Week 12 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Social & Ethical Issues

The risks of identity theft for those who publish to much personal information on social internet sites

These are issues due to the open protocols or the internet, and the lack of enforceable standards on a global level, there is also no control on bias, or unethical information, internet users are either smart or dumb and their decisions are based on their experience or inexperience with the internet.

Problems with the internet – intellectual property, copyright, plagiarism, security, privacy, and freedom of speech

Intellectual property – inventions, ideas, music, movies

Copyright – “the right to copy” music, images, movies etc


Plagiarism – using others ideas and words without acknowledging their work

Privacy – freedom vs. protection of information, rights of individuals and/or organisations publishing particular information

Security – hackers, virus contamination, spam, spyware

Tips on protecting yourself on the internet, firewalls are essential, and regular virus scans are essential to ensure your pc is optimised and safe from hackers and virus attacks, beware of spyware, and dodgy email attachments


Workshop Write Up:

Visit the website for the Australian copyright council. http://www.copyright.org.au/ review five information sheets that will be or are relevant to you.




Broadband Content – contains key information regarding to the use of other peoples material on your website, the licensing arrangements you will enter into, how you or your broadband provided will be protected from infringement, moral rights in regards to the creator of a particular piece of material

Databases, compilation, tables and forms – copyright protects compilations, catalogues, databases, dictionaries, and tables, you do not need permission to reproduce particular facts from a compilation, for example telephone numbers

Videos and DVDs Copying and downloading – it is legal for someone to copy a videotape he or she owns onto a DVD for private and domestic use, If you download a movie from the Internet for free, it may be a pirate copy, which means you infringe copyright
by downloading it.

Music copying mp3’s, cd - It is now legal to copy recorded music you own (such as a CD) to play on a device you own (such as an iPod), Subject to certain conditions, If you agree to certain conditions before downloading a music file, those conditions still apply; they are not overridden by the new provision in the Copyright Act which allows copies of recorded music.
I found that the information sheets gave a detailed account on the issues of plagiarism and copy right, as well as the consequences involved. The information sheets also gave brief examples of cases.


After that we had to go to the APRA website and learn about music downloads. The site basically states that copying music off the internet for 'free' is similar to stealing as the songwriters and the artists don't get paid




Using the following sites to write a plan to protect one’s self from the threats of viruses, spyware, and hackers http://netsecurity.about.com/, http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus6.htm, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2100282,00.asp

The evolution of technology sees a new breed of viruses, spyware, and hackers. There are many different ways of combating these.

To protect yourself against viruses, purchasing virus protection software or equivalent firewall and combined virus protection software to prevent unwanted files and users gaining access to your personal information. Avoid the use of programs for unknown sources ensure the quality before installing, never open email attachments that are .exe files as these often contain viruses that will upload to your computer.

Spyware is most commonly associated with fraudulent web pages, or phishing scams which are often fake emails or account confirmation pages and steal user information and spam other users. In the case of bank accounts what is commonly happening is a fake email from your bank is being sent, and asking the user to confirm their account details the phisher than using this to gain access to the account. There are not many ways to prevent phishing but installation of a SPAM email client to reject phishing emails, reporting of phishing web sites.

Hackers are highly computer literate individuals who have immense skill in breaching a computers network security using complex scripting procedures and clever methods of breaching ones computer security. There is always a way for a hacker to gain access to your computer, but methods to deter them, or slow them down, are installations of encryption systems on a pc, quality firewalls to block intruders and so on.

Summary of Readings:

EFF’s top 12 ways to protect your online privacy

1. Do not reveal personal information inadvertently
2. Turn on cookie notices in your web browser
3. Keep a clean e-mail address – for sites which require an email address use a disposable one hotmail, Gmail etc, keep a ISP email address for personal needs
4. Don’t reveal personal details to strangers or just-met “friends” – if you meet someone online, there are risks associated. People often aren’t who they are online, they change certain facts about themselves
5. Realise in the workplace you may be monitored, avoid sending highly personal emails, keep sensitive files on home pc – most employees have little privacy at their place of work regarding email, and computer communications they are part of
6. Beware of sites which offer a reward in exchange for you contact information or personal details – often the companies on sell your information for more money, and you don’t often win or receive you prize
7. Do not reply to spammers – replying to a spam email, only furthers the problem as often that allows them to gain access to your address book and spam your contacts without resolving the initial issue
8. Be conscious of web security – never submit credit card details or personal information, to sites that aren’t trustworthy, or do not have sufficient encryption
9. Be conscious of home computer security – ensure your homes high speed DSL, or Cable connection to the internet is properly firewalled, or virus protected as these means of high speed internet access, also leave you open to high speed data theft and security breaches from hackers
10. Examine privacy policies
11. Remember you alone decide what information to reveal about yourself
12. Use encryption – use quality encryption on all matters for your computer

Monitoring

Types of monitoring computer users are susceptible to:

• Workplace monitoring
• Keystroke logging in the work environment
• The pros and cons related to monitoring within the workplace environment and legal implications in the event of ‘privacy’ breaches, and at which point the monitoring crosses the line.
• Who should actually be monitored in the workplace environment

Intellectual Property Overview

Methods of protecting intellectual property

• Utility Patents, Plant Patents, Design Patents
• Trademarks
• Copyrights
• Laws regarding computer software have evolved over time, as technology changes. Some aspects of computer software that have been possible to patent such as the methods involved in data compression and transmission
• Domain names also have the ability to be registered as trademarks.

