Change in Plans

My intention with this streatch project was to learn HTML. So far, I have spent more time learning how to process, edit and crop photos to go on a website. For this, I have been using a scanner in the TLC. We had to download a thumbnail maker from Cnet, because the pictures were just showing up regular size when I downloaded them off the hard drive of the computer. I have spent 4 hours in the lab, scanning, saving, transferring, downloading, and making links to the thumbnails. So far, it's all worked out well. I just need to get more text on my site. I have pictures from Ukraine, and have started to post the ones from Slovakia. This is taking longer than I thought, but it's still an interesting process. Outside of the TLC, I have racked up 2 hours on the computer editing the text of my site. It's comming along nicely.

Building My Web Page

So far, the experience has been rather frustrating. I've spent two hours just looking for a template. 20m has a make your website section, but that it basically just fill in the blanks with what you want it to say. I'm going for something a litte more personal. I recently downloaded the program Microsoft FrontPage. I think this will help me make it more personal. However, that means I need to learn a lot of HTML. There is a book I checked out from the library that I hope will be of service. It is called the "Web Page Design Cookbook," by Horton, Taylor, Ignacio and Hoft. The book is rather thick, so I don't expect to be using the whole thing. Hopefully, little bits and pieces will be usefull.

Streatch Project

I have officially started on my project now. In the process of making my own website, I will look at a few different sources for information, and use the help available in the Technology Learning Center at the IACC. The sources I will be using are on-line, as well as having a personal assistant. A friend of mine was kind enough to help me with this undertaking :-)

Webmonkey for Kids and build-website.com are a few of the on-line sources I have found so far. The next step was to find a host. I looked into Geocities, but settled on 20m. My friend back in Washington has a site hosted there, and it looked like a nice setup. Unfortunately, you have to have banner ads in order to have a website, but its a good amount of space for free.

The website I want to set up will be a personal one, just highlighting some of my interests. I'll try put in a photo gallery of some of the places I've visited, and maybe a section for my own artwork. We'll see how far I get in two weeks. I still need to get some stuff from home, so, it won't be complete until sometime next week.

I'm going to try check out a digital camera from the IACC, and will use the help at TLC to scan my images and hopefully, onto my webpage. Until then, I will mostly rely on Ryan for guidance. Hopefully, all goes well! I've never done anything like this before, and am looking forward to the experiance.

LLRX.com - A Closer Look at Weblogs

I'm sure by now all of us have found out everything we ever wanted to know about weblogs ;-) There is always something new to know! Here is a site that is helpful for people like me who are realativly new to the whole blogging scene: LLRX.com Anyway, I've been complaining all along that there is no sure fire way to find a weblog that interests me. Maybe now I have a fair chance. This site also lists several engines that match your search and lists blogs by topic. This site just covers the basics of weblogging, not exactly how it can be applied toward anything we've been looking at in class. Feel free to check it out.

Personal Addition

I think I'll give this personal weblog thing a go! It's not about me, but, its about my pets. They are all dear to me and I miss them terribly. Since I have been at college, they are at the mercy of my family. Ok, I know that sounds bad. No, no, my family does a fine job caring for them...it's just, they don't really do the nitty gritty stuff. So, what kind of pets? Well, I have 41 fish, and a dog named Sadie. (She's the sweetest thing) I'll try get a pic of her on here sometime. There are two tanks in my family room, a 55 gallon for the freshwater tropicals and a 10 gallon for my goldfish. Some people think fish are boring, but I think they're great. Keeping aquariums is a great hobby for me. I hope to get more someday, but right now I'm not there to care for them as much as I would like. As long as I can remember I've loved animals of all kinds. I'm working toward a Zoology degree with emphasis on fish and wildlife. My dream come true! Well, someday. Now, its a lot of hard work and ulcers for me!

Anyway, I was browsing the internet and came across a really great site: www.aquahobby.com It has an awesome gallery, tips, setups...basically everything you need to know about an aquarium. They feature a personal aquarium of the month...I feel suddenly amature. Some are really beautiful. It also has links to other great sites dealing with similar things.

Here's a glimpse of what I keep:

55 Gallon Tank

4 Three Spot Gouramis (Trichogaster trichopterus)

2 Paradise Gouramis (Macropodus opercularis) I bought
two males at Wal-Mart. Their beauty was very attractive. I know you're not supposed to put two males in one tank, but they generally leave each other alone. My tank is probably big enough where they can avoid each other. However, when I'm cleaning the tank, the water level lowers, so they have to be around each other for a while. They flare out their fins and gill covers in a spectacular show down. I've never seen them fight...I think they both know they're an even match. It's a good chance to see the full extent of their great color patterns.

