Another subdomain for another unit of study. This time it’s the Curtin University unit Internet Design – Advanced over at http://ned12.vfowler.com/ which I’ll study throughout Study Period 3, 2012. The unit covers topics of:
1 Introduction to Flash
2 Colour theory
3 Interactive screen design
4 Storyboarding and interface design
5 Navigation and flow charts
6 Project management
7 Introduction to animation
8 Copyright and referencing
9 Search engine optimisation

This unit builds on the skills developed in NED11 and helps you refine your web design techniques, with a more detailed look at graphic design and interactive screen design. You will develop online multimedia, keeping in mind the limited bandwidth and download time of end users. Topics include: Introduction to Flash; Colour Theory; Interactive Screen Design; Storyboarding; Interface Design; Navigation and Flowcharts; Project Management; Animation; Copyright and Referencing; and Search Engine Optimisation.

Another subdomain for another unit of study. This time it’s the Curtin University unit Internet and Everyday Life over at http://net102.vfowler.com which I studied throughout Study Period 1, 2012. The unit covers areas of identity, community, economy, and power.

For many people, their everyday life now involves constant interaction with the internet. Indeed the internet is becoming an almost invisible part of these experiences. As cyberspace and real space come together, it is easy to miss the effects of the internet on us and our society. Through several specific topics – such as dating, music, games, faith, health and politics – this unit will help you to investigate the internet from various perspectives and across a range of experiences. You will also learn to analyse the internet conceptually, understanding how technology and society intertwine.

This is the first plugin I’ve ever published. The bulk of the code came from an older plugin that is no longer in circulation. Thanks to Tareq Hasan of Altisona Media who wrote the original.

Why was this plugin revived? It seems reasonable that a member who hasn’t added their own avatar can be represented by mystery man. However, it seems ridiculous that a group without a custom avatar also be represented by the same single mystery man. Find out more about this BudyPress plugin at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/buddypress-default-group-avatar/

Next version to include an image as the default group avatar, making it even easier.

Looking for Navitas BuddyPress

If you are looking for the Navitas BuddyPress site, you may have ended up here by mistake. The correct address is http://hm.vfowler.com http://bp.navitasenglish.com

Cheers,
Vernon

Another subdomain for another unit of study. This time it’s the Curtin University unit Engaging Media over at http://med104.vfowler.com which just finished last week. As well as a remediation project, the unit covers areas of communication, information, entertainment, and play.

Another subdomain for another unit of study. This time it’s the RMIT unit Digital Video Projects over at http://mmc110.vfowler.com which will be finished in a matter of just weeks. As well as camera work, production techniques and film analysis, there are experiments with the HTML5 <video> element.

Since the original site redesign of late 2009, we’ve implemented a few slight adjustments on eucalyptproductions.com in effort to incrementally improve both functionality and aesthetics:

• Tweet button added to posts and pages
• Latest tweet from the official Eucalypt Productions Twitter feed http://twitter.com/eucpro
• Latest field update image now appears at double the original size

Currently, this blog is a mixed bag of goodies, including the kitchen sink. All content related to Teaching ESL with Technology (and my studies in WEB206) has been copied to the new subdomain teachesltech.vfowler.com with a fresh installation of WordPress there. Eventually I will clean out the clutter from here. In the meantime, check out the all new supercharged site.

Recently my wife had a miscarriage. We both learnt a lot from the rather traumatic experience. There were many occasions though that information was lacking. We gained a lot of general knowledge on the topic through talking with friends and family. Mostly for the purposes of studying The Internet and Everyday Life, I am now using the Internet to find out more about early pregnancy miscarriage, and perhaps our particular case. I am interested to compare the information I can find on websites with what we received from doctors in the Emergency Department at Box Hill Hospital.

