Practical 8
For this practical, we are required to complete the bibliography section for our last project as a group. We have gathered all the information and started doing it based on the examples shown in the lec notes. It was pretty easy with the sample, hopefully we've done it correctly!
However, we encountered difficulties in some parts, as some of the websites does not clearly state the sources of the information. Thus we had a hard time searching all over the site.
Lastly, i find it useful learning citation and bibliography.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Practical 7 (E-Learning)
During this week, I need to participate in WIKI. It is a forum that allows group members to discuss and post question on our projects. However, a registration is required. All my group members have registered and have participated in the forum regarding our topic-3G. It allows interactive discussions as the comments that each of us posted can be seen and commented by the rest of the members.
During this week, I need to participate in WIKI. It is a forum that allows group members to discuss and post question on our projects. However, a registration is required. All my group members have registered and have participated in the forum regarding our topic-3G. It allows interactive discussions as the comments that each of us posted can be seen and commented by the rest of the members.
E-learning week
On this e-learning week, I am supposed to participate in the OLE discussion forum on how Internet has enriched your academic life.
Generally, i think that the internet is an useful and inevitable tool to many of us. Project findings and researches are made so much easier with the present of search engines like google and yahoo. Internet enable us to acquire vast variety of information fast just within our figertips thus work can be done more efficiently.The UIR lectures notes have also taught me how to use search engines more effectively e.g. we could use meta search engines which search through more than one search engines and this could make searching faster compared to searching through all the different search engines individually. On the whole, i find internet resourceful and it enriches my learning process in many ways.
On this e-learning week, I am supposed to participate in the OLE discussion forum on how Internet has enriched your academic life.
Generally, i think that the internet is an useful and inevitable tool to many of us. Project findings and researches are made so much easier with the present of search engines like google and yahoo. Internet enable us to acquire vast variety of information fast just within our figertips thus work can be done more efficiently.The UIR lectures notes have also taught me how to use search engines more effectively e.g. we could use meta search engines which search through more than one search engines and this could make searching faster compared to searching through all the different search engines individually. On the whole, i find internet resourceful and it enriches my learning process in many ways.
Practical 6b
UIR: http://www.mobilephonedevelopment.com/
Purpose
The purposes of the website are clearly stated in the link ‘about this site’. This site was launched by a mobile developer to bring together some of his recent experiences of mobile software development. It includes problems, hints, tips and reviews. Besides, it contains comments on market research, tools and technologies. The issues covered are equally applicable to management as they are people who implement solutions.
Coverage
Basically the site covers all information related to hand phone development. Thus it was easy for me to find information regarding my research topic on 3G development in mobile devices. The content of the site includes popular articles, recent events, regular updates, freeware etc. Under popular articles, there is a list of frequently read articles and readers can give their comments on the articles. Recent event contains all the up-to-date information regarding mobile phones and its technology. Likewise, user can also download some hand phone application such as dictionary under the section on ‘My freeware’.To enhance the coverage of the site, there are links on related articles located at the bottom of each article for readers to enhance their reading. There are also links to other relevant websites.
Authority
I will regard the site as an authoritative one as most of the information given seemed to be reliable as they are based on reports and researches. However, the site is not included in any gateways or virtual libraries.
Accuracy
As the site is created by a professional mobile developer, I believe that most of the facts are accurate. In addition as highlighted above, he uses research and report as a basis, thus giving more accurate facts. However, the site also contains some of his personal opinions and is biased towards those people undertaking mobile software development. This can be since from the words ‘I think’ as highlighted.
Currency
The in the site is updated almost daily. Thus giving very current and up-to-date information on the latest trend and technology in mobile devices. Personally, I think the site is well-maintained as the clear layout of the site, sub-headings and links make it easy for user to navigate though the site.
Accessibility
The site is easily accessible through power search like google. All the information in the site is accessible for free and no log-ins is required. The ease to access the website can greatly encourages more users to view the site.
