Web206: Web Publishing: Has the division between public and private writing been influenced by the rise of social media?

Has the division between public and private writingbeen influenced by the rise of social media?

How has the division between public and private writing been influenced by the rise of social media? Do we write differently depending on the social networking site? Do we use both private and public voice separately? Or are they interchanged? Is it difficult to switch between colloquial private voice one minute to professional, academic voice the next. Do people make several accounts on the same platforms so they can publish in their different voices? In this essay I will address this division between public and private voice and the way people use their voices while communicating over the Internet.

What is the voice? The voice is our personal representation in all forms of communication. Rheinhold explains: “the 'voice' is the unique style of personal expression that distinguishes one’s communications from those of others, can be called upon to help connect young people’s energetic involvement in identity-formation with their potential engagement with society as citizens” (Rheingold, 2008). So when we speak or write text online we are using our voice. Initially we use our normal everyday private voice until we learn about the importance of using a more acceptable voice for online communication – the public voice.

Rheingold states: “Moving from a private to a public voice can help students turn their self-expression into a form of public participation. Public voice is learnable, a matter of consciously engaging with an active public rather than broadcasting to a passive audience” (Rheingold, 2008). When people use their voice on social media they need to consider that it is a public space where anybody can see what they have published. Social media is a powerful tool for communication and can sway readers to form an opinion. The power of social media is not simply about the size of the audience, but from the power of linking to each other to form a public. This is a psychological and social characteristic of the media (Rheingold, 2008).

The act of blogging can be highly interactive. However it can take some time for the blogger with no formal journalistic training to develop their blogging, and creative writing skills, enough to attract an audience. Van House claims: “The author's thinking and writing develop under public scrutiny. Some journalists-turned-blogger cite the immediate response that their blogging work receives as one of blogging's advantages over journalism” (Van House, 2004). Where traditional media has gatekeepers and content is controlled, blogging has no gatekeepers so there is no screening in place for the content that bloggers publish. Some blogs are academic, some professional, and others are very personal. Van House explains: “I have found that bloggers tend to be highly self revealing, not only about their work but about their whole self” (Van House, 2004).

As a blogger becomes successful and their audience grows, it is possible the blogger will not be able to keep up with the demand, the comments from readers and replies to emails. Shirky claims the more people read a blogger's work than the blogger can actually read and link to, makes it impossible for the blogger to answer all incoming mail or follow up to the comments on their site. The result of these pressures is that the blogger becomes a broadcast outlet, distributing material without participating in conversations about it (Shirky, 2003).

Some bloggers use their real names and private voice while others choose to use different names and a public voice to protect their real identities. Gumbrecht, Nardi and Schiano claim: “Some bloggers create pseudonyms if they wish to blog about topics which are political or considered controversial, to be kept separate from their everyday blogs. Some people blog about topics they feel uncomfortable about confronting a person with face to face. A large percentage of bloggers keep a blog simply to keep distant relatives informed of what's happening in their lives” (Gumbrecht, Nardi and Schiano 2004). They go on to report: “Some bloggers find their voice once they become aware that others are reading their blogs. They feed off positive comments and encouragement from their readers and hence write more” (Gumbrecht, Nardi and Schiano 2004). As a blogger myself, I can relate to this claim. I've been blogging for many years, however it took about two years for my blog to develop an audience. Their feedback and encouragement keep me writing, and hopefully in turn – I keep them entertained.

Social media is like a broadcasting service. What you publish can reach the other side of the world instantly and in most cases you have no idea who is reading your content. It is therefore advisable to use a public voice rather than your own, especially if you are using your real name. Hogan and Quan-Haase state: “Social media combines features of one-way media and two-way media. Like one-way media, information is broadcast from one source to a (potentially unknown) audience. But like two-way media, individuals can react and respond

to this communication through the same channels” (Hogan & Quan-Haase, 2010).

Protecting identity can be a concern for many people using social media. Some create pseudonyms or multiple accounts on social networking sites. Whereas traditional media needs to cover their own backs, on social media the writer needs protection. Snapper explains: “From the writer's perspective, it has been argued that the Web opportunity for more self publication by writers on their works shifts copyright concern away from protections for publishers to the need to protect writers” (Snapper, 1999). The social media landscape is changing so rapidly that it is hard to keep up. As soon as we become familiar with a social networking site's security settings, they change them without consultation. For the average user who doesn't post updates often, this can be problematic. Their privacy settings may be tight one day, and the next time they log in, things have changed, their settings are now lax and without knowing it – they are making public posts.

