WEB 2.0 How Can One Not Love It :)

Well once again I was taught something new. I had never really heard of Web 2.0 until this unit. I must admit I had always thought of myself as not a newbie to Internet but a regular user who new not allot but enough of the WWW.

I have to say Web 2.0 is the one for me. I have heard people say that Web 2.0 is similar to someone yelling at them. I think this is what makes me more prone to using a website that functions on Web 2.0.

When it comes to learning I have always been the type of person that if I have to sit and read something I lose the plot completely. With the outlay of Web 2.0, yes I agree, it does seem that someone is yelling at you, but I find they are yelling at me in the type of text I can easily format in my noggin'.

I find with HTML standards, I tend to get lost and all the text seems to blend into one which leaves me reading over and over again the same lines of text. Web 2.0 is allot clearer to me. I like the idea of block headings instead of just line after line of bold blue text. I also feel it shows that the author has taken more time in trying to make a web page that is more approachable and of a higher standard than HTML. Although that is purely my own personal opinion and I am in no-way saying that a page using Web 2.0 has more facts within or is of any more importance than that of one written in HTML.

To keep my very small attention span alive, especially with study, I really do find I need something that will catch my eye and my interest which in turn helps me to keep reading on and I find that Web 2.0 is by far the best form of net writing for me.

Blogging........Mmmm What I Really Think!

I had never entered the world of blogging until undertaking NET11. There are many reasons why but the main reason being because I had no real idea what they were. Sure I had heard people talk about their own blogs and thought "yeah okay, one day maybe I'll take a peak", but never seriously thought I would come to really love the concept of blogs and the freedom of expression and thoughts that they enable the writer to express.

As always when adding content to the internet, whether it be in the form of words or pictures, there is still an understanding of netiquette. Simply this means there is a standard protocol which one should abide by in order to reduce negative feedback and even sometimes physical attacks on their person. The major thing people need to understand about blogs, is what ever they write or publish over the internet now, will more than likely still be floating and available somewhere in cyberspace for years to come. How they feel now may not necessarily be the way they feel in 20years time. This is probably one major con of the internet and blogging.


There are many types of blogs available on the net. There are personal blogs that which allow you to write how you feel or maybe about your hobbies etc but these are limited to other people responding only in the form of a comment. Citizen Journalism is by far the most useable form of blogging. This type of journalism allows for mutliple writers to compile information in the one place about a certain topic of interest. They are open to anyone that wishes to take part. I have visisted many different types of blogs mostly personal about holidays people wanted to write about, leading upto blogs used for selling items for places such as ebay.

I really enjoy blogging as it allows me a certain freedom of expression that is totally mine. It reminds me of the ol' diary I used to keep under the bed but instead of hidding it from prying eyes I am putting it out there for evryone and anyone to read that wants too. I know that what I write might offend but that is the beauty of freedom of speech. I have, since starting this unit, surfed the web and read allot of other blogs from all over the world. Some have not ineterested me but others have lead me to gain knowledge of topics I would never have ever thought reading or learning about before.

In my experience everyone has a story to tell and I truely believe blogging is the ideal place share your thoughts, voice your opinions and let others hear your voice.

HTML it's not that bad.......................

Well I have finally sat down to the task of HTML. I must admit I was a tad scared of this task as the last Web page I tried to complete went wrong in so so so many ways I gave up.

I found the task quite good and really not that scary thanks to the website Page Tutor.com
What a site. I think with tools like this anyone can become a web designer.

Here is what I managed to produce in roughly 30Min's:

I had a lot fun trying different things, some worked and others didn't. For instance I had a lot of trouble trying to blockquote but luckily enough my page really didn't require it so I opted to not use that form of style.


We are asked to note in our blog our thoughts about this task and did we feel as though we had achieved anything. I honestly believe I achieved a sense of satisfaction knowing that I could make a web page. One with a coloured background, italics and the use of different colours for fonts. We are also asked our thoughts on the difference between blogging and HTML and which one it is we prefer.


This is quite a tricky question. I really like both but for different reasons. If I needed to produce something quickly then blogging would be the go for sure. With a blog there is no real set up involved. You can simply opt to go with a template that is already made for and all you need to do is simply type away. Blogging has pretty much all the same features but because of the GUI appearance it is allot easier to add pictures and make changes to fonts etc.


With a HTML web page it is up to you and what code you wish to use that depends on the final outcome. There are however allot of pre-made web templates you can use but you take the chance of using a design that may not have been given permission by the designer themselves to be reproduced therefor becomes a sticky mess with plagiarism and copyright issues.


I somehow prefer HTML although at times can be extremely frustrating, especially if you forget a tag but in the end it is all your own work, and that to me brings a great satisfaction.

Chat Task

Here we are finally on the topic of Chat sites. I have been an avid user of chats sites for as long I can remember and still use at least 2-3 times everyday. I have used many different sites over the years but have still been drawn back to MSN or as its known now "Windows Live Messenger".

