I used Url Organizer to organise my URL sources. I found this program extremely basic and simple to use. I don't need a fancy complicated program to save my URL's. I just need something that is quick and easy to use. Thats exactly why URL Organizer is good.








1. ALL THE WEB
URL: www.alltheweb.com
Author: Run by Yahoo
This site is a great search engine! It is most effectively used when performing an advanced search. There are several useful filteres such as words, formats, domains, and date. Being run by Yahoo, AllTheWeb constantly updates its resources to stay up to date.
"AlltheWeb's index (provided by Yahoo!) includes billions of web pages, as well as tens of millions of PDF and MS Word® files. Yahoo! frequently scans the entire web to ensure that our content is fresh and to eliminate broken links. "[http://www.alltheweb.com/info/about/index]


















2. Advark Sport
URL: www.ardvarksport.net
Author: "Aaron the adrdvark"[ardvarksport.net]
Ardvark sport is an online sports search engine and forum. It is a great way to restrict your search to sport related websites and discuss sport related topics. If someone is unable to locate sport infromation via a website then they can attempt to find information through the forum.














3. DMOZ - open directory project
URL: www.dmoz.com
Author: "The ODP is hosted and administered by Netscape Communication Corporation. It is operated by a very small staff responsible for editorial policies and direction, community management and development, and systems engineering. However, the ODP is first and foremost a self-regulating community of net-citizens that basically runs itself. Through a system of self-governance, the ODP volunteer editors manage the directory's growth and development, and through a system of checks-and-balances, ensure the directory is of superior quality."[http://www.dmoz.org/help/geninfo.html]

"The Open Directory Project (ODP) is the most comprehensive human edited directory of the Web, compiled by a vast global community of volunteer editors.

The ODP powers core directory services for some the most popular portals and search engines on the Web, including AOL Search, Netscape Search, Google, Lycos, and HotBot, and hundreds of others.

The ODP is 100% free. There is no cost to submit a site or to use our data. Anyone can download and use ODP data at no cost provided they comply with the ODP's free license agreement and attribution. Also, there is no cost associated with listing and submitting sites." [http://www.dmoz.org/help/geninfo.html]

The dmoz interface is very useful as it seperates directories into practical categories. You can either type in what you are looking for or follow a directory and see what other options you have.

Module 4 Tasks - Boolean

I found that when i tried searching "cats NOT dogs" in google it returned result for the word "not" and "dogs". This supprised me because the Boolean website said you just have to type NOT. I went into advanced search in Google and typed dogs in the 'words to exclude' section and my new search was "cat -dogs". So instead of writing NOT i just need to put a minus symbol. And it worked well!

When searching for "cats" i had 181,000,000 hits! When i searched for "cats -dogs" i had 81,400,000. Less than half!

When i tried searching for Surfing Portugal i recieved 363,00 hits. So then i put "surfing portugal" in inverted commas and returned 29,900 hits.

Then i tried Surfing AND portugal and returned 2,630,000. This suprised me because i thought that there would be less results when both the words were required in the result. Then I searched NOT france and only recieved 636,000


Strategies to get the most numer of hits:
A general unrestricted google search seems to return the most number of hits. Using general words will get a broad mix of search results.

To get the most relevant results:
A good strategy for this is to use inverted commas to search for consecutive words. For example when i was searching for Surfing Portugal I used commas and had much more relevant results.
Using NOT helps by manually excluding the irrelevant words.

Information only from University databases:
Use a search from the deep web. Such as turbo10.com these search engines can be set to only search databases.

Module 4 Tasks - Searching the web

I use Google as my most common search engine. When searching for "surfing portugal" Google returned me 29,900 search results. With globalsurfers.com being the first website displayed.

Copernic returned 67 results. They were more specific but didn't have the number or variety that i would prefer.

I could not undergo a 'deep web' search through Copernic as i do not have the full version. I did however, use the online search at turbo10.com which is a deep web search engine. I received 25 results from this search. My results came from 3 different sources.

