all me

Conclusion

2008-05-23T02:30:00.004-07:00

Conclusion

As this term comes to an end so does my blog. I will sadly regret to say I will not be adding any other work into this blog. This is the last entry, I have officially handed in my resignation, affective from today.

This unit has taught me a lot and I can now use this wisdom I have accumulated throughout this semester for my future studies. From search strategies to endnote, this wisdom will assist me in my success at university. At some moments I did not agree that the blog was an appropriate assignment, but now completed I can understand the importance. Reading is one thing, but rewriting and evaluating makes the information into wisdom.

I have enjoyed this class, hated the readings, but enjoyed the work. I hope this blog brought you some extra wisdom as it has done for me. Well this is my last good bye for this blog.

Goodbye, hope you enjoyed it.

Emily

Week 12, so close.

2008-05-23T02:30:00.003-07:00

Week Twelve

So close.

Questions;

What are the characteristics of the internet that cause problems for users?

The internet has many problems: security, plagiarism and identity theft are just a few.

What is Intellectual property, and how is it protected?

Intellectual property includes; inventions, ideas, music, and music. IP does not require registration.

Protection- Firewalls, anti virus programs, copyright, licensing and patterns.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is when you use others’ ideas and words without acknowledging the source.

List some security risks when using the internet?

Probe attack- content theft, password theft

Virus contamination

How can you protect yourself?

Anti virus software, Firewall, beware of attachments and be aware of the complications of spyware.

Quotes and extracts: copyright obligations

This sheet gave me a brief overview of copyright law, it relates to using quotations and extracts. The principles it discussed, included special exceptions to infringement which related to “criticism or review” or “research or study”. They are still relevant but are not examined in this article.

Key points

-You need to acknowledge every source when quoting, and some you may need to ask for special permission.

- you need to reference if you use a substantial part of the file. A substantial part is judged by whether or not the content is important, essential or distinctive.

- There are situations in which you can use a substantial part without permission. This is reserved to the copyright owner.

Acknowledging the source of the work is not a substitute for permission. If you need permission to use a quote or extract, referncing the work is not enough. If you get permission to use a work or a substantial part of a work, you will still be obliged to respect the moral rights of the author by providing sufficient attribution of their authorship.

INFORMATION SHEET G34

Quotes and extracts: copyright obligations

Australian Copyright Council 2006

www.copyright.org.au

Internet: copying & downloading

This information sheet would be used for people who want to copy or download material from the internet. The internet uses P2P software and networks. (P2P software connects individual users with each other over networks, allowing them to share files directly, without those files being stored centrally.)

Key points

Material on the internet may be protected by copyright, including emails.

In many cases, permission to download material from a website is given on the site itself, but the fact that material is available to be viewed on a website makes this hard to determine.

Do not assume that everything on the internet has permission from the copyright owner.

In Australia, copyright law is set out in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). In many cases, courts have made decisions on how the Act is to be interpreted and applied in various situations. The types of material which can be protected by copyright include:

- Literary works (novels, poems and lyrics, reports, instruction manuals, newspaper articles and letters);

- Artistic works (drawings, paintings and graphic art)

- Musical works

- Dramatic works (screenplays and choreography)

- Computer programs

Copyright protection is automatic; there is no system of registration in Australia. A work doesn’t need to be published, or have the copyright notice on it, to be protected.

INFORMATION SHEET G056v06

Internet: copying & downloading material

Australian Copyright Council 2008

www.copyright.org.au

Governments (Commonwealth, State and Territory)

This sheet outlines the rights and obligations of Commonwealth, State and Territory governments in relation to copyright material. In particular, it discuss’s sections 183 and 183A of the Copyright Act, which allow the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories to use copyright material for the services of government.

Key points

- Governments are entitled to rely on different exceptions to copyright infringement, compared to other copyright users.

- Governments become owners of copyright in circumstances where others would not.

This page also offers contact details, to official government buildings all over Australia. As governments have greater rights to use copyright material than other users.

The Commonwealth, a State or a Territory owns copyright in material if it is: created by, or under the direction or control of, the Commonwealth State or Territory; or first published by, or under the direction or control of, the Commonwealth, State or Territory.

This applies unless there is an agreement between the Commonwealth State or Territory and another party, such as a contractor, which acts out otherwise. Getting permission to use government material is not hard you can call an office or check their website;

http://www.ag.gov.au/cca.

INFORMATION SHEET G062v09

Governments (Commonwealth, State and Territory)

Australian Copyright Council 2007

www.copyright.org.au

Copyright protection in other countries

This sheet, gave a brief overview of copyright protection given to Australia, concerning context being used overseas.Australia is a party to a number of international treaties dealing with copyright: In order to become a party to the international copyright treaties, a country must legislate to achieve a minimum standard of copyright protection.

In most cases, it must also give protection for copyright material from all the countries which are party to the treaty (“national treatment”).

Most countries grant copyright protection to Australian material under international treaties. The countries that do this include: Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. Countries which do not grant protection to Australian material include Taiwan.

Minimum standards of copyright protection ensure that there is a basic level of copyright protection in all member countries, although the ways in which the legislation is implemented need not be uniform. Some examples of the kinds of minimum protection required are set out below. Many countries provide more extensive protection than the minimum required by treaties.

Materials protected

- written material such as books and reports;

- music;

- dramatic works such as plays and choreography;

- artistic works such as paintings, drawings and photographs;

- architectural works; and

- cinematograph works such as films and videos.

In some countries (including the United Kingdom and New Zealand), it is necessary to assert the attribution right in order to be able to enforce it. This is usually done by including in a published work a statement such as “The moral rights of the author(s) have been asserted” or “The author’s right to be identified has been asserted”.

INFORMATION SHEET G30

Australian Copyright Council 2006

www.copyright.org.au

Copyright and computer software

The information on here provides a brief overview of copyright as it applies to people who write computer software. It also contains information which is relevant to people who use computer software.

