wikiHow Experience

 

Before doing this project, there was no experience in wikiHow. In the past, if there was something the editor wanted to figure out how to do, they would turn to YouTube. Sometimes YouTube is a great resource, while sometimes it is no help at all. WikiHow on the other hand seems to be pretty spot on – if what you’re looking for is there.

 

What’s great about wikiHow is that other people can come in and make edits. This is good because while people may be very knowledgeable about a subject, it is good to have someone with similar knowledge take a second look. This is what makes wikiHow a better a resource for “how to” than YouTube – the ability to edit. A lot of times you will watch a YouTube video, and find that the editor posted a comment, making a revision. At this point, it’s too late – you might as well re-do the whole video.

 

Film cameras are a trending topic as of late. Many people are buying old cameras, and giving them new life. There are a few articles on wikiHow for other specific cameras such as the Canon AE-1, and the Pentax K1000, but none for a Mamiya 645. While most people tend to shoot 35mm film, which is associated with the AE-1 and K1000, some will in engage in using medium format 120mm film. The 645 is a great camera for 120mm film – they are fairly easy to find, and are not as expensive as other medium format cameras. Along with that, they operate quite differently than 35mm format cameras. The idea of the cameras are the same, but the way that they operate and function may be confusing to someone who is used to 35mm.

 

Photographers are often times reaching out to one another about works best for them, so this was a great experience for the author to be a part of that. The photography community tends to be very helpful, so it no surprise that numerous articles have been already produced on wikiHow about photography.

 

After looking at other wikiHow articles on other specific cameras, the author had a pretty good idea for what to write. What parts were important, what was difficult, and what was easy.

 

The first step was to write a draft. This was a really great way to get your mind going  - what are you going to depict, how will you show it, and in what way. While writing out the draft, one could start to imagine what pictures would be shown along with the text. It is believed that in order to teach someone well, the demonstration is the most important part. How else will you be able to teach someone without properly showing him or her how?

 

Having a background in photography was a great help for this project. The ability to take

a video of the process, and then take out photos from that made the process easy. A good amount of thought was put into what was difficult about the topic. The best way to think about this project was how you could strip it down enough so that someone with zero knowledge of your topic could follow your steps. It helped if you put yourself in the shoes of a learner, not a teacher.

 

Once all the information draft was written, and the photos were compiled, the hardest part was about to come. Posting on wikiHow isn’t necessarily easy – it is somewhat complicated. The normal editing page that is supposed to walk you through everything, but even then, there are some difficulties. Using the advanced editor is the best way, but first you have to understand the coding aspect. Much like the good old days of Myspace, you have to put in the code that does all the formatting. If you are unfamiliar with such coding, you will have to rely on the tips. However, even after referring to the tips, the best way to figure everything out is by trial and error. With every change made by the author, they would immediately check to see if it was done the way they wanted. This worked well because you won’t get too far ahead.

 

With the difficulties faced, it is important for one for refer to this article. This article, entitled “How to Write a New Article on wikiHow,” is very helpful - essentially, it is a how to on how to use wikiHow. This article will help get though some of the important steps when you are just starting to make your article. However, it does not do the greatest job of explaining how to use the backend coding, or editing in general.

 

The article was finally finished, and posted to the internet for all to see. The great thing about wikiHow is that you feel as though you are able to help someone out with a topic they may have difficulty in. The author hopes that after it is posted, people who enjoy photography just as much them will find benefit from the article.

 

The evolution of the internet has allowed for people to connect is ways that they once were not able to. Along with that, we can comment, or even edit the work that people have previously made. While this may have its cons at time, it does have quite a bit of pros. Most of the benefit is that it brings about a higher amount of knowledge, and education to a subject. If one person to be in charge of making a publication, it may become biased because of the authors point of view. When having multiple perspectives, a topic gets greater attention, and becomes more efficient. Also, being able to have someone essentially double check your work helps to make it more accurate. Previous to wikiHow, people may have read articles they found randomly on the internet that had wrong information – causing people to ruin what they are working on.

