Day 13

Effective Internet Research closure

Finally its the end of the module
It was really an intensive course to learn about the uses and how to use the internet effectively while searching for a particular topic
It has been very useful for me when i'm doing my research for my Major Project
I've learnt to extract information from varied sources including invisible web databases, which i might not have the luxury of using when i go out to work.

However, it has been a pleasant experience to learn about the internet which i wasn't properly taught how to use it. I'm greatful that i attended this course which expanded my knowledge of the use of the internet. I would continue to use the knowledge i've learnt in the future.

Day 12

Wiki Compilation

Wiki is a form of sharing and compiling information on a website.
It is essentially useful for gathering user's perspective and views on a certain topic.

Wiki is useful for users to gather an overall view and to gain an understanding of the topic. Information is properly categorised and organised into headers, which facilitates users to find what they are looking for with more convenience.

However, wiki could be improved by having a panel of qualified judges in the area or editors to vet through the information being put up on the website. This would ensure that the information given is accurate and valid for other users to use.

Day 11

YouTube case study

YouTube has an influenced my life in terms of providing the video resources for both leisure and academic pursuits. It is my first choice facilitiy when it comes to searching for video resources. It is simliar to a database or a collection of videos that users could put up for public viewing.

The pull factor of YouTube is that it provides video resources of a wide variety of genres and almost anything and everything under the sun, for example of "how to" and personal videos to news abstracts. This caters to a very wide spectrum of viewers as they can find anything of their favourite on the site.

As described earlier, YouTube provides a wide variety of resources, thus, a user is able to search for particular resources for example, if a user is looking for solutions to his mountain trekking trip, he could find personal home made or organisation's videos from veteran trekkers that provide useful tips and solutions that will help aid and improve the way the user can trek. This way it is a form of research and some of the sources are from organisations which are creditable.

However, the negative factor is that the most of the videos posted do not have a proper system of citing the sources, thus, the user might face problems of discerning and evaluating the effectiveness of the source.

Day 10

Evaluating a chosen site

There are several criteria to evaluating a site whether it is effective or not in facilitating and helping the user to research on the topic. Some of the criteria are accuracy, currency, authority, coverage, propose, presentation and arrangement.

Because as discussed in earlier posts, website have different categories and the first thing when evaluating a site is to identify the type of website, whether if its an organisational, entertainment, personal or advocacy website. This is because an organisational website is more likely to be accurate than a personal website as the users of the organisational website may be experts in the areas of concern. Organisational websites also need to uphold the reputation

Being accurate means that the information provided is exact, properly documented and backed up. With this, information is more established and more reliable for the user. This is also a form of ethics because providing people with proper information is only right and inaccurate information would only mislead users and might produce negative results.

If the website is current and constantly updated, it shows that the website is contently active and the information is up to date. For the user, this would also mean that the information they extract would still be reliable and relevant.

If the website allows users to post articles and other forms of information, the profile and the background of the users should be provided. This would give other users and readers a brief idea of the authors and to allow them to evaluate if the authors are trustworthy or not.

Having a wide coverage of information would give users a better understanding and other relevant information on the topic. The depth and details of the information is also important as it provides more for the user to understand and comprehend.

Normally advocacy sites trnd to have a stronger purpose than the other sites. Its main objective is to convince or influence users to do or purchase something.

Having an organised and neat interface for the website would also mean that the website is well maintained this could be seen through the presentation and arrangement of the information.

Day 9

Evalutaion of a dream holiday website

After evaluating www.talkingcock.com , we have yet another evaluation exercise to analyse and comment on a website of our dream holiday.

As LEGO is the fuel of my passion, obviously i would like to visit a LEGOLAND for at least once in my life. And what better place to visit than the origins of the product, Demark. i've managed to get to the LEGOLAND website (http://www.legoland.dk/?lc=en) through a link from the main LEGO website (http://www.lego.com/). Despite it being a themed park for young children, i would still like to visit it because it brings me memories when i was a child.




















