Searching the Web

The next task involved using search engines. Choose your most commonly used internet search engine and do a word search with words of your choosing?

I chose- "ulysses butterfly life cycle" and used Mozilla Firefox as the browser with google as the search engine.

Results were- Articles on Port Douglas & Tropical North Queensland
They have a lot of natural enemies and like all butterflies their life cycle requires a complete metamorphosis. Ulysses Butterfly. Queensland Australia ...
www.portdouglasdirectory.com/articles/view.cfm?articleID=10 - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

First hit above - number of hits 24,300 in 0.09 seconds

Screen shot of next 5 hits below.....



Will try to do screen shot larger next time as you can't really read this version..

Have to take my son to work now, will add more later or tomorrow even though it will be past the due time for the assignment, but it seems silly to complete all these tasks and not post them so I will do so even if they don't get graded at least I'll have the satisfaction of having completed everything. :)

Downloading tools/ plug-ins

This task involved downloading some programs of the internet and exploring and familiarising ourselves with them. Options were as follows: Adobe pdf reader (all ready using), Flash/Shockwave Player (dito), Media Player ( already have and use frequently Windows Media Player), Search Manager/combiners ( this is something I don't have and sounds useful).

When I used the link provided in the curriculum to attempt to download a search manager (Glooton for windows) is the one I tried first. I ended up at a website that appeared to be in french, I don't speak french (surprisingly) so I bailed. Googled Glooton to find another way to download came up with a few but not of them gave a successful outcome.

Moved on to Copernic Meta for Pc- ended up with a down load of copernicagent freeware ,(the personal and professional version appear better but you have to pay for them) so I just downloaded the basic. This took aprox 1Hr (dial-up) but was successful and functions well (is a bit limited but adequate for the next task).

Last task for mod 3-Blinklist or HTML

We were asked to visit Internet Communications Blinklist site that has been set up for the unit and a html version to see what the differences were between the 2 and what we liked or disliked about the formats.

The Blinklist site is easy to use, has all the relevant links plus additional key search words for finding further information. The site is visually pleasing, has screen shots of all the websites suggested and is easy to navigate.

A html version of the same information would still have good usability, be easy to navigate and have all the relevant links and information, but would be less attractive visually , because of the lack of images it would load much faster and display well on all platforms and systems though.

Personally, for study purposes I find the html version perfectly adequate, useability is good, links and descriptions are adequate and the screen shots on blinklist are not really that useful they just break up the monotony abit. I would be quite happy if this format was used also, both formats are functional- maybe a slight blending of the 2 would be good.

Afternoon off work!!

I have taken the afternoon off work to try and get all the tasks that I have completed for Module 4 posted and reflected upon on this blog. Currently they are bits and pieces of information, screen shots and copy plastered all over my desktop. I think if I were to do this kind of thing again I would try to blog after each task so this wouldn't happen. But time is valuable, and lately I have found that I could squeeze in a task here and there but didn't find time to organize and post on my learning log.

The tasks are done so I will attempt to publish them all before the due time this afternoon, at least I might have a chance of them being graded then. So here goes :)