Chat on ICQ

I have just signed off after more than an hour's chatting with 4 other NET11 students. It was an interesting experience. From what my co-students were saying, ICQ was a bit of a pain. I can't yet compare to other chat rooms, but I didn't find ICQ that good. Obviously one of the benefits is being able to chat to a number of people at once. I prefer the phone, but teleconferencing has its limitations. Chat allows a large number of people to 'speak' at once. The problem I found was the jagged conversation - one person says something, but by the time I have finished my response another thread of conversation has started. It's easy to end up with a number of different threads mixed in with one another, making it difficult to have a flowing conversation. I guess that is the world of chatting, and maybe you get better at it as you go. If there are only two or three in the conversation, you can keep it nice and neat, but it's harder with a large number. Also, in terms of real-time synchronous conversation, it is real time - we are all over Australia and chatting to each other at the same time, but since the conversation is stilted it isn't quite real-time. Also, when we physically speak we can't delete our words - we need to choose our words carefully. When you chat you can change what you're saying and only send when you're finished. You have to think and respond more quickly with speech, you can hesitate, write, delete, think etc with chat. There is a delay - not in terms of 'time' - messages seem to be instant once posted, but in terms of response. It is also hard to avoid interrupting threads - when there are pauses in the conversation and there is no-one typing you are not sure whether to 'speak' or not. You can't exactly type 'ahhhhh' everytime you pause for thought.

Chat has its uses without doubt - it would not be possible for me to speak to my co-students in a group setting since we are not in a physical classroom and are too far apart, and the response time for chat is obviously of benefit compared to Bb. Also, a large group can't easily teleconference or videoconference. Chat is the obvious answer in those sorts of scenarios. It offers some unique opportunities which we would otherwise not be able to enjoy. It also poses some problems.

Yesterday I considered a number of problems I thought might be an issue. Most of those related to chatting to people we don't know and 'being' someone else (or speaking to someone who is not as they seem). I'm now also wondering about the social impact of chatting v phone or meeting with people. I know many teenage kids who keep in contact with each other via chatrooms etc. Some of them spend hours and hours chatting. Since chat is a very different form of conversation, I wonder whether it changes the way those kids behave in the physical world? What impact has chat had on kids raised with it? What impact might it have down the track? I guess it's too early to say, and I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad impact.

As I noted above - in chat you can pause, type, delete, retype, cancel, start again, type again, delete.....all the time potentially being someone else or making claims that are not necessarily true. In my case I was watching 'The Burbs' whilst chatting - I didn't mention it because it would sound rude. I wonder whether admitting that would change the way my co-students felt about my input (note: I was paying attention to the chat session - I can watch a movie at the same time!). I could have said I was sitting in my study concentrating on the chat task. I could have said I was on a train or visiting a friend in hospital. No-one can tell what I was doing. I can say whatever I like when I'm chatting and, within reason, no-one will know! If I chatted all the time, would I start to speak and behave as though I am in a chat room when I'm actually with other people. Would I say things more carelessly, forgetting that I can't delete it. If I increasingly lie in my chat sessions, would I lie more often in my physical world? If I pretend to be someone else in my chat session, would I pretend to be someone else in real life? Okay, I think this is getting too deep.....!

Chat Groups

Okay...a little more success here I think. I can see the merit in chat groups, but I can also see how people could spend too much time in chat rooms! I have successfully set up my ICQ account and am awaiting a chat tomorrow night (Sunday) at 9pm. I'm looking forward to the experience. I have already made a few observations:-

1. I have spent a huge amount of time setting up accounts for different things and searching through the various sites to learn how they work. I realise once you've passed the initial stages of setting up you can go straight to chat/newsgroup/list etc., but I feel like I'm spending a lot of time stuffing around and not much time actually doing anything!