Key points

- Computer programs are protected by copyright in the same way as novels or poems.

- If you buy a computer program, your rights to use it are normally set out in the terms and conditions of a license.

- The Copyright Act allows you to make a back-up copy of a computer program, but not of any associated material (such as computer games, text or artworks).

Owners of copyright in computer programs have a number of exclusive rights, including the right to:

- reproduce the program in a material form (such as copying the program to the hard disk of a computer, and writing or typing the source code of the program);

- publish the program (such as making the program public for the first time in Australia);

- make an adaptation of the program (such as making a version of the program in either the same or a different language, code or notation: for example, a program in object code may be an adaptation of its source code version); and

- communicate the program to the public (such as making it available online, or by electronically transmitting it, using any type of cable or wireless technology including the internet).

INFORMATION SHEET G50

Australian Copyright Council 2005

www.copyright.org.au

http://www.apra.com.au/music-users/online_mobile/online_mobile.asp

The new dilemma we are facing today is piracy, everybody has seen the advertisements, but do you understand the drama in this dilemma. Downloading music may be free to you, but the artists now do not receive any money for their own work.

“AMCOS can offer a license on behalf of its music publisher members for certain rights associated with the reproduction of these musical works in an online context.

APRA handles the performing right in musical works for its members – which in the online context is referred to as a ‘communication to the public’. A communication occurs when music is made available – which would include online streaming and digital download services and mobile applications such as ringtones and caller tunes.”

(APRA, & AMCOS, 2008)

Webcasters- Include licenses for Net Radio and Simulcasts. This includes websites that use looped background music, discrete music mixes – ie. DJ mix sets, on-demand songs, clips and music videos.

Digital Downloads- Consumer’s purchase and downloading a full-length song or album, via legitimate Digital Service Providers (DSPs). This includes mobile phone ringtones

The government is cracking down on this crime; yes it is against the law. You can be fined and even be put in prison. Music Pirating is costing production companies thousands of dollars a year. If this dilemma dosent end we will inevitably run out of people who will be inclined to produce new songs.

My personal Plan

I would stick to these rules;

Have an up to date Anti virus wall, and upgrade every 6 months.
Do not try and access bank details on a public computer
Do not download anything from unsecure sites
Never publish any personal details or full name on an online database
Learn some general information about computer virus’
Disable spyware
Do not reply to spam emails
Set you online programs to maximum security
Always scan documents with antivirus software before you open them

Well thanks for all you attention as I will now be signing off.

References

ONLINE MUSIC, DOWNLOADING and MUSIC COPYRIGHT (2008). APRA, & AMCOS. Retrieved May 20, 2008, from

http://www.apra.com.au/music-users/online_mobile/online_mobile.asp

Week 11, only two weeks to go.

2008-05-23T02:30:00.001-07:00

Week Eleven

Two weeks away.

So what day of the week do fish hate?

Friday

(You are supposed to laugh)

Questions:

What is a Boolean Search?

It is a search using terms between defined words; and, not.

What makes a good presentation?

Relevant information, connection with audience, passion, draws attention, conviction of audience and audience involvement.

How do you evaluate a website?

Authority, Currency, Coverage, Accuracy, Bias, Objective and Authorship.

What was the original purpose of the web?

For military and universities; researching and communication purposes.

This slide describes Data, Information and Knowledge;

Data is raw and has no existence or meaning.

Data - Research

While Information has been given meaning by way of relation connection.

Information – Building

Knowledge is the appropriate collection of information, with intent to be useful.

Knowledge – Composition

The process of Understanding is a cognitive and analytical process which can synthesize new knowledge from previous knowledge.

My Definitions;

Data- it is an extraction of a fact, no thought or synchronization involved with any other facts.

Information- a collection of facts, which are considered to relate or help to explore each other.

Knowledge- sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learnt.

Wisdom- an understanding of knowledge, you can explain and negotiate these concepts. Also you have a practical appreciative gained by relating current knowledge with previous knowledge.

When studying at university we are told to read broadly and deeply, this insists us to read a lot. When reading your brain can try and understand this information by going through these steps;

Data – collect facts.
Information – interpret facts into information that can be expanded, and related to other concepts.
Knowledge – the understanding to see the whole picture, ‘out side information’, all the differences, collections and similarities between concepts.
Wisdom – the full understanding and memorization of the concept.

As you read deeper into a topic your mind is slowly going through these steps. Eventually when you are to speak or write about the topic you have enough information to answer and understand most aspects.

Organizations that collect information

Government – votes to decide on parliament officials
ECU – our surveys from blackboard help to benefit the course in the future, also to ensure they have the right staff working in this unit.
Police- ask the public for help as there are many civilians who may be able to help solve crimes.
Doctors- so they can determine the correct diagnosis, and or prescription
Lawyers- ask question to help represent their client to their best capability

My representation of data, information, knowledge and wisdom;

Weekly readings

Knowledge is a complex and consuming process because someone has to do research and generate an opinion or point. Research can be expensive as research facilities, online databases and books are not all free. The federal, state and local government agencies are big producers of information and data. University research is regarded as scholarly research. For educational information to be published it must be peer reviewed.

Commercial newspapers, TV, magazines and some internet sites can invite all types of data; they can also produce informative data.

Nearly there, wow it’s nearly over.

References

Taylor, J.T. (2004). Enterprise Information Integration: A New Definition Thoughts from the Integration Consortium. DM Review.com. Retrieved May 20, 2008, from

http://www.dmreview.com/news/1009669-1.html

Zins, Dr. C., (2008). What is the meaning of "data", "information", and "knowledge"?. Knowledge Mapping Research. Retrieved May 20, 2008, from

http://www.success.co.il/is/dik.html

Week 10, double digits.

2008-05-23T02:29:00.005-07:00

Week Ten

We are finally in the double digits, the end must be soon.

