Noteflight in the News

     Hi everyone... If there's anyone still left... This is my post for unit 8. There were some complications for me and that's why I'm posting so late. Let's just say I fell behind into a deep hole that's taken me a while to get out of. Anyway, my community is Noteflight, and this is the second post I've written about it. For this assignment, we were supposed to find an article in recent news about the subject of the community or about the community itself. Something big has happened in my community lately, and I found an article on Yahoo! News about it. The link will be posted at the bottom for the full article.

     The big news was that Noteflight was finally available for mobile devices (if you have a premium [Crescendo] account). This was available with the release of it's HTML5 viewer. People can now take Noteflight with them on any mobile device, including iPhone, iPad, Android, and Kindle Fire. This development will allow students and teachers alike to be able be mobile with their performances, editing and composing as needed. This will be able to expand the level of curriculum that is able to be taught outside the music room.

Noteflight as viewed on an iPad.

I found this article to be interesting because it may give me more reason to buy a Crescendo account, because I have more devices to work with now. I have an iPhone, which would be awesome to show my scores, and be able to listen to them wherever I go. This will also make it easier for my friends, who actually use Noteflight more than I do, to show off their works while out and about. Anyone could pull out a suitable mobile device and have them log on, and they would be able to listen to their various original and arranged pieces. The day that I found out, I pulled out my phone and had my friend log on to his account and we listened to his songs for the rest of that class. I think this development will help me to be a little more familiar with it if I decide to buy a Crescendo account.

Here is a link to the Yahoo! News article:

Noteflight's Mobile Music Viewer Brings Scores to any Device

I will try to regain control over the amount of work I have fallen behind with. The next blog post will be up shortly. Thanks for reading!

Final Tweet!!

After all of the tweets, and all of the re-tweets that I have made this Spring quarter I have learned many different things about blogging communities. I vividly remember that when I started this project of using twitter, and blogging about my experience I was rather hesitant, and I really didn't think that I would gain anything from this assigned project.

            I now realize that what I have gained from this experience is that social communities like twitter offer much more to the individual than first meets the eye. After hours of exploring twitter, and utilizing all of its features I have come to find that it can, and is being used as a teaching tool which affords students and instructors the opportunity to engage on a more in depth level with learning. I believe that what really helped me to see all of the practical uses of twitter was the final paper that I just turned into drop box. The statistics and the experiments with social media cemented that there is a practical use for sites like twitter.

While I don't see myself using twitter in the future, I can definitely see myself using it if it was made mandatory by an instructor as a tool for learning. The only draw back that I could identify with twitter being used for educational purposes is that the individual can only tweet one-hundred and forty words at a time. All and all this was an experience that introduced me to social media outlets, and it taught me that there is always more than meets the eye when it comes to expectations.  

Deviant Art What did I learn

Deviant Art

I enjoy this site!
Since I am not a social butterfly I probably won't be doing a whole bunch of connecting with people in the social aspects of this site. I just like the art. I may change my mind on socializing on the net some time in the future, but for now, I will stick to social networking the old school way by actually getting out and having face to face conversations.
I know it seems crazy, but I like to talk and meet new people when I am out and about doing things I like to do. Its a pretty reliable way to interconnect with people who enjoy the same types of activities as you. I met all of my favorite people in this  way. Its serendipitous, big picture, right place at the right time and I prefer it that way.




Happy Trails To You

Vikki

Unit 10 final Facebook blog

When I started this assignment I thought I knew a little something about Facebook already and would like to know more. I chose to explore the page more in depth than I have ever done before. In doing so I learned that there is so much more involved than just signing in and making silly comments. If you are not careful, you could change your life on facebook with what you say or the pictures you post. Including but not limited to "share" when you share a photo such as this one featured below, this little guy gets around and what ever addvertisement is somehow connected to or linked up with this photo will soon invade your homepage and you won't even know this is where it originated from. Basically, it is like an e-mail that is forwarded to a mass group of people that is how the worms, viruses and malicious mischiefs get in.




Another way for outsiders to get in is this tricky little trick. When people send you a friend request so they can join the gaming side of Facebook with you, "be my neighbor" well I thought it was really harmless. But in fact, it is far from harmless when you let someone be your friend that you do not know; that also gives them access to all your friends and your daily postings and your families postings and their friends. Let me explain. If I send you a friend request and you accept it; I can then go to your timeline and click on your friends list and send them requests through you; that they may want no part of (farmville) and had you not accepted my friend request in the first place than your family and friends would not be getting requests from total strangers under the ruse that we have a mutual friend, you. This little snippet is from another persons facebook page, when I clicked on her name it told me that we have 32 mutual friends and the truth is I have no idea who these people are I just have them on my farm in the Farmville app.