2. Chat rooms are great for catching up with people you can't usually catch up with, for studying, for quick discussions from different locations, for 'speaking' to friends and rellies overseas. I can imagine lots of really good uses, but I wonder whether sometimes it's just easier to pick up the phone? Will I be in hot water suggesting that? I like listening to the laughter in a friend's voice when I speak to them on the phone. I can offer sympathy - not just in words but in voice - when I need to, or can interrupt if it's appopriate. I can sense anger or disappointment, joy or sorrow. It's ever better face to face over a coffee or lunch. I can't imagine having the same 'discussions' in a chat room that I have with my friends face to face or on the phone - with the same spontaneity and laughter and interaction - body language, voice and words. I understand we can have a voice in text, but I'm not sure it compares to reality.

3. Chat rooms certainly offer a unique opportunity to communicate with others in a real-time, synchronous way without actually being physically together. This is wonderful if you already know the people you are chatting with, is a lifesaver for someone unable to physically meet new people, and is exciting if you just want to meet new people online. However, if you chat to strangers, you can't ever really know 'WHO' you are chatting to. There are benefits in that you can be anyone you like - brave, crazy, fun, successful, popular....whatever and whoever you want, but so can the other person/people. I could be chatting to a very different person to the one profiled - age, sex, interests.....

4. The unique ability to chat to different groups at once, to speak privately to someone whilst still chatting to a group, and to be a different author with each group is really useful in many ways. Sometimes chat will be more beneficial than face to face or phone discussion, but there is also a risk of the chat becoming superficial and fake. Do you become a different person when you are chatting as compared to actually seeing and speaking to people? It is very easy to take on a different persona - and if this is kept to virtual communication then it can be lots of fun. If the virtual persona begins to cross into the physical persona things get difficult and dangerous!

5. This begs the question - how much of the chatting is 'real' - is a large amount of chat room discussion really 'virtual reality' stuff? It's so easy to be anyone, not necessarily who you really are - it has an exciting place in the new modern world of the information age, but it will be interesting to see where it leads.

Newsgroups (2)

After spending so much time discovering the joys of newsgroups, I have decided to give up on that task. My reasoning - they really don't impress me! After my last post I spent ages (read hours) scanning through lists of newsgroups with Google. My observations are that:
1. The groups tended to be very specific and connected to something in particular (eg. church groups, sports groups, specific towns etc.); and
2. on the odd occasion that I found a remotely interesting or relative newsgroup, it was either stale (ie. no one had posted for a year or two or more), or there were only a handful of members (sometimes only 2!).

To top it off, when I found something I thought I could join (ie. still current and a few members), I would inevitably find the posts had pretty much nothing to do with the topic! I think I have spent enough time on this topic. Will move onto Chat Groups!

Newsgroups

Okay, so I'm ready to join a newsgroup as required, and to do so I click on the first link offered in the study guide - http://www.usenet.org/. I clicked on the link and arrived at the usenet site....but where exactly are the newsgroups? It comes up with a whole lot of ads for 'related searches', which don't seem to have anything to do with what I'm looking for. Still, 'newsgroups' is offered to I click on that. It comes up with a whole lot of ads for sites offering subscription to newsgroups - but that's not what I want either. Up the top there is a 'newsgroup' link so I click on that - and I get another list of 'related searches'. At the top is another list.....thinking that I just need to choose a topic (okay, this is all new to me), I click on 'Houses for Sale' - maybe this is a newsgroup.....but no...more 'related searches'! I end up at realestate.com.....but that site is NOT a newsgroup! Where are the newsgroups? I get out of usenet and try the other links offered. Not much help there either....lots of advertising, but how exactly do I find the actual newsgroup? I once subscribed to a yahoo! newgroup and it was pretty easy to do that, so by now I'm thinking that might be the way to go, or maybe Google has newsgroups too....but I decide to check out all the offered links before trying that idea out. One link offers a guide for first time users....and the guide tells me about some of the possible newsgroups I might join....urgggghhhhh! Hubby's eyes open wide in surprise as I scroll down a list of porn group links.....I have by now decided that this newsgroup biz is not for me. Next step, see what my fellow students have discovered.

