Personal Learning Network

Something New ...

Starting my Personal Learning Network is very intriguing.  Since I never heard this term, I turned to the internet in an attempt to grasp what this term meant and how I could apply it to my personal learning objectives and professional interests. 

A PLN is a form of independent learning and is intended to provide the most benefits by using it in a “give and take” fashion, meaning participants collaborate by sharing their knowledge in specific areas as well as learning from each other's posts.

In the past, I created accounts for Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, etc., however, aside from seeing “hash-tag” posts on certain topics or individuals, I didn’t realize any other benefits from them.  I believe that is because I wasn’t viewing them to learn or make connections with others who share similar interests to me. 

Now, with my new appreciation for how these social media sites can assist me with my educational and professional goals, I have reactivated my accounts and started searching for individuals who are experts in my field of study.  I am also searching for a few blogs to subscribe to as they pertain to my career.  I plan to keep this simple at the onset so I don’t get overwhelmed with information overload.

The following links provided some additional insight of how to view a PLN and incorporate this idea into creating your own PLN:
http://www.slideshare.net/corinnew/empowering-students-through-learning-networks and
http://olecommunity.com/the-power-of-personal-learning-networks-wait-what-is-a-personal-learning-network/

Browsing the Web

As an internet “surfer” since its inception, I am familiar with many of the terms described in this chapter and thought it was an excellent review describing web sites, web pages, web servers, browsers, navigating recently viewed web pages, creating “favorite” subfolders, etc.  However, I have to admit that I encountered some terms I never heard before and this lead me to think that right now it is probable that new terms are being created to describe additional functions currently in the developmental stages.
   

While I perform certain functions described in this chapter on a daily basis, I did not realize there were actual terms associated with them. One example is “tabbed browsing” which is the term used when multiple web pages are open in a single browser window. While at work or at home, I usually have numerous web pages open at the same time to assist me in whatever tasks I am performing.          

This chapter taught me how to save a group of tabbed favorites in Internet Explorer and I plan to implement this knowledge immediately since I have numerous “favorite” subfolders which can be grouped according to how I use them with names such as “education”, “personal”, or “gardening”.  This will be a definite time saver because now my web pages will now have some organization instead of being a long list of web pages saved to my favorite folders.  Mozilla Firefox has a similar tool called “bookmarks”.
     
On any given day, my co-workers talk about breaking news stories on CNN and I wondered how they learned so quickly about what was happening elsewhere.  According to CCN RSS, they are subscribers to CNN's RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds and get breaking news delivered their desktops.  What really interested me about the RSS feeds feature was how I could use it with respect to the blogs we all created so I could receive notifications when we entered new posts.  After doing the exercise in our textbook to learn how to set up RSS feeds, I added feeds for all our blogs to learn firsthand how it works.
   
Other features available on the Internet which I plan to learn more about are: “web slices”, “accelerators”, “inprivate browsing” and “inprivate filtering”.  What was interesting to me about this chapter is how it made me really look at the web pages and tool bars to learn what the icons represent and the various built-in shortcuts available for our use which saves us time when browsing the internet.

It’s funny how you don’t always see what is there to be seen and for me, this was especially true with this topic.
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REFERENCES:
                   
CNN RSS. (2014).  Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/services/rss/            

Web Browsing Image.  Retrieved from: http://lookwhatmomfound.com/2012/12/safe-surfing-a-guide-to-getting-your-kids-started-on-the-web.html
        

Net Neutrality

Currently, there are no limitations imposed on what individuals’ access, upload or download via the Internet. Net Neutrality is the concept that Internet Service Providers (ISP) will NOT be able “to block, degrade or charge extra for legal content and applications that run on the Net” which provides individuals the freedom to roam about the web.

Through my research, I found numerous articles and opinions written based on the recent decision by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in the case of Verizon v. Federal Communications Commission (2014). According to an article by Brian Fung of the Washington Post, this decision essentially “struck down the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules, which prohibited Internet providers from blocking or prioritizing Web traffic”.

Based on my understanding of this decision, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not have any authority over the ISPs simply because of their current classification which was established by the FCC. Aside from appealing the recent Court decision, the FCC could reclassify ISPs as common-carrier services like the telephone companies, or change their rules as they pertain to these specific providers.

What could this mean to consumers if this decision is upheld?  Most likely, increased fees imposed by the content companies to absorb the additional fees they are charged to provide their content at faster speeds, or suffer the consequence of limited access to the content available on the Internet. This begs the question, how much could they charge and who would regulate those particular fees, if anyone? 

Based on the way individuals and corporations access the Internet as part of their daily routines, the regulations of Net Neutrality are a concern for all of us.                 

References:

Fung, Brian. (2014) Washington Post. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/01/14/d-c-circuit-court-strikes-down-net-neutrality-rules/

Verizon/FCC Image:  Retrieved from:  http://www.howardforums.com/content.php/1583-Breaking-Down-Verizon-v-FCC

Wordle - Internet

Discoverying the Internet

The Internet is defined as a “global network of computers” 
which is used to communicate with other individuals as near as the next room or as far away as the other side of the world. The Internet provides users with the ability to share information and conduct all types of personal and business transactions ranging from buying products to paying bills and conducting bank transactions to e-filing Court documents from anywhere Internet access is available.

The Internet is defined as a “global network of computers” which is used to communicate with other individuals as near as the next room or as far away as the other side of the world.  The Internet provides users with the ability to share information and conduct all types of personal and business transactions ranging from buying products to paying bills and conducting bank transactions to e-filing Court documents from anywhere Internet access is available.  

Individuals and businesses access the Internet through various types of connections known as dial-up, digital subscriber line (DSL), asymmetric DSL (ADSL), cable, fixed wireless, satellite, microwave, Wi-Fi and mobile wireless.  The primary basis for the type of connection is picked by an individual is the transmission speed of uploading and downloading data and/or how much they can afford to pay for this service. 

The first computer network known as ARPANET was launched in 1966 by its developers at the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency.  The proposal was to use “packet switches” to transmit data between computers to replace the current method of sending data in a continuous stream over a dedicated circuit.  To accomplish the proposed idea, the data was separated into packets by the transmitting computer then transmitted in packets over the cables and reassembled on the receiving computer.   

In addition, the Internet was founded on the following three other concepts: Military Network by the Rand Corp. in America; the Commercial Network by National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in England, and the Scientific Network by Cyclades in France.  Initially, computers were connected using the Network Control Protocol (NCP) which was then replaced by the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) which verified the transmission of a file transfer.  The Internet Protocol (IP) “addressed” and sent the file packets was utilized.  In 1990, TCP/IP became the standard to be used by all computers because it guaranteed compatibility between networks and merged them, thereby, creating the Internet. 

Browser Symbols

The World Wide Web, which is more commonly referred to as “”the Web” is a subset of the Internet that supports Web pages”.  Users access the Web through web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari to view web pages.  People surf the web through links created on one web page which allow quick access to another website which is thought to be a related idea and may be of interest the targeted user.  

References:

 

Internet Image:  Retrieved from: http://www.specialeyes.co.nz/category/internet-marketing/ 

Browser Image.  Retrieved from: http://blog.hostbaby.com/2010/01/own-a-website-use-more-than-one-browser/