Learning Log Blog

Module 3-HTML task.

2008-04-29T03:37:00.000-07:00

Record any difficulties you encountered with these exercises. Record your thoughts about html - do you feel a sense of achievement? What are the differences between html and blogging? what do you like best?

To be honest I find coding html difficult. It doesn't come naturally. I know many people find it really easy, but I don't. I LOVE designing-I just LOVE Dreamweaver! I love Photoshop, Illustrator, & all those other visual programs. I am very visual-I like to see a concept/page/layout evolve before my eyes. HTML is all..words-and squiggles! Don't get me wrong-I also love words-I'm a writer, and enjoy words, they too seem to unfold upon the page in a way that can be sometimes surprising, magical even. HTML is dry. It's not art!

Well I guess that's not true-it is an art of it's own. And I want to be a web designer as well as a print designer-so I need to know html; and css, and XHTML and all those other coding languages. But I don't find it in any way intuitive-it's hard work, and boring. I prefer blogging any day! In fact, I prefer doing just about anything else! However, I have to say, after a fair bit of practice I can now hand code a basic site without looking (too much) up the various codes. Yay. :-D

My HTML exercise page is here

Chat Task

2008-04-14T01:47:00.001-07:00

Coming soon

Newsgroups

2008-04-14T01:45:00.001-07:00

coming soon

Email Lists

2008-04-14T00:51:00.000-07:00

What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?
Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?

I have been a member of yahoo groups for many years, so have not joined any new groups for the purpose of this exercise. To illustrate, here's a screenshot of only a few of the lists I am a member of (there's at least one more page LOL) I am a list owner of three of these, and a moderator of one.

I am also a forum owner http://www.alternativebaby.net
and am a participant on about 5 or 6 other forums, so this is an area I'm pretty well experienced in :) I believe the pros and cons of each are as follows:

Email lists
pros:
Email delivered straight to your inbox
Easy to use-anyone who knows how to send email can participate
A great starting point for web based discussion. When I first got on the net, I joined yahoo and msn groups first, before venturing over to discussion boards/forums
Quick and easy-to reply to emails rather than actively going out searching out discussion boards.

cons:
Email from these lists can quickly clog up your inbox
It can be harder to read the topics you are interested in and ignore those you aren't
A very busy email list as well as clogging up your inbox can be very confusing, and hard to follow.

Discussion boards/forums

pros:
Topics are clearly laid out
Most modern form software has many great features in addition to straight forum posting, such as blogs, private messaging, live chat rooms, and some even have interactive social networking features similar to Facebook.
It's easy to click on the topics which interest you and ignore the ones which don't
For business owners it can be a great way to network and promote your business

cons:
Can be confusing for people who are new to the internet or don't understand it very well
Is more public, therefore users need to be aware of what information they put out there, and everything on a forum can be googled, including any information about a user's identity, address, children etc

I personally think email lists and forums both have their place. In my opinion, forums are more suited to groups/special interests/businesses etc etc which have the potential to attract a large amount of members. Also for those who are actively seeking new memberships, for either social or business networking purposes. Forums if well designed are way less cluttered and confusing to follow. They don't present the problem experienced by many users of email lists of email clogging up your inbox. This isn't a problem if you opt to read all your list email on the group page, however the whole process of getting into a yahoo/msn etc group can be a bit tedious, and they aren't as easy to read.

However, email lists are very well suited to smaller groups, as it creates a more intimate, and safe space in which to discuss topics, especially where medium-strict membership moderation is practiced (for example, I don't let anyone into the groups I mod unless they've submitted a fair bit of information about themselves)This protects the group from unscrupulous and dangerous people being able to read and glean information-such as spammers, or worse those with grudges and vendettas against group members. Lists are especially good for small groups who don't have the budget for a forum setup (although there are plenty of free forum available these days which take only minutes and limited technical ability to set up).

Forums can of course be private, or have private sections and I have learned over the years as a forum Administrator, to encourage people to post sensitive stuff in the private sections (memberships to which are heavily controlled and moderated). I have encountered a few cases of needing to delete all a member's posts due to vindictive ex partners, friends or family members using the information posted to stalk and harass the member, or even to use it against them in court (ie for child custody cases.)

Module Two Tasks-Email

2008-04-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

Email

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?

