Internet Advertising

Describe how Internet advertising has impacted your web experience:

For the most part Internet advertising has had little impact on my web experience. More often than not however, it is a negative one. While most ads are on the sides of the page, not conflicting with my view of the page, some are blinking or contain animation (like the home mortgage ones) so they end up being distracting. I'm aware that this is a way for them to attract attention, but if the ad takes away from my experience with the site I may be less inclined to return. There are also ads that appear in the middle of my viewing area. Sometimes there are buttons to close the ad, but other times there isn't and I must click on the ad and then close the window that opens. A final type of ad I come across is the one that appears in between web pages when you click on an internal link. These are not too much of a bother, and I immediately click through them. Overall I am able to navigate the Internet with blinders on, not paying too much attention to the advertising found among its pages. When I do notice it however, it is often a nuisance and detracts from my online experience. While in some instances the ads may be annoying, I fully understand their place on the Internet and will continue to tolerate the dancing bear trying to sell me a low-interest mortgage.

Wiki edit # 5

I just edited the Dumb and Dumber article for the second time. I added the amount that the film grossed at the US box office as well as worldwide earnings. I found this to be good information to add since there was already information about the film's budget in the article and this would be a way to show the vast difference in revenues and cost.

VALS Survey

I just took the VALS Survey that we discussed in class today. The survey consisted of 40 questions that asked about your curiosity, desire to make things yourself instead of buying them, being a leader, and fashion sense. The survey ends with several demographic questions to put your previous answers in a context.

The results of my survey concluded that my primary VALS type is an Innovator and my secondary type is Achiever. Innovators are successful, sophisticated, take-charge people with high self-esteem. Because they have such abundant resources, they exhibit all three primary motivations in varying degrees. They are change leaders and are the most receptive to new ideas and technologies. Innovators are very active consumers, and their purchases reflect cultivated tastes for upscale, niche products and services.

Motivated by the desire for achievement, Achievers have goal-oriented lifestyles and a deep commitment to career and family. Their social lives reflect this focus and are structured around family, their place of worship, and work. Achievers live conventional lives, are politically conservative, and respect authority and the status quo. They value consensus, predictability, and stability over risk, intimacy, and self-discovery.

I feel that the survey was accurate in its analysis. I feel that I exhibit the characteristics of an achiever the most, but agree that I exhibit characteristics from the other types as well. I have learned about the VALS survey in other classes but this is the first time I've taken it myself. It was interesting to see the questions they ask and how they relate to the output. I didn't consider myself to be on the innovative side of the spectrum but based on the criteria they use, it appears I am.

Wiki edit #4

Today I created a page on Wikipedia highlighting my high school, Gorham High School. There are other schools around Gorham that are on Wikipedia and I feel that Gorham should be represented as well. I found it much more difficult to create a page from scratch than to edit an existing one. It was a stretch to know what some of the language means, but definately a learning experience. I had trouble finding the page from the Wikipedia home page after I created it, so I may have to work out a couple more bugs. I'll keep you posted to let you know if it gets deleated or not.

Aftermath revisited

In regards to Tricia's blog posting about Internet regulation, I couldn't agree more. The down side to having an international medium such as the Internet is that there is little accountability. This is made harder my the anonymity the Internet provides. People are able to commit harmful actions and hide in the commotion of cyberspace, eluding authorities and prosecution. Because of the infancy of the Internet, legislation and regulation are bound to lag behind, and there will always be those out there that abuse the system. But as Tricia stated and I agree to, there needs to be a greater push to organize a set of regulations dealing with jurisdiction, punishments, and accountability for actions online.

Wikipedia edit 3

I just edited my third article on Wikipedia. The article I edited was Mykonos, Greece. To the article I added an "attractions" section, to highlight the various sites there are to see on the island. I feel this will be helpful for people who are perhaps searching for places to go on vacation. If they look on Wikipedia they will see some suggested places the island has to offer and this may help them decide where to go or where not to go if the sites are/are not what they are looking for.