When Sandry declared: “The popularity of sharing, re-blogging and pinning is becoming more and more noticeable as a form of web publishing” (Sandry, 2012), it made me believe that it is becoming more and more difficult to find content on the Internet which can be trusted. When sourcing information to back up a web publisher's claims it can be problematic obtaining reliable sources. Warnick states: “Only 29% of people trust commercial websites and only 33% trust the advice. People want the sites to provide clear information on who runs the site, how to reach those people, the site's privacy policy and other factors related to site authorship and sponsorship” (Warnick, 2004). With the abundance of websites available on various topics and the number of domain extensions now seen, it is impossible to know if the information you are reading has come from a dependable source. “Domain names are proliferating; we can no longer rely on .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov and so forth. Now .info, .biz and others have added to the mix, and the URL becomes less and less a reliable marker of what type of site it is” (Warnick, 2004).

Social media is a strong avenue for people to share information, images and personal details with their friends. And there are hundreds of social networking sites out there which people can join for networking. There are many advantages to sharing on social media – you can keep in touch with friends overseas, family who live interstate, or you can even be friends with your next door neighbour who you see every day. Shirky states: “Publishing an essay and having 3 random people read it is a recipe for disappointment, but publishing an account of your Saturday night and having your 3 closest friends read it feels like a conversation, especially if they follow up with their own accounts” (Shirky, 2003). I'm constantly amazed at the content which people share online. In fact I am sometimes disgusted when I see inappropriate images of people in compromising positions, or those who are regularly checking in at pubs and clubs and uploading images of themselves drinking cocktails every weekend. Is this expected to start a conversation? I wonder what conversation they are attempting to start with this form of communication. Are they not concerned with how this portrays them? And these people are using their real identities and are friends with their employer on Facebook.

Why do so many people share their most intimate thoughts over the Internet in public spaces? Do they think nobody is reading? Some people make aliases for publishing online, in fact it is probably best to do so. Maybe it's important to keep your private live and your professional life separate. However some social media sites require your real identity. Whereas it is acceptable to have more than one Twitter account, Facebook frowns upon this. Sengupta states: “Facebook has sought to distinguish itself as a place for real identity on the Web. As the company tells it's users: 'Facebook is a community where people use their real identities...the name you use should be your real name as it would be listed on your credit card, student ID, etc'” (Sengupta, 2012). However how do we know people are abiding by Facebook's rules? It is still possible to create fake accounts on Facebook.

Online behaviours and our voice make us the communicator that we are. When submitting content online are we looking for reassurance? Are we looking for fans? Or are we simply writing to get things off our chest? Kendall did a study on LiveJournal participants, about their online behaviours. He states: “Privacy concerns thus govern some of how LiveJournal participants use their journals. However there are also pleasures to be found in the public performance aspects of blogging. Private expressions risk exposure to the public world of the Internet”. He goes on to explain: “Attention to audience desires can make self–expression feel less genuine. The desire for autonomy and the belief in discrete, individual selves conflicts with the desire for feedback and approval from others” (Kendall, 2007).

The parameters of relationships has changed since social media became a form of communication and sharing. Prior to the Internet we could only have relationships with people whom we had met. Now we can have relationships with total strangers, friends of friends and fellow gamers on the other side of the world. On Twitter we can feel connected to celebrities if we follow their Twitter feed or Like their Page on Facebook. If a celebrity we are following retweets us personally, or sends us a direct message – we get excited because that tightens the bond we have with them. Johnson tells a story about TV queen Oprah tweeting about her dog having a tick. She asked her followers the best way of removing the tick. Her Twitter feed was overwhelmed with replies as Oprah has more than a million followers. However as Johnson states: “That isolated query probably elicited thousands of responses. Who knows what small fraction of her @ replies she has time to read? But from the fan's perspective, it feels refreshingly intimate” (Johnson, 2009).

In conclusion, in my opinion the division between public and private writing has been influenced by social media. Although it can be difficult to switch between colloquial private voice to professional, academic, public voice - it can be done. The more people use social media and learn to develop their writing and 'find their voice', the better understanding they will have about which voice to use within with the platform or website. The more they share, the more connected they will feel to an audience. The more mistakes they make, the more they learn what is acceptable in public spaces like the Internet.

