Introductions

General: I think that this class has been great and I have learned so much more than I thought I would. This being my first real writing class as a new Writing major, I have learned many things about writing that I can and will take with me forever. I can't wait to see what else I can do with the new things I have learned over the course of the semester. Overall, I learned how important it is to learn how to write eletronically; but through the process is has helped me to write more confidently and creatively.
Oral Presentation:
Hard to talk in front of people, but did pretty well.
Learned how a sical networking device can apply to this class. It does have things to do with writing. Learned how to pick out the important parts in a chapter or section that would be helpful when trying to learn about new things.
Wikitravel:
I learned how to be creative and how to embleish without making things up. I learned how to take what I know and put it into words. I also learned about the different kinds of writing there are on the internet/computer. There are tons of different formats and I can now comfortably write in many of them.
Website redesign: New ways of creativity. Formating and design. Colors, contrast, layout, order, alignment, etc. and how important it is. They all make a site what it is. You need to know what is important and make sure that is the forefront of the website.
Enthusiasts Blog: This was the most fun. I was myself which is important. I could talk about something that I had a true passion for and I was able to let people know about that and show them what I have learned. I was able to express myself in a different form. It wasn't in just the writing but also in the design of the blog, the colors, etc. I think this is my best entry because it truely shows who I am and why I am the way I am that way. It has been such a huge part of my life and will probably always be. People can really interact with me and what I write about because the topic is so open.
Social Networking Site: My second favorite entry. I was able to talk about something that I never really got involved in but still felt passionate about. We used a lot of different media and now I can see how important they all can be and what they can bring to a site.

Theme

I have one theme in mind that I would really love to use because I feel its fits me and what I have acomplished so well. My first choice would be a flower. A blooming flower to be exact. I feel that I have grown so much from taking this writing course and my writing has gotten so much better. My confidence and creativity has blosomed into something I never thought it would have.
My second choice would be an open road. I think that I could almost just keep growing and can just keep getting better and more creative. Anything is possible and it might not be now, but maybe somewhere down the road. Now that I write this, I am starting to like my second idea better..
3. Journey.

Revision Plans

I have chosen to revise my wikitravel page, I feel like I can add more to what is there currently. I feel that there are quite a few places worth mentioning in Coventry that I have yet to mention and neither has the person who continues to update the page. I would also like to edit some of the existing information and make it a little better if possible.
Secondly, it is a hrd decision, but I would like to revise enthusiats blog. I love my blog it is my favorite part of the class, but I think if I had more patience I could add some videos that were embedded and not just a link in the post. I could also have more fun with the layout, but keep the same color scheme. The pictures are also ALL in the center, I could have been a bit more creative. It is like my diary and I want to keep it that way, but I definitely want to have more fun with the writing and be a bit more professional.

Web Portfolio Response

In this article I learned a lot about how to make a good web portfolio. It was good to know that even thought you may have taken a class on how to make one, it is good to have a good understanding of what their purpose is they key components. You need to keep in mind its purpose and make sure you fulfill that purpose while creating it. You have to keep in mind that you will be getting feedback and be sure to present the correct pieces of work in your portfolio. You want to show how you have grown overtime. You get a chance to explain why you wrote what you wrote and it gives your work a little bit more or a personal edge. The person looking over your work will be able to see where you are coming from. You also get a chance to present a portfolio so that others may get a chance to hear and review your work. It sounds a lot different when the person who created the work is reading it. You can't fake your abilities in a portfolio, it is concrete proof that you can accomlish such things as writing or art work. You also get a chance to review what you put into your portfoio, this gives you the chance to perfect your work and make sure you LOVE what you are putting up for review. You will learn a lot from revising your work and will only further grow.
With a web portfolio, you need to make sure things are easily found and the navigation isn't confusing. Everything is linked together and compared or contrasted. With the web portfolio everything looks every put together, organized, and professional. You can personalize it to your audience and grab their attention much easier. It is more fun to do a portfolio on the web and you can show what you have learned and how you have applied it to real life. Your audience is real. Overall, web portfolios are the more practical way of showing your work to people. The web is everything in this century. Your work can be shown to anyone from prospective employers, etc.

