Week 12 - Is this the end..?

This semester seems to have passed really fast, because it doesnt seem like too long ago when I was wondering if i should drop this course because I thought it was for people already interested and involved in technology on a much higher level than I was. I, of course was wrong as I really enjoyed the course, I learnt quite a lot about different ideas about technology and different views on how it could affect our future.

I thought learning new things about word was fun and easy and adobe photoshop was especially interesting. I only just started to use a few of the tools as I havnt gotten a complete hang of it yet but I know I'm going to be using it a lot, for fun and also for work. Its quite a useful program. excel on the other hand wasn't as interesting for me, I found it troublesome though I can see how it can be very useful for a lot of purposes and I'm afraid I'm going to have to use that in the future too. I used to be pretty apprehensive about trying new programs with a lot of tools and funcations like adobe but this course helped me deal with them and it was made really simple. The tutorial tasks were well explained and Adam was really helpful, any doubts I had were answered in the tutes or via e-mail and not like like most other 2 line replies from tutors saying all the information is on learnin at gu. What else did I like..hmm..Of course the lectures, and the movies that were shown (missed a couple, but checked them out online) were different from other classes, it was a refreshing change actually from the marketing courses Ive been doing the past few years. I thought updating the blog weekly was a good as well as it was like a journal of what you accoplished that week or what you learnt.

What I didnt like about the course - well there isnt much to say here, The lectures I attended seemed a little boring, the subjects themselves were interesting but the lectures wern't as intreguing.

I'm sure theres a lot of things from this course that will help me later on, and some of the ideas generated still have me thinking ( which might have something to do with all the studying for the exam!!thank God thats over!!). The virtual reality topics were fascinating but the topics about open software and cyber politics etc levelled the balance but its integral to the course. I think its fair to say that the course opened our minds to the countless possibilities of the internet and other technnologies and how they are and will continue affecting usso at the end of this semester - I think we've only just begun..

Week 11 - ExCeL

I learnt some of the things we were supposed to do in this weeks task in another class but that was a while ago, it was interesting though to learn some of the new stuff like macros and recap on the rest. It was relatively easy and I didn’t have any problems as such as I could cut and paste from the tutorial task posted up. I found macros a bit of a pain and it required more patience than I had bargained for. Making the tables and graphs was actually fun and the rest of it seemed quite useful for a lot of things.
Mass tabulation, collection and presentation of data, spreadsheets, accounts, calculations are only some of the uses of Microsoft excel. Overall im quite happy with the new things I learnt about word and excel and im sure they will help me in the future though I hope I never have to use macros! Were coming to the end of our semester and I gotta say this class was different and interesting. Posting up blogs, doing scavenger hunts, watching the movies in lectures and using word – not exactly the worst class in the world!

Week 10 - =O theres more to WoRD

Ok, so doing the basic part of Microsoft word was really easy, we use a lot of the options for our essays at uni and school for that matter. Doing the

• BOLD
• italics
• underlining and
• bullet points

was simple and didn’t take much time, neither did the double spacing, changing text and header and footer. Its probably been the easiest task I’ve had to do since being at uni.
As effortless as im making the task out to be I did learn something - I never used track changes and mail merge and it was interesting to learn something new. You get used to using the same things in word it just seems to come naturally, im sure if and when I start using track changes etc it will be trouble-free. As I’m now typing this on word im using a lot of their other options and yeah..who knew there was so much to what seems to be plain ol word.

