Some of the amazing things I did on my first trip to Korea. I went with a tour group with my family. I definitely want to go back!
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Some of the amazing things I did on my first trip to Korea. I went with a tour group with my family. I definitely want to go back!
http://thimbleprojects.org/HTTP/athiaoflight/119578
I got really stuck on this assignment. I just had no freaking clue what to do. Then, when I was scrolling through the assignments for my 8 stars, I got this idea- do a “life assignment” that looked really easy but would never happen. I decided to remix the Web Storytelling page itself- the assignment page becoming the assignment.
It was pretty hard, actually. Switching out the images confused me greatly, because I couldn’t remember how to do it and the webpage was no help. I tried using the noun project, but because the pictures don’t come with a URL it was hopeless. I ended up going to the Creative Commons for images.
I was really stuck between remixing the page entirely, or leaving the basics so that it was still a recognizably DS106 assignment page. The X-ray Goggles ended up making the decision for me; it turns out you can’t change the color of the page background. Or, if you can, I was unable to find out how. Thus, my sleep assignment stayed the rather depressing gray of the DS106 site. (Sorry, guys, just telling it how it is.)
Then came the “who’s done this assignment” bit, and let me tell you, using this particular page to remix was the worst idea in the world. Everyone who’s taken this class and their dog has done this assignment. I remixed a lot of them (far more than I think most people are going to scroll), but past a certain point I just left them as is.
For the 3 1/2 star assignment “Create Your Dream Vacation on Pinterest!” I chose to create a board with what might be one of the most expensive vacations I could think of (hey, ideal not practical):
Ok, that picture should link to the Pinterest board.
First, I decided on where I would go. Well, I’ve always wanted to see Machu Pichu. I pinned some photos of the city, as well as some travel tips. I didn’t pin a hotel for this one, since what I can figure it’s mostly camping.
Next up, Petra! I pinned some photos like the one above, as well as a hotel in Aman, the capital of Jordan. Since I was in the Middle East, I decided to pin some photos of Red Sea scuba diving as well; I love scuba diving, and my dad (a prolific traveler and scuba-lover) has said in the past that the Red Sea is one of the best places in the world for it. I also decided that I wanted to visit the pyramids at Giza, as well; the hotel I pinned for Giza appears to have an awesome view of them from the pool.
Where to go from there? How about Antarctica? I’ve talked to someone who’s been, and it sounds really cool. Again, camping is the thing, so no hotels. Lots and lots of pretty scenery, though, especially at night when you can see the sky.
This was a lot of fun to do, and Pinterest is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. I would love to go on this vacation; maybe if I win the lottery/ turn out to have a secret rich old relative who leaves me millions in their inheritance.
This web assignment is Google History Maps Story, and I chose Abu Abdullah Mohammad Ibn Battuta, more commonly referred to as simply Mohammad Ibn Battuta or just Ibn Battuta. (Fun fact: ibn means “son” in Arabic, so “ibn Battuta” means “son of Battuta”; this is my three years of Arabic at work, folks!)
It was a mistake.
I knew this guy was well-traveled, but YIKES. I clicked on the Wiki page and almost cried.
SO. In order to not go insane by spending 5 hours making google maps of this man (did you know that there’s only so many places you can put in at a time?), I made an executive decision to only do the Maghreb, which consists of most of North/Northwest Africa. This way, I got more detailed maps as well.
The trip map for the Maghreb still took two maps to make, so here’s the first one:
He started in Tangier, Morocco and made his way to Sfax, Tunisia. Then, he made his way back:
My only beef with google maps is that it doesn’t tell you the order of the steps. Ibn Battuta went in a pretty straight line for the first map, but starts to show his wanderlust in the second. So, from the Wikia:
Each of those links should take you to the page of the place named, if you feel like being sucked down the rabbit hole of places Ibn Battuta visited.
Confession time: this assignment is worth 4 1/2 stars, and I think it might be partially my fault. When I went to rate it to a more appropriate 3 stars, it told me I had already rated it. Now I’m afraid I accidentally clicked on it somehow, and since it’s only been rated by three other people, I may have hyper-inflated it. Oops. Feel free to rate it yourselves and course-correct.
I used Google Maps for this, like it says on the label. Then, I screenshotted and cropped in paint. I was going to try and merge the maps somehow, but I couldn’t get the two to scale the same. Plus, I realized I have 0 clue how on earth to merge them. So that didn’t happen.
Just.. can you imagine traveling as much as this guy? In a time where the only method of transport was a camel/horse/animal? It couldn’t have been very comfortable, but geez would it have been worth it. BRB, gonna go see if the library has a copy of his memoirs, “The Travels of Ibn Battuta”.
I visit LL Bean on those occasions when I just need really, really well-made clothing that’s actually meant to last outdoors. In fact, I just got two new flannel shirts for the winter, plus two camisoles. Only two, because LL Bean is sadly expensive, and even though my mom treated me, I still don’t like spending money.
So when I saw the 2 star Way Back Time Machine, I knew immediately what website I wanted to present.
