week 12

Week twelves lecture was our final lecture that had to be posted as a journal entry on our blogs. The lecture was all bout the social and ethical issues that affect users of the world wide web. Justine explained why there are problems, what the problems are, and how we can protect ourselves. the reasons that there are problems with the web include,
Open protocols.
Anyone can publish information on the web.
No control of bias or unethical information.
A lot of smart or dumb people.Justine then explained that the main problems are, copyright, Intellectual properties, plagiarism, security and privacy. The following are definitions of each of the problems which i have recovered from dictionary.com
Copyright - works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death.
Intellectual properties - In law, intellectual property (IP) is an umbrella term for various legal entitlements which attach to certain names, written and recorded media, and inventions.
plagiarism - the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.
Security - a department or organization responsible for protection or safety.
Privacy - the state of being free from intrusion or disturbance in one's private life or affairs.
Justine identified several ways that we can protect ourselves from threats such as virus's and Trojans. The following are a list of ways for the best protection.
Install a firewall
Install anti-virus software
Be aware of email attachments
Do not give our personal information
Beware of advertising and spam emails.The lecture gave me a very in depth view on what different types of social and ethical issues are how the public can protect them selves from attacks over the web.This weeks workshop was all about making us understand more about how copyright and plagiarism will affect us as UNI students. I visited the Australian copyright website is search of articles that are relevant to a UNI student. The following is a list that I have found,
An introduction to copyright in Australia G010
Copyright in Australia: information sources G004
Education institutions G048
Fair use: some myths and misconceptions G091
Infringement: actions, remedies, offences, penalties G063
Internet: copying and downloading G056
Protecting your copyright G084
Research or study G053
Websites: creating & publishing on the Internet .

I have the Microsoft firewall program activated to provide that little bit extra. After visiting a few web pages that provide me with information on how virus's work and spread, I believe that I can protect myself from future threats by taking some simple precautions.
Over all this learning log I found very repetative at first and quite boring until I got to the point where i realised all the things we learn will greatly benefit me in my future computer use at home and at uni. As I was computer illiterate at the begining of the course, as Justine well might know hahaha but overall i have come out with some new knowledge, to me that's better than nothing :)

week 11

This weeks lecture was about data (datum) information and knowledge and how they relate. Justine first defined all three so we clearly unferstood each of them. We were shown that each had their own characteristics, importance, example of each and their relationship and how all three can interwine with eachother. The importance of these words were so we could have them not as information but as our knowlegdge which would help us to apply them to our assesments.

The definitions we received were,
Data - A fact or propistion
Information - A collection of facts and/or data that relate to each other
Knowledge - The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned.Justine then explained several characteristics of each. These characteristics gave me personally, a better understanding of what each is, and therefore, how they are related to each other. Understanding this made me understand what learning really is, and how learning is different to just remembering information. Justine also showed the following graph which gave us a pictorial view on what she had previously written and discussed.







To begin our workshop this week, we had to log onto a site that gave us definitions of the terms, data, information and knowledge. I used dictionary.com, and the following is what I have come up with.DATA - Individual facts, statistics, or items of information.
INFORMATION - 1. Knowledge gained through study, communication, research, instruction. 2. Knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance.
KNOWLEDGE - Acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition.
The following image is a graphical representation of the previous terms.





As a UNI student, understanding the relationship between these terms allows me to be able to understand how to turn basic pieces of data into information and then into my own knowledge. If I can understand this transformation then I will be able to interpret data and information differently, and use them in better ways when applying the data and information, as my own knowledge, to a piece of work.
Five organizations that could collect information from the public or their clients would be,
The government
Centrelink
ABS ( Australian Beureo of Statistics)
Tax Department
MedicareThese departments collect information in order to learn more about whom there dealing with. If they can understand the public, then they can provide better support for their clients.