References:

Gumbrecht, M., Nardi, B., & Schiano, D., (2004, November 6-10). Blogging as social activity, or, would you let 900 people read your diary? CSCW ’04 (6–10 November). Retrieved from http://home.comcast.net/~diane.schiano/CSCW04.Blog.pdf

Hogan, B & Quan-Haase, A. (2010). Persistence and Change in Social Media. Bulletin of Science Technology & Society 2010 30: 309 DOI: 10.1177/0270467610380012

Johnson, S. (2009, June 5). How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live. Time Magazine Online. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1902818-3,00.html

Kendall, L. (2007). Shout Into The Wind And It Shouts Back: Identity and Interactional Tensions on LiveJournal. First Monday, Vol 12. 9. 3 September, 2007. Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2004/1879

Rheingold, H. (2008). Using Participatory Media and Public Voice to encourage Civic Engagement. Civic Life Online: Learning how Digital Media can engage with Youth. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 97–118. doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262524827.097

Sandry, E. (2012) The Future of Web Publishing [Lecture]. Retrieved from http://echo.ilecture.curtin.edu.au:8080/ess/echo/presentation/f0e29969-3561-4de9-b975-fbf94696ec74

Sengupta, S. (2012, November 12). Facebook's False Faces Undermine Its Credibility. New York Times Online: Technology. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/technology/false-posts-on-facebook-undermine-its-credibility.html

Shirky, C. (2003, February 8). Clay Shirky's Writings About The Internet: Economics & Culture, Media & Community, Open Source. Retrieved from http://www.shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html

Snapper, J. (1999). On the Web, plagiarism matters more than copyright piracy. Ethics and Information Technology, 1, 127-136.

Retrieved from: http://www.springerlink.com/index/L215064QJ8KK1331.pdf

Van House, N. (2004). Weblogs: Credibility and collaboration in an online world. Retrieved from :http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~vanhouse/Van%20House%20trust%20workshop.pdf

Warnick, B. (2004). Online Ethos: Source credibility in an "author-less" environment. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(2), 256-265. Available through the Library Database

Net204: Internet Communities and Social Networks - Stage 1

© Stiven | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

This week we were asked:
How do you use technology to help build or sustain community bonds?

I use technology for communication, knowledge and pleasure. I enjoy social networking on Facebook with my friends, family and peers. I enjoy researching to improve my knowledge and I also enjoy playing computer games - solitary and networked.

Facebook is the place I go to first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Maybe some would call me addicted, others can probably relate. I use Facebook for connecting with my student peers, sharing information, personal photos and funny images/jokes with my friends and for playing games which require 'friends' to progress through the levels. Where the uni discussion board has a more formal and academic feel, Facebook Groups have a more relaxed environment where I can communicate more candidly.

My Twitter community, however, is very different. I use Twitter for my business. My Instagram community is different again - as I only share photos which I know will be enjoyed and appreciated by that community. And finally my work community is different again - where me and my colleagues communicate and share information over Google chat/mail/calendar/drive whilst we are working from home. So I am part of several online communities which all serve different functions.

I love technology and consider myself tech savvy, however every day I learn something new because it is rapidly and  constantly changing. That's what excites me most about technology - it's speed, it's uncertainty and it's future!


Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities
We were asked to summarise they key struggles and debates in Wellman and Gulia's argument and suggest what is it about Web2.0 and its emergence in the 21st century that has made many of these debates increasingly redundant?

I found a few points which were outdated along with some which are still relevant today:

• The quote by Mark Slouka about people going online to escape the problems associated in real life is still true to this day. I know that is the case for myself and most of my friends. So I feel this particular quote is not outdated
• The continual references to newsgroups, email and IRC chat are outdated. These days social networks are prevalent and the most preferred method of online communication, along with mobile phone calls and text messages
• The quote by Furlong about SeniorNet providing a place for a survey participant to go to for laughs and support when unable to sleep at night is still apparent in today's society. When I'm unable to sleep or feeling down I log into Facebook and instantly find a friend to converse with
• Stoll wrote in 1995 "Emotional support, companionship, information, making arrangements, and providing a sense of belonging are all non-material social resources that are often possible to provide from the conform of one's computer" - this is still relevant today.
• Pitkow and Kehoe claimed in 1995 that a survey of web users found most Internet users were male. According to a Pew Report in 2005: "...by 2000 and continuing on to today, the user population has been evenly divided between men and women".

