User talk:Kirstyyy smith

This page is used for assessed work Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 12:05, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise #1
Like most people one of my favourite things to do is just to simply chill and watch some Netflix. A typical choice I know but after suffering from a long hard day at uni all I look forward to is being able to snuggle up in bed and watch some Netflix. At the moment Netflix has over 62 million subscribers and to be honest this does not surprise me at all. With the range of TV shows and films that the site allows for us to watch there is no wonder that it is the go to website for most people when all they want to do is watch some TV. I always find myself spoiled for choice as they have so many different categories and genres of TV and film that I want to watch all of it. There's comedy, horror, sci-fi, chick flicks you name it and it's there, they even look at what you've been watching and are able to recommend movies and shows to you to fit your preference. Some people may complain that it leads to too much binge watching of TV shows but I honestly love nothing more than to sit and binge watch all 6 seasons of Gossip Girl in one week it's just so easy especially due to the fact that Netflix will automatically take you onto the next episode of whatever TV show you are watching without you having to click on a single button. Thanks to Netflix I have been able to binge watch some of my favourite shows such as Greys Anatomy, The Office, Parks and Recreation and loads more with such great quality as well.

The whole website is so well organised that it has every category imaginable and it even lets you know what content has been recently added so you have even more to add to your list of what to watch next. I personally love this because when I'm in the mood to watch a good comedy film I know that netflix will give me plenty of choice as they have so much they can offer just from this one genre. Netflix has become such a massive deal that they even have shows that are Netflix originals such as the very popular Orange is the New Black, which I am obsessed with, and the much loved House of Cards. I just think it's great that they offer something for everyone because they have such a variety of content it's crazy. They have movies and shows that were released ranging from the early 1900's to content that has been released only early this year so if you want to sit and watch a classic Marilyn Monroe film you most definitely can, and if you want to sit and watch the brand new season of Pretty Little Liars you can do that too. I could sit and ramble on about how much I love Netflix for hours but I honestly think if you haven't already tried it you definitely should by visiting Netflix and giving it a go! Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 12:10, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Marker's Comments

 * A fairly well-written entry. It would have been useful to try to feed this into the themes and concerns of the module though, and you haven’t really engaged with this part of the brief at all (always, always, pay close attention to what the brief is asking you to do e.g. you could have discussed this in the context of cultural determinism (i.e. consumer culture, the prevalence of entertainment as a dominant pastime etc.) or tech determinism and VOD (which we will be looking at more closely later in the module – nothing wrong with reading material in advance!). Drawing down from this material, you could have made better use of the wiki markup by embedding links to reading and also to the sites under discussion.


 * A post of this standard roughly corresponds to the following grade descriptor, although obviously at the high end of the grade band because not all of this will be of immediate relevance to the post in question:
 * Poor. Among other things, poor entries may just offer links without real comment or apparent point. They may offer nothing more than poor-quality synopsis or description of material of dubious relevance. They may have serious clarity problems (including dead links, random graphics) which affect comprehension (or even worse, admin warnings or take-down notices for copyright infringement). They might be off-topic, private trivia, or of unclear relevance. The wiki markup formatting will be of a poor standard.

RE: Comments on others’ work

 * These are absent. You have not adhered to the brief. Remember that your comments on other people's work is weighted as heavily as your own post when it comes to grades. Not completing this part of the exercise means that, effectively you are halving your mark. GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 15:33, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Comment:
Hi Kirstyyy_smith. I'm with you that one of the best things to do after a hard day is binge on Netflix. A few years ago I was reeled in by the one month free subscription and decided to keep my subscription because of the ease, quality and the variety of choice of movies and shows. Although, I do sometimes find myself spending more time scrolling through and choosing what to watch than actually watching due to the abundance of choice. The recommended section has introduced me to some of my favourite shows, such as Breaking Bad and Orange Is the New Black. I also like that there is the option for multiple users on one Netflix profile, as I share mine with a couple members of family. This means that the subscription is cheaper without the frustration of getting mixed up on what episode was last watched because someone at home is watching the same show. I'm quite upset that The US Office has been taken off the UK Netflix though, I only managed to get as far as season 4. However, even still, Netflix means I'm never stuck for something to watch because there is always something new I haven't seen. Ihatewasps (discuss • contribs) 00:07, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for your comment Ihatewasps sorry for the late reply! I also love the fact that we are able to share an account with multiple users, I too share with a few members of my family and the lucky thing is is that it's my sister that's paying for it all! I am also really upset about The Office being removed as that is possibly one of my favourite shows ever and it is so upsetting to not be able to access it as easily anymore. Hopefully it will end up back on Netflix and you can watch the rest. There is always so much choice and that's why I think everyone loves it so much. Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 17:19, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