Week 11 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Building Knowledge

Datum – fact or proposition

Information – collection of facts or data that relate to each other

Knowledge – sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered or learned

Data is factual, non judgemental, non inferential, transient, no meaning or value
Information is summative, relational, dimensional, permanent, has meaning and uncertain value

Knowledge is inferential, experiential, judgmental, subjective, and very valuable

The importance of data, information, and knowledge is invaluable. Data is a collection of valid unbiased data, which is representative of something. Information is relational, meaningful and informative. Knowledge is a logical conclusion to a particular topic.

Data is individual facts or propositions each with their own limited value, information is a collection of facts that establishes trends and draws results, and knowledge is how human experience and understanding of a topic is portrayed.

Data is raw information, information is data that has been given meaning by relational connection, and knowledge is an appropriate collection of information with the intent to be useful.

Strategies for assignment work

Workshop Write Up:

Browse the following webpage http://www.success.co.il/is/dik.html find a online dictionary to retrieve definitions for the terms, data, information, knowledge, and wisdom.

Using the website dictionary.com retrieved definitions for the following terms

Data – a single piece of fact, information, or a statistic related to a particular topic

Information – knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or event

Knowledge – a fact or piece of information that is known to an individual is said to be Knowledge

Wisdom – scholarly knowledge or learning

Outline the relationship between data, information, and knowledge

If an individual can understand the relationship between data, information, and knowledge they will have learnt the most effective way of utilising the information that they are learning within their chosen topic.

Types of organisations that collect information from their users are Banks, myspace, magazine subscriptions to ensure data integrity, and a means of contacting an individual for any reason deemed neccesary

Summary of Readings:

Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom

Systems theorist Russell Ackoff has stated that the content of the human mind can be classified into five categories, data, information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Data represents raw information, it exists and has no significance beyond itself

Information is data that is given meaning by relational connection

Knowledge is the appropriate collection of information, which its intent is to be useful as for this knowledge to be retained by an individual it is necessary for it to be useful to ensure it is retained

Understanding is the analytical process by which an individual begins to deconstruct and comprehend the newly acquired information to convert it to knowledge

Wisdom is a combination of the previous 4 categories in an effort to help the individual understand fully what was previously not known, and how to put that new understanding to use in a practical situation

Information Literacy Tutorial

This is not an article. It is an online tutorial that gives lessons on how to write essays other papers. It also has quizes to help people understand the skills they have learnt

Week 10 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Information Management

A major problem faced by individuals is a way to manage their information, in an effecient way, and organise it logically.

Types of information formatting:
Atom Based, Books, Journals, Reports

• Pros – we can see it, easy to conceal, easy to protect, hard to modify, difficult to copy


• Cons – Bulky, Costly, Difficult to edit, and redistribute

Bit Based, digital reproductions, electronic content

• Pros – flexible, cheap, easy to use an edit, easy to mass produce


• Cons – Privacy, authenticity, unsolicited broadcast

The Changed face of goods and services – internet banking, email, mp3 players

The changing face of goods and services – TV, music, shopping

Principles for organising your computer

Tips on how to search and categorise your information

Workshop Write Up:

Complete the tutorial on http://www.inette.com/aibtinette/favoritesI.html regarding how to make a favourites list

Use the information to create your own favourites list

Read Negropontes famous “Being Digital” article http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/nn/bdcont.htm and write a 150 word summary on the information covered and its relevance

Negroponte’s opinion was that over time the events or actions within the real world, will eventually become digitalised so that things are all available on demand when a particular user requests them, without delays of manufacturing, and delivery, or purchasing of books, or media etc. Atom based media has been designed to be relatively in expensive and available to those who request it, a disadvantage in the case of a book, is often if a book is popular or substantially old, that text will not be in stock and will have to be reprinted which costs more money an requires more time.

Bit based media which is based on digital or electronic formats of particular items, has been developed as an effective means of distribution of a particular piece of information globally in the most reliable way possible. In the example of a book, in online format it always there an available to anyone, located anywhere in the world. The negative is this type of information is easily modifiable, and can often be inappropriately used by those who view it.

Summary of Readings:

Grazing the Net

Information on the raising young individuals to think and explore, and make meaning of the information they discover on the internet.

