Internet Activity #3

AUDIO

I listened to different audio podcasts; two of them are:

1. "Lesson 01" - Coffee Break Spanish

It is a Spanish lesson. The teacher and his assistance help listener to know some basic Spanish words and phrases such as "Hi", "How are you?", "Good, and you?", etc. The teacher pronounced words and then gave time to listeners to repeat it, that's why it was very effective and similar to real classes. It was interesting for me to know all this information that was provided through the audio podcast I listened to. I think, it is a very useful tool for people who want to study a foreign language but do not have time or money to take classes.

2. "024 - Life, the Universe, and Everything" - Satisfy the Mind

An anchorperson debates about questions that come to every person's mind such as "What is death?", "What is going to be after I die?", "What do I live for?", "How can we survive in global warming era?", etc. It was curious to know what he thinks about these questions, even though he didn't give exactly answers. It is always interesting to know other people's opinions, so you can expand or even change your own estimations.


I really liked listening to different audio podcasts. I find it much better than listening to radio, because you can choose the topic, time and place for enjoying a podcast. And it is at some points better than blogging, because you do not need to read, you just need to listen to it, so you can do another things while listening: walk to school, driving a car, doing housework. Moreover, you hear human voice, so it makes you feel a real person is talking to you, so it is more exciting. I'm planning to continue listening to Coffee Break Spanish, because it can easily improve my language-level.

Nowadays, audio-books are becoming more popular. It is happening, because it is time-consuming to read books. A lot of people do not have enough time for doing it, but they still want to enjoy classic novels, detectives or mystic stories. Now they can buy or download audio-books and listen to them during car-trip or walking. But there are some negative aspects of audio-books. It reduces books publishing, so some people lose their jobs. Moreover, it prevents young generation from reading; it is bad because brain development requires reading. To sum up, it is a great idea for saving our time when it is extremely necessary, but people should not become too lazy and stop reading at all.

VIDEO

I also tried out another type of podcasts called vidcasts or vodcasts. The difference between regular podcast and vidcast is the ability to see video on the screen. I watched two vodcasts:

1. "Pi" - Is All About Math

This vidcast is an animated lesson about Pi number. The teacher explains the meaning, history, and usefulness of it. It is a pretty interesting way of providing information because it is illustrated and announced at the same time. Thus people tend to pay more attention rather than when they just listen.

2. On Gluttony, Panel Discussion at Independent, New York - Vernissage TV art TV

Vernissage TV provides videos from openings from different exhibitions and other art world's events. This video is from French exhibition in New York. It can be a helpful tool for people who are into art. They can check regularly this channel and watch different videos and decide where they should go.



I did enjoy this experience of watching vidcasts. It is very entertaining. I find it better than TV because you can chose the subject of vodcast and time of watching it, when nowadays there are a lot of on TV which are neither educational nor entertaining. I think people in the future will prefer to watch vidcasts rather then TV because it is free and more broadened. And I think it can be better than blogging or magazines/newpapers because you can actually see what is the author talking about.

YOUTUBE/GOOGLE VIDEO

I think, YouTube became so popular because it is easier for people to understand information using different sense organs. So, when a person watches a video in YouTube or Google Video, he/she not only sees it, he/she also hears it. Moreover, watching video saves our time if to compare to reading. It takes less time to show something, then to write about it. For example, these videos that I embed show detailed Marshmallow Test on children and then what this test can help us to predict about future success of these children.

Everybody can add his/her own video. So, it is a great tool for people to share information with worldwide audience. A lot of musicians, artists and people who just can make fun have become popular through YouTube. It is also an useful tool for businesses to find new customers and advertise their products or services.

Internet Activity #2 (RSS)

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a very useful tool for people to read updates from blogs that are interesting for them. It saves a lot of time because they do not need to go to each page separately; updates from all blogs are collected in a user’s reader. Google Reader also allows its users to share interesting posts with other people. I think it is great because sometimes you find extremely interesting and useful information and want to show it to your friends/peers/colleges, and instead of emailing to each person all you need to do is to click on “share” button once, and all these people will be able to read this information. It also saves our time and makes information exchange much faster. Moreover, it is possible to add your shared articles in your blog as a clip. It makes the blog more updated for the followers, and they know more about the blogger and his/her interests from this gadget.

