Signing off

Well that's it. The last couple of months has been full of "firsts" for me.

• First two units completed of my Degree.
• First ever Blog.
• First assignment in 20 years.
• First time I used online Chat.
• First time I made a web page.

Not to mention all the new stuff I learnt about FTP, pinging, social bookmarking, lists, newsgroups, internet privacy, information ecologies, Boolean searches and the deep web.
So much and yet I know I've only touched the tip of the iceberg. It has been a fantastic trip and I've enjoyed it all.

Thanks to Cynthia & her team for keeping it interesting and informative and supportive. I hope my remaining units are of the same standard.
Cheers

Module 5 - Information Ecologies

The metaphor of an ecology helps us to understand the internet and the way that we use it. We need to know more than just technical skills and how to do "stuff" on computers because these technologies impact us more broadly. Thinking of technologies as just a tool, limits us in how they can be applied in our lives. Indeed they eventually become a part of our lives. They have social, cultural and political ramifications.

Social and cultural conventions and practices have evolved on how we use it e.g. netiquette, social networking and privacy software. The internet was never designed with these in mind. It's design never considered that it would be a monumental storehouse of information and a predominant form of communication. These practices evolved over time by people using the technology. So as indiviuals, it may seem that we have this technology imposed on us but in fact we (collectively) do influence how these technologies are taken up and used.

“We define an information ecology to be a system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local environment. In information ecologies, the spotlight is not on technology, but on human activities that are served by technology.”
(Nardi & O’Day, 1999)

So, an information ecology consists of
1. People,
2. Practices,
3. Values,
4. Technologies and a
5. Local environment

Considering this in the context of the environment I've spent a lot of time in lately - the local primary school community - I thought about how the internet has changed the way we interact and in fact how our children learn.
A couple of years ago I was asked to orgainise a large fundraising event to raise money for the P&C. The funds raised from the event were to be used to install "smartboards" (interactive whiteboards) which would bring the internet into the classroom in a fun an highly engaging way.

So, not only was the technology (the smartboards) the shared value for our coming together, the whole process of organising, communicating and gaining sponsorship for the event was facilitated by technology. The absence of the technology would have slowed the organisation considerably and many things would not have been possible.

Species: Parents, children, teachers, local business sponsors, local community - This represents a diversity of species whom all play a part and each dependent on others.

Evolving: A healthy ecology is not static. Newer, faster and different technologies introduced. In this case the very reason for the event was to enhance the learning environment for the children.

Technologies: E-mail, desktop publishing, databases and project management technologies were used to produce the event.

Keystone species: The absence of which the whole ecology would fall apart. In this case it is the children without whom the school community would not exist.

Locality: In the locale of the school community, the computer technology existed in the school as well as the businesses and homes of all the parents, sponsors and helpers.

Reference:
Merrick, H. (2004). Information Ecologies. The Curtin iLecture System. accessed from
http://webct.curtin.edu.au/SCRIPT/305033_a/scripts/serve_home

Module 4 - Evaluating the Web

Having done the assignment including the annotated bibliographies in a separate post I will not post them here as well. But, considering which 'body' of information (ie. the original 'snapshot' of the site, or my own, annotated, analytical version) would be most useful to refer back to, the answer is of course the latter. It is a consise summary of the site in my own words and helps me recall instantly the subject of the site.

In term of external users (i.e. if I included this site as a hyperlink or resource on a website) which body of information would best help them judge if the site was useful or of interest to them, well I think the answer is still my summary. I think a summary prepared by a human has to be better, more informative and concise than a search engine that just picks up a sentence which happens to contain the search word(s)and displays it. But having said that, it really depends whether the user is the type to stop and read this material and whether they value my judgement. They can only do this if they have an appreciation of my qualifications and motives.

Module 4 - Organising search information task

I have completed the assignment so I will stick with the children's art auction theme and have selected the following sites:

Spotlight on art 2009 - Trinity School Atlanta
http://www.trinityatl.org/gallery/index.aspx?LinkID=130&ModuleID=246

A showcase of class artworks ranging from preschool to year six. A collection of great ideas for collaborative pieces.

Fundraisingmom.comClass Projects for Fundraising
http://www.fundraisingmom.com/class-projects-for-fundraising-auction.htm

Contains some photos of artworks including ceramic pieces but a whole list of ideas for other projects.

I used the existing bookmarking feature of the Firefox browser and created a separate folder for these and other similar sites. Once bookmarked, by right clicking the bookmark it is possible to add a description to the bookmark to remind me later on what it is about.
The reason I used this method is so I can easily recall these and attach them to e-mails to others involved in this project. I did not use del.icio.us because I know the others involved are not likely to be familiar with this bookmarking site (presumptuous I know but most likely true) and it is much easier to e-mail.
I also did not want to download more software.

