Online/Hybrid Class #10: Writing for the Web

In How to Write for the Web by Jakob Nielsen and Writing for the Web by John Morkes are way different from each other. The first one is all chunky and the second one is more organized. They both teach you how to write for the web in order to attract readers to READ instead of scanning.

Nielsen gives readers an additional link in the chunky text in order to avoid reading the print text that he shows in his web; he probably does this to make sure that we readers know the difference of reading text from a book and reading on the web; also, Morkes shows and tells (in web text) readers some advise where web readers like me enjoy reading because it has bullets and it is easier for the eyes to read and friendlier because Morkes is having web surfers to read his website.

In Nielsen’s link and Morke’s web both show that they are short in length giving readers the advantage of not scrolling down or up too much. But the best one I’ll use as basis for my Multimedia Project will be Morke’s because it caught my attention into reading more for it was shorter. But thanks to Nielsen’s link, I know what to avoid in my multimedia project, such as, having a table for math differences and percentages instead of having math problems in huge paragraphs and get web surfers o figure out. However, I think that Jakob Nielsen did a good job from having the printable text web to the readable one.

As for my Home page, I will have a brief introduction and a “Table of Contents”, just like Morkes has on his web, because it is easier to surf on the page site, plus readers are able to choose which ones they want to see first. But the usable feature that he does not show is that it lacks a table of contents on the top of each of the themes. And this is one of the things that my Multimedia Project will not lack.

Love to Patiently Wait

Since I broke up with my boyfriend two weeks ago and was in a sad mood where I thought about the end of the world, I went into True, an expensive online dating – where out of curiosity I signed up only for the free trial, of course – to look for any matches in order to end my idle life for good, and to imagine what I had missed in the previous two years. Well, guess what. It did not help me at all because I found 0 matches for me. I was amazed, but then I thought, why not enjoying of having a real life? And besides, I did not want to make the mistake that I was desperate which I kind of did, but I did it because none of my friends were available to give me some sentimental support at the time, and I was hoping that True would give it to me. At the end, I got sick and tired of the shallow e-mail messages that True members sent me because I realized that my heart was not open for any of them. This should be obvious after a two year relationship, but today I want to have fun with friends only. The lame excuses of my friends of why they were unable to meet me were because they were all busy with their boyfriends, husbands, exams at college, travels, etc., so I had no other option until I went into the famous and overused craigslist. I found out that there is a platonic section (only friends) and posted an ad to hang out with any women who were available on Saturday night in order to meet at a nightclub or bar in order to celebrate my freedom. But guess what. Not a single girl contacted me except for a creepy man who did not read the ad “only for women”. But now, I feel much better because I know that someday that man will find me and will love me unconditionally. I don’t need to look for men anymore like I found my ex at a coffee shop, now the man needs to find me and I can patiently wait for him. I believe he will meet me someday, but for now, I need to enjoy being single again.

Online/Hybrid Class #9 - Are we More Stupid with the Internet?

First of all, according to Perez, people between thirteen to thirty one years old are into the era where “[w]ork isn’t [our] Whole World: Sure, [we’re] going to go to work, but it had better be fun. For Gen Y [the age gap], work isn't [our] identity. It's just a place. [We’re] also not going to blindly follow orders just because you're the boss” (Perez). Even if today is not the right way to say this because there is a world wide crisis, I have two friends who are hopeful on finding another job because they are sick and tired of their current one. This is what one of them would repeat to me over and over again: “I have so many ideas for the company to advance, but they would not compensate me for this.” He is currently an engineer, but makes extra money with his small construction company. He uses the internet to advertise his construction company because he is unsatisfied with the current job he has because it is not fun for him anymore and does not let him advance through his career goals. From his point of view, the quote above confirms that this is a reality and that it is happening.
Second, I agree and disagree with the following quote: They (websites) supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. (Carr) I agree because I am aware that they’re changing how we process all of our thoughts because they (internet’s websites) give us the answer right away, but I also disagree because I think that they are helping us to develop our minds with knowledge and understanding which helps us to fix the puzzles that no one else can solve.

Just like Zimmer discusses on his article that the Internet seems to be crashing the gate of the mind, taking over its natural work and leaving it to wither away to a mental stump. Through my personal view, I am not perplexed anymore since I have been using the internet since 2000, but today, I constantly use dictionary.com, google.com for images and English/Spanish translators. It makes me to get rid of any doubts and any useless thoughts too. It also makes me save time because I do not have to flip several dictionaries’ pages anymore. It is an advantage because it let us focus on other important things that we all have to do: such as work, school, localization of addresses, etc

Online/Hybrid Class 7: Ezines

It is interesting to read that zines have been around since the late 1980s, such as, “The Match: An Anarchist Journal” (Zoning in on Zines) worked on by the comfort of Fred Woodworth’s house. Also, I like the “Invert Pyramid” (Writing for a Web Audience) style where you start with the conclusion; “[t]hen build upon the conclusion by summarizing the most interesting and important supportive information. Next provide detail about each important point. Then close with background information.” It is good for scanners and it makes sense because we are busy all the time and want to get things done as accurate and as soon as we can.

