Here's this past week's summary: Joyful, Confused Self-Learning!
This past week I was randomly (as is custom) placed in a group and we were told to learn everything there is to
know about Twitter and Drop box. Additionally we were implored to set up a learning space where we will post links and stuff up to summarize our business areas (that is, Twitter and Drop box). Then fellow students were to come and ask questions and the final high in this hurdle was an IPanel session with Craig asking some hard questions.
Naturally, we chose to create a new Facebook page as our learning space, simply because we'd gotten use to the platform and apps were gonna come in handy. But, as web2.0 would have it, it just became another page with tons of links and comments that just drives one mad. Especially during our making the presentation session. So all in all, it wasn't the best idea. But then again, its Web2.0.
The IPanel session was interesting. Craig turned into the most pessimistic observant in history. He asked me a simple question, and because of my answer, he ravaged the ransacks of my less-than-emptied Twitter knowledge barn. But its all good, I now know what to expect in the real live panel. Its gonna be good.
In summary, dear reader, week three of CMC wasn't all bad. Infact, compared to week two, I'd do it again.
Flipside. Dennis.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Two weeks in and --BAM!!
I must say, dear reader, that at the beginning of this course I had much excitement. Indeed, who wouldn't be excited about attending classes on Facebook? Indeed, the whole idea of the soon to be Dr. Blewett is infact exploratory in nature, and in order to provide the richness thereof I must be honest.
Firstly, I must say, if I were to summarize my two week experience of the CMC course I'd use one word - overwhelming. The Facebook platform has notifications all over the place to such an extent that most of the time I don't know what's going on. When reading articles and wanting to post them on the page, I get so overwhelmed by the content that's already on the page and having to comment on it all, boy, I get tired just thinking about it. the other day I logged on to Facebook and I found 27 notifications, all from the FABspace page, and all of them are either people commenting or people posting new stuff. Its hard even to keep up with the notices that come from the lecturer that are important (although I must add, the forum app has aided this to such an extent that it is virtually a non-issue at this point). So to this end I'm a bit uncomfortable.
Second, and this is no joke, I LOVE the neatchat way of attending classes! I think it is absolutely revolutionary and the look on people's faces when I tell them that I attend on Facebook is priceless! This past week, where we had to go around chat-rooms and engaging in web2 discussions, was probably the best class I've ever attended in my 3-and some years in this institution. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Lastly, the course content thus far is far from unreasonable. I like the element of freedom it allows us, and being given a platform to convey insight is not only absolutely fantastic but it also makes me think like a professional. All in all, so far the experience is very good, but some kind of solution has to found to deal with the issue of uncontrolled posting on the wall. to this effect I will write in the next post, with also updates from the upcoming week.
Dennis.
Firstly, I must say, if I were to summarize my two week experience of the CMC course I'd use one word - overwhelming. The Facebook platform has notifications all over the place to such an extent that most of the time I don't know what's going on. When reading articles and wanting to post them on the page, I get so overwhelmed by the content that's already on the page and having to comment on it all, boy, I get tired just thinking about it. the other day I logged on to Facebook and I found 27 notifications, all from the FABspace page, and all of them are either people commenting or people posting new stuff. Its hard even to keep up with the notices that come from the lecturer that are important (although I must add, the forum app has aided this to such an extent that it is virtually a non-issue at this point). So to this end I'm a bit uncomfortable.
Second, and this is no joke, I LOVE the neatchat way of attending classes! I think it is absolutely revolutionary and the look on people's faces when I tell them that I attend on Facebook is priceless! This past week, where we had to go around chat-rooms and engaging in web2 discussions, was probably the best class I've ever attended in my 3-and some years in this institution. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Lastly, the course content thus far is far from unreasonable. I like the element of freedom it allows us, and being given a platform to convey insight is not only absolutely fantastic but it also makes me think like a professional. All in all, so far the experience is very good, but some kind of solution has to found to deal with the issue of uncontrolled posting on the wall. to this effect I will write in the next post, with also updates from the upcoming week.
Dennis.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Activity two - essay Group 6
What is Web 2.0 and how is it different from Web 1.0
The browser is no longer a window to the web – it’s a platform. The key attributes associated with Web 2.0 include the growth of social networks, bi–directional communication, various ‘glue’ technologies as well as significant diversity in various available content types. In essence the Web 2.0 platform is a richer method of user interaction, which in turn has been able give users a more interconnected experience.
Web 1.0 was dominated during the early infancy stages of the internet boom, email, FTP, IRC chat, USENET and other simple technologies has helped to establish what we commonly term the World Wide Web. File Servers, Databases and Groupware where key fundamental building blocks of the obsolete Web 1.0 platform.
The migration and sequential upgrade from the primitive Web 1.0 was based on the fundamental rules of a read-only dynamic communication medium. The web 1.0 was based and founded by corporations rather than modern online communities. Personal websites which where the back bone of Web 1.0 at that time have been upgraded into personal blogs in the Web 2.0 platform. Encyclopaedias like Britannica have been modernised using web 2.0 into Wikipedia. This constant interaction has helped to enhance the online user experience.
The move from a read-only web to a wildly used read-write Web has given rise to a dramatic increase in the number of online users. In 1996 there were approximately 45 million global users and a total of 250 000 sites. However, Web 2.0 in 1996 there were approximately 80 000 000 sites and 1 billion + global users.
