Little Milo.

This is my boyfriend's cat Milo. I wish she had her own blog. She is the coolest cat I know.

Only an awesome cat can sleep like this <3

Something Cute

This something I just had to share. It was posted on my Facebook wall and is so cute. I love cats.

Week Eleven, MEZ

This week we had to look at the online artwork of Mez. I totally did not understand it. I guess it was supposed to be that way. The text in the work was really off putting and I couldn't read it which made me not want to read it all so I just went through clicking and finding out the rollover states. I wish I understood what it was supposed to mean and then I would have probably enjoyed it more.

Week Three, Treasure Hunt

HTML


What does it stand for?


According to the Oxford Dictonary HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. This is a standardized system for tagging text files to achieve font, colour, graphic and hyperlink effect on webpages. In common terms HTML is is the code recognised by web browsers to generate websites.
Reference:
Oxford Dictionary
W3




Where is it used?


HTML is used in website design. It is the code the internet reads to display a page. HTML can be simple or complex depending on the intended use and audience.




When was the first HTML language widely used?


HTML was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in the early 1990s as a way for researchers to use the internet to calaborate and share information. The very first version of HTML was published in June of 1993. Below is a screen shot of Berners-Lee browser editor which was developed in 1991-1992.

Reference:
About.com
Catalogs.com




What type of HTML does Wordpress use?


Wordpress uses XHTML 1.0.




Write the code to insert a picture.

<img src="dog.jpg" width="200" height="150"
alt="My Dog">

Write the HTML code for Arial font, size 12, dark grey.


<p style="font:12pt Arial; color=454242">


BLOG


What is the term 'blog' short for?


The term 'blog' is short for 'weblog' created by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997.
The Oxford English Dictionary states a weblog is "a frequently updated web site consisting of personal observations, excerpts from other sources, etc., typically rub by a single persons, and usually with hyperlinks to other sites; an online journal or diary."
Reference:
Oxford English Dictionary




The term 'blog' - where did this originate from?


The first origins of the term 'blog' came from Peter Merholz who combined the word 'weblog' into 'we blog' in April or May of 1999. From there Evan Williams used the term 'blog' as both a noun and a verb.
blog, n. (see above definition of 'weblog')
blog, v. "to write or maintain a weblog. Also: to read or browse through weblogs, esp. habitually."
Reference:
Oxford English Dictionary




When/where/why were the first blogs used? How did they originate?


One of the first known moderated blogs was published in late 1983 by Brian Redman. His blog was called mod.ber which was a newsgroup that found threads on the internet a posted summaries, the first link blog. The blog Rec.humor.funny is one of the oldest blogs that is still running and frequently updated. Rec.humor.funny was created on August 7 1987. There is a large debate over the first blog ever published or the oldest blog.  Other blogs that circulated the internet at the time include 'Risks Digest' (forum), 'Telecom Digest' (mailing list) and 'Interesting People' (mailing list/forum). Until 1998 blogs were few and far in between and the editors of the blogs that did exist frequently traded links between one another. In 1999 blogging became popular in the general public as the internet itself was accessible to a wider audience and software packages and programs such as Blogger became available.
Reference:
Articlesbase
Rec.humor.funny




Who was the first company/organisation to make 'free blogs' for users?


The first free blogs included:

•  Open Diary (1998, Bruce Ableson) - In 2001 a paid version called Open Diary plus was introduced
• LiveJournal (1999, Brad Fitzpatrick) - Currently remains a free service and is owned by SUP Russia
• blogger.com (August 1999, Evan Williams and Meg Horihan) - Bought by Google in 2003 and is still a free service

URL & DOMAINS


What does the term 'URL' mean? What does 'domain' mean?


According to the Oxford English Dictionary:


URL, n. "Uniform Resource Locator, a format for the address of an internet document that is accessible using one of variety of protocols; (chiefly as a count noun) a specific address in this format, used by a browser in locating the relevant document."




A URL contains three parts:

1. The protocol - http, ftp, telnet, etc. 
2. the server location separated by full stops
3. the path name or identifier on the server

DOMAIN, n. computing. "A subset of locations on the internet or other network which share a common element of their IP address, or which are under the control of a particular organisation or individual; freq. in domain name, n. the part of a network address which identifies it as belonging to a particular domain.




When did the standardised URLs come into function?

URL was first created in 1994.

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1738.txt

Have a look at the 'doctcom' crash. When did this happen, why?

