Ning Project Reflective Post #3

On Thursday during class we peer reviewed another group's project. When we got our peer review back the only main comments were that our welcome note seemed too upbeat for our topic and that we needed music. We also needed to add a link from our facebook cause page back to the ning page. These seemed like easy fixes. I took out the exclamation points in the welcome note and made it seem more mellow. Together, we linked the cause page back to ning. When we tried to add the music, however, we came across problems. On my laptop, the music from itunes did not come up as mp3. The professor also has difficulties so we are all going to just keep trying. I've tried again today but it was the same problem. Other than the music, our project is complete and I really like our finished product. I think I enjoyed this project more than the other ones.

Ning Project Reflective Post #2

We've created our site and even found events. We split up the blog post ideas as well. So far, my group is working really well together. We communicate through sakai and finish a lot of work during class. We have added pictures and even a video. We also came up with our welcome note and mission statement. I'm finding some difficulties figuring out what music to use for the main page and for my page.

Ning Project Reflective Post #1

When I first went on the Ning website I felt confused. I didn't really like the search engine and couldn't find anything that related to my topic (Flooding). After some explaination in class, I figured out how to create our site. We named it: Flooding in Rhode Island. We plan to focus on Preparation/Precautions, History, and FEMA. I really like my group and think that this project will be fun.

NING

After creating an account on NING, I tried to find something about flooding, since that is my group's topic. I thought it was kind of confusing how to find and look at a page. I felt like the titles to things weren't very explanatory. I tried searching for it on the search bar at the top, but still found nothing. I also think that each actual ning page is pretty confusing. There's so much going on and it's difficult for me to focus on one thing. I suppose I will keeping poking around and get used to it.

Social Network Sites

When I first opened this article, my immediate thoughts were that of facebook and how addicted so many people are to it. Social network sites can appeal to such a variety of people; I know people in middle school that use them and even some people's grandparents use them! It's a great way to connect with people from around the world and share/enjoy things of personal interest. The authors of this article categorize the SNS as a 'phenomenon' which I think is entirely appropriate. Only a few years ago, I did not know what facebook was. Now, I'm completely involved in facebook and find it distracting me with all its constant news and interesting features. People can access SNS on their mobile phones, which is crazy. It's interesting to see the launch dates of the SNS. I remember when I used LiveJournal and MySpace, but I haven't even heard of most of the others. I think that SNS are a good thing and bad thing; they allow such great connections to be made and sharing of interests, however, I do see how it is distracting to real life and it might limit real growth with social skills.

Issues/Causes

5 issues or causes that I would like to raise awareness about might be...

1. Adopt a pet
2. Go Green
3. Recycle
4. Economy/federal debt
5. Difficulties of surviving off minimum wage jobs

Website Redesign Reflective Post #3

So, when my group sat down in class together to actually create the site, we began panicking because we have literally no information about the Scandinavian Tanning Salon. Not having our original website to refer to is making this project seemingly impossible. We concluded that we should take information from other tanning salons' websites because the point of this project is not about the information, its about how we recreate and design the actual site. I threw the professor an email to check if this was alright, just in case. I think the project is due tomorrow and I do not feel confident about our website. Our homepage is extremely simple and each of our pages aren't anything particularly awesome. At least the colors look better and the font is a bit more interesting. I've done pretty much all that I can in making this project work so now I'll just see what happens and hope for the best.

Website Redesign Reflective Post #2

So I guess I'm freaking out a bit. Only one of my group members is responding and posting the necessary posts to our forum. Also, we cannot locate our website. It's just gone. This seems to me like it's the worst case scenario. What else can go wrong? I posted our draft of the proposal memo to the forum and luckily Kellie figured out how to make the proper site maps. The professor said that we should not pick a new website; just continue with the project. I hope this will work out because I'm trying to get a good grade in this class.

Website Redesign Reflective Post #1

When I first found out about this project, I was extremely intimidated. I had no clue how I was going to handle redesigning a website. I'm not very good with making projects look aesthetically pleasing, as I'm not very artistic, and that seems to be what this whole project is about. My group chose the Scandinavian Tanning Salon's website to redo. The font is boring, the colors don't work well together, and the spacing is too simple and choppy. The homepage has about 9 moving pictures that we would like to make stationary. Hopefully this project won't be all that bad.

Wikitravel - Reflective Post #3

Yesterday was the due date for our class to post our Wikitravel documents to the appropriate forum and we proceeded to create peer reviews about each post. Only one other person in my group posted to the forum, so I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't get feedback from two people. The feedback I recieved was all great and said that I did a pretty good job. I was skeptical once I read my peer's entries because his seemed much more full than mine. I began to think my descriptions consisted of choppy sentences, however, my peer said that my descriptions weren't overly wordy but at the same time, not too little information. I feel pretty confident about my Wikitravel entries now, especially because I included entries for eat, sleep, do, and see. I'll be interested to check back to Wikitravel from time to time after this project to see if people are editing my page.

