Module 4: Using the infosphere - taking & organising

Site 1 - Making the best of the WWW

A Great Cities Initiative of the University of Illinois at Chicago Library

ISSN 1396–0466 Copyright 1996–2007, First Monday.

http://www.firstmonday.org/ retrieved from the World Wide Web Thursday 27 April 2007.

This site is an online peer reviewed journal about the internet, its use and development. It even joins the ongoing debate about Wikipedia as a quotable source of information, and although it doesn't go this far it does label it a 'very successful cooperative effort.' First Monday was set up in 1996 and publishes on the first Monday of every month a new set of papers. This is a great site if you want to go a bit deeper into some of the major discussions around the use and accessibility of the internet. One current paper addresses the challenge of the internet in developing countries. It seems to me that this would be a site to watch to perhaps get a 'preview' of some of the major developments and ways of thinking coming down the line. It seems to have a strong focus on achieving the full potential of the internet and not limiting it by adopting fast moving technologies that begin to exclude users around the world.

Relates Concept 8 - the invisibility of difference by reminding us that not everyone has a big screen with high res and a fast broadband connection and by presenting the latest thinking on the development of the internet and its resources.

Site 2 - Sorting through it

Abilock, Debbie & Damon. (1999-) NoodleToolsInc. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on Thursday April 27 2007 http://www.noodletools.com/

Possibly one of the hardest tasks is to search the internet effectively and store that information in a useful way. It is easy to waste a lot of time doing very broad searches and coming up with meaningless responses. The Noodletools website and its resources are being used around the world by teachers and students to make research on the internet an easier task. This is such a well -laid out site - the tutorials are very useful and comprehensive. A new notetaking facility makes life easy and the 'how to do an annotation' is a godsend for students and teachers alike. This website is just one example of some great tools that are available - free! - for good web searching. This approach to sorting and categorising information makes sense of the mass of info in a very clear manner.

Relates to Concept 32 - Virtually a library by providing some options for categorising your search information and being able to track it down later.

Module 3 - Contributing to the infosphere

Site 1 - Keeping up with the HTMLs

Raggett, Dave <dsr@w3.org> Arnaud Le Hors, W3C Ian Jacobs, W3C

Copyright ©1997-1999 W3C^® (MIT, INRIA, Keio), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability, trademark, document use and software licensing rules apply.

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/

retrieved from World Wide Web on April 26 2007.

I have included this site here because it seems essential to me that we stay ahead or at least in step with the latest developments in trying to standardise web markup language. The 3WC organisation is recognised as the leader in this and for the sake of future communication and equality, it would make sense to keep this site in mind if you are really into writing HTML.
As they state on this site: "HTML 4 also takes great strides towards the internationalization of documents, with the goal of making the Web truly World Wide."
Access is the key I think. If the internet is to really achieve its potential, surely the universal language is critical. No advanced internet user should leave home without this one.

Relates to Concept 28: The paradox of the World Wide Web

In fact all topics related to the internet and its use could come into this concept. So many people are working so hard on developing the next fabulous bit of wizz technology ... the computer-human interface starts to stretch a little for those of us who do not have the time/access/inclination to be so involved.


Site 2 - About (everything).com

New York Times Company (NYTC) (2000) various authors. Retrieved from World Wide Web Thursday 27 April 2007 http://webdesign.about.com/cs/weblogs/a/aa101402a.htm

About.com is a stunning example of how a huge amount of information can be collected online in an easy to sort through manner. The internet pages on about.com provide step by step guides on how to set up blogs (and everything else) plus good up to date articles about how they are being used, latest developments and examples of excellence or just plain madness. I think this is a reputable site because it is closely moderated and all the contributors are chosen by the NYTC. The publishing policy states very clearly that stories are not linked to specific providers under any sort of 'sole provider' agreement with the NYTC. It is easy to move through about.com to compare various internet tools. The interpage linking and linking to offsite articles makes for broad reading and deeper understanding.