Module 2 - Lists

At work we are on a couple of lists - we receive regular emails containing newsletters, bulletins and other important updates and information. Some are regular - arriving at pretty much the same time every week. Some are annoying - too much stuff sent and I have to sort through the important stuff and delete the stuff we don't need. We have thought about setting up a list of our own to email a monthly newsletter to clients, but first someone has to provide content!

Email lists are handy if you don't need to communicate back and forth. They are good for sending out regular mailings, such as newsletters, without the need for a response from the recipient. Discussion boards, on the other hand, are a way of having a 'conversation' - albeit a stilted one. Downside of discussion boards can be having to read a lot of info that may not apply to you, but at least you have the opportunity to join in and offer your own opinions.

Email 101

Attachments

I send quite a few attachments with emails - usually documents, sometimes photos. I scan them in and tidy them up using a program called 'ulead' (cheap photoshop type program). I do my best to get the best quality for the lowest size. Some things are best saved as jpeg, others GIF. If the doc/photo is a large file, I'll try out a few ways to reduce the size. Sometimes I lose too much quality so I'll try something else. You can reduce really large files into small files and maintain quality. It annoys me when I receive an email with a massive photo (both in terms of physical size and file size). It takes ages to load up and then you can't see it because your screen is too small. I usually test my attachment by 'previewing' it too. Also, since I use Office 2007, I have to make sure I'm saving any office files as older versions so that others can read them.

Filters & Rules

I have a few email addresses that go directly to junk mail, and I have directed emails addressed to particular user accounts to be filed in their own folders. Apart from that, I haven't really looked into my options.

Folder Structure

Okay, I admit it....I haven't spent much time arranging my folder structure (or rules and filters). Apart from adding a few addresses to the junk mail folder, and having a couple of email addresses all coming to the one place, I haven't done much arranging. Yes, I do the housekeeping, but I have to admit it would be a whole lot easier to keep it tidy if I made some changes. Belated New Year's resolution - sort out email stuff and make use of the tools available!

What's in an email?

Finally - I can start on module 2. I've read through everything but work keeps getting in the way of study. Okay, email.....mmmm. I've been a bit slack. I seem to spend a lot of time doing lots of other stuff, but I've never taken the time to learn how to organise my email set-up. I know it would be far more efficient, and I know you have to take time to make time, but first you have to have time available. Right, now that I've confused myself....

EMAIL GLEANING

What info can you glean from an email. Well, the obvious bits are the ones easily seen. Who it came from, who it was sent to and what it's about are all in the head bit, plus just reading the actual content can tell you a bit if the 'reply' bits haven't been deleted. But to find out a bit more you have to seek out the information. I picked out a work email and clicked on file/properties. The info in there is more revealing.

Bit hard to read, but there is detailed info here on the return path, the delivery date and time, and who it is going to. It also includes info on the time it took to get from the sender to me, the path it took and the time it arrived at each hop (at least I think that's what it means!), the MIME version, virus threats, and all kinds of stuff about the content (fonts, content type, character sets etc.). Some emails have more info than others. I'm not sure exactly how to read all of the info in 'properties' but I think I follow most of it.

TO CC OR NOT TO CC

I use cc when I send an email to one person, but want someone else to have a copy of that email. The recipient of the email knows to whom I've sent a copy. The cc'd recipient knows the email is more or less for filing rather than for response. BCC would be appropriate if someone would like a copy of the email but they don't want the original recipient to know their email address. Reply all - handy if you want to reply to all of the original email recipients. I use it so that I don't have to type in the email addresses (less error). If the message I'm replying to is reasonably short, or if the recipients are waiting for a reply, I might include the actual content, but often I delete it. Sometimes messages can get very lengthy, even though it's good to have that record of 'conversation'.

