Final Web 2.0 Presentation

Here is my final presentation.  Enjoy!

Erin decker webd220_ final project from Erin Decker

VoIP and Skype

Skype is beneficial because it allows you to connect with people through voice, video, and IM.  Thi shas both personal and professional benefits as you can keep in touch with friends and family that are far away as well as conduct a meeting via video conference. Additionally, there is a feature that allows for multiple people to be in the same communication, which makes that video conference or connecting with both your parents and your siblings (for example) at the same time very doable.

The advantages for VoIP are that the cost for service is much lower than traditional phone service or wireless service. IN fact PC to PC calls via Skype are free. There are also many services included in VoIP that are free of charge, such as caller ID and call waiting.

The disadvantages are that you must have an internet connection and power in order to use VoIP, which makes it unreliable in an emergency.  Additionally, when calling 911, your address is not automatically provided to the operator which can make communicating your location challenging in some cases. Lastly, the call quality can be reliant upon your internet connection and your PC or device, thereby providing more potential variables affecting your communication. 

Linked In

I have had a linked in account for years, however I do not use it very much unless I am looking for something specific that I feel my connections there can help with. For example, before I got the job I have now, I used my connections there to find out about openings in fields I had worked in before, as most of my Linked in connections are work related contacts.  I also feel this sight is useful in providing some professional background to your online presence.  It is common for potential employers to review an applicant's online presence prior to making an offer, as parts of a background check of sorts.  This site provides not only a professional profile but also gives you the ability to not only list your professional skill set but to have those skills verified by people you know professionally. I would recommend having and keeping your profile up to date if you are looking for a new job and actively putting out resumes.  You could also use this site to connect with professional contacts in order to find other professional service referrals, without having to do so much research on your own. 

Social networking site comparison

	Networking Features	Navigation	Users	Security	Search Features
Facebook	- Music streaming -Personal information -Interests -Photo sharing - Video sharing - Can use account to register for other online accounts	- Easy links to friends, interests, messages, search, newsfeed and profile information. - Has Mobile app	13+ years of age Worldwide	-Can block users - Report Spam and abuse - Profile privacy settings - offers safety tips	Find friends by: Name Email Schools attended City Interests Work history Keyword Suggests people you might know
Google+	- Music streaming - Personal information -Interests -Photo sharing - Video sharing - Review publishing - Links to other Google accounts	- Some easy links but navigation is less straightforward than Facebook - Has Mobile app	13+ years of age Worldwide	-Can block users - Report Spam and abuse - Profile privacy settings - offers safety tips	Find friends by: Name Email Schools attended City Interests Work history Keyword Suggests people you might know
Friendster	- Features the same personal information as Facebook - Interests are video game focused. - Photo sharing - Can share items via Facebook - Bought by Facebook.  Can even use Facebook log in to register. Forum page	- Many of the same navigational elements as Facebook - Has Mobile app	18+ years of age Worldwide	-Can block users - Report Spam and abuse - Profile privacy settings	Find friends by: Email Schools attended City Interests Work history Keyword Suggests people you might know

What is a podcast?

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A podcast is a basically a combination of audio and broadcasting.   Podcasts are to blogs what audio books are to books.  They are simply an audio version of information that could be found in a blog. They are usually fairly editorial and can be about anyone and anything that interests the author enough to speak about it. The ones that I researched for this week's assignment flowed in very much the same way as a talk radio show does, which I listen to almost every morning on the way to work.  Some of them were more intellectual and others were more on the bawdy side, but all of them were designed to hold the listeners interest about the topic at hand and create a returning audience. Bottom of Form

Podcast.com vs podcastalley.com

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With regards to the 2 websites suggested in this assignment, podcast.com vs podcastalley.com, I definitely preferred podcastalley.com.  Podcast.com was almost impossible to use and there was not a lot of information there that I found interesting.  Podcastalley.com was slightly more user friendly but it still was difficult to find any podcasts other than the featured ones. I did use one of those for this assignment, however the other 2 podcasts I got from websites I found using Google or podcasts I had already heard of. I did find several sites like these two however by using Google and I also found some that were specific to a certain genre of podcasts, like the comedy podcasts I found for my second entry.