In Microsoft outlook, if you right click on an email, and choose "message options" you can see relavant data, such as the sender's email address, their web hosting provider or server name, the time and date of transfer,
the path the email has taken, via various servers, and the MIME encoding used.

ie this is an email I received, (with user's email address removed for their privacy)

Return-path:
Envelope-to: jayne@alternativebaby.net
Delivery-date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:50:49 -0400
Received: from mi0.bluebottle.com ([206.188.25.15])
by lithium.webserversystems.com with esmtps (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256)
(Exim 4.68)
(envelope-from )
id 1JlEmO-0003yC-T3
for jayne@alternativebaby.net; Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:50:49 -0400
Received: from fe0.bluebottle.com (internal.bluebottle.com [206.188.24.43])
by mi0.bluebottle.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id m3E2okv4007428
(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO)
for ; Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; s=mail; d=bluebottle.com; c=nofws; q=dns;
h=received:to:message-id:date:from:subject:mime-version:
content-type:content-transfer-encoding:user-agent:x-trusted-delivery;
b=0tuLZ6zQ7lMNtvje6vuQeyTPaoJIEgjzEEI0iM9CdKp5rRA2bH+tuudE/Cb8MrMSV
xDxnrxvR+FuJlwlU4ENn4y9G7Tu7e2eABZNtWJnvu3InpRa6F3BlVayT+3quvpZ
Received: from localhost (internal.bluebottle.com [206.188.24.43])
(authenticated bits=0)
by fe0.bluebottle.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id m3E2okSY027460
for ; Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700
Received: from d58-108-78-244.dsl.nsw.optusnet.com.au (d58-108-78-244.dsl.nsw.optusnet.com.au [58.108.78.244])
by mail.bluebottle.com (IMP) with HTTP
for ; Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700
To: jayne@alternativebaby.net
Message-ID: <1208141446.4802c6861e996@mail.bluebottle.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700
From: User's Display Name
Subject: Catalogue :)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.2.2
X-Trusted-Delivery: <3e570d8e7e2453cbaa3cca9410d8b3b7>

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

"cc" -stands for "Carbon Copy
"bcc"-Blind Carbon Copy

This seems to be taken from the old pre-computer days of carbon paper placed in a typewriter to copy a letter or printed document. You would use both the above functions to send the same email to multiple recipients. Applications for the feature include memos sent around workplaces, invitations for parties/events, advertising (sometimes spam!), newsletters, or 3+ way email conversations between friends or work colleagues.
The "bcc" function is very useful to ensure recipient privacy. ie the recipient cannot see who else was sent email other than themselves. This is especially important in the case of business related mail outs, where recipients may not want their email addresses to appear visible to other recipients, thus exposing them to the danger of unwanted email solicitation (spam).

The "reply all" function is useful for group email discussions, either work related, or social (ie "where should we meet on Friday night?") However, care should be taken in it's use-it's bad "netiquette" to respond to a CC'd/bcc'd email with the "reply to all" function when your response is only of interest to the actual sender.

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

1. Check to see if the recipient has the program in which the document was created. Most PC and mac users these days have Microsoft Word, which is cross compatible across Mac and PC platforms. If you have the latest version, it does sometimes pay to backward save, to ensure users of older versions can open the document.

2. If users do not have the software, it can be a good idea to ensure the attachment is in a form readable by anyone-such as pdf format which is readable by anyone who's downloaded the free Adobe pdf reader software.

3. Saving the email file as a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) file.

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

Through the Cpanel on my website's web server, I have enabled "Spam Assassin" which labels any suspected incoming spam, thus sending it to the spam folder of my email program, which is set to high. I have included some screenshots below.

In addition my virus scanner is set to scan incoming email, and there is an additional virus scanner on the server.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
I have organised mail from yahoo groups and various other forums and organisations into their own folders using the "email rules and alerts" function in Outlook (see below)

The purpose of this for me is twofold; 1-it helps organise emails into the right place so I know to what it relates and I don't lose emails in the general clutter of my inbox, and 2-it means they are neatly sorted for referral to at a later time.

Traceroute

2008-03-25T01:36:00.000-07:00

TraceRoute to curtin.edu.au from http://network-tools.com/

There were 16 hops

Average time 250 ms

Curtin ip address is 134.7.179.53

134.7.179.53 is from Australia(AU) in region Oceana

TraceRoute to 134.7.179.53 [curtin.edu.au]

Hop

(ms)

