Writing for Cyberspace: Wikipedia Training

This tutorial has expounded my knowledge on exactly how Wikipedia works. What I found the most informative was "what Wikipedia is not" and their pillars. You cannot just write an article about anything as I previously thought. It has to be a subject that is notable, and you have to leave your opinions out of it. Also, sources are required for every fact you mention in your article. I still don't know what my subject will be. However, in the "what you shouldn't write about" part of the training, they suggested to browse the stub categories if you are not sure what to write about. You can then expound on that topic. So I will browse, and if I see a stub category that I am interested in writing about, that will be my subject.

Writing for Cyberspace: Media Literacy

Before the article, I had heard of the term media literacy before, mainly in relation to sources on the internet. It mainly zeroed in on making sure the articles you read online are factual and written by someone with crebibility. I found the tutorial to be very informative. It explains all the aspects of media literacy, such as accessibility and persuasion, not just the credibility part. So going in at depth with all the terms, and the examples of ads and how they are appealing to their audeince was informative.

Writing for Cyberspace: Mobile Info Literacy

"Mobile information literacy: a preliminary outline of information behaviour in a mobile environment"

            I think that the capability of searching for info online on the go has completely changed the definition of what it means to be information literate. It has braodened the opportunities to learn how to search for information online, and has made it so that more people are experienced in online searching. I think that a big part of being information literate is to know how to be specific with the words you use to search. The more specific you are, the quicker you'll get the info you need. It's great that you no longer have to be sitting in a particular place to get information. If I had a dime for every time that being able to google something from my phone has helped me out of jams. . .    

Writing For Cyberspace: 1st Draft Techno-literacy Narrative

         Growing up, writing and reading were always things I did for myself. Aside from reading and writing for school, these were things I enjoyed doing and saw them as a hobby. These seeds were planted from very early on in my life. My father was a knowledge-hungry person and instilled in my sisters and me the importance of an education. I grew up hanging out in the children’s book room in my public library. My fondest early reading experiences were born there, in that colorful, circular book room. I always felt so happy and a peace reading book after book after book, hours on end, lying in the empty tub whimsically placed in the center of the children’s room. Reading was a very personal activity for me, as well as writing when I started my diary at the age of about ten. However, as I have gotten older, I have explored the option of writing for others. I feel as though I have grown up alongside the internet. As the years passed, the internet became and more of a place where people exchanged ideas.

            “Yes! We’re going to the library!” Looking back, I spent so much time in that empty tub with my nose stuck in a book. I also looked forward to making new friends, because I always met someone new in the children’s room. I remember reading and playing simultaneously, if that makes any sense. So, reading and spending time in the library was social as well as personal. My father would take us over the weekends mostly, because he thought it was a much better use of our time than just sitting in front of the TV, “making holes in the couch”, as he would put it. This made sense to me, considering that reading was something I would observe my father doing a lot of at home. Sometimes after work, he would sit in the dining room after we finished dinner, reading the newspaper or pages of the encyclopedia. I remember once when my father taught himself how to change the engine oil in his car by simply reading through a mechanic manual. These were some of the examples I observed early on that communicated to me the power of knowledge, and how reading could be a powerful tool to that end.

            As far as writing, my grade school teachers help build a lot of confidence in my skills. Every year, I would always hear from my teachers how great a job I did on the writing projects. From writing reading responses and poems, to learning formal essay structure in the fifth grade, writing was something that seemed to come natural to me. The enthusiasm was fueled by the positive feedback and grades I received from my teachers. Can you believe I actually looked forward to spelling and grammar tests?! Growing up, I didn’t feel comfortable with my peers reading my writing, despite the positive feedback of my teachers. I started a diary around the age of ten, writing inside it on and off. I wrote when I felt happy, sad, or confused. Writing was something that helped organize my most intimate thoughts, and gave me a space to talk about things I felt that I just could not tell a soul.

It was when I was introduced to the formal essay structure in the fifth grade that I really started to dabble with using the computer as a means to present my writing, and I was using the internet just to play games. It never occurred to me that you could use the internet to share your work for others to see. I was aware of the communicative power of the internet, like chat rooms, and sometimes used instant messaging to talk to friends. Buddy lists was all anyone would talk about in middle school.  

