All my tasks are done, and it has been a fun journey.
I've learnt a great deal, and have a few ideas for projects I'd like to pursue.
It's late now, so will leave it at that, and try to make another post over the weekend just to condense my experience into a few paragraphs.
Thanks to the Library team for setting up the program.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Skype = VOIP
That's Voice Over Internet Protocol for short, which means using internet data for transmitting voice, so you can make phone calls over your internet connection. The benefit is that it can be much cheaper than traditional ISDN phone calls.
I've installed Skype now, and am trying to work out whether I did have an account once from way back when it started. I don't think I ever used it for a phone call, I mean, in those days, who would you call? Now it is well known and used by people everywhere to keep in touch with friends and families spread over the globe.
I've just got back in touch with an old friend overseas who I know uses Skype, so I will have to try it out soon.
My work installed a VOIP network last year and it works very well. One big benefit is that we don't have to run separate networking for voice and data any more, we just run ethernet for data and if we need a phone it just plugs into any data port. The phones have a pass through for the computer connection so we just need the one wall outlet for a worker's phone and computer.
I've installed Skype now, and am trying to work out whether I did have an account once from way back when it started. I don't think I ever used it for a phone call, I mean, in those days, who would you call? Now it is well known and used by people everywhere to keep in touch with friends and families spread over the globe.
I've just got back in touch with an old friend overseas who I know uses Skype, so I will have to try it out soon.
My work installed a VOIP network last year and it works very well. One big benefit is that we don't have to run separate networking for voice and data any more, we just run ethernet for data and if we need a phone it just plugs into any data port. The phones have a pass through for the computer connection so we just need the one wall outlet for a worker's phone and computer.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Second Life
I've decided not to join Second Life at the moment, for a number of reasons. The main one is that I don't have the time to spend 'playing' in an alternative world, whereas sites such as Facebook help me keep in touch with friends and past workmates that I don't see in 'real life'. Facebook and LinkedIn are also useful for networking for career and business reasons.
It seems strange to me that I'm not interested in these virtual worlds now, as one of my favourite books that really grabbed my attention when I read it was Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. In the near future, there is an online world called the 'metaverse', where people can interact with one another using 'avatars', their online persona. Sounds rather like Second Life, doesn't it? I like the satire and black humour of the book, but I think Second Life could be just a little dull to spend much time in. I don't doubt that it is technically brilliant, and a fascinating research topic, but I don't want to escape into it.
Recently there was a documentary on SBS about an American mother of four who became involved with an English man whilst playing Second Life. For her it became an obsession, so much so that she would spend hours online chatting while the family tried to get on with normal life around her. In the end she travelled to England to meet her virtual lover who had already lost interest so she had to return home to work out whether her marriage was going to survive. Situations like this show the darker side of our rush to embrace online communities when we perhaps should be spending important time with our 'real life' circle of family and friends. (Hmmm, look at the time that I'm making these posts!)
It seems strange to me that I'm not interested in these virtual worlds now, as one of my favourite books that really grabbed my attention when I read it was Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. In the near future, there is an online world called the 'metaverse', where people can interact with one another using 'avatars', their online persona. Sounds rather like Second Life, doesn't it? I like the satire and black humour of the book, but I think Second Life could be just a little dull to spend much time in. I don't doubt that it is technically brilliant, and a fascinating research topic, but I don't want to escape into it.
Recently there was a documentary on SBS about an American mother of four who became involved with an English man whilst playing Second Life. For her it became an obsession, so much so that she would spend hours online chatting while the family tried to get on with normal life around her. In the end she travelled to England to meet her virtual lover who had already lost interest so she had to return home to work out whether her marriage was going to survive. Situations like this show the darker side of our rush to embrace online communities when we perhaps should be spending important time with our 'real life' circle of family and friends. (Hmmm, look at the time that I'm making these posts!)
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Nearly there ... FaceBook tonight
It feels like I am travelling on a train through a new country. I keep finding new places to explore but only have a little time before I have to move on. But unlike the 'grand tour' of far away lands I can return to these new places at my leisure.
I've set up a Facebook account, and right away I'm surprised by the openness and ease by which I am connected to people I know. I entered my school and my (personal) business, and it brought up as potential friends three guys I went to school with. Now that is networking! The first person I added was my wife, who just joined recently at the request of some of her friends, but she has no idea what it is all about. Then I found a few guys I had worked with, scattered to the ends of the earth. This is the amazing thing, I would be hard pressed to track down an email or even a phone number for them, but just by entering their names I have found them. Obviously, being computer-savvy nerds like myself it was a reasonable guess that they would already have accounts. I think in my case settling down and starting a family has taken me off-line much more so I haven't investigated these newer sites. Ten or fifteen years ago I am sure I would have been seriously addicted.
I also noticed that Facebook is so much more slick and polished than MySpace, it doesn't look like it was designed by a 12-year old (albeit a 12-year old with art school grunge sensibilities). The technology behind it is 'more Web 2.0' as well, it updates the pages dynamically as you work with them.
The only reservation I have is that I am not completely sure about the privacy issues. I'm used to using usernames that don't reveal who I am, not because I have anything to hide, but because the internet makes profiling people so much more convenient than has been possible before. I'm old enough to know that one doesn't put all of their personal details online for the world to see, although I'm sure I am uninteresting enough not to worry about 'stalkers'. I can see that there is potential for these communities to be misused, consider kids choosing who gets to be their friend and who is excluded.
I've been on LinkedIn for a few years now, which is more or less a Facebook for business. It lets you link up with friends and people you have worked with before, with the aim of building networks that may prove useful for business opportunities.
