Kerri Bennett

Group dynamics

2011-08-31T12:25:00.001+10:00

Our recent study period began on Monday and already we are scrambling to form cohesive groups for our major piece of work this SP. I'm not a fan of group work simply because I like to work at my own pace. Previously I have found myself in groups where some members have lower expectations of what they want to achieve from the work (ie A credit mark verses a HD mark). This week one scramble to get sorted into groups of three makes me feel a bit like high school and standing in line to get picked for the basketball team! Best I get cracking and read the material so I'm not left as the final pick!

Before we jump full steam ahead into the group task we first analyse our own learning style. I am
Reflective (5), Sensing (5), Visual (9) and Sequential (5).

http://www.jcu.edu.au/tldinfo/learningskills/learningst/index.html

Creating web media

2011-02-16T23:12:00.000+11:00

Create a piece of web media from scratch, which conveys a message about digitisation and/or convergence and share it with the world? Are you kidding?

Well, as monumental as the task sounded it took me on a journey to discover what is possible in the world of media creation. Graphics, music, audio & image, and video editing software all became more familiar to me.

I even discovered a couple of little movie generator gems that if nothing else are a bit of fun to play with - like Xtranormal

I've considered more closely the concepts of mashup and remix and what copyright means, particually with digital assets that are easily shared and copied.

Anyway, after no blood, a bit of sweat and thankfully zero tears I have completed my reflective web media assignment for this unit. I invite you to view and comment if you so wish.

Web Media creation - Inital basic outline (DRAFT)

2011-01-11T10:53:00.000+11:00

Proposed Form:
Comic strip style cartoon produced as a short video clip (I cannot draw and have never constructed a clip so this is going to be a challenge and no one should be expecting an award winning piece.)

Message:
Converged devices and portability of media.

Story:
Welcome to Sunnyvale nursing home. From the outside it looks like your average nursing home but then you meet the residents, Edna, Reg, Jean and Mildred.

The staff are little concerned that these patients don't mix with the others and are never seen in the games room, television lounge or the library. But fear not, there is no knitting for this crowd they browse the web, download movies, play MMORPG and communicate via chat, text or tweets. But they hide all their tech toys from the staff for fear of confiscation, after all this is supposed to be quiet retirement living.

In this episode of Sunnyvale Seniors the crew learn of the death of one of their own and make plans for his funeral.

Frame 1: Sunnyvale sign

Frame 2: Nurses station
Text NURSE 1: "I am quite concerned about Mildred, she hasn't been into the television room in weeks, let alone the games room"

NURSE 2: "Yes, she does seem to be isolating herself. I hardly ever see her chatting with the other patients. Actually come to think of it a few of them have been keeping to themselves lately."

Frame 3: Mildreds room chat window screen open.
Mildred to Jean transcript talking about the reported death of Lawry from Room 14, they see #lawryRIP trending on twitter and go about checking sources. Upon confirmation they discuss the location of the funeral (source: Google Maps), bus timetable (web browsing), how Mildred killed him last week anyway (online gaming), and make a plan to skype (communication) the funeral service for poor George who is his mate but due to gout would be able to go to the service.....(might try to include other points such as Mildred downloading viewing on portable device ie how to avoid a heart attack video clip) depending on how the story forms.)
The conversation finishes with quickly hiding the devices as the nursing staff are doing a bed check.

Frame 4: Nurses station
NURSE 1: "I think I will put in a call to Mildreds family to see how I can help her integrate better, I don't want her to become a hermit and disconnected from the world"

Game On!

2011-01-10T10:40:00.001+11:00

Until recently I considered gaming to be the hobby for the serious geek with way to much spare time (apologies to my gaming friends for that!!). However, my recent reflection and learning’s into the elements of gaming design and culture has opened my eyes to a far greater definition.
As a child I happily engaged in a round of monopoly, Chinese checkers, or cludeo but I never associated that type of game to ‘gaming’ as we know it today.
The progression of gaming from board to handheld device to computer to online seems so natural that I am bemused as to why it collected the geeky name tag along the way. Facebook Farmville or Scrabble, Tetris and solitaire – all forms of gaming. As the social web develops so to do the opportunities to play games with different people. No longer do you need beg your sister to play monopoly with you.

What’s more online gaming means no lost pieces and no packing up!
Recently a neighbour confided in me that her 12 year old some was heavily into gaming and had formed a connection with a middle aged male in Melbourne. Naturally she was concerned and asked why would a middle aged man be interested in playing with a 12 year old? Whilst parents need to be vigilant and actively try to moderate their children’s online activity, connections in the social world can happen very innocently and without concerning intentions. Often the social connection doesn’t happen by a person seeking out to play with a person of X age or X gender, more likely they bump into each other during random play, perhaps they bump into each other a few times and enjoy the style of play. Later discussion may evolve and details shared. Thus a middle aged man ends up playing against a 12 year old. I am not saying indicating that there is no cause for concern however ignorance can lead us to tar unexpected online friendships as concerning.

More than something to do, gaming can potentially help us solve real world problems. Games can have us:

Learn the challenges of people management and delegation
Help us discover the complexities of landing a chopper in a war zone
Get us to care for, love, feed, nurture a virtual pet so that we understand the demands and needs of the role of pet owner
Challenging tired, lazy, out of action brain cells to expand its vocabulary
Virtual town planning to discover potential unforseen traffic instances or water storage issues.

Whilst I don’t have any spare time for gaming of any kind in my life right now, I am moving forward with a new appreciation for games and game play. If I did have the time I think I could very easily get lost in the cultural and social research on gaming design and social mechanics – what an intriguing and complex field of study.

Convergence

2010-12-23T10:12:00.001+11:00

Convergence is a cool word. It sounds mystical and exciting. It’s no wonder its being throw into sentences left right and centre.
So what is Convergence?

