Last Chance to Rant!

I didn't realize I was a cloud participant until I took this class but now I know that Im a proud cloud participant.  I found this class to be a great experience for me especially because I didn't think this class would be a challenge.  This class was a challenge for me especially because technology and I bump heads and plus video taping myself was the most challenging and frustrating.  But completing each assignment I have completed each challenge. 

I am taking the summer off but taking more classes in the fall.  I don't think I am going to take any more technology courses through ccv because my main goal is to complete my associates degree and I don't want to waste time and money on taking unnecessary classes for my degree program. But I am glad I took this class because I learned a lot. Taking this course I figured out that I should take a public speaking course because as I mentioned earlier I had a difficult video taping myself so I thought taking that course could be a great challenge for me and hopefully help me on my "stage fright." That's my next skill I'm going to work on.

I honestly hope i'll never have to video tape myself ever again but unfortunately that won't happen so instead I'm going to practice that fear and hope to "not mind" it. 

Overall great class!  I had a lot of fun!

Refer to the list of 12 characteristics of online life mentioned in the article. How do you think online life will change (or has changed) your workplace, living situation, or other areas of your life?

"The experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of “Generation F” – the Facebook Generation. At a minimum, they’ll expect the social environment of work to reflect the social context of the web, rather than as is currently the case, a mid-20th-century Weberian bureaucracy." 

I didn't realize that this generation is based on the most used media source "Facebook."  My question following this quote was when did this generation take the name "generation F"?

12 Characteristics: Example of my opinions:

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing. -  I believe this is a true statement because the web has allowed other's ideas and opinions to get out the public and allowing them to receive feedback.

2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.- I think the web is a great place to get out your stuff out because you don't need to have a degree, have fancy video equipment, or even have special permission.

Based on the 12 characteristics in this article and my personal opinion I believe that the online life will change in every area because nothing ever stays the same especially the web, technology, and even the ways we communicate.  Currently Facebook is a great source to locate people, workplace, and even advertise, create groups, and events.  Facebook is not just a place to socialize but has become more then that. .  It has allowed business to expand and get out to their local community.

What's The Long Tail mean to you?

I read the article The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. After reading this article I could relate and I have used those online recommendation and reviews to help find great books, music, and even movies that were similar to something I have already enjoyed.
I find the online recommendations and reviews a great resource especially in this present day because there is so many authors, genres, and sometimes you don't have a clue on what your looking for.  Seeing other people enjoy and hearing their personal thought about the book or media helps sell it to the right buyer.  Then if you really enjoy one book or media story line then trying to find another similar to the one you like that's where the recommendations come's useful.  I personally use the recommendations source on iTunes to find similar movies like my favorite movies or songs that I have recently purchased they have recommended songs that I like to check out because most of the time they are similar and I really like them.
I believe that the recommendation and review sources has defiantly helps increase sales especially on smaller titles and not as popular books and media. Hearing the public opinion I believe is the biggest seller.  People like to hear personal experience stories because if someone else really enjoyed then they think they will it enjoy it themselves.

Podcasting For Dummies!

On Itunes I listened to a podcast called Podcasting for Dummies episode 1: Podcasting on a Budget. The podcast was about 8 min long and the main theme of the podcast was how to take a one take free podcast. The guy doing the podcast talks about downloading a free editing software called Adasidy. In order to do a podcast you will need some kind of microphone and usually every laptop has a microphone built in.  In order to produce a podcast you don't need to buy high end software or equipment, just use what you have.  It's extremely easy to produce a economic podcast which is usually all in one take and no editing required.  Editing is time consuming because if your podcast has to many lit smacks, pausing, and natal noises that may be to distracting to the audience as there listening. Podcasting is beyond the book because we are putting in sounds that we can't explain in print.  It's also all about putting in practice what we talk about,  something we have already experience and sharing to the public our personal experience.  He also talks about the difference between podcasting verse audio blogging, from what I understood there wasn't much of a difference between the two.  Audio blogging is everything happening at the moment for example if you hear the phone ringing, baby crying, or even dog barking . . everything is spontaneous and depending on the type of podcast casual or formal.  Most modern podcast are spontaneous but will follow some sort of theme from beginning to end.
I believe this was the first podcast I have ever listened to and by listening I now have a better understanding of what a podcast is.

