Summer Vacations 2011

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

      September has come again, and with it, school. It is finally our last year at school before college, and I can't wait for it to end. However, this year my summer holidays have been great, and they have speeded away.

    Just as school finished, I left to Santa Barbara, Clifornia to attend a pre-college program at UCSB university for a month. It was awesome, the college was just in front of the beach, with great installations, pools, beaches, bars, restaurants and dorms. This program was meant for 11th grade students, and it consited in choosing two couses which ranged from photography to international relations; one at the morning and the other in the afternoon. 

The rest of the time included different activities such as surfing, going shopping, relaxing at the beach, going to theme parks, Hollywood, and maaaaaaany more. The experience was great. I got to meet people from all around; from New York to Kuwait, passing through Hawaii. We all really experienced what college life means; freedom and responsability. The moth flew past, and I returned to Spain leaving many true friends behind.

    Back in Spain I returned to the beach, this time going to our house at Laredo, in Cantabria, and I had a great time as well with friends. There were parties and sun, so what else can you ask for? In the middle of August, I left for Portugal with my family, to enjoy some days of relaxing beaches. 

    I returned to Bilbao, and just whn we returned, the ASTE NAGUSIA began, and so I met with my friends and classmates and enjoyed some days of partying.

  Before returning to school, however, I returned to Laredo for a couple of days, and finally school began.

WIKISPACES

WHAT IS A WIKI?

      1.- What is a WIKI?

                 A wiki is a website where every page can be edited in a web browser, by whoever happens to be reading it. It uses simplified language or WYSIWY text editor. Images can be added to them, and different security preferences can be chosen, from being a public wiki, to being private. "Wiki" is "fast" in Hawaian.

 

      2.- What types of wikis are there?

                There are many kinds of wikis, all having to do with different things, from uncovering corrupt governments to dictionaries. Wikipedia, Wikispaces, Wikileaks, Wiktionary, Wikiquote,  Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikispecies, Wikinews, Wikiversity.....

 

 

      3.- What is the difference between a blog,a wiki and a social network?
                All of these online web pages are different, very-useful platforms to "talk to the world". However, they all have differences. Blogs usually have a single author. It is the author who posts,others comment, it has a one-to-many content. Wikis have multiple authors, they are edited by a group or team, they are continuousy changing and growing rapidly, and they are a form of many-to-many communication. Finally, social networks are also one-to- many communication. People can comment on your profile, see your photos and comment them, and even chat with others.      4.- Elements required to run a wiki:

                First of all, you need a computer, of course. Secondly, you need an  FAST internet connection, as wikis are web pages. Then just use your mind to write about anything you want.

WIKISPACES

Adding an Audio File

This is the audio file I have uploaded to my blog.   


CLICK HERE

HOW TO MAKE A TICKET?

    Making a ticket is very easy. What you need, first of all, is a database- making program. FILE MAKER and ACCESS are two options. File maker began as a MS-DOS-based computer program named Nutshell. It was developed by Nashoba Systems around 1982 or 1983. Nowadays, it is widely used in different centers, such as schools, hospitals and other various institutions. Microsoft released Access version 1.0 on 13 November 1992, and an Access 1.1 release in May 1993 to improve compatibility with other Microsoft products and include the Access Basic programming language.

How to make a ticket in File Maker:

* Choose a new document

*Draw your ticket on the document

*Fill in the different pieces of information:

                                       - Records

                                       - Fields

                                       - Data

NO matter how many tickets you want to make, you just need to create more by clicking new, and automatically, tickets will be numbered for your convenience.

    

RSS, what is it?

          RSS (Rich Site Summary) is the acronym used to describe the sharing of content among different web sites, normally associated with the right to use intellectual property, normally TV shows, newspaper columns..... Originally developed by Netscape, it's most widespread use is distributing headlines on the web. If for example, a web site wants to allow other web sites publish some of its content creates an RSS document and registers it with an RSS publisher. The reader of that document can then re-use it on a different web site. You can also "RSS Feed" your content to whoever wants it, allowing you to stay informed by retrieving the latest info. from the sites you are interested in. Apart from this, you also save time, by not needing to visit each site individually.

      There have been various versions of RSS. The first, created on March 15, 1999 was called RSS 0.90 and was published by NETSCAPE. Different versions have been created and developing until the most recent one, RSS 2.0 version 2.0.11, published in March 30th, 2009.
RSS Info.


     The RSS FEED logo is very easy to find. Anywhere you go, either a blog or an online newspaper, you will easily find the logo above and by clicking on it you will automatically receive any updates on the desired web page.