Other interesting quotes from this reader:

• Sociologists have discovered that neighbourhood and kinship ties are only a portion of people's overall community networks, but could also exist as social networks of kin, friends and workmates who do not necessarily live in the same neighbourhoods
• Net members are distinctive in providing information, support, companionship and a sense of belonging to persons they hardly know off-line or who are total strangers and that net users usually trust strangers
• It is easier for net users to withdraw from problematic situations when they are online - all you have to do is exit the window - than it is to withdraw from face to face interactions
• People will prefer [email] contact to face-to-face contact because they can better control their communication and presentation of self, and they do not have to spend time at that moment dealing with the other person's response
• Without social and physical cues, people can meet and get to know each other on the net and then decide whether to take the relationship into a broader realm.

Personal Mediated Communication and the Concept of Community in Theory and Practice

When this paper was written in 2004 mobile phones outnumbered TV sets and Internet usage had become a major activity for millions around the globe. There were several definitions of 'community' within this 65 page paper, however this is my favourite:

Poplin (1979) finds there are three phases to community - first as a territorial definition, second as a unit f social organisation and more recently as a set of psycho-cultural bonds.

Interesting quotes from this reader:

• People gain a sense of who they are by imagining how others - both live and mediated (online) - view them
• Prior mediated communication technologies, ie rural and party line telephones, ham radio, and CB radio - gave rise to communities
• People coming together in community can accomplish far more than any aggregate of individual action
• Virtual communities have been denoted as 'large groups of individuals who may be linked together to share information, ideas, feelings and desires. These communities are also sustained through personal communication technologies such as mobile phones, text messaging and email devices
• Virtual communities attempt to break through some of the boundaries of race, gender, ethnicity and geographic location established in physical communities
• Mobile phone users ignore their physical peers and communicate with their distant social ties, mobile phones are typically an impediment to society's moral project as unified whole and totality
• Community is formed mentally and not physically - it is created by people's attachment to it and being in it
• An increase in virtual social relations does not entail a decrease in real life relationships, rather the Internet can supplement and extend community relations
• Internet users are more likely to be politically involved (both offline and online) and to be involved in community organisations, and to communicate with friends and family. They are also more likely to be socially tolerant and accept a wider diversity of opinions and social identities.

Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online 

This paper defines virtual community, conducts research as to why people join online groups and makes an obvious observation which is that membership in conventional fact-to-face types of communities such as bowling leagues, neighbourhood picnics, church groups, etc has fallen rapidly over the last 25 years.

Interesting quotes from this reader:

• The Well and Usenet Newsgroups were the first virtual communities on the Internet
• Community sites are one of the fastest growing categories of websites
• Virtual communities are characterised as people with shard interests or goals for whom electronic communication is a primary form of interaction
• Members become attached to their communities and visit them often
• Virtual communities are an ideal place to ask strangers about information
• Virtual community messages tend to express views, provide and request information, express feelings and suggest solutions, offer words of encouragement, emotional support and they address the need for self identity
• The structure of the Internet makes it easier to find others in similar situations and meet with them than it is in real life.

A question from the teacher:

I'm curious why you think people go online to escape the problems of real life? I'm old and cranky and I think this is a much too easy answer. I think our relationship to the online environment is far more complex than this. Why do you think this part of the article is still relevant?

In today's society we are all pushed to work hard, buy expensive gadgets, learn more, our kids want the best of everything and we, as parents, want the best for them too. The political environment is depressing, due to YouTube and social media we now have access to visual images which are disturbing, news from across the world which is depressing that traditional media can't or won't broadcast.

We are now made aware of disturbing events happening in our own neighbourhoods which would have been swept under the carpet years ago. The weather is unpredictable, people are being gunned down in the next suburb, the 1% of America are wealthy beyond belief while there are still starving children in third world countries, our cars are too expensive to service and run on 60 cent per litre fuel, our children's teenaged friends are committing suicide, depression and anxiety affect 1 in 4 people!  It's no wonder we need an escape!

However the Internet is not the only form of escape. People have been escaping from real life woes since the dawn of time...forming social groups, associations, joining sports clubs, drinking alcohol and taking drugs, reading fiction novels, watching sitcoms and movies and also gaming. The Internet hasn't ruined society - it has simply given them another outlet to forget about the crap that comes with day to day life.

