Week 4: Using the WWW

Lecture Summary:
Week fours lecture was based on the World Wide Web (WWW).
The lecture we looked at Internet vs Web, historical perspective of the Web, defining the WWW, web Protocols and web Browsers/Interface.

The WWW is defined as being a universe of accessible information stored on computers throughout the world. The information is available through a gigantic network called the Internet.
A network of servers are linked together by a common protocol, allowing access to millions of hypertext resources.

•The WWW is the content of a network of computers using TCP/IP to communicate between each other.
•TCP allows data/binary signals to be converted into telephone like signals and transferred along existing telephone cables. These are converted back to data at the destination computer.
•IP is a protocol that enables data to be routed from one network to another over the Internet.
•The WWW is the visible part of the Internet and uses HTTP and HTML to instruct a computer how to display and/or exchange data between computers

We were told about Domain Name System conventions such as www; com; .org; .net; .au; .uk; .nz. These Domain Name System Conventions represent top-level Domains and Country codes associates with different countries.

Browser Interface was explained and we were shown were to locate different icons, shortcuts and tabs etc.

Workshop Tasks:

The Workshop Tasks for week 4 were understanding the Internet and Web. Understanding how to view websites as if they are serious and factual or they are pretty pointless and are created as a bit of a joke. I had to state the reasons why particular websites are created for a laugh and what ones were created to tell usefull facts. I could recognise these sites and their meanings by the layout, images used, captains, amount and point of the information or topic being presented. This is important because half the information students look up on the Internet for assignments is not factual or is not worthy enough to use in work at university level.

Readings:

www.haggishunt.scotsman.com and www.molossia.org appear to be authentic because of the following reasons.

Firstly www.haggishunt.scotsman.com was created so viewers can have a laugh at the thought of hunting Haggis. One paragraph states "Do not be too despondent at the season's close. The hunt begins again on St Andrew's Day. Until then, why not familiarise yourself with the terrain by studying our webcams? Or maybe leaf through our Haggisclopedia to hone your hunting skills further." This statement clearly isn't serious as it states, "Until then, why not familiarise yourself with the terrain by studying our webcams?" Also there is a reference to another website to upgrade your Haggis hunting skills.

The images on each of the websites make it easy to understand that the sites have not been designed to be taken too seriously. The first website has images such as different pictures of Haggis in different positions, these images are created by computer as they are not real animals but is a type of food including sheep brains, heart, liver, lungs and cooked in traditional yin the animals stomach.

The captains under the images on http://www.molossia.org/ are longer than the average captain. The English is not the best and overall it doesn't sound professional as it would be on a professional website. These captains include "The Moon, taken through the new Telescope. Also, "The Moon, taken by somebody else." These captains are not professional as "the new telescope" should not be written like that, instead the name of the telescope would be stared. "The Moon, taken by somebody else." could be written as, "The moon, and the photographers name." This was the overall site may become more professional and could be taken more seriously.

Lastly, the topic and seriousness of the information being presented isn't the best quality. Haggis hunting isn't a serious issue and the random topics on http://www.molossia.org/ do not in any way relate to one another. Topics on http://www.molossia.org/ include; Naval Academy Goes Gangbusters! New National Musical Instrument, Lunar Eclipse, Kosovo and His Excellency, The Presidents New Year Speech.

Both these websites have been created for viewers to have a giggle at.

Before i visit the website www.martinlutherking.org, based on the URL i expect to find important information on Martin Luther King himself. This information would include his past, family life, occupation and death in quite a lot of detail. I do not know much about Martin Luther King and i am hoping to find factual information on him and his life.

My first impressions of the website were that the site would contain plenty of factual information. Although the way it is set out is not very professional looking or neat, the titles and topics are appealing.

Interesting information is stated on the homepage such as the information on the left of the page. This is interesting information because this is not the way people knew Luther. It is much more personal and shows his personality behind the cameras.

Titles such as Historical Writings, Truth About King, Death of the Dream, The King Holiday, Civil Rights Library, Jews and Civil Rights and Suggested Books are all bold titles. This adds interest and the viewer wants to read what has to be said under each title.

An Educational Video is featured stating "Watch the new Martin Luther King Educational Video" on the homepage, viewers become interested and want to know what the man has to say himself. By using the word "new"attracts viewers as they know it is up to date information.

The articles presented on this particular website are factual and would be useful for assignments and research at university level. Information on his school life, cheating, sex and the king holiday and its meaning are all stated and references are given. This proves that information is not made up by one person with an idea, but has backup from other individuals on the information being presented. A seperate section of the website gives all references and where to find other usefull, factual information.

A Brief History of the Internet

This website includes the following:

1. Introduction

2. Origins of the Internet: This section of the webpage is written is a few paragraphs o chronological order of how it came about.

3. The Initial Internetting: This section states that it would be made of multiple independant networks.

4. Concepts Proving the Ideas

5. Transition to Sidespread Infrastructure

6. The Role of Documentation

7. Formatting of the Broad Community

8. Commercialization of the Technology

9. History of the Future

10. Footnotes

11. Timeline

12. References tp support their ideas.

13. Authors

Summary of History of the World-wide Web. This website contained information on the Development of Computers untill the 1960's, from ARPANET to World Wide Web, Hustory of electronic mail, Search Engines, and Basic Net Data.