Final Post... or is it?

So the time has come! this will most likely be my final post on my COOL blog so i just want to thank everyone that has helped me! I have really enjoyed this module and hope that others continue to do so in the future. I have learnt so much to do not only with communities but the internet as a whole, it has also opened my eyes to a number of different subject areas that i would never have even thought of, i.e. community persuasion.

Well for this module we had to actively engage with a number of communities which at the time i wasn't looking forward to but now, one particular community in particular (moneysavingexpert) i am hooked! and it has stopped being a chore and is now one of the first sites i look at when i log on the internet.

So i feel i have benefitted from the module in not only my analytical skills but also in my general regard to the internet and communities in general.

So as a result of this Blog we have had to do for the module i am now thinking of setting one up for my personal views and thoughts so i can share them with the world! So this might not be my last posting on a Blog after all!

Blogs - Comments

Well so over the time on my Blog a number of people have posted (not as many as i would of liked though!) well i just wanted to say thanks to them!

Also i have really enjoyed going onto other people in the COOL modules Blogs and posting my opinions, advice and just making my presence on the internet felt!

Cool WebCT Reflection

As the end of the module grows near i would just like to state how much i think the COOL discussion board has helped me on my completion of the portfolio tasks and this Blog. It is really helpful that we can all post to each other about or problems but also so that we can interact with each other to help with our understanding of the communities and their structure.

This also is good for the module team as they can easily convey information to us through this board and it also helps them to keep track of what we are discussing in order to make sure we are on the right track!

Now some people might say that it has helped students to complete there work and that it has made it easier for them, well i disagree. Not only does it show us how much work we have to do but it is also shows us the quality of the work, which makes us try harder

Proposed Change to Weightings - Part 2

So the module team have finally laid to rest today the whole proposed weighting issue, they posted:

"We have discussed this and cannot make formal changes to the weightings as they are in the module spec. and the module guide and there's not been any overwhelming response from you lot - possibly because you've been too busy working on your IP posters and COOL portfolios! BUT what we can do is mark the two pieces of work, calculate the final marks both on 50:50 and 60:40 weighting (as was suggested here) and moderate each individual's final mark to reflect the better mark. That way no one will be disadvantaged at all and extra effort in the portfolio will be rewarded where deserved. I hope everyone will find this satisfactory. Hope you all have a good hannukah, solstice, christmas, hogmanay, whatever. Lynette"

So in the end i feel the module team have come up with a suggestion to mark the modules work, lets hope i get a good mark!

Proposed Change to Weightings

So for the past couple of days on the COOL discussion board there has been talk over changing the weightings of the Blog compared to the portfolio. The module team had posted a comment on how would we feel if the weighting was changed from the current 50-50 to 60-40 (60 been the portfolio), well i for one posted aginst this and would be hugely dissapointed if this was to go through. I know that there was a hell of a lot of work to do for the portfolio tasks but i also feel that personally i have put a lot of work into this Blog!

Some people posted that they didnt want to change the weightings as they thought they would get more marks (because they thought the Blog was easier to get marks for), but i think it could be the other way round. From the feedback i got from when the module team reviewed my Blog i feel it is going to be much harder to get points for my Blog than the portfolio!!

Week 11 - Future Perspectives

This weeks lesson was all about the future of communites and the internet. It was really interesting to read the "history of futures" - futures means, the future, to study the future - and "futures pholosophy". I have to admit though it is a bit weird when you start to look at what is predicted to happen, for example on the "BT Technology Timeline" it states- 2010, the highest earning celebrity is synthetic, and 2075, humans assimilated into the internet.

I looked around on the internet for more information on this area and as well as the "BT Technology Timeline" i came accross the following websites:

http://www.futurestrust.org.nz/Futuresthinking.html - this website talks all about "futures thinking", just what it is and how it works.

http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011026S0109 - a news story about the internet's future and also peoples behaviour.

http://www.theta.com/goodman/future.htm - states what they think the internet will be like in the future.

I have to admit that i think most of what is predicted is either very far fetched or will not happen by the time they say it will, but it still provided me with much interested while reading. But saying that i cannot say that none of these will be possible because technology is always changing and has changed so much in such a short time that I guess anything is possible.

As for communities i think that graphics and multimedia will be more used for these in the future. Communties will probably be like full worldd that you can explore and meet new people, but actually get to see what they look like at the same time! Im sure there will be much more that will be achieved but i guess until then we will just have to wait and see!

Week 10 - Communities of Persuasion

This week our lesson was all to do with the different ways persuasion can be used online, and especially in a community environment.

Before this lesson i had never even contemplated that persuasion techniques could be implemented over the internet, im not really sure why this is but i suppose it was because i like to think i am independant and that i make my own mind up about what i choose to do.

So know that i thought about all of this i decided to look at a few of my own communties that i was a part of, to try and make out whether they were indeed been persuasive or not, and if so for what purpose.

MoneySavingExpert
Well to start with this community was on the handout sheet as an example of a persuasive community. I have been a member here for quite a while and now i do agree that it can be very persuasive. One of the main things that this community does is make you want to keep checking the forums constantly for the latest bargain!
From analysing this forum i have also found out that people can use this in a very big way for their own financial gain. A lot of the time people from businesses will come into the "Quick, Grab it While You Can" board and post their latest offers, these are not necessarily cheap bargains but people will still go and visit the site and many will purchase these items as they are persuaded it is a good deal (because someone has posted it in the forum).

eBay
People who see eBay advertised and on the tv see only one side of the story, the happy buyer with their new item and the happy seller with money. Now with eBay's feedback policy where you can see the buyer/seller's previous dealings, so if someone has a good high feeback score then this persuades even more that you will be dealing in a safe and trustworthy environment and this also gives people a feeling of "reward", this gives the user something back and shows to other users that they are a good "eBayer", but this can be far from the truth!
For a start people can "fake" their eBay feedback and also the services eBay provides for sending/receiving payment can be used "unethically". For example people can order an item and pay through Paypal (eBay's online payment facility) but if they do not recieve the item and the person they sent the money to is not a "confirmed" Paypal user then you cannot claim your money back. Needless to say that sellers on eBay can send an item and once the buyer knows it has been send they retrieve their money back and the seller is left with nothing.
So while eBay promotes and persuades its users with being safe this is far from the truth!

I have done a quick search on google and listed below some relevent websites on information regarding types of persuasion and how it is used online:

http://www.informationblast.com/Persuasion_technology.html
OnlinePersuasionChapter.PDF