WetPaint is an interesting  and interactive site that allows users to create and develop their own wiki sites.  To general consumers this service is free which is a huge benefit.   The Wetpaint site boosts that it is “The leading social publishing platform [and] brings your website the benefits of a more active user base. Your online visitors will no longer just be exposed to your brand, they will be engaged with it. They will create massive amounts of relevant content that search engines love and reward with increasing amounts of traffic.”  While this statement maybe slightly optimistic I think that in many cases it may be true.

The site opens with the following page:

The site immediately invites users to “Create a free website about anything you love!”  For those who are unfamiliar with this application there is a video to help you learn how and why to use this site.  The video is only about four minutes long but it covers most of the basic elements of using the site. 

However even without the handy how-to video, the site is extremely easy to use.  First; you name your site and create a URL.  Second just hit the big green Go button.  (Even I can do this one.)  The site then brings you to the next step where you are prompted to again 1. name your website 2. Create an address at .wetpaint.com 3. Describe what your site is about 4. Select categories to help people find your site such as; Arts, Auto, Business, Education, Entertainment, Family, etc. Wetpaint gives hints and examples for each of these steps.  You are then asked who you would like to be able to view your site; “Everyone: A public site allows anyone on the web to discover, explore and join your site” or “Invited members: A private site is only viewable by people you invite.”  They would also like you to decide who you would like to be able to edit your site.  While this may seem like a lot to decide upon right up front, Wetpaint assures you that you can easily change things later. (Which I tested and found to be true.)

Next you chose a “style” for your site from 24 different options.  It would be nice if there was a few more templates to chose from however you can modify some elements of the appearance of your site later such as adding graphics.  Personalizing the name of your site by adding images from either your computer or the web is the next step. 

Finally before you are able to begin working on you site itself you must register by creating a Wetpaint account.  This is as simple as entering in your email address and password.  Then you can use your email address book to invite others to view and help you work on your site.  

Once you have created the wiki site you can customize it using the “Easy Edit.”  With this you can add text, bullets,  images, videos, etc.  Because the amount of coding is limited the site is easy to work with even for those unfamiliar with the process.    In fact is Wetpaint is geared for those who have little to no experience creating wiki sites.  Because of this, the site is working to change people’s interaction with technology by making it more manageable and accessible to the general public.  This application is more consumer focused while still offering some “navigational features, such as a feature that lets you quickly find pages in a wiki based on tags.”  (Needleman 2006) However the possible down side is that “in Wetpaint, there's no way to dive into page's formatting code, so you can't do complex or advanced formatting. Advanced users will want more control.”  (Needleman 2006) Also “most higher-end wiki services, such as JotSpot, have no templates but do offer more capability and features. JotSpot, for instance, has applications, such as a contact manager and a spreadsheet, you can install into your wiki.” (Needleman 2006)   Therefore Wetpaint is geared more for amateurs than similar applications such as Jotspot, PB Wiki, Wikia, and other wiki sties.   But after all you cannot please everyone.  The site does pride itself on having an easier interface than the others, so that you can see the changes that you are making to your site as you are making them.   While working on this project I found myself trying to make a site about some of the information that we talk about in our Information Architecture class.  While at this time, I have only added a few pages of information I would like to add more to the site as our class progresses.  It will be interesting to see if anyone who is not related to our class comments or adds information to the site in the future.

As most of the web 2.0 applications are, Wetpaint is a new company.  They were founded in 2005 and pride themselves at being run by experts and backed by Accel Partners, DAG Ventures, Trinity Ventures, and Frazier Technology Ventures.  Recently Wetpaint launched “Just add Wetpaint” onDecember 10, 2007.  This application is geared to corporations that needed more customization than the initial site could provide.  This new service, unlike the original Wetpaint site, has a fee starting around 10,000 depending on how much modification needs to be done.   As the Wetpaint site explains, Just add Wetpaint goes “beyond simple avatar-and-messaging social networks, …and adds the best aspects of wikis, blogs, and forums, resulting in the perfect online environment for fostering deeper customer engagement and content creation activities around a company’s brand assets.” Ben Elowitz, the CEO and co-founder of Wetpaint states that, “Our goal with Just Add Wetpaint is to tackle the market opportunity and emerge as the leader for powering external-facing communities that drive key business metrics for traffic, content, and page view growth.” Just Add Wetpaint features; “a full-featured social computing platform, custom development, content development, promotion, and hosting and support.”