generate your user page!
Start your user page, Kirsty - your username is appearing red because you have yet to do this! GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 15:34, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise #2
For me personally I believe that people can be very visible online. Social media has become so popular these days that almost everyone who has access to the internet uses social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. I think we can all gather that Facebook is the most popular of them all with over one billion users. I only tend to use Facebook for messaging and uploading pictures, and of course I use it to be nosey and have a stalk of other people's pages. As much as we all hate to admit it, we all love to have a Facebook stalk every once and a while. Most of the time it's just an innocent stalk where we snoop around then we're done but some people can get more in depth and find a lot of information about certain people. Most people make their Facebook profiles private but that doesn't hide everything, for example anyone can still see your profile picture whether you like it or not. I thought that I had made my profile completely private but in actual fact it only hides certain aspects. I found out that people can still see all my tagged photos, my age, my birthday, my workplace, my school and where I go to for University and so much more. So if someone were to search for me on Google and stumbled upon my Facebook page they would find out so much more about me than I had thought. This isn't even the worse scenario as some people's profiles are barely private at all leaving their personal information open for the whole world to see, and sometimes this can be used against them. So I suggest that we all make sure our profile's are as private as they can be leaving our information a mystery to those that we do not know, instead of leaving our whole lives visible.

Other social networks that I tend to use the most are Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. These are slightly different as you do not share as much personal information about yourself. On Twitter I have only stated my name and age for my personal information so no one can find out an awful lot about me. I use twitter quite a lot to tweet and to stalk other people's tweets, but I only tweet about random things that I think are funny so it's not revealing a lot of information about myself so my personal details are less visible. Although sometimes people will tweet about their location and exactly where they are and what they are up to which can be dangerous, but you can choose to protect your tweets so those who don't follow you cannot see what you are saying. Instagram is slightly different as you only post pictures, so you can't really find out an awful lot about someone's personal information from their Instagram, unless they have a very in-depth bio, and again you can choose to make your Instagram private, which I have done so that people I do not know can't see my photos. One of my favourite apps to use is Snapchat, I like how it is completely under my control and only my contacts can see my pictures and view my story, no one could ever Google my Snapchat and be taken to a link with all my photos. It is completely private and you are only visible to those that you know. So overall unless you take control and ensure that you are completely private on all social networking sites, you can be extremely visible and vulnerable to strangers on the internet. Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 11:18, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi Kirsty, It is really interesting the fact that private profiles are not ever as private as you think. Especially when you think about the ability to screenshot and share photos and information. DO you think there is ever away to keep yourself private online, and how would you go about doing this? For me thinking really carefully about what I post is a must, I try not to overshare, or ever post things which could look poorly upon me when it comes to getting a job in the future. But its a scary thought, that really, we never know who can see what we are doing online! It is interesting in the culture today that we can use social media to keep up with our friends and family and see what they are up to. Its really interesting the levels of visibility we can have online when it comes to different apps and would agree that snap chat is the most personable and my favorite social networking site as well, it is a sight where you just have your close friends, rather than the hundreds of friends people tend to have on Facebook, but how would you prevent against things like screenshots being shared? Mhairisedgwick (discuss • contribs) 10:15, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Thank you so much for your comment Mhairisedgwick That is a very interesting point you have raised about whether or not we are ever safe online. I would say that it is very difficult to keep yourself completely hidden on social media, so we are always vulnerable to strange people on the net. Though I would like to think that by having my settings as completely private would keep me safer than those who choose to let strangers see their pictures and personal information etc. I agree with you when you say oversharing can be dangerous. I also try not to post too much about myself so that I feel safer. Very good point, screenshots are probably the only bad thing about Snapchat. I would like to think that people would not share my pictures online, but I suppose there is no way I can really stop this. Although the good thing is I only really have my friends on Snapchat, so if they were to screenshot and share my pictures I would hope that it would only be with my other friends. Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs)