-alltheweb.com
-mirago.co.uk
-dmoz.org

Mirago.co.uk was pretty useless for what i was looking for. It had some general unrelated links. Then i came accross ardvarksports.net which is a search engine dedicated to sports. This site proved to return relevant results.

I still prefer the Google search but realise there would be circumstances where a database search could be useful. For searches to do with science based research or statistics a meta search would be great.

Module 4 tasks - Downloading tools

I downloaded Copernic desktop Search 2. It is useful to have a more thorough search tool other than the windows ones. This tool is great because it searches for much more than just files. It covers from email to history and every other kind of file in between.

I tried to download glooton but got directed to a French version of the site. I will try to find an English version. I do however, like the idea of have a search engine that gets results from many different sources. I had not previously known that such a program exists. I was also surprised to know that there is so much information on the internet stored in data bases.

Module 3 Tasks - Web 2.0

The term web 2.0 has been very foreign to me thus far. Previously i would have thought that it was some kind of program. I came to this conclusion from the "2.0", suggesting the second version of "web", whatever that may be.

After reading the curriculum and the articles provided i was pleasantly surprised. Web 2.0 is not a program, it is somewhat a second version, but with a twist. I like to think of web 2.0 as a concept, the second era of internet.

Now days i am sure that normal internet users would spend the majority of their internet use time in this new era. I know that I myself do, when i am on the internet I am usually using facebook, wikipedia, limewire, utorrent, google earth and youtube.

The most known websites, many mentioned above are all examples of Web 2.0. The video The Internet is Us/ing us is a great clip that shows the real difference between the physical world and the digital world. As the video clip states "Web 2.0 is linking people" and i believe the world is a
much smaller place now than when web 1.0 was around.

Module 3 Task - Blogging

I belive that blogging can be very useful. However it takes some commitment to create a decent blog. Before this course i never read or contributed to blogs. I do think that if i had a descent cause, such as this learning log, that i could regularly contribute to an online blog.

I have considered starting some blogs of my own but am waiting until i find something that i know i will stick with. Im thinking most likely one of the outdoor sports i enjoy. I will post a link to it here if i decide to go ahead.

I strongly believe that blogging has its place on the web and is here to stay. As more people are spending more time in from of a computer it is most likely that blogging will continue to grow in popularity. Im excited to be on board!

Module 3 Task - FTP

http://student.curtin.edu.au/~14160176/

This task was fairly easy but took a little bit of trial and error. I enjoyed it as it is very practical and good to learn how to go from having a webpage, to getting it online!

Module 3 tasks - WWW standards

5 most important rules for web writing:

1. Keep the content clear and to the point.
2. Ensure the most important information is in the first 2 paragraphs as these get the most attention.
3. Avoid moving or animating text as still text is much easier to read.
4. Simplify the page design and include the main options in the top or side bar,
5. Make search forgiving of mispellings

I think a bit part of the research conducted in 1997 is still relevant. However the new research in 2005 relkating to literacy level is also valuble to keep in mind when writing for the web.

Module 3 Tasks - HTML tags

I have had some experience using html coding so this task was a good refresher for me. I was personally suprised at the amount of tags i remembered. So i didn't have any difficulties with this task.

Blogging is still new to me so i find it more interesting than writing html code. However i do enjoy using programs like dreamweaver to create webpages. It makes it much easier than coding and you dont need to remember a whole bunch of tags. To me blogging is more of a Journal tool whereas html is used to create webpages about anything.

Having some trouble

Im finding things a little harder now that assignments are all happening. I keep getting confused between my units and find it hard to share discussion board posts between units. Its like going to two classrooms where everything is exactly the same besides the content. Gets confusing for me. But im still going! So far....

Module 2 Tasks - Chat

So i finally gained entry to the skype room and had a quick chat with the people in there. I think there were 4 or 5 of us. It works well if you are all discussing the same topic but when there are several conversations going on its better to do a private chat. I am now connected to the internet sudies yahoo group aswell. I have never previously used skype as a text chat program. I have however used it alot for making phone calls from overseas to home and visa versa. For this it is great! Cheap calls are very useful when keeping in touch with distant friends.

