My favourite chatting environment so far would have to be skype. I love being able to see and hear my peers taht are all ove rthe globe! However we are connected at the same time, talking to each other with minimal delays in speech. Skype not only allows for voice and video chat, it is a great easy to use tool! The buttons are large enough and a heuristic evaluation by myself and my friend (both first time users) have proven it is easy to use and navigate while also not lacking in visual appearance. It was great this semester slowly getting to know each other each week.
My least favourite chatting medium was Google talk. Now, look, it WAS only a beta, but google should know better before reaeasing that stuff! It was terribad. The video only worked one on one, it was hard to use, you had to have a gmail email account to use it, the text functionality was hard to navigate, and DO NOT get me started on trying to add users to a conference! BAH! the colour scheme was terrible, and plain, and i couldn't navigate my way around at all.
Facebook i like, as i used it everyday anyway. It is easy to use and great to catch up with people that are all over the globe, or even for finding people you havn't seen in years. Facebook chat however is an abomination, and i think people should stick with msn chat or even skype without the video and audio. Face book chat is terrible, but for learning more detailed descriptions and seeing pictures of my peers it is a great tool.
The interact Chat tool is very very easy to use, and read. Each person was able to log straight in and post comments, however we did run into a wee bit of cunfusion after all the colours (one per person in chat) were exhausted. It got slightly confusing when two dark blue people were typing.
The first thing we did in our pod groups was enter a chat changing website. This was a great learning experience especially for the poor lady in my group who didn knot you could edit text!
All in all, the weekly tasks have been fun, informative, and a good learning experience.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Essay
Assignment 1: ITC213
The boom of the Web 2.0 has seen many new online technologies that bridge the gap between geographically and time-wise dispersed persons, bringing them together in aid of a common goal or objective. Two people that have helped revolutionise web 2.0 in today’s society are: David Winer and Adam Curry.
David Winer, - the protoblogger - a software engineer, is widely known by peers and web entrepreneurs alike as a father to podcasting and blogging, and making great contributions to RSS, (Winer, 2007). Winer used to create software projects to be sold to large organisations. The major works include : –
1:- Creating one of the first blogs called Scripting News, and creating the interest for people to USE and VIEW blogs on webpage Dave-Net (Oxyegen Inc, 2009).
2:- David created a Really Simple Syndication technology that paved the way for RSS news feeds, and blog updates to subscribers, (Winer, 2007). RSS was given life by David in 1997, which allows users to create their own custom home pages for subscription feeds to be fed to. RSS was improved my David to bring RSS 2.0, making 1 obsolete. RSS is a blog tool, aiding the development and usability of Blogs.
3:- David was a keen problem solver, and after being asked by Adam Curry, he developed an RSS element that would pass an address of a media file to an RSS aggregator. In David’s web-blogging tool Radio Userland, which had a built in aggregator, the components were able to be sent and received, creating audio blogging, (Wiki, 2009).
The evolution was for David, firstly after becoming so sick of Microsoft, to play his own game, and help define the Blog. Once the blog had caught on, the emphasis was on how to improve blogs, and extend the blog usability to many new different areas that were yet to be defined.
In my opinion, there were two lightbulb moments for Winer – the first was creating this blog tool for users to describe daily angst or any other daily activities they wish to publicize. The other tool was the RSS tool, that is used by websites, and news feeds, online magazines, and by blogs. David really helped emphasise and extend the usability functions of Blogs. I think David is a good manager for his work group. He has responded to Adam Curry’s want and need for audio-blogging and together they have created podcasting. David has realised that other users may have wants and needs that will help make blogging become a better tool. Winer has profiles on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Flickr, making use of other web tools that strive to bring together online communities.
Adam Curry – Otherwise known as the Podfather – was an MTV radio host for around 7 years and was one of the first celebrities to run and administer their own website (Wiki, 2009). Curry was one of the first people to create a successful podcast show, called Daily Source Code, and his heart is truly with audio-blogging and podcasting, (Wiki, 2009). Adam has spent his life as a broadcasting personality and also as a young internet entrepreneur aiding and changing the way users receive information. Adam also used his time to script and record promotions for other podcasting websites, and was heavily involved with a few of these. Adam was so into getting audio out to subscribers that he created a domain mtv.com around the time of the internet first appearing for general use, that got all mtv related information out to subscribers. Although podcasting was around before, it was Adam that synergised the way podcasts were created, (wiki, 2009). Adam brought his radio host expertise to podcasting, garnishing it with proper scripts, proper audio content and mixing this with RSS for subscribers, changing the way podcasts were going to be created completely.
