Time to summarize for Assessment 1 MPI104-2007

Alright so it is now that time of the term where we are due to be assessed on the work we have done for this class and I am to detail what I have done in this post. It is probably of no interest to anyone except Johannes or whoever marks it, unless you are looking to see how I have set things out, in that case have a squiz and also look at the Metablog for what you are to write about!

For this assignment I had to create a Gmail, Blogger, Flickr and Del.icio.us accounts. I was to go through the checklist and complete tasks (detailed below) as well as show interestingness within my findings. I also had to get involved with the online communities which I feel I have been within the MPI104 classes as well as outside these.

To begin with I need to talk about how my Blog, Del.icio.us and Flickr accounts have been interesting. I feel they have all been interesting as I haven't just stuck with the same topics and styles of sites the whole way through. I've written on different topics, I found many different websites in lots of different areas, and I have hosted lots of different photo's from different events in my life. I've tried to make my accounts broad but also at the same time show an insight to what I am interested in, not just what I think might interest others!

I have frequently added and updated and tried to do the 10 hours a week requirement and I feel I have achieved this, though it is hard to tell as up until Thursday just gone I was on dial up at home and it took a lot longer to do things there then here.

BLOGGER: My Blog account - Vivalin's Blog
☑ user has links in sidebar
☑ user has more than the minimum posts
☑ user has links in posts
☑ user has commented on other people’s posts
☑ user has updated profile
☑ user has uploaded picture for profile
☑ user has experimented with templates
☑ user has experimented with fonts
☑ user has experimented with colours
☑ user has picture/s in post/s
☑ posts have titles
☑ blog has description
☑ has added a list or other page element to their blog
❑ has listed on technorati or similar service
☑ has counter

Initially when we made our blogger, I was like "yep another blog... (as I already used MySpace to blog with)" but I've come to realise it is a lot handier then MySpace at times as it has more features ie. using Flickr to create posts, better layout, easier to archive. I feel I have done well with my blogging for this assessment and have progressed with my style of writing (cutting out some of the rambling) as well as the subjects I write on. I am most please with the following posts: Splendour in the Grass, Something a little more interesting maybe?! and Last post for Assessment 1!. I think all in all I have done 16 posts, which I believe is quite good. I have even done a couple of posts using Flickr to get to Blogger!

Aesthetically at first I was using a template with green as it's theme (as I prefer simple styles) but change to a pink themed one a little while ago. I have put in side links, as well as uploaded an image to the blog and my profile. I also have included a Del.icio.us link roll on the side and a tag one at the bottom of the page (which is in blue writing and partly the reason I changed the template to pink as I felt they went better together), I also put up a slide show of images of my friends and I just to personalise it a bit more.

I have tried to tag each blog according to what I was writing on, and hope I have done it correctly. I've consistently gone and read others blogs from the MPI104 classes and made comments. Occasionally having to use this as a form of "chatting" with someone!

FLICKR: My Flickr account - Vivalin
☑has uploaded pictures
☑has progressively uploaded more pictures
☑ pictures have titles
☑ pictures have descriptions
☑ pictures have MPI104-2007 tag
☑ pictures have tags other than MPI104-2007
☑ user has joined MPI104-2007 group
☑ user has pushed picture/s to MPI104-2007 group
☑ user has contacts
☑ user has joined other groups
☑ user has nominated favorites
☑ user has commented on other user’s pictures
☑ user has profile
☑ user has flickr post on their blog
☑ user has posted working link to this post (or flickr account) on metablog

I created my Flickr account before we set it up in class (only the weekend before mind!) as I had just put my photos from overseas on to the computer and wanted to share them with my friends and they were all using Flickr because of the tagging set up. I really enjoy using Flickr I think it is a great tool for the web to be able to host and show my images to people anywhere in the world and to find other people with similar interests in the style/subject matter of their photos!

Aesthetically I played around with the different formats they had, but as it is a free account they were fairly limited. I chose small images ( I wanted to show more on a page) with sets down the side, I don't like the fact that free accounts get a maximum of 3 sets, I think thats rubbish!

I commented on a few images that I liked or made me laugh: Hannah's Flickr, Erin's Flickr, Matt's Flickr. Also on Flickr I made sure to tag all of my photo's with what they were about ie. For my trip through Europe I mark the appropriate ones with MPI104-2007, along with where the photo was taken (city) and with topdeckgrandeuropeanoct2006 as this was so my fellow travellers on this tour could find and view my photo's just like I had found theirs by searching for that tag.

As I said before I've been uploading images from my trip through Europe as my fellow travellers on the tour I did have all used Flickr to host their images so everyone on the tour can see them and all with the same tag. I've also put up some photo's from my adventures with friends from uni at parties and going out, along with images with my friends from back home and funny images to make people laugh that another mate found on the net with the main subject being animals.

DELICIOUS: My Del.icio.us account - Vivalin's Del.icio.us
☑ has saved bookmarks
☑ has progressively saved more bookmarks
☑ user has integrated delicious into their workflow as a tool
☑ bookmarks have descriptions
☑ bookmarks have tags
☑ user has bundled tags
☑ user has subscribed to tags
☑ appropriate bookmarks have MPI104-2007 tag
☑ user has joined a network
☑ user has saved links for others
☑ user has bookmarked their flickr home page
☑ user has bookmarked their blog home page
☑ user has delicious post in their blog
☑ user has posted working link to this post (or delicious account) on metablog
☑ user has included link roll (or rss feed) on their blog

At first I was a little dumbed out by what to make of Del.icio.us as it didn't really make sense, but after fiddeling around for a short while I worked out it was quite useful. I was able to search for a type of site and it would come up with a big lsit of other peoples and its saved time immensly as most people are only going to save useful sites and it is a lot easier then trudging through all the sites search engines bring up.

So far I have 35 bookmarks saved, but I'm sure this will grow as I keep using. I've saved the regular sites that interest me (mainly bands), but also saved sites about fire twirling as I am beginning to get into this and Del.icio.us was a great place to look for good sites, I've saved bookmarks for Harry Potter fan sites as they keep up to date info from all Harry Potter related sites, and is particularly useful to ind out hidden knowledge for the up coming last book! I've also bookmarked sites that intergrate with my workflow ie. Photobucket, ImageShack etc. a long with sites to do with getting a forklift license as my dad wants me to get one and a site for vegetarian recipes so I can find appealing meals and ask my mum to cook them for me.

I've found Del.icio.us to be the hardest to get into so far but am slowly getting there and gradually understanding what it's all about and am keen to keep using it!

Overall I feel I have completed this task well, I've done nearly all of the checklist points (minus technorati as I wasn't sure what this was) but have at least attempted to try most things and put in the hours! I hope my hard work and effort will also display "interestingness" and be graded accordingly, if not it was a good learning curve!