 2000. it is a community which allows communication between artist and fans. You can check them out on www.deviantart.com or you can check are group project to find out more.

Our project outline is :

I will be analysing Myspace and Facebook, looking at how people utilise them.

Fahima will be looking at: What are virtual Communities? & How we Use the internet and virtual communities.

Natalie will look further into Deviant and Niasi.

Nadia is going to conduct an interview with someone who actually uses these communities for professional purposes.

Amy is going to look at RadioTalent which is set up to allow people to market themselves.

Google hits for my name

I got 23 hits for my name. My name is quite unique i am impress. I was one of them for our Nafa Virtual Community work. The work we will produce will be of high quality and so if any employers want to check be out only good things should be found. There are two Annalise Adams on Face book neither of them are me. My friend Tanya Nicole i manged to find her she was third on the hit list, her myspace account. The first 2 was about a girl who got abducted.

192.com

This site gives quite a lot of information away! My house number is suppose to be exdirectory so why does it still give away so much information? If you are registered to 192 you are able to see pictures of peoples house. Amy found her adress via google. Wow. All i can say is to be nice does not cost anyrhing neither is it hard. So be nice because people have a lot of access to information about you

Names and people

Well there was Elnaz Man this could be Naz's cousin! She is a Yale graduate. I am amazed at how many people around the world has the same name. Is my name unique? I usually get told about Annalise from neigbours, but i have you know i was born before she was introduced in the programme. Hahah Natalie is a porn star at night and a hairdresser by day! Now i know what she does in her spare time. Only joking! Abeer's name was linked to a terroist, she is lovely and that is not something i would think of or associate with her.

b4 i forget

Target blank is a code to open up the link in a new window

Reflection: 4 weeks 2 go

I can not believe 5 weeks have gone. Time waits for no-one. Good thing is i am still excited about the course and feel i have a good group. We communicate well and are always in class, so thats a bonus, dedication is the key to success.
last week we all went of and was quite confident and set about our ideas in terms of content to move on. However we are adopting a optimistic attitude and want to look at virtual community's from a positive perspective. Here i go talking about the greatness of my group again. I suggested the idea marketing and from there my group just ran with ideas and so everyones got work to do. I will interview Amy Winehouse's backing Singer Heshima to see how he uses virtual communities to market himself.

I know what you did last ?????

On Tuesday 15th January 2008, there was an article on BBC news by Jon Stuart called Researchers Plunder Social Networks. This article was looking at Facebook and how many sociologists are analysing peoples social groups and how they form friends. This site may interst you it is a video called: Does What Happen in the Face Book Stay In the Face Book?(http://www.albumooftheday.com/facebook
It is amazing how many people say they use facebook to maintain friendships and it is for network purposes but they do not set there profile to private. They may as well just make a real life documentary of their lives. After all if i was really sad i could track a lot of peoples movements. Call me cynical but i am not going to make my self available to stalkers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7174814.stm

Facecrook

Fouad Mourtada, 26, was arrested in Morocco accused of stealing the King's brother's identity on website Facebook. This case was in the Sun on Saturday 9th Feb pg.19.

Why would you want to do that?

You guys must think i i do not read broadsheet papers i do believe me

How long will face book last?

In one of my entries are asked that question.
Thank You Nigel!
You can have a read if you like.

Basically according to Martin Weller, face book is like a 'holiday romance' and he thinks this is the last year.
His reasons are: "I think you can find logical reasons why you're divesting yourself of it - privacy. beacon,spam/bacn"

So is twitter going to be the new in thing?

let me know if i am wrong but does that not give away more of your personal information than facebook?

Well it is mine

This blog is mine! By me blogging you are starting to create your assumptions of me.
so i thought i need to take pride in this!
I am continually thinking of ways i can present my home page and i was thinking i need to reflect me in some way, i was thinking maybe i should have my home page in the Jamaican colours? what do you think? My parents are Jamaican and i love that place! Ever being there before? You should go there!
Bet you were wondering why that picture was there. Thats Jamaica! Oh how i wish i was there now. :-)

Beyond Face Book

I am glad in class we got it cleared up that a social network is beyond Face Book.

People are getting so wrapped up in the Face Book world that they think it is the 'only' social network. They are forgetting that within are class we have social networks.

I know at the moment and i have not got face book and i am not short of a social network.

Anyway i wonder how long face book will last. Do you have any ideas before it dies out like the rest?

Do you remember any social networks that were once here but now gone?

What i think about the Guardian Article

Social Networking Sites Don't Deepen Friendhips By James Randerson

I agreed with this article for many reasons, i do not use bebo,face book and myspace although it seems like the whole world does.
I have admitted on numerous occasions that i am thinking of joining these social networks to get back in touch with people form nursery, primary school etc. Basically people who i see once in a blue moon so to speak.

But the real question is do i have time, i do not want to be addicted

From a research that was undertaken for the article it said " A person's conventional friendship group consisits of around 150 people, with five very close friends but larger numbers of people who we keep in touch with less regularly"

I agree with this when i think i am only 20 years old and if i look back at all the friends i have made along my life time and still have many more to meet.

Here comes the reflective part lol:

I love them all they have all been important in moulding who i am today. We all make sure we speak to each other Xmas, Newyears, Birthdays, Christenings......etc. You get the drift. But not everyday

The people i speak to almost everyday i can count on one hand! lol

That don't mean i don't love the ones i don't speak to everyday!

