Week 4 Reflection

Its week 4 already?? Time is seriously flying by so quickly!! I enjoyed this weeks session, there was an interesting discussion and we also got together in our groups some more to look at our ideas. (We were a little confused by the end in our group...ill explain...)


Communities

We looked into the concept and meaning of 'communities'.

WHAT DOES THE TERM ' COMMUNITY' MEAN?? Is there one definition....

The debate was great and very interesting, it made me think about something that i was so sure about from another perspective, the juices flowed and i soon started to realise that perhaps, before making a definite assumption in my mind, I should perhaps think about it from other angles... It became apparent to me that:

1. There is not one definition of the term 'community'
2. There are thoughts and ideas that surround the concept of what a community could be
3. PEOPLE decide who is excluded from a group; therefore this indicates who is included.

**What decides who or what a Community is??

I would argue that are many things that influence this, which are:

• Language spoken
• Postcode / Residential area you live in
• Ethnicity
• Interests and Hobbies
• Education and Places you study/work

and many more...

Again, this comes down to this issue, that it is still the PEOPLE who decide who is Included and who is Excluded.

There was discussion about the idea a circle within a community too. Theres 3 parts to the circle:

1. THE CORE - These are the people in the community who know everything about everything
2. THE MIDDLE - The people in that community who are part of it and play an active part
3. THE OUTER LAYER / EDGE - Are these people really part of the community? with them being so close to the outside?

Group Work

This week we tried to create a focal point for our group, everyone has generated some great ideas and we have looked into them. Some have failed to take off; which is great as its part of the processing of finding interesting points and narrowing ideas down. We were a little confused after discussing with Nigel, as it jumbles all of our ideas up and made us start to think again! However, maybe that will make us think more in depth about what we want to concentrateon and look into as the focus of our group work... So a little more research and understanding of what we want to do is what i think we need to look at this week.

Motivation thought for week 4:

" Climb a mountain alone and discover your inner strength. Climb a mountain with a friend and discover the strength in each other."

Copyright © 2007 - Samantha Pickreign

Reading / Research for this week:

• Look at some research for the group work and focus on this

Week 3 - Reflection

This week has been very hectic for myself and havent been feeling to good this week, however, its a new week ahead and im feeling alot better! :)

Week 3 was good, it was a chance to learn some more about the internet and the concept of 'virtual communities and worlds' and we also worked on our group work.

Gift Economy

We looked into the concept of Gift Economy. This looks at how websites, such as Google, Hotmail My Space, Yahoo, Facebook, Hi5, Bebo etc, give something for people to use for free and what they get in return. Its like taking something but not giving ... a 'Gift Economy'. When you think about it, it does feel like one would be selfish to use something for free and not offer anything in return for using these websites for free, but this is understood to be the concept of Gify Economy.


Second Life

We looked at Second Life too, some information about Second Life:

• Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely created by its Residents.
• Opened to the public in 2003
• Inhabited by millions of Residents from around the world
• You'll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow Residents.
• Because Residents retain the rights to their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other Residents.
• The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the in-world unit-of-trade, the Linden dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online Linden Dollar exchanges.

http://secondlife.com/


Group Work

At the moment we are looking at virtual communities and all researching into different ideas. I am looking into:

• The concept of virtual communities
• Theroies / understanding behine virtual online communities

My Motivational thought for week 3 :

'You are successful the moment you start moving towards a worthwhile goal'
- Charles Carlson


Further Reading / Research:

• UNIX
• Stallman

Week 2 - Reflection

It's late (I know), written but hadnt been published..oops.. Can you tell im still getting to grips with this?!

This week was interesting. We looked at HTML and also worked on our group work too.


Group Work

Lets talk about the group first. Our group is called Virtual4, and for the moment, we have decided not to assign each person with a role as we feel that the work we are currently doing towards the group work overlaps each other, so maybe at a later stage we will designate roles. Although, we as a group have decided that Mette should take the design role as shes more knowledgable and fluent with this, BUT, it also only fair that we all contribute towards the wiki as leaving this all to her wouldnt be fair. Also, i think it is a good idea that we as a group all publish something on the wiki as it can also act as a board of ideas where we can collate together our ideas and therefore access them whenever we want and need too ...

We had decided to brainstorm some ideas and meet up later in the week, we wanted to discuss these ideas which we wanted to prepare before me returned for week 3's session. It was not only to show Nigel what we were thinking so far, but it also allowed the group to find a focus and a basis, like a foundation, so we have something to work towards; a concept to work around.

So far, although there was some negativity towards the idea of 'group work' within the group at the beginning of the course, i feel comfortable and content with the people I am working with. I feel they are organised, productive and approachable. I feel content that i am working with people who I can understand and think on the same wave length as myself.


HTML

• TIM BURNERS LEE created HTML
• Internet explorer interprets the information and takes the code and does the work
• The browser reads the a code; syntax (if incorrect, it will not work)
• HTML works in containers and Tags are paired
• ERIC BINA created Image Tags
• An 'ABSOLUTE LINK' will always work aslong as it has the full correct address and the image is available
• NICOLA PELLO worked on the 1st HTML
• MARK ANDRES created a browser called Mosaic
• NCSC - National Centre for Super Computers
• NETSCAPE created by Mark Andres and Co..
• MICROSOFT WINDOWS created Internet Explorer
• Browser Wars started as people started creating Tags that only Internet Explorer could read; therefore Netscape couldnt read these Tags, which created Browser WARS!!

My Motivational thought for week 2:
...who waits until circumstances completely favor his undertaking, will never accomplish anything.

Author: Martin Luther

Further Research / Reading to do:

1. NVU
2. Raymond

Week 1 - Reflection

The concept of keeping an online journal in the form of a blog seems a little surreal. Although I am a member of other online communities, I feel that a blog is something like a personal journey; a personal movement. But if my movements are so personal and ‘private’ then why am I part of a global online community? Hmmm. Something I’ve only realised through the first lesson with Nigel. The principles and ideas behind the internet and World Wide Web (which by the way are 2 different things which I learnt only a week ago!) are intriguing and much more influential then I perhaps first realised.


Writing a Blog

Its new, different and something I’m slowly coming to terms with. Its somewhere I can post my thoughts my opinions and view, Its like a voice. A place to express, share and voice my opinion, somewhere I can collate MY journey. I describe it as a journey, because its something I haven’t done before, as well a journey, its an experience…

Well that’s my first thoughts… may sound strange, but I’m starting to like the idea of a blog… May even become addictive! Who knows…


My motivational thought for week 1:

"Continuous effort--not strength or intelligence--is the key to unlocking our potential." -
Author: Winston Churchill

Further Reading / Research :

- Look over what we’ve covered in the past 2 lessons
- Think about my thoughts about working in groups
- Brainstorm some ideas for our group work

Are groups were decided, in my group; Leda, Khristina, Mette and Jana.

Hey ...Welcome to my blog ..Happy Reading!!