IP Address

Host name

66.98.244.1

gphou-66-98-244-1.ev1servers.net

66.98.241.12

gphou-66-98-241-12.ev1servers.net

129.250.11.129

ge-1-11.r03.hstntx01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

129.250.4.237

xe-1-1-0.r21.hstntx01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

129.250.3.121

as-1.r21.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

129.250.5.90

xe-0-1-0.r03.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net

206

202

203

198.172.90.102

p4-1-1-0.r03.lsanca03.us.ce.gin.ntt.net

197

202

201

202.158.194.153

so-3-2-0.bb1.b.syd.aarnet.net.au

213

214

209

202.158.194.33

so-2-0-0.bb1.a.mel.aarnet.net.au

222

223

202.158.194.17

so-2-0-0.bb1.a.adl.aarnet.net.au

249

246

251

202.158.194.5

so-0-1-0.bb1.a.per.aarnet.net.au

249

246

249

202.158.198.178

gigabitethernet0.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au

246

249

202.158.198.186

gw1.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au

246

251

134.7.16.46

246

252

249

134.7.248.65

te1-1.b309-sr.net.curtin.edu.au

250

246

134.7.179.53

Trace complete

FTP TASK

2008-03-25T00:26:00.000-07:00

Record your outcome and reflections of your experiences and thoughts on this task in your learning log

This one was a piece of cake as I've FTP'd numerous times to my own websites. It was interesting trying out a different FTP client for the purposes of this exercise however, being Ipswitch WS_FTP. I found this a very good FTP client, the interface is simple and uncluttered, and less confusing than other ftp clients I have tried.

In answer to the question, "according to the readme file, 'CAPITALIZATION MATTERS'

Module 1, Task B

2008-03-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

Module 1, Task B: Record your reflections of your experiences and thoughts about blinkinlights in your learning log! What do you think about Telnet now? Think about histories and creativity - think about technical needs or technical issues and problems... and how they might mutate to produce new applications, new needs or movements!

Well this was cute, in an old school, geeky kinda way :-D I can imagine a few nerds had a LOT of fun creating that. It certainly highlights how far technology has come, yet I imagine it involves a lot of complex programming knowledge to make something like that. Not MY forte, but I can certainly appreciate the skill involved. It does take me back to my childhood, playing "Space Invader" type video games on those old arcade machines! I can also appreciate the melding of mathematical/programming "left brain" type skills with creative, storytelling, and artistic "right brain" skills. Watching this for too long is rather hard on the eye, and I could only watch it for so long before fighting the urge to close my eyes to protect them from the harsh glare. Certainly, useability uissues would have been one reason why developers of such applications needed to srtive to create new, more user friendly, visually appealing mediums.

Module 1 Task A: Telnet

2008-03-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

Assessment Task A "Record your outcome and reflections of your experiences and thoughts on this task in your learning log"

Well I'd never even heard of telnet, let alone used it. After a bit of googling, and looking up the help tips for using telnet with Windows Vista, I discovered I simply had to activate telnet from within the control panel. No problem. This funny looking window pops up, rather reminiscent of the nslookup control prompt used to check domain name servers, and internet connections and such (I only have limited experience with this too. After familiarising myself with the commands available, it was very straightforward to look up the author name "Bennahum" and get it emailed to my Curtin email address. I have included a screen shot of said email below:

This seems a rather old fashioned medium to me-it reminds me of the old days where everything was DOS based. I hated computers back then! If I'd told my 20 year old self back in 1992 I'd be studying Internet Studies in 2008 I'd have laughed in my own face at the absurdity of the concept :D I like my nice WYSIWYG interfaces thank you very much. I'm a very visually oriented person. Having said this, the telnet client was very easy and straightforward, so it's simplicity does have something to recommend it.

Top five tips for new bloggers...

2008-03-05T05:55:00.000-08:00

Decide what your blog is about. Is it personal, business, family..who are your readers going to be? What is your demographic/target market?
Find the right blogging software to suit your needs, and web design ability (or lack thereof!). There are sites which will help you create your blog with easy to use templates, and hosting is included free.Otherwise, if you have your own domain name and web space, and/or a bit of html knowledge, you can create a more customised blog. So go forth-create and upload your blog!
Decide on a colour theme and graphic style for your blog. This should reflect both your personal tastes and the theme of the blog. For example, a hard industrial look will not suit a baby blog; a stark black background may be difficult for vision impaired or the elderly to read.
Research other blogs for ideas. Try Google Blog search if you are unfamiliar with blogs and blogging.
Enjoy! Blogging can open up a whole wide new world of shared knowledge, ideas and networking!

Intro

2008-03-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

Hi, this blog has been created as part of my studies for the course I am studying through Open Universities via Curtin university-Bachelor of Arts-Internet Studies. This is a learning log for the unit "NET 11-The Internet-Communications".

Ok boring stuff over, off to customise the blog a bit ;-)