Morgane and eCommunications

The YouTube Phenomenon

2006-11-03T08:49:00.000+11:00

(This feature article is intended for women's magazines and/or any other medium dealing with YouTube or new technologies.)

“Hi! My name is Katz20two and I am a YouTube addict.” In front of me, an attractive thirtyish brunette is opening up. She nervously rubs her fingers while she talks and, with a mixture of anxiety and puzzlement on her face, she slowly adds, “I am relatively new to YouTube, I have only be putting on videos for about a week, maybe over, maybe two weeks now…seems longer.”
These words you can heard on a video, posted 3 months ago on the most popular video sharing Web site on the Net: YouTube.
Her profile displays that she has already viewed more than 3650 videos in a short 4 months period of time. This is extremely impressive for anyone not too familiar with the service. You quickly learn, while skimming through other users’ profile's that she is not alone.
On the same page, another self-declared YouTube addict, known under the pseudonym “crs992”, states a number of symptoms to help people determine if they suffer from the same YouTube addiction. Under the title, “Are you a youtube addict?” he states, “You know you are when…immediately after you wake-up you log-on and check your video views…you are constantly on in your free time…”and so on.

Seriously, what is this all about? Does this Web site really deserve so much attention?

If you are aged between 12 and 35, you probably have already heard about YouTube via a friend or have been emailed a link to a popular video. You may have watched some videos and even, for the reckless one, have posted a personal video of your own.
The idea of YouTube is surprisingly simple: it allows anyone to upload, view, and share freely their video clips with the rest of the world. You can keep your videos private if you want, but that is definitely not the point! All you need is a broadband Internet connection and a recording device (such as a digital camera or a camera phone).

Here are a few facts that will bring you up to speed, just in case you have been living under a rock:
YouTube receives more 100 million video views a day, with an additional 65,000 new videos uploaded per 24 hours.
According to the internet audience measurement firm Nielsen//NetRatings, the site has also been viewed by an audience of almost 20 million unique visitors each month, making it the leader in Internet video broadcasting. Its audience is comprised of approximately 44% of female and 56% of male and the 12- to 17-year-old age group seems to be the most involved in the Web site's dynamic.
Another web measurement site, Hitwise, reveals that it is also situated as the leading position in online video views with about 29 percent of the U.S. multimedia entertainment market and displays more than 60 percent of all videos viewed online.
On October 9, 2006, YouTube was purchased by Google for an incredible US$1.65 billion. This sale provoked an enormous amount of media coverage, with everyone having something different to say about the deal and a sudden wave of interest for consumer-generated media sites. Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks (NBA) and internet entrepreneur, was especially direct in saying that, "Anyone who buys that [YouTube] is a moron". Steven Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive preferred to adopt a neutral position, "If you believe it's the future of television, it's clearly worth $US1.6 billion," promptly adding that, "If you believe something else, maybe it's not worth much at all."
In any case, we can’t deny the fact that the YouTube's founders, Chad Hurley, 29, and Steven Chen, 28 had an extremely innovative idea.

Personally, the first time I stumbled across YouTube was recently, while I was researching for an assignment in my Managing e-Communications class. The content of one of the units for the class turned at to be orientated towards the development of new mobile technologies, more specifically the study of online communities and their use of new Web 2.0 technologies like YouTube.
I learned that the term Web 2.0 is now largely used to portray all the new generation of Internet-based services who's underlying purpose is the interaction among users. Social networking sites, such as MySpace, Wikis or YouTube are key components of this trend, as their main successes depend on the size and involvement of their user community. The more users that contribute by adding content to the site, the better and more successful the site is.
These site's are real world examples of a word of mouth marketing system. This is brought forth by Nicolas Gendron, a converted 23 years old YouTube user. He asserts, “Since I have discovered YouTube I keep spreading the word around me on how cool this site is, at the beginning, no one really knows what it was, but now all my friends have become true YouTube fans! I even received mails of friends from friends sending me very funny stuff!”
To better grasp the extent of this subject, I decide to completely immerse myself in the intriguing world of online communities, especially the phenomenon YouTube. Poor justification, I know! Conclusion: as Katz20two and Cr992 describe earlier, it is purely addictive!
In less than 2 months, I have already viewed more than 500 videos, ranging from amateur video's with no real topic, to professional television shows. It seems as though the more videos I watch, the more videos I have to watch! It shows in the amount of time that I have put into it. If a typical homemade video lasts an average of 2 minutes, then I have spent approximately 17 hours nosing around in other people's creations. However, that is nothing compared to certain users. There are many more like the viewers I named earlier and some gladly admit that they have spent more than 500 hours on the Tube – and that is without even including the time they devote to creating their very own videos!

