Mary's NET11 Blog

Note: I wrote this as a draft Friday, as I had a swimming competition on Saturday, and forgot to publish it on Blogger until Monday afternoon.

Well I haven't updated my Learning Log very much over the past two weeks! NED11 Internet Design studies have almost completely taken over for now, as I have an assignment due in around 2 weeks.

Module 3 : Contributing to the Infosphere: e-writing?

I love blogging. It is a great way to have a diary of personal thoughts - especially if you are someone who uses the Internet a great deal - as I just wouldn't get around to writing a traditional text based diary!

Blogging is also a great way for everyone to have a 'voice' in cyberspace - no matter who you are if you write it, people can read it. And I think that because bloggers tend to read, comment and link to each other's blogs regularly is the reason why this form of writing and communication has become so popular.

Personally I find it a lot more interactive that the days of personal home pages on Geocities etc, as I feel a blog is like a mix of a personal home page, emails (people tend to write posts in a similar manner to emails), discussion boards (the comments section) and even to a small extent, instant messaging (if you manage to strike a time when you are replying to comments at the same time as your readers are commenting).

This mix, teamed with the fact that you need no HTML knowledge (most blogging Web sites make posting as easy as using a Web based email program) is why I think blogging will continue to be a very popular pastime for many Internet users.

Volcano Web - Task 1

I've been building the 'famous' Volcano web homepage - I guess this is to test our knowledge of HTML, or to teach us HTML if we don't know it. It is so easy that I type in the code in my spare time :)

I know I can just upload an HTML page to WebCT with a header, footer, links, meta tags, title etc., but I thought why not just make the whole Volcano Web Site for fun! :)

I'll be blogging again next week, with hopefully a LOT more updates,

- Mary

Labels: Module 3, Reflections

I chatted with fellow NET11 student Tamara today on ICQ,

First of all we discussed why it was hard to catch up with fellow students on ICQ - then I thought of the time difference! :) and of course, with most of us spread all over Australia (and even the world) coordinating a chat does get a little difficult!

We also compared different messaging programs - Tamara said she doesn't use instant messaging all that often, while I said I prefer Yahoo! messenger or Gtalk for my online communication.

- Mary

Labels: Module 2

I didn't get as much study done this week as previously, as I have been concentrating more on NED11 (Internet Design).

The conversation about Email Lists v Discussion boards on our webCT discussion board was an interesting insight, all together I think more people preferred Discussion Boards to Email Lists.

I still haven't been able to have another ICQ chat with fellow NET11 students, although last Saturday, Helen managed to start a chat between her, Jon and I - my connection on ICQ dropped out as soon as the introductions started, so I'm hoping for better luck next time.

I did spend Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week doing some more research for my Annotated Bibliography - Cynthia did say in response to one of my posts that I can do it on more than one topic per module. So that expands my searching for good material a little bit. :)

I had a brief look over the reading for Module 3, the topic is writing in the Infosphere and I'm sure I'll enjoy that topic as I already have 3+ personal blogs and enjoy that form of communication.

- Mary

Labels: Module 2, Reflections

Labels: Module 2

Week 3 is already over - wow time flies when you are studying! :)

This week I delved into the world of Email Lists, Newsgroups, ICQ and IRC.

Email Lists - well the more I read and learn about Email Lists the more they start to interest me, I'm sure if I found one which stuck to a specific topic it would be great to join it and follow along. However before I go joining any Email lists I need to get my inbox set up and organised so I won't be overwhelmed with Email list messages.

Using newsgroups is one form of Internet communications that is new to me, I had known they existed, but wasn't interested in finding out the what, why and how of using them.
Currently I'm following 4 different groups -

• Blogger help group
• rec.food.recipes
• comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html
• rec.sport.cricket

I found two of the groups through Google Groups, and the other two groups through my ISP's news server. I chose groups that had a high participation level as the discussion and topics will (hopefully) move along quite quickly and keep me interested.

I'll continue to follow the postings in these groups for a few more days, and then post on one of them.