Also, for my zine project I want to discuss about any details that makes our work a happy place to stay or just happiness vibrations at work to make ourselves feel better. I understand why many people don’t like their jobs because their bosses don’t let them advance in the company. One of these people includes my boyfriend whose boss thinks he is doing him a favor to work for him, when in reality my boyfriend is applying for other jobs in order to feel appreciated.

In my case, I love my job because I’m only working five hours per week as a Spanish tutor - I currently teach two students, but need another one. My apologies for the previous title misunderstanding where I'm actually looking to work with an extra student and I'm not looking for any other job - and it is fun because they tell me about their exciting personal lives that include some gossip. I sympathize with all people who have trouble at work because I had some similar experiences, such as the one where I worked at a small bank as a teller. The supervisor would get desperate to teach me, and at the end, she would not teach me any of a teller’s duties. When I was transferred to another store, I was finally taught by another supervisor how to do other teller’s transactions that the previous one did not teach me. I always thought that she felt that she was doing me a favor for allowing me to do some type of transactions.

Note: My apologies for not adding any link, but blogspot did not allow me.

Looking for a Job and Trying to Feel Good

The other day, I started desperately looking for a Spanish Tutor job, after posting every two days through the famously craigslist website. After constantly posting for two weeks in a row, I finally got a call from a man who wanted to be taught at the Library; of course I wasn’t going to teach him at his home unless he lived with his family, and that includes having kids and wife present at the tutoring session. I do this for my safety. But before that, I did not get any e-mail replies and not even interested people with some questions, except two scammers who wanted to pay me by money orders and one of them offered me $100 per hour. Ha ha! I was so disappointed that not even after posting my beautiful and almost professional resume (compared to the ones who did not have enough information at all), no one was interested and I was wondering that it might be because I was competing with other two companies who provide unlimited online tutoring for $100 a month. I needed to cheer myself, so I visited a blog and watched the video - the same one is below - in order to try to make me feel better. After watching it, I was thinking about an outfit to wear on Wednesday church, which could make me feel good after an unsatisfying day of trying people to hire me. When I finally made up my mind, I wore my favorite green jacket because the church gets cold inside for the air conditioner, and it was better than wearing my classical and comfy black sweater, which would probably not have been enough to give me a complete hundred percent warm.

Perfection and Love for Zine Project

I truly loved the post where I talk about Love. I would like to know what does Love have to do with perfection. I want to make a mix of ideas when we think about finding the perfect man or the perfect woman. This leads us to be desperate and no one likes it. It can also lead us to depression. Just as this blog says, "[t]he problem is in our continual search for perfection we create a perpetual state of insatiability. And the more we look for perfection, the more we require it, and unfortunately, the less we are apt to find it (actually see it, that is)."

Online/Hybrid Class 6: The Web Among Us

“What have been some of the ways in which internet technology has changed our lives--how and where we work, learn, live, etc?” (Heenan) We can change our ways of thinking by opening our minds when we share information. When we open our sources to be criticized, or show them to the internet world in order to receive some suggestions. Also, I absolutely agree with Dan Gillard when he said on Chapter 12 about writing his book, “Locking down heritage means locking out vital innovation, and I don’t want to be one of the people who turn reasonable protections into absolute control.” Dan Gillard wants suggestions. He truly enjoys getting feed back from the community and complains that journalism does not “listen” to the community when they have opinioned comments to say, insights, adding to the reporting, etc. And when we (internet users) go public with our projects and are genuine about having someone else’s insights, we are liked by people because we are humble enough to accept what other people say. In order to do this, we need to leave our egos behind and that is what most journalists do because they often complain that they run out of time.

That’s why all of those who are citizen journalists, or have a truthful weblog that doesn’t sell ads and is not manipulated by companies – which is what most journalism business do – we trust in ourselves. Lately, news readers and watches have become more skeptical about news. Sometimes they are biased and we don’t enjoy it. For all those who are bilingual in Spanish, you can go to Univision, look for “La Santa Muerte” report which was given on the weekend. It annoyed me because it only talked about the good stuff that this “Saint of the Dead” does. It did not talk about the bad stuff. It was definitely biased.

It’s sad that most Hispanics who live in the U.S. do not know that news need to be objective all the time giving both sides of the news. But also Mexico still gives subjective news which is wrong. I am glad that the U.S. has so many different blogs that makes people to have better resources of having, adding and contradicting of ideas in order for people to know where the truth lies. It is sad that Mexico does not provide any of these.