COMMUNICATION, is a dying art......

Why does everyone seem to want to communicate any way but face to face?????

Exercise 16: last post - completing your assessment

Exercise 16

My blog exercises are now completed.
I have now:

1. Posted on my blog for each exercise.
2. Labelled each of my posts.
3. Inserted several images into many of my posts.
4. Embedded a video.
5. Invited one of my classmates, Linda, to be a reader of my blog.
6. Made a comment on two of Linda's blog posts.

Now I am finished, I am inspired to learn so much more!!!
Thanks for this opportunity to learn Maria........

Exercise: Investigative Exercise 8 - Current Awareness Post

Exercise:

Investigative Exercise 8  - Current Awareness Post 

I watched both of the suggested Youtube videos and found them great food for thought.

I was particularly fascinated by the first one, "Eli Pariser- Beware online "filter bubbles".

I think most of us are regularly surprised by the presumptuous fashion in which our computers behave whilst we use our search engines. I remember receiving advertising prompts from on-line accommodation companies for destinations I had previously booked to go to, for years after I had returned from those same places. 

Eli Pariser is similarly alarmed about how many search engine companies are tailoring 

individual search results via invisible algorithmic editing.

He spoke and showed examples of how two friends of his, had both "googled" the word,

"Egypt" and received vastly different results. 

He warned that "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" may "limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook."

He quoted that Google used 57 different signals from each individual, to determine what search results it would tailor for them. Some of these signals included the type of computer you used, the browser chosen, and the location you were in.

Eli is concerned that "the internet is showing us what it thinks we need to see, and not necessarily what we need to see".

He recognises a major shift in how information is flowing online nowadays. He sees "a struggle developing between our future aspirational selves and our more impulsive present selves". 

Eli made a final plea to those in charge of these massive internet companies to allow individuals more of a say and some control in determining what gets through our filters,

because "we really need the internet to be that thing that we all dreamed of it being. We need it to connect us all together, we need it to introduce us to new ideas and new people and different perspectives, and not leave us isolated in a web of one"!!!

Really interesting and incisive talk which gets all of us thinking!!

Blog Exercise 13– changing the arrangement of your blog

Blog Exercise 13– changing the arrangement of your blog.

I made numerous attempts at changing the makeup of my blog, and found that I liked it better in its' original manifestation!!
I did alter the labels, but even there I didn't seem to manage to make them do as I had hoped, and the tabs along the left hand side, "Title, Show, Sorting and Display", didn't seem to be accessible at all. 
I am sure I was doing something incorrectly, and have made a commitment to myself to spend some more time in the future learning more about the intricacies of Blogger!!
I thought about adding the "translate gadget"like my friend Linda, but thought that the blog looked too cluttered with this added on.
The gadget I really want to add in the future is AdSense so that I am able to earn revenue by displaying relevant ads, because no-one needs additional money more than me!!

Blog Exercise 14 – invite classmates as readers to your blog

Blog Exercise 14 – invite classmates as readers to your blog.




My invitee is Linda McGuire.
I hope that Linda enjoys viewing my blog, entitled:

Simon’s betwixt and between

Exercise: Blog Exercise 12– changing the colour/ background of your blog

Exercise: Blog Exercise 12– changing the colour/ background of your blog.

I had actually changed the background colour of my blog twice previously.
It has mostly been trial and error for me, as being a relatively inexperienced user, I kept trying different things until I found something I liked, or that was at least practical.
Initially I changed my blog's background to black, which worked nicely with bright photos and minimal script.
However, it was totally impractical once I started on the TAFE multimedia blog, so I changed it to a softer look, with lighter pastel colours, which seems more in keeping with the content.
The template I chose was the green and blue "Watermark" one.
However, after having a more thorough look, I decided to change my background to be more representative of libraries, and then found that the Watermark template I had did not allow you to see through to what was behind.
I then decided to change my template once again so that it blended in slightly better.
I chose one of the "Travel" templates.
I hope that the result seems appropriate to the people who really matter- the ones who read it!!
I was still unable to edit some of the initial posts I made, so some of the fonts and font backgrounds are still somewhat diverse.

Exercise: Blog Exercise 15– commenting on other blogs

Exercise: Blog Exercise 15– commenting on other blogs

I was very fortunate to be able to view Linda McGuire's blog, as it was beautifully presented and its' substance was thoroughly researched and all encompassing!
I particularly enjoyed reading about Linda's home area of Bega Shire, which is a part of N.S.W. I am quite unfamiliar with, but whose reputation leaves us dreaming of a lush, unspoiled paradise. Bega cheese and the like.....yum!!

   

I also enjoyed reading Linda's Current Awareness post about Eli Pariser's Youtube video, as this was the same one I chose. It was great to read a differing perspective to my own, but still recognise  that we were both rather stunned with the way these huge internet search engine companies like Google, are dictating what we should and shouldn't see. Very Orwellian........