When I first started on the Internet I used ICQ as it was back then, suggested by family and friends as the chat site they used. In the mid-to-late 90's it was one of the best around, until MSN messenger took over and wam bam thank you ma'am that was it for me.

The most appealing side to MSN is its easiness of use. The GUI look has made this chat site easy for the absolute chat beginner to pick up straight away. I have several friends who are what we call "Spaztechs", in other words there technically spastic or challenged lol, but when told to join up with MSN, have grasped the concepts of chatting brilliantly. In fact some of them now feel they have moved up to a new rating of partially spaztech.

Most people, when I have asked them what draws them to Windows Live, say they like the ability to received hotmail emails at the same time as using the chat function because of the pop-up screen alert. They all love the idea of the emoticons/winks and feel that some of them actually denote how they feel better than what they could put into words. The multiple chat function to is a plus for most. You can very easily add others to your chat session making it more of a get together with your mates than just a solo chat or one-on-one.

Another bonus to Windows Live is the "Appear Offline" function. I find it interesting to sometimes show as offline and sit back and watch how many users actually log on and off the chat site over the course of an hour. This handy little tool is also good when the study is going hard and you know you shouldn't be chatting. With this tool you can pick and choose whom you speak to.

I personally find online chatting much better than face-to-face chatting. I feel I can say more to someone without putting my foot in it because I have the availability to read my post before pressing send. This in turn allows me to delete anything that may sound offish, self-centered or even condescending. I tend to open my mouth before thinking so for me its a blessing. Thank you Windows Live Messenger for saving my bacon on more than one occasion.

Email Lists

When it comes to lists I have to admit I haven't been an avid user in a long long time. Many moons ago when we decided to join up to this weird thing everyone called the "world wide web" I signed up to as many lists, newsgroups and chat sites as possible, eager to get out there and see what it was everyone was raving about. Now I find a lack of time stops me from being involved with allot of unnecessary Internet time waster sites but with studying Net11 I came to find myself looking once again at certain lists.


I ventured to yahoo, got myself an account and took a look. If only I had decided to do this before now I could have saved myself allot of time and aggravation. I came across a list that once signed up will send you daily notifications of proxy sites. I now feel I can keep up with the kids at school that are banned from using these sites but are forever finding new ones to use.

So all i can say is look out kiddies I'm back on track and right there watching lol.

In Net11 we are asked to record our thoughts on two questions:

1) What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?
2) Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?

For me the pros and cons between email lists and discussion boards is this. I feel that email list are there to find out something about a certain topic you are interested in. For example you sign up to certain list which take your fancy therefor you receive only information that you want to know or need to know. Discussion boards differ in the way that many topics may appear on the one board. Most discussion boards have threads that are ongoing or you have the ability to start a new thread if you need assistance with a certain question.

So getting back to the question "What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?" I see the pros as being email lists will give you direct answers/information to a specific field of interest whereas a discussion board can contain many different topics and the con is that you have less ability to ask an opinion for a topic which is does not have anything to do with that list unlike discussion boards where you have the ability to ask anything about any topic and you will more than likely receive an answer from someone who is active with that board.


We are then asked "Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?". This for me was where I stumbled. I really don't find that there is a huge difference between the two except that a discussion board is as it says. It is a discussion therefor allowing for many opinions to be written and spoken about. Allot of people tend to go onto chat sites to discuss further something that may have been written on a board. By using chats Internet users tend to feel they are having a face-to-face chat without actually being in the same room as the other people they are online to.

Overall I think it is a personal choice for the individual to decide which one they prefer. Discussion boards tend to take up allot of time whereas for me I can sign up for a email list topic that I need information from and do not feel obligated to respond if I don't want to or don't have the time for.

Mod 2 - Emails

What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?

When an email is sent to you regardless of which email program you use, you will always see the persons email address of who has sent it, the domain from where it came and whether or not it is a reply to an email you had previously sent or not. Along with the name is normally (dependant on whether or not the sender has used one) a subject heading and the date on which it was sent.

Some people do not bother to use the subject line which can be a real pain, especially if the email itself is a spam mail. Because of their lack of courtesy in not using the subject line you are forced to read through a percentage of the email to get the gist of what it is about.

In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?

I find it useful to use 'cc' when sending emails to allot of uses. For example I work in a High School IT Dept and send emails to all staff on a regular basis. By using 'cc' I can send the same email to multiple users at once and I know that everyone has received it. I do however use 'bcc' if I need to keep certain staff members email address's private and this is normally when we send an email to a student but would like their teachers to receive a copy so they are informed of all correspondence made.

In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?

An easy way to make sure all emails you send are readable by the recipient is to make sure they are written and sent in plain text. Not all software on computers are the same therefor this can cause a problem when opening and email and especially attachments. A perfect example of this was with the release of Office 2007. Allot of people when it was first released were attaching word documents to their emails and not realising that there was a change in the way it was saved. Office 2003 used .doc whereas office 2007 uses .docx. Therefor anyone using Office 2003 was unable to open any file saved or created using .docx files.

What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?

