WEEK FIVE

28.03.08

USING SEARCH ENGINES
Lecture
In the lecture today the main topic was 'search engines'
We learnt there are different types of search engines such as:

• Yahoo
• Google and Google Advanced Search
• Ultra Vista
  
  
  

We also we told the problems with some of the search engines and also learnt about search tools and feature or advances searches.
I learnt there are three different categories of information on the web.
These are:

• Free Web, Visible Web
• Free Web, Invisible Web
• Paid database over the web.
  

Lastly we were shown on the lecture slides tips when using search engines.
Some of these are:

• Use several search tools
• Read tips of help information
• Guess a location
• Use advanced to narrow you search
• Think about what you are searching (Key terms)
  

Tutorial
Task 1.
In toady's tutorial we were given a few tasks that continued on from our main topic in the Lecture 'search engines'.
We were asked to visit the web site http://www.monash.com/spidap.html and consider four strategies that will help us to structure a good search in our Learning Log.

The four strategies are:

• Define the key term. Put thought into what you are searching and type the main key term first.
• Use a Web Directory. This is a 'tree style catalogue' that consists of major topics and subject such as art or education. When you use this to search it breaks down the topic.
• Don't use 'stop words'. These unimportant words such as is, or, and, the are words that will not narrow down your search. Therefore you may get hundreds of search information to look at.
• Use the BOOLEAN system. These are located on the advanced search of an engine. You firstly type in the key term, then in the AND and OR sections type in important words that may be used.

This is a screen capture of the web site used to find the strategies.



Task 2.
We then had to complete an online quiz that consisted of random history questions.
Some examples of questions asked were:

• Who invented Dynamite ?
• Which of the famous people below died in 1939?
• In what year did the "Boston Tea Party" protest take place?

We had to use the strategies above to find the answers. I used Google's advanced search and also the search engine Ask Jeeves.
It was sometimes hard to narrow down the topic and find the answer. Using the advanced search helped a lot.

This is a screen capture of my results for the Online Quiz.

Task 3.
Some tips when searching for answers on the web or by using search engines are:

• Use key terms when typing
• Use quotation marks " ".
• Use a few search engines, not just the one.

These tips are very effective when searching for information on topics from the Internet using different search engines. It important to narrow down the key term for specific search results.

Reading.
This reading was a Web Search Strategies / Guide.
It included how to fine what you want on the web, but also make sure that is good and helpful research. It included categories of information on the web and search tool types when using the web.
This guide is very helpful when trying to narrow a topic down and search some thing specific.

WEEK FOUR

21.03.08

USING THE WWW

Lecture
Today's lecture I did from home because it is Good Friday. I downloaded the power point presentation from Black Board and took some notes.
From the slides I learnt the difference between the Internet and the Web.

• Web: You can find documents, sounds, video's and information from programs.
  Connections on the web are hypertext links.
• Internet: Connections to the Internet are cables between computers.
• Internet finds computers.
  

I also learnt to define WWW (world wide web)
Its a universe of accessible information that's stored on computers throughout the world. This information is available on a gigantic network called the Internet.

This is a screen capture of one the slides. The slide shows what tools are needed when connecting and using the WWW. (ie, computer, modem etc.)

I also learnt from the slides that web browsers allow users to access and explore the pages from the WWW.
For example the program FireFox. http://www.firefox.com/ allow the user to search for useful information on the Web.

From the slides i learnt some WWW Protocols. Some of these include:

• TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol
• HTTP - Hypertext transfer protocol
• DNS - Domain Name System
• URL - Uniform/ Universal Resource Locator.

Tutorial

Task 1.

For this week I also had to do it all at home. I downloaded the worksheet from Black Board and did the tasks myself.
The lecture was focusing on the Internet and the Web. Continuing from that, in task 1, we were asked to look at the two websites given http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/ and also http://www.molossia.org/.