 

Web Evolution

Web Evolution

 

Part 1

 

The Internet has surely come a long ways. In the past 20 years, we have evolved from Web 1.0, to Web 3.0. To many, these names are completely foreign to them. The Web has evolved at such a pace, that we have become accustomed to its constant changes.

 

The author feels as though the Internet is a vastly evolving form of technology. Web 2.0 is believed to be the form of Web that the author grew up on – early forms of Internet browsing that were much simpler. Web 2.0 was built around the idea of browsing, and finding out about new things. The author can recall growing up with Web 2.0, and how exciting it is. Before it’s release, it was hard to research topics, or find out what was out there in the world. For many, the opportunity to network via email was crucial to Web 2.0’s success. Emails changed the way we communicate – you no longer has to physically write someone, or call the on the phone. It was no possible to virtually send someone mail. This could be seen as a precursor to texting, and even social media interactions. Web 2.0 definitely lived up to the hype when it grew out of Web 1.0.

 

Web 3.0 is taking us into an ever-evolving place. The world we live in is becoming increasingly reliant on the Internet, and other forms of technology. Web 3.0 has given us the opportunity to have full control of publishing, and expressing ourselves. Social media could be seen as one of the biggest factors in Web 3.0 – specifically Facebook. With Facebook, we are able to interact with people with tremendous ease. People have the ability to be up to date with one-another at a constant pace. This includes personal matters, as well as political, educational, and entertainment matters. Overall, it gives the user the capability to have a voice on the Web – something that Web 2.0 didn’t allow for. With Web 2.0, if you didn’t know how to code, you could not make publications on the Internet. The author believes that Web 3.0 is taking us in directions we didn’t know were possible. It is tough to say what will happen next, but it is interesting to see how much more accessible the web has become. Smart phones now give us the opportunity to access the web whenever we want. Wi-Fi gives us access Internet almost anywhere – free of charge. This is great because purchasing data isn’t always cheap, so now anyone could gain access to it. However, this may have bad consequences because of web privacy. Hackers become stronger everyday, and are increasingly more knowledgeable about getting people’s sensitive information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 2

 

Web 1.0 is somewhat hard to define because Web 2.0 evolved directly from pre-existing characteristics of Web 1.0. The trouble with this is that Web 2.0 does not correlate to a particular advance in Web technology – it could be seen as Web 1.0 with a bunch of upgrades. To better identify what exactly Web 1.0 actually is, people often associate it with the time when the Web was a set of static websites that were not yet providing interactive content. In order to connect web pages, one would use hyperlinks  - a link from a hypertext file or document to another location or file, typically. Users of Web 1.0 were merely browsing around, looking at various forms of content.

 

Web 2.0 has been used to define what many know as the social web – an era in which social networking hold a majority of online activities. On August 1, 2003, Myspace was founded. While many did not realize it, Myspace would play a key factor into the evolution of the internet, and way in which people use it. In a scholary article written by a student at Salford, the author explains that “The evolution of technology in organizations is rapidly highlighting the potential benefits of Web 2.0 to the corporate environments. The customers are empowered to voice their opinions and help organizations to develop products and services.” While this article was from 2010, it was just about to see the potential the internet had for business. People could use social media to market themselves – for free. Along with that, Myspace was a great way for musicians and bands to market themselves. Since then, social media has evolved in a manner in which people can market, or interact with people, free of charge, and with ease. We now see platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook leading the way for social media.

 

Just as Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 were hard to find a clear separation, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 are somewhat hard to clearly define their differences. When 3.0 was first considered, it was said in the New York Time’s article in 2006 that Web 3.0 will see an era “when machines will start do seemingly intelligent things.” In another article, it is explained that “Web 3.0 might be defined as a third-generation of the Web enabled by the convergence of several key emerging technology trends: ubiquitous connectivity, network computing, open technologies, open identity, and the intelligent web”

Twitter Experience

Twitter has increasingly become an important platform for anyone who uses social media. There are numerous aspects that make Twitter a great tool for casual use, or business. Having completed the project in class, the class was able to see its uses at its full potential.