So, why YouTube has become the focus of such a frenesy?

Marie-Therese Barbaux, lecturer in Managing e-Communication for the University of Sydney explains “I believe YouTube is a key initiative in the new world of the collaborative web. For the first time, ordinary web users can publish their own videos to a wide audience. It is free and extremely efficient technically: it automatically (and invisibly) converts the format of the videos people upload to one that provides seamless viewing to all YouTube visitors. If you have tried using Google videos or Yahoo!video, you very often encounter decoding and viewing problems. With YouTube this does not happen.”
Interrogated on what attract people about the service, she also adds, “Another reason would be that the younger generations are very much into producing their own multimedia, so it is natural to want to share one’s own video productions, show them off to the world and get feedback on them, and make connections with likely minded people.”
Observing user comments show, she can’t be more right! Not only do the users want to watch videos, but they also want to create their own and to receive feedback from the rest of the world. It is staggering to see how eager people are to comment.
The most discussed video, which is as well ranked as the second most viewed videos of YouTube, had received a massive total of 22721 comments. These numbers continue to increase everyday and definitely show the popularity of the video. Nothing exceptional or world-changing occurs in this video though! It is simply two guys, known on YouTube as “Smosh”, parodying the Pokemon Music Video in their bedroom with a lot of exaggerate gestures and funny faces. However, in the YouTube community, this video is a revelation! 'NeoInvader' exclaims, “Legends Pure Legends”, while another remarks, “God, their facial expressions are priceless.”, and some even go further commenting that they have watched the videos a thousand of time “You guys are my heroes!”
In fact, these guys have managed to gain so much success with their videos that a new entry about them had been appointed in Wikipedia, the world most popular and free online encyclopedia. This is what you can read, “Smosh is a web site that was created by Anthony Padilla (born 16 September 1987) 2002 and often features videos and skits featuring himself and good friend Ian Hecox (born 30 November 1987).” and “The site's featured duo, Padilla and Hecox, are most widely known as the masterminds behind YouTube's former #1 most viewed video of all time for 6 months/the all-time ‘Most Discussed’ video- The Pokémon Theme Song. There have been over 16,000,000 views of the Pokémon Theme Song alone (as of September 2006) and it has been featured in an article by the New York Times in an article about YouTube on April 7th, 2006”.
Their videos have been seen by millions of people worldwide and they have even appeared in such mainstream media as the Sacramento News on channel. In addition, they apparently have made a deal with the MTV network to produce two videos a month. This is surely the dream of every “YouTubers”!
As Andy Wood (the casual YouTube user) puts it, it is true that the popularity and fame are also part of the big picture/debate in YouTube, “I guess it is popular because so many people want to have some sort of fame or celebrity and they see YouTube as a way that anyone can become famous for no other reason than they have some sort of web camera” he says.
As a matter of fact, it appears that many members perceive YouTube as a new way to get an instant status of a celebrity. This sadly adds to the phenomenon of reality television, where people are willing to do anything in order to catch a glimpse of what it is like to be a celebrity.
Some users such as “m0llym03” are really desperate in their quest for recognition. She exclaims, “Hi! I have recently posted lots of new videos on my channel and I need someone to check them out! plz help me reach my goal of 4,000 channel views! you don't even have to look at it just click my name then click back! easy as pie! thanks for your support! every user counts!! take care!!”
Such comments are annoying and often emerge as spam by group of 10 to 20 on the comment pages of more popular users. It might be working though. So far, her channel has been seen around 3700 times. Yet her number of subscribers struggles to reach 10 members.
The Holy Grail for these “YouTubers” is to see one of their videos featured on the site’s front page. This represents the promise of an immediate boost in the number of views and ultimately YouTube stardom.

