Check out my Flickr Account. My username is Gool451.
I uploaded some pictures from my semester abroad during my Junior year. This is my first time using flickr. I dont think its anything special; I usually upload my pictures for my friends to see via Facebook. It does however, connect a much larger group of people.
Like the Google Image Labeler, I found it interesting that you could put keywords under the Tag option of your own photo, as well as adding comments on other user's photos.
Its all part of the Folksonomic Revolution...
from Wikipedia:
Folksonomy (also known as collaborative tagging , social classification, social indexing, social tagging, and other names) is the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content. In contrast to traditional subject indexing, metadata is not only generated by experts but also by creators and consumers of the content. Usually, freely chosen keywords are used instead of a controlled vocabulary.[1]
collaboration and group work are always stressed in academics, but now we see it reaching into all other spheres of life. I think its awesome. Every person can add their own personal touch, and every person has that extra bit of information to add, that we may not have had otherwise.
I remember after the Virginia Tech Massacre, news programs were actually getting their information on updates from Wikipedia. Wikipedia was the fastest site of having new facts and updates about the topic. Its incredible how these forms of sharing have become so widespread and popular. I wonder if wikipedia is just a fad, or it it will continue to gain popularity and credibility in the coming years.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
My Wikipedia Entry
Last night I created a very new Wikipedia entry for Cosmic Cantina. Check it out at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Cantina
First I had an entry up about the Belmont Apartments, where I live here in Durham. I described the the apartments and facilities, the address, and other random facts. It stayed up for about five minutes! Someone deleted it because of its lack of significance in an encyclopedia. It was really disappointing to see it go away, because I felt very attached to my new creation and addition to this gargantuac folksonomic site.
I spent a little more time on my Cosmic Cantina entry, even using code to put the "history" title in and the "references." it looks pretty legit if I don't say so myself.
This exercise was pretty hard because everything I wanted to post was already up there, and I couldn't think of anything to add. Its amazing how many people edit and look at pages every second.
I didn't have any struggles about putting myself out there in this way, or on the validity of my post. Anything that a user puts up as a joke or as false information seems to be immediately deleted. In this way, there does seem to be some control on the validity of wikipedia posts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Cantina
First I had an entry up about the Belmont Apartments, where I live here in Durham. I described the the apartments and facilities, the address, and other random facts. It stayed up for about five minutes! Someone deleted it because of its lack of significance in an encyclopedia. It was really disappointing to see it go away, because I felt very attached to my new creation and addition to this gargantuac folksonomic site.
I spent a little more time on my Cosmic Cantina entry, even using code to put the "history" title in and the "references." it looks pretty legit if I don't say so myself.
This exercise was pretty hard because everything I wanted to post was already up there, and I couldn't think of anything to add. Its amazing how many people edit and look at pages every second.
I didn't have any struggles about putting myself out there in this way, or on the validity of my post. Anything that a user puts up as a joke or as false information seems to be immediately deleted. In this way, there does seem to be some control on the validity of wikipedia posts.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
"The Internet Goes to College"
Its true. Us college kids rely on our computers more than anything else. To communicate with our friends, our classmates, our teachers, and even our parents, the internet provides a speedy way to send and get the information we need.
The Article "The Internet Goes to College" from the Pew Internet and American Life Project didnt bring many surprises. For instance, it didnt shock me at all that 86% of college students have gone online, compared with the 59% of the general population.
I know that I depend on the internet to get in touch with friends, to contact my professors, and to submit assignments. But I also (and more frequently) use the internet in my spair time. In fact, if you walk into any dormroom on Duke's campus, you're most likely going to find someone on their computer.
We download and listen to music on itunes. We make fun of outrageous videos on youtube. We look up crazy facts on wikipedia. We friend eachother on facebook. We look at photoalbums. Now we even watch tv shows and movies in streaming HD.
And now, (if we can afford it) we can do any of this on a little handheld device and bring it anywhere we go.
With everything this easy, its no question why college kids demand more than our parents' generation. Diana Oblinger writes in her article "Boomers & Gen-Xers Millenials:Understanding the New Students" that "for today's learners, customer service is an expectation, not an exception." If our internet is going slow, we become outraged. If we dont get a response to our emails, we wonder what is wrong with the other person. If we order something online and it doesn't come in time, we refuse to shop there again. In short, we've become so used to speed, accessability, and customer service, that when we don't get exactly what we want we become enraged.
We all know that our grandparents 'hiked up hill in the snow everyday to get to school." In our age, we dont even have to leave the house. If we wanted, we could do all our learning in our pajamas on the couch, with our laptops purched on our laps.
