Okay... I'm guessing we're supposed to do the reflection for Practical Worksheet 10, but if not, bite me... I wasn't exactly paying attention.
The most important lesson I've learnt.... Wow. That's a hard one. Well, I'd say...learning how to use Boolean operators. Not only are Boolean operators new to me, even though I've heard (seen) mention of them on websites, they're fun, useful, yet annoyingly frustrating at the same time.
Now, up till now, I'm still not very sure what the difference between a Boolean search and a normal search is, but I guess that I'll find a use for Booleans within the next three years. Who knows, maybe it'll cut down on research time, or maybe it's make me bust a blood vessel trying to figure it out either way...Meh.
Well, I'd say that this might very well be my last entry for this blog. It's been quite a hectic, stressful, week, but all the same, it's kind of fun. In the 'okay...what the *#^$ am I looking at?' kind of way. Ah well.
May your days be long, and your hardships few. - Jonathan Tiang
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sick...
Was sick yesterday, so I'm writing a make-up reflection today. Still don't feel too well, though.
Youtube? Well, I'd say that Youtube's role in my life was for entertainment. You'll be surprised at the kinds of thing that people post on the website. I usually look up music videos as a way to fill the silence around me (GOOD music videos, mind you), but I do occasionally look out for any funnies like the Japanese Toilet Pranks videos, Hard Gay, and the Batsu Game series of videos. Of course, some of you may not recognise these videos, but I don't expect you to.
Another type of video that I search for are the "educational" videos. They're episodes of shows like Mythbusters, Future Weapons, and Dirty Jobs (all from Discovery Channel), only split into several sections to comply with Youtube's posting rules.
Of course, I never fail to miss the purely madcap videos of things that go BOOM, like a hand grenade in a toilet bowl, a .55 Calibre Anti-tank rifle being fired, a Browning .50 Calibre Machine Gun on full Automatic, and, of course, who could miss out the Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher?
However, as much a part these videos play in my life, I can definitely live without Youtube. Things will be a little duller and a little more quieter, but I like quiet, anyways. Just depends on how I feel like spending my me-time.
Youtube for research purposes? Like I said, you'll be surprised at the kinds of things that people post up. If you consider how to make napalm, plastics explosives, smoke bombs, and a suppressor at home, Youtube's right up your alley.
But for other research topics... I'm not so sure. Well, I guess that you'll find some information eventually, but I wouldn't know. Never exactly used it for that purposed before, but I'd say there's a fifty-fifty chance of something turning up. Depends mostly on what you're looking for, I'd say.
I think that's long enough... which reflection are we supposed to do today?
Youtube? Well, I'd say that Youtube's role in my life was for entertainment. You'll be surprised at the kinds of thing that people post on the website. I usually look up music videos as a way to fill the silence around me (GOOD music videos, mind you), but I do occasionally look out for any funnies like the Japanese Toilet Pranks videos, Hard Gay, and the Batsu Game series of videos. Of course, some of you may not recognise these videos, but I don't expect you to.
Another type of video that I search for are the "educational" videos. They're episodes of shows like Mythbusters, Future Weapons, and Dirty Jobs (all from Discovery Channel), only split into several sections to comply with Youtube's posting rules.
Of course, I never fail to miss the purely madcap videos of things that go BOOM, like a hand grenade in a toilet bowl, a .55 Calibre Anti-tank rifle being fired, a Browning .50 Calibre Machine Gun on full Automatic, and, of course, who could miss out the Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher?
However, as much a part these videos play in my life, I can definitely live without Youtube. Things will be a little duller and a little more quieter, but I like quiet, anyways. Just depends on how I feel like spending my me-time.
Youtube for research purposes? Like I said, you'll be surprised at the kinds of things that people post up. If you consider how to make napalm, plastics explosives, smoke bombs, and a suppressor at home, Youtube's right up your alley.
But for other research topics... I'm not so sure. Well, I guess that you'll find some information eventually, but I wouldn't know. Never exactly used it for that purposed before, but I'd say there's a fifty-fifty chance of something turning up. Depends mostly on what you're looking for, I'd say.
