Week 12 - Social & Ethical Issues 22/10/07

Lecture Summary:

In this week's lecture the key points addressed included of problems with using the web such as :

• Copyright
• Intellectual Property
• Plagiarism

There are ways to protect yourself from getting in any of the above situations. Some of these ways include of:

• Install an anti virus software and update it monthly
• always have the firewall ON
• always check your attachments are safe
• avoid spyware
• Always scan documents before viewing them

Workshop Activities:

This week's workshop was quite easy and more "chilled" atmosphere because it was our last tutorial for the semester and in this course. Before I go further, I'd like to thank our tutor Mr. Patryk for all the support and help he has given our class in the last 13 weeks and it's been fun being in his class.

Anyways, our first task for this week was to access the website http://www.copyright.org.au/ and make a list of the information sheets relevant to us as undergraduates.

Quotes and explanations:

If the information not yours then it must be acknowledged. All direct and indirect quotes ideas and explanations must be acknowledged to avoid copyright.

Databases:

Information contained in Databases is the property of that database and the original author. If using information from a database, students must ensure they reference it correctly or obtain permission to use that information from the original author.

Libraries:

There are a number of copyright laws in place when it comes to obtaining information from a library. These copyright laws relate to the following topics:

• Literary works
• Artistic works
• Musical works
• Dramatic works
• Cinematographic works.

Libraries above an individual can ensure that information they use in an assignment does not get them into trouble with the copyright commission and lead to them having to suffer the penalties put in place by this organisation.

The second task for the workshop was to write a brief summary on the case titled Us vs Sankus from http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/ipcases.html.

Us vs Sankas refers to a copyright case where John Sankus, Jr., aged 28, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, for conspiring to violate the criminal copyright laws as the leader of one of the oldest and largest international software piracy rings on the Internet.It was said that Mr Sankus was illegally distributing pirated movies, computer software, games and music files on the Internet.Pirated digital copies of copyrighted works distributed over the Internet are commonly known as "warez," and those who engage in this illegal conduct are said to be in the "warez scene."Operation Buccaneer which led to the capture of Mr Sankus was the first federal prosecution to successfully target the suppliers, crackers, and leaders of a major Internet fraud organisation.The sentence imposed on Mr Sankus was the longest ever given to a person involved in organized Internet software piracy.

Readings:

Privacy:

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/eff_privacy_top_12.html

I found this site provided some very basic information on how to protect your privacy. I did not spend a lot of time looking at this reading as I know how to control my virus on my computer and enough about protecting my computer from viruses.

Ethics in Computing - Social Justice Issues http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/social/workplace/monitoring/

This website had too many links that led pages outside the main home page, and therefore made me confused and found it harder to navigate around this page, therefore I did not use this reading in any way to help me complete this week's tasks.

Computer Viruses and the Internet:

Knight, S. (2003) A History of Computer Viruses, and The Open Architecture of the Internet

There was a link in this reading that led to a PDF file which detailed a complete history of computer viruses. In addition to that, it also outlined the viruses and worms that run wild on the Internet today. Quite worth reading this one!

http://www.bpmlegal.com/overview.html

The above website provided some excellent points on how to protect your intellectual property. The major focus was on discussing Patents, Trademarks, Copyright and trade secrets. This site also explains the process of how an individual must go about to protect his/her personal Intellectual property.

And this sums up the whole course/unit in the last 12 weeks. I am Deep Kanabar and once again a big Thank You to MR. Patryk for guiding us through the past 12 weeks.

Week 11 - Building Knowledge 15/10/2007

This week's topic was Building Knowledge. The key concepts in today's lecture included of data, information and knowledge. I found this lecture hard to understand and I feel that this might be the hardest topics we've covered so far in the unit, therefore everything had to be clearly defined by our lecturer. Knowing how to define data, information and knowledge is important, as they might be questions that may appear in the exam.

Data: A fact or proposition

Information: A collection of facts or data that relate to each other.

Knowledge: The range of what has/had been discovered and/or learnt.

The next part of the lecture focused on how we can apply data, information and knowledge to our studies. Data and information applies to research in our studies. Statistical data can be used to backing up statements, opinions and ideas related to a particular topic. Researching information can also provide us with background information on a topic. Data is important also when forming conclusions.Knowledge is required when forming your own opinions, judgements and conclusions. Without prior knowledge, an individual cannot form an opinion, judgements or conclusion on a researched topic.

Workshop Activities:

As mentioned earlier above in the lecture summary, Data , Information and Knowledge can be defined as :

Data : A fact or proposition

Information: A collection of facts or data that relate to each other.

Knowledge : The range of what has/had been discovered and/or learnt.


