Week 12, Social and Ethical Issues

Lecture
In week 12 our lecture was about the Social and Ethical Issues on the World Wide Web. There were a couple of problems stated to us during the lecture. They included intellectual property, Copyright and Security. We were also shown what the problems included. You need to make sure when opening any new document that you always do a virus scan. The first thing you must do when starting up a new computer is download an Antivirus scan to protect yourself from any viruses.

Tutorial
* An introduction to copyright in Australia.
* Ownership of copy write
* Websites: creating and publishing on the Internet.
* Quotes & Extracts: Copyright obligation
* Copyright in Australia: Information Sources

The Case mentioned on this web page is called Operation Buccaneer. It's a case about International copyright piracy which took place in December 2001. There were 16 defendants who have been convicted of felony and 13 of them have been sentenced to prison for 46 months.


Readings
There were many readings for this week so I will only write about a few of them. I found our first reading to be the most interesting. It was called EFF's Top 12 Ways to Protect our Online Privacy. This explained in detail how to keep yourself safe when using the World Wide Web.


Electronic Monitoring was about employees and employers defending the case on privacy in the workplace. There were many different views on how it should be more private for workplaces.


Computer Viruses are very common in today's computers. Out reading Computer Viruses and the Internet shows us how computer viruses have become more extreme in today's computers.

Week 11, Data, Information and Knowledge

Lecture
This weeks lecture was based on Data, Information and Knowledge. We found the meaning to each and were shown ways on how each work. Justine discussed the charactaristics, importance, relationship between the three and some examples. We learnt how to use these three examples in a way to study and learn information.


Tutorial
*Data - Individual facts, statistics, or items of information.
*Information - knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance; news.
*Knowledge - acquaintance with facts, truth, or principles, as from study or investigation.

The relationship between data, information and knowledge may help you through your university year. Firstly you start with data; during university you receive lots of data that helps you to learn. Afterwards you find that it’s helpful when writing an essay because in the essay you use that data as information. Lastly all the data and information you have learnt becomes knowledge because you will use it in your everyday life.


Readings
Our readings this week were all about data, information and knowledge, with a little information on wisdom. Our first reading Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom was discussing in more detail what each mean and how we use them in relation to each other. Our next reading Information Literacy was a tutorial with short lessons to take about information literacy. After each lesson you had a mini test. Our last reading was all about the relationship between data, information and knowledge and some questions you ask you self when hearing the three.

Week 10, Using Online Libraries and Databases

Lecture
Week 10's lecture had two parts; online libraries and databases. The first part of our lecture was about online libraries. We were shown why we use them and the different types of online libraries (e.g. online journals, electronic books, musical and artwork). Even though online libraries are helpful for easy information there are limitations. You have to subscribe to many of them before they are available to you and you may also have to pay for them.

Databases are very similar to online libraries, although they have both positives and negatives. Some positives are that they are current, searchable, have 24/7 access and are electronic. Another positive thing about databases is that there are many which are free to anyone and the information is very up to date.

Tutorial
10 useful functions on the ECU website:
* Library Catalogue - Is useful for searching books from home.
* Journal Articles - Useful database online.
* ECU Referencing Guide - Easy access to referencing if you haven't bought the hard copy book. (Always good to have both though)
* Opening Hours - Useful when studying early or late.
* End note - Also an easier way to reference.
* Find Websites - Finding good websites on a specific topic.
* Overdue Penalties - It's useful to know what penalties you could face for overdue library resources.
* Multimedia Resources - Its helpful to know who you can talk to about multimedia resources.
* Library Podcast - Good if you missed a lecture you can download it onto your ipod.
* Loan Services - Information on getting out library equipment for the first time.

The website Medline Plus would be used by doctors and chemists. They might use it for information on a certain drug (e.g. ingredients) or by doctors to find out what medications could be prescribed for certain illnesses.

Week 9, Using Search Engines

Lecture
This week's lecture was on search engines. We were told about some common problems, interfaces, common search engines, types of queries and search tips.

Some of the types of problems you might come across are that your search engine might find too many results and you can't go through them all. This means you will need to refine your search to a key phrase about your topic. Broken links are also a big problem with web pages that are not being updated regularly. Some common search engines are Google, Ask Jeeves, msn search and Yahoo. There are four main queries: keywords, phrase, Boolean and advanced/engine features.

Tutorial
*Keywords and phrase
*Guess a location
*Use several search tools
*Back up to find out where you are

In our tutorial we had to do a quiz and find out the answers using search engines if we didn't already know them. When I was looking for Lady of Shalott's author I went to Yahoo and my keywords were Lady of Shalott and it came up with many results. I didn't need to click on a search because the author appeared under some searches. I have found that sometimes you really need to find a good keyword or you might never find what you are looking for. A good thing about some search engines is if you are searching for something and you spell it wrong it will ask you if you meant something else.