Essay

Journalism and its use of blogs as sources

“A study conducted by Colombia University and Euro RSCG Magnet found 51 percent of journalists use blogs regularly. This is compared to the 11 percent of the general population who use blogs. The study found reporters used them for everything from locating sources to unveiling breaking news. Twenty-eight percent of journalists said they use blogs in their day-to-day reporting.
However, despite frequent blog use, only 1 percent of journalists said blogs are credible” (Nelson, 2005).
Blogging is a new form of participatory journalism, which refers to “individuals playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, sorting, analyzing and disseminating news and information-a task once reserved almost exclusively to the news media” (Lasica, 2003). But it is a journalism of a different kind, unlike traditional journalism it is not tightly confined by the profession's values and traditions. Blogs are now the most popular expression of new media - they have exploded in popularity over the past years, fueled by greater access to bandwidth and free software. More than a half million people have taken up the tools of self-publishing to create personal journals online ranging on a wide range of topics.
“Blogs are open to anyone who can establish and maintain a Web site, and their flexibility, reach and interactivity has helped increase their popularity for publishing opinions” - Walter Mossberg wrote in his Wall Street Journal technology column last March. "The good thing about them is that they introduce fresh voices into the national discourse on various topics, and help build communities of interest through their collections of links" (Lasica, 2003).
As popular and informative as they can be, the issues arising over journalists using blogs as sources have recently caused some problems. “Journalists are interested in 3 types of blogs: blogs that report news, blogs that critique the news, and special interest blogs that serve as news sources” (Quinn. S, Filak.V.F 2005, p. 76). The issue is that Journalists aren't just writing blogs, they're using them as fodder for reporting.
The Australian for example reported a story on the two missing girls who were later confirmed suicide pact victims. The journalists for the obtained information from the girls’ myspace blogs which could have upset their friends and family and created an image of them that could have been untrue. The friends of the 2 16-year-olds Jodie Gater and Stephanie Gestier had posted good bye messages which were published along wit the previous messages of the 2 girls. Information such as that the girls belonged to a band named “bitchy”, indulged in “emo” or “Goth” culture and phrases containing cuss words from their myspace website were also published. Out of this arise the moral and ethical issues of journalists using blogs to acquire information not supported by facts and without consent. The blogs are also troublesome due to the fact that much of the information is unattributed and unsourced. In this case quotes from their songs about suicide were also taken from their blogs. The psychologist in this piece allotted a majority of the blame on usage of the internet and depression associated with it and claimed that parents should taken a most active interest in what their kids do online and make them aware of the public consequences (Cubby & Dubecki, 2007). Many journalists fear that blogging effects have already been unfavorable to their profession-- particularly harmful to them now when public trust in the media is already so low. Despite attacks, Web loggers are fighting for credibility, and some groups insist journalistic privilege should apply to bloggers. (Nelson, 2005)
As there are no checks and balances, no editorial review, and no code of journalist ethics involved, the quality of the "news" reported is thus inherently more suspect. This of course depends upon the blogger, whether or not the blogger is a journalist, he or she could intentionally or unintentionally publish a complete fabrication of events (for example for corporate or political agendas) and for others to reuse that information can have dire consequences (Davis, 2005). Cara Wieser espoused similar logic in a student editorial that ran in the University of Utah's Daily Chronicle. "In my opinion, we are all journalists," Wieser said. "Who is to say one person's idea of relevant news is better than another's? And if opinion, gossip, and soft news are newsworthy enough to have their sections in mainstream publications, they have to be considered 'news' in blogs as well." Thus, observations within blogs may be open-access and valuable, but have to be subject to evaluation and journalists should have a moral stand on what to use (Nelson, 2005).
The lack of traditional standards of journalism in the blog world is worrisome but it can be argued that the corporate ownership of the mainstream media is just as bad, or possibly worse. Bloggers threaten the cultural space and capital of traditional journalists. Journalism as we know it will never be the same; it will merge with blogging creating tension between them – the tension being the need for accountability, quality, and standards (traditional) and the need for access, objectivity, and diversity of the conversation (Knemeyer, 2005). Rebecca blood says the greatest strength of blogging is its “uncensored, unmediated, uncontrolled voice” but its weakness is that it doesn’t have accountibility in the marketplace which compromise its integrity and value (Blood, 2003, p.2).
It is important to set rules for all media, as we have seen blogging in the journalism world raises several issues which need to be understood and solved. The future predicts increased usage of the internet as a media source, out of which further and more serious issues could arise.