Lastly our group assignment was due, we had allcompleted everything needed. I believe we did quite well and worked together as a group great.

week 10

This weeks lecture described the pros and cons connected with using online libraries and and catalogues. There are many points in which online libraries are useful such aspects as convenience, connection 24/7 , large range of access to alot of information, currency- like journals are up to date and its very easy to make notes like copy and pasting. Justine also went to further describe in detail about the different types of online libraries like musical, journals, electronic books and even artwork which let me add I had no adiea about! We were then shown with screen captures of examples of online recourses. some of these are;

• Text Repositories; http://classics.mit.edu/,http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/,http://vlib.org/



• Electronic Journals;http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/journal.html,ttp://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/ej.html,http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/toc.html



• Electronic Books:http://www.bartleby.com/ebook/,http://www.ipl.org/reading/books



• Music:http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sheetmusic/,http://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/,



• Art:http://www.artchive.com/,http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

However they also have some negative aspects. Which some of these libraries require continuous payments or member ships and they can only be found on the internet. The quality of the original work may be resized or hard to read because of the computers automatic networks. Also it's well established across the nation, well the world, that it is vitally important to reference web sites or you will be caught with plagerism! Which is a serious offence. Hence the APA system we use at this university and referencing is most likely what you will need to become extremely familiar with, which also includes in-text referencing which is aknowledging the web adress you recieved the information from. And if you are unable to refernce properly marks will automatically be deducted. Copyright issues is also a very serious matter, as many sites have their copyright logo and you may need to get permission from the company to use their information. However it is not required for notes. Part two of the lecture consisted of all the information needed to know about database, like what they are which is an organised collection of information sorted through the use of data fields. The different types of data are email directories, maps and atlases, news and media and many others. Justine then explained the advantages and disadvantages of data base. Like being comprehensive, current, searchable, browsable etc where as the disadvantages are lots of advertisements, a little difficult to navigate with and information overload! Overall online libraries and database are usefool tools to search the web and find information, many are free and up to date.

In the work shop the first activity we needed to complete was to get ten main points of useful function the online ecu library has to offer its fellow students. I came up with

1. Help guide to searching the web: this function allows new students or students who are unfamiliar with the functions the online library can offer. This would be very useful due to the fact it helps you understand what is expected of you to find the information you are looking for!


2. Word search for specific, or catorised books: This function allows you to find books easily without any issues.


3. Libraries by faculties: This function allows you to search throught the libraies catalogues even other catalogues if your library doesnt have the information or book you need. This is very helpful to get the x amount of information you need.


4. consistantly getting up dated: Thus the online library will always have correct information you can obtain and also recieving accurate new info, which allows students to get the best marks possible.


5. General information about the library: This gives all the necessary details on when the opening hours are, where it is located, contacting details, infomration on loaning, faculty terms and conditions.


6. Advanced searches: When looking through journal articles which we have all needed to do, going through advanced searches, you retrieve all the information necessary and to the point!


7. Find other books from other campuses and have them brought over for your use: This is very usefull to use as we are not only able to have the recourses at our own campus library but others too, which is more convenient to have alot more wider information for us.


8. Going throught different dates: Allows accurate information from certain dates, rather then paraciely accurate information from similar date.


9. The 'find' option: Is easy to navigate, makes alot more lives straightforward. As if you cant remeber how yu got to a certain area the find function is simple.


10. Ask Library: this function is also very useful as if you have any queries or concerns you just need to "ask the library"

The next activity was to go to the website http://www.medlineplus.gov/ to research anything on the topic of drugs and health. I chose brains and nerves. Which led me into the topic of amnesia see "memory" which was a link to how your brain workds. And to simplify it, they catogrised your brains as memory files. For when you remember something you pull up a file. However it describes how memory sometimes doesnt work to perfection. Like forgetting things, which may lead to the symptoms of amnesia. However forgetting where you pur your keys or someones name isnt so serious, but when you forget how to use a telephone or your way home starts to becom quite seriouse. There were many links describing all about the symptoms, why we get amnesia, treatments everything you could learn to. Every detail you wanted to know left a link which described that even further and so forth.

For the next section we had to chose one online tutorial. I chose one on stress, that sums up my life! :) I found out that continual stress can lead to hypertention and heart attacks. What i found very interesting is that it can also lead to other diseases such as migrans, headaches, ulcers and even cancer. This intigues me due to the fact I have alwasy suffered with migranes, as they come quite frequently starting at such a young age. (ahhh i have a diseassssseeee! :( haha no but I gues this has made me understand more) As I continued my reading they also had ways into relieving this gain of stress like the typical "timemanagment," organisation, staying happy and relax and not forgetting time to yourself. I guess we can all work on these. So overall this this site would be very helpful to those who may have a health problem or queary realating to yourself or someone close, to find out information about it. It's also good for general knowledge like i have just learnt. But also is very particular with the drugs and causes and effects and so forth, its so indepth that it could lead someone to use this information in the wrong way. Like some society problems we have such as people treating other without legal credibility. This may be a leading concern.

