This was an interesting task. I will definately keep using Google for my searches. Am not impressed with Copernic at all. It just doesn't seem to come up with the results that I expect it to. I searched Google for Inernet and Security and got back 326,000,000 hits and then seached Internet and Security and Privacy and came back with 178,000,000.

The first search seemed to be mostly about Antivirus software and the second one was more specific to what I asked for which is what I would have expected. I still find Google the better search engine as it always seems to come up with what I want. Perhaps it is because my search requirements are never really very complex but it certainly suits for my needs.

Copernic Search Results

http://www.nathaniasprings.com.au/?gclid=CP3WjIzQqpwCFdgtpAodwiA0kQ

http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues/climate_change/climate_impacts/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=bushfires&utm_campaign=Allianz%20Knowledge%20-%20Australian%20Bushfires

http://www.geocities.com/thepatchman00/Fire.html

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25058066-26103,00.html

http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenfoe.nsf/LinkView/E20ACF3A4A127CB04A25679300155B04358FFCDA5CA1F43FCA256DA6000942C9

These entries were posted separately to the Google entries as Livejournal said that it was all too large to post in one entry.

 

I used Google for my search engine and searched for "Dandenong Ranges Bushfires". The first entry that came up was
New bushfire in Dandenong Ranges National Park puts homes at risk ...
and there was 229,000 results.

I did this same search in Copernic and got completely different results. I got only 57 results. They ranged from things about Australian Bushfires to weddings in the Dandenong Ranges. Whereas my Google search came up with pages of information relating to Fires in the Dandenong Ranges. I think the Google search results were more specific to what I askd for than the Copernic results. I have not been able to pinpoint why these results were so different.

Google Search results

Major Bushfires in Victoria

Coroner's Report:Dandenong Ranges 1997

Dandenong Ranges Community Bushfire Group | Country Victorian News

Dandenongs' residents demand early warning signs - Council - News ...

Fire breaks out in Dandenong Ranges

I downloaded Bookmark Buddy and had a bit of a play with it. I frequently use my bookmarks in Firefox and keep alot of sites marked there which I find easy to use and easy to find the ones that I want because they are sites that I use alot. I can see that there possibly would be some benfits to using Bookmarker Buddy but I feel that just going to the Bookmark section on my browser is just as easy. I could not really think why you would need to have all these different categories and search options when it is just as easy to go to my bookmarks and find the one that I was looking for. For me I couldn't really see any great benefit in using it.

I am a big Google user. Anything that I need to know I Google it. I downloaded Copernic Meta for PC. Easy to download but I couldn't really see much difference between it and Google. I did a couple of searches in it then the same in Google and the results were quite different in the amount of results they both found. I searched for Melbourne Weather and in Google it cam back with 19,000,000 results and Copernic came back with just 67. I did another search for Kids Birthday venues Melbourne. Google came back with 1,500,000 and Copernic with just 73. I am not sure what the reason is that Copernic comes back with such smaller numbers or results but I possibly would use this more than Google now if I know that I don't want to trawel through millions of results. Sometimes, depending on what you are searching for it is better to have more choices than less.

Again, not knowing a whole lot about Copernic, it has made my computer run really bad. So bad that  have had to remove it. It made it run really slow on the internet and it kept doing some really wierd things like opening windows when I hadn't asked them to and closing my browser for no reason. I thought it could only be because of Copernic as it was the last thing that I downloaded and since I have removed it, it has been fine again.

Now after reading some discussion on the board about Copernic I discovered that I had actually downloaded the incorrect version. I had downloaded the desktop search which is not the same as searching the web. I have now downloaded the correct version, Copernic Agency Basic and done the same searches as I did before but the results are still only veery few compared to Google. I changed the number of search results as suggested on the discussion board but still only got 45 results in Copernic and actually this time in Google I got 18,500,000 which is significantly more than last time. I searched the other search I had previously done, kids birthday vennues melbourne and got the same in Google and still only 51 in Copernic. I do not understand why the results are so different when Copernic is searching 12 different search engines. I think I will stick with Google.

I don't know that much about Media Players as I have never really watched alot of videos or listened to music on my computer. Anything that I have needed to watch has been played by Windows Media Player without me even thinking about it.