Even more recently Wetpaint has started Injected.  This service lets “online publishers embe code to open up select Web pages to readers or viewers, allowing them to "inject" videos, photos, reviews and comments alongside the professional content. Wetpaint dubs this “social authoring,” the idea that the community not only wants to consume content but actively participate in its creation.”  (Cook, 2008) Injected is just one more way that Wetpaint is attempting to engage consumers in an easy user friendly way. 

Overall I found Wetpaint easy and fun to use.  Perhaps even a little too easy to use.  Even for someone as technology illiterate as myself I tended to want to have more control over the look and feel of the site that I was creating.  However I must comment the application again for an interesting and user friendly experience.

 

Cook, J. (2008, May 18). 25 Million injected into Wetpaint; New services lets viewers leave thier mark on Websites. Retrieved March 25, 2009, from seattlepi: http://www.seattlepi.com/business/363596_wetpaint19.html?dlbk

Needleman, R. (2006, June 19). What you Wiki is What you Get. Retrieved March 26, 2009, from CNET Reviews: http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6543971.html?scp=3&sq=wetpaint&st=cse

 

 

 

 

    I chose to review the Twitter Application “AlertThingy”.  AlertThingy’s creator’s, Howard Baines Ltd., list the goal of their application as, “[an application] that brings the very latest updates from your favourite social networks direct to your desktops.  Send Tweets, update your Facebook status, and upload photos to Flickr, post to Tumblr and more.”  



    When reviewing all that AlertThingy has to offer, one concludes that it is a software application that sends updates from many different social networks, including business social networks like Yammer and Huddle.  It also offers updates from dozens of news feeds and news blogging sites using a RSS reader.  In addition, users have the opportunity to upload pictures and use service websites like Twitter Search, TinyURL, and TwitPic.  It even offers a service where one can search for a product on Amazon, and if Amazon doesn’t offer the product, AlertThingy will send an “alert” to your desktop when the product becomes available.



    Twitter interacts with this application by sending updates that come from your Twitter page to the application in real time, without having to be refreshed, unlike the Twitter web page.  It also allows ease of use because users who typically use Twitter quite often use the other networks and services offered by AlertThingy; AlertThingy gives access to these networks and services all on one application.  All users have to do is sign up for the applications they use; AlertThingy will deliver updates to users’ desktops in real time.

    Instead of searching for information, AlertThingy allows users to pick their information sources and have it delivered to their desktop.  While it is much easier for users of various social networking sites, I don’t see any practical usage for applications such as this for all aspects of the Internet.  There is a point, click, and search aspects to the Internet that user’s expect and wish to have at their disposal.  It is easy to feel like there are new social networking sites popping up everywhere, and to feel overwhelmed at keeping up with all of them.  As previously stated, this is where AlertThingy works well for its users.  Instead of logging on to each social networking site separately, users’ may sign up for whatever networks they use after downloading the application.  Then, all they have to do is log in to AlertThingy from their desktop.

    One drawback of AlertThingy is that it makes users reactive to information instead of proactive.  Instead of individuals using the service to find information relevant to them, it brings information to them.  The source of information may have been useful to them in the past, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that it will be useful to users’ in the future.

    Another drawback of AlertThingy is that unlike access to broad mass mediums such as the Internet, the application offers only a limited amount of resources of information.  


 

As one can see, it offers only a few mainstream sources of information, like CNN, BBC, and ESPN.  There are users out there who feel that those sources of news don’t fit with their preferred taste.  Some users may prefer Fox News to CNN, and Comcast Sports Net over ESPN.

There are many other Twitter applications, but I would say AlertThingy falls into the category of general usage filtering type applications.  Other applications allow you to alter tweets, use to market businesses, conduct alternate searches using twitter search, send future tweets, etc.  AlertThingy seems to be the most applicable to individuals who are frequent users of most popular social networking sites.  The typical audience of social networking sites is young adults, aged 18-30.

