Week Six - 31st March

Evaluation & Authentication

Tutorial
During the tutorial we were asked to view the following website, ICYouSee Critical Thinking page (http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html) which has strategies for evaluating and briefly describe them. Then view here or here and see if there is any further tips.

Six Suggestions when examining web pages:

1. Make sure you're in the right place
2. When in doubt, doubt
3. Consider the source
4. Know what's happening
5. Look at the details
6. Distinguish web pages from pages found on the web

Authority
Who are the authors of the Web page, or who is responsible for it? What gives them their authority or expertise to write?

Accuracy
Do you have good reason to believe that the information on the site is accurate? Are the facts documented?

Objectivity
What is the author's point of view? What is the purpose of the site?

Currency
When was the information on the page originally written? Has the site been kept up-to-date?

Coverage
Does this site address the topic you are researching? Is the information basic and cursory or detailed and scholarly? However complex the language might be, is the information substantial?

Value
Was the page worth visiting? Does the site offer anything informative, unique, or insightful? Is the site free of careless errors, misspelled words, and poor grammar?

• WHAT is the publishing body of this page? The key is the domain name, located in the URL.
• WHO is the author? Does the author list credentials? Is the author an amateur or a professional in this field? Is there a way to contact the author for further information?
• WHY is this page on the WWW? Are they trying to sell you something? Is the information unbiased, or does the author "have an agenda?"
• WHEN was the page last updated? Even though currency may not be an issue for some types of information, it is important that the page be maintained. Most reputable sites will include a date of last update.

We were then asked to go onto the following website and evaluate two of the web sites that were given and answer a range of questions on them:

Web Page 1 (The Psychedelic Sixties) :



Accuracy - I believe that this websites information is accurate as it was written by people of the University of Virginia which makes the information more reliable as it is from a reliable source. It's from 1998 which was 10 years ago making the information reliable as it is reporting about the 60's so the information isn't going to change.
Authorship - Again, I believe that because it was written by people of the University of Virginia that it makes the web page seem more authentic.
Purpose - The purpose of this web page to show memorabilia from the 1960's.
Detail and Design - The detail and the design doesn't look very professional as it is in the colours of the rainbow but it goes with the theme of the 60's.
Overall Worth - It is worthy if you are interested in the 60's or you are after information from the 60's as it would be an interesting and reliable source. It's easy to understand and the layout is organised so that you can easily find what you may be looking for.

Web Page 2 (Sixties Project) :



Accuracy - It doesn't seem very accurate as the information isn't by anybody who would have studied the specific subject. It looks as though someone with some spare time made up this website for their own personal use.
Authorship - It is an unknown author making it more unreliable as they are not qualified about the subject.
Purpose - A website about stories of the 1960's.
Detail and Design - The detail and design is very poor, the layout is very basic and plain. It doesn't have very much information and it doesn't look appealing to the eye. The picture on the homepage looks like it's from clip art which makes you think that it hasn't been designed very well.
Overall Worth - It isn't really worthy and it doesn't have very much information on the given topic.

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Lecture
During this weeks lecture we learnt the following important points when it comes to evaluation and authentication (Searching & Finding Quality Information on the World-wide Web):

• That anyone can put up a web page
• There is no quality control
• Not all sites are "created equal"
• You may be measuring the content, visual feel, navigation, ease-of-use
• Suggested Criteria -
  Accuracy, Authority, Objectivity, Currency and Coverage
• Authentication Considerations
• Why's the pages been put up on the web?

Week Five - 27th March

Using Search Engines

Tutorial
We were instructed to work through Monash University's Excellent Interactive Tutorial on search engines and directories and list four strategies that will help structure a good search.

1. Make sure that you spell the words in your search correctly, with the correct punctuation
   
2. Try to narrow down your search
   
3. Find information by searching on either the author, the title, or the subject. You usually choose the subject option when you want to cover a broad range of information.


