Trust me?

Jonathon and I will be collaborating on a website focused on user trust. We are playing with the idea of linking the home page to two sites, one would be more serious and one more playful, each site would require users to enter personal information to continue and as the links continue, the sites would require more and more information. First they must verify age, then name, then email address. Both would link to an end page with questions like "are you really 18 years old?" "Why did you disclose so much information?" "what makes you trust a website?" To the effect that users will evaluate how the structure of a site effects how much they trust it. I'm not sure this is the route we're going to go, but we're going to definately be making a website about user trust.

Freewriting on Possible Website Topics

I don't really want to create a website about my review on Posterous, because it was just that: a review. I felt the least connected to that paper, and don't think there is enough content to create a website.

I would be self-concious about creating a website based on my research paper, because my research paper is based on pro-eating disorder websites, and I do not want to create something with a lot of pro-eating disorder content. I had a couple points in this paper, that the success of these websites is due to site structure including produsage and anonymity. Another point I made was how identity is constructed through these websites. Maybe I could start with stereotypes and you click on a stereotype "saint" "normal" "hater"? I'm not sure how a story would unfold, and I would want people to have similar ideas that I have, and I don't want to guide people.

Trust: Online Identity--anonymity vs. personal identification-- pick one and then go down a path of quotes and phrases and different options to see what qualities in a site are necessary for user-trust.

Or I could do a site on my literacy autobiography and have a little cartoon go different places and communicate with people in different ways to the effect that the site communicates the idea of global community through the Internet.

Research Frustrations

I actually enjoy doing research in things I am in interested in. My paper focuses on pro-Eating Disorder (pro-ED) websites, and I was having trouble bridging my desire to write about the psychological/sociological impact of these websites and the class' required focus on technological writing. I tried researching the structure of websites in general, and found an article that was very useful. I also found multiple articles related to pro-anorexia websites including a few experiments, which I found interesting to read and useful to my paper. I used EBSCO because they email the article with the MLA citation. Evidently, I needed to check the MLA citations more carefully myself, because some of the citations were improperly formatted.
My frustration really came with the reaction to the research. I found out less than a day before my paper is due, that my focus is off, and I should have done more research in another field. I did not have the time to completely refocus my paper and to find research that fit this new focus. My current frustration with research now, is the time I have to find it and integrate it into my final draft.

Beginning Research

I actually don't mind research papers, because I think it's really interesting to find articles that have different opinions and interpretations of the same text. However, I am used to doing research papers on comparitive literature, not so much on the abstract topic I am trying to investigate now. I like to use the San Jose Library website, and I usually find Academic Search Premier the most helpful search engine because it encompasses so many online journals, it will create a citation, provide an abstract, and I can email an article to myself if I want to read it later.
My vague topic, as I described in my last post, will be about websites promoting eating disorders. I have found a few interesting articles, one dealing with the number of pro-anorexia websites, and Yahoo shutting down a number of them. Another article was more of an experiment analysis, portraying the number of people on these websites and the effects they experienced. I find these interesting, but I know that my topic has to be more based in digital literacy and less in sociology, so... advice?

Overwhelmed

With midterms, papers, work, and personal life to balance, I found it really difficult to choose a research topic, with so little peramiters. I am used to having a few prompts or subjects to choose from and I can work from there. I went from writing about the privacy of my writing space to the evolution of scroll to book. I thought that I could write about the Homeland Security Act, and how if someone writes an email or blog about a terrorist act, it might be flagged, even though the email was private, or the blog was set to private. However, I decided that I didn't want to test that theory! The invention of the book didn't count as digital writing, and I was really lost for a while on what I wanted to write about. It's frustrating because I'm really not a techy-person. I know the jist of facebook and email, and I don't really have a passion for investigating the privacy issues, because I don't want to wade through an endless WOT on the privacy policies.
I decided I want to focus on a more sociological term, because I find networking to be the most important feature of digital writing. I want to write about how digital media and/or writing spaces promote eating disorders. I think it's pretty obvious that extreme dieting and stick-figure bodies are promoted in current media. I'm thinking along the lines of exploring pro-Anorexia sites, how they bring people together to support negative habits. What other writing spaces promote negative habits? What is it about the anonyminity of these sites that allows for people to reveal such a deep secret?
.... Something along those lines, if you have suggestions to where this topic should be headed or a specific research question, please contribute a comment...

a song

I was introduced to a new band called, The XX, and their songs sound mellow and have both a male and female singer. My favorite at this time is "Islands," and I really like the duet and show of two sides of the same story.