How to develop students as infotectives, and enhance their ability to distinguish reputable information from non peer reviewed sites

Teaching them effective methods of information recovery, and effective searching tips to retrieve reputable and relevant information to their desired topic

Tips on how to manage information, and how to assess its quality

Week 9 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Communication:


Communication in the world has changed since its initial conception due to advancements in Information and Communication Technology


Communication can be – between individuals, and organisations


Communication takes place within a chain network, circle, wheel, or all channel networks


Types of communication synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous all parties have to be engaged at the same time, asynchronous parties take turn in their own time


Examples of ICT use – mobile phone, video tele conferencing, iPods mp3’s, e-mail, multimedia communications


Merging technology is seeing one device incorporating many to enable individuals to carry one all in one piece of equipment which satisfies all their technology needs.


Types of ICT applications, Messenger, Discussion forum, and bulletin boards, internet relay chats, podcasts, blogs, wiki webs, social networking

Netiquette and chat abbreviations commonly used in instant messaging and forums and discussion boards

Benefits of using ICT, electronic journals, news articles, podcasts, real time communication vast storage of online media, available all the time

Workshop Write Up:

Visit google.com click on the groups tab, an search for a topic of interest, I searched for mobile phones

The results then displayed are a list of blogs, bulletin boards, and pages dedicated to the discussion of that search term.




Visit a podcast hosting site such as http://podcasts.yahoo.com/ search for a topic of interest and listen to at least one blog from the results




View the library’s website containing information related to podcasts http://www.ecu.edu.au/library/services/podcasts.html contains a few of the helpful uses that podcasts can provide, what equipment is needed to listen to the podcast, and also the podcasts available through the ECU library page (library tours, information about the types of journals, purpose of annotated bibliographies)





Summary of Readings:

Guide to using email:

14 do’s and don’ts:

1. Ensure the email is the appropriate method of communication


2. Be direct to the point, avoid wasting the recipients time with unnecessary information


3. If asking a question be sure the recipient will be able to understand you need a response


4. Specify who should respond, in the event of a group email users included in that ‘group’ if not specified will often use that as a way of not doing work, specify who you are asking to complete a certain task


5. Ensure you are clear about when you need a response, end of the day, end of week etc


6. Provide a suitable context to outline the message


7. Ensure you use correct grammar and punctuation, ensure you utilise spell checker


8. One topic per message, don’t over crowd messages with more than one topic of question as this can lead to confusion and questions being overlooked


9. Provide a summary when you forward an ‘FYI’ email, explain to the recipient why you are forwarding this to them, and what information in it is related to them


10. Don’t make assumptions about the senders emotional state, unless specified they are angry with you for something you have done, don’t assume there email was intended to be rude, or critical


11. Avoid escalating conflicts by replying with an emotionally charged response


12. Ask for clarification, if unsure of the sender’s original intentions.


13. Use your email softwares tools to help organise your messages


14. It is not necessary to respond to every message straight away

Essential Email Etiquette:

1. Think of an appropriate subject


2. Address Recipients properly


3. Select an appropriate tone


4. Avoid the uses of irony and sarcasm


5. Edit your message


6. Keep messages short and simple

YouTube videos:

Contains ‘common’ sense tips about basic email etiquette or ‘netiquette’ in the workplace and how to distinguish between, the workplace environment and the home or friend environment where your style of messaging must change. As the method in which you communicate to your boss or co-workers varies greatly from that to communicating with your closest friend or “BFF”

Week 8 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Presentation Strategies:

Types of presentations:

• Self contained – web page, CD-Rom, video


• Written Presentation – essay, paper


• Stand and Deliver – Oral Presentation

Visual messages are not enough on their own they require further explanation.

Structure of a presentation: Introduction, Body, Conclusion (summary recommendations)

Six components to an introduction: Attention Getters, Thesis Statement, Audience Adaptation, Credibility Statement, Preview, Transition to the body

Four components to the body: Main ideas, Organisational Patterns, Connective Devices, References to Outside Research

Three components to the conclusion: Re-assert/Reinforce the Thesis, Review the Main Points, Close Effectively

Preparing for a presentation: Professional appearance, always have a backup, rehearse your talk, if possible test your PowerPoint slides before hand at the venue to ensure they work.

Don’t make the PowerPoint Presentation the main point, use it as a means of reinforcement your talk should contain more information than your PowerPoint.

Ensure you only add relevant items to the PowerPoint – choose subtle contrasting backgrounds, suitable texts, use animation effects consistently, don’t use sounds, don’t use irrelevant graphics.

Strategies for audience involvement: Knowing your audience, use relevant examples and anecdotes, make eye contact, speak clearly, and follow structure.

Workshop Write Up:


Visit Laura Guertin’s online resource for how to prepare and deliver a presentation http://www.personal.psu.edu/uxg3/blogs/undergraduateresearch/2008/02/online-resources-for-how-to-pr.html



Create a top five list of strategies to aid in delivering a good presentation

1. Enthusiasm is essential, use humour but use it wisely


2. Planning and preparation is vital


3. Pay attention to the type of audience you will present in front of, ensure your presentation is tailored towards them.


