Portfolio ideas

there are a few different ideas i have been thinking about for my portfolio. I really want to try and do a desktop cam presentation. Basically what i would do is use a desktop cam/screen recorder to record my computer screen and record myself browsing the various projects i've done. Then i would take those clips and put them into imovie and add things like voice recordings and other pictures. i think that would be very unique and a good way to show the work i've done throughout the semester.

I could also do a powerpoint, utilizing things like screen shots to show pictures of my projects. I want to make something that will keep the audience's attention though. I find sometimes with power points the slides become boring and uninteresting.

The theme of my portfolio will basically fallow the parameters for the assignment. Showing all of my work and explaining the strength and weaknesses, and also describing overall what I learned from the course and how I will incorporate it into my future college career and beyond.

Ning

I really enjoyed this project. Before the project I had never even heard of Ning, and most likely would have not tried it if it wasn't for this project and I am glad that I got the Opportunity to do so. Before I became acclimated to Ning, i was really not a fan. The layout was new to me and I was having trouble figuring out the working and purpose of Ning. After the class figured out some of the problems and I became more used to using the site it became very fun to work with.

I enjoyed that fact that we were able to incorporate a cause into this project. It seems that Ning is a viable platform to educate people on various causes. Whether or not i will use Ning in the future, i have not yet decided. I think that Ning is one of the better designed social networking sites and it is unfortunate that it is not as popular as facebook or myspace. Overall i think that utilizing Ning for this project was a good idea. With new websites and social networking sites being developed every day I think it is interesting to experience all of them.

I think that our groups Ning page was very successful and well constructed, we utilized various affordances such as video and photos. I specifically enjoyed the discussions page where we were free to start our own discussions and have our group members respond to them. Overall I enjoyed this project and can say it was one of my favorite. Hopefully i will use ning in the future and maybe introduce it to my friends and family.

Website Designs

HULU.com

Hulu.com is not only a very popular website, but also very well designed. Hulu has just about all of the characteristics of a strong website design. The navigation tabs at the top make it very simple to surf through the site. The colors and fonts are bright and vivid and the contrast and colors compliment each other well. Everything is very easy to read. For those who don't know, hulu is a video streaming website where you can watch video clips of your favorite television shows and even full episodes. The videos are very organized on the front page with sections such as most popular and "hulu's pick" the organizational aspect is very strong on the hulu site and everything can be easily accessed right from the homepage. Everything fallows an organized alignment and the images and fonts flow nicely. There is good repetition as well.

Poor website: Mapquest

Mapquest is a very cluttered website. It is not very user friendly and the homepage layout is quite confusing. Mapquest is not a horrible website, but considering the popularity of the site, the design is very lacking. The contrast is subpar as are the colors in general. There is really no sense of navigation, the maps and directions tabs bring you to more or less the same page. Considering proximity, most of the links and information are very close together which can get confusing. There is not much depth to the website, which in some cases can be good but in this case it seems that the website is just lacking. Again Mapquest is not a terribly designed website but compared to other popular websites it seems that Mapquest could use some improvement

Palmquist Response

The main focus of this reading is how to effectively design a website and how to effectivley write for this website in different ways. I was for the most part familiar with the writing examples given such as purpose, audience and style. I think it is interesting identifying the similarities and differences in writing in a print document and a digital document. Many of the aspects are similar but at the same time are vastly different. I think that writing electronically allows for much more freedom and creativity than writing in print form. I am having trouble understanding the "hierarchial structure" so I am going to do some more research because it sounds interesting. I might have seen a website designed this way but just did not realize it.

Kress Response

I agree with many of the ideas Kress presents in this article. To me Images and Text go hand in hand, while they can most certainly exist on their own, often times photos are obscure without the aid of text and the same can also be said for text. I do not think that one can simply take the place of the other though. To me it seemed that the children's drawings depicted more of what the teacher asked their students to describe. It is interesting how communication evolves along with age. In children it always seems that they rely on pictures more, whether in reading or writing.