                              In Summary:


        * What is RSS?
      RSS is an acronym for : Really Simple Syndication
It is also known as: Rich Site Summary

RSS is a simple and efficient way to keep "in touch" with a website without actually visiting it

        *What can you use it for?      *Which format is it in?      *What is a FEED?

            Instead of adding all of your favorite websites into your "favorites" folder in your internet explorer, if you want to keep informed about new updates in your chosen web pages, you use RSS.  What actually happens in RSS is that whenever a website updates, producing an article/news item, it simultaneously produces a document that contains the summary of all the updates made on the website. This document is in the form of an XML document. The ‘XML’ is a specialized language of web (similar to HTML language) which can be accessed by specialized softwares (knows as RSS Readers) that reproduce it in a readable language for the end user. The summary of the updates written on the XML document is known as a ‘Feed’. This XML document usually has an .xml extension. Subscribing to an RSS feed is very simple. You just need to copy the address of the RSS feed of your favorite website in your RSS reader.

    *RSS Tags

         All RSS files share a similar structure. Any RSS feed has Channel and Item tags. These tags are either required or optional.

TAGS:

Title- Required

Description- Required

Pub Date- Optional

Skip Hours- Optional

Language- Optional

Category- Optional

Cloud fields (domain, port, path...)- Optional

Text Imput- Optional

Webmaster- Optional

Editor- Optional

Copyright- Optional

    IMAGES

Title- Required

Link- Required

Description- Optional

                                                         RSS USEFUL PAGE

HOW TO.......

HOW TO....

BLOG

*HOW TO CREATE A BLOG: It is very easy. If you already have a gmail account, just by going to www.blogger.com you will be able to create one. If you don't have a gmail account, you can also open a blog by goint to the same direction and following the steps mentioned in the page.

*HOW TO INSERT TEXT: Once you have you blog, you can begin posting by clicking "NEW POST". You will be able to give your post title and write whatever you want in it. To publish it, you just have to click "PUBLISH POST"

*HOW TO INSERT IMAGES: While you are posting something, you may also want to include an image to emphasyze what you have written or simply to display graphically what you have written. To do this, you have to click on the icon at the top, in the text options, and then select the image from your computer or insert a web direction. Finally, you have to choose the layout, and you're ready to go!

*HOW TO INSERT AUDIO: You can either add your own music or podcast, or add one from the web. To add one from the web you must:

1. Visit your Template | Page Elements tab.
2. Create a new widget by clicking "Add a Page Element."
3. Choose the "HTML/Javascript" widget.
4. Enter the HTML code provided by your third-party music service into the content window and click "Save Changes."

WITH YOUR PODCASTS:

• To podcast, choose a host to store your audio files, then enable 'Link Fields' in your Settings | Formatting tab.
• Use the link field to enclose audio files in your posts.

*HOW TO INSERT VIDEO: You may also want to include video in your post. To do so, click on the video icon at the top right side of the text formatting bar. Next, browse your computer to find the video you want to upload. Select "upload video" and choose a name for it, and it's all set.

*HOW TO INSERT HYPERLINKS: This is a very useful tool, since many times you use a webpage as a reference, and you would like to mention it. To do so, select the text you want to hyperlink, click on the hyperlink button on the text formatting bar (it looks like a chain) and paste the web direction.

*HOW TO CHOOSE "THEMES": You may want to change your blog themes once in a while. To do so, click on the "layout" icon. Then choose the "pick new template" on the "change layout page".

*HOW TO CHANGE SETTINGS: This is probably the easiest thing to do, since there is a big tab at the top of the page saying "SETTINGS". Just click on it and change whatever you want.

HOW TO CHANGE LANGUAGE: To do this, scroll to the bottom of your blogger dashboard, where you will see the word "Language" has a link to it. Click on it and change your language!

MY NY DERAM TRIP

After years waiting for this trip and hearing marvels from previous years' classes, we are finally going! Although dates are still not specified, what matters is that we are finally getting to go on the ASB icon trip! All of us have dream trips in mind, with thousands of things to do and visit in that modern and extremely cosmopolitan city that is New York. As for me, first of all, I would like to go to the well known, typical NY icons such as the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the lively Manhattan, and of course enjoy a musical at Broadway. However, there are also other things I would really enjoy doing, such as getting to see the filming of any TV show or movie, a baseball match, visiting the Guggenheim museum and Chinatown, and of course, I wouldn't leave New York without doing some shopping or walking through non- touristic streets.

In conclusion, I would like this year's NY trip to be unforgettable, and to have a great time with my class, because, we are now in our last years to finish school.