Module 2 - Chat

Chat - YAY my favourite thing to do ;0


When i was a teenager i used to be obsessed with ICQ, if the phone wasn't on my ear i was typing away on ICQ or sometimes it would be both. Nowadays i don't really have time to use any of the chat mediums due to other commitments, but i do have MSN messenger that i also got obsessed with at one stage.



So i chose to go with the first option - Lets download ICQ .. Let the journey begin... Now, i'm going to check out the webct forums to add my fellow students to my ICQ and alert them of my ICQ number, be right back :)
(Even though i already have MSN chat and could have just chose that option, i thought i'd try ICQ for a change of scenary and for the experience)


WOW... How different does it look, it's kinda cool and has come along way to what it was when i first used it about 8 years ago! This is by far the most exciting task yet, i have now added all the ICQ users from NET11 that gave us their ICQ numbers and everyone is offline :( for now.



ICQ has so much more to offer than ever before and i love the colours and design, it's still is quite easy to use and search for other friends. Although i must say i do not no anyone other then Net11's that use ICQ these days, everyone uses messenger as it is set up via email. The style of writing is almost exactly the same as messenger i found. Easy to continue a conversation & easy to download and install. You can now also attach your ICQ sign in with your email, nice ICQ!

If you have never experienced ICQ, this is what your home looks like, very bubbly & fun looking



I think this way of communication is a positive way to interact with others INSTANTLY!! This method may loose that visual interaction but you can say that about any written internet communication tool. But now with programs such as Skype communication on the internet it fills all the demands of user needs. You can interact with chat via, written, sound or visual communication.

I do believe the cons out way to pros, On Christmas night, my fiance's uncle checked in with Skype and instantly had a video chat with his mum in France, i have never used Skype or any visual software applications before and it was an amazing site. Everyone was so excited & happy and the internet MADE THIS HAPPEN!! This is the way of the future and am falling more in love with it each day! I am going to set up a Skype account and get my dad to get Skype so we can say a big hello to our family in Malta. If you can't be with them, visual chat communication is the next best thing, even better than the telephone i reckon (And cheaper). The internet is the key to communication.

Some of the NET11 students have arranged to meet on 4th Jan Sunday at 7pm to observe & record our findings for this task. Chat to you all then

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

Module 2 - Email Lists

Email Lists - I am only very knew to this whole world of discussion boards, RSS feeds, blogs forums, email lists etc so this task opened my eyes up a little bit more. Firstly i checked out Topica which introduces the world to thousands of discussion boards & newsletters that you can subscribe to. Health & Fitness & Fashion would be the place i'd first look for discussion boards. So i clicked on health & fitness and in i went. So much information to consume & such awesome ideas, suggestions, advice & opinions you can gather from these sites, what an intricate piece of work! I could spend days on this site alone and that's only 1 of many sites that will allow you to share your concepts, thoughts, experiementation & ideas out to the world, what more could you ask for. One of my favourites is EHOW. You can ask it anything you want in discussion boards and Walaaaa!! the answer is right before your eyes! The other day i found out that if you put dry flour straight onto a oil stain, i should remove it from your garment - i saved a dress :)


1. What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?


Discussion boards wins hands down for me!


But the lets outline the good and the bad with both methods


Email Lists - The Good
- Offers the opportunity to interact information & opinions
- Messages are sent to everyone via email on that email list & sent directly to their account for convienience
- The message is delivered to the recipients in seconds without them having to go elsewhere to follow up on the discussion
- Newsletter & subscribe updates are a good way to receive informative info about things a person enjoys, i am signed up to many email lists including Sportsgirl, kookai, whats on in sydney etc, i like that they come to me :)
- The method is good for people who don't have lots of time on their hands to search around for discussion boards, they find a few and sign up. Easy as 1,2,3





Email Lists - The Bad
- These lists are a formalised flow of information.
- If the whole thread is not attached to each email from that list how can you keep up to date with all the information? To much unorganisation & can get lost
- Email lists can also bring waste of time posts directly to you
- This method can also bring hundreds of posts on that topic straight to you & flood your inbox (Now do you really want that?)




Discussion Boards - The Good
- Offers the opportunity to interact information & opinions (what would we do without Webct? I would be lost)
- You have the option to discard the waste of time posts & focus on the information you want
- It is much easier to continue a conversation & follow one on a discussion board
- There is millions online to find exactly what you're looking for and they are easy to find. You can start here at Yahoo


Discussion Boards - The Bad
- A discussion board may not offer answers in critical situations, they could take up to a few days if it is not that active
- You have to log in to the discussion board instead of it coming straight you


Based on the good and the bad, email lists have more cons than discussions boards.