References

Katz, J. E., Rice, R. E., Acord, S., Dasgupta, K., & David, K. (2004). Personal Mediated Communication and the Concept of Community in Theory and Practice. In P. Kalbfleisch (Ed.), Communication and Community: Communication Yearbook 28 (pp. 315-371). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

Ridings, C., & Gefen, D. (2004). Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 10(1).

Wellman, B., & Gulia, M. (1999). Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities. In P. Kollock, & M. Smith (Eds.), Communities and Cyberspace. New York: Routledge.

Web206: The final weeks

Relationships Online
The parameters of relationships has changed since social media became a form of communication and sharing. Prior to the Internet we could only have relationships with people whom we had met. Now we can have relationships with total strangers, friends of friends and fellow gamers on the other side of the world.

On Twitter we can feel connected to celebrities if we follow their Twitter feed or like their Page on Facebook. If a celebrity we are following retweets us personally, or sends us a direct message – we get excited because that tightens the bond we have with them.

Johnson tells a story about TV queen Oprah tweeting about her dog having a tick. She asked her followers the best way of removing the tick. Of course her feed was overwhelmed with replies as Oprah has more than a million followers. However as Johnson states “that isolated query probably elicited thousands of responses. Who knows what small fraction of her @ replies she has time to read? But from the fan's perspective, it feels refreshingly intimate” (Johnson, 2009).


Social media
Social media is a strong avenue for people to share information, images and personal details with their friends. And there are hundreds of social networking sites out there which people can join for the purpose of communication and networking. There are many advantages to sharing on social media – you can keep in touch with friends overseas, family who live interstate, or you can even be friends with your next door neighbour who you see every day.

Shirky states “Publishing an essay and having 3 random people read it is a recipe for disappointment, but publishing an account of your Saturday night and having your 3 closest friends read it feels like a conversation, especially if they follow up with their own accounts” (Shirky, 2003).

Why do so many people share their most intimte thoughts over the Internet in public spaces? Do they think nobody is reading? Or are they totally aware people are reading? Do they do it for attention?

Twitter
I've had a Twitter account for over a year and have only retweeted from other people. During this subject we had to create our own tweets using links and hashtags. It was difficult to find suitable articles to link to and create an eye-catching headline which would grab people's attention, but I did it. Since those tweets I've accumulated several followers, retweets and comments about my tweets. So this tells me Twitter is best used for original content...well, creating one's own tweets rather than retweeting others.

Facebook
Some may make aliases for publishing online, in fact it is probably best to do so. I think it's important to keep your private live and your professional life separate. However some social media sites require your real identity. Whereas it is acceptable to have more than one Twitter account, Facebook frowns upon this. Sengupta states “Facebook has sought to distinguish itself as a place for real identity on the Web. As the company tells it's users: 'Facebook is a community where people use their real identities...the name you use should be your real name as it would be listed on your credit card, student ID, etc'” (Sengupta, 2012).

However how do we know people are abiding by Facebook's rules? It is still possible to create fake accounts for Facebook, or one for private use and one for professional/academic use.

I'm constantly amazed at the content which people share online. In fact I am sometimes discusted when I see inappropriate images of people in comprosmising position, or those who are constantly checking in at pubs and clubs and upload images of themselves drinking cocktails every weekend. Is this expected to start a conversation? What conversation are they attempting to start with this form of communciation? Are they not concered with how this portrays them? Do they not have a care in the world? And these people are using their real identities and are friends with their employer on Facebook!

Even though social media is available for all to use, do you have to share your inner most thoughts and desires. Have some dignity, people. Don't wear your hearts on your sleeves or it will come back and bite you.

What not to put on social media:

• don't update your relationship status until you've been in that relationship for more than a few months
• don't post inappropriate photos of yourself in compromising situations, ie bars with strangers, motel rooms, taking drugs, with a huge bottle of Jim Beam in your hand, choking a cat
• political ramblings
• your religious beliefs
• rude and offensive language
• shocking and horrifying videos of people being tortured or injured
• your employment situation
• DON'T BE FRIENDS WITH YOUR BOSS!