"On The Road"

Hello Everyone,
I did a On The Road video of me heading to work this morning.  Well I wasn't quite sure what I would do this assignment of and thought this would be a great time to video the everyday process and pit stops I make on my way to work.  I hope this video works because I made little individual videos that i attempted to put together creating a slideshow.  I tried editing but had a hard time figuring out how to upload it to YouTube from photo bucket so I used photo bucket link instead.

So I wasn't successful with photo bucket so i decided to redo the whole video editing and to use a different software.  I downloaded Camtasia 2 and I was able to get better results and I was also able to embed my video on to my website.  I had a very hard time trying to figure this out but now that I have figured it out.  It feels great!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihF0fVojULg


http://samanthaashline.weebly.com

Vlogging:

I did my video on how to make brownies from a box.  I went over to my friend Hannah's and she filmed me on how to make these delicious brownies.  I was super nervous to do this assignment because I don't like taking videos of myself and I don't like center of attention on me.  Before I ended up with the final results which isn't even the greatest but I did my best, it probably took a good 10 to 12 shots because I either screwed up the process or I just kept laughing.  I find it a lot more difficult explaining something rather then just doing it.  After the first 5 shots I finally decided to measure everything before hand and by doing that made the process of explaining a lot easier. Overall my friends and I got a few good laughs in the process of making this video.  

http://youtu.be/96EUNW9jlKE

Wk8: Blog: Presentation magic

 How he uses technology to enrich and enlighten his content and deliver it. What are the key elements of his technique? What can you take away from his talk and apply to your presentation this week?

         This week we were assigned to watch Hans Rosling presentation: The Good News Of The Decade, with the best stats you've ever seen presented on Ted Talk. The content that Hans was educating us and showing his audience visual improvements of how child property has been reduced through the years in different countries.  After watching the full video I think the his main point he was trying to get across was proving there is improvement and statistic documentation showing that we are making progress within the millennium development goals which goals our nation has made to make progress in countries throughout the world in: "ending poverty, education, gender, child and maternal health, control infections, protect our environment, and get the good global links between nations in every aspect from aid to trade." 
         He took advantage of today's media source by using a PowerPoint type software that he added animated graphs (GapMinder World software) that he used to show visual representation of data that would make the audience understand it more clearly. The way he delivered the data and presented using the animated graph which allowed the audience to see the movement of improvement through the years made it that much more rich and more enjoyable to input the information he was sharing. I believe one of the key elements he used was movement and color to help make the graph more understandable to read. I really like how each line was a different color but in the top right corner he represented the world of countries and each country was a different color to match the line that was represented on the graph.  I thought that was a great way to present a color key.   Adding movement in the graph I thought it made it much more realistic because seeing the improvement is more believable then just seeing a bunch of standstill lines because sometimes you never know if they are representing up or down. 
       Those two key elements that I thought was used throughout his presentation to help his audience understand the data was movement and color and I would like to apply that to my presentation.  Color and movement helps liven the "dull original PowerPoint" to more exciting and more interactive presentation and hopefully help engage my audience. Plus that software called GapMinder that he used to create the data graphs and I would like to try to create my own graph because I like how I could input the dates in the background and as the dates are increasing you see the increase or decrease.  Over not a bad Ted Talk and he did a great job in presenting his research and data that shows the improvements in child poverty.
   