4. Keep your presentation slides simple, don’t overload with information


5. Take your time!

Create a PowerPoint presentation on how to deliver a low impact presentation.

Slide 1

Slide 2



Slide 3



Slide 4



Slide 5



Slide 6



Summary of Readings:

Meeting PowerPoint in the classroom

Contains useful information and tips for a beginner’s introduction to Microsoft PowerPoint.
How to use the functions PowerPoint offers:

• Animations,


• Effects,


• Transitions,


• Sounds,


• Timing,


• How to rehearse


• Most importantly how to transport your presentation and ensure all information is retained, and external links are not lost

Week 7 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Endnote:

Introduction – Endnote is a referencing tool, used to form and online database of references, relatively easy way of making a bibliography

Endnote is a multipurpose program; it can be used as a standalone application for creating a reference library, or integrated into MS Word

How endnote works – a flat file database system which has the ability to adapt to all types of referencing styles and produce a correctly formatted reference list.

How to use endnote in vista – open word document, go to references tab, an click on endnote, create a new endnote library, choose the type of reference you need to create, and continue to enter your information

Endnote is useful for providing a searchable list of references and a correctly formatted list as well

Workshop Write Up:
Review the ECU online Referencing Guide and find 5 examples of electronic format references.

5 examples as follows:

1. Website:
   Technical specifications (iPhone). [n.d.] Retrieved November, 2007, from Apple: http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html
2. Periodical:
   VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates [Electronic version]. Journal of Bibliographic Research, 5, 117-123.
3. Computer Software:
   Computer literacy for nurses [Computer software]. (1985). Edwardsville, Kansas: Medi-sim.
4. Email:
   Office of Research and Development. (1995). ARC large grant guidelines. Email December 2, 1995, from t.lampard@cowan.edu.au/Get ARCLG95
5. eBook:
   Wilkinson, R., & Marmot, M. (Eds.). (2003). Social determinants of health: The solid facts (2nd ed.). Retrieved December 2, 2007, from http://www.euro.who.int/document/e81384.pdf

Complete the Endnotev11 exercises

Begin to configure the endnote software for your desktop (current desktop is already configured)

Start your own endnote library

Enter the two sources given, one is a book the other is a web page, save them in your endnote library

Log onto the ProQuest 5000 International database site, and search for ‘The New Arab Conversation” within their journals, mark this item, then go to the my research tab, and click on “export citations”, save them to your databse you previously created.

Open a word document an using the cite while you write feature, copy the pieces of text you placed in the notes section into your word document, then add the appropriate in text and end text reference

Open the cite while you write exercise

Insert the appropriate citations where necessary and copy the abstracts in. Endnote should format appropriately

Readings:

Guide to Endnote v9

What is endnote? Endnote is a program that can store, manage and search for references in a personal library set up by the user. When references from the library are cited in an MS Word document, a reference list is instantly created at the end of the document. The format of the citations and reference list can be set to the style of any journal.

How to make an endnote library

Displaying and searching

Making Citations

Some Additional Endnote Help

Technical support, frequently asked questions, the endnote discussion forum

Week 6 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Evaluation & Authentication:


Introduction:


What is information quality - data that is “fit-for-use”


The context of the World Wide Web

• Open protocols – swift and convenient information exchange, information published on the web bypasses traditional filters used to ensure information quality


• Open architecture – no enforceable quality control, no enforced classification, dynamic/fluid content structure


• The context of the world wide web – no control of who publishes on the WWW relates to authorship, authority and authenticity, why publishers publish on the WWW relates to bias, accuracy and trustworthiness, what is published on the WWW relates to currency, reliability and coverage.

Evaluating information quality on the WWW

• What are you measuring – content, visual feel, navigation, ease-of-use


• Why does the information resource exist – provide unique insight into the type of content, level of content, and bias of content


• Accuracy – anyone can publish anything on the web, web resources rarely have editors or fact checkers, no web standards exist to ensure accuracy


• Authority – anyone can publish anything on the web, even if a page is signed qualifications aren’t usually given, sponsorship isn’t usually indicated


• Objectivity – frequently the goals of the sponsors/authors aren’t clearly stated, often the web serves as a virtual soapbox


• Currency – publication or revision dates not always provided, dates provided can often have various meanings


• Coverage – web coverage often differs from print coverage, it is difficult to determine the extent of coverage

Questions to ask to aid in determine the quality of a web page:

• Is it reliable and error free?


• Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the information?


• Is there an author? Is the page signed?


• Is the author qualified? Who is the sponsor? Are they reputable?


• Does it contain bias? Is it designed to sway opinion?


• Is the page dated? When the page was last updated? Are there expired links?


• What are the topics covered? What does it offer that is not found elsewhere?

Quick tips to ensure quality – is it a personal page or site? Is the domain name appropriate for the content? Published by a source that makes sense? Can you see who wrote the page? Is it recent?

Perform a background search on the page, find information about the site host, and research the page author

Why was the page put on the web? Does it serve its purpose? Is it appropriate?

