The End

This is the last entry in my learning log for this Unit.

I found this log a rewarding experience. It's the first time I have ever used a blog and I have been really impressed with how easy it has been to use and its intuitive feel. I really have had no problems at all when it comes to publishing my work.

Another thing I enjoyed about this learning log was the logistics of the whole process. If I had been recording everything in some kind of a folder or notebook there would have been issues with misplacing it - leaving it at home, or forgetting to take it to work etc. I could imagine there would also have been problems decipering my messy handwriting and an overall disorganised look and feel. I could also envisage difficulties referring to notes a few months down the track.

Using the blog has beena a clean, simple and logical solution to recording my learning progress throughout this unit. I will almost certainly be accessing various posts into the future.

Assignment completed

Thats it.

I have made my last little tweak to the essay and I am happy enough with it.

I'm pretty sure my work is of passable standard and I feel like I have addressed the question sucessfully. Because this is my first essay in 18 years there are still some nagging doubts.....It will be interesting what the Cynthia thinks when she marks it.

I have just filled in the coversheet and I will read it through once more before I post it this evening.

Assignment 2 finished

I pretty much finished the essay this weekend. 1660 words or so and about six references in my bibliography section. This is the first essay I have had to write since 1989, so I am feeling fairly tentative about it at the moment.

I think I have followed Cynthia's guide quite faithfully. But I'm not too sure if my exploration of the concepts, and how they relate to the examples I have provided, are deep and thorough enough. Perhaps I have explored them on a shallow level only.

The essay is not due untill friday, so I shall use the next couple of days to re-read it and iron out any creases etc.

The grading of this essay will be interesting. It has been so long. I will be happy so see it receive a pass.

Assessment 2: Essay progress continued.

Still making steady progress on the essay. Almost 900 words in and feeling reasonably confident I can make the word count without running out of examples.

I have found an excellent source to draw upon for one of my examples:
http://www.privacy.gov.au/internet/email/index.html
Guidelines on Workplace E-mail, Web Browsing and Privacy (30/3/2000)

It's a site which I first found when sourcing material for the first assignment. But I should be able to quote some material in my essay.

I am aiming to have the essay complete at about 1700 words by friday night. Then I can go through over the weekend and edit it, read it, edit it again etc untill I feel happy with it.

Assessment 2: Essay progress.

It been about a week since I last added to this blog, so with feelings of guilt, I am now recording my activities of the past week.

Last weekend I officially started working on my essay. This involved reading the materials suggested in the cirriculum / assessment details of the curtin uni webct website.

The materials I read and revised were:

B.A. Nardi & V.L. O’day, Information ecologies: using technologies with heart.

Purdue, Jeff, "Stories, Not Information: Transforming Information Literacy."

Of these two resources, I enjoyed the work of B.A. Nardi & V.L. O’day the most. I found their work in comparing the internet to a biological ecology to be quite an engaging read.

Although I had spent a lot of the weekend reading, I still felt very confused about the essay topic and I really needed some clarification. Fortunately Cynthia came to the party and posted a message on one of the threads in the assignment section, which has pretty much cleared up any confusion I had been feeling.

In this thread, she has pretty much provided an essay plan so I am now feeling like I have a lot more direction.

Module 5: Concept 31: Hypertext: links or structure?

While the WWW depends on hypertext, most of it uses hypertext merely for navigation (as in the first kind). Individual documents and even sites generally look much like linear, paper-printed materials. But, the whole of the web is rather more like the loose, unstructured ‘hypertext’ of the second kind. This suggests that hypertext is about both linking in the traditional way, but more effectively; and about structuring in a completely new way, based on this technology.

As advanced internet users we should address the new ways in which information is presented to us. This of course involves the use of hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are not the only method through which we navigate the various pages of a site. Hyperlinks also address the way in which we will absorb and view information from a particular document. A document or souce of information which was once linear, in that it had a beginning, middle and ending has changed. Through the use of hyperlinks, we the reader are now in control of the narrative structure of the information.

Module 5: Concept 30: Frames: the information-display challenge

Advanced Internet users are alert to both the techniques and issues involved in managing and using the web, learning about such technical features; they then interpret and undestand what these features mean in terms of the arguments and disputes around them.

Advanced internet users are aware of the various pros and cons of constructing and implementing an effective way of displaying information on the internet. Very rarely are things black and white when it comes to what makes an idea work and what makes an idea fail. An advanced internet user will recognise these issues and consequently be able to display information on the internet in a way which will make it accesible to as many people as possible.

Module 5: Concept 26: Privacy and Security

The Internet is a profoundly ‘open’ system and advanced Internet users are cautious about either accepting or sending material from and to unknown sources and are careful in releasing information about themselves in any form. Conceptually, the Internet challenges us to take greater responsibility for the protection of privacy and security than perhaps we are used to when dealing with the media.

An advanced internet user recognizes and benefits from the fact that the internet is an open system. However as an advanced internet user, we also have to be aware that this openess can also be a problem for issues like security. An advanced internet user can easily manipulate security issues by falsifing personal details as a way of protecting their privacy. We simply recognize intances when it is in our best interests to control the amount of personal details we provide.

Module 5: Concept 18: Non-speech communication through text: audience and authors' responsibilities

The Internet imposes responsibility on all its users to be both effective 'speakers' and 'listeners', who are each aware of the differences between internet chat and face-to-face communication and who compensate for the learnt preference of humans for a communication style that involves gestures, intonations etc that cannot be directly transmitted over the net.

This concept refers to the users of electronic communication being aware of the differences between face to face communication and remote computer communication. The sucess of this communication lies not only with the author but also with the audience of this communication. Both parties working on making it a rewarding experience through their input.

Module 5: Concept 15: Metaphors of use and communication differentiation

Internet communication technologies draw for their appeal and legibility (ie how they care understood) on metaphors and practices from non-internet communication. We use them, we understand them as versions of the latter, finding or creating differences between them that are not actually technically there since the net reduces all information flows to an identitical format (with small variations) as it actually works.

Metaphors are a great way for people to grasp technical concepts using descriptive (non-technical) language. Getting our heads around the technical aspects of the internet and the various communication processes become much more appealing when using metaphors.

Module 5: Concept 7: Netiquette

Good communication practice on the Internet is not something one 'learns', but something one 'practices' so as to teach others, less familiar than yourself, how it is done.

This concept refers to the 'rules ' one adheres to when communicating online. Netiquette is about setting a good example for others to follow. We have to understand that no one is in charge of the internet, therefore it is up to us to operate inside acceptable boundaries for things to keep flowing smoothly.

Module 5: Concept 6: Reading the difference between 'surface' metadata and 'implied' metadata

While the header contains the 'surface' metadata, understanding email messages may require you to interpret the implied, hidden metadata cued into the body of email messages.

This is quite a heavy concept to grasp. I think it is saying that meta data is being manipulated by marketers and advertisers. Although in the past, meta data related directly to the content of the email/website, this may not be the case. It can be quite deceptive and misleading.

I will need to look at this concept again. Not quite sinking in...