This week we were also given these questions to answer:
How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
- search engines often rank their search results by the amount of the search keyword(s) an article or site might display. Also, sites that are backed by larger institutions (whether it be governmental or educational or both or neither) will be placed before sites that are smaller. Certain websites can also pay search engines like google or yahoo to be within the first results on certain searches.
who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results? Usually the '.edu' or the '.gov' are better websites than many ".com's" simply because their research is generally more through and their websites have more to offer about the subject.
what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others? My favorite search engine for searches that are largely inconsequential to my immediate life would have to be google. It is a simple search engine that is gives somewhat reliable references quickly. I would use this search engine to find things like food recipes, simple facts, or directions. When I perform research for a school project, however, I generally like to use search engines like PowerSearch or Infotrack because they only display validated articles and information. When I use these engines I feel like my information that I receive is reliable.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Questions and Answers
Today we were given the task of using the net to answer some questions without using google or wikepedia. Here's what I came up with:
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus? Onel de Guzman, 24, a computer school student. (cnn.com)
2. Who invented the paper clip? The first bent-wire paper clip was patented by Samuel B. Fay in 1867. (officemuseum.com)
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name? after the ebola river valley in africa. (emedicine.com)
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake? Chile in 1960. (earthquake.usgs.gov)
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte? 1,073,741,824 kilobytes (t1shopper.com)
6. Who is the creator of email? ray tomlinson (openmap.bbn.com)
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it? a backdoor trojan that targets the windows operating system. it's hard to tell how many comp's are infected. there could be millions. (washingtonpost.com).
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly, what is the most efficient way? Through written mail. E mail is too risky. (http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm)
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of? The black assassins. (http://www.blackassassins.net/)
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words? internet activity where user to user communication or contact is the main goal. examples are wikepedia, myspace, and facebook. It is different from the previous web in that any user can put things up on the web in web 2.0. (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html)
Are these sources accurate? For some of the smaller sites and ".com" sites, the information gathered could be questionable because they aren't backed by large corporations or educational facilities that would have many researchers at their disposal. Some of my sites that could possibly be faulty could be "officemuseum.com" or "openmap.bbn.com". The other sites that are government backed or educational institutionally backed would probably have valid information. Other sites like "http://www.blackassassins.net/" where the website is officially backed by the subject would also likely have valid information.
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus? Onel de Guzman, 24, a computer school student. (cnn.com)
2. Who invented the paper clip? The first bent-wire paper clip was patented by Samuel B. Fay in 1867. (officemuseum.com)
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name? after the ebola river valley in africa. (emedicine.com)
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake? Chile in 1960. (earthquake.usgs.gov)
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte? 1,073,741,824 kilobytes (t1shopper.com)
6. Who is the creator of email? ray tomlinson (openmap.bbn.com)
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it? a backdoor trojan that targets the windows operating system. it's hard to tell how many comp's are infected. there could be millions. (washingtonpost.com).
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly, what is the most efficient way? Through written mail. E mail is too risky. (http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm)
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of? The black assassins. (http://www.blackassassins.net/)
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words? internet activity where user to user communication or contact is the main goal. examples are wikepedia, myspace, and facebook. It is different from the previous web in that any user can put things up on the web in web 2.0. (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html)
Are these sources accurate? For some of the smaller sites and ".com" sites, the information gathered could be questionable because they aren't backed by large corporations or educational facilities that would have many researchers at their disposal. Some of my sites that could possibly be faulty could be "officemuseum.com" or "openmap.bbn.com". The other sites that are government backed or educational institutionally backed would probably have valid information. Other sites like "http://www.blackassassins.net/" where the website is officially backed by the subject would also likely have valid information.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Hi all,
My name is Peter. I am an American international student currently studying abroad in Australia for 6 months at Griffith University Gold Coast. Back in America, I am a student at The College of William and Mary where I am perusing a Major in English.
I am enrolled in New Communications and technologies and am looking to start publishing my first blog where I will reflect on different course lectures as well as my over all experience as a foreign student studying on the Gold Coast.
This week in our lecture we discussed the importance of Blogs in our contemporary society. As a current American college student, I had no idea of how much weight certain blogs had on our mass media. In all honesty, I thought blogs were merely hobbies of computer nerds who didn't have better things to do with their time. I was surprised to learn how certain bloggers have gained such notoriety that their blogs have influenced anything from indie-car racing to the political arena.
My name is Peter. I am an American international student currently studying abroad in Australia for 6 months at Griffith University Gold Coast. Back in America, I am a student at The College of William and Mary where I am perusing a Major in English.
I am enrolled in New Communications and technologies and am looking to start publishing my first blog where I will reflect on different course lectures as well as my over all experience as a foreign student studying on the Gold Coast.
This week in our lecture we discussed the importance of Blogs in our contemporary society. As a current American college student, I had no idea of how much weight certain blogs had on our mass media. In all honesty, I thought blogs were merely hobbies of computer nerds who didn't have better things to do with their time. I was surprised to learn how certain bloggers have gained such notoriety that their blogs have influenced anything from indie-car racing to the political arena.
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