Week Four Workshop

For the workshop activity I looked at the websites http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/ and http://www.molossia.org/ the task was to question the authentication of these sites and explain why I think they are or are not authentic websites.

I first looked at the haggis hunt website. Straight away I knew that haggis was not an animal. commonly many people know what haggis is and it is not a platypus-like animal. The way definitions, profiles and the website in general is written is with humour and very little seriousness. The website does not have an official country code e.g. .au;.uk. This information lead me to believe the website is not authentic.

I could tell that the website about The Republic of Molossia was fake as soon as I opened it. An authentic government website would have the domain .gov at the end of it and would have a country code, which it does not have. The location of this "country" is in between two American States. In the general Government information section of the website there are photos of the same man in different costumes. This information shows me this website is not authentic.

Before looking on the website http://www.martinluthurking.org/ I expect to find a website organisation on who Martin Luther King was, what he did, when he died and other general information. After opening the site my first impressions were that this was a tribute site. After having a look I think the website is racist and by a person or group that idealises him but is extremely bias.

Week Four Summary

The lecture in week four covered

• Internet vs Web
• Historical perspective of the Web
• Defining WWW
• Web protocols
• Web Browsers/Interface

My understanding from the lecture is that the Internet is a giant network of computers connecting via the web, which contains documents, videos and other types of information.

During the lecture we were shown the history of the web; when the first packet switching theory was published, when the first WAN was built, and who developed the Web and in what year these events happened.

The definition of the World Wide Web given in the lecture was: The Wen is a universe of accessible information stored on computers throughout the world. The information is available through a gigantic network called the Internet.
A network of servers are linked together by a common protocol, allowing access to millions of hypertext resources.

i learnt how to recognise WWW resources, for example; domains (.com;.org) and country codes (.au;.uk).

We covered web browsers, and the different types, Web browser interfaces and common interface shortcuts.

Week Three Summary

The topic for week three was "Using online libraries and databases"
We use online libraries for convenience, to update journals, electronic formatting etc. The lecturer informed the class of the advantages and disadvantages of using online resources. Advantages are obvious e.g. convenience, time. Disadvantages are that not all online libraries are credible or accurate. There are many copyright issues and limitations to what can be used.

The task for week three was to use and online library to find a certain article on global warming. To do this I went through "ProQuest" to find an appropriate journal. The difficulties I found were finding a journal with enough content on what I actually needed, and figuring out if the journal was accurate. I think these types of services are good for students in their studies. A person in the medical profession might use this type of service to compare findings with other doctors.

10 useful functions/search tips from the ECu library site;

1. Provides academic tip sheets to assist students in their studies
2. Provides and introduction to using the library and the online library
3. Helps students find credible websites to assist with research
4. Provides links to help students navigate their way around the ECU website pages
5. Provides online journals
6. Provides software at a very reasonable price to help student improve their referencing skills 7. Provides information for staff
8. Makes searching in a catalogue easier by using different search terms e.g. keyword, title, author, ISSN etc.
9. Allows students to search on other university and library databases so student have a wider range to search in
10. provides a feedback section so the site is always improving and students perspective is taken into consideration

Screen shot of Journal article: Economic impact of global warming on business






Screen shot of http://www.medlineplus.gov/

People would use this website to find out information about drugs that have been prescribed to them. Patients would get this website from their GP.

Reading One: "Finding what you want on the web"

The article by Bill Thomson is about searching effectively and not just using Google as your only search engine. Thompson explored many of the other search engines available and came to conclusions about them related to his specific use.

Reading Two: "Bare bones lesson 7: Basic search tips"

This lesson contained exactly what the title suggests. this was helpful to me personally because I have never really been shown how to get the most relevant results based on what my search terms were. An example of this is that I never knew to use "+" and "-" to force the inclusion and/or exclusion in searches.

Week Two Summary

The subject of the lecture for week two was applications. This included common PC tasks such as file handling, word precessing, spreadsheets and presentations just to name a few. We use may applications to achieve these tasks. Applications vary from "my computer" to "Internet explorer". Within these tasks are more tasks, for example: within word processing there is formatting and styles, inserting pictures, tables and charts and document mapping.

During the lecture the class was also shown what skills we need to have acquired by the end of the course. They are:

• Word processing and presentation skills


• Email skills


• Internet browser skills


• Knowledge regarding various applications and their use in specific tasks

In the tutorial the class we were assigned to make a table, pie and bar chart representing my weekly activities, with the total and average of the activities shown. When creating the pie chart I learnt that the selection criteria has to be accurate otherwise the chart will be incorrect. I found after creating the pie graph that I spend a lot of time sleeping and only 2% of my week doing independent study.

Images of Word document task

Table and chart from excel exercises

Reading One Summary:

The reading "Using MS word for APA tasking" is a helpful guide for creating academic documents. It helped me find functions in vista, even though is was directed for word it was easy to follow. The document included headers and footers, alignment, spacing and many other functions needed for a university student.

Reading Two Summary:

The reading "Graphic file formats" is an introduction to the different types of formats a picture can be under, what they mean e.g. .jpg,.bmp,.gif and what they are best used for. This was slightly helpful for the blog when I am uploading pictures.

Week One Summary

During week one I was assigned to log on to the ECU website, so I can become familiar with the aspects of Blackboard, SIMO and student webmail. I was then required to set up a blog as a part of Assignment One. Each week I am to post a blog summarising the lecture from that week, and other information retained through slide shows and reading.

The week one lecture contained information on the UPC0004 course outline.
I was introduced to:

• The learning outcomes



• The course structure, which is broken into six modules



• The assignments, exams and how much each is worth



• General student responsibilities and regulations



• Lecturer and tutors' email address and email etiquette

Below is a screen shot taken from blackboard

Screen shot of student web mail

Reading One: PC Lube and Tune

PCLT is an organisation that describes them selves as a service station for computers. The article provided was an introduction to computer hardware and software. This reading was an extension to the lecture because it explain many basic hardware and software components.

Reading Two: How stuff works

How stuff works is a website that contains exactly what it says in the title. the page we were given is about a basic computer tower. the components and processes are explained in the exert.