Theorizing Posterous

"...cultures invent and refine writing technologies at least in part in order to refashion their definitions of mind and self" (Bolter Pg. 189).

Posterous represents an evolution in writing spaces because of the freedom it offers users. American culture has been evolving into a society focused on individualism. We value personal identity and expression; as is evident with the popularity of facebook and myspace, where people want to express their individuality by having their own profile. Through a profile one can post pictures and text which they feel reflect their identity. However, I believe that facebook is limited in that people use it more to communicate to other people about events, whereas Posterous initiates a more expressive atmosphere where one can easily post any thought that enters their mind. Posterous, thus, goes further into our current culture's desire for individualism.

Posterous offers people to express thoughts and actions, whims and facts, through Posterous you can express anything through any medium: you can write a piece of short fiction, you can search google image find a picture that expresses your thoughts and post it, you can say what you did that day, and reflect on any topic you want. I found accounts that posted videos and personal responses, blogs complaining about other social networking sites, and blogs that utilized Posterous' flexibility and posted a little bit of everything. Posterous is the most freeing writing space I have encountered because of the freedom it allows and inspires. Posterous invites you to

(http://catalystarts.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/expressyourself1.jpg)

After using Posterous, I predict it will be the next craze in the Web-World, because it seems to be an evolution, incorporating a personal profile, a place to express thoughts through multiple mediums, in an invitingly easy way. The only thing Posterous needs is more exposure, which will soon catch on because of how easy the site makes it for you to link your Posterous account with other online accounts you already have.

Rating Posterous

The website Posterous is an easy to use writing space on which you can express yourself through post blogs, videos, and pictures.

Accessibility: You can post a blog from your email, and do not need to have an account to post a blog or comment. However, if you do decide to create a profile, like I did, you can post by web also. If you have previously posted blogs without registering with the website, and later decide you want to create a profile,  you have the option to link past blogs with your new profile. By enabling people to blog from Email, greatly enhances the accessibility, one user commented, "If you can email, you can use Posterous. Love it!"

Privacy: Posterous only requires a valid Email address. You do not need to create a profile to use Posterous; you can be completely anonymous, and have your blog read by anyone. You can also choose to create an account on which you can be as fake, real, or anonymous as you like.

If you create an account, you have the option of limiting the access people have to your posts. You can create a group and allow access to only those people, or if you're worried about strangers commenting on your posts you can edit the privacy options for that as well.

Technology: On Posterous, you can post pictures, videos, and links through Emailed blogs. If you attach a picture or pictures through email Posterous automatically sets them up like a photo album complete with tabs. They will even transcode any video you post, and URL's will become linked when published on Posterous. The website has a simple layout and not a lot of ads so everything loads quickly.

Easy to Use: Posterous is really easy to use, the only problem I've encountered is that I am having trouble inserting pictures and videos because I can't find the button which says "insert picture or video," but I can find the "Link" button where I can insert a link to another website. If I want to post pictures/videos/music I find it much easier to post via Email instead of through Web.

Social Access: If you want your blog to be read by others, Posterous makes it really easy for you. There is the option to link your Posterous account with your facebook, twitter, flickr, friendfeed, picasa, youtube, blogger, or wordpress account. You can also find friends on Posterous by entering their Email addresses to see if they have an account. People can subscribe to your account and be updated when you create a new blog. Obviously, they are trying to attract more users and have made exposure simplistic for users.

