Collink134's Weblog

The Internet is Becoming more Personal

collink134 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:20:24 +0000

The popular networking site Facebook is growing. It is in multiple languages now including German and French as an article entitled “Facebook Launched German and French Versions.”

Facebook has grown so much in the past few years to the point that many students, including myself, have dropped there use of it. It has turned into a site that yes is very customizable, but also a little to over the top. What will be next on the site?

Virtual Interaction Taking Over?

collink134 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:50:20 +0000

Sure we know that computers can be a little one sided, as in you go to a site and explore on your own. However in an article from Wired Campus entitled “Putting Humanity Back into Technology,” we learn of a group that is learning to change that through a thing called Interactive Performance. In other words, more interaction with other online users. It sounds like a nice concept, but I do wonder if we will all become confined to our house somewhere down the line. I mean everything will be online so it is a possibility. Not good.

Gossip on the Internet

collink134 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:02:43 +0000

There have been many news stories in the news about how kids have commited suicide because of things that were posted about them online. These are sad and awful stories, and cops are starting to crack down on online back-stabbers. In an article entitled “Colgate U. Student’s Violent Message to a Gossip Web Site Leads to His Arrest” In the article they discuss a threat that this student had posted about his school. Cops found this article and arrested the student .

While it is nice to know that cops are tracking down these threats, they can’t stop them all, and that is a scary though in and of itself. I hope that in the future we could have some sort of system to help make the internet safer for everyone.

Blogging Review vs. Peer Review

collink134 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:53:58 +0000

Today I came across an Article entitled “Blog vs. Peer review Update: Interactivity Brings Some Surprises.” The Article talks about a professor that has put his book online for peer editing, except through the blog world.

This makes me wonder. Is being criticized easier through the Internet, or is it better to be someone you know? For me personally I would much rather have a stranger criticize my work, but what do you guys out in word press think?

Social Networking Safety

collink134 — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:21:59 +0000

With all the social networking sites around today one begins to wonder about the safety. We hear about the sexual predators and internet bullying that takes place. It is on the news all the time.

Now, New York has decided to finally do something about it. They have created a software to track and stop internet predators from committing these crimes, and the article entitled “N.Y. Lawmakers announce social networking safety legislation,” talks all about it.

Now, parents and internet users alike can feel a little bit more secure about the nature of people that are on the other ends of comments or conversations.

“When I Was Growing Up…”

collink134 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:24:21 +0000

Virtual worlds are becoming more and more popular as time goes on, and one college campus has recently received a grant to develop a virtual world specifically for kids. According to the Wired Campus, Indiana University will has been given 1.8 million dollars to develop a website called Quest Atlantis.

The development of virtual worlds for such young age groups makes me wonder. Will these virtual worlds be what the current college generation tells there kids they take for granted? We have all heard the “when I was growing up we didn’t have….Well I think this could grow so much that we will be saying that down the line to our children.

Digital Campus Life?

collink134 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:18:15 +0000

Virtual worlds are becoming more and more prevalent in the United States with sites such as Second-life, neopets, and web-kins popping up daily. These sites draw in many users, and are now drawing in college campuses.

Taking digital classes are no new thing, many schools now offer on-line courses where you buy the textbook, do assignments on-line, and talk to the professor via e-mail. But according to an article entitle “It’s a World of Possibilities” that may be taken a step farther.

In the article we learn of a professor that has held classes at the virtual form of Edinburgh’s campus on Second-life. Students can create avatars and virtually meet with professors and other students.

Does this mean that college life as we know it is coming to an end? Will college campuses eventually become obsolete with students taking “on-line” courses at home? Only time will tell.

Blog Search vs. Search Engine

collink134 — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:11:19 +0000

Searching for information on the web can be frustrating. How do we find what we need? Do we need basic information, or information on a recent situation. In a recent IMS class we were told to use two different types of search engines and compare the results we found.

First, we used two different live search engines, blogpulse.com and technorati.com. Then we chose two subjects to search the first being Prince Harry, and the second being global warming. While searching Prince Harry on the live search we found many blog posts about his deployment on the front-lines in Afghanistan. And when we searched global warming we found many blog posts from people either promoting a non-profit organization to prevent global warming or to talk about different political figures’ views on the issue.

These findings contrasted greatly to what we found on google’s search engine. The results found on google contained basic biographical information, magazine publishings, and general information. The results also included old news stories.

Overall, we came to the conclusion that live engine searches are the best to find recent news, where as search engines are great for general information on a subject.

The Fad of Social Networking

collink134 — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:05:00 +0000

Is the Internet we know today slowly fading? According to an article entitled “Myspace, Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites: Hot Today, Gone Tomorrow?” This could very well be the case.

This article makes me wonder if the tools we are learning in class could be useless in a few months.

Social Networking

collink134 — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:52:54 +0000

Socila networking on the web is growing in today’s world. In IMS 201 we are learning to use different sites in order to receive news feeds and document sites we find as well as document them on this site. One of the sites someone in the class already found is “The Growth of Social Networking.” I am looking forward to this class and using all of these tools because I have not used any of them before.