Category: Read

Read What’s In a Domain Name? by Khürt Williams (Extend Activity Bank)

Although I don’t write much about the topic on my website, I love science fiction, especially cyber-punk and Japanese anime and superhero graphic novels. One of my favourite cyberpunk novels in the early 1990s was a novel, Islands in the Net, written in 1988 by science fiction author, Bruce Sterling.

Islands in the Net is a story of “…data pirates, mercenaries, nanotechnology, weaponry, and post-millennial voodoo”. It represents a future where people can use the Internet to topple governments, change lives and make history. That novel was prescient in many ways.

In 2001 I ventured out on my own as an independent consultant, working on web development and system integration etc. It was also the same year that I started blogging. In 2003, I made a pivoted my skill set to cyber-security. With my keen interest in vulnerability assessment and finding and exploiting the weakness in information systems (aka penetration testing), my blog content changed. I started thinking and writing more about what I was learning, and I felt like I was living in that world described in the novel, Islands in the Net. It was also the same year that I decided that I wanted a domain name for my website.

My new career in cyber-security and my search for a domain name got me thinking about how I felt about my writing at the time. My blog was/is like a small island in the vast ocean of the Internet, where I shared my thoughts about anything and everything hacking related. Once I had the word island on my mind, I started thinking about the actual island in the West Indies where I was born and spent my pre-adult years. The West Indies is famous for its era of piracy which lasted from circa 1650 until the mid-1720s. Suddenly with my mind swirling with thoughts of the Internet, islands, and hacking, I remembered the Bruce Sterling novel.

The name of the blog, Island in the Net came to mind, and I went looking for a domain name. The domain, islandinthe.net was taken (and still is). I settled on islandinthenet.com.

Read What's in a Domain Name? by Eleanor K Cass (Extend Activity Bank)

I’ve been enjoying the stories of how people chose their domain names.

I got my first domain less than a week ago but I agonized over the name for ages.  In the end, I was influenced by the idea that your domain is a bit like your email address or home address (I was introduced to domains by the friendly IndieWeb community) so I went with something that was close to my own name.

I often go by the nickname “Nell”.  I’m Eleanor Katharine and my middle name comes from my Granny Kit who died when I was 3 and who I have always wished I could have known.  Plus, well, Kat = critters.  Critters are fun and it all rolled off the tongue…

Read Domain Name by Tricia Bonner (Extend Activity Bank)

Wow, some great stories for your names. Thanks for sharing.

Similar to Nell I could not come up with something unique. This is a very very new venture for me and right now it is really about the learning so I simply went with TriciaB – it is how I am known through my circle of friends as there are two Tricia’s. I am hoping maybe it will catch on like Mel B did for the Spice Girls. I wish I could some up with something a bit more interesting but for now that is it.

Read What's In a Domain Name by Kim Carter (Extend Activity Bank)

cupofTEAching.ca is what I have decided to use for my domain name. I struggled to decide because I wondered if something with my name was more appropriate. The truth is I have no pre-conceived ideas about what a domain is and how I will eventually use it. The name cupofTEAching was something my “kids” (adult millennials) helped me come up with; a mash up of two of my favourite things teaching and tea. I think it works because a cup of tea can be so satisfying and a pot of tea too filling. Similar to teaching and subsequently learning (in measurable doses) can be so satisfying and too much a little overwhelming. I look forward to learning about constructing a domain, its uses, and how (one cup at a time) it will enhance my teaching and learning.