We then had to look at the sites and see if we thought they were authentic and real.
Four reasons why i do not believe the haggis site is authentic is:

• There is no such animal as a haggis, it is a type of cooked food.
• There is no Contact Us on the home page.
• The Haggis Facts where all jokes
• You cannot hunt an animal when it does no exist.

This is a screen capture of the haggis wed site we had to look at.

Task 2.
For task 2 we were asked to look at a website www.martinlutherking.org
Before doing so we were to write down what we thought the web site may contain. I thought it might consist of:

• Information about
• History of Martin Luther King
• Details of the speech he did
• When he died
• The effect he had on the people
  

When I opened the site the first thing a saw was a picture of King and tabs surrounding him.

This is a screen capture of the Martin Luther King Web site.

Task 3.
My first impressions of the web site where the following:

• The site included some information on King
• It advertised promotional video's
• It suggested other links and sites to go to of similar information
• It also included some fun novelties such as a quiz and racial rap lyrics.
  

Task 4.
After looking at the site I found that is was not authentic. After further progress is discovered the site had links to information on Martin Luther King. It also had a very racial rap song written about him. This included link to people's essays on human rights, the Jewish community and also civil rights. These links would allow the user to access for advanced information on a certain topic.

Reading.
This week there were two readings. The first one was called 'The History of the Internet'. This included:

• Time lines
• Initial Internetting
• Authors
• Origins of the Internet
• Introduction to the Internet
  and more.

I think this information is important to understanding what the Internet is and how it all started

The second reading was called "History of The World Wide Web'.
This included how the web started and different items found on the web, including:

• Development of computers
• History of electronic mail
• Different Search Engines
• Basic Internet Data.
  
  
  

WEEK THREE

14.03.08

USING ONLINE LIBRARIES & DATABASES

Lecture
In the lecture for week three Helen told us to get into pairs and write what a Online Database is. I didn't know what one was. I learnt that they are a online program that stores information, book, pictures and articles. You can find books, journals, research and information on a Online Database. The advantages of a Online Database are:

• You have access to the database 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• The information is very currant
• You can order the information from the database through the library.
  
  The disadvantages of a Online Database are:
• Some databases are only accessed by subscription or password only.
• Some information is not updated. (usually on a database anything 5 years old is out of date)
• Sometimes its a information overload (if not your not specific with 'key words' when searching some topic can come up with 15000 or more findings.
  

Helen also explained that referencing any of the article's or journals used from the Online Databases is very important. The reference has to be accurate and in APA format. Tutorial Following up what we learnt in the

Tutorial
Task 1.
Gary showed us how to access to Online Journals and Article using the ECU Library Home Page.
Our task was to spend some time going through the search functions on the Library Home Page.

This is the screen capture of the ECU Library Home Page.

TASK 2.

Once we had accessed this, we were then given a task to search a topic. Before we did so, Gary gave us tips on how to narrow our search down by using a key term. Some tips were:

• Recognise the "key term" (ie. Global Warming)
• Type the key term with quotations " ........"
• Use AND not OR when using the advanced searching boxes (ie economic impact AND business)
• Use the drop down boxes next to then key words used in the AND sections. Change these to subject, title etc.
  
  

This is a screen capture of searching for a journal article.

We were then told to search the topic 'the economic impact of global warming on business'. Using the tips above was able to search 5 different findings on topic words I had typed in. The Online Database and tips given on how to do advanced searching will be a huge help for UPC0002 Research and Writing Processes.

This is a screen capture of some of the results from my search.


Task 4.
The next task was to visit the web site http://www.medlineplus.gov/ and spend time going through the health topics and drug information.

This is a screen capture of the Mediline Web site.

Task 7.
I believe anyone can use this helpful website. It covers a wide range of different health issues and topics that are easy to understand, and are very Insightful. People who may be worried about a certain issue who may not be able to afford to go to the local doctor might use this sight to get more of an idea what may be worrying them.