Therefore Discussion Boards are the




2. Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?

Subscriptions & updates are more suited to email lists than discussion boards as they send out information specifically requested by you. Discussion boards are more suitable for people looking for an answer or opinion about something on different topics. They are more "open" then email lists. The communication on a discussion board is more informal than an email list. The communication is threaded for everyone to see and each post is attached to the main thread on a discussion board. The kind of communication on a email list is one way, it is sent out and then everyone replies to that post and it gets sent out at once, the flow of information is directed differetly to the other.

Module 2 - Email Tasks

Email Tasks - Looking at this heading it seems like you know exactly what you're in for don't you? Well there is much more to it then emails being sent back and fourth, little did i know the back end was much larger. Also out of the 150 billion electronic emails that get sent everyday i think i would contribute to 5% of that. Ok a bit of an exaggeration i know but i am truly on the email 24 hours a day. I would probably email in my sleep if i could. Although during these Christmas holidays i have had time of from the email, i can just imagine how many i will have when i go back to work..
Anyway, back to the topic at hand.. EMAIL..
I began my research by divulging into the Email Tutorial & went through each section at a time.
YAY, i got the first quiz right .. See



With my email i tend to use free emails provided by hotmail, gmail yahoo etc. This is for pure convenience, that way i can access my mail from around the world. At work i use outlook and do use the directory & functional tools.

Next i checked out the Span Scam Slam Game here
Note bad for a first timer to learn about spam.. This was fun! I got most of them right.. Here's the proof



Checking out the emoticons link ... I have never seen :-{} User wears lipstick or -I User is asleep or most of them actually, I'm going to keep this site... I love adding emoticons and animation to my emails, it creates more of what i'm feeling i reckon.. I like it :)
Ok so i completed all quiz's and activities and actually got most of them right, YAY!!! Now what i have learnt thus far in this task:

1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?

From an email message you can see the recipient's name, there sender domain, what time/date it was sent, the subject of what the email is relating to & if there are any attachments. Good way to keep out spam is to add domains to your safe list. Something new i learnt.

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?

Well the CC, BCC & reply all functions are very important & are extremely efficient to use in your busy day. BCC is most important as you can send this to multiple people but none of them can see who you are sending it to. For eg. if you want to send a promotional deal to say 50 customers, you would use the bcc function. CC is great because you may be sending the email directly to a person but using CC can copy other people in if they should also be informed of what's going on. Reply all is a quick & easy method to ensure everyone that is on the email can get your reply. It's great for when i'm emailing my girlfriends where to go out for dinner, between us we'd send many and replying to all saves time & everyone gets all information forwarding on instead of sending it multiple times & wasting our time.

3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?

When sending attachment files you need to ensure that you send it in a format able software program to ensure the recipient has no problems opening it.Most acceptable is PDF, plain txt files and RTF's. Problems with attachments has actually stopped my recipients from reading my emails so i looked further into MIME as Peter suggested & found a really informative site called LANDTech. You can view it here

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?

I use lots of rules in my outlook at work to make things efficient & easy to organise my mail. At the moment i have set up a rule at work to say "i'm out of the office & wont return till blah blah" to ensure that if messages are being sent to me people know i will not respond until i return and it actually alerts the recipient that i'm not around instead of just sending me the email & no reply, now that's not informative is it! I also have another rule set up that when a BIG client of mine sends me messages as i get hundreds a week, these emails automatically go to another INBOX to ensure my filing system is organised & clean, it also separates these emails from the rest of my other clients. A filter that we use at work is a SPAM filter, most of the time the spam gets caught on the server and i barely get any spam, i also get our computer guys to filter through the emails and anything that comes from, usq.edu.au or csu.edu.au are safe listed to ensure nothing gets stuck in the filter.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?

My email outlook is a complete organised filing system with a detailed structure, i would have it no other way. It is set up by client, by financial year that way i can access historical emails with ease. I also need to be able to find historical emails to alert myself what advice i have given, when you have so many jobs to work on you definitely need a record of what has been said, and the online folder structure is a great way to ensure i have not missed anything as it all goes in writing. For my big client i have another filing system set up with folders per Employee of that client & financial sub-sections such as payroll, creditors, admin, bank etc to ensure i can locate anything that i may need to refer to in the future. I suggest that everyone create a folder structure, i would be lost without mine :)

Module 2.1 - My Understanding

Email Basics - I only learnt the other day that simple plain text based emails are much more effective than html. The other day i sent out a large number of emails for my website to pet associations who wanted more information about our services, whilst using an online software to track & report on whom read & opened this email. I found when sending from HTML the recipient had to download images & pages with a warning that came up to see the whole email, therefore even though this email was going to businesses that requested information we did not get many people opening the email due to the warning that came up. So then i sent it again via plain-text & almost double the recipients read the email. Plain text is a smaller email and a efficient way to get your desired emails out to those clients. This is just one way in which plain-text can be more effective from my experiences.