Now that i have used it for 'text chatting' i do like it. It serves its perpose well.

Now i just need to get a cool bluetooth headset and i'll be laughing!

Module 2 Tasks - Newsgroups

So far newsgroups are bugging me! I'm having trouble finding something that i'm interested in. I looked up one for surfing and it is some guy sayign he got a new board and thats it. I also recieved a 'fatal error', so i got out of their quick smart. My eyes are startingt o hurt, but im soldiering on!

Okay so i bailed from newzbot.com and went to groups.google.com. The google groups is much more user friendly and i have a little more tolerance now. However so far i cannot frind an up to date group that interests me...moving on.

So i subscribed to a Southern California surfing group via google groups. I've opted to get no more than 1 email per day...keep you posted.

Well its been a couple of days and apparently im not alloud to make any posts...SO ive found a new group called rec.music.misc and i made a post. Have not recieved a reply as of yet.

Module 2 Tasks - Lists

What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?

Pro's:

-You get sent an email to notify of a reply or update
-You can have a copy of each message in your desktop email program
-Their can be certain members with administrative rights (also a con)

Con's:

-Inbox may become clutered with replys from list
-Need to give your email out
-You may just view a discussion and not have to participate

I really prefer the discussion board as well...it is much better to discuss without the formality of sending an email. It feels less formal...? I really can't see myself gettig involved in too many email lists at this time. However i joined the internetstudies list for contacting the class easily and quickly. I think email lists would be more appropriate for work related information, to send out meeting times and policy changes, stuff like that.

I prefer being able to visit the discussion board and find out what i need to and then leave and not have the connection that i have with an email. It just seems conveniant that it all remains on the web and i can contribute and take information less formally than email.

Communication is not complete upon receipt

The key to effective email management is to consistently and conscientiously respond to and act upon the email you receive, while recognising that others may not be as efficient as yourself.

This concept is Key! It can be a tedious task to consistantly sort emails, but it is essential to maintain organisation of your email. You can relate it to a physical mailbox. If you do not regularly collect and sort your mail then your mailbox will get full and incresingly difficault to find what you are looking for. Simply sorting it as it comes in will save you lots of time and hasstle in the future.

Module 2 Tasks - Email

For this task we were ask to answer serveral questions after reading the email tutorial.

1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?

When i recieve an email i can view the senders user name and domain name, and the email address of anyone else that was listed in the to: field. I can also tell what time and date the email was sent, and if it is an original email or if it has been forwarded from another source.

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?

The 'cc' function is useful if i wish to send a copy of the email to another recipient. However most people do not want their email address available to the puplic so the 'bcc' function sends a copy to them but hides thier address from any other recipients. This is also useful if their is a large number of recipients and you do not with to have an extensive list of email addresses. 'Reply all' is useful when you wish to reply to each person the email was sent to. Reply all allows you to do this with sending an email to each individual address.

3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?

Ensure that the recipient has the correct software to view the file. You can change the file format if you are unsure of the software they have. Include a caption telling the recipient that you have attached a file. If you have a large file consider compressing it to make it easier to view and download if neccassary.

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?

You can set up filters to route your emails to specific folders so you can view them at an appropriate time. Keywords and names are used to seprate each email. You can even have a filter that deletes unwanted emails automatically.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?

I have seprate folders for emails regarding different areas of my life. For example: a folder for work, uni, sports, social, and family. The rest stay in my inbox. I find this most effective because if i need to find something to do with one of my sports i know where it is. Its classed under the area that the email is related to. I also have different years...A big folder of all emails from each year. This is done through Mozilla Thunderbird.