So, is there a sure way to become a YouTube Star?
This is difficult to say! Nicolas believes, the best way is “to find a new or innovative idea or to be extremely talented”. A video that is capable of grabbing the attention of the larger audience and appealing to them is the key. It seems that it can be achieved with universal and. unfussy subjects. For example, the most popular video clip loaded on YouTube of all time (more than 34 million people have downloaded the video!), only shows a fit man performing what it is called the “Evolution of dance”. There is nothing complicated about it and no language barrier to cross, it is just a young man dancing to classic popular music. No one, including myself, really understands why this video has had such a huge success, but that is the mystery of YouTube.
The range of videos is remarkable; from grave topics to silly ones, from videos of soldiers in Iraq showing the atrocities of their everyday, to people creating rockets with coke and candy, if you can think of it, you can find it on YouTube.
A number of topics resurface more frequently than others: family pets acting silly, people sharing their daily life and thoughts, people showing their favorite choreography, parodies of well known show etc. It also gives a good idea of the disparate preferences and interests of the average YouTube user.
Surprisingly, there are no sexually explicit videos on the “Tube”. Everyone knows that Internet has always been overflowed with this type of material, so what more could we expect from the most popular videos Web site? Nothing in fact! This was the observations of two other YouTube addicts. Loic Agent, 28, says, “Yep, no porn on YouTube…can you believe that!” Tony Bremner, 25 corroborates this point, “Just type sex in the YouTube browser and you’ll see that the videos have some sexual content but are nothing like porn.” It looks as though YouTube is under control and respects the community guidelines of the site, “YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your video, even if it's a video of yourself, don't post it on YouTube."
People respect no pornography, but violence is a different story. YouTube policy states, “Real violence is not allowed. If your video shows someone getting hurt, attacked, or humiliated, don't post it.”
According to an article published in October, 15 in the Sydney Morning Herald, violent content is a reality on the site and it can clearly encourage copycat behaviors and bullying amongst teenagers. Part of the concern is also the recent development of a disturbing phenomenon called happy slapping; young people filming attack of unsuspected victim on their mobile phone. Those videos seem to quickly spread on the service. While the site provides a function for reporting excessively violent videos (you can “flag” them which will automatically advise the administrator of YouTube to check the video) it is stated that communication with the company was difficult.
With so many different contents on the site, some still manage to work their way up to the exclusive status of “YouTube celebrities.” If you are a regular on YouTube, then these pseudonyms probably sound familiar to you: lonelygirl15, geriactric1927, Brooke or LittleLoca…these are some of YouTube most popular people. The best way to determine a “YouTuber’s” popularity is to check how many people have subscribed to their channel. Lonelygirl15 and geriactric1927 are the champions in this category with approximately 56000 and 29900 subscribers respectively. But do not blink because as YouTube becomes more well known, these numbers should increase exponentially!
The subjects of their videos are the same, they both share details of their private lives with the public. It has recently been revealed that lonelygirl 15 is in fact a fictional video blog in which the central character is played by actress Jessica Rose whereas geriactric927 is a 79-year-old English pensioner who posts (real!) autobiographical videos.
Marie-Therese comments, “[…] it is interesting that the most viewed videos are those where people disclose intimate issues and confide in the public. The human element in the videos is still the strongest and beats other artistic considerations.”

These new aged videos, created by everyday people, appear to be the fresh initiative and quick entertainment break in a world of giant media organizations.
YouTube challenges traditional media, revealing a surge in demand for alternative contents and new flexible ways of accessing these videos. It shows that the audience is now demanding for a more proactive role in what they watch. The users wants to have more control over how they consume media content but more specifically, they want to be involved in the creation process, from selecting to sharing the content. The YouTube team has built an exciting and powerful media platform which finally gives the audience their turn to speak.
This desire for online interaction among users definitely represents the next step in the evolution of the internet. As Marie-Therese says, “It will evolve with the technologies, and the increasing expectations of its users, but I think the principles it is based on will last a long time.”

CATCH-UP VIDEOS, what makes YouTube so popular:

(But as Katz20two advised in her video about the YouTube addiction, I must tell you, “Be warned, it could happen to you!”)

-A Message From Chad and Steve
-Where the Hell is Matt?
-Evolution of dance
-Hey clip
-Pokemon Theme Music Video
-Cingular Presents: YouTube Underground - Submissions Open!
-Real Life Simpsons Intro
-Lonelygirl15: First Blog / Dorkiness Prevails
-Geriatric1927: first try
-LittleLoca Prom! and A Flow!
-Last Goodbye
-The infamous headbutt
-Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story! (music by sick puppies)
-Noah takes a photo of himself every day for 6 years.
-White & Nerdy
-Diet Coke+Mentos=Human experiment
-Youtubers
-Sleepy kitty kitty!
-Addicted to YouTube

Reflections about Writely (now Google Docs & Spreadsheets)

2006-10-30T07:58:00.000+11:00

This is just some of the reflections I had while working on an assignment for my Managing e-Communications class.

The class was divided in small group and each group had to use the same Writely document in order to ease the collaboration between us.

So, it was Leo+Emilio+Me...
This was our subject:

Points you need to address in your writing:

1. Definition of an online community
2. Examples of online communities on the web (include links)
3. Which Web 2.0 technologies are used in establishing and developing online communities? Explain and give examples (include links and graphics whenever possible)
4. Your ideas on other potential uses of Web 2.0 technologies in online communities (this reflection will help in the preparation of your final assignment)

At first we agreed to divide the subject. Each of us had to work on a specific point which I think was quite a good idea as no one really knew where to start.
Nevertheless, the advantage with Writely is that, even if you have a particular task, you can still add or suggest idea to each other part. In fact, I think that assigning a specific task is a good strategy to start but it should not stop others to add any ideas to it.

