Topic 4 Tasks

Programs I downloaded for topic 4:
The first program I decided to try was bookmark buddy. It’s a great idea to have a program to help manage bookmarks. However I think the program has to be intuitive and easy to use with ‘drag and drop’ an absolute must for any current program. This program ‘bookmark buddy’ frustrated the hell out of me and I found it to not be intuitively designed at all. On the bright side it did encourage me to arrange my bookmarks in an orderly fashion – so I went to the firefox ‘organize bookmark’s’ option and arranged them how I wanted in less than two minutes.
The suggested other programs such as flash and shockwave players, media players, adobe, etc are all programs I already use frequently.
Both the links: ‘Using Web Search Tools’ and ‘Specialised Databases’ are out of date and no longer effective. As an Alternative I visited: www.monash.com/spidap.html which is a guide to using search engines.


How Search engines work:
Metatags are used differently by many different search engines. Some search engines rely heavily on metatags while others like Google don’t use them at all. Having the right keywords in the header for your webpage will assist in achieving a desirable position on search engines that index meta tags. In order to receive as many hits as possible you should use different meta tags on each page of your website.
Search engines use programs called web crawlers to maintain updated lists of sites. These programs methodically search the web looking for new and updated pages. They do this by searching through domains and sites. They usually start by visiting a existing list of URL’s called seeds. They identify any hyperlinks on the website follows these and adds them to them URL list.
There are three characteristics of the World Wide Web that make it difficult to maintain the URL list.

These are:
• The huge size of the internet
• Rapidly changing sites and addresses
• Dynamic page generation

A study by Lawrence and Giles (2000) suggests that no website indexes more than 16% of the internet due to the sheer bulk of the internet (Wikipedia 2008) which suggests that no single search engine will provide all possible relevant results. Another weakness is that crawlers may only search HTML headers and avoid all other header types potentially missing out many relevant sites.


Search Engine Task:
The other program I downloaded was ‘Copernic Agent Basic’ which is software designed to search multiple search engines at once. The words I searched for were ‘Silat Perisai Diri’ which is a martial art. It is quite uncommon and would thus provide a suitable challenge to this ‘super search software’. I got 29 results using Copernic of which around 27 were relevant. When I typed the same phrase into Google however I received pages and pages of responses. Considering that a lot of things Google turns up is irrelevant I went to the next two pages of the Google results and they still seemed to be pretty relevant. This is when I noticed that it is possible to select the amount or results from each search engine. When I increased the maximum amount suddenly I had many more results. On the whole it seems to be a useful program for finding the most relevant links however I feel strangely disconcerted that Google is not one of the search engines searched.





Something interesting I found was the position of the two Youtube videos. Using the Google search they are ranked fourth and fifth most relevant while they don’t show up at all on Copernic. Intrigued I proceeded to view the page source code and discovered that all the pages listed in the top five of both Copernic and Google had all three keywords in the header. The first Youtube video shown on Copernic came in at position twenty. I also noticed that the first ten results from Copernic had at least one of the key words in the URL address. This may have something to do with the ordering of results in Copernic. As all the top ranked results had the keywords in their header it seems that meta tags are vital for both Copernic and Google and having the right keywords in meta tags will result in the highest hits. I would suggest that based on Copernic using multiple search engines it would search a larger amount of the web than Google. It also seems to position the results more logically for academic purposes while Google places Youtube videos high on the list of results. I would probably try both if looking for academic material but have a higher expectation of Copernic. Google on the other hand would be my first choice for general ‘stuff’ that might include videos or other sources.

Boolean Searches:
‘or’ – This searches for one or the other keyword or both keywords together in the same document. The more keywords entered using ‘or’ logic the larger the amount of results that will be found.
‘and’ – This provides results containing only pages with both keywords. The more keywords entered using ‘and’ logic the smaller the number of outputs will be.
‘not’ – This provides only pages containing one of keywords that deliberately avoids showing websites that contain the second keyword.
We return now to my trusty search term: ‘Silat Perisai Diri’. Google was used for this experiment.

Silat or Perisai or Diri = 26,600,000 results. After the third site the sites became rather unrelated so I modified the search to only show websites showing all the keywords.