War of the Roses

Th last podcast that I chose was the War of the Roses podcast by John Jay and Rich.  John Jay and Rich are radio hosts that have a morning show.  I regularly listen to the show on iheartradio and I heard on there today that they do podcast so I went to the website to see what I could find.  The radio show does different segments that involve the listeners bringing them their own situations and then the hosts get involved in one way or another.  In the War of the Roses segment, a listener will call in and explain why they think that their significant other is cheating on them. Then one of the three hosts on the show calls the significant other posing as a floral sales person and offers them a free bouquet of romantic roses to be sent to whomever they choose at not cost to them.  The point of the call is to see if they send the flowers to someone besides their significant other. After they say who they want the flowers sent to they are confronted by their SO and calamity usually ensues.The show is entertaining in a sick way, similar to the way one is unable to look away from a tragic accident as they pass it on the highway.  In this case the woman caller though that he husband might be having an affair with their female marriage counselor. Spoiler alert - he does send the flowers to the counselor! Check it out - here is the feed.

Monday Morning Podcast

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The second podcast I chose was the Monday Morning Podcast by Bill Burr.  I found this podcast on the allthingscomedy.com listings.  I was looking for something comedy related.  I chose this particular podcast because it was by Bill Burr and I happen to like his particular brand of bitterness as well as his frequent use of the f-word. In his podcast, which is a weekly event, he basically gives his opinion and tells storied about a few very random topics each week. In this particular one, he talks about the Comics Come Home show, plane crashes and going down on your boss.  Probably not for everyone but I find it amusing.  Here is the feed.  Warning - not for those with delicate sensibilities. 

Why do people keep having Children?

I found the podcast titled "Why do people keep having Children?" on Podcastalley.com/  I chose it simply because of the title. The podcast is actually from an economics stand point and discussed the biological, sociological and economical reasons why people have children. It also discusses cultural events and ideals that affect fertility.  It was really interesting and quite intellectual actually.  Fair warning - it is really long. Here is the link to the feed- enjoy!

Wiki on Wikis

The name of my Wiki is wikiwikiwack2 and can be found at:

 https://wikiwikiwack2.wikispaces.com/home

One of the data points that was shared in the Did you know 2.0 video, is that in 2007 (when the video was (published) the average 21 year old had sent approximately 250,000 emails or instant messages. When I was 21 years old, I had not even sent 1 and that was in 2001.   

http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/The+6C%27s+for+21st+Century+Competency

I found a post that discussed the "6C's for 21st Century Competency". Specifically, the post is in relation to education but I think that the 6C's listed actually are relevant to many aspects of life int eh 21st century at least so far. They are:

1. Connect
2. Create
3. Collaborate
4. Communicate
5. Compute
6. Think Critically

I feel that the popularity of email, text and other communication tools fulfills the Connect, Collaborate and Communicate aspects.  

Educational formats in the future

http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/share/view/63302352?replyId=64284620

In this discussion, the main subject was the fact that Kindergarten through 12th grade students are being offered educational opportunities online.  This discussion was started by a mother who had seen advertisements for this type of shoo on television and wanted to some information from someone who had been involved with these types of schools to ask what their experience was like.

I thought this particular discussion was interesting particularly as I myself and an online learner and have been pursuing my college degree this was for several years.  I have also seen the commercials the initiator of this conversation had scene and had many of the same thoughts that she and the other contributors had.  There was also concern that this type of learning environment is not for everyone and some children may not thrive in this environment.

There was some discussion about how this type of learning environment could be detrimental to the social development of children in that age group, which I myself have sited as my own concern about online educations for children. There was also some talk that every child should be required to take at least one online or hybrid course during their formative years, which is also an interesting perspective.

