Follow Up

This was my first serious blog. I found it gynormously useful in helping me focus and work through this unit. I achieved a High Distinction for this unit. I attribute this successful result, in part to this blog.

NET11 was a ripper unit. I enjoyed every minute of it and was sad to see it end. The follow up unit, NET12 was a disappointment in every way. Loads of text and nowhere to apply its lessons. It seemed heavy on postmodernist thought. Postmodernism = black hole, spiraling ever inwardly and collapsing on itself.

Yeay NET11, boo NET12.
;P
mYa

NET11 Conclusion

Description

Completed this unit except essay (assignment 2) * Given extension for essay and blog. Am a day behind in sending them.

Evaluation

Overall, this unit was really useful and a lot of fun and very well organised. If I had a critisism, it would be that the annotated biblio was placed aquwardly in the units time line. I would have prefered to have covered all the unit work first. It would have made for a stronger assignment.
I can understand there isn't much 'give' in where to place this assignment. Perhaps I should have requested an extension. Next unit I will read the modules more carefully when I get them.

Some of the wording in the assignment descriptions caused confusion. However the unit DB is an excellent forum for gaining clarity. I never waited long for a reply.

Analysis

This unit has taught me soooooooo many technical skills and a good conceptual understanding of the internet. The best thing (coz it crept up on me-I used it before I recognised what it was) was an understanding of why a conceptual understanding of the internet can greatly enrich my online skills, especially in effective communication. It has broadened my understanding of the size of the content and community inside "cyberspace".

Its introduced me to blogging and learning logs for which I am eternally grateful. As simple as they sound, these tools have been invaluable to me. They have assisted me in an area I have struggled with for a long time - organisation. Via this learning log/blog, I have found the method of organising thoughts, lessons, references and unit work that I've been searching for. It has literally changed the way I study.

The first work I started on when this unit begun was establishing 'work-sheets' for my assignments' (these initially included description, tips, suggested reference sites and some I'd found myself) and everytime I'd come across useful information, I'd add it to these work sheets. The headings in the learning log doc gave me a way to organise all these elements and make them easier to refer back to. It was the last peice of my successful study method puzzle. This is something I'm glad I did and I'm noting it now so I do it again next unit!

If I was to do this unit again, what I would do differently is read the whole ciricullum more carefully initially, communicate more frequently on the DB (often I was too shy to post a question so I left it until someone else did-they almost always did. All this achieved was delay in my progressing through the work) and not be so shy about my technical inability.

Conclusion

There are so many areas of life where this new knowledge can be applied. In my everyday email, discussion board, real time chat and newsgroup communications (yes, I am an active member of 2 newsgroups!!) I have become almost automatically more aware of how and in what format I communicate in. Like I said above, I was doing it before I recognised it was happening!! That a great gift :)) The way I use search engines and evaluate results now is very different from how I did before I completed this unit. I gathered a great deal of excellent communication skills information while researching learning logs/blogging/writing for web sites that I can apply everytime I communicate anywhere, with any one. Now thats a broad application!

Module Five Information Ecologies

Concept: Active Communication Generates IdentityAwareness

• An internet users identity is created by participating. As part of a newsgroup or online chat, members establish their identity by posting and replying within these groups. When participating in an online gathering, members project who they are by what they contribute.


• "Lurkers" - non participating memebrs of a group, list or forum.

Information Ecologies

“We define an information ecology to be a system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local environment. In information ecologies, the spotlight is not on technology, but on human activities that are served by technology.”
(Nardi & O’Day, 1999)

These patterns are the four basic dimensions of an information ecology:

Interdependency - This pattern describes the relationship between the connection points inside the 'information ecology'. Central organisation points such as government bodies, banks, university's etc are a focus point for incoming and out going information. They communicate with each other and help shape future development of communication and of the information ecology as a whole.

change - The development of information and communication linking to create something new. Small changes can effect alot of users within the information ecology. Large changes can "reconstitute the rules of survival"(Stalder, 1997). In any ecology change is inevitable, constant and esencial for growth.

time-boundness - A pattern describing the relevance of information at the time it is sourced. For some users within the information ecology, information needs constant updating to fullfill its purpose. Others require 'archive' information.

differentiation - In short, this pattern realtes to flexibility. The ability to adapt information as required within the ecology, as simply as possible.

The following Q & A describe and define 'information ecology' and the role of information and communication within this ecology.

How might the metaphor of an ‘ecology’ impact on the way you think about, understand or use the Internet?

An ecology of any kind deals with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment. Humans interacting within the online environment and all the elements that make up this environment, for me, describes the 'online' or 'cyber' ecology.