References

Blood, R (2003), Weblog Ethics www.rebeccablood.net.handbook/excerpts/weblog_ethics.html.

Cubby, B and Dubecki, L (2007), “Tragic last words of MySpace suicide girls”April 24, 2007
http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/tragic-last-words-of-myspace-suicide-girls/2007/04/23/1177180634660.html

Davis, H (2005), “Open-Source Journalism” - February 14, 2005,
http://www.braintique.com/research/mt-archives/000059.shtml

Hirst, M, Patching, R (2005), “Journalism Ethics” (2005), Oxford, Australia

Knemeyer, D (2005), "The Future of Digital Product Design” August 3, 2005
http://2005.sxsw.com/bits_n_bytes/pivot/entry.php?id=14

Lasica, J.D (2003), “Online Journalism Review”, August 2003
www.jdlasica.com/articles/nieman.html

Nelson. B, “Utah State University Department of Journalism & Communication”, December 19, 2005
http://newscafe.ansci.usu.edu/archive/dec2005/121905_blogs.html

Pavlik, V. J (2001), “Journalism and New Media” (2001), Columbia. U. P, New York

Quinn. S, Filak.V.F (2005), “Convergent Journalism – An Introduction” (2005) Focal Press, Oxford

Week 8 - A whole new world..

When I read the task for this week I was wondering just how different the 3D chat sites could be from your ordinary ones, I thought it would be like playing a game and chatting at the same time, buts its more than just that. I have used chat sites such as yahoo before and only use msn now to keep in touch with friends and I feel so old school!! A difference I could find between msn and activeworlds, apart from the 3D was that, was that you could chat to anyone- on msn its just people added to your list-your friends, but at activeworlds you can meet people from all over the place.
You can also build our own world and visit other worlds that people have created, you choose a character and can walk around, swim, fly, play a giant piano and interact with others in this imaginary world. The words exchanged are in comic strip style blurbs or “speech bubbles”. The environment can be changed according to your mood and it has a lot more options in getting your feelings across than msn does. Activeworlds also have interesting things to do and explore as you chat as well as the conversations as text below - whilst msn is only the basic text with an optional background
For all these reasons, socializing on msn or activeworlds is different, on msn you socialize to a limited number of people whereas on activeworlds you could meet anyone from anywhere. You can also create your own world making it more personal and interactive and involved. Its like a whole new level as it combines communication, fun and creativity.
Socializing is about meeting new people, being social, and though you communicate with your friends on msn, you can do that and more on activeworld. I still prefer msn, its easy, comfortable and I’m used to it, you can use webcams and voice chat- on activeworld, there’s a lot going on and its sole purpose isn’t just communication – it takes a lot more involvement. This involvement also depends on the person and what exactly they want to do – with me I just like chatting to my friends, no distractions so msn is perfect. People who would want some more things to keep them involved and busy and more entertained would prefer a 3D chat site thou both have games but the 3D site has 3d games as well.
It was interesting to see how much further chatting has evolved since I began using msn years ago, even with just msn progressively coming out new versions. Doing this task opened my eyes what else is out there and how far it has come.

week 5 - pictures

Friends: This picture denotes "friends" - we're sitting around having a good time and a drink. since most of us are away doing uni in different places its nice to get together and catch up. This picture was sent to me via email by friends and we have them posted up on flickr.

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High-tech: This is a picture of a salamander robot which can travel by land, sea and air. I think it denotes how far technology has come over the past years.

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Unconventional: make up your own mind. It took me some time to figure out what this was and it's different from everyday pictures so I think its unconventional.















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Summer: The beach in Goa, India. You can see the rays of light!
Summer is all about the beach- the sun, sand and surf!














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Newspapers: The internet is moving beyond just a functional tool and becoming a mainstream medium as more people prefer to get their news online than from good ol' print. In a recent study it showed that " Eighty-three percent of respondents said reading a news story online is better than reading one in a newspaper" and 45 % (aged 18-35) say they first go online for national news, mostly to newspaper websites where news is updated constantly.

