I can do it

A podcast about teleworking in France

2007-01-30T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here you can listen the podcast about the teleworking at Renault!

New podcast!

2007-01-30T16:52:00.000-08:00

Listen the new podcast about the evolution of journalism with new technologies!

Traditional jobs evolve with new technologies

2007-01-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

Internet is changing the practices but also the jobs. An article in the French magazine named “Le Figaro” deals with the evolution of the journalism. This article explains that a new kind of journalism is emerging with the Internet whose principle is the journalist makes a reportage according the will of the Internet users and he is paid by the them. About this project, named New Assignment you can find a website that should be open in April 2007.

As Wikipedia, the concept is also to allow the participation of the Internet users (everyone can add an information, a link, etc.). But the real innovation is the fact that the journalist is “hired” by the Internet users and that the choice of the subjects that he will deals with depending on the Internet users. The spirit of this project is “Here is an actuality subject. We give some informations about it. Share your knowledge, bring your contribution. If you want give us some money in order that a journalist makes an investigation.

Be careful of the banner blindness!

2007-01-30T14:17:00.000-08:00

At the Celsa, a professional in ergonomy told us about his job. It was very interesting because he uses the technology of “eye-tracking” that allows to recording the eye's movements on a website. The videos he showed us were very surprising because the movement is very quick and often the Internet users didn’t see the pictures. This man explains to us that the Internet users are so much used to the advertising banners that they avoid automatically to see it. The man explains that the advertising banners come from the traditional media and that this king of advertising is not appropriated to the web. I learn that finally, on the internet we have to innovate permanently because according this man, "we can't impose something to an Internet user".

Renault innovates with teleworking

2007-01-30T14:11:00.000-08:00

This New Year begin with a very interesting changing. Renault, which is a big company building and selling cars, offers the possibility to its employees to work at home (between two and four days in a week). The reason ? New technologies ! The leaders of Renault say that the evolution of the new technologies allows to consider new way to organize the work. They declare that it will strengthen the competitiveness of the company but also improve the work conditions for the employees. I think it is a very important step for France, because it shows that we are more open to the new technologies, less suspicious and the others companies will soon follow this way of innovation. Personally, I dream about teleworking : no more lost my time in public transportations, working with a good coffe and my cat close to me... a little like the picture that I post above! ;-)

"A Year in the merde": discovering different culture, a pleasure or a torture ?

2007-01-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

discover a book that I will read when the exams will be finished. This book deals with an English man hired in a French company to open tearooms in France. It seems very funny because this man explains its point of view about the cultural differences. For example, he says that he was very surprising that French people talk about their future holidays whereas they have just go back of their holidays. An other example is that he discovers that the year in French starts about September but… finishes at May the first because “if you not finished your work before you are in a deep shit”. Indeed there are a lot of “week-end prolongé” at this period, so it is difficult to make a good and regular work. I find also very funny that according this man, going on strike is the second national participation sport after “pétanque” (game of bowls that is very important in the south of France).

About the perception of the cultural difference, I can also the book written by Amélie Nothomb named “Stupeur et tremblements”. This book is a little less funny, more dramatically but very interesting too. The female protagonist explains her experience in Japan and the problems she meets. You can see a video showing Amélie Nothomb who talks about its book.

In the same way, I would like that Bob, our English teacher at the Celsa, explains his point of view about France. Bob, have you meet some difficulties? Do you think that you are more American or do you consider that you’re almost French? Do you want to live all of your life in France or do you have other projects (You told us that you lived in Japan a few Years…)? When you arrived in France, what were your good surprises? What were your disappointments?

Mash Up

2006-11-29T01:53:00.000-08:00

Mash Up is the possibility to mix different technologies or contents sources in one new web application. For example, a tourism website called Travelistic uses both youtube videos and google maps technologies. I find that it is a very good idea: the website is also more useful and more interactive. An other example is Netvibes that allows to receive contents coming from different sources thanks to Ajax.

Defeating spys on the web!

