Can I just say? I have never been so stressed out in my life and for once, it's not actually about my workload. It's about the iMacs at university and it's really starting to affect the group website.
As many of my fellow students will know, our university network has had a revamp, but it hasn't removed any of the problems that we were experiencing before. If anything, it's created a whole new set of problems.
In the lecture, my first problem was finding my work. The technician couldn't understand why we couldn't find my work so I had to drag someone down from IT and show me how to find it. It was on the task bar at the bottom, which is simple enough, but there was no instructions on how to find it.
Then when I went onto to Dreamweaver to upload some pages to the server, the files didn't have a place to go (I basically couldn't select PUT in the menu). Obviously, this is a huge problem because if we can't get our pages onto the website then it will never get updated. I managed to overcome this by adding a new site.
However, the next day when I went on a different computer (because let's face it, you can't be on the same computer everyday in a university) the site wasn't there again. Even when I tried to add another site, it wasn't uploading properly to the site.
So, as you can see, we're having big problems here at yourftown.co.uk, but I'm hoping to sort this out by the end of the day.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
I have...
just used Google Analytics on my individual website and the tracking has been installed successfully. I'm going to go back and check the findings in a couple of days.
I've also added a lot of new features to my website. I've included rollover images in the navigation bar and I've put in a simple banner. I've updated the fixtures and the league table, as well as uploading it all onto freewebs.
The problem I've had is trying to add a hyperlink onto a picture. It keeps thinking it's part of the user area, but it's not. Something to discuss with my lecturer when I go back.
I've also added a lot of new features to my website. I've included rollover images in the navigation bar and I've put in a simple banner. I've updated the fixtures and the league table, as well as uploading it all onto freewebs.
The problem I've had is trying to add a hyperlink onto a picture. It keeps thinking it's part of the user area, but it's not. Something to discuss with my lecturer when I go back.
Individual website banner
Trying to come up with a good banner for my individual website. Basically, it's about my boyfriend's new five-a-side team, Chawton Athletic FC.
Here's idea number one:
Here's idea number two:
Personally, I like idea number one; it's simple and it's clear. Whereas idea number two isn't very clear at all, and there's too much going on. You can't really tell that there's a football pitch behind the writing.
I made my banners by using Fireworks. I imported a couple of graphics and some fonts to try. My font is called FMuniversity, which I thought looked more like a football club font. I did try one called Pep Rally, but it didn't look very professional at all.
Here's idea number one:
Here's idea number two:
Personally, I like idea number one; it's simple and it's clear. Whereas idea number two isn't very clear at all, and there's too much going on. You can't really tell that there's a football pitch behind the writing.
I made my banners by using Fireworks. I imported a couple of graphics and some fonts to try. My font is called FMuniversity, which I thought looked more like a football club font. I did try one called Pep Rally, but it didn't look very professional at all.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Lecture 07/04/2009
Everyone was present in the lesson.
Today we tried to put our group website live onto the web. However, we found some problems on the way.
One of them was trying to wrap text around a picture. We overcame this by searching on google for advice from other people. We successfully found the right information. But then, Lauren didn't like the picture and text being so close together, so our lecturer advised us to make a spacer in Fireworks. Lauren inserted the spacer, which was a block of colour, onto our web page and it worked. This technique has been used on all of the content pages.
Another problem was trying to view the web page in different browsers. Adam found a problem with PCs; the panels which held the home page information were all out of line, and some of them went outside the content box. To overcome this, we used trial and error on measurements (using the CSS styles panel to the right of Dreamweaver) and a lot of running backwards and forwards to our different computer rooms.
We're still having this problem now, but we've decided to concentrate on content rather than worry too much about browser design.
So the website it... www.yourftown.co.uk
At this stage we haven't added the navigation pages, as we have nothing to show on them. This is a task for next lesson, 28th April 2009.
Today we tried to put our group website live onto the web. However, we found some problems on the way.
One of them was trying to wrap text around a picture. We overcame this by searching on google for advice from other people. We successfully found the right information. But then, Lauren didn't like the picture and text being so close together, so our lecturer advised us to make a spacer in Fireworks. Lauren inserted the spacer, which was a block of colour, onto our web page and it worked. This technique has been used on all of the content pages.