I have a joke for you;

A blind guy on a bar stool shouts to the bartender, "Wanna hear a blonde joke?"

In a hushed voice, the guy next to him says, "Before you tell that joke, you should know something."

Our bartender IS blonde, the bouncer is blonde. I'm a 6' tall, 200 lb black belt. The guy sitting next to me is 6'2", weighs 225, and he's a rugby player. The fella to your right is 6'5" pushing 300 and he's a wrestler. Each one of US is blonde. Think about it, Mister. Do you still wanna tell that joke?"

The blind guy says, "Nah, not if I'm gonna have to explain it five times"

(Web master, 2005).

Back to work, this weeks lecture consisted of how to manage your information correctly.- Atom- based; books, paper, reports. We can see it and we know where it is.

Bit-based; digital reproductions, electronic content. Easy to edit and easy to copy or steal.

This table helps to explain the different types of file extensions.

You can actually install a desktop search engine; this program will search your documents and find the file you are looking for.

Organizing is important on any PC (personal computer), without organization you find it difficult to find any file or folder. There are many ways to organize your PC but the easiest way would be to create folders

Text - documents - images - WebPages

Bookmarks – presentations – assignments

Citations - References

If you categorize your work you can then save you file in the appropriate folder.

On my PC I have categorized between Units, and then assignments.

Tutorial

http://www.inette.com/aibtinette/favoritesI.html

I already knew how to use favorites on the www. My whole family uses one computer so we all want access your pages quickly and easily.

http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/nn/ch01c01.htm

Negroponte's ideas are still valid in a way, as atoms will still be used but Bit-based files are increasing their popularity due to cost effectiveness. This writer had wisdom to see the future, but hesitated to state the growing in technology. He explained the complications of a hard copy book or atom based files, as they may go out of print. But a digital book would not.

As Atom-based files would need to be taken or sent to its destination, you may find difficulties in time and cost. Transporting these documents would require you to drive the content to the destination or employ a courier to do it for you. A Bit-based document can be easily shared through Email or other networking databases, quickly and cost free.

“That same day, I had been in my hotel room shipping bits back and forth over the Internet, to and from MIT and elsewhere in the world. My bits, unlike PolyGram's atoms, were not caught in customs” (Negroponte, 1996).

In conclusion Negropontes ideas explain and support the new world of Bit-based technology. This process will save time and money, become the future for easy storage, and make the transportation of this data throughout our economy a lot easier.

Weekly readings

‘Grazing the Net’

Grazing the Net talks about students being introduced to the internet and discussing the good or bad aspects of that. The electronic highway is now becoming a priority when researching, and then people ask whether this online world of information is beneficial in any way as it does not increase learning or reading. One thing that an online database will make you do is think around your topic, think about keywords and read a lot around your topic.

Another week finished. Getting closer to the end

References

Negroponte, N. (1996). Being digital. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Online Edition, OBS. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from

http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/nn/bdcont.htm

Web master, (2005). Random Food Jokes. Aha Jokes.com. Retrieved May 10, 2008, from

http://www.ahajokes.com/random_food_jokes.shtml

Week 9, just around the corner.

2008-05-23T02:29:00.003-07:00

Week Nine

ITC,

What it is? Why it is used?

- Information and Communications Technology

- It is used to communicate through the internet. The main part of it is divided into two parts.

Place Dependant............ ..............Place Independent

The future of ICT use includes

- Mobile telephones...........................................................

- Video and tele-conferencing

- IPods, mp3, laptops

- Electronic email

They are can be Emails, Web logs - blogs, Wikiwebs and social networking programs like MSN Messenger, Myspace, Facebook or friendstar.

This lecture also discussed the major issues concerned with using ICT, such as the incapacity to convey emotion with the text, which makes it easy to confuse, give the wrong message, or send the wrong signal. ICT makes it available for anyone to talk to anyone, anywhere (+ / -). ITC’s are a great source of opinions’ or keywords you could use in a search.

University Style Email

There are many problems that you can face with an email account. You could be subjected to Spam emails. Spam Emails are also known as "bulk e-mail" or "junk e-mail," it is a detachment that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by e-mail.

Tutorial

http://groups.google.com.au/groups

Search words- r’n’b music artists

1090 hits, most were music groups, it was amazing how many people have these groups.

These are all the people in the

Rainbow Styles - Alt. Music, Mariah Carey group

These bulletins are very recent, so these members in this group must log on and contribute every day. I do not understand why someone would spend so much time doing this. As these groups may inform you will not always know if it is a fact, because most of the time it will probably be an opinion.

This group is only being a gossip site, talking about celebrities. They are trying to convince each other with their personal knowledge as well learn more about these celebrities. I would not be interested in joining this group.

http://groups.google.com.au/group/alt.music.mariah.carey/browse_thread/thread/267bf088d24625f2/014a309fed8ab43e?lnk=st&q=rnb+music+artists#014a309fed8ab43e

Podcasts

Search term- healthy eating

Name:

HealthyEating_ext.mp3

Details:

2:55 | 2.7MB | mp3

http://www.oakhurstdairy.com/healthy_faq.html

Name:

eating_healthy.mp3

Details:

0:40 | 634.5kB | mp3

http://www.trinity-hutch.com/trinity2003/broadcasting.html

Each podcast sounds professional and informative. You cannot believe all of these podcasts anyone can upload a podcast.

Advantages

- I have a friend doing a Bachelor of Teaching and she has lectures available over podcast. This is a very good idea because if she has missed the lecture or is running late she can still be informed on what is happening in the lecture.

- You can listen while sitting on a bus, train or even driving. You are learning and being informed by listening.

Weekly Readings

‘Guide to using email’

I looked over this document, but i already new all about email accounts, so i did not summarise.