Subjects - I don't think i have ever sent an email without a subject! Why would you leave it blank, you want the recipient to get it immediately and grab there attention - to do this you use a subject heading. I really liked the points Module 2 outlined about what words & important phrases to use for emails to get the recipient to act/read/do. I will definitely try this out at work!

Quoting - Something i do quite often at work especially if a colleague is telling me that i never asked them to do that task i am waiting on. So i quote the original task at hand back to them in to show that i originally did ask for it to be done. HOwever as the module outlines there is limitations - but i overcome them via sending an attached email of the original email to show proof of where/when it came from.

The Look - I am very fussy about how my emails look. I send them all the same way to ensure consistency & a clean simple email is a must! I also use white spaces & am very picky about the line spacing. I also put my text in blue to keep it separate from the recipient. Really helps when i am searching for something from a previous email.

Formating - RTF - Very helpful at work when trying to open an MYOB file that was used via a MAC computer when we are PC! We have to use formating programs/ insert .rtf to convert the files to ensure they are readable on our end! This is really helpful & a quick way to open the file you're looking for.

Security - Very important! As the module outlined it is extremely important to be aware of what you're opening before you accept & open. With the amount of exposure we have now with the internet i always ensure i know the source before opening otherwise i won't open it.

Email management - what would i do without my trusty email directory. I really do benefit from having this set up on my PC at work and also for client based work. It benefits me because i can keep a history or advice given/received, what has been said, what hasn't been said for that matter & many other reasons for the workplace. For example i am an accountant who works for a chartered accounting firm BUT i also am a financial controller for one of our biggest clients. As i am not in the office at the physical address i run almost EVERYTHING through email. So this keeps things really efficient especially when i'm looking for something historical that i need to trace, quote, find i can search through my directory and not rely on my brain to remember! I would recommend anyone who works in the workplace to set up an email management system to file every record of emails. It comes in handy when someone says you haven't done something or never received it, it gives me GREAT pleasure to pull up an email and show them that it was actually done! It gets them every time (Grinning with much satisfaction)

Search function - This i find is also really helpful, as the module outlines it saves time and is really valuable with large folders. I have a training folder for tax and if i come across something i am unsure about say for eg. The thresholds for family tax benefit 2008, i type in keywords and it locates any training notes i have sent myself and saves a lot of time to locate this information. It can be used in many ways but i mainly use this function for this purpose.

Newsgroup - To think that a few uni students started this informative way of communication is trully unbelievable. Where would you even start to think about something like this? I found this concept really interesting so i clicked on for more

To think that all these steps happen when accessing a newsgroup is quite astonishing especially when it happens in a blink of an eye. I never really knew how much back end work is done to get these types of cummication gateways to work. But so worth it!

Chat & Messaging - When i first began using the internet i began using ICQ, i became obsessed and nowadays it's msn (when i have time). This unique method of communication has come a far way from when Alexander Graham Bell's design of the telephone was introduced. If only he could see us now! The map of online communities by Randall Munroe is a really great image as it shows the internet as a "world" & It puts everything in context.

What i think about virtual chat - I think it is a very creative & interactive way to communicate but i think it is for people who have way to much time on their hands. As much as i love communication and creativity i think the faster & convieniant the communication the better, i don't need virtual characters to portray myself even though i'm all for representing one self!
P.S I love the avators in our module. Especially the powerful girl, she looks like can she do anything. If only i had more time :)

You know what, i am going to give it a go and experience it for what it is.. I checked out your guide to virtual worlds to find out more.

All in all i found Module 2 very interesting and affirming in the way i use the beneficial tooks of email communication. YAY, i'm doing something right! Mod 2 really shows the intricacies of one to one, many to many electronic communication tools & how effective/useful they can be.