4 Buenos Aries Tetras (Hemigramas caudovittatus) When I
bought these fish, the owner of the local pet store told me they were Red Blue Columbian Teras. Hmmm...almost sounds illegal, doesn't it? I had never seen their kind before, and every time I typed in that name in a search engine, nothing came up. Finally, at the Aqua Hobby site, I found the Buenos Aries Tetra, which looked suspiciously like the Red Blue Columbian...

1 Zebra Danio (Brachydanio malabaricus) This was one of the first inhabitants of my tank. I started
off with four of these little guys, but three died, one a rather horrible death. There is one sole survivor. I should get more, just to keep him company, but those darn Rosy Barbs keep procreating! More room! More room!

3 Giant Danios (Danio malabaricus) Three of these were the
first inhabitants of my tank as well. They are hardy, and are a good starter fish to balance the enviroment in the aquarium before adding others. They are fast swimmers, and need lots of room. I feed them misquitos in the summer time...they seem to like that.

1 Plecostomus (Hypostomus plecostomus) I bought this fish
when he was barely two inches long. They are extremely shy and nocturnal, so most of their activity is done at night. Mine used to stick his head in a hole in a rock during the day, however, he has since grown to be 8 inches long! Needless to say, he can't get his head in that hole anymore.

3 Cory Cats (Corydoras aeneus) I alway thought these little guys
were kinda ugly, but now I think they're some of the cutest fish out there. They should never be kept singly...they love the company of other corys! I have three and they are always together. If you watch them for a while, they might roll their eyes at you. If you're having an algae problem, they're a good investment.

5 Neon Tetras (Parachirodon irnesi) This is one of the most
common found in aquariums. I needed some small, brightly colored schooling fish. These little guys were just the ticket. However, one did commit suicide...so, make sure your aquarium is always covered! I didn't know they were inclined to jump out.

5 Cherry Barb (Barbus titteya) Here is another nice little
schooling fish. They fill in the gaps nicely, and are plump, merry little fellows.

5 Rosy Barbs (Barbus conchonius) These are the most
aggressive fish in my tank, even though they're not bad. I didn't know I was getting 4 males and 1 female, so they are inclined to fight a little more. Two of the males are missing an eye because of the bickering. I know it says I have only 5 of them, but the number has since climbed to 10! Some of the new arrivals managed to not get sucked up by the siphon or eaten by any of the other fish. If this keeps up, I'll need to get another tank!

10 Gallon Tank

3 Goldfish - I started off with one Common Goldfish. To tell you the truth,
I never really wanted to have goldfish. They were just too boring. Last Super Bowl Sunday changed all that. My friends back home can come up with some crazy ideas. (It is a small town, so you can't really blame them). So, one of the guys went out to Wal-Mart and bought one of those 30 cent goldfish to put in a water pitcher at Perkins Family Resteraunt. My brother has always called me a tree hugger, and I guess I lived up to it. I bought that fish off of him for a dollar and took it home. I ran out to get him a 10 gallon tank. He was just a little thing when I put him in there, but he's grown to be a pretty good size. His name is Glou Glou. One day, I went out to buy him two more friends, Monty and Sgt. Pepper. They're always hungry...they'd probably eat until they exploded if I let them.

A Filter

I was randomly browsing the Internet through Google, and I came across a weblog that discusses weblogs in education! Imagine that. There are many helpful links on this site that lead to other blogs of people and their comments on the issue of weblogs in education. Some even go beyond to discuss business and journalism opportunity. It's worth checking out: www.schoolblogs.com Take a look!

A Personal Reflection

Well, it is now 11:51 p.m. on a Thursday night, soon to be Friday morning. I've made some progress on my evaluation of the use of weblogs in education. My brain no longer wants to work. I suppose if I would have started researching earlier, it wouldn't be this frantic. The whole weblog concept has put my head in a spin. It's really not that confusing...people posting their ideas, chatting, sharing info. It's just the fact that there's SO much of it! I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. Many of the weblogs that deal with the issue of education say the same things over and over again. Weblogs are a great way to get students to organize ideas, develop a "community of learning", self confidence and all that good stuff. I have yet to find any opposing view points, and I will continue my search. So far, I'm not quite sure what to make of the whole thing, and am having a hard time finding my niche in the blogging community. I suppose it would help if I could add a little more personalization. Anyone out there who wants to let me in on that secret? I would love to know! Personalization is a great way to get people psyched up about things, maybe it would even get students excited about learning! Who knows? Despite the frustration, I think this class is going somewhere...I'm just not totally sure where, yet. By the end of the semester, I'll probably be blogging like it was nobody's buisiness.