Presentation and Arrangement
The presentation and arrangement of the site is clear and well-organized. All the links(About, Recent Events, Popular articles etc.) are all located at the left side of the site. This made it easier for user to research according to the relevant sub-headings. In its home page, articles are arranged in a chronological manner, showing the latest article first. The site also has high consistency in terms of its presentation and arrangement.
In addition, a search facility is available and located on the top left of the site. This will greatly enhance navigation through the side.
Usability
With the search facilities located at the top left of every page of the site, user can gather relevant information on their research rather than searching all over the site. Thus this is a very useful facility that enhances the navigation of the site.
Overall
In summary, I am impressed with the quality of the site in terms of its presentation, high accessibility as well as its wide coverage. The organized presentation and its search facility make searching on topic very easy. Besides I am able to gather ample information on my research topic – 3G, due to its wide coverage.
UIR: http://www.mobilephonedevelopment.com/
Purpose
The purposes of the website are clearly stated in the link ‘about this site’. This site was launched by a mobile developer to bring together some of his recent experiences of mobile software development. It includes problems, hints, tips and reviews. Besides, it contains comments on market research, tools and technologies. The issues covered are equally applicable to management as they are people who implement solutions.
Coverage
Basically the site covers all information related to hand phone development. Thus it was easy for me to find information regarding my research topic on 3G development in mobile devices. The content of the site includes popular articles, recent events, regular updates, freeware etc. Under popular articles, there is a list of frequently read articles and readers can give their comments on the articles. Recent event contains all the up-to-date information regarding mobile phones and its technology. Likewise, user can also download some hand phone application such as dictionary under the section on ‘My freeware’.To enhance the coverage of the site, there are links on related articles located at the bottom of each article for readers to enhance their reading. There are also links to other relevant websites.
Authority
I will regard the site as an authoritative one as most of the information given seemed to be reliable as they are based on reports and researches. However, the site is not included in any gateways or virtual libraries.
Accuracy
As the site is created by a professional mobile developer, I believe that most of the facts are accurate. In addition as highlighted above, he uses research and report as a basis, thus giving more accurate facts. However, the site also contains some of his personal opinions and is biased towards those people undertaking mobile software development. This can be since from the words ‘I think’ as highlighted.
Currency
The in the site is updated almost daily. Thus giving very current and up-to-date information on the latest trend and technology in mobile devices. Personally, I think the site is well-maintained as the clear layout of the site, sub-headings and links make it easy for user to navigate though the site.
Accessibility
The site is easily accessible through power search like google. All the information in the site is accessible for free and no log-ins is required. The ease to access the website can greatly encourages more users to view the site.
Presentation and Arrangement
The presentation and arrangement of the site is clear and well-organized. All the links(About, Recent Events, Popular articles etc.) are all located at the left side of the site. This made it easier for user to research according to the relevant sub-headings. In its home page, articles are arranged in a chronological manner, showing the latest article first. The site also has high consistency in terms of its presentation and arrangement.
In addition, a search facility is available and located on the top left of the site. This will greatly enhance navigation through the side.
Usability
With the search facilities located at the top left of every page of the site, user can gather relevant information on their research rather than searching all over the site. Thus this is a very useful facility that enhances the navigation of the site.
Overall
In summary, I am impressed with the quality of the site in terms of its presentation, high accessibility as well as its wide coverage. The organized presentation and its search facility make searching on topic very easy. Besides I am able to gather ample information on my research topic – 3G, due to its wide coverage.
Practical 6a
In this practical, I need to come up with keyword variations on my topic. Having done that, i perform a search on google with my keyword variations. Finally, an evaluation on a relevant website has to be done base on given criteria.
Keywords used: 3G moblie device development
UIR: http://www.techrepublic.com/
Purpose
The aims techrepublic.com is pretty obvious. Some of the aims include allowing users to discuss in the forum regarding information about technology, posting and sharing of articles/videos/reports regarding technology, information gathering as well as job hunting (IT related).
Coverage
The coverage of techrepublic.com is wide consisting its home page, blogs, downloads, forums, articles, photos, webcast, software, jobs and stores. Most of the information are easy to understand and are in-relation to the topic of technology. As my topic of research 3G is considered a recent technology, it is easy to obtain quite a number of related information in the articles and forum sites.