Adam worked with David Winer to get podcasts and RSS to run hand in hand. Together, They synergised a way to get podcasts to download and transform to play on mp3 players, and ipods, (Wiki, 2009). It seems Adam also has a big head, since he has been caught changing the podcasting history wiki page to include more information about himself being the frontier to wikis, (Workbench, 2005).
I think Adam is a good change manager, changing the emphasis of written blogs to audio blogs and even changing the way that podcasts are created, as everyone followed suit with how to make them. I have done extra-curricular podcasting work myself, as i prefer to listen than to read, and i think it is important to synergise a set of rules to follow when creating podcasts. There must be a bench mark to follow, and it seems Adam has helped set this.
Both men have been entrepreneurs to the way users gather and follow information, David with creating the ways to do things, and Adam in setting guidelines on how to deliver the information. Each has played a major role in online community development and the development for new online technologies that are becoming or have become commonplace.
Wikipedia. (2009). Dave Winer. Retrieved 13th September from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Winer#Podcasting
Winer, D. (2007). Dave Winer bio. Retrieved 13th September from http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/02/21/daveWinerBio.html
Oxygen Media Inc. (2009). David Winer. Retrieved 13th September from http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/1086/Winer-David.html
Wikipedia, (2009). Daily Source Code. Retrieved 13th September from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Source_Code
Workbench. (2005). Adam cought in sticky wiki. Retrieved 13th September http://workbench.cadenhead.org/news/2818/adam-curry-caught-sticky-wiki
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Topic 5
Where do I exist? – Interact, CSU email, Hotmail, MSN, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Forums, Gmail account, Online Games.
None of these have exactly the same information, and i believe that they shouldn’t! I don’t want people finding out too much about me, as im afraid of identity theft. My persistent identity shows that im a young female and my first name shortened, plus my lastname. That is about all that is common place across the board. I don’t think that anything else should be displayed across the board as i wish to protect my identity, however if people want to know something about me they should feel free to ask! I will either say yes or no!
Q2:-
A social architect is a person who plans, devises or contrives the achievement of a desired result for human interaction and behaviours. They facilitate interactions and lead communities online, by planning for interactions. They aid sharing and enabling between users and a site.
Shuffle brain – Objectives, to find embedded icons in a picture, and to do it in record time! Rules of engagement – to upload facebook accepted decent pictures of your choosing and submit them to play with. You can use default pics also. Unique features – it doesn’t just choose the game for you, it lets you create one yourself using your own photos.
The Social architect here is Facebook. They are indded social architects as they have set up the facebook site and facilitate usage, as long as users comply with rules. They have also created a how to guide for how to use the system for first time users.
Whyville – Objective – Design your face, and earn clams (the currency in whyville). You also desing your car and make friends using this avatar. Rules of engagement – im sure appropriate language would be a big one here, but other than that you have free reign on what you look like, and what items you have. There aren’t too many unique features here, as there are many games that do similar, if not the same thing, take neopets(playing games to earn neopoints), facebook fluff friends, the sims, second life etc etc. They all do basically the same thing. Im not sure ‘WHO’ is the social architect, but i believe they still are one, as they have facilitated the use of whyville, with logins and password, and also have guidleines to stick with.
None of these have exactly the same information, and i believe that they shouldn’t! I don’t want people finding out too much about me, as im afraid of identity theft. My persistent identity shows that im a young female and my first name shortened, plus my lastname. That is about all that is common place across the board. I don’t think that anything else should be displayed across the board as i wish to protect my identity, however if people want to know something about me they should feel free to ask! I will either say yes or no!
Q2:-
A social architect is a person who plans, devises or contrives the achievement of a desired result for human interaction and behaviours. They facilitate interactions and lead communities online, by planning for interactions. They aid sharing and enabling between users and a site.
Shuffle brain – Objectives, to find embedded icons in a picture, and to do it in record time! Rules of engagement – to upload facebook accepted decent pictures of your choosing and submit them to play with. You can use default pics also. Unique features – it doesn’t just choose the game for you, it lets you create one yourself using your own photos.