I did manage to chat with a fellow student on ICQ! It was great chatting with Belinda, and we shared thoughts on how NET11 was going, compared studying online to on campus, and chatted about study in general. Although ICQ was the first instant messaging program, I must say I prefer the layout and usability of Yahoo! messenger or the very simply styled Gtalk.

IRC - As I suggested earlier in the week I'm not going to try IRC - too many variables for me to feel completely safe trying this type of 'open' Internet communication.

- Mary

Labels: Module 2, Reflections

I was curious as to what type of communications IRC offered, after being quite comfortable with instant messaging I was ready to try a new type of synchronous communication.

I read about IRC in detail in Chapter 13 of The Complete Reference: Internet, (Levine Young, 2002) and felt that this type of chat is not something I would feel comfortable doing. Levine Young (2002, p. 313) gives the first of many warnings on inappropriate messages that other people can send to you, especially if you choose a feminine type nickname.

Still not totally put off trying out IRC I downloaded mIRC and browsed through a list of channels - however no one channel appealed to me and I decided to call it off.

I guess IRC differs from other forms of instant messaging because of the privacy issues - everything seems to be very unpredictable (although there are private channels on IRC) the majority of new users on IRC will start chatting with a bunch of strangers - something that doesn't sit comfortably with me.

- Mary

---

References

Levine Young, M. (2002). Internet: The Complete Reference, Second Edition. California: McGraw-Hill/Osborne.

Labels: Module 2

I downloaded and installed ICQ today - it was like stepping back in time, as I last used ICQ when I was 11yrs old back in 1997. I clearly remember trying it for the first time by messaging a cousin, and all we did was use a 'laughter' button instead of typing much.

I didn't use any form of instant messaging again until 2004 - when I started with MSN messenger (because friends used it) progressed to Gtalk and finally tried Yahoo! messenger.

After signing up and getting my ICQ number (how quaint! just like phone numbers) I posted my details on the webCT discussion boards, and hopefully I'll be able to chat with a few other NET11 students.

I did try searching for the nickname 'advanced netstudies' but unfortunately ICQ replied with

'Your request cannot be processed at
this time. Please try again later.'

So I will attempt to find it again later...

**UPDATE - Thursday 15th March**

I found the nickname 'advanced netstudies' on ICQ - the number is 337 293 557.
The comment in the 'about' section says 'advanced netstudies'

- Mary

Labels: Module 2

What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?

First I thought of the different aspects of Email Lists and Discussion Boards

• Email Lists
  Private
  Not viewable unless you subscribe
  Fully or partially automated
  Can view them in digest form
  Moderator can approve messages before they appear
  
• Discussion Boards
  Public or Private
  Online
  Sometimes include an 'avatar' or picture the member wishes to display
  Can include the option editing your posts
  Administrator can add moderators who can help them maintain the list
  
  

I decided to discuss with my friends to compare our thoughts on Email Lists and Discussion Boards and came up with this list of pros and cons:

Email Lists – 5 PROS
- Increased privacy (because you have to subscribe before you view any messages)
- You can view them as a digest – quicker to keep up with everything if you have limited time
- Can be very informative if it keeps on topic
- Convenient to keep up with an email list whenever you check your email.
- Less cumbersome to respond to than many discussion boards.


Discussion Boards – 5 PROS
- If it is a public board you can check out the messages without joining, so you are able to see if the content is appropriate for your interest.
- A sense of identifying with each other through use of avatars etc.
- Searchable! so it's very easy to find specific information.
- Archives are right there with the discussion board.
- It is easy to be totally anonymous.

Email Lists - 4 CONS
- Even though you have to subscribe to receive the list content, there are still 'lurkers' who don't contribute anything. In this way it can be no more private than a public discussion board.
- If you don't organise your email into folders (and have one for your email list) you can get overwhelmed by the large number of messages in your inbox.
- Searching is limited by your email programs search capacity.
- You have to find the archives on a web site, so they are less accessible than on a discussion board.