Readings
Our reading Internet Search Tips and Strategies is getting us ready to find a range of information on the World Wide Web (WWW). It explains what different search engines are and which ones we could use for certain research. We get a brief description on each; keyword search, phase search and Boolean Operations. Lastly the reading goes through search tips to help you narrow down the information on your specific subject.

The Spider Apprentice explains useful information on search engines. We are shown how to improve our search engine skills by finding keywords and showing us how to find relevant information. It's useful to know if you are looking at the right site for your topic. Is it more useful to search about your topic in a search engine or a web directory? You will also find information on web directories so you can use them instead of search engines.

Search Engine Tutorials is a web site for you to extend your search engine knowledge. It has articles on search engines dating from 2004 back to the 1990's. It is a good source to help you expand your search engine knowledge.

Week 8, Evaluation and Authentication

Lecture
Lots of people in the world use the World Wide Web for everyday jobs. You will find that people generally believe most things they read; why wouldn't they? You would never go to a website and believe that it's not real. If it's not real why would it be there? That is one of the questions you need to ask yourself. Every time you are surfing the Web you need to be aware that not everything you read will be entirely true. It may be a version of the truth, but not what actually happened. We need to remember that anyone can write and edit information on the Web, so it is important to make sure that you have evidence to prove your point.

The World Wide Web started in December 1969 and began with four host computers until it branched out two years later as more hosts were developed. The Web started off in America and after ten years had made itself known around the world.

Tutorial
If you're being asked a question and need to find the answer make sure you look on the right pages. You need to know exactly what it is that you need to find or you may be looking for a while. Make sure when you're reading information that it first makes sense ( e.g. correct grammar and spelling) and secondly make sure what you are looking at is true. Go to another website on the same topic and see if the information matches up.

You should always check who wrote the website and what their qualifications are. A perfect example is if they are a pilot and the website is on sharks it might not be too useful if he doesn't really know very much about marine life.

You need to identify why this web page is here. Is it here to give us information or to persuade our thoughts? You should try and look ahead and ask yourself what isn't being said.

The Psychedelic 60's
This site has a lot of information on what happened in the 60's. It is set out simply so that if you don't find what you need you can continue searching. It was published at the library of the University of Virginia. It was last updated on the 24th July, 2007. This page was designed to tell young people what happened in the 60's.

Sixties Project
This website has good contact information on the home page. It has an email address, PO Box as well as where it was designed. It was last updated in January 1999, which means it's not too modern. The point of this website is for people who lived in the sixties to write, for example, a blog on what they felt the sixties were about. This website would not be very good for information because anyone can post on it and it's just that person's opinion.

Week 7, Using the WWW

Lecture
The World Wide Web (WWW) was first invented for facilities to share information. There are many different resources that people use to put information online. Some of these resources are .com, .org, . net, .gov and .edu.

There are many different browsers people can use to surf the WWW (e.g. Internet Explorer, Netscape and FireFox). Each browser will has a tool bar to access shortcuts to the Net. You have a home page button which takes you to your home page when you first open the Internet, Back and Forward buttons to move from page to page and back again, as well as Print, Favourites, Help and many more. Most standard keyboards have these buttons as features as well.

Tutorial
Haggis Hunt
Haggis Hunt has attempted to look authentic by having a site that is well set out and formatted nicely, as well as having a simple URL and correct grammar and spelling. This website seems believable because one of the prizes that it offers is a stay in a country castle offering high quality accommodation.

* Not a real animal.
* Only pictures are of cartoons which proves there not a real animal.
* Camera not moving.
* Three animals and one cooked haggis.

Molossia
This website is well organised and well presented. Throughout the web page their leader says welcome and thank you at the end of most pages. They also have a flag that is shown on every page.

* Visitors must not come unannounced
* Only allowed to have a short visit.
* Navy boats are blowup boats.
* Soldier appears in every picture and looks around 15 yrs old.

Reading
Our reading Search Engine Tutorial was there to help us understand search engines and how they work. This has many articles to explain how to help you search better. Using a search engine can be quite easy if you know what you are searching for. You need to be specific when searching; only use a couple of keywords which describe what you are looking for. If you are looking for a couple of related topics use the + symbol so that the searcher knows you want to find both.

A Little History of the World Wide Web explains to us in short every little change to the Web in the last 50 years to become what it is today. In the 1980's, Tim Berners-Lee invented the notebook program. As the years continue more and more helpful tips are being advanced on the World Wide Web.