Another problem was trying to view the web page in different browsers. Adam found a problem with PCs; the panels which held the home page information were all out of line, and some of them went outside the content box. To overcome this, we used trial and error on measurements (using the CSS styles panel to the right of Dreamweaver) and a lot of running backwards and forwards to our different computer rooms.
We're still having this problem now, but we've decided to concentrate on content rather than worry too much about browser design.
So the website it... www.yourftown.co.uk
At this stage we haven't added the navigation pages, as we have nothing to show on them. This is a task for next lesson, 28th April 2009.
Lecture 31/03/2009
Lauren, Adam and myself were present in the lesson.
Today, we all concentrated on content for the website. I wrote my East Street Feature and Adam organised an interview with the manger from a record shop.
Not much web design went on today, but I had problems with putting content onto the pages. I realised that I had deleted the content box from the page, which caused the problem.
Next week, we go live!
Today, we all concentrated on content for the website. I wrote my East Street Feature and Adam organised an interview with the manger from a record shop.
Not much web design went on today, but I had problems with putting content onto the pages. I realised that I had deleted the content box from the page, which caused the problem.
Next week, we go live!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Lecture 24/03/09
Haven't blogged for a couple of weeks, but have been so busy.
Adam, Sam, Lauren, myself were present in the lesson. Members of the group left the lesson for filming and editing.
Today was the big day. We were filming our Top Gear project, which would run alongside Lauren's travel feature. I teamed up with Adam and took the train from Guildford to Farnham, Sam teamed up with Lauren to drive from Guildford to Farnham, and Liz teamed up with her friend Keith to take the bus from Guildford to Farnham.
I got equipment off of Alan from our department and set off to Guildford. Adam and I set up our equipment on the platform and practiced 'piece to camera' shots. We decided to take a casual approach to our filming and speech, so we filmed ourselves waiting for the train; this turned out to be successful, as we found some funny moments.
Unfortunately, we were asked not to film on the train, but it didn't stop us getting some sneaky peaks of us getting on and off of the trains.
When we finished our filming, we went back to the Uni and started editing our film. This was really difficult, as we hadn't edited film in over a year. We weren't defeated though, and within an hour, Adam and I were watching our own little film from our journey.
We've looked at alternatives on how to put the film onto our website. We think that using YouTube wouldn't look right on our website, so we thought that using a sharing network called Vimeo would benefit us.
Next week, we're going to look at every ones footage and add it to the website. We are also going to start uploading the content.
Adam, Sam, Lauren, myself were present in the lesson. Members of the group left the lesson for filming and editing.
Today was the big day. We were filming our Top Gear project, which would run alongside Lauren's travel feature. I teamed up with Adam and took the train from Guildford to Farnham, Sam teamed up with Lauren to drive from Guildford to Farnham, and Liz teamed up with her friend Keith to take the bus from Guildford to Farnham.
I got equipment off of Alan from our department and set off to Guildford. Adam and I set up our equipment on the platform and practiced 'piece to camera' shots. We decided to take a casual approach to our filming and speech, so we filmed ourselves waiting for the train; this turned out to be successful, as we found some funny moments.
Unfortunately, we were asked not to film on the train, but it didn't stop us getting some sneaky peaks of us getting on and off of the trains.
When we finished our filming, we went back to the Uni and started editing our film. This was really difficult, as we hadn't edited film in over a year. We weren't defeated though, and within an hour, Adam and I were watching our own little film from our journey.
We've looked at alternatives on how to put the film onto our website. We think that using YouTube wouldn't look right on our website, so we thought that using a sharing network called Vimeo would benefit us.
Next week, we're going to look at every ones footage and add it to the website. We are also going to start uploading the content.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Lesson 03/03/2009
Sam and Adam were in the lesson today.
Today we discussed about the Top Gear multimedia video. Sean, the TV lecturer, spoke to us about using different angles and splitting our film into three smaller films and having a film at the end of the feature.
Adam completed a recipe mini feature today, which needs adding to the website. We also decided to go to a charity shop and write a feature about spending £10 on one or more outfits. We need to discuss this with the rest of the group when they come next week.
We changed some minor aspects of our website, such as picture sizes, ideas for banners etc.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Online Lecture - 24/02/2009
Today we discussed about website content management, also known at CMS systems.
An aspect of designing and building a website is keeping the information on the website fresh. If the information is not fresh, then people will not return to the website in the future.
We looked at a model of a content management system. A key feature of CMS is that you give people certain permissions. This means that you could allow certain people to visit certain pages of the website, and you can also restrict the amount of people who can publish.
