Sunday, March 23, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Module 2 - Lists
Following the link in the tutorial I started trawling the main groups page in yahoo. I joined "peaceable paws" - a dog training group as we recently adopted a puppy. I figure with 2400 members, I could get some good advice. Obviously, this is the advantage over e-mail. I can engage in discussion with a huge number of other people without cluttering up my inbox. I can draw on the collective knowledge of many experienced dog owners - a bit like a virtual dog owners convention which made me think... there is a vast amount of information available ON the internet in the form of articles about dog training but there is probably more information available THROUGH the internet by connecting with people I would otherwise never have met.
I guess this only works if the discussion is relevant and interesting to many.
I also moved across to Yahoo! Answers. Managed to kill an hour reading a lot of useless trivia and a little interesting stuff. Was surprised at the breadth of questions posted and even more surprised at the number of responses. From students (obviously) looking for someone else to answer their English Literature questions to people hunting for some elusive fact.
Whilst there were lists covering every hobby and interest imaginable, it appears that the simple act of searching and answering posts in these lists is a serious hobby of some... even vying for the position of top "answerer". Points are earnt by answering questions which are then rated. Incredible time-waster but strangely addictive! But hey, with over 90 million members, who am I to judge?
anyway posted a question on Peaceable Paws but I will have to wait for the list owner to approve the post.
Advantages of Lists vs Discussion Boards:
Disadavantages :
I guess this only works if the discussion is relevant and interesting to many.
I also moved across to Yahoo! Answers. Managed to kill an hour reading a lot of useless trivia and a little interesting stuff. Was surprised at the breadth of questions posted and even more surprised at the number of responses. From students (obviously) looking for someone else to answer their English Literature questions to people hunting for some elusive fact.
Whilst there were lists covering every hobby and interest imaginable, it appears that the simple act of searching and answering posts in these lists is a serious hobby of some... even vying for the position of top "answerer". Points are earnt by answering questions which are then rated. Incredible time-waster but strangely addictive! But hey, with over 90 million members, who am I to judge?
anyway posted a question on Peaceable Paws but I will have to wait for the list owner to approve the post.
Advantages of Lists vs Discussion Boards:
- Lists can be more varied/interesting as the audience is more widespread.
- Can gain access to valuable information and expertise
- Access is open to anyone who wants to participate
Disadavantages :
- Lists can ramble off the topic a bit if posts are not controlled.
- Topics and threads are not easy to track over time
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Module 2 - Email Tasks
Questions and Answers
Like most people, I've been using e-mail for many years, and I've never really though about this stuff. It just seems so obvious that I take it for granted but when you compare it to more traditional forms of written communication, care should really be taken not to forget the intent of all the various "extras" that e-mail offers.
1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?
The origin of an e-mail and the path it took can be determined by searching Outlook Express under "File" and then "Properties". Click on Details tab and then Message source. This will show the internet headers for this message and the path it took: eg
Return-Path:
Received: from iaamta03sl.mx.bigpond.com ([134.7.32.6])
by imta02sl.mx.bigpond.com with ESMTP
id <20080325033721.ehkg29398.imta02sl.mx.bigpond.com@iaamta03sl.mx.bigpond.com>
for; Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:37:21 +0000
Received: from sm-mailgw1.curtin.edu.au ([134.7.32.6])
by iaamta03sl.mx.bigpond.com with ESMTP
id <20080325033719.nfpg626.iaamta03sl.mx.bigpond.com@sm-mailgw1.curtin.edu.au>
for; Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:37:19 +0000
Received: from student.curtin.edu.au (smcln1.curtin.edu.au [134.7.33.13])
by sm-mailgw1.curtin.edu.au
(iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 HotFix 2.09 (built Nov 18 2005))
with ESMTP id <0jy900hj8oq6pb@sm-mailgw1.curtin.edu.au> for
vmrayner@bigpond.net.au; Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:37:18 +0900 (WST)
Received: from [134.7.32.6] (Forwarded-For: [121.210.121.19])
by soms-ms1.curtin.edu.au (mshttpd); Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:37:18 +1100
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:37:18 +1100
From: Vivien Rayner
Subject: Test Message net11
To: vmrayner@bigpond.net.au
Message-id:
X-Mailer: iPlanet Messenger Express 5.2 HotFix 2.09 (built Nov 18 2005)
Content-language: en
X-Accept-Language: en
Priority: normal
X-Antivirus: AVG for E-mail 7.5.519 [269.21.7/1335]
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-disposition: inline
Even without this technical information however, there is much that can be gleaned simply from the header information of an e-mail. Apart from the date and time that it was sent, the user name and domain of e-mail address of the sender usually gives us some idea of the nature of the e-mail ( business or personal). The country code obviously gives us a clue to broad location as well.