Week 6, EndNote Libraries

Lecture
This Week's lecture was on using Endnote. Endnote is a program to help you with referencing correctly, both in-text and in reference lists. Endnote can be used; as a Standalone program, or Integrated into MS Word. Endnote is a database which stores your references in any style you need (eg. APA 5th). You basically type all your information about the Journal article or book in each category and save it as an APA reference. Endnote will put all your references in alphabetical order so it will be easier to find. Endnote is a very easy way to store references so you don't misplace or lose them.

Tutorial
I wasn't there for the tutorial this week so I had to do all my tutorial work at home. One of the hardest of our tutorial worksheets. I found Endnote to be very confussing when setting up your first library, but once I knew what I was doing it was quite simple. Setting up my Endnote library using Workshop Supplemental was a really time consuming task. I found it difficult to tell the difference between a Journal Article and book by just looking at them. After I figured it out it was pretty straight forward. My references were all correct to the ECU APA referencing guide.



Resources
Guide to Endnote v9 @ ECU is a resource about how to set up endnote and how it works. Endnote is used a lot by undergrad students to help them save time when writing an essay or report. Endnote is a guide to help students reference their work correctly and at a proper standard.

This resource shows you step by step how to build your Endnote library. It starts by showing you how to save Endnote library and you should always save an Endnote library as the same name as your document, so you can locate it easier. When adding a reference you always need to make sure you put in the right reference type eg. Book, Journal Article and website, because all types are different and when it comes to putting them in an end text reference it will leave out some important information.

Week 5, Information Management

Lecture
Our lecture about Information Management was very helpful in showing us how to manage all the information we receive during our undergrad degree. Starting with folders on our flash drives for every unit is the best way to go. From that you can start branching off smaller folders on essays, PowerPoint's and images.

Atom-based information has a lot of pros and cons on why we should use them. With atom-based information such as books, I find the cons way out the pros for me. Especially way out the pros. On the other hand bit-based information is more easier to use. It's a very flexible way to keep information is real or fake. A lot of goods and services have changed from atom to bit form eg. banking, email and music. This can be very helpful for businesses to make a little money. The many steps to organise your bits can make it very easy to locate a piece of work.

Tutorial
In our tutorial we needed to learn how to save useful websites using bookmarks or favourites on the Internet. My three bookmarks were very quick and easy to put in because I already had an idea on how bookmarks work.

The DNA of Information
Most of society today use atoms and bits to collect and store information. Although both great ways of sourcing it, they are also not too reliable on both behalf's.

Although atoms come in a form of newspapers, books and magazines it is not always 100% reliable. You could easily lose a newspaper or magazine, by misplacing it or someone just taking it. With books they can go out of print. Not the best way to keep information. Even if Atoms are not the best option bits can easily have their own problems, you don't know who is writing your specific information or better yet you don't even know if what they are saying is true.

People today do rely on bits more so than atoms because its more flexible and its faster in our rapidly changing world. No one wants to sit around reading a book to find information they need
if you can simply type in some keyword on your computer.

We can also find pros on both atoms and bits. You will always know what you are reading in a book or newspaper is true to some extent, because you get all the background information on the writer so if they were by any chance just making something up it can be proven. Also with atoms no one can just go into your book and change it around like bits.

Bits is the source most easiest to use because its easy to edit so if you don't like what someone has written you can edit it into something more understandable. It's also easier to keep by storing it in folders on your computer instead of having books all over you workspace.

However,its completely up to you. You might like reading books for your information or you might want it given to you straight up. The case, you need to make sure its real and not something someone has messed around with.

Reading
Our reading Information Management & Electronic Environments was a good source on showing us how to keep ourselves organised in our studies. Reading about organisation in storing my information and work helped me reorganise my flash drive and home computer to a way which is more useful in saving my work. Only having twenty items in each folder made it easier to find stuff but harder to divide all my information up.

Using bookmarks or favourites on the Internet is a great way to save good websites because it is a bit of a pain when you need to write down the address of a website when it's really long.

Copying and pasting is a great way to cut down on paper use as a student. Just finding the information you need and copying it also saves you time when looking for information because you won't need to re-read the whole document again.

Week 4, Communicaion

Lecture
This week's lecture was on ways to communicate using a computer. We were shown different types of Email clients, instant message clients, discussion board/forums, blogs and wiki webs. Most of these examples I had already used before, so I already had a lot of knowledge on each.

Tutorial
In our tutorial we had our blogs looked at just to see if we were on the right track. Justine didn't get around to seeing my blog, but I think I'm on the right track. We also had to visit Google and search for a topic of our choice in groups. My topic was my favourite T.V show Will and Grace. I found a discussion board called Urbana Grace United Methodist Friend . It didn't look like a very interesting discussion board, so I had a little read of what people had posted, but there wasn't anything very interesting.
The potential benefits of podcast in a university is that it's helpful if you cant make a lecture and you know it was an important one, you can go online and download the lecture so you don't miss anything. Also even if you are at a lecture but you found you missed a lot, you could always download the lecture and listen to it again on your way home from uni.

