Tara’s blog

Module 4 teaches research skills for the internet.

Here are my results and observations for Module 4

Downloading tools / plug-ins Task

In your learning log record which programs you downloaded and note which (if any) facets you think might prove useful.

I downloaded Copernic, Bookmark Buddy and PageSucker. I don't think I will use PageSucker much, but if I was using a dialup connection I would. Bookmark Buddy allows me to manage my bookmarks outside of my browser, but it will probably not get much use. I will probably get a lot of use from Copernic. A meta searching program external to the browser appeals to me.

Searching the Web

search engine task

1. Choose your most commonly used internet search engine and do a search with words of your choosing.

• record the first hit and number of hits in your learning log

My brother needed to check his entitlements at work. He works as a printer. I ran a search at Yahoo7 for "Australian country print award".

I got "about 2,360,000" results. I checked the first 100 results - none were of any relevance.

The first hit was:

Urban wins top country music award | The Australian

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19241711-1702,00.html

2. Using copernicus or similar, set it up to search at least three search engines (including one that will search the 'deep web') and repeat eactly the same search

• record the number of hits in your learning log, and compare to your first search. What differences did you notice? Why? Which search, on first glance gave you the most promising results?

I searched all available search engines on Copernic. I got 1499 results. The 18th result was the information I was looking for. I also noticed more of these results related, at least in general, to the printing industry.

3. save at least the first 5 hits of both searches.

Yahoo7

1. Urban wins top country music award | The Australian
   ... been named top male vocalist for the second consecutive year at the Academy of Country Music Awards. ... award. Font Size: Decrease Increase. Print Page: Print ...
   www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19241711-1702,00.html - 39k - More from this site
2. Cassar-Daley wins top country award | The Australian
   Cassar-Daley wins top country award. Font Size: Decrease Increase. Print Page: Print ... Country Music Association of Australia's annual Achiever Awards. ...
   www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20593569-1702,00.html - 39k - More from this site
3. Gulf country's voice shines in Australian epic - Books - Entertainment
   Carpentaria named as the winner of the 2007 Miles Franklin Literary Award. ... Gulf country's voice shines in Australian epic. Email. Print. Normal font. Large font " ...
   smh.com.au/news/books/.../2007/06/21/1182019285824.html - 51k - More from this site
4. Absent Urban fields country award - Music - Entertainment - theage ...
   ... the 40th Annual Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, when ... Absent Urban fields country award. Email. Print. Normal font. Large font ...
   theage.com.au/news/music/.../2006/11/07/1162661685198.html - 43k - More from this site
5. National Australia Day Council - Australian of the Year Award
   ... lives sailing to find a future for their children in another country. ... two Australian Writers' Guild Awards for this film and for his community theatre. ...
   www.australianoftheyear.gov.au/pages/page129.asp - 11k - Cached - More from this site

Copernic

Gulf country's voice shines in Australian epic - Books - Entertainment ... as the winner of the 2007 Miles Franklin Literary Award. ... Print; Normal font; Large font ... smh.com.au Sydney Morning Herald 2007-06-22 Gulf country's voice shines in Australian epic ... www.smh.com.au/news/books/gulf-countrys-voice-shines-in-australian-epic/2007/06/21/1182019285824.html - 95% Result found by: FAST Search (alltheweb.com), CompuServe, AltaVista, MSN Web Search, Yahoo!, Netscape Netcenter, AOL Search, Lycos, Ask.com
	The latest Australian Country Music News ... awarded the South Australian Council for Country Music's Senior Champion Award at the Champion of Champions at ... www.countrymusicbulletin.com.au - 93% Result found by: FAST Search (alltheweb.com), Lycos, Ask.com, AltaVista, WiseNut, MSN Web Search
	The South Australian Country Music Festival and Awards in the ... Hamish and Lachlan are both Graduates of the CMAA Australian Country ... been seen and heard on National and International print and broadcast media.Alison has won a South Australian Music Industry Award ... www.riverlandcountrymusic.com/index.php - 93% Result found by: CompuServe, Netscape Netcenter, AOL Search, MSN Web Search, AltaVista, FAST Search (alltheweb.com), Yahoo!
	Print Awards.rtf Media Award – Print. For communities under 75000 ... Western Australia Crime Stoppers, Ltd – South West Times – The Western Australian. Newspaper ... www.c-s-i.org/awards_2006.pdf - 91% Result found by: CompuServe, Netscape Netcenter, AOL Search, FAST Search (alltheweb.com), Yahoo!
	SACCM Gig Guide South Australian Country Music Gigs South Australian Country Music Festival & Awards, Riverland SA ... for which the South Australian Council for Country Music thanks you in advance. www.saccm.com/gigguide/gigguide.htm - 91% Result found by: Lycos, Ask.com, CompuServe, Netscape Netcenter, AOL Search