‘The problem with SPAM’

This is about SPAM which can be defined as the Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE). It costs the sender nothing; this is why it is so attractive to businesses or perpetrators. You can transmit millions of messages for nothing and there is no limit to the amount of UBE being transmitted. This can create enormous problems for the processing and storage requirements of the internet service providers (ISP), as well as wasting peoples time deleting all the spam. UBE is very different from junk mail because it doesn’t cost the sender anything, but they can make a profit if only one person responds. UPC also costs the receiver money by have to download the data; this will make a difference in your ISP bill at the end of the month. The UBE provider can also make money from you by selling your email address to companies.

Another week comes to an end, but don’t get upset their will be one next week.

Week 8, here we go again.

2008-05-23T02:29:00.001-07:00

Week Eight

Evolution of the figure 8

Interesting?

This week’s lecture explained the different aspects of a good presentation. As we are currently doing speeches in another one of our units this is very beneficial.

Presentations

- Make the information relevant and important.

- Connect with the audience (know your audience)

- Have a passion for the topic (if you are bored the audience will be bored).

- Generate energy and draw attention towards yourself (make them look at you)

- Convince the audience (your ideas are the right ones)

- Use hooks, give the audience something to remember you by

- Involve the audience, worksheets, props or questions

- Use quick catch sentences

- Rehearse, know your equipment and have back ups

- Keep it simple, less is more

A speech still has to consist of an Introduction, Main Body and Conclusion, just like any essay. You also may be required to have references.

Tutorial

http://lasi.lynchburg.edu/benson_k/public/writing/oral.html

My Top Five List of Strategies to Delivering a Presentation

Speak with your audience in mind, if you are speaking to a general audience, you can define your terms and give more background information. If you are speaking to a specialized audience, you would spend more time expanding the information in you topic.
Know the level of expertise of the audience, use language suited to their level of knowledge/intelligence.
On PowerPoint slides minimize text, do not have more than one item or sentence on a slide.
Relax take your time an audience would rather hear a calm talk with limited information than a speech with lots of information spoken quickly.
Know your speech, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse and rehearse.

Here is one I prepared earlier;

I already knew how to use PowerPoint so I did not need any assistance with that. I had already created this PowerPoint slide for another unit, so I did not have to start at nothing. But as I had the opportunity to explain and expand on the slides in my speech, which I do not get here so I have to added extra text from my speech.

Well that’s me done, read me soon.

References

A. M. (2007).Fun Facts and Trivia. Retrieved May20, 2008, from

http://www.funfacts.com.au/facts-on-the-number-8/

Week 7, we are over half way.

2008-05-16T01:52:00.005-07:00

Week Seven

Endnote

Endnote is a referencing database. It makes referencing manageable. Endnote is a program that stores and creates your references for you and can be used in M.S. Word. This program allows you to insert in-text and end-text references straight into your writing. Endnote can be downloaded from the ECU website by students or teachers.

Through all types of study you will need to search and then state where you got your information from, this is referencing. If you do not reference your source then you are plagiarizing someone else’s work. You always should have an in-text reference at the point of writing and then an end text reference on the last page of the writing. The end-text reference needs to be formatted correctly, in this unit we use APA style, and it must always be in alphabetical order.

Exercise One; References

(Already done)

Hammond, T. (2000, November 20). YAHC: Handle parameters, DOI games, etc. Message posted to ref links electronic mailing list, archived at

http://www.doi.org/mailarchjieve/reflink/msg0008.html

Beck, S. E. (1997). The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It’s a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. Retrieved May 10, 2008, from

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

Storm, K. A. (2008). White Pride World Wide. Stormfront.org. Retrieved May 08, 2008, from Scotsman

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php/white-numbers-population- seem-strong-493547.html?s=3d 994d0f16aa3a34a56fa32d527890fb&

Strom, K. A. (1991). King's Plagiarism: Imitation, Insecurity and Transformation. The Journal of American History, 87.

Thompson, B. (2004). Finding what you want on the web. BBC News. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technolog y/3 362913.stm

Webmaster, (2005). Random Food Jokes. Aha Jokes.com. Retrieved May 10, 2008, from

http://www.ahajokes.com/random_food_jokes.shtml

Exercise Two; Endnote

Endnote is very confusing at first, and even the help section is confusing.

Once you understand the correct way it becomes a lot easier. I know I will use this program throughout my studies.

I know have three entries in Endnote.

Well thats it folks, read me next week.

Week 6, are we there yet?

2008-05-16T01:52:00.003-07:00

Week Six

Are we there yet?
Answer the following

3 weeks

+ 3 weeks

Now – The 6^th week of term

Hey I know it was a bit silly but it gets boring doing these blogs, so I have to try and keep myself entertained.

This week we learnt about ‘Evaluation and Authentication of information on the www’.

Facts

Anyone with access to a computer can create a web page
There are laws about what can be put on a web page, but anything can be uploaded onto the www.
Not all web page's are kept up to date
Not all websites are authentic and accurate

When evaluating websites you need to consider

Accuracy- Are there any spelling mistakes? Does the page have an introduction, main body and conclusion? Are there references?

Authority- Is there an author? Is this author qualified to write this information? Who is the publisher? Are they a real company?

Objectivity- Is this page designed to sway your opinion? Is it bias? Are there unnecessary advertisements?

Currency- Is the page dated? Was it created or updated in the last 5 years? Are there any expired links?

Coverage- What topics are covered? Does this information back up your previous knowledge? How in depth is the information?

(These questions are based on the Slides from week 6.)

There are many questions you need to ask before using any information off the www. These questions will help to determine whether the site is authentic. Little clues on the website may point out the + / - on the site. For example; if a URL has a ~ or % or even the word users or members, will indicate an unauthentic website. These sites may have interesting views and they could be used as a starting point of your investigation. Using keywords or opinions from here could then be used to research further and find accurate information to support this.

Always determine why someone has put this page on the web

- Is it to inform with facts and data?

- Explain or persuade?

