Exegesis
This is where I explain and contextualize and justify the choices I've made in creating this web presence. (Leaver T, 2010)
I decided to use Blogger as the central node. It is owned by Google so it seemed convenient enough to use since I have a Gmail account. As secondary nodes, I used Flickr, Twitter, Picasa, and Google My Maps.
I decided to post travel pieces on Penang. Malaysia, where I was holed up for a month in a windowless air con room catching wi fi signals bouncing off my thin wall. And my posts tended to be a mix of travel type entries and analysis of how I used these Web 2.0 tools.
I thought it appropriate to expand upon my motivations for using these tools which enabled me to compare and contrast different applications. In one entry, I said I was going to post the same video post both on Youtube and Flickr, and then discuss the merits of each site. I realised that it was easy to post material from secondary nodes back to my central node which really personifies Web 2.0 tools in terms of tractability and ease of use.
Earlier on in my blog, I started out as a novice on a voyage to the far seas to a continent called Web2.0. I had reservations about how to use tools such as Twitter and Google Reader --yes I get feeds from my blog as well. I didn’t know how to Twitter, let alone make a hash mark for group discussions. In my first post I had originally intended to follow the Digital Footprint of Dr. Tama Leaver. But half way through the course, I changed directions, and decided on a travel diary instead which would serve my purpose in exploring Web 2.0 tools better.
I knew about geotagging, where you put a location on a picture and post it on a map. Doctor Leaver had discussed it’s implications and how people were geo-tagging their Twitters which allowed third parties to know their location. . I have my Twitters geo tagged using Uber Twitter, but if I don’t want to be located, I will turn of the “My Location” option.
In one of my posts I created a marker where I was staying in Penang.
I also added an entry on My Maps. I did that through my Google account.
Later I posted my pictures on Picasa. I posted a few of these pictures directly onto my Blog account, and I also uploaded a few pictures within the blog, clicking the upload picture button.
I had uploaded 8 pictures on my Flickr account. I selected a batch of 8 images and dragged them onto the geo tag Map. The first try, I did not accurately place the pictures on the Map. I had checked other users who Geo Tagged their pictures, and their direction was right down to the street number where they took the photo. My slow internet had something to do with this. But I eventually got within a 100 meter radius, with my eight pictures which I put on the time line. I was reasonably happy with this. At least I saw geo tagging in action, and felt I had passed the grade in that respect.
All my material is taken from a Blackberry curve.I would have posted pictures and blog entries from it, but I didn't want to outlay in the costs with a server in Malaysia. I have since tried to post pictures with my phone. It works like a charm on my Twitter account, where you will see a few pictures I have uploaded of Thailand, my present location. Most of the multimedia content I use is pictures and video.
I explained in one post how I preferred to post a picture from my Flickr account to Blogger because of the ease and the presentation. If I uploaded a picture directly from my computer, the presentation didn't look as good. Before I posted a picture on Flickr, I did a test run, which you can see on my blog. I decided to keep that in, as it is a tell tale sign of learning posts along the way, from novice to a reasonably competent Web 2.0 user.
As to Youtube, I used this account to upload a few videos that I took on my phone of Penang street life. The first video I posted on my blog was through cut and pasting the embeds into the body of the post. I wasn't aware that like Flickr, you could click the Blogger button, and also post a video, which I did in one of my posts.
As to RSS feeds on my site, I linked it to my Flickr, Youtube, delicious and Twitter account. At a glance, it gave the page a glimpse of my social media, with the different fragments feeded on my main node from the secondary ones.
I thought that I would opt for add sense. After I set up my account, I found the adds were very annoying, and ruined the symmetry of my site. I took off one big add on the side of my blog. To confirm that it was a bad idea, distracting me from my web presence, I recently received an email from Google Adsense advising me that I was not accepted because of "unacceptable site content." But I thought it was worth a try, since Google advertising is the back bone of many free Google services.
If you read some of my posts, you will see how I have expanded upon the points I mentioned here.
Lastly, I was impressed with the widgets, and I imported Youtube and a few other tools which you will see on my blog.
Thanks for a fantastic voyage. Continent Web.2.0 is exciting, and I can't wait to get a flight with Virgin Galactic to the semantic Web 3.0, which is not that far away from our our galaxy I am told! And thank you for taking the time to visit my site.
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