You should be able to determine the subject of the message even before opening the e-mail message. If the subject starts with "re:" it is a response to an earlier e-mail. Other recipients of the message (although not necessarily all of them if "bcc" was used by the sender) should be apparent.
Any attachments to the e-mail should be apparent as well.
A message trail may exist where you can follow the thread of a discussion from it's origins and all the senders and recipients along the way.
In the "to:" and "cc:" fields, it will be apparent whether you were the targeted recipient of the e-mail message or whether you were copied in on the message for your information. If you are in the "bcc:" field it is apparent that the sender did not want the receiver to know that you were receiving a copy of the e-mail.
2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?
The cc function is used if you wish other recipients to know the content of this message and the fact that it was sent but not necessarily to reply to it. Care should be taken however as all recipients will be able to see and copy the e-mail addresses of everyone else "CCed".
The bcc could be used if there is some sensitivity in the recipient knowing that other people have a copy of the e-mail. It would also be used if you do not want the e-mail addresses of the recipients to be seen (and potentially used) by other recipients.
The "reply all" feature, is very handy in making sure everyone who received that e-mail is aware of your response to it, like if you were trying to arrange a meeting time for everyone.
In my opinion, the "cc" and "reply all" functions are very overused in today's workplace. The ease with which one can add another recipient to the message sometimes overrides the sender's sense of whether that person REALLY needs or wants to receive the information. And once your name is on that e-mail, the "reply all" function potentially opens up a flood of subsequent e-mails that take up your time either sifting through the message to discover you have no business or interest in them OR simply deleting them. Grrrrr!
3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?
If you make reference to it in the body of the message, then the recipient will be alerted to it being there, why you sent it and why they need to open it. You should also tell them the format of the file to ensure they have the application to open it.
4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
Prior to reading the material in this module I had no filters however I now have filters to screen out that annoying spam about cheap Canadian drugs among OTHER things! They get deleted straight away. I also subscribe to a few wine club newsletters and I have these sent to a special folder where I can view them when I'm not doing tutorials.
Just a start...
5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
I am a self confessed e-mail hoarder. As I find it difficult to delete anything I may one day need to refer back to, my inbox is ridiculously huge. I have however, resolved to grouping e-mails in order to make them easier to find. So as well as the standard, inbox, sent and deleted folders, I have set up a few more. My kids sporting involvement seems to generate a considerable amount of ongoing mail which I now group together. Mail that requires action is grouped as such and I keep e-mails relating to new user ids and logins for various websites in a "Keep" folder.
Like most people, I've been using e-mail for many years, and I've never really though about this stuff. It just seems so obvious that I take it for granted but when you compare it to more traditional forms of written communication, care should really be taken not to forget the intent of all the various "extras" that e-mail offers.
1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?