Thinking of the Internet in these terms rather than just a pc connected to a modem

a/helps to explain the 'signal flow' of incoming and out going information making trouble shooting and adapting to technological change easier,

b/gives the user a deeper sense of responsibility in what information they share, promote and send because the other internet users become part of thier 'community' not just anonymous avatars.

c/helps explain that data is just data until it is put into context by its being published and read and subsiquently thought about.



How are the concepts ‘information’ and ‘communication’ understood within the framework of an ‘information ecology’?


I struggled with this question. Here's what I came up with from the information on the reference sites and units DB.

Information is data that is only given substance and put into a context when its published, read and subsequently thought about.


Communication is an action that produces the creation, spread and growth of information.


An ecology describes relations and interactions between an organism and their environment. Communication is an organisms action-not the resulting information.


Why don’t we talk of a ‘communication ecology’?

To me, this question is closely associatted to the last question. As discribed above, an ecology is the relations and interactions of organisms within an environment. Communication is part of that interaction and relations, part of the information ecology, not an ecology in itself.

Module Four Evaluating the Web

Website Evaluation Process
(Taken from http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/les1/index.html)

Purpose Determine the purpose of the material; to inform, persuade or advocate?

Author Find out about the author. What are their qualifications, education, proffesion?

Content Does the author presten a 'biased view', does the author have a vested interest in the topic? Look for material providing a "balanced view".

Coverage Compare sites of the same topic. Which has the best coverage (including the most qualified authors and balanced views)

Currency If the information you seek need to be the latest on a topic, be sure to check when the material was published &/or updated.

Recognition Has the site been referenced by other sites or mentioned by other authors/institutions writing on the same or related topics?


Choose your best 'source' or site from the three you used in the last task, then evaluate it according to the tutorial described above.

Site: RCCS, http://rccs.usfca.edu/intro.asp

Purpose: Taken from site: " The Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies is an online, not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to research, teach, support, and create diverse and dynamic elements of cyberculture. "

Author: As this is a 'center', there is no one author. David Silver is listed as the centers founder. The site offers lists its advisory board, the majority most of whom are university educated/employed in the technological field.

Content: An introduction to Cyberculture and Cyberculture education Most importantly this site contains a 'featured links' page offering related links to research reviews and statistics.

http://rccs.usfca.edu/links.asp

Coverage: As the RCCS is a non-profit, non political center for studies and its links are numerous and varied, it's coverage is broad, balanced and unbiased.

Curreny: Some of the studies and articles available on RCCS featured links date back to the early 1990's but many are current and updated.

Recognition: I haven't noticed RCCS mentioned elsewhere but I wasn't really looking. In the little time I have left for this unit, I'll make a note if I see it referenced on another site.

In your own words, write an annotation for the source which could communicate to a reader both your 'judgement' of the site according to what you have learnt from the tutorial, and also the following information:

• the reliability and authority of the site / source / article


• the main ideas or subjects discussed in the article


• the purpose for which the site was written (this might include any apparent external interest, intellectual motivation or contextual information)

Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies. (2007). Introducing Cyberculture. Retrieved January 31, 2008, from http://www.rccs.usfca.edu/intro.asp

The RCCS website was developed in 1996 by David Silver. Silver is a professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco. The sites advisory board are all University educated and some are employed at Universities across the US. The RCCS is a non-profit organization that researches, teaches, supports, and helps to create diverse and dynamic elements of cyberculture. The purpose of this site is to provide an overview of cyberculture, a description of who the RCCS is and what they do. The highlight of this website is the featured links page providing useful links to a variety of internet/ technology and culture/society sites. As a one stop site for research reviews and data, RCCS is very useful. If the information required is not found in the link itself, there may be references to other sites found inside featured links.

Compare your final analysis and annotation with the material you saved for the last task, and think about these questions (you may wish to discuss these questions in your group)

• In terms of your own future use, which 'body ' of information (ie. the original 'snapshot' of the site, or your own, annotated, analytical version) would be most useful to refer back to? I think they are both similiar. The snapshot is a little more comprehensive. My annotated version is easie to overview and has the site info listed at the top. I'd probably use both depending on the purpose for which the info was required but I'd favour my annotated version.
• In term of external users (i.e. if you included this site as a hyperlink or resource on a website) which body of information would best help them judge if the site was useful or of interest to them? Given the information the tutorial provided regarding how website visitors read web sites, I'd use an edited version of my annotation and highlight key words.

Module Four Organising Search Information Task

Description

First, choose the best three sources found in the previous task. Using whatever software or tool you think appropriate, record the following information about those sites:

• URL.
• author,
• institution,
• blurb/ summary / screen shot (this can be a direct copy of an appropriate abstract or introductory paragraph on the site: but make sure you record and reference it as such)

Best Three Sources

1. E.F.F Net Culture (from Copernic search)

URL: http://w2.eff.org//Net_culture/

Author: As this is a directory, the only names I could find were Marcia Hoffman and David Sobel.

