Week Twelve log UPC0004

Social & Ethical Issues

The lecture

In week twelve's lecture, the topic discussed was all about Protecting yourself and your PC on the World Wide Web.

The lecture discussed the problems you can encounter with the Internet and how it is so easy for people to breach, privacy, security, plagiarism, copyright and intellectual property, which is so easy to forget about, you may even do it without realising.

The lecture went on to discuss how to deal with copyright, plagiarism and intellectual property, which then showed a list of a few simple steps or rules to follow.

The diagram showing the security on the Internet and how multiple computers can transmit data, shows how easy it is for many other computers to transmit data at any time, before reaching the destination of the desired computer.

I found this quite astounding, as i never knew that something like that could actually be happening to my work.

The most important part of this lecture, was how to protect yourself, IE, installing a firewall, installing anti virus software, educating yourself and being aware of specific attachments.

What i found most important about this lecture, was the fact that i had no idea that i could be copyrighting something, without any idea, and also the simple things you can do to protect yourself, even as simple as not giving out personal information, which i have stopped doing as a result of this lecture.

The tutorial

The tutorial consisted of a workshop, and a couple of readings that related to this weeks topic of protecting your PC on the world wide web, which was discussed in the lecture. After carrying out this weeks workshop and doing further research on how to protect yourself and your identity on the world wide web, i began to see just how serious and issue it really is, and that alot needs to be done to protect myself.

Also the tutorial was an eye opener to see just how easy it is to plagiarise or copyright certain websites without even realising, but the consequences are very serious, and the utmost care should be taken when copying and pasting information off the internet.

The Workshop

1.

a)

1)Introductory Information: The following sheet contained information about exactly what copyrighting is, copyright in Australia, and what i found particularly interesting, was the section about moral rights and how they play a big part in copyright.

2)Education, Teaching: This sheet was helpful to me as an undergraduate at university, because it explained the educational use of copyright, and exactly what copyright protects, meaning permission needs to be gained if the work is to be reproduced.

3)Websites, Internet, Software: The best part about this sheet in particular, was that it contained information about copying and downloading Internet material, which is something that even I do without realising it, on a day to day basis. There was also some information about how to get copyright protection and what copyright protects on the Internet, which i found helpful and made me a lot more weary when just copying and pasting off the Internet.

4)Writing, Publishing: I chose to read this information sheet, because as an undergraduate basically everything i submit for marking contains writing and publishing, especially when i am writing an essay i will use quotes and extracts, so knowing as much information about that topic in particular is beneficial to me. The information sheet gave an overview of the special expectations to infringement, when permission is needed to use a quotation, and the moral rights that relate to the author of a particular piece of work.

5)Music, Performing arts: I chose this particular information sheet about copying Cd's because I myself have copied many Cd's over the years, without a second thought about what I have been doing. This information sheet outlined the legal issues involved with copying Cd's and other forms of recorded music, and the guidelines that make copying a CD acceptable and unacceptable.

1.

Online Music Downloading & Music Copyright.

whenever music is downloaded or streamed over the Internet, there are a number of rights which are exploited. These include:
the reproduction of a musical work; and
the communication to the public of a musical work. A musical work is the underlying intellectual property contained in any song - i.e. the melody, chords and lyrics, as written by the composer.

Any use of copyright music requires the appropriate clearances to be obtained. Copyright owners in music have a number of rights in their work, including the right to reproduce their music and the right to communicate their work to the public. The reproduction and communication to the public of a sound recording is a separate right and may need a separate licence (usually from a record company) if an original sound recording is used.

3.

My Plan to protect myself from attacks on privacy and Security.

1. Download an Anti Virus program for my Computer

2.Be aware of the attachment files NOT to open when receiving e-mail

3.Never Give away personal information over the Internet

4. Install a firewall

Week Twelve: Reading (URL) - EFF's Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy:

This piece of reading, was a website filled with headings that discussed the most efficient ways to protect your online privacy. Some of these headings were just common knowledge, for example, 'Do not reveal personal information', 'Don't reveal personal details to strangers or just-met "friends", and 'Remember that YOU decide what information about yourself to reveal, when, why, and to whom'.

