Simon's Blog

Blog for week 12

2008-05-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

Lecture Summary:

Week 12's lecture is about Social and Ethical Issues and protecting yourself and your PC on the World-Wide Web. The risk of identity theft is huge but can be easily avoided by simply not putting home numbers, street adress and/or your full name. Many securtiy issues arise from using the internet and some include "probe" attacks which involves content or password theft and virus contamination, which can be by opening an e-mail attachment or downloading software such as Spyware. As for internet play (people who play games over the internet) ways of securing yourself from viruses and other bugs are by installing a firewall, having a zone alarm or some anti-vrus software (which needs to updated regularly).

Tutorial Summary:

Review 5 information sheets from the Australian copyright council website (www.copyright.org.au) and record your findings.

The first information sheet i reviewed was Copyright in Australia: information sources. On this information sheet it gives a brief overview of that may be useful to anyone who is looking for information about copyright laws. It goes on to give other sources on where you can gain more information on the subject of copyright laws.

Research or study was the next information sheet i reviewed. The information provided in this reading is to assist people in knowing what they can copy for reasearch or study without permission from the copyright owner. What you are copying has to be deemed fair before you can, under some cirucmstances only 10% of a sources or book can be "copied".

Websites: creating & publishing on the Internet is third on the list. This sheet is intended for people who are involved in creating a website or publishing material on the internet. A whole website may not be copyrighted but components on that website could be, for example a logo on a website may be subject to copyright but not by the author/publisher/owner of the website.

The fourth information sheet I had a look at was Assigning & licensing rights. This information sheet explains how copyright can be transferred from person to person and ways in which a copyright owner may give permission to someone to use his or her work on their website. Before material can be used the copyright owner must sign an aggrement saying that they have allowed permission for this person to use their work, but they must acknowledge that they have used their work somewhere on their website or book etc.

Computer software is that last information sheet I viewed. This reading relates to people who write computer software and also contains some information which is relevant to people who use computer software. Computer programs are protected just the same as a novel or piece of art with the copyright law. The copyright act defines a computer program as "literay work". The copyright does not protect ideas but rather they way those ideas are conveyed by that person.

Reading 1 Summary: ‘EFF's Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy’

This reading goes through in detail the top 12 ways to protect your online privacy. Some of the things explained in this reading are common sense I think, for example, one of the tips on the page is "beware sites that offer some sort of reward or prize in exchange for your contact information or other personal details". You would think that people would know that these types of pop-ups and such are a scam. Other tips such as turn on cookies in your web browser are more advanced ways of protecting yourself than not clicking on pop-ups and spam mail. Cookies are a way of tracking where you have been, what you clicked on, how many times you have visited a certain website and cookies can automatically insert your password or username when allowed.

Reading 2 Summary: ‘Ethics in Computing - Social Justice Issues: Electronic Monitoring’

Could not access website.

Reading 3 Summary: ‘Brown & Michaels - Overview of Intellectual Property’

This reading is about how to protect your work (also known as intellectual property) by ways of copyright laws. This web page is as an introduction to the basic kinds of intellectual property protection. Three types of protection are patents, are appropriate in the protection of a method or doing something a certain way. Trademarks entail covering the name or some other logo which represents the source of a product or even a service. The third one copyrights, which protects work authorship, sculptures, painting etc.

Blog for week 11

2008-05-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Lecture Summary:

Week 11's lecture was all about data, information and knowledge. Data meaning a fact or proposition, the information being a collection of data or facts that can relate to one another in some way and knowledge being what you have learnt, discovered, or percieve to know. Throughout the lecture we learnt that to be knowledgeable in an area so you have to start off with a good amount of solid data then build your way up.

Tutorial Summary:
Based on your research, define data, information, knowledge and wisdom.

Data is like research that you have collected. Once you know what it is you are after then the data searching can begin, such as facts, figuers etc. This will then give you grounds on which you can back your arguement up or findings. Information is when you have collected significant amounts of data and begin to bring it all together so that everything makes sense. From this structure will emerge and conclusion/s can be drawn. Knowledge is when you make your own judgements based from the reasearch you have done and the conlusions that have been made from this. Data is interpreted differently and you are able to develop you own understanding of the topic at hand. Wisdom is at the top of the peak and is when from your own reasearch and understanding of the topic you can then draw up your own data for people to understand and look off.