- Sell?

This will help you to determine its authenticity.

These sites were created to inform students the impact the internet has on information and how to find the facts from opinions.

http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think1.html

http://www.taftcollege.edu/newTC/Academic/INCO48/sec6-4.htm

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

All these sites mainly say the same information about authenticating websites, just in different words. I like that there is interesting pictures and even a quiz, if you can call it that. They all stick to the same guide lines, just different questions.

§ On the World Wide Web it is becoming harder to find the exact information you are looking for, and it is no longer all free. “Not everything is on the Web” (Henderson, 1994).

§ When reading through websites look for uncertainty, persuasive language, and bias. “Accuracy is not easy to confirm. Information on a site cannot be evaluated unless you compare it to other sources. As with any research, you must test one source against another. Unfortunately, sometimes facts can be misleading” (Henderson, 1994).

§ Question all sources on the www. Have you googled them? Googling their name may bring other articles or pages they have written. This will show more of their qualifications, education or other false sites.

§ “Try to identify the reason the Web page was created in the first place. Determine if the main purpose is to inform, to persuade, or to sell you something. Advertising and opinion can both be disguised. If you know the motive behind the page's creation, you can better judge its content. And here is an important, if difficult, question to ask: What is not being said?” (Henderson, 1994). This says it all.

§ Accuracy is usually determined by spelling, grammar, punctuation and structure. A good site will demonstrate these things correctly. What language is being used? Does it look like a teenager has written it? A doctor will use medical words which may not be understood by a normal person but other medical practitioners will understand. You always need to check your facts to see if they are accurate.

§ The web holds many sources of information; journals, websites, books, music, documentaries and pictures. Why was this site made?

§ “Anyone can make a website” (Beck, 1997). Be aware of the difference between opinions and facts.

Exercise Evaluating

http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think1.html

First page- http://www.hippy.com/php/article-209.html

Accuracy- there was a couple minor spelling and grammar mistakes, .e.g.

Needs a capital.

Wrong spelling, but could be American spelling.

2. Authorship- no author, only publisher but is not an authorized publisher.

3. Purpose- I believe they are trying to inform with quotes.

4. Detail and Design- they have used old pictures of the people who they are quoting. And they have used pictures for a dramatic effect, e.g. guns

5. Overall Worth- This page does not give me enough information; I could use this as a start or maybe for an opinion, but not for actual facts. Personally I would not use this web page, as in Henderson’s website “if in doubt, doubt”.

Second Page- http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture27.html

1. Accuracy- this site consists of no spelling mistakes, it is written with formal language and is set up in a report structure.

Authorship- Stanley K. Schultz, Professor of History. I searched on Google for this author and he is a Professor from Wisconsin. He is a good source he has written numerous pieces on the History of America.
Purpose- Inform the public, with facts and examples. Mr. Schultz is trying to inform why these historians acted this way to dramatically change the future and now those actions have made a significance difference to our lives.
Detail and design- It is set up like a report. It has detailed facts which have been researched carefully.
Overall worth- you could use this website as a authentic source, it is full of facts, quotes, and useful key words. You could begin here or just use this as general information ion any assignment.

I did learn a lot about the information on the www this week, Did you?

Well that’s it for this week

References

Henderson, J. R. (1994). ICYouSee: T is for Thinking. Ithaca College Library. Retrieved May 10, 2008, from
http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think1.html

Beck, S. E. (1997). The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It’s a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. Retrieved May 10, 2008, from

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

Week 5, nearly half way.

2008-05-16T01:52:00.001-07:00

Week Five
We are nearly half way.

This week is all about Search Engines. When it comes to searching on the internet it is divided into two parts;

Search Engines .................................... Directories

Search engines:

Google, www.google.com

Yahoo, www.yahoo.com

Alta Vista, www.altravista.com

Alltheweb, alltheweb.com

Dogpile, www.dogpile.com

Ask Jeeves, www.askjeeves.com

Clusty, clusty.com

Teona, www.teona.com

Online directories are more efficient as every submission has to be edited by a human, which will ensure quality. This process will eliminate most misleading articles.

Directories:

DMOZ, dmoz.org

Google Directory, directory.google.com

Yahoo Directory, dir.yahoo.com

Look Smart, www.looksmart.com

About, www.about.com

There are many search engines available on the www, if you do not know how to search correctly using search engines then this can be difficult;
- you could get to many results
- you could bring back results that you didn’t want
- you could get heaps of advertisements

In this week’s tutorial…

Strategies to help structure a good search.

1. If you need to know a lot about a topic, then you should use a directory not a search engine.

2. If you are after exact phrases or statements then put them in quotation marks it will search all the words together, e.g. “to be or not to be”.

3. Use more than one search engine or directory.

4. Searching tools don’t usually like numbers or codes, so try and reword the search term or use narrowed down key words.

I successfully finished the quiz; I do have some pointers for anyone who needs some help.

Use keywords, you do not need the whole question. Using keywords will narrow down the search and help you to find exactly what you are looking for.
Put the key words in quotation marks. This will narrow down the search results because you are only searching for these specific words in sequel.
Add extra words, for example; How old was William Wordsworth when he died? In the search box you could write

"William Wordsworth" age

I just guessed with this one. I presumed it would search for the main name and narrow the search further to include this extra information too.

Summary;
Search engines hold millions of sites and will want to show you all of them. When searching you need to narrow down this topic as much as you can, to try and eliminate unnecessary information. The internet can create unlimited information but you need to be aware of what you understand as a fact, because it may be just someone’s opinion. Anyone can upload onto the World Wide Web so be careful when searching. Advanced search options are great when you are looking for scholarly information, just type in .edu in the domain type, this will only bring back these results.

This exercise taught me to use my previous knowledge and to think outside the box when searching through databases. Using other words or information you already know about your topic will help to narrow down the search and get a more specific result. When looking for specific information you can use other words as I have for the exercise, this will narrow down the topic even more. We use search engines to make the www easier and quicker to use, but not knowing how to use a search engine correctly may inevitably make it worse.

