Day 6: About Open and Free source softwares

Today’s lecture was about free and open source software. Software is written in programming languages that tell a computer what to do. In the past software was free. Anyone could use it. But as personal computers were introduced, the source code was locked and only secured personnel could see the code.

Free software’s run on four principles:
Freedom 0: We can run the program for any purpose.
Freedom 1: To study how the program works.
Freedom 2: To redistribute copies.
Freedom 3: To improve the program and to release it with improvements.

Open source was the name given to the free source software as to promote it in the business world. The other type of software which is used is proprietary software which is also called closed source (MS-Windows, MacOS, MS-Office, Internet explorer). Basic examples of free software include linux, open office and firefox. Then we discussed about how the open source software works. What are its benefits and problems? Linux is a highly successful operating system. It can be used as an alternative for MS-Windows or MacOS. It can run almost all computer architectures.

One of the tasks for today was to use a open source software. I have been using Mozilla Firefox for a long time now. When compared to internet explorer, it is faster. It has got better features. It is user friendly as well. I have looked into second software as well called opera. I think it is slow when compared to Firefox or the internet explorer.

Day 5: Tutorial task on virtual worlds

In the tutorial we were asked to run a 3D chat room called active world. After experiencing this new program it certainly opens your eyes to the three dimensional worlds. 3D chat room is a mixture of a computer game and a chat room. You can use your customized avatar in it. In some virtual worlds even audio and video communications are used so that it gives a realistic feel to the user.

What are the qualitative differences between IM and a 3D world?

IM programs certainly made my life easier, as all my friends were on it, I could get my message across. Also I could leave a message even if they were offline. Along with time internet has grown and more and more things are being launched on it. Newer IM programs are being launched which allow you to send different facial expressions and noises to anyone connected with you. In virtual worlds you can create your own avatars. You can customize them the way you want. It helps to bring out your creative side. Sometimes it also reflects what you want to be and do. But all of it comes at a price. Whereas IM programs are free to download and use. It takes a lot of time to understand the 3D programs and some of them are not user friendly. After some time you get bored of them. In my opinion IM are better when compared to the 3D environments.

What are the kinds of socializing that happens in these spaces?
We tried using the active world 3D software in the class today. It was something different but I wouldn’t call it as a satisfying experience in socializing with other people. You can’t share your stuff like files, pictures and videos. The only way you way you can chat are through messages. But in IM you can share stuff and also have video chatting.
By looking at both the chat rooms I can only conclude by saying that IM are the technology for today and 3D chat rooms may be for the future.

Day 5: Guest Lecture from Brady Robards

Today we had a guest lecture again. It was by Brady Robards. He is doing his PHD from school of arts. We started of by talking about internet as a extension of social life. Majority of people use socio networking sites these days. We were shown a video with an interview of Danah Boyd. In the video she speaks about social networking sites in US. She speaks about how people hang out on the internet. The main part of a social networking site is the profile, friends and the wall. Then we talked about the history of face book. Facebook was started in UK and then it was started for everyone in 2006. There was a survey through which it was believed that good kids used facebook and the bad ones used my space. Then we had another video played. The video shows us about the daily experiences of people in using social networking sites. Then we had a group discussion in the lecture about the privacy setting used in socio networking sites and how your information can be used against you.

Day 4: Tutorial task

In my own words search engines are used to exchanging and sharing information online. Search engines rank the stuff on internet to the exact words first then looks for the keywords in it. There is no absolute confirmation that these search engines give the right pages for the information required. Having said it should be noted that some of these search engines work on making sure that the pages they cover in the searches have information that is valid.

Some of my favourite search engines are Google and Yahoo because they are used by everybody and have more rated than any other search engines. And to be frank i never knew much about other search engines.

Questions answered by using search engines other than wikipedia and google.

Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
The creator of the virus is Onel de Guzman, a computer school student.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/08/21/tech/main226472.shtml

What is the world record for the largest watermelon?
The world record for the largest water melon is 255 ponds.
http://www.produceoasis.com/Items_folder/Fruits/Watermelon.html

How did the Ebola virus get its name?
The Ebola virus got its name from the Ebola River in Africa that runs through Zaire and the Congo.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/From_what_place_did_the_Ebola_virus_get_its_name

What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
The largest recorded earthquake in the world was a magnitude 9.5 (Mw) in Chile on May 22, 1960.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/facts.php

In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
1,073,741,824 kilobytes are equal to 1 terabyte.
As
1024 Kb = 1 Mb
1024 Mb = 1 Gb
1024 Gb = 1 Tb
Therefore 1024×1024×1024 = 1,073,741,824 Kb

Who is the creator of email?
Ray Tomlinson in 1971
http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm

What is the "storm worm", and how many computers are infected by it?
It is a Trojan type of a virus. It was first found out in 2006.
http://antivirus.about.com/od/virusdescriptions/a/stormworm.htm

If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly, what would be the most efficient way?
You can contact him through this address:

The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
http://pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm

Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?
Black assassins
http://live-wirez.gu.edu.au/Staff/Stephen/default.html

What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words? What are some examples?
Web 2.0 is a second generation of online web communities and hosts. These have been done to improve the sharing, association and creativity between users using Web Blogs.

