Week 13 blog

Ben Cousins "we still love you"

Week 12 blog

Lecture: This weeks lecture was about the social and ethical issues when using the internet and explains how to protect yourself and your pc against the world wide web.

The first part of the lecture explain's the problems faced by many when browsing the internet, these problems include:

• Intelectual property






• Copyright issues






• Plagiarism






• Security






• Privacy






• Freedom of speech

It then goes on to futher explain in detail the problems related to these issues. The last part of the lecture explains how to protect yourself from common problems such as spyware and spam email.

Tutorial:

Task One:

The first task required us to visit http://www.copyright.org.au/ and find the section that was titled "All iformation"

From here we had to choose five different sources that are relevant to us as an under graduate and record our findings. The following explains different issues with copyright laws.

Computer Software:

• Computer programs are protected by copyright in the same way as novels





• If you buy a computer program your rights are usually outlined on the software packaging





• There is no genral right to copy computer programs for personal use

Games and copyright:

• There is no special category of copyright protection for games as a whole





• Names, ideas and concepts are not protected by copyright





• Many of the elements of a game are copyrighted

Graphic designers:

• Drawings, logos, photographs and visual images are generally protected by copyright





• Copyright does not protect ideas, styles or techniques





• Ownership of copyright varies according to the circumstances in which the work was made

TV and radio: home taping:

• In 2006, the copyright act was abloished to allow people to record tv and radio programs, on private premises, to watch or listen to at a more convenient time.





• In some cases, people can record TV and radio programs for other purposes, such as research and study.

Videos and DVDs: copying and downloading:

• It is now legal for a person to copy a videotape he or she owns onto a dvd for private use





• The new law does not applying an infringing videotape





• If you download a movie from the internet for free, it may be a pirate copy, which means you are acting against copyright.

Task two:
Our next task required us to go to http://www.apra.com.au/music-users/online_mobile/online_mobile.asp and comment on what we need to know about music and the web in relation to copyright issues.


We all download music from the internet, whether or not we think it's free is a another story, when we download music from the internet, we are actually steeling, as we are recieving something free that we should in fact be paying for. The Artists are in fact loosing money, and it is becoming a big problem as more and more people are starting to download from the internet. Not only is music been downloaded now but movies are also on the agenda, and although protected by copyright it is very hard to track down every single person who has stolen the material. At the end of the day music will continue to be stolen and not much can actually be done in regards to prosectution as just too many people are breaking the law.





Task Three:

This task required that we take a look at the three websites listen below and come up with a way to protect ourselves from attacks on the internet.
http://netsecurity.about.com/

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus6.htm

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2100282,00.asp


Way's to protect ourselves:

• Firewalls




• Password security using the microsoft tool




• File security ( require a pin number to unlock each file)




• Virus scanners such as norton anti virus




• Spyware detectors such as adware




• Use known internet browsers such as mozilla, which stops popups




• dont install stupid internet browser taskbars




• dont go to any unessarry websites that could put you at risk of spyware

Extra Reading:
The first site we looked at was http://www.eff.org/wp/effs-top-12-ways-protect-your-online-privacy:

This basically outlined how to protect yourself on the internet, some usefull tips from the website were:

• Do not reveal personal information




• Turn on cookie notices on your web browser




• Keep a clean email address




• dont reveal person details




• dont reply to spammers




• be consious of web security




• examine privacy policies

The next website we visited was http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/social/workplace/monitoring/:

This website basically speciallised in:

• Types of monitoring



• Privacy issues



• Suggested policies



• Privacy resources

The last website we looked at was http://www.bpmlegal.com/overview.html:

The website was based around the idea of protecting your intelectual property, it covered:

• Patents, which are useful things or methods of doing something


• Trademarks


• Copyrights

week 11 blog

Lecture: This weeks lecture was based around data, information and knowledge, from the lectures slides we were given the defintions for each, they were:

• Data, a fact or proposition

• Information, a collection of facts or data that relate to each other

• Knowledge, the sum or range of what has been percieved, discovered or learned

The lecture then went on to describe the key characteristics of each which included:


Data:

• Factual



• Non-judgmental

• Non-inferential

Information:

• Summative



• Relational



• Permanent

Knowledge

• Iferential



• judgmental



• Subjective

The rest of the lecture gave examples and then linked them together showing the different relationships.



