The Internet
8th Edition
Tutorial 6
User-Generated Content on
the Internet
Objectives
• Understand push and pull communication
• Learn about mailing lists and newsgroups
• Understand Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and
Web Slices
• Explore the technology used in podcasting
• Use mashup sites
• Explore a social bookmarking site
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Objectives
• Explore the different methods of chatting, including
instant messaging
• Learn about Web 2.0
• Learn about online, social, political, and business
networks
• Learn about blogs and microblogs
• Learn about video sharing sites
• Understand the ways to protect your privacy, identity,
and reputation
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Push and Pull
Communications
• Some communication methods use push technology to
send content to users who request it
– Chat
– Instant messaging
– Online social networks
– Blogs
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Push and Pull
Communications
• Pull technology has subscribers “pull” content to their
computers when they want it
– Mailing lists
– Newsgroups
– Feeds
– Web Slices
– Podcasts
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
• Two popular ways of pulling information via email are
mailing lists and newsgroups
• A popular way of sharing information is to join, or
subscribe to, a mailing list, which is a list of names and
email addresses for a group of people who share a
common interest in a subject or topic and exchange
information by subscribing to the list
• Mailing lists and the groups they represent, sometimes
called discussion groups, do not require you to enter
the email addresses of people subscribed to the list into
your email program’s address book
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
• Information and opinions are sent to discussion groups
by posting (or sending) an email message to the list
• When you post a message to a mailing list, the email list
software running on the server automatically forwards
your message to every email address on the mailing list
• The server that runs the email list software is sometimes
called a list server because it runs the list
• Mailing list messages are simply email messages that
express ideas or ask questions, and these messages are
forwarded to list members
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
• Commands request the list server to take a prescribed
action
• The list address, or list name, is the address to which
you send messages and replies
• The administrative address is the email address to
which you send commands, such as the address that
you use to subscribe to a list
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
• For most lists, one person, known as the list moderator,
moderates a mailing list to ensure that the list always
receives and sends appropriate and relevant information
to its members
• When a list moderator is responsible for discarding any
messages that are inappropriate for or irrelevant to the
list’s members, the list is known as a moderated list
• When an individual does not moderate a list, it is called
an unmoderated list
• A closed list is one in which membership is not
automatic
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
• In a closed list, the list administrator, a person
assigned to oversee one or more mailing lists, can either
reject or accept membership requests
• Most lists are open lists that automatically accept all
members, in which case the list has no administrator
• When you want to leave a mailing list, also referred to as
unsubscribing from or dropping the mailing list, follow
the instructions in the confirmation message that the list
server sent to you
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
• The Usenet News Service, or Usenet, was founded in
1979 at Duke University as a way of collecting
information and storing it by topic category
– Topic categories were originally called newsgroups
or forums
– Another popular term is Internet discussion group
– A distributed database is stored in multiple physical
locations, with portions of the database replicated in
different locations
– A newsgroup stores items on a server as articles or
postings that are sorted by topic
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
• Usenet, continued
– A series of postings on a particular issue is called a thread
– The server that stores a newsgroup is called a news
server
– The store-and-forward process is called obtaining a feed
– Each news server site employs a news administrator,
who specifies which other news servers will be feed
providers and feed recipients
– Most feeds occur over the Internet using the Network
News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)
– Newsreaders were programs designed for communicating
with news server computers
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
• Google Groups home page
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Getting Information from RSS
Feeds
• The format that is used to syndicate (distribute)
published content from one site to another is called RSS,
an acronym for Really Simple Syndication
• To subscribe to a feed, you need to install an
aggregator
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Getting Information from Web
Slices
• A Web Slice is part of a Web page that a developer
codes so users can subscribe to it
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Podcasting
• An iPod is a small and lightweight portable media player
• Podcasting lets a user subscribe to an audio or video
feed, then listen to it or watch it at the user’s
convenience on a compatible device
• A podcast is a subscription audio or video broadcast
