NET11- Unit Reflection

My journey began 13 weeks ago and if I am honest I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about what I was letting myself in for. But after introducing myself to Cynthia and the other students on the discussion boards and reading some of there posts I soon felt at ease at the realisation that my fellow classmates had a variety of skill levels so I wasn't alone in my newness to it all. The good thing about this group is that they were never judgemental , if someone, of say my level of knowledge, needed help with a particular problem no matter how small there was always someone to help out.
We even had a class clown in the guise of Yani (jon) who was always quick with a joke as well as he was with his support to his fellow class mates so good on ya Yani !

The experience of studying NET11 has been very rewarding , I feel I have come along way in the past 13 weeks with my studies, I've tried aspects of the internet I've never attempted before, as well as learning how to think differently about it. I must also thank Cynthia for her guidance and support throughout this unit... Well that's about it , I'll keep this blog updated as I may need it for my next unit, which is NET 12 . Bye for now :-)

Module 5 - Info-Communication Concepts

This will be probably be my last post in this blog for NET11 Advanced Internet Techniques, as I have already mention in my last entry I will now be concentrating on finishing my concepts essay.

Below are the main points of Module 5 and I will most definitely have a closer look at these topics over the next couple of weeks. I find of particular interest the case study of P2P file sharing because of the legal wranglings currently going on. ;-) keep it to yourself but I have been known to use Limewire from time to time.

Information Ecologies

“We define an information ecology to be a system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local environment. In information ecologies, the spotlight is not on technology, but on human activities that are served by technology.”(Nardi & O’Day, 1999)

Case Study: Peer to Peer

Peer to Peer software and file sharing has become a central Internet issue – mostly publicised through the ongoing legal action against those downloading free music through P2P networks. P2P provides a useful ‘case study’ for thinking through the various systems, roles and functions involved in what is an increasingly common form of internet usage.

Preparing for ‘future shock”

“The incubator for many of the emerging technologies that are shaping the future is known as Internet2 . Formed in 1996 and administered by the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID), Internet2 is a partnership between universities, corporations and government agencies. …
Internet2 is a not a single network, but a consortium of hundreds of high-speed networks linked by fiber optic backbones that span the United States and and link to other countries. It transmits data at speeds up to 2.4 gigabits per second--45,000 times faster than a 56 Kbps modem…”
http:// www.learnthenet.com/english/html/03future.htm

Module 5: Info-Communication Concepts

Well here I am nearly at the end of my journey through the Unit, Currently doing Module 5, reading through the concepts document, which I'll have to read a couple of times just to make sure it sticks, also checking out the recommended websites and p2p case study, but my priority is getting my essay assignment finished, which I have to admit I was having trouble getting started. I've written essays before but I had some kind of writers block, so I emailed Cynthia ( Tutor and Internet Guru ) and she soon put me on the right path with some great advice.

A couple of nights ago I listened to Helen Merrick's ilecture, Information Ecology's, interesting stuff, gave me a lot to think about.

Module 4 - Evaluating the Web

Vicnet (Victoria’s Information Community Portal) (nd)
Retrieved 16/2/07
http://www.vicnet.net.au/training/advance.html

This above link will take to an excellent section of a website from the State Library of Victoria. The site contains many links to an abundance of information about the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). There are tutorials and helpful hints for beginners to advanced Internet users and comprehensive list of Australian and International Search Tools. The site also has a link to an even more comprehensive list of online resources from YAHOO. As this website is community information portal, it is hosted and managed by Vicnet, a division of the State Library of Victoria, so the content is constantly monitored and updated regularly. The site will give anyone the opportunity to develop the necessary skills for a good grounding in Internet use. I have no hesitation in recommending this site beginner to advanced user alike.

Question: in terms of your own future use, which 'body ' of information (ie. the original 'snapshot' of the site, or your own, annotated, analytical version) would be most useful to refer back to?
Answer: I think my annotated, analytical version would be more useful as I have checked out and analysed the site and given my opinion it becomes more relevant to me when looking back over the annotation.

Question: In term of external users (i.e. if you included this site as a hyperlink or resource on a website) which body of information would best help them judge if the site was useful or of interest to them?
Answer : I feel my explanation and annotation of the site would be helpful for anyone searching for the information about the Internet/WWW use.

Module 4 - Organizing search information task

Being a beginner to advanced Internet techniques I have never used any additional Bookmark Managers. The way that I organised my bookmarks is by using the inbuilt facility that comes standard with most search engines. I usually click on the bookmark button on the tool bar and save the URL into an appropriate folder I have named e.g.Curtin University, sometimes with a sub folder like NET 11 This method has served me well to date.