Tutorial:


Task One:

Task one required us to find the definitions for four terms (Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom) using a suitible online dictionary.

Data, "individual facts, statistics or items of information"

Information, "Definate knowledge aquired or supplied about something or somebody"

Knowledge, "acqauintence with facts; range of information, awareness, or understanding"

Wisdom, "the body of knowledge and experience that develops within a specified society or period"

Task Two:

This task requires us to produce a graphical representation of the four learning groups, as shown below and then explain the process involved:

The relationship between these four terms is very relevant for any University student as they are apart of any important learning curve. When following them logically we can see they take part of every student's learning, first we gather some data, we then record the information, in this process we have gained knowledge and from this knowledge comes wisdom. It is all a very simple process, that if identified makes learning alot easier.
Task Three:

The last involved us researching five different organisation's and commenting on why they would get feedback from their customers.

Blizzard Entertainment:

• As it is a very big gaming company, it is essential they gather feedback from their customers so they know if their game's need improvement in certain sections and whether or not to produce sequeals etc.

ECU:

• ECU also allows their students to have their say, just recently we were asked to complete a survey on the different units we have been undertaking. This feedback gives them an idea whether or not the course is working and were they can make improvements.

Super Cheap Auto:

• This company allows their employers to fill out surveys and give any feedback they can on the company, which in turn should help the company in the long term.

Red Rooster:

• They allow their custormers to fill out surveys on the service they recieve as well as the food. This gives the company an idea if there products are succesfull and if there employers are doing their job effectivly.

Telstra:

• They often ring their customers asking if they will partake in surveys related to the service they are recieving, they also ask if they have any ideas on making any improvements which in turn gives the company ideas' to help the company to continue growing.

Extra Reading:

http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm

This website was based around the four terms ( Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom) and how they relate to each other. The website went on to explain in detail what each one means and how it helps the learning process. Finally the website summed up the four processes and linked them together.

http://camellia.shc.edu/literacy/index.html

This website was a Information literacy Tutorial, it also had many quiz's and assignments that students can do once they had completed the tutorial. The tutorial consited of seven lessons which are:

• The production of knowledge
• The organisation of knowledge
• From thesis to search strategy
• Fundamentals of online searching
• Using reference resources
• Citing your sources
• Copyright and fair uses

after completing the tutorial it gave me a greater understanding on information literacy.

Week 10 blog

Lecture: Week 10 was about Information management and looked closely at how to manage electronic information fast and effectively.

From the lecture slides we obtained that there are two main types of information.

Bit-Based:

• Things such as digital reproductions and electronic content
  
  
• These are very flexible and cheap as well as been easy to edit

• however they do lack privacy

• It is also easy to produce replica's and forge someone's work

Atom-Based:

• Things such as books, reports, etc

• Hard copy's restrict copying and reduce mishaps

• Problems with atom based material is that it is hard to edit and change any errors

The rest of the lecture went on to explain on how to manage these types of files effectively and easily.

Tutorial: This week's tutorial had us utilise the favorites tool on most internet explorer's as well as run through a tutorial on how to effectively use the tool. We then also had to read an article and prepare a 150 report showing our opinions and views on the topic.

Task one:

Our first task required us to visit http://www.inette.com/aibtinette/favoritesI.html and from there complete a tutorial relating to, how to add favourites to your web browser.

This tutorial was very thorough and helped me understand how to manipulate the favourites tool so that you can categorise where you place certain websites, it also showed me how to place websites in a place that I can quickly access.

Task two:

Our next task was shown to us by our tutor, he explained how to actually use the favourites tool to our advantage and how to categorise where we place certain websites.

Step One:

Step one required us to open a web site and from there click on the favourites tab, a drop down menu then came down and we were instructed to select "organise groups"

Step Two:

After we clicked "organise favourites" a menu came up with all the websites we had added to favourites, from here we are able to categorise into folders where we want certain websites.

Step Three:

From here we can drag any website added to favourites into a folder of our choice, you are even able to create new folders.

Step Four:

As shown in this screen shot, i have created three new folders named (grp1, grp2 and grp 3) and from there i have draged two websites into each different folder, demonstrating i have categorised the different websites.

