Sematic Web/HTML Mark-Up

Well the way I see it is that as a individual in a a huge tribe of designers we are unified through CSS and HTML. We all learn this skill through different ways and people but that is no excuse to execute the action improperly. The Semantic Web is a term used to to unify and make sure the proper etiquette is taken into affect so that eveyone who sees the code can read it and process it the same. Just as any language in the world has rules, it is made and can be a beautiful thing AND can also be butchered and abused. I found a website that talks about a new term ‘coined’ in 07 to determine what these semantics are. POSH which mean Plain Old Semantic HTML. I think it’s cute. Check out the Slide Show I found on Semantic HTML which was inspired by The Semantic Web.

Semantic HTMLhttp://www.ermanz.govt.nz/news-events/archives/presentations/semantichtml.html

POSH
http://microformats.org/wiki/posh

New Quarter,Bad Start..

Oh goodness… so sorry about this nonsense. I’m new to all this CSS and HTML has changed like a million times since 2000. LOL So i need all the help I can get. I did check out the Transcending CSS Book by Andy Clarke and I must admit it was pretty awesome but it was 40 or 50 bucks new but non the less a must have. I’m looking forward to learning in this class but the research might get to me. I also have trouble with order of tabs and were specific tabs might go. I need a list to define where in the order most things go just to get me started. So anyone who has any book that they would recommend I would be grateful…

P.S. I’m slow so step by step would be great.

XHTML and What-not….ARG!!

Cascading Styles Sheets eh? Sounds so frigin fancy but it’s not. Keeping all the labels color coded so you don’t get jumbled up in the mess of all the codes. I just recently noticed that. Using actual words in there to describe the actions in the code…. I generally grasp the idea of it but when it comes to the intermediate stuff I wash my hands clean of it. I guess I just need to learn how these things are organized and kept in order so I can remember and keep up with it all. Java. Where to begin? It seems like a toned down version of Flash looking at the codes. I’ve always heard about Java but never learned it. Could prove to be quite interesting. An AJAX…what’s an AJAX? LOL Ok ok… Advanced Navigation Tools?! What in the world. Keeping retaining info and data entry. I guess that’s what I got from it. All good i guess. I guess I will appreciate it more once I can utilize all this for the harvesting of my own good.

Getting Things Done…

Hummmm…. “Getting Things Done” well… first of all the way people talk about this book as if God wrote it himself. Makes me curious to read it. A few things in the article that captured my attention were..

• Capturing anything and everything that has your attention
• Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps
• Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on
  how and when you need to access them
• Keeping current and “on your game” with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your
  commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions)

And also “Sophisticated without being confining”. It’s weird because I have been applying this to a few clothing designs that I put together. Everyone wants to express themselves in a unique way with out being too crazy but maintaining a certain sophistication about it. This is also an Idea I would like to explore and improve in my work, designs, and style.

Podcasting….

Well the idea of pod-casting is kinda new to me…..For 1. I don’t own an MP3 player or iPod and 2. I’m not the type of person to listen to talk but i do like the idea of new music. The thought of people using pod-casting to get their names out in the open is pretty awesome. I have discovered that there are other pod-casts that i can benefit from such as learning languages and getting music from other countries. I don’t get how I can talk to people in Ireland and the UK and they know about our top Music lists but we know nothing about theirs. Sucks. Shows how close minded we as Americans are. Take the news for example. Usually they do a segment on world news and it’s like ‘World News in 80 Seconds’. WTF? You can’t learn all the important stuff going on in the world in 80 Seconds. I would rather watch BBC because you get the U.S. news and so much more. Pod-casting could so help me get the news with out taking out the time to watch t.v. because it’s not really my style anymore.

iNjen-ew-Ity…..