Silat and Perisai and Diri = 11,600 results

Silat and Perisai and Diri and PD= 3280 results

I decided this was still too many so I modified my search to exclude Penjak / Pencak Silat from the searches as this is a different style. Therefore I modified my search to:

Silat “perisai diri” OR PD –Penjak –Pencak = 37,800 results

The conclusion I have reached is that it is not necessarily advantageous to limit the search terms too much. When I used the not Boolean (- sign in google) the results missed many useful pages simply because they mentioned the parent martial art. In my view the most useful result was returned using the following:
Silat “Perisai Diri” OR PD.

This returned the result equivalent to Silat AND (‘Perisai Diri’ OR PD) with the brackets being searched first. This resulted in 56,300 results. I randomly skipped to page six of the results and found that most of the results even on page six were relevant.

Google uses implied Boolean search terms with an easy to fill out template found under ‘advanced search’. It doesn’t however allow you to enter more than three ‘OR’ terms however these can be added by simply including OR between additional keywords.
Organising search information task:

URL: www.silatpd.org
AUTHOR: Perisai Diri Kommisariat Australia
INSTITUTION: Perisai Diri Kommisariat Australia
BLURB/SUMMARY: Perisai Diri or 'the shield of oneself' originated in Indonesia. Pencak Silat is a family of martial arts found in the archipelagos of Indonesia.
Perisai Diri or PD has been in Australia for approximately 25 years. Perisai Diri can be trained effectively without acquiring injury due to its unique training methods. These methods aim to encourage friendship and minimise injury. (www.silatpd.org 2008)


URL: www.perisaidiri.com
AUTHOR: Silat PD United Kingdom
INSTITUTION: Silat Pd United Kingdom
BLURB/SUMMARY: “Silat is the ancient Indonesian art of self-defence ― a tradition with extraordinary subtlety, depth, and power.
Founded by the late grandmaster Bapak RMS Dirdjoatmodjo, Perisai Diri (literally ‘shield of oneself’) is a synthesis of many silat styles that seeks the essence of the art. Each self-defence form, each block or punch, has layers of nuance and meaning.
Our teaching method is specially designed for the use and benefit of men, women and children of all ages and levels of fitness, from all walks of life.
Those who dip their toe into this art will develop health, balance and a sense of well-being, naturally, effectively and without injury.
Those who immerse themselves completely will develop hidden resources of self-protection, physical fitness, inner confidence, and spiritual harmony.” (www.perisaidiri.com 2008)

URL: www.silatpd.usa.com
AUTHOR: Silat PD USA
INSTITUTION: Silat PD USA
BLURB/SUMMARY: This website is the homepage of Silat PD USA. It has a message board for all Silat PD lovers and attracts comments from around the world. The head of Silat PD USA Mas Yana also uses the site to describe several techniques of Silat PD and to market his self Authored books and discussion forums / seminars. One of the key functions of Silat PD is to learn from each other and share knowledge with each other; this website serves as a hub to enable this communication. (www.silatpdusa.com 2008)

I recorded this information using Microsoft word 2007. The information was found using Google and visited using firefox 3.0. I also added the links into my firefox bookmarks in a folder I created called: ‘PD’ for future reference.


Evaluating Web Search Results
As the specified webpage was unavailable I Googled the keywords ‘evaluating websites’ and chose the following site as the most relevant result: www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
I will use evaluation criteria from this site to evaluate: www.silatpd.org/.

What does the URL tell you?
The url domain(.org) tells me that this site is registered as belonging to an non-profit organization. It also doesn’t appear to be a personal page due to the short concise address with no funny symbols like ~ that would indicate that it may be a personal site.

Is it published by a company that makes sense?
The website is published by the ‘Perisai Diri Kommisariat Australia’. As this is the official organization teaching Silat PD in Australia it seems reasonable that they may make a website promoting their goals.

Look for links on perimeters including such things as: ‘about us’, ‘last modified’ etc
There is an extensive ‘about us’ section on this site describing the history of the martial art, the organization, and the organization in Australia. There are also numerous newsletters offered with the most recent being ‘March 2008’. It would appear that the website is both legitimate and regularly maintained. The page is unfortunately not dated however the information it contains is not likely to rapidly go ‘out of date’ as it’s a traditional style which is virtually unchanged since 1955.