I think that's long enough... which reflection are we supposed to do today?
Friday, March 27, 2009
Finally
Well, the test wasn't so bad, though I could have done better. Should have studied just a little bit more, and I probably would've gotten an A. Ah well. Had the Talking Cock thing today too. Was Kind of meaningless, if you asked me. Evaluation of a website id fine, but an evaluation of a website like that? I'd rather do deviantart.com.
Meh...criteria for evaluation? Purpose, content, language, can't think of anymore... Wasn't actually paying attention to the evaluation at the time. Why I chose this criteria? It's the basic of basics for evaluating something.
How I feel about participating in role plays... Dispassionate. Like I said, there's not a real point to doing it. Not to me, at least. Role plays? Can't say I actually understand what role plays are, unless you're talking about those *&$! kind of role play.
Not much to say other than that, unless you want me to add in a bit of my thoughts for the heck of increasing the blog size.
Meh...criteria for evaluation? Purpose, content, language, can't think of anymore... Wasn't actually paying attention to the evaluation at the time. Why I chose this criteria? It's the basic of basics for evaluating something.
How I feel about participating in role plays... Dispassionate. Like I said, there's not a real point to doing it. Not to me, at least. Role plays? Can't say I actually understand what role plays are, unless you're talking about those *&$! kind of role play.
Not much to say other than that, unless you want me to add in a bit of my thoughts for the heck of increasing the blog size.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
It Starts...
I'm a bit stressed out today. We've got a test tomorrow that covers five lectures, I've got to do this reflection, there's the report due next week, there's another test next Tuesday covering chapters 6 to 10, and there's still the final portfolio to do, which also includes us making a wiki website, if I'm not wrong. A whole CDS crammed into seven days...nice...
Well, I've finally compiled a report that seems acceptable to me, studied for the test during diner, not very well, though, and I'm doing this reflection right now. Considering that we just went through lectures 6 and 7 today, that probably means that we'll cover lecture 8 tomorrow, and lecture 9 and 10 on Monday, after which we'll be having the test on Tuesday. Hope it's MCQ, too.
On Wednesday, we're going to have to have finished our portfolio by then. Hope it's not going to be too bad. Hmm. Evaluation of Internet resource, print screens of participation in discussion forums, print-out of our blog reflections, WIKI topic, and bibliography of citations.
Way I see it, the biggest problems would obviously be the evaluation and WIKI... Ah well. Que Sera, Sera.Hope that the teacher goes easy on us with the report. As I've said before, analysis has never been my strong point. Never did well for Social Studies, and I just barely pass History last time.
Well, I've finally compiled a report that seems acceptable to me, studied for the test during diner, not very well, though, and I'm doing this reflection right now. Considering that we just went through lectures 6 and 7 today, that probably means that we'll cover lecture 8 tomorrow, and lecture 9 and 10 on Monday, after which we'll be having the test on Tuesday. Hope it's MCQ, too.
On Wednesday, we're going to have to have finished our portfolio by then. Hope it's not going to be too bad. Hmm. Evaluation of Internet resource, print screens of participation in discussion forums, print-out of our blog reflections, WIKI topic, and bibliography of citations.
Way I see it, the biggest problems would obviously be the evaluation and WIKI... Ah well. Que Sera, Sera.Hope that the teacher goes easy on us with the report. As I've said before, analysis has never been my strong point. Never did well for Social Studies, and I just barely pass History last time.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tomorrow Never Comes...
1st Part
Benefits from using different search facilities to search for resources? I'll go out on a limb and say that the amount of results showed would be different, their relevancy would also be sorted as according to their individual algorithms, and as such, we might get better sources from one search engines as compared to another.
Of course, I'm going out on a REALLY long limb here... I've never been very big on the whole compare-and-contrast thing, so my analysis of the benefits, strengths and weakness, of the search engines are rather lacking...
Site feeds? I'm not sure... I'd guess that, as with most things, I feel indifferent towards them. I'm not sure what site feeds are used for, other than to create a link to other websites. Would I use this in future? It's unlikely that I would ever need to deal with something like this in the future, so I'd say that I wouldn't be using the site feed thing soon...