Hi Kirsty, I love your honesty when it comes to 'facebook stalking' after all we've all done it. You talked about how if you are too visible online you could become vulnerable to strangers, in what way do you think you can become vulnerable by sharing too much information? Stevo sc (discuss • contribs) 14:33, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for your comment Stevo sc As we all know there are some weirdo's out there who like to prey on random peoples personal information on Facebook and Twitter etc. So by keeping our profiles so open we are allowing these strange people to find out everything about ourselves to the point where it can be used against us and it can get dangerous. So I feel that the less we share about ourselves and the more private we make our profiles then the safer we are. Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 17:13, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise #3 Information Overload!
We've gotten to a day and age where we are able to access any information we want within seconds as the web is so diverse and there are web pages for almost everything. Although we may think that the easiness of access to so much information is beneficial to us, a lot of people argue against this. One person can only handle so much information and too much information can cause us to get distracted by other things that are not relevant to what we are supposed to be doing. This excess amount of information can also be referred to as 'Information Overload' and leads us to make different decisions.

For example for me personally, something as simple as writing an essay becomes exceedingly difficult as there is so much information to read online that my brain becomes muddled and I immediately pick up my phone and start to have a look on Facebook. As much as we try to avoid going on any forms of social media when we are supposed to be working, it is very difficult to resist. This can also be referred to as 'the fear of missing out'. This can be very time consuming as we become so involved in Facebook, texts etc that we lose track of what we are really supposed to be doing. When I am working and I hear my phone buzz to alert me that I have a new message I try my hardest to resist but when it starts to buzz over and over again I get to the point where I can't resist any more and I have to see what is going on and get involved. This then leads me to check my notifications on Facebook then to have a scroll through the homepage and once I'm done with this I'll check Twitter and then I realise how much time I have wasted then get back to work, and it's a viscous cycle that goes on and on. To try and avoid this I often put my phone on airplane mode so that my wi-fi and signal cuts off and therefore I am not alerted with any messages or notifications, I find this very helpful as if the distraction is not there for me to see then I am less likely to pick up my phone and use these social networks.

When we are faced with pages and pages of information it can become overwhelming and we get to the point where we hit a wall and can do no more so need a distraction for a while. A lot of websites are surrounded by several advertisements and just by simply clicking on the add we are redirected straight onto the page and we become lost in all these adverts that we are not even interested in just to get away from the information we are supposed to be paying attention to. To avoid this I suggest downloading Ad Blocker, this blocks all unwanted adverts from every websites so we are less distracted. Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 18:41, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi Kirsty, It is a really good idea to turn you phone and social networking on aero plane mode when working, that is something that I don't often do but maybe should begin to in the future! Especially now when cookies are diverting adverts and things of interest onto my Facebook page, its hard to avoid these things and not become distracted by this and get involved in a vicious circle as you mentioned above. The vast quantity of information available online defiantly can be overwhelming! when there's so much information out there, how do you manage to sift through what is relevant and useful with what is not?

Mhairisedgwick (discuss • contribs) 10:23, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi Mhairisedgwick Yeah I would highly recommend putting your phone on airplane mode as it stops the constant rings from notifications. For me I find it very hard to sift through information as I am one of these people who finds it very hard to cut information down. What I do tend to do though is stick with the most popular results as I feel as though the top searches are always the ones with the most and the best information, especially when I am trying to do something important such as an essay or another form of uni work. Do you have any tips on how to sift through information? Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 17:22, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi Kirsty, great tips on how to keep less distracted by so much information. I agree with what Mhairisedgwick and want to ask how you get through irrelevant information to find out what is necessary? Stevo sc (discuss • contribs) 14:38, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Stevo sc Thanks for your comment! I always find it very hard to sift through the amount of information that the web provides as there is just too much. So I always find myself sticking to the most popular results or the ones that appear at the top after I search my question into Google. These usually provide the best information. Apart from that I'm not really sure how I usually cope with it, do you have any recommendations? Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 17:25, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi Kirsty, the idea of putting your phone on airplane mode is very clever as it stops the notifications coming through, therefore, you will be less distracted and have all your attention on the information- when there is an information overload I think you need to focus on that 100% and not let anything else distract you. Obviously this is easier said than done. I agree what you are saying about the adverts also because I know Facebook specify their adverts on your page to what you have been looking at recently which is smart because you will be more likely to click on the adverts, and once you click on one you will probably end up getting distracted for hours. I do not have an ad blocker but since reading this I think I may have to download one! --Amy Wardle (discuss • contribs) 18:25, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