There are some different ways to add news feeds to a reader:

• The easiest way to add a feed to a reader is to click on “add a subscription” on the top left corner of a Goggle reader page and type the URL address of the blog you want to subscribe to in the box. Then click on “add” button.

• If you do not know an exact URL address for a blog you can type a topic that interests you in the same box on the top left corner of a page. Google Reader will find blogs that cover your interest. Then you need to click on “subscribe” on the bottom of a blog you want to read and then the word “subscribed” will appear.

• The third way to subscribe to the page is to click on orange square button on the URL address line. The page will be automatically added to your reader.

Internet Activity #1

Blog is a space on the internet where user can publish regularly different thoughts, ideas, news, videos, and pictures. Nowadays, blogging is becoming more popular than it was in the past. What’s the reason? I looked at different types of blogs and bloggers to figure out why people like blogs, to understand what blogging is about and why it is becoming an effective tool for running business.

Computers, the internet and electronic devices are ordinary for most of people. They use it every day and the majority can’t imagine their life without these tools. Blogging is the internet product, and it is becoming more common as the internet is getting more users.

Blogs can be either personal or business; it depends on an author’s goal. Personal blogs are created to express personal thoughts, ideas, hobbies, or talents. For example, I found an interesting one woman’s blog (http://choosinghappinessnow.blogspot.com) where she posts amazing photos of her family and few daily facts. She wrote about the aim of the blog “I am a novice photographer who wants to improve. This blog is where I will post some of my images as I learn”. For now her blog has 49 followers. So, at least 49 people are interested in her pictures and want her to post them regularly. I think every person wishes people like what he/she does. These 49 people might be a good stimulus for the lady to improve her talent and never give up. It is possible that some followers would like to order a photo set by the blog author in the future. Followers get a benefit from the blog, too. For example, they can get new ideas and concepts for their own hobbies from her photos.

As for business blogs, their main goals can be to attract customers or communicate and develop business within a company. Famous book retailer Barnes & Noble, Inc. has its own blog (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/). The company increases the amount of its customers by offering on-line shopping. Nowadays, a lot of people prefer on-line shopping because it saves their time. Moreover, a company does not need to pay rent for a store, high employee’s wages when it is doing on-line business, that’s why goods can be cheaper to buy through the internet than to go to the local shopping center. This blog is nice-designed. Best-deals and categories of offered products are shown on the home page. Internet users do not need to go to different stores to find a book; they can check and purchase it on-line. In addition, users can write comments on goods, services and reviews provided by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Another example of successful business blog is New York Magazine (http://nymag.com/) blog. Political, sport, fashion and cultural news and stories are posted in the blog. Readers are allowed to comment each post (http://nymag.com/arts/theater/profiles/63419/). People can read news online without paying for it. I think it is the great achievement for the society, because not everybody has enough money to buy different types of newspapers and magazines to know what is going on. Everybody should have an opportunity to be informed. This magazine’s blog is popular between internet users and can be used to promote different products. Therefore, some companies (http://nymag.com/shopping/?f=shop) pay to New York Magazine to use the blog for advertising their products.

There is also another kind of blogging on the internet. Its name is twitter. Twitter user has to limit his text up to 140 words. I created my own account (http://twitter.com/my_chaos), published couple “tweets”, and followed some people (http://twitter.com/my_chaos/following). Twitter is an excellent web-site for people who do not want to write long posts in blog but still want to express themselves through the internet.

Personally, I would prefer to use blogs. You are allowed to write unlimited number of words and can better and more accurately express whatever you wish to say. You can also attach pictures and videos to your post in a blog to make it more colorful, attractive and meaningful.

To sum up, there are different possibilities for people to communicate, work, study and entertain in the World Wide Web. One of the tools for doing is blogging. Children, students, employees, and business owners use blogging to achieve different aims.