Information ecologies are defined by the authors as those 'local habitations', such as schools, homes, libraries, hospitals, etc., within which we have various roles and for which we may use information technology.
(Reference: Nardi B A and O'Day V L Information ecologies: using technology with heart. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-14066-7)
With this in mind, I looked at the questions
(1) “how might the metaphor of an ‘Ecology’ impact on the way I think about, understand and use the internet?”
“Information Ecology” is a term we talk about how we use and adapt to computers technology to communicate, learn, develop, and advance. Computers have become so established in society that not understanding some of the metaphor associated with them can disadvantage a person considerably.
Through this course, I become more aware of the wide variety of technologies and tools that are available to me to use and participate in this community, but how fast these technologies and tools are evolving and the need to keep abreast of the changes.
The word ‘ecology’ does seem to sum up and describe how diverse the internet is and how it is made up of many components that interact with each other. The concept surely changes my thoughts about the Internet because I realise how everything is dependant on everything else. I had never thought of it that way. The metaphor does not create a big impact on the way I think of the internet, but it does describe the complexity of the internet.
(2) “How are the concepts information and communication understood within the framework of an “Information Ecology”:
The concepts of information and communication in the framework of information ecology are complex. Information ecology seems to acknowledge the fact that information is what it is because it is created by humans and it will be influenced by and perceived differently when received by the other party at the other end.
Information is what is sent, communication is information sent that makes sense between two or more parties. Information is the knowledge communicated or received concerning some fact or circumstance and, communication is the means of transmitting, imparting, partaking of or receiving information.
Communication in the Information Ecology takes on many forms that have not previously been available to everyone in society. The progress of Web 2.0 with blogging, chat rooms, Facebook and MySpace, along with Wikis etc has broadened the range of vehicles in which the information and technologies can be spread. It has also made technological information and communication easier and more readily available to every levels of society.
(3) "Why don’t we talk of a communication ecology?"
As mentioned above, information and communication are closely interwoven. However it is the information that is the knowledge; communication is purely the means of spreading the knowledge. Communication is not the implied result of exchanged information.
I think the internet is still very young in term of the communication ecology. Some people are still trying to grasps with the basics of the internet (like what is social networking site, a blog and when should one used it); while others have become so absorbed by it that they think of it as tool.
Below are my other researches and studies on Module 5.
Module 5 covers a lot of concepts. Since I have done “Netiquette”, “Communication is not complete upon receipt”, “Threading” & “Privacy and Security” in my Assignment 2, I will not repeat myself here.
Asynchronicity……………………………………………see also Concept 8
Your audience’s use of communication...………...………see also Concept 6
Effective Internet communication combines technical and communicative competence………………………………….………….…see also Concept 7
Reflective Communicative Practice………………………see also Concept 7
The mobility of electronic digital data……………………see also Concept 3
Reading the difference between ‘surface’ metadata and ‘implied’ metadata……………………………………………………see also Concept 11
Netiquette………………………………………………..…see also Concept 3
The invisibility of difference…………………………….…see also Concept 1
Permanent ephemerality………………………… ………see also Concept 28
Automation…………………………… …………………see also Concept 23
The relationship of data to meta-data………………………see also Concept 6
Communication and Information are related………………see also Concept 32
Communication is not complete upon receipt……..………see also Concept 11
Cyberspace is informationally created ‘space’………….…see also Concept 15
Metaphors of use and communication differentiation……..see also Concept 32
Communication & communication management: melding...see also Concept 5
The impact of text-based real-time chat……………...……see also Concept 14
Non-speech communication through text: audience and authors’ responsibilities………………………………………………see also Concept 8
Public and Private………………….………………………see also Concept 22
Active communication generates identity awareness………….……see also Concept 28
Threading………………………………………………..…see also Concept 17
Public space and regulation……………………..…………see also Concept 32
Human-computer interfaces
Client-server two-way interactions…………………..……see also Concept 12
Identity and location…………………………………....…see also Concept 27
Privacy and Security…………………………………..…..see also Concept 28
The persistence of history…………………………..…..…see also Concept 23
The paradox of the World Wide Web……………….……see also Concept 23
The challenge of ‘fast’ data…………………………..……see also Concept 5
Frames: the information-display challenge…………………see also Concept 3
Hypertext: links or structure? ……………………..………see also Concept 28
Virtually a Library? ……………………………...………..see also Concept 16
Information and attention………………………………..…see also Concept 6
The above 33 concepts provide some very good reading materials.
Asynchronicity – removes the requirement that partners in a communicative transaction have to be co-existent in time (in the senders and receivers own time).
Your audience's use of communication - think about what receivers will do with information, not just what you have it in mind them to do.
Effective Internet communication combines technical & communicative competence – being a normal good writer does not necessarily mean that you will be good in internet communication. Effective internet communication requires technical and communicative skills.
Reflective Communicative Practice – Experience is the best teacher; instead of just doing the same thing over and over again, a person need to make each experience better by reflecting on past experiences and what could be improved.
The mobility of electronic digital data - It is very easy to send large amounts of data to lots of people electronically, and this can sometimes lead to excessive and not very useful information being received by users.
Reading the difference between 'surface' metadata & 'implied' metadata - The 'surface' metadata and the 'implied' metadata must both be explored if the whole message is to be received correctly.
The invisibility of difference – Everyone has his/her own different systems. When we do not know what other user system is, we will presume that their system is the same as ours.
Permanent emphemerality - Even though the internet sometimes seems impermanent, people should concede that their electronic communications could be easily stored and accessed for future reference thus be aware of the inherit implications.
Automation – Building automated technology is rapidly developing towards a more reliable communication system, devices that control electronic equipment. Power
Line communication has been one of the dreams of the electronics industry, especially for building automation. Now with the popularity of the internet, home/office automation might now see the light of the mass consumers
The relationship of data to meta-data - Meta-data can be used to better understand the data in a message.
Communication and Information are related - Information, in order to be useful to anyone, must be communicated.
Cyberspace is informationally created 'space' - Many sites have 'chat rooms': a created space where people meet and “chat”.
Metaphors of use and communication differentiation – Since the introduction of computers and the internet, metaphors have been used to describe what is new and how it is similar to something we are already aware of. These metaphors are used mainly to introduce people to the advances in technology without them feeling they are too overwhelming.
Communication and communication management: melding - The actual message and the way it was communicated are often expressed as the same thing as though they are the same thing; the fact is that they are two different things.
The impact of text-based real-time chat – Text-based real-time chat has been available on the internet since it introduction in 1988. As the technology has vastly improved, one might expect that this form of communication would have lost popularity, however this is not the case. Millions of people communicate using such tools as ICQ, Microsoft Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC and many more. Chatting in text, in real time retains the advantage of instant two-way communication whilst also allowing you to think through much more thoroughly what you wish to say. This kind of communication allows you to correct what you have written before transmitting.
