My Experience in DkIT

So here it is, my time in DkIT is offically over. I spent the majority of the past 5 years in this college and it has been one of the best experiences of my life. I completed a year studying nursing in the college and decided that it wasn't the course for me. That is when I decided to change courses and do Business Event Management which I am now just completed my four years studying.

Over the past 5 years I have made several friends from all over Ireland and the majority of them will be friends for life. As part of my course I went to America for 4 months which was a very intresting experience to say the least. I feel Dundalk Institute of Technology was the perfect choice of college even though I had to make the long journey from Cork to Dundalk every second weekend. I wouldn't like to live in a city so therefore other colleges in places such as Galway, Cork and Dublin wouldn't have suited me.

Overall I am delighted to have chosen DkIT, it has definately gave me some of the best years of my life. And now as my final exams draw near and my years as a student come to an end I must admit I will miss college life and espically the friends I have made. So time to get back to studying...

BYE BYE DkIT

Mobile Commerce

Mobile Commerce is basically being able to use your mobile phone or other devices such as PDA in order to conduct commerce. After doing some research on mobile commerce I found a definiton on an article that explains mobile commerce brilliantly."M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as cellular telephone and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Known as next-generation e-commerce, m-commerce enables users to access the Internet without needing to find a place to plug in. The emerging technology behind m-commerce, which is based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), has made far greater strides in Europe, where mobile devices equipped with Web-ready micro-browsers are much more common than in the United States"

The website where I found this definition goes on to explain how back in 2000 companies who manufacture mobile phones for example Nokia and Motorola are working with carriers such as AT&T wireless to develop WAP-enabled smart phones. According to this article these phones are "the industry's answer to the Swiss Army Knife, and ways to reach them. Using Bluetooth technology, smart phones offer fax, e-mail, and phone capabilities all in one, paving the way for m-commerce to be accepted by an increasingly mobile workforce".

Smart phones have now been introduced to the marketplace. An example of a smart phone can be seen in the picture to the right. A lot of these phones have excellent features such windows operating systems to let you edit and share microsoft word and excel spreadsheets. Wi Fi wireless networking is use in these phones so you can connect to the internet. Blackberry phones are seen as one one of the most popular smart phones in the market. According to the blackberry website their smart phones have features on it that can be defined under the following headings:

•  Stay in touch:
• "Distance is truly outdated as BlackBerry® smartphones keep everyone close. Phone, email or text your friends, family and contacts. Instant message and access social networks to immediately share your latest updates"
• Instant Information
• "Find more, know more, do more. Browse the web, find your destination with mapping applications and organize all your personal data. BlackBerry smartphones pull it all together."
• Entertainment on the go
• "Bring your own entertainment. Wherever you are, BlackBerry smartphones let you listen to music, snap pictures, view clips and capture video"
• Browse, Shop and Buy
• "Boost your purchase power. BlackBerry smartphones can remember forms once you fill them in, letting you make that buy quickly and securely. And no rush, BlackBerry smartphones don't have a closing time."

Here is a video I found that talks about mobile commerce

According to an article "how smartphones are becoming central to shopping- and what retailers must do to prepare" smart phones have become very popular for shopping, it allows customers not only to shop online but but allows people to compare shopping and locating stores. So these latest technology have made mobile commerce a lot more easier.

Censorship

After researching online I found this definition of Censorship "refers to the suppression of speech or writing that is considered to be a bad influence on society."

Censorship is normally imposed by the government. The content in some books and films may be censored because they might not be seen as acceptable in some countries.

I feel that censorship on the internet is very important. Almost everyone, of all ages, these days have access to the internet. It stops young people from gaining access to images that maybe inappropriate for them to see and also it prevents them from learning things that could harm themselves or others. I also found out that there is some cons of censorship such as: it may intrude on a persons privacy and also peoples freedom of speech can be compromised. Even though I believe that censorship is a good thing I came across and article online which talks about the pros and cons of censorship. If you look at this link you will see that there seems to be more cons in relation to censorship than there is pros. It states at the end of this article that "Used properly, censorship serves as a valuable tool. However, it can also be easily misused. Governments and other regulatory institutions must learn to use it judiciously." i completely agree with this statement. 

While researching censorship I came across this video which I feel explains censorship on the internet perfectly:

Overall I think that there is definitely both positive and negative side to censorship, but considering both sides I feel that censorship should be used but only were appropriate.

Usablility

I did some research on Usability so that I could understand it more. I came across a web page by Jakob Nielsen who defines usability as " Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word "usability" also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process."

Usability gives a great advantage to businesses as if a person can use their site easily then it can be an effective way to increase sales, and increase customer satisfaction. I found out that a lot people would abandon their shopping basket when shopping online. A lot of people do this because the shopping process or payment process becomes to complicated so the person just leaves the website, which means revenue is lost for the company. Usability testing can help see what the problems are with this and sort them out.