This is where comments became really useful...Instinctively we were writing in different colors and trying to underline it as much as possible when we leave a comment; Marie told us that Writely has a special function to insert comments...therefore it is a good point for Writely as we were already trying to find a way to do that. It makes it easier and the fact that it automatically gives you the date and time for each comment is also very helpful.

This is what it looks like:

Hi everyone! I have just finished my part. I have also edited a little bit the document, tell me what you think about it (and about the images I added) and when do you think you will have finished in order to submit. -Morganeoz 10/18/06, 6:21pmThanks Morgane for the additions you made. They graphs and additional content look good. Let me know when you are ready to submit this so we can do final proofreading. -Emilleos 10/19/06, 3:52pm
Done! I asked Leo and he is going to add a part to the 4th section but I think we can submit it after that and some proofreading :) -Morganeoz 10/20/06, 7:39pm
Hi Morgane and Emilio, I just added something to the last part, do we need anything else to complement? Or we can proofread it now, and then submit it -Leo 10/24/06, 7:47am

The problem is that Writely is still a beta version and there are many details that need to be fixed:

It is better to use it with Firefox; I always had problems with Internet Explorer and it keeps shutting down because of a missing add-on, apparently not available at that time (probably ok now with the new version of Internet Explorer)

It is not easy to make changes when other people are also working on the document. There are too many conflicts.

Even when no one else is editing the document (left corner in the image below), there are still some conflicts (Yet I don't really understood the reason for this error)

(There were some parts in the document that were hard to delete because of this message)

The automatic and continuous savings are annoying; it changes the history of the document at the same time and makes it impossible to undo changes you’ve just made.
Plus it is not that easy to compare 2 different versions in the history if there were more than two re-editions of the document in between.

Considering those issues, I believe that it was probably easier to initially type everything on a document such as Microsoft Word. At the same time I lost lots of time as I had to check again if it reproduces the same format in Writely.

Some features are simply nonexistent: the textbox (really practical in Word to positions items wherever you want), you can't directly check if the links are working in the editing section, the police is quite limited and sometimes the police changes don’t work by only underlining (you have to type everything again). I don’t think that it is possible to justify paragraphs either.

It can be tricky to add graphic and links

In addition, we encounter a substantial difficulty when trying to submit the assignment. Just the day before submission, the service had programmed an updating. It was unavailable all day: Scheduled maintenance for October 10th

However, even if Writely (Google Docs and Spreadsheets) still require few improvements, I think that it really facilitated the collaboration on this project.

We had different schedules and ways of working, being able to make changes whenever we want and work at our own rhythm was not an obstacle anymore. In that sense, it is very effective and the ‘insert comments’ functions is definitely a great way to achieve that.

Random thoughts from a neo blogger: Google has snapped up YouTube!

2006-10-11T16:41:00.000+10:00

Random thoughts from a neo blogger: Google has snapped up YouTube!

Hi Emilio!

Instead of just posting a comment I have decided to use the BlogThis! function...
I have also heard about this takeover and you can check some of my thoughts about it in my post "A Message From Chad and Steve".

Concerning your question on more mergers and acquisitions, I think it is a phenomenon that is already really active and that will increase in the future. Here are some links on the subject (these articles can also be found on my Furl archive):

Del.icio.us reports 1 million users - post Yahoo! growth tops all of Digg
News Corp in $580m internet buy
Time Warner CEO: YouTube, Facebook too pricey

The web 2.0 is a true revolution and we have just started to see the extent of what it is possible to do in term of interactivity and collaboration with these new technologies.
It is also a great alternative to the traditional media in the way that the audience no longer seems to just be a passive recipient of messages but instead more powerful individuals who can decide what they want to consume and when. They can interact and exchange content via Internet and even create Virtual community.

I am sure that new ideas and innovative concepts will expand and I am looking forward for it.

See you soon!

A Message From Chad and Steve

2006-10-10T03:55:00.000+10:00

The YouTube founders talk about the Google acquisition.

It was impossible not to get this information in the media today: Google has acquired top video entertainment site YouTube for $US1.65 billion!!

The YouTube founders argues that (quotes from the smh): "By joining forces with Google, we can benefit from its global reach and technology leadership to deliver a more comprehensive entertainment experience for our users and to create new opportunities for our partners."

