Podcasting & Vodcasting by Peter Meng

This article on Podcasting & Vodcasting was interesting in a sense, but not one of my favorites. There seems to be a tad bit more steps that require to produce Podcast content. Most of the work that involves does not take a lot of skill if you want to cut to the chase and broadcast it. However, in reading this article, more and more people are in demand of higher quality Podcasting. That is where more technical skills are required. I’m sure all of these steps are easy to do and one can get the hang of it. Personally, I do not know if I would have a passion of going out and capturing and editing the content, publishing the content to a site, subscribing the content with a RSS News Reader, Downloading the content into content Management, and playing content on download device. In my own personal opinion, that would be more steps than I would usually take. It comes down on the individual who has an interest in the tool itself. I find other web tools more fascinating, than others, but Podcasting & Vodcasting is a tool I never new about, so therefore it is something new I have learned. Many people find Podcasting very useful. Everyone from students to teachers can find this tool useful for their everyday daily usage. I’m sure I can find many ways of using it, but I will stick to my other preferred tools I use on a daily basis. Nothing against it, it’s just not my thing. The minute I hear that all you need is a microphone, then that leads me to know there is no visual aspect to it, therefore it is not an interest to me. Sorry guys/girls, but I am a both audio and visual, not just audio. Only way I could possibly find a use for it is attending meetings with speakers who speak on useful information that I need. I can record the content and put it to use. 

On the other hand, VOD, is more appealing to myself do to the visual aspect of it. Seems more complex in the aspect of equipment and more complex when it gets in to the technical aspect of it. The cost of producing VOD’s is more highly in cost than a Podcast, but I find this tool more appealing to myself. Yes, I know you have to have a pricy camera that you will have to know the capabilities of it in order to get the results that you are looking for. It is at a must to have higher quality and needs to be shown on a larger screen. Movie Maker and iMovie are both software that can used to create VODcasts. It is more appealing and interesting, but more pricy, therefore, probably wouldn’t get in to it as well. I am interested in seeing what people have done with their own personal VODcasts though. I came to the conclusion that both tools can serve a great purpose to different individuals with different needs. I can find both useful in one way or another. However, both have a glitch that does not meet my needs. On the Podcasting tool, you have limitations with just audio. On the VODcasting, you have visual, but very pricy equipment that one must have in order to produce high quality content. It’s like any other tool though, you must have some sort of passion for it to by far see past those issue. Many people think I am crazy when they see how much Adobe packets (non-student prices) cost at stores and the price of Macs, but I have a passion for it, therefore I don’t let those little issues get in my way. Podcasting and VODcasting is something new I have learned and will not say I will never get in to it, but these two tools are not on my favs list for now.Marco

HTML & CSS

My expirience with HTML and CSS was very minimal before taking this course. I have worked with basic HTML, but not CSS. I must say this is what I have bee waiting for, to actually get some time with CSS. I found W3 Schools site very useful and has very good useful information. I played around with a lot of the tutorials to see how CSS really works. I found that CSS is not something that is very overwhelming, but does require sometime to learn the concept and rules of it. Once I can mange to learn the symbols and spacing rules, I think I can get a good feel for it. I found that it is a great tool for web designers. It saves a great amount of time when editing pages. I’m looking forward to exploring CSS more and more as time progresses in IMD. Don’t get me wrong, I have learned a lot of useful information and useful tools when it comes to our articles that we have to write about on our daily blogs. This class has helped me be more resourceful when looking for answers. Never did I know the tools I have learned in IMD before taking the course.

 Marco

My “Personal Learning Environment”

This article is to touch base and share where I am currently at with my personal learning environment. I find that Netvibes has helped me in a lot of ways in receiving information that I would normally browse sites and take time out of my busy schedule to look for. The concept of Netvibes is a great tool not only for my IMD class and school, but for everyday usage. I find it useful for personal usage anywhere from car forum RSS Feeds to daily Adobe tutorials that I normally take the time to browse around for. I have tabs on Netvibes from Adobe to car forums to image browsing. Sometimes you don’t have all day to do that. With the use of Netvibes, you can simply have one page open and not 100 of them. I like the fact that my own personal interest are on a single page. It’s a great tool and I have encouraged many other individuals from school to work to use this great tool for everyday usage. I plan to use it even after graduation and when I am in the work field. Wikipedia.com has been very useful as well. I can browse for class homework on articles I need to read and report on. My aggragators can to be very useful as well. They have a tendency to attract a lot of junk, but very useful for my typography, design, adobe, RSS Feeds. I will continue to use Netvibes and explore more ways to use the tool.

