Conceptual Research and Reflection Project

Concept 7: Netiquette

“Netiquette”

“Good communication practice on the Internet is not something one ‘learns’, but something one practices’ so as to teach others, less familiar than yourself, how it is done.” (Allen, n.d)

People join the Internet daily without realization of what the Internet offers and the advantages of  asynchronous electronic communication that still requires them as a citizen to participate in a friendly and out going manner not holding back their thoughts but develop them in a friendly and social manner.

We have to  remember that within the Internet Info sphere we co-exist with other humans, what ever experience you gain don’t ever let it cloud your memory towards helping others. Netiquette describes ‘good’ and ‘bad’ conduct in online communication (amongst other forms of Internet use). But what is important about Netiquette is the concept that there are these ‘agreed’ rules of what is good and bad.

Reflecting over the work that has been achieved over the previous months and developing the skills of communicating with my fellow net citizens to me one correct principal sticks out with each and every student that has come to me asking for advice, “treat others how you wish to be treated”.  This quote has so much impact, the fact is that this is what one of the core aspects of netiquette.

While it’s good to focus on the aspects of being responsible net citizens and the friendly and most kind way they react to people,  it’s often the people who have not much experience with online activities that often fail to address people in the correct manner that leaves their presence online in a negative manner. People who often sit behind a computer fail to forge the human element which then creates there attitude into a invincibility cloak becoming a part of them that deceives not only themselves to the correct methods of the way to and react to situations  that develop online but often will contribute to their Internet activities demise.

“The golden rule your parents and your kindergarten teacher taught you was pretty simple: Do unto others as you’d have others do unto you. Imagine how you’d feel if you were in the other person’s shoes. Stand up for yourself, but try not to hurt people’s feelings.” Shea, V (2006)

While logged in on the internet we must now understand and develop ourselves along the basic main facts that are now presented in this document, that when humans are interacting on the internet we all become key elements in the attention economy, where you will be constantly attacked and bear some brunt of full forced verbal abuse and attacks.

Developing your knowledge while on the Internet is your best option; it brings people like yourself aware of the key parts of internet communications like net etiquette. Rules were established in October 1995 via the creation of the rfc.1855 Netiquette Guidelines. These guidelines are an established set of rules that allow you to understand what the acceptable form of net etiquette is.

Internet Communications requires greater thought when speaking online and you and always remember that the Internet is not only created for the freedom of speech but to be able to talk and teach others from correct and proper use of it. Following the established rules will give you greater mobility but capability of establishing  new friendships and developing them via understanding the correct terminologies of netetiquette.

Site 1:

Shea, Virgina (1994). Netiquette. San Francisco CA 94118 : Albion.com. Retrieved July 30, 2008; http://www.albion.com/netiquette/rule1.html 

 

Evaluation

Interesting book that has applied the facts from previous articles into a more comprehendible book that applies additional facts about the topic by suggesting to you the best way to understand what are the requirements of the Internet and how you are to respond towards issues that arise. Going into the descriptions provided in this book it allows you to understand what and how it is vital to understand the inner workings of the Internet before you enter into the brave world of cyberspace, this book explores all facet’s and gives great details on how to respond and act in the public arena.

 

Site 2

Hambridge, S (1995). Netiquette Guidelines. Santa Clara, CA 95052: Intel Corp.. Retrieved July , 29 July 2008; http://www.rfc.net/rfc1855.html 

Evaluation 

These guidelines form the basic structure of what is responsible and what is negative output towards a developed rule structure for online activities. Created after the previous book was written, it interprets a lot of the actions for online activities of users and what is the proper way to respond and develop oneself towards correct Internet responsibility. Development of responsibility is one of the core aspects of this paper, it can lead to greater success in online activities and creating the happier established environment.  Bearing in mind the different types of activities emails, Internet Relay Chat, that are online activities it gives you greater established ideas on how to respond to people in the positive manner instead of irresponsible ways that lead to arguments being created.

Concept 26. Privacy and Security

Privacy and Security

“The Internet is a profoundly ‘open’ system and advanced Internet users are cautious about either accepting or sending material from and to unknown sources and are careful in releasing information about themselves in any form. Conceptually, the Internet challenges us to take greater responsibility for the protection of privacy and security than perhaps we are used to when dealing with the media.” (Allen, n.d)

People join the net daily without the realization that they have exactly the same societal responsibilities as that of when they go to the supermarket. They have to remember that it’s not only a social responsibility to control their social habits online, but have to ensure that they protect there security and also privacy as the Internet is a open system.  