Non-speech communication through text: audience and authors' responsibilities - Without the benefit of hand gestures, facial expressions or a knowledge of what is going on in the users’ environment and allow for this when communicating electronically --- we need to be aware that messages we send through online communication are done.
Public and Private – Communication carried out on a discussion board with hundreds of users is for general use; any communication of a private nature, involving only two parties, should not appear on a discussion board.
Active communication generates identity awareness – In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chat room, file sharing or other interactive system, but rarely if ever posts or participates. Hence, if you are part of a list, in order to get the full benefit of a list, you need to actively communicate with the group so that you will be included in the discussions and get more out of the list.
Public space and regulation - Regulating public space is necessary, it ensures that unnecessary noise is not created and the site does not get disordered.
Human-computer interfaces - Humans communicate with computers in a variety of ways. Early on there were options like the keyboard and the light pen. Over the years a number of human computer interfaces have been developed such as the mouse, the drawling tablet, and speech recognition programs. All of these interfaces require mediation between the human and the computer. This mediator is a hardware device that translates some sort of movement to a binary number that the computer can then process.
Client-server two-way interactions - File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the best example of client-server two-way interactions. Once this FTP is setup, it enables the user to turn their PC into a server. This enables clients to interact directly with this server computer. The client may be allowed, depending on preferences, to upload files as well as download file to the server computer. The server computer can upload information to be viewed by other clients, and can also use the FTP to download from other server’s.
Identity and location – www.dnsstuff.com is a valuable website. It provides DNS and networking tools. There are a number of free tools which are very helpful. It provides tools for testing domain names, IP’s and hostnames. The site and tools are particular useful for the trace route and ping task, it can be used for verifying whether a mail server is part of a spam database; checking for problems in regards to sending mail to a user or verifying who owns a domain or IP address. The HTML validator can also be used to validate websites, such as the Volcano Web.
It can assist people to locate servers or IP addresses. It enables people to trace route to a particular path to check for speed or delays with that particular service. This can be important when selecting and ISP or web server.
The dnnstuff.com website can also be linked with the Privacy and Security concept, as there are tools there to assist with checking suspicious IP addresses and suspicious emails. This can protect a user from unwanted emails and possible hacking.
The persistence of history - History enables us to have a better understanding of the past and present and gives an idea of where we can go in the future. Although the Internet is only half a century old, there has been a fantastic growth in the number of uses and the purposes for which the Internet is used. The Internet was not developed for the sake of machines or simply as a technological achievement. The Internet developed for the visionary purpose of facilitating the sharing of information amongst scientific and military researchers.
The paradox of the World Wide Web - The World Wide Web has two faces: a fun and easy presentation interface, and a complex and evolving technical underpinning.
The challenge of ‘fast’ data - Fast data is not always the best data, we need to ensure that our data comes from a reliable source.
Frames: the information-display challenge - Frames were introduced in the last century as a method of displaying information in a more convenient manner. The benefits of frames include the ability to display multiple things at once. There are so many issues with frames that makes it totally non feasible to use them as a base for a standard web page. Frames can make it difficult to hyperlink a website that uses frames. Frames can also cause difficulty with printing and searching. Overlooking this, there are some uses for frames – google image search uses frames to indicate the original location of the image and give the user an option to see the image in its original context.
Hypertext: links or structure? - Hypertext while in it's main definition is mainly concerned with structure; it is used to describe links in and between documents termed as "hyperlinks".
Virtually a Library? – No. The internet is not a library. It is a more like a “catalogue” where we can easily search and gain access to the information we require: the internet can return unwanted results and results of opinion.
Information and attention - With millions of websites online around the world at any one time, it’s first and foremost tasks is to have relevant metadata and links within the site so that it reaches the users in the first couple of seconds from a search engine when users search for a specific phrase.
We must be aware, when presenting information on the internet, that users are impatient and want information quickly and easily; they do not want to have to search for it, they want it displayed in front of them straight away. If it is not, the site will loose their attention, and is useless. What is the use of having the greatest site in the world, if users that are looking for your type of website could not locate it.
What the future of the internet might entail and how our understandings of ‘advanced internet use’ might change
This is the 21st Century; people will naturally want to go further into wireless technology usage: such as mobile phones, PDA phones and laptops just to name a few. Basically, communication wise, people just want to stay connected to other people via the internet links. No one wants to sit in front of a monitor all the time. That is why mobile units will always be popular. Mobile technology is the way of the future. Internet-enabled devices will always be popular. Whatever devices help to streamline the process of getting information from and to the internet will catch the eyes of the consumers.
Nowadays, young people seems to have more pocket money than ever. They will be the first to own these instruments. This is where the internet is headed.
As the technology becomes available to connect globally, we will become even less tied to location and more mobile. This will have a significant effect on the way we work and how we communicate with family and friends. At a local level, a technology called Bluetooth is designed to connect all our household and business devices together to allow seamless information sharing. So in a business meeting, electronic business cards can be swapped and diaries scanned for a suitable next meeting. And in the home, the TV could download schedules from the PC's Internet connection.
Wireless has already taken off in the form of `WiFi' (or 802.11a/b/g) devices, which have a medium range of around 20m, and are mainly used to connect PCs, laptops or PDAs to a broadband link...
The possibilities are limitless once the basic connections are in place, and most of these technologies are here already in some form or another; though it may be a few years before integration allow them to be mass-produced cheaply enough to become ubiquitous.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Module Four - Tasks
Downloading tools/ plug-ins task
In your learning log record which programs you downloaded and note which (if any) facets you think might prove useful.
Flash/Shockwave: I don't think there are any alternative programs for this one..
Media players: I have CCCP and VLC Player installed. Generally I use CCCP for playing files and VLC for streaming. Also I have Real Alternative installed. Quote: "Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer"
I don't have a search manager/combiner installed. I was going to try Glooton for Mac and Windows but the page was in french (and I'm running out of time, silly me.) On to Copernic, 'the desktop search solution you've been waiting for'. I really don't want to install this; I think this is going to take over my default Vista search, that I've finally for set up as I like it... On to the later tasks until I might need to install it.
edit: I needed to install Copernic Agent, and not Copernic Desktop Search...
5. Bookmark manager: Well I have Google Chrome, which last time I checked has a 900+MB internet cache, and all my bookmarks which I move from computer to computer on a USB stick..
6. Offline browser: >_<>
Searching the web - search engine task
I searched 'anime tv australia' into google. As in, Anime on TV in Australia, because Australia has little Anime on free-to-air channels..
The first result:
Anime On Aussie Tv - DTV Forum Australia. Sweet.