Module 2

Last night I was up until 2am reading the outline to module 2 and thinking about the tasks. It's all very exciting but I'm a bit anxious. I joined a yahoo group a year or so ago, but apart from that I haven't joined any lists, newsgroups or chat sites before. I am really behind the times! It must be strange for those fellow bloggers who have grown up with the internet - you must think those of us who were around pre-pc's are from the dark ages (not that I'm that old!). I thought I was pretty up to date with the current technology - I think I've probably bought at least 10 computers over the past 20 years, plus helped a lot of other people to buy theirs. When I speak to my friends they have no idea what I'm talking about half the time (blogging! what's that?) - and they're often impressed at how much I know. He he...little do they know! There is so much more to learn.....

Photos

I really love the photo I had on this blog - it reminds me of the Dandenongs near Melbourne. Even though it was a freeware photo which came with a program (can't remember which one...might have been Ulead, or might have come with a program that came with one of our many cameras), I decided to try using one from our own collection. So....today anyway.....our pet bunny Caramel features. Almost all of my photos are on another computer so I'll have to bring some over to this one. I'll see if I can find an authentic 'Dandenong's' photo. I might set up a slideshow....I really enjoy playing around with the gadgets and widgets! Yee haa!

Ping and traceroute

Okay...next step in module 1...learn about traceroute. So I visited the site 'how stuff works' and read the article 'how routers work'. Okay, so that all makes sense....then I went to the article on tracing a message and saw an example of a traceroute. They suggested using tracert which should already be on my pc....so I tried typing tracert into google. Found an interesting site with more info on ping and traceroute but they wanted $ for the privilege of using their tools. Decided to stick with one of the sites suggested in the study guide...network-tools. Typed in 'curtin.edu.au' and off it went.....

So on my count that's 18 hops (the 19th being the curtin server). It took about 2.54 seconds to get from the tools site to the curtin server. The IP of the hostname curtin.edu.au is 134.7.179.56.

Thought I may as well test out tracert, since it is apparently already on my computer...and it worked! Had to figure out how to get to DOS on this laptop ("command prompt"), then typed in tracert 'http://www.curtin.edu.au/ and got a slightly different result. Only 12 hops and an average of 1.8 seconds! Interesting.

Comparison...the last six hops were identical with both. The trace from my laptop went via my ISP and was pretty quick to find Curtin.

One week down

I can't believe one week has passed since this study period began. I was really keeping up with it for the first couple of days, then I was offline for a day and a half and I seem to have lost momentum since then. Mind you, it was a long weekend and Moomba was beconing. Now it's back to work. Have read all the blogs, now I need to set up 'Google Docs' so that we can all post our blog addresses in one spot (thanks Peter for the advice - now I just have to figure out how to do it!).

Also need to get through the rest of the modules, although I think I'm not actually behind at this stage. More on that as the night progresses!

Day 5 - posts and more posts!

I have been working on my 2 OUA units every night until around 1am and I'm getting tired! Whenever I log on to Bb there are so many posts it takes me AGES to read them all. The trouble is, they're all so interesting that I don't want to miss any! I was offline for just over a day and they'd really built up. I'm finding it hard to fit the actual study in.... It's almost midnight and I need some sleep.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

FileZilla

Day three...I have managed to get through the telnet task...now onto the FTP task. Took awhile to figure out what I was doing but...yee haa....I did it!

First I downloaded filezilla - but I kept thinking I'd need to find the file on my computer in order to use the program. Then I remembered that http is just one type of search option - ftp was another. So I tried typing ftp:// etc etc and...bingo...it worked and I found the answer!

"This server runs on a unix platform, so CAPITALIZATION MATTERS! A file named "file.txt" IS NOT THE SAME as "FILE.TXT".


The tasks I've completed thus far (telnet & FTP) have involved finding text based information..no graphics, no font variations, nothing fancy at all. All very much like the old pc's as previously noted. Pretty dull and boring. The introduction of GUI's has made computing much more interesting.