Workshop Write Up:

Visit the ICYouSee website http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html and describe the strategies it offers to effectively use the web.

1. Make sure you are in the right place – ask yourself why are using the web, research is still available on the web, but it is harder to find as the web grows more commercial


2. When in doubt, doubt – accuracy is not easy to confirm, evaluate information that seems untrustworthy, never accept an authors word always check for a second opinion


3. Consider the source – try to find out who actually wrote the page, not just their name but their academic background, are they credible?


4. Know what’s happening – try to identify the reason the web page was created, what is its purpose to persuade, inform, or evaluate?


5. Look at details – check for clues to authenticity, good grammar and spelling, scholarly references should not contain errors.

Compare my findings with the information listed on the INCO 48 website http://www.taftcollege.edu/newTC/Academic/INCO48/sec6-4.htm contains information regarding the Ten C’s for evaluating internet sources the ten C’s are:

1. Content – what is the intent of the content, is the author identified, is it scholarly


2. Credibility – is the author known? , what is the purpose, what is the URL extension .edu, .gov, etc


3. Critical Thinking – can you identify author, publisher, edition etc


4. Copyright – copyright rules must be respected


5. Citation – internet sources must be cited to give credit to the original author


6. Continuity – is the internet site regularly updated an maintained? Dead links?


7. Censorship – are certain topics, keywords censored by your sites governing body?


8. Connectivity – what type of configuration would a user need to access the particular site


9. Comparability – does it contain comparable, and complete information


10. Context – can you find opinion or bias within your website how is it positioned?

Complete the Reliving the sixties: a website evaluation found at http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think60.html

Accuracy – contains accurately sourced information

Authorship – Stanley K. Schultz, and William P. Tishler, reputable authors also given it is a site dedicated to American history if it was incorrect it would not be active for long as the moderators would have realised this an removed it if it contained unverified information about the united states

Purpose – to present information regarding the history and events that occurred in the United States over the course of their history

Detail & Design – contains sufficient detail, enough to satisfy the reader’s question, and is designed to look like a note book containing information learned

Week 5 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Categories of information on the web:

• The Free Visible Web – all publicly mounted pages that are accessible by search engines


• The Free Invisible Web – all publicly accessible information that is not available through search engines and must be sourced through a particular web site


• Paid Databases over the web – commercial databases that contain scholarly journals, newspapers, and reputable information

Search tool types – Search Engines and Directories

Search Engine – a web based application that crawls the web searching for information, and indexing them according to keywords (Google, yahoo, AltaVista, alltheweb).


Search engines often contain problems relating to, to many results, limited relevance and quality, inclusion of broken links (sites that are no longer run), misuse of the page ranking and scoring system, the ability to determine how far to actually look through the information displayed.

Directories – are a human edited, web pages are submitted directly and then reviewed to ensure integrity. (Google Directory, Yahoo Directory)

Common search engines, Google, ask jeeves, yahoo, and msn search

Types of queries for search engines – Keyword, Phrase, Boolean, Advanced/engine features

How to select the right keywords and Search Tips


Workshop Write Up:


Visit Monash University’s interactive tutorial on search engines and directories, http://www/.monash.com/spidap.html the site offers tips on how to use search engines and directories




Know where to look first - There are various databases containing specific information that might be more useful to you than a general search engine.

Fine tune your keywords - Limit your search words be specific narrow your search terms before you search

Refine your keywords – Learn to exclude terms using Boolean search tools, and learn what type of keywords to use, and to exclude

Query by example – a method where the user tells the search engine to query more results like the ones displayed.

Visit the Siteseen quiz site http://www.siteseen.co.uk/questions/historytrivia/ , an complete the quiz using the search tips above to find the correct answers to answer the questions.




I used Google to search for my answers, and applied the search tips covered in the Monash article, I ensured I refined my keywords, and made them specific and relevant to the questions required to be answered.

Summary of Readings:

Internet Search Tips and Strategies
Categories of information on the web – The free visible web, the free invisible web, paid databases over the web

Search tool types – search engines consists of an interface you use to type in a query, websites matching that query are displayed in a results window, directories are categorised lists of sites picked out by human editors, directories contain small amounts of high quality articles.

Types of searches:

• Keyword search – will find all pages containing the keyword entered into the search bar, keyword searches display results in the order of relevance to keyword
• Phrase search – perform a search using an exact phrase, so only pages with that phrase are displayed.
• Boolean operators – Basic AND, OR, NOT logic operators which when combined with search keywords determine how the search engine uses the keywords and will vary the results displayed.

Search Engines

The late 1980’s saw so much data on the internet that it was too difficult to rely on tips from other users. In 1992 there were 1,000,000 hosts. This saw the creation of search engines, servers that would catalogue available web pages an allow them to be easily accessed or found search engines included (Archie, The Gopher System, WAIS).
More recent search engines, Google, Yahoo, Alta Vista

Search Engine Optimisation

Contains information regarding the processes involved in determining whether a small business website is suitable for search engine optimisation.