Copernic:
1. www.jbhifi.com.au
2. www.GraysOnline.com.au
3. www.TheElectronicDiscounter.com.au
4. WebPrice.com.au/Bravia/LCD/TV/
Now this is sad.. They are sponsored results, but they aren't even remotely related..
5. www.animeaustralia.com
6. http://www.fansub.tv/published.php/4211/Anime%20Australia/
7. http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=52780 (the first result of the google search)
8. http://www.ask.com/bar?q=anime+tv+australia&page=1&qsrc=0&zoom=Anime+TV +OnlineAnime +Internet+TV Anime+TV +Series&ab=0&u=http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=52780 (the same thing, but redirected through a different search engine...)
9. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/1998-08-09/evangelion-to-show-on-australia-tv (the third result of the google search)
Boolean searching task.
Most results: anime or tv or australia
Most relevant: anime and tv and australia
From university sources: ?!?!?! did I miss something?
I have a feeling that 'or' and 'and' didn't work with google... ie. i can't search for 'cats not dogs' but I can search 'cats -dogs'.
Organising search information task
I don't quite understand this task. Usually I work in real time and do my searching when I need it, not all at the start.. Bibliography is also worked in realtime, into a MS Word document..
Evaluating the web
I’ve chosen to evaluate this particular site, which is dated January 12, 2009.
http://www.digimorph.org/index.phtml
This article was expertly written by professionals from the University of Texas, Austin, and then catalogued in this archive by the National Science Foundation Digital Library at UT Austin. The article is well referenced and professionally written.
The article gives a brief description on Anomalepidid snakes and other specimens on information such as characteristics, habitat and habits. It is designed to be a brief reference for research purposes and university use.
Details of the early blind-snakes (Anomalepidid snakes) can also be found in the following web-site.
http://www.anat.sunysb.edu/kleylab/Kley(2003a).pdf
Blogging ..and then Web 2.0
Consider various uses for blogs such as citizen journalism and personal blogging. Have you seen in your net travels any interesting uses for blogs?
All of the blogs that I have encountered are for personal blogging. Like this blog about the adventures a mother was having raising her kids. Or someone writing up what they thought about a movie.
I don't know how, but I (as far as I can tell) have not read any/or many blogs on citizen journalism, as regarding 'important' events in the first person...
I find as I have explored, blogs are a place where a person, can simply write anything they wish, their own personal space on the web.
Of course, if you read a few lines of someone's blog and don't find it interesting, is it too bad for you or too bad for them?
HTML vs Web 2.0; Whats the difference between the two? what are the benefits? which format do you think you would like better and why?Web 2.0 can be thought of as a live database, with a frontend in the form of a dynamic webpage. A bad front end cannot compare with well laid out HTML page with the same information.
In this case I would say blinklist definitely has the upperhand as the HTML page has no formatting whatsoever (besides the hyperlinks), but I really cannot appreciate the google ads(on blinklist), which are currently, "Anuncios Google|Young Model|فیلم|Tatuajes|Little Girls". Kind of creepy. Of course a plain ol' HTML page can still have advertisements on it a la Tripod.
With a little CSS, the HTML page would be on a more level playing field for viewing, except for the fact that it would still be trouble to update it, unlike Blinklist, which is designed for this, ie a single click to bookmark something vs 3 mins of writing up html code.
Also, for blinklist, other people can contribute to the same tags, which is good, however, a tag may mean a different thing to you than it does to someone else..
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Module 3 - Tasks HTML
The only thing that took me so long to figure out is how to change the description from 'none' to something, anything else..
After about three sweeps of the Presentations page, I checked some other people's pages and noted that their html page titles were what was the description in Presentations. Logging in and out of myWebCT, I remembered that I had saved my file in UTF encoding, as to preserve some character symbols I had in my page.
Saving the file again in ANSI encoding and uploading it, the description immediately changed from 'none' to 'BenQ Joybook S42 Review'.
*cough*has anyone at NET 11 been to NotebookReview.com before?*cough*
After I wrote up the page (with more content than html....), I felt great. But after all of the troubles in getting it uploaded properly, I just feel a little frustrated...
Also, the zip and unzip function is the best!!
The differences between html and blogging isn't really a fine line. HTML is coding, writing up the pages that will hold the content, and the way the content is displayed, and blogging is writing the content itself.
Regarding copyright, I used the general NotebookReview.com review format and their benchmarking format.. but this is generally for personal use, isn't it alright? nooo
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
My first post in ages: Module 2 - Tasks. >_<
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?
2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?
Reply, generally when responding to a message from a single person. CC is useful when sending to people related, but not directly involved. BCC is useful if you don't want the others to know... perhaps when a third-party is involved... but I've never wanted to use it because I don't like this notion of secrecy.
3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?
With the graphical interfaces in todays e-mail programs generally means issues like encoding have been dwarfed into the background. Usually I like to send files in standard format like Microsoft (bleh?) Office or PDF files. Once someone sent me a file saved in Microsoft Works and I couldn't open it without downloading a huge file converter program. Also, I usually ZIP files to make them smaller, so less bandwidth and transfer time.
4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
I visit some forums with auto-notification if there is a reply in any thread that I have written it. Most auto-notification emails come with standard lines, such as 'has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled' and all emails with that line, go into my 'updates' folder. That sadly is the only filter I am using.
5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
I've had my main email account since the start of high-school and, I didn't use folders then and I don't use them now.. With the inbuilt email search function, I can generally find an email if I need it, but in my position, email is not a critical thing, and what I have is an inbox of hundreds of emails (from friends, family, business mixed into one,.) and a single folder as above for forum replies.
Re: Lists
I like what David Griffith wrote on this.
So basically, mailing lists are good for low-traffic stuff with a single email gaining your attention when you need it and this single email can be filtered into a folder so it doesn't get lost in the hole that is my email inbox..
Re: Chat
link.
Never really came around to doing the group task. >_>
I am tired.
I have work tomorrow, but I have a day off on ..Thursday of all days.
It is now a-quarter-to-twelve and I am going to sleep.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Concepts Document Last Updated
Last updated: 4th February 2009.
I would edit the original post, but Google Chrome will ruin the formatting of the doc... I know it.
I realise my concepts post has a certain comment on it, but somehow I can't be willed to delete it...
Blogging of tasks for modules 2-4 to come in a few days.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Assignment 2 – Conceptual research and reflection project
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.” (Curtin University of Technology – Internet Communications SP4 2008)
“Netiquette” is a word we cannot find in a normal dictionary. It means network etiquette. By etiquette, according to The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary, it means “conventional rules of personal behaviour in polite society.” Hence Netiquette refers to etiquette and courtesy on the Internet communications. It describes the good and bad manners of people in communication online. We live in a society with rules and laws, and this also applies to the Internet.
