Sydneycitystudent's Blog

Organising a Menu on WordPress and Nesting Pages.

At the moment because I am writing so many blogs I am trying to organise and learn how to create some kind of menu on WordPress so things don’t become too congested.

I went to the discussion board and Andrew left me a message to my help question. Basically I have to create a whole new blog and construct my page navigation first and then transfer all of my information into the new blog. This is just so time consuming but I don’t like the idea of having a blog that isn’t organised with some kind of format and structure to it. I don’t want to start deleting everything though and have a perfect blog either as the whole purpose of this is to show my level of understanding and how I am progressing over the weeks.

I decided to create a menu and this is on the right hand side of the blog but it’s not actually ordering it in date it is ordering the pages alphabetically and I cannot figure out how to nest pages. I am just not happy with this system today!!! It would be so much easier If I could drag and drop pages and nest pages like with my own personal website and it’s content management set-up.

What I want is a “Home” page detailing what I am studying then nested under that an “About” page. Then I want in order of date each posting and then nested pages that relate to one particular topic, so it’s not one overwhelming list.

This is one criticism I have about the system so far. For the moment I am continuing on just posting as I usually do but I will also make a page of my new blogs as well and from there try and do a job I am happy with tomorrow.

I was also concerned about how I am referencing but as I am using on Youtube I was assured that what I am doing is fine as the purpose of this information is to be shared. I am providing links anyway to give credit to the material.

I also was told of a new program called “Twitter” and I had to check it out. If there is something new out there involving internet communication I really have to know about it.

In conclusion I am not just learning how to complete the modules I am developing my skills to troubleshoot my own problems and understand the more complex functions of editing and creating a blog.

Week 7 Understanding Newsgroups, Cybernetics, Robotics and Human Evolution

Today I have gone into the assessment area with the aim of connecting to a newsgroup and to search for a group that is interesting to me and join. I was reading over the material supplied by the module but it didn’t help me that much so I found a tutorial on the subject. I am a visual learner and prefer to see how something is done rather than reading. No-one ever see’s me reading a book hehe unless it’s online or the newspaper! just show me or tell me how to do it.

What I understand so far is that I need to find a USENET in this case www.newzbot.com and do a search to find a server on a subject. I searched for cybernetics/robotics and there were plenty of servers to connect to but I found all the postings were outdated with no recent activity. Then I figured out I have to then cut and paste this server address into Outlook Express and follow the wizard. Once I put in this address it starts to download newsgroups. A new folder shows up and when I click on this I can choose which one out of the list I want to subscribe to. I opened up “internet.stuff” and approx one hundred and forty-eight emails came flooding in. Then I clicked on one of the letters “Attention Entrepreneurs” liked the sound of this one and I had a read and it was about making money online.

In any case I have a good grasp on this today however it was a lot of fiddling around. I want to find a subject I am interested in which I hope to come across as I explore further. As I didn’t find a newsgroup on cybernetics I found the following video thought provoking.

As the video suggests will it become common place for humans to be part machine, twenty years from now and will it be difficult to distinguish from the two? interesting.

I also went back into IRC and said hello. It’s a friendly place to be so far so good but as I mentioned in my earlier post why stay there? Personally from experiencing ICQ, MSN, Facebook, Myspace and IMVU chat, IRC has not changed for me and with all the other options I am happier with the more visual applications.

I also posted a help notice on the “Curtin” discussion board as I am not sure how to catalog my posts on WordPress. I need to know if anyone can assist me or know how I can make each posting a different page with a link attached so my blog is more like a website. Hopefully by tomorrow I will have worked it out.

I have also planned to do HTML in the next few days and refresh on email set-up as just want to get a bit more out of it. I still have six weeks on this project and I am very happy with my progress.

Week 7 Career Planning.

I have been busy over the past day or so and have had limited time to focus on the actual assessment tasks. I have been researching different career opportunities within the IT industry whilst reading over the tutorial on building web-pages. I think it is important to plan ahead and set up goals for myself early on so I have an idea about the direction I am taking for my future.

I have been to the Curtin Careers Centre website and I have also been looking into companies online and full-time positions that I can move into now and the long term career opportunities of these positions. I have applied for various roles so I can commence my career as soon as possible whilst studying the degree.

I am in my element, lots of work planned for the weekend and meeting more students for online chat. I was even tracked down via my Myspace by a member I was chatting with on IRC with an email saying IRC is missing me come back to the group soon, nice. hehe.

Week 7 Module 3 Contributing to the Infosphere and Taking Screen Shots

Just reading over the study notes for this module and starting on the tutorial to learn the basics of HTML coding to build web-pages. Twenty-six pages of information is taking up time and there is a lot in it so at this stage it’s really back to notepad to get started.

I noticed on the Curtin discussion board we have to take a screen shot of our completed web-page. I am not familiar with taking screen-shots so had to figure this one out. I wanted to do this first because what’s the point of doing an entire web page and not being able to post the image for assessment. I also wanted to become familiar with how to do this as it will be valuable to upload information that will enhance the quality of my project both ongoing and visually.

