CHAT TASK

For this task I decided to try a text base chat, MSN, and one of those 3D avatar type ones. Downloaded Secondlife but no luck, it didn't run on my system, some problem with the audio/video drivers. So I decided to give IMVU a go, I've never used a 3D chat service before and was determined to see what all the fuss was about. Downloaded IMVU and it worked no problems. Designing your own avatar seemed a bit weird to be honest, and then when I saw him standing in the 3D world in an apartment near the seaside it just felt weirder. I think it was a combination of it looking like I was playing a computer game, but without any action, (not to mention I've never been a fan of computer games anyway), and just a feeling that the more they try to make these things real, the more fake they seem. I mean, I'm talking to a girl, but is it a dude? are they 25, 60, or 12 years old? plus when you can't see someones face, look them in the eye, see their body language and hear the tone of their voice are you sure you're really understanding them. For me the answer is no. I didn't like it at all. I know some people enjoy that role play type of stuff, looking like someone different, for fun or more weird or sinister reasons, but not me. It was like I was in a make believe world full of people pretending to be something their not, I know a lot of people were probably very nice and might have been just as they seemed, and I could be paranoid, but it creeped me out. No thank-you very much.

Had a few chats on MSN, it was alright but obviously has its limitations. For short messages and questions/answers, with small groups its fine, but trying to have a longer or more in depth discussion with larger groups? not great at all. Basically I'd say its like an Internet version of SMS between a group of people, would be good for some sort of in office communication. Again I must admit I'm not a fan of anything where I can neither see the person I'm talking to, or hear the tone of their voice,. It just fells like a lot of the meaning is lost, especially when you don't know the person, for me it's hard to know much about someone without a face to face meeting. Not to mention I'm really bad with names and tend only to remember faces, which is another problem.

Eddie told me about Skype, he says he prefers that chat service and that you can also make calls and send files, sounds like it might be better than MSN, I might just check it out.

LISTS

What are the pros and cons of email lists verses discussion boards? My experience with both is very limited, they have similarities in that they are both forums for public discussion within a group on a specific subject, but there seems to be more structure to discussion boards. There's a hierarchy, different subjects under different headings, separate threads under these and posts and replies follow from each other within that hierarchy. In one way this is better as you can zero in on a subject and thread more easily, but it becomes a bit laborious if you have to look through all the replies to that thread to find the information you might be looking for. In a group or email list its more like an ongoing conversation between a group of people, less structure, it just seems to move along in order with the posts, like a communal blog. This would be good if the members of the group are all at the same place but not so good if you've fallen behind and have to sift through old posts to find where you're at, or take the risk of putting up a new post and not being very popular by bringing up a topic that's already over and done with.

So which is better and when? I'd say if the people involved in the group or community are all working on the same thing at the same time, or have, lets say about the same knowledge on a subject and just want to hear about new developments in that area, or you want a sort of news letter or memo type of deal, then the group or email list is the way to go. If you want to have a structured discussion on several different subjects within a certain topic, and be able to access specific information more readily then go with the discussion board.

MODULE 2 EMAIL TASKS

1. What information about a users email, the origin of the message, and the path it took, can I glean from an email message you ask? Well I can see their user name or email account name, which is the bit before the @. I can see their domain name, that's where his email account is hosted, that's the bit after the @. Then there's the .com or .net or whatever part, which doesn't really tell you that much. And last but not least there might be something like .au, or another country's little initials, which would indicate that the domain is probably hosted in that country, and that therefore the person who sent you the message might reside there. The email message should also show the time and date the email was sent.

2. In what cases would I use the "CC", "BCC" and "REPLY TO ALL" functions of email?
CC : If I want to send a copy of a message to someone.
BCC : If I would like to send a message to someone without the other recipients knowing about it.
REPLY TO ALL : When I would like all the recipients of the original message to receive a copy of my reply.

3. How due I insure that an attachment you send would be easily opened by the user? I would be sure to send a plain text document (ASCII) whenever I'm unsure of the the recipients software or computer type.

4. What sort of filters or rules do I have set up and for what purpose? None, except for the standard spam filter that was already on email service. I don't really receive a lot of emails, usually one or two a day, so its no big drama just to let the go to the inbox on my email account and sort them to the appropriate folder myself. I if was receiving a larger amount the I would set filters to sort them into personal and work related, possibly breaking the down to specific job, clients as well.

5. How do I organise my email folder structure and why? Basically I have folders for:
Work: anything of relevance from my boss, usually its just junk he sends.
OUA: any correspondence relating to my online studies.
Ebay/Paypal: for anything such as correspondence and receipts from using these services.
Dodo: anything from Dodo regarding my Internet service.
That's about it, these folder cover everything I do with my email service. I don't really get much personal email unless its just stupid jokes and stuff which I tend not to open anyway. I have found that sorting emails into folders really does help you to find things quickly when you need them rather than looking through a big load of stuff in your inbox.