How can the understanding of the relationship between data, information and knowledge assist your university study?

The relationship between the three can assist in univeristy study because of the fact that you can not just have one and not the others. To have good data you need information and kowledge. To have good knowledge you need data and information.

screen shot of that graph

List 5 organizations that collect information from their clients or the public. Why do they collect this information?

Edith Cown University

Various companies that have many people who work for them

Restaraunts

Toystores

Car manufacture's

They collect this data so they can get feedback on what can be improved and what changes should be made, if any at all.

Reading 1 Summary: http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm

This reading explains and goes through the understandings of data, information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. These three are essential to the making up of knowledge management. Information answers the "who", "what", "when", and "where" where as knowledge answers the "how" in questions. The understanding part is interpreted as "why" and then once all known, then this equates to wisdom.

Reading 2 Summary: http://otec.uoregon.edu/data-wisdom.htm

This reading is an instructional resource designed to assist students comprehend information literacy skills. The tests up on this website will help students assess their knowledge before beginning one of the tutorials on the website. There is a quiz for each lesson looked at which will test your understanding of the information which is presented to the students. The website focuses alot on knowledge and the production of it and organization of knowledge.

Blog for week 10

2008-05-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

Lecture Summary:

Week ten's lecture is all about managing the information you aqquire and sources you have referenced. Managing your information is easy but knowing where to find it again and where to store it can beomce a problem. When trying to locate a file on your computer using the search files function in the start menu is once of the easiest ways. It enables you to narrow your search down to which drive you saved it on or what name you saved it under. Having a desktop saerch engine such as Google is also another helpful way in which you can locate files.

Tutorial Summary:

Do you think Negroponte’s ideas are still relevant? Why?

I believe that Negroponte’s ideas are still relevant today because we still have sources of information such as newspaper’s, books and reports which are classified by Negroponte as Atom based information formats. A few pros about these types of information formats are:

They are easily concealed, easy to hide from others

Easily protected

Difficult to change and copy

On the other hand there are some cons about atom based information formats, for example:

Bulky, books pile up

Costly, could include shipping

Difficult to edit

Negroponte also talks about Bit based information formats such as information that has digital/electronic content and digital reproductions. Some products that are now updated were once Atom based information formats like snail mail and music which have now become e-mails and Mp3’s. Pros for Bit based formats are:

Flexibility, can move between formats

Cheap

Easily eidted

A few cons for bit based information formats are:

Privacy issues, can be stolen quite easily

Authenticity of the document

SPAM

Negroponte’s ideas stay relevant because every type of information or source of information can still be classified as either atom based or bit based information formats.

Reading 1 Summary: ‘Grazing the Net’

This reading is about getting students or young people ready to use the internet and them being able to distinguish between articles that are a credible source to take noted from and others that are not. The reading talks about raising "free range students" meaning this is a student that has adapted to the internet by finding the "grains" of information needed or by using the library to gather information.

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Blog for week 9

2008-05-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

Summary of lecture:

Todays lecture is all about communication and how it has changed in the past twenty years and also how this has helped society. The introduction of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has enabled us to share resources and communicate with people on the otherside of the world. Four types of communication explained in the lecture were chat rooms, bullentin boards, MSN messenger and by e-mail.

Summary of tutorial:

In todays tutorial we invesitigated the different ways people can communicate through using ICT (Information and Communication Technology). We were asked to visit the google website and enter a search term, in the tab groups section, on what interests us. Then we were to record our finding on what came up and look through some of the bullentin's posted. The same was done for podcasts.

What term did you enter and what did you find?

I entered "AFL Football" in the search bar for groups. Search results came back as people advertising jobs for AFL writers, the orgin of AFL and general information about why these people play AFL. Many of the bullentins posted are from either passionate supporters of an AFL team or just people who love AFL and seem to know alot about it.