The Article "The Internet Goes to College" from the Pew Internet and American Life Project didnt bring many surprises. For instance, it didnt shock me at all that 86% of college students have gone online, compared with the 59% of the general population.
I know that I depend on the internet to get in touch with friends, to contact my professors, and to submit assignments. But I also (and more frequently) use the internet in my spair time. In fact, if you walk into any dormroom on Duke's campus, you're most likely going to find someone on their computer.
We download and listen to music on itunes. We make fun of outrageous videos on youtube. We look up crazy facts on wikipedia. We friend eachother on facebook. We look at photoalbums. Now we even watch tv shows and movies in streaming HD.
And now, (if we can afford it) we can do any of this on a little handheld device and bring it anywhere we go.
With everything this easy, its no question why college kids demand more than our parents' generation. Diana Oblinger writes in her article "Boomers & Gen-Xers Millenials:Understanding the New Students" that "for today's learners, customer service is an expectation, not an exception." If our internet is going slow, we become outraged. If we dont get a response to our emails, we wonder what is wrong with the other person. If we order something online and it doesn't come in time, we refuse to shop there again. In short, we've become so used to speed, accessability, and customer service, that when we don't get exactly what we want we become enraged.
We all know that our grandparents 'hiked up hill in the snow everyday to get to school." In our age, we dont even have to leave the house. If we wanted, we could do all our learning in our pajamas on the couch, with our laptops purched on our laps.
ISIS 240 Class Readings
I didn't know what Web 2.0 meant till I read Mary Madden's article "Riding the Waves of Web 2.0" It turns out that Web 2.0 is a "conceptual umbrella" that forms the "participatory Web as we know it today" (blogs, wikis, social networking). In a sense, Web 2.0 is the array of multimedia available at our finger tips when we turn on our laptops. For instance, if I wanted to, I could write my own song using apple's "garage band" feature, and put it on youtube, for all of my fans to listen to. Or maybe I'd make a movie using imovie. I could join an online dating service like eharmony, find people in my geographical network on Facebook, or create my very own website to display my artwork.
Madden writes that that wikipedia is one of the poster children for Web 2.0. "The wikipedia entry on web 2.0 is, of course, one of the richest sources of information on the term. MSN's free online version of the Encarta Encyclopedia, in comparisoon, doesn't yet have a web 2.0."
So what do you think? is wikipedia legit? I certainly use it very, VERY often. Anytime i want to know more about some obscure fact, i simply type it into wikipedia. Maybe I want to know the biography of a famous actor, the history of cheddar cheese, or the population of Japan. I find what i want in a matter of seconds. Perhaps my blind trust in this encyclopedia created by users like myself is part of my generation. I think college students use the internet with more confidence, and believe everyone out there is out to do good. Take EBAY, for instance. I have bought many items on Ebay in the last five years, and I've even sold some of my old stuff. It seems kind of bizarre to buy something from a total stranger who could be lying about the product, but ebay has yet to let me down.
There are, of course, many cons to Web 2.0. Pediphiles find it easier than ever to track down their prey. Illegal file sharing has yet to be dissolved. Identity theft happens often. And what about interpersonal skills?? If we are sitting on our computers all day searching facebook or myspace, will the future generations even know how to interact with their peers??
Madden writes that that wikipedia is one of the poster children for Web 2.0. "The wikipedia entry on web 2.0 is, of course, one of the richest sources of information on the term. MSN's free online version of the Encarta Encyclopedia, in comparisoon, doesn't yet have a web 2.0."
So what do you think? is wikipedia legit? I certainly use it very, VERY often. Anytime i want to know more about some obscure fact, i simply type it into wikipedia. Maybe I want to know the biography of a famous actor, the history of cheddar cheese, or the population of Japan. I find what i want in a matter of seconds. Perhaps my blind trust in this encyclopedia created by users like myself is part of my generation. I think college students use the internet with more confidence, and believe everyone out there is out to do good. Take EBAY, for instance. I have bought many items on Ebay in the last five years, and I've even sold some of my old stuff. It seems kind of bizarre to buy something from a total stranger who could be lying about the product, but ebay has yet to let me down.
There are, of course, many cons to Web 2.0. Pediphiles find it easier than ever to track down their prey. Illegal file sharing has yet to be dissolved. Identity theft happens often. And what about interpersonal skills?? If we are sitting on our computers all day searching facebook or myspace, will the future generations even know how to interact with their peers??
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