Who wrote the page? What are their credentials?
It was written on behalf of the Perisai Diri Kommisariat Australia and they have the authority and credentials to write about the subject as they head the Australian organization.

Evaluate website using Alexa
The website: www.silatpd.org has a rating of 6,160,574 which is very low. Other ratings provided by alexa are also very limited as the website is outside of the top 100,000 websites and only the top 100,000 websites have detailed information provided. If this was an academic source or large organization this would be of concern; however, considering that there is approximately 100 members in Australia and that it is an obscure and unpopular martial art these ratings are to be expected.

Does it all add up?
Yes. The domain, author, authorizing organization, web links, Alexa rating etc are all precisely as would be expected given the nature of the organization and the website.

Which measures are you likely to use in the future?
I think that most of the things listed are things I have intuitively learnt to search for to verify a websites authority. One of the key things I will use in the future is to examine the web address and just generally ‘notice’ when something expected is missing from the page. When something is missing it usually tends to glare into my eyes. Other aspects are required for academic reasons such as modified date so I will also notice these details.

Topic 4 Reflection

The discussion now turns to programs that we download from the net. Key examples of programs that I download regularly (along with each format) are: Adobe, Java runtime environment, Spybot S&D, Avast Antivirus, Quick time alternative, Real Alternative… the list goes on. All of these programs are available either in free version or unlimited trial version. Several of the program like Quick and Real alternative have been written by independent programmers to replace the horrid programs: Quicktime and Realplayer. These programs come bundled with a huge amount of rubbish / useless features or advertising making them unfriendly to my computer (or vice versa). This is a key example of the advantages brought by a ‘free’ world wide web as opposed to a monopolized one. Arguably such programs cut down revenues of the company producing the original product and may limit research and development but I would argue the opposite as people are obviously motivated enough to make alternatives when there becomes a need.

Pdf:
This format was released in its first form by adobe in 1993 as a OS independent file form for transferring files. It had a slow uptake due to size of pdf files being larger than normal text files. However pdf has now gained widespread acceptance and recognition and is a commonly used format providing some features over text files such as allowing the file to be ‘locked’ preventing copying.
Flash/Shockwave

More recently flash has allowed users to not only view complicated moving images (such as gifs) but also interact with them. On my travels on the web I have even found a ‘world of warcraft’ flash game which allows the player to complete a mission in exactly the same manner as they would playing WOW. Flash and shockwave animations have greatly increased peoples experiences on the web by immersing them in interactive content.

Java
This was originally developed for purposes other than the internet but soon became very popular. It allows programmers to write in one code (java) that functions across platforms. Other advantages of java are that it is small and freely available due to it being ‘open source’. It is quite secure and can be configured for additional security making it very popular among program coders.

Video:
As mentioned previously I far prefer quicktime and real alternative. These are small efficient programs that run in media player classic (also free with windows) and free from advertising and rubbish. However these are by no means sufficient for video formats encountered on the web. Three other notable formats I would mention are: Divx, Xvid, and Matroska. These are called ‘codecs’ meaning: ‘compressor-decompressor’. Alternate definitions have been put forward. However they have essentially the same meaning with slightly different wording. A codec allows video to be compressed into an encoded file that is smaller than the original file. However this compressed file needs a codec to decompress it again for viewing. The whole point of this exercise is simply to create smaller files for transfer between computers or a website and a computer.

DivX: This codec was rapidly popularized from 1998 to 2003 by dvd ripping and movie sharing making it one of the most popular codecs available (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divx). Later Divx players (divx format compatible dvd players) were released increasing its popularity.

Xvid: A more recent competitor which is now the primary competitor to the Divx codec. Xvid is however freely available under GNU general public license making it more popular than Divx.

Matroska: The most recent codec (that I’m discussing) it started development in 2002. Acceptance was slow with it first gaining foothold in the anime industry due to its ability to ‘hold’ multiple language and subtitle tracks. It is open source software that is currently becoming ever more popular for audio and video files.

The Deep web
This speaks of information that cannot be found from the usual search engines such as yahoo, google etc. It is also called the invisible web, or the hidden web as ‘its’ information is not accessible via search engines. This information is typically found on websites that aren’t registered with a search engine or is kept in a database that the search engine cant ‘see’. This may be due to either the type of document the information is contained on (for example in the middle of a table or spreadsheet) or it may be behind a security barrier such as password protection. It is estimated that there is approximately 7500 terabytes of this hidden data (wikipedia 2008).