I've set up a Facebook account, and right away I'm surprised by the openness and ease by which I am connected to people I know. I entered my school and my (personal) business, and it brought up as potential friends three guys I went to school with. Now that is networking! The first person I added was my wife, who just joined recently at the request of some of her friends, but she has no idea what it is all about. Then I found a few guys I had worked with, scattered to the ends of the earth. This is the amazing thing, I would be hard pressed to track down an email or even a phone number for them, but just by entering their names I have found them. Obviously, being computer-savvy nerds like myself it was a reasonable guess that they would already have accounts. I think in my case settling down and starting a family has taken me off-line much more so I haven't investigated these newer sites. Ten or fifteen years ago I am sure I would have been seriously addicted.
I also noticed that Facebook is so much more slick and polished than MySpace, it doesn't look like it was designed by a 12-year old (albeit a 12-year old with art school grunge sensibilities). The technology behind it is 'more Web 2.0' as well, it updates the pages dynamically as you work with them.
The only reservation I have is that I am not completely sure about the privacy issues. I'm used to using usernames that don't reveal who I am, not because I have anything to hide, but because the internet makes profiling people so much more convenient than has been possible before. I'm old enough to know that one doesn't put all of their personal details online for the world to see, although I'm sure I am uninteresting enough not to worry about 'stalkers'. I can see that there is potential for these communities to be misused, consider kids choosing who gets to be their friend and who is excluded.
I've been on LinkedIn for a few years now, which is more or less a Facebook for business. It lets you link up with friends and people you have worked with before, with the aim of building networks that may prove useful for business opportunities.
I use Drupal
An alternative activity suggested on the program site was looking into Drupal, a content management system (CMS). I'm already using this for an intranet site at the school I work at. There are numerous free open-source CMS systems out there, but I had seen an article about Drupal in The Age's 'Next' technology section.
It's important to realise that this is not a social networking service for users to join, but a software application that a web developer can download and install on their own web site, customising it for their own requirements. So far it is working well for us, allowing us to easily update information without having to build new pages.
It's important to realise that this is not a social networking service for users to join, but a software application that a web developer can download and install on their own web site, customising it for their own requirements. So far it is working well for us, allowing us to easily update information without having to build new pages.
Venturing into MySpace
Yet another social networking phenomenon that I never really bothered with. Having been online for so long now the novelty has worn off, so while I use it to keep in touch it is usually just email. These newer networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are more recent, and with a family keeping me busy I don't need to seek out new friends online.
I've become rather more aware of it since it became a novel self-promotion vehicle for bands and artists. Suddenly previously unknown artists were getting the attention of record labels based solely on their online presence. It is possible that MySpace has already peaked and people are moving on to the next big thing, perhaps Facebook is now more popular. I do find the page layouts rather untidy and poorly-designed, but I suspect that may be intentional, to give it a grungy, non-corporate feel designed to appeal to the youth market.
I created a page, still trying to think of a unique URL (the page link name) since my preferred name is already taken. It's probably not something I will spend much time on. When I joined, I immediately had two 'friends' link to my page, but they appear to be automatically added for any new users, part of the community. I knew my friend's band had a myspace page so have linked that. My main interest in MySpace at this time is looking at it for ideas for an online service I'm thinking about.
I've become rather more aware of it since it became a novel self-promotion vehicle for bands and artists. Suddenly previously unknown artists were getting the attention of record labels based solely on their online presence. It is possible that MySpace has already peaked and people are moving on to the next big thing, perhaps Facebook is now more popular. I do find the page layouts rather untidy and poorly-designed, but I suspect that may be intentional, to give it a grungy, non-corporate feel designed to appeal to the youth market.
I created a page, still trying to think of a unique URL (the page link name) since my preferred name is already taken. It's probably not something I will spend much time on. When I joined, I immediately had two 'friends' link to my page, but they appear to be automatically added for any new users, part of the community. I knew my friend's band had a myspace page so have linked that. My main interest in MySpace at this time is looking at it for ideas for an online service I'm thinking about.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Things I didn't know about Google Maps
Well, I thought I was reasonably familiar with Google Maps, after all, it has been around for a while and it is everywhere. They are free for any business to embed in their web pages so have become very popular for "where are we" maps on sites. They are much more useful since you have a live map that can be zoomed and panned, rather than a fixed picture of a map.
I've even experimented with plotting points myself on my own hosted maps. But I am glad that I looked at the 'tour' linked from the library program's site. Here's what I found:
I had already heard about the Street View feature, which is remarkable technically and makes it fun to look at places you know as well as places you haven't been. However, being a little older I am sympathetic to the people that are worried about privacy concerns. Our house hasn't been photographed, being off the main thoroughfare.
It's worth mentioning that Google also give you Google Earth, which is even more fun. It uses the same map data as Google Maps, but gives you a 3D globe that you can fly around.
I've even experimented with plotting points myself on my own hosted maps. But I am glad that I looked at the 'tour' linked from the library program's site. Here's what I found:
- You can place your own markers on the Google map for all the world to see
- You can edit other markers that may not be accurately positioned
- The "Get Directions" feature actually works quite well
I had already heard about the Street View feature, which is remarkable technically and makes it fun to look at places you know as well as places you haven't been. However, being a little older I am sympathetic to the people that are worried about privacy concerns. Our house hasn't been photographed, being off the main thoroughfare.
It's worth mentioning that Google also give you Google Earth, which is even more fun. It uses the same map data as Google Maps, but gives you a 3D globe that you can fly around.
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