My Reflection part 3

I think that part of this assignment is a bit of a blur. I do remember doing most of it thankfully but if I ever do forget I do have my reflections to look at to help me remember what I have been doing over the last 7 weeks, which I think I have done quite well because I am able to go back and find the things that I had forgotten either how to do them or what they did. I think for a assignment like this it is important to write constructive reflections so that you are able to go back and re-learn something that you have only just discovered, otherwise I am going to forget and I will have to learn it again.  

I don't think that I struggled much with this assignment. As I have said with my previous post the main thing that I had understanding was Mashups. But with most other things I was able to grasp them rather quickly, it was more the exploring that took a lot of time to do. 

I think that the work load was quite a lot for this subject. Not only did we have to explore Web 2.0 ( which took up most of my time), we also had to do the readings and answer the questions, and there was stuff in class as well. I was hoping that we were able do some of the web 2.0 in class and learn it together. I think that I would have been able to learn it better that way because there would have been instant help. 

I don't think that using blogs is the best way to be able to create a discussion. I think that it would have been better if we had a discussion board so that we were able to all come together create threads and be able to discuss more efficiently.

But I am still glad that I have my blog and I will be using in the future.

candy  

My Reflection part 2

Well I honestly believe that this assignment has opened my eyes to a whole new world. I never thought that I would ever have a web page. I never thought that I would ever go on facebook and I never thought I would discover the joys of youtube. So I guess that if I never decided to do this course I would never have been apart of the web 2.0 adventure. I think that this has opened my eyes to what is out there and has want me to explore what I have yet to discover.

I actually love working on my website and being able to be creative and I think that even once this assignment is over I will still work on it discovering new gadgets to make my website even more exciting. You do actually have some control over the look and layout of your blog but I think that now I have the buzz for it I really want to create a HTML website for information management or something along those lines.

I think that it is easier to do all this on a Mac so I am glad that I have one so that I can explore what more stuff I can do with my Mac to make it even more efficient.

candy

The Final Reflection Part !

Well hasn't this been an experience.  I have enjoyed every moment of it. Although there has been some frustrations. I think that was mainly because of dial up. But (even though it is a bit late) I am now a proud owner of broadband and loving it. 

I feel like I  have fully embraced and participated in the Web 2.o Adventure and although I may have had some problems through the different exercises the help was there and there were times when I was able to look at the problem from a logical point of view I was sometimes able to figure it out for myself. That is what I loved best with the assignment was that for the first time I was really able to figure things out of myself if I couldn't do something it was so bittersweet.

I believe that the interaction with our group was actually really good. We were able to help each other if anyone had a problem with something and we were able to have discussion about the different technologies. We had a fairly large group so it did take a long time to read everyone's blog posts and comment on them. I think that it would have been easier if the groups were smaller then we would have had more time on discussing the blog posts. However, I loved our group and I was glad to have this opportunity to work with them.

I think that I have been pretty successful in executed the technical skills that were required with Web 2.0. Most of them I had never used before so I actually want to check them all out to see what they were all about. And I think that is where this assignment was good for me because I was finally able to do that. I don't think that if I was out on my own I would never have discovered most of these sites that we have looked at. In particular the social networking sites like delicious. I would have loved to known about these for my previous uni course.

Boy did I have to persist with some of the technologies in Web 2.0. I guess it wasn't really because of any problems I encountered, it was more because it was I new experience for me and I needed to explore it.I only thing that I think I had a problem with and possibly still do it with Mashups. I still cannot really explain this concept to people and I need to look at them a little more. I was able to help people learn blogger more. I loved exploring the new gadgets and once my group members saw what I was doing they wanted to know how did it. I was able to talk them through it step by step wether it be face to face or on our blogs.

I think that I have been able to reflect on each of the different technologies that I have explored. I can't see how all of this is relevant with information management  as we are able to communicate a lot more efficiently to many different people all over the world. I think that it is important for us to be familiar with web as it is the future for information.

Well all up it has been a great experience, it has been a lot of work but I think that I have learnt how to manage it all.

candy

Mashups Are Messing With My Head.

