What I have Learned

I think that the most important difference between writing for the Web and any other form of writing is that Web writing gives you the ability to publish anything, anywhere, at anytime. It offers a whole new world of possibilities for writers, who in the "real world" could not get their words published for people all around the world to read.
It is this very concept that I truly began understanding in this class. I knew this before but this idea finally clicked in this class. I also learned that Web writing requires some difference writing skills that print writing does not. This is so because reading for the Web can turn the most patient person into an ADD sufferer. Writers need to know when to be brief and concise in their writing and how to lay their writings out in a fluid and flowing design to help engage readers.

Fixed vs. Changed

I have to say that I do not favor one type of Web writing over another. I enjoy the fixed aspect of writing for the Web in that there is no pressure to come of with new ideas on what to write all the time, something that I am not very good at. I enjoyed the designing part of it as well and figuring out how to make everything flow. On the other hand, the idea of giving a part of myself by writing a blog every day or week is exciting. I also like that through a blog you can express your opinions, feelings, and beliefs on a medium that can connect you to people all around the world. These people can they do what they may with your words by replying to your blog or perhaps begin their own blog. If I absolutely had to pick one this very moment though, I would chose the fixed Web writing. I chose that because I do not think I am that comfortable with writing a blog yet. Maybe in the future this will change, but I am not in that place in my writing yet.

Current Trends

The first word I think of when I see the current web designs is fresh. Other words are airy, clean, and young. I think that I think of these words because the pages have light backgrounds and use bright or deep colors sparingly. This creates a welcome and inviting atmosphere for the Webpage users. Also the way that the page is laid out with center align adds to the clean look. It all flows very nicely. One of the design techniques that my group is using is to try and center align everything so that it flows nicely and looks clean. We also want all the pages to look like they belong together so we used the same background color and layout for all of them. We also did not want to make the pages look too busy so we seperated information into their own boxes to break it up, instead of having all the information in one giant box.

Internet Entertainment

The Web allows people to use written content, sound, video, animations, and images with much more ease than in other types of media. This has lead to an explosion of creative content online. I do not however believe that this explosion of creative content online will affect the more traditional outlets for creative content such as publishing houses, magazines, films, and television. I think that this new outlet for creative content can just be counted as another outlet. I don't believe it will take away from the popularity of television and print media because are such established and traditional outlets. At the moment I think that websites such as YouTube.com do provide an outlet for amateurs that television and print does not but it won't take the limelight away from the traditional medias.

Currency

I think that what the Prices mean by saying that attention is the "currency of the Internet" is that if your website has the attention of many Internet users then it is considered profitable. If many people are spending a lot of their Internet time on your website it is as if they are spending money to receive a product. What I am saying is that the attention and time of an Internet user is like money to be spent on something. If that money or time is spent on your website then it is a success. This concept applies to the group projects because we want people to use and spend time on our websites. To do this we must gain their attention somehow, and that can be done by making an attractive layout and making it easy to understand and use.

Interests

I didn't have to do a search to find blogs that are about one of my interests because I already know a few. I really enjoy watching television, some say too much, and I have discovered a website, www.givememyremote.com, where a woman named Kathy blogs about her favorite television shows that happen to me mine as well. I am a big fan of the TV show "The Office" and I regularly check out givememyremote for news about it as well as Kathy's opinion on what is happening on the show. Some of the cast members also blog for TV Guide.com and I read those as well. I also go to Officetally.com and read about the show from a blogger there and Northernattack.com. A lot of these bloggers try to predict what will happen on the show and they also voice their opinions about the direction the plot is going. I like to read what they are saying as well as the comments others are adding and add some comments of my own.

Web 1.0 to 2.0

The issue that I have had that relates to this problem is if I have a question about something and I go online to a search engine such as Google to try and find an answer. The results come up for my question but I don't know which one will be the most helpful. Say for example I want to figure out how to deal with a problem my computer is having. Information comes up about how to handle it from the computer makers website but then blogs or user sites come up that have different instructions on how to handle the problem. At times they can contradict each other and make it hard for me to figure out what the solution is. In addiction to this information that has nothing to do with my computer problem comes up, but I have no idea that that is the case. I have to go to that link and find out for myself that the webpage has nothing to do with my problem. To manage problems such as this I believe that websites should be listed, based on the relativity to the subject. This would help users to better navigate through all the information provided on the Internet.