What I am taking away about the people I followed and observed is this; often I noticed that people may say things over the web that they would NEVER say face to face. This can be both positive and negative. If the power of a key board gives that little extra courage someone needs to express themselves in a healthy way than good, but if the power of the key board is someones excuse to be cruel than shame on you; I have actually seen both scenarios on facebook dialogues.

What I will take with me about technology is that there is so much to learn and it is constantly changing so one would do good to keep up. But alas, it is finals week and keeping up is hard to do; according to this facebook post, this is how we do it. Bye now!

Pinterest Final Blog Post!!

             I have learned a lot of things from Pinterest! I have learned that I’m kind of addicted to crafting! I already knew I was, but this assured it. I have learned how to make a flexible ice pack from a zip lock bag and water and rubbing alcohol. I have learned how to make bath fizzies for my daughters teachers. I have learned that there is a lot of things I want to make this summer, and hopefully will be able to make some of them with my daughter.

            Who ever created Pinterest is a genius! If it wasn’t for people interested in technology we would not have web sites that are so interactive and fun to be a part of. I really like the fact that we had to look into how to use the web site as an assignment. This was very helpful to me. I have also learned that there are a lot of creative people out there in this world that love to blog and share the things they create. I wish I had the patience to take pictures of things I have made step by step.

            I can honestly say that I am not sad this class is over, but I am grateful that I have had to do blog posts weekly. It has made me want to get back to using my own blog page to update my family and friends on what is going on in my life. I will be blogging more in the future that is for sure! I will also continue to use Pinterest after this class is over.

            I hope you all have a great summer!! 

Foursquare Finale

As I say goodbye to my class, I feel like I will be also saying goodbye to Foursquare. I have to say, I did learn quite a bit about what Foursquare was about and where it is heading, but find it to be just one more thing to check or do in my day that has no time left in it. Although it has some good tools that are easily accessible regarding places to go, I probably will only refer to them when I am out of town or desperate to find a hip location to break up the monotony of school with a friend outing. I guess it is nice learning about Foursquare to know that I have an option to see what is out there when I need it.

Foursquare already had one strike against it as I pursued it as my community because I rely and depend on Facebook for my social and interactive needs. What Foursquare lacks though in the social aspect, it does make up for in it's applications of venues that Facebook does not offer. If Facebook had those apps then Foursquare would be obsolete to me.

I have realized that the web is about convenience and that shows in web communities as well. I feel that web communities are really based on peoples needs and personalities. If web communities do not offer a multitude of apps/options in their technology, they succumb quickly to those that do.

Technology is such a fast growing and moving thing, that developers are always "chasing their tail" it seems, to create a bigger and better version of their last design, to stay on top as a leader. As America shifts in social and cultural changes, needs, and desires, so must technology to be used as a tool, whether for need or want, in today's world.

Twitter Retweet

My experience with Twitter throughout this assignment has been predictable. I chose this web community because like almost every other young adult I have extensive experience with Facebook and it seems Twitter is constantly paired with the more popular web community. Twitter to me is most likely going to remain in the long shadow cast by Facebook for the foreseeable future. Talk show hosts such as Jimmy Fallon or TV shows like The Voice, Pretty Little Liars and Survivor continuously promote people to use Twitter. But is it really working? How can it been when my experience shows that none of my 400+ Facebook friends openly says they have a Twitter account that I could follow? 

While investigating Twitter I have found that while it is promoted and talked about, everything is about whom you know and where you live. When snooping around Twitter’s promo page I found that Twitter use is much more common on the East coast. That could explain the lack of average Vancouver, Washington Facebook users having (or using) a Twitter account. Along with that, if Twitter is only promoted on TV stations like CNN, Bet and MTV then a certain clientele would be expected, people who are current and up-to-date on news and politics and people who enjoy reality TV and popular hip-hop/rap artists.

This snapshot shows the increase in tweets per minute after Twitter was promoted on the show Pretty Little Liars. The jump in activity is dramatically more apparent on the East coast than on the West coast.

 

This snapshot shows the increase in number tweets per minute for Piers Morgan after have the Kardashians on CNN, again the change in activity is greater in the East than the West.

I have learned that web communities in general are subjective to each person. It doesn’t matter what social networking site you use or don’t use you will find people who hate and love that site. The reality of this became apparent with my own use. I hated using Twitter, it is still confusing to me and seems like a waste of my time, but there are people out there who use it religiously and therefore must love Twitter.

One thing I learned about technology is that you must always check out the privacy policy. Twitter is a popular site and I assumed that meant their privacy policy was going to up to par with the criteria given in our book. I was surprised to find that not to be true. While most of the points were somewhat followed, as in the item was glossed over but not specifically addressed, some points where severely lacking. While the United States has not adopted the OCED principles I still expected a certain level of agreement since we have the FTC Fair Information Practice but it didn’t stack up to the OCED guidelines. Twitter's Privacy Policy: https://twitter.com/privacy

Overall this assignment was informative but Twitter has not convinced me to keep on tweeting.