Ok I think that this one part of of Web 2.o that I still don't really understand what it means. So if anyone can shed a little light on it I will be forever grateful. However, I have found a site that describes what a mashup is and gives relevant sites to show you how they work. Here is the definition that they give: 

"A web mashup is a web application that takes information from one or more sources and presents it in a new way with a unique layout

Confused: It is actually not the difficult to understand as the technical definition might make you believe. The driving power of the internet is information, and a mashup is an application that takes that information and shows it to you in a unique way".

What is a Mashup? 

By Daniel Nations.

I don't think that is the best so I went to my more trusted source wikipedia and they gave a much more better definition of mashups and this is what they say:

"In web development, a mashup is a Web application that combines data from one or more sources into a single integrated tool. The term Mashup implies easy, fast integration, frequently done by access to open APIs and data sources to produce results that were not the original reason for producing the raw source data. An example of a mashup is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real estate data, thereby creating a new and distinct Web service that was not originally provided by either source".

By Wikipedia

The rest of the article gives more references, external links and types of mashups. It gives you a pretty good overview on what a mashup is and does and the references are pretty good to in particular I liked Travature which gives you all the information you need on travel while your on the go. I believe that it sends it straight to your iphone. 

Well I hope that this gives you same understanding on mashups. And while I have been writing this blog post and reading more articles I am getting a much better understanding as to what a Mashup actually is.

candy.

View Larger Map

Ok I hope that this works. Anyway I found google  maps very easy to use and I can see just how beneficial it is. To be able to plan your trip like this is fantastic because you can customize your own itinerary. I had already had a look at google maps in Information Provisions so I already new a little bit about it, but making your own map just gives you a different opinion on the idea of creating your own maps.

I can see how this  will be the new thing. Who needs melways anymore when you have google maps and navman, The days of getting lost are over, it is almost (very almost) tempting me to start driving again. But that will only happen when cars can learn to completely drive themselves and all we have to do is just behind a wheel and well fall asleep. 

Anyways I think that google maps are a great idea and now i shall explore the interesting world of mashups.

candy.

This is an awesome video that I discovered from youtube which I have become a great fan of. I discovered this by chance really I love classical music and I actually got this from stumble upon. The music is truly amazing and I hope that you enjoy it also.

candy

Flickr

Well i absolutely love Flickr but the only problem is I have already forgotten what my password is. And that is the only one(of course) that I didn't get the chance to write down. Well I will find it out sooner or later I hope. Anyway the reasons why i love Flickr is because you are able to store and share all of your favourite photos in one easy site and once again use tags to be able to locate them better. It is a fantastic site as you can also create your own blog.

Also using Flickr you are able to create a slideshow of your photos and attach them to your blog (as i have on the right of screen) and view them when ever you like. (I don't think that this is going to make sense it is a saturday night and brain is in overload to I apologize if you are that this very moment thinking What The???)

I shall think that I will leave it at that and come back to it later. And hopefully with something more intelligent to say.

candy

HTML Coding

Well I know that this isn't really apart of this weeks blogs exercises, however, I would still like to discuss it anyway. I have been exploring HTML coding today and I have found that it is very easy to pick up. Of course at the moment I am just doing basic codes but still I have success and I am actually enjoying more than creating a site through software like blogger. With having a mac I actually had to get some software for it because I have iweb which is I guess like dreamweaver, but I couldn't find a way to be able to type in the codes. So I found a trial software specifically for Macs called Taco which allows me to edit HTML. 

I haven't done that much to it at the moment as I am still sourcing out what to do with it as well as doing all of this other work as well. I have two pages that have some links to it. I have learnt how to change background colour and Text colour. And create links throughout the page which allows you to go to certain sections of the document.

I do believe that HTML codes is a very useful skill to have and I hope to one day be confident in using it. With the site that I am creating I hope to make it like reference site for HTML codes so that we have all the information there to check up on.

I hope to publish it one day but I am no means to far up to that yet and haven't learnt how to do it either. As anyone else had a chance to have a look at it? If so what do you think about it?

Candy.