Like Web2.0 the definition is still be fully explored as society and culture comes to more fully utilise new technologies. For example take the humble home telephone, it sat neatly on a telephone table next to a big book that was full of phone numbers. Fax machines came into being as so did answering machines. So what happened to that humble, single purpose telephone - it became a phone, fax and answering machine all in one. Now the considerations for convergence go a little further than just a mash up on technologies, just because the phone does all those features, doesn’t mean that it is are always or ever used for all those purposes. Perhaps upon purchasing the ‘telephone’ the device that best suited the décor of the house just happened to also be a fax. I have heard more than once someone request that a phone just be a phone. Are we are in a convergent society or perhaps society is being lead into convergence?

So what does this new access to facilities empower the user with? For more indepth look into Convergence view this clip from @henryjenkins

A daily dose. 24 hours of media consumption

2010-12-01T22:36:00.002+11:00

(Uni task requirement)
Below I outline my media consumption in a 24 hour period. Its not a typical day, but a day all the same.

7.00 My mini human alarm clock wakes me up.

8.00 In the car enroute to Ballarat. Listen to the radio to hear the news of the day and a few tunes.

8.30 Still driving and remember that I have the first Web207 lecture on my Ipod. Buba is back in snoozetown so perfect time to listen to it.

9.30 arrive at my sister’s house to babysit. Occasionally check email, facebook and twitter via my mobile in-between singing ‘if you are happy and you know it’ and playing Simon Says. All the while, wishing I had an iphone or ipad so I wasn’t confined to this nasty mobile interface. Amazingly find some moments to half read the newspaper and a Donna Hay magazine that I found lying around.

2.00 Head back to Geelong, radio is on. Probably passing by some roadside advertising but nothing that I notice, I am too busy pondering a circumstance that was sent to me via email and am plotting my response.

4.00 Finally home and can turn on the laptop. Am amazed it still works being that it has had the morning off! Check all email accounts, fire up Tweetdeck, check blackboard (my god this is a chatty bunch!), log onto Skype and check Facebook.

5.00 Turn on the TV in the hope of catching some news of the day. I don’t, buba is in all sorts and needs my attention.

5.30 Read the catalogues as I feed buba some dinner (can you called pureed mush dinner?)

5.45 Armed with catalogues my mobile and a food covered buba we head to the bath. Buba studies the bubbles in the bath whilst I supervise. I send a few SMSs, check Twitter, Facebook and emails via my mobile which is endlessly frustrating. Then finish reading the huge stack of catalogues and tyring to think of when I am going to get the pressie shopping done.

6.15 Receive a few SMSs alerting me to Direct Messages and @replies on Twitter, the laptop is still on so I reply in between preparing dinner. The TV is still on - I think I can hear the news.

7.00 Buba off to bed. Hubby home. Hubby finishes cooking dinner, as I fire off a few emails, cruise a few links that the Twitter crowd are suggesting and other web browsing. Get lost in cyberspace somewhere and realise I have way too many tabs open in my browser. I quickly scan each window before closing them down. Close down laptop and immediately remember I was going to look up a book website that someone told me about. Ah well, tomorrow.

8.30 – 9.30 Retire to the couch with trusty mobile alongside. Sporadically involved with Twitter, Facebook and checking emails during ad breaks or when the TV bores me – which tonight seems to be constantly. Not sure I can handle summer TV programming.

10.30 Off to bed, mobile is not welcome to come.

Summary

My media consumption is in bits and pieces dictated by a child

A more portable internet enabled device would be useful to me

Television is on more often than it is watched

If my mobile breaks I am in big trouble

I call my child buba way too much! (I feel a New Years resolution coming on!)

Actual TV watching: 1.5 hours

Various internet activities: 3hours

Mobile: 2 hours

IPod: 40 mins

Radio: 30 mins

Catalogues, Magazine & Newspaper reading: 45 minutes

Online web builders head to head: Weebly v Squarespace

2010-10-26T21:41:00.000+11:00

If you are going to look at publishing via a low cost/free online website builder there are numerous options, with more seeming to appear each day. Whilst a push button published website is not the answer for every website, it fills a requirement for many people. In a post a few weeks ago I listed a number of low cost online website creator applications. To unravel some of the confusion in selecting the right online web builder I thought this week I would put two of the popular options head to head. Weebly and Squarespace

Customer Service
There is nothing scarier than hinging your whole online presence on a service that is seems reluctant to give you a phone number. Both Weebly and Squarespace direct users to online based contact rather offering phone support. If you are uncomfortable with the online method the perhaps an offline web builder might be more suitable. However, you should not fear, both services provided straightforward methods of submitting requests for support and both services came back to me promptly and in a personalised fashion.

Ease of Use
Squarespace is very intuitive and has a number of modes that the user can work in. There is no requirement to adjust the HTML/CSS directly as the user interface provides an option for manipulating these without looking at code. The dashboard is sleek and has a solid feel. Weebly on the other hand feels a little more amateur. You do need to get into the HTML/CSS to make any adjustments to your selected template. Overall the Weebly dashboard seemed to require too much useless clicking for my liking.

Templates
Both services come with a range of ready to go templates. Weebly does seem to be adding new templates more readily than Squarespace however, the ones that are available from Weebly are very simplistic and lack any design finesse.
Squarespace templates are stylish and easy to manipulate however they rarely add completely new templates. So after you have built a number of websites they can have a bit same, same feel about them.

Reliability
I have been using Squarespace for quite sometime and never encountered any downtime or major issues with the site. My significantly shorter relationship with Weebly has encountered some minor site issues and more than once, the screen has frozen and required refreshing to continue.

Costs
Weebly by far wins this element with the entry price of $0 and a top end cost of $39.90 per year. Apart from a free two week trial, Squarespace sites start at $13 per month and up to $40 per month for the full kitted out version. (Prices quoted are US).

Multi site management
Weebly allows multiple sites to be accessed with a single log in (limited to two on the free version), making it extremely easy to manage multiple websites without the need to jump in and out of accounts as required. Squarespace forces different new log in per site, so if you are managing ten different websites you will also have ten different log ins.