It seems that affordances go hand in hand with technology and in my opinion aid in most textual formats. For example, in our blogs (or at least in mine) I always try and add an image as a visual aid to accompany my blog posts. To me text alone or Images alone are not enough. Especially with the ease of technology in our generation , digitial media such as video and images play a vital role in almost any body of work that utilizes technology. When a CEO is doing a presentation for board members to show company progress, the presentation will almost certainly not contain only text or only images, but the combination of both. Just as Kress says images and affordances have started to play a major role in text and communication since previous generations and will most likely continue to evolve.

Post write: Project 1 Enthusiast blog

1) What is the topic and title of your blog? Why did you choose this topic and title?

The topic of my blog is Sneakers and Sneaker culture. Not many people are aware that there is a large community of people of all ages, that view sneakers as more of a hobby than a mere retail item. I named my blog "Sole Source", i wanted to think of a title that was catchy and conveyed what my blog is all about. I chose this topic because collecting sneakers is something i really enjoy and i believe it is a very unique hobby. I want to enlighten people on this hobby of mine, because from my experience in telling people of my interest in sneakers, many find it very odd, i hope to rid this confused view on sneaker culture and collecting and i hope my readers enjoy my posts.

2.) Describe the organization of information in your blog.

I always like to start out all of my posts with some sort of image, i believe this really catches the readers attention, because no matter how old you are, everyone likes pictures. I try to keep my posts at a reasonable legnth, i want to convey the most information as i can, but i also want to keep the readers attention, i think in an online environment readers are not going to want to spend too much time reading one post considering another one is just a click away. Most of my posts are in paragraph form.

3.) describe the personality you are putting fourth in your blog and cite three places where this personality is at its strongest.

I believe my personality in my blog can best be described as casual informative. I wanted to make my blog informative to those who are not familiar with the sneaker culture without being preachy. I want people to enjoy what they read, so i tried to have a fun personality and have readers feel as if they were being informed in a friendly fun manner. One good example would be my very first blog post entitled "shrink wrap not just for leftovers." This post was an informative post about a good place to buy limited edition sneakers. As you can see, I tried to make the title catchy and somewhat comedic. In the post itself, as i said i try to make it as informative as possible without sounding like a lecture. in my opening sentence "I would like to introduce to a place that one may consider the mecca of sneakers, this is not your local mall's footlocker" I made it so the reader understood what i was talking about without using boring informative language. Another example would have to be my post of the music video "Nikehead." Lets face it, reading too much about one thing can get boring, and i wanted to keep the fun atmosphere of my blog going, so i decided to give readers a break to enjoy a song that I believe was very helpful in explaining exactly what my blog and my hobby is all about.

4.) How would you describe you blogging style? Why did you choose this style?

Since this is my first blog, i'm not sure i have really identified my blogging style yet. If i were try and label my style, i would say it is very similar to the personality i described in my previous answer. informative but casual and fun. I like to incorporate alot of pictures, videos, and music to along with my writing because i strongly believe that digital media is a big part of what the internet is about ( I guess the internet itself is digital media but you know what i mean)

5.) How would you describe your design aesthetic? how does this aesthetic tie into your topic?

I went with one of the basic black templates and white font. I felt that i could make that work by adding other things to my blog to make it stand out. I think that the black color goes along well with the trendy urban aspect of my topic. For some reason i just think the black looks slick and is not too wild or too conservative. As i said i like using pictures, and i think the pictures are appropriate for my posts and are aesthetically pleasing. I think that the font is easy to read and is basically the only color that goes well with black.

6) If you had more design knowledge, how might your aesthetic change? in other words, what would your ideal blog look like if you were more tech savvy and/or had more design tools to work with? What might you change or add?

If i were more tech savvy, i would deffinatley start out by making a really cool header and template. i like my header and template, but i'll admit they are pretty simple. I don't think that i would change much else because i wouldn't want to distract my audience from the content in my posts.

7) What about your blog works best? What needs more work?

I think that the overall look and structure of my blog works best. I think that the colors, pictures and font all work well together and are all aesthetically pleasing. I tend to put alot of time into how my blog looks which i guess is good and bad.

The areas where my blog needs work are 1. the posts themselves and 2. having more of a purpose to my posts. The posts themselves are average in my opinion and i think could just be better overall. Also sometimes I find myself making posts just because i know i am eventually am going to need 12. I don't want my blog to sound like i am just adding a post to get one done. I want to try and have my posts be relevant to one another by a means other than just the general topic of sneakers, in other words i want to have my posts flow better from one to th other.

