Make sure you have a look at the rest of my webpage and my social space for my event. Please feel free to comment ! I would appreciate your constructive feedback for my first assignment.:-)

Click HERE to go back to my webpage 

Click HERE to go to my social page

Thank you :-)

Ahhh... completion of draft.... relief!!

What a relief, I have completed my draft for this assignment. I didn't realise how time consuming this assignment was going to be. Adding hyperlinks, PDF's, researching appropriate resources, reflecting in my blog journal, and writing instructions took more time than I expected. I would not say I am a 'technology guru' but when I did need advice about something I had great help from my peers. I also found so many helpful resources on the internet that gave me step by step guidance if I was unsure about something. I have really enjoyed this task, it is engaging and I have learnt some useful things that I can use outside of my studies as well. I have already uploaded a PDF outside of my studies (my partner and I are building a house) and I wouldnt have had the confidence to do this without the knowledge I have gained by doing this unit.

What is a PDF again??

I had a bit of a look on the internet about PDF's as I have heard of them but have not used them myself. I was trying to upload my instructions as PDF to my webpage and I couldnt quite work it out. :-( I spoke to one of the girls in my workshop that uses PDF's regulary at her work and she told me how to create it through the 'save as' button in microsoft word. Well that was easy !

It has taken me a couple of days  to put my instructions together. I did not realise how time consuming this part was ! I got told about a great resource in our workshop last week called 'Skitch'.  Skitch is a program that enables you to take quick and easy screen captures, add  annontations, arrows, has a zoom feature and a drawing feature. I found it very useful for this part of the assignment.

Look at me go !

I can create a blog, web page, a social media page (other than Facebook) , and I can create a hyperlink. Wow I am impressed and it was so easy ! I am enjoying this unit now I am getting a hang of it. I just have to work out how to create a PDF for instructions and I am definitely on my way to finishing task one !

What to choose ?

I had a few issues initially trying to find an event and problem that a social media page could help me publicize and resolve. After having discussions in our workshop with Tomaz and peers I gained more understanding of what was being asked for in this assignment. We brain stormed ideas of social media sites we could use and categories we could look at (eg; travel, book clubs, health and fitness, birthday parties, baby showers, etc) This was more than helpful as I had clarity on what was going to be my topic and felt confident this was the right thing to base my social media page on.

Deciding on a social media page

3. GOOGLE +

This social media page was fantastic ! It has all the features I am looking for.

 A personalized profile page

- It has easy access to my interactive map, and can share other links.

-  I can easily upload photo's, people can comment on them, and I can tag people.

The interactive map

-  Has a tracking feature so people can track my journey and also shows how many miles I have done on my journey.

- I can add places of interest, upload photos, and it is a very detailed map which shows all states, provinces, borders, and is updated regularly.

It also enables you to invite people from your email address or those that already have a Gmail account. This gives easy access to friends and family to your page.

I will be using Google + for my social webpage because it has all the features I am looking for to stay connected and share with friends and family. It is easy to use, it can do all the things that is required and the interactive map is a great idea and exactly what I am looking for

Deciding on a social page...

I am going to base my social media page around 'travel'. My issue is going to be  that I need a social media site that will act like a 'cyber journal' that will allow me to stay  connected to my friends and family whilst I am travelling around South America. I also want them to visually see my movements on a  map and share photo's, posts, and comments so they can enjoy the amazing journey with me !

1.TWITTER
It was easy to sign up and work out the general as it was pretty straightforward.  After creating an account I looked at the features and related them back to my reasons behind creating a social media page. It had features such as upload photo's, comment on others, make tweets, tag, and connect with Facebook to access friends and family easier. All of this was relevant to what I was trying to do but it didn't have a interactive map that I could use to track my travels. I wanted people to understand where in the world I was but Twitter didn't have this feature.

2. PANAROMIA
Is a social media page created to upload photos onto a interactive map that you can comment on, tag, like, etc. This was on the right track for what I wanted. However, I found it quiet difficult to use. I wanted to track my journey so my friends and family could see the distance visually and not just  add photo's to a standard map. Overall a good social media page for sharing photos for travel purposes but it lacked the interaction I wanted with friends and family.

I have now designed my blog and basic layout of my web page. I learnt in class how to add hyperlinks which isn't that hard at all. Just a click of a button and its done! The best thing about this unit being technology based is that there is nothing on the internet you can't find! Now instead of getting flustered and trying to work out how to do something I just Google it ! Actually I Google everything as it is such a good resource and tells you everything you need to know. It has been a great help to me not just for this unit but throughout my studies.

Starting my Web Page

As a part of this assignment I decided to use 'Yola' to create my web page. I researched a few others including 'Snap Pages' I didn't find it as easy to use because formatting bars were  hard to find, the layouts weren't easy to follow and a lot of web sites I found  had to pay for. The Yola site crashed a lot at the start but I found Google as a good  resource to research and then download 'Google Chrome' which runs the program perfectly ! Thank god as I was starting to get a little frustrated !

Getting Started

Hello Everybody and welcome to my blogs!

This is the first time I have created a blog page and  I was initially feeling a little nervous about it. I am quiet familiar with technology and use it in my everyday life, so i am lucky I don't find 'computers and technology'  too daunting. I have decided to use 'blogger' because I have a google account  which makes it even easier access. So far I have found it easy to use. The layout is easy to read and understand and is pretty straightforward for those who aren't quiet so technology savvy.

Jess