The Social architect here is Facebook. They are indded social architects as they have set up the facebook site and facilitate usage, as long as users comply with rules. They have also created a how to guide for how to use the system for first time users.
Whyville – Objective – Design your face, and earn clams (the currency in whyville). You also desing your car and make friends using this avatar. Rules of engagement – im sure appropriate language would be a big one here, but other than that you have free reign on what you look like, and what items you have. There aren’t too many unique features here, as there are many games that do similar, if not the same thing, take neopets(playing games to earn neopoints), facebook fluff friends, the sims, second life etc etc. They all do basically the same thing. Im not sure ‘WHO’ is the social architect, but i believe they still are one, as they have facilitated the use of whyville, with logins and password, and also have guidleines to stick with.
Topic 4 parts 1,2, 3 & 4
How would I manage my blog or wiki?
I would manage this with respect to the user. Obviously people are going to have their own opinions, and wants and needs, but these should tie under a specific purpose to the blog, such that, if the wiki was about dogs and someone started changing the information to include cats, it would sway from the general community bias of dogs, and the user’s postings would need to be undone, or removed with warning. An online discussion forum must also be prepared for debatable topics, such as religion or politics, and each member of the forum should be given rules to comply with so that things can be discussed freely without nonsense of name calling and direct attacking.
Q2:- My blog site is blog host Blogger.com. The purpose of my community is to post answers as a submission. These answers are tasks in the subject ITC213, and a few of my colleagues are following my blog. My vision is such that my colleagues can come and see my point of view, or my opinion on topics they have a different, or even similar opinion to. The community is easy to work with. The hardest part is finding each other in the first place, as we are constantly asking for email addresses on the forums, and the postings get lost somewhere towards the bottom of the forum. There is a description, or profile that bloggers can fill out about themselves, however this isn’t for everyone. A lot of people wish to remain anonymous on their blogs, however for the folk who don’t mind, they are able to submit a thumbnail picture of themselves, along with a brief description and their likes and dislikes, giving back ground info on the user. Community rules have been developed in that i will never reveal the company i work for, or my name. Lucky for my name is androgynous, so people may think i am either sex until they read more about me. I expect that as rules go, no one would leave inappropriate or rude comments on my blog, as i am definitely the leader on my page. Regular events do promote relationships with my followers, and there will come a time where they might feel they ‘know’ me without having even met me. If i do not post for a while, subscribers would become less interested and may not be willing to play ‘catch-up’ on my online life. I am only one person, with 4 followers, this is not a large group, hence no need for subgroups, no is there a need for people to have roles on my blog.
As for the 3 underlying principles:-
- My blog allows for growth and change, as I can create more pages and topics, follow others, and change the appearance, or details on the blog. I can edit pre-existing posts, change the colour scheme, and the layout of my page.
- Community feedback can be created with the comment button. It can also be deleted or maintained, with me being able to delete unwanted comments.
- The blog does not allow for my followers to have more control. The only thing they can do is subscribe to my blog, and comment on it. I prefer it this way, seeing as it is MY page... J
Exercise 2:-
3 Ways a user can have more control in an online community are:-
- Be given more accesses – some users a part of an online forum may have read accesses only until they have served a certain amount of days on the forum, when they are granted write accesses.
- A user can become the leader of an online community and coordinate members – for example a guild leader in an MMORPG or online multi player game, who coordinates other members to attack the enemy.
- A user can make friends in an online community and be more comfortable in posting and expressing themselves, or conveying their opinions.
Q2:- 3 tips/rules i have learnt from online meetings and interactions:
- Steer clear of any conversations that involve religion and or politics, as they always, always, always end up messy.
- Do not criticize or attack people, as it always, always, always, ends up messy, especially when you are new to that particular online community and the person you’re attacking has been there longer.
- Always, always, always, re-read your words BEFORE you post. If something can easily be misconstrued, change the wording, or omit the sentence altogether.
Q3:- Social networking sites must develop a guideline for usage, not only to guide and assist newcomers to the community with acceptable behaviours and practices for usage, but to aid existing members and remind them of acceptable behaviours and social policies of how to treat other individuals. A main reason why is because people have grown up in different cultures with different belief systems, and when you put these people in a room together you are likely to get clashes, and differences of opinion. The guidelines provide a law to abide by and any member that doesn’t comply may be omitted from the community. The laws are there for people to check what is acceptable and what is the norm.
