Using the WWW (28/03/2008)

Lecture 4

The main points from this weeks lecture were,

• Difference between the Internet and the Web
• Definition of WWW
• Information about the WWW
• Internet browsers
• How to use Internet Explorer on Windows Vista

Tutorial 4

The main weeks from the tutorial were,

• Browsing through the Internet
• Using different Internet browsers
• Identifying what information on the Internet is fake
• Researching a topic through Google to find information

Week 4 Tasks

This website tries to appear authentic by including items such as realistic pictures, having an up-to-date time frame, links etc. However, there are clues which gives the site away as being fake. These include,

• Pictures in the gallery
• Grammar used in descriptions
• Quotes including "Thank you for hunting with us" and " Peace descends once more on the haggis moors"

This site appears authentic as it has a proper colour scheme, logos, links and pictures. Athough it looks authentic, this website appears quite fake. Some clues to show this include,

• More than one language
• Links sound unrealistic
• Site isn't professionally set out
• Quotes including "Naval academy goes gangbusters"

I believe the following web address www.martinlutherking.org is about an organisation relating to Martin Luther King. I gathered this information from the link above. I know it is going to be an organisation as the website end in 'org'. The URL says 'martinlutherking' which gives me the knowledge of being about him.

I was surprised to find this website was exactly as I thought it would be. The website has links relating to Martin Luther King, including his history, death, civil rights and book suggestions although, this site is very bias. I did however, expect there to be more information about him compared to what I visualised.

After researching on the Internet about Martin Luther King, I realised the website I first visited was actually quite informative and contained a decent amount of information about him. Once I clicked on all the available links and had a browse, I learnt a whole lot more about his life.

Reading Summary 1: A brief history of the Internet

Ever since the Internet was invented, the computer and communications world has evolved dramatically. The Internet, available world wide, is used for gathering information, research and connections between people and their computers. The Internet is one of most successful benefits made available to the world

Reading Summary 2: History of the World Wide Web

The World Wide Web (WWW) is basically a whole lot of sites that are able to be searched and retrieved by a protocol known as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The WWW was invented in 1989 and a year later was developed into a browser program, with WWW sticking as its name. The Internet enables communication and transmission between computers at various locations. Computers and the Internet are highly scientific and a discussion between historians about the cause of inventions. This discussion lead to two main points,

• are inventions 'science' led
• are they determined by the material environment

The second main points were,

• are inventions determined by supply constraints
• are they called forth by demand

Online Libraries and Databases (21/03/2008)

Lecture 3: Part 1

The main lecture points for this week were,

• Why should we use online libraries?
• What are the types of online libraries?
• Advantages/Disadvantages of using online libraries
• Shown quite a few examples
• How to reference online libraries

Lecture 3: Part 2

• What are online databases?
• Types of online databases
• How to use online databases
  
• Advantages/Disadvantages of using online databases

Tutorial 3

The main points for this weeks tutorial were,

• Explored through online ECU Library
• Had to search and find a specific journal article
• Recorded 10 useful functions
• Shown how to search properly using key words
• Went through an interactive tutorial

Week 3 Tasks

This is the ECU Online Library homepage. The ECU Online Library lets you search for books, websites, journal articles etc. The ECU Library is very reliable as it has everything you would find in the library on campus. Using key words, you are able to narrow down the search on your topic leaving you with results closely confined to your search.

In a recent discussion, Steve Running and editors from the Beareau of Business and Economic Research and the Institute for Tourism and Recreatioin Research, had an in depth discussion about Global Warming in Montana. Temperature changes will bring warmer weather, however, it will also bring water shortages and damaging bushfires. Rising temperatures can also affect Agriculture sensitivity. Although subtle, climate change will impact on Montana greatly.

MedlinePlus, is a website which contains information on certain health topics and a wide variety of drugs. The information tells you all about the drug, what it's used for and how it is used. We had to search through this website and summarize a health topic and a drug of our choice.

This is one of the interactive tutorials contained within MedlinePlus. These tutorials are extremely informative as they contain specific information about whichever topic you search for.

Summary (Penicillin)

Penicillin is an antibiotic which is used to treat bacterial infections such as pneumonia, ear, skin and throat infections. It is also used to prevent recurrent infections. Antibiotics will not work for colds, flu, or other viral infections. Penicillin comes as a tablet and liquid to take orally. It is usually taken every 6 hours (four times a day) or every 8 hours (three times a day) in order to fight off the infection.

This site would most likely be viewed by anyone concerned about an illness/infection. The site has reliable information about any topic. The site may help people learn more about an illness which they can do in their own time. The site, however, is not an alternative to a doctor.

Useful functions/search tips

There are a wide variety of useful functions/search tips from the ECU Library. These include

Check box: provides users with the choice of choosing one or more options at any one time
Key terms: words or phrases used in conduction a search of a database or in finding a relevant web site
Quotation: a passage or phrase which has been quoted or cited (" ")
Drop-down box: change the type of search you are conducting
Document title: title of a search item or which is listed in a report
Criteria: guidelines which are used to complete a task
Use "and" not "or" in searches: refines and closes in on a specific search topic
Highlight key words: refines a search topic and find specific information related to the topic

Reading Summary 1: Finding what you want on the Web

Written by Debbie Abilock, a trained librarian, this is a guide on how to choose the best search, according to her NoodleTools website. It contains a number of different resources suitable for different searches. Online research requires more then a one word search. Once you find a database, you can then refine and narrow down your topic search.