Reading.
Week three's reading was all about finding what you want on the web. It also included how it was important not to think Google was the only effective search engine.
It included how to also be a good online research and how to look for go good research.













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WEEK TWO

07.03.08

COMPUTING APPLICATION SKILLS

Lecture
In our lecture for week two Helen wanted us to firstly list as many Microsoft Application as we could. With the person seated next to us we discussed the topic.
Some applications we suggested were:

• Microsoft Word


• Microsoft Excel


• Microsoft Power Point


• Microsoft Publisher

One that I didn't know was Microsoft Outlook.
We then went on to discuss different Internet Browsers and new Websites that we had used in the tutorial in week one.
All the information was presented on a Power Point presentation which was very helpful to take notes and read the slides.

Tutorial
In week two of our tutorial Gary made it clear that all the University Computers had Vista instead of Windows.
He told us some helpful tips because most of the class is new to Vista.
Some of the tips were:

• When saving documents, save as in Word 2003 edition. This way the document can be accessed at home and also be opened at the University in Visa Word 2007.


• Save at least two copies of all documents, just in case.

Task 1 & 2
We also learnt how to use the new Microsoft Word 2007 edition. Some of the obvious tabs that are in the 2003 edition are not shown in the 2007 version, you need to add them. We were taught how to insert a few things on Word 2007.
Such as:

• Insert a cover page


• Insert a header or footer


• Inserting page numbers


• How to format the page number


• Format line spacing


• Insert a table on contents (TOC)

This is a example of a Cover Page on Microsoft Word 2007 Edition

We then used Microsoft Excel to make a spreadsheet with the class and inserted information and times and used the format cells and other options to find the total amount of the information we put in. This will be useful at University level studies if I have to keep a list of information including numbers and statistics.

This is a screen capture of the Excel spreadsheet I made.

Reading
This weeks reading was an extension of the tutorial. The reading was called using Microsoft Word for APA Tasks. The general tips included:

• Inserting page numbers


• Tab spaces


• Deleting hyperlinks
  and more.

These tips will be very helpful for future as I cannot remember how to insert to delete certain items in Microsoft Word.

WEEK ONE

29.02.08

INTRODUCTION UNIVERSITY TO COMPUTING

Lecture
In the first lecture for UPC 0004 was very interesting. Our Lecturer names is Helen Cripps. She reviewed with us the outline for this unit for the semester. On a power point presentation she explained to us how important computer research is essential to our studies. I learnt that I need computers for:

• Research (on the Internet, online journals or searching for books)
• Word Processing
• Creating Presentation

Communicating with our peers and tutors.

We we finally familiarised with important links from the ECU homepage such as SIMO and Blackboard


Tutorial
My tutor for UPC 0004 name is Gary Chan.

Task 1 & 2
He firstly taught the class how to log on to the computers and access our student email and blackboard. We were then put to the test and had to send emails to other students in the class. This is something I had not been taught before. This will become very useful in future classes.

Task 4.
We were introduced to http://www.blogger.com/ This is the site we will be using to keep an online journal of what we learn in our Lectures and Tutorials. We then set up our blog and were shown how to add posts and edit our blog.

Task 7
Other things I learnt:

• How to Screen Capture (this means capture the picture or words that is on the screen and save it as a picture that can be used later in our blog)

This is an example of a screen capture. The picture is the 'dashboard' which is the main page when creating and editing my blog.

Lastly Gary taught us some useful tips when using the keyboard. Such as Crtrl V is Pasteand Crtl C is Copy. This will save a lot of time.

Reading
The first weeks reading consisted of two readings. The first one was about a PC Tune & Lube article that was bout a service station and convenience store that had been in business since February 1994. The objective of this store was to supply usable introductions, tutorials and education on technical subjects. The articles included were free to use but copyright, printing, commercial or cooperate use was prohibited.

The second reading was a web site called 'How Stuff Works'. This site consisted of introductions to computer related topics such as:

• Powering up
• PC Connections
• How a Blog works etc.