The people who are allowed to write for the website, will go through a process. Firstly they will edit their work and then send it off. It will then send the work to drafts and then for approval. The person who will approve the work, will then decide if the work will be published.
We looked at 'immediacy', a popular CMS program. Certain features of the program are very similar to Dreamweaver. Style pages were also used, which seems to be a recurring pattern with website designing programs.
Steve brought up the point of interactivity on our websites. For people who are using Dreamweaver will need to link to a blog or starting up a forum, on a forum sever. Active Board seems like a professional looking forum that people could use for our website.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Online Lecture - 17/02/2009
In today's lesson all members of the group were present. We pitched our website idea to Steve and started on our production schedule.
Firstly, we received feedback on our previous semester work. I found this very helpful, because I wanted to know what areas I needed to improve on. Steve advised us on our content, saying that it was weaker than our technical evaluation. Here are some things I need to think about when writing an online feature:
When we got into our group, we all decided that F-Town was a good idea for our website and that my introduction was a good foundation for the website. Adam also wrote a mission statement, which we thought would be good on the 'about us' page or merged with my introduction.
We also decided on features for our website. We're aiming to do five big features (one each for group member) and some smaller weekly updates. Trying to aim towards students, we decided to use TV programmes as a basis for our ideas. For example, we're using a Top Gear idea for out transport feature, so we can include multimedia and images, as well as the written word. Other ideas include: Most Haunted, as Farnham is classed as one of the most haunted towns in Britain.
We're also trying to use the recession as a basis for a feature idea, so we came up with 'Living on a budget'. We realised that students might be put off by the expense of living in Farnham, so we decided to write a feature outlining how easy it is to live on a budget in Farnham.
We're also using the East Street development as a main topic for a feature, because the outcome will affect so many young people. Already having contacts for this, will make our research slightly easier.
Smaller features may include reviews of pubs, restaurants etc. We are also interested in doing a weekly top ten for things in Farnham.
Now knowing what we wanted to do, we've set up a basic production schedule, so that we know when we need to get things done by. For example, we've decided to do our research for 'Living on a budget' ready for next week, so we can put the feature together and edit it. We will also commission the writer for the feature next week in lesson.
Finally, we also discussed what we would prefer to use to design our website. In my personal opinion, I would prefer to use Dreamweaver as I have used it for years and I am confident in my ability to use it.
Firstly, we received feedback on our previous semester work. I found this very helpful, because I wanted to know what areas I needed to improve on. Steve advised us on our content, saying that it was weaker than our technical evaluation. Here are some things I need to think about when writing an online feature:
- tone
- style
- agenda
- purpose - what's it's goal and is it to inform, entertain, instruct... etc?
- audience - who's it for?
When we got into our group, we all decided that F-Town was a good idea for our website and that my introduction was a good foundation for the website. Adam also wrote a mission statement, which we thought would be good on the 'about us' page or merged with my introduction.
We also decided on features for our website. We're aiming to do five big features (one each for group member) and some smaller weekly updates. Trying to aim towards students, we decided to use TV programmes as a basis for our ideas. For example, we're using a Top Gear idea for out transport feature, so we can include multimedia and images, as well as the written word. Other ideas include: Most Haunted, as Farnham is classed as one of the most haunted towns in Britain.
We're also trying to use the recession as a basis for a feature idea, so we came up with 'Living on a budget'. We realised that students might be put off by the expense of living in Farnham, so we decided to write a feature outlining how easy it is to live on a budget in Farnham.
We're also using the East Street development as a main topic for a feature, because the outcome will affect so many young people. Already having contacts for this, will make our research slightly easier.
Smaller features may include reviews of pubs, restaurants etc. We are also interested in doing a weekly top ten for things in Farnham.
Now knowing what we wanted to do, we've set up a basic production schedule, so that we know when we need to get things done by. For example, we've decided to do our research for 'Living on a budget' ready for next week, so we can put the feature together and edit it. We will also commission the writer for the feature next week in lesson.
Finally, we also discussed what we would prefer to use to design our website. In my personal opinion, I would prefer to use Dreamweaver as I have used it for years and I am confident in my ability to use it.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Online Lecture - 10/02/2009
Today the class discussed statistics and google analytics and how it would affect their group websites.