I just hope that this will effectively be the case and that it will help to solve the copyright issues at the same time...
Since I have discovered YouTube in the Meta6903 class, I have been completely addicted! I definitely think it can become (if not already) a great complement to the traditional media as long as it remains a free experience ;)

What do you guys think? Do you use YouTube? How often do you use it? Are you worried that some changes might affect the service (more restrictions on copyright, fees to access videos...) when google takes over? Or, at the contrary, do you think it can help to improve YouTube's service?

I am going to write a feature on the subject for another class...which I will post as soon as it is finished...

I have also added various articles about this event -and YouTube in general- on my Furl archive. Have a look!

Wikis & Learning Communities

2006-10-09T15:27:00.000+10:00

These days, Wikis certainly represent one of the best developed forms in the ever-increasing phenomenon of user-generated content on Internet. They are used to share and access information via a Web platform.

What exactly is a Wiki?
Here is a description of Wiki provided by the most popular and world’s largest contributor of this movement, Wikipedia:
“A wiki is a type of website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. The term wiki can also refer to the collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates the operation of such a website, or to certain specific wiki sites, including the computer science site (an original wiki), WikiWikiWeb, and online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia.”
With a wiki, anyone is able to contribute by adding or even deleting passages, regardless of their expertise. Wikis are part of the “web 2.0 revolution” which allows more interactivity and exchange between users through different sort of Internet-based services.
Therefore, it is easy to see that this new mean for interaction and information-sharing could become very useful for all learning communities.

What is a learning community?
This definition is provided by Wikiversity, another famous Wiki except the main goal is to promote the development of such learning communities:
"A learning community is a group of people all connected by a common educational or developmental goal. It is an idea which is used in various educational settings as a way to increase motivation and ultimately to empower the learner in constructing their own meanings and methods in addressing the particular problem or issue they are currently working on. Attributes of a learning community typically include being collaborative, decentralised and distributed, much as, and for the same reasons that Communities of Practice (CoPs) are also applied, both in educational and business settings."

Why wikis can be considered as valuable tools for learning communities?
For the simple reason that the procedure involved in the creation of new entries in a wiki can be identify as a learning process. In general, the production of the contents in a wiki has to go through phases of discussion, debate and numerous conflicts before finalizing the version of the project. If you look at the Wikipedia talk page you will find some of these elements as well as suggestions the contributors have added in order to improve the article from their perspective.
The fact that Wikis are inherently collaborative structures definitely demonstrates the expression of this learning process. This is similar to teachers who assign projects to their students and tell them to discuss it and report their findings.
It is in this creation process that the expression of learning communities can be revealed.

Actually many active wikis found on Internet are potential learning communities.
This will depends on the degrees of involvement and participation of every member.
“Returning to the idea of being collaborative, decentralised and distributed; we must also add that people in a proper, functioning learning community themselves really feel that they are a part of that community and that they actually participate. We know that in some groups, some people will take over and some people will feel excluded. This is not to say that all work in a learning community has to be shared equally (some learning communities will develop hierarchical elements); but rather to ensure that each individual feels they can add anything at any time and that each individual's needs have to be recognised in order for it to be a functioning learning community.” (Wikiversity)
Many wiki communities are now private and specialized particularly within companies and the education system. These types of wiki usually required a password to be edited and the control of any changes are much more regulated. This move comes after the growth of criticism concerning vandalism in open wiki (especially within sensitive subject where legally contentious contents and inaccuracies could be found).
Most of the time, the general public still have access to the article but the manipulation is restricted to registered members. Citizendium is an example of this form of wiki. Its founder, Larry Sanger, has announced that topic experts will be nominate to run the site; they “will have final, enforceable authority to “resolve” controversy and kick out trolls” and that these topic experts “will function like village elders or college professors - they’ll simply make the wiki a civilized place.” This is supposed to propose a reliable alternative to the problem of vandalism but it is also likely to challenge the basic principle of openness intrinsic to wiki.
I think that this type of wiki can represent a good complement in the elaboration of specific communities but open wikis like Wikipedia should remain. As I previously stated, what makes wikis interesting for learning communities is the process and the fact that it is open to discussion. This permits viewers to learn about different opinions and ways of thinking. Once all opinions and points of view are examined then the user has an opportunity to delineate their own. Even incorrect remarks can lead to a deeper questioning on the subject.
I believe wikis have had a huge social impact today and represent a powerful tool for any learning communities. It allows for the breaking of boundaries, in the collaboration process and also allows anyone to participate regardless of who they are and their expertise on the subject.

The following are examples of the use of wikis in the development of learning communities:
The eCommunicate 2.0 EdNA Group (a community of teachers learning about the new Web 2.0 technologies).
Wikia (a semi-private college/university wikis), which is already used by Stanford University.
Other wiki’s about colleges and universities can also be found at students.wikia.com.

