Wikis are a type of collaborative website that usually attempts to provide a certain type of information. Of course there's Wikipedia, which attempts to provide information on everything. Wikis, though, are the same in style but differ in scope. That is, if we think of Wikipedia as a general encyclopedia, then Wikis are like subject encyclopedias.
Let's take for example the Wikipedia article on The Lord of the Rings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_rings) and the Lord of the Rings wiki (http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page). We can see that Wikipedia offers a fairly long article with tons of links to other pages on characters, locations, etc. However the information is organized in a way that caters to a user looking for broad information about Lord of the Rings. The wiki on the other hand has almost 4000 pages just about Lord of the Rings. When you go to the homepage you can see Youtube videos, images, and news along with a more encyclopedic article. There is simply much more depth in the wiki than would be appropriate in Wikipedia.
Just like Wikipedia one must exercise caution when referencing wikis. Perhaps more careful as they can be edited by anyone and are less likely to be checked for accuracy. One of the key features of wikis is the ease with which one can edit them. One does not need to know HTML to edit a wiki and its very easy to link from one article to another.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Thing 7: Social Networking
Ok. I'm 24 years old. That means I was in high school when all these popular (especially Myspace and Facebook) social network sites appeared. Like most highschoolers my social life depended on them.
That being said, I've never looked closely at Facebook and considered why someone might choose to use it (besides the fact that EVERYBODY else does). It's worth noting that sites like Myspace allow much greater customization of one's homepage. It might even have been too customizable. The nice thing about Facebook is that you put in your information and your page comes out nice and neat.
Another appealing thing about Facebook is its fairly sophisticated privacy tools. If one knows how, it is easy to limit how much of one's profile is available to different people. That means when some old classmate from 10 years ago asks to be your friend, you don't have to worry that you're just giving away all your contact info to some guy who just wants you to join some goofy pyramid scam. Instead, you can create limited profiles and share only the info that you want to share. The problem with this (and it's a big one) is Facebook constantly updates and changes these privacy settings and learning the ins and outs of them can be both time consuming and quite tricky.
Most importantly though, Facebook is THE social network site. It doesn't matter how cryptic their privacy settings are, or how difficult it is to customize your profile. If you're under 30 it's assumed you are on Facebook, and like I said earlier, your social life may depend on it.
After thinking about it though, I do think Facebook is a good product. It could not have gotten so popular if it wasn't. People always have complaints about the privacy settings and the IM tool they have is frankly horrible. But at the end of the day Facebook dominates the social network world and I imagine it will for a long time to come.
That being said, I've never looked closely at Facebook and considered why someone might choose to use it (besides the fact that EVERYBODY else does). It's worth noting that sites like Myspace allow much greater customization of one's homepage. It might even have been too customizable. The nice thing about Facebook is that you put in your information and your page comes out nice and neat.
Another appealing thing about Facebook is its fairly sophisticated privacy tools. If one knows how, it is easy to limit how much of one's profile is available to different people. That means when some old classmate from 10 years ago asks to be your friend, you don't have to worry that you're just giving away all your contact info to some guy who just wants you to join some goofy pyramid scam. Instead, you can create limited profiles and share only the info that you want to share. The problem with this (and it's a big one) is Facebook constantly updates and changes these privacy settings and learning the ins and outs of them can be both time consuming and quite tricky.
Most importantly though, Facebook is THE social network site. It doesn't matter how cryptic their privacy settings are, or how difficult it is to customize your profile. If you're under 30 it's assumed you are on Facebook, and like I said earlier, your social life may depend on it.
After thinking about it though, I do think Facebook is a good product. It could not have gotten so popular if it wasn't. People always have complaints about the privacy settings and the IM tool they have is frankly horrible. But at the end of the day Facebook dominates the social network world and I imagine it will for a long time to come.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Thing 6: Microblogging
Things 6 is microblogging. It's like a status update on facebook, though somehow more...
I have chosen Twitter as it seems the most popular. I think I'm a little behind since I've never really even used Twitter until now. It doesn't take long to see the usefulness of it. It seems to make it quite easy to interact with people you might never get to other wise.
I can't see myself using it as a way to update other people, though. I don't frequently use facebook for that either though so I guess that's no surprise. I think Twitter will be most useful for me as another type of "feed." I'll use it to keep up to date about things like local news, upcoming events, and the latest movies!
I have chosen Twitter as it seems the most popular. I think I'm a little behind since I've never really even used Twitter until now. It doesn't take long to see the usefulness of it. It seems to make it quite easy to interact with people you might never get to other wise.
I can't see myself using it as a way to update other people, though. I don't frequently use facebook for that either though so I guess that's no surprise. I think Twitter will be most useful for me as another type of "feed." I'll use it to keep up to date about things like local news, upcoming events, and the latest movies!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thing 5
So here's my first post, and against all logic it begins with thing 5.
Thing 5 is, naturally, blogging itself. Blogger is (or was?) a very popular tool for creating a blog very quickly. The templates are nice and allow those of us who know nothing of HTML to make our blogs not only intellectually stimulating, but visually appealing. At first glance, it looked to me like there were very few options when designing the layout and background. But as I got into it I realized the templates can be tweaked and customized. Also, for those who wish, there seemed to be a way to add HTML code. This really opens up the door to customization.
As one can see from my page, I have no sense of visual style and have opted for a simple template.
Stay tuned for Thing 6: Microblogging!
Thing 5 is, naturally, blogging itself. Blogger is (or was?) a very popular tool for creating a blog very quickly. The templates are nice and allow those of us who know nothing of HTML to make our blogs not only intellectually stimulating, but visually appealing. At first glance, it looked to me like there were very few options when designing the layout and background. But as I got into it I realized the templates can be tweaked and customized. Also, for those who wish, there seemed to be a way to add HTML code. This really opens up the door to customization.
As one can see from my page, I have no sense of visual style and have opted for a simple template.
Stay tuned for Thing 6: Microblogging!
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