Squarespace do offer a client management platform that enables discount pricing tiers, however this option is only available when the monthly payment option has been selected.

Bonus bits
From discussion boards to customised forms, drop boxes and detailed site activity reporting, Squarespace offers loads of functionality options and goodies. Weebly only offers the basics but does promise to be in the process of rolling out more functionality in the future.

The verdict
If you need a lazy, cheap solution and are content with a generic simple design then Weebly will rock your world. If you are a Not for Profit organisation, a student or you are setting up a website for an interest group or student then, the low cost Weebly option would suit perfectly. Anything more than that then I would recommend using the more robust Squarespace.

Facebook birthday love

2010-10-15T09:58:00.000+11:00

CC Jessica Diamond

Birthdays before Facebook meant a few cards in the mail, some SMS's from friends and a few emails wishing a splendid day. A birthday now means cards only from my in laws and parents, a few SMS's and a load of Facebook messages from those I know well and also many from those I haven't seen in years.

There are degrees of birthday wishes love. There is the birthday card in person - High, next is the birthday card in the mail - still pretty high. Then comes the SMS birthday wish - medium, and bottom of the barrel has to be the Facebook birthday wish.

I know it nice to see loads of wall posts wishing you well, but lets be honest here, do we think that an old acquaintance that we haven't had correspondence with in years, cares for our happiness on this day? If Facebook closed, I am sure the birthday wishes too would cease.

I am not saying every true friend should send me birthday cards a la Australia post. I get it, on Facebook sending birthday wishes are easy. Its point, type, click, done. But, put it this way, if we haven't even said hello in the last 12 months, then a Happy Birthday wall post is probably a gesture that is not really necessary. Instead, why not write me a direct message to say hi once in a while.

Just in case you are wondering, I do follow my own advice. Just because Facebook has a birthday calender alerting me that it is one of my 'friends' birthdays doesn't mean I will randomly post a wall message wishing you well. Its not that I am mean, on the contray, for those that I do post Facebook birthday love, let it be known that I post with thought, I do wish you a happy day and not just because Facebook told me so.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T14:19:00.000+11:00


Image credit CC Eye of Einstein

You can join Austrlian Wordless Wednesday too

Keep your blog out of copyright hot water

2010-10-04T18:29:00.002+11:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so its not surprising that, on the web, the short-attention spam of your blog readers will be benefited by added imagery. The talented among us, such as So not a princess can create the original artwork to enhance their blog postings, however for those of us not blessed with such creative talent we may grab the digital camera in the hope of capturing something that will add to the blog post. Of course, we all know its super easy to cut and paste a great image we've found somewhere on the web, and besides what is the chance of getting caught anyway?

If this sounds like you, then you should spend some time getting to know about the Creative Commons (CC). In a nutshell, the Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to provides access to copyright free imagery that you can share, remix and reuse. Its underlying principal is to provide access to copyright free works. The aim of this access is to foster a culture of sharing, and facilitate creative and collaborative environments.

Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic: Wadem

The CC provides a search function that accesses material from a number of specified places. Once you have located the image that you require, simply check its terms of use, most often this is simply to attribute the creators name to the material when reused.

There is an astounding amount of resources available and most of the time I am able to locate images that I need. If not I also check out, the Wikimedia Commons which is another place where you can find access to material with expired copyright and other content that is available to use freely.

So next time when you think about lifting that image from someone else's website, why not check out the images you can legally and freely use. You might even sleep better at night!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-29T10:26:00.001+10:00

CC Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Arria Bell

Great photography can be simply amazing, thought provoking, inspirational, jaw dropingly beautiful. It can spark debate but often, no words are even needed. Unfortunately I am not talented enough to have ever snapped anything to be overly proud of however I am happy to join the Wordless Wednesday Campaign. The Campaign aims to filter through the web some of this magical imagery that can be enjoyed without the need for words or explanation. Spurred on by the International movement, Babble On has taken up the reigns as the Australian Host for the movement.

For a uni project I am blogging over here and recently used Star Anise, not only I am happy that I am now a better speller of the word Anise, I am delighted to have such a pretty looking herb in my pantry collection.

The era of the low cost DIY website builder

2010-09-22T17:26:00.000+10:00

The evolution of website development has come a long way. First there was the dark art era of black magic followed by a refreshing influx of customer friendly account managers armed with pretty looking customised content management systems that promised to revolutionise website owner control. More recently we have seen the proliferation of low cost and even free DIY website builders with built in hosting options. Naturally these push button options come with criticism and are most likely despised by purist website designers and developers. However, with their sophisticated, easy to use interfaces, extensive tools and vast range of templates, these all in one tools are a highly appealing option for the self employed, small business, community and not for profit organisations.

Does this mean the career of a web designer is doomed? Hardly. Just because we have toothbrushes doesn't mean that we don't need dentists. The DIY options fill a niche, but there are projects that call for more sophisticated, unique and customised approach, something that these cookie cutter style builders cannot offer. But if you are in the market for a low cost, user friendly, ready in minutes website and you don't mind the drawbacks, then maybe a DIY is for you.

Here's a couple of low cost and free options to get you started.
SquareSpace
Weebly
Webstarts
TeraPad
Yola
Business Catalyst

For even more see the list compiled by Dibakar Jana on his web design blog

Credibility in cyberspace

2010-09-16T12:34:00.001+10:00

Image Wikipedia Commons - Copyright expired.

Back when our news and information was delivered to us from limited sources, there was an consensus view that the source from where the content was created and disseminated, could be trusted. Nostalegic images of hardworking journalists sitting at desks piled high with documents and overflowing ashtrays, slaving long into the night. And of reporters in far flung destinations holed up in crummy motels, so they could bring us accurate, trustworthy, researched content.

The web has tuned us all into on the spot reporters. A simple blog post, tweet or web update and a new piece of information has been created without so much as a far flung posting, or a newsroom graveyard shift. The creditability that we once attributed to the iconic mastheads and news brands cannot be applied to the anonymous information distributors. Now we must rely on alternate methods of assessing credibility of information we are presented.