Google Analytics allows a web administrator to view the statistics of their website. It can go into quite a lot of detail, such as allowing the administrator to see the time spent on each page, the average time spent on the website, what browsers people are using to see the website and what platform they are using.
The program can be used on any website and an administrator can add many websites to their Google Analytics profile.
However, I'm not sure if this works on blogs, as I tried adding it to my eco-blog and Google Analytics didn't seem to work. I am going to try for the rest of the week to see if this is the case.
We also learnt about bouncing, which is when a person visits the website for less than ten seconds. The class discussed that there could be many factors that contribute to bouncing, such as home pages, refreshing and going back through their history.
You can also view content detail and drilldown on Google Analytics, which shows you the pages popularity and how people can to them.
We also used Google Keyword to see how people could have found the website. We used this to see how we could promote our own websites.
My group today (Adam and I) discussed different phrases that were popular and how we were going to put them into our website. We also came up with a website name: Ftown or Yourftown. We checked on fasthosts.com to see if any of these names were available, and they were. We decided that we'd want a co.uk domain, as only people from the UK would want to view a website about Farnham.
Finally, we looked at other websites that included information about Farnham and viewed the 'cached' version to see how many times the phrases were used. We found that hotels, restaurants and clubs/bars didn't include the words many times to get to the top of the google search.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Semester Four - Group website
The theme of the website is going to based on bringing young people to Farnham, or helping those in Farnham find something to do in their spare time. The group have discussed many different things we can do, such as: have a Top Gear themed multimedia feature on getting to and from Farnham, for example, having a race to see how long it takes to get somewhere and what is the quickest mode of transport.
We've also discussed doing reviews on pubs and resturants in Farnham, to get people away from the SU, and to explore the town. We've thought of reviewing The Slug, The Albion, The Malbrough Head, The Mulberry and The Seven. We're thought of reviewing a resturant of different cusine, such as Indian, Chinese, Thai, etc.
We also think we should include something about the university, because many of the young people in Farnahm attend it. This will be good for people who are thinking about coming to the university.
We also discussed other things like student discount stores and the East Street development, but we didn't manage to go into much detail.
The group has arranged to go out on the 11th Feb 2009, to explore the different pubs in the area and see what they have to offer.
Next lesson: plan out schedule for the upcoming weeks, discuss how what features we should do and design a template, navigation structure and sections.
We've also discussed doing reviews on pubs and resturants in Farnham, to get people away from the SU, and to explore the town. We've thought of reviewing The Slug, The Albion, The Malbrough Head, The Mulberry and The Seven. We're thought of reviewing a resturant of different cusine, such as Indian, Chinese, Thai, etc.
We also think we should include something about the university, because many of the young people in Farnahm attend it. This will be good for people who are thinking about coming to the university.
We also discussed other things like student discount stores and the East Street development, but we didn't manage to go into much detail.
The group has arranged to go out on the 11th Feb 2009, to explore the different pubs in the area and see what they have to offer.
Next lesson: plan out schedule for the upcoming weeks, discuss how what features we should do and design a template, navigation structure and sections.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
How annoying...
I did my third ever shift at my new job today and I couldn't help feeling irritated at some of the customers that came in.
I was washing up some dishes behind the counter when I woman came over to me and asked me for some napkins to wipe the table and a chair, which had gotten wet. I explained to her that I had just cleaned it, because previous customers had just been sat there and had left it dirty, and so she just gave me a patronising look and said "I'll need more napkins than that".
Feeling very annoyed with this mean lady, I walked over to the washing basin and started cursing her; she was still stood at the counter and was waiting for me to take an order. Sorry if you heard me Mrs. Old Lady, but you pissed me off!
But wasn't just the only thing...
I had just finished making some sandwiches (first time I have ever done them!) and I went over to the counter to see if any orders needed to go out. My boss, Mildred*, asked me to take an order over to two women and to clean up the table, as it hadn't been cleaned; basically there were a few cups and a pot of tea on there.
So I went over and gave them their order and I was just about to clean up, when the elderly woman asked me, "could you clean that up please". I was annoyed, because there was a clean table right next to them; why couldn't they have sat there? I was wondering if people do this on purpose or are they just blind.
Hopefully, people will think more when they go into a cafe and not take waiters and waitresses for granted. We work really hard serving customers and making sure their food is good enough for them (just because I cut the cake wrong and I can't serve ice cream... or I can't cut bread properly, doesn't mean I don't try..).
