User:Namir Riptide/NMAC 5108 Journal

Namir Riptide (talk) 19:54, 10 March 2019 (UTC)
I really have no clue how to make a journal as the instructions are not clear what to do and assume a user has knowledge of using and editing wikipedia. No material covered in the first lesson does this. edit: THe instructions said to use home/main page, but did not clarify to use the edit. Material in first lesson does not state how to make a new page but to edit pre-existing pages. Namir Riptide (talk) 19:08, 13 March 2019 (UTC)


 * Hi Namir, I have also been struggling and this is very much new territory for us all, for sure. I do feel better each day, which may mean with a little practice we can do this! JVbirdJVbird (talk) 00:43, 16 March 2019 (UTC)

Namir Riptide (talk) 20:09, 10 March 2019 (UTC)
Seems that it worked as well as the link. I am not much of a notes and record keeper but i will be trying my best for this class. Unfortunately, I am also not much of journal writer and this is another class that requires me to have one. At least my other class this session is linear programming based and, forgive me, easier to me.

March 11
Trying this again when I am not pressed for time. I am hoping this works out better. I am MC Smith on th eclass roster but I do not use my name in digital environments.

Namir Riptide (talk) 22:31, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

March 13
After reviewing suggestions, i have decided to try using my laptop apposed to my tablet. The design, layout and forma of the desktop site is much easier to use and edit with. I may have to carry my laptop around again instead of using it as a mini-desktop for this class as well as my Decision Sciences class. The weight difference is going to be annoying, but doing well in these classes is preferable. Namir Riptide (talk) 19:06, 13 March 2019 (UTC)


 * Linear design? Sounds like the couple computer science classes I took in undergradConfused-tpvgames.gif. This class actually reminds me of visual basic the way we light code in our responses. I hear you on the weight, but it is so much easier to type!(Dmcgonagill (talk) 23:45, 16 March 2019 (UTC))

March 16 - Norris Church Mailer
I am not exactly sure what to say about the linked article. It does well to be concise with its information but also feels sparse and bland. The links work, but I am not sure the New York Times articles would be considered reliable sources, though one is listed as books and the other magazine, and I am also unsure on NNDB. About the only source I see as usable would be the book by Lennon. Yes, NYT has established itself as one of the authorities in news, but it still could be used if another source was found. On sources, why was her own memoir not included/used as a reference? There are some concision issues that I believe could be fixed. Might also benefit from emboldening?


 * Hi Namir, great reminders about the sources. I elided right over the fact that NYT is to me generally reliable but that there might be stronger sources for information. It's definitely sparse, this entry on Norris Church Mailer. The bland part is probably because it feels mighty incomplete. I do think that the writing in Wikipedia does tend to be slightly bland because it is presenting factual information without taking a position, which is challenging for most writers, including me. I always want to put my 2 cents in! JVbird (talk) 14:56, 17 March 2019 (UTC)

March 27 - CH 5 Credibility thoughts
Again I am not a big note/journal taker, but I am trying to be. I keep reading in different places about how and what millennials are, like, behave, and defined by different generations and each time it is contrary to other views/research. Only the loudest are reflective of a stereo type, or so i have observed, and not many of the quiet ones are going to participate in surveys.

Side note: Is Digital Media being used as a singular or plural? The sentence it is used in doesn flow right to me: “The Digital Media have...”

“Acknowledging bias, but not... rooting it out, then is an important new dimension to credibility.” So we are learning to stay biased? I thought wikipedia, and thus the Mailer, was to be unbiased?

Overall, I am not sure what I am taking away from this chapter. Credibility used to mean proveable and impartial to allow the interactors to decide how they feel about the topic. Now we have opinions and fears circulating faster than fact into the subjective truth. Granted, there are topics we have had for decades that have been subjective truth and research based on that subjectivity, a.k.a. bias. I guess the matter of credibility really is in the eyes of the interactor.


 * : Hi Namir, digital media--well, it can be either plural or singular, depending on how it is used (talk about a non-answer, right?). I've seen our textbook use it as plural, but here's what Oxford says:
 * "The word media comes from the Latin plural of medium. The traditional view is that it should therefore be treated as a plural noun in all its senses in English and be used with a plural rather than a singular verb: the media have not followed the reports (rather than ‘has’). In practice, in the sense ‘television, radio, and the press collectively’, it behaves as a collective noun (like staff or clergy, for example), which means that it is now acceptable in standard English for it to take either a singular or a plural verb. The word is also increasingly used in the plural form medias, as if it had a conventional singular form media, especially when referring to different forms of new media, and in the sense ‘the material or form used by an artist’: there were great efforts made by the medias of the involved countries about 600 works in all genres and medias were submitted for review."

JVbird (talk) 15:25, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

I agree with your last sentence that credibility is int he eyes of the interactor. And, with behind the scenes advertisers collecting data with every click we make, the feeds that come to us even on any internet search are immediately bias to our preferences! Creepy! I am buying in more to the credibility of Wikipedia though. If it is as monitored by impartiality as it seems to be sold as, maybe it's the most credible source. (Dmcgonagill (talk) 14:03, 30 March 2019 (UTC))

March 31 - Project Mailer
While i was looking into the links, notes, & other research, Dr Lucas mentioned writing brief bios on other family members. I feel i could do that as well, but I will focus on that first and see if time allows for me to look over each section for needed feed back and changes.