Because the main site is based in Demark, the language used is Danish however, there is a function that allows users to change to their prefered language at the top left hand corner. There are other features such as the help, sitemap and search function that allows users to easily get to their prefered location on the website.

From the inital home page, there are images that are featured quick links to the newest attraction and promotions that are currently active. they act as a form of advertisement and for marketing purposes.

The navigation bar includes the park attractions, plan packages, business functions and employment links.

Day 8

Today in class, we're being taught how to evalute websites
in the exercise we're required to evaluate a local website http://www.talkingcock.com

Talkingcock.com is a local site that discusses current affairs and allows a platform for the local community to exercise freedom of speech. Because it allows any Singaporean citizen to register and express their opinions, the coverage of the contents varies and covers a wide scope of topics.

However, the because of the content and the issues discussed, it is to be taken light heartedly and as a form of comical relief.

From the main page of the website, it provides quick links to the newest and latest articles written by the registered users. the posts here are very current and up to date, dating back to only the previous day.

The site also contains quick navigational links to forums, articles, columns written by resident writers and it even includes a search engine function for searching particular keywords within the site.

However, if i were to view this website as the Prime Minister i would be concerned as to the fact that what factors are actually causing these citizens to have such unhappiness and issues towards the country's policies and the government. And i would actually be brainstorming for counter measutres to try and please and address the current issues.

As a Singaporean viewing the site, i am able to relate to the jokes and humour. It is actually a form of comic relief and that it should not be taken seriously. However, i would be concerned that if young readers or people who do not understand the facts behind the posts and articles, would have a negative opinon and it would form a bad influence and misunderstandings.

If i were a foreigner in Singapore viewing this site, i would not understand 90% of the jokes but as for what i would understand would be that majority of the posts are related to the government and the ministers and that many of it do not speak very well of them. This would form a negative perception on the citizens of Singapore.

Day 7

Using invisible web resources for research purposes

Today we learnt about using invisible web databases
these databases differ from the conventional databases in the sense where is requires the user to actually pay to access the database and the resources that are available in the invisbile web. Examples of invisbile web resources are "lexxis nexus" and "factiva". Both resources contain a variety of the types of resources from web documents to articles. Most of the time these kinds of databases are used by large corporations and academic facilities. This might be due to the cost and the need to pay for these resources. These databases are useful because it is a collection and archives of resources.

Day 6

Self revision

Finished up with the exercise 4&5.
because of the test tomorrow, the time spent in class today is to do self revision and go through the previous lecture notes from lessons 1-5.

Day 5

Comparing Meta search engines and Subject Directories

The search features of both search facilities varies. For example, Metacrawler provides search results from all the different search engines and provides the option of showing only results from a particular search engine. Metacrawler also includes the function of searching up other mediums such as Images, Audio, Video, News, Yellow Pages and White Pages. And similar to the individual search engines, it provides the user with a keyword suggestions that might help the user to improve and refine the search.

Whereas, Google Directory also allows searching up the individual keywords to focus down or concentrate on a subject. And similar to the meta search engine, it also includes the function of searching up other mediums such as Images, Maps, News and Shopping.

Comapring the results of the search, Metacrawler's results have a very brief section of the actual contents of the resource displayed just below the URL link. This allows the user to have a overview of all of the resources contents.

Google Directory search the keywords separately and the results of the resources are arranged in the order in which the keywords exist in the resources. It also allows the user to select the keywords individually through quick links to concentrate and focus on a particular keyword to redirect the search. The results displayed have a short description stating if it’s a Report, Article, Commentary or a Journal, this allows the user to differentiate the various resources and decide whether to enter the link of the resource.

Metacrawler's strength is that results are compiled from several search engines and this provides information which are not prevalent in the search solely using a single search engine (eg. Google)

Google Directory tends to be a simpler and more user friendly search facility because of it clean and simple interface as compared to Metacrawler's cluttered interface. Another advantage is that the searched resources cover the scope of back dated articles with might still be relevant to your search. However, compared to the wide base of resource of a meta search engine, Google has lesser resources and the search results would be less comprehensive.