The dot-com crash, known as the dot-com bubble, was a market recession that began in 2000. Companies saw the rise of the internet and frantically began to add an e- prefix or .com after their name. A frenzy ensued in which buyers began investing blindly in these fantastic new companies. Up to 50% or more of the companies did not survive as the American stock market plummeted over the months to follow.

http://www.domainmonster.com/editorials/dot_com_bubble/

What are the following used for - are there restrictions to setting up a domain that ends in one of the following: .com, .com.au, .net, .gov, .mil, .org, .biz, .tv


.com is the general domain used for internet sites and is readily available to users.
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/c/f/What-Does-Dot-Com-Stand-For.htm


A .com.au domain name may only be purchased by an organisation if it is a trading name, product or service you offer, or if it is the same as your business name or company name, or an abbreviation of that name. A Registered Business Number or Australian Company Number must be submitted at the point of purchase.
http://www.eps.com.au/related-links/domain-name.php


Originally, .com extensions were intended for commercial ventures, while .net's were intended for use by Internet Service Providers and .org's by non-profit organizations or groups. Truth is, this orignal classification is no longer accurate, and anybody can register a domain name with those extensions. 
http://www.discountdomainsuk.com/articles/5/585/0/1


.mil
The .mil registration is exclusively meant for the United States Department of Defense and its subsidiary organizations.
http://domaininfo.buydomains.com/ec/domain-name-basics/mil-domain-information/


.gov
The United States is the only country with a government-specific top level Internet domain. As this code is restricted to US governmental entities, no one else is permitted to hold .gov as their top level domain. Often countries use it as their second-level domain; for example: .gov.au, .gc.ca, or guv.ro, where au is the assigned country code for Australia, .ca is the country code for Canada, and so on.


.tv
The .tv domain is the official web address of Tuvalu, as well as an online identity for TV and video channel sites on the Internet. ICANN assigned the .tv extension as the ccTLD for the Polynesian island nation of Tuvalu in 1996. The .tv Corporation (a VeriSign company) is the official authority which manages the registration process of .tv domain. The registration service is sponsored by the Government of Tuvalu
Any entity, including individuals, as well as foreign companies and organizations, can register .tv domain names.
http://domaininfo.buydomains.com/ec/domain-name-basics/tv-domain-registration/




WWW& THE 'NET'


What do these terms stand for?


From the Oxford Dictionary:


WWW stands for World Wide Web.
WORLD WIDE WEB, n. "A widely used multimedia information system on the internet, whereby documents stored at numerous locations worldwide are cross-referenced using hypertext links, which allow users to search for and access information by moving form on document to another."


The net refers to the internet. It is an abbreviation that still maintains the same meaning. 




When did the internet first become widely available to the general public?


The internet first became widely available to the general public in the second half of the 1990s.


What is the first documented use of the internet?
the first documented use of the interned was in 1969 at the universty of california where Bolt and Newman Installed the first interface message processor.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36003145/IT-Sustainability




SEARCH ENGINES




What is the most used/ most popular search engine in the world right now? What are the statistics?


The most used search engine in the world is Google which holds 90.58% of the world's internet searches.

In Australia Google also leads the way accounting for 94.93% of Australia's internet searches.

Reference:
StatCounter




What was the first GUI search engine?
The first GUI search engine, Archie, was developed  in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in Montreal.
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/search_history/




DEFINITIONS:


http: HyperText Transfer Protocol. The language of the web browser.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/HTTP.html


GUI: Graphical User Interface. Replaced having to learn code to tell a computer what to do. Enables point and click operation on your computer.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/GUI.html


CSS: Cascading Style Sheets. Chunks of code that assinged attributes to shorten the time it takes to write html.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CSS.html


RSS: a way of syndicating information from a website.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RSS.html
TrackBack: A way to notify one website that another website has made a reference to it. 
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/T/TrackBack.html


Podcast: audio presentation of information. like a aural RSS.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/podcasting.html


Preloader: annoying circle or hourlass that comes up whilst something is loading.


IP address: a unique number assigned to every computer using the internet. 
http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2002/IPaddressing.asp


Cookies:  bundles of information that allow your web browser and the web server to synchronise info.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/cookie.html 


Phishing: scam emails that offer something but are actually fishing for personal details.. 
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/phishing.html


404 Error: Happens when the link selected is no longer in use, you are retireceted to a 404 error page, if this has been set up by the website it can cotain a link to the home page or another relevant page.
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/error.asp

Week Five, Burgess & Bank

This week in class we discussed social networks and the creative use of internet sites. In terms of me using the internet creatively it just doesn't happen. I use Facebook and that is about it. I have a tumblr account but I never use it because I don't want tumblr to own everything I upload. I wouldn't say I interact creatively with either site because I am not that interactive with them in the first place. 


