Lecture;
Week fives lecture was on search engines. We discussed what a search engine is (a web-based program that gives you links to other sites relating to your search) and we also went through the different search engines used today. Google, Yahoo, AltaVista and AllTheWeb are the most commonly used yet there are many many more, some you might never have heard of. There are different sorts of search engines, some are created to only specify in one certain area of information. For example there is: SearchEdu.com, which is specifically for university sites, and specific branded search engines like MSN search which is from Microsoft. We also viewed some statistics from the U.S. search engine rankings in September 2007 and Google, a predicted was on top of them all with 57% followed by Yahoo on 23.7% then Microsoft, Ask and AOL all with low percentages. From this lecture i learnt that Google is definitely the top search engine throughout the world.
Activities;
Tips for using search engines
1. Use keywords
2. Refine your search (be more detailed)
3. Relevancy (keep your search relevant)
4. Try using indexes
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Week 4
Lecture;
Lecture four, Using the WWW, World Wide Web, discussed the differences between the Net and the Web. The Web, used for accessing information which is on the Internet is what allows us to search through computers without having to know about computers and cables. Whereas the Net is a networking infrastructure - a massive network of networks.
Readings;
Reading one, A brief history on the Internet, was based on the Origins of the Internet. The birth of the Internet was first set in motion with a series of memo's written by J.C.R Licklider of MIT in 1962. His memo's, which envisioned a "Galactic Network" involved a globally interconnected set of computers through which everyone could access data and programs. Two major steps towards computer networking followed this: the faster and more effective idea of communicating using packets rather than circuits, and the aim to get the computers within the network to talk together. In late 1966 a DARPA conference saw network enthusiasts come together with similar development ideas that set computer networking into drive (namingly the 'plan for the ARPANET' paper). After development the overall structure and specifications for ARPANET were refined and in 1968, host computers were connected together in the initial ARPANET. From there the system blossomed as computers were added quickly during the following years, and protocols and software was made functional. In 1972 the ARPANET made its first public demonstration and since then has grown immensely into what is now know as the Internet.
I couldn't access reading two.
Lecture four, Using the WWW, World Wide Web, discussed the differences between the Net and the Web. The Web, used for accessing information which is on the Internet is what allows us to search through computers without having to know about computers and cables. Whereas the Net is a networking infrastructure - a massive network of networks.
Readings;
Reading one, A brief history on the Internet, was based on the Origins of the Internet. The birth of the Internet was first set in motion with a series of memo's written by J.C.R Licklider of MIT in 1962. His memo's, which envisioned a "Galactic Network" involved a globally interconnected set of computers through which everyone could access data and programs. Two major steps towards computer networking followed this: the faster and more effective idea of communicating using packets rather than circuits, and the aim to get the computers within the network to talk together. In late 1966 a DARPA conference saw network enthusiasts come together with similar development ideas that set computer networking into drive (namingly the 'plan for the ARPANET' paper). After development the overall structure and specifications for ARPANET were refined and in 1968, host computers were connected together in the initial ARPANET. From there the system blossomed as computers were added quickly during the following years, and protocols and software was made functional. In 1972 the ARPANET made its first public demonstration and since then has grown immensely into what is now know as the Internet.
I couldn't access reading two.
Week 3
Lecture;
The focus of this lecture was on Online Libraries and Online databases. Online Libraries include online journals, electronic books, artworks, musical and text repositories, whilst online databases involved E-mail directories, maps and atlases, news and media, government statistics, portals and people searches. While there are these subtle differences, Online libraries and databases are very similar: they are both an extremely useful and accessible source of information, they can be either available free or by subscription and they are both browsable, searchable, usually up to date, and available 24/7.
Readings;
In the first reading, Finding what you want on the web, Technology analyst Bill Thompson explains how he believes without Google, web searching would be very difficult. Thompson compares Google with other major web search engines like AllTheWeb, Teoma, MSN Search and Yahoo, and still finds Google is the most effective and efficient. Yahoo which is most likely the next down the line usually takes you to Google search results anyway.
The second reading, Bare Bones Lesson 7: basic search tips, basically goes through different strategies to make sure your search is as precise as possible. I found all of the tips very effective and am a frequent user of almost all of them. Although i was not aware that lower and upper case wording can affect your search too. So this reading became very useful for me.
Activities;
Global warming article;
The focus of this lecture was on Online Libraries and Online databases. Online Libraries include online journals, electronic books, artworks, musical and text repositories, whilst online databases involved E-mail directories, maps and atlases, news and media, government statistics, portals and people searches. While there are these subtle differences, Online libraries and databases are very similar: they are both an extremely useful and accessible source of information, they can be either available free or by subscription and they are both browsable, searchable, usually up to date, and available 24/7.
Readings;
In the first reading, Finding what you want on the web, Technology analyst Bill Thompson explains how he believes without Google, web searching would be very difficult. Thompson compares Google with other major web search engines like AllTheWeb, Teoma, MSN Search and Yahoo, and still finds Google is the most effective and efficient. Yahoo which is most likely the next down the line usually takes you to Google search results anyway.