    I recommend that AlertThingy offer more news feeds and access to more social networking sites.  Currently, their application does not offer service to social networking sites such as Myspace and new feeds like Fox News.  I would also ensure that they don’t market the application toward users as an alternative to searching the Internet to seek the information they wish to find.  As I stated above, users of the Internet expect a point, click and search capability to find the data they seek.  In addition, it would limit the sources of information for users, so the likelihood of the application becoming an alternative to how individuals’ use the Internet is small.

Introduction

Nearly a year ago, my professor suggested that I use Netvibes to organize my life on the web. I added it to my mental “to-do list,” but I managed to keep putting it off. Thanks to my Information Architecture Web 2.0review assignment, I finally had the chance to explore Netvibes.

Netvibes is a Web 2.0 application that provides users with a personal home page. Once a user creates an account, they can customize their Netvibes home page by adding various widgets. These widgets allow the user to personalize and organize their digital lives.

Features

Users have two customizable pages. One is a personal page, and the other is public. The personal page can only be viewed by a logged in user. The public page is open to anyone. Users may alter the theme, wallpaper, and colors of each page and its widgets. The widgets are customizable and movable, so users can tailor their pages to appear as they like.

There are over 180,000 widgets that users can add to their home page. These widgets work in conjunction with popular Web 2.0 applications. Users have the ability to create their own widgets which they can post and share. In addition, users can add RSS feeds that will update on their home page.

Benefits

Netvibes propagates the dissemination of information among its users. It connects users to various Web 2.0 applications and RSS feeds. It allows users to constantly stay in loop with their favorite applications and feeds.

Comparison

Most search engines and ISP providers offer personal home pages to users. Google has iGoogle, and Yahoo has My Yahoo!. They both allow for the personalization of content; however, they are lacking in options. Netvibes provides more widget and customization options. Its main purpose is to connect users to other sites; whereas, iGoogle and My Yahoo attempt to keep users from straying from the sites services.

Conclusion

Overall, I think Netvibes is an important tool for the active Web user to have. It allows users to keep up with their favorite web activities. I do think Netvibes should give users more layout and theme control, so that the users can truly make Netvibes their own.

Introduction

As part of a larger assignment, the Information Architecture graduate class has been assigned a mapping project. The mapping project consists of two basic components: a sketched memory map of the Rowan University campus and a remediation of the memory map into a Google MyMap. In this analysis, I will compare and contrast the two maps in relation to the actual campus. I will discuss my role in the creation of the maps and their resulting accuracies and deficiencies. Finally, I will use the theories of Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O’Day in Information Ecologies as well as the theories of John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid in The Social Life of Information to postulate that the Rowan University is not an information ecology but rather a network of practice.

Maps

I have never been able to draw a straight line or a perfect circle, I have never been good with maps (I love you Tom Tom, and at times, I have a barely functional memory. Needless to say, I wanted to run and hide when I learned of the mapping assignment. I managed to be brave, and I committed myself to creating my map.

My memory map of the Rowan campus.


An professional map of the Rowan campus

I felt confident that I captured the Rowan I came to know, but I also knew that there were parts of Rowan I never explored. I did capture the areas of Rowan I was familiar with fairly accurately. Most of the missing buildings and areas on my memory map I had only brief interaction with if any interaction at all. I rarely participate in sporting events, and I commute to the Rowan campus; thus, areas like the football field and buildings like the Triad Apartments were left out of my memory map. I rarely use the far north east and south east, side of campus, which may explain the lack of inclusion of buildings such as Mimosa Hall, Laurel Hall, Facilities, and Evergreen Hall. In addition, I neglected many of the parking lots that surrounded the areas that I did not include in my memory map. Finally, I neglected to map many roads that are a part of the campus, mainly on the south side of campus.