 Marco

Video Blogging “VLOG”

I found my topic to be very useful and very interesting. I myself am a very visual person and the whole new-age concept of vlog is a great idea that has been created by users.
I found my information about vlog on a article on http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2005/07/68171 

It has me thinking of the possibilities of the old-fashioned text blogs. The fact that blogging with individuals with not only text, but with the addition of images, sound, video, etc. is far more appealing to me, than simple text. It is in its early stages. There are several drawbacks to this date that have no been addressed and it’s a struggle to keep the concept populating like text blogs due. Videos generally do take a lot longer to put together a video, editing, crafting, etc., compared to posting a few links and brief commentary, like many blogs do. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy text blogging because of the knowledge and information I have gained in the past years. They have great purposes in life, but I’d like to see vlog when it gets in a more user friendly stage. As more individuals explore the world vlog, more and more vlogs will pop-up for viewers to view. People can capture moments in their everyday lives. You are also able to receive and respond to questions using a video. Akimbo for example, offers its subscribers the ability to subscribe to numerous vlogs. The vlog community to this date is very small compared to the bloggers community. Many of te vloggers share tips and network in such groups like Yahoo videoblogging groups with the help of del.icio.us, vloggers use tags to reccomend interesting videos to one another. Copyright has also been a issue with users. The usage of copyrighted music in vlogs has brought up issues with many vloggers. Another interesting fact that I found was that you have the ability to subscribe and receive videos on your Apple iTunes Podcast.

I also came accross a great site http://www.vblogsecrets.com/ with a lot of helpful tips on the wonderful world of vlog. In this site it helped me understand more in depth how vlog works and the solutions to the current drawbacks. You can find hosting for FREE, new video formats and broadband proliferation of video long buffering and load times, no more expensive cameras you can find quality from cheap video cameras. You can find video now in days just about anywhere. Everywhere from your local Apple store, IPods, PDA’s, Cell Phones, PSP’s, etc. It’s a new trend that has just begun. A community have moved from text-based to the world of video-based. According to vblogsecrets.com, there are 16 new trends.

1. The video iPod, 2 buck songs, downloadable TV shows
2. More Mac stores that turn people onto video:
3. Easy conversion of video to Apple QuickTime and Macromedia Flash file formats makes it extremely easy to distribute your files on the Internet.
4.  You can now see video blogs of real people around the world who have filmed their daily life and posted it for all to view.
5. The explosion of broadband Internet access.
6. Free online hosting for video blogs
7. Point and click automatic conversion of your videos to an online format — no software required!
8. New video compression formats
9. Easy conversion of video FOR cell phones (a 2 billion size market)
as well as shooting of video ON cell phones
10. Easy to turn your video into a PSP (PlayStation Portable format)
11. A revolutionary, publicly-traded company with an online video search directory.
12. The Google video search engine and free hosting
13. New video cameras that shoot like you won’t believe and are going to unleash a new generation of vbloggers, a new type of movie theater, and more.
14. Mind-blowing new software that allows you to render “green screen” effects in under 15 minutes — which means you can put ANY background behind you and break through the “noise factor.”
15. The Rocketboom phenomena
16. Amazing new video aggregation software that lets you get FREE, easy distribution for your vblog

From what I got from this particular topic, is that vlog is a new trend that has not been
100 % tweak and tuned to all users. There is numerous of factors that need to be worked out before making a big impact like the world of text-blog has made. However, I myself can honestly say that I will be looking in to it as it progresses more as time goes by. Specially when it comes to adobe tutorials for me. Both can serve a good purpose and is another great tool that everyday people like ourselves need to take advantage for our future in our IMD careers.

 Marco

Communities of Practice by Etienne Wenger

In reading this article Communities of Practice, to me is an organazation or club among a group of individuals who come together to discuss and learn how to improve their performance. In a way, it seems a tad bit similiar to blogging. But unlike blogging, the communities serves a more of a purpose than online usage. They have communities who have face-to-face meetings and networking among themselves. Some local, some world-wide. It seems to me that there is too much polotics involved here. Not my preference when it comes to topics, but nevertheless, a new expirience I have learned that I can take with me. The communities allows them to come together to problem solve, question, research, share ideas, network, passions, concerns, and collaborate among each other. Personally, I rather blog my way in to finding all the info. I want to be able to blog and research my own resources. Although, a community can serve a good purpose. You can network with individuals face-to-face who are in the same interest who can give you advice on what you are there for. Everybody from business to education benefit from a community of practice.