But for this task I have downloaded and installed to types of Bookmark Managers the first being a Firefox add-on called Hyper BK Bookmarks. This Bookmark Manager has features which include automatic classification and history enhancement. It will automatically categorize a webpage with respect to the bookmarks thus the history is sorted out by category. Also it offers lots of features regarding bookmarks like verification, caching and page thumbnail.

The other Bookmark Manager is called Check and Get (Freeware Edition) http://activeurls.com/ Check & Get lets you monitor web pages for updates and notifies you when changes were made to the page. It can save a snapshot of the page for offline viewing, detect dead-links, duplicated and mirrored web pages and allows you to search and sort your bookmarks by URL, description and keywords. You can import your existing Favorites from Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape and Opera, and manually add new items to the list as well. It offers customizable settings per site, each with individual schedule and criteria that trigger an update notification. The notification options include sound, email, and popup alert. Additional features include keyword search and highlighting, integrated browser display etc.

Snapfiles (nd)
Retrieved February, 16^th, 2007 from
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/checkget.html

Because I’ve only recently downloaded these two programs I haven’t had time to familiarize myself properly with all of their features, so an opinion of their performance would be premature. Although having said that, once familiar they may be helpful in managing my bookmarks ( especially Check & Get )…time will tell.

As well as using the Firefox default Bookmark Manager for general book marking, I would, if the information was of greater importance, save the URL information as a word document file placing it in an appropriate folder in “My Documents”. The following is how I would organise this information.

Vicnet (Victoria’s Information Community Portal) (nd)
Retrieved 16/2/07
http://www.vicnet.net.au/training/advance.html
Been connected to the Internet for a while? Want to get more out of the services it offers?Here's a select list of the many excellent Web-based courses you can work through at your own pace.

Rocky Mountain Web Studio (nd)
Retrieved 16/2/07 from
http://www.rockymtnweb.com/free/advanced/index.htm
Some links for more advanced internet users, How To’s and Hints

CIESE (Centre For Advanced Engineering & Science Eduction) (nd)
Retrieved 16/2/07 from
http://www.k12science.org/tutorials/advanced/
Choosing a link below will bring you to a web page that describes a specific procedure or aspect of browsing the internet. This tutorial ultimately directs you to the browsers help menu for specific directions. After you learn about your chosen topic, try the recommended Practice Exercises to sharpen your skills. Information about using your internet browser's Help Menu is available and linked from each tutorial web page.

Module 4 - Boolean Search Task continued

Question: Sources relating to skill-based information on advanced internet users?

Answer: The question seems vague, what skill-based sources?
So for this Task I substituted skill-based for web design using Google with Full Boolean and logical operator ‘and’ my results were 85,000,000 hits for advanced internet user and web design. (0.14 seconds)
The Boolean logical operator ‘and’, picks out the search results to include the words “web design”

Question: Information on 'advanced internet users' coming only from university sources.

Answer: For this one I just added edu.au (part of domain name) to my Google search.

Using the Full Boolean search and with the logical operator “and”, my results were 796,000 for advanced internet users and edu.au and university. (0.08 seconds) This of course are results for Australian education establishments only.

Module 4 - Boolean Task

Boolean Search Task using Google search engine

Full Boolean Search

OR: 316,000,000 for advanced or internet or users. (0.47 seconds)
AND: 279,000,000 for advanced and internet and users. (0.31 seconds)
NOT: 136,000,000 for advanced not internet not users. (0.07 seconds)
NEAR: 17,500,000 for advanced near internet near users. (0.23 seconds)

Implied Boolean Search
+ (and): 88,000,000 for advanced +internet +users. (0.35 seconds)
- (not): 14,400 for advanced - internet - users. (0.14 seconds)

Google Advanced Internet Search

Google Advanced Search, offers numerous options for making your searches more precisely enabling the user to get more useful results. I have used the Google Advanced Search facility below.

with all of the words: 81,500,000 for advanced internet users. (0.05 seconds)
with the exact phrase: 13,800 for "advanced internet users". (0.16 seconds)
with at least one of the words: 2,730,000,000 for advanced OR internet OR users. (0.32 seconds)

Advanced search help http://www.google.com.au/intl/en/help/refinesearch.html

Question: the biggest number of hits relating to advanced internet users?

