Monday, April 28, 2008
Week 8: Part 2!
Being both a 3d Envionment interaction user and a IM user it is clear to see some of the differences between the two. Though when interacting in a 3d environment your character does not look anything like you, I believe it becomes more personal and users get more involved in 3d envionments. It allows people to express themselves more then just having a chat name and picture. By being able to see a 3d character of the person your talking to it gives a more real vibe then IM programs. Social envionments in a 3d world are alot more intense then that of a simple IM program and I believe more emotion becomes involved. Because of this I also believe that in time 3d worlds or interaction will become more and more popular and simple IM programs will fade out.
Week 8: Part 1!
For the first part of the tutorial task this week we were given exercisesthat work with Microsoft Word and Excel.
When using Microsoft word I had no problems at all until the mail merge section of the exercises. After trying to figure it out I ended up using the Word help function which showed me how to set up a mail merge source, giving step by step instructions. However apart from the mail merge feature I found the exercises very simple as I have had plenty of experience with the Word software. I believe the 2003 version of Word is very useful to use and it is why it became so widely used and popular around the world.
When using the Microsoft Excel program I did not struggle with any of the exercises as I have used Excel in those ways before. A fair amount of my previous education such as accounting has delt with the use of excel and provided me with all i needed to complete the graph and formula exercises. Though I was not too familar with creating my own toolbar and applying the macros, I had done this before and picked it up easily enough. Though Excel might seem confusing and off-putting at first, it is very useful to use and again is why it is so widely used around the world.
When using Microsoft word I had no problems at all until the mail merge section of the exercises. After trying to figure it out I ended up using the Word help function which showed me how to set up a mail merge source, giving step by step instructions. However apart from the mail merge feature I found the exercises very simple as I have had plenty of experience with the Word software. I believe the 2003 version of Word is very useful to use and it is why it became so widely used and popular around the world.
When using the Microsoft Excel program I did not struggle with any of the exercises as I have used Excel in those ways before. A fair amount of my previous education such as accounting has delt with the use of excel and provided me with all i needed to complete the graph and formula exercises. Though I was not too familar with creating my own toolbar and applying the macros, I had done this before and picked it up easily enough. Though Excel might seem confusing and off-putting at first, it is very useful to use and again is why it is so widely used around the world.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Week 6!
The two articles on wikipedia that I chose to evaluate are 'Stargate SG1' and 'Lupe Fiasco'.
'Stargate SG1' is a science fiction tv series that has been running for over 10 years and is a lead on from the original motion picture 'Stargate'. The article located on wikipedia is very long and is somewhat more detailed then most wikipedia entires. However this is neccasary as Stargate SG1 has 10 years of history and has a complex plotline. I believe that this article does a very effective job in being accurate and providing the basic facts sorrounding a show. The references that the information was obtained from are reliable sources as they come from the producers and writers themselves and television broadcast sites. The article provides the basic concpet around the stargate, production information, cast members the basic plotline over the 10 season outlining the different arcs that occur and also provides media information and future productions. After reading this article, even if a person had not seen the show before, they would have a pretty good understanding of what the show is about. The article follows the wikipedia guidelines quite well though the only downfall could be the size of the article. However as it was discussed previously, it was neccasary of the article to be this size and the article does do a good job connecting other relevant topics as there is alot more information on the Stargate world. The article also remains unbiased towards the show throughout the article.
'Lupe Fiasco' is a grammy award winning hip hop artist who rose to fame in 2006 following his debut release 'Food and Liquor'. This article is not as detailed as the 'Stargate Sg1' article but does provide the basic background information that is needed to fill anyone who hasn't heard of Lupe up to speed. Though the one downfall of this article could be the accuracy. Lupe Fiasco has always been very underground especially in his earlier career and likes to keep it that way and therefore alot of the information written about him was not from solid sources. This article however does follow the the wikipedia guidelines such as providing an article summary and complying with the article size. It also remains unbiased and just provides the information about the artist with no expression of opinion.
Both the articles I chose were effective and very well written articles. Any one person could read both these articles and be caught up to speed on the subject topics without any difficulty.