Week 4 - Scavenger hunt - website hunting

2A)
1 - What is the weight of the largest pumpkin?
The largest pumpkin ever grown weighs a massive 1,502 pounds. It was weighed in on October 7th 2006 and was grown in Greene, Rhode Island by Ron Wallace. It beat the previous record of 2005 which was 1,469 pounds.
http://www.pumpkinnook.com/giants/record.htm


2 - What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?
Grant Hackett can be contacted at the Miami Swimming Club, their address is:Miami Swimming Club PO BOX 2461BURLEIGH QLD 4220
http://granthackettonline.free.fr/?page_id=107


3 - What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?It can be as long as 22 inches in length, but is usually between 18 - 20 inches(46-50 centimeters)
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-giraffe.html


4 - How would you define the word "ontology"? What does it really mean?
Ontology is the most fundamental branch of metaphysics. An ontology is a specification of a conceptualization. in philosophy it refers to the subject of existence.
http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html


5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film?
"Shivers" in 1975 was the first feature film directorial debut of David "deprave" Cronenberg, the king of veneral horror.
http://www.scoopy.com/shivers.htm


6. When was the original "Hacker's Manifesto" written?
It was written on January 8, 1986 by a hacker who went by the pseudonym of "the mentor" (born Loyd Blankenship). It was written after the author's arrest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_Manifesto


7. Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with "555"?
It began 30 years ago when the use of exchange names as part of the telephone number was still popular in the USA. Dials had letters as well as numbers and the first 3 letters of the exchange name were dialled followed by numbers. An example might be CENtral 78978. You dialled CEN 78978 or, using all numbers, 236 78978. It so happened that 5 on the dial corresponded with J K and L and you can’t make any English place names using any combination of J, K and L as the first 3 letters. So the 555 code was allocated to service levels such as Directory Assistance, Operator, Repair Service, etc. Due to the "low fill" of the 555 code, Hollywood was encouraged to quote 555 numbers in their productions to prevent real subscribers being harassed by members of the public trying out the numbers quoted on the screen. Generic and satirical advertisements and commercials often used 555 numbers. In the early days of exchange names the prefix KLondike-5 was used as this exchange did not exist.
http://www.omegarobot.com/article/555.html


8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?
Ferries are the primary form of travel between the islands, the trip is overnight and costs about 120 euros.
http://www.athensguide.com/ferries.html

9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?
"I’ll never find another you" by The Seekers topped the charts this week and the next two consecutive weeks in 1965.
http://www.onmc.iinet.net.au/topspot/1965.htm

10. Which Brisbane band was (still is?) Stephen Stockwell a member of?
Stephen Stockwell was and is the vocalist and keyboard player of the Black Assassins.
http://www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au/2005/content/standard.asp?name=StockwellS

2B)

What is a search engine?
wikipedia describes a search engine as an information retreival system designed to help find information stored on a computer system, such as on the world wide web, inside a corporate or proprietary network, or in a PC. The search engine allows one to ask for content meeting specific criteria (typically those containing a given word or phrase) and retrieves a list of items that match those criteria. This list is often sorted with respect to some measure of relevance of the results. Search engines use regularly updated indexes to operate quickly and efficiently.
Without further qualification, search engine usually refers to a Web search engine, which searches for information on the public Web. Other kinds of search engine are enterprise search engines, which search on intranet, personal search engines, and mobile search engines. Different selection and relevance criteria may apply in different environments, or for different uses.
Some search engines also mine data available in newsgroups, databases, or open directories. Unlike Web directories, which are maintained by human editors, search engines operate algorithmically or are a mixture of algorthmic and human input.