Wikitravel - Reflective Post #2

So far, working on Wikitravel has been less fun and somewhat tedious. Since I chose to create a new page (West Greenwich, RI) it was fairly easy for me to find ten places to write about. What I'm finding the most difficult is what to write about in the 2-3 sentence descriptions. I find myself wanting to state my opinions or even write words from the list of words not to use on Wikitravel (example: complimentary). I'm about to finish my entries and post the Word document to the sakai forum, so I'm eager to hear what suggestions my peers have for me.

3 Potential Entries

I've chosen to write my Wikitravel posts about West Greenwich. When poking around Rhode Island's towns, I found that there was no page for West Greenwich. This will make it easier for me to add the things I know about. These are some potential entries that I can add:

Dan's Place (Dan's Pizza), 880 Victory Highway, 401-392-3092, www.danspizzaplace.com. Every day 11:30AM-1AM. Full restaurant and bar right off highway 95. Fresh food served quickly. Friendly staff and fun atmosphere. $3.95-$15.95.

Best Western West Greenwich Inn, 99 Nooseneck Hill Rd, 401-397-5494, fax 401-397-7185, checkin 2PM, checkout 11AM, http://www.bestwesternrhodeisland.com/hotels/best-western-west-greenwich-inn/. No pets allowed. Includes indoor heated pool, hot tub, and fitness center. Beautiful and spacious rooms with pillow top mattresses.

Pier Pizza, 45 Nooseneck Hill Rd, 401-385-3400, www.pierpizza.com. Calzones, breadsticks, thin crust pizza. Individual slices available. Home of the 24" Big Rhody (for 10-15 people).

Wikitravel Manual of Style

The most important tip that I found in the Manual of Style page on Wikitravel was the page "Where you can stick it." I think I would find this very helpful if I knew of a place but was unsure of which category it goes in. This eliminates confusion or grey areas.
Another great tip is the "Wiki Markup" page. This is helpful to people like me, that don't know anything about formatting text. Wikitravel has their own markup, so it's extremely helpful that they list an easy 'how-to' graph with everything you need to know.
Another tip I found is "No advice from Captain Obvious." This is a helpful page because it reminds you not to make obvious remarks in your entries. This may not seem like an important tip, but I know that I might be compelled to add obvious statements if I'm unsure what else to put. If the contributor feels like 'when in doubt, add an obvious statement' they must resist. This page tells you what is "obvious" to the traveler and what isn't.

Wikitravel Place Ideas

First of all, I know that I will not be adding a new article because I haven't been and don't know about many different places. I will be adding to an already existing article.

My first choice would have to be Coventry, RI. This is the town I live in. I think it would be easiest for me to find places that aren't mentioned and add them to the article. It is the town I have the most knowledge on.

My second choice will have to be Bethany, CT. This is where my grandparents live and it's my namesake. This article seems scarce so it might be easy to add things to it.

My third choice would have to be Warwick, RI. I work there during the summer and I might know some ideas to add to that site. The Warwick, RI article seems very full, though, so I'm not sure I could figure out many things to add to it.

Wikitravel - Reflective Post #1

After reading and poking around Wikitravel, I am impressed by the idea of the website. It seems like such a helpful means of finding attractions or planning a trip. I would definitely refer back to it if I were planning to take a trip. I'm skeptical about it's reliability, however, the About section let me know that, like Wikipedia, they edit and distill information before the public can view it. I would still probably look into and research the places Wikitravel tells me about before I just packed up and went there.
I'm not all too excited about this project because I don't travel very much and I'm not aware of many attractions. I'll have to think of some things that I could add to my hometown or towns around me, which might be difficult because it seems like finding something to do has always been difficult for me and my friends in the state of Rhode Island (lol). I wouldn't know enough about any other states to add to their pages, so I'll have to stick to Rhode Island.

Wikipedia Video

I used to rely Wikipedia all the time. I loved it and thought it was a quick and easy way to find the information that I needed for school assignments. I still use it today, but not nearly as much. I remember in high school some teachers would specify that we should NOT use wikipedia because it wasn't a reliable source. They would say that since anyone can edit the information, it can't all be accepted as true. I had held this belief until the video told me that nothing is posted on wikipedia before the "community" of core workers approves it. I was also suprised that they save every version of each page so that they can have it ready to replace vandalism or inaccuracy. It makes wikipedia seem completely reliable to me now and I'm eager to use it more often.

The creation of Wikipedia has made writing in electronic environments even more remarkable and advanced. Wikipedia can be viewed and even edited on mobile devices and makes information readily avaiable at all times.

The writing that occurs in a blog is much more casual and versatile than the writing in a wiki. A wiki needs to be written in a more formal voice and is viewed as a source of information. A wiki is meant to be a recreated book or information source, while a blog is typically an individual's thoughts and opinions. I personally feel like it's okay if a blog isn't completely reliable, because people don't use blogs as serious resources, however, a wiki can be used and cited for academic purposes.