With reference to Burgess and Bank's text User-created content and online social networks I agree that in order for these sites to function users have to create the content. It is a vicious cycle. If all the world were lazy like me and couldn't be bothered in participating in generating content for these sites, then these sites would not be in existence. Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr, Myspace and others have become multibillion companies who are oozing in money that we the public are creating. The sites wouldn't be so wealthy if we didn't use them. They make money of us by placing adds on our pages. Shouldn't it be us who are getting the profits from these sites? We are the ones who making them popular, if we didn't create content for the site they wouldn't have the money they have. Maybe I should email Mark Zucherberg and ask him why I am not receiving the money advertisers pay to put ads on my page. It is my page right?


Anyway just some food for thought. 

Week Six, Post Secret.

This week in class we looked a number of creative internet sites. My favourite site was PostSecret. People have some really weird secrets and others are just dumb and probably not worth posting on the site. I like the site because the secrets are weird and some you can relate to. I like the post saying "New shoes make me happier than people do". I know how this feels and for some weird reason new shoes do make me happier than some people. The site is really easy to read on a black background, and that is one of its most attractive features. Nothing on the site distracts you away from the post secret artworks. 

The only really bad thing I can point out is some of the content that is posted, doesn't need to be there. For example posts regarding sexually explicit content. It doesn't need to be read or posted, even if it is a secret I don't think it needs to be there. The best part about the site is the secret's artwork. Some are done really well and creative and others look like a 2 year-old drew it. The best that I like are pictures with the secret written or cut and pasted over the top. It is just something about the way they are made and the style suits the site.

In research have found some other sites that are spin-offs. Secret Talk  is a site that takes the ideas of posting secrets on a website but it is a let down. The site isn't well setup and people just write about anything. You have to click on a link to get that secret to come up, but most of it isn't worth reading. You can also comment on the secret which I guess is the whole point of the website, hence the name secret talk. 

Another site that is similar is FML. This site is actually funny and really entertaining to read. They now have a little button so you can vote if the person deserved their fml or if they agreed their life sucks. I like the site because it is funny and random. 

Week Seven, Appropriation in advertisement

My favourite television ad at the moment is the Maxibon Man Chew ad. Jawceps and Chindominals make me laugh not mention the Man Chew actually looks like a dog a toy. Taking lickers to biters it is a complete manformation, JAWSOME!  Even though the ad is great hit it strongly draws parallels to the Powerthirst youtube ad that went viral in 2007. The reference to a built muscly man featuring throughout both the ads is a hard one not to miss. Next the nature of the voice over and also the tone of voice is almost exactly the same. The text that flies over the images and the impression it can make you do things are also similarities.  For example in the Powerthirst ad it will make you have 400 babies and in the Maxibon ad the man chew will give you Jawceps and Chindominals. The play on words (Jawceps, Chindominals) in the Maxibon ad are a similar rip off of the types of Powerthirst such as Shocklate and Rawberry. The overall idea is to make you more manly and the only way to do that is to pay out skinny men and plaster super muscular ideals of men over both ads. Without the Maxibon Man Chew or Powerthirst you are not a man!


It doesn't matter that the Powerthirst advertisement wasn't shown on television it is still a direct copy by Maxibon right down to the concept.

Powerthirst is a three part series.

Week Nine, photographs and digital imagery

Week 9's reading was an article by Geoffrey Batchen. To start with photography is NOT dead and will never be. There are more photographers in world then ever before including professional and amateur. Compare this to the amount of digital imagery designers and photographers far out weigh them. Every person in the street has a camera, wether it is on their phone, ipod or an actual camera. Therefore photography is NOT dead. 


In regards to this statement 

“photographs are pictorial transformations of a three-dimensional world, pictures that depend for their legibility on a historically specific set of visual conventions” this simply means a photograph is a record of our world and taken in a format that has been accepted by society to be a true representation. To a photographer this is crap talk. No matter what photography is subjective and not objective. It is subjective because there is a person behind the camera deciding what way to take the photo, what light looks best, what is the correct exposure, what is the right aperture to use to make the picture convey what the photographer wants. I don't understand how Batchen can say it is objective, when a human is directing the image. Anyway back when viewing a photography we believe it is a true representation because we assume it has not been edited in a way to distort the truth. However a digital created image we know has been made up out of nothing even though it may look realistic we know it is not, because it is a fake. Even though a digital image looks real it will never compare to photography, because photography captures a moment that is happening before the photographer, instead of some graphic designer making a copy of the repetitive images we see everyday. 

My favourite photographer Eve Arnold and her work of Marilyn Monroe.