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Data, information, knowledge:

Data, Information and Knowledge is the key to study success. It is important to know how to collect reliable data on a given topic so that you can back up your ideas, and make statements or opinions about those topics. With data comes information and having credible information sources allows you to back up your ideas, opinions and judgements and prove that you have deeply researched on your topic. The result from doing the above well, is Knowledge which is the result of good data and information.


Readings:

http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm

This reading was not in my reach of understanding. I found this reading extremely uncomfortbable to understand and follow what was happening and being said, however it might have some relevance to information and this week's topic.

http://camellia.shc.edu/literacy/index.html


This was a good reading, because it helped me into some ideas on how to achieve the best out of information literacy. Although I found this site similar to the lecture content, it was still a good reading with key points to note for questions that might come up in the exam regarding this topic.

Week 10 - Online Libraries & Databases 08/10/2007

Lecture Summary:

This week we the lecture was on Online Libraries and Databases. This week's lecture was given in two parts. Firstly, we were told what online libraries are and how they can be useful to us. Following that, we got to see some examples of online library resources for example electronic books and journals. In the second part of the lecture, we got to hear some of the goods and bads of using online libraries as source of information and issues related with online libraries. Furthermore, we learnt about how to use the online databases.

To begin with, we first got told the definition of online databases and some examples. Some examples of online databases include of email directories, maps and government websites.

From that, we gathered that it is better to use Online journals than search engines as online databases have been filtered therefore ensuring quality information.

Workshop Activities:

Our main activity in this week's workshop was to browse through the ECU website and find ten useful functions on the website. Below are the ten useful functions I found from the ECU website.


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• Books, CDs and more (Catalogue)- A link to the ECU catalogue containing all the books, CD’s etc. from all the ECU campuses.

• Journal Articles (Databases) - A link to the ECU database home page, which contains many databases filled with reliable, academic information on numerous topics.

• Reserve Readings - Access to the reserve readings which is an online collection of highly used material at ECU.

• Journal Titles - A link to a search engine dedicated to finding journal titles.

• Websites - A link to frequently used websites.

Library Resources by Faculty- A link to the library sections dedicated to particular facilities at ECU such as business and law, education and arts etc.

• Students -A link for students to access their ECU emails, course details and results.

• Library Podcasts - Links to pod casts available on the library catalogue.

• Loans Services- A link that enables students and teacher to manage their loans of library material.

• Academic Staff - A link for teachers to access their email, course information and content and update their student results.

In addition to the above task, we were also required to visit the MedlinePlus website and find a particular drug or condition of interest to us and use the built-in search engine to find out more about it. My drug of interest that I chose was Becaplermin.

http://medlineplus.gov/

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Becaplermin is used to treat ulcers of the foot, ankle, or leg in patients with diabetes. It comes as a gel which can be applied to the skin. It is usually applied once daily to the affected areas. Seems that Rash is a side effect of this drug. Most commonly known brand name that sells this drug is Regranex.

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Who would use such a site?

It seems quite clear that this website can be used by many parties. Doctors, nurses , medical graduates and students in the medicine field and also patients who want to learn about their drugs more and treatments. Lastly, this website can be useful to those looking to change lifestyles and live a healthy life because the website information on good health and lifestyle. In short, the website is of great help to ALL PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LEAD A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE AND HAVE A CONCERN FOR THEIR HEALTH.

Week 9 - Queries, Strategies & Selecting Results 01/10/2007

Week nine lecture focused on Queries, Strategies & Selecting Results.


Lecture Summary:



In the lecture we discussed search tool types, examples of some common search engines. Furthermore, problems that are associated with these was disccused.


Search tools can be categorised into two:

• Search engines and





• Directories

Firstly, before discussing any further on search tools, it is important to know what search engine is. A search engine is a web-based application(program) that crawls the internet, creating indices of websites. These sites are usually indexed according to keywords.

Some common types of search engines include of :

Google - http://www.google.com/

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Yahoo - http://www.yahoo.com/

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AltaVista - http://www.altavista.com/




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AlltheWeb - http://www.alltheweb.com/



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Other common search engines include of:



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With search engines, there can be quite a lot of problems associated with searches made. Some of these problems include of :

• Too many results may be returned

Below is a screen shot of such an example where the word "cricket" was searched in google. Note the results returned.

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Some of the types of Queries include of :

• Keywords





• Phrases

• Boolean

• Advanced/engine features

An example is shown in the screen shot below.

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Some search tips that can help with better returns of results are:

• Use several search tools

• Read search tips or help information at each search engine

• For keyword searches, use several words

• Guess a location

• "Select the wheat from the chaff" by thinking what you want and

• Back up to find where you are
  

This was the lecture for week nine.