For more articles about wikis in general, you can also check my archive in Furl section wiki.

Furl it!

2006-10-08T04:19:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone!

Just to let you know that I have created my own archive on Furl!!

I believe it will make it much easier to access and post the articles we consider relevant for this class.
Indeed, almost everytime, after posting about articles I have read, I feel quite frustrated as I instantly find other articles I would like to share as well.
That is why I have decided to use some of the recent web 2.0 technologies we have been introduced to with this class.
I thought Furl was the most appropriate.
For the moment I have just "Furled" articles directly linked with META 6903. It took me quite a while to do it; but it is probably because I had to read again many articles to make sure I can address the appropriate tags. It should be quite easy now as I will do it automatically when I find good articles I would like to keep. The advantage of Furl is that you can create and named the categories you want, add subscribers to your archive (and even particular categories) and also maintain some of your findings private.
I will try to add interesting articles as often as possible and I hope that you will find what you are looking for.

PS: I think it can be as well the answer to the question Emilio asked me recently: "I wonder if the class can come up with a weekly newsletter updating everyone of articles coming out of the press on the new technologies - everyone can post when they find new information. Maybe using writely or wiki?What do you reckon?"
In that case, I propose to use del.icio.us or Furl. We should then just subscribe to each other account (or different categories) and it will allow us to keep updated on each other findings, what do you think?

Help! How to access Web Email with Outlook 2003

2006-09-23T23:56:00.000+10:00

Help! I have a problem with my emails configuration and I though that you may have a solution for me...

I don't know if you are in the same situation: I have "thousands" of different email addresses...
My problem: I would like to have an easy access to all my adresses with a simple click.
The Web Email I use are: Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail, Wanadoo...

Ok, I know that it is possible with Outlook or Outlook Express...sorry, in fact, it WAS possible.
Indeed, before it was quite easy, you just had to configure your accounts on Outlook and it could automatically retrieve your emails on each of your Web email account; but unfortunately, it is not the case anymore.

Take a look at this article which explains clearly the reasons of this change (for Hotmail):

Hotmail fees for Outlook access

Ninemsn Hotmail. Plus- Streamlined, high-capacity, customizable e-mail ($37.95 yearly)

It is the same problem with Yahoo!, you now have to pay at least $19.99/year to download your messages from any POP3 account using an email application like Outlook™:

Need more from mail? Get Yahoo! Mail Plus.

Of course, the only articles I have found that were supposed to solve my problem required a paid subscription:

I have also found that I am not the only one that to meet with this problem:

Can I read web mail using a pop3 mail reader?

For the moment, I can still download my emails from Wanadoo and I have decided to create an account with Google (Gmail) as it seems more convenient to get back the messages:

For the link of the procedure click here

But guess what?
Even Gmail raise a problem: Google's Gmail could be blocked

Apparently, if you use Outlook Express you could also try this procedure (for Hotmail):

How to Access a Free Hotmail Account in Outlook Express

I have to try this solution again as it didn't work the first time. However I would prefer to find a solution with Outlook 2003.
Anyway, if you have any comments, suggestions, solutions :)...I'll be really glad to hear from you!

Thanks!

Podcast!

2006-09-10T10:14:00.000+10:00

On the 26 August, we had a seminar and it was the first occasion to meet everyone in the group.
It was really interesting; we even had a representant from Apple that came to explain to us all mysteries about Podcasting!

No need to say that the presentation was really "Mac-orientated"! Basically, I learned that to make a Podcast, you NEED to have a Mac...too bad for me as I "just" have a PC! I have to say that even though I have nothing against Apple, I don't think I would ever change my PC for a Mac! I have always used a PC and I am really happy with it! At least, until this day!
Indeed, at the end I asked if there was a solution to create a Podcast on a PC and the answer was clearly: NO!
The only good program to create a Podcast was supposed to be GarageBand.

GarageBand

How is that possible!? As I am a little bit stubborn ;) I have decided to check myself on Internet.

And...it is true! Almost! yes...there is some other programs to create a Podcast, but in general it is more complicated or more expensive.
I have spent hours trying to find an equivalent as easy to use, it is almost impossible; you can check for yourself with some debates I have found on the Net concerning this topic:

A GarageBand for PC!?
GarageBand 1.1
Windows XP needs a GarageBand
Apple GarageBand 2
Best PC alternative to Garageband?
Mac Skeptic: GarageBand Composes Music in Minutes
First Look: Making Music with GarageBand 2
Garage Band
Make music with GarageBand
Finally, CNET, a great site if you want to download several of the softwares talked about!