Authority
The relevance of the source such as date, time, file size and file type are clearly stated. Most of the articles are posted by IT expertise thus the source can be pretty reliable. However the reviews on the articles are not shown and it does not provides any gateway to virtual libraries.
In this practical, I need to come up with keyword variations on my topic. Having done that, i perform a search on google with my keyword variations. Finally, an evaluation on a relevant website has to be done base on given criteria.
Keywords used: 3G moblie device development
UIR: http://www.techrepublic.com/
Purpose
The aims techrepublic.com is pretty obvious. Some of the aims include allowing users to discuss in the forum regarding information about technology, posting and sharing of articles/videos/reports regarding technology, information gathering as well as job hunting (IT related).
Coverage
The coverage of techrepublic.com is wide consisting its home page, blogs, downloads, forums, articles, photos, webcast, software, jobs and stores. Most of the information are easy to understand and are in-relation to the topic of technology. As my topic of research 3G is considered a recent technology, it is easy to obtain quite a number of related information in the articles and forum sites.
Authority
The relevance of the source such as date, time, file size and file type are clearly stated. Most of the articles are posted by IT expertise thus the source can be pretty reliable. However the reviews on the articles are not shown and it does not provides any gateway to virtual libraries.
Accuracy
I would say that most of the facts are accurate as most of the report and articles are published by reputable IT organizations and educational institutes as clearly stated in the source. The date, file size, file type and authors’ names are also stated. And date of an article is an important component to allow user to judge how up-to–date is the piece of information. Besides, the site allows registered users to rate whether the article is useful or whether it is miscategorized. Most of the articles and report I found are free from grammatical, spelling and typographic errors.However, techrepublic.com also consist of a forum page for all discussion related to technology. In this forum discussion, most of the questions and answers are posted by any individual like you and us thus I may contain some biasness and personal opinion. Likewise the chances for grammatical and spelling errors are high.
Currency
I can see that most of the information is very up-to-date as the articles are very recent. This can be seen as a sign of a well-maintained website as the information in the site is updated frequently.
Accessibility
The site is easily accessible through search engines like google. Besides, the site also does not require user to have specific browser or programs. However, registration is required to allow users to view, comment and rate the articles and reports posted. One of its advantages is that all registration is free of charge.
Presentation and Arrangement
The presentation and arrangement of the site is organized. At the very top of the site there is a search facility for you to find what is needed based on subheadings such as articles, blogs, forum and videos etc. Abundance relevant results is provided with the use of the search facility, thus it is very user-friendly and efficient way of searching information. The information is arranged in a logical manner. For example, when you enter the articles sites, sub-titles and description of the articles is shown clearly before you decide to read it. This is important as it helps to eliminate unrelated articles at one glance and thus speeding up your search.
Usability
Navigation through the site is made easy with useful links and pointers. Besides, it contains recommended sites. The are also links to the search results of other users who have similar findings. The headings such as latest articles and popular articles help me navigate through the site at much ease.
Overall
In general, I find that techrepublic.com is a resourceful and user-friendly site especially when it comes to research on technology. I can be easily accessed through power search like google. And registration for the site is free-of-charge. I am very satisfied with the quality of information I found from the sites especially in the components of article and report which are most done by IT professionals. Most importantly, the site is well-maintained and updated regularly.
Practical 4 & 5
In these pratical, we are required to select 3 resources from 3 categories of search facilities namely Search engines, Meta search engines ans subject directory. We will then have to identify the ones that we like best and use them for your search on our topics.
I have chosen Google.com as my first choice for Search engines as I find that google is more effective in providing me useful search results than the other search engines. Apart from that, I find google user-friendly too with its support facilities like advance search.
As for meta search engine, I have decided on www.kartoo.com. It has interesting interface such that it uses Flash Player to display search results in interactive maps.
Lastly, I have chosen http://dir.yahoo.com for subject-directory. The way of searching for yahoo directory is to click on the topic that you are looking for and it will break down into a smaller scope for you to find your information.