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet? who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
search engines sort through the millions of pages it knows about and will present you with ones that match your topic or keywords. The matches will even be ranked, so that the most relevant ones come first.
Of course, the search engines don't always get it right.
So, how do crawler-based search engines go about determining relevancy, when confronted with hundreds of millions of web pages to sort through? They follow a set of rules, known as an algorithm. Exactly how a particular search engine's algorithm works is a closely-kept trade secret. However, all major search engines follow the general rules below.
Location and Frequency
One of the the main rules in a ranking algorithm involves the location and frequency of keywords on a web page. Call it the location/frequency method, for short.
Search engines will also check to see if the search keywords appear near the top of a web page, such as in the headline or in the first few paragraphs of text.
Frequency is the other major factor in how search engines determine relevancy. A search engine will analyze how often keywords appear in relation to other words in a web page. Those with a higher frequency are often deemed more relevant than other web pages.
search engines add spice to the location/frequency method. Nobody does it exactly the same, which is one reason why the same search on different search engines produces different results.
To begin with, some search engines index more web pages than others. Some search engines also index web pages more often than others. The result is that no search engine has the exact same collection of web pages to search through. That naturally produces differences, when comparing their results.
Search engines may also penalize pages or exclude them from the index, if they detect search engine "spamming." An example is when a word is repeated hundreds of times on a page, to increase the frequency and propel the page higher in the listings. Crawler-based search engines have plenty of experience now with webmasters who constantly rewrite their web pages in an attempt to gain better rankings. Some sophisticated webmasters may even go to great lengths to "reverse engineer" the location/frequency systems used by a particular search engine. Because of this, all major search engines now also make use of "off the page" ranking criteria.
Off the page factors are those that a webmasters cannot easily influence. Chief among these is link analysis. By analyzing how pages link to each other, a search engine can both determine what a page is about and whether that page is deemed to be "important" and thus deserving of a ranking boost. In addition, sophisticated techniques are used to screen out attempts by webmasters to build "artificial" links designed to boost their rankings.



what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
I, personally, use mostly google but before google became all-famous I used to use yahoo and askjeeves. I have also used altavista but google remains my favourite as it is easy, clear and clearly states the the time taken to find the results and also the number of results found.

Can you find some current news stories about search engines? (for example, Google has been in the technology news a bit lately).
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3309841#bestsearch

Week 3 -already getting there

okay..so using new communication technologies is todays topic in the tute and I dont use much apart from the usual msn, skype stuff and I'm not into a lot of those hi5, ilike and youtube or myspace kind of sites, like to put up pictures occasionally to show friends from other places which is about it really. I don't have friends online that i have never met, don't think its creepy ..as such..but yeah, its hard enough being away and at uni to keep in touch with friends I actually know and meet from everywhere else. Its interesting though to see how people from all over can communicate at one place one time, i have some friends getting married to people they met online so yeah..everyones stranger until you meet..or talk to them, whever they are and whether you can even see them or not so yeah..i dont really have anything against meeting people online, its not a concious decision I have made to not meet people online. most people think its really creepy, that the person youre chatting to could be a psycho but hey, what to say the person im sitting next to in class workin on his blogs isnt?

Week 2 - first tute of new comm tech

This is the first time I'm creating a blog! It's pretty interesting to see what you can do, of course millions of people already have created blogs and would be thinking okay?? But hey for the first time having published something online sounds pretty alright to me! so, this is my first tutorial in this class and since I'm computer illiterate (except for surfing the Internet obviously!!) I'm quite unsure about how this all works and what to do but I guess in 11 weeks I should know something! so its a start.Now that I've made it clear that I have no idea what's going on, I feel more comfortable to introduce myself. My name is Sandhya, I'm doing my third and final (finally!) year of my bachelors degree at Griffith - that's bachelor of arts, majoring in marketing and maybe a second major in communication and media studies- we'll see how we go! My interests include swimming, the beach, which is why I chose the Gold Coast to study as I'm from India, and I love music and travelling. I don't have much of an interest in communication technology as such but I would like to be able to keep up with how communication has evolved over time and how we continue to change our means of obtaining information and filtering out the tiresome ways of doing the same. That's it for my first post in this class.