Wk7: Blog - "Kindle Me a Story, please"

After reading each one of the articles which focused mainly on the new Kindle 2 with the new "read aloud" feature.  These articles also had a lot of controversy between digital and actual physical books.   The main concern with Kindle 2 was that the Kindle 2 isn't paying for anyone for audio rights. Kindles are the new modern and convenient way of reading and storing books. I.B.M has developed a computerized voice.  " These sounds can be incredibly subtle, even unnoticeable, but have a profound psychological effect. It can be extremely reassuring to have a more attentive sounding voice." according to The New York Times. I believe one of the issues of the new "read aloud" is to be the computer generated and that is taking away rights from the authors option to create their own personal audio.  Guild is trying to allow authors to get a share of the value that audio adds to the kindles and other tablets. Although guild is trying to help author's to gain a share of the profit, people are turning this all around and saying that guild is arguing that it is illegal for blind people to use because people who need alliterative ways to read only options are braille and audio. 
 I believe that this lawsuit is quite ridiculous especially if copyright laws have provided free audio available to the blind.  I think this whole lawsuit is people being selfish and just thinking of ways of making more money.  Other then the blind not everyone can read a book and know what they are reading.  Everyone has different ways to learn and understand what they are reading. What about people with disabilities or even those who are dyslexic?  I believe the new "read aloud" feature gives people the advantage to be able to have more options for those who have a hard time reading and want to but don't have the money to buy the actual book and the audio to go along with it. By giving the audio option I believe it ought to have people who have busy lives or people who don't normally buy books the option to be able to multitask so that would bring in more sales because of the convince.
In the tech dirt article Authors Guild's Scott Turow: The Supreme Court, Google, Ebooks, Libraries & Amazon Are All Destroying Authors states that Scott Turow is trying to attack Google with scanning book project. "Google says this is a "fair use" of the works, an exception to copyright, because it only shows snippets of the books in response to each search. Of course, over the course of a thousands searches, Google is using the whole book and selling ads each time, while sharing none of the revenue with the author or publisher." As the article fights back stating that the snippets sentences that google uses is that when the book is searched a sentenced is used and that sentence is usually the result of where you can buy the book.  Google book scanning is creating a useful card catalog for books, making it easier to locate the book. Google books has increased the sales of books. 
Overall I don't believe this is a legit case.  I believe the share of the older authors and publishers are afraid to let go of the past and they are scared to move into the modern world of technology because older folks have a harder time learning new ways of life especially if they grew up in a society where there wasn't such a thing as technology.  

Wk6 Blog: How Much Remix Needed for Fair Use?

After reading the suggested articles posted in the assignment I found them to be very similar but each story focused on different aspects of same issue.  The article on the Tech Dirt I found to be very helpful because it describe what the issue was and how this issue came about.  After being able to understand the situation it helped me be able to raise my own opinion of the issue.  After reading Today's article on the Obama Poster Infringement Copyright I felt that their opinion was similar on how I was felt about this whole case.
I have mixed feelings about this case because the photographer, Mannie Garcia who took that photo said he owned copyright but if he did he shouldn't have made it easy to gain access of the original photo. He should of imprinted his name somewhere in the photo or not make it accessible through google.   If Mannie wanted the public to be able to view his work but put some kind of limitation on the photo, that's where it would of been a good idea to get a creative commons license so then situations like this one doesn't become an issue. If the original creator added a creative commons license this would of saved Mannie lots of stress and lawyer fees.  I think Mannie is more about the publicity, the attraction that drew folks to this photo was when Shepard Fairey got his hands wrapped around the original and took the photo and made it his personal art.  As it stats in the Today's Article that the photo intention wasn't for commercial use it was political.  Out of respect, yes Shepard Fairey should of gave him some credit for taking the photo.

I have now realized that copyright laws and different licensing is important because of these types of issues.  Obviously people post there work all over the web and it's that easy to turn it into your own.  I believe not one or the other is at fault but if the original creator puts some kind of copyright then it wouldn't allow the public to do these sort of things and plus they would have evidence to back up there own work.  Just having the creator take the initiative and extra time to make sure their work is safe from other's making it their own will benefit them in the long run. Shepard Fairey should of known better because of being a artist he must know the rules of plagiarism, which is taking someone else's work.  Even though he turned the photo in his own type of art work,  the original photo wasn't his and used someone else's work to create his own.  What he should of done was if he knew he wanted to make a public political piece he should of done his own research and got a hold of Mannie for permission and gave him half the credit.  Related issues in past is what helped create the copyright laws and licencing so someone couldn't take credit for someone else's work.