The method of assessment is complex and ever-changing as our own habits and comprehension of the digital space evolves. I personally consider website design, usability and functionality along with the authors writing style. We are all guilty of occasional spelling and grammar errors but well written and presented content, that is combined with beautiful, original imagery says much about the source. How I came about the source also adds weight to the credibility scale, if I link to information posted by a friend on Facebook I am more likely to regard to the content. Likewise with my Twitter network. However, if I randomly stumble upon a website without any upstream link or reference point, then what I see is all I have to base my assessment on.

The longevity of the source is also something I consider. If the information I am reading is the first online content efforts of the author I am more likely to diminish its ranking. Alternatively a busy, content producing author with followers, comments and recent activity is more likely to gain higher standing in my assessment.

The enviable byline that many cadet journalists sort is simply not enough information in the digital space. A simple byline, if there is one at all, is only one piece of the puzzle in the jigsaw that is digital information creditability.

Skyping about Skype

2010-09-13T11:11:00.000+10:00

Happy to admit that I was a little slow on the Skype uptake, after all the good old telephone had served me just fine. But as more friends moved to wonderful, exotic and far flung destinations and the frustration of expired phone cards built up, I decided it was time to finally get Skyping.

I bet you've heard of Skype, after all its been around since about 2003. But in case you've been living in a cave, here is the low down. Skype is basically a piece of software that once downloaded allows the user to make voice calls over the Internet (VOIP).

Some 'early adopter' friends of mine did installed Skype long ago. Whenever they called us speech was delayed and the line crackled to the point it was unusable, so I am blaming those reasons for my delay in getting onto it.

Once my decision to Skype was made I downloaded the application (for free) to my computer and was surprised by its simplicity. After answering the required questions and picking a username and password I was done. With download complete I started using Skype, but only via the text based chat. Skype to Skype phone calls are free, however I didn't know if I even knew anyone else with Skype, so I stuck with the text based chat until I found my mojo.

Imagine my surprise when my computer started ringing one grey afternoon. I actually didn't know what the noise was and totally missed the call. When I looked at the Skype window it displayed that I had indeed missed a call from a dear friend who is currently living expat style, in Malaysia. Keen to trial Skype voice calls and with a contact now on my radar, I hit the call button. She answered!!

The whole conversation was a little awkward, after all my laptop isn't sporting a camera so whilst I could see her and her beautiful daughter, she could only hear me. The confusion on her four year old daughters face was priceless.

My sister in law has also recently cottoned onto Skype and the chance to see my nephews and the opportunity to show off my own 7 month olds new tricks is to wonderful not to love. So now I am rolling out the bandwagon and enlisting my family and friends to Skype up.

If you are no sure how to go about downloading and getting started, check out the short You Tube tutorial below. When you are done why not Skype me to try it out! Skype: kerrib100

Dear diary...

2010-09-06T09:46:00.001+10:00

The words 'Dear diary' conjure up vivid memories of cute notepads filled with random thoughts, a bit of scribble and a tiny little padlock that never had any real hope of keeping prying eyes away.

For me the diary served such as simple purpose of helping a young kid verbalise and interrupt the world and its characters as they were discovered. The confusing issues of best friends, body image, idols, annoying parents, cool clothes and of course boys. But does today's endlessly connected world have room for private, personal thoughts designed to be read only by the author? Blogs arose with purpose of providing a diary like format but with the opportunity of an endless audience, how can one pimple faced pre-teen be expected to discover themselves and the world through the art of writing when they know the world is potentially peering on.

Even as adults faced with tough decisions we are advised to construct a list of Pro's and Con's. The simple process of moving ones unarranged thoughts to the written word can help to unmuddle ones priorities. Scribbled on a random piece of paper, perhaps a napkin or even sticky note, the process is as a vehicle to clarification of ones thoughts.

Blogs provided a valuable facility which encourages people to write, to share and to discover and whilst I love a good, well constructed, edited, considered and polished blog post, I also praise the written, private word and the good old fashioned personal diary. I am way past pre-teen these days and don't yet have a pre-teen of my own, but I would like to think that today's young adults, with their vast knowledge of everything digital and their desire to be continuously connected are still encouraged find purpose in the personal diary and the art of private writing designed for an audience of only one.

A blog about blogging?

2010-08-31T09:39:00.000+10:00

The first blog was created in January 1994, by 1999 Blogger and its push button publishing method had been rolled out and made blogging easy and accessible to all. Today there are millions of active blogs as well as tens of millions of inactive blogs. You can find a blog on almost any topic you can imagine. There are blogs covering broad topics such as design or fashion to the blogs with very narrow focus such as Hamburger America (mmm yum!???)

My current university unit requires me to blog about something. Sounds great, after all I've been blogging since 2006 about our home renovation and there's also this blog about, well, digital stuff. The brief requires a narrow focus topic, so I guess this blog of random thoughts will be out. The unit intentions are not about blog creation but more about writing style and digital production. As a fully fledged digital producer (albeit on maternity leave) you'd think I should be able whip something up with no trouble at all. Well, choosing a narrow topic to blog about is proving to be more difficult that I first considered, after all I am interested in many things, but master of none. I love to travel, but with a 7 month old baby we stay home a fair bit these days. I love to cook but don't feel creative enough to blog about it. I love wine, but as I am the main source of food for my child current alcohol consumption is limited. I support organic, non-toxic products but am hardly an advocate. I don't own a pet, am a hack gardener and only envy those clever craftyr people. I am passionate about the digital space, so maybe I should blog about blogging?

Perhaps I will scan my favourites tab to see what old bookmarks spark some interest, maybe my blog topic is nestled in the long forgotten links.

What do you think I should blog about?

The progress of life

2010-08-30T10:08:00.000+10:00

Today I saw a demolition crew busy tearing down yet another old, shabby house in our suburb. The lure of development dollars far outweighting any thoughts of renovating the pre-loved home. As I took a reflecting look at the now flattened allotment I struggled to even picture the house that yesterday, and for decades before it stood on that dirt.

