Tutorial 6
User-generated
Content
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
1
Objectives
XP
• Understand push and pull communication
• Learn about mailing lists and newsgroups
• Understand Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
feeds
• Explore the technology used in podcasting
• Use mashup sites
• Explore a social bookmarking site
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
2
Objectives
XP
• Explore the different methods of chatting,
including instant messaging
• Learn about Web 20
• Learn about online social, political, and business
networks
• Learn about blogs
• Learn about video sharing sites
• Understand the ways to protect your privacy,
identity, and reputation
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
3
Push and Pull Communications
XP
• Some communication methods use push technology to send
content to users who request to it
– Chat
– Instant Messaging
– Online Social Networks
– Blogs
• The other communication method, called pull technology
because subscribers “pull” content to their computers when they
want it
– Mailing lists
– Newsgroups
– Newsfeeds
– Podcasts
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
4
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
XP
• Two popular ways of pulling information via email are
mailing lists and newsgroups
• A mailing list 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
– Sometimes known as discussion groups
• You send your information and opinions to a mailing list
by posting
– Email list software, or list server, automatically forwards your
message to every address on the mailing list
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
5
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
XP
• Commands request the list server to take a prescribed
action
• The administrative address is the email address to
which you send commands
• The list address, or the list name, is the address to
which you send messages and replies
• 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
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
6
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
XP
• 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
• A closed list is one in which membership is not
automatic
• The list administrator is a person assigned to
oversee one or more mailing lists
• You unsubscribe from the mailing list when you
want to leave the list
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
7
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
8
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
XP
• 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
• The topic categories on Usenet originally were called
newsgroups forums
– Internet discussion group
• A series of postings on a particular issue is called a thread
• The server that stores a newsgroup is called a news server
• Each news server site employs a news administrator
• Most feeds occur over the Internet using the Network News
Transfer Protocol (NNTP)
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
9
Email-Based Communication
on the Internet
XP
• Newsreaders were programs designed for the
sole purpose of communicating with news server
computers
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
10
Searching Google Groups
for Newsgroup Articles
XP
• Open the Google Groups home page in your
Web browser
• Type a search expression in the search text box,
and then click the Search Groups button to run
the search
• Follow the hyperlinks to the newsgroup articles
provided
• Examine and evaluate the newsgroup articles to
determine whether you should revise your
search expression
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
11
Getting Information from
Newsfeeds
XP
• A newsfeed uses pull technology to deliver changing
content to users
• The format used to syndicate published content from
one site to another is called RSS (Really Simple
Syndication)
– Another format is Atom
• To subscribe to a newsfeed, you need to install a
program called an aggregator on your computer or
mobile device
– Most current Web browsers and e-mail programs have built-in
aggregators
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
12
Getting Information from
Newsfeeds
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
13
Podcasting
XP
• Podcasting lets a user subscribe to an audio or
video feed, and 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 podcatching software
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
14
Podcasting
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
15
Mashups
XP
• A software program uses an Application Programming
Interface (API) as a means of communication with an
operating system or some other program
• Web services describe the process of organizations
communicating through a network to share data,
without any required knowledge of each other’s
systems
• 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, Seventh Edition
16
Mashups
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
17
Social Bookmarking Sites
XP
• 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 your social bookmarks, you create
tags, which are one-word descriptions of the
bookmarked content
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
18
Social Bookmarking Sites
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
19
Chat
XP
• Chat: general term for real-time communication
that occurs over the Internet
• Originally, the term chat described the act of
users exchanging typed messages, or a text chat
• Voice Chat: where participants speak to each
other in real time, much like they would be
using a telephone
• Video Chat: where participants can see and
speak to each other
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
20
Chat
XP
• Private Chat: occurs between individuals who
know each other and are invited to participate
in the chat
• Public Chat: occurs in a public area, sometimes
called a chat room, in which people come and
go
• Chats can be continuous, with participants
entering and leaving ongoing discussions or
they can be planned for a specific time and to
last for a specific duration
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
21
Chat
XP
• Most chat tools allow users to save a transcript
of the chat session for future reference
• Practice of reading messages and not
contributing to the discussion is called lurking
• Text chat requires participants to type quickly,
therefore, chat participants often omit
capitalization and do not worry about proper
spelling and grammar
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
22
Commonly Used Chat Acronyms
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
23
Chat
XP
• Flaming: when a participant insults or ridicules
another participant
• Spamming: when someone or an organization
sends unsolicited and irrelevant messages to a
chat room
• Although many chat rooms don’t enforce the
rules of netiquette, as you use the Internet to
communicate, you should exercise common
courtesy and respect as you would when
speaking in person with other people
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
24
Internet Relay Chat
XP
• Early UNIX computers included a program called Talk
that allowed users to exchange short text messages
• In 1988, Jarkko Oikarinen wrote a communications
program that extended the capabilities of the Talk
program to multi-user. It was called Internet Relay
Chat (IRC)
• IRC uses a client-server network model: IRC servers are
connected through the internet to form an IRC network
• Individual chat participants use IRC clients that connect
to the servers in the network
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
25
Internet Relay Chat
XP
• The original network was EFNet, which is still
one of the largest IRC networks today
• Other major IRC networks include IRCNet,
Undernet, DALnet, and NewNet
• Servers in each of these IRC networks are
connected to each other as part of the Internet,
but IRC traffic is segregated by network
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
26
Independent IRC Networks
on the Internet
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