Boolean searching task

Taking the same key words of your last search, think about how you would best search for the following:

• the biggest number of hits relating to these key words
• information most relevant to what you ACTUALLY wanted to look for!
• information coming only from university sources

• Discuss your strategies with the class and record the exact search terms you used in your learning log

I searched Yahoo7 with the same key words, but added "NOT music". The site I was looking for was the 10th result. Without the Boolean operator, I would not have found this site through Yahoo7.

I was only able to find one site that was of any use to me. The other results were either of no relation to the topic, or applied to awards for excellence in the industry.

I really enjoyed this module. I have been wanting to learn HTML, but I was having trouble finding a good source to learn from. I have had a look at HTML instructional pages before, but was having trouble absorbing the information. Now I finally have the hang of it. I just need to commit all the codes to memory. HTML is not as hard as it once seemed!! 

Here are my results and observations for Module 3:

HTML tags

I had no problems completing the HTML task.

Optional ‘standards’ task:

Make a summary of what you believe are the 5 most important ‘rules’ for writing online. Think about any differences between the articles: for example, is the advice in Nielsen’s paper -- written in 1997 – still current?

• Record your summaries and comments in your learning log

I believe the 5 most important 'rules' for writing online are:

1. Be concise
2. Don't use 'marketese', or exaggeration
3. Divide information into sections
4. Keep ideas to one paragraph
5. Present information in a user-friendly format - consider your target

Nielsen's paper is still relevant. People still read the same as they did in 1997, however they may now have a little more patience with websites. Horton's article has the similar information, but also explains the consequences of taking Nielsen's rules too far. I have had difficulty accessing Jerz's writing. I keep timing out when I try.

Optional ‘standards’ task 2:

Test your web page according to the W3C standards by going to their ‘validator’ page. If your page does not conform (it probably won’t!) record in your learning log why you think this is: try and identify the particular tags or code that are causing trouble. Are the problems related mostly to display, usability, or accessibility?

I performed a markup validation and my page failed for many reasons. Some were easy to understand, like failing to close things, or forgetting a character. Others were confusing, such as "No Character Encoding Found! Falling back to UTF-8.", and " No DOCTYPE found! Attempting validation with HTML 4.01 Transitional". I read the FAQs but I still don't understand them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

OK, with some info from W3C and from Benjamin in the discussions, I have fixed the major problems I mentioned above. I am left with a number of small errors. The following message seems to explain it all:

One common cause for this error is the use of XHTML syntax in HTML documents. Due to HTML's rules of implicitly closed elements, this error can create cascading effects.

It seems that if I use an HTML doctype rather than XHTML, the instructions I have written will make full sense. I will have to look further into this.

I'm glad I chose to complete this optional task. I have learned heaps from it, and still have more to learn.

ftp

Try uploading your web page (or your draft info bank or learning log) to your student web space in Oasis or your own web space provided by your ISP if you have one using ftp.

First, make sure you still have your ftp client from module 1.

Read any instructions provided about using ftp to upload a page (rather than downloading as we did in module 1).

You will also need to read the instructions in the Oasis ‘help’ section on ‘using ftp’.

Once you are ready, upload either your test page, or your finished assignment.

• Record the url of your uploaded page in your weblog

I had no luck using ftp to upload my page. Instead I uploaded it to the presentations section in WebCT. It can be found at : http://webct.curtin.edu.au/305033_b/student_pres/Group59/index.html

Module 2 is all about email. As basic internet users we should all know how to send email. This topic covers all aspects of email - basics, style, attachments, management, lists, newsgroups, and chat & messenging.