Week 5 Mini Art and Micro Fiction

Whenever I'm in the process of getting a new phone my whole decision is based on how good the camera is.  I think the decision of adding cameras to cell phones was the most valuable and convenient technology. Growing up i have always loved taking photos and videos because photographs are moments you can capture and it's history to share over a life time. I have always enjoyed taking photographs of interests of mine, special times with family and friends, events and amazing places I have been, I now can always look back of those memories and remember how I felt at that given moment. Photographs gives us the opportunity to tell a story, express how we feel, and be able to use for visual documentations.

I have always enjoyed old photos because I believe with old photos you can feel the history that's behind it and they also seem longer lasting because there was a lot more work in order to develop that photo.  

Today you can take a picture and change everything about it.  I know a lot of people who are into changing the original photo and making many enhancements.  I honestly have never used those tools to change a photo because changing the original takes the whole meaning out of it and doesn't mean much anymore.  Older pictures have much more meaning because they didn't have the technology or sources to make any changes.  As I read in another classmates post she mentioned once you start taking things out; adding; or compressing. .

 the photo becomes art not a photo anymore.

I checked out many of the suggested sites and apps on how you can enhance and become creative with your photos but I still feel against it because a change photo doesn't hold the value behind that moment as much as the original.  Obviously in this class and other classes it is required to enhance photos which is fun and exciting to explore are the tools to make that photo so much more creative or better. 

If everyone and everything was perfect in a photo then it wouldn't have as much meaning behind it because photo's captured at surprise hold emotion, excitement, and joy.  

Week 4

Creative Common's and Magnatune

I started with reading the article What is creative commons? by Sharon Housley because I had no idea what creative commons was. After reading the article I had somewhat of an understanding of Creative Commons, a non-profit organization that allows artist’s, authors, publishers, and musicians the option of creating and defining a flexible copyright for their creative works. The creative common license allows creators to place conditions on their copyrights. I didn’t realize how simple and accessible it was to get your creative commons license. The license has this digital code which can be embedded in your websites and search engines.  One question that came up as soon as I read the information about the embeded code was when I watch a video through Youtube and I scroll down theres a code I could copy and paste in either Facebook or to use to add to a personal site, is that code the digital code from the creative common license?

After listening to the interview with John Buckman of Magnatune on his licensing music for online use. I think it’s great that John gives these non heard, non mainstream artists a chance to get their music heard.  A reason to go to Magnitude is to listen to music that you have never heard of. John created this addition to creative common license which is a  Podcast license for non commercial podcasts and podcasts can use the music on Magnatune for free. The only music that is played on magnatune is public domain or written by the people who signed the original contract. I agree with John,  I’m surprise that classical music is popular. I think after listening to John’s story about Magnatune I see as an inspirational story because it all started with him seeing his friends who wrote music but they weren't getting heard.  By him creating this record label it helps other's pursue their dreams where they are getting their music out to the public. I personally went on his site to check it out and he provides information all about Magnatune.

The Next 5000 Days of the Internet

After visiting Ted.com and watching “The Next 5000 Days of the Internet”  a talk by Kevin Kelly.  I got a real sense on how fast the web is developing and it’s doubling every two years.  Us as people are still not amazed with the web and what it can do.  50 years ago if people were to tell us that we would have this source of technology we wouldn’t believe them.  Soon we started to believe in the impossible. All the computer’s, handhelds, laptops, video games, cell phones, and etc. . . there is really only one machine we are creating. Ted was talking about in 2040 the web will possibly exceed humanity in processing power and mentioned three consequences. .

1) Embodiment . . Giving this machine a body

2.) Restructuring architecture

3.) Codependency’

The funny thing is he briefly talked about how pretty much everything will be going through the web and connected to this one screen for example cars, sensors, cameras, microphones, and at the time of this talk cell phones were in the progress of becoming a part of the web.  Currently and probably for the past 3 years the web has been a huge part of a cell phone society.  Currently you can access the web from anywhere including your car.  Today you can access almost anything through the web including data sheets.

There has been stages that has lead us up to todays use of the web.

1.)  Being able to link computers. . which lead us to the development of the web

2.) Being able to link pages.  

3.) Being able to link data to data. The one idea to another so that every idea is supported.  Being able to resolve to that one idea and for example to be able to link directly to an actual place.

