Sunday, May 12, 2013
Facebook Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
I chose to read the Terms of Service and privacy policy of Facebook. Basically, Facebook owns the photos and videos you post on their website. They can use them how they see fit unless you mark them private, and even then, some applications can access them. Facebook sees your privacy as very important, but the onus is on the user to be mindful of what they post and how it can be used. Ads are seen as a natural part of Facebook and it should be understood that they will appear and be somewhat targeted. If you live in another country, you are bound by the laws of the State of California. Facebook reserves the right to eliminate your account if you post hateful, explicit, bullying, or any other harmful material. They reserve the right to make you follow the rules or eliminate your account.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Flickr's Creative Commons licensing
Personally, I don't think Flickr does enough to promote their Creative Commons licensing. I base this opinion off the fact that I really didn't know about it! I tend to think of myself as pretty up-to-date with internet/tech stuff, I'm no expert by any means, but this is something I thought I would have heard of before.
I think people change their settings to allow their photos to be shared for lots of different reasons. Many people are probably proud of their work and want to show it off. Some may want to contribute to the online community as well.
I would share my own photos to an extent. Personal photos of myself and my daughter will probably be kept private, while artsy or other types of photos I wouldn't mind making available to the public.
Embedding an Image vs. Uploading
There are two different ways to add an image to your blog.
Embedding the image with HTML code:
And using the internal Blogger "Insert Image" button from the top toolbar:
The methods used above both have benefits and drawbacks. The HTML embed is personally my preferred method because I am comfortable with HTML and the act of embedding is just a basic copy and paste. While it wouldn't be difficult for someone less experienced in HTML to embed an image in this way, it could be confusing or overwhelming if you didn't know what the HTML tags were. Also, you
The Insert Image option is definitely a simpler way to add an image, which is a benefit. Both embed and Insert Image allow you to click on the image to scale it to the size you want, and even work with the image properties. When you select a file to Insert from the Insert Image button, though, it is limiting as to where you can insert from. For example, you can't insert from Flickr, which I get, because its owned by Yahoo. :)
Embedding the image with HTML code:
And using the internal Blogger "Insert Image" button from the top toolbar:
The Insert Image option is definitely a simpler way to add an image, which is a benefit. Both embed and Insert Image allow you to click on the image to scale it to the size you want, and even work with the image properties. When you select a file to Insert from the Insert Image button, though, it is limiting as to where you can insert from. For example, you can't insert from Flickr, which I get, because its owned by Yahoo. :)
Sunday, April 21, 2013
How Companies use RSS or Atom Feeds to Make Information Available
Locating an article about a specific company that uses RSS or Atom feeds was more difficult than I thought. Most Google searches led me to the RSS feed for sites. I did find a website with a general overview of how RSS can be beneficial to improve website visitors here:
http://www.allbusinessinfo.com/employing-rss-or-atom-feeds-to-improve-website-site-visitors-assured-benefits-3607105
I then went to ABC News and took a look at how they display their RSS feeds:
http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page/rss--3520115#feeds
Here, you can see that they use RSS feeds for their Top Stories, as well as different kinds of headlines and reporter's news blogs.
Chapter 3 - Blog Assignment
Use Google Reader to subscribe to several feeds for sites that you frequently visit. Write a blog post about your experience after using a feed reader every day for a week. What are at least two benefits and drawbacks of using a feed reader?
I have about 5 blogs that I read on a daily basis and, until this class, COMPLETELY forgot that I had set up a few on Google Reader, so this was a good refresher. I like the fact that everything is in one place and, if the blog's content isn't particularly interesting, I can just skip it or mark it as read (so helpful to do that!). I also found an old blog I had completely forgot that I was following, so it was nice to catch up with that family.
Some drawbacks to using a feed reader, for me, is that it interferes with real life! Sometimes the modern advantages found on the web make it too easy to get stuck on the web for too long. Yes, the feed reader makes things easier to browse, but that only frees time up for more browsing! I've already had this set aside time, about TWO HOURS for web surfing at night, so I find myself trying to fill that time with more and more blogs and... my wrists are sore and I really just need to close the lid of my laptop sometimes and enjoy the outside world!
I have about 5 blogs that I read on a daily basis and, until this class, COMPLETELY forgot that I had set up a few on Google Reader, so this was a good refresher. I like the fact that everything is in one place and, if the blog's content isn't particularly interesting, I can just skip it or mark it as read (so helpful to do that!). I also found an old blog I had completely forgot that I was following, so it was nice to catch up with that family.
Some drawbacks to using a feed reader, for me, is that it interferes with real life! Sometimes the modern advantages found on the web make it too easy to get stuck on the web for too long. Yes, the feed reader makes things easier to browse, but that only frees time up for more browsing! I've already had this set aside time, about TWO HOURS for web surfing at night, so I find myself trying to fill that time with more and more blogs and... my wrists are sore and I really just need to close the lid of my laptop sometimes and enjoy the outside world!
Saturday, April 13, 2013
How Pixar Uses Wiki for Collaboration
I came across an article from stewardmader.com listing 7 Effective Wiki Uses and the Companies that Benefit From Them. One of the companies that stood out was Pixar, quite possibly one of my top 10 favorite movie makers in the universe.
Even though this post is 5 years old (was 2008 REALLY five years ago?!), and references the film WALL-E, it hits on some decent points, stating that wikis have grown in their use and with such, CIO's should seriously consider taking advantage of the collaborative edge that wiki's can provide. Doing such, creating a community where employees aren't shut off from the rest of their peers in boxes and allowing them to interface via one joined medium, would no doubt lead to boosts in productivity.
For Pixar, a wiki is used internally to manage their film production.While anyone can access and view the Pixar wiki (try it!), its likely only employees can actually edit the pages within.
Even though this post is 5 years old (was 2008 REALLY five years ago?!), and references the film WALL-E, it hits on some decent points, stating that wikis have grown in their use and with such, CIO's should seriously consider taking advantage of the collaborative edge that wiki's can provide. Doing such, creating a community where employees aren't shut off from the rest of their peers in boxes and allowing them to interface via one joined medium, would no doubt lead to boosts in productivity.
For Pixar, a wiki is used internally to manage their film production.While anyone can access and view the Pixar wiki (try it!), its likely only employees can actually edit the pages within.
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