Q4:-
Sites for learning:
Have challenges for learning - Ning, Deli.cious, RevYu, Digg, Bubbl.us.
Don not impose challenges for learning - Yahoo, Bebo, FB, YT, LinkedIn, TeacherTube, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, SocialGo, Reddit.
Sites for challenges with professional development in the workplace
All sites impose issues with professional development in the workplace because people tend to forget that once the information is up there it can be retrieved by anyone, and you may have posted something that shows you as inapproriate or gives your workplace the impression you are noty professional.
Topic 3 parts 1 & 2
Battle for wesnoth!
.....And it indeed was a battle! I got temprarily addicted to this game! I battled with a friend online. My goodness... the points, the money, the citizens........the.......the.......WOW! Best. Assignment. Ever.
This was a great game to play online, and i found alot of people talking to me, wanting me to join up with them, and buy things off them - usually overpriced! - but no one wanted to be my friend :( (naaaawwwwwwww)
I found that everyone wanted to play the game to their own advantage and no one was willing to be my friend like they were in say second life, or even on FB, so wesnoth was disappointing in that regard. Still a great way to join up with a buddy and kill off some boredom!
Part 2:-
What id the educational value of mobile social network access?
- Mobile applications using GPS/MCS
Many new types of hand-held devices are becoming commonplace technologies at school, work and in leisure. The benefit of each of these tools, or the aim of them, is to make life, simpler, information gathering faster, and ultimately for ease of use for things in everyday life.
One such device is a GPS, or global positioning device, that uses satellite navigation technology to locate a person, place or thing’s current location, normally within metres. As Wyryzowski (2009), explains, A GPS device can track the location of an object or person, so if a family was spilt up in territory they were unfamiliar with, by using GPS, they would be able to track each other down. However, the GPS device has sparked debate on how educational it actually is. Sure, it’s convenient, lightweight, and gives you a degree of social network access, however, it is replacing the use of conventional maps in cars world-wide. Just as texting seems to have ruined generation Y’s ability to properly use the English language, it has been forethought that GPS will ruin Gen Y’s ability to read a map, and convey the information to find their destination, (Hoell, 2009).
GPS does give the upper hand educationally-wise, with generation Y being able to use technology, interpret a GUI, decipher information and convey messages, or even listen to instructions from a recorded voice on how to reach your destination. It also can determine terrain, and can re-navigate your path for you if you missed the next turn, however, what will it do for you when you are out of range, there is heavy cloud cover, or you are in a tunnel? Hoell, (2009) states that the GPS signal will be lost, and unless you know how to read a map, you’ll be lost too!
Hoell, K. (2009). Will global Positioning Systems (GPS) ever replace conventional maps? Retrieved 5th Sept 2009 from http://www.helium.com/items/1191770-gps-replace-conventional-maps
Wyryzowski, S. (2009). 12 Practical uses of GPS for everyday people. Retrieved 5th Sept 2009 from http://ezinearticles.com/?12-Practical-Uses-of-GPS-for-Everyday-People&id=74085
Janai!
.....And it indeed was a battle! I got temprarily addicted to this game! I battled with a friend online. My goodness... the points, the money, the citizens........the.......the.......WOW! Best. Assignment. Ever.
This was a great game to play online, and i found alot of people talking to me, wanting me to join up with them, and buy things off them - usually overpriced! - but no one wanted to be my friend :( (naaaawwwwwwww)
I found that everyone wanted to play the game to their own advantage and no one was willing to be my friend like they were in say second life, or even on FB, so wesnoth was disappointing in that regard. Still a great way to join up with a buddy and kill off some boredom!
Part 2:-
What id the educational value of mobile social network access?
- Mobile applications using GPS/MCS
Many new types of hand-held devices are becoming commonplace technologies at school, work and in leisure. The benefit of each of these tools, or the aim of them, is to make life, simpler, information gathering faster, and ultimately for ease of use for things in everyday life.