Personally, i would prefer Metacrawler to run general searches but i would use Google Directory to refine the search.

Day 4

Comparing Google and Google Scholar(continuation)

Using the table in exercise 3, I've got a better understanding on how to comapre the two search engines. This is my personal opinion on the search engines, for example, Google would be is useful for the user because it provides alternatives and suggestions to the topic, which might not have occurred to them before the search. And Google scholar is useful if the user is familiar with authors and the articles. However, it might seem too much text for the user with a short attention span. Google is also especially useful when the user is not familiar with the topic and wants to find out more on it. This is because Google provides a broader scope of the search topics and provides anything and everything that may seem related to the topic. However, Google scholar is mainly focused on more academic resourses such as online journals and articles. This tends to make the search more focused and concise as compared to Google. And because it only searches text documentations, the results are yield faster.

Personally i feel that Google is more applicable for the average user as it is simpler and provides more graphical and visuals. Whereas, Google scholar is more applicable to users who are more familiar with the authors and the articles. Because of the results of the search engine, it might show excessive text which might bore the average user.

Day 3

Comparing the differences between google and google scholar

Using the 2 different search engines, i looked up my topic which is the impact of the influx of foreign talents in singapore

The differences that i've identified when comparing is that the google search engine provides a holistic view of the topic including blogs and forums. Whereas, google scholar's search is only limited to academic text such as, online journals and ariticles pertatining to the topic. Searched topics on google search tends to be slightly informal as comapred to the formal content of the articles in google scholar. The search feature on the two search engines also differ by google scholar's ability to search by author and google's keyword suggestion.

However, both search engines have their strengths and weaknesses. As for google search engine, the strength is that it give a broad scope of understanding and covering several aspects of the searched topic. But as for google scholar, its strength is that it filters out irrelevant infomation and only shows the user, articles related closely to the topic. Google scholar is also the faster search engine as compared to google.

Day 2

Blog Shopping Exercise
Brickarms LEGO Weapons pack
Price: USD$25
URL: http://www.brickarms.com/toys/Weapons_Packs/Mega_Pack.aspx

this is a customised set of LEGO weapons which could be used by mini LEGO figurines.

Because LEGO is one of my favourite toys, it's a perfect gift for myself and its only exclusively sold online.

As compared to other websites like eBay or Yahoo! Auctions, the Brickarms website serves the primary purpose of marketing and promoting the range of customised LEGO weapons that could be an added feature to LEGO figurines. Whereas, eBay or Yahoo! Auctions allows the option to search up and purchase other items. In a way, the Brickarms website is a more specialised site which is more focused and targeted to a specific consumer.

However, the similarities of these online shopping sites is that there are functions for you to add the selected products to a virtual shopping cart and to check out an online payment. This function is only exisistant in this catergory of internet resources.

Day 1

Effective Internet Research is a CDS which i'm taking this block while also doing my FYP

We've began to introduce ourselves to the class and gather the understanding of the course.
Secondly we were asked to select a topic from a list and to conduct our research online.

I've chosen a topic which is to:
Discuss the impact of the influx of foreign talents into Singapore.

We also learnt to identify the differences between:

• Discussion Forum
• Electronic journal/magazine/news
• WWW site
• Blog

Discussion Forums tends to be more advocacy and in which it allows users to publish posts and threads to discuss, share view points and persepectives about a certain topic.

Electronic journal/magazine/news are more informative and provide a more formal and objective perspective

WWW sites could be catergorised into 3 main types. Organisational, Personal and subject-based. Organisational would be maintained by an organisation or society, providing updates and news. Usually formal. Personal sites are more informal and likely to be less reliable due to the single person's opinion. Subject-based sites tend to include several opinions on a certain topic and has a higher level of reliability.

Blogs are usually based on a single person's or a small group of people's persepctive on a certain subject. Usually more informal and only providing minimal realiabilty.