The steps followed are:

• Keyword analysis – assess which keywords appear most commonly when your business services come to mind, these keywords are made sure to be incorporated in the page
• Setting the benchmark – recording of current data and feedback from current site usage
• Link popularity – initial search engine optimisation includes installing quality links from other websites that offer similar services
• Measuring your progress – the provision of regular reporting regarding the progress since your website was search engine optimised.

Week 4 Blog

Lecture Summary:
Using the WWW:


Internet vs. Web


Internet allows you to find computers; connections are cables in between computers

The Web allows you to find document, sounds videos, information etc; connections are hypertext links.

The web is an abstract virtual space of information could not exist without the net

Before the Web or internet was developed the first document on packet switching theories was published in 1961, in 1965 a computer in Massachusetts was connected to another in California using dial up modems

Developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, to facilitate sharing research information.
The WWW is a vast space of accessible information stored on computers and servers throughout the world.

Protocols of the World Wide Web:

• TCP/IP – Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol; allows computers to communicate to one and other. TCP allows the conversion of data signals into telephone like signals. IP allows data to be routed from one network to another over the internet.


• HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol; method of communication that allows the interpretation of data to determine how to display and/or exchange data between computers


• DNS – Domain Name Server; www, .com, .org, .net, .au, .uk


• URL – Uniform Resource Locator
  

Types of Web Browsers:

• Internet Explorer


• Neoplanet


• Firefox

Functions of the browser interface ‘Back’ and ‘Forward’ buttons, ‘home’, ‘history’ newer more advanced IE’s have Tabs, and Bookmark settings, Tabs allows user to have multiple web pages open within the one browser window.

Workshop Write Up:

Visit the site http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/ and www.molossia.org and question their authenticity.

Haggishunt:

• The advertisements on the page, camvista.com


• It is a competition site, basically watch the ten webcams If you see a ‘haggis’, report it an you go in the draw, if you see a ‘gold haggis’ report it an you win instantly.


• The site appears to be that of a promotions company that has a competition currently running, this is an attempt to attract visitors


• The “haggis facts” at the top of the page, and the “haggisclopedia” page, are obviously made as a joke.

Molossia:

• When you click on the teachers only link. It quite obviously explains that it is a fake website to teach students how to not be fooled by fake websites as what is not necessarily a real country is however a real place and is quite possible to actually visit


• The scrolling banner at the bottom of the page seems out of place, how often on a government site would you see a scrolling banner saying listen to our radio podcasts


• When you click on the information regarding the molossian navy you are directed to ‘cafepress’ site for online shopping


• The site just doesn’t feel official, it lacks authority

Consider the web address www.martinlutherking.org you would expect to find information about Martin Luther King and his works, and what he achieved in his life, however what I already know that you will find is a site that is run by a group of white supremacists, which thus contains large amounts of racist information towards Martin Luther King, and the African Americans. Basically aimed at shaming Martin Luther King and the good he did, their main purpose is to try and discredit any information published about or by Martin Luther King.

Readings:

History of the Internet, Internet for Historians (and just about everyone else)

Chapter 1: The Origins and Growth of The Internet and the World Wide Web

Began in the early 1830’s and progressed at a slow pace, world war 2 occurred an advances in technology sped up greatly with the development of many new navigational tables and tracking and aiming devices for anti aircraft guns, development of Harvard Mark 1 (did not have an inbuilt program, instructions were given by paper tape. The war had aided in the development however we were still at a time of large complex calculating machines and nothing else.

In June 1948 Manchester University developed Manchester Mark 1, 3 years later saw the integration of RAM, 1958-59 saw the development of the silicon chip, it entered into commercial production in 1961.

Chapter 2: From ARPANET to World Wide Web

ARPA was created initially with its focus set on space, ballistic missiles, and nuclear test monitoring; in 1962 ARPA opened a computer research program. ARPANET was created from teams at MIT, National Physics Library, and the RAND corporation, the final requirement was the design of a protocol to allow computers to send an receive messages and data. In 1971 ARPANET consisted of 23 host computers linked together.

1974 saw the development of the TCP/IP protocol to enable different networks to communicate with each other. Expansion of the internet gradually grew, the amount of people hosting servers and WebPages. In 1991 WWW was released to the public an no longer a military or higher education system.

Chapter 3: History of E-mail

ARPANET developers had considered such a process of electronic mail, at the time when computers where of ridiculous sizes and the everyday person could not afford one, this idea was not overly important. In 1971 Ray Tomlinson of ARPANET sent the World’s first email, he sent it to himself as a test then sent further emails to ARPANET users explaining how to address emails to other users.

1990 saw the democratisation of the internet, 1995 saw internet providers as CompuServe, AOL, and Prodigy start business and deliver a connection to the world.