4. If you are clear about the topic of your query, start with a Web directory rather than a search engine.

Internet Quiz

Strategies I used to locate the answers and their effectiveness:

• When searching for the year someone was born in I did their name + the year and it was very effective I found the answer straight away
  
• Use the search engine effectively look for the keywords and search for what you are looking for


• I searched for the different answers in the search engine until i found the appropriate information
  

Information that is found on the Internet can sometimes be very helpful and other times be the complete opposite, you have to know the correct way to find specific information so that you don't find information that is irrelevant to the search you were initially doing.

Lecture

What I learnt during this weeks Lecture:

• Search tools fall into two main categories - Search Engines and Directories
  
• Search Engines are web-based application (programs) that searches the internet and creates indices of websites usually from text information contained on them
  
• Problems with search engines ie, too many results


• Directories are human-edited


• Different types of directories


• Examples of both
  
• Search tips when using search engines / directories
  

Readings
Reading 1 - Robert Harris: "Web Search Strategies"
This reading was Robert Harris's Web Search Strategies and it proved very interesting and helpful - he had categorised the information on the web into different sections. He had made a quick guide to choosing a starting place which was interesting to read and he also had organised important search tips so that they were easy to follow and to understand.

Reading 2 - The History of the Internet (Chap 4 - Search Engines)
This reading was some extra reading on the history of the internet regarding search engines, it had some graphs showing webpages that were indexed and the different search engine sizes.

Reading 3 - Search Engine Optimisation for Companies
The third reading for this week explained about keyword analysis, Search Engine Optimisation, Link popularity and measuring your progress - All very interesting to read.

Week Four - 17th March

Using the WWW

Tutorial
During the tutorial we were instructed to have a look at the following sites that have attempted to appear authentic:

• Haggis Hunt
• Molossia

Four Clues that gave 'Haggis Hunt' away as a spoof:

1. It says in the 'haggisclopedia' that haggis is an animal when it is actually a traditional Scottish dish.


2. They have included alot of information that you can easily know is fake "Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem “The Hunting Of The Snark” was originally called “The Hunting Of The Haggis” until he found out the Scottish beast actually existed"


3. The website has alot of un-related ads / advertising
   
4. It has made us words that they have used to describe the 'creature'
   

Screenshot of the website:

Four Clues that gave 'Molossia' away as a spoof:

1. You can tell that it's fake by the disclamer at the bottom of the website- "The Republic of Molossia bears no relation of any kind to the ancient Greek nation of the same name"


2. 'The president' meeting Kelly Clarkson and a man from the Star Trek Movies / the members of the government - all of them are the two same men


3. They have alot of information that you can tell is fake - their space exploration
   
4. They have the National Musical Instrument of Molossia, the Molossaphone which is infact a trumpet like object and a kazu.
   

Screenshot of the website:

We then had to visit the website http://martinlutherking.org/ and write down, before we looked at the actual website what we thought it'd be about. Before viewing the site I made these assumptions:

• That the website will be about Martin Luther King
• His 'I have a dream' speech / standing up for black people

I then visiteed the website and my first impressions of the of site were:

Screenshot of the website:

• The website wasn't what I had expected it to be
• It seemed dodgy and fake
• Alot of the content was untrue
• It had 'Rap Lyrics' on the website

I think that the website has alot of fake information - Martin Luther King didn't hate the white people, he was happy with who he was and he was going to fight for the rights of his community and the other black people. He didn't want to be white as the phrase "I'm not a negro tonight" suggested.

Lecture
During the lecture we learnt how to use the World Wide Web and the following key points:

• Internet vs Web
• Historical Perspective of the Web
• Defining the World Wide Web
• Web Protocols
• Web Browsers/Interface

Readings
Reading 1 - A brief History of the Internet
This reading explained some of the history of the internet, including it's origin, the initial internetting, concepts of ideas and much more that proved very interesting.

Reading 2- History of the World-Wide Web
This reading explained a comprehensive history of the web and search engines it was divided into chapters so it was easy to understand and to read through.

Week Three - 10th March

Online Libraries and Databases

Tutorial
During the tutorial we accessed the ECU library website (http://ecu.edu.au/library/) and viewed online journal articles on different subjects ie. economic impact of global warming on business.

Click here to view Article.

