E-Life Week 8-9

This week, you will be learning about mobile apps

I have links to online resources for research; please read the following articles and/or explore the following sites:

The fight gets technical: mobile apps vs. mobile sites
Mobile Web App vs. Native App? It's Complicated

Understanding Mobile Apps
Consumers Now Spending More Time on Mobile Apps Than the Web [STUDY]
TripWire: 80 Best iPad Apps
Mobile Apps for Education Evolving
Making It a Mobile Web App
Government apps for mobile devices could be on the way
How mobile devices and the cloud will converge

Then, create a blog post explaining:

• What an “app” is.
• What you need to download and use an app.
• What types of data apps can access.
• Why some apps collect location data.
• Why some apps are free.
• Why some apps have advertisements.
• How app makers are able to customize advertisements to your specific interests.
• Why you should keep your apps updated.
• Whether you can trust reviews about apps.

This post is due by 12:00 (noon) on Wednesday, November 14.

Next, we you will be building your own mobile app :)

First, do some research (as needed) in order to answer the following questions:

• What kind of mobile application am I building and why would people want to use it?
• Who are my specific users? 
• How are you going to keep and grow your user base?
• How will I get my app on to my customers?
• Will I be able to make money with my application?
• What activities do I need to complete to publish this application?
• What resources do I need to produce this application?

Post the answers to your blog by 12:00 (noon) on Friday, November 18.

Then, go to the appsbar website

This development environment is free and will allow you to publish your app to iTunes and Android Market. Explore this site as needed in order to become familiar with all of the possibilities it allows for.

Then, “Sign Up For Free”

Create any app you would like! Be creative!

Once you have created and your app, you will need to create a new post explaining your app; you will need to need to take screenshots of it so that we can see the UI in order for us to best understand how it works.

This is due by 12:00 (noon) on Wednesday, November 23.

Publish your app. When you receive notice that the app has been approved, you should include proof that it has been published on your blog. Include directions as to where we can find and download this app to our own smartphones.

Each of you is to comment on at least one other person’s app creation by 11:59pm on Sunday, November 27

Extra credit for those of you who download one of your fellow classmates’ apps to your smartphone :)

You can show this to me after we reconvene from Thanksgiving break on Monday, November 28

E-Life Week 7

This week, you will be learning about cloud computing and open source technologies.

I have links to online resources for research; please read the following articles and/or explore the following sites:

The Cloud:

• What Is Cloud Computing?
• Cloud Computing: The Layperson’s Guide to Distributed Networks 
• Apple’s iCloud 
• Amazon Cloud Drive 
• Microsoft’s Cloud Power 

 Open Source:

• Open Source Initiative
• An Open Letter From Steve Jobs Regarding Open Source
• Apple Open Source Development
• Google Open Source Program
• Android Open Source Project
• 20 Most Popular Open Source Software Ever
• Best Open Source Software for Web Designers and Developers

For your assignment, you are to create two blog posts containing the following:

1. An explanation, in your own words of what “cloud computing” is. Where is this cloud? Include examples of various cloud-based services. Next, select one cloud-based service of interest, research it and share your findings with us.
2. An explanation, in your own words what “open source” means. Be sure to include how open source technologies impact both developers and end-users. Explain the various open source initiatives currently being utilized. Next, select one open source application of interest, research it and share your findings with us. 

These posts are due by Sunday, November 13 at 12:00pm. 

Next, read each of your fellow classmates' postings in order to find out about which topics they chose to explore in-depth. Comment on at least one posting by Monday, November 14 at 12:00pm.

*Note: You are certainly not restricted to procuring information from only the links I have provided. Also, as usual, please do not forget to provide links back to the sources from which you obtain your information.

E-Life, Week 5

This week we will be focusing on user-generated content.

Please watch the following videos:
Information Bombardment
An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube
Blogs vs. Wikis
Wikis in Plain English

And then, for Wednesday, answer the following questions on your blog:

1. What enables hatred as public performance? What other effects come from the combination of the same sources?
2. What is user-generated organization?
3. What is user-generated distribution?
4. What is user-generated commentary?
5. What is the purpose of media?
6. What is … and why do we care about … networked individualism?

By Wednesday, I will have sent you an invitation to become a collaborator on Wiki :)

Continuing on with the theme of "digital footprints", explore further-in-depth the impacts of social networking and utilities. Think about how social networking has evolved from its inception. Ask yourself how social networks have changed the world and how we communicate and relate to others? How has social networking changed business and impacted advertising and commerce? What are the social and political impacts of social networks?

In the "Week 4" folder on ANGEL, there is another folder entitled "Readings" that contains many documents pertaining to social media and some of the various social media platforms. I would like for you to spend this week reading over those materials (and anything else related that you might find on the web). 

By noon on Wednesday, Please create a blog posting that examines, describes, and compares between Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ the following:

• features
• functionality
• usability
• user demographic and population
• impact on business and advertising
• impact on society and pop culture
• impact on politics and government
• impact on civil rights such as privacy and free speech

By midnight on Friday, create a second blog post containing a conclusion, based on your research about the future of social networking.

Cite your sources and provide links to information and images to illustrate your points as necessary. Be sure that your postings have been spell-checked and are grammatically correct (with regards, of course, to the tone of your blog).

By midnight on Sunday, read each of your fellow classmates' opinions and respond to at least one posting. 

In today's folder on ANGEL, you will find a PDF entitled "Digital Footprints Reading", a slideshow entitled "A Timeline of Teens and Technology", a spreadsheet entitled "Teen Internet Usage Over Time", and a document containing "Questions to Answer".

Read the PDF, view the slideshow, and review the spreadsheet in order to find the answers to the questions asked.  Submit the document with the questions answered to its dropbox by noon on Friday, October 14.

From those questions, select at least two that you are particularly interested in exploring further in-depth. Search the web for more information on that/those topics and blog about your findings, opinions, and theories regarding them. Include links back to the sources for your information. Complete this blog post by noon on Sunday, October 16.

Read your fellow classmates' postings and comment on at least one by noon on Monday, October 17.


Best of luck, and have fun with this project!

Read these articles online:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet.htm

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-infrastructure.htm

You will be responsible for understanding this content and you will be quizzed over it on your midterm.

Also,
Please refer to THIS handy, educational, and entertaining diagram on The Oatmeal to help guide your writing (specifically spelling) when creating blog posts (or anything else for that matter).
Then, please take THIS quiz to test your new-found spelling prowess. Post your score, including a screen shot of it on your blog. Please don't cheat, as it will end up only hurting you in the long run...

CANUSA: Real Website or Inter-Governmental Conspiracy?

I simply don't know where to start with this one...

THIS is the single most crap-tastic awesome thing that exists on the web.

And trust me, being that I suffer from insomnia and procrastination-itus, I have seen damn near everything on the web...

I really can't tell if this is the pet project of someone's really, really old grandpa who completely lacks design sense, has never had any formal web training, hasn't even seen another web site since 1996, and lives in some biz-arre romantic fantasy world or if this is the work of a true evil genius.

Sample love poem:

"As you encourage me to try
new things with my web designing
and I get it right.. and you say
I knew you could do it hun
without you I will never want to
try every thing I do it for the
man I love very much and he will
alway have my love
Love you hun!!!"

Homepage screenshot (doesn't include framed navigation):