Although this website had a few common knowledge instructions on how to protect your online privacy, there were also a number of things you could do to protect yourself, that i had no idea what they were, and what purpose they are used for, so reading about this really expanded my mind, and made me think out the box to a whole lot more things i could be doing to insure i have the most protection.

What i found most beneficial was the information about, keeping a clean e-mail address, and realising you may be monitored, which really applies to me, because my main form of communication and retrieval of information is via the Internet and by sending e-mails, so learning the consequences of what may happen when you are being monitored, i am now a lot more weary when searching the Internet, and making sure i am doing everything i can to obtain the best and most secure online privacy.

Week Twelve: Reading (URL) - Ethics in Computing - Social Justice Issues: Electronic Monitoring:

This particular website contained information all about Electronic Monitoring, Privacy Issues, Suggested Policies, and Privacy Resources. The website was mainly focused on monitoring in the Workplace, why people are monitored in the workplace, and how someone lost their job over blogging at work, and how there is no such thing as personal freedom, and privacy in the workplace.

Week Twelve: Reading (URL) - Brown & Michael's - Overview of Intellectual Property:

I found this website particularly useful as it contained a lot of information about copyright, Domain names, computer software, Trademarks and Patents. I found this website informative and useful to me, as i learnt more about trademarks, copyright, and found out what patents actually were and what the three main types of patents are.

I also found this website useful because it showed me how to protect my intellectual property through the use of copyrights, trademarks and patents.

Week Eleven log UPC0004

Data Information & Knowledge

The lecture

For week eleven's lecture, the topic of data information and knowledge was discussed in further detail, and answered a range of underlying questions I had when first introduced to the subject.

The lecture discussed the definitions of data, information and knowledge, the characteristics of each, and also the importance, which wasn't really all that surprising because its just common knowledge to know how important data information must be.

The lecture slides went on to show diagrams of the relationships between data, information and knowledge, which i found helpful be cause diagrams are a great visual aid and makes things a whole lot clearer to me, and i can absorb information much more beneficially.

Although i found parts of this lecture helpful, like the use of diagrams, i found most of the other parts just told me either common knowledge, or things that I already know and have learnt about before, but i guess this lecture helped me to remember these things and brush up on my data information and knowledge.

The tutorial

This weeks tutorial was simply an extension of what was discussed in the lecture, except this time, the workshop asked us to give examples of specific words that i were unsure of, which was helpful to me, because once i researched their meaning and wrote them out I could gain the best understanding of the word possible.

The workshop also asked to construct our own graph of how we interpret the connection between data, information, knowledge and wisdom, which was extremely helpful, because it again reinforced the subject we were learning, and because I constructed the diagram myself I could understand it the way i wanted to, and the way I see it, instead of how someone else does.

Workshop 11-Accessing and Organising Knowledge

1.

a)Data:Is the representation of concepts or other entities, fixed in or on a medium in a form suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by human beings or by automated systems (Wellisch, 1996).

Information:Is related to meaning or human intention. In computational systems information is the contents of databases, the web etc. In human discourse systems information is the meaning of statements as they are intended by the speaker/writer and understood/misunderstood by the listener/reader.

Knowledge:Is knowing, familiarity gained by experience; person's range of information; a theoretical or practical understanding of; the sum of what is known.

Wisdom:Wisdom is the ability, developed through experience, insight and reflection, to discern truth and exercise good judgment. Wisdom is sometimes conceptualized as an especially well developed form of common sense.

2.

a)

3.

By Understanding the relationship between Data, information, knowledge and wisdom, it is quite easy to see that you can't have one without the other, and each is as important as the other.

They all link in together, so to be able to have wisdom and knowledge it is essential to gain information from data, and from that, you can also have an added bonus of 'understanding'.

4.

1-Organ Donor-It is essential to gain data from organ donor's so that it is ensured the organs being donated are suitable.

2-Australian Bureau of Statistics-The basis of this organisation is statistics and Data, so of course they would need to collect data from the public.

3-Voting polls-When having a vote for something in particular the only way is by using people and collecting their information.

4-Doctors-Without speaking to the patient, and gaining their information as to what is wrong with them, a doctor cannot help them or prescribe them the right medication.

5-Blood Donor-Much the same as the organ donor, there is a checklist to see that the person doning their blood are suitable candidates.