Workshop Activities:

In our week 9 workshop, we did activities on using the search engines to find answers to questions. Our major activity that helped us learn how to use search engines, was answering a quiz in which we had to search for the answers using search engines such as google.


Below is a screen shot of the the quiz from the following website.

http://www.siteseen.co.uk/questions/generalknowledgehard/


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The aim of the activity was to be able to use search engines successfully and find answers to these questions from the quiz. Below is an example of how a question from the quiz could be answered using search engines.

For example the first question in the quiz asks 'What civilisation is associated with the once great city of Machu Picchu the spectacular ruins of which were rediscovered in 1911 ?"

Now, in order to get the answer to that question, a search engine must be used if person doing the quiz has no knowledge on that field - history.

The first step to finding the answer to the question is choosing a search engine. For demonstration purposes, if google is used, then below are the steps to finding the correct answers.

step 1 - choose a search enginge (in this case, google)

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The next step is to identify the key words from the question and use them on google to find information on that topic. From the question, we could try and use "Machu Picchu" as a term to search in google.


Below is a screen shot showing the above process.


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The next step is to look for the results that are most helpful and contain the words "Machu Picchu" in them next to each other.

In the screenshot below, the results are displayed, from which the search results returned information on "Machu Picchu".

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Click on any result and the then try finding the information and answers that you require through reading those results. Below is a screen shot that shows how the correct answer was found to be "INCAS" from wikipedia.


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This was our workshop activity for week 9 - using search engines to find information correctly.


Answers to the Quiz:

1. Incas

2. Violet

3. Birchard

4. Tennyson

5. Shells

6. maps

7. Puccini

8. volcano

9. Basenji

10. Bosch

11. Waterloo

12. ants

13. leo

14. siam

15. mushrooms

16. Orangutan

17. Pluto

18. Benito

19. lizard

20. Napoleon

Readings:

The readings in week 9, discuss the variety of search engines and search tips on the internet along with strategies to finding good information.




Below is the URL of the first reading which discusses the Internet search tips and strategies.



http://www.virtualsalt.com/howlook.htm




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This reading outlines the two key questions that researchers using the internet to find information, have on their minds. These two questions are :

• How can I find what I want? and

• How can I know that what I find, is any good to me?

The article on this website focuses more on answering the first question by disccusing the ways to find what you want. According to the article, you can find just about anything you want through the use of little creativity, some patience and a few search engines.



Creativity in this context, refers to the ability of being able to generate some synonyms for the topic you are finding information on. In addition to that, patience in this context refers to understanding that because of the variety of information spread out on the internet, you need to allocate time to read and understand and evaluate the information you read. Variety of search engines in this context refers to being able to use various tools to find your information, and not just one tool.



Categories of Information:

The article also suggests that before finding the correct information you are looking for, it is important to understand the different types of categories of information on the Web. These categories are:-

• The Free, Visible Web. - Includes all the publicly mounted Web pages which are indexed by search engines. It is suggested that a really good search engine be used to find information from this category or perhaps a directory.

• The Free, Invisible Web. - Webpages that cannot be accessed throuhg search engines, unless directly visiting them. Appropriate database knowledge is required to access such information in this category.

• Paid Databases over the Web. - Includes of commercial databases that libraries subscribe to, containing scholarly journals, newspapers and court cases etc. Access through these webpages must be enabled with a password or some sort of security coding system.

The second reading comes from the website - http://searchenginewatch.com/resources/article.php/2156611

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The above website was looking more complicated to navigate around. There were too many links and therefore I did not spend much time on the website. However, if there were less links then the website could have been more user friendly and therefore of greater help.

The final reading came from the website below: - http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/ivh/chap4.htm

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The above website showed a detailed look at the history of the search engines. I found it interesting to learn about how it all began and about the first search engine. From the above website, a lot can be learnt on databases, library catalogues and directories that can be useful when doing research.

Week 8 - Information Quality 18/09/2007

In our lecture of week eight, the subject we covered was Information Quality. Some of the key points from the lecture were :


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- Information quality is a multi-dimensional concept (Klein, 2001).


-Commonly described as data that is "fit-for-use" (Wang & Strong, 1996).


Information Quality context : The World Wide Web


Open Protocols on the World Wide Web allow information to be :

• easily exchanged





• accessed by anyone with access to a computer
  

The open architecture of the WWW also influences information quality because :

• Information has no quality control enforced





• Information has no enforced classification
  

Information Quality in relation to the WW
Information on the WWW can be written by anyone, therefore there is no control on who publishes information. This relates to the information's authority, authorship and authenticy.

• Bias, accuracy and trustworthiness of the information is often at doubt due to the fact that anyone can publish anything without a purpose





• Information in relation to currency, reliability and coverage can also be affected because we cannot tell who is publishing what on the WWW and how long ago they published the information.
  