8.) What was the best piece of feedback you got from your peers? Why was it helpful, and how did you incorporate it?

The best piece of feedback I got from my peers is that my blog looked nice and the posts were interesting and fun to read. I admired this feedback, but i feel like many of my peers (and myself) do not want to give constructive criticism for fear that it might offend the person. I was hoping that I would get some more insight on where my blog was lacking and how i could improve it.

9.) If you had to describe blogging to someone who had never done it, how would you describe it? what sets writing in the electronic environment of a blog apart from other types of writing?

I would describe blogging as a great means for people to communicate, interact and share their ideas with each other in a more casual and friendly setting. i think that blogging is fairly easy to do once you get the hang of it and can even get addicting if you find blogs that really interest you. Although i don't think blogging is for everyone i would reccomend everyone to try it at least once. Overall i think that blogging is very creative and allows for people to express their creativity and ideas.

10.) Has this project changed your ideas on blogs and blogging, if so how and why?

Yes i do believe that this project changed my view on blogging. I wasn't sure if i would like blogging very much since compared to other internet things like facebook and youtube, blogging is a little more obscure in todays culture. I still think that blogging has a long way to come to gain more popularity but i have indeed been enjoying designing my blog and keeping up with my posts, and i think i will keep up with my blog beyond this class.

11.) Remember, this incarnation of your blog is only the beginning. You'll be working on it and improving it throughout the semester. With that in mind, is there a particular aspect of your blog that you want me to focus particularly closely on in terms of my feedback if so, pleas expand.

If i were to choose one thing i need feedback on specifically is the overall content of my posts, are the informative enough? is the tone good? I think that the layout aspect of my blog is something i can work on but is not my biggest concern. I just want to make sure i have an overall strong blog with good posts.

Information ecologies

Before reading this, i had never heard of the term information ecologies. When first hearing the word it sounds complex but is quite a simple concept. I suppose that our writing class is even an information ecology. I was not aware that many everyday things such as libraries are considered information ecologies.

Wiki travel is an information ecology because it is a system of people using technology for a common interest and goal. People are free to edit each other's post about a certain destination. Our class is working together to add to the Kingston Section of Wiki Travel

Information ecology that i am apart of are things such as wikitravel, a forum i belong to called niketalk.com and i supposed like stated previously, our class could be considered an information ecology

Wales Wikipedia Response

I was most interested in the questions Wales was aksed abut the credibility and accuracy of Wikipedia. In highschool i was always told never to use wikipedia as a source and should even avoid it as a reference altogether. Im not sure if this interview allowed me to agree or disagree with those suggestions. The fact that Wales claims to be "anti-crudentialist" is suprising, seeing that he is the founder of a encyclopedia website. He claims that him and the community are focused on quality, yet he praises the fact that a gifted highschooler can edit wikipedia, im just not sure how i feel about that. While it's good that people around the world can share their knowledge, it's really unfair to say that they are so focused on quality.

I have always questioned what I am reading on wikipedia, and after seeing this video i think i might question it even more. When asked about how he felt about the critics on the accuracy of wikipeida it seemed that Wales sort of avoided the question, saying that wikipedia is ever progressing and growing.

Despite the controversy over the accuracy and credibility of Wikipedia, there is no denying that is certainy a staple in cyberspace for lack of a better word, and that it is a very unique and progessive concept that allows people all over the world to share their knowledge.

Response to Wurman

Since there was no thread in the forum sction for our response i decided to respond here.

I really enjoyed reading Wurman. He seemed to be a very interesting, and had a very different way of thinking. It is not often that someone is willing to admit their ignorance, let alone embrace it as Wurman does. I find it somewhat comedic how frank he is about his own ignorance, calling himself "an empty bucket." Perhaps he was being a little harsh on himself? Though i do applaud him on recognizing that there is so much one can think thy are learning, but are really just taking in repeated knowledge from someone else, from someone who may or may not truly understand it.

I really like Wurman's way of the thinking and how he recognizes that one only really truly learns something if they an explain it to others, which is often, in my opinion very hard to do.

