Mid Term Answers

ANSWER GUIDE
1. Name three principles of Web 2.0 3

Web 2.0 Principles:

-freeing of data
-permits the building of virtual applications
-participative
-work for the user
-modular
-sharing
-about communication
-facilitating community
-about remix
-smart
-opens long tail
-built on trust



2. Name three important aspects of maintaining order in collective wiki writing 3

Collaborative Writing:
-page locking system
-versioning system is vital
-ability to temporarily remove edit function
-expertise to consult

3. What are four principles of collective intelligence? 4

Four principles of collective intelligence: Openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally.

4. 3

Currently, social network sites have completed this shift from interactivity to “relational” and from “relational ” to “participation”. Henry Jenkins defines four typologies of “participatory culture.” Please state three of the four typologies.

– Affiliations (Friendster, Facebook, message boards, metagaming, game clans, or MySpace).
– Expressions (digital sampling, skinning and modding, fan videomaking, fan fiction writing, zines, mash-ups).
– Collaborative Problem-solving (Wikipedia, alternative reality gaming, spoiling).
- Circulations (podcasting, blogging).

Networked Publics and Social Media:

5. When we speak of a “networked public” we are simultaneously talking about two different aspects of this term. What are these two aspects? 2

Networked publics are simultaneously both:
1) The space constructed through networked technologies and
2) The imagined community that emerges as a result of the intersection of people, technology, and practice.

6. According to Peirce, what are the three aspects of a sign in a triadic system? 3
1.Representaion
2.Object
3. Interpretant

1. A representation of the sign itself, the form it takes. Sign vehicle or sign for short.

2. Object: Entity to which the sign points, refers or applies (For Example, it could be a specific digital object tow which a tag refers.)

3. Interpretant: The sense or interpretation that is made of the sign. For example, the tagger’s interpretation of the word they have chosen together wit the tagger’


Also acceptable:
Sign
Signified
Signifier

Or

Sign
Object
Interpreter or an application of these terms to a specific interface

7. Define:
-A general description of digital storytelling
-A precise, historical description of digital storytelling 2

Week Eight: RSS

RSS 1 Week 8

(See link below for PDF of images.
PDF on News also linked below.)

RSS in Plain English:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU


Through it began in 19999, a 2006 Yahoo study reported that four percent of Internet users had jumped on the RSS bandwagon and begun subscribing to syndicated feeds.

Considering the number of ways that web publishers showed their readers they offer feeds, it's only logical that a standardized logo evolved:

Image One

In an effort to make the concept of syndication easier for mainstream users, the next versions of the Internet Explorer and Opera browsers identified RSS and Atom feeds with the same icon used in Mozilla Firefox. Since the market share of these browsers tops 95 percent, the icon became the de facto standard for syndication overnight in 2006.

Image two

The RSS Advisory Board should officially support the common feed icon, adopting the symbol on its own site and encouraging its use on web sites, browsers, and syndication software.

1. It conveys the important attributes of feeds: newness, activity, subscription, and continual information.

2. It builds on the most consistent and identifiable element used to represent feeds today: the orange rectangle.

3. It avoids the use of text. Icons that have text do not generally work well for a global audience. For example, an icon with the text "FEED" may be cryptic to users whose primary language is non-Latin based. Text is very important to support an icon (in tool-tips or accompanying text). In English, we will be using the verb "subscribe" fairly widely whenever text is appropriate.

RSS is a Web content syndication format.

Its name is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication.

RSS is a dialect of XML. All RSS files must conform to the XML 1.0 specification, as published on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) website.

A summary of RSS version history.

At the top level, a RSS document is a element, with a mandatory attribute called version, that specifies the version of RSS that the document conforms to. If it conforms to this specification, the version attribute must be 2.0.

Subordinate to the element is a single element, which contains information about the channel (metadata) and its contents.

Sample files *

Here are sample files for:
RSS 0.91,
0.92
and 2.0.

Requried Channel Elements

Here's a list of the required channel elements, each with a brief description, an example, and where available, a pointer to a more complete description.

Element Description
title The name of the channel. It's how people refer to your service. If you have an HTML website that contains the same information as your RSS file, the title of your channel should be the same as the title of your website.

Example
GoUpstate.com News Headlines


link The URL to the HTML website corresponding to the channel.

Example
http://www.goupstate.com/


description Phrase or sentence describing the channel.


Example
The latest news from GoUpstate.com, a Spartanburg Herald-Journal Web site.


Top Three News feed readers as ranked by Cnet:

1. NewzCrawler ($24.95)is a rss/atom reader, news aggregator, browser and blog client for Windows which provides access to news content from various sources:

* Syndicated news given in XML-based formats (Atom, RSS, RDF, BackSlash etc.);
* Usenet (NNTP) newsgroups;
* Web pages (HTTP).