Preparing Students for the future of technology and connectivity

http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/share/view/1658333?replyId=3052521

The conversation I reviewed for this topic was started by Jennifer Kolb, a teacher from Kansas. She started the discussion to create conversation about how technology will affect the both the performance and education of the sciences and what services she could use to connect with her students.

The conversation quickly included social media and using the internet to find businesses that provide educational resources to students and teachers.  Further into the conversation you will find several people who disagree with the use of technology in education and several more that embrace and encourage it as a means to keep up with the way the world is operating.

What I liked the most about this conversation is that is connected people across the world and the educator who started the conversation was provided with numerous resources as she requested that had worth to her pursuits.  This saved her time in vetting various resources she could have found herself by letting her take advantage of others research on the same topic.

del.icio.us.

www.delicious.com is a strange website to me.  I had never even heard of it before and I am not really sure that even after completing this assignment that I truly get the purpose behind it. I don't think that I am the only one that had not heard of this site before either.  i connected through del.icio.us. to my Facebook account in an attempt to network with some people that I already knew.  I have over 600 friends on Facebook and not one of them had an account on del.icio.us. 

I watched the video that was included with the assignment and it made a little more sense to me why this site even exists.  I like the aspect of sharing links through this site and I guess I would consider this to be an advantage of using the site.  However, you can always email or even text some one a link. Additionally, as far as saving links for your own personal use, most browsers offer similar bookmarking tools that are just as easy to use and store the same information with the exception of tags. 

I would say that a clear disadvantage to this site is that you could crate so many tags that it becomes a challenge just to organize them. The site does offer tools to do this however is it really productive to spend time organizing your tags?  Also it seems like you can only share your links with other people that have an delicious account. 

My del.icio.us account: https://delicious.com/endecker

Flickr

So I have of course heard of Flickr before and there is an Flickr app on many smart devices with the Android OS, including my cell phone. I am not however, a huge picture taker and there for not a huge picture sharer, so I never had a reason before this assignment to explore Flickr.

It was easy enough to create an account, though since I already have a yahoo ID I got a little tripped up getting that part nailed down.  I had to log into Yahoo first and then sign into Flickr.  I was also asked if I wanted to link my Flickr account to my Facebook account which I declined.

Uploading photos was very easy - all you have to do is click the "upload" button and then select the file you want to upload.  I also thought it was very easy to rename, add a description and tags to each photo.  This all took about 5 minutes total.  It actually took me longer to select the photos I wanted to use for this assignment than it did to upload and tag them.

As for the tags, I discovered that he tag I used for my images (Web 2.0, Collective intelligence, collaboration, humanity, social media) were of course very common and more images than I could count shared these tags. That being said, I still feel that these were  the appropriate tags and did not feel the need to change them.

My Flickr:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/127371017@N08/

Photos:

Conversations in Social Media - Version 2.0, Renamed: Web 2.0; listening, learning, sharing (2010). ethority Retrieved from: https://pathubert.wikispaces.com/Web+2.0+Tools

The Web 2.0, Renamed: Web 2.0 with a human face, (1999). Actineurope.eu. Retrieved from: http://www.actineurope.eu/?page_id=534

Web 2.0 Collective Intelligence  - Wick, D. (2011). This Boss is Always Right - Value Collective Intelligence. Positioning Systems. Retrieved from: http://strategicdiscipline.positioningsystems.com/blog-0/bid/72195/This-Boss-Is-Always-Right-Value-Collective-Intelligence

GimpShop

The last Open Source program that I downloaded was GimpShop, which is a program very similar to Photoshop. I have actually just recently acquired and learned how to use Photoshop for a class I took and I have to say that the program was quite expensive. I again was unaware that there was a free alternative, not that I could have used it for the class as it was specifically on Photoshop, however I certainly plan to use it now!

