Today Justine discussed the difference between the World Wide Web (www) and the Net, until it was explained I did not realise there was a difference. The Net refers to the big network from where you can access the (www) it is basically like the generator of the. The Net is like the engine which enables its other links to work. Justine also discussed the importance of recognising the purpose of any site we look at; I never really considered what the .com, .org, .net and so on really stood for. I knew .gov meant it was a government document yet I never considered taking this into account when searching for particular information. From now on this will help me to evaluate at a glance whether the site will be relevant to the topics I am researching and whether the source will be of value.
Workshop Summary
Task 1: Have a look at the following sites and discuss their authenticity with a partner- http://www.haggishunt.scotsman.com/ and http://www.molossia.org/
The first site has a professional layout, yet the name seems a little concerning, Haggis hunt. The home page has a list of haggis cameras which seems a little odd and unreal. The hunt is being commercialised as a prize hunting sport. The site seems like a fake because the concept is not genuine. The wording for the second web address seems unprofessional for a government site, the URL does not contain .gov which should be considered especially because Molossia is being portrayed as a republican society and after the republican date there are three xxx which does not seem appropriate.
Four clues which gave the sites away as being a spoof site
1- The .com and .org indicated the sites where a profit and non profit commercialised site and should not be considered in academic papers, therefore you would assume that the information would be bias and may be inappropriate for serious use.
2- The name of the two sites seem a little odd, I have never heard of the republican of Molossia and Haggis hunt sound like a joke, they really don't seem to be literal things.
3- The content in both seems really inappropriate, as shown below in the Molossia site there was a picture of who they called the Molossia page three girl, I would think that a proper government site would not contain such a picture. In the Haggis hunt site there is a link to the haggis gift shop, again you can tell it is an absolute joke, because what known hunting sport advertises the killing of an animal through shirt and mugs etc....
Screenshot of the Molossia page three girl4- Both sites do not contain copy right or the name of an author; you would assume especially for a sight about a particular government or society that there would be a copy right stamp on it.
Task 2: Visit the following Web address: http://www.martinlutherking.org/ and record your first interpretation of the site and your findings after visiting the site.
My first initial thought was that the site was going to be about Martin Luther King; the .org indicated it was a non profitable commercialised site designed by an organisation and therefore could portray a bias view towards or against him. I thought it may have been a site that was advertising information about him; not necessarily selling any products, just non profitable advertising.
After visiting the site these were my first impressions:
* It is a site aimed at students
* The site gives an overview of his life and the his history
* It seems to be a site that is used to remember his name
* The importance of his life the impact he had are discussed
* There is a quiz which I assume was designed to engage the reader to revisit their knowledge on Martin Luther King and what ever the reader doesn't know will be found on the site.
As as result of reading through some of the articles it is evident that the site isn't very educational, I believe it is trying to persuade the readers opinion on the kind of person Martin Luther King was. The content and wording seems very opinionated and is not written professionally, it is more of a review then a historical piece of information. At the end of the quiz it said that if you did not answer any questions correctly then you were an ignorant citizen your government desires. I thought this was a little bias and inappropriate, a professional and educational site would not contain such a statement because its based on opinion rather than fact.
Summary of the Readings
There were three readings this week, the first was a guide on how to use different search engines and how to use them productively. It discussed a number of search engines available as well as a guide to the key components to using each search engine. I found this reading hard to understand, much of the content was very unfamiliar to me and I still don't really know what and how these particular search engines are used for. The second reading was a basic review of the history behind the World Wide Web, in regards to who, how and when it all came about discussing the developments which occurred during 1945 to 1955. The third reading also gave an overview of the (www) up until the 1960's, discussing the development of search engines, their use and the various types such as library catalogs, alta vista, northern light and so on.The invention of the email system was also mentioned and the two last readings gave another look into the history of the (www) and its uses.
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