It is very difficult to figure out who you can trust on the Internet and who you cannot.
Until this class I had no idea that Wikipedia was not a reliable source. I guess you can call me naive when it comes to websites. Seeing as anyone can publish anything on the Internet it is hard to decipher what is fact and what is fiction. I'm not totally clueless in this area though, I know that its not Oprah's profile on Myspace or Jon Stewart's profile on Facebook. After this course, I feel that I have a better handle on how to navigate through websites and figure out which ones I can trust. First I look to see if it is associated with a noteworthy and trusting organization. If I can't find a link to one then I do a fact check through other sources. If I can find that same information on another trustworthy site then I am not as skeptical of the other site. If I cannot find a proof however if a website is trustworthy I just don't trust it then. I believe that if you want a reader to believe that you are accurate and honest, the most important thing to do is be somehow related to a website that is noted for being accurate and honest. Or if this is not possible, over time you need to prove to your readers that you are accurate and honest by being consisten with this message. Then their trust will build. You cannot expect a reader to automatically believe everything you publish right away if you are a "nobody." It takes time and patience to create a trusting relationship.

I think the three most important qualities of a Web site that make it "good" are if it is visually appealing, simple, and easy to understand. The Internet is still a very new and scary place for a lot of people and can easily become overwhelming. I see this when it comes to my parents and their Internet experiences. My mother gets overwhelmed with many search engines like Google and Yahoo and she finds she can never find what she wants. But she has discovered Ask.com and she loves it. She likes that the homepage is simple with the search tools listed on the right side of the page and that where she needs to type what she wants is right in the center of the page. The visually appealing aspect of Ask.com that my mom likes is the binoculars that she can hover over and actually see what the webpage looks like. It is simple and easy to understand and navigate through for my mother, who unlike me did not grow up with the Internet at her side.

I absolutly believe that technologies like Blackberries, Internet-equipped cell phones and the trends that make up the Web 2.0 movement are changing journalism. Right this very minute I am able to publish this blog for anyone to read on the Internet. Anyone can publish anything they want on the Internet because their are no rules unlike the newspaper and magazine industry. The credibility of a lot of things published on the web is weak, yet the web is a popular avenue for people to get their news and research from. I do not have an editor to correct my mistakes or edit out comments I make that might be politically incorrect, and I don't have to have one if. This idea is scary to think about, that anything by anyone can be published on the web, but at the same time the freedom one can have on the web is a great thing. Those who are unable to have thier voice heard anywhere else can turn to the internet because no one is going restrict them.

My News

My media consumption is mostly in the form of television, but following close behind it is the internet. I watch television maybe too much for my own good, I think I'm addicted. I get my news from a lot of sources though. When I get up in the morning I check my homepage Adelphia.net and see what the headlines are. I then go to People.com to check any entertainment news and Givememyremote.com for more. I enjoy watching CNN and I check the scroll on the bottom to see if anything interesting has happened. I watch the evening news at 6pm and 6:30pm if I don't have class, both local and national on channel 2. If I have time to kill before class I go to Gallagher and grab any newspaper I can get and read it, but I usually get any news from the paper told to my by my mother who reads it nightly. I love reading magazines and my usual buys are People, Us Weekly, Cosmopolitan, and Entertainment Weekly. I get both current event news and entertainment news from these sources. When I read a book for pleasure it is usually when I am not in school or have extra time.

My Experience with Blogs

The most experience that I have with writting a blog is through Myspace or Facebook. I have written comments on my friends blogs or have read others blogs. I also like to read blogs on the internet concerning my favorite television shows on that T.V. shows website or on fan sites. In the future I do not see myself writing in blogs as a part of my career, but I suppose with the way technology is changing and how blogs are now a well known term in culture, I would not be surprised if I had to.