Our group also came together to structure exactly what each person was required to do. We decided quite well and I believe no one was at a disadvantage and it was all shared out equally. We also agreed on meeting oneanother during the week at uni to confirm what we had accomplished so far and if their were any inquiries or problems we would then deal with.

week 9

The lecture was based on the use of search engines on the Internet, and how you can search for a more effective result. The big problem in using internet is to get the right information. Search Engines are a very helpful device to get the information. Search engine can be put as travel agent, and give some extra information on your search. Search tools are divided in to two categories, search engines and directories. Search engine is a web-based application that provides with indices of web sites, which is based on your search, and a directory is a database which is much smaller than the search engine. Justine as per usual gave us an overview of what the lecture was going to cover like problems, interface, common search engines, types of quieries and search tips. The basic search engines are google, yahoo and web crawler which may have many problems associated with them. Such as;

• return many results even into the millions.




• limited relevance in sites from the search




• limited filtering of search




• broken links being shown as a possible site within the key search




• pages are ranks and quieried through alogrithms

Justine then explained how to solve these problems and how to change a large result into a more specific and smaller range. These changes are due to KEYWORDS, hence what are you specifically searching for. Or to use a phrase with " " marks to also make it more specific. You can also use "boolean" which means to connect two or more words without logical sentance structure for eg "netball+games+WA. Lastly another good point is to use advances search options, like chosing "pages from australia" or "search with result" or even clicking advanced options which limits results in specific searches.

The screen shot of the online quize

Where we had to answer questions about computers, im not going to lie i needed a little bit of help with a couple of the questions but over all i did ok i think! :)

The workshop consited of learning how to use search engines and their value. Firstly we had to get four strategies on the website http://www.monash.com/spidap.html which will structure a good search. This website had a good guide and helpful hints which are presented below.

• avoid using meta tags or very general terms- as when you are preparing for a search make sure you are specific in what you want to find. Words like and, is, the are irrelevant as all sites contain these words and they are also excluded from the search engine.





• Use Web Directory's such as Open web Directory Google, and Yahoo. These will give a better answer with less results and more specific to the search value.





• try to know what information you want, as it saves time with irrelevant information you may read.





• find a similar site to the original site you use, so you don't stray aside
  

There were four readings which we had to complete by going through four different websites to ensure our understandings of internet engines and how they wrk best.

http://www.monash.com/spidap.html

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156611

These two site gave similar information. Both of them portrayed how to use the internet in a smart and relevant way. Hence you get the information you need in the easiest steps. As Search enigne watch provides many links to teach you basic and advaced commands and several search engines which offer search assistance that many people over look! Monash website also gave current search ratings in which engines were the best to use, mostly it came up with google.

• Biggest, Fastest, Most Comprehensive: Google Runner-up: alltheweb




• Most Relevant Results: Google




• Best Advanced Search Refinement -- Altavista, Runner-up: alltheweb




• Best Search Engine For Kids: Ask Jeeves For Kids




• Best Directory: GoogleRunners-up: Yahoo, dmoz.com (Open Directory Project)

This information I found very useful as im only aware of yahoo and google as main search engines.

http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/ivh/chap4.htm

This website was about how the internet came about and some of its early stages. In the begining like all new inventions, there is always going to be peopple who are negative towards it. Some said the internet is a waste of time and you will never find what you want. Archie in 1990 was the first man you make a search engine in retrieving and finding computer files. It further describes the steps of how it searches through information.

http://www.virtualsalt.com/howlook.htm

The internet has an enormous quantity of information, people use the internet but question two main aspects; how can I find the information? and how do I know the information is correct? This website answers both of these questions. It's logical thinking how you can find the right information. This website explains need patience and creativity, as when you look into the library you a willing to spend more than five minutes to find what you want, the same goes with the internet. You need to search various engines and phrases to get the maximum result in finding relevant iformation to your topic. While knowing what is any good is another thing. Tips this website had to offer was extremely helpful as information that give these six areas conculdes my statment that it would be authentic;

• authros name




• authors title or postition




• author's Organizational Affiliation




• Date of Page Creation or Version




• Author's Contact Information




• Some of the Indicators of Information Quality

Week8

The lecture basically covered issues websites offer us and to understand that not all information released onto the net is correct. Hence Justine covered points how people can realise by evalutating websites to know if they are true or not. The main points are;

• Accuracy; Any one can publish anything on the net. Becarful about the information on the site.



