My Experience at DKIT!!!

So what can I say about my time at DKIT apart from it being the best time of my life and I am so sad that it is nearly over. So where to start????........ First of all I can not believe that my 4 year's are over!!! That totally flew round but I have to say that during these 4 year's I have met the wildest, nicest and most caring bunch of people that I have ever met and who I will never forget.

 "We had our up's and downs but we made it through and I am sure we will always stay friend's."

I have to say the most enjoyable part of my college life was the 4 year's of RAG Week that I had. I have to say that every year was brilliant and I would not change a thing.

 So all that I can say is that I am really happy that I picked DKIT as my college because I have learned a lot and I also know now that be very open and amazing things will happen.........

Mobile Commerce

 After doing research I found on a website called searchmobilecomputing.com that M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as phones and other personal digital assistants (PDAs). Known as next-generation e-commerce also known as m-commerce enables users to access the Internet without needing to find a place to plug in.

To get an idea of mobile commerce and wireless technology please take a quick look at this short video:

 

 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.

Today buisness people are always on the move so by having a smart phone or a PDA is a great way to keep in touch with the office and update your emails. Some people once they get a smart phone can not live without it and it becomes an essential life line.

In an article that I found online about smartphones it tells of the huge surge in the sale of smartphones. As there was such a high demand for smartphones there was an increase in the job creation. This article can be seen below:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0322/jobs-business.html

So after plenty of research I found out that there is a huge demand in the supply of PDA's and Smartphones. So if you are someone who is always on the go and want the internet really fast a smartphone  is the ideal for you!!!

Censorship: Should there be free speach online???

After researching censorship I have found out that Censorship is very important on the web as inappropriate materials are found on it everyday that might not be suitable for people of a certain age.Censorship controls the information and ideas circulated within a society on a website. It has been a hallmark of dictatorships throughout history.
Censorship is controlled by the government as some content in books or in films may be censored as they may not be suitable in some countries.

Some countries try to ban the use of free speach online as it may be unsuitable for people to read. But I think free speach should be allowed as it gives you the satisfaction of expressing yourself and allows you to express your feelings on what you may be worried about and what might be bugging you.


I also do agree with the censorship of some websites on the internet as people of all ages access the internet and some of the content may not be suited.

While researching censorship I found a video that highlights the good reasons for censorship on the internet:

So by researching censorship I have found that it has both positive and negative impacts but looking at both sides I do think that overall it is good and it is really needed.

Useability

After researching usability, my understanding of it is that it makes using web sites easy to use for people and that they can enter and use them without any hassle and that they are accessible for everyone. I searched on line to find out a bit more on usability and found an article that was written by Jakob Nielsen who says that "Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use."  He also goes on to say that usability has 5 quality components. These are:

• 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?

So by your web site having all these components then your website should be really easy to read and follow but if it is not and it is difficult to use then the person will leave that website and they will also leave if the homepage does not specify what exactly  it is selling or offering.

A good way of finding out what exactly a person who visit's your website is clicking on is by using Heat map. The best one you can use is by buying one off Crazy Egg. They have a wide range of services that allows you to visually understand a users behavior. 



Overall I think usability is very useful as it allows a person to browse through a website without any difficulty and also if it is appealing then the person will stay on that page which in turn will generate revenue for the business.......

Web Standards

To be honest, before I was given this topic of Web Standards to talk about, I never really thought about the accessibility of the internet to people with disabilities. For me using the internet is easy as I have no disabilities but I never thought about people with disabilities such as being blind or deaf and what they have to go through.

To me Web Standards makes it easier for people with special needs to use the web such as blind people may have their computer read web pages to them. Other people which have poor eyesight may have pages rearranged and magnified for easier reading and people using hand-held devices can search the web just as easily as those using high-end workstations.

In 1994, the 'World Wide Web Consortium' was founded by Tim Berners-Lee . This consortium is also known as W3C. It was established with the intention of leading the Web to its full potential, therefore it is here where Web Standards were created.

So after researching web standards it is clear to see that it is very important issue as the internet is being used by everyone these days and even though you have a disability using the internet should be easy to access.....

RAG Week at DKIT

RAG Week took place in Dundalk Institute of Technology from the 28th of Febuary to the 4th of March 2011. The term RAG means to "Raise and Give" and by DKIT having this RAG Week it raises money for much needed charities. The charity that this year's money is going to is SOSAD. This year's RAG Week was intended to be the best yet and I think the video below highlight this:

Apart from RAG Week being a good way of raising money for charity it also has a bad repuation of anti-social behaviour and it's not only Dundalk who gets this stigma its's all colleges all over the country. Below is an article from insideireland.ie that reported on NUI Galways RAG Week:

http://insideireland.ie/2011/03/04/nui-galway-rag-week-arrests-reach-37-10819/

I have to say personally that this year's RAG Week was the best one yet and I have to say a big thank you to James and David of the Student Union for making it a big success.

Giving up technology!!!!!!!!!???????

Yes i did it! I gave up technology for a whole weekend. Wel I only gave up the internet for the whole weekend not all technology. As I work as a waitress in the Nuremore Hotel, Carrickmacross all weekend and have no social life because of it, it was super easy for me to give up the addictive Facebook and checking my emails.



I have to say I found this very easy to give up the internet because I am never really on the computer at the weekend but I am during the week but this is to do college work (sort of)!!! The one thing I could certainly not give up is my phone as apart from it being now my new right arm, it is needed for work as my hours of work are always changing so I must have it with me at all times according to my mean boss!!!!

So thats it giving up the internet is not hard for me but for others that I know it was an impossible task. So if you are like me with no social life at the weekend give it a go and see if it can be done....!!!