Week Twelve, Social & Ethical Issues, 23rd October 2007

Lecture

The final blog entry today. The lecture began with problems that are associated with the Internet, Internet information and Internet users. These problems are due to copyright information, plagiarism, security and privacy. The lecture today also stated the characteristics of these problems and what happens when someone disobeys or misconduct. Here in ECU any misconduct or plagiarism results in assignments not being accepted or in a more serious case expelled from the University.

Reading

The last reading consisted on Viruses, Threats and Trojans and how to protect against these things. The reading also mentions a brief history of they are created and how they are distributed through via E-mail. The reading also metioned the Copyright and the Internet Laws that one must adhere in order to prevent any misconduct.

Workshop

The final workshop activity and blog entry of the semester. Today the workshop consisted in looking at laws of misconduct and plagiarism.

I think the most relevant for an undergraduate is the Assigning and Licensing Rights and Internet: Copyright and Downloading. This is important as the assignments that are submitted in ECU falls under this and saying that the assignment is entirely your work. By signing a sheet in ECU's case a cover sheet. Some other rights that be relevant are

The Assigning and Licensing Rights.

Media and Music Studies

• Film
• Music
• Dance

Art

• Artwork

Computer Studies

• Computer Software

The next activity consisted in having to do a summary of the Australia vs U.S copyright laws.

The Australian vs U.S copyright laws says that they have somewhat an identical laws with different exception. In saying that it consist of copyright laws that can be done without permission in U.s can't be done in Australia. This is probably some the most recognizable copyright laws. All in all they are somewhat the same having same laws for copy right materials.

The last acivity is plan to protect myself from threats, viruses and trojans

Having a good Internat security such as Norton Anti Virus is a good way to protect myself from Viruses and Trojans, By having a daily routine checks of my computer. Also having spam blockers is good thing to prevent my computer from being spam.

Week Eleven, Building Knowledge, 16th October 2007

Lecture

Today the lecture was about Data, Information and Knowledge. The lecture began by giving a brief definition of Data, Information and Knowledge. Each had a different characteristics in and how they are different. As the lecture proceeded these each are connected as Information must be relevant to the Data and Knowledge must be a justification of both Data and Information. These three can be Incorporated with the assignments using different strategies.

Reading
The reading consisted in a complete explanation of Inforamtion, Data and Knowledge to expand on the breif explanation in the lecture today. It also consisted more information on how it these can relate to Assignments and help a student gather information.

Workshop

The workshop today asked me to find dictionary meanings of these terms: Data, Knowledge and Information.

Data - Is a form of factual information which has no bias, and has no intrinsic meaning or value.

Infromation - Has no uncertain value, but has strong meaning and it is permanent and it summarizes everything.

Knowledge - Is extremely valuable and can be subjected to bias it can be general or specific.

the next part to this was to draw a representation ot these term which is seen below

As shown on the diagram Data any Information are connected since having data is pretty mush useless without the information. By having knowledge of these two you summarise both information and data. This has been proved to be very useful when gathering information for a student, since finding data and having information helps me gain knowledge and understanding of it.

The last activity for this workshop includes 5 organisations that might collect data, information and knowledge.

1. Fast Food Restuarants - They collect it for things such as records of sales, money earned in a month if the restuarant is profiting or losing profits
2. Banks - Collect information on their customers such their withdrawal and deposits monthly.
3. Retail Outlet (Coles/Myer/K-Mart) - Obtain information on stocks also the same as a restaurants check for profits.
4. Schools - Check records of students and how well they are going with their studies.
5. Medical - Medical records shows history of patients to help treat patients.

Week Ten, Online Libraries & Databases, 9th October 2007

Lecture

Today's lecture was about the introduction of online libraries and databases. The lecture was divided in two parts Online Libraries then Online Databases.

The first part of the lecture gave a brief introduction on how online libraries work such why we should use it and the types of online libraries. The lecture also gave us multiple examples of online resources. It also stated the limitations of online libraries and why it should be referenced correctly to avoid copyright issues.

The second part showed how online databases work which are almost similar to online libraries. It also gave us examples such as E-mail directories, people searches, maps and atlases etc. Some of the advantages and disadvantages were shown for the online databases.

Workshop

The workshop consisted of me looking through 2 websites and finding any useful functions it might have.

The first website was the ECU library website where I am to list 10 useful functions of the site.

• Journal Articles
• ECU Referencing Guide
• Quick Catalogue Search
• Websites
• Books, CD's and More
• Library Podcast
• Resources for Students
• ECU Library
• Ask the Library
• SIMO

The second activity consisted in finding out who might find the interactive tutorials useful.

I think that this website is design to give information about the topic chosen from the list whether it is AIDS, Hepatitis or Malaria etc. This website is useful for anyone who want to obtain any information on these medical topic just although not brief it just like a online lecture introducing and giving out the main ideas of the topic.

