Damn you open area!

Any word as to why Neptune is down and when it will be back up? I want to upload this midterm.

Questions on Jew’s Daughter and Unknown Hypertext

Both Unknown Hypertext and The Jew’s Daughter are considered to be hypertext fiction which, according to Wikipedia, “is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links which provides a new context for non-linearity in “literature” and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text to the next, and in this fashion arranges a story from a deeper pool of potential stories.”

 
1. Knowing this, do you feel you would have enjoyed these stories if they were in a regular, linear format or did this prove more enjoyable because you could choose (in Unknown’s case) where you wanted to go?

 
2. It is obvious how Unknown Hypertext can be interesting since each page can have so many different links but what about The Jew’s Daughter? You can’t really go anywhere except where it tells you to making it much more restrictive. What advantages, if any, could you see from creating hypertext fiction in this fashion other than confusing the hell out of the people who read it?

 
3. When I first looked at Unknown Hypertext, it reminded me how websites used to look back when the Internet was first being used. Simple layouts littered with hundreds of links to other places. What did this website remind you of?

 
4. Do you think that these websites might be the future of literature over the internet or do you think people will continue to prefer the linear form?

 
5. Why do you think someone would go through the trouble of creating a website like The Jew’s Daughter? What purpose do you think it serves?

Hilarious video about every famous website at a party

Enjoy, oh and not for kids.

Wenger reading response

Yea a little late but I’ve been really busy the past week.

I basically had the same thoughts that everyone had in class, it was confusing and it was obviously intended for someone in management. If you look at the back of the cover, the quotes people said about the book are even geared towards management.

I just didn’t like it, at all.

The “About Me” readings

A tad late but better late than never.

As I brought up in class, the reading really reminded me of that movie Network. It’s about a newscaster named Howard Beale, also known as the Mad Prophet of the Airwaves, and his rantings about television, the media and life itself. Similar to About Me, the film painted a picture of “truth” and our acceptance of it. He talks about large corporations taking over news networks and truth becomes a relative term since they can show whatever they feel like.

This film came out in the 70’s but paints a clearer picture today than it did back then.

Here are two videos of the best diatribes of the film and are still famous even today.

and this one.

Observing the observations of the observer

I just started doing some of the preliminary work for the Learning Record and it feels a bit weird cataloging my thoughts and reactions to course material and work. It sort of feels like a diary or something. I wonder how many we’re supposed to have by the end of the semester.

My response to the Neilson & Loranger readings.

I found the readings to be quite interesting and informative although I already knew most of the information because of my previous knowledge and experience with the internet. I particularly enjoyed the chapter that discussed all of the problems which have continued to prosper despite the fact that the internet has greatly evolved as the years went on. You’d think people would have the knowledge to fix some of these issues no?

Even though the internet is a treasure trove of knowledge, it still has many, many problems associated with it which quite a few talked about in their blogs and during class. The biggest beef I have with the internet is something simple but can be quite dangerous to computer and personal security; javascripts. For those unfamilar with javascripts, they are used by nearly every website to help with menus, advertisements and other website functions. However, the one thing that they also do, which many other people do not know about is that they can download software onto your computer without the user’s knowledge. People labeled this software as spyware but it isn’t just advertisements and popups. Many of these programs that are downloaded can be viruses, keyloggers and phishing software.

Keyloggers can be very dangerous to security since they will record the username and password that is inputed into a variety of websites that the user visits. It can be something as simple as a forum or blog and something of greater importance like a bank account. I’ve had plenty of bad experiences in the past with javascripts so I have done all I can to combat them and prevent them from running and downloading software onto my computer.

Here are a few easy ways that you can prevent javascripts from running or selecting specific javascripts that you want to run which help a specific website function.

1. Get Firefox
2. Go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:1
3. At the top of the screen, you will see Search – type in Noscript
4. Installation is easy and automatic
5. Select which javascripts you want running on various websites

Here are a few pictures I took to show what it can do. They will screw up if put into this post.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c351/TheInsaneDump000/Noscriptpic1.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c351/TheInsaneDump000/Noscriptpic2.jpg

Learning Record Questions

1. When should we start adding things to the Learning Record?

2. Is this the equivalent of a final?

3. Will other students look at it as was mentioned?

4. Will the teacher spend a day of class looking at updated Learning Records?

5. On average, how much is required to add to it?