Hmm...not too much to write about for this... I guess it's been a rather dull day today. That is not to say that the class wasn't interesting... It's just that I can't think of what else to write regarding this topic...
Benefits from using different search facilities to search for resources? I'll go out on a limb and say that the amount of results showed would be different, their relevancy would also be sorted as according to their individual algorithms, and as such, we might get better sources from one search engines as compared to another.
Of course, I'm going out on a REALLY long limb here... I've never been very big on the whole compare-and-contrast thing, so my analysis of the benefits, strengths and weakness, of the search engines are rather lacking...
Site feeds? I'm not sure... I'd guess that, as with most things, I feel indifferent towards them. I'm not sure what site feeds are used for, other than to create a link to other websites. Would I use this in future? It's unlikely that I would ever need to deal with something like this in the future, so I'd say that I wouldn't be using the site feed thing soon...
Hmm...not too much to write about for this... I guess it's been a rather dull day today. That is not to say that the class wasn't interesting... It's just that I can't think of what else to write regarding this topic...
2nd Part
Hmm... I'd say that it is quite a bit more effective to search using the invisible web than using the search engines, but that will depend heavily on what the databases contain. Some may contain more relevant information about our research topic, while others may not contain a single scrap of information on the topic, relevant or not.
For example, my research topic is on the implications of legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide, so if were to search for any information on the ITPro database, nothing would turn up. My chances of finding relevant information would increase if I were to search in databases containing medical or legal information.
The advantage that search engines have over databases would be that search engines drag out any general information that they think is relevant to our research topic, while databases are very specific- a wrong word or a mistake in the phrasing would lead to information which may be completely irrelevant.
And yes, I would use the invisible web for research in my own diploma, because I will be studying for a Diploma in Game and Entertainment Technology, and there is a database that deals only with IT related stuff, and that would be http://library.books24x7.com/. Try searching for medical knowledge, though, and you would be better off sifting through the mess given by the search engines.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Today's Lesson
Google Search Engines
Well, I'd say I'm actually quite indifferent towards the Google search engine. To me, these search engines are just tools for knowledge, but I guess, that looking at it from a different perspective, they are quite good.
I mean, even though more often than not, the websites the search engines give us are irrelevant to what we were searching for, but nobody said that additional knowledge was a bad thing. However, it is that exact problem that makes search engines so frustrating sometimes.
The websites given are frequently irrelevant, and if you're someone who was trying to do a project, that irrelevancy just takes up time, time that you might not have if the deadline's coming up.
Most search engines try to cut down these instances by sorting the websites according to how relevant they think those websites are, and giving us a summary of what the websites are about. Unfortunately, how relevant the websites are to them, may have drastic differences as compared to how relevant the websites are to us.
Now, I know that these problems pop up mainly because we have no idea how to phrase what we are looking for, or that we searched for websites in the wrong way, but still, verdammt... As such, in my eyes, the google, yahoo, msn and other search engines aren't too bad, everything considered, but I guess that no matter how good anything is, human error will screw things up one way or other. Murphy was an Optimist, after all...
Well, I'd say I'm actually quite indifferent towards the Google search engine. To me, these search engines are just tools for knowledge, but I guess, that looking at it from a different perspective, they are quite good.
I mean, even though more often than not, the websites the search engines give us are irrelevant to what we were searching for, but nobody said that additional knowledge was a bad thing. However, it is that exact problem that makes search engines so frustrating sometimes.
The websites given are frequently irrelevant, and if you're someone who was trying to do a project, that irrelevancy just takes up time, time that you might not have if the deadline's coming up.
Most search engines try to cut down these instances by sorting the websites according to how relevant they think those websites are, and giving us a summary of what the websites are about. Unfortunately, how relevant the websites are to them, may have drastic differences as compared to how relevant the websites are to us.
Now, I know that these problems pop up mainly because we have no idea how to phrase what we are looking for, or that we searched for websites in the wrong way, but still, verdammt... As such, in my eyes, the google, yahoo, msn and other search engines aren't too bad, everything considered, but I guess that no matter how good anything is, human error will screw things up one way or other. Murphy was an Optimist, after all...