27
Internet Relay Chat
XP
• IRC networks organize their chats by topic
• Each topic area is called a channel, and participants who
connect to an IRC network join specific channels in
which they conduct their chats
• Each channel has a name, or a channel heading, that
uses the pound sign (#) to indicate the chat’s topic
• When a participant creates a new channel, he becomes
responsible for managing the channel and is called the
channel operator
• The channel operator can change the channel’s topic
and heading at any time
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
28
Independent IRC Networks on the
Internet
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
29
Instant Messaging Software
XP
• Instant messaging software lets two users chat
in real time over the Internet
• Instant messages usually occur between people
who know each other, and are especially
popular with friends and families separated by
geographic distances
• The software has built-in tools that let you
identify your friends and associates and alert
you when they are online
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
30
Instant Messaging Software
XP
• Instant messaging is different from email in two
important ways:
– When you send an e-mail message to a user, you do
not have a way to determine if that user is online at
the time you send your message
– When you send an instant message, the instant
messaging software identifies whether the intended
recipient is online before you send the message
Instant Messaging Software
XP
• ICQ
– Pronounced “I seek you”
– One of the most popular instant messaging software programs
– Created in 1996
• AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)
– Available to anyone, even those without an AOL account
• MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger/Windows Live
Messenger
• Yahoo! Messenger
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
32
Instant Messaging Software
XP
• You must use the same instant messaging software to
chat with other users
• Some instant messaging software programs have
options for logging on to your chat account using a Web
page so you can use the software when you are away
from your primary computer
• All instant messaging software programs have some
features that work on wireless devices, such as cell
phones
• All instant messaging software is free and requires an
Internet connection, preferably a broadband connection
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
33
Instant Messaging Software
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
34
Web-Based Chat Sites
XP
• Web-based chat sites offer the same features as textbased chat and instant messaging but are often easier
to use and do not require users to download and install
any software
• In Web-based chat, some users lurk and others have
multiple conversations going at the same time
• The chat room identifies users as they speak with their
user names
• Conversations are often open-ended and rarely follow
the prescribed topic
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
35
Web-Based Chat Sites
XP
• Most Web-based chat sites prohibit spam
messages, the use of automated programs,
profane and vulgar language, threats to
individuals, and flaming
• Most sites require you to register before using
their chat rooms
• Although Web sites that provide chat rooms
have rules of appropriate conduct, you might
encounter conversations taking place that are
offensive to you
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
36
Using Social Networks to Share
Information
XP
• Web 2.0 creates users who actively participate in
writing the content that they are viewing; hence
the term user-generated content
• Web 2.0 applications vary but they all rely in
some way on the interactions of communities of
people and their data
• Web 2.0 includes social networking
communities, mashups, video and photo sharing
sites, blogs, newsfeeds, and podcasts
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
37
Online Social Networks
XP
• Virtual communities that exist for the sole purpose of
being a community
– More commonly called an online social network
• Useful tools for persons who want to make new local
friends, establish acquaintances before moving to a new
location, or obtain advice of various kinds
• Rely on advertising to generate revenue
– Some of the sites charge, or plan in the near future to charge, a
monthly membership fee
– Other sites plan to charge for specific site features
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
38
Online Social Networks
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
39
Online Business Networks
XP
• Focus on business networking
• Users log on to seek jobs, find potential business
partners, recruit workers, and engage in other
business development activities
• Users are looking for specific solutions to their
problems
• Online business networks tend to use categories
that reflect specific interests and try to make it
easy for business persons to find exactly the
connections they need, quickly and efficiently
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
40
Online Political Networks
XP
• Used in the 2004 US elections to rally supporters,
raise funds, and get their messages out to voters
• Provide a place for people interested in a
candidate or an issue to communicate with each
other
• Allow people to discuss issues, plan strategies,
and arrange in-person meetings called meetups
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
41
Online Social Networks
for Sharing Videos
XP
• YouTube was launched in 2005, and Google
bought the site for $165 billion in 2007
– More than 100 million videos are viewed each day
• Several technologies made YouTube successful:
– Advances in digital recording devices
– Web 2.0
– Major networks are dropping their objections to
copyrighted material being shown on YouTube
• Other companies are adding video sharing
services
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
42
Blogs
XP
• Blogs have been around for awhile
• Although blogs are a very popular and easy way to
disseminate information, it is important to keep in mind
that blogs are not subject to the same ethical guidelines
of professional reporters
• Blogs are an important way of gathering public opinion
• Blogs also make effective use of tagging to categorize
information posted by the blogger so it is easy to return
to it later
• Because anyone can write a blog, there are millions of
them on the Internet
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
43
Blogs
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
XP
44
Protecting Your Privacy and
Identity on Social Networks
XP
• Online social networks can be powerful tools for
keeping in touch with friends and family,
communicating with business acquaintances, or making
the world seem a little smaller by finding people who
share your hobbies and interests
• When creating a profile, consider the following:
– Many people may share your same name
– Some sites have restricted areas for underage users
– Cyberbullying is a problem with some children and adults
– You might be putting yourself at risk for identity theft
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
45
Protecting Your Reputation
XP
• The information you post on a social network is public—
and it is often archived even after you delete it
• Many employers check MySpace, Facebook, and other
online social networks for information that you have
posted about yourself
• Another issue related to privacy is the use of your online
profile by people in positions of authority
– Photos on Web site documenting unauthorized activities
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
46
Summary
XP
• Push and pull communication methods
• How to find and use newsgroups, mailing lists,
newsfeeds, podcasts, and social bookmarks
• Use a mashup and learn about the technology
• Chat, instant message, online social networks,
blocks, and video sharing sites
• Privacy issues involved when using different
Internet communications
New Perspectives on The Internet, Seventh Edition
47