Discussion Boards - 4 CONS
- More susceptible to spam if it is a public board.
- Anyone can find a conversation by searching, so again, it's lacking in privacy.
- Graphic-heavy discussion board interfaces can take a long time to download on slow connections, making communication frustrating.
- Easier access to archives, as the discussion board has them readily available.

Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?

In my own experience I am more likely to use a Discussion Board for finding out answers. However I would use an Email List to share ideas and thoughts on a hobby or interest.

Labels: Module 2

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?

Most email programs only display basic information, so to find out more about my email message in Outlook Express I did the following:

• File > Properties (ALT+Enter)
• Click on the 'Details' tab then click 'Message Source'
• You can see all the extra information regarding the email.

As Levine Young (2002) describes in the chapter about email concepts, there are about 11 standard headers in most email messages, as well as a number of optional headers, which are distinguished by an X- at the start of the description.

Return-Path: <mary335@gmail.com>

Received: from murder ([unix socket]) by spool-host7.tpgi.com.au (Cyrus v2.2.12) with LMTPA; Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:40:35 +1100

X-Sieve: CMU Sieve 2.2

X-TPG-Antivirus: Passed

Received: from hu-out-0506.google.com (hu-out-0506.google.com [72.14.214.224])
by mail7.tpgi.com.au (envelope-from mary335@gmail.com) (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id l2C3eQ4K032618 for <lildaisy@tpg.com.au>; Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:40:34 +1100

Received: by hu-out-0506.google.com with SMTP id 20so5126504huc for <lildaisy@tpg.com.au>; Sun, 11 Mar 2007 20:40:26 -0700 (PDT)

DKIM-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type; b=r/ATy+WKzHYtA/ZiSqOLWgOGQ9EX7du0dI7OnAlDwLRwC9WuBCLwlMgFcyydy
lywvR4TTjgjnN0G6WLQxy9NR9fRaXxn6qTPI2OHMbf1ulYCRJuxhSFDZhzj
rw5gp2Er/8otXUptLZpfDN6kBkW2Xh3BISiKLC2MQaKSFSfUJI4=

DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type; b=Q37gToUWZKZS374K1JO1Z9fGTizPK0TagAdxGXT+dRESvozSh
5jD2IJme8m2WmjVG/Vwc4PV905VQ9vn+Ttze2aROP2CIxDC469c
VJsDO8gsB9OiLekOiWoi9iMDMSRfLHjRbRiAlwriBAbdJcd6DfKJrZM3+7yRRihiUIzwEFQ=

Received: by 10.115.93.16 with SMTP id v16mr1092737wal.1173670825210; Sun, 11 Mar 2007 20:40:25 -0700 (PDT)

Received: by 10.115.90.3 with HTTP; Sun, 11 Mar 2007 20:40:25 -0700 (PDT)

Message-ID: <2f30228b0703112040meef429au12c8a49943fcbf4f@mail.gmail.com>

Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:40:25 +0800

From: "Mary Castieau" <mary335@gmail.com>

To: lildaisy@tpg.com.au

Subject: Hi

X-Antivirus: AVG for E-mail 7.5.446 [268.18.8/718]

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="=======AVGMAIL-45F4CBB54CEE======="

So just by looking at the extra information sent with an email I can tell:

• Return-Path: What email address sent the message
• Received: What hosts it passed through
• Message-ID: A unique number given to this email.
• Date: The date and time when then mail was sent, according to the sender's PC.
• From: The email address of the sender
• To: The email address of the receiver
• Subject: What this email is about
• Mime-Version: what version of MIME was used.
• What data format was used.
• Extra information added by IP and Personal virus checks, after checking this email.

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?

I would find it useful to use the 'cc' function if I am mailing an invitation to a party to all my relatives. I think it is important to only use the 'cc' function if you are sure that everyone you are emailing doesn't mind their address being made public to all the other recipients.

I would use the 'bcc' function to email a copy of an important email from my Outlook Express account to my Gmail account, so I could check that email whenever I had Internet access. Another use for 'bcc' is when I am mailing something to several people, and don't want to disclose their addresses to everyone receiving the mail (I feel this is a form of netiquette).