Also, i found an article that I am going to try to help with, Creative writing.

April 2 - Student discussion
Spoke with other on class assignemnts and we decided to split the letters up. I have six due to that was all the was left at the end. I’ll start formatting tomorroww in PM sand box.

Enjoyed collaborating!(Dmcgonagill (talk) 21:37, 3 April 2019 (UTC))

April 3 - Letters
I ended up using Word to do the formatting and C/P’ed them into PM sandbox. Example in Grlucas’s sandbox and what I posted looks the same, but the two letters available in 1963, are formatted different. Which one to use? Added 1966 and 1969 letters to list to later add pages
 * Namir, we are supposed to posting the letters directly to the AAD Expanded page. I used PM's first (which was posted by Dr. Lucas) posted letter as a model for mine. I copied and pasted the PM letter into my page and changed the information to reflect the letter I was posting. I hope you find this information helpful. Dillbug (talk) 21:22, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

April 9 - Checking in
I’m still around. Just reading, one of my slowerer talents since starting classes.

April 13 - Playing catch up
No, D swinging contest. I have had a crap week with this assignment and those i need to work on. I have attempted to do the peer reviews but as JVbird said, it has been hard to critically review such hard working people. I have left short review attempts at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ssimsjones/NMAC_5108_Journal latest journal entry as well as on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JVbird/NMAC_5108_Journal. I know i have not been putting in as much effort as either of these two, let alone the others. I know i have my failings and weakness, but it is helpful to have others point them out in genuine helpfulness. If I have to take this class again, i hope to be able to review these and do a much better and stronger job. Thank you all.
 * I completely agree with you. It is very difficult to offer a critique when everyone is working so hard to do a good job. Conducting a peer review is not meant as a criticism but as an opportunity for improvement. No matter how good a job a person does, there will always be room for improvement. Thinking in such terms helped me to offer positive feedback on my peer reviews. I tried to take a look at the two you completed but the links aren't working. I will try to fix them for you so that when you click on them they will work. Stay focused and keep up the good work!Dillbug (talk) 19:09, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

April 14 - Peer Review
You're are now doing great with keeping up with your journal posts. You have a couple more weeks so keep posting. Don't forget to post on your discussion this week of Thinking about Wikipedia. Overall, you have done great on the other discussion posts and look like you are starting to catch up. If I can be of assistance, please let me know and I will try my best to help you out. I'm hoping you won't have to take this class over and I'm sorry to hear, you have had a horrible week. I do hope it's much better this week. Ssimsjones (talk) 23:25, 14 April 2019 (UTC)

April 20-21 - Unintientional Procrastination
I got my Essay in my PM Sandbox with a couple of notes. Just been having a rough week trying to focus on this class's work. Hard to ask for and receive advice when you just can't figure out what the problem is... It has taken me about four hours to actually write just this much. I hope everyone is not having this issue.
 * I think we've all had a bit of frustration over what and where to post, getting permissions, struggling with code... I know I spent the last 4 days struggling with converting the NM snippets and reviews from PDFs to JPGs. I always tell my students that frustration is normal and it's what happens right before you learn something. I've had to eat those words a lot in the last few weeks but I just hope it truly does mean I have learned something and that trying to master code and other digital media details has been worth it! Hope so for you as well. JVbird (talk) 13:50, 21 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Does it have to be jpgs? can we use png? (see next entry) i have a lot to say on frustration, none of it conversational, so i hope it works for you and your students. Namir Riptide (talk) 18:35, 21 April 2019 (UTC)
 * That's my understanding, that everything has to be posted in JPG format but check with Grlucas to be sure. Some of the multi-page documents are giving me fits. When you try to convert a multi page PDF into a JPG, it turns it into separate documents. More figuring out... JVbird (talk) 16:55, 21 April 2019 (EDT)
 * Looks like png is acceptable per the https://projectmailer.net/pm/Special:Upload page:

"To include a file in a page, use a link in one of the following forms: (Dmcgonagill (talk) 16:53, 22 April 2019 (UTC))
 * [[File:File.jpg]] to use the full version of the file
 * File.png to use a 200 pixel wide rendition in a box in the left margin with "alt text" as description
 * [[Media:File.ogg]] for directly linking to the file without displaying the file"

April 21 - essay Sandboxed
Worked some coding on the essay and trying to figure out what needs to be transcribed, where and are we still using a pic of the whole thing or just the areas Mailer is mentioned?

April 24 - Final thoughts
I cannot say that i have enjoyed this class. I have seen how much work goes into wikipedia and its children, as well as how sit adheres to digital etiquette. This, along with Project Mailer has made it clear to me that as much as i do not like or want to,  even a digital presence and community is needed to have any form of success through the digital medium. While the prejudices of Wikipedia are quite predominate in the Academic world, digital and non, many interfacers still use, explore, update, and edit the world's living encyclopedia. And yet, even academia recognizes it's usefulness. Personally, aside from some coding specific to wiki usage, I have learned just how much those around me actually don't like The American Dream, though much like the stories I don't like, I attribute it to having to read for schooling. What i have learned in this class is that there are many that ,despite their circumstances, succeed in their endeavors. And of course that I have an easier time forming thoughts and words when not as an assignment.