Forums
Hmm...forums...never really got into them a lot. But then again, what most people talk about in forums are of little interest or concern to me, so I tend to ignore them. The websites that I rarely, if ever, contribute to are hackforums.net, hardwarezone.com, and minitokyo.net.
However, I'll admit that interacting with people using forums are quite...intriguing, if you must. The people sometimes offer different perspectives on things, offer information and ideas we would usually never think of (e.g. making a smoke bomb with home-acquired materials, or even plastics explosives *don't try these at home...*)
I would agree that discussion forums, if they're related to what we're working on (which they rarely are, in my opinion...) will be helpful towards our research... Trying to find the relevant forums are, however, a very different thing altogether.
Do I feel anxious about talking to others you do not know? Usually, yes, but not on the Internet. As they say, the Internet is the home of the anonymous. Unfortunately, This anonymity is a double-edged sword.
When we are anonymous, our identities are protected, and we can say or do things that we would normally not do in our everyday lives. However, it is precisely because our identities are protected, that we might do things that might be disapproved of, criminal, even.
Of course, the identities of those who do such things can usually be traced through the Internet, but it would take investigators time to do so, and an experienced hacker may be able to virtually erase his existence from the net, making it impossible to find him.
Citations and Bibliographies
Citation? Bibliography? Why are they important? I'm not too sure of that myself, other than the primary use of avoiding being accused of plagiarism. If I were to take a guess, though, it would be so that other people who may stumble across your work, and are interested in it, would have the original sources from which you compiled your work from to refer back to.
Other than that, I don't really have much of an idea on why citations and bibliographies are important. Well, that's it today, I guess. Do these blog thingies have spell and grammar checkers, anyway? Oh wait...there it is...
Monday, March 23, 2009
What I learnt today
What I learnt today? That's an interesting question... Well, for the first part of the day, I found out how Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 worked, and I hope to God I'll never have to again... It was tedious as heck... But for this CDS... It's hard to explain. Interesting, fun, boring, distracting, I don't quite know how to describe it. We learnt about the different types of websites we can get information from, websites like blogs, forums, news websites, etc...
We also learnt about the purpose for which the websites might have been set up for. For information, advocacy, news, business, and for entertainment. We also learnt the definition and differences between the Internet and the World Wide Web.
We learnt what roles websites like blogs, wikis, forums, newsgroups, databases, and all other information archives play in our hunt for knowledge, and how more often than not, the information found on these websites are rather reliable, all because of the community spirit behind the website.
Even in some websites that teach people things that may or may not prove to be the beginnings of malicious workings like hackforums.net, where they teach you to hack into websites and the like, the information and teachings are usually the appropriate steps needed for a learner to begin. Of course, for hackforums.net, there is an unsaid, unwritten, and mutually agreed-on rule that these information and teachings are there for the simple use of information.
The teachings are never to be used for any malicious intent, and any who break these rules will feel the wrath of the others on the site, who usually are white-hat hackers, but will not hesitate to teach the rule-breaker a lesson.
It is this community spirit behind these information archives that ensure us that we will always have places where information can be found which is reliable.
We also learnt about the purpose for which the websites might have been set up for. For information, advocacy, news, business, and for entertainment. We also learnt the definition and differences between the Internet and the World Wide Web.
We learnt what roles websites like blogs, wikis, forums, newsgroups, databases, and all other information archives play in our hunt for knowledge, and how more often than not, the information found on these websites are rather reliable, all because of the community spirit behind the website.
Even in some websites that teach people things that may or may not prove to be the beginnings of malicious workings like hackforums.net, where they teach you to hack into websites and the like, the information and teachings are usually the appropriate steps needed for a learner to begin. Of course, for hackforums.net, there is an unsaid, unwritten, and mutually agreed-on rule that these information and teachings are there for the simple use of information.
The teachings are never to be used for any malicious intent, and any who break these rules will feel the wrath of the others on the site, who usually are white-hat hackers, but will not hesitate to teach the rule-breaker a lesson.
It is this community spirit behind these information archives that ensure us that we will always have places where information can be found which is reliable.
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