Publishing which was more prevalent during Web 1.0 has been replaced by anon-going participation with the modern online communities. This has been made possible by the move from html to xml.With Web 2.0, Javascripting, P2P, RSS, Flash, SPARQL, SWRL, AJAX all helped to establish the upgrade from the Web 1.0 platform and help move towards a Semantic Web. Social networking, Wikis, Office 2.0, Mash ups &SaaS are all key contributors towards a richer method for user interaction.
Web 2.0 in: Business
As opposed to its predecessor, web 2.0 comes with much more richness to offer businesses than just a simple catalogue of products or services. This was what web1.0 was good for, since media embedding and collaboration were as scarce as hailstorm in Durban. Here and there, but not so many. However, web2.0 unleashes its strength by providing businesses with a much needed weapon: collaboration and insight. “Progressive companies are using theirs to stimulate discussion and community around their brand, products and services, and are harvesting invaluable customer insight as a result.”[1]
Businesses are able to communicate with their customers, find out what’s in with their target market, and are able to reach their target market much more efficiently than just a brochure (for instance, the use of Facebook advertising). Since it seems the buzzword with web2 is communication, it also follows that the company’s end-to-end support systems can also be helped. The use of email can now be enhanced (for instance, with pop-up’s) so then communication even within companies is more instant. There’s various other uses: Facebook recruiting (Ernst & Young), Web2.0 powered intranet (Wachovia Bank), global jam events with over 300 000 employees worldwide (IBM), etc.
Web2.0 in: Entertainment
This is probably the platform’s strongest strength. Entertainment in web2.0 comes in many shapes and sizes; games, videos, funny blogs, interesting wikis, embedded music, the whole enchilada. Most of the things that people enjoy today on the net are web2 powered, for example YouTube (which in itself provides a variety of entertainment, with things like movie trailers, sports videos and so forth), social networks, news feeds, and streaming live TV.
Gaming has been revolutionised by web2.0, and thus there is a wealth of excitement around gaming. For instance, Facebook and Google Plus have embedded games one can play against millions of people all around the globe, with chat available so one can be thoroughly amused by their victory over their opponent and brag over it. Revolutionised because no longer does one have to play alone or with friends they know against a machine, but real opponents around the globe. This is massive. Entertainment on web2.0 can be summarised as thus: “what are you interested in? There’s an app for it.”
Web 2.0 in: Education
It is also interesting to note that Tim Berners-Lee original work to develop the Web was in the context of creating a collaborative environment for his fellow scientists at CERN. That is, education was at the heart. That vision of his has now become more widespread in its scope in this age, where the world has become so small and web2.0 applications and tools are able to process millions of kilobytes of data in seconds.
Web2.0 has not yet formally had much undertaking in the education sector, however not without debate. Paul Anderson of JISC Technology and Standards Watch writes “There is significant debate over the alleged advantages and disadvantages of incorporating social software into mainstream education. This is compounded by the fact that there is very little reliable, original pedagogic research and evaluation evidence and that to date; much of the actual experimentation using social software within higher education has focused on particular specialist subject areas or research domains (Fountain, 2005)”. So we wait for the research that will give a clear indication of how education can utilize web2.0.
What are future predictions around Web 2.0
As the user’s demand for richer user content increases as well as for a more interactive experience, I for see a dramatic increase in the amount of data the average user will use. Sites such as Youtube are full of rich and dynamic content. Widgets will tend to be used on a larger scale as to assist users with issues such as RSS feeds. Semantic Databases will also tend to be more prevalent as users will be able to access a wider array of information more accurately. The Semantic Web of the Web 2.0 platform will tend towards the WebOS.
Google has already tried to launch a browser based operating system that will handle all daily functions of our current operating systems. In the future I for see more intelligent personal agents like Sirri to assist the users’ dynamic and unique connection to the internet.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Computer Mediated HeadBump!
Testing, testing, one-two-THREE!! So this is the first post on my thoughts about the CMC course, that is, Computer Mediated Communication, run by Craig Blewett and Rose Quiling at the University of Kwa Zulu Natal. It's a postgraduate course, hence my thoughts will probably tend to be more explanatory of how hard it is changing my mindset from 3rd year to 4th year. Eish, migraine
Anyway, today the course was launched, and it should be exciting times ahead. Im desperately looking forward to the panel discussion that will be part of our assessment. I've always wanted to be on Larry King! Uhh what else.. ah yes, the name of the blog.. Ethnography is a cool word I learned in the lecture today, that basically means "researching about a certain environment by getting into that environment", or something of the sort. 'The DBA' is an old monkey I cant get off my back, and so, I'll use it to my advantage.
Hence, welcome, dear reader, to Ethnography - The DBA!
Anyway, today the course was launched, and it should be exciting times ahead. Im desperately looking forward to the panel discussion that will be part of our assessment. I've always wanted to be on Larry King! Uhh what else.. ah yes, the name of the blog.. Ethnography is a cool word I learned in the lecture today, that basically means "researching about a certain environment by getting into that environment", or something of the sort. 'The DBA' is an old monkey I cant get off my back, and so, I'll use it to my advantage.
Hence, welcome, dear reader, to Ethnography - The DBA!
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