The origin of an e-mail and the path it took can be determined by searching Outlook Express under "File" and then "Properties". Click on Details tab and then Message source. This will show the internet headers for this message and the path it took: eg
Return-Path:
Received: from iaamta03sl.mx.bigpond.com ([134.7.32.6])
by imta02sl.mx.bigpond.com with ESMTP
id <20080325033721.ehkg29398.imta02sl.mx.bigpond.com@iaamta03sl.mx.bigpond.com>
for
Received: from sm-mailgw1.curtin.edu.au ([134.7.32.6])
by iaamta03sl.mx.bigpond.com with ESMTP
id <20080325033719.nfpg626.iaamta03sl.mx.bigpond.com@sm-mailgw1.curtin.edu.au>
for
Received: from student.curtin.edu.au (smcln1.curtin.edu.au [134.7.33.13])
by sm-mailgw1.curtin.edu.au
(iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 HotFix 2.09 (built Nov 18 2005))
with ESMTP id <0jy900hj8oq6pb@sm-mailgw1.curtin.edu.au> for
vmrayner@bigpond.net.au; Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:37:18 +0900 (WST)
Received: from [134.7.32.6] (Forwarded-For: [121.210.121.19])
by soms-ms1.curtin.edu.au (mshttpd); Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:37:18 +1100
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:37:18 +1100
From: Vivien Rayner
Subject: Test Message net11
To: vmrayner@bigpond.net.au
Message-id:
X-Mailer: iPlanet Messenger Express 5.2 HotFix 2.09 (built Nov 18 2005)
Content-language: en
X-Accept-Language: en
Priority: normal
X-Antivirus: AVG for E-mail 7.5.519 [269.21.7/1335]
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-disposition: inline
Even without this technical information however, there is much that can be gleaned simply from the header information of an e-mail. Apart from the date and time that it was sent, the user name and domain of e-mail address of the sender usually gives us some idea of the nature of the e-mail ( business or personal). The country code obviously gives us a clue to broad location as well.
You should be able to determine the subject of the message even before opening the e-mail message. If the subject starts with "re:" it is a response to an earlier e-mail. Other recipients of the message (although not necessarily all of them if "bcc" was used by the sender) should be apparent.
Any attachments to the e-mail should be apparent as well.
A message trail may exist where you can follow the thread of a discussion from it's origins and all the senders and recipients along the way.
In the "to:" and "cc:" fields, it will be apparent whether you were the targeted recipient of the e-mail message or whether you were copied in on the message for your information. If you are in the "bcc:" field it is apparent that the sender did not want the receiver to know that you were receiving a copy of the e-mail.
2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?
The cc function is used if you wish other recipients to know the content of this message and the fact that it was sent but not necessarily to reply to it. Care should be taken however as all recipients will be able to see and copy the e-mail addresses of everyone else "CCed".
The bcc could be used if there is some sensitivity in the recipient knowing that other people have a copy of the e-mail. It would also be used if you do not want the e-mail addresses of the recipients to be seen (and potentially used) by other recipients.
The "reply all" feature, is very handy in making sure everyone who received that e-mail is aware of your response to it, like if you were trying to arrange a meeting time for everyone.
In my opinion, the "cc" and "reply all" functions are very overused in today's workplace. The ease with which one can add another recipient to the message sometimes overrides the sender's sense of whether that person REALLY needs or wants to receive the information. And once your name is on that e-mail, the "reply all" function potentially opens up a flood of subsequent e-mails that take up your time either sifting through the message to discover you have no business or interest in them OR simply deleting them. Grrrrr!
3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?
If you make reference to it in the body of the message, then the recipient will be alerted to it being there, why you sent it and why they need to open it. You should also tell them the format of the file to ensure they have the application to open it.
4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
Prior to reading the material in this module I had no filters however I now have filters to screen out that annoying spam about cheap Canadian drugs among OTHER things! They get deleted straight away. I also subscribe to a few wine club newsletters and I have these sent to a special folder where I can view them when I'm not doing tutorials.
Just a start...
5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
I am a self confessed e-mail hoarder. As I find it difficult to delete anything I may one day need to refer back to, my inbox is ridiculously huge. I have however, resolved to grouping e-mails in order to make them easier to find. So as well as the standard, inbox, sent and deleted folders, I have set up a few more. My kids sporting involvement seems to generate a considerable amount of ongoing mail which I now group together. Mail that requires action is grouped as such and I keep e-mails relating to new user ids and logins for various websites in a "Keep" folder.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Module 1 Task D
I connected to http://centralops.net/co/ and used traceroute initially to connect to the cutin.edu.au site.
TRACEROUTE
The results show that there were 19 hops before getting to this website. It took a little over two seconds in total for information to get from the tools website to Curtin and back again. (correction: it took most of this time for Traceroute to convert all the IP addresses into URL names. Average time is average of last entry rtt (round trip times) which corresponds to ave reported below in Ping exercise.)
PING
The average time in milliseconds from the tools site to the curtin server was 249 ms.