One such device is a GPS, or global positioning device, that uses satellite navigation technology to locate a person, place or thing’s current location, normally within metres. As Wyryzowski (2009), explains, A GPS device can track the location of an object or person, so if a family was spilt up in territory they were unfamiliar with, by using GPS, they would be able to track each other down. However, the GPS device has sparked debate on how educational it actually is. Sure, it’s convenient, lightweight, and gives you a degree of social network access, however, it is replacing the use of conventional maps in cars world-wide. Just as texting seems to have ruined generation Y’s ability to properly use the English language, it has been forethought that GPS will ruin Gen Y’s ability to read a map, and convey the information to find their destination, (Hoell, 2009).
GPS does give the upper hand educationally-wise, with generation Y being able to use technology, interpret a GUI, decipher information and convey messages, or even listen to instructions from a recorded voice on how to reach your destination. It also can determine terrain, and can re-navigate your path for you if you missed the next turn, however, what will it do for you when you are out of range, there is heavy cloud cover, or you are in a tunnel? Hoell, (2009) states that the GPS signal will be lost, and unless you know how to read a map, you’ll be lost too!
Hoell, K. (2009). Will global Positioning Systems (GPS) ever replace conventional maps? Retrieved 5th Sept 2009 from http://www.helium.com/items/1191770-gps-replace-conventional-maps
Wyryzowski, S. (2009). 12 Practical uses of GPS for everyday people. Retrieved 5th Sept 2009 from http://ezinearticles.com/?12-Practical-Uses-of-GPS-for-Everyday-People&id=74085
Janai!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Topic 2 parts 1, 2, 3 & 4
Part 1 - Facebook -
Upon searching for groups in Facebook there are around 401 CSU members on one particular site. I'm the 401st. The ethics involved in Facebook are questionable i feel. I will bullet-point the reasons...
*People are unaware of security and privacy issues. They are unaware their identities could be stolen, and most use passwords that are easy to guess.
*Young people are unaware that what they are putting up in the public arena could stay around to haunt them for years - ie missing out on a job because of drunken photos.
*People post private details of their life in the public arena.
*People accept friend invites from users they do not actually know. These individuals then have free access to your page just so you can look popular and gain 1 friend.
*Facebook recently made the accounts so that you could see a picture and see the friends of someone who has not yet accepted your friend request.
I think users, mainly young people, do not know how to use facebook properly. They over-use it in a sense, as they are not old enough, or experienced enough to make judgement on what parts of their lives should or should not be thrust into public face. Their lack of judgement carries over to private, often intimate relationship details, or vicious and nasty arguments being in the public eye. It is important people are advised and warned of this before signing upto sites. Pictures should also be kept private - Many young people do not understand the seriousness of pictures of themselves being used from facebook.
Part 2 - Second Life
I joined second life, as did my friend (whose name i shall leave blank). We searched together and found each other online. Now, i know my friend well, and they know me...but our avatars looked completely different. I think that second life is a way of making people feel better about their lives as life is not controllable but second life is. You can be who you want to be, or what you want to be without judgement of others:- Hence, My friend's avatar (and my own) did not look like us - it looked how we wanted to be perceived, which is often better looking than what you would see in real life.
The next thing i noticed was a few people trying to talk to me, and when it took to long to reply (as i was figuring out the buttons) - they called me a n00b. Noob. Great. Yes, i am new to this, but once upon a time you were too you *******. (Use your imagination for that one....it can be whatever you want it to be!). There seems to be a general feel that there is a lack of tolerance for "noobs." Then when these n00bs grow up - they are likely to call other newcomers n00bs to make them feel better about the time where they were embarrassingly enough - called a n00b by some random individual on second life, that probably is sitting at home in a chair that is almost melded to their bum from usage, typing away with cheezle-crumb fingers, and burping carbonated gas from some coke 'zero' product they think will help them shed a few pounds the easy way.
As you can probably tell i do not like second life. That and the fact it is a giant money generator from people that cannot stand the sight of some '3D animated' image of themselves being uncool, or not having friends, or new animated clothes, and the list goes on. Second Life has crossed the border and delved into the land of the ridiculous. Avatars are seen as people's 'babies' that they have to nurture and develop and grow until it's something they can be proud of - but how the heck can you be proud of that?!
Part 3 -
My face book persona is basically me. Ofcourse i have left off details of my life that i do not want the general public to know, but what i'm doing at uni and where i work is on there. Facebook is the only online persona i actually care about - therefore i will make it like me. I would not put anywhere near as much detail on any other social networking site or tool. I have not included religious beliefs or political beliefs as i think it causes problems. I don't want someone to read this and pass judgement on me before i meet them, so for that i have made my avatar as neutral as possible.
