Week 7 - October 4

Our  Class_07 wiki page is now available.

Blogs - A New Way of Publishing and Distributing Information

In this class we will learn about blogs. Blogs are probably the most prominent application that allows for the socialization and democratization of the Web, a characteristic of Web 2.0.

Blogs are a good way to get information out to readers fast. People read blogs, see things that interest them and write about it in their own blogs.  Blog posts can be "tagged" so informaiton can be easilly found. Because blogs automatically generate an RSS or Atom feed, it is easy to share this information.

Assignment: There is an assignment to accompany this class. You have 2 weeks to complete this assignment.

Week 6 - September 27

Our  Class_06 wiki page is now available.

Web feeds or "feeds"

In this class we will learn about Web feeds. A "feed" is a method for subscribing to frequently updated content, which is published by a website. If a website has a “feed”, it means that you can subscribe to it and receive the updates, whenever that content is updated. The phrase “syndication” refers to the fact that users can subscribe to it. Web feeds give us a new method of publishing and accessing content online. You need a feed reader to view the content.

RSS - Really Simple Syndication

The technical format that most Web feed use is a language called RSS. Although the term “feed” and “RSS” are commonly used interchangeably, a Web feed is not always RSS. A Web feed can be written in another language called “Atom”. Both feed formats use XML. Currently RSS 2.0 is the most popular format used.

Aggregator

You subscribe with the feed reader or aggregator. The aggregator is desktop software or a Web application which aggregates syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs, and podcasts in a single location for easy viewing. Most browsers have built-in feed readers which makes it easy to subscribe to a feed. There are many popular Web aggregators such as "Bloglines" and "Google Reader".

Assignment: There is an assignment to accompany this class which should be completed in a week.

Week 5 - September 20

Our  Class_05 wiki page is now available.

Social bookmarking

In this class we will learn about social bookmarking as seen in "Delicious". Social bookmarking refers to saving and the organization of Web content, usually a website, using “tags”. Instead of saving the link to your Web browser, which is only available on a certain computer, you are saving it to the Web, so that it can be retrieved from any computer. If you're concerned about privacy, you can also make a bookmark private, so it's only viewable by you.

Delicious

Delicious was a prominent pioneer in the area of “tagging” and is credited with coining the term “social bookmarking”. It is considered the "original" social bookmarking site and has had lots of success with its clever domain name (del.icio.us) - now delicious.com.

Assignment: There is an assignment to accompany this class which should be completed in a week.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns!

teresa@wwwsights.com / 760-749-0107