How is this different to the total time traceroute reports???
Explained now, thanks to Glen who left his comments. I understand what Traceroute is doing a little better now.
I next downloaded the A-Tool bar from http:// www.tucows.com/preview/323577 .
TRACEROUTE
Tracing route to curtin.edu.au [134.7.179.53]...
| hop | rtt | rtt | rtt | ip address | domain name |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 70.84.211.97 | 61.d3.5446.static.theplanet.com |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 70.84.160.162 | vl2.dsr02.dllstx5.theplanet.com |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 70.85.127.109 | po52.dsr02.dllstx3.theplanet.com |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 70.87.253.21 | et3-1.ibr03.dllstx3.theplanet.com |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 157.238.225.5 | xe-4-4.r03.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 129.250.2.153 | ae-2.r20.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 129.250.3.130 | as-0.r20.hstntx01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 129.250.3.25 | ae-0.r21.hstntx01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 9 | 50 | 49 | 49 | 129.250.3.121 | as-1.r21.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 10 | 49 | 49 | 49 | 129.250.5.90 | xe-0-1-0.r03.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 11 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 198.172.90.102 | p4-1-1-0.r03.lsanca03.us.ce.gin.ntt.net |
| 12 | 195 | 195 | 201 | 202.158.194.157 | so-3-3-1.bb1.b.syd.aarnet.net.au |
| 13 | 212 | 213 | 211 | 202.158.194.33 | so-2-0-0.bb1.a.mel.aarnet.net.au |
| 14 | 216 | 217 | 220 | 202.158.194.17 | so-2-0-0.bb1.a.adl.aarnet.net.au |
| 15 | 249 | 249 | 244 | 202.158.194.5 | so-0-1-0.bb1.a.per.aarnet.net.au |
| 16 | 249 | 244 | 247 | 202.158.198.178 | gigabitethernet0.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au |
| 17 | 249 | 248 | 244 | 202.158.198.186 | gw1.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au |
| 18 | 244 | 248 | 249 | 134.7.16.46 |
| 19 | 248 | 257 | 244 | 134.7.248.65 | te1-1.b309-sr.net.curtin.edu.au |
The results show that there were 19 hops before getting to this website. It took a little over two seconds in total for information to get from the tools website to Curtin and back again. (correction: it took most of this time for Traceroute to convert all the IP addresses into URL names. Average time is average of last entry rtt (round trip times) which corresponds to ave reported below in Ping exercise.)
PING
Pinging curtin.edu.au [134.7.179.53] with 32 bytes of data...
Results
| count | ttl (hops) | rtt (ms) | from |
| 1 | 109 | 252 | 134.7.179.53 |
| 2 | 109 | 248 | 134.7.179.53 |
| 3 | 109 | 249 | 134.7.179.53 |
| 4 | 109 | 250 | 134.7.179.53 |
| 5 | 109 | 248 | 134.7.179.53 |
Statistics
| packets | sent | 5 | |
| received | 5 | 100% | |
| lost | 0 | 0% | |
| times (ms) | min | 248 | |
| avg | 249 | ||
| max | 252 |
The average time in milliseconds from the tools site to the curtin server was 249 ms.
How is this different to the total time traceroute reports???
Explained now, thanks to Glen who left his comments. I understand what Traceroute is doing a little better now.
I next downloaded the A-Tool bar from http:// www.tucows.com/preview/323577 .
I pinged the webct site which took an average of 65ms. Compared to the time with the time taken to ping from the net tools siteof 149ms, this was greatly reduced. It is considerably less because the servers used would just have to transmit the message across Australia (Sydney to Perth) unlike before where the initial location was in the USA. The distance travelled and the number of servers it takes to transmit the information packets will dictate the time it takes - even though still very very fast.
Module 1 Task C
File Transfer Protocol
I always wondered how a new web page gets onto the Web. Now I know one of the steps. As for the exercise... OK!! Took a while but I found and downloaded the FTP software for Windows. I used Ipswitch WS_FTP. The connecting bit took a while because I was not really sure what was meant by connecting "anonymously". Only after some helpful hints in the discussion forum (thanks guys!) did I connect and find the file. This was definitely a learning experience and took me far too long but should be alot easier the next time.
