OLR: Exercise 3 – Topic 6

Trust online seems to be something that happens in general alot more easily then in the real world. Daily we hear about people having their information phished from various sites and emails. With this in mind what is a way to foster and build trust in the online world. There are a number of things that I look for when trusting a site.

These include: Who owns the site? e.g. A large company like Google or Microsoft.

What is their reputation like? have I heard about this site from other sources both external organisations or through word of mouth within various communities.

What does the site believe in? Do they have systems in place to protect users and their information?

With these in mind its important that sites build up their reputation. For example I first logged into a site called curse.com which I discovered through word of mouth of the community. The site has grown expenentially since I first discovered it. The site offers files for download for the Game World of warcraft and over the years has done a number of things to build trust within the community. They have implimented virus scanning to prevent the uploading of viruses. They have also modified their advertising to move away from unethical advertising e.g. Real money transfer sites. In addition to this they have complied with the standards of Blizzard Entertainment to gain status in the official fansite program.

Another site is Facebook. I have heard of this site talked about alot in the mainstream media positivily which has given me the impression that the site is legitimate. In addition to this I was refered to the site through some good friends which also gave me someone I knew providing a word of mouth recomendation to the site.

OLR: Exercise 2 – Topic 6

Through out this course I have used a number of moodle and wiki style sites. Each of these sites have similar core functionalites as each other. The easily allow the user to input data through a web interface using a common technology called WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get).Moodle has a very basic interface where as a system such as Media Wiki which is the technology that Wikipedia runs on has alot more functionality and customisation. These in themselves can both be good and bad as too many options can confuse users. The choice of which system to use would really be dependant on your intended target audience.

OLR: Exercise 1 – Topic 6

Purpose:

The forums for CSU for every subject have been a way for me as a distance education student to interact with my lecturer and my fellow students.

 People:

The forum community is made up of fellow students both internal and Distance. The forums are also participated in by the lecturer running the course. This allows people from many backgrounds and experiences to come together bringing a wealth of experience and personalities under one roof.

Community Size:

Community size is determined by the number of students enrolled within the chosen course. Some of these I feel may be too small and interaction via the forums can be almost non existant. Too many students would  deter from the educational experience and not provide the adequate interaction that learning needs.