Wurman says "But the most essential prerequisite to understanding is to be able to admit something when you don't understand it." I completely agree with this statement. Often times people are apprehensive to admit their ignorance on what ever topic or situation, for what ever reason, be it fear of being looked down upon or even for the sake of maintaining our own ego, and perhaps even because it is simply human nature. We are all guilty of it at some point and Wurman happens to admit it and embrace it.

I find it ironic that Wurman became a teacher, seeing that he describes himself as being ignorant, but it seems like he would be a very interesting professor.

Brainstorm

Topic: There are many topics I can think of that i would potentially like to center my blog around, I am having trouble narrowing it down to what would be most appropriate, being an athlete my initial inclination would be sports, but i figure that's pretty generic and not very academic considering this is a college course. Im a film/communications major so perhaps a place where people could come to share their homemade vidoes/movies, even photography and talk about different aspects of film and media in general, these are only some general ideas that i will most likely make more specific

Audience: My blog would be geared toward really any demographic that has any interest at all in what ever i choose my topic to be, even people who don't have interest who would like to get know about the topic.

Personality: I would definitely want to be laid back and very welcoming, often times people feel intimidated by some topic they don't have much knowledge on, this is what i would like to eliminate, create an environment where any one can come and read about the topic and comment on.

Titles.

I would have to wait to choose my topic before i could come up with a clever topic,

right now i suppose it stands at enthusiast blog?

More to come.

Stefanac response

I found this to be quite interesting and even a bit entertaining. It's like a handbook for blogging. I never knew there were guidelines to a good blog. I suppose Blogs really are like clubhouses, i would most likely only read some ones blog that i found interesting or maybe had something in common with, just as i would only join a club where the members shared a common interest of mine.

One thing i wanted to comment specifically on is Stefanac's mention of the lack of civility on the internet and how one might be inclined to disable comments on their blogs. I could not agree more with this. It is amazing some of things i see, like comments I see on videos on youtube. It's like people lose all respect for others once they are on the internet and decency just goes out the window, it really is absurd some of the things people feel they have the need to say on the internet, that they most likely wouldn't say to someone in real life.

Overall i think that Stefanac has a great point and a great idea, with this clubhouse blogging concept. To me it's the blogging equivalent of a topic forums, people with common interests can come together to share their experiences, opinions, photos, ideas and basically anything else.

Response to Rebecca Blood

I had never known, or been educated on the history of blogs. Blogging is very new to me, in the sense that i have never actually had one, I certainly knew about them and even had a few friends who had them and updated them regularly (some were in fact quite popular). After reading Blood's essay on blogs, i really feel enlightened on the origins of this "weblog." I didn't realize that blogger had been around since 1999. Who knew that a complicated html coding pass time more or less would turn into such an easy and popular means of expressing oneself and sharing it with others.

Though blogging seems to be coming increasingly more popular, it still seems to be somewhat obscure to the regular facebook/myspace users. Like i said I have a couple of friends who have blogs but not many, maybe one or two. Now this is not my own opinion but it seems that the "blogging community" or "bloggers" are seen as going a little extreme or having too much time on their hands, i was reading Marissa's response and I completely agree with her opinion on the word "blogger" it sort of as negative or nerdy connotation, but honestly i know people who are just as addicted, if not more to facebook, but the fact that blogging is still in pop culture a little less "pop" than facebooking, therefor is seen in lesser light than some of the social networking sites. If it wasn't for this class i probably would never have a blog, it just seems like no one would really care what i had to say, but now that I have one it seems very interesting and fun.

I really enjoyed this quote by Blood

"In our age the single page website of an obscure Turk named Mahir can sweep the web in days"

Its amazing to me how true this statement is. The internet is such a vast a fast spreading arena for anyone to share with the world anything they feel necessary. I think that blogs are an effective way of doing this, but i don't think that blogs have enough popularity or intrigue to get much bigger than they are now, which is unfortunate. Perhaps the biggest reason is that most of my generation has grown alarmingly accustom to instant gratification, they don't want to take the time to read someone's blog, when the can easily go to Facebook and looks at pictures and read concise status or twitter updates.

I certainly enjoyed reading Blood's essay on blogging and learning about it's history, i think that blogs are a great way to share your thoughts and stories with other people and hopefully i will use mine often.