Weekly Readings-

‘History of the internet: (Chapter 4- Search Engines)’

In 1990 an archive was developed the first search engine, and in 1991 Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) developed Thinking Machines Corp. These search-engines didn’t survive because of technology and the competition between servers.

This website also mentions how to search correctly to find information on the www. It states the same information we have already covered in other readings.

Directories chosen by humans:
WWW Virtual Library- run by volunteers to ensure that the links are relevant and up to date.
Yahoo!- a commercial directory and one of the largest, but may contain advertisements.

Search engines
- Google
- Alta Vista
- Northern Light

‘Search Engine Optimization for Companies’

Well this week is over now, read on to see whats in store for next week.

Week 4, we are getting going

2008-03-28T01:45:00.000-07:00

Week four

Well I didn’t need to sit on the bus two hours each way to university.

It’s the Easter weekend.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah,
zip-a-dee-ay,
My, oh, my, what a wonderful day.
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way,
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!
- Lyrics: Ray Gilbert

Interesting Fact:
Four is the only number in the English language for which the number of letters in its name is equal to the number itself. This is also true in several other languages.

Reading up on the information provided in these lecture slides explained about the different complications when researching on the internet.
‘Make sure that when you are asked to conduct research, you understand and follow the steps in a logical and organized manner.’ (Week Four, Using the WWW)

Did you know the web was ‘developed by Tim Berners-Lee (a researcher at CERN) in 1989’ (Slides, Using the WWW). Actually he wasn’t the first one but he was the person credited for it. That is the same year the Little Mermaid was publicized by the Disney Studio (useless fact that you had to read).

I liked this information (it taught me something I didn’t know):
.com – commercial (of a commercial nature)
.org – organization (non-profit)
.net – network (when .com not available)
.gov – government
.edu - education
Knowing where the web page comes from will help you clarify if the text will be a good reference or not.

This will help me in my group project.

Web Browsers- Definition
According to http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/b/browser.html
‘A software application used to locate and display Web pages.’
I know this website isn’t an educational web page. I wouldn’t use it as a reference, but it’s a blog and I thought I had better say where I got the fact from.

There are also different Types of Web browsers.
§ Internet Explorer
§ Netscape Navigator
§ Firefox
At home I have Firefox, its supposed to be the ‘new’ improved Explorer web browser.

The slides for this week also had a page with all the ‘common interface shortcuts’.
For example;

Ctrl - C = Copy

Ctrl - P = Print

Ctrl - S = Save

Tutorial, glooming actual work.

http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/

This website should not be taken seriously, look at the cover. The animals look as if someone has crossed a platypus with a turtle (for a female) or a platypus and a possum (for a male).
Farquhar Farquharson, look at his description.
- Born- Probably.
- Sex- We profoundly hope not.
- Physique- Muckle and hairy.
These are a sure sign someone is playing a practical joke.
In Farquhar Farquharsons description it was stated that his hobby was to hunt haggis. Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish; it wouldn’t make sense to hunt a recipe.
One of the pages also has a Haggis Fact, Like the “TRex – which it not often compared – the haggis has eyes that react to movement”(Scotsman, 2008).
The URL for this site has .com for commercial use; an official country with an official government would have .gov. This indicates this is a commercial site not a government site.

http://www.molossia.org/

Come on, The Dead Dog War. ‘Siege was laid against our enemy, using our secret weapon, the ceaseless chatter of a hyperactive thirteen-year-old boy’ (Republic of Molossia, 2008).
If you click on the menu key- Special Links you will find a website http://www.geocities.com/micronations/ this website tells you how to create our own imaginary nation.
Also there is an icon entitling it is not a real city it is a intermicronational city. Another aspect was that I searched in Google the word intermicronational, it had no definitions, it only brought back the new updates on this site (every real word comes up with a definition on Google).
The URL ends with .org meaning organization (non-profit) when if it was a real nation it would have a .gov for a government.
I searched the name of the nation on Google; the only website available was this one. This means there is no other backing up information to support this nation’s authenticity.

The icon-

www.martinlutherking.org

The URL for this site pretty much tells you what to expect. As most URL’s are based on what is going to be on the site for example: www.myspace.com is MySpace and www.hotmail.com is Hotmail. This URL states Martin Luther King, so the site should theoretically give information about this famous black leader who helped dramatically with the American civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr..

My first impression of this site was that it was bias, as it only wanted to say that Martin Luther King Jr. was a terrible person, a traitor and a fraud.

After researching further and checking out accuracy of information I found that:

This site was constructed by Stormfront, in 2008. A ‘White Pride World Wide’ organization. If that isn’t a bias opinion I do not know what is.
After reading through this site I found spelling mistakes for example: “Ok first of I know this is according to wikpdeia ,but these number show some truth to them and iam shure there not much off........” (Stormfront, 2008).
There are references, but some information is being quoted by themselves, from their previous work (Storm, 1991).
When researching one of the references, a journal article, the only source I could find was from the website itself (Strom, n.d.). This article could not be found to be from any other online database and it had expired hyperlinks. This could jeopardize the authenticity of this article.
“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spent his last night on Earth having sex with two women at the motel and physically beating and abusing a third”(Storm, n.d.). I could not find any evidence of this. So I am questioning the source.

After reviewing and researching I am unsure about the quality of information in this page. I have found other information saying that Martin Luther King Jr. plagiarized many documents throughout his career, but it is hard to believe such a strong role model would do such a thing. This website truly changes the way people would look at Martin Luther King Jr.. I do not know if we should question his intentions, yes he may have plagiarized, but he created so much happiness and such a difference with the black civil rights in America. Martin Luther King Jr. deserves to keep his name and his honor.

