Reflections ideas

Overview/Introduction: the main idea of my introduction would be reflections on my first experiences with online writing communities and some of the useful applications I can use them for (Wikitravel in URI Travel Writing class, general use in planning trips; blog use for entertainment value, potential advertising and networking uses; web design applies to a very wide range of subjects and is in high demand in job skills today)

Enthusiast blog reflection: I enjoyed this project quite a lot, it was very interesting to start a blog and write about something I'm personally interested in. It may be difficult to gain interest and an audience, but even without the gratification of viewers, the experience is enjoyable and potentially very useful in professional endeavors (see above)

Wikitravel reflection: It was also very satisfying to contribute my personal knowledge on something I am intimately familiar with to a large-scale community that the entire world can see. While lacking the same applicable use of a blog or web redesign skills, Wikitravel offers a much more casual use for people interested in new places or planning trips. (Focus mainly on first idea, or develop on latter, or create a new idea as well)

Web Redesign reflection: Experiences with web design open up a host of opportunities if explored in-depth. Getting our feet wet with this project was the equivalent of getting our foot in the door, but extensive web design skills allow a very useful means of furthering personal and professional lives. Especially for people involved in businesses, or in contact with them, most everyone that sells or wants to sell something wants to cater to an online audience, etc.

SNS reflection: Social networking for a positive cause allows mass gatherings of people with a common goal. The difficulty lies in attempting to get the project off the ground, but with enough effort and support, change can be enacted. Outside of the realm of causes, networking can be very rewarding personally and professionally as well. Connecting with other people fosters rewarding relationships on any level. (Focus ideas)

Portfolio theme ideas

1. Breaking into the field of online writing (blogs, online writing/information environments, etc). This would be the most likely candidate for a portfolio theme, since during the course of this semester I had my first experiences with a variety of online writing communities and endeavors, and as such is the most prominent concept I've been engaged with. The difficult thing about this theme is presenting the idea, especially to people have had extensive experience with online communities and tools.
2. Assignment experience useful for future classes. This theme doesn't seem nearly as relevant as the first, but still makes for a useful consideration. For example, Wikitravel could (and probably is) used extensively as part of the Travel Writing course here at URI. The Website Redesign could be useful in Web Design courses, and so on. This information would be mostly relevant to younger students like myself, but is still a close runner-up to my first idea.
3. Contributing to online information ecologies. As outlined in the Boyd and Bennett articles, modern technology calls for a shift in means of communication and interaction. Highlighting this concept could be a theme for my portfolio, but seems the weakest idea and most potentially difficult to express successfully. The theme would reflect the use and importance of the interactions and communications significant to the online communities we saw in this class.

Project Revision Ideas

Of the projects that we did, I think I would most like to revise projects 1 and 2 (my Enthusiast Blog and Wikitravel article, respectively). I would like to revise these projects because they are the ones that I most enjoyed and feel that I would be best able to revise.

Project 1(Enthusiast Blog): I enjoyed this project because it was based on something significant and enjoyable to me, and it was an interesting experience overall because I had never been involved with a blog before, and my first step into the field with this project was definitely an interesting one. I think I would be able to revise this project well because I enjoyed it, and because it is quite simple to edit posts, add posts, and make them longer/shorter, making revision very easily accessible. And because the topics in my blog are widely spread (rather than exclusive to one area or topic, like a written assignment), I have a lot more leeway in what I can do in my revisions.

In my revising, I mostly plan to go back through my posts and rewrite areas that are weak or wordy, establish better ethos (and maybe pathos) in my posts, and add more video or audio content. I may also add further posts if time and creativity warrant it in addition to my revisions.


Project 2 (Wikitravel): I enjoyed this project because it was also based on something important and interesting to me, my hometown. I have used Wikipedia extensively for years before being given this project, and to actually contribute some of what I know to such a large source of knowledge was very intresting and satisfying. I think I'd be able to revise this project well because there is a lot of potential content in my town that I passed over when first completing this project, so there is plenty to add in my revising. Also the tools for editing on Wikitravel made edits, posts, and revisions quite easy as well. Google Sites and Ning were both a bit more complicated.