What are the benefits of podcasts for university students?

Benefits for univeristy students are that they can take a reading from the lecture with them anywhere they want and listen to it as many times as they want. This way they won't end up behind on their work if they miss a lecture and can listen to it repeatedly before an exam. AFL Football screen shot

Reading Summary 1: Guide to using e-mail

This reading teaches people using e-mails to get to the point right away instead of going on and on about something. The reading explains if typing up a quick e-mail to a co-worker be sure not to miss out any keywords because then the recipient may not know what it is you are telling them or asking them. When starting an e-mail off it is polite to adress the recipient in the correct way instead of just "hey man" or "what up homie".

Reading Summary 2: The problem with SPAM

SPAM or also known as UBE (Unsolicitated Bulk E-mail) is a way of advertising at no cost to the sender. Thus this is why so many people recieve large amounts of unwanted e-mails. One major problem with SPAM is that many people are beginning to abandon using their e-mail because of the amount of SPAM they recieve and then have to delete everyday. When recieving SPAM the user could ultimately end up recieving a virus if the e-mail has been accidently clicked on.

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Blog for week 8

2008-05-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

Lecture summary:

Todays lecture was all about how to create and deliver a good presentation to your peeers. The slides go through a few tips and pointers on how to make your presentaion good. Different types of presentations are explained throughout the slides and how these should be used in context with your audience and what your presentaion is on. A good presentaion has the audience being interactive and doing something, this will help them learn and remember your presentation better. An audience will remember 60% more if it is being interactive so a large emphasis should be shown here. Speeches have a structured format, such as, a speech has an introduction, body and a conclusion.

Tutorial Summary:

List 5 strategies that will help you deliver a top-notch presentation:

Practice your presentation before hand over and over so you know your work inside and out.

Make sure your data in the presentation is correct, referenced and is reputable.

When using slides during the presntation Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). Don't put a whole essay on one slide limit it to 3 or 4 dot points per slide if you can.

Interact with your audience or get them to interact with you. It is proven that the audience will remember more of your speech if they interactive during the presentation.

Speak clearly and make eye contact with the audience.

Resource Summary: PowerPoint Tutorial

This website is a great guide for beginners on MS Power Point and even for people who know already how to use this program. The site goes through step by step how to create a slide, how to add motion and pictures to your presentation, and adding sound to it as well. It also explains how to create speaker notes which would be very helpful for any speaker and especially first time speakers at university.

Blog for week 7

2008-05-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Lecture Summary:

The lecture today was pretty much all about endnote, what it is, what it does, and how to use endnote. Endnote is used for citing or quoting references. Endnote also serves as a bibliography maker. It was explained to the students during the lecture that endnote is available for download from the ECU website and also how to use it. Endnote does not just deal with the APA style which is the most commonly used, but various other referencing styles can be selected.

Tutorial Summary:

For todays tutorial we were explained how to use the program endnote and had to complete a few tasks on referencing with endnote. This is helpful for in the future when you're referencing because endnote makes it much easier and quicker, and also once a source has been referenced it will stay in the database for ever so it can be used again later if need be.

Resource 1 Summary- ‘Endnote’

This reading goes through just about everything on endnote. From using endnote to configuring it and to what applications it is good for. This reading is good for anybody who is using endnote because everything is explained in detail and is easy to follow along with. Endnote is compatible with all types of style formating but at ECU we will mostly be using the APA style.

Resource 2 Summary- ‘Some additional endnote help’

This website provides additional help on how to use endnote and has examples. There are many links on this webpage that lead to downloadable updates of endote. The website provides the user with requirements on what is needed to run endnote on a Macintosh or on a Windows compatible computer.

Blog for week 6

2008-05-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

Lecture Summary:

Today's lecture was about how authentic the world wide web is and how anyone can put anything on the internet. Sources found on the internet should always be evaluated to check that they are credible sources to get information from, even with sites that you have to pay to see the information it could still be very bias or incorrect. Just because a site free to view does not mean it is not trustworthy or bad. A very good website with references and that relates to what you are looking for can sometimes be like trying to find a needle in a hay stack.