Before starting this module I felt I was quite knowledgeable regarding email. However, it turned out this was not true. I learned a great deal from this module. Many of the terms and concepts were new to me. Those that weren't were explained further.

Here are my answers and observations for Module 2:

Email tasks

1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?

An email contains a great deal of information. A friend forwarded me an email. From this message I can see who else the message was forwarded to. I can also see who originally sent the email, and who else they sent it to. I can see the date and time when the email was originally sent to my friend, and also when she forwarded the email.

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?

Cc is used to send to multiple recipients. Bcc is used to send to multiple recipients without letting each other know who else recieved it. Reply all is used to reply to all recipients of the original email.

3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?

Ensure the attachment can be opened by the recipient's computer. If unsure send in plain text format. Include the file name in the body of the email.

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?

I have a few blocked addresses. These are spam addresses.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?

I added one folder for usernames and passwords. I needed somewhere else to keep these emails as they were not convenient in my inbox.

• What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?
• Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?

• Record your conclusions in your learning log

Lists

Overall I prefer discussion boards. I like being able to sort through and only access posts that are of interest to me. With the email list I subscribe to, I find many messages messages are irrelevant to me. Although I share one point of interest with these people, there are many topics covered that don't concern me. On a discussion board I can just skip over these, instead of having to delete these emails.

On the other hand, email lists are convenient as the messages are sent directly to your email inbox. Discussion boards require you to access and login to a website.

I don't think that email list is more suitable than discussion board for any purpose. They both have their merits, but I feel discussion boards are most user friendly.  

Newsgroups

Follow your chosen newsgroup for a couple of days, and then post a message to the group. You should be able to see that message shortly thereafter. Now cut and paste a copy of the entire message, including the header information.

• Record the message in your learning log

I subscribed to alt.music.ween. Here is my first post:

From: "td81" <tldavey81@yahoo.com>
Subject: Aus tour?
Date: Sunday, 3 June 2007 11:47 PM

Does anyone know if there are any plans for an Australian tour? I would kill
to see them.

Optional task: Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

Think about the following question: how does IRC differ from other chat or messaging such as ICQ, MSN or AIM? Which system do you prefer?

• Record your answer in your learning log

IRC is an older version of these programs. I used to use IRC in high school to chat to my friends. I now use MSN and Yahoo Messenger. I prefer these to IRC as they are easier to use and much nicer to look at. I also like the fun aspects of these newer programs. I can add sounds and animations to the text.
 

Module 1 was really informative. I knew very little about the internet before I started. I have learned so much already in this first module. Many of the concepts addressed were new to me. Everything was explained so clearly and the tasks helped reinforce the information. I got through Module 1 quite quickly. I hope the other modules are longer. I found plenty of terms for my glossary. I will post that separately.

In my previous unit I didn't really get involved in the discussions. This time I got involved straight away, and have been enjoying it. Everyone seems really friendly.

Here are my answers and observations for Module 1

"according to the readme file, '_______ MATTERS' - what word goes in the blank?".

CAPITALIZATION

Tracing route to curtin.edu.au [134.7.134.47]...

Trace complete

-- end --

How many ‘hops’ are there?

18

What is the average time in milliseconds from the tools site to the curtin server?

234

• Record your answer in your learning log

Looking at these results, find out the IP NUMBER of the hostname curtin.edu.au

134.7.134.47

Ping the webct site and compare the time with the time taken to ping from the net tools site. Is it less or more than you expected?

Why?

• Record your observation in your learning log

1048596 ms

I did not expect it to take this long. 1048596 ms seems like a very long time.

Traceroute from your computer to curtin.edu.au: compare the number of hops with the earlier traceroute.

What sort of differences can you observe?

• Record your observation in your learning log

20 hops. Much faster average time. All happened very quickly. More hops.

I'm very new to this blogging thing. I have to create a blog for uni. I am studying NET11, The Internet - Communications. I am looking forward to getting in to this unit. I have a basic knowledge of the internet and would like to change that. I'm wishing I had added an Internet Design unit as well, but I can do it next time.

I will be keeping a learning log here as required for school. Answers and observations from the tasks will be up here, as well as personal reflections on the unit.

Thanks to Anthony for recommending this site. It is very easy to use.