Task Three:

In this task we had to read an article and decide whether or not we think the ideas presented are still relevant, thaking into consideration that the article was written ten years ago.

The idea of atmos excisting much longer is something that just wont happen, the idea of bits over taking atoms is something that is occuring right now, with many people sending information via bits and no longer atoms. People no longer have the time to wright letters, walk down to the local post office, buy a stamp and put it in the post box, its just something our society has out grown as we can now simply log on to the internet and type up an email, editing it as we go, knowing that it is legible and been revieved by the person as soon as we click on send. Negroponte's theory although written ten years is very revelant and very true, soon enough bits will be all we talk about and atoms will be a thing of the past.

Extra Reading:

Grazing the net:

The meaning behind this week's extra reading was to explore the idea's behind young people and to explore the ideas that they should have the opportunity to explore and make meaning for themselves.

The article goes on to explain that not all information is reliable and credible and that young students need to be taught this from a young age, so as they grow up they know to not soley rely on such things as wikipedia and to instead look deeper and find hidden sources that have an

untapped potential.

finally the article puts foward the idea that the internet is just a too bigger place for uneducated students to be messing with for academic reasons, students need to be taught the right methods of locating information from a young age so they are acustom to finding the right source, not something that is just false and misleading.

Week 9 Blog

Lecture: This weeks lecture was all about communication and how it has changed over the years. From times when letters were our form of communication to now, when we use mobiles, emails anything you can think of technology has come up with it.

The lecture went into more detail explaining the different forms of communication and how it has evolved, ICT (Information and communication technology) is the basis and covers the wide variety of communication systems we now have in place and use in everyday life.

Towards the end of the lecture after the lecturer had explained different methods of ICT and how they are used, she explained the benefits from using ICT and how it will evolve in the near future

Tutorial: This weeks tutorial had us do three tasks, the first of which we had to use an aspect of Google and search for groups we are interested in, the second required us to look at various podcasts and the third had us look at how podcasts are beneficial to university students.

Task one:

• Task one required us to visit the search engine Google

• We then had to go to the group section and search something of our choice

• From here we had to show what groups we found

From what i found, there are many groups relating to the West Coast Eagles, these include such things as fan groups, picture sites etc.

Task Two:
This task required us to visit the website http://audio.search.yahoo.com/audio
We then had to search something of interest to us and listen to a few, to see how they work and how they could benefit us.

• First we went to the website http://audio.search.yahoo.com/audio

• Secondly we searched something of our choice, "the rise"

This method of searching is a fast way to get information on a audio file, often reading can become boring and we zone out, so different methods are always good.

Task Three:
Now we had to search the ECU podcasts and record why we think they are beneficial to a university student.
The benefits of technology continue to show, one of the latest initiatives is podcasts these allow students to listen to lectures online which means they do not have to attend or if they are sick they are able to catch up easily. The benefit also comes for revision, as students can easily go back and listen to the lecturer speak, which may help them retain the information much easier.
ECU is yet to record there lectures but im sure they will be soon enough as other universities have such as UWA, showing that podcasts is something that should be seriously looked at.

Extra reading:
This weeks extra reading involved email etiquette, with two websites explaining the do's and dont's when it comes to emailing.

Do's"

• Make sure email is the right form of communication

• Get to the point right away

• specify who should respond

• Be clear about when you need the response

• Use proper spelling

• Make sure there is one main message

Dont's:

• Don't make any assumptions about the senders emotional state

• Ask for clarification
  

• Don't use slang

• Don't go off topic when wrighting an email

The other source we had to read was to do with spam:

Spam is becoming a very big problem, with many people getting hold of others email addressee's and from there emailing them about promotions having no relevance to them and no interest. Programs are been developed to block these emails, and soon enough the problem shall be erased but for now be aware that emails are sent to users to fool you and to obtain your personal details, so when in doubt never reply or give out your personal details because the next thing you know your money may have been wiped from your bank account.

Week 8 blog

Lecture: The first part of this week's lecture had us watch a video and come up with 10 useful tips when making a presentation. From this we gathered that the lecture was about Microsoft PowerPoint with the idea behind it to inform us on how to make a presentation that will capture the audience.