As usual, things often start with a plain (non-phrasal) Google search. http://www.google.com.au/search?q=early+pregnancy+miscarriage Inspecting the top 10 results, it is not surprising to see that most are from *.com.au and *.com domains. None of the sites have a high popularity rank, except the Wikipedia and miscarriage.about.com entries, which rank #7 and #71 respectively. Next I refined my search to include the terms gestational and sac, i.e. http://www.google.com.au/search?q=early+pregnancy+miscarriage+gestational+sac which yielded some concrete results. Carefully reading the description meta data in the search results, lead me to learn about blighted ova as the possible type of miscarriage.

Average Gestational Age and Milestone Visible on UltraSound

On the topic of early pregnancy miscarriage, I would recommend choosing sites which:

• give factual information and not opinions,
• detail relevant dates that the information was last updated / published,
• contain information that is independently reviewed by a recognisable authority,
• and contain articles sourced from credible sources.

There are several Q&A advice sites, but none I looked into contained the specific information I was after. Mamapedia™ appears a good community, sharing the wisdom of moms. This site does have a section on miscarriage, which provides useful links from around the web, such as Talking to Children About Miscarriage and Pregnancy Loss at *.about.com, but the taxonomy is too limited for my search purposes.

Two most useful sites I explored are http://miscarriage.about.com/ (particularly the series of 7 pages titled Understanding Early Pregnancy / First Trimester Ultrasound Results), and http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/miscarriage.html. The former is great for giving accurate information on what to expect under normal circumstances and where the science and technology is at in determining diagnoses. Terminology is explained well and essential diagrams aid comprehension. The latter website, although recommending advice through intermediaries, also gives a good general overview with symptoms, causes and treatment options for miscarriage, as well as (in an apomediary role) refer helpful web sites that address miscarriage.

References

Online, we can create, nurture, maintain, and even cease relationships. In some instances these may be easier processes than their off-line equivalents. And it seems popular, with teens at least, to do a little of both. (Pascoe, n.d.)

How far would a partner/spouse have to go online before it is considered cheating?
Cheating needs to be defined by the intimate partners and although there is a general perception of what it means, individuals will have degrees of difference. Here are a couple of definitions worth examining.

4. to practice fraud or deceit: She cheats without regrets.
7. Informal . to be sexually unfaithful (often fol. by on ): Her husband knew she had been cheating all along. He cheated on his wife.
(Dictionary.com Unabridged)

How far can one go online under these definitions of cheating?

Briefly, the fourth definition above makes it as easy as lying or deceiving via some form of online communication, to the detriment of a partner/spouse relationship. Although broad, worth consideration for the nature of such deceit to come out through Facebook for instance. Nonetheless, surely such fraud must be deliberate before being considered cheating.

Under the seventh definition however, to cheat on one’s partner or spouse in a cyber-sex fashion could be termed polyandry as in having two or more mates [...] successively (Dictionary.com Unabridged). Apart from cultures that tolerate polygamy or polyamory, none would disagree that this would be cheating. The issue here is that such relationships are enacted without the knowledge and consent of all partners concerned (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia). Thus to engage in any form of cyber-sex with a partner other than one’s spouse (in monogamous partnerships), is to be sexually unfaithful and probably break a vow of marriage.

Up to what point is flirting online acceptable?
Provided it is reciprocated, flirting between one another is accepted, and possibly expected, particularly in the early stages of a relationship. In the online world, this seems no different to me. Reciprocation deems acceptance, whether it be sending instant messages or posting private messages through the Internet. Depending on the individuals, perhaps even posting comments to public spaces is also acceptable. There isn’t any stage in a relationship that makes flirting between intimate partners unacceptable. It simply migrates to off-line forms when those involved can spend enough time face-to-face.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4119789849/

References

• cheating. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved October 22, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cheating
• Leonard, B. (1992). IMDb Video: The Lawnmower Man. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4119789849/
• Pascoe, C. (n.d.). Final Report: Intimacy. DIGITAL YOUTH RESEARCH. Retrieved September 12, 2010, from http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/book-intimacy
• Polyamory. (2010, October 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 05:45, October 23, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polyamory&oldid=392138336
• polyandry. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved October 22, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/polyandry