In answer to the question CAPITALIZATION matters.
I always wondered how a new web page gets onto the Web. Now I know one of the steps. As for the exercise... OK!! Took a while but I found and downloaded the FTP software for Windows. I used Ipswitch WS_FTP. The connecting bit took a while because I was not really sure what was meant by connecting "anonymously". Only after some helpful hints in the discussion forum (thanks guys!) did I connect and find the file. This was definitely a learning experience and took me far too long but should be alot easier the next time.
In answer to the question CAPITALIZATION matters.
Module 1 Task B
telnet over to towel.blinkenlights.nl for a bit of fun........
I only watched the first few minutes and I hope the whole episode is not done this way. It looks painful to watch - I mean I love the whole Star Wars story but thinking how much time went into typing in every one of those characters in each and every page! Someone with a lot of time on their hands put this one together. Very clever animation using very basic tools. But then, I suppose they had nothing else at their disposal. Where there is a will there is a way and innovation will find it's way through.
I only watched the first few minutes and I hope the whole episode is not done this way. It looks painful to watch - I mean I love the whole Star Wars story but thinking how much time went into typing in every one of those characters in each and every page! Someone with a lot of time on their hands put this one together. Very clever animation using very basic tools. But then, I suppose they had nothing else at their disposal. Where there is a will there is a way and innovation will find it's way through.
Module 1 Task A
Have just logged into Deakin library using Telnet. Seemed simple enough although had to ask for help with the commands. Next screen asked me
What kind of Terminal are you using?
V > VT100
W > NCSA VT100
Choose one ( V,W )
Not sure which so I chose V which got me in - still not sure what that meant however.
Typed in Bennahum as the author and found two titles and successfully sent them to my Curtin e-mail.
The process was very speedy however there was no confirmation that it was successfully sent so I didn't know it worked until I checked. Telnet reminded me of when I used to use DOS commands to save and copy files before Windows came along. Not very pretty and you had to know what you were doing or it felt like you were flying blind. It occurs to me that the graphics and navigation tools offered by today's web pages really just make the system friendlier - kind of takes you by the hand, so to speak. The output is the same - I found the books I was looking for but getting there in Telnet had me looking for the manual.
What kind of Terminal are you using?
V > VT100
W > NCSA VT100
Choose one ( V,W )
Not sure which so I chose V which got me in - still not sure what that meant however.
Typed in Bennahum as the author and found two titles and successfully sent them to my Curtin e-mail.
The process was very speedy however there was no confirmation that it was successfully sent so I didn't know it worked until I checked. Telnet reminded me of when I used to use DOS commands to save and copy files before Windows came along. Not very pretty and you had to know what you were doing or it felt like you were flying blind. It occurs to me that the graphics and navigation tools offered by today's web pages really just make the system friendlier - kind of takes you by the hand, so to speak. The output is the same - I found the books I was looking for but getting there in Telnet had me looking for the manual.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Welcome
How easy was that? Blogger.com made it really easy but there was such an array of sites available that in the end I just looked at the templates for a few until I found something I liked. I'm a first time blogger but off and running now so look forward to a continuous update of my progress in my very first unit of the BA (Internet Studies)
NET 11 The Internet: Communications
First task: set up a Blog - Check.
Second task:
My Top Five Tips for new Bloggers: (or as many as I can think of at this stage!)
Second task:
My Top Five Tips for new Bloggers: (or as many as I can think of at this stage!)
- If you are a complete novice like me, it can be quite intimidating choosing one blog site from another. Like anything, I think experience and personal recommendations count for a lot so ASK someone who they used. Then look at their blog site and decide if you like the look of it. If one Blog site is more popular than others, there is probably a good reason.
- If you like demos, this site was very helpful in demonstrating how to set one up.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY
- In many blog pages you have the ability to customise colours of headings, sub headings etc. Choose background colours and design that appeal to you. Use contrasting colours to aid legibility and make the design appropriate for the content.
- Don't forget the location of your Blog! Bookmark it before you forget
- Remember that you will be able to go back and edit the text later so don't stress too much about how it reads for now, just get it all down but remember that there is a bloggiquette that you should adhere to when blogging....see links above.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
