Web 1, 2, 3............

Ok where to start..........well some of you  will remember the World Wide Web when it first started.  Wasn’t it boring?  It’s hard to think back to then and compare it to now.  The Web has changed from simply reading off the screen to actually adding to the page through words, videos or photos.  Who can conceive of living without a computer?

 

Making an website used to be really technical but now it’s really easy thanks to the likes of Dreamweaver and Moonfruit.  Web 2.0 technology means you don’t actually have to set up web pages anymore.  You can simply add to others.  You don't need technical ability to create a wiki or a blog.  The technology is there for you to use.  It’s an active web!  It’s collaborative, interactive and now there are lots of documents linked to other documents.   

The dynamics of the Web has changed dramatically in a short space of time.  The World Wide Web was created in 1969 as a military project and they created its backbone as an information sharing architecture.   Although I don’t honestly think anyone now thinks of it as the World Wide Web.  Everyone says the Internet or online.   

Strange that we seem to have forgotten that the internet is actually a network of computers all around the world not the content we see on web pages. 

Anyway, the lecture this week was about Web 2.0 technologies so if you get bamboozled easily I’ll try and dumb it down for you.

Ok so the World Wide Web uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol which sets the rules for formatting how you see the information on the page.  For example when you type this blog address into your browser the HTTP command is sent to the server and brings the requested page to your PC.  The Web has its own language called Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) which allows browsers to recognise what to do with text, graphics or audio visuals.  This can also be enhanced with the use of Cascading Style Sheets which describes the presentation to be used.  

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is used to define web page content and specific tags.  It is a way of storing, structuring and transporting information.  It’s not a replacement for HTML as it focuses on the data not the format.  XML is used to transport data between applications.  An example of XML is a RSS feed.  

Many Application Programme Interfaces (API) use XML as it’s simpler to use than HTML.  Ok now you’re wondering what an API is......well in simple terms it’s a set of rules for a software programme accessing services provided by another software program.  Ok an example.............uploading pictures to Picasa that are shared on Facebook is an example of an API.  The picture stays on Picasa but can be shared to other web pages in the same format without having to upload again.  

API’s are not something new in this blog as we spoke about Mashups before.  Remember?  So if you were paying attention you know that Mashups are lots of applications combined into one.  Pay attention!!!!

Right so we’ve looked at some Web 2.0 technology but why is it so much faster to view pages on the Web than it used to be?  You might think it’s because PCs are much faster but it’s actually more to do with how the information stored on the page is retrieved.  In the past the whole page was retrieved and now it’s sections which makes it much quicker.  Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) is a web development that lets the page content download and upload to and from the server without re-loading the whole page.  Very clever as it means that the user thinks the page is much faster than it is.  Watch out for it when you’re surfing.  If you press the back button and the page won’t reload, they’re using AJAX.  There’ll be no fooling you now!

Modern businesses use Web 2.0 technologies and Enterprise 2.0 is all the applications and tools geared towards business.  Business needs technology to operate as social media in particular has become part of everyday life for their customers.   Enterprise 2.0 is changing business in the way employees work, how they communicate and how they exchange information.  Businesses now share information with suppliers/partners as well as their customers and this is done with technology.  It’s all about collaboration.

So look into my crystal ball...................

Web 3.0 is coming.   

Web 3.0 is large scale user generated content due to the tools and technology available.  It’s expected that the internet will become intelligent and understand what you want without you having to tell it.  We can see signs of that now with things like sites suggesting things you might like based on your choices previously but a computer being able to understand what you want seems far away.  How many times have you been on a site and it suggests something that it thinks is related to your search and really isn’t?  I’m thinking at this point, will computers in the future have voices?  Will they try and sell us things that we really don’t want or need?  It could happen.  

There is also the suggestion that all the social networking sites that we use individually would be grouped together as one.  We would be interconnected people who could see everything each other had been up to.  Hey, I’m not happy about this!  I have different friends on different sites.  I don’t want them all merged into one.  As mentioned previously I don’t want Sir Alan Sugar seeing my Facebook!  He can look at me on LinkedIn to his heart’s content but some things are sacred!  

I don’t know about you but it seems to me that there is just too much sharing of information and very little is private anymore.  Intellectual property doesn’t exist on the Web so any great ideas keep them to yourself or drop me an email.  I’ll check my crystal ball.

Keeping The Place Or Losing The Plot?

I’m one of those right saddos that use bookmarks ALL the time so this subject was nothing new to me .....or was it.......as I say I bookmark everything....you never know when you’ll need to know about the ........again!!!!

Anyway.....I didn’t know that I could look at other people’s bookmarks.....very interesting....one drawback.....you need to know the name they registered! There was me thinking “Ya beauty.  I’ll just check out the lecturer’s bookmarks and that’ll tell me what I need to read for the report.  Sorted!” 