Response 3

I am so excited that our group is just about finished with this project! The sites both look amazing and we have put a lot of research and work into it. We have all learned a lot more about a cause we feel so strongly about. We have a ton of friends supporting the cause, some people I don't even know and some people who are close to us. I can't wait to see it grow. The song choice is perfect, thanks to Christine and I think that we will really be hitting people with our discussion topics, which have all been responded to. We couldn't help but respond to each on the topics because they are so disturbing and need to be out there so the public can get more aware of some of the horrific things going on. Overall we did a great job and I hop our grade reflects that.

Response 2

I can't believe how many people are supporting our cause. It seems like the number goes up by the day. I am adding people as much as I can and so are Courtney, Andrea, and Christine! Our friends are adding people and so on and so on. The cause is something close to us and I think that we have hit peple hard with some of the harsh realities we are brining to their attention. I hope that it just gets bigger and I will definitely keep up this causes on facebook because I feel so strongly about it. Some of the things I have come across has even opened my eyes to a lot of information I didn't know before. I like learning more about this cause and I hope I keep learning new things that I can tell people about in hopes of spreading the awareness and doing some good for the animals.

Response Social Network for Social Cause 1

I think that my group and I have done exceptional work with this project. We have finished a lot of the project even before planned because we are very involved and feel very strongly about this cause. Overall we did a lot of work and a lot of research to make sure that this topic hit a lot of people and made people realize how important it is. So many people can help, even kids. Kids have pets and feel the same way we do about them. I know if anything ever happened to my dog I would be horrified. He is a part of my family. Hopefully what we have done with out causes site and ning site has touched a lot of people and they will help come together to help fight animal abuse. We are still playing around with the site design and I sill need to add my discussion topic but overall we have gotten a lot done.

It is true. In the first article we do see how status obsessed, etc our society has become, only giving us a small insight to how bad things are going to be in the future. We don't necessarily know if it will be a bad thing, but computers are slowly taking over. It almost shows us house society is so based on looks and the superficial things in people, which we know can't be good. It also doesn't matter what status you have, you can show what you want to show and let people only see what you want them to see, almost as if hiding you imperfections and showing your assets. More stress is put on the girls. You don't see people getting all mad about guys in provocative poses, just the women. People are now focusing on conversations and social interaction with people they already know, rather than spending their time talking in chat rooms with total strangers, potentially endangering themselves.
In the second article, it is argued that less time is focused on important groups and parties, but on things that aren't so important. It isn't things such as dthe governemtn and politics getting people's attention, but rather topics of less imporatnce and more relevant to the person. Self actualizing citizens focus on social networking and social contact with other people. The social networking websites have since made public issue sites more popular. Schoold are afraid to introduce a new learning environment because of what could come from it. Normal people to people communities are now forming into online communities of people. IT is hard to see what kind of youth is attracted to what kind of online environement. Adults, who aren't as familiar with the new social networking sites as the youths are..should sit back and learn from what happens. I almost disagree, because how else will you learn about something that is slowly taking over the world, in any aspect. It is imortant that they learn how to do certain things and why certain things have such a positive effect on people.

Response to article 11/12

Facebook, myspace, and twitter websites, and things like them have in fact become a part of the everyday lives of many people. I myself can't imagine going over two days without checking facebook or updating my status. It is kind of weird to think about. Also, I thought it was right on when they said that these social networking sites are a way of letting strangers interact based on things they have in common etc. I always thought they were called social networking sites, not social network sites. But, it is true that the main use of these sites isn't to mae connections between strangers, most of the time that is avoided as to not endanger oneself. Facebook is exactly a prime example of the definition they gave. With facebook you are talking and communicating in many ways with people ALREADY in your social network, i.e your friends and family. I did notice that they say that some sites have been found to have people segregating themselves with race, age, sex, etc. I guess that is true, but these sites also do bring every one together. I never knew that some of the first social networking sites were things like dating sites and classmates.com. I remember some of the old stuff like Livejournal and Xanga. It is amazing to see that we grew up with this kind of stuff. I remember my first computer and screen name for AIM. I was probably 8 years old. Our parents and even people just a bit older than us had to learn all about this stuff, but for us we grew up with it. It is everwhere now and we would be clueless if we didn't know about it. Faksters is something that is still a big problem. I was just listening to the radio when a music artist was saying how her twitter account wasn't certified yet and someone was pretending to be her. THey were starting rumors and talking to other celebrities as her and making an all out mess. My parents always told me never to give out too much information on an social networking site becuase you never know if people are who they say they are. Turns out, that now my parents even have facebooks. But, it has helped them get back in touch with a lot of people they haven't talked to or seen in years and I think that is pretty cool, except for the fact that my mom might have a more serious facebook addiction than even myself. Myspace was my first glimpse of a social networking site and it is amazing to see how far things have come since then. Myspace is barely spoken of now because Facebook has just completely taken over. Myspace did allow you to personalize your page, which I like better than the lame facebook design. That was something that got users more familiar with html code and such. It was a great learning tool.