YouTube Experience

I’ve been using YouTube for some time now; I started using it before the site went big, so I’ve got to see it change from firsthand experience in the course of years.

What I have learned over the period of this course is that YouTube does very good adapting to its community by collecting data from its users. Just about every advertisement on YouTube you see, is somewhat aimed at what you have been watching or looking at on their site or on other sites. For example, I watched a couple army videos and the next day I got on YouTube the advertisements and recommended videos were all of the army. Like I said in a couple posts back, there is a wide variety of people on YouTube, which makes it entertaining, you never know what comment or what video will come next. Another thing I liked that I learned is how the business aspect of YouTube works, YouTube has around a billion views a day which makes it a great place for businesses and new movies to be advertised. You can contact YouTube and they will set you up with an advertiser and the more you pay YouTube the longer the advertisement is, some range from five seconds, some 10, and then some of them a minute with no skip button. Since YouTube has gotten so big it has required some changes to make it easier for the community to use. One way they did this was by making it more organized, YouTube made a category list of all the different subjects on the homepage so that you can see what is being watched by many in different categories like music, film, comedy, and trending.

Overall YouTube is a great community to join, most people love YouTube it is shared by millions and millions of people each day, the main reason to get on YouTube is to watch other people’s videos and share the world your talents, abilities, experiences, or just to mess around. It’s a community for all, so check it out.

Looking back on investigation of Second Life

When choosing Second Life, the main reason I had chose it, was for being a social community I had no experience with. Whatever I had heard on it was from watching NCIS, or without realizing it, from an episode of The Office has Dwight socializing in it. Since we needed to choose something we knew nothing about, this seemed the most interesting and one to enter free of bias views on the environment or community.

I was a bit sad when trying to put Second Life on my PC, but due to it only having the graphic card that is on the motherboard, the program wouldn’t run.  That being said, because if it my husband is looking to fix the situation so my PC will be more capable of running games or programs.  

When running it on my laptop (which met the requirements), the main problem I continually had was with the destinations loading slowly.  The graphics are very real looking, but the time it takes to load them each time a person enters a destination quickly becomes very frustrating.

What I’ve learned about this community is that even after the bank crisis in 2008, people continue on with the socializing. A large majority have left it, but those that remain have mixed feelings about welcoming new people in.  Those that want to rebuild the community tend to stay in the newcomer friendly destinations.  Other’s who want it to stay how it is now are the ones who stay in the more adult areas, or premium account areas.

Last week in my blog, I said I will probably leave the community after this class is over.  Today, I actually question that thought.  As this class comes to an end I feel a slight sadness with the thought of leaving Second Life, and the people I’ve met during this journey of observations.

Forever IRC!

Over this course I decided to take part in a community called mIRC which is a client for an Internet Relay Chat.  Over the weeks I learned that communication around the world is very quick and easy.

One thing that interested me was that its not all about talking with friends around the world. You can use IRC to conduct business meetings, but that's not all IRC is about!  There are IRC games ... one of my favorite topics. The server I used was called Jaundies and they provided its users with a game called Vampire, a very fun and addicting game.  Another thing I discovered lately about mIRC is that channels have a bunch of features, such as moderated talk (only certain people with talking rights can talk), or there is color blocking so people can't type in that bright yellow font and strain people's eyes.  One thing I do want to make clear about IRC is there are a couple immature people who use it just to bother others.  One example of this is massive advertising such as "Visit [insert-website] and receive [insert-item]!!!!!!".  That got on my nerves but the Owners quickly solved that issue.  One thing I learned to do is set a greeting, so now when I use IRC it will say something that i decided every time I join a channel that I have greet access to.

As for IRC community as a whole I would say they are very friendly and always willing to help a fellow IRCer. I recommend everyone to try IRC at least once in their lifetime. I know I'll be using it more often!

People "Tell All". . .

I have enjoyed learning about MyFitnessPal and social networking Websites. What I have learned from my time on MFP, my experiences with Facebook, and reading other students blog posts in this class is that many people are willing to completely expose themselves to the public. I'm actually quite shocked! People on MFP go into great detail about themselves in their blogs, telling very personal stories.

Socially "Not Happening"

I didn't find MyFitnessPal to be a very active social community and do not plan to participate in the social aspects but I did enjoy the calorie counter and found it to be a useful tool. As I said, if you want to know "all about" the participants read the blogs! They're not "chatting" much, but they're telling all. . .

Social networking sites are not for me. I've tried Facebook and never liked it. I find it to be impersonal. It's the only way I learn about my grandchildren or see pictures of them, or get invited to a BBQ or baby shower. I'm definitely "old school" and I like more personal interaction than social networking Websites provide. It doesn't make me feel very important to be just "part of the crowd".