Tutorial Summary:

In the tutorial today we were asked to evaluate two of the following websites. http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html, http://www.taftcollege.edu/newTC/Academic/INCO48/sec6-4.htm, and http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html.

When evaluating two of these websites the criteria that should be used to base whether these sites are authentic were accuracy, authorship, purpose, detail/design and the website's overall worth to the user. During the tutorial we were also placed into groups of three to four for our group assignment and begin discussing how we would approach the group assignment.

List and compare strategies for evaluating information found on websites using the following webpages: http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html http://www.taftcollege.edu/newTC/Academic/INCO48/sec6-4.htm
http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html

The first website offers general information about evaluating and criticalling reviewing sources found on the web but does not give an in depth look on tips evaluating web sources. The site is a good beginners guide on the fundamentals on what to look for on a web page in terms of authenticity.

Website two focuses more on the content, copyright laws, citations and the domain names. Different domain names mean the website is affliated with different groups or organizations. For example a URL with the ending .gov means a nonmilitary government entity website and a URL with .edu means it is an educational institution website.

Website three covers five main points on what to look for and evaluate for an online website. The list is authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage. Under these headings the webpage has a few dot points on what the heading means. With this in mind I think that this site offers little information on evaluating web sources but is still useful. If all three websites were to be published into one website then this one website would offer the most information on how to evaluate a website.

Week 5

2008-04-06T03:06:00.000-07:00

Summary of today's Lecture:

Today's lecture was about the use of search engines on the web and how to narrow your searches by the use of characters such as - , ( ) and also the use of words like and, without, or and not. Our lecturer exlplained what everything meant on the screen at the search engines and their functions with your searching. Some examples of search engines are google, yahoo, altavista and dogpile.

Summary of Tutorial:

In the tutorial today we learnt some useful search tips/functions when using search engines. When using search engines you can not be to vague on what it is you are looking for otherwise millions of hits will come up and many of them irrelavent to what it is you are looking for. We were asked to visit the website www.monash.com/spidap.html and list four strategies found on this website on how to structure a good search when using online search engines. Some strategies such as the boolean theory, using keywords, the use of phrases and using other words with the same meaning or definition are just some of the ways to narrow your search.

Reading 1 Summary- ‘Robert Harris-Web Search Strategies’

This reading shows and explains the importance of using search engines and how to use them effectively. Using them effectively can be simple once you know how to, the use of keywords and phrases can narrow searches down. Tells how the internet has become a huge source of information but now it is just a matter of locating the right sources of information to use. If searching for a certain topic try typing in more than one key word or phrase that would come up in a reading on that topic, this should narrow the search down. This webpage also shows some of the more common abbreviations used in the computer language, with this the available the reader can familiarise themself with this lingo.

Reading 2 Summary- ‘ The History of the Internet: (Chap 4- Search Engines)’

This reading gives a brief rundown on the history of the internet and how it all began. In 1990 the first search engine was created for finding and retrieving computer files.

Reading 3 Summary- ‘Search Engine Optimization for Companies’

This is an overview of the internet's search engines and how the became what they are today and also what they started out like. There are thousands of search engines but some can and are more suitable to use than others.

Week Four

2008-03-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

Summary Of Lecture:

In today's lecture we looked at the differences between the Web and the Internet, the historial perspective of the Web and the defining what exactly the WWW is. The Web we found out was by Tim Berners-Lee in the year 1989. He developed it orginally to enable people in his network to share research information with one another.

Summary of Tutorial:

In the tutorial today we viewed two different sites http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/, http://www.molossia.org/ and were asked to discuss each website's authenticity. We had to find at least four clues as to how we could tell that the websites were a "hoax" or a "spoof". Once completed the next task was to write down what we would expect from the website http://www.martinlutherking.org/ before we opened it and viewed its contents. Then after we opened the page and wrote down our first impressions of the website we were asked what we actually thought of the website and why you would think it was written the way it was. Personally i thought it was a racist website but everyboday is entitled to their own opinion on the subject.