List of serious issues

1. Distractions while driving.
2. Prejudice
3. Internet security
4. Domestic Abuse
5. Animal Abuse

URI CREW 3

We got to peer review today and it seems as if everyone did really well. I saw a website today that was pretty much horrible and the group who redid it did a great job. It is amazing what some people do to a website...and they think it looks good and will draw people into their store, restaurant, etc. It really is true that less it more. You can do so much yet keep things so simple. I learned that one of the main things you need to keep in mind when making a website is WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO REACH OUT TO. An audience is everything in many different aspects. It pretty much makes a website and I saw that this week. I hope that the hard work we have put into this porject over the last week has paid off and I am excited for it to be graded. I really hope that the website we are chosen to redesign will take into consideration some of the suggestions we have come up with. Truthfully, anything will help that site.

URI CREW 2

So we have created the template site and I must say it looks really good. The colors work really well for the topic we have and everything on the site is VERY easy to find and understand, one of the problems with the old site. The letter came out really well, although I need to make it known, or better known, who the audience is. Everyone in the group has done a fair share of work and I wouldn't say that anyone slacked off. Everything was done on time and it was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was a lot of work and I did get a bit confused at times but I got everything done and I think I learned a lot when it comes to designing a website.

URI CREW

My group is working out great. Everyong knows what they are supposed to be doing ande everyone is doing their part. Andrew is working on the site maps, Lauren is working with google sites, Keith is working with her on the google sites and focusing on the landing page I believe, and I am working on the letter we will be sendng to the owner of the site suggesting what should be done. I have a lot to add to the letter and feel that I have enough information to go into the depth that my group has suggested I go into and that it is a great idea. We all have had great ideas for the site. The colors work out well and the site is just so much less jumbled than it was in the original. I hope that the owner see's the progress and agrees that some changed are necessary. We have been working on this all weekend and are happy with how it is coming out.

I think a website that needs work would be something like the website for where I work, although the people who make it don't know much about making websites, so they are working on it to make it better. I know less is more, but I feel they have too little. www.depetrillospizza.com Don't get me wrong the place is GREAT, it doesn't to the joint justice!
A website that works well would be facebook because of all the interaction. There isn't too much on one page and everything is linked to another site. You can click anything and be brought directly to a cocerning page! www.facebook.com

Response to Website article

I had never known much about what went into a design of a website until reading this article. Information flags are such a great idea. I never knew what they were called but I had seen them before. The piece about pop up windows was interesting, but the fact is, I find them annoying. I hate havng a ton of windows open if I don't have to. They can be helpful though. I agree, organization is a MUST. I hate websites where I have no idea where anything is or what anything is trying to tell me. I think the way the described the organization patterns was also kind of confusing. I think the one that would work the best would be a combined organizational structure because most websites have a lot of information and this is an easy way to get that information out to the public easily and effectively. Less is definitely more. THere are some very crazy web pages out there and it makes it hard to look at. Having the same design throughout you page will definitely help! I love pictures and graphics, so trying to keep that at a low would be difficult for me if I were to ever create a web site.

3 potential posts for wikitravel page

‘’’Splurge’’’
‘’Depetrillos Pizza and Bakery’’
*Ph. 401-828-4300
*Located at 797 Tiogue Ave. Coventry, RI
Home of the original pizza party tray! Everything is made to go! People come from all over NE to get this pizza. It comes as the cold single pizza strips and in hot pizzas with almost any topping you can think of! Just call 30 minutes prior to pickup for a hot pizza. They also sell over ten kinds of calzones, white pizza strips and trays, and even homemade biscuits and cookies! Just about everything is under $20.00! For more information visit [[www.depetrillospizza.com|their website]]!