Evaluating data
This is one of the most crucial skills necessary on the internet. While there is much data available on the net there is much less that could be associated with a reputable source. For example, when I argue a topic on shoutwire or write a editorial it is crucial to use reputable sources. Basing your opinion on somebody else’s opinion will result in you being torn to shreds in seconds as others criticize your unfounded writing. Naturally this also applies to university where a higher standard of sources is expected to back up a opinion. The first step I always do when evaluating data is to look at the web address. If the address reads: www.microsoft.com it is a safe assumption that the website is actually Microsoft and that the opinions stated are those of the Microsoft corporation or author affiliated with it. If the address says something like www.blogspot.microsft.com then this immediately should raise suspicions as to its authenticity. Another point is to check the ending three letters of a URL. Common endings include:

.edu (educational such as school or university however may also contain student pages)
.gov (government)
.com (commercial)
.net (commercial)
.org (organization)

The country it is registered in is often also visible using two letters such as: .au (Australia) .de (Germany) .at (Austria) etc.
Following the basic address check I examine who the website is associated with. Often I have found ‘student resources’ on websites (mostly unreputable) but sometimes on examination of the website you will discover that it is funded by a major government organization. In this case it may well be reputable and present valid ideas and information./p

Module 3

Module 3

This week started out with a discussion of the history of the world wide web and discussion of several of the used protocols. It hit me at this precise moment that I live in a very amazing time. The world wide web only really took off in 1993 due to protocols suggested by Tim Berners Lee. Shortly afterwards Netscape became the first easy to use GUI. It quicly captured market dominance by 1995 (Wikipedia 2008). The following browser war between Netscape and Internet Explorer resulted in many Buggy releases and Internet Explorer ultimately becoming the victor of the first round. Several important protocols that were instrumental in the development of the web are:
HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. This is the underlying protocol for the world wide web and defines how all communications are formatted and transmitted. It is the ‘language’ of the internet that allows communication.
URL: Uniform Resource Locator. This can be thought of as the address of a webpage similar to the street address of a house. If you want to visit you have to know the address (or ask a search engine to find it)!!!
HTML (also shtml for the secure version): Hyper Text Markup Language. This defines the layout and structure of web pages to enable a browser to interpret the information. It could be thought of as similar to the rules of our grammar and language that create a specific standard by which we interpret the information we receive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars

Linear vs Non Linear Documents:
A linear document is one that is read in an ordered manner from start to finish. A novel is an example of such a document as the reader starts at the front and reads through to the finish. The reader is expected to understand all sections they have read prior to the point they are up to and not know the content in the following sections.
Non linear documents are documents containing small pieces of information that can be read independently such as dictionaries or websites with links. Referring back the argument of Professor Karin Wenz I would however suggest that a non linear document is in fact a collection of small linear documents. A dictionary contains sentences that are expected to be read in a linear fashion and as Prof. Wenz argues if a piece does not follow a logical sequence or order it is difficult for our mind to interpret. As such even non linear documents follow the rules of linearity inside each section that is expected to be read independently. Even when reading multiple of these supposedly independent sections (as discussed in the html section) I would still suggest that while a formal linear structure no longer exists the reader is still bound by their own logic processes which would (usually) move in a definite ‘linear’ fashion as the mind jumps from one node to the next.