How have the websites attempted to appear authentic?

They have tried to appear authentic with references, date of publishment and how recently it is updated and also that you are able to contact them with any queries you may have.

Four clues that give away each site as being a spoof?

On the haggis hunt website the first clue to give away that it is a spoof is that haggis is actually sheep's stomach and is not an animal. Clue two is that all the facts and history is incorrect. Clue three is that they say the "haggis" live with the "lochness monster" which is not true any how. Clue four is the mispelling of simple words throughout the website.

On the molossia website the first clue which gives away that it is not authentic is that molossia is not even a country or place on earth. Clue two is there is no such thing as a Intermicronational Geophysical Year or ImGY. Clue three, absurd made up stories such as "On the evening of July 3rd, 1999 XXII, covert forces from the United States crossed the Molossian Frontier without permission and buried a dead dog in sovereign Molossian territory". Finally clue four is that the republic of molossia claimed to buy a section of water in the North Pacific Ocean for$25.00.

Before visiting www.martinlutherking.org, what did you expect to find on it based on the URL?

I expected to find an outline of Martin Luther King's life or an autobiography on himself. Based on the URL it is an organization dedicated to him that has created this website.

After visiting the site, what was your first impression of it?

That the site is very one sided and bias. I believe it is not an accurate portrayal of Martin Luther King.

Reading 1 Summary- ‘A brief history of the internet’

This reading briefly sums up the internet and what it has become in today's modern society. The internet was primarily used only as a means to aquire academic sources or reaseasrch but now it has become harder in some ways to locate certain sources on the internet due to "spam" and misleading information being put on websites. This is largely due to the fact that the internet can not exactly be "monitored" all the time. The reading also explains in detail how the sharing of information went from being just shared between two people 10 kilometre's away, to people being millions of kilometre's away and being able to share alot of information via the internet.

Reading 2 Summary- ‘ History of the World-wide Web’

This website is broken up into seperate chapters. These chapters explain the development of computers, history of the world wide web and it how it has become what it is, electronic mail, search engines and basic net data. These seperate web pages explain how these applications changed the way reasearch and contacting each other was done and how it has evolved over the years to become more sophisticated.

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Week Three

2008-03-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

Summary Of Lecture:

In today's lecture we were told all about Online Librarie's and Database's and how we can use them to our advantage for research. Using the Online Database's makes it more convenient and more accessible to everyone (easier to copy, paste and to take notes from). A few types of Online Database's are Journals, Electronic Book and also Electronic Artworks. On the down side of Online Librarie's some sources and pages could be out-dated and some pages or sites you may have to pay and subscribe to. The artwork is orginal which is good but because it is original it could have a low resolution and therfore making it harder to see every bit of detail. Today's lecture also included how things have changed in terms of libraries in 300BC to online libraries now days and the advantages and disadvantages of both of the two. With the use of online libraries access is more readily available although it can be hard at time to navigate your way through the page to find what it is that you are looking for. Always remember the copyright and plagiarism laws when viewing and taking notes from these sources as well.

Summary Of Tutorial:

In the tutorial we learnt how to use ECU's online library service's and were asked to locate an online journal on the economic impact of global warming on business. Once this was completed we were asked to visit the MEDline plus website and spend some time going through the health topics and drug information.

10 useful functions/search tips

Natural Language- One of the easiest methods, just enter a full sentence ( your assignment topic) as your search query and the software should translate it into a search for that database.

Keyword Searching- A common method involved for searching the internet. Enter selected words making sure spelling is correct and plurals because only exact matches will come up.

Boolean Searching- Boolean searching is a system of linking terms with commands known as operators to specifiy the relationship between the terms in the search request. These operators are (AND, OR, NOT, NEAR, WITHIN and ADJ).

Modified Boolean Searching- A series of symbols is used, rather than operators, to specify the relationship between the terms in the search request. An examples is "a phrase being enclosed in commas".