 Marco

How to be Heard by Stephen Downes

In reading the article, I found this article to be very useful and it has to be one of my favorites so far. Although long, it makes a lot of sense and explains into detail the do’s and dont’s of blogging and setting up a blog. I agreed with most of the information in the article itself. It gets in depth on to be successful when creating and managing a blog for users. Blogging to me is today’s encyclopedia, dictionary, school assignments, info., tutorials, etc. No longer do I go out and look for references or answers through books and what not. But through blogs that are specifically tailored to my interests and needs. Everything from cars, design, art, web, css, rss, adobe, etc. To me it’s like our IMD class. You are taking a group of individuals who have the same interest in a career and collaborate us in to a room to resource, explore, learn, research, and share ideas to become successful webdesigners, developers, programmers, bloggers, etc. People on blogs do share the same interest for the most part. Blogs do seem to take a little bit of patience and time in order to create one.Like any other project in this field, it is not a overnight success, it will take time and detirmination to create it , market it, and maintain it. Even when it’s up and running, you are just at the tip of the iceberg. You as a blogger have to market your blog and get to know communities and learn more about other bloggers. It’s a big community that all comes together in front of your eyes on the computer. You need time for it to build up and work like a blog should. You must plan and decide what it is you’re actually going to blog about. No planning, research, and thoughts will leave you with a non-successful blog who little to none will visit and comment. You have to be able to reach out to people and provide information that they are looking for. You’re content to me is important because this is what the bloggers are there to reply and comment on. Producing a blog and maintainance, feedback, being involved, seems to have a lot to do with a blog. The feedback itself plays a big role in bloggers coming back to your blog. You can’t pleaze everybody, but you have to have the mentality that you’re a teacher and the bloggers are your students. You have to be able to listen to their comments, suggestions, and complaints.

DESIGN -
This had to be the only topic in my own personal opinion, disagreed on. I have many thoughts and I’m sure no everybody will agree with me. To me design plays a big role in whether people will find your site or blog creative or not. A blog or site that is just plain with white space and boring o’le 10 pt times roman is most likely a site I will not return to. To me designing a blog that is useful with information, but also has a creative touch to it, serves a better purpose. I understand the whole rule about not being cluttered, download times, color schemes, no flash elements, etc. is some of the items we need to consider. Some one witha good creative eye, and knowledge of building a blog can easily develop a blog that can a tad bit more creative environment. The use of fonts, colorm bground, images, borders, font sizes should all be taken in to consideration, but don’t let it look like an accountant built it. Adobe is my best friend and like you who know the software, you can easily manipulate and reduce images to save download time and what not. I guess I am a visual person and do not belive in just text. I know people disagree and will continue to say to focus on the bloggers, keept it simple, and download free time. But if I am taking the time to build a blog and do my homework before posting, you can sure bet mine will not have white space and times new roman. I’m not trying to be inconsiderate, but I think some sites can bebuttered up with some design. Of course depending on what kind of blog or site it is, will depend on the layout itself. To me the whole visible, readable, user freindly, and downloading time is the issue with design. But I honetly think there is no reason why a programmed blog annot be colloborated with a more designed friendly environment. It would be a sin to become a memeber of a blog or site that features Adobe tutorials and find white space and no creative layout. Once again, it’s my own personal opinion and do not expect for everybody to agree with me. It all depends on what topic your blogging and the crowd you are blogging to or creating for.

Marco

Personal Learning Environments by Scott W.

In reading the article and blog from Scott Wilson, I read a lot of the previous information that was mentioned in the Whales Article. A few topics where brought to my atttention on how he refers to the PLEs and what the world bases PLEs on. As I read the article several times to comprehend on what they where really saying, I thought to myself and agreed that what he tries to convey in the messege is that PLEs have taken the world by surprise. The use of conventions have made technologies of pioneer teaching and learning emerge together to gather information for browsers. Educational blogs, bookmarkers, and the use of tagging and filtering has been emerged from technology created by teaching. Don’t get me wrong, a teacher or professor can teach you things that you didn’t know before, but the use PLEs has made it possible to learn from a teacher, and further information. I think a PLE can teach me a lot of things, but in my case, I’d like to sit in a class and go hands on with a teacher like Wayne and learn from someone who knows the industry very well. My learning styles are so different than some of these guys that I read about. I think it’s wrong to say that teachers are being replaced by PLEs. I  am sure they are in some sort of way, but getting hands on from a teacher is something you don’t get by browsing and folling up PLEs. Different people learn different ways. I do agree that the process of blogging makes the blog content RSS meaninful. The tools are there for one an another to find very useful in everyday tasks. It is up to us to go out find and use these tools to better ourselves and learn things we didn’t before. These everyday learning expiriences will help us in the near future. After all, IMD is a very fast paced industry that demads a lot from us. We are out there to learn and understand the media better.

