Using delicious as means to further acquaint students to each other is a very creative idea and innovative use of the tool. You can definitely learn more about an individual from the websites they might frequent. In addition it is a great way to share favorite links and useful resources.
In reviewing the links of my classmates, I noticed some individuals tagged their bookmarks with their user name so it was much easier to identify their submissions throughout the network. When working with a network such as this it would be beneficial to have various ways to groups the bookmarks within your network such as by user, by site (grouping duplicate sites and listing the submitters), by tags rather than the simple sorts of most recent and most popular. These suggested additions would help streamline the information for those with less experience with social book marking such as myself.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Digg
Digg is a great website to share content on the web. The service also allows users to vote on the information or stories to collectively determine the importance or page ranking the item will receive with the most popular stories appearing on the site's homepage. Users can also comment on stories as well as register for the categories that seem most interesting or submit their own. Finally the service provides a community feature allowing a user to add their friends and check out what they are digging. You can also share your favorite links with friends by customizing your profile to include a few photos of yourself, urls to your blog, pages on Facebook or other interesting sites.
After joining and working with the service I have listed a few of the pro's and con's I encountered below:
Pro's
Con's
One of the stories ranked most popular was one that I recently saw on tv. I thought it was such a feel good story and serves as a reminder that there are still good people out there urging others to pay his gift of kindness forward. Warm and fuzzy stories are always needed in economic times such as this, so I felt I should share it with those that may have missed it.
Man Fills Stangers Gas Tanks
After joining and working with the service I have listed a few of the pro's and con's I encountered below:
Pro's
- Social networking site that has numerous capabilities such as sharing information.
- Ability to vote on stories to increase the stories rank
- Homepage displays the top rated stories
Con's
- The form associated with the initial signup was a bit lengthy and requires email verification
- The homepage interface is a bit overwhelming and looks very cluttered and busy
One of the stories ranked most popular was one that I recently saw on tv. I thought it was such a feel good story and serves as a reminder that there are still good people out there urging others to pay his gift of kindness forward. Warm and fuzzy stories are always needed in economic times such as this, so I felt I should share it with those that may have missed it.
Man Fills Stangers Gas Tanks
Del.icio.us vs Ma.gnolia
Del.icio.us
I began searching del.icio.us only a few weeks ago when I first saw it mentioned in class. However, I am new to social bookmarking, and this is my first account with the service. I found the homepage to be a bit busy and would imagine might be overwhelming for a novice. Although, I believe those experienced with social software would have no problem navigating the site.
Side note: Last week I came across a neat firefox addin I discussed in a previous blog that also has del.cio.us as in item on a toolbar menu and is worth checking out.
Pro's
Ma.gnolia
I initially encountered a problem when attempting to create an account with ma.gnolia using the mozilla firefox browser (version 5.0). The sign in page webpage would not properly load after an itemed was selected from the drop down. I am not sure if this was due to a setting that may need to be changed on my end, but as a new user I didn't get a great first impression of the service as I was quite frustrated when a simple refresh wouldn't due the trick. Being that my firefox browser was having issues I switched it IE., and found the drop down field to be successfully working :)
Once I was finally logged in I found the homepage to be quite streamlined. As I am sure many of my class mates have mentioned, it definitely has an appealing look to the interface design. The site was also very user friendly making it easy to add bookmarks, tags, and to navigate the site.
Pro's
I began searching del.icio.us only a few weeks ago when I first saw it mentioned in class. However, I am new to social bookmarking, and this is my first account with the service. I found the homepage to be a bit busy and would imagine might be overwhelming for a novice. Although, I believe those experienced with social software would have no problem navigating the site.
Side note: Last week I came across a neat firefox addin I discussed in a previous blog that also has del.cio.us as in item on a toolbar menu and is worth checking out.
Pro's
- Easy navigation (both have top navigation bar)
- Ability to easily add buttons to browser toolbars for easy bookmarking
- Homepage is a bit cluttered and busy
- The layout of the help area could be more user friendly and better organized
Ma.gnolia
I initially encountered a problem when attempting to create an account with ma.gnolia using the mozilla firefox browser (version 5.0). The sign in page webpage would not properly load after an itemed was selected from the drop down. I am not sure if this was due to a setting that may need to be changed on my end, but as a new user I didn't get a great first impression of the service as I was quite frustrated when a simple refresh wouldn't due the trick. Being that my firefox browser was having issues I switched it IE., and found the drop down field to be successfully working :)
Once I was finally logged in I found the homepage to be quite streamlined. As I am sure many of my class mates have mentioned, it definitely has an appealing look to the interface design. The site was also very user friendly making it easy to add bookmarks, tags, and to navigate the site.
Pro's
- Appealing interface and very user friendly
- Offers help for beginner users as well as a abridged version for users with experience in social bookmarking.