2006-11-22T12:43:00.000-08:00

SHTTP is an acronym that stands for Secure HyperText Transfert Protocol. It secures the exchanges between the client and the webserver so that a spy is unable to read any of the exchangerd data. For example, SHTTP is used by the websites of banks in order to protect accounts informations. When SHTTP is used an icon that represents a lock is displayed by the browser.

With RSS feed, keep in touch!

2006-11-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

RSS is an acronym that means "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary". This is an XML based technology that allows to continuously broadcast information. It is often use by blogs or news websites and it is very simple to use : you have to copy/paste some lines in the source code of your page. There are some feed agregators, like Netvibes, that allow you to put RSS feeds together, in order to have everything in one place. If you use Firefox, you'll notice that this browser displays the feed just next to the URL adress : it is very handy!

Be aware of cybercriminal practices!

2006-10-25T03:27:00.000-07:00

I have never been a victim of a cybercrime but I think that everybody is concerned about it, even people who don’t use the Internet. For example, the data theft: if a bank or any other organization which holds personal data is the victim of a cybercriminel, a lot of people can be involved. Another example is the people who incite to make crimes via their blogs or via a forum. We can remember the problems in the French suburbs: some bloggers were accused to incite to violence. An horrible other example is a person in France that has incited via a forum to rape its neighbour.
I think that in order to protect ourselves we have to be aware about the criminal practices on the Internet and to use good softwares that have
security vulnerability.

Youtube : a success story on the Internet

2006-10-25T02:03:00.000-07:00

YouTube is a website that offers a platform where people can exchange some videos.
Founded in February 2005, Youtube has been repurchase by Google in October 2006, that is a proof of its success. The users can evaluate each video they saw with a number of stars and can add some comments a about them. You can find more information about YouTube on Wikipedia.
I think that a part of the success of Youtube is due to the simplicity of using, the possibility offers to non professionnal artistes to become more famous and the large range of video that you can find. It is also an example of generosity because a large part of the videos are made by users and they offer for free their creations. I use Youtube approximately twice a month, but it varies according to the number of videos which I receive from my friends, etc.
According to me, Youtube is also an opportunity for the announcers: they can use it in the future in order to do viral marketing.

Phishing : when pirates practise "fishing"

2006-10-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

When a person steals somebody else’s identity on the Internet it is called an identity theft. It is used for instance by people who practice phishing: they send an e-mail pretending they are a bank and ask the users to enter their bank account informations on a faked website similar to that of the bank. This website is actually controled by the robbers who use the information entered in order to take money from the account. For my protection, I personally use the Thunderbird e-mail client that features a phishing detector. As it is free, you can download this software on the Mozilla's website. Moreover I am aware of this practice and I don’t take into account e-mails from my bank that would ask me information that the bank already has. Finally, I always carefully check that I am on the real website of my bank (for instance by using my bookmark).

How to learn English by the Internet?

2006-10-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

Internet is a good way to learn English. People who want to learn but who haven’t the money to pay some lessons can, for example, download some free English podcasts. It could be some English lessons in order to prepare the toefl. You can find interessant podcasts on the web. But you can also download a radio programme that interest you in particular. For example, the BBC news offers some video podcasts on its website.

The Internet : a new way of comprehension?

2006-10-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

Some websites have a goal of comprehension. You can find many websites that explain how to do something or that give some complementary information. The web can be seen like a large library where you can found a lot of information and different points of view about a lot of subjects. For example, wikipedia can bring you very good definitions but also some blogs, etc. Moreover, Wikipedia is also an example of generosity on the web, because it is the result of the knowledge sharing.

Perseverance is always successful

2006-10-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

Concerning the Internet and the new technologies in general, there are many innovations. It is possible that you feel lost with innovations like “Podcasts”, “blogs”, “social networks”, “web 2.0”, etc. But, in fact, with perseverance, you can understand, step by step, what it is and even how to use them. I remember my reserve about the creation of my podcast and finally I created by myself, because of perseverance (and also the explanations of Bob, my English teacher!) my own podcast. I learn in the same time how to use Audacity, that is a very useful software.