Answer: The Full Boolean search gave me 316,000,000 hits using the logical operator “OR”
But using Google’s Advanced Search facility I got a MASSIVE 2,730,000,000 hits using the “with at least one of the words” Template Terminology.

Module 4 - Search Engine Task

Search Engine Task

For this task I am using Goolgle and Surfwax search engines.

Web Results 1 - 10 of about 93,900,000 for advanced internet users. (0.07 seconds)

Advanced Internet Users Tutorial - CIESE
Information about using your internet browser's Help Menu is available and linked ... Choose what web page will be shown when you start Internet Explorer. ...
www.k12science.org/tutorials/advanced/ - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

Advanced User's Internet Training Resources
VICNET Internet Training - More Advanced Users. Been connected to the Internet for a while? Want to get more out of the services it offers? ...
www.vicnet.net.au/training/advance.html - 16k - 11 Feb 2007 - Cached - Similar pages

Advanced Internet Users, School of Continuing Education ...
Advanced Internet Users. Nearly everyone knows how to use the Internet, but are you an expert? Can you find the number of people currently living in the ...
www3.uwm.edu/sce/course.cfm?id=6835 - 13k - Cached - Similar pages

News @ Cisco: China Supports Advanced Applications for Internet ...
Professor Li Xing, deputy director, of the CERNET Network Center said, "With the increase in the number of Internet users and the development of advanced ...
newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/global/asiapac/news/2005/pr_09-21.html - 48k - Cached - Similar pages

StatCounter Free invisible Web tracker, Hit counter and Web stats
Detailed visitor stats and a choice of graphical counters. An invisible counter is also available.
www.statcounter.com/ - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

Below are the Meta search (Surfwax) engine results showing 52 200 000 hits

SurfWax® Search Results © 2003-2006 SurfWax, Inc.

[ Full Text of Results | Results Stats ]

Displaying 30 of about 52,200,000 pages found

Advanced Internet Users Tutorial - CIESE [AllTheWeb]
pressbox - uk press - release distribution - press stor... [WiseNut] www.k12science.org/tutorials/advancedWindows 98 Using W... [CNN]
Advanced Internet Kiosk Free Download- Build Internet k... [WiseNut]
Windows 98 Using Windows 98: Exploring the Internet-Tip...[AllTheWeb]
Designing For Advanced Users [AllTheWeb]

Results Stats:
Timing (in milliseconds)
Prepare: 9
Search: 5180
Processing: 20 (19 for safety checking)
Display: 19
Total Time: 5228

[Found: 42, Displayed: 30, Invalid: 11, Bandwidth: 0, Duplicates: 1, Stale: 0 ]
AllTheWeb: 10 pages found in 322 ms (parsed in 1 ms)
WiseNut: 10 pages found in 278 ms (parsed in 1 ms)
CNN: 12 pages found in 1071 ms (parsed in 9 ms)
LookSmart: 10 pages found in 5165 ms (parsed in 3 ms)

The Google results seemed more promising with 93,900,000 hits against Surfwax meta search engines' 52,200,000 hits a possible reason for this,

Few meta-searchers allow you to delve into the largest, most useful search engine databases. They tend to return results from smaller and/or free search engines and miscellaneous free directories, often small and highly commercial.

UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops (nd)
Retrieved February, 13th, 2007 from
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/MetaSearch.html

Module 4 - Internet tools Task

Another Internet tool I have been using recently is Cooliris Previews, http://www.cooliris.com/Site/index.html. Cooliris Previews is a free browser add-on (I use with Firefox)that lets you preview links without clicking or leaving your current page. At first I found that it took some getting used to, because I was so used to clicking onto another site to search for information, but once you get into the habit of using it it's pretty cool. It enables you to browse the Web just that little bit faster.

Cost: Free !

Ease of Use: Really easy to use, beginner friendly.

Functionality: everything is there, ready to go.

Utility: effective in saving time browsing the Web.

Commonality: Not sure?

Module 4 - Internet tools Task - Video

On my system at the present I am running Windows Media Player 11, which I use exclusively for playing music and videos. I find that Media Player is perfect for my current needs whether listening to the web radio (Just love those 70’s stations) or watching the occasional DVD.

But I also have Apple’s Quicktime Player and RealOne just in case they are needed when surfing the web.

It seems to me that they are all very similar programs with the only difference is file format Quicktime (.mov), Real One (.rm) and Windows Media Player (.wmv)

It’s unfortunate that there isn’t one universal file format as I would prefer to have one program that play any video, that way I would also be using less hard disk space installing programs that I don’t use on a regular basis.