Chapter 4: Search Engines

The late 1980’s saw so much data on the internet that it was too difficult to rely on tips from other users. In 1992 there were 1,000,000 hosts. This saw the creation of search engines, servers that would catalogue available web pages an allow them to be easily accessed or found search engines included (Archie, The Gopher System, WAIS).

More recent search engines, Google, Yahoo, Alta Vista

Histories of the Internet – A Brief History of the Internet
The internet has revolutionised the computer and communications industry, ARPANET was the original internet that transformed into the World Wide Web as we know it today. Robert Kahn was behind the development of a new protocol which would support open=architecture environments, thus the creation of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

Kahn was successful with his creation of the TCP/IP protocol which worked well on large time sharing systems, people doubted that a PC could handle the complexity of TCP/IP, David Clark and research team from MIT proved it is possible to run TCP/IP on PC’s they reconfigured Khans version and made it suitable for a smaller less complex machine. 1980’s saw the widespread development and implementation of LANS, PC’s and WAN connections.

Commercialisation in the early 1980’s saw the development of many private network services and systems being made available. Internet currently controls the majority of activities, as most things are now made accessible online, or through portals, that allow access anywhere, and anytime.

Week 3 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Online Libraries:
Why use online libraries: convenience always there, currency – Journals are up to date, large amount of the content is hidden and requires a subscription

Types of online libraries:

• Online text repositories
• Online journals
• Electronic books
• Musical
• Artworks

Limitations of Online Libraries – many are only available by pay subscriptions, for music and art you are seeing copies of originals quality is reduced.

Referencing online libraries – Use APA format, create endnote libraries

Types of online databases:

• People searches
• Email directories
• Genealogy resources
• Maps and atlases
• News and media
• Portals

Online databases and libraries are a good source of information; they are up to date and informative, vital for university research.

Workshop Write Up:

Log into the ECU library service, used a online journal search to search for a journal relating to the economic impact of global warming on business




Using the library homepage find 10 helpful functions it provides

Links to Metaquest, ProQuest, and other internet journal databases that allow searching of worldwide journal stores containing relevant information.

Links to Podcasts of lectures and relevant library information

List of key websites that have been selected by the librarians contain related topics to subjects studied

“Ask the Library” function allows user, to communicate with library staff and ask questions.
Links to SIMO

Ability to hire out digital projectors and other digital equipment

Information regarding the loan services provided by the ECU library

ECU Referencing Guide

Library workshops and tours

Links to ECU library catalogue

Visited the MedLine plus drug information site, searched their drug databases for a particular drug of interest, and then enter into the search engine and find out more information about it. Searched for information about the drug Phenergan



Viewed one of the available interactive tutorials, containing information about heart valve replacements

People who would use such a service could be those who are being prescribed a new drug they have never used or about to undertake a risky medical procedure and want more information about it

Readings:

Finding What You Want on the Web:

Google is not the most efficient way to search for ‘quality’ information still has a vast amount of information available and is one of the most widely used search engines.

Google has moved into features such as Google video, Google maps, Google news, Google earth, Google mail (Gmail)

Barebones Lesson 7: Basic search tips

Contains information regarding basic Boolean operators and search methods to include or exclude specific data from your searches, or to narrow your search results

Using double quotations around specific phrases to search exactly as they are worded

When searching within a document use the “Ctrl” + ‘F’ command to open the ‘find’ search box and search for a specific phrase

Boolean Operators “And”, “Or”

Week 2 Blog

Lecture Summary:

Began with “What do I Know”, discussed Microsoft Applications, Common Internet Browsers, and what new websites you have recently visited.

Common PC Tasks, File handling, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, internet, emails and PDF’s

General skills involved in the Common PC Tasks

Knowledge of the applications which suit specific tasks

Windows Explorer – Understanding of files and technologies, ZIP technologies, Windows Commands

Microsoft Word – Formatting and styles, document mapping, working with templates, inserting images

Microsoft Excel – Formatting and styles, column/row record keeping, formulae and functions

Microsoft PowerPoint – Formatting and styles, wise use of animations, using graphics to support not rule a presentation, notes view

Internet Browsing – Net navigation, browsing, hyperlinks, bookmarks, search engines
Outlook & Outlook Express – sending and receiving email, email protocols, email security, email etiquette

Adobe Acrobat Reader – viewing PDF’s, browser integration, viewing PDF’s online, Saving PDF’s to local PC for offline viewing

Listening and watching audio/video – Windows Media Player, Winamp, Real Player, Viewing and editing graphic files

Skills we will acquire from this course – MS Word and PowerPoint skills, email skills, internet browser skills, knowledge regarding various applications and specific uses

Workshop Write Up:

MS Word

Opened reading_Mod01-2-5.pdf containing the instructions for the Word activity, and the word exercises document.

Copied a piece of text into a blank word document, and then adjusted the formatting of the text.

Adjusted the typeface, the margins and alignment, line spacing created headings with the document map feature, and included a header/footer.