---

References

Johnson, S. (2009, June 5). How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live. Time Magazine Online. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1902818-3,00.html 

Sengupta, S. (2012, November 12). Facebook's False Faces Undermine Its Credibility. New York Times Online: Technology. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/technology/false-posts-on-facebook-undermine-its-credibility.html

Shirky, C. (2003, February 8). Clay Shirky's Writings About The Internet: Economics & Culture, Media & Community, Open Source. Retrieved from http://www.shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html 

Web207: Topic 2.3: Mobile Media and Apps

Image courtesy of: http://www.readwriteweb.com

This week's lecture was very entertaining and interesting:

• The humble television held primary place in our lounge rooms for most of the 20th century, however now the mobile device and tablet does
• Even though we are still watching as much TV as before - we are now doing other things while watching, like reading our social network feeds, surfing the internet, texting, emailing and playing apps
• Spaces have become blurred now we carry mobile devices. Because we can check emails and social network feeds from bed, more and more people are doing work related communication in the bedroom which has brought our work spaces into the bedroom
• It has also broken other boundaries. While you're spending quality family time together like your kids' sporting events of having dinner - many people are still using their devices at the same time
• Certain spaces used to be protected, however now so many people have camera phones and the ability to take photos of you in embarrassing and private situations
• Some sites reward us with badges or avatars for being somewhere or doing something or buying a product. Look at FourSquare - if you check in to a certain place so many times you may be rewarded with a free coffee 
• 25 billion apps have been download from the AppStore - this does not include Google Play for Android devices!
• Games and photography are the clear winner in relation to mobile usage
• Photography is more popular now than ever before.

Reflection:

As a parent trying to protect their children - what rights do I have to ask other parents, say, at a birthday party, not to take photos of my children if they are going to be uploaded to the web?

If I check in to a coffee shop offering a free coffee after Ive checked in 4 times - how do they know I've checked in? How do they know I was actually in their shop when the app allows me to check in from the car in the carpark?

References:

Leaver, T. (2012) ... Topic 2.3: Mobile Media & Apps [Lecture]. Retrieved from http://dbs.ilectures.curtin.edu.au/lectopia/casterframe.lasso?fid=794620&cnt=true&usr=not-indicated&name=not-indicated

NED11: Module 2

Notes from Unit Outline
When the internet was first established the four most common utilities were Email, Newsgroups (Usenet), Telnet (command line interface) and FTP (file transfer protocol).

The World Wide Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee and released in 1991. Here is the world's very first web page.

Gopher was introduced around the same time by Paul Lindner and Mark P McCahill at the University of Minnesota. It was the first internet hypertext system - and only text. Here is the last remaining Gopher entry point.

The WWW was initially used in the form of text-only interface due to modem speeds, however now with faster internet speeds, images and other data can transfer much faster.

Every computer has it's on IP address and every website has it's own URL (uniform resource locator). Here is quite a bit of information on the history and the purpose of URL's. Let's break down a URL to understand it better. Take a look at this URL:

http://www.curtin.edu.au/curtin/dept/design/index.html

http = protocol
www = server name
curtin = domain name
edu = type
au = country
curtin = directory
dept = sub directory
design = sub directory
index.html = file name.

To register a domain name in Australia - there are many sites to do this. This is one. This is the one I used to register mine. To register international domains you can use this one, but there are many. A simple Google search will show many many results. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers shows the 'type' extensions, why and when they were all created.

Web Design Basics:
To begin building a website using html code, you need a text editing program. As I use a Mac computer, I downloaded the free Text Wrangler. There are many available. Google 'text editing program' and there are many free and paid versions.

In addition to using a text editor, it is a good idea to test your coding in more than one browser. I use the default browser, Safari and also downloaded Mozilla FireFox for Mac. The beauty of FireFox is you can also download additional plug-ins which are great for designers. I particularly like the add-on called ColorZilla. When you come across a colour on a webpage that you like - click on the ColorZilla tool, click on the colour and the html colour number is saved to a clipboard. Then when you return to your text editor to change the colour of your font or background - you have the html colour number ready to insert.

Here is an image of some html coding in Text Wrangler:

Here is what the above html code looks like in Safari:

And here it is in FireFox:

If you look closely you will see a difference between how the Safari browser displays the html code to the FireFox browser. The html code is identical with the exact same font type and font size, however it DOES look different. For interest's sake - have a look at this blog in more than one browser. It should differ in appearance - maybe a slight colour variation or font type or size. The more browsers you can test your coding in - the better! This exercise is taken from our textbook 'Head First HTML and CSS' by Freeman and Freeman. I will be working my way through this text book during NED11.