‘’Michaels Gelina’s Ice Cream’’
*Ph. 401- 826-7374
*Located on 975 Tiogue Ave. Coventry, RI
This is the best service and ice cream in the state! You want it, they have it. Whether it is soft serve or hard, a slushy, or a sundae, ice cream cookie or milk shake, cabinet or yogurt. They have it. Over 50 soft serve ice cream flavors! They can please EVERYONE. Customers are always welcomed with a smile and never left disappointed! Prices are perfectly reasonable. Some outdoor seating, but you are on a main road. Plenty of parking around the building.

‘’Dunkin’ Donuts’’
*Ph. 401- 821-8703
*Located at 800 Tiogue Ave Coventry, RI
Breakfast sandwich or bagel, munchin or donut, coffee or coolate, iced tea or iced late, they have it all. They make your coffee just the way you want it. Located on a main road, so the business is booming! The service is fast and mistakes are rarely made. Customers can order in the drive thru or inside. Parking is available all around the building. Sometimes pulling out of parking lot is a hassle. Visit [[www.dunkindonuts.com|Dunkin’s website]] for more information.

Wiki travel 3 important tips!

One of the very important tips in my opinion was that everything should be broken down into a few different pages, if possible, so that the reader wasn't overwhelemed with tons of text. I know I had that problem in my clubhouse blog and would write a lot and not break it up. It definitely makes it harder on the eyes and less likely taht someone will stay on that page.
The second tip I found that I thought was important was the wiki markup code. It isn't the same as the normal HTML code for making websites, so being linked right to a page that tells you all about that really helped. I would have no idea where to start if it wasn't for that information.
Lastly, making sure that everything is under the right category helps the reader find things faster and easier. The manual of style states the many different things that would work well under each certain category. If we didn't know that, our pages may be very jambled and confusing.

My 3 wiki travel places!

1. Coventry, RI in general
2. Depetrillo's Pizza and Bakery in Coventry, RI
3. Genlina's (Michael's) Ice Cream in Coventry, RI
I would have to create a new article for each one of these because there are not any pre-existing one's. I know these places like the back of my hand. I have lived in Coventry my whole life. My family owns Depetrillo's Pizza and Bakery. Gelina's is in my opinion one of the best ice cream places in the area and definitely worth going to if you come by!

Responce to Wiki sites

The first thing that caught my eye was that everything on wiki travel is free. You don't have to call 411 to get directions or anything like that where it would cost money, you can just click on a website and get anything at the click of your finger. From the looks of it, you can get any information you want in any language you want. On the goals and non goals page I saw that they didn't want to do things that would make the site into something personal, much like a blog. They DON'T want it to be like a travel magazine and they DON'T want that site to be about personal travel logs. I liked how everything was up to date, though.

Blog Response 3

It is getting harder to think of more titles for future blogs. I hope this writers block doesn't last long. I am excited to keep going on this blog. At first, this was easy, but I can see it will have its challenges. I love talking about this subject, it is my life. I could go on forever and I just need to learn to let that flow in my writing. I got so excited to hear just good things about. One thing I just continue to look at is my blog description, I have never been that creative and I love it. I did it all on my own and it sounds as if I didn't even write it. I can see how I am growing by writing so much in this class and I hope it only gets better!

Blog Response 2

I tried to shorten my blogs like my peers suggested, but I felt like something would be missing. I had all the needed information in the blogs and cutting anything out would make it harder to understand. I can't wait to keep up with this, I feel like I can write a lot more. My first thought when I started this was, can this be anything more than personal? It has turned out that people enjoy what I am writing and that is insane.

Blog Response 1

I didn't like the colors or the layout much when I started, and my peers agreed it was dark to read. So happy with the changes now though. I was so elated to hear such good responces from the 2 group members I had over the weekend. I didn't think I was going to get that good of a responce, it isn't like I have done blogs before. There wasn't much to fix according to them, and that was great to hear. I was so mad when my video wouldn't load the other day! I had to post the link, I hope thats good enough.