Jakob Nielson also says that:

Usability is defined by five quality components:

• Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?
• Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
• Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?
• Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
• Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

By insuring that your have all these components in place then your website should keep people coming back to your site and staying longer on it. So basically if a website is not easy to use, if your website does not state what you offer or if your information is not easy to read then a person will leave your website which would mean a loss of revenue for your business.

A heat map is used in usability testing and I think it is an excellent way to watch what your visitors do. By using this you can clearly see the different pages that your visitors click. This will show you which pages in your site are more popular. One of the most popular heat maps that seems to be out there is from crazy egg.

Overall all I think all businesses should consider web usability. Even though it may cost a lot of money to begin with businesses will end up benefiting a lot more than if they do not use web usability.

Technology Fast

I took on the almost impossible (or so I thought) task of not using technology for 48 hours. So that means no mobile phone and no internet (which unfortunately means no facebook) for 2 whole days. The first thing I thought was this is going to be impossible, however after the hours went by I realized it is not that bad.

I started the technology fast at 2 p.m. once I arrived home after college on a Friday afternoon. I insured that I left my laptop back in my house in Dundalk so that I would not be tempted to go on the internet which is what I normally would do on a Friday evening at home. I am the type of person that my phone is constantly either in my hand or in my bag, so it is never too far away from met. So the first few hours of the fast were strange as a few times I found myself reaching in my bag to get my phone. So I put my mobile phone in a drawer in my room so that again I would not be tempted to use it.

The next day of the fast was surprisingly a lot easier. Even though I have to admit that I did miss my phone. I am always texting on my phone so to be without it was very strange. I had planned to meet a group of friends for dinner on the Saturday night so I informed them of my technology fast before I started on the Friday and we arranged the time and place to meet and if this time or place changed I gave them my sisters phone number so that can let me know that way if there was any changes. So therefore being without a phone is not the end of the world as there is other ways of contacting people. Being without my phone was definitely the hardest part of this fast. Doing without the internet was a lot easier than I thought. I thought I would find it difficult not checking my Facebook account for 2 days but it was not as bad as I originally thought.

I would recommend everyone try and do a technology fast even if its just for 24 hours. It is really a very interesting thing to try. Overall I found it relaxing, my phone was beeping every few minutes.

Web Standards

After researching web standards its clear to see that it has become very important over the past few years. I feel that this is a very important issue and as the internet is being used by almost everyone these days. So therefore the world wide web should be accessible by everyone even if they have a disability such as blindness.An article written by Sheryl Burgstahler states "Information on a web site for the public is meant to be viewed by others; it makes sense that all visitors can access its content."

 

I found an excellent definition of Web Standards which defines web standards as: Standardized specifications for Internet markup languages such as HTML, CSS, and XML. Formulated by the W3 organization, these standards enable people to create websites that will work in almost any browser or internet-enabled device, instead of being specific to certain versions of Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.

Webs standards is very important in my opinion as it allows the world wide web to be accessible to everyone. If a web site does not have these standardized specifications then people with visual impairment may not be able to see the graphics, people with a hearing impairment may not be able to hear audio that you have on your website, and also if your web site is poorly laid out and not easy to navigate through it then people who have a learning disability or who does not have English as their native  language then they might find it difficult to view a certain website.

So all in all, I feel that anyone who is setting up web site should take in to consideration web standards. Everyone no matter if they have a disability or not should be able to view your web site. Also the more people who can view your web site the better it can be for your business etc.

Rag Week in DKIT

Raise and Give Week (RAG Week) took place in Dundalk Institute of Technology from the 28th February to the 4th March. The main purpose of RAG Week is to raise money for charity. The main charity for this years RAG Week was SoSad in Dundalk. Every year the students union along with the majority of students raise thousands for different charities. Last years rag week raised €8,000 for 2 charities:

• Friends of Sruthan House, Dundalk- who received €5,000 of the money raised

• The Bubble Gum Club in Dun Laoghaire- who received €3,000 of the money raised

The link below shows a newspaper article that was published in the Dundalk Democrat about RAG Week 2011:

http://www.dundalkdemocrat.ie/news/local/rag_week_eventsraise_8_000_for_two_charities_1_1981943

This just goes to show that RAG Week, which takes place in the majority of colleges and universities around Ireland, is not all about students getting drunk all week, it is all for a good cause.

This years RAG week was a huge success, and I will like to say well done to David and James in the students union. They offered a fun-filled week for us students to enjoy. And by the responses I am hearing from everyone, it was one of the best RAG Week by far. Below is a video that was produced to promote RAG Week 2011, and in my opinion it promotes it really well.

Over the years RAG Weeks across the country have been given a bad reputation due to certain students behavior. However I feel that this can balanced out by the true meaning of the week which is to raise money for charity.