Peace out!
----
* = name changed.
I was washing up some dishes behind the counter when I woman came over to me and asked me for some napkins to wipe the table and a chair, which had gotten wet. I explained to her that I had just cleaned it, because previous customers had just been sat there and had left it dirty, and so she just gave me a patronising look and said "I'll need more napkins than that".
Feeling very annoyed with this mean lady, I walked over to the washing basin and started cursing her; she was still stood at the counter and was waiting for me to take an order. Sorry if you heard me Mrs. Old Lady, but you pissed me off!
But wasn't just the only thing...
I had just finished making some sandwiches (first time I have ever done them!) and I went over to the counter to see if any orders needed to go out. My boss, Mildred*, asked me to take an order over to two women and to clean up the table, as it hadn't been cleaned; basically there were a few cups and a pot of tea on there.
So I went over and gave them their order and I was just about to clean up, when the elderly woman asked me, "could you clean that up please". I was annoyed, because there was a clean table right next to them; why couldn't they have sat there? I was wondering if people do this on purpose or are they just blind.
Hopefully, people will think more when they go into a cafe and not take waiters and waitresses for granted. We work really hard serving customers and making sure their food is good enough for them (just because I cut the cake wrong and I can't serve ice cream... or I can't cut bread properly, doesn't mean I don't try..).
Peace out!
----
* = name changed.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Blogs and the news media agenda
How did blogs affect Dan Rather?
Dan Rather presented '60 Minute Wednesday' with a controversial topic about President George Bush. The programme talked about Bush failing to fulfil obligations while he was in the National Guard.
When the programme aired in 8th September 2004, a group of bloggers wrote on a thread saying that the memos used in the programme were fake. Investigations took place and the memos were found to be fake.
This cost Dan Rather his job as anchor on CBS, as he was forced into early retirement.
Even though the bloggers were right-wing supporters, they still uncovered poor journalism, which is a good thing. If this poor journalism hadn't been investigated, then it could have turned the presidential election around.
Dan Rather presented '60 Minute Wednesday' with a controversial topic about President George Bush. The programme talked about Bush failing to fulfil obligations while he was in the National Guard.
When the programme aired in 8th September 2004, a group of bloggers wrote on a thread saying that the memos used in the programme were fake. Investigations took place and the memos were found to be fake.
This cost Dan Rather his job as anchor on CBS, as he was forced into early retirement.
Even though the bloggers were right-wing supporters, they still uncovered poor journalism, which is a good thing. If this poor journalism hadn't been investigated, then it could have turned the presidential election around.
Friday, April 18, 2008
How do I use Google Reader?
Using Google Reader this week has helped me with a lot of research, whether it's for work or leisure. I feel it's good to get a mix when using Google Reader, because you can work and then read something that you enjoy to relax.
I used the BBC Top Stories news feed, as well as Channel Four News feed to catch up on daily news events. I think using two different news networks covers a wider range of news, so I don't miss out on something. These feed are updated everyday.
I also used the Topshop Daily Fix feed and Glamour Magazine feed to keep up to date with fashion, which is a passion of mine. Topshop shows new clothing which I might want to buy, but sometimes these clothes can be sold out before they are put on. Glamour wasn't what I expected it to be! After subscribing to the English feed, I ended up with Spanish! These feeds are not updated daily.
I used the BBC Top Stories news feed, as well as Channel Four News feed to catch up on daily news events. I think using two different news networks covers a wider range of news, so I don't miss out on something. These feed are updated everyday.
I also used the Topshop Daily Fix feed and Glamour Magazine feed to keep up to date with fashion, which is a passion of mine. Topshop shows new clothing which I might want to buy, but sometimes these clothes can be sold out before they are put on. Glamour wasn't what I expected it to be! After subscribing to the English feed, I ended up with Spanish! These feeds are not updated daily.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Researching - Can it be used in journalism?
Digg
People can submit stories onto this website and if someone likes it, they can rate it; digg it. It gets put onto the upcoming section where people can read it. If a story gets a certain amount of 'diggs', then it gets put onto the homepage of the category. It can also make it onto the 'top ten' if it becomes more popular.
However, if a story doesn't get many diggs in a certain time period, then it gets taken off the upcoming section. If someone submits SPAM onto digg, then the audience can 'bury' it, removing it from the site.