The 'reply all' function is useful for replying to a large group mail. If I had family members all around the world and we were communicating to organize a reunion, this would be an easy way to make sure everyone knew how the plans were going.

3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?

When sending attachments it is important to communicate with the receiver, establish what operating system they are running and if the programs they have installed are compatible with the attachment. You should check if a large file size is a problem (not everyone has fast Internet connection) and if necessary compress the file for a quicker download time.

I feel sending attachments is all about being considerate to the receiver. My own personal rules for sending attachments are :

- Don't send anything without prior consent
- If there is a way the content can be viewed online, do it that way. (e.g. uploading photos to a photo hosting website)

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?

I don't use any filters or rules for my email at present - Gmail has such a great search capacity I've become lazy and just search for whatever I want to find, instead of making rules to separate my emails into different folders.
So far I've found this to be a good way of looking for information I want, but that is only because I can easily remember certain phrases that could be in the email I am looking for.
Filtering my emails offers a much more 'personalised' search. I should overcome my laziness and filter my emails.

I used to use filters quite often in Outlook Express before I changed over to Gmail - They were especially useful to 'ban' certain words for spam filtering.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?

In Gmail you can 'label' messages, which is basically the same concept as organising them into folders. I've created some filters and through the filters will organise my emails into sections:

Personal
sub section - Friends
sub section - Family
sub section - Important emails (such as password reminders, bank statements etc)

Study
sub section - Internet Studies
sub section - Studies (2006)

Reading
sub section - Online catalogues (that I've signed up for)
sub section - Newsletters

---

References:

Levine Young, M. (2002). The Complete Reference: Internet 2nd Edition. (pp 126-127) California: McGraw-Hill/Osborne.

Labels: Module 2

This week I concentrated on reading for this unit rather than completing the tasks for Module 2.

The Complete Reference: Internet (2nd edition) by Margaret Levine Young has been a great resource for learning more about the Internet. This week I read chapters 5 to 10 and got a deeper understanding of Email, and Email lists. The chapter on Email lists was particularly interesting as I've never joined an email list before.

The reading for Module 2 was all about communicating over the Internet - I felt like it broadly covered 3 topics

• Netiquette
• Security
• Organisation

Netiquette includes making sure you have written a descriptive subject line, using quoting wisely, basic formatting to make the message readable and checking before sending attachments.

Security is making sure you are aware of the security risks when downloading unknown or forwarded attachments.

Organisation is an important part of using email for quick communication. If you have a sorting system (filtering or folders) in place you will be able to find your information easily and avoid wasting time.

- Mary

Labels: Module 2, Reflections

I've decided that the topic from Module 1 that I'll cover in my assignment will be the Domain Name System (DNS).

I feel that the Domain Name System has an important role in making World Wide Web so user-friendly, compared to say, having to remember and type in IP addresses, some of which would be constantly changing.

I've found around 10 sites already relating to this topic in various ways, some are articles explaining exactly what DNS is, while one site offers tools such as looking up contact information for a domain/IP address.

- Mary

Labels: Assignment 1, Module 1

Today I'm going to search for some resources that are relevant to Module 1.

Some important things to consider are -

• Finding a range of perspectives on the topic.


• Checking the accuracy and source of the information I find.


• Assessing whether this information would be useful to others.

Should be fun!

- Mary

Labels: Assignment 1, Module 1

Every Saturday I'll give my weekly reflections on my study of NET11.



After reading the recommended links 'The Basic Process' and 'The Internet' on HowStuffWorks.com I couldn't help but compare some of the Internet protocols to my part-time work as a waitress at a restaurant. I'll draw a little cartoon to explain.



A waitress acts like our web browser.

So the waitress is the web browser, being the 'middle-man' for the customer, and from the customers point of view, that is all they want, 2 simple steps -

1) order the food (type in the URL)

2) receive the food (view the web page)

However once the waitress or browser has the order/page request, the part of the process that the customer doesn't see happens.

• The waitress assigns table number and order to customer (The URL is sent to a name server to turn the basic name into an IP address.)