The second reading, Bare Bones Lesson 7: basic search tips, basically goes through different strategies to make sure your search is as precise as possible. I found all of the tips very effective and am a frequent user of almost all of them. Although i was not aware that lower and upper case wording can affect your search too. So this reading became very useful for me.
Activities;
Global warming article;
10 useful search tips:
- Advanced search - When on ProQuest the search was set on basic but if you look at the tabs at the top of the page you can select 'Advanced' which is a different form of doing your search which will narrow your results.
- Library home - When on the ECU library home there are certain headings, you can find what you want under the red 'Find' heading. That's where i clicked the Journal Articles link.
- Journal Articles - Under the blue heading 'I want to find journal articles using library databases... ' you can narrow your search once more by clicking a databases search link. You do this depending on what information or key words you have to further your search.
- Data resources by subject - I clicked on the 'find by subject' which took me to this data resources page where i can now chose a relevant subject according to my search.
- Online databases for Environmental Managment - I chose Environmental Management on the page before because that was the most relevant to my topic. That took me to this online databases page where i can now chose a database with either full text or not full text to further my search
- Proquest science journals - the online database i chose for Environmental management took me to the ProQuest. ProQuest is a great database because it has many tabs at the top of the site that can also narrow your search once more. Like Advanced search, Basic search, Topics and Publications.
- Quick catalogue search - Quick catalogue search was on the ECU library home page and it was a window where i could type in any key search i desired and simply hit a 'go' button.
- Learning assistance - On the ECU library home page there is a yellow heading under the blue 'Find' heading where you can click on specific links that are like quick steps to other searches. for example i found the forth one down - Academic tips sheet very relevant and efficient.
- News update - On the ECU Library home page there is also a red heading which has 'News Update' which has more broad and specific links to further your searching.
- ECU library catalogue - can offer you great catalogues with a quick keyword search window and 'Go'.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Week 2
Lecture;
Today's lecture on Application skills was simply covering the common PC applications like; Filing, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, Acrobat reader, Outlook and more. These are the more common PC tasks in the windows system, and i frequently use all of these so this was all very familiar to me. We did also go through some Browser statistics which did surprise me as i was unaware of the some of the applications in the list itself. Although as i thought, Internet Explorer was on the top of the list.
Readings;
The first reading, Using Microsoft Word for APA tasks, was clarifying the tasks from the Word doc activity. It covered how to do Headings and footers, typeface, line spacing, margins and alignment, alphabetizing, dot leaders for the contents and much more. The reading was highly significant in it's part to the completion of the activity.
The second reading, Graphic File formats briefly discussed the different types of file formats that an image can come in. Some include; Bitmap, CompuServ and JPEG. The differences between these file formats meant that images would range in size, quality and compatibility.
Tutorial;
I found this weeks tutorial activities with Microsoft Word and Excel in Vista very useful. Even though i have Vista on my home laptop i do not use Excel or Microsoft Word regularly so i wasn't aware of some of the new settings vista had applied to them. I new about the tabs and drop down menus and how they worked but only thoroughly on Internet Explorer, which is mainly all i use. Also some of the activities within Excel and Word that we had to perform were completely new to me, i was unaware that there were all these shortcuts to Word, like how to make the Contents dotting apply itself and the headings and numbering. I always used to do these manually. Also with Excel i was unaware of much more. Even when i had Windows XP i was not a frequent user of Excel so everything with the Excel activities was very new to me. I was really surprised with how little you physically have to do as i learnt that Excel does all the hard work for you, the mathematical details, numbering, headings, columns and more. I found Excel a very efficient and fast program.
Activities;
Today's lecture on Application skills was simply covering the common PC applications like; Filing, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, Acrobat reader, Outlook and more. These are the more common PC tasks in the windows system, and i frequently use all of these so this was all very familiar to me. We did also go through some Browser statistics which did surprise me as i was unaware of the some of the applications in the list itself. Although as i thought, Internet Explorer was on the top of the list.
Readings;
The first reading, Using Microsoft Word for APA tasks, was clarifying the tasks from the Word doc activity. It covered how to do Headings and footers, typeface, line spacing, margins and alignment, alphabetizing, dot leaders for the contents and much more. The reading was highly significant in it's part to the completion of the activity.
The second reading, Graphic File formats briefly discussed the different types of file formats that an image can come in. Some include; Bitmap, CompuServ and JPEG. The differences between these file formats meant that images would range in size, quality and compatibility.
Tutorial;
I found this weeks tutorial activities with Microsoft Word and Excel in Vista very useful. Even though i have Vista on my home laptop i do not use Excel or Microsoft Word regularly so i wasn't aware of some of the new settings vista had applied to them. I new about the tabs and drop down menus and how they worked but only thoroughly on Internet Explorer, which is mainly all i use. Also some of the activities within Excel and Word that we had to perform were completely new to me, i was unaware that there were all these shortcuts to Word, like how to make the Contents dotting apply itself and the headings and numbering. I always used to do these manually. Also with Excel i was unaware of much more. Even when i had Windows XP i was not a frequent user of Excel so everything with the Excel activities was very new to me. I was really surprised with how little you physically have to do as i learnt that Excel does all the hard work for you, the mathematical details, numbering, headings, columns and more. I found Excel a very efficient and fast program.
Activities;
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)