Copied a piece of text containing references into the document, and alphabetised them using the auto alphabetise function in MS Word

Copied a piece of text containing data for a table of contents, and formatted them with dot leaders

Then inserted an image appropriate to the topic of the workshop

Screenshot of the document created:

MS Excel

Opened the document Excel Exercises containing the instructions related to the workshop

Created a table in excel as to the requirements of the instructions

Adjusted the table to match the one illustrated, resized columns and rows, fill colours, borders, etc

Entered suitable values into the empty fields to complete the table

Inserted a formula into the total column for Monday that would total all the values in the fields prior to it. Then copied this formula across the other cells labelled total for the remaining days of the week

Inserted a formula into the total for travelling cell that would total all the values in the fields prior, then copied that formula down to the total for exercise cell

Inserted a formula into the average for travelling cell that would calculate the average for the values entered for that week, then copied that formula down to the average for exercise cell

Created a pie chart for the average hours per week in activity, and placed that in the spreadsheet

Created a bar graph for the hours per day spent on social life, and placed that in the spreadsheet

Screenshot of the document created:

Readings:

Using MS Word for APA Tasks:

Describes the basic tasks and how to perform them for the everyday MS Word user

Covers topics that include:

• Typeface
• Margins and Alignment
• Alphabetising
• “Keep headings with text”
• Indents
• Hanging Indents
• Page Headers and footers
• Line Spacing and Auto formatting
• Dot Leaders
• Customising the toolbar

Graphic File Formats:

Bitmap (.bmp) – Standard image format for PC’s, low quality way of publishing an image

CompuServe (.gif) – A compressed format that is designed to minimise file transfer time over phone lines, most commonly used to display indexed colour and graphics images in HTML, supports moving frames and animations

Joint Photographic Experts Group – Jpeg (.jpg) – Most commonly used to display images on the internet, saving as a Jpeg compresses the file, opening the file automatically decompresses the fil, the higher the compression rate, the lower the image quality

Tagged Image File Format (.tiff) – Used to exchange files between applications and computer platforms as it can be read by Mac or IBM compatible / PC computers. Because of the high image quality Tiff is the most preferred graphic format for professional printing

PhotoShop Document (.psd or .psp or .spp) – PhotoShop documents are those which have layered data within them, all the previous file formats have only one merged layer of image, thus making editing of certain parts complicated, PhotoShop documents allow specific layers text or image or effects to be edited or removed without impacting the other images, PhotoShop images are usually large in size due to the amount of data they contain to enable the ability to edit the different layers.

Week 1 Blog

Lecture Summary:

During the lecture we were given a basic introduction to UPC0004, outline of the course structure, learning outcomes covered in the UPC0004 course details regarding course assisgnments. The policies ECU has regarding plagiarism, the responsibilities of you as a student.

Processes involved in withdrawing from the UPC course, Requirements for module 1 of UPC0004 and the topics covered (basic computing skills, equipment needed, and a desciption of the advanced skills.

A brief overview of workshop one which was to be completed during todays lesson.

Workshop write up:

The creation of a blog on the site blogger.com, choosing a basic layout an entering your information.

Created a screenshot of the blog i created

The creation of an account on the site ImageShack.us to enable the uploading of pictures on to the blog i created

Created a screenshot of ImageShack after creating account
Inserted screenshots into blog.

Summary of Readings:

PC Lube and Tune

• PC service centre which has been in business since 1994


• PC Lube and Tune specialises in introductions, tutorials and education on technical subjects to the common every day person


• PCLT deliver their services through the world wide web, they have a wide range of informational articles available to the general public that access their site
  

Articles available to the sites users

• Introduction to PC hardware – Learn how to care for and how it all works
• Exception handling in Java and C+ - Informs of the best practices for use with new programming languages or runtime environments
• The “GUI” or Graphical User Interface – Explains how simple the Common GUI is from a coding perspective
• Computers, Video files and HDTV – The hows of Computers, Videos, and HDTV
• Character encoding and web standards – Explanation of what it is
• Microsoft .Net Framework – Pros and Cons of the .Net programming framework
• Distributed applications on the web – Pros and cons of the new server programming environment
• Das Boot – How to, dual boot, partition, install etc
• COM Ports – How they work, how to solve problems
• Intro. To TCP/IP – Detailed look at the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
• Ethernets – Detailed look at Ethernet protocols, and standards and layouts

How Stuff Works

• Introduction to how PC’s work – Discusses the main components of a ‘typical’ PC:
  CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), Cache, Virtual Memory, Motherboard, Power Supply, Hard Disk, Operating System, IDE, PCI Buses, AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), Graphics Card
• PC Connections - Types of connections on common PC's
• I/O Devices - Types of common I/O devices
• Ports - Types of ports on old and new PC's
• Internet/Network - What it is
• Powering Up - Processes that occur when you press the 'on' button
• Operating System - What is actually happening to make your PC run
• The Future of PC’s - New Technology, New Speeds
• Portable Personal Computing - New devlopoments in mobile computing