Why I am credible for my enthusiasts blog!

I am definitely credible for my enthusiasts blog because not only have I done martial arts since I was about 6 years old, but I am a second degree black belt and have been competing and winning in my division on and off for about three years now. I love point fighting, or sparring as it is more often called. I am trained by my instructor who has won numerous world titles; so I know the basics... and more haha. I am more credible than just the normal martial arts fanatic, because I actually do and love the sport and have trained at countless studios with some of the best known martial artists in the state! I have many videos and pictures of my team, myself, and even my instructor and other black belts that I train with!

Clubhouse Blog response

My topic is going to be point sparring or fighting in martial arts. I guess the stimuli to which my blog entries will respond would be my competitions, competitors, maybe some pointers when it comes to point sparring, and stuff like learning how to do it?
The audience that this would attract would definitely be athletes and people who are interested in any kind of martial arts or who just like to watch it or are interested in it. If you don't have much of a like for martial arts, you may or may not like this blog. I have been told that some of the videos I have are pretty cool to watch even if you don't know what this is so it just might interest anyone with an inquiring mind :) The audience may like to read about how people point spar and how the scoring goes. They might really like to see pictures and videos I have too!
I'm not really sure what personality means in terms of a blog. I am sure I will be spending a lot of time designing the blog because I love playing with layouts and fonts. I will probably go with my team colors for karate. black, white, and red. Maybe play around with a pitbull or something because it is our symbol: Pitbulls National Karate Team.
I could title my blog: Fight cub? Haha I don't know?

Clubhouse Ideas

1. Karate
2. Exercise?
3. Facebook or Twitter?
4. Friendship?
5. Education?

Response to Stefanac

I think enthusiast blogs are a great way for people to show their passion for something. Finding people who share the same craze with you can be invigorating. The friendships that could come from it might change your life. I know that sharing the same feeling for something (karate in my case) has allowed me to make some of the best friends I have ever had and I wouldn't change or want to lose any one of them. I totally agree that you can ultimately share a place of influence with the group of people you come to blog with. From the critics to the fellow enthusiasts, the inspiration and growth you will come out with will be uplifting. The thing that totally makes an enthusiast blog is exactly what Suzanne said; the author is usually one who genuinely has an undieng love for the topic they are writing about.
When Suzanne started talking about advice for writers of enthusiast blogs, the first thing she mentioned (and last thing) caught my eye because I could totally relate. Being so in love with karate like I am, I know exactly how it can feel to get sick of something when you do it so often; but what prevents me from feeling this way is the fact that I continue to do this sport because I love it! It doesn't matter if there is a reward for winning my division and then going on to win grands. I would do this sport for as long as I could regardless. Everything has to be your own but at the same time catch the attention of the other enthusiasts. That can be hard. Just like in a form you compete with at karate, you want the blog to show your personality. The more creative and interesting you are and the more your show yourself through your writing; the easier it will be to keep your audience.
It was great to get advice from someone who was kind of a celebrity in the blog world. Getting started in anything can be hard, but hearing how to get through it from someone who has been there is helpful. Bloggers don't stop blogging just because something isn't selling on their blogs. They don't get discouraged, instead they keep doing it for love. That is a great lesson to learn and live buy. Just like anyone else, bloggers have inspiration too. Favorite blogs that they may get ideas from or inspiration through they are passionate about. I know that feeling. I love that feeling. When you are so comfortable about something the idea and raw emotion just flows out of you. It shows in any type of work or in any type of competition or sport.

