http://rebeccamcclelland.com Welcome to my PhD blog Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:03:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Encyclopedia Britannica has announced an initiative which will permit readers to be involved in updating its content. Jorge Cauz president of Encyclopedia Britannica stated that "we believe that the creation and documentation of knowledge is a collaborative process but not a democratic one" [1] The content, added by regular users, to the ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/general/egalitarianism-vs-elitism/2009/01/30.html Pretty Loaded is an initiative undertaken by Big Spaceship to archive preloaders on the rapidly evolving web. In this world of here today gone tomorrow web design, this is a very commendable attempt to record a wealth of digital information that would otherwise be lost. I would also recommend a visit ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/websites/prettyloaded/2009/01/19.html My tutor Chris pointed me in the direction of PICOL the Pictorial Communication Language blog of Melih Bilgil. As part of his diploma Melih has been doing some fascinating work on creating new icons to provide a universal pictorial language for electronic communication. This work has culminated in a documentary depicting ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/general/picol-blog/2009/01/09.html Happy New Year everyone, apologies for not writing in such a long time. I managed to get the flu for Christmas but I am back on my feet now determined to make good progress and be very positive in 09. At present I am focusing on my comparative study as well ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/general/happy-new-year/2009/01/07.html The computer mouse is 40 years old today. Since its unveiling by creator Douglas Engelbart on 9th December 1968 the mouse has become an integral part of our everyday lives. The mouse in principal has changed relatively little over the four decades since its inception although its current streamlined shape is ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/general/happy-birthday-mouse/2008/12/09.html I had a meeting on Friday with both of my supervisors which has helped clarify where I am going with my research. I thought my questionnaires would be straight forward to develop but it is much more complicated than I first thought. It appears that I need to simplify the language ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/general/progress-report-3/2008/12/02.html The issue of online piracy, particularly in relation to music downloads, has been a persistent one for Universities. Student participation can be problematic as illustrated by the bizarre case brought against American student Jesse Jordan in 2002. Jordan, an information technology student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, built a search ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/issues/university-piracy-measures/2008/11/19.html It is difficult to believe that the web has become such an integral part of our society within the relatively short space of 5,000 days. Since its inception in 1991 we have become increasingly dependant on it and still the technology is snowballing at a colossal rate. If like me you ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/issues/predicting-the-next-5000-days-of-the-web/2008/11/03.html I have been developing a series of questionnaires for my PhD and it has proved to be more time consuming than I thought it would be. I have to devise a different set of questions for each group to be targeted, students, staff, web managers, industry etc. This has been a ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/general/questionnaire-design/2008/10/28.html Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has proposed legislation which would give the security services the power to amass a giant database of all emails and phone calls in the UK. Emotive topics like terrorism, murder, child abuse etc. have been bandied about to justify this initiative and while Smith defends the ... http://rebeccamcclelland.com/issues/nanny-state/2008/10/17.html