Module one task - Traceroute

This exercise is taking a little longer. Some trial and error and I have the results. In total there were 20 hops from centralops.net/co/ to curtin.edu.au

hop

rtt

rtt

rtt

ip address

domain name

1

1

1

0

70.84.211.97

61.d3.5446.static.theplanet.com

2

0

0

0

70.84.160.162

vl2.dsr02.dllstx5.theplanet.com

3

0

0

0

70.85.127.109

po52.dsr02.dllstx3.theplanet.com

4

5

0

0

70.87.253.21

et3-1.ibr03.dllstx3.theplanet.com

5

0

0

0

157.238.225.5

xe-4-4.r03.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

6

0

0

1

129.250.2.153

ae-2.r20.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

7

6

6

6

129.250.3.130

as-0.r20.hstntx01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

8

6

6

6

129.250.3.25

ae-0.r21.hstntx01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

9

48

48

48

129.250.3.121

as-1.r21.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

10

47

48

48

129.250.5.90

xe-0-1-0.r03.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

11

48

48

48

198.172.90.102

p4-1-1-0.r03.lsanca03.us.ce.gin.ntt.net

12

202

202

196

202.158.194.77

so-3-1-0.bb1.b.syd.aarnet.net.au

13

208

212

213

202.158.194.33

so-2-0-0.bb1.a.mel.aarnet.net.au

14

221

221

221

202.158.194.17

so-2-0-0.bb1.a.adl.aarnet.net.au

15

245

250

245

202.158.194.5

so-0-1-0.bb1.a.per.aarnet.net.au

16

245

245

250

202.158.198.178

gigabitethernet0.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au

17

245

250

245

202.158.198.186

gw1.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au

18

245

248

250

134.7.16.46

te2-4-b309-cr.net.curtin.edu.au

19

245

249

248

134.7.248.65

te1-1.b309-sr.net.curtin.edu.au

20

250

249

250

134.7.179.53

The average time from centralops to curtin is 250 milliseconds.

Curtin's IP address is 134.7.179.53

I had 13 hops from my computer to the Curtin server. With a average of 70 milliseconds transfer time. So i had drastically less hops and much faster time. I think this might be due to my computer having a much simpler network than the centralops system???

Module one task - FTP

The blank is CAPITALIZATION matters. This exercise was not too difficault either. I am interesting in learning more on FTP as i know it is essential for getting a website online.

Module one task - TelNet

So before today i had never heard of 'Telnet'

Once i had opened the application i tried to type the library address and was denied. I then typed the 'help' command and learned i needed to key 'o' to open an address. Once i did this i was in!

I'm finding some lag in the text typing. Only a couple of seconds.

Considering i was completely new to Telnet this tasks was quite easy to understand. I recieved the email imediately and had no big problems.

Blinkenlights was great! The time someone has put into this is amazing! I must admit i didnt watch until the end...But long enough to appreciate it! I felt like only a viewer, not an interacter. I think the web in general today is allowing us to interact more and enjoy the experience of a webpage, rather than just read something.

It made me appreciate the technology that is around today. If you compare the graphic effects with the latest Star Wars and Blinkenlights it is so amazing how far the technology has come.

I think that these days the viewer demands so much more than in the past. So it is inevitable that the technology will continue to improve as will the demand for even better effects!

Overcoming dead links.

The how stuff works link in Net11 Module 1 is dead i belive. A simple google search of "the internet how stuff works" and kaboom i've got it!

Top 5 tips for new bloggers!!!

I feel i little bit underqualified to write about tips for new bloggers as i am one but here's what i think.

1. Keep it simple - i think there is no point trying to comlicate your blog when you do not fully understand how to blog. Keeping it simple makes it easier to set up, easier to maintain and easier for everyone to read.

2. Think about color! Most people will want their blog to have some design to it. Use of color makes for a better blogging experience. Be careful not to use colors that will drown easch other out. For example: Blue writing on a black background is very hard to read!

3. Keep content relevant - i find it distracting when i'm reading a blog about one thing and it goes off in unrelated directions.

4. Blog on a regular basis - I think it would be much easier to get in the habbit or blogging regularly rather than making a massive post every few weeks. It keeps the content up to date and relevant.

5. Include relevant images - a picture is worth a thousand words...im not a fan of typing thousand of words so i like using images. They also break up paragraphs well and it doesnt seems like a page full of letters.