- Easy navigation (both have top navigation bar)
- Interface glitches with mozilla firefox
- Offers "bookmarklet" feature which allows a user to add a button to the toolbar, however the setup is not user friendly as I was unable to successfully install it.
Brown & Duguid
As a member of the Rutgers staff working for Continuing Education and Outreach, one of the main units responsible for providing distance and outreach services, it has been interesting to see how such a traditional school has evolved over the past couple of years. As more online institutions like The University of Phoenix, continue to increase in popularity, traditional schools may need to re-valuate their current system in order to remain competitive in the market. However, by no means do I believe online education will completely replace that of the traditional class environment, but I do feel traditional schools should be open to the needs of those students unable to participate in the standard classroom setting.
Brown & Duguid discuss how Penn State addressed this issue with the launch of the "World Campus" in 1998. This institution currently offers 50 online degrees programs at associate, bachelor and master levels. Rutgers on the other hand, only provides a handful of online degree programs and is rolling out more individual online course offerings each year, but at a very slow rate to that of its competitors. It is a constant struggle to find departments and faculty willing to create and approve an online course let alone an entire degree program to be approved by the offering school. I feel fortunate that SCILS is one of the few that does provide such flexibility. :)
The Brown & Duguid reading also highlights the difference between "learning about" and "learning to be" which is very important to consider when evaluating the quality of the online environment and learning in general. Practice is key to the educational system as it helps shape and support learning. In seeing where education may be headed, I believe that a blend of both an online collaborative environment coupled with a practicum involving their classmates or peers in the field would be the preferable and prove to be most productive.
Brown & Duguid discuss how Penn State addressed this issue with the launch of the "World Campus" in 1998. This institution currently offers 50 online degrees programs at associate, bachelor and master levels. Rutgers on the other hand, only provides a handful of online degree programs and is rolling out more individual online course offerings each year, but at a very slow rate to that of its competitors. It is a constant struggle to find departments and faculty willing to create and approve an online course let alone an entire degree program to be approved by the offering school. I feel fortunate that SCILS is one of the few that does provide such flexibility. :)
The Brown & Duguid reading also highlights the difference between "learning about" and "learning to be" which is very important to consider when evaluating the quality of the online environment and learning in general. Practice is key to the educational system as it helps shape and support learning. In seeing where education may be headed, I believe that a blend of both an online collaborative environment coupled with a practicum involving their classmates or peers in the field would be the preferable and prove to be most productive.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Information Overload
RSS and Information Overload: Does the use of RSS/RSS aggregators mitigate or aggravate the problem of Information Overload in today's society?
This is a tough question as I can see both how RSS aggregators can both mitigate and aggravate the problem of information overload. It can be a mitigating factor as it prevents the user from having to regularly check websites for updates. An aggregator has the ability to check for new content at specified times and retrieve the update. However, on the other hand there are users that tend to oversubscribe leading to information overload. In cases such as these you may want to utilize on of the many tools available to help reduce the overload. I have described a few below:
This is a tough question as I can see both how RSS aggregators can both mitigate and aggravate the problem of information overload. It can be a mitigating factor as it prevents the user from having to regularly check websites for updates. An aggregator has the ability to check for new content at specified times and retrieve the update. However, on the other hand there are users that tend to oversubscribe leading to information overload. In cases such as these you may want to utilize on of the many tools available to help reduce the overload. I have described a few below:
- Aiderss - Filters website to give you the best content possible
- BlogRovr - for quick summaries of your blog
- Google Reader - Use Google reader to view titles only, making skimming easier
"New to You" Social Software, Web2.0 or Library 2.0 site
Last week I referenced a great web 2.0 directory that provided links to a large number of interesting social software tools. This week I came across another web 2.0 directory that was also very informative and provided numerous links to some very useful tools. One of the first such tools that caught my eye was a called adaptiveblue. Although some of you may have already installed this feature to your firefox browser, for those who are not familiar with the service I suggest you check it out :)
Adapative Blue provides the following additional features (in the mozilla firefox browser):
Adapative Blue provides the following additional features (in the mozilla firefox browser):
- Smart menus-adds a button to the toolbar that is customized to your browsing history.
- The BlueOrganizer - shows you useful information regarding the site of interest description, categories, and tags. It also gives you the ability to add your own tags to the site.
- The smartlinks - automatically inserts SmartLinks for links that point to books, music, movies, stocks, wines and more. When you see the blue square icon, hover over it to find out how popular the object is around the web.
- Customize widgets - for your blogs with an easy to use wizard
- Smartmenu - my favorite :) allows you to save and share the site to delicious, with friends on twitter or facebook, or create a tiny url using the shortcut menu. The menu also allows you to find similar sites and pages on Google with the click of a button.
Feed - M.T. Anderson
• How close are we to the society of Feed? Are our present systems (Google tracking,single accounts into multiple services...) a simple precursor?