If any of you are reading this i love you

Holla at your girl

3D poker

Ladbrokes has now introduced a online 3D poker service. It says " 3D poker offers mind-blowing graphics which will transport you to the poker room with thousands of other players, without leaving your own home" This idea of never having to leave your own home is becoming an increasingly popular for consumers. No wonder many Britons are becoming obese, when everything is at the click of a finger.

Just can't get enough of social networks

In the sun on Saturday, February 2, 2008 on page.19 there was a small article called Inter- Netted it said:
" A sales woman was sacked for chatting to friends on the internet after her boss used a webcam to spy on her. John Harris set up the "spycam" after he suspected Gemma Walker,23, was using a banned messaging system to talk to pals instead of serving customers at the Get Connected phone shop in Tonypandy, South Wales.

This article opens up many debates, Britain has the most survillence in the world. We have cameras every. Foucault talked a lot about surveillance.

Bad Web Page

Well we know what a Good Web Page consists of!

Soooooo i guess a bad web page would be one that is not easy to navigate,either not enough pictures or a picture over load.

They would have not thought about their target audience and therfore their tone of writing would not suit there audiences purpose.

Good Web Page

What makes a good web page?



Well i think the layout is a key factor, not everyone in the world can be computer wizzards! i certainly am not one.

This leads me to my next point which is simplicity.

Basically treat a website like a magazine: A good magazine, the layout is easy to follow, the contents suits it's intended audience,the images anchor the text.

Web sites are visul resources as much as it is a text resource. So a balance of text and visual aids is important.

Tp show that you are passionate about your product, your web page a vistor likes to see that it is updated regularly after all information is for ever changing.

Read over what you have written, proof reading is key before you publish something. Typos are not good!
Your virtual friends want to see that you have put time and effort in down to the last and final details.

Sony ps3

Sony is targeting the virtual community within their own social network.

Howard Rheingold

Well i did say i will look at Howard Rheingold. Guess what he is a cancer like me :-).
He was born July 7th 1947.

Whole Earth Lectronic Link (Well) is one of the oldest virtual communites and Rheingold use to access it. This was one of his influences to write The Virtual Community.

Looking at his book i have come across MUD which stands for Multi-User Dungeons and so i a looking into it so i can bring and present some of the ideas to my group.

Virtual Commuity

Good start!

As a group we have all decided that we are happy to look at Virtual communitites.

So what do i know so far about virtual communities?

Well it is a big and contraversial topic, that is a start! So as a group i propose that we focus on a certain aspect or split the areas in which we research up. We still would not be able to cover everything.

Virtual Communiity can also be called e-comerce or online community, this is because unlike earlier non face to face communication was done via letters and phone calls. Now it is mostly done online via text based or joining forums. virtual places like my space, facebook and msn.

The idea of community takes a new meaning it know longer just means local like your neigbours it is global. You can interact with people all around the world with similar interests as you.

Wow!

Researching the term Virtual Community has directed me to Howard Rheingold who actually wrote a book called Virtual Community in 1993 so i am going to check him out.

I will get back to you soon on him!

My Group

Well of course moi!!!!!!!!!!
Natalie
Fahima
Amy
Nadia

Reflection

The act of reflection was explored by Donald Schon.

Donald who???

My loyal google helped me out........

Donald Alan Schon was born in the 1930's in Boston. He died in 1997. He had a degree, masters and doctor in philosophy.

So what i have taken or what i believe his ideas on reflection is to:

Plan(This is deciding the purpose of your work)
Research ( Finding and understanding the need of your task, the limits.)
Act( Comment on your work, critically look at what you have done)
Observe( Take a step back and think how could i improve this)

In one word EVALUATE!

If you want to know more about him Wikipedia is always helpful or http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm. You even get to see what he looks like.

The Project

For the project we have a choice of 3 topics.

These are: Virtual Communitites, Identity Online And Resources & Activites.

In some way these topics all interlink, i have been drawn to Virtual Communities and Identity Online more though.

I have to admit i do not ave facebok and all these virtual communites i am just getting into the habit of using msn. I am shocked how much people use these things and i am slowly shifting to set up one myself.

My problem with this is the deception of how people percive themselves online, but my friends have assured me that i can have privacy settings, bcause i do not want anybody being able to view my personal pictures.

Recently on Paneroma they where having a look at these virtual communites and exploring how padeophiles are changing there identity to target younger girls, with every technology there are pros and cons. So my advice is just to be cautious as it is nice to be able to keep in contact with friends and family across the world, it is a cheap and user friendly alternative, it is nice to see up to date pictures of the ones you love. It is also good to reunite with people so i thnk it has one me over.

Long day but finally home

i have just got home from uni.

I promised myself that i will stay on the ball! Afterall it is the last few months before it is all over. wow these three years have gone quick.

My intial reaction was: brain overload......... technical........ahhhhhh.

I was actually quite suprised how user friendly this wiki is, so having found that out and getting past the nerves i am actually looking foward to this project.

I love learning and already i now can say i confidently know the difference between the internet and world wide web.

Anyways i will not ramble on as i am going to research some things for the possible project focus

Wot about 08?

You must be thinking what is my fascination with 08, well i am optimistic for this year and life in general. Soooooooooooooo i do not do new years resoultutions. Y? no need i try 2 take every experience as a learning curve good or bad and evaluate it then. Who's got time 2 wait a whole year.