The lecture went into detail explaining different reasons to do certain things as well as not to, when presenting to a class. It showed different methods of presenting information with the main idea to inform the audience as well as keep the presentation looking as professional as possible.


Tutorial: This week our tutor went into detail explaining how to create an effective power point presentation, showing us different tools which add to the visual experience and help capture the audience.

As for the tasks we had to complete, there were two, the first requiring us to come up with five helpful tips on making a presentation and the second to comprise a power point presentation using the tips we had learn't from the lecture, tutorial and extra reading.

Task One: To make a list of five strategies when making a power point presentation that we think are most effective to us:

• K.I.S.S , keep it simple stupid, is a very simple yet effective motto.

• Don't use the power point as your presentation, just use it as a back up, something for the audience to look out and to keep them interested.

• Preparation, be there early so you are able to make sure your slides work and that your presentation wont be faulty.

• Make sure you communicate to your audience, there is no point just putting a presentation up and not explaining it.

• Keep visual animations to a minimum, otherwise your audience will be sidetracked from the information.

Task two: Our second task was to make a power point presentation that was simple yet effective.

• Keep the color scheme simple, make it easy on the eyes

• Use the motto KISS (keep it simple stupid)
• 

• Keep animations to a minimum so it doesn't distract the audience

• Summarise the presentation, so the audience remembers what was said

Extra Reading:
This weeks extra reading required us to visit http://www.actden.com/pp2003/

From here we saw that the website was an in depth tutorial on making a power point presentation. The website had 8 main points, explaining various parts of Microsoft power point.

• Meeting power point, this basically outlined Microsoft power point

• Creating slides, explained how to make new slides

• Making changes, showed the user how to edit your power point

• Adding images and charts

• Adding motion

• Adding sound

• Timing and rehearsing

• Taking it with you

All these points are very helpful for any power point user as they give you a better understanding on how to use the program

Week 7 blog

Lecture: This week's lecture was based around an electronic program known as endnote, the lecture went through the reasons behind referencing and gave us a better understanding on the importance on citing someone's work.

Endnote is able to be used as either a reference manager or bibliography maker, both very effective and accurate methods of referencing. The bonus that comes with Endnote is its ability to integrate with MS word, allowing you to directly reference your research paper accurately, it can also manage your references electronically so you don't have to have 100's of sheets laying around with reference's on them

The lecture then went on further to explain in detail how to use the program Endnote to the users best advantage, with minimal time involved.


Tutorial: This weeks tutorial was based around making sure we were able to use the program Endnote efficiently, our tutor went through each step very thoroughly which was a bonus to us because at the end of the tutor each student has a great understanding on the program.

As for the tasks, we had two to complete one was to reference five different sources and the other to complete a tutorial on Endnote, providing evidence we had done so.

Task One: This task required us to reference 5 difference sources differently, using a list provided to us:

Web Pages:
Technical specifications (iPhone). [n.d.] Retrieved November, 2007, from Apple: http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html

Wiki:
Bindeez. (n.d.) Retrieved November 24, 2007, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindeez

Periodical:
VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates [Electronic version]. Journal of Bibliographic Research, 5, 117-123

Non-periodical:
Greater New Milford (Ct) Area Healthy Community 2000, Task Force on Teen and Adolescent Issues. (n.d.). Who has time for a family meal? You do! Retrieved October 5, 2000, from http:www.familymealtime.org

Article only in an Internet Journal:
Fredrickson, B. L. (2000, March 7). Cultivating positive emotions to optimise health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 3, Article 0001a. Retrieved November 20, 2000, from http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html


Extra Reading: This week's extra reading consisted of tutorial based on Endnote as well as more useful tips when using the program, both sources were very informing and helped me along the way to understanding the program thoroughly.

Endnote: This source was an in depth guide on Endnote, it was a detailed 19page guide. It was designed to help the basic user to the experienced user showing you everything you need to know in order to operate Endnote successfully.

Pages 3-6 were most helpful to me as they explained how to add different references, as well as set up your library so you are able to operate Endnote

Some additional Endnote help: This source was the basis of Endnote, it explained system requirements, gave in depth tutorials as well as provided the user with the opportunity to download addons which can add to the Endnote experience.

It also provided answer's to frequently asked questions and gave helpful resources that can assist you if you are having trouble using Endnote.