Institution: Electronic Frontier Foundation

Blurb: The EFF descibe themselves as "the first line of defence" "when our freedom in the networked world comes under attack". The page that the URL above displays is a directory of books and links on the topic of internet culture and network concepts covering much of what is discussed in this unit.

2. The Third Culture (from Google search)

URL: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/kelly/ and http://www.scripting.com/stories/2002/01/09/kevinKellyTheWebRunsOnLoveNotGreed.html

Author:Kevin Kelly

Institution: Science Magazine

Blurb: A collection of essays by the author on "science in society". The essays discuss science and it's effects on the development of the interent and the subsequent effect this has had on culture as a whole and how it created a culture of it's own.

3. Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies

URL: http://rccs.usfca.edu/default.asp

Author: David Silver

Instituation: Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies

Blurb: (Taken from the site) " The Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies is an online, not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to research, teach, support, and create diverse and dynamic elements of cyberculture. " One of the highlights of this site is its 'featured links' providing a large volume of links to research sites providing research reviews and data on all things Cyberculture.

Record this information in your learning log, and also detail how you saved this information, what software you used and why.

I have come to know my own technical 'habits' well during this unit. Time is so importnat in uni life. Assignments are due, exams iminent, unit work falling behind. Because of this, I'm saving all my relevant information as I always have, onto a word doc with URL and brief description and also the URL'S I save in a favourites folder marked "NET11Essay". In this word doc are all the links, refs, questions, tips, instructions, thoughts, ideas, essay plan, notes, and to-do's that I need to complete this assignment. It's all there in one doc, organised under headings. I know this system. It works for me (aspecially now that I have back ups) .
If I were to start, using new software, I would have to invest time getting to know it. To ensure nothing could go wrong and information could get lost, I would back it up on a word doc and in favourites. Given that I already do this and it works fine, I have no reason to change and start using new software.



Concept: Information and Attention

Key Focus Points

• As the Internet grows and the amount of information available to it's users expands, an Internet users attention is easily distracted or moves on elsewhere if the information presented is not developed in a way that keep the reader's attention.
• Research has shown that most Internet users 'skim over' internet information with the express view of meeting their needs and desires as soon as possible. The art of holding the readers attention lies in meeting that need in the first few seconds they are exposed to the information they have sought. This is the crucial few seconds where the metadata of the web meets the metadata of the readers purpose. If these two match, the exchange is successful and the information is more likely to be absorbed by the reader.
• Attention is a form of economy on the Internet (and other retail spaces)

Module Four Boolean Searching Task

Boolean Logic refers to a set of options useable during an internet search to construct logical relationships between search terms and specify and focus search terms.

Boolean Logic consists of three logic operators:
1. OR - This operator will return on at least one of the search terms (College OR University)
2. AND - This operator will return on all of the search terms (College AND University)
3. NOT - This operator will exclude search terms placed after NOT (eg; Bowl NOT Rose)

Few search engines offer full Boolean search capabilities. Hunting down a serach engine that does it is the only way to find one. Most search engines offer Implied Boolean Logic ( a search were symbols are placed in with the search terms to prompt a Boolean operator) or template language (a search engine will offer a menu of Boolean options) .

Symbols

( ) or " " - force the search engine to give results where the search terms are in the order specified inside these symbols. If additional search terms are added outside these symbols, the search engine will address the terms inside the symbols first and in the order which they appear.

A Blank space in between search terms will be automatically assumed as an "AND".

+ - AND

- - NOT


Boolean operators
Dogpile Google [OR only] Ixquick

Full Boolean logic with parentheses, e.g., behavior and (cats or felines)
AlltheWeb Advanced Search AltaVista Advanced Web Search Ixquick Live Search

Implied Boolean +/-
Most search engines offer this option

Boolean logicusing search form terminology
Most advanced search options offer this, including:AllTheWeb Advanced Search AltaVista Advanced Web Search AOL Advanced Search Ask.com Advanced Search Google Advanced Search Yahoo Advanced Web Search

Proximity operators
Exalead Google [by default] Ixquick


Taking the same key words of your last search, think about how you would best search for the following:

the biggest number of hits relating to these key words

Parenthesis or " " outside the search terms. NOT Help as many of the results are help lines for problem gamblers.

information most relevant to what you ACTUALLY wanted to look for!

Again in parenthesis or " " "Operant conditioning in problem gambling" as well as "Classical conditioning in problem gambling". This focuses the search to the exact area's I need information about.

information coming only from university sources

Select a specialized database or library database. Or Search within a University search engine.
Use search terms like " university research on problem gambling" or 'university +gambling -help.

Concept :Virtually a Library?

