Peer reviews

I have received two peer reviews for my site and I'm really happy with the feedback I have received. the marks for my website were pretty good but I found out from my two reviewers that the link on my homepage to my blog didn't work! I went back and fixed some minor difficulties, making sure that all the links led to where I wanted them and adding an email to the contact page. I also added much more detail to my social media page, specifying much more what I would like as contribution.

I feel like there was a lot to improve on and I wish I had completed more by the time I uploaded my website to be peer reviewed. I plan to ask family members to also review my site based on the marking key and recieve more feedback about what can be improved. The concept of social learning has been explored during the course and a lot of interaction is required. I have also created a LMS post in case anyone had free time and wanted to add some suggestions. I had a look at others' work as well and provided feedback on some of the blog as well as adding to my own in areas I felt were lacking.

Overall I really enjoyed the unit and found it required me to take control of my own learning and use social means, technological and otherwise to work out what needed to be done. I found I had obtained a lot of new knowledge and could even help my friend create her own personal blog. I went from technologically illiterate to technologically... in control. Many of the things I have learned will be used in the future, for personal means and in the classroom. I have learned many valuable things including image copyright laws and Creative Commons, creating a website, creating a blog, creating a PDF, using social media to achieve a social purpose and, above all, learning to facilitate my own learning. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dumfstar/8553474140/

Difficulties

I have been going back over my older posts and adding visual images and I find that sometimes blogger reports an error when I try to update my post. I attempted to revert my document to a draft but the same problem resulted. I found someone else with a similar issue through Google search but couldn't see an answer there. I eventually worked out that the  problem seemed to be happening because I was dragging images from my desktop into the text window and when I used the image uploaded on the toolbar the blog entries updated fine. I'm glad this problem was so easily resolved because images add a lot of visual interest to posts and prevent the viewer getting bored when they read long paragraphs of text.

the error message that displayed when I tried to update my post

Creating a PDF document

For part two of the assignment we were asked to create PDF instructions for signup and contribution to our social space. I started by creating a dummy account on Facebook, mapping the signup process. I had to also had to use an old email for this purpose because Facebook does not allow the same email to be used for different accounts. Instead of choosing another program to create my PDF document I decided, and perhaps I shouldn't have, to use Word. I found that my version, word for mac 2011 operated very differently than previous word programs I had used and I found it very difficult to navigate and use the tools I needed. My screenshots were a jumbled mess and once I copied them onto the document, they rearranged, disappeared off the page and covered each other and would not be moved. Word had also crashed three times by this time and my patience was wearing thin ... 

A screenshot of my instructions in word

Eventually, with painstaking effort and repeated saves I managed to string the images into some sort of coherent order and write captions. The finished document looks pretty effective but I have resolved to never use word for this sort of purpose again and to find a more specified program in the future. Though word allows for easy conversion into PDF, it seems to be a program more suited to the creation of written text. The experience however, allowed me to develop problem solving skills when faced with a problem and I will do more research to see what programs are out there to use when i am faced with a task like this again. 

Below: a section of my finished PDF instructions

Evaluating my three sites

I've created my event in each of the sites to determine which one will suit my needs best. So far I had a little difficulty with Google plus and uploading the image I took. The image was too small in size and would probably appear stretched if I used it for my cover page. Eventually I chose one of the available templates available when i customize and I found that it fits my theme of a beach holiday well. 

LifeWeShare : This site was a simple website building platform that allowed me to write a description and other members to comment after entering their first and last name. It is listed in as one of the top online RSVP websites, is extremely simple to use and only requires the creator the sign up and this is a huge plus. However, it only provides a URL by means of access and the site cannot be found through google or the main page without signup. I found this to decrease my attraction to the site because the link would either have to be written down or sent via other social media sites that also have an event creation function thus defeating the purpose of a social media site. Privacy, however was very effective and the user has the opportunity to restrict access by means of a password and the fact the site cannot be found also increases privacy. However, it doesn't have a notifications system like other social sites and I and my friends would have to check regularly to make sure we didn't miss anything.  LifeWeShare isn't well known and many friends already have accounts on other sites such as google+ and Facebook. The appearance of the site did not really generate interest and though a small cover photo can be uploaded, the page can be customized to an extent and one of three themes chosen for the look of the page, without upgrading to a paid version, I found myself looking elsewhere for a social platform with which to create my social space. 

 

a screenshot of my site at LifeWeShare.com

Google+: I found this site fairly simple to use and thought that the event creation was suitable, allowing me to create an event and have other members contribute in the form of a comment thread. I did find it a little difficult to navigate, just because I was not used to it. Signup to the site was quite simple however and required me to provide the usual information, such as my name and birth date. If you already have a gmail account, you can just move on from there and i found this very convenient because I had previously signed up to gmail. The site is uncluttered and ways quite pretty, though quite similar to Facebook with its timeline coverpage customization and event creation. I created an event on Google+ and found it simple and effective however the privacy features are somewhat lacking and according to this site on google+ pros and cons, anyone can "follow others and interact with them without the other party having to confirm any type of relationship". However, also like Facebook, it allows the creator to publish the actual event with varying degrees of publicity and set a date and time.

My event created through Google+

  Facebook: though the popularity of this social media site has fallen a little recently due to policy changes, particularly in the US, It remains to be one of the largest social media sites and most of the younger generation already have an account. Due to my previous experience creating events on the site, I found it easy to create an event and already knew how to customize my page and send out invites. This platform is suitable for my social event because many of my friends already have accounts and because I am on the site a lot I can view updates more easily without having to remember and change my schedule.  Objectively, the site is not as sleek as google+ which has moving cover pages (wow) but the two sites are altogether very similar with exception to Facebook's larger member base. 




I have decided to go with Facebook as my social site for a number of reasons. I feel comfortable using Facebook and many of my peers and possible reviewers of the same generation probably also have accounts. I am also familiar with creating events on Facebook and can update and check my social space regularly. I can see myself using Facebook in the future for purposes such as organizing an event and this is why I want to improve my skills when it comes to this site.
 

 http://www.insidefacebook.com/2011/06/12/facebook-sees-big-traffic-drops-in-us-and-canada-as-it-nears-700-million-users-worldwide/

Choosing a social media event

For my social media event I have decided to arrange a low budget holiday in order to meet up with high school friends. This seems like something that I might organize in the future and seems like a good choice. I will write a more detailed description on the social media page of my website soon.

 Today I investigated different kinds of social media sites to use for part two of the assignment. I went to a website which listed the top 15 most popular social networking sites. I see the popularity of a social site quite important as well as its features because it reflects the likelihood that friends already have an account and the probability that I may need to use the site in the future. A popular site with large revenue can put more into keeping up to date and making sure the site is running smoothly and effectively. I investigated range of different social sites including meetup.com which seemed tailored to finding people with similar interests and arranging to meet at a specific location and time. Though I found the idea interesting, my event was more focused on meeting up with existing friends as opposed to finding new ones and I needed a platform that allowed for more contribution. I also found that Meetup required monthly payments for services that other sites like facebook.com offer for free. I found a range of other sites online such as Tagged.com and ning but either found them difficult to use, expensive or lacking the features I needed to create, invite and receive contribution. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/free_for_commercial_use/8563255639/


Eventually I decided to review Facebook, Google+ and a website creating platform called Life we Share that allows users to create an event website and receive RSVPs and comments. I will create dummy accounts on each one to map the signup process and create instructions.