Hello Amy Wardle Thanks for your comment! I'm glad that you like my idea of putting my phone on airplane mode as I always find it stops me from getting distracted. Yes definitely download AdBlock it has been a life changer for me and it will save you so much time. Adverts are the absolute worst so it's great not having to deal with them online anymore. Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 17:28, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Exercise #4
I personally found this group project (An Internet of Everything) very challenging. It was very different from any other group projects I've ever done before so I admit it did take me a lot longer to process and understand. Everything within this process was done online and we were to communicate online through wikibooks on each others usertalk pages and there was an even bigger chat going on on the discussion page of my topic. A lot of people were on the ball and immediately got straight to starting up a discussion where people would voice their ideas and start choosing what they were going to be talking about. At first I found myself completely confused by the whole process and when I first accessed the discussion page for my topic which was 'Access to Knowledge and Information' a lot of people had already contributed and claimed their topics. I was a little bit panicked when I saw that a lot of the best ideas had been taken but I managed to think of an idea that I thought would be beneficial to the page.

Advantages
There were quite a few positives that I took from this process. The first one being that although it was group work, we were able to write our sections in our own time. There was no need to worry about having to meet my group at a certain time so we could start working, it was more working as an individual but in a group. Although me and my group did meet up a couple of times just to try and wrap our heads around the topic and to help each other out with our topics. Another advantage was the discussion page. This was a great way for all the groups to work together. We were in groups of five, but we were really in a big group of about 25-30 people so the discussion page allowed everyone to discuss and exchange ideas. It allowed us to see what was left to be said and people were able to give opinions on other peoples topics. I found this a very helpful source of communication and this kept me on track for the project.

Disadvantages
As well as a few pros there were also quite a few cons. For one of the the disadvantages I thought that putting us into small groups of five within the big group was not needed. I agree it was good to talk within the group of five, but at the end of the day the discussion was between all 30 people and everyone was talking to each other whether it was in the group of five or not. I personally found this very confusing as there was so much going on that I was not sure where to ask for help. Another con I found in this situation was the editing itself. I am personally a very big fan of wikipedia and I always find myself searching for actors\films etc on the site and I enjoy reading al the facts. However, making my own post was a challenge as I was so new to the whole editing side of wikipedia and I had never actually tried publishing anything on the page before. It was difficult to come to grips with how to link certain sites and how to add headings, which took up some time. In the end I finally got the hang of it, although it was very time consuming.

Overall
Overall I though it was a very interesting project and it was quite exciting to try something new that I had never tried before. Everyone that I had discussed the project with seemed to agree that they had never actually published anything to Wikipedia before so it was a great new experience for everyone. This collaboration has been exciting to read through as well, I enjoyed reading through it all in the end and knowing that I had participated to the addition of the page. I know that everyone was stressing about what they were going to write and if their ideas had already been taken but the end result showed that everyone involved had come together to create a really great quality outcome. Although it felt like we were working alone, we were really communicating and cooperating in a team. It was interesting to find out how the articles I read on Wikipedia were created and it felt good that I was adding something new to such an important website too. Kirstyyy smith (discuss • contribs) 11:19, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Comments
I can totally see what you mean, I think all of us were stressed or even panicked abit at some point (me too). I really like the structure of your wiki exercise, it was a grat idea to explain the process of the wikibook project and then sum up the advantages and disadvantages. It would have been nice if you considered some of the theories we got to know during the lectures. For example, have you thought about collective intellegigence or the wisdom of crowds in this context? I think those theories would fit very well in your text and explain some of the points you mentioned. There was a quote by Clay Shirky which is in my opinion a quite accurate summary of the process of the wikibook project: “the actions of groups add up to much more than the aggregated acts of individuals”. What do you think about that? Askoelsche (discuss • contribs) 14:16, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

