Technology Learning 4 Spruz.com

We were able to get our site back up and running,  so that's good.  I really am not a big fan of Spruz at all...the amount of extra work that myself and my group members had to put in for this project was ridiculous, and it's because of the site and it's strict regulations.  At least now i know that i won't be using Spruz ever again! It was good to gain some experience though :)

Technology Learning 3 Spruz.com

Working with spruz.com has definitely been a roller coaster of ups and downs in terms of success with it.  The site is incredibly slow, and today we found out that our site was taken down by them because we haven't paid for anything and they want to eliminate spam sites.  So now we have to email the company to let them know that we are using their site strictly for learning purposes for our WRT class here at the university.  Once we hear back from them, we can move forward from there. This is a good learning experience because of this "bump" that we hit, so we have to work through it together and hopefully it'll work out!

Technology Learning 2 Spruz.com

So basically the actual website (spruz.com) is a horrible website, but this project itself has taught me a bit about what needs to go into a social networking page that works for a cause such as obesity. We are addressing elements like nutrition at school, a parent's role, and getting proper exercise.  It's something I'm passionate and interested in, so it's easier for me to relate to and write about.  All of my group members feel the same way about changing the way the young ones in our generation fuel themselves. Part of my role in the project was to write a little bit about what  parent can do to influence a child because parents have a huge impact on how a child eats and exercises. I'm excited about the final product and I hope other groups can see the passion that myself and my group members display on our page.

Technology Learning 1 Spruz.com

I am finding that I like wordpress.com much better than spruz.com for creating a web page. WordPress was much easier to navigate and the whole them was very simplified compared to Spruz. That being said, I am getting used to Spruz to create our "Awareness" page.  My group is addressing the issue of childhood obesity in America today. I am quite passionate about health, especially for our youth so, this is a fun project.  I think it's really exciting to write about something I have a genuine interest in, like health. I am writing about the role of the parent in making sure their child eats well.  I hope I can connect with parents (I know no one is really going to see the website), but I do genuinely hope to someday make a difference in this new issue today. Years ago, this wasn't a problem for America, so it is up to our generation to help the younger generation struggling.

Boyd & Bennett Reading Response

     Boyd and Bennett both had very different views on how social networking can benefit society today.  Boyd feels strongly that social networks hinder our society and offer little benefit to its progress. She described how anyone can be someone they're not on the internet because it allows for 'attention-seeking people to do their thing." (113) She said that the internet is full of egoists trying to get attention for anything.  Boyd takes a much more negative stand on social networking throughout the reading. At one point, she says that the social network sites work as "echo-chambers" in which the same information is passed among friends but goes no further than that.
     Bennett's approach sees social networking in a more positive light and he thinks we should take what we have, and use our resources to create a better society. He thinks the technology of today can be of great benefit to us.  He says that the youth should be more involved with the internet and such in order to move forward.  Since the world today is so technology-based, we must learn how to make use of these tools.
     Bennett seems to take a much more ideal approach to this subject because we are only becoming more and more engaged in the technological society of today.  To ignore this fact, or bash it is unrealistic because we are now a technological society.  We must accept this, and utilize our tools to the greatest extent to keep moving forward.

Technology Learning 4 Web Design

The most beneficial thing that I've learned from this project is, obviously, how to make a webpage using wordpress.com.  However, the thing I'm most excited about is that, for my final project for my COM 310 class, we have to create "user-generated media." We can create music, a blog, a webpage, or anything else created online by me. This project has given me the skills to create a webpage for this project, and I'm really excited to put my skills to use.  So many times, students don't feel like the things they learn are actually needed until they have to use them.  I feel that the skills I learned for this project are being put to use right away for my Com project.

Technology Learning 3 Web Design

As this project is wrapping up, I am more and more pleased with wordpress.com. It's getting easier and easier for me to figure out how to make our website simple to navigate and such. I am really happy with how it's turning out. I feel as though our site is so much better than the original version, and it's encouraging me to want to do more of this type of thing. Now, I think I feel really comfortable with how a proper website should look. Years from now, if I ever need to make site, I'd feel very comfortable doing so because of this project.