Missed my blogging

Hi Guys
It's seems like forever since i created my last blog and have missed being able to log in and check it out.. But it was for good reason. Even though this is purely for NET11 information, i thought i'd blog what has been happening to me over the last week or so. My partner proposed to me and i said YES!! SO now i'm engaged.. IT is very exciting and with all the excitement and craziness i haven't been able to attend to my blogging & uni work. Even though i'm still up to date IM BACK!!!
Going to get straight into module two today and see how i go! Many of my fellow NET11 are way in advance so i need to catch up & check out everyones blogs. I can just imagine how many posts are waiting for me to check when i get into WEBct!! I suspect many hours of reading up

Cheers Guys & thought i'd share my really EXCITING & WONDERFUL news!!

Module 1 - Trace Route

The next task teaches us how to use the trace route tool. I chose network-tools to trace to curtin.edu.au. The site was easy to use and the task was fairly easy. I clicked on trace and entered the domain name & hit go. My results appeared before me, see below for my findings.



IP - TraceRoute to 134.7.179.53 [www.curtin.edu.au]

How many ‘hops’ are there? 20 but 3 timed out
What is the average time in milliseconds from the tools site to the curtin server? 268ms and 259ms not including the timed out hops.

This task was ok but would never really use such a tool, but interesting to know it's there :)

Further exploration

PING - I downloaded A-Toolbar from the the suggested site & did a comparison as mentioned in the task between this program & a net tools site, so i went back to the original tools site chosen earlier and ran the test.

My findings in comparison are as follows:



The findings saw that the A-Toolbar program was much quicker then the new tools site. Maybe this could be due to when you are using a tools website it has to go from another site already indexed in the search engine & then links to your site and crawls there?! And in comparison the toolbar program goes directly to the site you wish to ping creatiing a faster journey! Am i on the right track, i'm not sure, anyone want to expand on this?

Trace Route - From my computer (A-Toolbar)

Testing the trace route from my A-Toolbar program on my computer resulted in a much faster ms than the new tools site. My findings show:


It also did not attract as many hops, showing a total of 13 instead of 20.

Good experience all round but after a long hard day of NET11 i am having a major information overload.

Until next time, ciao :)

Module 1 - "FTP Task"

According to the readme file,
'CAPITALIZATION MATTERS'

Firstly i had no idea what Filezilla was & it's use, so i researched a bit information about it before i began this task. You can find facts bout Filezilla at Wiki. Or learn more about its use & reviews here.

This whole process of downloading FileZilla and using it was relatively easy. I downloaded the FTP Client - FileZilla & installed it to my PC. Typed in the host address & found README almost straight away. The instructions in our Curriculum were very straight forward & downloaded the README file on to my PC. The only problem i had is that when i first opened the readme file in notepad it looked like this...



I couldn't find the word "matters" anywhere, but i knew i did everything right so i played around with the notes features & clicked word wrap & there it was..

This task was eye opening as i didn't even know programs like Filezilla existed but can see how beneficial it would be to use with the accessibility it provides for businesses & for the public that needed to send files to & from clients.(I can't believe i know this!)

Module 1 - Task B

BlinkenLights

How cool is this! It was really easy to log back into telnet again & check out the animated Star Wars mini movie. It was nice to sit back for a few minutes & watch. If you think back in the old days people would have been so fascinated with this new way of using these types of applications. It would have taken them ages to get that all working so well.. But what an achievement, they would have been stars in the world of technology/creativity.

When people first used telnet they wouldn't have had the easy access of help like we do today and therefore in my opinion would most have probably caused issues for the user.

Blinkenlights does bring a different light to telnet & shows you how an application that was only used for information be transformed for entertainment. You can say the same thing about the internet, it first began as an information tool for black & white information & now it has moved into a global space for creativity/entertainment/exploration. Telnet was the beginning of a journey that is still moving forward today. Today we can access music/video/news/friends/entertainment, if only they knew back then what we can do now! When new applications such as blinkenlights was introduced this opened new doors for the industry & broadened the horizons for people to use their creativity to fulfil there needs & wants. To explore new ideas & ways of using this incredible tool for mediums more than just information.

Module 1 "Task A - Telnet"

Ok, so i spent some time reading up on the discussion boards to get an idea of what i need to do & understand the main issues. I couldn't find how to get Telnet to begin, i tried the suggestion Rhys made to go to here. I also did some initial background research and found a good resource here for telenet. Then i realised i already have the telnet application on my computer via Daryl on the discussion board. I tried start/run typed in Telnet & found it. I then went straight to help to find out what commands i needed to access deakin library. It took me forever to get my telnet application working but eventually found the right typing configuration to get it going. Please see my attempts & frustration growing below!