Readings

1.The First reading gave a more detailed explanation as to what was discussed in the lecture and what was need in the tutorial task.

I found this website very helpful, because not only does it contain a lot of useful information, but the person writing this speaks from their point of view, and what their understanding is of the relationship between data, information and knowledge, which helps me to understand it a lot more clearly, because it is as if they are telling it to me in person.

2.The second reading was a useful web page for uni students as it is like an online tutorial, but with the whole presentation of the page i found it a little bit confusing and hard to follow, but i did like how the page was a bit more user friendly and had quizzes, assignments and helpful handouts.

Week Ten log UPC0004

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT


The lecture

Week ten's lecture was all about how to manage information, and all the different types of information management that we could use, that was quick, effective and easy.
A few different ways of organising information included, text, documents, images, web pages, bookmarks presentations, assignments, citations and references.
The lecture then went on to describe the atom based types of information management and the pro's and cons that came with them, after reading the pro's and cons of books, reports etc, i found that there are easier ways than these forms to manage your information.
The lecturer described a few steps we could undertake for organising your 'bits', which i found very useful as some of the points i never even knew existed before.
The lecture was very good and very informative, i really liked the way that examples were shown on the PowerPoint of exactly what steps to take on your computer when you are organising your 'bits', and done in a way that was very straight forward, and non confusing, which helps me to retain the information being shown, as i am a visual learner, and only really absorb information if it is shown to me through the use of diagrams, pictures, or any form of imagery.

The tutorial

This weeks tutorial was a great example of how bookmarking can be used to its full potential, and how to use all different types of information management.
I found the workshop a great way for me to really understand this topic, because it wasn't completely clear to me in the lecture, or even reading about it, but when I can actually have first hand experience and carry out information management for myself, the topic not only becomes clearer and more understandable, but it becomes easier to use and gives me the confidence to use it whenever i need.

The Workshop

1. example of bookmark & favourites.



2. example two



The website was quite easy to follow and very straight forward, with diagrams that aided the learning progress. After practising over and over how to create favourites and bookmark websites, i have got the hang of it, and am able to do it all the time, with ease.

3. The website, 'Being Digital' was a website split into roughly 3 main parts, with information about topics to do with bits, interface, and digital life.
At the bottom of a page was timeline of archives and articles which are linked to the epilogue, 'an age of optimism', what i noticed about these dates, are that the most recent one is from 1997, and the latest one is from 1995, which leads me to ask whether these articles, archives, and reports are still legitimate in 2008.

4.After properly reading the articles dated from around 13 years ago, i realise that they are still relevant in today's society, as they discuss all about technology and information about bits and atoms, which are still appropriate and relevant in 2008. The article named, "The DNA of Information" reflects on the pro's and con's between bits and atoms, how they relate to the entertainment industry, and the information superhighway.

The main difference between bits and atoms is that one is more reliable than the other, but one is more efficient quick and easier than the other, personally i would rather use bits for researching information, and managing information because it is quick and easy, and also because i am from a society where quick and easy is regarded as being better than bulkier, and more reliable, IE a book, however if i was really interested in a subject and wanted to get as much reliable safe, and well authorised information as possible i would use atoms in my information management.

Reading: Phi Delta Kappan article September - 1998

The article presented in this weeks reading answering questions, the everything in the workshop and tutorial covers, which is all in relation to bits, atoms, the pro's and con's of both of these, and also the issues of reliability and adequacy. What I found helpful about this article was the diagram used that shows the following skills in order to have success in cyberspace. This information was useful to me, because I already knew all about bits, atoms, information superhighway, the pro's and con's etc, but what i really needed to learn, was how to use bits to their full potential and how to be able to to make sure what i am reading on the Internet is accountable information.

Reading/video: BBC program clicks - On knowledge management and the web

I found this website to be very informative and made gain a better grasp on what the topic was all about. Having the video as a source of reading was a refreshing change from just reading words on a screen, and when there are images and speaking with any form of information, i am able to retain the information much more efficiently.

The video basically summed up everything in the Tut, workshop, and the following reading, but with the use of a video, as i mentioned before, the topic was made a whole lot clearer, and i was able to understand all about web management so that in future i know exactly what sort of information management i should be using, and how to use it to its full potential.