I have download many myself (like FL Studio 6 or Audacity) but I still think GarageBand is more "user friendly".

Links about Podcasts:
Classifying New Technology - Your Opinion on Podcasts ; Podcast lectures a hit with conscientious university students

PS: Don't forget to click on the title of the post: Podcast!, it will give you access to a method which explain how to create a podcast on a PC (as for me, I gave up!)

The Net Generation and the Educational System

2006-09-03T11:53:00.000+10:00

The generation raised through the last few decades have experienced a rapid growth of new technologies, in particular the Internet. These people are often called the “Net Generation” or “Digital Natives”. More precisely, these terms refer to people born in or after 1982. It is the advancement in technologies that differentiate this generation from previous generations, such as the “Baby Boomers” (1946-1964) or “Generation X” (1965-1981).

The Net Generation has grown up with computers at home and is familiar with such things as music downloads, instant messaging and mobile phones. This makes them in touch with the digital environment in which they live.

This generation possesses particular characteristics (listed below from the article The Net Generation):
• They are able to multitask / multi-process: Net-geners can do several things at once.
• They "have little tolerance for delays." They expect webpages to load quickly, responses to e-mail immediately, etc. (Skiba)
• They tend to be more comfortable constructing their knowledge than being instructed.
• They prefer to be interactive: "They want to be users--not just viewers or listeners." (Tapscott, 1998, p.3)

They also tend to be connected at all times and social interactions over the Internet are an essential part of their daily life. (with the use of technologies like instant messaging or Skype for example)

The role of Web 2.0 technologies has also accentuated these differences. The Web 2.0 phenomenon uses what has been learned from "Web 1.0" (the decade of development on the web in the 1990’s) and tries to make it more attractive and engaging. It changes from an individualistic behavior, such as emails, to a more collaborative approach. Online communities are privileged and people want to create and share their contents with members of their communities. Several examples of Web 2.0 technologies are Blogs, Wiki and Podcasts.

It should be noted that the current educational system is not always suitable for the Net Generation and it is worth considering that changes could be implemented to meet the needs of this new type of student.
The problem is that today, most learning takes place outside schools. Students can learn via a wide range of media. There is TV, magazines, the radio as well as Internet technology frequently use for Education (information and research) but also for Communication, Entertainment, and Self-expression (confer Wikipedia, Generation Y).
Students use the Internet on a daily basis and this has obviously influenced their behavior. The Net Generation wants to learn everywhere, at anytime and this is a problem for the educational system as it is often observed as the “ancient” way of learning: with a specific space – the classroom –, blackboard, textbooks…

It is felt that students now have different needs, are impatient and are expecting immediate answers. Linear teaching is not yet the reference and they are demanding a change in teaching that could be more interactive and entertaining. The article The Net Generation Goes to College clearly illustrates this issue: “Change your teaching style. Make blogs, iPods, and video games part of your pedagogy. And learn to accept divided attention spans. A new generation of students has arrived and sorry, but they might not want to hear you lecture for an hour. That is the message of Richard T. Sweeney[…]”
Therefore, even though podcasts or blogs would be great progress, most students only expect a more extensive use of technology to make the class livelier. For instance, a program such as WebCT and Blackboard (online course-management) could be automatically used in order to make the contents of the classroom more interactive with video or audio formats.

The problem is also mainly generational. Contrary to their students, teachers are part of the “Print Generation” and are not necessarily comfortable with the online world which results in a growing disconnect. For example, where students privileged finding information over knowing information, teachers can consider it as cheating. Consequently, this poses an important challenge for teachers. They might have to rethink their way of teaching and providing the learning, taking Internet access and research into consideration.

Nevertheless it is essential to note that schools are still vital in order to build social skills. Teachers constitute a major part in the motivation process of learning. Therefore, it seems unlikely that one-day these technologies or other cutting edge technologies could replace real human contact in a classroom.

Some articles...

2006-08-29T21:52:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone!

Just a post to give you some links of articles that might interest you.
These are, more or less, related to the different subjects raised during the seminars of Managing eCommunications.

The first couple of articles deals with the influence of technology in our daily life. It is more about the negative side and the fact that some people can get addicted to it.

The next ones are about the problem of the use of new technologies among children and how to control it.