Every time we communicate electronically, we are typing our thoughts on a key board in front of a computer screen. We are not in physical interaction with the persons we are communicating with. This means that care must be taken when we communicate with someone online. It is easy to be rude online than it is in a face to face environment. It is important, therefore, not to say anything in online communication that we would not, otherwise, say to people to their face. Hence we must carefully plan the contents of our communications before we transmit them.
This is what “Netiquette” is all about: the rules and concepts of what is good and what is bad in net communications. Learning the “rules” of netiquette requires both practice and trial and error, to communicate effectively online. This concept may vary amongst different Internet communities. Sometime, different places online have different versions of acceptable Netiquette. Something that may be “fine” to say somewhere could be perceived as incredibly “rude” elsewhere. Situations do differ. The only way for us to combat this problem is firstly to do some groundwork; then study the information from the discussion boards and get a feel of how people in certain community communicate, before we conduct our online communication.
It pays to be polite with the wording in our messages. Our online communications must also be concise and informative, or they will not be well regarded. Our communications reflect our personality.
It is not good manners to go around correcting others mistakes in face to face communication and nor is it online. Care must be taken when pointing out errors to others. Always give the benefit of the doubt and assume the mistake was not intentional.
No one likes people with bad behaviour, which is why we have rules and concept. Behaving badly on the Internet can backfire. Discussion boards can keep posts up for a long period time before they are removed. Bad email messages are there for everyone to read. People’s comments are posted for the world to see, so show respect for others and that will generate an overall better netiquette for the world.
An important concept of Netiquette is that we must try to make things as pleasant and as enjoyable for other Internet users. An experienced Internet user can usually direct or teach new users how to effectively communicate online and thus improves the learning experience for everyone.
There never will be one set of netiquette rules for the whole World Wide Web, but as the old saying goes, “it does pay to treat people how you would like people to treat you”. The administrators of the forums and websites monitor will try to keep their websites within their own set of netiquette rules.
Site 1: Title: The Rules of Netiquette
Shea, V., (1994). Netiquette. (Retrieved December 29, 2008)
from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
This website is built largely from extracts from the above writer’s book. Virgina Shea’s name is widely known in online-literature. This site contains some very interesting overview of Netiquette. Internet users should follow in Internet communication. ‘The Core Rules of Netiquette’ embraces many of the ideas covered in the Concepts document articles. The main point that Shea wants to make is to respect the other people in the cyber-world. Netiquette is useful and necessary. While it will not necessarily be followed faithfully, it does give something to look at, to the people that want to act respectfully on the Internet.
Site 2: Title: Student Guide: Netiquette
Macquarie University (2004). (Retrieved December 29, 2008)
Macquarie University Online Teaching Facility from
http://online.mq.edu.au/docs/neti.html
This Macquarie University website offers another view on Netiquette. It contains a list of guidelines for Network Etiquette which has been designed for learners to adapt and use to develop their own set of guidelines. It is useful and has a very practical application of the concept. With sub headings, such as: General politeness; Characteristics of online discussions; Hints for new users: this website is mainly aimed at beginners and those not so familiar with use of the Internet. It gives the readers a brief overview of what is involved, and acts as an introduction that may lead to further research.
Concept #13. Communication is not complete upon receipt
“The key to effective email management is to consistently and conscientiously respond to and act upon the email you receive, while recognising that others may not be as efficient as yourself.”
(Curtin University of Technology – Internet Communications SP4 2008)
“Communication is not complete upon receipt.” The truth of this statement, from the “concepts” point of view, lies in the fact that not all emails sent are read upon receipt. With today’s use of online communication, emails have become one of the most popular forms of communication. Communication is not complete unless both the sender and the receiver of emails respond properly.
Anyone can send out an email and assume that the recipient has read and acknowledged what the email was about, but that is only an assumption that this has happened. The email may not have been received, or the receiver may have seen it but got distracted, and forgot all about it. The person has not gone through with the information on the email due to human error and it has been processed incorrectly. This is the problem we face when dealing with email communication, there are always allowances for human errors.
On the receiving side, reading email is just like reading a newspaper or a magazine; people would normally view the headlines first, and find out what they want to read. The headline in a newspaper provides two things: it grabs our attention and informs us what the article is about; so we can decide whether or not we want to continue reading. Email subject lines need to do the same thing. We use the subject lines to inform the reader of what the email is about, in a few well-chosen words. We can include a title such as "Please respond by September 11".
If the sender includes the information in a long message without proper subject title, it will take the receiver a long time to find the right information.(1) When people get emails, most of them do not want SPAM or Junk mails. Appropriate use of the subject line, therefore, is important, as it increases the chances of our email being viewed and not deleted without being read. Leaving the subject line blank is also not a good practice.
Emails with proper subject lines will attract the receiver’s attention. And this will stop important emails from getting unread or deleted by mistake.
Even though emails are a form of asynchronous communication, the key factor in email management is the response time. Each person’s expectation of an acceptable response time, in which they should receive a reply, will vary from case to case. It is good practice to be consistent with response times and not leave emails unattended to for an extended period. If a question cannot be answered immediately, it is a matter of courtesy to respond as such to the sender. Even though a solution may not have been reached, the sender will feel satisfied that the email has been acknowledged or will be read in the not so distant future.
Responding to an email is the key to effective communication. Good communication is like a circuit; both ends of the wires must meet to form a circuit. Effective email communication requires both parties to fully comprehend the context of an email.
Site 1: Title: Request Read Receipt
Amit Agarwal on January 25, 2008. 2004-2009 Digital Inspiration – “Get a Read Receipt when friends open your email messages”. (Retrieved January 10, 2009) from:
http://www.labnol.org/internet/email/check-yahoo-gmail-email-read-receipts/2150/
Sometime, when we send out highly classified documents or information via email, we want to know if it has been:
(a) Delivered.
(b) Acknowledged by the recipient
Obviously we can physically request the recipient to acknowledge a reply upon receipt. However, it is also useful to use Microsoft Outlook with Exchange Server, as we can easily request read receipts and get notified when our email is opened by the recipients.
The only problem is that not every recipient will have a “read receipt’ feature turned on. Also, support for such tracking receipts is varied by email clients (for example, web email clients such as Hotmail or Yahoo! do not have this feature).
Site 2: Title: E-mail Read Receipt
World Start (No date). Tip #3273 - E-mail Read Receipt.
(Retrieved January 8, 2009) from:
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/3273
This is another useful webpage that offers preventative measuring “tips” on “email read receipts”. It has information on how to set up read receipts on the computer for Outlook Express users. The step by step process in activating the read receipts is especially useful to beginners using the popular Outlook Express email program.
The site only offers information to assist the sender to keep track of the email once it has been sent. However, due to the nature of the technology, e-mail tracking cannot be considered an absolutely accurate indicator that a message was opened or read by the recipient.