My how things have changed! - Telnet & blinkenlights

I've been sitting in my lounge listening to ABC radio for updates on fire/wind warnings, and trying to memorise the terminology of FTPs, IPs and telnet amongst others. Fortunately I have come across some of this stuff before as I was setting up a website for someone and had to teach myself from scratch. That was a hard way to go but a good base for this unit!

I first used pc's back in the days of monochrome monitors and XT computers...slow cumbersome things that ran only on DOS (which our modern day computers still do way down at the core). Telnet brings me back! Before windows you needed to know the basics of DOS - you searched by typing in simple commands like 'menu' or 'rd' or 'dir'. There was a list of available commands and I managed my files and directories with it. Telnet is a lot like DOS. I must admit I prefer windows, even though I remember being wary of windows when it was just becoming popular! Oh dear,,showing my age here....anyway here is a copy of the email from Deakin.

Subject
Email from DEAKIN UNI LIB
Telnet printout You searched for the AUTHOR: bennahum 2 AUTHORS found, with 2 entries; AUTHORS 1-2 are: 1 Bennahum David A 1936 ................................. 1 entry 2 Bennahum Ninotchka .................................... 1 entry

As for blinkenlights....that brings me back too. I learnt to 'draw' pictures just using letters, numbers and symbols on my chunky manual typewriter at school :) We had an electric one too! My kids think it's totalling boring, but then they've grown up with pc's, windows, computer games with amazing graphics and PS2. I was lucky if I could find someone with an Atari or Commodore (go space invaders!). Programming computers was done by little cards with dotted marks on them (like the tattslotto cards) and I don't think pc's existed. I feel like I've seen a little chunk of an amazing world revolution in the making. Now I've progressed to learning to create animations using Toon Boom...now that's a cool program!

Top 5 Tips For New Bloggers

1. Keep personal safety in mind. Although I'm new to blogging, I think it's a good idea to be careful about the personal information you include on the blog site.


2. Consider who might be reading your blog. There are plenty of people who have lost jobs and had all kinds of problems by spilling their guts on the web... I read about someone on the weekend who lost her job because she said she hated it (her job) on facebook. It's also good to remember that once you've released information into cyber world it might be impossible to completely remove it - it could come back to haunt you!


3. Be creative. Don't be afraid to experiment with colour etc. to brighten it up and make it more interesting, or add widgets and other bits & pieces. Maybe add pics or animations. Anything is possible and what you do with your blog is up to you!


4. Check out what others have done. Don't be afraid to dive into those millions (?) of blogs out there. And while you're at it, add links to fellow students so it's easy to move from blog to blog. Maybe even add links to other interesting or useful blogs (I'm still trying to work out how exactly to do that.....!)


5. Have fun!

In the beginning.......

....there was the blog...

....well okay, the blog came later.....

Hi to anyone out there reading this blog. My name is Fi and I am blogging as part of my NET11 internet studies unit. I've never actually blogged before so this will be interesting!

At the moment I feel as though I'm just focussing on the technical aspects of this unit...getting used to using Blackboard and Oasis and trying to read the study guides for the 2 units I'm doing this semester. The NET11 'concepts' section is pretty long and I'd like to be able to digest it properly, so I'm taking a bit of time to read through it.

The first point...asynchronisity (did I spell that right?)....mmm....haven't we come a long way since people delivered mail on horseback or mailed letters to loved ones in other countries knowing it would take months and months to arrive. Time was sooooo much slower then. Now we can speak to each other via the internet (with web cams and microphones) instead of having person to person or phone conversations. We can send short notes to each other instead of mailing lengthy letters - staggered conversations....back and forth, anywhere in the world, all day long! We can check in with business contacts without interrupting their day, we can avoid talking to people who bug us and we can chat people up, all without actually seeing anyone....what a massive change the world has undergone!

Anyway....I'VE MADE A START! Yee haa!