So what exactly is HTML?
HTML documents are plain-text (also known as ASCII) files that can be created using any text editor (e.g., Emacs or vi on UNIX machines; BBEdit on a Macintosh; Notepad on a Windows machine). You can also use word-processing software if you remember to save your document as "text only with line breaks." (Information courtesy of http://www.put.com/HTMLPrimer.html).

Here is a very brief example of necessary html code required for a website:

<html>
    <head>
    <TITLE>A Simple HTML Example</TITLE>
    </head>
    <body>
    <H1>HTML is Easy To Learn</H1>
    <P>Welcome to the world of HTML. 
    This is the first paragraph. While short it is 
    still a paragraph!</P>
    <P>And this is the second paragraph.</P>
    </body>
    </html>

If you want to learn html, there are many tutorials online. I would suggest starting with the W3 Schools.  This is also another good beginner's guide.

Exercise 1: Web Design Basics

1. The above code contains tags which make up the basic structure of an html document
2. The <p> tag denotes the start of a paragraph
3. The difference between a <p> tag and a <br> tag is that a <p> tag puts a line break above and below the text - similar to starting a paragraph. Whereas the <br> tag only does one line break below the text
4. To create a bulleted list you use these tags: <ul> <li> and </ul>. The <ul> tag means unordered list and <li> means list
5. To create a numbered list you use these tags: <ol> <li> and </ol>. The <ol> tag means ordered list
6. When you open your browser and go to a website you will notice a title in the browser header (or the tab header if you use tabs). Look up! See the name of this blog in the browser title? This title is provided in the html coding in this way <title>Blogger: Internet Design Units</title>
7. To add an image to html coding the required element (or tag) is <imgsrc="nameofimage.jpg">
8. To add a link to html coding the required element is: <a href="URLhere">
9. To make an image a clickable link you need to put the <img> element inside the <a> element. You need the URL of the site you want the image to take you to when clicked on AND the location of the image file. The code is entered like so: <a href="sitetogotowhenclicked"><img src="locationofimage.jpg"></a>. Don't forget to close your a href element with </a>
10. The coding required to make a table 3 columns x 4 rows is:

<table>

<tr>

<td>row 1 column 1</td>

<td>row 1 column 2</td>

<td>row 1 column 3</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>row 2 column 1</td>

<td>row 2 column 2</td>

<td>row 2 column 3</td>

</tr>

<td>row 3 column 1</td>

<td>row 3 column 2</td>

<td>row 3 column 3</td>

</tr>

</table>

Definitions:

<table> begins the table and </table> ends the table.

<tr> is the beginning of a table row while </tr> ends the table row.

<td> is the table data cell. This is where the actual information is entered. </td> ends the table data cell.

Exercise 2: HTML Introduction

1. To provide invisible information in a html document, you type the element: <!--hidden text here-->
2. Spaces between words should be entered as %20 so they are displayed properly. It is also important to ensure you use <br> and <p> effectively so your text appears as the browser exactly as you typed it in the html document
3. You can provide additional information in your html document in the form of a small pop-up message when you hover your mouse over it. The tag is written like so: <img src="urlofimage.gif" alt="here is the pop-up message">
4. You can create a link that jumps to a different section of the same page by using the <a> element as a landing point. There are three steps to this. Firstly find the location on the page where you would like the landing point to be (like a heading) and wrap a short piece of text in an <a> element. Then choose a name for this section of text like "jump to here" and insert an id attribute into the point you want to jump FROM, like so: <a href="URLofpagewithlandingpoint.com#landingpoint"FROM HERE</a>. This lesson on w3schools shows an example
5. To show a table with empty cells you need to indicate the border width like so: <table border="1">. This creates a table with a border thickness of 1. The higher the number - the thicker the border
6. To turn an image into a hypertext link you need to embed the URL of the image within the <a href> element. You can add a border around the image by using the element <img border="3" src="image" alt="URL" width="32" height="32"/>. Once again, the higher the number - the thicker the border
7. To change the colour of hypertext links use this tag: <body link=#ff0000>. This will change all links to the colour red.
8. To change the background colour of text, you need to add this html: p style="background-color:#FFFF00">. The colour is determined using the HEX value. HEX means the number used to identified colours used on the internet. Here are the HEX values of all colours.

A very useful tag:

To add an 'email to' link to a webpage, use the following tags within the body of html:

    <p>

    This is an email link:

    <a href="mailto:someone@example.com?Subject=Hello%20again">

    Send Mail</a>

    </p>