Using Search Screen Tools- Read the search screens of the search tool you wish to use carefully as they often offer extra search features

Be Specific- For example use early childhood education not just education or use global warming not just environment

Medline plus users

The website http://www.medlineplus.gov/ would be used by people who work in the medical field and would use it if they were uncertain of a diagnosis of a disease or something to that effect. Medlineplus is a trusted source which can direct you to information that can help answer any health questions you have.

Reading 1 Summary- ‘Finding what you want on the web’

Bill Thompson explains how he has used only Google as his primary search engine for years but now wants to expand his horizons and use other search engines to find either better sources or more credible sources. Bill explains some of the fundamentals of being able to find exactly what it is you are looking/searching for on the internet.

Reading 2 Summary- 'Bare Bones Lesson 7: Basic Search Tips'

This website and in particular the bare bones lesson 7 web page explains different techniques on how to find what you are looking for when using search engines. The whole website is devoted to helping people evaluate websites and to find exactly what it is they are looking for by a means of using search engines.

Blog For Week Two

2008-03-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

Summary Of Lecture:

In today’s lecture we were told about what PC’s are commonly used for and which applications are used for what. PC’s are most commonly used for handling files, word processing, spread sheets, presentations, internet access, e-mails and to view PDF’s. Some of the general skills needed are the knowledge regarding which applications suit the specific task at hand and how to specifically use that application.

Summary Of Tutorial:

For today's tutorial we used Microsoft Word and learnt how to adjust the Typeface, Margins & Alignment, Line Spacing, Create Headings and to put a Footer and Header on a page. Next we opened Microsoft Excel. We were given a template of a table which we had to create ourself and include numbers in this table. After this from the table we were able to create a Pie Chart and Column Graph. This is very useful how to know because these types of applications are commonly used in the workforce by everyone.

Reading 1 Summary- ‘Using MS Word for APA tasks’

This PDF is a self explanitory tutorial in which the user learns many different techniques on how to set out work and the formatting of work in Microsoft Word. It goes step by step on what to do from back spacing or deleting work all the way through to customizing your toolbar to suit your needs and creating dot leaders for contents page's. This is useful for anyone who is to create a profesionaly typed and set out document.

Reading 2 Summary- ‘Graphic File Formats’

Today's reading was on file formats and what they are and mean. The most commonly used file format we will be using is JPEG. JPEG file formats are used mostly to display images on the internet. The other types of file formats pictures are saved in are as follows: Bitmap (.bmp), which is the standard Windows image format for PC's. If an image is to be saved as a desktop it would be saved as a bitmap image. Compuserve or (.gif) is a compressed format which is designed to minimize file transfer over phone lines. The Tagged Image File Format (.tiff) is used as an exchanging of files between computer platforms such as Macintosh and Windows (PC's) computers, this is because the file format is compatible with both types of applications. Photoshop Document or (.psd/.psp/.spp) are image formats that can be layed ontop of one another like pieces of paper. If image one has a picture on it and image two has text on it image two can be layed ontop of image one and both images will still be visible or vice versa.

Blog For Week One

2008-02-29T00:03:00.000-08:00

Summary of today's lecture:

In today's lecture we were told about what the unit is on (which is accessing knowledge through library and information & communications techonlogies) and how this unit is going to benefit our studies. The lecture covered all aspects of what programs are being used and what we can achieve with these programs.

Summary of today's tutorial:

During the tutorial i learnt how to use Blackboard and access unit resources. Learning how to use Blackboard. Learning how to use Blackboard and being able to access unit resources is very helpful because from there I can access my lecture's slides and see what this week's tutorial is on which enables me to prepare myself better.

Reading 1 Summary- ‘PC Lube & Tune’

The PC Lube and Tune website is used as a means to educate people on the computer "jargen" and what certain words or abbrieviations mean. Many hyperlinks on this website go to other web pages which explain in more detail their heading.

Reading 2 Summary- ‘How Stuff Works’

This website talks about how a computer works, what it is made up of and what different functions it is capable of. This homepage shows the various components of the computer and when these parts are clicked on they go into more detail of what each part does and its function in the bigger scheme of things.