When conducting themselves online they must protect their own identity, Internet Communications is a broad spectrum of emails and various chat programs, and various types of Internet browsers that could be manipulated to gain your data, therefore you need to be sending secure data over the Internet by using various Ad ware programs and Virus Software’s and most of all ensuring that your encryption in your Internet Browser does not fail or is interfered with.

 

And these need to be kept up to date on a constant basis to protect the user from any malicious software from destroying there information, as there are many forms of information that you are being involved with online, your activities are monitored by not only you but other sources do have the capabilities in tracking your information down, learning is the key essential to understanding how you are online.

 

Like driving a car you need to gain experience online and it is vitally important that you know how to use your web browser.  “You may be “shedding” personal details, including e-mail addresses and other contact information, without even knowing it unless you properly configure your Web browser” McCandlish, Stanton (April, 2002).

 

Establishing online education is a key component, police have now developed over the previous years, as the net has evolved so has the policing abilities to ensure a greater community awareness occurs,  in order to decrease the online issues with various privacy scams.

 

Personal privacy is one key online element that you need to respect, but also protect from the undesirable criminals, you need to develop your understanding in this area, or this will leave you open to various types of attacks via email, and other types of computer software by criminal elements who will try and achieve to disrupt your access and interfere with your financial information that wish to ensure they get a hand on your privacy information and personal financial information. It is vitally important not to allow the criminal’s access to you by developing and understanding of what you are doing and in this not allowing access to your information by using control measures.

 

“Knowledgeable individuals can take steps to prevent their web-surfing practices from being captured by the web sites they visit. But, realistically, few people have the requisite knowledge or patience to take advantage of such privacy-enhancing strategies via using encryption measures.” Givens, Beth (2001,March).

 

You can include all the security in the world on your computer but it really comes down to the fact of being smart and knowledgeable in order to stay above the problems, for example Internet users need to be wise and watch for the information that the government websites are trying to teach them because that is where the core aspects of the Internet evolve from. This is the only way that they will be successfully getting serious knowledge on how to handle themselves online without the hassles of privacy and security breaches.

 

Site 1

McCandlish, Stanton (April, 2002). EFF’s Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy. Retrieved July 30, 2008, from EFF’s Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy Web site: http://www.eff.org/wp/effs-top-12-ways-protect-your-online-privacy

 

Evaluation

 

Electronic Frontier Foundation is a highly developed contextual information website that not only assists the Internet community with developing issues it also takes them on in the court room, it is the last frontier for Internet consumers who wish take raise complaints about the rise and fall of freedom of speech online. Dedicated to privacy and also security of the individual and given key examples of this in web links and also a lot of documentation provided and they keep a watch on companies who fall from the top to ensure that the consumer is being looked after, they are a vital component of the internet community because they assist and believe in the creation of a happy and safe internet environment.

 

Site 2

Givens, Beth (2001, March). http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/Privacy-IssuesList.htm. Retrieved July 30, 2008, from Privacy Today: A Review of Current Issues Web site: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/Privacy-IssuesList.htm

 

Evaluation

Privacy Rights is dedicated to the similar issues as Electronic Frontier Foundation, it has contextual information on the website that allows you to get a clear and defined answer to many different issues that occur in privacy and security. Privacy rights are a non-profit organization developed to assist you in understanding what your legal rights are via online education with clearly defined information. Clearly defined goals has allowed Privacy rights to raise consumers awareness of how technology affects personal privacy, and also has shown people on the Internet how to empower themselves as consumers and to take action to control their own personal information by providing practical tips on privacy protection.

 

Concept 17. The impact of text-based real-time chat

 

The Impact of text-base real-time chat

 

Communicating in real-time with text enables a form of ‘authoring of the self’ that is similar to the processes of face-to-face speech but which is much more amenable to authorial control, experimentation and reflection. Further, text-based communication carries with it the possibility for multiple, differing conversations occurring simultaneously, relying on the ability of the human brain to deal with text much better than speech.

 

As the evolution of the internet continues and broadband expands over time, we have seen so many different aspects of virtual communications develop successfully and over time it has allowed the emergence of various sustainable virtual communities. These virtual communities are the global hub of the internet, communicating is the most important aspect of this community and developing the communication towards others is what many do on a daily basis via email, chat programs, and messengers.

 

“Most notable development happened in 1989 when Internet relay chat was created. It was originally implemented for users on a Bulletin Board Service to chat amongst themselves (rfc2810)”. 