The look of Gimpshop is very different from the Photoshop, at least the version that I am familiar with. In GimpShop, the tool panels are independent from the main viewing area, which is not the way Photoshop is arranged.  Also, the specific tools are in different places however the layers and channels modules are in the same place and are laid out comparably  I actually like that you can move the tools panels around the screen and put them in different places.  It just gives a little more freedom to the work space. Also thee were a lot more short cuts to the tools rather than finding them through a menu as in Photoshop.

As far as content, I was able to identify several duplicated Photoshop tools in Gimpshop and when I tried out a couple of them they appeared to operate in the same way as the software they were inspired by. Also, I found a couple of tools that I was not familiar with from Photoshop, though I am still a new user and it is possible that I just didn't know that they were available in Photoshop.

Open Office

One of the programs I chose to download was Open Office.  I have never heard before that there was a free program that allowed you to read and manipulate Microsoft Office files so I was sort of interested in this, particularly whether or not there was a mobile application as I do not have any software on my mobile devices that will allow for this usage and I did not want to pay for the Microsoft version. I did find a mobile app for the software and downloaded it on my cell phone though I have not had a chance to fully investigate it yet.

One thing that I didn't like about Open Office is that the download included a bunch of other programs that I did not intent to install and I did not see an option in the install wizard to opt out of them.  I don't like having a bunch of junk on my computer, so this was an unpleasant discovery for me.

As far as the operation of the software itself, I found that all of the offered programs were extremely similar to the Microsoft versions, as they should be given the purpose of the program. The layout is very similar as well, though I noticed that there is a tool bar on the right side the screen as well as the top of the screen.  Many of the tools there are duplicated from the top toolbar, at least in the Properties group but there were others that were different in other groups.  I actually like this feature, especially that there was a Gallery group that allowed you to add photos to your document easily. You can do the same thing in Microsoft Word, this just seemed a little easier to me.

As a whole I like this software and I think that it is very cool and progressive of the programmers to create this type of software.  It helps eliminate the monopoly that Microsoft has created and charges a great deal for.

Avant Browser

The Open Source browser I downloaded was the Avant browser. Upon first instigation, it appears to have all of the shortcut features that most browsers have including bookmarks, auto fills and history.

I could not figure out how to set the homepage to a specific page however the homepage that is provided allows for links to several pages to be added to it and therefore easily accessible.  I am a regular Chrome users and one thing that I did notice that was sort of different from Chrome at least was that clicking on the homepage opens another tab rather than redirecting the page that you are already on.

The bookmarks options allow for importing bookmarks from Internet explorer and my Chrome bookmarks uploaded upon install.

Overall Avant appears to have extremely similar functionality as the popular browsers (IE. Chrome, Firefox) with only a slightly different look and layout. I did not try to download the browser on a mobile device so I am not sure of the compatibility in that aspect.

/Message

The second blog I checked out for this assignment was /Message by Stowe Boyd (see image below). This blog has the feel that definitely comes from it's intention to "‘the operating manual for the social revolution" (Boyd, 2010). The content of the blog covers all sorts of things from products, music, technology even down to simple quotes that one might find profound. It is very much focused on the future of all of these areas as well as social responsibility.  

This is a very active and interesting blog and I actually set up an RSS feed to it as well even though I had already completed the requirement for this assignment with the first blog I visited. There seems to be at least one post every day and there is a lot to absorb just in the archives. 

Boyd, S. (2010). /Message. Retrieved from: http://stoweboyd.com/message/

Mashable

The first blog I reviewed was Mashable.  I chose this one from the list because I have heard of it before but had never visited the site. This Blog contains tons of pop culture items, social media, current news stories and reviews of Web 2.0 companies and products. The information is delivered in both text and video format.  The video below was found on Youtube but was created by Mashable and posted to the blog shortly after Robin Williams death.  Mashable is quite relevant and user friendly.  I set up an RSS feed for this blog and I thought that I would enjoy getting the content delivered to me even after the class was over. I will visit again!