As time passes society as we know it is becoming more and more reliant on digital technology.Gone are the days of the abacus and long division. Nowadays, a student is much more likely to grab a calculator, create a spreadsheet, or locate a website to compute a basic formula. However, I don't believe this reliance will evolve into the society depicted by M.T Anderson, or at least I hope it doesn't :/
It is hard to imagine a society where literacy is viewed as a novelty, where schools are corporately owned, where it is more socially acceptable to chat online that in person, where traditional family values are completely lost, and all media is funneled through one source, creating a monotoned view of the world. However, when dissected, some of the technological concepts didn't seem to far from today's society.
People nowadays are often found driving and surfing through music carried on a portable digital player, chatting on their bluetooth wireless ear piece, or receiving directions from a GPS device. The idea of multi-tasking has driven a number of software developers to re-evaluate many single service tools, opting to consolidate various tools into a more efficient and robust package. The examples I could possible set forth here are limitless, but since we have recently witnessed Google's world takeover :), I will choose two of their services.
For example, Google Analytics, is a great tool for evaluating the performance of a website. A user can determine the keywords searched, benchmark competitors, and determine where the site may need improvements. When such a service is integrated with another such as Google Adwords it becomes even more powerful. Google Adwords would then be responsible for advertising marketing campaigns that would drive visitors to the site.
• What struck you most about the society of Feed? (e.g. acceptance of lesions, twist on the Digital Divide, people don't know how to write...)
It is really difficult to say what struck me most about Feed. Of course the state of the environment was a bit disheartening, the lack of greenery, organically grown food, natural light, and oxygen for that matter was very alarming. Then there was the complete lack of self reliance, where the human mind was replaced with the virtual mind of the feed leaving most with the lack of ability to read and write. Or the things teens will do to stay hip and popular, while making all the right fashion sacrifices. And of course the affects technology had on disjointing society on various levels. The divide among the "have's" and "have not's" of the feed and the social pressure affiliated with conformity to the majority. The lack of family bonds that exist in a traditional family replaced by distant chatting about superficiality etc.
But after I really thought about the book's storyline, I guess what struck me most was the lack of a fairy tale ending. :) My expectation of course was that technology was going to swoop in and save the day. I thought Violet would surely receive the upgrade she desperately needed, but sadly that never happened. Is there a bigger message to the reason M.T. Anderson chose to discontinue my favorite character perhaps, but I'll take the simple one of technology can't always save everything.
As time passes society as we know it is becoming more and more reliant on digital technology.Gone are the days of the abacus and long division. Nowadays, a student is much more likely to grab a calculator, create a spreadsheet, or locate a website to compute a basic formula. However, I don't believe this reliance will evolve into the society depicted by M.T Anderson, or at least I hope it doesn't :/
It is hard to imagine a society where literacy is viewed as a novelty, where schools are corporately owned, where it is more socially acceptable to chat online that in person, where traditional family values are completely lost, and all media is funneled through one source, creating a monotoned view of the world. However, when dissected, some of the technological concepts didn't seem to far from today's society.
People nowadays are often found driving and surfing through music carried on a portable digital player, chatting on their bluetooth wireless ear piece, or receiving directions from a GPS device. The idea of multi-tasking has driven a number of software developers to re-evaluate many single service tools, opting to consolidate various tools into a more efficient and robust package. The examples I could possible set forth here are limitless, but since we have recently witnessed Google's world takeover :), I will choose two of their services.
For example, Google Analytics, is a great tool for evaluating the performance of a website. A user can determine the keywords searched, benchmark competitors, and determine where the site may need improvements. When such a service is integrated with another such as Google Adwords it becomes even more powerful. Google Adwords would then be responsible for advertising marketing campaigns that would drive visitors to the site.
• What struck you most about the society of Feed? (e.g. acceptance of lesions, twist on the Digital Divide, people don't know how to write...)
It is really difficult to say what struck me most about Feed. Of course the state of the environment was a bit disheartening, the lack of greenery, organically grown food, natural light, and oxygen for that matter was very alarming. Then there was the complete lack of self reliance, where the human mind was replaced with the virtual mind of the feed leaving most with the lack of ability to read and write. Or the things teens will do to stay hip and popular, while making all the right fashion sacrifices. And of course the affects technology had on disjointing society on various levels. The divide among the "have's" and "have not's" of the feed and the social pressure affiliated with conformity to the majority. The lack of family bonds that exist in a traditional family replaced by distant chatting about superficiality etc.
But after I really thought about the book's storyline, I guess what struck me most was the lack of a fairy tale ending. :) My expectation of course was that technology was going to swoop in and save the day. I thought Violet would surely receive the upgrade she desperately needed, but sadly that never happened. Is there a bigger message to the reason M.T. Anderson chose to discontinue my favorite character perhaps, but I'll take the simple one of technology can't always save everything.
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