Fluency

When I started this class I had no idea what it was about or what I would be learning. I have found it to be challenging, yet rewarding. I have learned a lot about the Web, security, and computer fluency. What is Fluency? (to speak or write, for example a language, with ease). I am definitely more fluent in computer language and technology as a result of this course, yet I still have a lot to learn. I'm feeling much more comfortable finding my way around a computer and the Web.

I had never participated in a blog before. It's a lot easier than I thought! At first I was afraid "very afraid". It's sort of like typing an email (I'm good at that).

People vs. Technology

I've enjoyed learning about humanity and artificial intelligence, and what makes people human. Many people using social networking sites could use some of that "artificial intelligence" - any kind of intelligence for that matter!

In Memory of One of My Favorite "People"
Tish - Age 16.







Tina Hastings

What I’ve learned in World of Warcraft

Happy Finals Week!

I've learned so much from playing World of Warcraft this semester. When first starting to play this game what interested me a lot was the social interaction. I felt that everyone would be awesome in this game and I’d meet a lot of new friends.

 I’ve learned a lot from my interactions on World of Warcraft. The biggest was to not judge a book by its cover. I knew nothing about the game but thought everyone would be amazing and nice and just having fun. Many of my experiences were people being rude or just trying to get a laugh at others expenses.  Also what I learned about the game is they could make many alterations to make it better. They do have amazing forums where you can express your feelings and problems you are having with the game which I started to read and found it to be quiet interesting. I think the biggest think I’ve learned playing is that everyone is their own person and we all have different experiences, I had a great one and will be continuing to play the game just to have more fun.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/azgalor/Lenoraden/simple

Megan Granger

MyFitnessPal Journey

When I began this blog project, I chose My Fitness Pal because I already had some previous experience with a familiar type of website (WebMD Food-o-meter calorie counter).    I also chose this community because I am always looking for easy ways to keep track of my daily caloric intake. 

Now that I have spent some time logging into My Fitness Pal, explored the forums, the blogs, and the groups, I have found a community that isn't very active.  The likelihood of me returning to the site as an active member is highly unlikely.   In fact, I am most certain I will not be posting on walls or logging my daily calories/exercise.   Really the only thing it is good for is to look up calories.  I might continue to use that application on My Fitness Pal.  Also, on My Fitness Pal, you won't find very many new friends.  I suppose if you added friends and maybe coworkers or family members it might be more of an interactive experience.  

One thing I learned about web communities is that it definitely requires a time commitment to be an active member within the community.  What I mean by that is that you have to be willing to explore the site and to spend time reading blogs, and forums.  If you are not willing to make that time commitment, then a web community is not really for you.  It is almost as if you are immersing yourself into a brand new culture.  Unfortunately, what I found on My Fitness Pal was a community that was very inactive.  I tried joining a group and didn't get any feedback after introducing myself to the group.   Not only that, I only had two people respond to my initial introduction forum.  I actively tried to seek out members who had a lot in common such as age, and or goals, but again I had no luck.   Apparently another class member also had the same experience on My Fitness Pal.  She too mentioned that she did not find a very active community.

One interesting thing that I take away from this whole experience is that web communities can bring people together.  It is an interesting and unique way to meet people from all walks of life.  For example, you could meet someone from the other side of the world, or even someone in your own community.  I think it can help bring people together with common goals in mind.  Also, it can link you with other individuals who have the same lifestyle, same hobbies, or even those in the same age group.  For example, the group I chose to join was titled "Fit at forty."   

Moreover, what I learned from my entire experience is that a web community is designed to bring people together through the use of technology. 

What I’ve learned-Pinterest

      When I choose Pinterest I choose it because I already knew so many people using it. I knew that I could find resources for the information I needed on the site. I do admit that I was extremely curious about the site as well; after all it was so widely used by friends and family how could I stay away? 

      I was already member of social networking sites for example google+, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc., but none of those sites work just like Pinterest though they have similar pieces to them. I’m a visual person, and don’t appreciate reading as much as I should. After getting involved with Pinterest for this assignment, I think that’s why I liked Pinterest so much, because it’s all pictures less text. 

      I’ve learned that Pinterest is a place for sharing your likes. I believe it’s also a place for sharing best practices, what I mean by this is people are sharing nutrition tips, workout tips, make up tips, and home projects etc.. You name it and it’s being shared on Pinterest. 

      The Pinterest community for me is different than the other social networking sites in that there is less actual communicating with the other members. You may “repin” something they “pinned” but at least in my experience there isn’t a lot of conversing otherwise. You however notice the similarities you have with others on this site. In this way I would say Pinterest could and probably does open the door for possible new friendships between acquaintances or even someone you’ve never met. 

      Pinterest is an Innovative social networking site I would suggest to others to try out. Sign in or Sign Up!!!

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