Summary of "Bookmarking the World: Weblog Applications in Education" by Jo Ann Oravec

This article was divided up into five different sections: weblogs as a genre, practical aspects of brining weblogs into the classroom, weblogs and the development of students' voices, preventing information overload, and helping to make sense of internet resources.

Orvec commented on weblogs becoming a genre. In a sense I think that is true. Blogging has soared in popularity over the past decade, serving as a new medium for posting personal ideas and acessing new information. In a way, it seems as if weblogging is becoming another household expression, much like the World Wide Web. Maybe it only seems that way because I have been looking into it more. Like the internet, weblogs have become a genre. Since the internet is already used widely in education, it would only make sense to use weblogs in a similar way. The weblog format allows people to work together or alone. This could come in handy in a classroom setting. Students can look at each others work, and the teacher can post sites that enhances what is already being taught in the class. According to Orvec, webloging in the classroom can help students to develop their own voice and ideas. It breaks down information from a limitless and often confusing source.

The author seems to have great confidence in this new fronteir in education. I wonder, was there this much hype about the educational potential of the internet when it came into public light? It seems to have potential, but only to an extent.

What Makes a Good Blog?

During the past month, I have been exposed to many different kinds of weblogs. With each encounter, I have drawn more conclusions to what makes a good weblog.

I suppose it depends upon what the point of the weblog is. Unless you are a friend or family member, personal sites seem to hold little significance. However, I will admit that I have found cleaver sites through a personal log. Sometimes, you might randomly stumble upon a person who has a similar interest as you. In this instance, the site should be well organized, with links and filters available. There was a site, The Mighty Geek that I found to be nicely done and organized.

If one is looking for an informative weblog, there are also some things that I found to be helpful. Whoever is posting the blog should list credentials and links to the sources of their information. It is nice to have all the subject matter listed and catagorized for easy access. Also, links should be made available to other sources with similar information, if they know of any.

These are just a few ideas of what make a good weblog.

Filtering on the Web

Tonight I was playing around with the idea of filtering of weblogs. In class I had heard that a bonus to weblogs was that they filtered information into more interesting commentary. I was hoping to find some weblogs on my passion, and that is wildlife. However, I found that these weblogs are often vague, disorganized, and hit and miss. Perhaps I am going about my search in the wrong way. I was disappointed to find that www.blogger.com does not have a search mechanism to root out other articles that are posted on the site. For me anyway, I found that it was much more effective to use Google and just search for the topic I was looking for. I found many gems, among them, a great informative page on wildlife rehabilitation. The best thing I came up with was a BBC weblog that catagorized topics in wildlife. Most of it was message boards populated by the general public. Much of it was childish and improfessional, like a man wondering why they just didn't blow a trench open across Africa to let the sea water flow through. His logic was that it would give rise to another jungle and thus, new species. I think he was from Norway. Anyway, that's not the point. In my experience with weblogs so far, it's difficult to come up with the information you really want. I will continue to try and use weblogs to get information, but so far I find randomly surfing the internet is just as effective.

Summary of "Weblogs: A History and Perspective" by Rebecca Blood

Before entering the class of English 110, I had never heard of a weblog in my life, even though I had most likely stumbled upon one inadvertantly while surfing the web. This article shed light on a subject I knew nothing about.

The earliest weblogs appeared around 1998. Jesse James Garrett compiled a list of other known weblogs in 1999. He came up with a mere handful of 23 sites. This is when the weblogging explosion began. It became almost impossible to keep up with what was being posted on the weblogs daily. The idea of weblogging appeals to people because it does not require extensive computer skills. You do not have to know how to set up and maintain a web page, and most of all, it is free of charge. Anyone with internet access can begin their own personal weblog.

Blood also mentioned how setting up and maintaining a weblog can help people discover what they are truly interested in, and can provide a way for one to correspond with others who have similar interest. This may prove useful in the feild of education. Another useful trait of weblogs is that they take issues away from the media spotlight and break them down, helping people form their own opinions. Weblogs can help to filter down information, giving valualbe input from other little known sources. Reading this article made me want to jump in and become a full fledged member of weblogging society.