Enthusiast Blog - Reflective Post #3

Wow, I've found some pretty interesting information about dance in Rhode Island. I'm so glad that I included the Providence Dancing Cop. My dance teachers always told us about him and I definitely wanted others to see how funny and interesting he is. Also, when I found that article about minors being strippers, I was shocked!!! It wasn't the type of "dancing" that I necessarily wanted to discuss in my blog, but it was too juicy of an article to pass up. I think these two posts can appeal to more people, rather than just dancers. The last post about the SBRI event can appeal to essentially anyone, as well. I honestly wasn't aware of the SBRI (State Ballet of R.I.) so finding that website proved to be really fun and helpful for me. I was skeptical about this project from the beginning, but I'm surprised to say I've found it very fun and enlightening! It's also fun to look at the other student's blogs. I never knew I could be interested in blogs.

Enthusiast Blog - Reflective Post #2

I'm glad that the professor showed us how to include hyperlinks, pictures, and videos into our blogs. I had the idea of putting a youtube video of the Providence Dancing Cop in my blog but was intimidated by just the thought of it. After being shown, it seems sort of obvious... Though, I wouldn't have known to copy the "Embed" link next to the youtube video. Pictures and videos are interesting to look at and it makes this project more fun for me to create. I feel like I can develop more of a variety of posts with the help of pictures/videos.

Enthusiast Blog - Reflective Post #1

I am so happy that I chose to blog about dance. I don't think I could manage keeping a blog about something that I'm not entirely passionate about. Narrowing it down to "Dance in R.I." makes me a little nervous about how much information I can really find, but it had to be done. I think it's a broad enough topic for me to have some freedom about what to write about and I'm not too restricted. I'm happy with my topic but I wish I could come up with a more creative title and description. I'll have to keep working with new ideas for titles.

My Credibility

As the author of my new blog, Dance in Rhode Island, I would like my audience to classify me as a credible source. I believe that I'm more than qualified for this title because I was a dancer for ten consecutive years at Legein Dance Academy in Coventry, RI. I participated in multiple competitions and won special awards and I also recieved the Dedicated Dancer award at my studio. I participated in a 3 year program, Dance Teacher's Training Course, in Randolf, MA to acquire my certificate to teach dance. This program consisted of dance performance tests and written tests. The first year I won the Highest Average for all disicplines of dance. The second year I won the Highest Average in Ballet. The third year I won the Highest Overall Average for all 3 years and also the Teach-In Award (which was a class in which each student picked a dance step out of a hat and taught it to the class, right there on the spot). I think these awards and experiences show that I am extremely passionate about dance and that I can recognize what is valid and true about dance 'news' in RI.

Enthusiastic Blog Topic

The topic I would like to blog about is Dance in Rhode Island. I believe this is specific enough because, for example, "dance" would be far to broad of a subject, but narrowing it down to dance in Rhode Island makes it just specific enough. I could organize my blog entries by apparel, shows, dance stores, local studio news... etc. I think I could attract audiences who are interested in dance and even non-dancers living in Rhode Island. People can find out useful information about dance and might even find something that sparks their interest (a store which interests them, a show they might want to see...). I would also show pictures that I find which support my blog entries. I will probably write this blog in a casual style, not too formal and not too informal either. I would probably make the blog include pink colors, since that's usually the first color which comes to mind when thinking of dance. A few potential titles could be... "Legein Dance Academy Chooses New Location for Recital" "Best Dance Stores in Rhode Island" "New Pointe Shoes".

Blog Project Ideas Cont.

To elaborate on my last post, the reason I would enjoy doing a blog about celebrity news is because I love watching E-News and it's interesting to discuss people that everyone knows of. I think celebrities put their lives out there, on display for the public, mainly to have people talk about them.
The reason I might enjoy doing a blog on animals is because that is a topic that I do care about. I mostly love dogs (I have a rottweiler, named Moose, who is the sweetest dog) and I've recently become fond of cats, since getting a kitten a few months ago.
Since I've only named four topics that I would enjoy doing, I think that if I had to pick another idea I might pick attractive hiking locations in America. I love hiking and walking in the woods, so maybe I could find a new spot to focus on each time I write in the blog and include a picture. It might inspire others to want to go to these places, or it might even inspire me to go!

Blog Project Ideas

I'm finding it somewhat difficult to create possible topics for this new blog project. At first, I think that I'd like to do something involving dance since I used to be a dancer. I could try to do something about dance news in RI, but I'm not sure how much information I would be able to gather, and where I could gather the information from. Maybe I could do a blog about natural disasters in the world because I am taking a natural disasters course this semester. In that case, I could tie together two classes and stay aware of what's going on in the world. I would also not mind doing a blog about celebrity news, but I wouldn't know what to narrow it down to. Another idea that comes to mind is something involving animals, however, that is also too broad and I'm not sure how I would narrow that down.

My Computer Skills

I feel as though I am somewhat technologically advanced; in that I can figure out the basics. I mostly just use my computer for typing documents in Word, searching on Google, checking email, and communicating on facebook. From this class, I would expect that I become more confident with my computer related abilities, and that I will become more aware and appreciative of electronical environments/processes. I have never followed a blog, nor have I ever been particularly interested in blogs, so maybe this class will change my mind.