Holiday in Costa Rica

13Dec09

Here is our photostory.
The uploading from my laptop to my Blog didn’t work.

Limor Reshef & Shana Aarsen

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The social network hype

22Nov09

Social media is integrated in the Internet society and it isn’t even imaginable that it wasn’t there until a few years ago. Everyone uses a weblog, forum or social networks like Hyves, Facebook and LinkedIn. People share their stories, knowledge and experiences through these social media. I have been using MSN Messenger to chat with my friends for many years but no internet sites with social networks. Until a friend of my said I had to have a Hyves page.

So last year my friend signed me in and helped me setting my Hyves up. I noticed I was one of the last persons who joined Hyves. Some already had their own Hyves in 2005. At first I was a bit critical and thought it was stupid to have one. Many of my friends had one and so I built a nice network of people in my life. Now my opinion has changed and I am totally into the whole Hyves thing. I check it every day and enjoy the functional sides of this social network. You can look someone up who you just met or haven’t seen in a long time, get in touch and talk about everyday life. It is also interesting to see your friends pictures en videos of interests. So I can say: join the social network hype!

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Tags: Hyves

Wikipedia: good or bad?

22Nov09

Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals. That’s the definition given by Wikipedia. It can be defined as a form of networking, possible by the rise of communications technology especially Web 2.0.

People interact with each other and can create their own content on Wikipedia. I use it  very often when I want to know a quick definition or meaning of any topic. Wikipedia’s 14 million articles (3.1 million in the English Wikipedia) have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site. That’s the nice, but also the disturbing side of it. It’s a good and beautiful thought that people around the world can share their knowledge trough articles on Wikipedia. But that doesn’t make it a hundred percent trustworthy. Anyone can write something down and twist the facts or saying it the wrong way. But still I think Wikipedia is a handy encyclopedic reference and also a updated news resource because recent events can add quickly to an article. You don’t have that with the book versions. My advice though is to double check the information you found on Wikipedia with other resources but when you do Wikipedia can help you in every direction.

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Tags: Wikipedia

Twitter

22Nov09

Twitter is nowadays the new way of communicating with each other. It is becoming more and more popular. I don’t have a twitter page myself and don’t know much about it. But from what I understand is that you post a message that says what you are doing and what’s on your mind at a particular moment. From that point of view I think twitter is a valuable tool for communication.

I first heard of it when it was in the news that celebrities like Ashton Kutcher used it and post significant statements on it. I can understand that people are interested in what a celebrity is thinking and doing but I can’t quite imagine why people would want to know that about me. That’s why I don’t have a Twitter page and obviously are not familiar with it.

After some research on the site twitter.com  I think ‘twittering’ can come in very handy and it is a simple way of coming in touch with your friends, family and acquaintances. You can also meet new people and maybe even make some new friends. It is free so you can also save costs on a phone call or a text message.  In that way Twitter is a valuable tool for communication and social networking. So maybe I have to join the rest and make an account.

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Tags: Twitter