Week Twelve - Social & Ethical Issues - 23/10/2007

Lecture Summary

• The Internet is created through open portals and there are no enforceable standards. Anyone can publish information on the Internet resulting in no control over bias or unethical information. A major issue with the Internet is that there are a lot of smart people who use it but there are also a lot of dumb people who use it also.

• The major problems with the Internet are intellectual property, copyright, plagiarism, security, privacy and freedom of speech.
  

Week Eleven - Building Knowledge - 16/10/2007

Lecture Summary

• The characteristics of data are that it is factual, non-judgmental, non-inferential, transient, has no intrinsic meaning or value.

• The characteristics of information are that it is summative, relational, permanent, has meaning and an uncertain value.

• The characteristic of knowledge are that it is inferential, experiential, judgemental, subjective and very valuable.

• The importance of data is that it is a collection of valid, unbiased data. Information must inform, relational (relate to the data) and it must be meaningful. Knowledge should be clear and a justification from the data and information.

• Examples of data are price, shares, weather and exchange rates. Examples of information are almanacs, tables of data, budgets and minutes of meetings. Examples of knowledge are white papers, press releases and marketing strategies.

• The relationship between data, information and knowledge is that data can be turned into information which in turn creates knowledge.
  

Week Ten - Online Libraries & Databases - 9/10/2007

Lecture Summary

• Online libraries are useful tools as they are convenient, have access to many resources, are current and up to date, can be accessed at anytime or place and everything is in electronic format.
  

• Types of online libraries include artworks, musical, electronic books, online journals and online text repositories.

• Most libraries are by subscription meaning you have to pay for access, music and artwork collections are only copies of the original works and in some cases only the catalogue is shown not the actual collection.

• There are many copyright issues for online libraries. Examples of these issues are correct referencing, permission to copy, statements of copyright, you are solely responsible to get permission to copy and many of the resources available have copyright restrictions.

• Online databases are similar to online libraries, have a search and browse function and are focused on data collection and distribution.

• Types of databases include people searches, e-mail directories, genealogy resources, maps and atlases, news and media, portals and government information and statistics.

• Advantages of online databases are electronic format, available 24/7, searchable, browsable, current and comprehensive.

• Disadvantages of online databases are that most are only available through subscription, lots of advertising, difficult to navigate and has an information overload.
  

Week Nine - Using Search Engines - 2/10/2007

Lecture Summary

• Search engines are web-based applications that crawl the Internet indexing websites. Examples of search engines are Google, Yahoo, Altivista and Dogpile.

• Common problems with search engines are that they return too many results, it is hard to filter through searchers and information for relevancy, many links are broken and there are many useless websites.

• Common search engines are Google, Ask Jeeves, Alltheweb, Escite, Dogpile and Katoo.

• There are different ways to search a query in a search engine. Some examples are keyword search, phrase search, Boolean search and advance engine options search.

• Tips to find exactly what you are looking for are using multiple search engines, using the help functions provided to understand the search engine you are using, use more than one word when searching with keyword searches and try to guess the location.
  

Week Eight - Evaluation & Authentication - 18/09/2007

Lecture Summary

• Information quality can be defined as data that is "fit-for-use" which means that the information is relevant and cannot be evaluated from outside the reason it exists.

• The IQ context of the WWW can be good as it is quick and convenient to exchange information and anyone with a computer and access to the Internet can create content on the web. It is also bad as there is no way to control the quality or tagging system. There is no control over who publishes on the WWW, why people publish on the web or what they publish on the web.

• The WWW became like this because it was developed from the arpanet and the security of the network was not of great concern at the beginning.

• To evaluate the IQ on the WWW the first step is to identify what you are measuring then decide why the information exists, if it is fit-for-use, if it is adequate and reliable, who the author is and are they reliable and qualified, what the motive is, how current the information is, whether it covers the topic and if it is authenticate.
  

Week Seven - Using the WWW - 11/09/2007

Lecture summary

• The web is imaginary and only exists because of programs which speak to each other over the net. The web couldn't exist without the net. The web makes the net an interesting place for people by making information available without computer knowledge.


• The web was created and developed by Tim Berners - Lee in 1989. It was developed to facilitate sharing research information.
  


• The web is another word for information which is available all over the world that is stored on computers from around the world. Networks of servers are linked through a common protocol which allows access to hypertext resources.

• The WWW is a network of computers using TCP/IP to communicate with each other. It is the visible part of the Internet that uses HTTP and HTML to exchange data and display information.

• Web browsers allow users of the Internet to access and explore the WWW.

Week Six - Endnote Libraries - 4/09/2007

Lecture Summary:

- We reference our work so people who read it are able to follow up on a particular topic.

- Endnote is an application that can be used as a reference manager and a bibliography maker. It can be used as a stand alone program or it can be integrated into MS Word.

- Information in Endnote is displayed in field columns i.e. year title. You can choose which style you want you references to be displayed in.

- Endnote is useful software to use as it can keep track of a ever growing number of references. It has the option to display references in a number of different styles. Has the ability to input a number of different types of references. Provides a searchable database of references associated with specific projects. Endnote also has a helpful feature of being able to be integrated into MS Word.

- Endnote takes time to get familiar with. Use Endnote at first without the integration into MS Word, Back up your library, customise the interface to your preference and most of all have a go with the software.

Workshop Write-up:

In this weeks workshop activity we were to download a copy of Endnote and follow the intructions on blackboard.

I found this task slightly difficult as I have never used the Endnote software before. With instructions provded on blackboard and the lecture and also in the resources I was able to complete this task.

First I had to choose the APA 5th style then I entered in my refernce information, creating 8 differnt references at the end. I found the Endnote software easy to use after I had a go entering different types of references.