It gathers news content from each source channel and displays them in a number of views: News List, News Balloon and News Ticker. NewzCrawler's user interface is similar to an ordinary MS Outlook Express-like user interface. It supports many back-end headline syndication file formats and embeds web browser for extra fast news surfing.

The main difference from other rss readers is that NewzCrawler rapidly retrieves news from various web sources in background and displays them in comfortable customizable views. It is the only solution available that combines RSS, Atom, Newsgroups and Web pages in one application.

2. Feed demon 2.6 free RSS new feed reader
The Bottom Line
FeedDemon is a clean and well thought-out approach to reading RSS feeds. Easy to configure and use, FeedDemon still has a very comprehensive feature set and hardly any weak spots.
Visit Their Web Site
Pros

* FeedDemon is friendly, easy to use and convenient
* "Watches" search news for keywords automatically and "News Bins" let you collect items manually
* FeedDemon integrates and synchronizes with Bloglines and NewsGator Online accounts

Cons

* FeedDemon lacks advanced and statistics-based filters
* Searching could be faster in FeedDemon
* FeedDemon does not thread related blog posts

Description

* FeedDemon is a news aggregator for RSS and Atom feeds.
* Individual RSS channels can be organized easily in customizable per-topic listings in FeedDemon.
* "News Bins" let you collect individual items. Subscriptions can be ranked by the attention given.
* "Watches" are FeedDemon's virtual folders, searching current news for keywords automatically.
* Additionally, individual items can be flagged or emailed easily from inside FeedDemon.
* FeedDemon suppoprts OPML and APML (attention profiling) files and synchronizes seamlessly with Bloglines or NewsGator Online.
* Support for Podcasting lets FeedDemon download and copy media files to any player automatically.
* FeedDemon keeps news for offline reading and includes a cleanup wizard that trashes old news easily.
* Integrating with bloogging tools, FeedDemon lets you blog about a news/blog item instantly.
• FeedDemon supports Windows 98/ME/2000/3/XP/Vista.

3. Google Reader: Free RSS News Feed Reader
The Bottom Line
Google Reader is a decidedly simple yet very usable and, thanks to a flexible labeling system, quite comprehensive web-based RSS feed reader. You can even share items easily right from within Google Reader. More automatic help with organizing would be nice.
Visit Their Web Site
Pros

* Google Reader provides a slick, universally accessible and uncomplicated way to read RSS news feeds
* Sensible keyboard shortcuts make navigating Google Reader a snap
* Lets you label feeds and items freely and for comprehensive grouping and organization

Cons

* Google Reader cannot label items automatically based on past choices
* You cannot annotate items
* Google Reader not identify related posts and news to put items in context

Description

* Google Reader is a web-based reader for RSS and Atom news feeds.
* You can group and read your subscriptions using free labels.
* Google Reader lets you tag, sort and organize individual items using labels, too.
* Keyboard shortcuts make navigating Google Reader a pleasurable snap.
* You can easily share items on a public web page that has an RSS feed itself, send them by email, or use tags for blogrolls.
* A blog and news search engine makes it easy to find and subscribe to feeds.
* Google Reader is accessible in screen readers and navigable using WAI-ARIA.
* Using Google Gears, you can access up to 2000 items offline (in the normal Google Reader interface).
• You can import and export your subscriptions using OPML.


http://www.newsonfeeds.com/faq/aggregators

Click here for PDF links

Week Seven: File Sharing

Case Study: MoveOn.org

• The Internet provides citizens an opportunity to lodge democratic challenges against the state during hostile political climates.

• Challengers are outsiders who are united by a common cause and looking to gain access to political structures to affect change.

• These are at least three features of the internet that make it a useful tool for challengers after political shocks such as 9/11
Three useful tool features of the Internet for Activism:
– a) It provides a free space for challengers to form oppositional points of view away from dominant groups
– b) It allows individuals to participate anonymously and thus buffers challengers from the high costs of activism
– c) It moves challenges from the virtual to the real world by engaging citizens in intermediary forms of activism

Why is it an effective tool for activists?
• First: the Internet is an alternative communication network that has not been completely monopolized by corporate voices or regulated by politicians.

• As it is removed from direct control of dominant groups, challengers may form an oppositional consciousness. It provides an arena in which citizens can express discontent and define the contours of their dissent.
http://www.qs.org.hk/

• E.g. Queer Sisters in Hong Kong used a bulletin board to create principles, ideas and feelings that challenged the status quo.