Next I completed the book of the Sand puzzle. I was expecting there to be some twist or some revelation and was rather disappointed that plain old logic solved the puzzle so easily. It does however demonstrate how linear thought operates and how thoughts strung together in a specific order are necessary for a narration to make sense.
Blogs:
I regularly post blogs on one of the news sites I visit (as I may have mentioned previously) However my blogs are very different to the ‘purest form’ of blogging. Frankly hearing about the day to day activities of a nondescript person (although that last assertion would be argued against by bloggers) bores me. Articles I post are matters of interest or topics I wish to discuss including politics, society, social theories, and generally scientific things.
Web 2.0
The key features of web 2.0 as I understand it are that it is an ‘uncontrolled’, user driven resource. It is a place where anyone can write and post articles, where the end users are also the moderators (meaning they access and censor articles themselves). The java revolution is also crucial as it allows users to manipulate an online environment in ways never previously possible. This has of course led to a battle between Microsoft and Google to control the new technologies being offered based on java in various forms. A large driver of ‘web 2.0’ seems to be free or cheap access to a huge variety of sources. Many old industries are resisting this change especially in fields such as music and movies, however I’d say it is likely that many such things will eventually be very cheap to access. Personally, I’m all for more widely accessible data for lower costs. An example would be the music industry. Many start-up artists have great difficulty developing a following while record companies plunder profits of those that do ‘make it’. Falling production costs coupled with the ability to transfer data efficiently should hopefully even the industry out and reward those who truly do make original and high quality music

Module 3: The human mind and communication

I found the following topic (from a website in module 3) to be incredibly fascinating, however virtually impossible to read. To aid my learning I translated the website into english (haha) and summarized what I considered to be the main points. After completion I found several other relevant sources and decided to turn it into a Editorial post for a website I blog on and the following is the result. It can also be viewed at: http://www.shoutwire.com/comments/full/177269/For_it_Was_Written_Thou_Shalt_Fear_The_Day_Satan_Writes_an_Editorial_




The topic of the day is writing. However, we don’t look so much at the form of writing (grammar, words etc) but delve much deeper into the act of communication and the role our minds and imagination play in creating the reality we experience through the act of writing and reading.

According to Lotman’s thesis there is a parallel between consciousness, text, and our culture with all three representing our perception of space. Signs are included in text that we read in the form of key words and ideas that linearize this three dimensional space creating one dimensional language. Any article we read includes signs that help to create the reality of the virtual world we are reading and are guides for our imagination as we read (Iser’s hypothesis). Text could be thought of as a labyrinth or network of interconnected nodes with one pointing to the next or pointing to multiple other nodes which communicate with the reader by branching out into different ideas. This is especially so on the internet due to a multitude of hyperlinks and other distractions.

The mind reading the text reflects: ‘the cognitive conditions of unhindered vision and movement in space’ (Nöth 1995). To make sense of this limitless space our mind interprets the information by categorizing it and compartmentalizing it. There are generally two theories of how this is done:

The mind places information into ‘rooms’ similar to a house and moves from one room to the next in a rational argument

or

The mind functions by leaping from point to point; however is not limited as in the sense of putting information in ‘rooms’ and maintains much more open networks.

Although imagination has often been thought of using terms such as ‘artistic creativity, fantasy, and invention’ it has a much more important function. Imagination is primarily responsible for compartmentalizing information we receive into coherent units and putting them in logical order that we can understand (Johnson 1985). Imagination is central to cognition and reasoning permeating our spatial, temporal, and culturally formed understanding. Imagination is the link between perception, categorization and understanding; and is the basis for the creation of possible worlds such as ‘as-if and what-if’ scenarios.

Because imagination is so crucial text (in fact all communication whether oral, written, or sign language) includes ‘signposts’ that direct our mind and help us to orient ourselves. It is helpful now to consider communication to be a ‘code’ based on differences between characters. Jacques Derrida suggests that communication is in fact nothing more than a series of sign posts guiding our imagination down a specific path.

It is necessary now to divert for a second to examine a different key point of our imagination. The way we humans perceive our environment is affected by what could be termed as ‘velocity’. Imagine the difference between a pedestrian and a car driver. The car drivers imagination and perception includes distant landmarks and places that he can reach (due to his being in a car) while someone who is bound to only be on foot has a limited perception of what is within walking distance. Our minds as humans have drastically changed due to the invention of high speed transport that was unavailable only 100 years ago. In the same way the internet has ‘sped up’ our minds again and caused them to go into warp speed. A study has shown (sorry couldn’t be bothered finding the source again) that people who use the internet more than others are far more likely to ‘jump’ between ideas and websites in a ‘I want it now’ fashion than people who primarily read books (who have more patience). This hyperspeed mind has however had another result. While a pedestrian can enjoy every flower and smell; a car driver misses these minute details. In the same way we often skim over ‘minute details’ in the cyberspace world. This is clearly seen in abbreviations and net slang which has been shortened to accompany our mental patience: ‘coz, wot, sup’ etc are the product of our impatient minds.

