Exploring the Internet with Client Software Class

Exploring the Internet with Client Software is another one of those classes that sounds like a mouthful, but it’s less intimidating than it may sound at first. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I signed up for it. On the first night I was surprised to find out that many of my classmates are from the Water Quality Technology program. I’ve been having classes with fellow IT-Web Developer/Designer and other IT program students for the past year. It just goes to show you that even if you’re not in a computer-related field, you’ll still need to know how to use computers and the Internet.

The Internet can be used for many things. This class shows us what’s out there and how to use it. Most people are familiar with Web browsers, even if they’re not aware they are using one. You’re using a Web browser to read this blog right now, most likely an Internet Explorer or Firefox browser. There’s also email, which many Internet users use on a regular basis. And then there’s a relatively new and rapidly growing use for the Internet: user generated content.

What I found most interesting about our class discussion this week was user generated content. User generated content is the text, images, sound clips and video that everyday users of the Internet post. Such sites include YouTube, Facebook, and Blogger.

A site I learned about in class is delicious.com, a social bookmarking site. Ever find a site you really liked and you saved it to your favorites? When you do this, the link to the site is saved on your computer’s hard drive. If you’re using a different computer the next day and want to look at the site, you won’t have access to the link. By using delicious.com, you save your favorites, also known as bookmarks, to an online account that you can access from any computer. You can see what other sites people have bookmarked and share your favorite sites with others.

Being in the Web design field, my fellow designers and the instructors share helpful links on coding and design all the time. This site will be a great way to keep all this useful information in one spot that I can access from anywhere.