My over all experience with Posterous has been good, I appreciate the anonymity it lends me, and also the freedom to write whatever I want. There is NO THEME to Posterous blogs, people write about anything from Politics so short fiction, and people post videos and pictures about anything that interests them. The diversity, accessibility, and privacy make it an ideal writing space for me: it fulfills my criteria in a perfect blogsite.

pondering my posterous

I found it hard to decide what to write about on Posterous because the topics are so diverse; it's not like joining a knitting blog. I decided, with the support of my classmates to write about sex. My first blog is probably controversial and offensive, but in a lot of cases... true. I hesitate to link it here, because I enjoy my current anonymity on Posterous, but ask and you shall receive. 

I have some errands to run, I will post technical details and analysis later this weekend!

Choosing a new writing space

After our class discussion I've decided to review the site http://posterous.com/. I like how the blogs are open to everyone and how easy it is to post. I'm not sure what I'm going to post about, because from my understanding anyone's posts can be featured, so the publicness of a blog entry is something I've never encountered. I'm not sure whether to link to local events I find interesting, or comment on politics or school funding, or whether to make it more personal. I even considered writing a sex blog, probably because I watch too much "Sex and the City," but reconsidered it, because this is a class assignment...
I like how you link anything, a video clip, picture, website, and the posts on their site are pretty interesting, however, I feel a little self concious writing next to such insightful posts. Also, on Posterous, I don't have an account; I just email a post and it goes up. They have an option to link your posterous post to other blogging sites, like Googlebuzz, twitter, even facebook. I am not sure whether I'll choose to use that option, it depends on what I decide the theme of my Posterous blog will be.

Blogging as a Teaching Tool

For my English 105 class, I read about thirteen articles that all dealt with blogging and how great it is. All of the articles were written by professors, predominately in the English department, and every article gave some positive feedback on blogging. The articles had a lot in common; each gave a small summary of how they used their blogs, how they first started blogging, their positive feelings about blogging, and most dealt with how they have successfully integrated blogging in the classroom. Few people found any fault with blogging, except that there was some controversy about the blurring of the line between the personal and the professional.  However, Laura Berry contested that the line is already blurred, "... everybody in an English department knows pretty much everything about everybody else, or believes that they do; there isn't much privacy to protect" (Berry). Not only are the lines blurred, but students believe that insight into their professor's personal life is helpful to the students. One student of Carlton Clark's commented, "Life stories make a person's character. [. . .] I agree on not sharing the big intimate stuff, but maybe just the little things like a good restaurant, good conversation, or a good movie. Students, especially the younger ones, forget that their professors are people too, and it is always different to find out things about them" (Clark). I agree with the articles in that blogging is a useful tool in the classroom. It provides a forum outside the classroom to express ideas; personal and academic. However, I think it would have been interesting to read a high school teacher's experience with blogging, because I'm sure it would be much different.
I've heard horror stories about teachers having a picture or a story or a link to something deemed "inappropriate" and having been fired because of web-based content. For example a teacher at a private Catholic school does not have the same freedom that a SJSU teacher would, have in sharing personal stories, experiences, thoughts, and opinions. The people in these articles, had mostly positive experiences with blogging. There was a "cautionary tale" by Dr. Eric Mason which explains the need for non-tenured persons should "censor yourself before you even finish typing your post.... You limit yourself to certain subjects, and only to certain positions toward those subjects. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as this makes you more aware of the perilous nature of writing and your tenuous position in the university." People vulnerable to being fired should edit themselves in what they write in a public forum, or use an alias to avoid being judged or punished for sharing beliefs in opposition to their employer's. 
Blogging brings people together who have similar interests, social circles, and classes. Before reading these articles I thought of blogging as more of an online diary, but the articles showed me how valuable the implementation of blogging can be in a classroom. I think that many of my teachers/classes would benefit from blogging. Also, I never thought to look up bloggers who share my interests.
 

Intro

My name is Katie Holmes, no not this Katie Holmes, and yes I've heard all the jokes before. The worst was one time I was hanging out with my boyfriend and his family when I was seventeen years old and his brother says "So Katie I heard your pregnant," I didn't know what to say, everyone stared at me, there was a moment of awkward silence, and he followed by "yeah Tom Cruise's wife Katie Holmes having a baby."
Anyways, I'm writing this blog for my English 105 class at SJSU, I hope you enjoy!