They say Video killed the Radio star, but technology has swung quite a wrecking ball over the decades. If we had a garage sale of our long forgotten items I suspect we'd uncover a box full of pristine carbon copy paper, a VHS rewind machine so often used at Video Ezy many years ago, a pile empty photo albums, a box of chalk, flourest light bulbs, a manual credit card processing machine, a T square and probably some graph paper.

The weekend papers highlighted a story about the worlds oldest mechanical clock being wound by hand for the final time. Our garage sale is full of items that were important in our lives at some point in time, how long will it be before we will add the letterbox, the desktop computer and the palm pilot to our dust covered heap.

We could assume that the makers of the T-square suffered terrible financial losses but more likely, and hopefully they evolved and moved into computer aided design software. The VHS rewind machine company may have morphed into DVD scratch repairers and the carbon copy paper producers no doubt extended their line into laser printer friendly paper.

So rather than mourn the demolition of the post war style house instead I will enjoy the architecture, street appeal and the history of the remaining homes. I'll watch with interest and reflection as the suburb is transformed for better or worse, by the progress of life.

The redundant business card?

2010-08-24T10:07:00.000+10:00

Business Card Circa 1895. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Last Friday night I attended a function where I was introduced to a few interesting people. For professional reasons we decided to stay in contact. No one reached for a business card or called for a pen and paper, instead we enquired: Facebook? Twitter? LinkedIn? After agreeing quickly on our mutual social platform we happily went about our evening and by Saturday morning I had new connection requests awaiting confirmation in my account.

So apart from having something to throw in a bowl for the chance of a random door prize, what purpose does the business card serve in this digital age? I have accumulated a few business cards over my time and they all end up in a neat pile in the bottom draw. For years the business card has been the essential business networking marketing device and one could argue that they still serve an important purpose of giving a potential contact a good first impression not to mention a choice of contact information including your phone number, email and web addresses. Nielson Wire reports that two thirds of the worlds Internet population visits social networking sites, however if your new found connection falls into the other third you could be left reaching for that business card - so maybe the timeless pocket sized marketing card is not totally redundant after all. Do you think the business card is redundant?

Mobile word games

2010-08-19T15:48:00.000+10:00

Anyone who has ever sent an SMS from their predictive text enabled mobile phone will have come across a few funny word suggestions. I love it when the word suggested is relevant to the word you are typing in, here a few predictive text word combinations that have made me giggle:

Lips = Kiss
Lies = Kids
Go = In
Home = Good
Fat = Eat
Cheer = Cider
See = Red
Odd = Off
Cake = Bake
Pint = Riot
On = No
Wimp = Wins
Water = Waves
Snoop = Rooms
Here's one especially for this election weekend:
Vote = Tote (after all its a gamble whoever we choose!)

and finally for all those Geelong fans:
King = Ling

Saying goodbye can be hard to do

2010-08-17T10:42:00.000+10:00

Anyone who has ever attempted to start a blog using any push button publishing blog service will no doubt has been frustrated by the number of blog names already taken. You quickly discover that the blog name you had your heart set on is taken by a would be blogger who hasn't added a post for 3 years.

People start blogs for many reasons, some start because they have a current passion and after days, months or years the fire for the passion goes out and with it - the blog posts. Some start a blog for a project, once the project is done the blogger is left without any material. Some people start a blog because they have something to say and once they say it, they realise keeping up a blog can be time consuming and hard work.

If your blog only had a few followers and no revenue then letting it die a slow unloved death is probably not going to upset anyone, however if you have been blogging for sometime and have a loyal following, ending your blog might be somewhat more problematic.

If you have been blogging for quite sometime you may have developed an emotional attachment to your blog and to your loyal followers. Making the decision that the blogs time has come to an end maybe akin to your best friend moving to the other end of the earth. So how do you know when its time to say goodbye?

If blogging has become a constant chore and even after a little blog-break you are still is not finding your mojo. If you cease to be motivated to write engaging content and plug away writing for the sake of it and if you keep asking yourself if this is the end, then more than likely its time you parted ways.

I suggest you end your blog with dignity, post about your struggle, be honest and humble. Remember that your followers (even the quiet ones) may have been on a journey with you so provide alternative ways to stay connected with you perhaps via Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Foursquare etc. If you will be writing for a publication or making guest posts somewhere else then link your followers there. If your content has value (and don't they all!) consider keeping it alive but inform your followers that new posts will be very sporatic or none existant (See how Chris Anderson did this with his LongTail Blog). Introduce you followers to blogs that you love and most all thank them for their loyal following, after all, in cyberspace you never know when you might just run in each other again.

Image Attribution : Jason http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasoon/10837680/

My tinsy wincey mind

2010-08-12T10:22:00.001+10:00

They say small things amuse small minds so it must be that I have a tinsy wincey mind then because I am always amused by Google Doodles. Whenever I see a new Doodle I always hover my mouse over to find out what it represents. Its not just that I am attracted to the clever design, I like that just by visiting the Google home page, I am presented with something new and interesting yet in a very familiar way.

Do you have a small mind too?

(40th Anniversary of Sesame Street. Oct, 2009)

(Louis Braille's Birthday. Jan, 2006)

(E.C. Segar's Birthday. Dec, 2009)

(Van Gogh's birthday, March 2005)

A university in my backyard

2010-08-09T22:57:00.004+10:00

Did you know that you would be hard pressed to find a blackboard in use in a classroom these days. Education has certainly seen some technological leaps from chalk dust to cyberbullying and from the monochrome monitor to the interactive touchsceen.

In 2007 I decided it was time to head back to the classroom, only this time the classroom would consist of my very own surrounds. A course offered by Curtin University via Open University appealed to me. Learning completely online sounded like a nice idea in theory, but I had serious doubts.

