Week 4 - Using the WWW

Lecture 28/3/08

The Internet is a network of computers which communicate between each other and with out the net, the web work. The World Wide Web is the visible part of the Internet that uses HTML or HTTP to instruct a computer how to display data.

Common Domain Name System conventions include:

• www. - goes in front of the web address (world wide web)
• .com - commercial
• .org - organisation - non-profit
• .gov - government
• .net - network - is used when .com is not available
• .edu - education

Tutorial

Four clues that are shown, that prove that these sites are a fake.
http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/

1. The entire site is about an animal called a Haggis. But Haggis is a traditional food in Scotland.
2. There are made up myths of this animal on one of the web pages.
3. Facts about the made up animal and
4. Descriptions on the made up animals.

http://www.molossia.org/

1. There has been a temperature put onto the site
2. The logo has been made and put onto the site to make you think it is official
3. A authentic type of writing on the site and
4. A picture of the President of Molossia on the second webpage in the site.

My thoughts on the site http://www.matinlutherking.org/ before i visit.

Before going to this website, I think that there will be information on Martin Luther King. The types of information I think that will be on there include personal information (birth date, marital, where he was born), what he achieved and how he died etc.

After reviewing the site and webpages, it seems that my first impression of the site was very wrong. There is a lot of information on there which is trying to cast a negative view on Martin Luther King. There is also information claiming that Martin Luther King used other peoples words as his own and used them in sermons, speeches and essays.

Week 3 - Online Library and Databases

Lecture 21/3/08

Online library and databases are a quick and easy way to get information from trustworthy sources. The information that is kept within these sources are up to date and are usually free to access.

Advantages of online libraries and databases include:

Online Libraries:

• Convenience
• 24/7 access
• Current information

Databases:

• Current information
• 24/7 access
• Searchable
• Browsable

Disadvantages for these include:

Online Libraries:

• Lots of information is hidden and only accessible through subscription
• You need to know ways of finding specific information

Databases:

• Lots of advertising
• Difficult to navigate
• Subscription only access on specific information

Tutorial

10 useful functions and search tips for the ECU library site.

1. Use journal articles (database).
2. Then click into find database by title.
3. Click into ProQuest. This will help you to find peer reviewed information.
4. Key words. These narrow down the topic and help you break away from unrelated information.
5. Quotation marks.
6. Advanced search. This can help you find more specific information that you might not be able to find in normal search conditions.
7. Check the boxes for limit search results. "Full text documents only" and "Scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed". This limits the results to documents that are trustworthy and give you all the information.
8. Use Boolean search words such as AND, NOT and OR.
9. Use the ? to replace a singular character (not at the beginning of a word). Searching t?re will come up with "tire", "tyre","tore".
10. Switch between the types of examples the search will give you (for example Citation and abstract or Classification code etc.).

Medline plus

The medline plus website, is a site which provides information on all medications and health topics that could be a factor in any ones life around the world. I think that this site would be used by people that are wanting to no exactly what is affecting them at anyone time and how the medications that will be given to them will help and affect their body. This could also be a good site for people that are scared about a sickness and to see what is needed to treat them and the effects it could have. This could give them a bit of peace of mind and calm their worries about the sickness they have.

Reading Summary

Finding what you want on the web.

Finding what you want on the web is a very hard thing to do. It requires you to explore the full web not just what you search through Google. Google is the most common search engine used on the web and covers a large section of the visible web. However the amount of information that is on the web is growing and more and more untrustworthy sites are making it into the search, while more valuable information is being pushed into the dark. Because of this we need to start using other resources to find the information that we need and which is credible.

Week 2 - Office Applications

Lecture 14/3/08

Common tasks used on PC's

• File handling
• Word processing

• Presentations
• Internet Access

• Email

Within these common tasks, there are general skills that you need to learn to have your work done properly and to have everything run smoothly. In each of these common task, I have identified some of these skills that will help with making your life much easier.

• File management tasks


• Using and saving documents into specific files


• Naming the files


• Moving and viewing files

Word processing tasks

• Formatting and styles
• Working with templates

• Inserting and formatting images and tables
• Internet tasks

• Browsing
• Net navigation and using hyperlinks
• Bookmarking or using favorites
• Using search engines
• Being able to search for authentic information and develop validation skills

During the lecture i learned that there were more browsers then just Internet Explorer.

Some of these other browsers include:

• Firefox


• Safari


• Opera
  
• Netscape
  

Also that the most common applications used are:

• Microsoft Word
  
• Microsoft Excel


• Microsoft Powerpoint


• Outlook Express and


• Adobe Acrobat Reader
  

Tutorial

Today's tutorial was very productive. We learned the applications of Microsoft word and excel. For example one of the applications for MS Word includes Ctrl + Shift + <- (It highlights words in the document).

Word Activity -

Reading Summary

Graphic File Formats

Graphic files can be saved with different formats and by saving them in certain files they will be met with certain uses. The different types of file formats that you can get for graphics include:

1. .bmp - Bitmap
2. .gif - CompuServe
3. .jpg - Joint Photographic Experts Group
4. .tiff - The tagged-Image File Format and
5. .psd - PhotoShop Document

The most common file format used is .jpg. It is most commonly used to display images on the Internet and retains all the colour of an image.