In conclusion, all three categories of search facilities are have their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore when it comes to choosing which search facilities to research on, it depends on each personal preferences as well as the type of information that you are looking for. For example, if your search topic is general you can search using subject directories as they have general categorized topics.
Personally, I will prefer to use google to do most of my research that require more intensive and detailed information as google has one of the largest size and scope of search and includes PDF, DOC, PS, and many other file types.
On the other hand, I will use meta search engine for research when I require information urgently as I could obtain an integrated set of results gathered from many different search engines all at one go, thus saving me a lot of time and effort.
Lastly, subject directory would be my choice when my research topic is broad and general as subject directory contain a list of common topics for me to choose and research on.
In these pratical, we are required to select 3 resources from 3 categories of search facilities namely Search engines, Meta search engines ans subject directory. We will then have to identify the ones that we like best and use them for your search on our topics.
I have chosen Google.com as my first choice for Search engines as I find that google is more effective in providing me useful search results than the other search engines. Apart from that, I find google user-friendly too with its support facilities like advance search.
As for meta search engine, I have decided on www.kartoo.com. It has interesting interface such that it uses Flash Player to display search results in interactive maps.
Lastly, I have chosen http://dir.yahoo.com for subject-directory. The way of searching for yahoo directory is to click on the topic that you are looking for and it will break down into a smaller scope for you to find your information.
In conclusion, all three categories of search facilities are have their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore when it comes to choosing which search facilities to research on, it depends on each personal preferences as well as the type of information that you are looking for. For example, if your search topic is general you can search using subject directories as they have general categorized topics.
Personally, I will prefer to use google to do most of my research that require more intensive and detailed information as google has one of the largest size and scope of search and includes PDF, DOC, PS, and many other file types.
On the other hand, I will use meta search engine for research when I require information urgently as I could obtain an integrated set of results gathered from many different search engines all at one go, thus saving me a lot of time and effort.
Lastly, subject directory would be my choice when my research topic is broad and general as subject directory contain a list of common topics for me to choose and research on.
Week 4 - Practical 3 (Activity 2)
Resource 1: http://www.unodc.org/youthnet/youthnet_youth_drugs.html
Purpose of resource: Advocacy
Reason: The link above is an advocacy website as it is created and maintained by an organisation to influence its readers and hopefully increase youth involvement with the international community in developing drug abuse prevention policies and programmes. The website also aimed to create a community of interest among youth and youth workers in the field of drug abuse prevention.
Resource 2 : http://www.nationalyouth.com/substanceabuse.html
Purpose of resource: Information
Reason: The website is created to help parents and professionals alike in providing education and information regarding programs and services for underachieving youth. Over the years it have literally helped thousands of families find the most appropriate information and intervention options to meet their special needs.
Resource 3: http://porkupineblog.blogspot.com/
Purpose of resource: Personal
Reason: The above link is a personal site as it reflects the owner's personal views on drug abuse and other issues. The owner, Larry Gambone also gave her opinion on why she think people abuse themselves and some of the consequences to it.
Resource 1: http://www.unodc.org/youthnet/youthnet_youth_drugs.html
Purpose of resource: Advocacy
Reason: The link above is an advocacy website as it is created and maintained by an organisation to influence its readers and hopefully increase youth involvement with the international community in developing drug abuse prevention policies and programmes. The website also aimed to create a community of interest among youth and youth workers in the field of drug abuse prevention.
Resource 2 : http://www.nationalyouth.com/substanceabuse.html
Purpose of resource: Information
Reason: The website is created to help parents and professionals alike in providing education and information regarding programs and services for underachieving youth. Over the years it have literally helped thousands of families find the most appropriate information and intervention options to meet their special needs.
Resource 3: http://porkupineblog.blogspot.com/
Purpose of resource: Personal
Reason: The above link is a personal site as it reflects the owner's personal views on drug abuse and other issues. The owner, Larry Gambone also gave her opinion on why she think people abuse themselves and some of the consequences to it.
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