Reading Summary 2: Bare Bones Lesson 7 - Basic Search Tips

Tips for searching when using most search engines,

• Use double quotation marks (" ") around keywords to ensure they are searched exactly how you type
• Put your most important keyword first before any other word
• Use the plus (+) and minus (-) signs in front of words to narrow down the topic
• Type keywords in lower case letters

Office Applications (14/03/2008)

Lecture 2

The main points of this weeks lecture were as follows,

• Shown the common computer tasks we will be using in UPC0004
• Looked into using Microsoft Excel and more further into Microsoft Word
• Went through a list of common browsers used on the internet
• Watched tutorial exercises showing the difference between a program using Microsoft Vista rather than Microsoft XP

Tutorial 2

The main points from Tutorial 2 were as follows,

• Further introduced into Microsoft Word using Vista
• Shown how to insert a cover page, contents page, page breaks and numbers etc
• Given shortcuts to use eg. ctrl + arrow keys = jump words
• Watched an introduction into how Excel differs in Vista from Microsoft XP
  

Week 2 Tasks

These are screen shots of the Microsoft Word exercises I had to complete this week. Using the original format given, I had to change the font, alignment, headings, references and table of contents. I wasn't completely sure on how to do these steps, therefore I used the Microsoft Word Tutorials we were given to help me complete this task.

These screen shots are of two different graphs using Microsoft Excel. Using the data which I entered in Microsoft Excel, I was then able to convert that data into both a pie graph and a column graph. The pie graph shows the average number of hours spent per week on each activity. The column graph following shows the hours spent per day doing social activities.

Reading Summary 1: Using MS Word for APA tasks

A wide range of general tips are available for use in Microsoft Word. By following these simple tips, you should find many quick and easy ways to format a document. Some tips regularly used include,

• Typing Dashes and Hyphens - used to connect words and/or parts of words
• Centre - don't use "tab" or "space" to centre text as any alterations will adjust where your text is positioned
• Margins and Alignment - usually are 1.25 inches around the whole document. Text should always be aligned to the left of the page and should never be aligned at both left and right margins. If this is done, irregular spacing will occur

Reading Summary 2: Graphic File Formats

Using Adobe Photoshop, you can upload, edit and save images in different formats. The three main formats include,

• .bmp
• .gif
• .jpg

Bitmap (.bmp) is the standard format for PC's. Saving an image in .bmp format allows the image to be used on the desktop

CompuServe (.gif) is used to minimise file transfer time being a compressed file. This format is widely used in "moving" frames and animations

Joint Photographic Experts Group (.jpg) is mainly used to display images on the Internet. This format automatically compressed the file when it is saved and decompresses it once the image is reopened.

Introduction to University Computing (07/03/2008)

Lecture 1

Last week, I had my first lecture and tutorial for UPC0004 Accessing Knowledge. The following were the main points of the lecture,

• Introducing computing into UPC0004
• Basic outline of what to expect throughout UPC0004
• Introduction into the modules and assignments
  
• Shown a list of student responsibilities to adhere to
• Shown a number of materials and buildings to make life at university much easier

Tutorial 1

During the tutorial, we had to show we understood the following,

• How to navigate through 'Blackboard' properly
• How to access our student email system
• Understanding the use of 'print screen'
• Create a blog to be updated throughout UPC0004 and later assessed

Week 1 Tasks

The SIMO homepage is what we use to gain information about our course. It includes our enrolment details, unit information etc. SIMO is accessable through the ECU website under 'current students'.

The student email system plays a huge part during university. Through student email, we can communicate with our peers as well as out lecturers and tutors. Using the email system is the most efficient way of contacting people throughout this course. We can email anytime of the day which is best when our peers and tutors are unavailable.

Student Blackboard is the most used part of the ECU website for students. It contains all the resources and outlines for every unit within a specific course. Blackboard has all the lecture and tutorial worksheets which are able to be printed out for our convenience. We can also find out what our grades are for a certain unit and to make sure we are up to date with everything we need to complete.

This is the ECU webpage which we must navigate through before we can search for anything to do with our course. Through the ECU webpage, we can then access Blackboard, SIMO, student email as well as anything else to do with the university, including students services and the bookshop.

Using blogger.com, we must keep an up to date log on our progress through UPC0004. Each week we must create a blog entry explaining what took place in the lecture, the tutorial and reading summaries. Each blog must have screen shots showing the activities for that week. At the end of the course (week 13), our blog will be assessed and is worth 40% of our overall mark.

Reading Summary 1: PC Lube and Tune

PC Lube and Tune is a service station and convenience store which has been in business since February 1994. PC Lube and Tune provides gas, sodas, repairs, maps and advice. Their objective is to supply a range of information for computer users eg, introductions and tutorials. A few articles available at PC Lube and Tune include,

• Ethernet - most common choice for high speed communication
• An Introduction to PC Hardware - can learn as much as you need to know about how everything works. Prior knowledge is not needed as everything is explained clearly
• Das Boot - how to plan and install operating systems on the same disk at the same time
• The Graphic User Interface - shows how this entire user interface is based on a small number of simple programming techniques.

Reading Summary 2: How Stuff Works

Every aspect of our lives involves technology. Not only computers but television, cars and appliances as well. Computers contain general hardware items eg, memory, hard disk modem etc. Some of the main components of a computer include,

• Memory - fast storage used to hold data
• Random Access Memory (RAM) - permanent memory used for the storage of important data
• Virtual Memory - space on a hard disk used to temporarily store data
• Motherboard - the main circuit board that all other internal components connect to
• Hard Disk - permanent storage used to hold programs and documents