Since 2007 I have learnt much about the digital eLearning environment. Is it perfect? Far from it. Does it allow flexible distance learning? Indeed it does. A number of times I have cursed the online method but other times, like when I am sitting in the sun on my deck listening to a podcast of an iLecture I wonder how traditional learning will ever survive. Some institutions seem to be doing it better than others, but I applaud many of the tutors who have no doubt been on their own steep learning curve to cater to this diverse range of students and student needs.

Having undertaken the degree in what seems like the slowest possible way, I have been able to weave work, family, holidays, medical treatment and even a baby into my life all whilst studying and only rarely has it felt like I am 3500km away from my educational institution.

You are a commodity - you, yes YOU!

2010-08-05T18:52:00.000+10:00

More than likely it has happened without you even realising it, but time you spend chatting, researching, working, comparing, wishing and buying online represents the "most important commodity of mass media" (Symthe in Kang, nd). In today's world of hyper targeting the aggregate information gathered from users online activities represents a lucurative audience and a valuable commodity.

Is Facebook just the latest social networking site where you can reconnect with old friends, is Google a search engine that helps you steer through the web and is Amazon's clever recommendations just a part of their customer service to you. What these companies and other like them have in common is they haven't been created as a service to society, rather they are a business, like any bricks and mortar business on the street they aim to make a profit. So next time you log onto tweet, shop or chat remember it may be a service but is it really free?

Here's an interesting short clip from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada on the topic. [2007]

Kang, Hyunjin (nd) You as a Commodity of Google: Examining Audience Commodification of Google. Retrieved 5 August, 2010 from http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/3/0/1/0/1/pages301019/p301019-1.php

A life in pictures

2010-08-03T15:51:00.001+10:00

Recently my mum gave me some photos of me when I was a newborn, the pictures have rounded corners and they feel so old worldly. It was lovely to sift though images of the days long gone and see my dads sideburns, my baby bath, my doting Aunts and Uncles in hideous outfits. It occurred to me that while I have a laptop and camera full of digital photos, it is uncommon of me to print any images. Whatever would I need to do that for? After all I've shared my pics with my friends via email and social networks.

With digital cameras and the ability to store and share endless photos the days of the box full of old photos stored high in a cupboard are fast disappearing, so what will our children have to reflect upon, how will they laugh at their mothers ridiculous outfits or see Dad when he had actually had some hair, will they be able to revisit memories of fun birthday celebrations or ponder on photos of places we ventured for family outings and laugh at the not so picture perfect photos that would have been quickly deleted with today's snap happy cameras.

Technology is brilliant for sharing photos now, but what about when we want to rediscover those memories. Emails get deleted, backups get forgotten, laptops get stolen and social networks evolve. Can we guarantee our life in pictures will remain intact in the digital space, and can we imagine curling up in many years time flicking though the endless online space just to walk down memory lane. I think our lives are far to busy and the digital space far to distracting for such pleasantries.

So I guess without a concentrated effort to preserve our memories in a non-digital form it might be goodbye to the box full of photos that document our lives and remind us of times gone by. Just to be safe maybe I'll order some prints just to keep tucked away in a box high in the cupboard for a rainy day somewhere in the future.

Ebay tourism

2010-07-28T09:29:00.000+10:00

In an effort to declutter my life a little, I have recently become active as an eBay seller. In the past I had sold one or two things, however I am now scouring high and low and happily saying goodbye to leftover home renovation items, unworn clothes, and various other bits and bobs.

What has surprised me most is that people are willing to travel to collect their new treasures. So far we've had the pleasure to do business with an young Indian family from Melbourne's western suburbs who hauled away our old oven which was finding a new life in a rental property they owned. We've also met a young at heart bachelor from the eastern suburbs who's hot water service blew up. He'd been having cold showers for days until he snagged the hot water service we needed to get rid of.

Glowing in our new found wealth we ventured out to Geelongs waterfront for Sunday lunch and happened to run into a couple from Melbourne's Bayside who were in town picking up a kids bike that they scored on eBay. They hadn't been over this side of the bay for years so decided to pack up the kids, book a hotel room make a weekend of it.

Within the short time I have become a born again eBay seller I have seen numerous examples of what started out as a whimsical bid ending in a mini adventure to a random destination.

With any luck I'll be engaging in a bit of my own eBay tourism shortly to pick up an antique buffet, fingers crossed.

The Internet: TMI (Too much Information)

2010-07-20T09:00:00.000+10:00

You might have noticed that its been a couple of weeks since my last post. I have been otherwise engaged attending to a teething, constantly cranky 6 month old. Yes, he has some teeth coming through, yes starting solids it a bit of a shock to his system and Yes I hope this stage passes soon. My very short amount of online time has been dedicated to searching the web to find similar stories to empathize with and the magic solutions to my grizzly baby's woes. Of course I find these all things and more including distrubing horror stories outlining the worst case scenarios.

In one way the Internet has helped stay at home mums connect and seek out others in similar situations.What did new mums do before the Internet? How did they connect with the outside world? It must have been extremely isolating.

But has this endless connection to information made us overly solution focused? Are we determined to find an answer to everything. My son has been a delight for his first 5 months, but this most recent, out of character performance has me questioning his general health - does he have a tummy problem, digestion, bowel and does he not sleep enough, too much. Of course a few taps on the laptop reveal hundreds of pages for me to consume with hundreds of theories on six month baby issues.

The Internet has given us a great deal, but I am beginning to wonder if sometimes too much information is not cause for unnecessary concern. Aafter all, it is just possible he's having just a grumpy old time and will be back to his usual happy self in no time at all.

10 reasons why online collaboration is challenging

2010-07-07T16:30:00.002+10:00

It sounds easy enough: get together with your colleagues to review the previous financial year and put together a presentation of the organisations challenges and achievements over the past year. Your boss doesn't think it matters that your colleagues are scattered across the country and in theory it shouldn't. After all you have access to the latest conferencing technology and you are all professionals dedicated to doing a good job. But sadly, the chances are that the task is going to progress much differently than if it were purely via face to face contact.