Blog about Blog's

As I have kind of mentioned before in the Response to Rebecca Blood, I have never really had a blog or any kind of online journal but I do have a MYSPACE, TWITTER, and FACEBOOK. They are almost like the new age blogs because they serve somewhat of the same purpose. On facebook you can post your status as whatever you want. You can tell people what you are doing at the moment or you can even put song lyrics in it that describe how you are feeling or how your day is going. You can even comment on other friend's status's or anything else they might post. Facebook is a lot more creative than many of the blog's I have seen but it is amazing the kind of things that have evolved from the simple blog. Myspace is very similar to facebook but it has a place where you can just post an actual blog. It is part of your profile and people can leave comments on it as well. Twitter, which is kind of the newest of the three is a site where you can post, or tweet anything and everything you are doing or feeling! The only blogs I have ever looked at or read have been facebook, myspace, and twitter. Back a few years ago, livejournal was pretty popular but I really never got into it. Xanga was also something like a blog where you could post enrties about your day. I was actually really into that because you could change the layout and text any way you wanted! Designing the layouts for things is really fun for me because I think it makes the whole post. I can honestly say that after experiencing blogs even just for the past few days, I have become very interested in them. I can see my writing change and grow each and every time I post. I think I might get addicted!

Response to Rebecca Blood

Not even half way into this article you can see how fast growing the 'blog' has been. In not even a year the blog interested so many people that one even began learning HTML codes for fun and using off work hours to keep creating. This short piece of the article made me think about the video we saw in class on the first day. The video showed us how incredibly fast the computer came into play and how now we depend of it for some many different things. Not only is it now for entertainment and personal use for things such as blogs; but it is now used for work purposes at minor and major companies and even in the home. It is amazing to see that people took it upon themselves to learn the HTML codes so that they could keep processing weblogs. Without that desire to learn something new, only people who had gone on to education about computers and so on would be able to create a webblog.
Weblog editors seem to be able to pick and chose the way they want their content to be seen; and even how or what part of other's content is seen by the 'surfer'. Everything is pre-surfed. Also, webloggers are picking and choosing different parts of important articles or essays (for example) and other things that are commonly overlooked by the surfer. They are adding their commentary about a subject they may not even fully understand. What if the weblogger (publisher) decided they wanted to put their own thoughts into an article from a prestigious medical website (or something like that). The common surfer may overlook the full article and only find the webblog of the person who has decided to add their own commentary to something they may hardly know anything about. That scares me a little. I feel that the blog should be used to more personal things, but freedom of speech comes into play there.
The weblog grew and more and more people began to blog. The blog shortly turned into a short journal (blog style weblog). Instead of writing a diary or journal in a notebook, it was online where anyone could see it and respond to it. It became a conversation online much like AIM. The short journals online have since become very similar to that of FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, and TWITTER. I have all 3 of the before mentioned websites and I can see a lot of similarities in them and those of the webblog. I can update my status and let everyone who has me as a friend see what I am doing and add my own personal commentary to anything on the site (even that written by a friend or family member). Myspace even had a space where you could write a blog. I could have updated it everyday if I wanted to or even twice or three times a day. On Twitter, people can see what you are doing at any moment of the day, all they have to do is read your profile and all the tweets that have been submitted by you. People with Twitters commonly tweet maybe ten times or more a day! The weblog has lead to so many different ways of communication and writing but I can see a privacy issue emerging. Still, the creativity and personality in every type or blog or website that is similar is great and I love the way things have evolved over the years.
I can see her point in the filtered webblog being that it minimizes time for those who don't have time to surf the web to its full extent. I mean who really has that kind of time. Although, the problem with that is the accuracy of the information you are reading. You may get the information you want but with the added commentary and biases from the blogger.
I completely agree with what she said about how blogging everyday can increase the confidence in one's writing. Just over the past few days after being in this writing class I can see that I am writing more and more and each time I write it gets easier. I am still no where near where I need or want to be with my writing but I think getting criticism and things of that sort are essential when you want to grow in your writing. Blogs are exactly the kind of thing you should do when you are looking for growth and encouragement.

What is writing?

To me, writing is a lot of different things. Writing is certainly a way of expressing yourself. It can be in the form of song lyrics, poems, essays, books or stories, and even blog or journal entries. Writing can bring you to any place you want to be. It can get feelings out, relieve stress, get a point across, or even be just for fun and enjoyment for you and/or other people. Writing can be creative and fiction or it can be raw and real. Journals or blogs are things that are either private or public and can certainly be personal. I like to think of writing as a way to get your feelings or ideas out on paper (or electronically). It is a way for you to connect with people; to show them what you are really thinking, when it may not always be visible.

Writing environments: My room with music on or my dorm while I am here at school. Outside can always be a great place to write when the weather is perfect.