Weekly readings:

‘A brief history of the internet’

Obtains information on the origins of the internet. The founder J.C.R. Lickliders, the first to actually write down the idea of networking in 1962 discussing his “Galactic Network” concept. This was the globally interconnected set of computers is which everyone could access data and programs from any site, which is similar to the internet we have today.

As history recalls internetting concepts, ARPANET (advanced research projects agency network) developed by DARPA was the world’s first operational packet switching network which then grew to become the internet. By the mid 1970s computer networks begun to come about wherever funding could be found for the purpose. BITNET and USENET were purpose built for schools and universities. The rapid growth of the internet is due to the open access to free documents.

‘History of the World-Wide-Web’

Samuel Morse in 1844 made the first step towards modern computers through the communication using electronic impulses, a special code that a sequences of pulses to letters of the alphabet. The second step was made my Charles Babbage who thought to build a “Difference Engine”. He made small errors in his calculations to make this so he never managed to build the engine although in 1991 the science museum in Kensington built a copy. In 1944 the first large scale automatic electromechanical calculator was built. These were some of the most important steps to how the internet started. This began the innovation that enabled communication and transmission of data between computers at different locations.

Alright that’s all the activities for this week, hope you can tune in and read me soon.

References:

Republic of Molossia (2008). Republic of Molossia Offical Website. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from

http://www.molossia.org/countryeng.html

Scotsman (2008). Haggis Hunt 2007/ 08. Scotsman.com. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from

http://haggishunt.scotsman.com/

Strom, K. A. (1991). King's Plagiarism: Imitation, Insecurity and Transformation. The Journal of American History, 87.

Storm, K. A. (n.d). Martin Luther King: A True Historical Examination. Retrieved May 08, 2008, from

www.martinlutherking.org

Storm, K. A. (2008). White Pride World Wide. Stormfront.org. Retrieved May 08, 2008, from Scotsman

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php/white-numbers-population- seem-strong-493547.html?s=3d994d0f16aa3a34a56fa32d527890fb&

The Little Mermaid (2008). Answers.com: Entertainment. Retrieved May, 08, 2008, from

http://www.answers.com/topic/the-little-mermaid-1989-film?cat=entertainment

Three, Slowly Coming Along

2008-03-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

Here we go....

Week three, we learned about numerous online Libraries and Databases. Dr. Helen Cripps made us form pairs or groups to discuss what we thought were online databases. She then asked the students for an abbreviated definition of an online database. I think only one person spoke, everyone else didn’t know.

Online databases

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/

Face Book: http://www.facebook.com/

Itunes: Download site- http://www.apple.com/downloads/

E.C.U’s database system:

E.C.U’s website has an online Database/ Library.

Procedure for using it

internet page - ecu.edu.au

click - Library

click – current students

find – Journal Articles

Select your category

When you have selected the text, look for boxes for the full text (Either blue or red).

The little Australian symbol indicates the information source is Australian.

When searching other university’s you will have to click on a box which will find the text for you.

This process indicated there is a lot of trouble finding specific information it was indeed quite difficult. This process as a student I needed to know, definitely because I have another unit that needs online database text (journals) to research in. Now I can just refer back to my notes if I ever get stuck. You will be surprised how much information E.C.U’s online database is giving us.

To search any website or online database you need to know

helpful search tips and functions.

1. Use several search engines, directories or online databases.

2. Read the search tips or use help information at each search engine.

3. Use several words or narrowed down key words

4. Guess a location, which category e.g. Phsycology, Law etc

5. Select by thinking about what you want

6. Back up to find where you are

7. Use advances search functions to narrow down the search

8. Check authenticity by researching; author and publisher

9. Check authenticity by checking the attitude throughout site, is it bias?

10. Reference every piece of writing, even your notes.

In the tutorial, as a class Rachel Mahncke (my tutorial teacher, that will be reading this) took us through E.C.U’s database and also showed us a couple of other sites that will the useful to us.

For example:

Proquest

Mediquest

First when I searched these two online libraries I didn’t know exactly if I was on the right page. I was going backwards and forwards through all different pages, so beware that you’re in the right page, the web holds a lot of information sometimes too much.

This week wasn’t the most entertaining week but I did need to know the information so it was educational, yes I will say it “I learnt alot of interesting information that will further my studies”. Maybe this course will help me after all, no just joking. I knew this course would get me into another subject which will eventually get me a Law Degree, but the information supplied will also help me during my degree. Even the referencing, each Lecturer going over the same information is making my mind understand it clearly (its getting drilled my your head).

Readings for the week:

'Finding what you want on the web'-

BBC news published Bill Thompson’s article on the 2^nd of January 2004. This article brought up issues surrounding search engines and general searching on the www. I found there are many search engines I had never even heard of for example; Kartoo, Fazzle and Vivisimo. Some search engines you are required to pay for like FT.com, but there are benefits to these search engines that you have to pay for, “instead of having to filter out adverts or wonder whether the results you are seeing are skewed by undeclared pay-for-placement deals” (Thompson, 2004). After reading this article I felt as if I new more about search engines, as the web is growing it is becoming harder to find exactly what you want. I will need to practice my search strategies.

'Bare Bones Lesson 7: Basic Search Tips'-

This produced helpful tips to use while searching these online databases. Simple strategies like;

- Plus and minus signs in front of words

- Quotation marks around phrases

- Boolean Search- uses AND, OR and NOT to link words and phrases for a more effective narrower search.

On another note I found a joke that I thought I would share with everyone.

Are caterpillars good to eat?

Johnny: Daddy, are caterpillars good to eat?

Father: Have I not told you never to mention such things during meals!

Mother: Why did you say that, Junior? Why did you ask the question?

Johnny: It's because I saw one on daddy's lettuce, but now it's gone

(Web master, 2005).

That’s about it, did you enjoy it?

Well read about me soon.