Thoughts on website readings

     I really like how in the reading it said that having a main focal point on your page is a good idea.  This way, the eye is drawn to one specific spot. A lot of bad websites aren't appealing to look at because the eye doesn't know where to look since there's no one picture to initially focus on. I would have never thought to make a focal point on the homepage, but it makes complete sense to me, and all good websites have a part on their main page which makes the viewer look at first.  The idea of this "hierarchy" in which the eye starts at the most important or main point, and then moves to the less important/smaller points on the page.

Technology Learning 2 Web Design

I am finding through tweaking our website here and there that simple is definitely better. The Lynda tutorials mentioned that this is the case, but I am really finding that it's true now that I work with wordpress.com.  Our group was deciding on what to put as our home page picture and our background, and I thought that keeping the background as a solid color along with a homepage picture is the simplest most "professional-looking" way to make the home page. If we had chosen to make a busy background along with a picture for a homepage, it would be too distracting and hard to find a focal point on the page. This is what a lot of websites do wrong that makes them seem unprofessional. They are far too busy and this makes it too difficult to find that main focus of the homepage and to work from there.

Technology Learning 1 Web Design

     Right from the tart, this project has offered my so much in terms of learning proper web design.  So many sites are very disorganized.  Having a website like this can make a company or organization seem unprofessional and people won't want to take them seriously.  I'm excited to fix up the "Matunuk Surf Shop" website because right now, it's a disaster. The disorganization of the website makes it seem as though the owner doesn't care about selling the things in his store.    
     I really like using wordpress.com so far.  It's really simple to edit and add whatever you want to the site. As of now, our website looks a lot like a blog and we still need to work on that aspect of it, but it's coming along.  The Lynda tutorials have helped A LOT with getting to know how wordpress.com works so we can tweak our web page to improve it from the disaster that it is now.
    

Technology Learning 4 Wiki

I didn't realize this until a bit after I finished this project, but it really helped me gain some trust in the credibility of Wiki sites. Obviously I'm not going to start using Wiki sites as sources of scholarly knowledge, but after doing this project, I realize that someone isn't just going to go through the process of making a page on something that is all made up. I'm sure very few people have the patience to do that because, what's the benefit? The Wikitravel project made me realize that for something like traveling, I can trust a Wiki site to offer me information on places to stay, eat, and things to do somewhere I'd like to travel to.

Technology Learning 3 Wiki

I'm finding it a little frustrating that most of the place I've been to in Provincetown have already been written about. However, I reached a little out of the box and contacted my friend who goes to Ptown quite often and he described a few places that he's eaten at and stayed for the night so that I could write about them.  It took some time to remove his bias and such, but I'm glad I did that rather than writing about something I wasn't familiar with!

Technology Learning 2 Wiki

I made a lot of progress on y Wikitravel blog recently. I think it's because I am getting the hang of the format and the types of things I would say on the website. I'm really glad now that I chose Provincetown (Ptown), MA as opposed to my hometown, Sandwich, MA. There was a lot already written about my town because it's the oldest one on Cape Cod, but i thought maybe I could write a lot about it. Instead, I chose Ptown because I know a lot about it from visiting, and there wasn't as much written about it.  I had a lot to say about places I've visited and I'm really happy with how it came out so far. It is definitely frustrating to do the format that they want for the website, but i know it keeps it easy-to-read and more aesthetic.

Technology Learning 1 Wiki

The Wikitavel project is turning out to be really fun for me. At first, I was going to write about my hometown of Sandwich MA which is on Cape Cod, an obvious tourist attraction place. However, there was a huge amount already written about my town because it's the oldest town on Cape Cod, and it would probably  be very hard to add to it.  I decided to add to the Provincetown (called Ptown for slang) page because this also a very popular place to visit, but there wasn't much written about it yet. I am also very familiar with Ptown so it's easy for me to write about it. I am definitely getting a feel for how to write without trying to sell the town to people as well. 

Technology Learning 4 Clubhouse

     So my main learning for today was language and how I should use it.  I had no idea what type of language I should use for this blog at first because I kept forgetting that this is not an assignment for my professor to read, it's for my viewers. As soon as settled on that, (which took until today) I started to write more at ease with my language.  It is quite informal, and my sentence structure doesn't always follow the formal rules of the English language, but I think it's necessary to my blog to write how I am. I decided I definitely don't want to use any swear words because 1. It's not lady-like and 2. It's really not necessary to my blog! So basically I learned that it's okay to speak informally because it's not just for my professor to read, it's for anyone and everyone who reads it.