They CAN however make judgement on my likes and dislikes. I do not mind sharing that information as it is objectionable in that everyone has different taste. I also do not mind sharing photos with my friends - as long as facebook never gets me fired, or miss out on a new job because someone found out something they shouldn't have - then everything is ok!
Part 4 - Explaining Dick
Dick's presentation brought up 4 points about online fraud and online security issues. These are Phishing, Farming, Identity Theft, and Privacy Invasion.
Phishing is used by bots to scan the web for email addresses so that they can send hoax emails, either to obtain credit card information, or to send out viruses to users. Example - a phishing system could obtain a bunch of email addresses for commonwealth back customers, create a fake email, and send to all. This could be enquiring about their credit card information, and some un-thoughtful users would unknowingly give their details and their credit card could be used.
Pharming - Is when scammers farm the internet in search of harmless users and scam them. Pharming is a more involved and developed form of Phishing where coders try to duplicate real world as best they can. If someone thought they were logging into their online bank and it was a Pharming scam - the hackers could take control of their account until the bank is notified.
Identity Theft - Is when someone creates an account pretending to be someone they are not. For example, Australian Comedian and Musician Tim Minchin has a facebook site. There are 4 other "Tim Minchin's" claiming to be THE Tim Minchin... This can lead to all sorts of privacy drama.
Privacy invasion - An in vasion of one's own privacy. The unwanted, unauthorized view of seeking out a person's information and using it in a way the user has not agreed to. This could include Facebook photos. You can view a person's photos in an album (of whom you are not friends with) provided one of your friends is tagged in the album. This allows for access to photos they should not have access to. Some persons go further in using this information by distributing the photos or putting them in a place on the web that the owner has not warranted.
Topic 2 ist kaputt!
Seeya Later!
Upon searching for groups in Facebook there are around 401 CSU members on one particular site. I'm the 401st. The ethics involved in Facebook are questionable i feel. I will bullet-point the reasons...
*People are unaware of security and privacy issues. They are unaware their identities could be stolen, and most use passwords that are easy to guess.
*Young people are unaware that what they are putting up in the public arena could stay around to haunt them for years - ie missing out on a job because of drunken photos.
*People post private details of their life in the public arena.
*People accept friend invites from users they do not actually know. These individuals then have free access to your page just so you can look popular and gain 1 friend.
*Facebook recently made the accounts so that you could see a picture and see the friends of someone who has not yet accepted your friend request.
I think users, mainly young people, do not know how to use facebook properly. They over-use it in a sense, as they are not old enough, or experienced enough to make judgement on what parts of their lives should or should not be thrust into public face. Their lack of judgement carries over to private, often intimate relationship details, or vicious and nasty arguments being in the public eye. It is important people are advised and warned of this before signing upto sites. Pictures should also be kept private - Many young people do not understand the seriousness of pictures of themselves being used from facebook.
Part 2 - Second Life
I joined second life, as did my friend (whose name i shall leave blank). We searched together and found each other online. Now, i know my friend well, and they know me...but our avatars looked completely different. I think that second life is a way of making people feel better about their lives as life is not controllable but second life is. You can be who you want to be, or what you want to be without judgement of others:- Hence, My friend's avatar (and my own) did not look like us - it looked how we wanted to be perceived, which is often better looking than what you would see in real life.
The next thing i noticed was a few people trying to talk to me, and when it took to long to reply (as i was figuring out the buttons) - they called me a n00b. Noob. Great. Yes, i am new to this, but once upon a time you were too you *******. (Use your imagination for that one....it can be whatever you want it to be!). There seems to be a general feel that there is a lack of tolerance for "noobs." Then when these n00bs grow up - they are likely to call other newcomers n00bs to make them feel better about the time where they were embarrassingly enough - called a n00b by some random individual on second life, that probably is sitting at home in a chair that is almost melded to their bum from usage, typing away with cheezle-crumb fingers, and burping carbonated gas from some coke 'zero' product they think will help them shed a few pounds the easy way.