 Marco

The Wales-Wide Web by Graham Attwell

My thoughts on reading “The Wales-Wide Web” to me gets in to so much depth and such great infromation on the whole aspect of PLE’s and the different styles people have when it comes to learning. PLE’s offer so much to an individual towards learning and their thoughts on topics. Individuals can put the effort in to educating themselves to better by the world wide web PLE’s. Communication is a key factor with other people online in order to get the topic of discussions. Everyone can learn, but different people have different techniques and approaches towards learning in the style they choose and makes them most comfortable. The cool thingabout PLE’s is that for one it’s FREE and it allows for any individual that has access to the web to be able to expirience PLE’s. Social software to me is an everyday useful PLE tool that I personally enjoy and use not only for entertainment, but for school and work. The use of blogs, wikis, and bookmarkings applications that impact our everyday web lifes. I can’t tell you how much I download and research on GOOGLE or yahoo. Everything on Photoshop How-to’s, maps, mail, information, addresses, networking, work info., and information on whether 244 duration cam will work better with a 408 instead of 254 duration cam. Sky’s the limit with PLE’s and it’s a great resource for information. I’m sure there are glitches that need to be addressed, but for the most part, a great tool for our everyday usage.

 Prior to reading this article, I would have been clueless on what a PLE is and what it really had to offer me. Once again, the article has thought me something new and I can put this towards my education here at the A.I. in IMD and future as a web designer.

 Marco

Recipe for Learning

Prior to taking the introduction IMD I always considered the webdesigner the guy that created cool rollovers, graphics, banners, and flashing elements. I always thought that there where two sets of people. The software designer and the back end programmer. Web design is above and beyond my prior thoughts. Reading the article “Recipe for Learning” was a very useful and interesting article. I would recommend any other person that is interested to read it outside of school. It shows what kind of determination and involvement for this type of career. Lots and lots of research and constantly on your feet and on top of your game when it comes to new programs, software, and other type of web usage is required to be successful in this industry. Constantly  reading, researching, browsing, subscribing, meeting people in your industry and always asking questions in order to keep up with the demand that companies require. Learning the essentials is vital in order to have a functional and everyday useful website. Being able to learn and explore for information is what I got out of the article. The determination and ability to want to go out and learn more than you thought you are capable of. A client can ask you to design a website with functions that you are not even heard of. It is your job to go and do the research and keep up with the client’s needs. Practice and involment is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to web design. A lot of people don’t even have the slightest clue what our future careers involves to get the job done.

Personally, the one thing I can say and the way I see this article, is that to me the article is like a syllabus to me. It is giving me the heads up for the future in this career. It shows me what kind of determination it’s going to take to be successful. Excellent article!!!

Marco

Tim O’reilly’s thoughts on web 2.0.

In researching and doing some reading on Tim O’reilly’s article on his thoughts about Web 2.o. I came to my own personal opinion on what I thought of the article. Tim O’reilly to me caused a great debate in the whole Web 1.0. vs the new age web 2.0. A lot of debate and skepticalism was brought up by numerous users and companies in whether he even new the definition of Web 2.o. He did what no other individual or company had done to promote the new age era of web usage. He didn’t re-invent the wheel, but changed the way users use the web. The way I see it, he simply took the web movement to a whole other level of web usage. I guess the world was not ready for it. When people don’t understand it they tend to hate it.

His simple conference session blew up to what we now know as Web 2.o. (blogs, Google, Napster, web services, participation, tagging, etc.) In other words, the usage of Internet took on a whole other world. In reading several articles about the whole Web 2.0., it seems like until this day there are several people who question Tim’s definition of Web 2.0. Personally, I think the man took upon himself and built something no other individual dared to do. He blew up like Adobe products did for Graphic Artist, Web Designers, and Magazine companies. Who knows what the worldwide web will be like 10 years from now, but I’m sure Tim’s name will surely come up in discussion. His simple curiousity is what has us doing this assingment online today.

 I’m sure I could have learned a lot more on the article by doing sdeep reserach, but I was limited on the time I had to do my reasearch. My future goals are to take more time in to researching for assigment like this. However, I did learn something new, prior to this assingment and class, I never new who Tim O’reilly and what Web 2.o. was. It is very interesting on how the worldwide web has expanded so much. A big transition from Web 1.o. to Web 2.0. I actually give the man two thumbs up and congratulate him in doing what he did. He went above and beyond anyone’s expectations. Without his ideas, we might not have what we have today Webwise. If we where all set limits on what we can and can’t do, then we would not have what we have now. As for the critics, who cares, there’s always someone willing to try and bring down your great ideas. We all know there are so called “HATERS” out there, LoL. 

Thanks,
Marco R.