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

Microsoft Word

I have a fairly limited knowledge of Microsoft Word. The only time I use the programme is for writing essays and papers. I have basically had to teach myself how to use the simple functions of the programme that enable papers to be written.

I would like to have a more extensive knowledge of Word so as I am able to improve the presentation of projects and documents through the drawing tools and so on. Also, I would like to master how to set up a page for a paper, i.e page layout, margins etc. I basically need to build my skills base so as I feel more comfortable with using word as the programme to write my papers.

About me

Hi, my name is Lachlan Fogarty and I am from the great southern land, Australia. I grew up in a suburb called Drummoyne, which is in Sydney, a city on the east coast of Australia. For those of you who don't know where Sydney, Australia is, you can check out my house at the over link. 

Living at Trinity is the first time I have lived away from home. San Antonio provides a pleasant contrast to Sydney, and I am glad that I came here. 

One reason why I came to Trinity was to play on the men's varsity soccer team. The coach recruited me from Sydney and I am glad to have been given the opportunity to play my favorite sport in another country. Trinity has an excellent and successful program with many talented players. Also, I enjoy playing music. I have played the piano since I was very young and have also taught myself to play the guitar. I am hopefully going to gain my advanced piano diploma in Sydney in July, which means I'll have to start some serious practice! 

Also, when I'm in Sydney, I love to surf. Most mornings of the week i'll be down at the beach ready to get in the water. I own many boards and tend to collect them after surfing all my life. Surfing is probably the thing I miss most about living in San Antonio as there are no beaches for miles! I have grown up around the beach, and after long periods out of the water, I feel a part of me is missing. I guess only a surfer understands. Hopefully over the summer break (which will be winter in Australia), I'll be going to Bali where i'll have perfect surf for two weeks... Heaven!

The image above is of me about to get into the water at Maroubra beach in Sydney.

As for my computer background, I haven't really had any formal education. I can perform basic function and can navigate around the computer fairly well. I would like to be able to perform more advanced function in Word and Excell, as well as learning about the hardware of the computer because really, I don't understand enough.

If you have any questions, you can email me at lfogarty@trinity.edu