• Authority; its hard to determine whether a person is real or not, sponsership isn't usually indicated.



• Objectivity; depending on the goals authors are trying to make, the information might not suit you. you need to watch out for minimum of bias and if there is any advertising on the webpage-be carful



• Currency; has the information been updated and how current are the links



• Coverage; how much information is covered, what level the bias is at, how indepth is the material and its main value

The turorial class consisted of visiting a couple of sights which help describe evaluating critical thinking about the WWW. The site http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html gave main points to help someone use the internet properly and wisely. eg;

• make sure your in the right place


• if in doubt go back


• consider the information given


• know what is happening


• looks at details, see if they reflect other sources


• destinguish between, web pages and pages found on the web

Second part of the workshop consisted of evaluating a coupled of websites from a list and writing about it under certain headings. The first one i chose to do was; http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade60.html

Accuracy: yes i believe this website has accuracy due to the fat that I searched other websites and came up with the same information and also has a logo at the bottom "library kingwood college" hence this information is reliable to my understanding

Authorship: as befor this site is set up by a library and the logo is a link to the official website

Purpose: the purpose is quite clear to inform others with as much evidentual facts on the 1960s i believe it does a great job covering many areas such as fashion, music, movies, historic events and technology with many links to describe a further idea.

Detail and design: the detail is very thorough, describing in best ways. And the layout is pretty good, font size easy to read, pitcures to break it up yet have meaning to the ideas therefor a do believe the design is very good

Overall worth: overall the website is authentic giving correct information, broading other poeples knowledge, its easy to understand as it's audience is for a wide range of ages and other links to further answer other questions about the sixties

Another website I am evalutating for this weeks workshop is http://www.hippy.com/php/sitetopics.php?topic=1 again covering the sixties.

Accuracy: it seems to depict typical and easily found information about the sixties, attained from open media sources.

Authorship: you can contact them through email but to how serious the site is about contacting I am unsure of. Maybe I could test them but when would it be to get a reply.

purpose: the site attempts to dictate a hyppies lifestyle eg; "follow the site and be a hippy" and attempts to change certain mentality's for example the over powering mega lord which we call the government?!?!

detail and design: the detail was again like the other website very thorough again with many links into other subjects. And the design i believe was also great due to their hole hippy theme i believe they succeeded as I got the feeling, with all crazy swirly colours etc.

overall worth: thus overall this site was in great detail had a good hippy theme yet the detailed information was still a little basic. It seemed to have relevant points but the bias conclude that they are only plausable to a certain extent and the information in this site might not be as accurate as we think!

Following in our own time the tutorial also consisted us forming our own groups for our group assignment which is to be due in three weeks time. As usual I was five minutes late to class ( i swear its the traffic Justine :) hehehe ) but to the people who did attend class they had already chosen groups. So i looked at the list and was "very brave" and asked a group of three to join them, resulting in YES!

Week 7

Week sevens lecture, Justine was introducing the definition of the purpose of the web versus the internet, it's historical perspective, defining the 'www,' web protocols and web browsers interface. At first i found it quite confusing to understand that the net is where you find computers and connections are cables between the computers while the web is where you find documents, sounds, videos, information etc. The web could not exist without the net as that's where computers communicate between programs. The web is like an abstract, in other words an imaginary space of information. But as Justine explained it more in thorough detail I was slowly understanding the whole concept of the difference between the the two but also how they relate to one another. Our lecturer further explained the historical perspective, when; in 1989 developed by Tim Berners-Lee due to the sharing research information. I found when defining the "www" was interesting as it is a universe of accessible information stored on computers. A network of servers are linked together by a common protocol, allowing access to millions of hypertext resources. I got a little confused with some of the different definitions Justine was explaining as some of them were common sense but others had different meanings and functions. I think with further explanation in the workshop I will understand. One of the areas the lecture truly helped me in was the 'Browser Interface, common interface shortcuts' As my understanding of computers is still quite slim :) but I do my best but with these shortcuts it makes my job so much faster. (yay!)