SO: PRESENTING THE 1996 VERSION OF THE LL BEAN WEBSITE
Wow. Flashback to the early days of the internet. I mean, I started playing computer games in the early 2000s, and the start screens of ALL of them kind of looked like this. TBH, a lot of start screens still look like this. It’s very pretty, though, and shows you very clearly what kind of person their target demographic is. I like the link that (I guess?) shows you National Parks? Or state parks? Plus the outdoor sports tab. It’s very interested in getting you engaged in the outdoors. Ahhh, the early days of the internet and internet shopping.
Compare this to the LL Bean of today:
(Fun story, I used the website provided to find the website as it looks today. Then I realized I was an idiot; I had the website up as a separate tab from when I’d been shopping for flannels.) There’s still the effort to get you engaged in the outdoors as well as spending money– look at the “Outdoor Schools” tab on the far right. Lessons are surprisingly cheap (still, 25$ is a lot of money for a broke college kid like myself, plus they’re not exactly accessible to someone without a car). However, the Parks tab has disappeared, and there’s definitely more emphasis on shopping. Also, with the advent of clearer photography, people now expect defined photos on websites, not slightly blurry watercolors. That gorgeous scenery in the background says that LL Bean isn’t just selling you clothing; they’re selling you experiences in nature.
The website they gave you to look up the archived website was fantastically easy to use; you just put the url from the current site into the search bar and it brings it right up. It also says at the top what the earliest date is that they have an image for. I clicked on that and the 1996 site came right up. Then I just took a screenshot and cropped it in paint. Same for the modern site. The effort from production is worth one star; it’s the thinking about what the sites say that gives it the next star.
????½
(Elder Scrolls spoilers below, I guess)
Last web assignment this week! I decided to make a Buzzfeed personality quiz inspired by my favourite series of all time, the Elder Scrolls (more specifically the third entry, Morrowind). I made a “which member of the Tribunal are you?” quiz. The Tribunal were the living gods of the Dunmer until either two or all three of them died around the end of the 3rd Era and the beginning of the 4th Era. Some of the questions I asked are a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I hope you like the result! If you haven’t played the games, the quiz probably won’t make sense to you, but whatever. Oh, and here’s the link!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AQPWuoFwp-aCRNzewEh5M3O58Gn85K1yulkC5dL-va6PyZhFhDJJIPg/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332984966180611488/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332984966179745982/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332984966179745964/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332984966178635580/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332984966177828010/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332984966177007803/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332984966176770198/
My idea of my dream room, is a cozy room with a fireplace and a great mountain view. Some place that would be quite, and has a air of mystery and would hopefully inspire creative dreams to fuel stories that I could write at a later time. I like have a room upstairs with large windows over looking a view of trees. Dark colors, with wood accents. My dream room would have to be a place that inspires creativity and also a place that will allow me to escape reality when the world begins to overwhelm me.
???½
I was looking through the web assignments and found this one, which is surprisingly similar to the topic that my group did for the radio show. I decided to make a profile for Alexander the Great, which can be found here. I’ll also put a screenshot at the end of the post if you don’t want to go to the site for some reason. I also made a tweet posted by him, which references Alexander the Great’s “solving” of the Gordian Knot (when he hacked it to pieces with his sword).
I decided to focus more on events in Alexander’s personal life, since that’s what people usually post about on social media. It’s also interesting, since one of the biggest reasons Alexander the Great had to retreat from his invasion of India was that his troops were homesick. If they’d been able to instantly message their families back home, they might’ve been more okay with continuing on the conquests. There also could’ve been increased coordination between Alexander’s armies. Maybe his friends could’ve urged him or Hephaestion to listen to their doctors if they heard them both moaning about feeling ill on social media? Either way, it definitely would’ve changed a lot.
This assignment was fun to make because I’m actually planning to take this vacation next summer. My friends and I really want to travel through the entire west coast. We mostly want to visit the national/state parks, but we would also like to go into the cities a few times. First we plan on starting in Tijuana, Mexico where I will get to show them around and let them experience Mexican culture. Next, we plan on stopping by San Diego and do some exploring there as well. I want to hit up the zoo and the beaches there, as well as the parks. We’ll be camping along the way, but the next big stop would be Los Angeles, where we will do some sight seeing and food tasting. We will be on a tight budget, so we’ll see how much food we actually get to try. We will continue to camp and drive until we reach Yosemite park, our ultimate goal.There, we will spend a good amount of time being blown away by all the stuff nature has to offer. Overall, I hope to do plenty of hiking, eating, sight-seeing and driving! This assignment made me really look forward to next summer, but gotta wait three seasons til then!
Dream Vacation
For my last assignment, I chose to use the way back time machine to look at the Target website in the past and today. It is listed as 2 stars, but I would say it’s worth 1 star because all you have to do is type the address in. The earliest I could find a good screenshot was in 1999:
It looks a lot more modern than I was expecting!
Here is the website in 2016:
Biggest difference was that basically every website today has their categories under a drop down menu. It definitely makes websites more aesthetically pleasing!
This assignment was interesting because I was 4 years old in 1999, so I was not using the internet. I was surprised at how the website looked in 1999, I was expecting it to be a lot less modern looking than it is!