• Second: the Internet allows citizens to express their dissent anonymously and without retribution.
• Anonymity is important tool for those who are challenging the state and with to avoid repression
E.g. Tomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense helped spark the American Revolution, published under “An Englishman”
• Full text Version:

• http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/commonsense/text.html

• Spoof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA
After 9/11 US
• The political context prioritized national security over civil liberties. Social relations between activists dramatically altered or radicalized identity increasing commitment and solidarity to movement causes and sustains activism despite the high costs (government repression, familial strain). The Internet creates a buffer between challengers and the high costs of activism.

• Third: The Internet has mobilizing potential, meaning it can involve individuals in collective action episodes and social movements more broadly.

• E.g. Organizing activists before, during and after the “Battle in Seattle” (WTO Ministerial Meeting in 1999.)

• http://www.realbattleinseattle.org/

• Third continued:

• Helps mobilize other forms that are designed to gain acceptance for challengers’ positions, as an important first step to broader political change: discussion groups, letter-writing campaigns, phone campaigns and canvassing.
Case Study: MoveOn.org


• The largest and most forceful voice in digital era politics.

• Founded by Wes Boyd and Joan Blades in 1998, when they sent an e-mail petition calling on congress to censure President Clinton for his indiscretion with Monica Lewinsky and to “move on” to more pressing political issues.

• Goal is to: bring as much diversity to the power structure as possible, so ordinary citizens can proved a countervailing influence against the notion that elite make all important decisions for the masses.

• www.moveon.org/about.html

• Membership grew from 500,000 to 3 million in the US from September 2001 to December 2005.

• In analyzing the demographic and political information about the respondents, there are four key points:

1) There is a variance in the demographics of the respondents. With great diversity in their age, marital statues gender, racial and ethnic backgrounds

2) Most have children, and familial status may affect how individuals conceptualize risk and engagement in activism

3) Membership generally is not isolated to online organizations alone, but also other activist affiliations.

4) All but six respondents noted that how they approached activism had changed since 9/11. High-risk activism leaves an imprint on individuals, which affects their willingness to engage in risky activism later in life.
Risky Activism Post 9/11
• The climate of fear crated by 9/11, buttressed by national security initiatives such as the Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act, made public political dissent risky. In turn online participation was more appealing because it allowed anonymous activism, which provided a buffer between the individual and potential costs of activism.
Three risks associated with publicly opposing the Bush administration’s war on terror:
1) Respondents feared being labeled as unpatriotic, un-American or a Terrorist sympathizer

2) Respondents worried about the professional and legal consequences of public activism

3) Respondents were worried about the consequences public activism might have for their families.
After political shocks issues of national identity come to the fore.


• “Nationalism is a way to avoid meaningful political debate.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Definitions of patriotic behaviour in the wake of political shocks are relatively inflexible. Move on provided an alternative media space for those in disagreement with Bush policies.

• Jeff (anonymous activist):

• “It challenges the power structure…the way that information gets out is largely controlled by mainstream media, which is controlled by established power structures…the media is owned by money and money controls the media.”

• In conclusion: The Internet creates a buffer between activists and the high costs of activism by providing activists anonymity. This in turn, creates a free space in which activists can develop oppositional points of view away from the view of a broader and dominant political culture.

Discussion Link:
http://www.citizenlab.org/
Note pdf on censorship

Week Six: Digital Storytelling

Please see attached pdf here

Week Five: Social Tagging

Follow this link for lecture notes, Shelby's presentation and powerpoint presentation.

Week Four: Social Media

References

Twitter http://twitter.com/
Social Mention search engine http://www.socialmention.com/
Delicious http://www.delicious.com/
Clipmarks http://clipmarks.com/
Diigo http://www.diigo.com/
FriendFeed http://friendfeed.com/
Picasaweb http://picasaweb.google.com/
Photobucket http://photobucket.com/
digg http://digg.com/
reddit http://www.reddit.com/
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/
Daily Motion http://www.dailymotion.com/us
tuSavvy http://www.tusavvy.com/
Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/
Pageflakes http://www.pageflakes.com/
Zimbio http://www.zimbio.com/
Rollyo http://www.rollyo.com/
Delver http://www.delver.com/
LJSeek http://www.ljseek.com/
Flickr http://www.flickr.com/

Please see this webpage for the powerpoint notes presented as a movie.

(You might have to hit pause as the playback is speedy.)

Video:
Social Networking in plain English (00:01:48)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc

Facebook - CIA Profile Database (00:04:00)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpLNlSKugHw

Facebook: The Movie (00:20:08)
http://www.vimeo.com/1790628

Podcast:
Critical Literacy: Social Media in Academia
http://www-cdn.educause.edu/sites/default/files/educausenow19-sept09_0.mp3