I didn’t know her registered name so not so sorted.  Bookmarking..........love it can see the point of it completely..........not being able to see anyone else’s bookmarks unless they want me to?  Not so loving it!

Foiled again!

The lecture was actually about social media sharing.  We all share files, photos, dodgy opinions and music but business has recognised that they can use this to promote themselves.  We might not think of Rihanna as a business but she is.  

Media sharing gives businesses an opportunity to get free advertising.  If we’re sharing it we’re advertising it right?  YouTube is not only for the dodgy clips that we all can’t help but watch it’s also used by serious business people to further brand awareness as it reaches such a large audience.  There’s no advertising costs involved on YouTube so it saves them money and adverts on the telly don’t bring in as much in sales as social media. 

We are a promotional wave!!!!

You’ve all liked something on Facebook.  You’re advertising.  Thanks to the clever boffins we are able to share our thoughts and experiences through social media.  My team and most of the other teams uploaded our presentation for Peckish Foods to YouTube.  Boy was that an experience.........If you’re suffering from insomnia the video will have the same effect as counting sheep but the point is we’re advertising through social media to an audience of millions for absolutely nothing and for small companies this is invaluable. 

I bet like me you didn’t realise the importance of social media in the business world?   

I think in lots of ways this country is behind when it comes to technology.  We’re all resistant to change on principal and as businesses are ran by the more mature section of the population (the old gits!) we refuse to use modern technology.  Even if it’s actually quite useful.  A point in case..................the mobile phone.  Why can't they work a mobile phone?  It’s not difficult. It’s pushing buttons and talking.  Come on!!!!

Do you think they know you can get a podcast of “The Last Night at The Proms?  Maybe that would win them over?  Podcasting is becoming quite common now mainly through the BBC with radio shows.  I’ve never actually used pod casting myself but I understand how useful it could be especially for lectures.  Why don’t they record themselves talking and then post it up after the lecture?   

Because none of us would go to class................ok point taken.

The lecture this week included tagging.  Tagging is basically giving something a name be it a person or website.  It just makes it easier to find for you and other people.  You can bookmark websites with words that relate to subjects such as.............. “chocolate”...... “easter” ...........“diet”............. and then sort all of your bookmarks into one easy to manage list.  Very helpful for some people!!!! Tagging or bookmarking everything lets the computer search information on what you’re looking for rather instead of you.  If you want to try it out for yourself go to Delicious and bookmark away to your heart’s content.

Terminator is real and heading our way! 

I’ll just leave you with this thought............if we all share everything what exactly will there be left to keep to ourselves?

2nd Life ......I Need a First One!!!

Have you heard of 2nd Life?  I thought it was infamous....... 2^nd Life is a virtual world where people can pretend to be someone they’re not and interact with people that they don’t know in real life and will probably never meet.  There’s something quite sinister about that for me but hey, whatever floats your boat! 

2^nd Life is based on the real world with some differences.  Everyone is really hot!  They just don’t do ugly!  They do weird but not ugly.   

Your avatar is supposed to be a visual representation of what you look like but if that’s true there are some really strange looking people out there somewhere.  And did I mention you can fly?  Don't see many of them on the streets of Glasgow. 

Avatars can talk to each other and use facial expressions or gestures to communicate while you type away in the chat feature similar to Facebook.

You can go out and meet other avatars or if you wanted, hide out on a private island.  You don’t have to make your space available to other users but it's worth every penny of the £200 per month!!

The basic role of 2^nd Life is as a game.  That’s what 2^nd Life was initially created to be.  2^nd life has been created by its users who have built houses, streets and shops.  You can walk down a street.  Go for a virtual romantic meal with a hot avatar or do some virtual shopping.  The only snag is that you don’t spend virtual money.  2^nd life has its own currency that you have to buy with real cash so even although it feels like it’s not real, it is.  You are spending real honest to goodness cash.  

If you’re lucky or talented you can make some money too.  There are plenty of virtual jobs available like shop assistants, designers and private detectives.   Yes, you heard me right.  Private Detectives.  There is complete anonymity for the users and a few years ago there was lots of publicity about virtual affairs leading to divorce.  So on 2^nd Life you can hire a private detective to make sure that your loved one is not out doing the virtual dirty.  

Publicity from the media may have also highlighted to the Public that it’s possible to do things online that you can’t in real life with little risk of being caught.  Now if you go online to 2^nd Life there is a good chance that you’ll meet someone who will use explicit language or offer to perform activities that you may not have even heard of!!! 

There are no rules on 2^nd Life.  No one is monitoring the content as it grows from user content.  

It's not all sinister.  There are some people on there who have used the virtual world to do things that they couldn't in real life.  Things that all of us secretly wish we could do.  Things like this video. 