To do this I pressed the screen-shot key on my keyboard and then opened up paint, as Kate had mentioned on the discussion board. I then pasted the image onto paint and then saved this as a JPEG file in my photo’s folder. I tried a few times and saved incorrectly so when it came time to upload I have to remember to save as JPEG. I then went into my folder and cropped the image and then uploaded it onto imageshack.us and am hosting the image. I am not sure of any other way to do this? I actually tried to upload as an image on WordPress but it just was saved into a gallery and not on the actual blog.

This is my home at IMVU and my screen-shot. I have a pretty cool place as you can see below.

www.imvu.com

Anyway I did spend a bit of time buying new outfits today hehe and went into the change-room purchased some cool gear. It is really interesting the amount of detail in these programs and what they are capable of. I talked to some more friends from around the world. Not happy with the way my avatar looks which I posted on my welcome page, it doesn’t look like me but I will save that for a day when I have time to waste.

For me it’s all about being disciplined and adding to this blog on a daily basis which I am achieving.

Week 7-Self Assessment Submission and Exploring Virtual Classrooms.

Today was a very busy day for me online. To start off with my computer detected some malware and is running slower than usual, something I don’t need at this point trying to study online. In any case chatted on ICQ with Zette (student) and back to IMVU with Silluth (student). We had a great discussion in IMVU and have decided to work together and link up our blogs and connect virtually as much as possible. Inside IMVU I thought it would be great to have an entire classroom here with all the students. A virtual 3D classroom and see if it is possible for a teacher to conduct a study session.

Found the following presentations interesting. I like using Youtube to find further information as it is just so easy to access and you can find anything on any topic.

Are we headed for virtual classrooms?

I also spent a lot of time really going through WordPress and learning some of the more complex functions to really make my blog have more of a website feel to it. I have made so much progress today and even added a welcome page (see link “Welcome to Blog”). At week seven it’s all starting to come together.

I went to the submission section for assignments and completed the optional task to weigh up my grades and posted the following for consideration:

My expectations for this subject is a High Distinction (HD).

At this point in time I would say my grade would be around a very high seven moving into an eight. This is not just from looking at my blog I am basing this on what I believe I know of the subject matter and life experience. I am giving myself this score because of my ability to actually use the subject matter and use the knowledge at a level not just for study purposes. I hope to create something that will become interactive with others. I want to reach outside the scope of what I am studying and I am starting to achieve this.

I think because I am progressing rapidly, especially in the last week that if I continue learning at this rate I could possibly hit a (HD) at a definite eight.

I am taking my time but I need time on my side to achieve this result however I do believe my effort will pay off. I hope to get a nine and would be content with that. I am a harsh critic but I aim high. My previous uni level study came in at (HD) results so I am capable. I would be disappointed if I didn’t get that score but if I am in a (HD) range at any number I would be proud of myself.

Good luck to my fellow students and I wish everyone continued success with your studies.

Week 7 13April-17April-Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

The weeks are flying ahead, Week 7 already. Reflecting on my progress I am sitting quite comfortably in this unit.

Group participation I don’t think is flowing the way I had hoped for. I have been to the Facebook NET 11 group and decided to make my blog public and posted my blog link on my actual Facebook profile.  I am doing this with my studies as I want as many options as possible interacting with people beyond the scope of the student discussion board.  My objectives have changed and I am not creating a blog just to fill out study tasks but to try and incorporate topics of interest to interact with others online.

Had a brief look at the “Curtin” discussion board this morning and added two posts regarding online chat.

I have downloaded (IRC). How did I not know about this program? I went into a beginners group and asked how long this has been around for and basically was told “95″ and was originally used for soldiers in Iraq to communicate?? not sure. I ended up chatting to people in USA and Egypt.

Anyway this is very similar to MSN chat when they had public rooms before it was shut down and banned in Australia. I was on this for about an hour and at this point I am rather critical. Why would you use this system? there is no way to tell who anyone is. Why would you chat in a room where you cannot show your identity when there are so many options to choose forms of online communication that can? It seemed many people had been using the system for years, so I would say they have stayed where they are familiar.

In any case I do want to explore this further and give it a chance as it was entertaining. My concerns are security and safety so did a Youtube search and found the following tutorial which delved into this subject further.

Just trying to tie up some lose ends here with previous tasks and learn as much as possible. I am getting into module 3 tomorrow.

Just out of interest I am looking beyond online communication yet again and beyond 3D virtual worlds with the video below.

www.hansonrobotics.com

Entropia Continued and Setting up ICQ Study Task

I did mention previously that I posted a thread on the “Curtin Uni” discussion board as I did not know why Entropia or Second-Life didn’t work.  I was contacted by David Storey the man responsible for the operations and owner of Treasure Island, who runs this virtual island on Entropia.  He found my blog and responded to it, very cool.