In workshop today Justine set us on a task with evaluating a website with a partner. The area we had to focus on was discussing the authenticity. We had to list four reasons the website was a joke and not to be taken too seriously, (as Justine put it spoof hahaha) The two websites we looked at were http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/ and http://www.molossia.org/

Befor reaching the sites me n my partner were convinsed that, although neither of us had ever heard of Molossia it presented a '.org' which is an organisation which gave the impression of authenticity however we were not jumping to conclusions until we were sure. While haggishunt gave more of a skeem/joke impression like an unfamiliar game we had never come across.

Following on the first website haggishunt, was a competition hence our first impressions were rather close. Yet was still official since it was giving away prizes. While the secon website Molossia seemed very strange n confusing. it was printed clearly on the homepage 'official website' why would it be just clearly stated? I also found it quite strange that they were presenting movies, radio sections on an 'official site.' I clicked into one of them and it came up with a list of various links of different subjects but what i found strange is that it had volume 1&2 etc in numeral numbers hence it gave me the impression it was like some kind of story or book. Lastly what gave it away that it was not authentic was one of the stories was about a war between Molossia and America, as an American burried a dead dog in Molossia's soil and later they found it, thus starte a war! I had never heard of that war and find it quite pittiful that this case would realli be a reality?!?!

Lastly we were to discuss about another website http://www.martinlutherking.org/ and our first impressions befor visiting the site. As my first impressions there was yet another .org repeating is an organistion yet I was going to be more weary this time. But then a website on the famous Martin Luther King giving me the impression of authenticity as he was a well known man and i doubt there would be a 'fake' website on him. So i expect to find out all information on him, his history, his story and what he did for his people. This site appears to have all the nessacery information on MLK and it looks as if its aimed for school students as it has essays, lyrics and pop quizes for school students. I went to the link "The Death of the Dream" where it gave the story of MLK being shot and its authenticity showed by giving the reference of 01/19/98 Newsweek, Page 62. Further look into this website my aussumption seems to be very wrong. As I further read the same article but as a skimmed through it the first time a second look to the bottom was a so called quote about MLK raping and brutally beating women! My ideas about this website started dramatically changing as then I looked deeper, the link to the essay were not accessible, the link to the civil right library was racial information and lynks to racial lyrics and also quote "Black History Month" informing me the non authencity with racial intention to smother the name Martin Luther King. Making me quite angry about the racial remarks agains this famous, remarkable man!



For this week the readings were about the history of the world wide web. The five chapters all present key elements which conclude how the world wide web came about and what caused it in the first place and where it started.

• From the developments of computers in the 1960s


• the change from local internet servers known as "ARPANET" to the internet


• the introduction of electonic mails known as emails


• the development of search engines to make finding relevent sites easier


• and basic net data. for example what internet sites were around in teh 1960s

I found that the readings were a more defined information following on from the lecture giving me a better understanding about the history of the internet, how it came about and the different functions to do with the web!

WEEK 6

Today in lecture Justine looked quite concerned, she found it quite rude and inappropriate from some of my fellow students who were disrupting the class. As I would be quite annoyed as well. Anyway she moved on and focased on the people who were interested to learn! :) A quick reminder that our blog enteries were due the following week and went over the marking key to advise us in the areas, in detail where most important. We also learnt about the new topic "endnote" which apprently is a good asset for us to get the hang of. We can also down load it on to our own computer for further reference. Endnote is all about refernceing! As we just did an annotated bibliography, Endnote would have been a great help. But now i no of the existance and it doesnt seem that difficult to use! Justine went through different aspects of referncing like, why reference? Which is to distinguish your work from others but to also allow the reader to look up more detail in their chosen subject. Justine tought me what the actual difference between referencing and bibliographies were. which is that referencing is a text you have refered to while bibliography is all that plus any source you have drawn any ideas from. I came out of this lecture with a better understanding of the programe endnote and how it will help me in the future and an indepth view on citing/quoting refernces and bibliographies. A well knowledgeable leacture.



Following on our tutorial class consisted of using endnote and the different areas the programe has to offer us. I played around with the software for a little to get the hang of some of the links like the differenct types of forms there are from journal articles to books etc. Since I am still learning with computers my knowledge about software itself has increased immensily over the last six weeks.

The first reading wasa guide to using endnote and supplying us with information about what it is. Like buiding a new library, what we search, how we find the different areas to reference, how to make citations anf reference using MS word. There are many more sections of endnote which I believe is a great necesstiy to have and know how it porperly workds. Endnote is a beneficial programe that every university student must own!