4.) The next 10 years would be the internet of things and actual physical things being apart of the web.

The web is codependent because it’s always going to be there. . the web is a to remember searches and we depend on the web for having all the answers.  Today there is no need to take the time to remember numbers, dates, addresses, names because all you have to do is get out your phone and get on google and type in the question.

I really like how Kevin Kelly describes the progress of the web. . “The web is not only getting better but the web is a new kind of stage in this development that is the more global kind.”

Overall, Kevin explained at the end of his talk that this whole conversation about “The Next 5000 Days of the Internet” was mainly about how there is only one machine and the web is it’s OS.  All screens from different devices all lock into one.  There won’t be anything that isn’t in the web.  In order to share is to gain!  Letting the one read it. .  the one is us.

Week 2 Presence in the cloud!

My presence in the cloud is part of my everyday life. Without the web I have no idea what I would do with the spare time I would have collected because I wouldn’t be spending it surfing the web and enjoying social networking sites. Currently I’m apart of Facebook because I feel that it is a great source to be able to keep in contact with people from all over the world; a source I can upload photos; a way to express yourself and another great source to be able to advertise.  The web is also important because it gives me the resources to be successful in education. My email is through gmail and feel that it’s a reliable email application. Google is also where I save most of my documents because It’s a great free resource I used to create all my documents for school and plus I can retrieve them from any device that allows me to get on the web.  I am also a Youtube user because it’s great for entertainment and also a fantastic learning tool.  If you're wondering what I use for a music application it would be Spotify it’s an awesome free music source where I can pretty much find any song and listen to it as much as want to.  I also enjoy Pandora because it is also a great source when I don't feel like searching for music, I just search for a genre or artist’s and it will play me non stop similar music. Shopping online has definitely became more popular the past few years because of the convenience. I personally don’t do much shopping online because I still like going in the store and actually see or try on what I am purchasing.  Online shopper’s has definitely made the shipping services more business and allowing them to expand.  Finding out local or world wide news certainly has became easier because of the world wide web.  WCAX is where I usually go to check out local news and our weather forecast.

Five years ago I didn’t use the web for much more than social networking such as the use of Myspace and Instant Messenger. I thought it was cool that I could design my own page and add music, pictures, own layout, and an awesome background. Being young and liking the Idea of being able to talk to friends online and being somewhat shy but having more confidence to talk to boys because I was able to talk to them without having to be face to face. Personally I see myself in the future using the web as much as I do now because I am not a huge fan of the computer, something is always updating or changing and it’s hard me to keep up.  So I’ll just keep the use of the computer to the minimum: Facebook, photos, documents, music, email, education, work, local news, shopping, and weather,  That sounds like a lot but in reality it isn't because the computer is such advance technology that you are able to do so much with it.  Personally I would rather be out and about then inside on the computer.   But I never know things could change on how I feel because of how much technology is the future and most. . all career’s have the use of the web.  

Week 1

Hello,
My name is Samantha Ashline and I'm a little unfamiliar with using blogger because I have never blogged before and I haven't read many blogs unless it's results from something I was searching for on google. I'm hoping by the end of this semester I'll be pro at using blogger and maybe this will build my interest in reading others blogs more often.  This is my first online course and I was a little nervous to take this course online because I was thinking it might be more difficult to learn things related to using a computer without the in class guidance.  I thought to myself this is a great opportunity to work on other learning stragies because as much as technology is growing this learning strategy could possibly be the future.  This is also a more convenient way to take a class for one's busy schedule.  My other concern is concentrating and staying dedicated to staying on task to get the assignments done with out surfing the web.  I don't have much multimedia knowledge because I use the computer for very simple things either to surf the web, Facebook  or Youtube. My goals for this course is to get a better understanding and knowledge to "What is Multimedia?",  "How to use?", "Where and when do I apply it?".  I can't wait to learn how to do my first Multimedia assignment and present it and get feed back on how I can make it better.  I'm also looking forward to getting new ideas and suggestions from others to make my own work stronger.  Overall I'm excited to get this course started and to learn something brand new.