Concept #21 – Threading
“Threading is what makes discussion groups - either Usenet news groups or, for example, this unit’s discussion group (accessed from the home page or the learning space page) - so valuable for enabling complex inter-flows of communication to take place in a manner that allows us to see the pattern of conversation and response.”
(Curtin University of Technology – Internet Communications SP4 2008)
Threading, in the case of a College or University, is a remarkable tool enabling communication between teachers and students to take place in an online learning environment.
This method of electronic messaging can be used to communicate at any time of the day, anywhere in the world (even when we are oceans apart), with almost instant delivery. Teachers and students can include attachments to their emails. They may post a question and ask the students to answer directly to the forum. The forum can be used for learners to post results of activities or experiences they have had during their online learning.
The discussion boards are our virtual academic learning community. Hence when using them, we must conform to netiquette. Discussion board is for exchanging information and questions with other students, meeting each other, arranging study groups, or even selling equipment, items, etc. This discussion forum is also for us to introduce ourselves and to discuss our work, ideas, and problems with each other.
The discussion board allows for asynchronous discussion. A student may wish to begin a discussion topic and write a brief note for other students to read. Then the other students may read this and respond. It is like placing an email on a noticeboard for everyone to see it and then have the opportunity to respond or begin a new topic. A topic 'thread' can continue until a new topic has been established.
Threading is a valuable tool on discussion boards, which allow massive amounts of posts to be arranged in a well structured and easy to navigate manner. Discussion boards allow threading, grouping posts by topic and order of response, that makes it easy to navigate to the information we require.
The threaded arrangement allows students to navigate to a particular post without having to wade through large quantity of materials which are not warranted. All we have to do is to follow the flow of a conversation, simply noting which users post the most informative information.
Threaded discussions also help encourage a sense of community. This is especially helpful in an education environment where it brings the class together as well as encouraging collaboration between students.(2) In an e-learning environment, the teachers can use threaded discussions to guide the flow of student discussions. The teachers can lead students on to the right path, allowing the students to think critically, reflectively and collaboratively. Without this tool, distance education can be a burden, both to the students and to their instructors.
One major success of online learning is the effective use of threaded discussions. Most threaded discussions are searchable, which allows us to quickly find what we are looking for and also to view other related posts. Posts are usually kept on threaded discussion boards for a long period of time; hence it is advisable for us not to post anything inappropriate. We must always follow the thread, and give sensible postings.
Threading is what makes discussion groups a success.
Site 1: Title: Creative Use of Threaded Discussion Areas
Peters, K., (2003), Creative Use of Threaded Discussion Areas,
(Retrieved January 18, 2009), from http://www.webct.com/OTL/ViewContent?contentID=898084
This is Karen M. Peters’ website. Peters is a member of faculty at Penn State University in the USA. The article was published by WebCT.com Library, the same company that wrote Curtin’s online learning area software. This website focuses on the use of threading for educational purposes; Karen explains why it is important to all students.
Karen Peters gives details of the advantages of threaded discussion, and explains why threaded discussions are so useful in an online learning environment. The writer also believes that threaded discussions can increase student motivation and participation in class discussions.
The site also contains links to other useful information, such as Asynchronous learning environments.
Site 2: Title: Discussion Tools & Technology-Rich Learning
Larry Johnson & Annette Lamb, 2007 – “Teacher Tap”
(Retrieved January 18, 2009), from
http://www.eduscapes.com/tap/topic101discuss.html
The “Teacher Tap” is a useful site, which provides resource mainly to assist teachers and librarians, in the use of technology in teaching and learning by providing easy access to practical, online resources and activities.
The advantage is that it provides a very easy way for an inexperienced user to learn how threaded discussions work. It is well presented and there are step by step guides for creating your own forums.
Apart from thread discussions forums, the site provides other resources to learn about other approaches to discussions and interaction on the Internet, such as “Blogging’, “Live Chats and Video Conferencing”, and “Netiquette and Safety on the Net "
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.”
(Curtin University of Technology – Internet Communications SP4 2008)
The Internet provides one of the easiest communications tools ever afforded mankind. It is quick, convenient, cheap....but it can also be unsecured. The incredible growth of the Internet has excited businesses and consumers alike with its promise of changing the way we live and work. It is extremely easy to buy and sell goods all over the world while sitting in front of a computer monitor. But security is a major concern on the Internet, especially when we are using it to send sensitive information to outside parties.
There are always threats to a user’s privacy and security on the Internet, such as viruses, SPAM and identity theft. Most of the risks can be avoided, but it requires great care when it comes to giving out our personal information.
Our computers hold a lot of personal information and documents. It is up to us to protect our information. Computer viruses can cripple our computers. Computer hackers can steal our identities by hacking into our computers and obtain our data or personal details. SPAM is another unwanted concoct that can be sent via email onto our computer.
We have viruses because we have downloaded an infected file. This can be avoided by being careful of what we click on. Sometimes, viruses and spy-ware can infect even a careful Internet user’s computer. This is why we should install Spy-ware removal and Anti-Virus programs.(3) While anti-virus and spy-ware programmes can help us in certain way, our computer is not hack proof as people can still find a way.
It is advisable not to open or click on any links in emails from unknown senders. Very often unscrupulous people, pretending to be from a bank, will send us emails, asking us to click on certain link and requesting us to up-date our details by typing in our username and password. If this happens, ignore and delete the emails, as all reputable banks do not request personal details through an email.
While many people think of e-mail as a convenient alternative to a telephone conversation, and just as private, there is a difference. E-mail is as public as a postcard and leaves a written record long after it has been erased. Any skilled person can recover the email message's ghost somewhere deep in the bowels of a networked system.
A simple but straightforward security method is to only keep sensitive information on removable storage media like portable flash memory drives or external hard drives. The most popular forms of security is encryption, the process of encoding information in such a way that only the person with the “key” can decode it.
Without encryption, information passed on the Internet is not only available for virtually anyone to read, but is often stored for years on servers that can change hands or become compromised in any number of ways. Hence, encryption is something worth considering.
In conclusion, the Internet can be a dangerous place, but with some common sense and awareness of the risk involved in giving out personal information, protecting ourselves on the Internet is not as hard as it sounds. “But with awareness as your safety net, you can minimize the chance of an Internet mishap.” (4)
Site 1: Title: Protecting your privacy on the Internet
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Australian Government (2008)
(Retrieved January 27, 2009), from
http://www.privacy.gov.au/internet/internet_privacy/
This is the Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s website, published by the Australian Government. It provides information on “what the Internet is” and “Privacy threat on the Web”. It also provides a list of “privacy threats on the Web”, which aims to help people to protect themselves against other bad people on the Internet.
This site is very useful as it shows peoples how to protect themselves against intruders on the Web, preventing other people from intercepting their e-mail, by using technique call cryptography. The site recommends PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), a free program that uses cryptographic techniques to protect information.