As you can probably tell i do not like second life. That and the fact it is a giant money generator from people that cannot stand the sight of some '3D animated' image of themselves being uncool, or not having friends, or new animated clothes, and the list goes on. Second Life has crossed the border and delved into the land of the ridiculous. Avatars are seen as people's 'babies' that they have to nurture and develop and grow until it's something they can be proud of - but how the heck can you be proud of that?!
Part 3 -
My face book persona is basically me. Ofcourse i have left off details of my life that i do not want the general public to know, but what i'm doing at uni and where i work is on there. Facebook is the only online persona i actually care about - therefore i will make it like me. I would not put anywhere near as much detail on any other social networking site or tool. I have not included religious beliefs or political beliefs as i think it causes problems. I don't want someone to read this and pass judgement on me before i meet them, so for that i have made my avatar as neutral as possible.
They CAN however make judgement on my likes and dislikes. I do not mind sharing that information as it is objectionable in that everyone has different taste. I also do not mind sharing photos with my friends - as long as facebook never gets me fired, or miss out on a new job because someone found out something they shouldn't have - then everything is ok!
Part 4 - Explaining Dick
Dick's presentation brought up 4 points about online fraud and online security issues. These are Phishing, Farming, Identity Theft, and Privacy Invasion.
Phishing is used by bots to scan the web for email addresses so that they can send hoax emails, either to obtain credit card information, or to send out viruses to users. Example - a phishing system could obtain a bunch of email addresses for commonwealth back customers, create a fake email, and send to all. This could be enquiring about their credit card information, and some un-thoughtful users would unknowingly give their details and their credit card could be used.
Pharming - Is when scammers farm the internet in search of harmless users and scam them. Pharming is a more involved and developed form of Phishing where coders try to duplicate real world as best they can. If someone thought they were logging into their online bank and it was a Pharming scam - the hackers could take control of their account until the bank is notified.
Identity Theft - Is when someone creates an account pretending to be someone they are not. For example, Australian Comedian and Musician Tim Minchin has a facebook site. There are 4 other "Tim Minchin's" claiming to be THE Tim Minchin... This can lead to all sorts of privacy drama.
Privacy invasion - An in vasion of one's own privacy. The unwanted, unauthorized view of seeking out a person's information and using it in a way the user has not agreed to. This could include Facebook photos. You can view a person's photos in an album (of whom you are not friends with) provided one of your friends is tagged in the album. This allows for access to photos they should not have access to. Some persons go further in using this information by distributing the photos or putting them in a place on the web that the owner has not warranted.
Topic 2 ist kaputt!
Seeya Later!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Heuristic Experience Topic 1 part 3
Heuristic Evaluation:- Evaluation of a User Interface Design. The goal is to find the usability problems in the design, so they can be worked out and fixed during the iterative design process. It involves having evaluators examine the interface and judge its compliance with recognized usability principles.
http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/
The Heuristic Evaluation I used was from http://oldwww.acm.org/perlman/question.cgi
I would love to have done an eval on the CSU system, but i know all the ins and outs already. I think this should be done on a relatively new system, you aren’t too familiar with.
Therefore, i have chosen a bank that i do not bank with – ANZ.
Q1 - 6 - It was very categorized.
Q2 - 6
Q3 - 6
Q4 - 5 - There is too much information for a new user. You have to read everything to find what you want.
Q5 - 5
Q6 - 6
Q7 - 3 - It was simple to learn once you get over the initial *whack* of information.
Q8 - 5
Q9 - 4 - The error messages were clear, but hard to find! They were not large, or bold.
Q10 - 4
Q11 - 5
Q12 - 6
Q13 - 5 - Information is easy to understand but there is so much of it!
Q14 - 5
Q15 - 2 - All the pages are too cluttered. There are way too many boxes and links and tabs.
Q16 - 2 - As above.
Q17 - 1 - I do not like the look of the interface.
Q18 - 5 -
Q19 - 5
Positives :-
*There is lots of info - you can research and banking topic.
*The bright colours enable good visability.
* -
Negatives :-
*Lingo and terminology is used that people would not immediately recognise. (ie - "SmartyBank")
*Web site is too busy and cluttered. There are too many links and tabs. Too much info to sort through.
*Limited use of online forms. For almost everything you need to call the bank or visit the nearest branch.
Overall the website had good information - it was just poorly set out. After a few times accessing this website i think i would have it downpat.
Au Revoir
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