Evaluating Information on the WWW

If information on the WWW if not evaluated as authentic and authorised, can sometimes affect its quality. Evaluating information on the WWW involves principles to be put to test. These principles include of:

1. consider what you are measuring?





2. why does the information resource exist in the first place?





3. is the information "fit-for-use"?
   

Issues regarding Information Quality on the WWW

Information quality on the WWW can raise some issues. Such issues include of :

• Authority





• Accuracy





• Objectivity





• Currency and





• Coverage

This was a summary of our lecture in Week 8.

Workshop Activities:

When visiting a webpage, there are certain questions that you need to ask yourself before accepting what you see on the website. These questions can help you evaluate the website and get you the information that you are looking for.

When looking for information from a website, always ask yourself these questions and try finding the answers from the website you view before accepting information from the website. These questions include of :

- Are you in the right place?
- Do you think the source is valid?
- Do you know what is happening in that website?
- Do the details in the website look clear and concise to you?
- What is so unique and good about that website from other web pages on the web?

Furthermore, you should also use certain criterias that can help you evaluate your website as a good or bad source of information. These criterias are:

- Authority
- Accuracy
- Objectivity
- Currency
- Coverage and
- Value


Below is a print screen showing where I summarised my information above from.



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Below is a summary of each of the above criteria's relation to the source of information being viewed.

Authority - Who is the writer of a certain page and what expertise or authority do they have to write that page?

Accuracy - Do you feel that the information shown on the webpage is factual and accurate?

Objectivity - Why has this certain author written this webpage?
- What is his point and what message is he trying to get to you?

Currency - How old is this source of information? When was it last updated and viewed? How current is this webpage?

Coverage - Does this webpage cover the subjects that you are looking for?
- Does the webpage have the correct content that is related to your subject of information?
- What style of literature is the webpage using? Is the language formal (academic or scholarly) or informal?

Value - Were you able to say that the webpage you visited was worth the effort and time to visit?
- Was this webpage free of common errors such as grammar mistakes and spelling errors?
- Did this webpage offer you anything informative?
- Did you find this webpage unique from other webpages?
- Was this webpage valuable in that you felt there were no grammatical errors that could have made it hard for you to absorb the information you read?



Below is a screen shot showing the above information wrapped up as brief dot points.


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Readings:


Each week, apart from having lectures and tutorials (workshops), we get readings on topics discussed in the lecture and workshops. These readings help us furthermore in our understanding of our topics. Week eight's readings are on the evaluation of websites and information on the World Wide Web.



The first reading comes from the website - http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/

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This website discusses some points to consider when looking at a website. Some key points outlined in this website include of :

Content & Evaluation:

• Who is the audience?



• What is the purpose of the web page?


• Why was this webpage created?



• Are the links and information provided accurate?



• What is so good about this website and its information in contrast to other website on the same topic?



• To what depth is the coverage?



• Is multimedia appropriately incorporated?


• From instincts, is the webpage valuable?

Source & Date:

• Who is the author or producer?



• From what authority or expertise was the website created?



• How knowledgeable is the writer of the webpage?



• Is any type of bias evident in the information provided?



• When was the website last updated/reviewed?



• Are the links up to date?



• Is contact information about the writer provided in the website?

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Structure:

• Does the website follow good graphic design principles?



• Do the graphics serve a purpose in relation to content or are they for decorative purposes?



• Does the text appear to be grammatically incorrect?



• How usable is the site? (can users get the information they need from the minimal number of links?)
  

Other:

• Is appropriate interactivity available?



• How secure is the website when wanting to send confidential information through the site? ( i.e. does a secure coding system exist?)



• Are there links to a search engine?
  

The above points were disccused on the this website. These points discussed should be kept in mind when evaluating a website and its content in order to get the best information for use.

The next reading on the topic of Evaluating websites, comes from the website below.

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/webcrit.html

Below is a screen shot of the website itself.

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In this website, five criterias of evaluating webpages are discussed. These five criterias are:

Accuracy:

• Who wrote the page and can you contact him/her?



• What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced?



• Is the writer qualified to write the website with the information he/she has provided?

Authority:

• Who published the website?



• Are the qualifications of the writer provided?



• What institution has published the document? (check domain)

Objectivity:

• What goals/objectives does the page meet?



• How detailed is the information?



• What opinions are expressed by the writer? (if any)

Currency:

• When was it produced?



• When was it updated?



• How up to date are the links? (if any)

Coverage:

• Are the links evaluated and complement the document's theme?



• Is it all images or a balance of text and images?



• Is the information presented cited correctly?

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