Site 2: Title: Protecting Your Privacy on the Internet
Santoro, G. Centre for Academic Computing, Pennsylvania State University (2006) (Retrieved January 27, 2009), from
http://css.its.psu.edu/news/nlfa00/privacy.html
This website, published by the Pennsylvania State University, contains similar information provided by The Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner, which provide a long list of privacy and security issues faced by Internet users. It provides information and tips on how to protect against “hackers”. It is extremely useful as it contains many checklists of things to look out for when conducting a particular activity on the Internet.
This article contains information on issues and technologies surrounding the problem of personal privacy on the Internet. Resources and tips include managing the privacy risk includes: Cookies; Online Databases; Secure Servers; Carnivore; Encryption; Firewalls and Network Connections.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, M. “Smart Thinking” Oxford University Press (2004)
Skills for Critical Understanding and writing (2nd Ed.)
Amit Agarwal on January 25, 2008.
2004-2009 Digital Inspiration – “Get a Read Receipt when friends open your email messages”. (Retrieved January 10 2009) from:
http://www.labnol.org/internet/email/check-yahoo-gmail-email-read-receipts/2150/
Johnson L. & Lamb A., 2007 – “Teacher Tap”
(Retrieved January 18, 2009), from
http://www.eduscapes.com/tap/topic101discuss.html
Macquarie University (2004). (Retrieved December 29, 2008)
Macquarie University Online Teaching Facility from http://online.mq.edu.au/docs/neti.html
Peters, K., (2003), Creative Use of Threaded Discussion Areas,
(Retrieved January 19 2009), from http://www.webct.com/OTL/ViewContent?contentID=898084
Santoro, G. Centre for Academic Computing, Pennsylvania State University (2006) (Retrieved January 27, 2009), from
http://css.its.psu.edu/news/nlfa00/privacy.html
Shea, V., (1994). Netiquette. Albion Books.
(Retrieved December 29, 2008)
from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
Macquarie University (2004). (Retrieved January 7, 2009)
Turner, G W, The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary
Oxford University Press, Melbourne (1987)
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Australian Government (2008)
(Retrieved January 27, 2009), from
http://www.privacy.gov.au/internet/internet_privacy/
World Start (Date unknown). Tip #3273 - E-mail Read Receipt.
(Retrieved January 8, 2009) from:
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/3273
OTHER REFERENCES
(1) See “NET 11” course, the email tasks (“Module 2.1”) “for effective emails and hints and guide to how to communicate powerfully by email”.
(2) Peters, K. M. (2003). Creative Use of Threaded Discussion Areas, Part 1. (Retrieved January 18, 2009) from:
http://www.webct.com/OTL/ViewContent?contentID=898084
“In a learning situation the primary goal of any discussion is to promote thinking. Web-based discussion tools provide many ways to increase discussion between class members and faculty. Researchers have found that adding threaded discussion areas to a course increases student motivation and participation in class discussions.”
(3) It is also important to update these programs regularly as the spies are getting smarter all the time.
(4) Federal Trade Commission http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/computers/stopthink/click.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
http://www.privacyresources.org/
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/9648/pgut-links.html
“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.” (Curtin University of Technology – Internet Communications SP4 2008)
“Netiquette” is a word we cannot find in a normal dictionary. It means network etiquette. By etiquette, according to The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary, it means “conventional rules of personal behaviour in polite society.” Hence Netiquette refers to etiquette and courtesy on the Internet communications. It describes the good and bad manners of people in communication online. We live in a society with rules and laws, and this also applies to the Internet.
Every time we communicate electronically, we are typing our thoughts on a key board in front of a computer screen. We are not in physical interaction with the persons we are communicating with. This means that care must be taken when we communicate with someone online. It is easy to be rude online than it is in a face to face environment. It is important, therefore, not to say anything in online communication that we would not, otherwise, say to people to their face. Hence we must carefully plan the contents of our communications before we transmit them.
This is what “Netiquette” is all about: the rules and concepts of what is good and what is bad in net communications. Learning the “rules” of netiquette requires both practice and trial and error, to communicate effectively online. This concept may vary amongst different Internet communities. Sometime, different places online have different versions of acceptable Netiquette. Something that may be “fine” to say somewhere could be perceived as incredibly “rude” elsewhere. Situations do differ. The only way for us to combat this problem is firstly to do some groundwork; then study the information from the discussion boards and get a feel of how people in certain community communicate, before we conduct our online communication.
It pays to be polite with the wording in our messages. Our online communications must also be concise and informative, or they will not be well regarded. Our communications reflect our personality.
It is not good manners to go around correcting others mistakes in face to face communication and nor is it online. Care must be taken when pointing out errors to others. Always give the benefit of the doubt and assume the mistake was not intentional.
No one likes people with bad behaviour, which is why we have rules and concept. Behaving badly on the Internet can backfire. Discussion boards can keep posts up for a long period time before they are removed. Bad email messages are there for everyone to read. People’s comments are posted for the world to see, so show respect for others and that will generate an overall better netiquette for the world.
An important concept of Netiquette is that we must try to make things as pleasant and as enjoyable for other Internet users. An experienced Internet user can usually direct or teach new users how to effectively communicate online and thus improves the learning experience for everyone.
There never will be one set of netiquette rules for the whole World Wide Web, but as the old saying goes, “it does pay to treat people how you would like people to treat you”. The administrators of the forums and websites monitor will try to keep their websites within their own set of netiquette rules.
Site 1: Title: The Rules of Netiquette
Shea, V., (1994). Netiquette. (Retrieved December 29, 2008)
from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
This website is built largely from extracts from the above writer’s book. Virgina Shea’s name is widely known in online-literature. This site contains some very interesting overview of Netiquette. Internet users should follow in Internet communication. ‘The Core Rules of Netiquette’ embraces many of the ideas covered in the Concepts document articles. The main point that Shea wants to make is to respect the other people in the cyber-world. Netiquette is useful and necessary. While it will not necessarily be followed faithfully, it does give something to look at, to the people that want to act respectfully on the Internet.
Site 2: Title: Student Guide: Netiquette
Macquarie University (2004). (Retrieved December 29, 2008)
Macquarie University Online Teaching Facility from
http://online.mq.edu.au/docs/neti.html
This Macquarie University website offers another view on Netiquette. It contains a list of guidelines for Network Etiquette which has been designed for learners to adapt and use to develop their own set of guidelines. It is useful and has a very practical application of the concept. With sub headings, such as: General politeness; Characteristics of online discussions; Hints for new users: this website is mainly aimed at beginners and those not so familiar with use of the Internet. It gives the readers a brief overview of what is involved, and acts as an introduction that may lead to further research.