that is created and stored in a digital format on the
Internet
• The aggregator used for feeds is sometimes called
podcasting software
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Mashups
• A software program uses an Application Programming
Interface (API) as a means of communication with an
operating system or some other program
• The term Web services describes the process of
organizations communicating through a network to share
data, without any required knowledge of each other’s
systems
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Mashups
• In a mashup, a developer combines the services from
two different sites using the APIs from one or both sites
to create a completely new site that uses features from
one or both sites
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Social Bookmarking Sites
• Social bookmarking is similar to saving a bookmark in
your browser, but it refers to the process of saving
bookmarks to a public Web site that you can access
from any computer connected to the Internet
• To create social bookmarks, you create tags, which are
one-word descriptions of the bookmarked content, to
assign your favorite Web sites to categories
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Chat
• Chat is a general term for real-time communication that
occurs over the Internet using software that is installed
on Internet devices
• Chats can involve exchanging pictures, videos, sounds,
data, and programs
• In voice chat, participants speak to each other in real
time
• In video chat, participants can see and speak to each
other
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Chat
• A private chat occurs between individuals who know
each other and are invited to participate in the chat
• A public chat occurs in a public area, sometimes called
a chat room, in which people come and go by visiting a
Web page that hosts the chat
• The practice of reading messages and not contributing to
the discussion is called lurking
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Chat
• Flaming is when a participant insults or ridicules another
participant
• Spamming is another unwanted practice in which
someone or an organization sends unsolicited and
irrelevant messages to a chat room
• Chat began with a program for UNIX computers called
Talk, which was followed by Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Chat
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Chat
• Instant messaging software lets users chat in real time
using software and a device that is connected to the
Internet, such as a computer or cell phone
• There are several instant messaging software products
available
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Using Social Networks to
Share Information
• Web 2.0 is a term coined to describe the changed
Internet in which users interact with content
• A virtual community, now more commonly called an
online social network, is a place on the Internet where
people can gather to discuss issues and share
information
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Online Social Networks
• Craigslist was an early online social network
• Most social networking sites rely heavily on advertising
to generate revenue
• Recently, Facebook has become a communication tool
for corporations and even political candidates
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Online Business Networks
• The users of online business networks are looking for
specific business solutions
• Examples:
– LinkedIn
– Sermo
– Ryze
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Online Political Networks
• Online political networks allow people to discuss issues,
plan strategies, and even arrange in-person gatherings
called meetups
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Online Social Networks for
Sharing Videos
• YouTube was an early and hugely successful video
sharing site
• Rather than objecting to copyright violations, major
networks entered into strategic partnerships with
YouTube
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Blogs
• Initially, blogs were used mostly by individuals as a way
of communicating with others about personal or other
topics
• Blogs became mainstream when 2004 presidential
candidates began using them
• Blogs are not subject to the same ethical guidelines of
professional reporters
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Microblogs
• A microblog is a form of blogging that sends short
messages – usually 140 characters or less – on a very
frequent schedule
• Microblog postings are sometimes called tweets
• The act of microblogging is sometimes called tweeting
• A follower is a person who is receiving your microblog
updates
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Protecting Your Privacy and
Identity on Social Networks
• Considerations include:
– Many people have the same name
– Falsified ages
– Cyberbullying, or using Internet communication to
harass, threaten or intimidate someone
– By making your information public, you put yourself at
risk
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Protecting Your Reputation
• Many employers check social networking sites
• Although postings can be deleted, information is
archived
• False information can be posted about people
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Summary
• Push and pull communication
• Mailing lists and newsgroups
• RSS feeds and Web Slices
• Podcasting
• Mashup sites
• Social bookmarking sites
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition
Summary
• Chatting and instant messaging
• Web 2.0
• Online, social, political, and business networks
• Blogs and microblogs
• Video sharing sites
• Protecting privacy, identity, and reputation
New Perspectives on the Internet, 8th Edition