Photoshop-ella.

THEMES!

Friends:



These are my friends. Haha. This image was uploaded from my myspace, I don't know the brand of camera I used, I can hardly remember that day. lol. I think this represents Friends because it's all about good times and having fun.



High- Tech:
This robot-dog always reminds me of High-tech! It's very advanced, and I seem to watch technology shows and there is always this dog on those kind of shows.



This image was from http://www.therobotlab.com/sony-aibo-shop/images/aibo-robot.jpg.



















News:










CNN always comes to mind with the word "news". Somehow it manages to be at the top of news providers, even if it is an American based channel. This image was from http://babel.massart.edu/~kb/thesis/CaseStudy-11.21.01/TimeWebGallery/images/CNN.9.21-americasnewwar.jpg.

Summer: (Image from http://southboundaustralia.com.au/userimages/Gold%20Coast.jpg)

The Gold Coast always reminds me of Summer, with it's beaches and flocks of tourists.



Unconventional: (Image from http://www.gulf-times.com/mritems/images/2007/2/17/2_133456_1_248.jpg)




For some reason, Britney Spears' shaved head is unconventional. Britney Spears sure sprung to mind when the word popped up.








University Life: (Image from http://a73.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/48/l_49d671ea89de0ac017bc300ca323c200.jpg)
This is my friend Sam. He's an idiot! This was taken at a University party (he attends Monash). I think this encapsulates University life. nerdy glasses, bad hairdo and crazy nights.

Library database research.

1) The first task is for library searches: search the library catalogue and check out the full-text database search via the library website and find three academic articles that relate to the topic of your first essay. Write a report to post in your blog that summarises the key points in the articles, and comment on how this task has helped you formulate your topic.

One:
Yeah, well I couldn't access The SPAM Cartel : Why Spammers Spam [electronic resource] by Jeffrey Posluns, which was ultra annoying. But I think it will be a useful resource to investigate the mind of a Spammer, as there is a whole chapter dedicated to Phishing and scam Spam, which is an interesting topic.

Two:
Phishing: Cutting the Identity Theft Line by Rachel Lininger was an interesting online resource as it discussed my very topic of Phishing. It had a lot of tools how to reduce your threat of Phising and soforth.


Three:
Phishing Exposed by Lance James was another resource I could not access due to the fact I was not on a "Griffith" computer, which is soo annoying, but in a few weeks when I am off my mid-semester break I will discuss these articles in more detail.

This task has helped me greatly as I had not thought previously there was many resources on the obscure topic of Phishing, which is a relief!

It's Question and Answer time!

I used Askjeeves.com, http://www.dogpile.com/ and and and http://www.yahoo.com/

1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin?
Who the hell knows!! 990 lbs to be exact. Thankyou websearch. Woo.
http://www.howarddill.com/seed.html

2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?
To contact Grant, it is best to write to the Miami Swimming Club, their address is:Miami Swimming ClubPO BOX 2461BURLEIGH QLD 4220
http://granthackettonline.free.fr/?page_id=107

3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?
An adult giraffe's tongue is 27" long
http://www.qeok.com/other/2843-qeok.html

4. How would you define the word 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean ?
Ontology deals with the study of existence and being.

It is a very broad term to describe many characteristics of metaphysics in philosophical terms.
http://www.formalontology.it/section_4.htm

5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film?
Shivers in 1975.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000343/

6. When was the original 'Hacker's Manifesto' written?
January 8, 1986
http://www.technozen.com/manifesto.htm

7. Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?
30 or so years ago, dials had letters as well as numbers and the first 3 letters of the exchange name were dialled followed by numbers.

The 555 code was used because it stood for the letters JKL which were 3 letters that were impossible to make English place names.

Hollywood was encouraged to quote 555 numbers in their productions to prevent real subscribers being harassed by members of the public trying out the numbers quoted on the screen
http://www.omegarobot.com/article/555.html

8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?
Ferry!
http://www.athensguide.com/ferries.html

9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?
03/20/65 IF I RULED THE WORLD TONY BENNETT
http://www.gramble.com/music/60sbydate2.html

10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?
Black Assassins.
http://www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au/2005/content/standard.asp?name=StockwellS

2B!
What is a search engine?
A search engine is A software program that searches a database and gathers and reports information that contains or is related to specified terms.
http://www.ask.com/reference/dictionary/ahdict/58678/search+engine

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
Relevancy rankings are sorted by search term frequency. Search term frequency is a major way of determining a document is relevant. A document that contains, say, the word Grease over and over is most likely to appear towards the top of the search list.
http://www.monash.com/spidap4.html#relevancy

who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
As I just said above, it really couldn't be that useful, it may just have a high frequency of the word you are searching in their web page. Some pages use both frequency and positioning of keywords to determine the relevancy of web pages to your search. But, usually, the web page at the top of the list is proven to be more useful than others due to the relevant outcome of your search.

what are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
I am a wikipedia addict. Last night I researched Tool's whole Lateralus album on wikipedia. I am a devout wikipedian. I am also a devout Google-er. I like Google because it is easy to use, and comes up with many search results.