Concept #13. Communication is not complete upon receipt
“The key to effective email management is to consistently and conscientiously respond to and act upon the email you receive, while recognising that others may not be as efficient as yourself.”
(Curtin University of Technology – Internet Communications SP4 2008)
“Communication is not complete upon receipt.” The truth of this statement, from the “concepts” point of view, lies in the fact that not all emails sent are read upon receipt. With today’s use of online communication, emails have become one of the most popular forms of communication. Communication is not complete unless both the sender and the receiver of emails respond properly.
Anyone can send out an email and assume that the recipient has read and acknowledged what the email was about, but that is only an assumption that this has happened. The email may not have been received, or the receiver may have seen it but got distracted, and forgot all about it. The person has not gone through with the information on the email due to human error and it has been processed incorrectly. This is the problem we face when dealing with email communication, there are always allowances for human errors.
On the receiving side, reading email is just like reading a newspaper or a magazine; people would normally view the headlines first, and find out what they want to read. The headline in a newspaper provides two things: it grabs our attention and informs us what the article is about; so we can decide whether or not we want to continue reading. Email subject lines need to do the same thing. We use the subject lines to inform the reader of what the email is about, in a few well-chosen words. We can include a title such as "Please respond by September 11".
If the sender includes the information in a long message without proper subject title, it will take the receiver a long time to find the right information.(1) When people get emails, most of them do not want SPAM or Junk mails. Appropriate use of the subject line, therefore, is important, as it increases the chances of our email being viewed and not deleted without being read. Leaving the subject line blank is also not a good practice.
Emails with proper subject lines will attract the receiver’s attention. And this will stop important emails from getting unread or deleted by mistake.
Even though emails are a form of asynchronous communication, the key factor in email management is the response time. Each person’s expectation of an acceptable response time, in which they should receive a reply, will vary from case to case. It is good practice to be consistent with response times and not leave emails unattended to for an extended period. If a question cannot be answered immediately, it is a matter of courtesy to respond as such to the sender. Even though a solution may not have been reached, the sender will feel satisfied that the email has been acknowledged or will be read in the not so distant future.
Responding to an email is the key to effective communication. Good communication is like a circuit; both ends of the wires must meet to form a circuit. Effective email communication requires both parties to fully comprehend the context of an email.
Site 1: Title: Request Read Receipt
Amit Agarwal on January 25, 2008. 2004-2009 Digital Inspiration – “Get a Read Receipt when friends open your email messages”. (Retrieved January 10, 2009) from:
http://www.labnol.org/internet/email/check-yahoo-gmail-email-read-receipts/2150/
Sometime, when we send out highly classified documents or information via email, we want to know if it has been:
(a) Delivered.
(b) Acknowledged by the recipient
Obviously we can physically request the recipient to acknowledge a reply upon receipt. However, it is also useful to use Microsoft Outlook with Exchange Server, as we can easily request read receipts and get notified when our email is opened by the recipients.
The only problem is that not every recipient will have a “read receipt’ feature turned on. Also, support for such tracking receipts is varied by email clients (for example, web email clients such as Hotmail or Yahoo! do not have this feature).
Site 2: Title: E-mail Read Receipt
World Start (No date). Tip #3273 - E-mail Read Receipt.
(Retrieved January 8, 2009) from:
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/3273
This is another useful webpage that offers preventative measuring “tips” on “email read receipts”. It has information on how to set up read receipts on the computer for Outlook Express users. The step by step process in activating the read receipts is especially useful to beginners using the popular Outlook Express email program.
The site only offers information to assist the sender to keep track of the email once it has been sent. However, due to the nature of the technology, e-mail tracking cannot be considered an absolutely accurate indicator that a message was opened or read by the recipient.
Concept #21 – Threading
“Threading is what makes discussion groups - either Usenet news groups or, for example, this unit’s discussion group (accessed from the home page or the learning space page) - so valuable for enabling complex inter-flows of communication to take place in a manner that allows us to see the pattern of conversation and response.”
(Curtin University of Technology – Internet Communications SP4 2008)
Threading, in the case of a College or University, is a remarkable tool enabling communication between teachers and students to take place in an online learning environment.
This method of electronic messaging can be used to communicate at any time of the day, anywhere in the world (even when we are oceans apart), with almost instant delivery. Teachers and students can include attachments to their emails. They may post a question and ask the students to answer directly to the forum. The forum can be used for learners to post results of activities or experiences they have had during their online learning.
The discussion boards are our virtual academic learning community. Hence when using them, we must conform to netiquette. Discussion board is for exchanging information and questions with other students, meeting each other, arranging study groups, or even selling equipment, items, etc. This discussion forum is also for us to introduce ourselves and to discuss our work, ideas, and problems with each other.
The discussion board allows for asynchronous discussion. A student may wish to begin a discussion topic and write a brief note for other students to read. Then the other students may read this and respond. It is like placing an email on a noticeboard for everyone to see it and then have the opportunity to respond or begin a new topic. A topic 'thread' can continue until a new topic has been established.
Threading is a valuable tool on discussion boards, which allow massive amounts of posts to be arranged in a well structured and easy to navigate manner. Discussion boards allow threading, grouping posts by topic and order of response, that makes it easy to navigate to the information we require.
The threaded arrangement allows students to navigate to a particular post without having to wade through large quantity of materials which are not warranted. All we have to do is to follow the flow of a conversation, simply noting which users post the most informative information.
Threaded discussions also help encourage a sense of community. This is especially helpful in an education environment where it brings the class together as well as encouraging collaboration between students.(2) In an e-learning environment, the teachers can use threaded discussions to guide the flow of student discussions. The teachers can lead students on to the right path, allowing the students to think critically, reflectively and collaboratively. Without this tool, distance education can be a burden, both to the students and to their instructors.
One major success of online learning is the effective use of threaded discussions. Most threaded discussions are searchable, which allows us to quickly find what we are looking for and also to view other related posts. Posts are usually kept on threaded discussion boards for a long period of time; hence it is advisable for us not to post anything inappropriate. We must always follow the thread, and give sensible postings.
Threading is what makes discussion groups a success.
Site 1: Title: Creative Use of Threaded Discussion Areas
Peters, K., (2003), Creative Use of Threaded Discussion Areas,
(Retrieved January 18, 2009), from http://www.webct.com/OTL/ViewContent?contentID=898084
This is Karen M. Peters’ website. Peters is a member of faculty at Penn State University in the USA. The article was published by WebCT.com Library, the same company that wrote Curtin’s online learning area software. This website focuses on the use of threading for educational purposes; Karen explains why it is important to all students.
Karen Peters gives details of the advantages of threaded discussion, and explains why threaded discussions are so useful in an online learning environment. The writer also believes that threaded discussions can increase student motivation and participation in class discussions.
The site also contains links to other useful information, such as Asynchronous learning environments.