• Once the table number and order are assigned, the order can be put through to the kitchen. (The browser connects to the server at that IP address.)

• The kitchen receives the order, and starts cooking the requested food on the order. (The browser follows the HTTP protocol to send a GET request to the server, asking for the specific file.)

• The kitchen sends the food out, ready to serve. (The server sends the HTML text for the web page to the browser.)

• Waitress checks for table number and delivers food to the table. (The browser reads the HTML tags and shows the page on your screen.) ¹
  

- Mary

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Reference List

In the above bulleted list, the Internet information is referenced from -
1 Brain, M. Behind the Scenes: How Web Servers Work, Retrieved March 3, 2007, from the How Stuff Works Websitehttp://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-server2.htm

Labels: Module 1, Reflections

Yesterday I tried unsuccessfully to ping the webct.curtin.edu site from Net Tools.com, so I though I would try again today. Unfortunately it is still timing out.

I read through the first 5 chapters of 'The Complete Reference: Internet (2nd edition)' by M. Levine-Young today. It's really helpful to read about what I'm studying from several different sources as they all have a slightly different way of presenting the information! :)

I also did the self test for this module in my webct account, and did have the 3 correct answers

1) - Managed Care: financial, legal and ethical issues.

2) - capitalization.

3) - 134.7.34.101

Labels: Module 1

My task today was to find a traceroute tool online, and find out:

• How many 'hops' are there?


• What is the average time in milliseconds from the tools site to the curtin server?


• Find out the IP number of the hostname curtin.edu.au
  

First I tried the traceroute tool on Central Ops.net and got the following results.





Hops: 18, from theplanet.com [70.84.211.98] to curtin.edu.au [134.7.179.10 ]

Average Time: 246 ms



Next was the traceroute tool on Network Tools.com.





Hops: 16, from ev1servers.net [66.98.241.1] to curtin.edu.au [134.7.179.10]

Average Time: 248 ms

Then I tried a visual traceroute tool from VisualRoute.

Hops: 14, from defenderhosting.com[205.234.111.129] to curtin.edu.au [134.7.179.10]

Average Time: 243 ms



Finally I used the traceroute tool from Software Technology Park of India.





Hops: 18, from white_dwarf.cbbtier3.att.net [12.0.1.1] to curtin.edu.au [134.7.179.10]

Average Time: 292 ms


I found it interesting to note that all 4 traceroute tests went through aarnet.net.au (Sydney, then Melbourne, Adelaide and finally Perth) I'm guessing this was the case as the quickest way to get to Curtin was indeed through the AARNET (Australian's Research and Education Network) routers.

Next I tried traceroute from my own computer to curtin.edu.au

Hops: 15, from my IP address, to curtin.edu.au [134.7.179.10]

Average Time: 58 ms

What I found surprising was that although I live around 200km from Perth where Curtin is situated, it still took 1 more hop than tracing than from VisualRoute, which is based in the USA. However the average time is significantly faster than for any of the other traceroute tests I performed.

I think using traceroute tools would be a great way to pinpoint where a connection problem exists (be it your ISP, the Internet or the website) if you are unable to access a website.

My next task -

• Ping the webct site and compare the time with the time taken to ping from the net tools site. Is it less or more than you expected?

Well I pinged the webct.curtin.edu.au site from my computer and got the following results -

5 pings, all 1049586 ms.

I tried pinging the webct.curtin.edu.au site from Net Tools.com, but all I got was 10 timeouts...

- Mary

References

Hexillion Technologies. (2004). Free online network utilities. Retrieved March 1, 2007, from http://centralops.net/asp/co/Traceroute.vbs.asp

Software Technology Parks of India, U.P. (n.d.). NOC tools. Retrieved March 1, 2007, from http://lucknow.stpi.in/tools/trace.pl

The Keyword Factory LLC. (2007). Network-Tools.com. Retrieved March 1, 2007, from http://network-tools.com/

Visualware Inc. (2007). VisualRoute. Retrieved March 1, 2007, from http://visualroute.visualware.com/

Labels: Module 1