10 Useful Search Tips for the ECU Library Site

1. Choose your keywords wisely, for example try using adjectives.


2. To get a more accurate result search for phrases by using the quotation marks. For example "Impact of Global Warming"


3. Use the + plus symbol while searching lets the search engine know that terms following the sign must appear in the result pages. For example Global Warming+Impact+Business


4. Make sure you check your spelling of each word used in your search. You may of spelt one of your words wrong and therefor it doesn't show you what you are looking for.


5. Check the grammar within your search, you may of used the incorrect grammar and therefor it won't show up with what you are looking for.


6. Make sure that when you come to the 'Advanced Search' you put in the main keywords and then the other keywords after the AND.


7. Depending on what you are trying to find (journals, articles, books etc) you have to click on the appropriate search engine.


8. When you have selected the appropriate search engine for the type of facility you are looking for then you have to select if you want to find it by subject, faculty, title etc.
   
9. Choosing which location to search for the journal, article, book etc is easy when you know the subject or author of what you happen to be looking for - for example if you are looking for global warming you may look under the environmental section.


10. Finally you can browse through many different journals, articles or books until you find the one you are looking for, look for keywords within the articles names.

After finding the online journal we were instructed to go on to the MEDline Plus website (http://medlineplus.gov/) and spend some time going through the health topics and the drug information.

MEDline Plus Screenshot-

After looking through the different health topics and drug information I decided to focus on Cystic Fibrosis as we were indicated to choose one that we were interested in.
Here is some interesting information I discovered from my search:

• Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disease of the mucus and sweat glands.
• It affects mostly your lungs, pancreas, liver, intestines, sinuses and sex organs.
• Some people have serious problems from birth.
• Others have a milder version of the disease that doesn't show up until they are teens or young adults.
• Until the 1980s, most deaths from CF occurred in children and teenagers.
• Today, with improved treatments, people with CF live, on average, to be more than 35 years old.

I then viewed the online tutorial - it included general medical information including causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and facts and summaries. They ask you questions and you must select a multiple choice answer.

I believe that people might use such a service as medline plus if they are worried about certain conditions or drugs and want to find out more without having to consult a doctor or health care professional. I think that families alike will use the service and get alot from it because they may have children or problems themselves that they may want to know more about and this website has a guide and tutorials to many of the well known and not so well known problems that can affect people.

Lecture
During the lecture we learnt the following things about online libraries and databases:

• Why we use online libraries and databases
• The disadvantages of online libraries and databases
• Types of online libraries and databases
• Limitations of online libraries and databases
• Referencing and copyright
• Search Results

Readings
Reading 1 -Finding What you Want on the Web
This reading explained that it's hard to find good information without the help of Google and how the man writing the article says we have to break our addiction to Google.

Reading 2 - Bare Bones Lesson 7: Basic Search Tips
This reading was very helpful as it explained ways in which you can find specific information you may be looking for without all the rest of the junk that you may find on the internet.

Week Two - 3rd March

Office Applications
The second week in our Accessing Knowledge Lab we used office applications. "Applications" is another word for computer programs and software. The applications we used were:

• Microsoft Word

• Microsoft Exel
  
  

Before starting to attempt the office application tasks that were set, we were required to read an on-line tutorial about how to actually use the program sand how to do access certain information.

During the Lab I learnt-

• How to take a screen capture
• How to save screen captures as JPG's
• Different types of graphic file formats and when to choose the formats to use - the most common graphic formats are bmp, gif, jpg, tiff, psd and png.
• How to adjust the typeface in a Word Document
• Adjust the margins, alignment and line spacing
• Create headings and keep headings with text
• How to include a header and a footer
• How to alphabetise references and create a table of contents

During the Lecture I learnt-

• How to use various Microsoft Office Applications
• Different types of common PC tasks
• File management
• And about Internet Browsing and different Internet Browsers

Readings
Reading 1 - Using MS Word for APA Documents
This reading explained the ways in which to use MS word to complete the exercises during the lab. I consulted the readings frequently when doing the exercises as it was very helpful.

Reading 2 - Graphic File Formats
This reading explained the different types of graphic file formats and where to use them and where you would usually see them.
It explained formats such as .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .psd and a few more.