Readings
The reading 14 Email Do and Donts was a good reading to look at. It was helpful to see how you should ask for something in a way which will always sound nice on the other end. Most of the time when sending an email you just forget about punctuation and grammar, which is not a good thing if your sending an email to a tutor and they think you are coming across a little pushy.

Week 3, Presentation Strategies

My Presentation on Marine Life







Top 5 Strategies
Start off confident
Keep Thesis Statement clear
Keep Presentation short rather then to long
Have a little humour
Interact with your audience

Lecture
This week's lecture was on Presentation Strategies. There are different types of ways you can present your work at a university standards. Most assignments whether oral or written have three main structures; introduction, body and conclusion. An introduction is just explaining in short what you are going to write about or talk about. The Body is your main ideas on the issue. You normally have three main points that you would go more into detail in your body. A conclusion is just a quick summary of what was said during your asignment. We were also shown a great program for oral presentations; Microsoft PowerPoint.

Tutorial
Our tutorial this week was on making our own short presentations using PowerPoint. We had five main points we had to include and our topic could be on anything we liked.My presentation was on Marine Life. I focused on my favourite animals; dolphins, sharks and whales.
We also had to make a list of five strategies we would work on in a presentation to help us achieve a great standard of presentation.

Readings
This week's reading Oral Presentation Advice was very helpful. It basically showed us step by step what you should think about and follow when you are doing a presentation.It also had some good information on how you give a bad oral presentation. There were a couple of things in there that were going on my top five strategies on what not to do in my oral Presentation.

Week 2, Office Applications, Screen Captures

I had to put these in separate because I didn't know we needed them in

Week 2, Office Applications

Lecture
This week's lecture was about what Microsoft Office program to use for any assignment we produce during our university degree as well as real life circumstances. We were also shown a little information on what each program involves.

Tutorial
The two exercises for this week's tutorial were on Microsoft Word and Excel. The Microsoft Word exercise was about formatting our assignments in APA style, as well as showing us a little about references. Microsoft Excel was getting us to put digits into cells and inserting a formula, so that it calculates the sum of the numbers we inserted.

Readings
One of our readings was to help us do the Word exercise. It showed us step be step how to do each part of the exercise. We also had to learn how to do a screen capture and learn how to save it as a jpg. file. It also explained how to cut our screen shot so that we only have the important bit in our shot.

The reading Adobe Photo Shot was about each format you can save your image to. We are using the format jpeg, which stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. This format is used mostly for images off the Internet, because it keeps the image quality better.

Week one in UPC0004

Lecture
Our first lecture was simply an introduction to our unit, showing us what is involved.This lecture was really helpful in getting us to understand how the next semester was going to run.

Tutorial
Our tute on Tuesday got us to set up a blogger for our online journals and also photo bucket so we can work with photos. Justine also gave a quick run through of SIMO, Emails and MyECU.

I found capturing a screen shot quite difficult at first because I didn't actually know where the button was to take the screen shot. But after finding it the rest was pretty simple.

I read "How PC's Work" first because it seemed a lot more interesting. This reading was about getting to know your computer. It talks about all the different parts and how they fit in to the computer.

In "PC Lube and Tune" it was more about the history of the computer. Talking about how they have become what they are today.

First Screen Capture

My first Screen Capture

Diary cover background

Had a go at trying to create a background for my diary cover. Little confussed with what we have to do. but gave it ago anyway. any feed back will do.

Well today we learnt about colours and the colour wheel. i found there is alot more to say about colours after watching "colour in motion". Very funny little movie!

Wasn't here today (Thursday), was feeling a little under the whether. Will see you on Monday for any notes.

Monday we just did some revision work sheets, on what we have learnt on coral photo paint. I could do mostly all of it just having trouble on resampling, but im sure i will figure it out.

Creating Blogger

Thursday in Graphics we creatured bloggers for our own personal use, as a journal. To start our blogger we took a picture of our choose and put a effect over it. Im finding Graphics tech to be a very different kind of computer class to what i normally do.

Bubble Bench

This is one of my favourite effects on Corel Photo Paint. I have taken a picture of a school bench and have put a bubble fill on top of it.

Welcome to Graphics Tech

Just started Graphice Tech and will be doing Blogs to keep you posted on what we are doing!!

Well first Graphics class (Monday) was good. I think i will find this subject to be one of my favourites. the taking picture part we not to fun. Hopefully there wont be much of that.

Tuesday was good. I found it interesting to put all the styles on top of a picture of my self, using water colours and bubble effect were the best effects. i already have some thoughts on what i will be putting on the cover of my diary. Something with a bubble effect i think.