'Stargate SG1' is a science fiction tv series that has been running for over 10 years and is a lead on from the original motion picture 'Stargate'. The article located on wikipedia is very long and is somewhat more detailed then most wikipedia entires. However this is neccasary as Stargate SG1 has 10 years of history and has a complex plotline. I believe that this article does a very effective job in being accurate and providing the basic facts sorrounding a show. The references that the information was obtained from are reliable sources as they come from the producers and writers themselves and television broadcast sites. The article provides the basic concpet around the stargate, production information, cast members the basic plotline over the 10 season outlining the different arcs that occur and also provides media information and future productions. After reading this article, even if a person had not seen the show before, they would have a pretty good understanding of what the show is about. The article follows the wikipedia guidelines quite well though the only downfall could be the size of the article. However as it was discussed previously, it was neccasary of the article to be this size and the article does do a good job connecting other relevant topics as there is alot more information on the Stargate world. The article also remains unbiased towards the show throughout the article.
'Lupe Fiasco' is a grammy award winning hip hop artist who rose to fame in 2006 following his debut release 'Food and Liquor'. This article is not as detailed as the 'Stargate Sg1' article but does provide the basic background information that is needed to fill anyone who hasn't heard of Lupe up to speed. Though the one downfall of this article could be the accuracy. Lupe Fiasco has always been very underground especially in his earlier career and likes to keep it that way and therefore alot of the information written about him was not from solid sources. This article however does follow the the wikipedia guidelines such as providing an article summary and complying with the article size. It also remains unbiased and just provides the information about the artist with no expression of opinion.
Both the articles I chose were effective and very well written articles. Any one person could read both these articles and be caught up to speed on the subject topics without any difficulty.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Week 5!
Walter Benjamin's article "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" explores his ideas that the replication of art depreciates the original work and takes away its 'aura'. This article has great relevence today as our society has entered the digital age and the viewing and replication of 'art' is now in most cases a simple process. Anyone can go onto the internet and see replicated images of any famous art piece. With new technology and sofware such as photoshop, Sound Forge and Video Maker, anyone can create thier own 'art' or manipulate another persons previous work.
It could be argued that now anyone can create a piece of art digitally, it is not art. However I believe it still should be classsified as art. Art is a product of human creativity. Therefore if a person has put in time and effort and the piece holds a significance, then it should be considered art whether it was created digitally or not. However, I do believe that by creating art on a digital platform that it does depreciate the authenticity of it. A photoshop image will never be worth that much to anyone or authentic as it can be copied with two clicks of a mouse and spread around the world.
Going back to Benjamin's ideas, it is clear to see that digital art does not have the unqiue 'aura' he outlines. The reason paintings and drawings have this 'aura' is because there is an original authentic copy that can be seen without electricity, it can be touched and it was skillfulness of the artist that created it. Digital art is skillful in its own way but real art requires the skill and cordination of human functions to create. This is why digital art does not have the 'aura' Benjamin outlines in his article.
It could be argued that now anyone can create a piece of art digitally, it is not art. However I believe it still should be classsified as art. Art is a product of human creativity. Therefore if a person has put in time and effort and the piece holds a significance, then it should be considered art whether it was created digitally or not. However, I do believe that by creating art on a digital platform that it does depreciate the authenticity of it. A photoshop image will never be worth that much to anyone or authentic as it can be copied with two clicks of a mouse and spread around the world.
Going back to Benjamin's ideas, it is clear to see that digital art does not have the unqiue 'aura' he outlines. The reason paintings and drawings have this 'aura' is because there is an original authentic copy that can be seen without electricity, it can be touched and it was skillfulness of the artist that created it. Digital art is skillful in its own way but real art requires the skill and cordination of human functions to create. This is why digital art does not have the 'aura' Benjamin outlines in his article.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Week 4: Part 2!
The way search engines rank web pages when they are being searched by user is by following a certain algorithm. The first and foremost rule is searching for pages with the keywords in the HTML title tag. These pages are often assumed to be more relevant to others in the topic. Search engines also search if the keywords appear at the top of the web page such as in the headline or subheadings. Frequency is the next biggest factor for search engines. A search engine will analyze how often keywords on a page appear relevant to the other words. The higher the frequency the more relevant the search engine deems that web page.
Search engines also analyze how pages link together and can determine what pages are about and how important they are deemed to be and whether the page deserves a ranking boost or not. Another factor is clickthrough measurement. The search engine watches users and the results they select from a search and eventually change the ranking and importance of different pages depending on the clickthrough measurement results.