With my email programs I must say I dont have allot of rules set nor do I have allot of filters in use. I do however use the filter to blockout adult content. I have my spam and junk email filters always on and they seem to do a really good job of keeping my inbox clean and free of rubbish emails. I do have to admit one of my biggest pet hates is junk mail. If I dont know the sender I normally delete it straight away.

How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?

My folder structure in my email accounts are always the same. I have a private folder, a funnies folder, business folder (I run my own home business) and uni folder. This way I can easily direct myself to where my emails are stored.

Internet Tools - Traceroute

Okidokili, well I had no troubles at all doing this log using http://network-tools.com/ in fact the network-tools web page made it very very simple.

I managed to locate Curtin Uni using the above web site with the following outcome:

I did however get a bit confused when trying to figure out the average time it took to get from the tools site to the server at Curtin but the 2 figures I came up with are 289ms and 96.3ms. Any body who can clarify this for me please feel free to leave a post as maths was never one of my stronger points and obviously still isn't up to today lol.

The IP address or number I came across for Curtin University was 134.7.179.56

Over all I found this task to be quite easy to do and I have to admit, since finding traceroute I have been tracing allot of different places on the web and have come across a few surprises, especially where my Internet goes to, or goes through I should, say before reaching my final destination.

'CAPITALIZATION MATTERS'

"according to the readme file, 'CAPITALIZATION MATTERS' - what word goes in the blank?".

I am presuming that this is the correct answer to the question. I did struggle with this task but thanks to the message boards on the Uni website I was able to guide myself through. Thanks to those that left directions for this task it certainly helped me out.

I found downloading the FTP program easy that was fine, but when it came to actually using it that's where I drew a blank. I have never used an FTP client before so trying to figure out exactly what was going on or what I was meant to do, was a bit daunting, especially when your a firm believer in "instructions are only there to be used if all else fail's" lol. Next time (and from now on) I think I will be at least having a quick browse over instructions, as I'm sure it will make things allot easier.

Although I managed to do this task successfully I still feel I am missing allot of vital information on FTP itself. Looks like there's some surfing to be done in regards to FTP's so I'm off to ride the www.

Telnet - Come on Try It!

Telnet ...... "What Is It".......

Personally I had never heard of telnet until starting this Course. At first I had trepidations with using it as I really don't like the thought of connecting remotely to another computer specially through command lines after being bitten badly once before, but after giving it a go "WOW".

Connecting to the Library Resource was cool but trying the Star Wars over at blinkenlights made me laugh. I really had no idea such things were possible to do. My Internet knowledge has already been expanded over the years but I have to say with applications like this I'm thinking somehow I will definitely be seeing the net in a new light.

Who ever designed the Star Wars program needs a pat on the back, certainly helps make studying and learning something new more fun.

"Top Five Tips for New Bloggers"

"Top Five Tips For New Bloggers......Mmmm Let Me See"

Okay let me start here. Its Saturday afternoon, no-one home and I decide to get my act together and enter the world of blogging for the first time. I am no where near a newbie to the www or computers for that matter, but boy oh boy wasn't I made to feel like one lol.

After surfing around the net I finally came across a site (blogger.com) which seemed simple enough, so i thought, to get myself my very own blog page. Signing up seemed very easy, picking a template again yep very easy but then I decided hmmmmm lets change the way in which the page looks. Well instead of just simply doing changes that were available through the website itself, I decided nope lets go for a surf and search for free downloadable templates. Geezzzzz what was I thinking lol. After googling several different web pages for FREE downloads and I shout the word Free because they only seem to be free to look at but not to use, I finally came across a design I liked. Again this seemed fairly simple just follow the instructions. Well this is where the fun began!

The instructions said to copy and paste the text into the text box . Yes okay I got that but which text box? The one on the download site or the one on my blog site. After trying several different ways I gathered they meant to paste it into the HTML section on my blog site.

OK I'll try that seems to make sense. Yeah right wrong again! This time I was greeted with a whole lot of errors and boxes that needed closing before it could accept the HTML code. By this stage I was starting to lose my cool and it didn't help that one sticky little fly decided to enter the house and use my ears as a resting post. So by this time I am still without a decent looking blog page and getting angrier by the minute. I decided to do one more web search for easy and free blog templates. Woohooo I finally hit the jackpot. A page that finally had reasonable instructions for implementing a blog template. After struggling a tad more I finally had a template that I liked. Now it was time to start my blog, the easiest part of all when starting a blog page.

Because of my experience, or I should say inexperience, with the world of blogging I can only suggest to any one deciding to do this type of communication 5 helpful tips:

1. Patience


2. Patience


3. Patience


4. Patience


5. And if the above 4 tips do not work, find a teenager to set it up for you, as I'm pretty sure they will have it sorted in a matter of minutes.

On a more serious note though the best advice I can offer someone thinking of making a blog page is to search the Internet, look at whats available and what is easiest for them to manage and don't be afraid to try something new. Now that I have the blog page design finished, I am very confident in the fact that I would and will use this form of Internet communication again, although next time I'll borrow someones kids to have on hand just incase lol.