Can you find some current news stories about search engines? (for example, Google has been in the technology news a bit lately).
Yes, many!! For example, Google has been in the news over Google becoming a mobile phone manufacturer.
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=11200AAJRXTC
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4001675a28.html

I stole this title off Emma.

There is one thing I cannot stand is PEOPLE TALKING IN LECTURES! It's soo annoying, and especially in New Communication Technologies. Bill Gates is a very important person you know, and people eating Burger Rings in front of you whilst talking about God knows what is not very amusing.

What was the name of that documentary that we watched today? It was really interesting, I would like to see more. It was about Alan Turing's discoveries of cryptanalysis. He was pretty eccentric, he rode a bicycle whilst wearing a gas mask. And he rode that bicycle around town like a lunatic. I must hand it to him though, that guy is a genius. I only found out before that he consumed an apple laced with cyanide to end his life. Quite sad really. Turing was also convicted of "acts of gross indecency" after admitting to a sexual relationship with a man. (Thankyou, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing) He seemed to lead a tragic life, and it's a shame I do not know more about him.

Also, while Steve was talking about Bill Gates, I had a thought. Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world. His billions would have to make him the one of the most powerful men in the world. Although these are facts, I don't think I have ever heard of a case where he exploits his power. With money comes power, and with power comes destruction. Gates does not seem to use his money that way. Unlike presidents and others, he's pretty much a saint. Go Bill Gates, you are the grooviest man in computer history. My loathing for Apple PC's has pretty much knocked Steve Jobs out of that list, even though I own an Apple iPod, which I love, and he's pretty much responsible for breathing life into Apple again.

Speaking of Apple, Apple brings back memories. My friend Sean used to wear an Apple T-shirt religiously. Because his school was in casual, I always used to see him at the bus stop in his nerdy Apple get-up, while I was top to toe in tartan. Apple reminds me of my crazy bus stop years, my crazy Victorian- Bendigonian lifestyle. Oh, how I miss high school. Computers remind me of that.

Firsts, seconds, blogs.

Well, the New Communication Tech text book seems to be eating my bag literally. Which is a baddd thing but good for my student study habits. Last week I managed to read a chapter of Communication and New Media under a tree, which was very calming. Except then ants started to gnaw my legs which wasn't too good for the concentration. The second chapter was read this morning (Friday) because at work a flight was delayed until 11pm (I work at a cafe the airport) and then the plane got struck by lightning on arrival, which meant the flight was cancelled. That made me ultra tired as I was supposed to finish at about 8:30 and then go home and read that chapter. BUT NO!! God works against me, in the form of a lightning bolt. But the good thing is, I managed to read the second chapter this morning. The second chapter is about Vectors, which I understand in the physics sense, but not the technology sense. But now I do, I guess. I never knew the "science" of communication technology was so very complex.

Today's lecture was very interesting. It was interesting to see the history of media theorists, especially the media studies in the UK. The realm of communication seems to be a very broad and complex study area for many theorists, as discovered today. Stanley Cohen's works on "Moral Panics" is something I would like to read into in more detail. The Mods and Rockers phenomenon of the 1960s would be a facinating read as his insights into the Uk's media reaction of such a phenomenon is exposed.

La Jetee (see main photo. Photo from http://daily.greencine.com/archives/la-jetee.gif, accessed 9th March 2007, 4:21pm) was a film we watched in the lecture today. A 1962 french new wave film, this film composed of a mixture of black and white photographs and a little motion scenes with voiceovers and heavily dramatic music. I say the genre was mostly sci-fi, with time-travel encapsulating most of the film. It was a love story in many cases, with memory acting as a strong element. Paris seemed to be destroyed and the end of the world seemed eminent. There is one thing the french do best in cinema and that is their scripts. Many quotes in that film were very sweet and true to love. It was a very haunting film, in a good way, because the script was very complex and left one thinking.

I don't think I have fully introduced my "blog" so I guess I should start. I should start in the fourth paragraph, haha. How professional. This is my blog for New Communication Technologies for my first year Journalism subject. The point of this blog is not one of personal issues (you can find that on my myspace site :p) but rather an informative guide on what and how my research and progress is for this subject, so I can get a lovely assessment at the end of the semester. Woohoo! So I hope you enjoy this, I do like to ramble however. I'm off to do, see, and learn.