I have also included some articles related to the technologies we studied during the seminar:

This one is about blogs: Archivo de la categoría 'Blogs' (It is in Spanish but I still put it because it has really interesting links and informations.)
About Vodcasting: ABC puts vodcasting to the test
About YouTube: YouTube pulls a Facebook move, circa 2004 (It gives some informations about the new section on YouTube called Colleges on YouTube which I think can be a great idea for universities). Still about Youtube, I recommend this article: Tassie YouTube star calls it quits that explains quite clearly the issues of privacy. And in complement you can also have a look at: List of Internet phenomena. I find it really entertaining and it can inspires you some ideas if you want to be an "Internet celebrity" ;)
About Flickr and its popularity: 1.2 million Flickr Photos Geotagged in 24 Hours
The last one is about Wiki -the presentation of Wiki is planned for the 13 September seminar- and explains the dimension of the "Wiki phenomenon" as in politics: Wiki wars rage in US political arena

I hope it can light up some issues concerning these technologies we are now using!

See you soon

What is a blog?

2006-08-25T21:36:00.000+10:00

Marc Canter: What is a blog?

To illustrate the end of my previous post: a mini-clip of Marc Canter, technology guru and CEO of Broadband Mechanics describing what a blog is for TheWeblogProject open source movie.

Describe and assess a technology (with Powerpoint)

2006-08-25T16:26:00.000+10:00

During the seminar of "Managing eCommunications", each of us had to describe different technologies by using Powerpoint.
It was not so easy and I think everybody did a good job.
The presentations were about : Blog, Tagging and Folksonomy, Social networks, Del.ici.ous and Furl and Flickr and youTube. However, we just had the time to see the 3 first ones.

The requirements of the presentations were clear -maximum 3 slides and no more than 5 minutes- and the structure had to be around four questions already given: 1. What is it? 2. How does it work? 3. How does it facilitate collaboration and communication? 4. Present one example of use and give your assessment of the usefulness of this technology.
So, considering all these, I was thinking it will be quite easy and fast to do...in fact not really!
I was suffering an overload of informations and feeling a little bit frustrated with the 3 slides.
I know it had to be short, as the aim is just an introduction to these new technologies, but I was feeling that having more slides could have been better...I wanted to put more visuals to illustrate my words. My problem was that if I wanted to add bigger visual, I will have to sacrifice some of the content.

The next step was to record a voice commentary on our slides. The procedure was simple; but what was difficult is, talking like if we were addressing to an audience...when in fact you're all alone; now and then, I felt quite stupid :-)
It is necessary to have a written script ready if you don't want to spend too much time doing everything all over again. I was trying to be spontaneous too by adding some "oral" features: "so", "now", some longer pauses...
I think it is quite hard to make it interesting if the audience have the impression that you are just reading a text. I have noticed that when I do it live it is different. I just talk without really worrying about those minor details. In the case of recording I had the opportunity to hear "how it sounds" and I always wanted to improve it...which is not truly not a good idea as the last recording is not always the best! (if somebody knows how to keep the other recordings??I am really interested!).
Oh yes! one more thing: listening to my own voice is just horrible, but I tried to ignore that as, apparently, it is the same for everybody!

After listening to the presentations, I remark that some techniques are quite efficient to improve the general quality:
- a clear structure with just one idea on each slides.
- the use of visuals and lively examples to make it more interesting.
- it is better to just put the main points with a bullet and adding the details orally. Nevertheless, as Marie-Therese said, the viewers can be divided between reading and listening to the commentary.
- making a small introduction of the subject at the beginning and maybe start by saying hello (except if we can have the opportunity to do so before the launch of our presentation!?).
- Recording the presentation is probably the best idea as we still encounter difficulties with the microphone during the seminar.

I will probably resubmit my presentation too. I think the main problem was that there was too much text (see 3rd bullet). I was not sure that my oral english was always clear and, so, I wanted to be sure that everybody could understand by putting the whole text too. This is the main point I will do differently next time.

To finish I would like to add some comments about the Web 2.0 technology that has been assigned to me: the blog.
I have put a short video (from youTube, in my next post) that explains in just a few words the purpose of blogs.
Concerning the media industry -which is my field- I think that blogs represent a good complement to the main media today. They gives another angle of what happened in the world and can also play an important part in highlighting issues that journalist have not covered.
You can find more about this issues in the article of BBC News:
It is said that blogs have proved to be "[...]valuable communication channel for journalists in repressed countries who have no other publishing means" and that they can also "[...]complement and enhance mainstream press in coverage of events, such as the recent London terror attacks."
A good blog to illustrate this phenomenon is the one of Riverbend, a young Iraqui woman. She describes the conditions after the war from her point of view. It permits to have a better understanding of all the extents of this war.

New Blog

2006-08-14T16:16:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my new google blog!
This one will be dedicated to my class of META6903 or Managing eCommunications.
Hope you'll like it and don't hesitate to post me your comments!

Looking forward to hear from you.

Morgane