Journalists can discuss and network on digg, finding the popular stories that matter to people. But if stories on digg are rated by the readers, then some sources that journalists might need will not be available. I think that digg is too selective, but is good to see how popular stories are.
del.icio.us
Del.icio.us is used to keep favourites or bookmarks on an account on the web. These bookmarks can be seen from any computer.
del.icio.us can be used to research, saving sources as someone is writing an essay, article or anything else. This can be used for holidays, podcasts, cookbooks and sharing bookmarks with businesses or groups.
However, when people use tags they could be too simple and tag unnecessarily.
I think the del.icio.us is good for journalists, as they can save their research and view it anywhere; work or home.
People can submit stories onto this website and if someone likes it, they can rate it; digg it. It gets put onto the upcoming section where people can read it. If a story gets a certain amount of 'diggs', then it gets put onto the homepage of the category. It can also make it onto the 'top ten' if it becomes more popular.
However, if a story doesn't get many diggs in a certain time period, then it gets taken off the upcoming section. If someone submits SPAM onto digg, then the audience can 'bury' it, removing it from the site.
Journalists can discuss and network on digg, finding the popular stories that matter to people. But if stories on digg are rated by the readers, then some sources that journalists might need will not be available. I think that digg is too selective, but is good to see how popular stories are.
del.icio.us
Del.icio.us is used to keep favourites or bookmarks on an account on the web. These bookmarks can be seen from any computer.
del.icio.us can be used to research, saving sources as someone is writing an essay, article or anything else. This can be used for holidays, podcasts, cookbooks and sharing bookmarks with businesses or groups.
However, when people use tags they could be too simple and tag unnecessarily.
I think the del.icio.us is good for journalists, as they can save their research and view it anywhere; work or home.
Research exercise - Old people and Technology
What do we need to write an article about old people and technology?
- Facts and figures
- Angle
- Old person representative
- Spam?
- Businesses that deal with older people
- Charity groups
- Pressure groups
- Organisations for older people
- Just 28% of people over the age of 65 have home internet access, compared to a UK average of 57% of households. - Ofcom (Taken from BBC)
- Boomertown.com - for older aged people.
- http://www.eons.com/blogs/entry/760676 - Blog taken from Eons.com - 62 year old male talking about his troubles with computers. (to contact, will have to private message him, which means joining the network)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxyOAt8AbIQ - a youtube video about old people vs. technology (2007)
- http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=7166 - an article about a professor using satellite technology to make older people more independent. (2007)
- Find old people who hate the internet - relatives or contacts.
- 68 woman 'diane' - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=64555346 (can contact via private messaging)
Friday, February 22, 2008
Classroom discussion - Different blogs
Jezabel
What is the blog about?
Tongue in cheek gossip news, about celebrities, fashion and sex.
Who is it aimed at and why would they read it?
Young, professional women who are interested in gossip and want to keep up to date with news. These females look on the blog to keep entertained during their day 'in the office'.
How often is updated? When is it updated?
44 posts in 24 hours. Times vary between posting within a space of minutes or a hour. They post between 9am - 7pm, ready for the next working day.
What kind of things does it cover?
Fashion, magazines, celebrities. The bloggers are usually humouring their topics negatively. Some science posts are also posted on the blog.
Style, tone, attitude of posts. Who writes them?
Trival news, celebrity news, negative news; gossip. A team of at least seven bloggers writing them.
Using links, multimedia or audience?
Pictures and videos are used. There is a poll, which shows an active audience.
What do you think of the design?
Logo represents a woman half glamourised and half dull, which shows the values the bloggers are posting; no glamourised news. Jezabel in red, which represents 'scarlet woman'. Simple layout, with blue and red. Very ideal for the subject.
How does the blog make money?
Advertising.
What is the blog about?
Tongue in cheek gossip news, about celebrities, fashion and sex.
Who is it aimed at and why would they read it?
Young, professional women who are interested in gossip and want to keep up to date with news. These females look on the blog to keep entertained during their day 'in the office'.
How often is updated? When is it updated?
44 posts in 24 hours. Times vary between posting within a space of minutes or a hour. They post between 9am - 7pm, ready for the next working day.
What kind of things does it cover?
Fashion, magazines, celebrities. The bloggers are usually humouring their topics negatively. Some science posts are also posted on the blog.
Style, tone, attitude of posts. Who writes them?