Site 2: Title: Discussion Tools & Technology-Rich Learning
Larry Johnson & Annette Lamb, 2007 – “Teacher Tap”
(Retrieved January 18, 2009), from
http://www.eduscapes.com/tap/topic101discuss.html
The “Teacher Tap” is a useful site, which provides resource mainly to assist teachers and librarians, in the use of technology in teaching and learning by providing easy access to practical, online resources and activities.
The advantage is that it provides a very easy way for an inexperienced user to learn how threaded discussions work. It is well presented and there are step by step guides for creating your own forums.
Apart from thread discussions forums, the site provides other resources to learn about other approaches to discussions and interaction on the Internet, such as “Blogging’, “Live Chats and Video Conferencing”, and “Netiquette and Safety on the Net "
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.”
(Curtin University of Technology – Internet Communications SP4 2008)
The Internet provides one of the easiest communications tools ever afforded mankind. It is quick, convenient, cheap....but it can also be unsecured. The incredible growth of the Internet has excited businesses and consumers alike with its promise of changing the way we live and work. It is extremely easy to buy and sell goods all over the world while sitting in front of a computer monitor. But security is a major concern on the Internet, especially when we are using it to send sensitive information to outside parties.
There are always threats to a user’s privacy and security on the Internet, such as viruses, SPAM and identity theft. Most of the risks can be avoided, but it requires great care when it comes to giving out our personal information.
Our computers hold a lot of personal information and documents. It is up to us to protect our information. Computer viruses can cripple our computers. Computer hackers can steal our identities by hacking into our computers and obtain our data or personal details. SPAM is another unwanted concoct that can be sent via email onto our computer.
We have viruses because we have downloaded an infected file. This can be avoided by being careful of what we click on. Sometimes, viruses and spy-ware can infect even a careful Internet user’s computer. This is why we should install Spy-ware removal and Anti-Virus programs.(3) While anti-virus and spy-ware programmes can help us in certain way, our computer is not hack proof as people can still find a way.
It is advisable not to open or click on any links in emails from unknown senders. Very often unscrupulous people, pretending to be from a bank, will send us emails, asking us to click on certain link and requesting us to up-date our details by typing in our username and password. If this happens, ignore and delete the emails, as all reputable banks do not request personal details through an email.
While many people think of e-mail as a convenient alternative to a telephone conversation, and just as private, there is a difference. E-mail is as public as a postcard and leaves a written record long after it has been erased. Any skilled person can recover the email message's ghost somewhere deep in the bowels of a networked system.
A simple but straightforward security method is to only keep sensitive information on removable storage media like portable flash memory drives or external hard drives. The most popular forms of security is encryption, the process of encoding information in such a way that only the person with the “key” can decode it.
Without encryption, information passed on the Internet is not only available for virtually anyone to read, but is often stored for years on servers that can change hands or become compromised in any number of ways. Hence, encryption is something worth considering.
In conclusion, the Internet can be a dangerous place, but with some common sense and awareness of the risk involved in giving out personal information, protecting ourselves on the Internet is not as hard as it sounds. “But with awareness as your safety net, you can minimize the chance of an Internet mishap.” (4)
Site 1: Title: Protecting your privacy on the Internet
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Australian Government (2008)
(Retrieved January 27, 2009), from
http://www.privacy.gov.au/internet/internet_privacy/
This is the Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s website, published by the Australian Government. It provides information on “what the Internet is” and “Privacy threat on the Web”. It also provides a list of “privacy threats on the Web”, which aims to help people to protect themselves against other bad people on the Internet.
This site is very useful as it shows peoples how to protect themselves against intruders on the Web, preventing other people from intercepting their e-mail, by using technique call cryptography. The site recommends PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), a free program that uses cryptographic techniques to protect information.
Site 2: Title: Protecting Your Privacy on the Internet
Santoro, G. Centre for Academic Computing, Pennsylvania State University (2006) (Retrieved January 27, 2009), from
http://css.its.psu.edu/news/nlfa00/privacy.html
This website, published by the Pennsylvania State University, contains similar information provided by The Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner, which provide a long list of privacy and security issues faced by Internet users. It provides information and tips on how to protect against “hackers”. It is extremely useful as it contains many checklists of things to look out for when conducting a particular activity on the Internet.
This article contains information on issues and technologies surrounding the problem of personal privacy on the Internet. Resources and tips include managing the privacy risk includes: Cookies; Online Databases; Secure Servers; Carnivore; Encryption; Firewalls and Network Connections.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, M. “Smart Thinking” Oxford University Press (2004)
Skills for Critical Understanding and writing (2nd Ed.)
Amit Agarwal on January 25, 2008.
2004-2009 Digital Inspiration – “Get a Read Receipt when friends open your email messages”. (Retrieved January 10 2009) from:
http://www.labnol.org/internet/email/check-yahoo-gmail-email-read-receipts/2150/
Johnson L. & Lamb A., 2007 – “Teacher Tap”
(Retrieved January 18, 2009), from
http://www.eduscapes.com/tap/topic101discuss.html
Macquarie University (2004). (Retrieved December 29, 2008)
Macquarie University Online Teaching Facility from http://online.mq.edu.au/docs/neti.html
Peters, K., (2003), Creative Use of Threaded Discussion Areas,
(Retrieved January 19 2009), from http://www.webct.com/OTL/ViewContent?contentID=898084
Santoro, G. Centre for Academic Computing, Pennsylvania State University (2006) (Retrieved January 27, 2009), from
http://css.its.psu.edu/news/nlfa00/privacy.html
Shea, V., (1994). Netiquette. Albion Books.
(Retrieved December 29, 2008)
from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
Macquarie University (2004). (Retrieved January 7, 2009)
Turner, G W, The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary
Oxford University Press, Melbourne (1987)
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Australian Government (2008)
(Retrieved January 27, 2009), from
http://www.privacy.gov.au/internet/internet_privacy/
World Start (Date unknown). Tip #3273 - E-mail Read Receipt.
(Retrieved January 8, 2009) from:
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/3273
OTHER REFERENCES
(1) See “NET 11” course, the email tasks (“Module 2.1”) “for effective emails and hints and guide to how to communicate powerfully by email”.
(2) Peters, K. M. (2003). Creative Use of Threaded Discussion Areas, Part 1. (Retrieved January 18, 2009) from:
http://www.webct.com/OTL/ViewContent?contentID=898084
“In a learning situation the primary goal of any discussion is to promote thinking. Web-based discussion tools provide many ways to increase discussion between class members and faculty. Researchers have found that adding threaded discussion areas to a course increases student motivation and participation in class discussions.”
(3) It is also important to update these programs regularly as the spies are getting smarter all the time.
(4) Federal Trade Commission http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/computers/stopthink/click.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
http://www.privacyresources.org/
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/9648/pgut-links.html
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