          My freshman year of high school, MySpace seemed to come kind out of nowhere. It was like, I just came to school one day and all of a sudden everyone had a MySpace page. “Do you have a MySpace?” my friends asked. I said no, and everyone was explaining to me why I should. I remember my best friend at the time didn’t have a MySpace either, so I guess that is why I never really caved into the pressure, along with fact that it just didn’t interest me. Then I began to see many of my peers utilizing MySpace as a tool to say heinous things about people they were not comfortable saying face to face. So this deterred me further from social networking, but I think it also blocked me from seeing the other useful aspects it, and exploring other online avenues to communicating and sharing your work, such as blogs.

           I didn’t dabble with this until after high-school. As I went further in in my collegiate studies, there was an increasing emphasis on writing for an audience, and how the internet is a useful tool for this. I wasn’t until a couple of semesters ago, when I started taking my English writing classes, that I have fully explored writing for others. As I said before, writing was something I did for myself. Taking creative writing classes, I realized the importance of work shopping, and how showing your work to others can be very helpful. This is where the internet comes in. I realized that people become very opinionated online. If you want to be a great writer, you have to tie the attitudes and beliefs of your audience to your own in order to truly be effective. This is how the internet has influenced my perception of reading and writing.

Writing For Cyberspace: Blog 3 Identity

"Virtual Writing and the Transformation of Identity"
            I have never been apart of any online forums or communities. I can't give a specific explanation as to why; it is just something that has never really interested me. I do occasionally leave comments on articles that I read online though, if that counts. I do that when it is a subject that is really interesting to me, or I feel strongly about. I thought that what the writer of the above article was describing; about having her students take on a different identity and having to speak for that identity online, was interesting. I guess that is similar to what many people that use Facebook to make their lives seem more interesting than what they are in actuality already do this to an extent ; )
            It is tempting, as a writer, to play with this, and I think it can make one a stronger writer. After reading this, it has sparked an interest in me to maybe take on an entirely different identity virtually. I think this will definitely strengthen my fictional writing capabilities for sure. In this context, it not an entirely bad thing to take on a different identity. Sometimes being myself can be exhausting, so I see it as a nice temporary escape and a chance to step outside of yourself. Because just like the students the writer described, that can strengthen the sense of identity you already have, or add a facet to it that you previously did not realize existed, while adding more depth to your writing.

Writing for Cyberspace: Blog 2 Boyd

"Friends, Friendsters, and Myspace Top 8"
        I cannot really say much in regards to this topic, since I have never had any type of social online profile. The reason for this is because I have never really perceived them as useful, and they just do not call my attention. Something about exposing or presenting yourself online so publicly has also deterred me. I know I am  rarity in my generation, where it seems as though anything anyone ever wants to do is exhibit themselves. There is no sense of privacy anymore. I am content with my small circle of friends that I can truly call my friends, spend time with them on regular basis, without any ambiguities or different meanings behind it. Social profiles blew up when I was a freshman in high school. I saw so many stupid, senseless fights and altercations break out amongst people I knew, just because, she/he said something crazy about you on their profile, or whatever.
        They would use Myspace as a via to say mean things they wouldn't say in person. I also saw many heinous, false rumors spread about people that stemmed from Myspace or facebook. Another issue is that many people try to make themselves and their lives seem more interesting than what they really are. So there is a lot of deception involved. Now you have twitter, where people can share with their "followers" what it is they are doing at any  given moment. Irrelevant events such as, "Here at the vet getting the dog groomed" becomes a worthy announcement. I think that these platforms can be very useful in terms of getting an idea out there, makes you able to reach out to many people at the same time, and for more commercial uses. As for fomenting true friendships, well, I think these days most people aware of the fact that you can say you have 26,000 friends on facebook, yet spend most of your days facing the computer screen, and never see any friends in person. So who you say you are online may not match reality.
 

Writing for Cyberspace: Blog 1 Nielsen

"How Users Read on the Web"
        I  personally do not read that way on the web. I read every word for the most part, depending on what it is that I am looking for. For something like travel plans and ideas, I try to read carefully. However, I think that keeping information as straightforward and concise as possible when writing for the internet is a good move. Like the article explained, most people try to skim through the information rather than read word for word. Also, reading word for word can be a bit time consuming, especially when there is a lot of fluff. If you are writing on the internet to impart information. If it is required of me to take notes on information on a webpage, I don't print anything out. I read along with a pen and paper, and take notes on what calls my attention, what I think is important, and what I don't understand. As I said before, how I read on the internet is close to how I read print. Reading online has not really changed how I read print. If anything, I make sure I read print even more carefully.