Don't get crazy, be patient!

2006-10-11T06:49:00.000-07:00

I think that patience is a very important quality concerning the Internet. Sometimes, there are technical problems like no more connection or any others, but we have to stay quiet and not to become angry about that, even if it is not easy… I have no hyperlink concerning this quality but a memory : last year we were very angry because there was a breakdown. Finally, it is also that the Internet... a very good tool but with some technical constraints.

Discipline for good using of the Internet

2006-10-11T06:47:00.000-07:00

Because of the large quantity of information on the web, discipline is an essential quality not to be lost. So, the bookmarks of your browser are very useful. Also, the well-organization of the websites is important for the visibility, comprehension, etc. For example, you can put some hyperlinks when you quote someone or when you find a good website that gives further information...

How generosity is particularly increased on the web

2006-10-11T06:11:00.000-07:00

On the web, one of the most important uses is to share (documents, videos, music, etc.). So, there are many examples of generosity, like platforms where people exchange some files (peer-to-peer). For example, the website Youtube allows exchanging some videos that the Internet users have created themselves. An other example of generosity on the web is the “creative commons”: that are licenses flexible contrary to the “all rights reserved” (according to some people, this traditional copyright stopped the diffusion of the culture). More informations on wikipedia. I think also that the open-source softwares are an example of generosity. For example, Gimp is like photoshp but it is free.

Social Networks : new communities on the web

2006-10-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

A social network is the possibility on the internet to meet people that have the same interests of you. On wikipedia, there is a very good explaination of social networks. The new successful story on the Internet is a social network called Myspace. According to the article on wikipedia, 100 millionth account have being created on August, 9, 2006 on Myspace and there are 230,000 new registrations per day. On this platform, you can publish your profile, and also your photos, videos, etc. The people can write some comments and see who are your friends (and become your friend if you have the same interest).

Myspace is a social network because you can create your profil, invite others members of Myspace in order to meet one each other. Currently, I don’t use any social neworks. I think that social networks will be more and more developed because it is also useful. For example, in order to find people for business, association, etc. The network is an essential feature of the internet, so applicate it not only on technical aspects but also on people has a very good potential. Also, people who want to be famous or marketers who want to sell a product can use social networks in order to create “WOM marketing” (Word of mouth marketing). It could be applied, why not, for a “marketing 2.0"…

DRM: Dont Reproduce Me

2006-10-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a technical device by which rights and properties concerning digital contents are enforced. Because pirates use contents with no DRM they are not affected. However if some contents is only available with DRM, pirates will not be able to exchange it. Legitimate customers are also affected because they can’t copy the contents as they want. More informations about DRM on wikipedia.

"Web neutrality" : a way to avoid numerical ghettos

2006-10-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

The question of "web neutrality" is that of favoring or not contents transported over the network. A neutral network is supposed to transport the same way any content. At the contrary, a non neutral network could provide faster contents from compagnies in which it has interests. Another risk with non neutrality is the possibility for an important network provider to penalize so much a content provider that it could disapear from the web. This question is currently discussed in the USA so that web neutrality may be enforced by law. I think that the discussions about the web neutrality are important for respecting of the web: free access for everyone.

"Usercentric" web

2006-10-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

According to me, the new “revolution” on the web is what we called the “web 2.0”. It is the way to use the internet like an interactive platform where users are the central concern. For example, netvibes allows the users to customize their homepages. They can choose the content and the form of it. You can find more details about netvibes and the web 2.0 on wikipedia.

A definition of podcasting

2006-10-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

A podcast is an audio content that can be downloaded from the internet to an Mp3 player like I-pod or any other. It is not like a radiobroadcat that is a stream: a podcast can be listened at anytime you want. For example, if you want to listen a radio programme but you can't, you have the possibility to download it on the website of the radio in order to listen it later. The name “podcast” comes from the trade name “I-pod” and the word “broadcast”. I found a good definition of podcast on wikipedia.

New blog

2006-09-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

Here is my new blog.