What makes a community?

Among various definitions of community I choose one from Merriam -Webster dictionary. It defines a community as " an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location". Based on this definition, I would say that common location and interactions make a community. Nowadays, common location to build a community is virtual world.  Communication is essential feature for each community. There are a lot of social media websites that connect people around the world. Interaction is also available online. As an example, two teams located in different countries might work on the same project virtually interacting and exchanging information.
People tend to organize groups based on similar interests; previously there were clubs. Today, the groups move online: classmates, professional networking, Facebook groups and etc. We are witnessed the great changes in the way how people communicate, build community and connect with each other. 

Social Media

I chose the social media theme for group presentation because I would like to learn about social networking more. Why do you need to learn more? - someone may ask. Just use it: create an account, invite friends and share with them your everyday life events and thoughts.Seems easy, and I created Facebook account more than 3 years ago, but I use it very rarely. Why? First of all, I am a person who feels uncomfortable and insecure sharing my thoughts, photos and facts of my life with 500 'friends' around the globe. The second reason is a shortage of free time.


I searched how common is my social media behavior and found interesting classification of the social media users. The research carried out by Forrester Research defines 6 different types of online social media users: Creators, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators and Inactives. According the classification table posted below, I am inactive user. The authors predict that this type of users will become rare very soon. 


Which one is your type?


http://www.webgeekly.com/lessons/social-media/the-6-different-types-of-social-media-users-which-one-are-you/

What does online entertainment look like 10 years from now?

I think that in 10 years from now, entertainment will be simpler but at the same time greatly improved. TV's will make you feel like you're actually in the show or movie. Video games might have improved graphics and add other senses like smell, touch, etc. Mp3 players will be improved in size and in sound quality. Phones will have more coverage around the world and have faster connection. I also think that there will be hologram invented in the future.

My Presentation Topic

Teleworking - the topic of my presentation. Read more about teleworking on the page I created for the presentation.

Net Worth

Assets – Liabilities = Net Worth

Simple equation if you know the numbers on the left side of the equation. Knowing my family net worth is very important for me. I like keeping our budget under control. So, for many years a typical Saturday begins for me with opening the Quicken. I download all transactions from my debit and credit accounts.  I assign those transaction into categories if they were not assigned automatically. Unfortunately there are no option to download our loan details from loan vendors websites, so I update it manually once a month. Sounds boring for many people, but it helps our family of four to survive without getting into big debt while both my husband and I were in school. There are a lot of tools in Quicken to inform me about our current cash flow, net worth, to setup the budget and view spending by categories.

E-Shopping

My very first experience of buying things online was unsuccessful. It was back in 2005 when my family and I first came into the USA, we wanted to buy a pocket-PC. I was going to use it as a dictionary in my ESL classes. My kids wanted to play games while they were waiting for appointments. We found one on e-bay and bought it. The pocket-PC was shipped from Texas. We were tracking it until it arrived to Fife, WA. However, we didn't receive our package, it was disappeared.
The first negative experience didn't not stop us from buying things online. I usually buy and sell books on Amazon. We buy electronics and accessories online without fear because we can return it if we don't like. The third thing we buy online is software. It is much simpler to download antivirus than buy it at a store. However, we go to 'Game Stop' store to buy the games.
The three things that we don't buy online are pets, food, and shoes. I would not buy a fish or a parakeet online. Maybe it is OK to ship pets via FedEx, but it is the last thing I want to get in a package left at my door. I prefer to see it personally before buying.  The second thing we never buy online is food. I don't even know why. I need to review food buying habits. Shoes are on the list of my not-online shopping because it is difficult to find right size without trying.

Not Very First Web Page

After taking 'Client/Server Programming' class from Mr. Syberg last Spring quarter, it is not a big deal to create a simple HTML page. There is not a lot of options Blogger provides to the users by default. Only simple 'Edit HTML'. However, there are a lot of options to enhance your web page once you get on the 'Design'-> 'Edit HTML' page. You can add JavaScript, JQuery and CSS to your page. Simple Google search gives the answer how to do that.


I created the web page with tabs where I am going to post information for TINST207 class demo.The link to new page appears on the main menu, next to 'Home' tab. or you can find the page here.