It is now a recognizable and universal symbol. RSS Feeds. One step closer to globelization. I discovered reading a few articles that RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds came about through bloggers and bloggies (readers). Instead of having to check the blogs every so often RSS brought the blogs to them. The madness spread to EVERYTHING which is great. Many people are starting to use it as a money making tool to bring people to their websites. Typical humans. Always trying to find some kind of way to make money out of something. But it is just another way to make the world smaller and bring us closer together. On the articles that I found there were a few other articles about the subjects we disused in class such as blogging and Web 2.0. Interesting ideas and up to-date blogs on the bottom of the page.

Benefits To RSS

What’s Happening With RSS

Part 2..

    Community Practices…sounds like a cover word for witch or voodoo village sacrificing. I crack myself up. Well I think the whole idea behind this Community Practice is the engaging in a community that you are a part of and taking from it consciously  and subconsciously. Learning your place in the community and taking your part and using it to improve yourself as a person and the community itself.  Being able to tap into your subconscious  is something not many people can do unless they analyze themselves and/or have people do it for them.

In the article, Communities as a Practice: Learning as a Social System  Wenger pointed out in a chart the intensity and organization of Relationships in a Practice. This chart was interesting to me because I can look at it and try to place myself in it somewhere and apply the Communities of Practice to school, family, work, friends, and even as a human being. Sorry got a lil deep there.

How To Be Heard Response

The purpose of this article is evidently clear. To NOT take notes on this would be an insult to the writer if you don’t know what your doing or want to improve. I was introduced to a few ideas that I wasn’t aware of even thought I have blogged before. I love the way Mr. Downes outlined the steps and breaks the process down. When giving yourself a set goal a process is always taken no matter what it is and that’s something we should never forget. Below is part of the out line that Downes follows. I often find when I begin a project I follow similar guidelines.

Plan

Purpose

Content

Support

Process

DesignFont

Speed

Colour Scheme

Design

If You Can’t Design Web Pages…

Implement

Personal Learning Envionrnments

 As I look back on the knowledge of people long before wide spread information was available, many ideas were not discussed, just applied and there was no argument about it. For instance, I watched a PBS special on Lobotomy and it pains me to see what wide spread knowledge was. This is just a small example of what people thought and accepted. To have the Internet today as a collective knowledge is an understatement in the essence and overall wealth that we are exposed to today. It still reiterates the old saying that two heads are better than one. To look at and consider the ideas  of others instead of sticking to one or maybe even just a few ideas that you might think are true.

PLE Slide Show

Whales Wide Web

I want a Pet Velociraptor…..

Yes I do want a pet Velociraptor and no the title has nothing to do with my blog response.

I remember when Wikipedia became popular on the scene, most of my teachers would yell at us and say ‘And DON’T go to Wikipedia for research cause it’s not a valid source of in formation!’. Now when ever I don’t know something I usually get my results from Wikipedia and eventually I find exactly what I was looking for. I see the web applications ,that the article talked about, as stepping stones to the future. Slowly all the many machines that we use will condense into one. Phones progress forward more than ever now and the change is constant. Apple is leading this progression with the iPhone because it can do so much and has actual web diplay. Many movies that show the future there are machines that so much more that we would expect. The concepts aren’t rediculious, it’s the approach on how many of these objects will look because we compare them to only what we know now. Convience and things that are free are the things that people are drawn to in this society. When providers tell people that there applications are free rather than a costly service of course people are going to be drawn to it. DUH! Here are a few things I Picked up from the article about the infamous Web 2.0.

-Constant upgrades

-Convience and Easy Access

-More control and interactivity

-Connection to others and everyday people

-Mash-ups. Combining of many tools into one

-Service/NOT a product

-Observation of User activity

-More than one platform

Below are a few quotes that captured my attention.

“Any Web 2.0 vendor that seeks to lock in its application gains by controlling the platform will, by definition, no longer be playing to the strengths of the platform.”

“There’s an implicit “architecture of participation”, a built-in ethic of cooperation, in which the service acts primarily as an intelligent broker, connecting the edges to each other and harnessing the power of the users themselves.”