Week Nine, Using Search Engines, 2nd October 2007

Lecture

Today the lecture showed how to use a search engine such as google, yahoo, alltheweb etc. These search engines help when researching a topic or finding information. The lecture also showed the problems of search engines which is that too many results appear when searching something in the web, the limited filter quality meaning you might only get 3 different results whilst having 300 of the same thing. This can be fixed by limiting your search by adding phrases such as +and And in conjuction with keywords.

Reading

The Reading had consisted mostly of Tips and strategies for using a search engine such as refining your search by using keywords. It also provided some good search engines that are recommended by people to find information. The reading also included a brief history of search engines and how they came to be.

Workshop

The workshop consisted in creating four strategies that will help structure a good search.

• Know where to look first?
• Fine tune your search
• Be refined
• Anticipate the answers

The second activity consisted in answering a questionaire in the web whilst searching the answer. The answers to the quiz are bleow:

1. Incas
2. Violet
3. Birchard
4. Tennyson
5. Shells
6. Maps
7. Puccini
8. Volcano
9. Basenji
10. Bosch
11. Waterloo
12. Ants
13. Leo
14. Siam
15. Mushrooms
16. Orangutan
17. Pluto
18. Benito
19. Lizard
20. Napoleon

After answering the quiz I recieved a certificate.

I used mostly google and yahoo search engine, I limited my search by finding keywords in the questions and using them in the search engine to obtain my answers.

Week Eight, Evaluation & Authentication, 18th September 2007

Lecture

The lecture explains the quality of getting information from the web by giving us some hints such as Accuracy, Authority, Objectivity, Currency and Coverage. The lecture also introduces us what to look out for when identifying a website. Also a brief introduction on the IQ Context was also mentioned.

Reading

The reading mostly on how to evaulate a web page using tips and strategies and what to look out for in doing an evaluation for a web page. Each readings have different methods of approach and by combining these strategie I can evaluate a web page using these strategies.

Workshop

The workshop had me evaluating webpages and checking for their authentication also a summary of the strategies of researching.

When using the web as research tool one must be careful. By using these strategies one can get the right information on the right topic. Make sure you are looking at the right place since the web is a massive information based system any information can placed in the web. Since almost anyone can use the web read research materials and look for ambiguity, manipulative reasoning, and bias. Examine assumptions, including and perhaps especially, your own. Try to find out who wrote the source such as the name of the author or the agency and something that indicates they are a good author. Try to identify why the wenpage was created and it's reason probably to persuade you or sell something. Look for internal clues such as spelling and grammar also take note of the depth of material covered. See if any data or statistics are placed and are actual data not made up ones.

The next activity had evaluating two sites:

The link from American Cultural History: 1960 - 1969

The website was plain and had no design but the research material covered was in depth as it talk about the cultural history of america in the 60's such as fashion, lifestyle, sport etc. Each material covered were reference from books. This webpage was probably made to show the reader of how people lived in the 60's.

The link from the Almost Great Society: The 1960's

Although the website had a design to kook like a notebook, the research material covered were in depth but showed no evidence of reference or where the author obtain the information the only thing he referenced were pictures. Although it looks accurate the material might be made up since no real evidence shows such as reference. The purpose of this was probably to show someone the about the history of the Civil War in America.

Week Seven, Using the WWW, 11th September 2007

Lecture

The lecture consisted on showing us how to use the World Wide Web (WWW). It showed us how the Internet is different from the web such as the sort of information obtain in the web are sounds, videos and documents, whilst the net showed computers. The lecture also stated different Internet terms such DNS (Domain Name System) and HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). The was created by Tim Berners-Lee 1989 to facilitate information sharing. This lecture also stated shortcuts to the key board and how to use it.

Reading

The reading for week 7 consisted of search engines that are commonly used by people that helps with seraching. A brief history of the WWW was also added in the reading to provide a little background of how the WWW came to be.

Workshop

The workshop this week consisted of us identifying and authenticating websites. The first activity was to show two websites and analyze it's authenticity.

Haggishunt.scotsman.com

• The website has no author of the page.
• The publisher was scotsman.com haggishunt is just a link to that website
• T.he webpage is scattered with various advertisement links.
• Mostly photos on the webpage.

Molossia.org

• Most article's in the website has no author.
• One of the article shows at the bottom a note which states " This is not a recognized educational institution, military or otherwise, and is not accredited by any organization" which is not a reliable source of information.
• Most of the article is all pictures with little information.
• It says that this webpage has been around for 30 years starting at 1977, which is false since the net started at 1989.

The next acitvity consisted in predicting what to expect on this website - http://www.martinlutherking.org/.

What i expect from this site is probably articles relating to Martin Luther King like his biography his works such as his famous speech etc. judging from the web address this is a non profit organisation which explains the .org so I expect opinions from people who did website about Martin Luther King.

After visiting the site it gave me the impression of a fake website which shows made stories of Martin Luther King.

After looking around the website I noticed that most the articles are referenced and obtain from different sources making it actually real and not made stories of Martin Luther King.

Week Six, EndNote Libraries, 4th September 2007

Lecture

The weeks lecture consisted of using the Endnote program. It explained that Endnote was a program that manages the reference of a student and also makes the reference. It can also be used as a searcher and can be integrated for Microsoft Word.