Thankfully after trying every possible way ... to my relief it finally worked.. From here on it was relatively easy, i found the author & book.. GOT IT :)



Then of course i don't know what my external curtin email is so i checked out the discussion boards and other students had the same problem, so i entered what i thought my email is because i couldn't find how to get into my curtin email.. so by now i'm really frustrated as i have searched everywhere.. So i posted a message to the forum but couldn't wait for a reply and so i googled it.. I found it YAY!! Oasis - thats right... My emails came through successfully & Monique completed her first mission!! After all the initial problems Telnet was easy to use & the library info sent to the email is a pretty cool command & would come in handy for uni. Overall i would not like to use Telnet on a dialy basis as it is outdated and their are better software devices via the internet to find what i am looking for. You can tell it is an old program however it shows just how far man has come with technology.

Module 1 - My Thoughts

Today i studied module 1 and checked out all the links, all i have to say is, whoever invented the Internet is a genius.. Does anyone actually "own" it? I mean no one really owns it but does anyone have rights at the very beginning? When you look at it, it is seriously incredible, anywhere in the world & at any time people can check out a URL, it is so handy. It is sent through servers, hardware & cables which at a click of a button sends data across the world. You can check out the basic process here

Routers - I have one connected to my PC but never new what it was, now i know that it sends my data the best possible way. Cool! So it actually does have a purpose :)

Finally something that i actually knew before NET11 - what an IP Adress is. It's the address of your computer!!

Domains - Again something i am familiar with, i own a few, my main one is BuyMyPet.com.au

Ok now on to the Tasks - Aarrgh!!

Day to day life of NET11

So it's been a few days and i thought I'd jump on my newly created blog and add another posting about how I'm feeling about the whole experience.
You think you know a lot about the Internet and then you realise that you really are only skimming the surface.
I have learnt so much in the last 4 days at NET11 its incredible. Today i learnt about RSS Feeds from Rhys & Peter and they have been really helpful. I learnt about the blog list and how to follow other bloggers & made a few comments on other students blogs. There seems so much to take in and read up on & watch, it is so overwhelming.

Last night i spent hours reading up on every ones' hello's and all the posts about our learning log & have definitely benefited from reading every ones tips. I can see that people have already began working on Module 1 and to be honest i don't even know what Telnet is??? But i guess i will find out in a couple of days. All in all i feel very excited about this experience and meeting all these intelligent people is a real joy.

Bonn voyage for another day :)

P.S this is my first attempt to adding an image

Top FIVE tips for NEW Bloggers!

1

Have Personality

It is a must to show your true personality through your blog, reflect your ideas & beliefs, it can be as informal or formal as you want it to be, be creative & have fun with it. Also show your personality by adding a bit about yourself in the "About me profile" so other bloggers can get to know the blogger in you!

2.

Make Blogger Friends

When you set up your blog make friends with other bloggers that are of interest to you, comment on their pages & let readers comment on yours. Knowledge is priceless & you will learn a thing or two.

3.

Blog Jargon: Learn it

Become familiar with Internet jargon so you can understand how blog communication works. Before you start blogging, get to learn & know the blog savvy language so you can understand other bloggers & learn from the professionals. The blogosphere as many call it is a whole new world to first time bloggers and it will pay for you to get acquainted with it first.


4.

Postings

When blogging on your site enter into a new post each time you want to add new information/findings, that way your blog is clean & easily mapped out for readers to go through your posts/archives effectively. Navigation is key for when readers want to come back

5.

If all else fails - Google It!! (Research)

Research, research research! If you are new to blogging like myself you must start with research, Google or YouTube it! There are so many sites & help manuals that will guide you through setting up a blog & how it works. A good site that was suggested by Cynthia my tutor is here. Find out what a blog is all about and their purpose, this will get you started. By learning from others and researching tips from other bloggers & sites you will gain the knowledge you need to start a new blog!

My Internet Business - A bit about me - Internet wise!

Hi Bloggers

BuyMyPet.com.au is my internet business that was lauched a few months ago.

BuyMyPet.com.au is dedicated to finding Aussie pets a new home. It consists of a pet classified search engine where pet lovers can search, buy & sell pets online. BuyMyPet.com.au also provides a targeted medium for pet shops, breeders and pet industry businesses to promote their goods and services.

This is part of the reason why i joined this interesting subject internet communications as my partner does all the "web development & internet communications" so i want to learn abit about the internet too.

Enjoy!!

Monique's Journey - Internet Communications

WOW. Hi, this is my first blog! This blog will note all my findings & experiences as i learn about internet communications & its conceptual findings. I'm really excited to learn all these new things & hopefully you will all enjoy my blog! Welcome...