Love it!!!!!

As part of the course we had to create our own avatars and visit areas in 2^nd Life.  I’ll be totally honest with you.  I didn’t do it.  I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in 2^nd Life and based on listening to the experiences of my fellow students I’m happy with my choice.    

I don’t need to visit a virtual world to understand the concept.  I totally get the concept and applaud the person who thought it up.  Virtual worlds have so many different aspects to them that should be positive and I think in a business capacity they are clearly a brilliant concept.  

Imagine you could create a virtual model of your body that could go clothes shopping instead of you!  I would be so happy to never have to face a changing room again.  I could go online visit the shop and try on the clothes, order what I liked and get it sent to my house.  Easy!  On 2^nd Life you can do this just now but the avatar is obviously not to your exact proportions.  Still you can go into shops and buy things for your avatar and this is proving to be useful to business not only in terms of sales but also for marketing.  In the virtual store you can have any colour.  You can change the look of items and this information is allowing businesses to gather information about customer preferences.  There are drawbacks to this theory as the users may be prepared to wear different styles of clothes virtually.  More revealing or from different materials but in terms of marketing it’s still useful and free information. 

Companies use virtual worlds to test consumer reaction to new products before launching them at very little cost.  Big named brands such as Nike and Adidas have a virtual presence which they use to test new products on customers to the virtual store.

2nd Life is not just used for selling things.   

Businesses can hold virtual meetings. Book a meeting room, turn up as your avatar and hold a meeting.  What’s wrong with video conferencing is what I want to know?  This just seems a bit too much for me.  I know there can be lots of attendees and it’s easier to see everyone but it still seems weird even if it does save time and money!

Virtual tours in real life businesses are becoming common especially with estate agencies and the virtual world really is where businesses can try out new things.  Businesses can make a virtual shop.  Architects can build virtual buildings to help with planning.   There’s a virtual Saltire Centre which looks exactly like the real thing.  The technical ability needed to build things within virtual worlds is high which may mean that small businesses may struggle to get on board.  

The security aspect of 2^nd Life is my main moan as it’s just not governed and for me as a consumer it’s completely off putting.  I was and still am really surprised that the University is promoting 2^nd Life although I can understand the appeal to the business community.  Maybe it’s not just a bunch of weirdos living out a fantasy life that they’ll never have but weirdos with a serious amount of real honest to goodness cash to spend!!!

The lab this week for most of the students was a source of frustration and to be honest the computers provided by the University as a whole are not at all what I expected.  Trying to log on to a PC can take forever and sometimes you have to try 3 or 4 before getting one that works.  I thought this had improved but again this week my PC refused to co-operate.  It had been explained to us that 2^nd Life didn’t like lots of users trying to access it from the same IP address so we knew that all of us wouldn’t be able to register....thankfully.....but you still expect the computers in the lab to switch on!  I realise that this isn’t down to the lecturers but it is important that we put into practice what we learn and we can’t do that without a PC. 

Presenting...............

The task for this week or should I say for the next 3 weeks.......did you hear me groan?............I have a new group and we have to research social networking and then deliver a presentation to a business owner (he’s not real by the way) about why he should be using our choice of social network.  The presentation has to accessed online so we're using wikis and Google docs........................just as well we learned about them lately! 

I totally get how being able to put presentations out there in the ether is useful to businesses but I am seriously beginning to hate all this group work!  

And another presentation too!!!!  

At least my group hate it as much as I do.   

I understand why the university is encouraging us to do group work.  It allows us to experience the joys of team working before joining the job market but the reality is that we don’t need to do the work!  It’s not like we’re employed and don’t have any choice.  We'd actually need to do it then.  The problem is that not everyone puts in the effort that they should and everyone has different standards.  My group are keen to get it over with so I shouldn't really complain.  I’m one of the lucky ones.  

This module is one that we all agree is relatively easy to understand but the work required in terms of time is quite high.  I'm finding that I'm getting totally stressed out with the overall workload for the course and trying to fit in time to study for the exam.

Anyway, we were put into groups in the lab and sorted out what we were going to research for the presentation.  The lab for those of you that don’t know is a computer room that we go to and practice what we’ve learned in the lecture.  Having the lab straight after the lecture works really well as it’s still fresh in your mind and last semester some of the modules didn’t have their lab until a full week later which was useless.

I really enjoy the practical side of the module but I'm thinking that maybe this presentation may be beyond my capabilities.  I fully expect the other groups to have fabulous all singing all dancing presentations, full off animation and videos.  Our presentation is a powerpoint, boring I know, but there's only so much you can do when you have other commitments.  

The content is all there but I fear the delivery will disappoint.  Perhaps this aspect of the module will appeal more to the media students who no doubt can whip up something fabulous.....................I'll let you know