Key focus points

• The Internet is often described to new comers as a virtual library. This description is useful to quickly (and very very broadly) explain the Internet. This description is very broadly true only in that the Internet does operate with some loose and massiveley differing types of catagories and classifications.
• The Internet is too broad and flexible to be strictly placed into catagories and classifications. The Internet has no "shared system" of classification or catagory.
• The type of 'library' an advanced Internet user can develop is their own by manipulating and exploiting the www and Internet to suit their own unique and individual needs.

Module Four Searching the Web Task

Four types of web search tools:

Web Index or Search Engine – uses ‘spider’ crawler’ and ‘robot’ software to list the words in the search box with all available web pages. This search tool collects the largest amount of information on the web but doesn’t list everything. Search engines search billions of websites that have the search word in its metadata and are used for quite narrow and/or specific searches.

Web Directory – More selective than indexes, web directories search in categories and/or classifications. Searching for the best website on a particular topic would be suited to this search tool. Best used for broad & general searches.

Specialized Database – provides in-depth results for very specific focused searches. This search tool will find specific factual information not easily found by other search tools. In this search tool using alot of search terms may not always yeild the best results. Start with only a few search terms.

Meta Searcher - is a convenient tool that allows you send your search word to many different search tools (or specify exactly where to send your search) then group together the search results. If two same results are given, meta searcher will collate the results so you only view a repeated web site result once. to construct a search and then forward it to many different Web Indexes and Directories at once. Meta means 'more comprehensive'.

Search tips:

• Use as many search words as you can think of to describe your topic Put the best words first; those that are unique, important and explicit in description.
• Be specific avoid common or vague words (maybe even remember the ‘old word’ rule.
• If search results require the search words to be shown in the exact order they appear in the search bar place them in inverted coma's ""
• Use correct syntax: For example the NEAR Boolean operator cannot be used in google (an asterisk is used instead)
• In some cases it may prove benefitial to limit your search by domain, country of origin, date, format, language and occurrences.
• Search within results. This method can assist in narrowing a search but will require new search terms.
  

Boolean Operators – a group of commands that tell the search tool how to combine and/or display the various search words and/or results entered in a search.


Examples:
To use all the search words: bowl AND championship or +bowl +championship. To find any of the search words; Buckeyes OR Bucks.
To eliminate words from search results: bowl NOT Rose or +bowl -Rose

B.I.L.S

Sometimes searching a subject yeilds better results then searching with terms. Search words are hit and miss. Subject searching can provide more complete and comprehensive results. B.I.L.S is a helpful tool to assist in finding good subject headings to use in search tools.

B – Browse a keyword search results.
I – Identify a relevant result. You may need to browse first to find one that best represents what you are seeking.
L – Look at the subject terms used in this result and select any that seem relevant to you topic to use in the next step S – Search using the terms you collected in the previous step for more focused results.


Quiz from http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/les5/ Tutorial

I score 73%, 3 out of 5 answers correct on the first attempt.
Clusty - Web index (Incorrect, it’s a Meta Searcher. How can you tell?? It looked like google!)
The National Gallery of Art – Web Directory (incorrect, it’s a Specialized Database)
Librarians Index to the Internet – Web Directory (correct)
Ask.com – Web Index (correct)
Occupational Outlook Handbook – Specialized Database (correct)

Pop Quiz's from http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/les5/ Tutorial

Which type of tool is best for a broad (general) query? Web Directory (Correct)

A search within a Web directory generally finds your search words in: Both are correct (Correct)

To determine which Web pages are most relevant, search engines may use: Algorithms (Correct)

A meta-searcher gives results from: Web Indexes and directories (Correct)

Which search will work best to find the home page of the World Conservation Union? "World Conservation Union" (Correct)

Specialized databases are: Focused (Correct)

Which type of database provides descriptions of published works, like books and articles? Bibliographic (Correct)

When you do a "subject heading" search, you are searching: Anythin in the record (Incorrect) You are searching controlled vocabulary for that database.

How many search terms should you use in a specialized database? Only a few (correct)

To locate a specialized database, search: Library Web Site (Incorrect) Any website will work.

Searching the Web Task

1. Choose your most commonly used internet search engine and do a search with words of your choosing.

My most commonly used search engine is Google. The search terms I chose were 'Internet Culture'


Record the first hit and number of hits in your learning log

First hit on Google: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Internet_culture

Number of hits from Google: Results 1 - 10 of about 41,000,000 for Internet Culture

2. Using copernicus or similar, set it up to search at least three search engines (including one that will search the 'deep web') and repeat eactly the same search

First Hit on Copernicus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_culture

Number of hits: Copernic found 417,000,000 results for Internet Culture

First hit on Deep Web search engine: http://www1.au.shopping.com/xGS-culture~NS-1~linkin_id-8025953


Number of hits on Deep Web search engine: 41

I was unable to add the Deep Web search engine into the trial version of Copernic so I ran it as a sepearate search. The deep web search tool I used was http://turbo10.com/