Question of the Week 10/31

In “Web 2.0 for Designers,” Richard McManus and Joshua Porter say:

In Web 1.0, a small number of writers created Web pages for a large number of readers. As a result, people could get information by going directly to the source: Adobe.com for graphic design issues, Microsoft.com for Windows issues, and CNN.com for news. Over time, however, more and more people started writing content in addition to reading it. This had an interesting effect—suddenly there was too much information to keep up with! We did not have enough time for everyone who wanted our attention and visiting all sites with relevant content simply wasn’t possible. As personal publishing caught on and went mainstream, it became apparent that the Web 1.0 paradigm had to change.

I have experienced the effect being described in this quote. It is difficult to keep up with all the variety and quantity of information available on the Web, the thing to do is not try to keep up with every little new thing. You have to understand that there is so much out there that it is nearly impossible to see everything. You need to figure out what is important for you to know and keep up with that. I find a source of information that I like, and keep up with their changes and deal with other information that is similar to what I already know.

The Web should change to allow people to manage and control information by being well organized and allowing people to find what they are looking for easily. Web writing will change to accomodate the many different audiences and Web design will need to change to allow the different audiences to access it easily. Perhaps a change in seach engines would be helpful in helping target information to specific needs.

Question of the Week 10/24

There are a good amount of blogs related to interests of mine. This is probably because I have general interests and the specifics are covered by the many differnet blogs about the topics. For example, music and books. There are many different kinds of music and books and I am not tied down to being interested in just a few, so there will be a lot of blogs about this.

Basically they are giving reviews and opinions of different kinds of music and books, and for the most part, I agree with what I have read in the blogs for the content that I am familiar with.

Question of the Week 10/17

I think the term "currency of the Internet" is used to explain how if your site can draw a lot of attention, you will attract more people. Thinking in terms of currency, you can "buy" people's interest with your site because it is attention-grabbing.

I am trying to draw attention to my site by making it interesting to look at, with color and pictures. I think these are items that initially catch people's attention. In order to keep their attention, however, you need to provide easy to find and relevant information and use a language style that fits your audience.

Question of the Week 10/12

How do you decide what personal information to disclose on the Web?
The personal information I put on the Web is usually information that I would give out to anyone and not care who sees. If there is any question about who might see it and whether or not I'd want them to, I dont' put it on the Web.

What are some of the potential problems with posting information about yourself online?
Anyone can see the information you post about yourself online, so if you are too descriptive in your information it can lead to problems of people anywhere in the world being able to find you and harass you.
People can find out more about you than you wanted them to know. Depending on how personal you get, it can be embarrassing or detrimental to your future.

Do you think that employers should be allowed to make decisions about hiring or firing based on information that they can find in Web searches?
I think that if an employer is looking for a canidate that is responsible and professional and they do a web search that shows a person lacks those qualities, then yes, they can make a decision about hiring that person. Or, if after a person is hired they find out from a Web search that an employee is dishonest specifically regarding her position, then they can be fired. People should think about what can be traced back to them by an employer or future employer before putting it online.

What do you do if someone close to you finds out information you didn’t want them to know through a Web search?
It would depend on what that information was. If it was just something that was embarrassing and not that serious, and you didn't want that one specific person to know, you can just laugh it off or just tell the person that it isn't that big of a deal and didn't think it would be found.
If it is something more serious, you would need to talk to that person who found out, and explain yourself.

Professionalism

For me being professional is about acting more formal. When I think of professional I think of a way of acting that just seems less relaxed and like you are confident. Dressing professionally means dressing more conservatively and a little nicer than everyday clothes. Being professional means being on time and having assignments completed when they are supposed to.

For my field of study, I would assume professionalism has a similar meaning. When I think of professionalism for myself I put into consideration what would be acceptable in an office setting where I plan on working.

This applies to my online portfolio in the sense that I will need to show my own sense of being professional in the pages. It won't be an entertaining site with no rules, it will be uniform and it will look nice. It will have completed assignments and will show that I am confident about the work I have done and what I can do.