Today marked the last class for this module.
The weeks just flew bye, so quickly.
Tuesday nights now will feel empty again.
I learnt.
Yes, I learnt alot.
I enjoyed the lessons alot.
I enjoyed especially all the practical assignments.
Especially, because the next day I would go to work and brag about what I learnt in class.
It became such a norm at work, that we would have breakfast together and then they all are listening in eager to my demonstration.
The theoretical sections, also got me thinking out of the box and broadened my mind.
Now that class has come to an end, I can truelly say that I am, empowered.
Basically it is a cloud-based web development platform that was first developed and popularized by the Isreali company also called Wix. It allows users to create HTML5 web sites and mobile sites through the use of online drag and drop tools.Users may add functionality such as social plug-ins, e-commerce,
contact forms, e-mail marketing, and community forums to their web sites
using a variety of Wix-developed and third-party applications.
Wix is built on a freemium business model, earning its revenues through premium upgrades. Users
must purchase premium packages in order to connect their sites to their
own domains, remove Wix ads, add e-commerce capabilities, or buy extra
data storage and bandwidth.Wix was founded in 2006 by Isreali's Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami and Giora Kaplan ().
The activity was really fun. My wix.com website focussed on creating a website for my two sons' cresche called 'Mills Educare'.
Our second activity for the session was slideshare.
It is better known as LinkedIn SlideShare is a Web 2.0–based slide hosting service. Users can upload files privately or publicly in the following file formats: Powerpoint,PDF, Keynnote or Open document presentations. Slide checks can then be viewed on the site itself, on hand held devices or embedded on other sites. Launched on October 4, 2006, the website is considered to be similar to Youtube, but for slideshows. It was acquired by LinkedIn in 2012.
The website was originally meant to be used for businesses to share
slides among employees more easily, but it also has expanded to become a
host of a large number of slides that are uploaded merely to entertain. Although the website is primarily a slide hosting service, it also supports documents, PDFs, videos and webinars. SlideShare also provides users the ability to rate, comment on, and share the uploaded content.
The website gets an estimated 70 million unique visitors a month, and has about 38 million registered users.
It can be a useful site for empowering ones knowledge on topics that you can use for when you, doing research and give you a better understanding of topics.
Our recent class we had a practical task and it was on Suverymonkey. Surveymonkey is an online survey and it is a development cloud-basedsoftware as a servicecompany, founded in
1999 byRyan Finley. SurveyMonkey
provides free, customizable surveys, as well as a suite of paid back-end
programs that include data analysis, sample selection, bias elimination, and
data representation tools.In addition to
providing free and paid plans for individual users, SurveyMonkey offers more
large-scale enterprise options for companies interested in data analysis, brand
management, and consumer-focused marketing.
I was very happy to hear about Surveymonkey because it came at the right time.
In our other module we are going to be doing an actual research project about the information behavours of subjects. As part of our data collection methods we are needing to create our very own survey. So I can now use SuerveyMonkey to help me set up questions that I can use for my assignment.
I think that's lovely.
In next week's class we will be looking at Google sites as part of our practical task.
A PODCAST is an episodic series of digital audio files which a user can subscribe to so that new episodes are automatically downloaded via web syndication to the user's own local computer, mobile application, or portable media player. It is like how a cassette player use to be, but it's just online. It contains words but has is not an audio visual. It was invented by Ben Hammersley a BBC journalist in 2004. The word podcast derives from the words''i-pod'' and ''broadcast''.
The following video gives a more detailed explanation of what a podcast is.
Project 2: This assignment was to conduct a 5-10 minute interview with a head librarian about the use of social media in libraries.
Topic: Use of social media at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Library
Interviewer: Soemyha Jonas
Interviewee: Dr. Elisha Chiwaree
Venue: The Cape Peninsula University of Technology
The above video provides a greater understanding on what internet censorship is and how it works.
Most of the world is connected to the internet these days. However, some governments around the world has decided to censor their internet. Basically internet censorship is the process whereby which the control or censorship of what content can be accessed, published or viewed on the internet. Governments make use of internet censorship so that the citizens of their countries cannot go online and view everything that is available on the internet. Governments naturally have their reasons as to why they need to censor the internet. One can only hope that the reason that they are doing this is in best interest of their country. Some of the types of internet censorship that exists are namely, Moral, Political, Religious and for Military purposes. The following statistics are seen as supporting evidence that relays that governments are censoring their internet content based on the types mentioned previously.
In Iran 40% of the content on their internet that is blocked are political and government websites and a further 20% of their content that are censored are sexual websites.
In Europe, approximately 20% of the internet content that are censored are Moral and Political websites.