Technology Learning 3 Clubhouse

   I decided to add a photo to the background of my blog, but I'm not sure if I really like it yet. I am going to leave it up for a week then see if I like it after that. I added a background that has words in it, and I'm afraid that it now looks to busy for the reader. I'm still not sure, but I wanted to add my own spin on it to make it my own.  However I think it may have ruined it.  Adding a photo was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be because of the issue of it looking too busy. I thought a few things would look good, and then I put it as the background and it looked terrible. I toyed around with various backgrounds and decided on the one I have now, but like I said I'm still skeptical! I also haven't been able to think of any pictures I may want to post.

Technology Learning 2 Clubhouse

     I am finding that the hardest part for me with the Clubhouse blog is what to say.  There's just so much about grammar that people don't know and I never know where to start.  Should I go through all the parts of speech and explain their purpose and usage? Should I just address random mistakes without any form to it? I started off my first post with a random thing that annoys me (when people say "I'm doing good!" rather than "well.") So I think I'm going to stick with just random things that bother me when people speak and write. I think I should include pictures because, well, who doesn't love to look at pictures.  When I find a blog I like, It's usually FILLED with them.  However I have no idea what I could even do for that.  I'm still getting used to essentially talking to myself as well. 

Initial thoughts, Technology Learning 1 Clubhouse

     It was sort of a weird feeling the first time I set up my Clubhouse blog. I honestly had no idea what to do at first in terms of the color scheme/how I want my blog to look.  I dwelt upon that for awhile, thinking that the color scheme was the most important thing of all.  Once I got that down, I relaxed a bit, coming to terms with the fact that it's probably more about the quality of my blogs rather than the color of it. Then I had to think about what my first post could possibly be about.  To me, the first post was really important.  It shows your initial thoughts, your personality, what you care about, and I felt kind of vulnerable.  It's such a weird concept to me to blog, and I kind of really like it.  It took me the longest time to decide what to do for my first post.  My Clubhouse blog is basically just addressing those common grammar mistakes that people make when speaking and writing.  I am really passionate about this topic for some reason.  Ever since middle school grammar has interested me more than any other subject, so I was thrilled to write about it.  Since the topic is so broad I had NO idea what to do for the first post.  Basically I just had to sit there and think a lot before I could do anything. Then when I started writing, I erased it and restarted over ten times.

The Business of Understanding, Wurman

Summary of The Business of Understanding, by Richard S. Wurman
3 February 2013
Kelsey Lynch

Wurman starts off using the example of an Informational Architect. He said that there are many who called themselves one, but not all legitimately meet the definition.  Good informational architects make the complex clear and make informational understandable to others.
He says the key to making things understandable is to "understand what it's like not to understand"
He makes the point that the most essential thing to admit on the path to understanding is that you don't understand. He calls this admitting to ignorance.

He includes an "Overview of Understanding" by Shedroff.  It starts with Data, which includes research, creation, gathering, and discovery.  Something to keep in mine is if it doesn't inform you, then it isn't information. Data is more raw, whereas information puts the data into understandable terms. Next is information, which includes presentation and organization. Information is the data presented in many different ways. Next is Knowledge (which is backed by experience). This includes conversation, storytelling, and integration.  Knowledge is gained by experiencing the same set of data in different ways so one can see it from different perspectives. Finally is Wisdom, which includes contemplation, evaluation, and interpretation.  This is the "ultimate level of understanding."

Wurman makes the point that one must know that all information and things will come to you through a filtered point of view and bias.  Once you admit and realize this, it will be less threatening to understand it and hold it.

He showed that  there are five ways of organizing data in order to be understood. Information can be organized by location, alphabetically, timely, categorically, or by hierarchy. When information is arranged one way, you can learn some things about the subject.  However, when you take the same information and arrange it a totally different way, you can learn even more because it's put into a whole new perspective. It makes the mind work differently and shows the importance of relaxing and thinking about the arrangement of information before it's made complex. This is called simplification and complication. It's the idea of looking at things from different vantage points to better understand the information.