Here's ten reasons why online collaboration is more challenging:
- Technology stuffs up sometimes
- Its easier to opt out of online meet ups
- Words gets tangled up
- Body language is different or in some case non-existent
- People have different priorities
- Assumptions are made
- Misunderstandings and misinterpretations
- Communication is slower
- Distractions exist
- Its not as familiar

and because I like a positive spin on things, here's ten ways to make online collaboration work better:

- Understand what collaboration tools are required. i.e. communication, workspace and presentation
- Invest time to research and test your collaboration tools
- Gauge the commitment of the group and understand their outside workloads
- Opening discuss the selected tools and how to use them effectively
- Understand that some members may be new to this method of working
- Manners are important
- Don't make assumptions
- Allow everyone the opportunity to contribute
- Have patience
- Don't give up

There is an art to collaborating online and teams work better if they approach it with this knowledge. I would advise any company that intends to get results from teams in multiple locations that they invest some time in learning the tools.

(Hat tip to my NET205 Curtin University buddies for helping with material for this post)

How to do a tumble turn, YouTube style

2010-06-30T09:28:00.002+10:00

It might surprise you just what you can find online that can be useful to your everyday life.

I am a qualified swimming instructor, I like to call it my 'hobby job'. I was passionate about Aussie kids learning the basic skills of water safety, so rather than just talk about it I got my qualification. Happily I went along teaching rowdy bunches of 5 year olds' every Thursday afternoon, until one day I was asked to fill in and teach a class of grade 6 age children.

According to their progress sheets they were learning the tumble turn. This filled me with fear as I had no idea how to even do tumble turn let alone teach it. After all, remember I was just there to teach youngsters about water safety, so you can imagine that I began to wonder what on earth I had gotten myself into. It was only a few hours before the Grade six onslaught so out of total desperation I turned to the place with the answers to everything - The Internet! A quick Google search landed me on YouTube and watching a video on how to teach the tumble turn - I was saved - by 5 O'clock there were a bunch of grade six kids tumbling around in the pool wondering why their 'fill in' teacher had such a smug look on her face!

Just in case you are ready to tumble turn here's one of the clips that got me out of trouble that day:

I'm funnier on Facebook

2010-06-19T12:21:00.000+10:00

Have you ever had one of those experiences where 10 minutes after a conversation you think of the perfect witty response and have a 'wish I had of said that' moment? Given the opportunity to craft my status update, tailor my reply, consider my wall post and rehash my tweet has given me the opportunity to correspond with more thought than if I was having a face to face conversation. Considered conversation snippets make me funnier, more empathic and even more thoughtful.

Does this make me a fraud, hiding my lack of quick wit behind the veil of acceptable social media lag time? I think not, rather social media comment crafting is more like brain training and helps develop timely and appropriate face to face responses and conversations. To any claims that the Internet encourages anti social behavior I challenge them to consider the medium as an aid for those of us that suffer from social situation stage fright. Allowing the opportunity to develop ones persona and facilitate in developing more engaging offline social beings.

Twit Twat t...What? How I finally 'got' Twitter

2010-06-11T10:48:00.001+10:00

In 2009, Neilson reported a 60% dropout rate among new twitter sign ups, so it should not surprise me when my friends and colleagues comment that they just don't get Twitter. I can completely empathise, after creating my Twitter account and finding people to follow, I recall being totally confused as to how I was expected to read all the tweets.and what on earth was I going to tweet about. With some help from the Twitterverse and a bit of persistence I posted my first tweet on the 5 May 2008 and it suitably said: "Checking out Twitter".

For the next year I tweeted on an off however it wasn't until about 12 months after my first tweet that I saw how Twitter was used enmasse. It was at a conference in Sydney and I noticed how the audience were utilising the Twitter hastag to discuss, in real time, the concepts being presented. After that the world of the twitter hastag (#) was opened to me and I started to see Twitter as a conversation not just a bunch of unrelated tweets.

When you can directly connect with the author of a novel you are reading, discover tweet by tweet the achievements of a start up company or hear news direct from the source you start to feel very connected.

Twitter is deceptively simple. 'Getting it' isn't just about understanding the technology its about making useful connections. Twitter won't add to your life but the connections might.

Here is my ten top tips for new Twitter users:

1 Discover Tweetdeck
2 Discover #
3 Discover RT (Retweet) but don't abuse it
4 Follow people that interest you
5 Use Lists & Groups
6 Its more about who you follow than how many followers you have
7 Persist
8 Tweet - Silence tell us nothing
9 Embrace it
10 Follow me @kerrib

An unsocial network

2010-06-08T10:00:00.004+10:00

Recently I decided to check out the latest up and coming social network/game/geo-spacial networking site foursquare.com. After I signed up and jumped through the required hoops I discovered that absolutely none of my friends were part of the network as yet, which made it more of an unsocial network for me.

It did however get me to thinking: What is it that motivates one to join these online social spaces in the first place?

Scaling through my active Facebook and Twitter friends I notice a great deal of diversity amongst them. From the quite young (under 20) to those that fall into the 'seniors' category (over 60). They are spread across the globe too. I posed the question to my online networks: What brought you to this place in cyberspace and why have you chosen to stay?

The vast majority joined Facebook to connect with their known friends and family, particularly ones that had family abroad or interstate particulary keen to see and share photos. Some were just sick of being out of the loop on baby/job/house news. A few admitted to simply joining up so that could be involved in the offline conversations that seemed to happen. ie "Hey, saw on Facebook that you had a holiday in Fiji recently...". Users said they enjoyed that the space enabled them to connect to friends in a time efficient way and that it provided an outlet to fill in lifes down time whether that be on night shift/motherhood shift or bored at work shift!

"Since I never seem to manage a phone call these days, FB is the best way I can stay relatively in touch my with family & pals." - Meg

Twitter users showed a slightly different skew with most responding that they were motivated to join out of curiosity, keen to check out the 'lastest' thing. A number of new users were not yet sure it added in a positive way to to their lives but for professional and academic reasons they were willing to persist with the medium.