View Larger MapA Google MyMap remediation of my sketched memory map

As per the assignment, I replicated my sketched memory map onto a Google MyMap. In this remediation, I kept all of the buildings, parking lots, fields, etc. that I drew on my memory map, and I attempted to position them similarly. Instead of rectangular boxes, I used markers to represent the buildings and areas because I felt it made the map more presentable. Unlike the memory map, the remediated map includes additional information. For instance, all of the surrounding roads are already labeled; thus, the streets I had forgotten have been automatically included in the MyMap. In addition, I was able to embed photographs of the actual buildings, so viewers are able to click on the marker and see an actually image of the building rather than a place marker or a terribly drawn rectangle or square.  Finally, if the users wish, they can switch to satellite view in order to see a satellite image of the campus; however, the markers will no longer line up with the satellite view as my memory map was not completely accurate with building positions. It should also be noted that there may be inaccuracies with the satellite view as it is not a current image. For example, the satellite view includes Bosshart Hall, which has been torn down.

Information Ecology vs. Network of Practice

Nardi and O’Day defined information ecology as “a complex system of parts and relationships. It exhibits diversity and experiences continual evolution. Different parts of an ecology coevolve, changing together according to the relationships in the system. Several keystone species necessary to the survival of the ecology are present. Information ecologies have a sense of locality (pp. 50-51).” In contrast, Brown and Duguid shaped the concept of network of practice by stating “People in such networks have practice and knowledge in common. Nevertheless, most of the members are unknown to one another. Indeed, the links between members of such networks are usually more indirect than direct—newsletters, Web sites, Bulletin boards, listservs, and so forth keep them in touch and aware of one another (pp. 141-142).” Based upon these definitions, Rowan is a network of practice that consists of many information ecologies.

Comparing my memory map the professional map of the Rowan campus, it is visible that I am not an active participant throughout the entire Rowan campus. There are many sections of which I have little to no involvement. I clearly do not coevolve with the whole of Rowan, yet I share knowledge of the campus with other students, faculty, and visitors as would occur in a network of practice.

Conclusion

In Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, Peter Turchi wrote, “The first lie of a map—also the first lie of fiction—is that it is the truth (p.73).” As I studied my maps, I realized that I had not mapped the Rowan campus, but rather, the Rowan campus as I have experienced it. I participate in the Rowan network, but I am not essential to its existence. Rowan is more a component to my life than I to its existence.

Review for CiteULike, a Web 2.0 application.

     CiteULike is a Web 2.0 application that enables users to bookmark and organize academic research for later use. While non-academic material can be put into the application, the makers are quick to point out that they prefer refereed articles and that non-scholarly articles will not be displayed in user searches, though they can be placed in the individual’s library. The application was developed with a specific purpose, and the developers are keen to make this distinction between refereed and non-refereed sources clear. I think the designers of the site were spot-on with the decision to disallow non-refereed articles on the site, while also allowing people to use them in their own libraries. This ensures that articles found when searching other peoples' libraries is also refereed. Many journals and databases have already been cleared with the site, including many of the articles I accessed through Google Scholar and Rowan’s databases. You can view the list of sites who’ve been cleared with CiteULike, and whose citations will fill in automatically with the addition of the url, on the front page. Also, CiteULike can be used by people who speak many different languages, using the UTF-8 Internet character encoding method.

The front page is a little busy, but not distractingly so. Most importantly, the site is easy to use. The ads aren't too obtrusive on the left side of the page. 

Also, CiteULike's FAQ page is very thorough and useful, including some information from the site's principal creator, Richard Cameron.

CiteULike's Journal Search page is clear and uncluttered, making its purpose recognizable. The Search function for the site works well though it's important to follow the "search syntax." After a few tries, I had no problems searching this way.



    According to its primary developer, Richard Cameron, CiteULike was created with the aim of taking some of the “drudgery” out of research. I think Cameron succeeded with his goal. While not all scholarly information can be found online as yet, this tool is certainly helpful in culling the parts of it that are. This is done by first copying the url from the page or pdf and pasting into CiteULike. CiteULike then stores the bibiographic info when you save the article on the site if it's a site that CiteULike has cleared. If CiteULike does not know the site used, the user can insert the article’s vital information, which doesn’t take very long.

