Wordnik (project)

When I first accessed Wordnik I thought it was just a dictionary, but after I looked more into it, I was completely drawn and fascinated by the amount of work that actually went into this website. It can be seen as a dictionary but so much more better, ridiculously easy to access and totally flawed.

You type in the definition at the front page e.g Hello, and straight away it gives you the definitions from different dictionaries, then you look to the left you see examples of 'hello', you see slideshows and what other people wrote about 'hello' from other website, this can be seen as resources.
When you scroll down you find 'Etymologies', then 'Related Words' and it gives you option to sign in and add your own related words! Under Related Words, there are Synonyms, Hypernyms, Rhymes, Reverse Dictionary, Tags, Tagging and Wordmap which is word visualisation, and next to each of these sections there is word counts on how many resources are there.
Next is 'Lists' anyone who is a member can make this, this 'List' shows how many people have made lists about 'Hello'. The member can access and add people to their own list.
Below this are 'Comments', these comments are from members, their own opinion about 'Hello', some people even wrote poems about it. Left of 'Comments' are 'Tweets', you can tweet the definition on Twitter or 'Tweet' section shows you what people on Twitter has wrote about on your word of choice and you can expand these tweets by clicking on them.
Below 'Lists' are 'Images', these images are uploaded by the users and pictures depend on on what their view of the definition is.
After 'Images' are 'Audio' the shows the reader who the word is pronounced and different accents on the way the word is pronounced.

I think this website is very useful, educational vice and general vice. It gives you all these resources, opinions of others easily laid out and so easy to access to. It can especially used for assignments and for revision.

Web 2 (project)

Web 2 is popular term for advanced Internet technology and applications including blogs, wikis, RSS, and social bookmarking. The two major components of web 2 are the technological advances enabled by Ajax and other new applications such as RSS and Ecplipe and the user empowerment that they support.

Facebook is a leading web 2 user, the maker Mark Zuckerberg ingeniously rebranded it's internal features. Such as wiki, this is a collaborative space which would be edited by anyone whom has  access to this site; Facebook renamed this as 'groups'. In this feature, you're able to start a conversation, add pictures and comments. To take it further the administrators and officers have added security such as functionality and control.
Blogs has renamed as 'notes', the users can express their thoughts or opinion through this feature.
User generated content is a content that is created by the user, examples include: photos, videos and video clips.
API: Application Programming Interface, is a way to let other people intergration with your own service. Facebook adamlted this to thier 'F8 Platform'. They've allowed others to access Facebook's database and create applications, then added to the system and adopted by users.

Micro Blogging: a mini form of blogging, it a best way to provide a short message, via text, web or e-mail. Facebook's own label of micro blogging is called 'status updates'. 

However there are drawbacks of Facebook. What the creator didn't count on was the amount of cyber bulling, and they're still struggling to tackle this problem. Many individuals can access your profile, pictures and private information, but this can be changed in setting, however this can vary depending on what kind device you access Facebook with.  

Blog Review (project)

Cambridge Defend Education 

It is a campaign that started out in October 2010 they fight against the cuts to education funding and fee increases. They organise local protests, teach-ins and mobilise for national demonstration. It is considered to be a part of growing protest of University staff, lecturers, students and 6th formers, each and everyone of them are determined to defeat the funding cuts of the University and fee increases the government have agreed to. 

"75% cuts to the education budget > fees of up to £9000 > free school meals scrapped > EMA discarded. Our politicians have lied to us; the Lib Dems were planning to break their tuition fee pledges even as they made them. The Tories hid their post-election agenda behind the vague rhetoric of ‘big society’." 

Their latest post comtains insightful information about the National Student Survey. They believe that this survey is a blunt instrument, simply wasting our precious time. It's a bad quantitative metric fail, the student has to choose between numbers of 1 to 5 to measure their student experience at University. These results are collected and fed into the national survey, where all the universities are measured against each other.
It can be considered to be a conspiration, to marketise higher education, drawing individuals to attend higher education. Of course this a positive outcome, but there is also negative outcome, the statics provides information to the management, and these people decide whom to make redundant. The administrators of NSS do not take into account that quantities of experince are simply very different in each and every different universities.

Overall, in my opinion CDE is a very good blog to follow, their posts are innovative and aimed at individuals in the educational sector. It makes one think outside of the box about what the government is providing for us, and whether if we blindly accept it or not. 

TED, Hannah Brencher: Love Letter video

TED (project)

Hannah Brencher - Love Letters to Strangers. 


Hannah was brought up with letters to communicate rather using electrical devises. People may find this quite strange, but because of this bizarre habit she was able to inspire many individuals life and even saving them. 
After Hannah moved to NY, she started to write same love letters her mother used to write for her to complete strangers, due to her depression. She wrote these letters and hid them away around the city, hoping people will find them and give them inspiration to carry on. Afterwards she blogged about these letters, promising them that she'll send anyone a love letter. Just after a day her inbox filled up with many heart breaking stories, asking her for help, a love letter.
 In Hannah's view 'most of them have been written by people that never known themselves loved on a piece of paper' for this generation have been communicating via electronical messages, and writing letters have started to vanish. Writing letters helped many people to communicate and it is love on paper, e.g. A man who decided to take his life and used Facebook to say goodbye to his family and friends. But because of the love letters he received from strangers, he sleeps soundlessly. 
Hannah proves that letter writing does not compare to communicating to someone electronically, letters have an outstanding affect on people, it makes one want it to keep it close to our hearts, look back on at the pages again and again just for reassurance. 
Her selfless act contributed to many other individuals writing love letters, encouraging and guiding each other, sacrificing their own personal time to help a stranger whose in need. Overall I believe what Hannah shared to this society is beautiful and inspiring, we need more people like her.

Photostory (project)

Photography

Through photographs we preserve our life, our best and worst moments, making new memories and not forgetting our past. For me photographs have always been essential, for they introduced me to my past self, families and people that I never met. Each photographs contains a story, and there will always be a person who unravels that mystery to you, it gives the individual an inside view of what happened there, and experience themselves were there.
They are visual works. They take something ordinary and glorify it to a position of honour. Famed landscape artist Ansel Adams once said "A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in deepest sense, about what is photographed."

Photograph by Nick Russill, location: Italy.