Week 2, Cyberculture

This week's class reading was 'Why Cyberculture' written by David Bell. Within the text Bell refers to 'material storytelling' when talking about the relationships between us and technology. I agree with this statement because technology is another form of storytelling. My own interaction with technology reflects this statement, for example the television - programs all contain stories whether it is the news or a movie, or even a series . Even the fridge tells a story - its contents alone hints to the food I eat and what food I don't like to eat. Next is the internet and my Facebook page - it is a log of what I do, it records thoughts, feelings, events I attend and hosts a variety of photos have uploaded. So no matter where you look, the technology you own tells a story about you.


Another main point Bell focuses on is something he calls a 'digital divide'. From my understanding and help from the Oxford dictionary, the digital divide is a division between those in favour of the use of digital technology and those who are not. It can also mean the devision between those who have access to digital technology and those who don't. He then goes on to say 

in order to deal with ‘clusters of connotations’ in our material stories, we often are ‘invisibilizing those people on the “wrong side” of the digital divide’. This statement could be seen as people who have access to these digital technology are on the right side and those who don't are on the wrong side. A digital divide happens in every country among those who are not well off finically. Those who have money can afford to buy luxury items such as a computer with access to the internet,  or phone to keep in contact with others. Sadly this is truth. 

Week four, Electronic Literature

Hayes, N. Katherine (2008) Electronic Literature, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. pp 1-4.


Hayes asks “Will the dissemination mechanisms of the internet and the Web, by opening publication to everyone, result in a flood of worthless drivel?” (2008: 2). 


This statement can be argued for hours between millions of people, however there is plain straight forward yes or no answer. No matter how much good content is on the internet there will always be worthless pointless drivel. However it depends on the consumer to determine what is weighted as important and what is worthless. You can type in any word into Google search, click enter and there are bound to web pages upon web pages about it. 


A major concern for book publishers and authors is the migration of there work published on the internet for free. Why would consumers buy a book, magazine or newspaper why they can access the same information and content on the internet for free. What happens to the royalties paid to the original author if their work can be accessed for free? Putting information on the internet raises many questions about security, censorship and money, however no matter what we put on the net it is up to the consumer to decide what is worthy and what is not. 


Take a look it this post on Naruto Forum discussing the worthiness of their own site. In all honesty who cares? Someone must because people have commented.

Week One, 'Blogging to Learn, Learning to Blog'

When you read the outline of your university subject often or not you don't expect a blog to be apart of your assessment. In recent years blogging has become an element of some university assessment. Why blogging you may ask? Believe it or not, but blogging is an excellent way for a student delve into the ideas of the course content on an interactive level. The text 'Blogging to Learn, Learning to Blog', written by Jean Burgess argues the introduction of blogging into the curriculum allows the students to "experiment and take ownership, rather than merely emulate models handed down by the instructor"(Burgess, J. 2006, pg.107).


To explain, Burgess discusses the university curriculum in terms of needing to catch up to modern technologies and modern forms of literature. With the rapid increase in online literature evident in blogs, forums, etc; university assessment still remains in the past. Plain, boring and bland formative assessment is based on a model form decades ago. It has not deviated from the essay, review, report and so on... black and white print on paper; a tactile object. Burgess talks about how students should be encouraged to be involved and active in knowledge. He also states students should becomes literate in not only formal literacies but also what she calls creative literacies and network literacies (technology).  He argues students who engage with blogging as an assessment component go beyond the required basic blog, interacting with templates, inserting links relating to the concept and determine their style of writing, length and depth.


Blogging has become a very open and customisable to personal taste. Students have become so stuck in the repetitive and restricted formal nature of the essay, that when faced with a medium that is so widespread in customisability, students end up lost in the technology. Those student who are presented with medium and don't understand how to utilise the technology to their advantage often reject the idea of blogging as formative assessment. Burgess discovered those of her students which english was not their first language, excelled due to the interactivity of commenting on other student's blogs and finding a voice other than their essay voice. He also found the students where commenting on each other's blogs and further discussing the content creating their own online classroom by learning from each other. In her findings he states students who use blogs increase their engagement and sense of ownership of the learning process.


Personally as a university student I never expected blogs to be part of my assessment. Before I came to uni I had never read a blog let alone owned and written one. After using the medium once of twice I found my 'blog voice'. I didn't realise how free your writing could be and to what extent you can ramble, however still maintaing coherency, and somehow get a better grade. It seems lectures and tutors prefer to heavily hear the students opinion and own voice within their blog. I agree with out a doubt blogs are a great form of assessment. You can still write formally in a blog, however the purpose is to write your opinion, your point of view, not a regurgitation of what the lecture has told you.

This cartoon reminds me of LOL CATS