There are three components that help us understand what we read. These are:

The sequence of words

The object of reference

The spatial environment

Within these bounds, space is never an unsemiotically given piece of reality (there are always signs that create our mental image of this space). Text is however more than a mere sequence of signs. Text depends on devices to form a cohesive structure using deixis, anaphora, or commands such as ‘see above’ etc. Using these devices; text is combined into cohesive structures we know such as paragraphs and chapters that allow the reader to orient themselves concerning their whereabouts in the idea or argument. An alert reader can also use this information to predict the following information which is a crucial skill for skim reading etc and helps with the overall logic of the argument. This is also a clear indicator of the linearity of a discourse or just general reading of text.

All this assists the reader to form a coherent picture of what they are reading. It should however be noted at this point that there are two parties creating this coherence. There is the writer creating the coherence via a (hopefully) logical writing style and the use of summarization; and also the reader who is having their imagination guided by a series of signposts left by the writer. The construction of coherence on the reader’s part is largely dependent on the reader’s knowledge and ability to interpret the signs correctly. To summarize; creating cohesion requires the writer to assist the reader to form logical connections between thoughts and arguments. ‘Unconnected’ chunks of information will leave the reader confused. However, it is ultimately the reader’s perspectives, mental processes (imagination), and culture that create the message that is received.

An interesting point to note is that words are not ‘words’ but signs representing a mental image called ‘Lexumes’. When I say: ‘room, hall, attic or corner’ these signs (words) create a mental image in your mind. Although one would think that there is no relationship between the word and the image this is not the case. Reflecting on the psychological effect of words; Ehrich (1989) states:’text communication is more about communication, aesthetics, and psychological effects than grammar’. That is, the virtual world the words create inside the readers mind is more important than the strict form the words take (ie grammar, speeling, etc) Even our language has been influenced by the mental image a word creates. Several scholars argue that the mental image has actually helped create the words we use for that image:
‘Consider the semantic opposition between cranny, nook, chest on the one hand and place or hall on the other. In these examples, the small spaces are expressed by means of short forms with a relative high phonetic constriction.’ Could it be words are often formed by ‘sound’ as in the example just shown with ‘small spaces’ tending to be formed from short sharp tones while words for open spaces are formed by longer sounds? (http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/ht/wenz/image.html)

Kristeva divides text into two axes: a horizontal and a vertical axis. The horizontal access is the connection between the author and the reader that is created through the text, and the vertical axis is the connection formed between the text and other texts (possibly connected by a thought or idea the writer or reader has subconsciously taken from elsewhere)(Kristeva 1980). These two axis create a two dimensional space with the actual message falling somewhere between the extremes with no fixed position. "The text is not a line of words but a multidimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash." (Barthes 1977)

The writer can create signs using imaginal iconicity (stylistic iconicity) in the text using techniques such as repetition, rhythm, duration, and tempo. These devices represent real world structures such as time, sequence, and quantity. Good writers can use these devices to delay or accelerate tempo in the story to make the protagonists’ experiences far more real to the reader (and provide details to the readers’ imaginary world). The most common examples of using such techniques are found in descriptive paragraphs or visual poetry (which attempt to paint a picture in the readers mind). This indicates the ‘virtual world’ created in the readers mind not only includes spatial features but also the dimension of time. However, in the readers virtual reality ‘time’ is not a fixed constant as we know it but a dimension that can be manipulated by our minds to either speed up or slow down. The only constant required is a linear sequence of thoughts that our minds can interpret.

It should be noted at this point that there is not one specific world that is created by a piece of writing. In fact, a unlimited multitude of ‘realities’ exist created along the guideline of the text, and formed by the external influences on both the writer, reader, and the text itself (as discussed previously). While text is constrained by borders, margins, chapters, grammatical rules, and paragraphs it should be noted that what is crucial is not the text itself but the imaginary reality it creates. The text is merely the window through which we view this alternate reality. This alternate reality is a combination of the reality we see, our perception of the world, our imagination, and the signposts created in the text itself.

Idea’s taken almost exclusively from Professor Karin Wenz, http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/ht/wenz/intertext.html

I hope you enjoyed my first editorial.
M