BYE…………………

References

Thompson, B. (2004). Finding what you want on the web. BBC News. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3362913.stm

Web master, (2005). Random Food Jokes. Aha Jokes.com. Retrieved May 10, 2008, from

http://www.ahajokes.com/random_food_jokes.shtml

Wow, week two

2008-03-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

Week Two

The course is getting started.

Office Applications, using different programs to help to produce university grade assignments. Week Two, I was unable to be at the campus, but I still revised the lecture slides and tutorial information.

Every week Dr. Helen Cripps gets everyone involved in the Lectures. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be there but I did read the slides. They demonstrated some computer programs that will be assisting us as a student through university. She illustrated an interesting graph on the third slide; it expressed tasks and then a program we could use to help complete the task.

This graph will help any new student get started when asked to present any of these tasks in this list.

The Lecture then just went over general aspects of these computing tasks.

I tried these next tutorial activities at home. I found that the Microsoft Word was quite simple, because I had used this program plenty of times. MS Word was really difficult to begin with. I downloaded the tip sheet and just had to sit down and play with it.

MS Word was a lot more complicated then I expected. The lines wouldn’t move for me, and the table wouldn’t produce the correct answers.

I constructed the table where I put all my activities for a whole week. Here it is.....

It was fun playing around with the settings, but it was also irritating when it didn’t do what I wanted. Eventually I got it; the tip sheet helped a lot.

From this table I formed a pie graph. Some aspects surprised me for example; I sleep 34% of my week and study 21%. No wonder I feel like there’s not enough time in one day.

For Microsoft word that was an easy one (I did use the tip sheet a little).

Our weekly readings:

'Using MS Word for APA tasks'.

There is a basic outline on what this is trying to say. The tool bar represents a tab which has the different groups inside it and each group has commands. If you cannot find a button that was on an older style Microsoft Word then you can click on the ‘dialog box launcher’ which has more that are not displayed tab. There are other options for example, you could use the smaller toolbar that you can pull up to another tab, to quickly format your work.

When you highlight your work a faded small toolbar appears and if you put your curser on top of it, it becomes solid.

There are short cuts when using Microsoft on the keyboard; each action tab has a keyboard short cut.

There are two other readings about adobe photo shop which explains all the different types of formats pictures can be saved in. The last reading was how to create a screen shot. I didn’t feel like I needed to read this because we went over the instructions in class.

Well that’s it for week two, thanks for reading and I will be writing more soon bye.

Until next time…………

Week 1

2008-02-29T00:43:00.000-08:00

This my beautiful screen dump.
I love the beach.

Lectures, Tutorials getting on top of it.

First week. We have been reminded everyday this week about course structure, blackboard and all the university procedures. I hope its not the same next week.

At least I have a good lecturer and tutorial teacher, they seem to know what their doing. My lecturer is Helen Cripps, she walks around to keep our attention, oh and to see what all of us are doing. And my tutorial teacher Rachel Mahncke, if you have any problems she actually explains it so you understand. This unit seems as if it wont be that bad.

This unit expresses all the elements of researching on the internet. Also characteristics of communication of information on the 'world wide web'. We can upload, download and even just write information about anything you'd like onto the web.

Every lecturer has told me about 'PLAGERISM', it is serious, you can be kicked out of university for plagerising someones work. Why come to university to copy someone else's work anyway? I want to judged on my knowledge not someone else's.

Well in the tutorial i had to demonstrate two things

-Go on my student email

-Go onto Blackboard

Today I learnt about a couple of different programs on the web which I never knew about.
Photo programs; photo bucket and image shack,
Blogs- internet journals
~I also created this account on Blogspot~
(Blogger an internet program to view profiles, photos and general gossip from other servers.)

Every week within this course we are expected to read numerous 'tip sheets'. These sheets explain all the extra characteristics to studying, researching and general computer safety. This week we were required to read:

- PC Lube & Tune ~ www.yale.edu/pclt/default.htm

This is a stop where you can find information on technical components of a computer. This site is free and available for everyone who wishes to read it. One part which I thought was interesting was “Introduction to PC Hardware”.

There are many common problems related to a PC. People lose pictures, documents, files and programs. To help yourself from losing these important files buy an external hard drive or USB, so you can back up everything. Nearly every PC has a virus protection programs or other malware on their computers. Most people who do not how to reinstall, and get virus’s actually will go and purchase an all new PC. There is software available but you need to check the authenticity of websites before downloading anything from it. There are many tricks that these hackers have placed the www, they can be telling you they are trying to help but actually send more virus’s. Looking after your computer is crucial and clean it regularly (delete old files or programs you no longer use). Also cl;ean the out side of you computer as there are many parts that can accumulate dust and other particles.
There are eight basic parts to a computer:
· Case, Power supply, Main board, CPU (and cooling tower), Memory Card, Video Card, Hard Disk, and a DVD Drive
This site also gives ideas and explanations on how to fix some of the components if there is a malfunction.

- How Stuff Works ~ www.howstuffworks.com/pc.htm

This page explores what a computer is and how it functions. This information is a lot like the other reading. The only extra would be of how computers link together, through input and output devices, ports and networking.

We are shown how to power up a computer by simply pressing the modem button and turning on the screen. Once it is loaded operating systems fall into six categories.

Processor management
Memory management
Device management
Storage management
Application Interface
User Interface

Well love to keep talking but thats it for now,

BYE..................

Little something about me

2008-02-28T23:55:00.000-08:00

~Introduction~

Hello, my name is Emily.
Welcome to my Blog, throughout this semester I will be writing in this demonstrating all my work, readings, examples and some extra bits of information. Hope its not too boring.
How about a little information about me?
I have enrolled in this course pretty much to get into another course. Eventually I would like to get a Law degree. Well I want to get into Criminal Law. Yes, yes I will be putting people in jail or helping them to stay out.

Well that is a little something about me.
Hope you enjoyed it if you want to know anymore read my blog.