"I joined twitter early on when it sort of first came out - because I can't bear to be late to joining trendy things."

- Tehkela

I've joined various social networks over the years mainly because I am interested in human connection and how those relationships are facilitated and shaped in cyberspace. Given the responses to my question I think it may be a while before I have some company in the Foursquare space. Perhaps a few of those curious early adopters will jump on board soon. However for the majority I doubt Foursquare will be on top of their priority list. As its difficult to truly determine the value of a social platform by being unsocial I guess I'll will just have to put my brave face on and embrace those already there.

Web 2.0 is a lot like Masterchef

2010-05-31T17:17:00.004+10:00

Sure for tonight’s dinner I could just download that lamb curry recipe or god forbid pull out a hard copy cook book. But would I benefit from the critique of others, the failures and success that other lamb curry cookers have discovered? Adding a bay leaf during the final half hour to enhance the aroma or blanching spinach prior to adding to the curry concoction. Today’s Internet, aka web 2.0 enables us to share, reinvent and redistribute information. By collaborating we’ve added cultural insights, innovative ideas and lifted this once humble lamb curry to its ultimate heights and in the process, feed many.

Like Masterchef Web 2.0 is bringing experts together with amateurs, lining up the novice and the expert, sharing secrets and ideas all simply to tantalise our taste buds like we would never imagined individually.

Does this then give you the right to dump a dinner plate to the ground and declare it so disgustingly good that you want no one else to taste it? No. What good does failure to share do anyone?

Time for a fresh coat of paint?

2010-05-24T18:07:00.002+10:00

Having just completed a website review for a friend, it reminded me how important a good web review is. Just like a new coat of paint a fresh look to your website is a must to ensure it continues to appeal to the right audience, tells the right message and doesn't get the general tired and unloved look. But before you pull out the web development paintbrushes its best to take a good hard look at your website. Often the website owner or person who works on the website the most is not the best person to carry out the website review as their knowledge of the site makes them blind to the design inconsistencies, content flaws, SEO issues and usability issues that the site has. Try to rope in a friend or relative to overview it for you, alternatively - hire a professional.

So, you've found (or bribed) your friend or relative to give you the low down on your website. As web users we are all qualified to review a website because websites should be easy to use and clear to interpret. Sure a professional would bring much added value to the review, but you have to work with what you have got.

Firstly get your friend to open the site, ask them their initial impressions. Ask them what they noticed first, second, third. Next ask them to tell you in one sentence what the business is and the service it offers. Next get them to elaborate on the colours and aesthetics, sure they won't want to hurt your feelings so remind them that all the information, good and bad will help make the site better - so honesty is the best policy.

Next request they navigate to find information about the company. Watch, a) how easily they locate the navigation b) What they click on. Notice if they hesitate in making a selection.

If they arrive at a page of text ask them if they felt inclined to read all the text and if not which parts of the text jumped out to them. Now ask that they continue exploring the site, whilst they are doing so make note of any hesitations or signs of confusion, but don't interrupt them just jot down the notes.

After the session, review your notes and brainstorm ways that your user could have had a better experience. i.e. was the text a little hard to read; maybe change of colour, font or finessing of the content would help.

This is by no means an in depth website review but it is a start and so when you do talk to your website developers you will be able to give them some direction of how you can improve the site for your users.

I often record my web testing session using Camtasia screen recorder. This records the audio as well as the screen and all the users mouse moves and clicks. Using the screen recorder allows me to concentrate on the testing session. When I review the recorded session afterwards I can look more closely at the mouse movements and 'moments of hesitation'.

They'll sell your soul if you let them...

2010-05-21T17:00:00.007+10:00

Facebook privacy setting issue has captured a lot of media over the past week so I wanted to blog about why its caused such concern and what is means for us.

Facebook and other social media websites request their users 'sign up' for an account to access the site. During that sign up the user is asked to enter all kinds of details included sex, age, location, hobbies, marital status., you get the idea! Facebook then uses that information to allow their advertiser to place appropriate advertising messages to you when you are using Facebook. Facebook will also on sell the data they have to other companies so they can also more accurately target you when using their websites.

Gone are the days where you tailor a single advertising message to be delivered to a broad audience, today's digital media allows you to design your message to meet the audience. For instance, say you have a home cleaning business and you wish to target new mothers offering them your services. Using Facebook you can display your tailored message to only women between 18 - 40 living in Melbourne and are fans of baby type pages and groups.

Now I bet you think this type of hyper targeted advertising cost a bomb hey? Well no, quite the opposite. Facebook ads as with many online advertising, is only charged out once someone clicks on that ad. So for the cleaning business if 500 people click on the ad and if the click cost is .20c (for example) per click (industry term: Cost per Click or CPC) the total advertising spend is $1000.

Facebook can only use and share this information if the user has given explicit permission to do so. The cheeky thing about Facebook and partly why there is such concern, is that by the default settings, the user allows facebook this privilege. It is only if the user opts out of the permissions that they can retain their privacy. To add fuel to the fire, Facebook regularly amend their privacy guidelines, meaning that a vigilant user will have to regularly go in and adjust the setting to keep their details private.

So is it all bad? Facebook are being a little sly by shifting their privacy goalposts so often making it hard for us to keep control over our own profiles even if we are vigilant. However on the positive side, this kind of targeted advertising does mean that the ads you see are relevant to you. No longer do you need to see ads for Prams when you are a 18 year old student, and likewise a mother of four doesn't have to see ads about the hottest new skate wear.

So, should we ditch facebook and save our souls? The current media attention is great, its reminding Facebook that we won't put up with this kind of behaviour and that we must retain control of our information and be sure that its safe. I don't think we should ditch Facebook, however we don't give them to much information. Just because they ask what your favourite books are doesn't mean you need to tell them! To them information is power, so be careful what power you are happy for them to have.

If you are not sure how to check your privacy settings, there are numerous how to guides on Google. Search: Facebook Privacy Settings.

If you have a Facebook profile and want to check how your settings stack up check it with this privacy checker