Module 4 - Boolean Searching Task

Taking the key words of my last search, if I typed "children's art auction" into the browser this would return the biggest number of hits.

If I wanted information most relevant to what I ACTUALLY wanted to look for I should type "children's +art +auction"

If I wanted information coming only from university sources I would type "children's +art +auction site:.edu"

Module 4 - Search Engine Task

As I'm getting involved in a children's art auction at my kid's school, I searched "children's art auction" for possible ideas. I limited my search to .au

Google came up with 9410 sites, although the relevance dropped away after the first dozen or so listings and really only a couple of these were what I was after. So even though it looked promising to start with, it wasn't worth going beyond the first page (which is what I usually find). First five were:

2007 Art Auction results - 6:59pm
The Jeans for Genes Art Auction raised over $275000 for the Children's Medical Research Institute. A record breaking $32000 for H.G Nelson's jeans added to ...
www.jeansforgenes.org.au/2007-Art-Auction-results/default.aspx - 48k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Art Auction Supporters
Children's Medical Research Institute · Life Stories · FAQ's · Meet the Team ... Art Auction Supporters. There are no articles to display in this folder. ...
www.jeansforgenes.org.au/Our-Art-Auction-Supporters/default.aspx - 37k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
More results from www.jeansforgenes.org.au »
Art with a Heart : Art Auction & Fundraiser for Royal Far West ...
Art With A Heart Art Auction and Fundraiser for Royal Far West Children's Health Scheme was held on Wednesday 28 March 2007 at Will & Toby's Restaurant ...
www.artsconnect.com.au/artheart/home.htm - 9k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
“Art meets science – the perfect Melbourne marriage” - Media ...
The charity art auction is an initiative of MCRI’s development board, a dynamic group of ... Located at the Royal Children's Hospital and affiliated to the ...
www.mcri.edu.au/pages/news-events/media/media-release.asp?rid=65&y=2005 - 22k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Collins Booksellers, Online Bookstore
Online Price: $14.95. Art Auction Mystery, Art Auction Mystery ... The Best of Children's Art and Craft, The Best of Children's Art and Craft ...
www.collinsbooks.com.au/popcat.asp?catmain=JNF000000&catsub=JNF006000&storeURL=collinsbooks - 44k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
[Vancouver-arts] Vancouver Arts Calendar of Events April 2008
Wednesday 16th & Thursday 17th April - CHILDREN'S WORKSHOPS Harmony Flag Making ... The Art Auction will assist those selected artists to offer works of ...
lists.albany.wa.gov.au/pipermail/vancouver-arts/2008-March/000122.html - 12k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this


Copernic came back with a few sponsored sites and then a list of 10 matching sites, none of which were really what I was after but I was surprised it stopped there. I kept looking for page 2 but there was none. I suppose it recognises the search engine limitations and doesn't bother listing them all. First five were:

Search Results 1 - 10 of 10 for children's art auction site:.au 1
1. Cerebral Palsy League of Queensland
Provides services to children and adults with Cerebral Palsy and related disabilities and their families who live in Australia.
http://www.cplqld.org.au [Ask.com]
2. P&O Cruises Australia - On board the Ship
... to attend a Fine Arts Auction where you will be shown some of the most beautiful ... works of art by simply raising your hand.
http://www.pocruises.com.au/html/on-board-the-ship.cfm [Ask.com]
3. Art with a Heart : Art Auction & Fundraiser for Royal Far West ...
Art with a Heart : Art Auction & Fundraiser for Royal Far West Children's Hospital...
http://www.artsconnect.com.au/artheart [Ask.com]
4. 2006 Art Auction results
The Jeans for Genes Art Auction was a great success. Over $200,000 was raised on the night with Hugh ... the Celebrity Jeans for Genes Art ...
http://www.jeans4genes.com.au/auction-2006.php [Ask.com]
5. Sydney art auction to fund pools for remote communities - ABC News ...
Sydney art auction to fund pools for remote communities ... Art auction success to help Indigenous communities 4 Nov 2005 - 124 weeks ago ...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2005/11/03/1496664.htm [Ask.com]

I was not sure what deep web meant and how within Copernic, I could set it up to search at least three search engines (including one that will search the 'deep web').

After reading about Boolean logic I tried to use children's +art +auction to improve the search and I got a far better list. In fact I found exactly what I was looking for. BINGO!

Module 4 - Downloading Tools/Plugins

Looking at the list of software tools available, I realised I did not have Real One player installed so I downloaded this. I also downloaded Copernic Desktop Search engine as I tend to use Google almost exclusively simply because it is there in my toolbar and I should probably branch out a bit and see if it makes a difference. The offline browser/copiers did not interest me as fixed price unlimited broadband access makes this a little redundant.