TRACEROUTE AND PING EXERCISE

If I understand this correctly, traceroute tells you the path that packets of information take when they are sent from your computer to another computer via the Internet. This function basically maps the routers used and the time taken, the flow of the packets of information between routers are called "hops". Here's my trace from net-tools.com to curtin.edu.au



TraceRoute to 134.7.179.56 [curtin.edu.au]

Hop (ms) (ms) (ms) IP Address Host name
1 9 16 15 72.249.134.177 -
2 11 16 28 8.9.232.73 xe-5-3-0.edge3.dallas1.level3.net
3 18 21 30 4.68.19.126 vlan79.csw2.dallas1.level3.net
4 12 15 18 4.69.136.157 ae-73-73.ebr3.dallas1.level3.net
5 51 53 39 4.69.132.77 ae-3.ebr2.losangeles1.level3.net
6 40 44 40 4.69.144.9 ae-1-60.edge3.losangeles1.level3.net
7 42 40 47 4.78.195.202 singapore-t.edge3.losangeles1.level3.net
8 189 190 195 203.208.148.18 -
9 Timed out Timed out Timed out -
10 Timed out Timed out Timed out -
11 268 251 251 61.88.166.134 -
12 258 253 258 202.158.198.6 ge-1-0-3.bb1.b.per.aarnet.net.au
13 252 256 251 202.158.198.178 -
14 259 262 251 202.158.198.186 -
15 Timed out Timed out Timed out -
16 Timed out Timed out Timed out -
17 Timed out Timed out Timed out -
18 261 254 256 134.7.179.56 systems.curtin.edu.au

Trace complete


That's 18 hops at an average speed of 257 ms, and curtin.edu.au IP number is 134.7.179.56

So what did I learn? the Internet is fast, really, really fast, and although 18 hops seems like quite a few, when you think how far those poor little information packages have to hop it's really not much at all. Pretty cool stuff.


Ping pong, does this ping exercise really stink!? NO! it was interesting.

Ping from net-tools average 255.7 ms
Ping from my PC (beautiful Melbourne) average 76.0 ms

Its about what you'd expect really given the geographical difference, judging that the second router on the traceroute from net-tools has Dallas in its name, so I'm guessing USA.


Traceroute comparison. (sorry couldn't think of anything witty for traceroute; maybe if you say it traceroot, but I'm not touching it).

Traceroute from net-tools 18 hops
Traceroute from my PC (still beautiful Melbourne) 5 hops

Once again this seems about right given the distances, still interesting to know.

It was a good exercise and I enjoyed it, a bit of an insight into the behind the scenes, seedy underbelly of the Internet, cool.

FTP EXERCISE

FTP? Never used it before, downloaded the recommended FileZilla, it was easy to use and only took me a few moments after connecting to recall.curtin.edu.au to find the README file and to find out that:

CAPITALIZATION MATTERS

This is another exercise I really liked, and its obvious that FTP clients like FileZilla will come in handy. I liked the simple layout, local site left, remote site right, just find the file you want and download it, no fuss. As pretty much all of my Internet experience has been using browsers, I must say I really prefer downloading files using FTP. I know its just a personal preference but if all I'm after is a file I'd like to keep things simple, rather than using a browser and having someone try to wow me with their cool looking website, or waiting for their dodgy slide presentation to download (especially if you have a slow connection).I can imagine that trying to look flash is important if you're trying to flog something, or get a contract, or run a scam, but if its research, or hard data, or retrieving some old achieved facts'n'figures you can keep the bells and whistles.

MODULE 1 TELNET EXERCISE

TELNET? never heard of it! I think basically its a system that's used to connect your computer (at a remote location) to another computer so that you are able to give commands as if you are in the same physical location.
I did a google search for a TELNET client and found one called PUTTY. Had a good review and free to download, so why not? The program was very easy to use, just put in the Deakin Library Database address, select TELNET and there you are. Did my search for the author Bennahum and got:

Bennahum David A 1936 1 entry
Bennahum Ninotchka 1 entry

I really liked using TELNET, I liked the simple old school menu, no flashy web style graphics and fonts, just a "yeah wot'll it be?" look to it, I thought it was great. It took me back to when I was a lad, when the 5.5" floppy disk was king, when the web was for spiders, the net was for fishin, and if your computer had a mouse you called an exterminator. Then as I was feeling all nostalgic; towel.blinkinlights.nl :( it was just terrible, the good old days? good riddance!

HI TO EVERYONE

Hi, sorry I'm so late putting up my blog, it's been a combination of work commitments and the fact that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing! I have never read or even seen a blog before in my life. About the only thing I've used the internet for is to buy something, or do some banking, or maybe a bit of research - but not much. So please excuse me if my blog looks amateurish, thats only because it is (hopefully this will change over the course of this unit).

Anyway here are my "top five tips for new bloggers" (not that I'm really qualified to know).

1. Find out what a blog is, check out the videos on youtube.
2. Look at some other peoples blogs, just to get an idea of how its done.
3. Keep it casual, just write as if you're having a conversation, nuthin fancy.
4. Give the reader a little info and your opinion.
5. Don't be shy, just give it a go.