    Like everything else about the site, tagging is very flexible in CiteULike. You can tag the articles any way you'd like, and add as many as you'd like. I tagged items by author and topic, and it proved useful for me. Other people may opt to tag things differently; and that’s fine too: The application is designed to be customizable and helpful to the individual. I believe the “folksonomy approach”, as Tim O’Reilly calls it, to categorizing information, allowing individuals to tag information at their discretion, works well for the site.
   
     A good way of looking at CiteULike might be to think of how Diigo or Delicious would be if they were designed primarily for storing scholarly information. Whereas those more common social bookmarking tools are designed to socially bookmark websites, CiteULike is designed to hold all the vital info about the source. The link, the title of the article, author, date of publication, and the journal in which it is found can all be easily added to an entry (if the information doesn’t pop up on its own).

     One of the coolest things about CiteULike is that it's social, in that you can look up what other people are reading who have similar interests to your own. Users can search for articles of interest, you can find who else has it in his or her library. Then, you can search that person's library to see if they have any other articles stored that could be of interest to you. Also, the site allows the user to join groups of people who have similar interests. It is possible to form new groups as well.
 

     CiteULike can be a valuable resource for anyone doing scholarly research. This would include graduate students primarily but some undergraduates as well. The site is well-designed and simple to use. I imagine anyone with just marginally better-than-novice web skills to be able to use CiteULike without much problem. If familiar with Google, and Diigo or Delicious, I imagine that should be all the training one would need to start using CiteULike. Actually the site looks a bit like Google with its search bar in the upper middle of the screen. While I think the home page could be little less busy, the primary navigational tools are well-implemented, easy to see and easy to use. Instead of adding the list of approved scholarly sources under the page where the urls are pasted, I would prefer that the list opens when the user hovers the mouse over it. I think the information is a little more cluttered than it needs to be, but it’s not such a sever problem that it affects the usability of the site. With this in mind, I can understand the designers' decision to put the names of all the approved journals on the front page. This is probably helpful for people who are new to the site and want to be sure their journal of choice is supported.

Here is a group I found on just a search I conducted with the terms "instructional & design." CiteULike implements a search syntax I was unfamiliar with previously, and may take a few tries to get accustomed to. One could complain about this, but I won't because there is a help box right on the page that explains how to get the best results when searching the site.




     This is one of the single most useful applications I have seen for my own purposes. The tool is invaluable for storing, collecting, and organizing research. While I've used Diigo before, and it's great, CiteULike works better for searching for academic information. It's great to have a virtual stop to collate and organize research. Whereas we once needed to trudge to the library and dig up stacks of books, much of that leg work is no longer needed with the advent of CiteULike. Cameron dreamed that his application would help make that a reality. While that reality isn’t here yet, that’s just because not all the world’s research is available online yet.  You can't fault CiteULike's creators for potentially making research more productive.

    CiteULike is an excellent tool for staying on top of recent literature in your field of choice. Again, you can't access all the articles that are published in journals, but you can access whatever is posted online. Building on the idea of "wisdom of the crowds", CiteULike allows users to tap into what other people are using. This is like having other people do the research for you. Searching out online research is much easier than it once was thanks in part to CiteULike. I fully expect to use the site heavily as I begin my work on my thesis work this semester. It would behoove anyone else in Information Architecture to check the site out who will be working their theses as well.

My CiteULike Library:

While working on a map of Rowan University’s campus from memory for class, I have discovered several things.  The most apparent of them was that I am a poor artist, the second was that I am also a very poor photographer, and the third was that my skill in working with various forms of technology, such as scanners, digital cameras, recorders and then putting these images into a form where others can utilize that information are horrendous.   In fact I am ashamed to admit that I did not realize that I had access through family to all of these devises.  I am not sure what that says about myself, but it must mean something. 