Workshop

The workshop activity consisted in using this Endnote program and organizing references that were given out by the tutorial task. As seen below:



My opinion on Endnote program is that I find it very useful in organizing the references of a student who handles various information's such as journals, books etc. After doing the activity with the references. As seen below:



I come to my opinion that Endnote is very useful program for Uni students such as myself in handling references and organizing them.

Week Five, Information Management, 28th August 2007

Lecture

The lecture this week consisted of Information Management. The lecture explained two types of information format :

• Atom Based
• Bit Based

These two type of information has many types of Pros and Cons, as the lecture explained the atom based information is information such as books, encyclopedia etc, and bit based is information such as a website. The lecture also explained how to manage these types of information for easy access and use.

Workshop

The workshop activity consist of two parts. The first part being organizing our favourite websites in folders the example of my favourite websites organized can seen below.

Tutorial Activity Task 1 -

The second task is to write a 250 word log that explains the pros and cons of atom based and bit based information.

The article states that atom based info and bit based info are the types of information commonly seen today and most people have problems managing both information. The article states that atom based information has many pros and cons such as :

Pros

• Atoms are worth money
• Can be seen such as CD, Cassettes etc.
• Can delivered and carried

Cons

• Worth money on shipping
• Most probable will be held by customs
• Can be out of print

Also the pros and cons of bit based information :

Pros

• Priceless
• Easily shipped by means of Internet
• Can't be caught by Customs

Cons

• Can be copied
• Not worth money
• Doesn't have the quality of printed books

These pros and cons are the basis of choosing the best possible type of information for you. Having these it is easy to distinguish which sort of information should be kept at atom or which should be kept as based this is probably the best way to determine how to manage your information.

Article of DNA of Information -

Week Four, Communications, 21st August 2007

Lecture

The lecture this week consisted of introducing the concept of ICT-Information Communication Technology. The lecture emphasise mostly on what sort of ICT communication are out there that are available to students.


Workshop

The workshop activity consisted in going to Google and researching a topic that interest me and reading messages and bulletin boards under the groups tab in Google. The second part was to listen to about two podcast that interest me.


Google Groups Research -


Some potential benefits of a podcast is listening to information such as lectures, speeches or conferences. This is useful for students as they can download the information and place in devices such as MP3's of ipod's. This information can used for assignments and as a reference. Another great way of having a podcast is the way you can gain information on the go while your working out or travelling. These are probably some of the benefits of a podcast.


Podcast -

I think this workshop activity was interesting I never used the Group Tab of Google to obtain information from different people. The podcast was also interesting as i never used podcast before and never listen to one before.

Week Three, Presentation Strategies, 14th August 2007

Lecture

The lecture consisted of how to present Presentations more effectively that will help the audience engage the presentation. It included the make up of a presentation which included a basic Introduction, Main body and Conclusion and also what sort of aspects that needs to be included to make them attention getting. The lecture also another Microsoft application known as Powerpoint. It is said that using Powerpoint will help in presenting a presentation but not all the time. Powerpoint is used for it's slides for easy presenting in order and also for grabbing attention with features such as background, sound effects and pictures.


Workshop

The workshop activity was to make a Powerpoint slide of a topic that interest me. This is shown below.





Title Page -

Introduction Page -

Body Pages - , ,

Conclusion -


This workshop activity was also good in helping me refresh my Powerpoint skills.

Week Two, Office Applications, 7th August 2007

Lecture

The lecture for week two consisted of using basic applications in the computer this included:

• Windows Explorer
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Powerpoint
• Internet Explorer
• Outlook/Outlook Express
• Adobe Acrobat Reader

Each applications was explained briefly and why they are used in University, these applications are said to be the most used applications by students in University. Also a demonstration of how to access the ECU library web page was also shown. During the tutorial the activity involve using both Microsoft Word and Excel.

Workshop

The tutorial for the Microsoft Word consisted in completing various task that involves using basic functions of Microsoft Word. The end production of the task is shown below.

First page-

Second page-

The Microsoft Excel exercises consisted of doing a timetable of my daily week activities. This timetable then was converted to a pie graph using the average hours of my activities and a graph showing my social activity. This task can be seen below:

This workshop activity I think was a good way to refresh my skills in Microsoft Word and Excel as for I am very knowledgeable in using these two Microsoft applications. So I thought this was a good way to refresh my skills.

Week One, Using Computers, 31st July 2007

Lecture

During the first week, the lecture was about a brief introduction of UPC0004. This course offers a wide variety of learning outcomes that will help students like myself use a computer for university purposes, and also help navigate through the ECU website such as the library webpage, SIMO, student E-mail and Blackboard.


Workshop

During the tutorial the students and myself were shown how to navigate through to the ECU website. The first Assessment was also given out, Learning Journal which had to be in a form of a blog.

Homepage of ECU.




The Blogger webpage where my Blog is posted.



This I believe is an interesting unit as I have never done an assignment electronically before mostly only written or typed in a computer, but not doing an assignment over the net. So I think this assignment is very interesting and I will look forward to the end of the assignment.