I absolutely identify with a lot of your thoughts here and I couldn't have said it better myself. You stressed the importance of communication within the various small groups and the main one working on your subject. I found talking to some of your own group members didn't add much to your contribution. All of our group members worked on different areas of the subject and so contacting them would only result in my delaying with my own part. You personally had a first-hand experience with this strange communicative aspect of the project having got in touch with your group in person. To me the whole process tried to simulate as much as possible the Wikipedia working experience hence the project had a nomadic-like quality in it. I found myself getting or giving tips for photos or other material from other groups outside our own subject. Therefore, engaging with other people's work was not only academically important, but essential to grasp the whole point of the project. More people would have enjoyed this project's aspect had they been less worried about claiming the area they wanted to focus on. As for each student's Discussion page I would like to see more comments on some peoples' posts as I felt that the lack of feedback a lot of them experienced put them off participating in it.Srepanis (discuss • contribs) 08:30, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Kirstyyy smith I found the same difficulties prevalent when undertaking this project. The fact that we were working within such large groups made it very difficult to find a section or an area of interest which someone else wasn't already covering. The natural hierarchy which formed instantly when undertaking this project made it difficult to be free and creative. This however could also be seen as a positive as we all had to learn to adapt and communicate which is defiantly key in being successful in a project such as this one. You are right in saying there are positives which have come out of this project. Previously I had no clue how to work with and navigate wikibooks, but now I feel I have a much firmer grasp of not only how information is handles, but also of how the digital world works, it has given me an insight on a small scale as to the internet on the whole, acting as a vast collaborative network.

I agree with you that the nature of this project was on the whole quite a confusing task, and I to struggled to get to grips with all of the technical language and style that we were using, even speaking in terms of character count rather than word count was unusual for me. the fact that we did have the discussion pages, as you say was so helpful in this task as we were able to share useful links and proof read eachothers work which made life an awful lot easier. I think the main thing I have learnt when undertaking this project is the power of communication when working with a team can be the key to success. Mhairisedgwick (discuss • contribs) 13:41, 10 April 2016 (UTC)

Marker’s Feedback on Wikibook Project Work
While there's some evidence of understanding and engagement through your contributions, it all happened at the last minute which meant it is difficult for you to demonstrate higher levels of engagement. It's unclear where a lot of the information for contributions to chapter came from and only limited evidence of engagement with reading from the module. Your contributions lack critical argument and mainly relying on description and personal reflections

Content (weighted 20%)

 * Your contribution to the book page gives a good brief overview of the subject under discussion in your chosen themed chapter. There is a good range of concepts associated with your subject, and the effort to deliver critical definitions, drawing from relevant literature and scholarship, and your own critical voice in the building of a robust argument is very much in evidence. The primary and secondary sources you found about the chapter’s themes cover a good range and depth of subject matter.

Understanding (weighted 30%)

 * Reading and research:
 * evidence of limited critical engagement with set material, although most ideas and procedures insecurely grasped
 * evidence of independent reading of appropriate academic and peer-reviewed material limited, displaying a qualified familiarity with a minimally sufficient range of relevant materials
 * Argument and analysis:
 * poorly articulated and supported argument;
 * lack of evidence of critical thinking (through taking a position in relation to key ideas from the module, and supporting this position in discussion);
 * lack of evidence of relational thinking (through making connections between key ideas from the module and wider literature, and supporting these connections in discussion);
 * evidence of independent critical ability limited, due to the fact that your grasp of the analytical issues and concepts, although generally reasonable, is somewhat insecure.

Engagement (weighted 50%)

 * Evidence from contributions to both editing and discussion of content suggests minimally sufficient standard of engagement (i.e. volume and breadth of activity as evidenced through contribs)
 * Acceptable engagement with and learning from other Wikipedians about the task of writing/editing content for a Wikibook
 * Limited reflexivity and creativity, and a somewhat insecure management of discussion pages

Overall Mark % available on Succeed

FMSU9A4marker (discuss • contribs) 14:50, 3 May 2016 (UTC)