I was also somewhat concerned, although not surprised, that even though I have been attending Rowan for almost a year, my knowledge of the campus could be considered vague at best.   It was interesting to notice what things I acknowledged and therefore included on my map, and what things I did not.  Generally speaking, I think that it is obvious from my map that I am a commuter, and have never actually lived on this campus.  This is because the detail that I was able to include focuses many on the areas near the roads that I take to and from campus.  For example, I know where gas stations, fast food restaurants, supermarkets and parking is located.  But, I only know the names of four of the classroom buildings and none of the dormitories or apartments.  I find it interesting that in my memory map, I labeled nearly all of the buildings as classrooms, whether or not they may actually be administrative.  I suppose that I did that because I tend to associate all of the buildings on campus as falling into three categories, buildings you sleep in, buildings you learn in, and building that you buy things from.  (I realize that this statement is a gross simplification of the workings of a college campus)  I did not even remember the names of all the buildings that I personally have attended class in.  I also know where the bookstore and the health center are, but I do not know where any popular hangout spots or nightlife might be.  One also might be able to guess that I am a commuter because I have labeled several restaurants, but the school cafeteria and market are missing.  I have since learned that they are in the student center, which is a building that I have only visited about twice. 

My knowledge also becomes much more vague toward the interior of the campus and in relation to athletic fields and dorms because I have never used them.  I think that it would be interesting to do a second map of my undergraduate university,  because I did live there and see if this theory has some truth.  However, because of time constraints that is not possible.  It is also interesting that I seem to have fairly accurately captured the shape of the campus, which probably has to do with the fact that because I park in a lot that prohibits you from making a left turn upon leaving, I therefore have to circle the entire campus each time I drive to class. 

I do however find it interesting that even though I have driven on these roads about three times a week for about eight months I have no idea of their names.  The only one I knew was 322 and that was only because it was mentioned in class that day.  I have since learned that the other roads are called Main Street, Bowe Boulevard and Carpenter Street.  But I know from previous experience driving to new places that I tend to locate a place based on landmarks, not street names.  Therefore, it is perhaps not so odd that I have labeled many of the buildings on corners and not the streets themselves. 

  http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3439/3397870076_799445fd99.jpg?v=0

After we had completed our maps we were encouraged to think about “what the maps say about the space as being a potential information ecology.”  I admit that I am still somewhat vague on distinguishing between Information Ecologies; which we have defined in class and through the Nardi and O’Day readings as being “a system of people, practices, technology and values in a particular local environment where the spot light is on human activities served by technology.  Networks of practice, which are “large networks that link people to others.  These people  never get to know one another, but work on similar practices.  There is little reciprocity between these people.”  Communities of practice are more “tightly-knit groups formed through practice by people working together on similar tasks.  In communities of practice there is usually face to face interaction and people generally communicate, negotiate, and coordinate with each other directly over the course of work.”

When looking at the map I drew I believe that there are several ways of identifying information ecologies.  To begin with we could describe Rowan University as a network of practice, which could then make our graduate program the information ecology and our Information Architecture class a community of practice.  In that example, I would imagine that the students would be considered the keystone species.  However, one might also argue that the students could not learn without the professors or that the classes would not be possible without the administrators.  However, if that makes the administrators the keystone species than one might argue that the administration only provides categories for the university that are based on fallacy.  For example the idea of a degree, a certificate, even a class could merely be thought of as a label.  Yet we would probably not be here without these labels. 

Another possible ecology might be within the students themselves.  Certain buildings may act as information ecologies, such as the art buildings for art students, the science buildings for those involved in science related majors, even the student center and dorms for less formal interactions and the athletic fields and center for those involved in sports.  Then these separate more specific groups might form together to create a network of practice that could be described as Rowan University. 

One could also describe the graduate school as a Network of practice, the individual master’s programs as information ecologies, and the classes as communities of practice.  Or perhaps the Master’s of Writing Arts program is the network of practice the classes in the program are the information ecologies and the work each student must do with their thesis advisor is the community of practice.   As you can see in my opinion there are almost an infinite number of ways to categorize an organization as large and complicated as a university. 

Overall, I found this assignment very interesting.  I wish that I could have uploaded all of the pictures and videos that I took of the campus (I had about a hundred in total) but I found it frustrating to put them on the map so I only did the routes that I took to and from campus and classes.  I look forward to our in-class discussions of our maps and discoveries. 

 Link: <http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=103331410026745691717.0004660a09c5425007068&z=15>