To revise this project, I plan on adding more places and things to do to my Wikitravel page, since I was focusing more on establishing content in a balance of breadth and depth when first completing this project. Now that I can revise the page after having submitted it, I can pay more attention to breadth, and/or depth, rather than on just one. I also noticed that a lot of well-done Wikitravel pages included images of the place being described, so I will definitely add pictures to my own page to improve it. I'll also read through some "star articles" and look more closely at the language used and attempt to improve my own writing from before.

Cause Project: Finishing Touches

To put my finishing touches on our site, I've added a couple more pictures to the site (although for some reason I can't figure out, they will not show up in the picture slideshow on the main page, though they are present on the Pictures page of the site) and added/highlighted the source citations I needed to include in my blog. My last responsibility for contributing to this project is (as I mentioned in the last post) to collect and compile the links to resources we used for the project and create a site bibliography to post to or Ning group.

Overall I feel like my group has done quite a bit better with this project than in the last one. Maybe that's just because Ning is more visually satisfying than Google Sites was, or maybe it's representing (even if only on a tiny scale) a humanitarian cause, but I can only hope that my satisfaction and optimism for our project result is reflected in our grade. Ning was easy and satisfying to use, though, once you get accustomed to it. It took me longer to get used to Ning than it did for Google Sites or WikiTravel, and granted, there are a few kinks that I still haven't been able to work out (the picture issue from above), but our results for this project just feel more satisfying. Hopefully my opinion on it isn't off base.

I guess after this project is wrapped up on Wednesday, I'll have to start thinking about what project I want to revise for the upcoming assignment.

Oh, and needing to finish the enthusiast blog for Friday! I'm working on my last 3 (required) posts, hopefully I can finish those off with a bang.

Causes Project, post-peer review

Well, a couple of things got left up in the air a little bit since people were away and busy doing things over the long weekend, but we got almost all of our Ning site up to speed with the stuff we needed to do. There are still a few additions and tweaks that need to be made--I need to add a source and citation to my blog post, and we need to add more information to our Facebook Causes site (which we let slide due to working more on Ning). We also need to add a bibliography of our sources to the Ning page, which I will be taking care of. All that's left to do is the number of small, last-minute revisions and additions that usually occur in completing a project assignment.

Aside from the revisions that need to be made, our review was pretty positive. Nothing too critical, other than the coulple of suggestions to add more sources to our blogs and info to our Facebook Cause page.

I'll write more once I wrap up some of the stuff that I have to do to contribute to completing this project.

Cause Project

The project has gone well so far, though it took quite a bit of getting used to Ning and (to a lesser extent, at least so far) Facebook to be able to actively contribute online. After the group settled on a topic (anti-semitism) we started putting the (Ning) site together almost immediately. Over the next several days we've added pictures, videos, a description and welcome statement, a music file, and picked a suitable aesthetic scheme.

I've felt more confident with my contributions to the project this time around, having helped write the site description note, picked the/a song that will be used on our site, and created an order to the blog posts to most effectively highlight the common threads in our drafts. I also think the group is working together pretty well, and I definitely feel like I work pretty well with Rachel after working on the last project together. It's also easier to communicate and set goals and tasks for each person this time around, so I feel like this project is going well.

One thing that's been bothering me, though, is that I can't seem to upload a picture to the image slideshow on our Ning Cause's main page. The photos section of the site recognizes the upload, but not the slideshow. I'm going to keep trying to get it up there, but it's been giving me trouble so far. Thankfully the song upload was much easier. Hopefully the blog, event, and discussion posts will be fairly easy as well.

3 potential discussion topics

1. Splitting up [Ning] blog posts about what can be done to fight discrimination on a local/ state/regional scale between groups members (one person posts about fighting on a local scale, another on a state-wide scale, etc.)--and this way people have a backup blog topic if they can't think of something else to write about.
2. Is our group geared more toward raising awareness or providing resources to fight discrimination, or something else, and what can we do to be most effective in that?
3. What medium would we most like to use to support our cause -videos, images, articles/journals, etc, a combination?