(Above information was accessed online: http://brandongaille.com/32-amazing-internet-censorship-statistics/)
There are quite a number of different methods that can be used to censor the internets content.
Some of them include:
> Internet Protocol (IP) address blocking: Access to a certain IP address is denied
> Domain name system (DNS) filtering and redirection: Blocked domain names are not solved, or an incorrect IP address is returned via DNS hijacking or other means.
> Uniform Resource Locator (URL) filtering: URL strings are scanned for target keywords regardless of the domain name specified in the URL.
> Packet filtering: Terminate TCP packet transmissions when a certain number of controversial keywords are detected.
So how do the citizens of their country feel about their governments that has censored the internet?
> 78% of Latin America are concerned
> 60%of North Americans are concerned
> 54% of Europeans are concerned
> 69% of Middle East and Africa are concerned
(Above information was accessed online: http://brandongaille.com/32-amazing-internet-censorship-statistics/)
Well these statistics proves that the citizens of the world are not in favour of internet censorship. Mostly people feel that it is an infringement on their constitutional right of freedom of speech and access to information. It keeps truthful and honest news or information away from people and in this manner, they feel cheated and betrayed.
The above picture is a perfect representation for what it means to have your access to the internet censored.
Internet Filtering
The internet has become a large part of our lives and these
days living without it just seems impossible. On the world wide web, you can
find Information to everything you can imagine. However, having access to
everything also comes with it, it’s advantages and disadvantages.
This is
incorporated in the term known as … Internet Filtering … So what is internet filtering. Well let me tell you that it is a software
tool that allows parents and system administrators to control the list of
permitted and blocked websites and programs.Basically, it is the control or suppressionof what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet.
Initially,
Internet filters were used at homes and at public schools and libraries. It was
used as a safety precaution to prevent children from accessing, illegal web
sites such as pornography. As time progressed, Internet filters became
incorporated into businesses to control Internet use in the workplace. As many
workers would often log onto social media sites when they suppose to be
working. Internet filtering is also used in many countries to prevent their
citizens from accessing certain websites, either for political or religious purposes.
These are the reasons for internet filtering, but is it the right things
to do? Well this question is a heated debate as there are arguments for and
against the use of internet filtering.
Arguments for internet filtering?
It can help preserve national security.
It can help protect people from content that can be
deemed inappropriate e.g child pornography sites.
It can reduce online scams.
It can promote copyright protection particularly
content like music, movies etc.
It can guide against spamming which is a huge
challenge in the computing world.
It can help address hate crimes and online
bullying.
Arguments against internet filtering?
It limits the freedom of speech.
It violates ones basic human rights.
It limits people’s potential to access information
that can facilitate development in their lives.
It gives governments too much power and control
over what can be accessed and what can not.
It limits a society’s ability to advance in its
understanding of the world.
The above explains what in general are viewed as
the arguments for and against internet filtering.
My general view point is that Internet
Filtering, is a word that frightens many people, but if applied in a
thoughtful, measured and open-minded way, that is in accordance with community
standards, censoring the Internet can protect vulnerable populations including
children from sexual exploitation, reduce hate crimes and terrorism. Internet “freedom” is an abstract concept. In reality,
people are being damaged by real problems that are the result of an unfiltered Internet.
Internet Filtering will make both the Internet and the world a better place.
The above video gives a detailed explanation on how internet filtering works
The above picture shows a picture of a man who is going to be digitising that book.
Digitilisation involves the act of converting pictures, or sound into a digital form that can be processed by a computer. This was the topic for our recent class. So I was asking myself, why would anyone want to digitise, like what is the purpos of it. Well, if you are like me and asking yourself that question too. I can explain to you that the most important benefit of digitising things is to preserve something and that got me thinking, if it was up to me to preserve something for future generations to appreciate. It would certainly be the arts paintings by Michealangelo at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City. The said paintings are indeed a masterpiece and something to behold.
Well I am glad to inform you that the Sistine Chapel has been digitised.
The above picture is the actual ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
It is obviuos that anything created by a 'meister' such as Michealangelo himself, would be digitised in order to preserve it. I first heard about the paintings done by Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel in history class at high school and in English class, when we did a poem he wrote whilst doing the paintings, it's called "Ode to pain" .
The above ceiling is painted entirely by Michelangelo between the period of 1508-1512. The Sistine Chapel is considered by many critics as the most important work of art in the world. The side walls contain
frescoes by Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Roselli Domenico. A team of experts was able to digitize all the works in the Sistine Chapel using a significant number of high-quality DSLRs.
Michelangelo, The Deluge, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, fresco, 1508-1512 (Vatican City, Rome
Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, fresco, 1508-1512 (Vatican City, Rome)