My overall favorite search engine would have to be Google. I choose this search engine because its so simple and user friendly and almost always gives me the best results. It also has a few good features such as the dictionary, calculator, language converter and currency converter. My next favorite search engine would be msn as it again achieves good results and is user friendly.
Search engines also analyze how pages link together and can determine what pages are about and how important they are deemed to be and whether the page deserves a ranking boost or not. Another factor is clickthrough measurement. The search engine watches users and the results they select from a search and eventually change the ranking and importance of different pages depending on the clickthrough measurement results.
My overall favorite search engine would have to be Google. I choose this search engine because its so simple and user friendly and almost always gives me the best results. It also has a few good features such as the dictionary, calculator, language converter and currency converter. My next favorite search engine would be msn as it again achieves good results and is user friendly.
Week 4: Part 1!
Below is the question and answers for this weeks blogging task. I obtained my information from various sources which I had previously had experience with. I found news sites, scientific sites and answer sites the most useful in finding the answers. I could never be absolutely sure that these answers were 100% accurate but by sticking to highly appraised sites such as answers.com, news sites such as CNN.com and science research sites such as ebola.emedtv.com I am able to be fairly confident that these answers are correct.
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
Onel de Guzman -
http://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html
2. Who invented the paper clip?
Johan Vaaler -
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpaperclip.htm
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
From the name of a river where the virus was first recognized -
http://ebola.emedtv.com/ebola-virus/from-what-place-did-the-ebola-virus-get-its-name.html
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/kids/facts.php
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
1 terabyte = 1 073 741 824 kilobytes -
http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/
6. Who is the creator of email?
Ray Tomlinson -
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/entdev/article.php/1408411
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?
It is a Trojan virus that infects a computer and accesses its email log book and keeps sending spam emails. It is unsure how many computers the virus has infected as it is sent out to millions of users everyday. However some experts have put an estimate of storm worm infected computers at 10 million. -
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/10/the_storm_worm_maelstrom_or_te.html
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of
what is the most efficient way?
On his website -
www.pm.gov.au
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the
of
Black Assassins - https://secure6.ozhosting.com/brisbanewritersfestival/2005/content/standard.asp?name=StockwellS
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?
Is a term given to the second generation of of the World Wide Web -
http://www.answers.com/topic/web-2-0?cat=technology
Monday, March 17, 2008
Week 3!
I guess most of my life I have been connected to some form of new communication technologies. As my parents work has always delt with computeres and the internet I have had an email since I was about 6 or 7 and have always been connected to different groups on the internet. These groups include forums, blogs and various online games.
Through playing online games which led me to intereact with the program 'ventrilio' (voice chat rooms using mics on computers) I met many different people and still talk to them to this day. One of the people I met on one of the online games I played i actually became good friends with and when he came up to the Gold Coast for our schoolies as he was the same age as me, we met in person. However these online game days are behind me now.
The main forms of new communication technologies that I interact with today are mobile phones and msn messenger. The use of a mobile phone began when my parents felt it neccesary to give me a mobile phone to keep track of me as I became a roudy teen. The use of msn came into play during highschool as all my fellow class mates had it and it was the cheapest and easiest way to keep connected to my friends after school hours.
I have never had any problems with privacy issues. I have given my number out but only a few times and only to people I had been talking to for a long time. I have also given out my home address but that was to the friend I met at schoolies. We began to send each other music, dvd's, software and games. All which of course were legal copies! *cough*
Through playing online games which led me to intereact with the program 'ventrilio' (voice chat rooms using mics on computers) I met many different people and still talk to them to this day. One of the people I met on one of the online games I played i actually became good friends with and when he came up to the Gold Coast for our schoolies as he was the same age as me, we met in person. However these online game days are behind me now.
The main forms of new communication technologies that I interact with today are mobile phones and msn messenger. The use of a mobile phone began when my parents felt it neccesary to give me a mobile phone to keep track of me as I became a roudy teen. The use of msn came into play during highschool as all my fellow class mates had it and it was the cheapest and easiest way to keep connected to my friends after school hours.
I have never had any problems with privacy issues. I have given my number out but only a few times and only to people I had been talking to for a long time. I have also given out my home address but that was to the friend I met at schoolies. We began to send each other music, dvd's, software and games. All which of course were legal copies! *cough*
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