The common examples of this would be RSS feeds, social networking sites like facebook, my space and hi5.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Day 4: Lecture on media studies

We started of today’s lecture by watching a video “EPIC 2014”. The video talks about the origin of Google, Amazon.com, and Friendster. It deals with the advancements made by Google. Google forms a grid with all its applications. It is known as the Google grid. MSN launches the news botster. The video shows the merging of Google and Amazon.com to form Google Zone in 2008. Finally Google launches EPIC (Evolving personalised information construct) in 2014. It has contributions from everyone and some may even get paid for it.

Then the lecture dealt with new media, internet and cyber cultural studies. The popular media interest in early 90’s was the internet. By end of 90’s people started looking at the internet as a whole new area. They started studying about the social networking and economic interactions happening over the internet. The four types of investigations which were taking place online were contextualising interactions, discoursing cyber space, digital design, online access and barriers. There is a lot of research going on in the new media department. That sums up the lecture about the study on new media.

Day 3: Tutorial task on wikipedia guidelines

People use Wikipedia as a source to get information. It is a good site to get a feel for some ideas. Wikipedia depends on individuals who edit articles in it. It is not always accurate or comprehensive. Wikipedia follows a list of guidelines which are to be used by the editors to write articles. The seven points which are used in the guidelines are behavioural, content, deletion, editing, naming conventions, notability and style guidelines.

The first topic I have chosen is about an Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. This article is almost accurate. The only drawback that I have noticed is that more emphasis is not given on the early life and the struggle period of the cricketer. It covers the basic facts which are needed to be covered in this article. It follows all the steps which are needed to write an article. The article is fair and balanced. It shows the plus points and also the negative phases in the cricketer’s life.

wikipedia article source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachin_Tendulkar

The second topic I have chosen is on an Indian actor, Shahrukh Khan. The article emphasizes about all the phases in the actors life. The article does not show any details about his inclusion in any controversies. But in reality he is more often into some kind of a controversy. The article basically follows the guidelines which are used to write a wikipedia article. But the article does not give me sufficient information after going through it. The article is not properly balanced. It give importance only to his career highs but not his lows. That’s pretty much it for tutorial task 3.

Second article source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahrukh_Khan

Picture source:

http://www.tadkashadka.com/bollywood/bollywood-actors/shahrukh-khan/

Day 3: Lecture on history of Computers and Internet

Today’s lecture was about history of computers and the internet.
Computers:
The first ever computer model was found in the 19th century by Charles Babbage. It was a difference engine which was designed to calculate and print mathematical tables. Even though it had proper funding from the government, the engine could not be completed in his life time. Later he created an analytical engine which was a mechanical computer. He was helped by a woman named Ada Byron. She later created the first ever computer program.

Apple, IBM, Microsoft and Linux
Apple was started by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Together they both produced the Apple I which was a primitive machine with a single circuit with no case and keyboard. Computers were not so much in use at that time so they sold only 15 units. Each unit was sold at a price of 666.60 US$. After two years they launched Apple II which was more of a consumer product. The model was a big hit and they had made enough money. Later through addition of an application on the computer, the market ran after their product. At very less age both the founders had become very rich.

After looking at the success of Apple, IBM wanted to strike big. IBM was a company which sold huge mainframes for big companies. They were determined get into the personal computer market. They had the hardware to do it but lacked the software. They met Bill Gates who promised them an operating system. In four months IBM had its own PC out in the market place. Each PC was sold for a price of 50$. Bill Gates became a rich man. In association with software giant (Microsoft) under Bill Gates, IBM started to capture the market. Apple still held on to their strong position as their computers had their own graphical user interface (GUI). But IBM and Microsoft came up with their own GUI and launched Windows 3. Apple started to loose its strong market hold.

A Finnish programmer, Linus Torvalds decided to go for his own version of Unix in 1991. When he finished his first draft, lots of people were interested. He named it GNU/Linux. It was a free operating system compared to the other expensive systems like windows, mac and unix. Thus an operating system was born.

Internet, The Web and Cyberspace:
Internet is a network which includes servers, mainframes and personal computers. It is connected to a telephone line, broadband cable, or satellite service. It is used to link people from different parts of the world. It is used as a domain where information can be shared. The Web (also known as the World Wide Web) came out in 1990’s. This was how people started to communicate with each other via computers. It was very hard to use until the availability of browsers such as Mosaic and Netscape. Web pages are written in a language called hyper text mark up language (HTML). People mistake internet and the web to be the same thing, but its not. The web is only a part of the internet. Cyberspace is like a interconnection of imagination and reality.

Electronic mail, File transfer Protocol and Internet relay chat:
Email is a virtual mail system which is used to send information/files from one person to another. The types of files may include images, animations, videos, worksheets and programs.
File transfer protocol (FTP) allows you to download files from another computer onto your computer. It can also be used to upload files.
Internet relay chat (IRC) is one of the basic applications which allowed people to type in real time. It is used mainly for chatting. Even file transfers can be done on it. This application rose into popularity due to launch of instant messengers such as MSN messenger and Yahoo messenger.

Today’s lecture gives you information about origin of computers, internet and its related programs.

Picture sources: http://www.briansolis.com/2007/09/crisis-communications-20-apple-and.html, http://blog.protectwebform.com/p/category/ocr,