Chris Nolan's Presentation

Mr Nolan's lecture taught me a great deal about search engines on the internet. I learnt that Google uses a different searching system to find relevant hits to a search term. Google uses a links and reference system to determine relevancy. They look at the amount of links and relevancy of the links that go to the particular sites that relate to the search term. The more highly cited websites get more relvance 'points' and therefore are higher on the list of hits. I was also surprised to learn about Google's advanced search system; you were able to limit the search to a particular website, whether that be a government site (.gov), and educational website (.edu), or a not-for-profit organizational website (.org). Google also has another search engine named Google scholar, which lists peer reviewed journal articles. The lecture gave me many new skills that will help me in my research projects.

Mr Hardin's Copyright Lecture

Yesterday in class Mr. Hardin discussed that the seriousness of uploading and downloading copyrighted material to and from the internet. In a college environment, such as at Trinity, audio and video files are constantly being circulated through the network and he advised us of the dangers of taking material from the wrong websites. He said that programs such as Limewire and Bittorrent can be easily tracked by the RIAA (Recording industry of America), the MPA or the ESA and that they can spring unexpected legal action against the perpetrator. This is a scary thought considering that amount of downloading people undertake, and the cost that it could possibly accrue. Thus, the school has a takedown notice system that warns students that they are being monitored by the recording industries and tells them to stop downloading. Mr. Hardin also voiced his opinion on the state of YouTube, which he argued was full of copyright violations. It is interesting that organizations such as the RIAA heavily monitor Limewire yet no action is really taken against copyright perpetrators on YouTube. I feel that if the RIAA is going to monitor the copyright issues of the general populace they should remain consistent and focus on YouTube as well as Limewire, even though this is probably and arduous task. Nevertheless, the lecture highlighted the importance of being aware that free downloading is illegal.

Facebook

Facebook is a useful tool for students at University, whether that be socially or academically. It allows students to keep in touch with friends that may not be studying at the same institution, or to discuss projects or any homework with their friends from college. Although many think of it as a distraction, if used correctly, facebook can be very effective.

I personally like to use facebook because it allows me to keep in touch with my friends back in Australia. I can write on the walls of my friends and look at their photos to see what they've been doing. Without facebook it would be difficult to keep in contact with the same amount of friends that I can at the moment.

Here is a relevant article: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1213/p13s01-legn.html