Relates to Concept 29: The challenge of fast data

We are being challenged in terms of how we think aboutinformation. The internet can provide us with heaps of info (such as about.com) but we are right to feel just a little wary of totally accepting all that says as true. The information is constantly changing, being updated, revised, even thrown out! Is static info better? Sometimes, but the internet is always changing ...

Module 2 - Communicating in the infosphere

Site 1 - Writing good emails

Elam, Phillip (1997) 'A Neophyte's guide to effective email'
Retrieved April 25, 2007 from http://www.webnovice.com/email.htm

As email continues to be the most common form of communication used on the net, I searched for good articles/guidelines on this topic. This article on the webnovice site, is great. It is very clearly written and would be an excellent start for someone not too conversant with great email writing. Elam takes an easy to follow route through the tasks of composing and sending a good email. Learning how to read what is really being said is one of Elam's main points:
"With e-mail, you cannot assume anything about your correspondent's location, time, frame of mind, mood, health, marital status, affluence, age, or gender. This means, among other things, that you need to be very, very careful in phrasing your communications in order to prevent misunderstandings."
Relates to Concepts 5 & 6: I think this "layperson's" explanation of the difference between metadata and implied data is critical. Not everyone is a great email communicator. It tends to be rushed communication. If we can spend just a few more minutes on readability and flow - the message has a better chance of being heard and understood.

Site 2 - Lists, discussion groups and the rest

Stewart, Bill (Jan 7 2000) 'Living Internet' Retrieved from the World Wide Web on April 26 from http://www.livinginternet.com/l/l.htm

This beautifully simple website by Stewart has almost everything in it for the 'about to be advanced net user'. With plenty of intra-site linking and references to other people's work, I think this site is a goldmine for anyone wanting to really understand the differences between various forms of communication on the internet. Written in an unbiased and informative way, it details the pros and cons of all sorts of internet tools. With a focus on 'using the tool that suits your purpose', the site is a great way to begin understanding what these various tools do and how they work.
Relates to Concept 4: Reflective Communicative Practice by extending our knowledge of various forms of internet communication, which audiences they are good for and what circumstances they may suit. Most importantly, by providing an easy to read description of how these tools work, the advanced net user can keep in mind the possible technological barriers some tools may pose to their audiences.

Module 1 - Hardware & Protocols

SITE 1 - A Concise History of the Internet

Zakon, R H. Hobbes' Internet Timeline. Copyright (c)1993-2006 Retrieved from the internet on Monday April 23
http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/

Hobbes Internet Timeline is a great site because it gives you an overview of where things have come from, when and how. To use the internet well, it is important to be aware of how things have developed. I have put this site here, because no matter which tool you are investigating, it provides leads to a huge amount of great history. For example: http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM3420/
is an 'Introduction to Distributed Communications Networks' - and gives astounding detail about how and why the first such network was developed- in the atmosphere of cold war and threats of world wide nuclear obliteration.
This site relates to the concept 27 in Module 1 'The Persistence of History'. To really appreciate, and be able to possibly predict to some extent the next generation of developments, it is vital to have some understanding of how the first inklings came to be. Having this historical knowledge leaves us not so much at the mercy of rapid fire developments, but understanding how quickly things can move and why.

SITE 2 - all about URLs

W3 C Architecture domain. Revision: 1.58 of Date: @7 Feb 2006 Created 1993 by Tim Berner Lee. Retrieved April 24 2007 from the World Wide Web:

http://www.w3.org/Addressing/#background

This site contains a succinct and informative account of the history and development of URLs. It also contains a wealth of resources about this and other facets of the internet. It makes for fascinating reading as it has been put together by some of the earliest developers of the WWW. This could mean that the sources are all 'inhouse' and of course will support W3C's version of events. But, history told from their point of view still makes for critical reading if we are to really understand where it came from.
Again, this links with the Persistence of History concept as it allows us to understand how quickly it became complicated and why decisions were made.