At the end of the universe... Blogging.

This is a quick reference list to all my blog entries, sorted in order:

Module 1

• Task: Telnet
• 133 Million Blogs... and counting
• Task: FTP
• Task: Internet Tools
• General reflection on module 1

Module 2

• Task: Email
• Task: Lists
• Task: Newsgroups
• Task: Impact of Real Time text based Chat
• Task: Group Chat Task

Module 3

• Task: HTML
• Optional Task: WWW Standards and Web Writing
• Optional Tasks: Web Validator and Copyright Issues
• Task: Blogs
• Task: Web 2.0 Technologies
  
• General Reflection: Study and taking time off

Module 4

• Task: Tools for Using the Web - Media Players
• Task: Tools for Using the Web - Search Manager/Combiner
• Task: Tools for Using the Web - URL Managers
• Task: Tools for Using the Web - Offline Site Downloaders
• Task: Search Engines
• Task: Boolean Searching
• Task: Organising Search Information
• Task: Evaluating the Web

Module 5

• Reflections on Information Ecologies
• Reflections on Peer to Peer networking
• Reflections on the Future

Concepts Research Assignment

To Infinity, and even further... beyond NET11...

Well now the end of NET11 has come, and I thought that I was an advanced internet user. What I really discovered is that I am a very teensy weensy fish in a very large ocean. I frequent only a tiny drop in the ocean of the World Wide Web, and there are millions of others out there like me who are doing the same thing. Our paths do cross, and we share information and communicate in so many ways, it's incredible.

I never thought I would consider so deeply the different ways we communicate over the internet, nor did I think I would question my own communication practices. Having been at it so long, meeting others, it gave me a better appreciation of just how different everyone is on the internet, and how we aren't all having the same experiences, or we don't need the same experiences.

I'm only just starting on a journey that will undoubtedly be never ending, but the main thing I am learning is to keep open minded, and to keep myself aware of what is new, even if I don't see a need or a purpose for these new things just yet. It's opening my eyes to a whole new world, and I can't wait for what's next.

See you around in NET12 in SP4.

• How might the metaphor of an 'ecology' impact on the way you think about, understand or use the Internet?
• how are the concepts 'information' and 'communication' understood within the framework of an 'information ecology'?
• why don’t we talk of a 'communication ecology'?

(Allen, M, et al, nd)

---

( answers and reflections ) 

Task:
Choose your best 'source' or site from the three you used in the last task, then evaluate it according to this tutorial:
Ohio SU net.Tutor. In your own words, write an annotation for the source which could communicate to a reader both your 'judgement' of the site according to what you have learnt from the tutorial, and also the following information:

• the reliability and authority of the site / source / article
• the main ideas or subjects discussed in the article
• the purpose for which the site was written (this might include any apparent external interest, intellectual motivation or contextual information)

Record your annotation in your learning log. (Allen, M, n.d.)

---

Chosen article:
Finin, T, Joshi, A, et al, (2008). The Information ecology of social media and online communities. Retrieved on August 9, 2009, from http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/paper/html/id/371/The-Information-ecology-of-social-media-and-online-communities

( my answers and thoughts )

You two! We're at the end of the universe. All right? We're at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy - blogging! - The Doctor.
Doctor Who, Series 3, Episode 11 "Utopia". Aired 16 June 2007, BBC UK.

In your learning log, record your thoughts about blogs. Consider various uses for blogs such as citizen journalism and personal blogging. Have you seen in your net travels any interesting uses for blogs? This blog entry is an opportunity to tell us what you really think of blogging! (Allen, M, n.d.)

---

( My thoughts and reflections on blogging )

Complete the tutorial So you want to make a Web Page. Once you have completed the lessons, you should have a page with all the basic elements needed in a web page - save it as 'index.html', open it in your browser and take a screenshot and post it in your blog. (Allen, M, n.d.)

---

( HTML page screen shot )

Here is the code of the page.( click to view the code )

( Thoughts and reflections on HTML )

Task: Record any difficulties you encountered with these exercises. Record your thoughts about html - do you feel a sense of achievement? What are the differences between html and blogging? what do you like best? (Allen, M, n.d.)

---

( answers and reflections )

"Since 2002, over 133 million blog records have been indexed."
source: The State of the Blogsphere, Technorati, 2008.

This was the figure in 2008, based on blogs that were tracked by Technorati.

( Some initial thoughts on the concept of blogging )