Both these articles touch upon misconcepatoins with social networks sites. SNS are a big part of modern culture but as tools they are underutilized. Boyd's article dispels the myth that social networks directly open the door brave new worlds. In truth social network users do not seek out new things but rather gravitate towards their friends. The internet interaction is a straight substitute for hanging out in public.
Bennett's article highlights the rift between generations in terms of citizenship. Generally speaking, parents and grandparents put faith in the government. They get news from mainstream outlets and place a high emphasis on voting. The youth on the other hand doubt the mainstream. They seek news from alternative outlets and turn to friends for approval in political matters. The youth does not blindly follow a political party; instead they seek out specific causes to invest in.
Both artilces were good reads. In particular though the Bennett article gets me thinking. I totally agree with his assertion that the old school and new school must meet in the middle. The future of citizenship lay in the middle. When the respect and experience of the old world smashes together with the technology and ambition of the new world the result will be nothing short of spectacular.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Social Networks: Definition, History, and Scholarship Response
This article was a nice read.
I was surprised to learn that social networks date back to 1997. I associate the birth of social networks with the launch of myspace. For me it wasn't till I entered high school that I first head the term "social network" being tossed around.
I feel bad about what happened to sixdegrees.com. I can see where the founder is going by saying it was ahead of it's time. All to often somebody gets and idea but the magic moment hasn't arrived. It's funny how innovation works that way.
The Launch Dates graphic is a nice visual complement to the info dump of site names and dates featured in the paragraphs.
On a rather random note, I found it cute that dogs and cats have their own social networking services.
I was surprised to learn that social networks date back to 1997. I associate the birth of social networks with the launch of myspace. For me it wasn't till I entered high school that I first head the term "social network" being tossed around.
I feel bad about what happened to sixdegrees.com. I can see where the founder is going by saying it was ahead of it's time. All to often somebody gets and idea but the magic moment hasn't arrived. It's funny how innovation works that way.
The Launch Dates graphic is a nice visual complement to the info dump of site names and dates featured in the paragraphs.
On a rather random note, I found it cute that dogs and cats have their own social networking services.
Causes That Intrest Me
Causes I Care About
1. Animal Rights
2. Domestic Abuse
3. Child Welfare
4. Bullying
5. Internet Stalking
Of the lot I'm leaning the most towards animal rights.
1. Animal Rights
2. Domestic Abuse
3. Child Welfare
4. Bullying
5. Internet Stalking
Of the lot I'm leaning the most towards animal rights.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Website Design Reflection #3
The limitations of Google sites surprised me somewhat. Though it is free, so barring that in mind this is a good program. I'm sure with more time investment I could gather a stronger mastery of the program. For the sake of this project is did the job well enough and I must commend it for user friendliness.
Website Design Reflection #2
I enjoyed the teamwork aspect of this project. I feel like from day one we all jived nicely. We stayed on the same page through-out and everybody brought some snazzy suggestions to the table.
I think our bond was easy considering the sad state of the site. Anybody could tell that the site needed a massive overhaul. So we didn't get stuck on picking out what aspect to focus on. So much needed work that we knew any place was a good place to start.
I think our bond was easy considering the sad state of the site. Anybody could tell that the site needed a massive overhaul. So we didn't get stuck on picking out what aspect to focus on. So much needed work that we knew any place was a good place to start.
Website Design Reflection #1
When I first had the first misfortune of laying my eyes on the aesthetic mess that is the Creation Museum website I had a smidge of an epiphany. I got to thinking about just how many sites of this kind exist. How many crude, seemingly long forgotten websites stain the a tapestry of the internet. There must be thousands of pages crafted from crude tools and now ignored entirely. It's somewhat sad really, they are like disowned black sheep.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
A Site That Works and A Site That NEEDS Work
http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/
This site works well. The navigation bar at the top allows for easy access to all the areas of the page. This site uses a blog style format in that each new entry has tags. The tags help to further link everything together. The bulk of this site is comprised of videos, all of which are hosted off site through services such as blip.tv.
http://captain-america.us/
I like this site and I think in many respects it works. However I do see areas of potenial improvement. All the links work, but the general lay-out could possibly benefit from an overhaul. There are a lot of ads on the page, which isn't in it's self a bad thing. The issue is that with the current lay-out the information can get lost in the ads. Tweaks to the aesthetic could make this site have more of an impact and by proxy make the information more accessible.
This site works well. The navigation bar at the top allows for easy access to all the areas of the page. This site uses a blog style format in that each new entry has tags. The tags help to further link everything together. The bulk of this site is comprised of videos, all of which are hosted off site through services such as blip.tv.
http://captain-america.us/
I like this site and I think in many respects it works. However I do see areas of potenial improvement. All the links work, but the general lay-out could possibly benefit from an overhaul. There are a lot of ads on the page, which isn't in it's self a bad thing. The issue is that with the current lay-out the information can get lost in the ads. Tweaks to the aesthetic could make this site have more of an impact and by proxy make the information more accessible.
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