Check out David’s site:

www.twarriors.com

I followed the instructions he sent me to find out the specs on my computer “DirectX Diagnostics” and then emailed to him for advice.  It turns out I can run the programs just may be a little slower however I may need driver updates?? at this point really not sure what that involves but going to find out.

In any case getting back to the task at hand. I added around twenty-four students today onto my ICQ and look forward to meeting my online friends soon. I did meet Amanda C and we chatted for a while about our study tasks and added each other on Fbook.  I found ICQ a breeze as it is just the same as MSN, obviously some minor differences with the functions but very user friendly and I am really enjoying the program. Not much to report- I am so familiar with online chat it’s a daily necessity for me. My aim is to use ICQ to chat with other students about the study topics not so much to learn how to use the actual program.  In conclusion, ICQ and the student discussion board facilitates communication for me. It’s really just a platform for me to study efficiently online.

Amanda did a YouTube search and sent me a URL on Entropia via ICQ. I checked out this video and many others on the topic of virtual worlds and online communication.  I didn’t think about doing a YouTube search so was really glad to have Amanda’s input. I have also put my ICQ number on the student discussion board so if I missed anyone they can add me there.

www.entropiauniverse.com

I have also put in the above video as I enjoyed this preview as it shows you how to create an avatar.  I do recommend checking out the link aswell and see this for yourself.  It’s also good for me to learn how to cut and paste different codes and post it into WordPress. Very happy with myself.

Skype and ICQ

Just another quick log entry here.  I have made three posts today but really getting into it.  I noticed on the student discussion boards people were mentioning Skype and I have heard of this before but no idea of what to do.

I downloaded the program and went and purchased some credit. I understood the system very quickly and added three contacts and sent three text messages to my friends. Hey it works and everyone was Skyped!!! really cool. I want to know how to talk with the headset my friend has one but that’s totally getting off topic here.

I downloaded ICQ and my friend is from Czech Republic and she said that this in Europe is far more popular than MSN which is what I use. I noticed that ICQ and MSN are very similar. She showed me how to navigate around and the icons and things. I am going to create an account shortly so I can chat to everyone in NET 11. This will be fun.

Entropia Universe

As my system did not support Second-Life I tried to download Entropia to see if it was any different. I downloaded this and it looks great but it says my system does not support it. I have just posted a thread on the discussion board and hope someone can help me out re: what my system needs to have this working.  I am really intrigued by Entropia Universe. I actually want to join this and create my own persona, “avatar”.

I think it is great you can actually use real money and convert it to virtual dollars and back again. I want the gold card and I want to be part of this game.

I am actually thinking about IMVU and Entropia and the differences which is what I wanted to compare before but could not as I can’t access Second-Life. Entropia is far more complex than IMVU.  IMVU to me is like an advanced MSN chat just with 3D graphics whereas Entropia is like a playstation game with realistic elements eg: money exchange.

In any case I am just really exploring this as much as possible as each system is really very different which on my first observations it seemed to just be more of the same.

Entropia even had soundtracks which I played and movie previews. Tomorrow I am hoping to get a response to my help question on the forum and also look into some of the chat tasks.

I am just adding this video to the post just to show that I have looked at Second-Life. I found this introductory tutorial very helpful.

www.secondlife.com

Lists

I didn’t really find lists served much of a purpose when you take into account Myspace, Facebook and now Second-Life/IMVU and discussion boards.

I went in and checked out Yahoo groups and it doesn’t seem to be that popular. I did a search on something that interested me , acting, castings, Starnow and actors. The groups that came up there were just too many that really were not relevant and I was thinking why do I need this when I have Facebook.

Also on the home page I checked out “Nicole Richies” group and there are only three members and then, “Days of Our Lives” which seems like it had a bit of activity only because it has been running for such a long time. The layout and presentation of the groups isn’t as good as Facebook but then again I have only looked at this briefly.  I am thinking this would have to be for people who def have a passion or a following for a topic and go looking for it. You really have to go searching and have a keen interest to be in a list.  I was surprised as “Project Runway” didn’t have much going on either. It all seems very static and non interactive to me.

I went to the forum and commented on the fact I think Facebook was more the place to be. I realise this is more groups but perhaps lists are being outdated.

Pros and Cons of Email Lists Vs Discussion Boards

I think Discussion Boards can be monitored for content more efficiently whereas with a list you could come across inappropriate content and people would not know who you are. Take for instance our student discussion board it’s very professional compared to a yahoo list. The thing about Yahoo is there is much more scope to meet and interact with different users. I did check out the other site at Topica and this seems to be a much more professional standard to me.

Are there certain types of communication or purposes more suited to one or the other?

I think that they are very similar as they both are places you can discuss topics. From my observations you can pretty much talk about anything either on a discussion board or a Yahoo group/list the thing is a discussion board is more involved. A discussion board is like a whole separate community which can discuss many topics on the one subject where as a list is basic chat.