January 31st, 2010 by momentum
Part 1
The reason it is vital for Social Shapers of Technology to know and get accustomed to Web 2.0 services is because they will be critical in propelling the band into a height of fame they may not have previously achieved. The easiest way to get acknowledged as a band is myspace here bands can freely showcase their talent for all to see. Youtube is another website that would work fantastically for the band here again the band can display it’s music but this way they will also get comments on their music and know what the fans think. Twitter can be also be useful for developing a fanbase, here the band can specifically decide to show the fans as much of their lives as they feel inclined. Thinking along the same lines Facebook where the band can show fans what they do in their spare time and also make them feel more involved in their daily routines. Once the band has done all this however the best thing to do would be for them to have their own blog this way they will be able to create events which are easily available to their fans to find.
Lily Allan one of Pop’s most successful artists started her career on myspace, her page which bloomed and brought her career to life helped propel her into the music world. After starting her myspace and gaining some renown Lily was quickly signed by Regal Recordings and the rest as they say, is history. I think this would be an amazing place for the band to start as it would allow them to create a sort of online portfolio for everyone to see and most importantly hear. This way they could gain renown and develop a fanbase prior to releasing anything meaning it would be easier to estimate the amount of records sold.
Radiohead one of the greatest bands of all time also had a blog for their fans to follow for a long time one of the most innovative ideas they had was to sell their record “In Rainbows” online through the blog. Although the blog itself is now no longer running there are many articles describing the way Radiohead revolutionised the way bands approach online sales. I think this was an amazing idea and I think that it is definitely something the band should look into once they have a definitive and broad fanbase.
In summary I think that the Social Shapers of Technology could easily and definitely should start using these freely available services in order make a name for themselves. I think they ought to begin with myspace as that is quite possibly the easiest way to display music itself the main advantage of this is that they won’t have to make videos as they would have to on youtube and therefore would be able to just put their recordings on. Facebook would work fantastically alongside myspae as they could use that to plan events and solidify a fanbase.
Part 2
Sispace in particular has influenced me greatly since starting university. Since joining Sispace I have grown accustomed to the general layout of blogs and their uses. It has influenced me so much that I have started my own independent blog, which although I’ve not used greatly as of yet due to my immense workload has given me a place to anonymously vent my thoughts and ideas. This has been a fantastic way to express myself artistically and without studying Emerging Technologies I don’t think I could have gained the confidence to start this.
As well as this I’ve particularly enjoyed the lectures, the lecture regarding the principals of web designs has been particularly appealing to me and thanks to the work necessary for the last assignment I have grown accustomed to what is necessary for a good website. Thanks to this I have held quite a few discussions with my brother about his business’ website which is now under re-construction due to my recommendations.
One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about this course is how easy it has been to incorporate things I’ve learned into everyday. I notice the subtle things about websites more easily. For example when I look for services and I try to purchase things online I automatically start to evaluate the quality of the website how good the setup is, how easy it is to navigate and I’m thankful for this because it means that I may be able to incorporate this keen eye for customer needs in the future.
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December 7th, 2009 by momentum
The Victoria Park Hotel website is essentially created for the reader to learn more about the hotel and to sell rooms within the hotel to readers. The calming blue background complements the white writing as well as the style of writing quite well. The site has three main sections a self explaining “contact us” section where the phone numbers, email address and postal address are all given. A “rooms and rates” section which once again explains itself quite well and a third section named “Site Map” which amusingly enough just gives links to the other two sections which are also clearly visible on the homepage. The main purpose of the site is to advertise the hotel which it is about, the target audience of which is people looking for rooms to rent for short periods of time near Manchester city center. The site itself is very basic and thus easy for practically anyone to navigate.
One of the sites main strengths is the detail to which the rooms and rates are presented. The site itself displays clearly prices as well as sizes of rooms and the number of people that could stay there, this is then further complemented by the first all the promotions and offers clearly highlighted on the same page. This is advantageous to readers because it makes it easier for them to be found and it clearly highlights the amount being saved because these are displayed on the same page. Another good strength is that the times of meals are clearly displayed for readers this is helpful because it allows the readers to be well aware of the finer details. I believe that it’s for this same reason that the brief rules and regulations with regards to bookings are all on the same page.
One of my major criticisms of the site is how basic it is. Despite stating the Hotel is “Preserving a piece of British heritage” at no point does it in depth state why. Nor does the site give a description of what specifically is special about the hotel as opposed to the dozens of others in the vicinity. Not only this but despite the in depth description of the type of rooms the website at no point actually shows pictures of the rooms. So any potential tenant is completely unaware of what they will find until they get to the hotel.
The first task I attempted to do on the website was to find the check in and checkout requirements as well as the prices for the rooms. Due to the basic nature of the site this was quite easy to do. I managed to find the prices very easily however there seemed to be no specifics regarding the check in and check out. Due to this I decided my next task would be to contact the hotel staff via email in order to have my questions answered. Emailing staff was easy and quick although they required more information than I thought necessary. All in all I feel that the website for “Victoria Park Hotel” is quite lacking. Although the few things I attempted to do where easy enough I felt that the website didn’t provide prospective tenants with enough information to make an adequate decision. The sheer simplicity of the website itself also left a lot to be desired and was somewhat irksome at times.
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November 16th, 2009 by momentum
Micro blogging is essentially a web service which permits a user to relay messages albeit brief ones to a subscriber of their blog. These can be made to be either private or public and are on average between 140 – 200 words. Larger descriptions can be found here and here. The main advantage of Micro blogging is that it can be quick and brief whilst still allowing you to post all relevant information. Sites such as twitter, Communote and Thumbcast have helped to propel micro blogging into mainstream society.
A case study on Micro blogging seemed to hold the belief that micro blogging in itself could be used positively in education as it seemed to not only remove some stress from the users but made the work itself appear more social therefore less laborious.
Another study highlighting both the positive and negatives of Micro blogging showed it depended on the individual.
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November 2nd, 2009 by momentum
Welcome to SiSpace. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
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