Any social media is a great tool for marketing – especially Twitter. Its simplicity is something that makes it so great, especially with its restriction of 140 characters per tweet. Using such a small amount of words makes the author get the point, and not have any fluff. For business trying to sell a product, they are able to essentially have free advertising. Their tweets are able to be seen by anyone of wishes to look at it. However, this can be a bit of a difficulty though because the market can become saturated once everything is posting, and trying to gain a bigger reach everyone else. With this though, it can push the author to become more creative and thoughtful.

In Brett’s experience running the Twitter account for Marco’s Italian Deli, he has been able to learn about how to market their name and product. A large part of what he has learned is that communication with the people who follow you is crucial. It is very easy for customers to be able to voice their problems and concerns, so you have to be careful with how to deal with them. More than anything, it is about customer satisfaction. Besides that, it is important to be transparent, but still some sort personality with everything. People want to be entertained, and don’t care for dry information being fed to them repeatedly.

From a journalistic point of view, Twitter is huge. Before social media, the immediacy of presenting the news did not exist. There used to be a waiting period in which the information was delivered to the public. However, we are now in a time in which news can be delivered to the public in real time. A tweet can be sent and in the public domain in a matter of seconds – which can be a blessing and a curse. On one side, it keeps everyone up to date and timely, but can also make for inaccuracies. Everyone expects to have information almost immediately, which can be tough for journalists to do the best job of reporting they can.

As a politician, Twitter can be useful because it is an easy for the people to learn about they are working on, or what their policies are. In this year’s presidential campaign, Twitter has been critical. Candidates are able to present their policies, or general ideas to the public. Along with that, it is an easy way to make statements about issues they are facing. However, this can make for unnecessary banter which has become somewhat of a distraction. From a journalistic, and political standpoint, both are important for showing personality and being transparent.

In the past year, there were many new stories that Twitter was able to communicate to the public their importance. One of the most important events were the attacks in Paris by ISIS. One of the most important aspects was being able to find out who was safe. People could send a tweet out letting their loved ones knowing that they were safe, and not harmed by the attacks. The general public was able to be informed on what was happening as the information was being brought forward. However, there was failure behind this event – that being the backlash Muslims received for the event. Many uneducated people were able to voice their hatred for Muslims – a very cruel act. While Twitter is great because it gives people a voice, sometimes there are people whose voice does not deserve to be voiced.

Another event were Twitter was able to be a big communicator were the riots in Baltimore, Maryland. During the riots, protesters took to the streets to voice their anger at the surge in police brutality. While unorganized protests took place, a large amount violence ensued, which was harmful to the general public. Twitter was able to communicate what was happening, as well as who was safe, and what to do in order to stay safe. This potentially saved lives, and kept people out of harm’s way. However, the only downside is that it may have made it easier for protesters to organize and come together to make their violent protests larger.

A third event that Twitter was able to communicate an important event was the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. This having been an important motion for the United State, people were able to educate one another in this important moment in American history. For people that rely on social media for their news, this was a case in which so many were talking about the topic, that didn’t have to watch the news – the topic was trending and was able to reach a large amount of people. Just as the last topic discussed, the only downside was that people whose opinions should never see the light of day was able to reach the general public. Homophobes were able to voice their opinion about the topic, which was quite unpleasant.

Brett chose to follow Red Bull, Ashton Kutcher, and the American Red Cross. He chose to follow red bull because their involvement with extreme sports is very entertaining. Ashton Kutcher was chosen because Brett knew that he was funny, and also politically driven. The Red Cross was chosen because they are known for being a great non-profit organization whose history goes back very far.

Twitter is different from blogging because it breaks everything down. The thoughts projected have to be much more precise and to the point – there is little room for play. With blogging, you are able to do into great depth. Communication is also very different because Twitter allows for a great deal of communication, while blogging does not allow for much communication.