 

It was soon noted after the development of this tool, issues arise and questions remained on how to control the people within the virtual world of the program, admin tools were developed into the program and netetiquette soon became a stronger tool to support this programs life, in that it maintained the law and order.

 

“IRC, like most internet services, is usually accessed through a client program, which connects to one of a number of interconnected servers, which then relay the messages around the world. When connecting to a server, the user chooses to listen to one or more channels, which usually have a theme or subject. The chat happens in real time, though sometimes there is a delay in the relay, called lag, which is caused by sections of the Internet being congested, or one of the serves being overloaded.”(Stringer, Gary (1999-2005 )

 

Many aspects of communication on internet services have a great deal of anonymity with them and relay chat has not developed a secured method of developing past this. Relay Chat allows a user to control the who and the what he wants to be, giving them the chance to join and rejoin servers as many different identities, if he feels the need to be, therefore it is a semi-insecure protocol that is only bound by what Netiquette rules that are applied to the servers structure.

 

Developments have always continued with text-based real-time chat and many different types of programs have been developed off the success of Internet Relay Chat, which saw the emergence of text based games as dungeons, and the development of Muds and Moo types of online character based game play. These games developed a virtual world for the user to explore, which allowed the user to use their creative mind and control the inner workings of there developed game.

 

Progression has seen the successful development of text based real-time chat and also voice based real time chat, that has not only allowed extended benefits to the gaming communities but has allowed the programmers to bring the community closer together as they play there video games in a truly new aspect of a virtual 3D world, so the progression past the start has certainly taken many turns for the better as the technological aspects have been applied to many types of software.

 

Hence as the ideas progress, the same issue has still remained how to control voice time chat as the security behind it requires users to run there own software in case they become a victim of a angry person or a perpetrator.

 

Unlike text based chat voice based chat is harder to identify issues as it is a requirement of the user to have software running in the background in order to capture video files of users being disrespectful towards others, any evidence is quickly dealt with better than hearsay evidence, so as we progress we still hit the major issue of security problems when it comes to evolution of text-based chat products.

 

Site 1

KALT, C (April 2000). Internet Relay Chat: Architecture. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from Information Sciences Institute Web site: http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2810.txt

 

Evaluation

This text deals with the evolution of internet relay chat and how it developed and evolved over time to what it has become today in our virtual world.  Text branches out from how it was early designed for usage on Bulletin Board Services and then established itself on what we now know as the internet. Text based conferencing is a about the clients that are involved and how it works via servers, basically describing the full architecture of how it operates and how the controls work on the network in order to keep it running correctly.

 

Site 2

Stringer, Gary (1999-2005 ). Virtual Communities. Retrieved August 3, 2008, from Creative Media Information Technology Web site: http://www.services.ex.ac.uk/cmit/modules/the_internet/webct/ch-communities.html#id799913

 

Evaluation

This lecture looks at the applications that allow synchronous, real-time interaction and communication. These vary from simple systems to send real-time messages, to virtual worlds where you’re free to wander around in a world that only exists in the computer’s memory. Lecture also provides various answers to what text communication is all about and how it has progressed over time and then moves onto what virtual reality is about and how netiquette provides the necessary societal requirements in order to keep order on the net communities that have formed.

 

Concept 33. Information and attention

Information and attention

In the era of the ‘attention economy’, readers and users of Internet information must be carefully craft, in their own minds, the kind of metadata which will – almost instinctively – ‘fit’ with the metadata of the information sources they want, so that – in the few brief moments of initial exchange, when a seeker of information encounters information being sought, rapid, effective judgments are made that ‘pay off’ in terms of further reading, accessing and saving.

Looking over history and the developments of public speaking, the most notable public speakers may it be Stalin, Roosevelt, Hitler, and Menzie’s, each had their own method of gaining public attention via the correct method of handling the information. Observing the previous public speakers, you see the theory of public speaking in working fact, most important fact is that every seven minutes you must provide information that keeps the audience enthusiastic, otherwise they will go to sleep, the similar familiar approach is taken with World Wide Web development you need to provide information that keeps your audience enthusiastic.

Handling information requests and addressing information correctly is an important function that needs to be looked at, so World Wide Web development can be addressing the public search engines in a correct manner. Emergence of the new buzz word known as the “attention economy” has allowed the most vital and true component of web development finally come forward.  “Attention Economy” sees a broad range view of many different aspects of net culture, but one aspect it looks at is how to effectively establish valuable web page content, which encourages the user to maintain their website. The constantly evolving Internet has seen web page creators have to get smarter in programming and development and design by getting expertly creative in their ideas, in turn this development has seen vastly better and fresher web page content derived.