Trival news, celebrity news, negative news; gossip. A team of at least seven bloggers writing them.
Using links, multimedia or audience?
Pictures and videos are used. There is a poll, which shows an active audience.
What do you think of the design?
Logo represents a woman half glamourised and half dull, which shows the values the bloggers are posting; no glamourised news. Jezabel in red, which represents 'scarlet woman'. Simple layout, with blue and red. Very ideal for the subject.
How does the blog make money?
Advertising.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Say Everything Review - Do teens really say everything online?
Okay, I was a little put off by the eight pages I had to read, but Emily Nussbaum certainly got my brain working with her article ‘Say Everything’, which investigates the world of online societies, how the youth use it and how privacy doesn’t exist anymore. I loved it, and here’s why...
Her argument, is very brief sometimes, really explores the ways which teenagers use to socialise online and why they do it (here's another take on it). Also, she outlines some of the reasons why adults could be afraid of the internet and social networking, but she doesn’t actually pinpoint how the generation gap happened, or why. Even so, I agree that there is a generation gap and that some (not all) do not seem to want to grasp the future.
The interviews with the ‘younger generation’ were really intriguing and I was looking at being online in a whole new different way; that’s actually saying something as I have MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and loads more! It was also interesting how ‘oops porn’ victims dealt with life afterwards; one washed her hands of the internet altogether (I would too if a porn site was named after me) and another stayed online.
Some of the quotes from the adults were really amusing too. When asked if he likes to take photos when he goes to parties, Kansas man Kent Gasaway replied, “There are a lot of weirdos out there... There are a lot of strangers out there,” which made me smile. Of course there are strangers out there; you’re being interviewed by one! It really provided some solid evidence for Emily’s argument; some adults have no idea about the internet and/or social networking! (Though this article thinks differently.)
However, one quote from Caitlin Oppermann really got my goat! She said, “I just really don’t like MySpace. ’Cause I think it’s just so … I don’t know if superficial is the right word. But plastic. These profiles of people just parading themselves. I kind of have it in for them,” which is so hypocritical! If this girl really believes that, then why does she sign up to everything and put her pictures, videos or her blogs on them? Surely that’s parading oneself on the internet?
Oh, but she says it’s because she’s sentimental. Well I guess that makes it okay then…
But apart from Gasaway, most of the things the ‘older generation’ said were actually true! Danah Boyd, a media researcher was quoted, “It’s [talking online] a form of communication that requires a person to be constantly aware that anything you say can and will be held against you, but somehow not mind,” and she is so right. I have MSN and know that people can save transcripts from conversations, I’m constantly thinking about how things could be used against me, but I just say it anyway. I’m under the impression that people feel safer online, even when you consider the risks, then they do offline; if someone finds out you’ve been talking about them, what are they going to do? Punch you through the monitor!?
I don’t think so!
Anyway, this is a key example of teenagers being more forward than adults, as I tend to get the impression that adults have to watch what they say, whether it be to their children or their bosses.
So let’s round up! I agree with Emily’s argument, I think adults who are oblivious to the internet world are hilarious and Caitlin Oppermann is a hypocrite.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
A review of Everyday by Noah Kalina
A video of pictures taken over a period of six years of Noah Kalina, remaining in the same position with different backgrounds. Video made by Noah Kalina, using original music by Carly Comando.
I had mixed feelings about this video throughout. Even though the idea of using still images to create a six minute video is very unique, I couldn’t help thinking that Noah Kalina didn’t take much consideration into the use of his material.
His images do not always seem to grow with time; in some of the later pictures he looks younger than he started. However, I did notice how drained he looked by the end of the video, which did give a sense of his ageing.
His pictures are usually very random, though sometimes I did see an illusion of him moving around his house; very effective. Also, his eyes are very dominant in the images and I sometimes found myself staring into them as they stared back at me.
The music he used was also very effective. The beautiful, yet dark piano solo provided the essential listening material to make the video less tedious, giving the still images life; there is a very dark and minor section of music towards the end, which goes very nicely with the darkness of Noah’s background.
It was interesting that a video like this could be found on YouTube.com, which I associate with cartoons and comedy. This video could be classed as modern art, showing a man aging daily in less than six minutes. It must be the new popularity of this media channel that encouraged Noah to set up his video on there.
Noah’s project is a work in progress. If you’d like to see his recent pictures and his previous and upcoming shows, check out Noah K Everyday.
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