Looking at information we discover two sites that remain a constant feed of information for users are Facebook and Myspace, they not only feed information but also grab the attention of the public. The sites allow users to have complete control over their web page design; it allows them to be the creator of their attention. It also allows them to control what they do on the page, therefore has become the necessary new requirement of someone Online’s activities.

“The basic ideas behind the Attention Economy are simple. Such an economy facilitates a marketplace where consumers agree to receives services in exchange for their attention. The ultimate purpose is of course to sell something to the consumer, but the selling does not need to be direct and does not need to be instant”. (Iskold , Alex (March 1, 2007 ).

Interpretation of what is required in content, and understanding the requirements of the users of the attention economy is the two key crucial elements, but by viewing the millions of the poorly designed web pages you begin to understand and familiarize yourself with the key picture of requirements.

 

The main key elements of the attention economy for the world wide web are quite simple, “people rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences.”( Nielsen, Jakob (1997).)

 

Poorly designed web pages sit dormant and abundant in cyberspace because people failed to address the key requirements of web page creation. They wanted a webpage because their friend had one, similar to the current group aspects of my space and face book, which would have enabled them to get behind the crowd and encourage the crowd to listen to their points of view and understanding.

 

“The idea behind the Attention Economy is to create a marketplace where consumers are happy, because if they are shown relevant information – then retailers are happy too, because happy consumers spend money!” (Iskold , Alex (March 1, 2007 ).

 

Many of the public speakers mentioned earlier, over time remained at the high point of their political life as the person in charge and person in the know, because they knew the key requirements on what they believed and wanted in the world, they knew how to address the attention of the people that grew into economy of people over time. Relevancy is the key requirement of information and attention it then allows you access to millions of hits that will enable your site to gain the attention needed to survive online as you would have successfully dealt with the issue of irrelevant content.

  

Site 1

Iskold , Alex (March 1, 2007 ). The Attention Economy: An Overview. Retrieved August 4, 2008, from The Attention Economy: An Overview Web site: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/attention_economy_overview.php

 
Evaluation

This site provides in great detail what is expected from providers of information, by providing the necessary requirements by addressing the key points with regards to the attention economy.  It breaks down the common goals of what the attention economy is and then derives in the sub headings how to affectively overcome the common issues and then employ ideas on what happens and why it happens and then focuses on the final outcome of what are the challenges ahead.

 

As this topic is a great interest of mine I felt I had a great interest to the topic at hand because many parts of the information provided were so detailed it opened up the key points on what happens online with information and attention and so I learned a great deal from this.

 

Site 2

Nielsen, Jakob (1997). How Users Read on the Web. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from How Users Read on the Web Web site: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

Evaluation

Creating a webpage this site would be the key ingredient in the information selection for it, the site goes into great details on what is the best way to present information in web development. Nielsen’s paper was the building block to current webpage design, this was written in 1997 but in todays webpages you can still use the same core aspects of this paper. It not only developed the same ideals, it has encouraged development towards redefining what is good about the Internet and what is bad. Nielson’s paper not only encouraged the early net but allowed people to pick up on his ideas and use them to push the World Wide Web along in development.

Bibliography

Shea, Virgina (1994). Netiquette. San Francisco CA 94118 : Albion.com. Retrieved July 29, 2008;  http://www.albion.com/netiquette/rule1.html

Hambridge, S (1995). Netiquette Guidelines. Santa Clara, CA 95052: Intel Corp.; Retrieved July 29, 2008; http://www.rfc.net/rfc1855.html

McCandlish, Stanton (April, 2002). EFF’s Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy. Retrieved July 30, 2008, from EFF’s Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy Web site: http://www.eff.org/wp/effs-top-12-ways-protect-your-online-privacy

Givens, Beth (2001, March). http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/Privacy-IssuesList.htm. Retrieved July 30, 2008, from Privacy Today: A Review of Current Issues Web site: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/Privacy-IssuesList.htm

KALT, C (April 2000). Internet Relay Chat: Architecture. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from Information Sciences Institute Web site: http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2810.txt

Stringer, Gary (1999-2005 ). Virtual Communities. Retrieved August 3, 2008, from Creative Media Information Technology Web site: http://www.services.ex.ac.uk/cmit/modules/the_internet/webct/ch-communities.html#id799913