I downloaded Real Player to have a look at it. It offered Movies and TV shows. Some International Radio Stations- I had abit of a listen to the BBC4 in the UK. You can also play games on it. It was Free to download but then you had to pay for anything that you wanted to do on it. I don't know anything about it technically but it looked like it was capable of doing anything that you needed it to in the way of watching/listening to media.

I searched for any other Free Media Players. I downloaded a few before I came across Videolan Media Player http://www.videolan.org/
It is a project run by volunteers, backed by a non-profit organisation that was started in 1996. It is now backed by the VideoLan Organisation based  in France. According to the information I read about it, it is a very portable supporting most audio and video formats. It can convert media files, transcode and act as a streaming server. It doesn't need any external codec, program or codec pack.

Both of these media players were very easy to download although I will say that there did not seem to be much in the way of information about what they do and what they can be used for which would have been an advantage for a novis user like myself.

After looking at Diigo Social Bookmarking List and comparing it with the HTML, my thoughts are that the Diigo is alot more structured and easier to find your way around. The HTML is less structured and harder to understand and find things. The Diigo gives you alot more information about the item you are looking at compared to the HTML which only some do and then it is more basic information so you need to go into it to find out more what it is about. The Diigo is more attractive to look at which makes it more appealing to most people.

I think the benefits to Diigo are that is seems to be more structured and easier to read and understand. Not having to look through all the topics to find out what they are about is definately a bonus and that would be one reason I would prefer Diigo. Saving time looking for what you want has got to be better.

Blogs are something very new to me......as you can probably tell by my blog. I had never really even looked at one before having to do one for this suject. I did not even really know what they were, although I did have an idea that they were like a diary on the net. I guess I have trouble understanding why someone would want to put all their thoughts, like you do in a diary, as I have done on and off for many years, into something that the whole world can read if they choose to. I am the kind of person that likes to write my feelings about different personal things but I certainly would not be writing them on the net for everyone to read. I am also not curious enough to go and search for blogs that I would want to read.

I think if people are publishing blogs that contain interesting and informative information then that is alot different to actually posting personal stuff about your life. Why does anyone think that anyone really cares reading stuff about a complete stranger. I could understand wanting to read a blog of perhaps someone that you know and wanting to know things about them, but from a complete stranger has me baffled.

I have to admit since doing this subject I have been looking at Facebook more and seem to be able to find out things about some of the people that I know that I don't keep in regular contact with. That has been quite interesting but other than that I do not really see the point.

I would also say that due to my lack of experience, and lack of time to get experienced, I have not enjoyed using my blog. This is just because I have not been able to find the time to sit down and really play with it and understand how they work and find out the many things that they are capable of doing. I hope over time that I will understand it alot more and be able to understand why people find them so fascinating.

Q. Have I used images or words on my web page or website that contravene copyright laws?

As my web page is very simple I have not contravened any copyright laws. I had tried to enter a graphics picture into the site was not successful. I believe that if I had been able to get the image into the site would not have contravened copyright laws. If the image had a copyright symbol next to it then I would have but it didn't as it was not registered for copyright. If it had been registered for copyright I could have been sued for using the image without the permission of the originator of the image.

Q. Would you be in breach of copyright if you put the Curtin logo at the top of your web page for an assignment?

In my interpretation of the copyright law and my own thoughts, I do not believe that I would be in breach of the copyright law as inserting the Curtin University logo at the top of an assignment would not be making it public information. As it would only be being submitted to a tutor for marking i would not need permission to include the logo on the document.

I enjoyed doing this task as it took me back quite a few years when I starting learning some programming. It felt good having control over what I was producing and I felt quit excited each time it worked even though it is only basic work. I created my web page and had alot of trouble taking a snapshot to post in here. I eventually got it in here as an image but I'm not sure if it in here correctly but I spent quite alot of time trying to find information on how to get it in here.

I have really enjoyed the HTML exercises but I have spent far too much time on it, because I was enjoying it so much and felt like there was so much to learn about it. I did feel abit of frustration when trying to take the snap shot of my we page and didn't have any idea how to do it other than using the 'print screen' function which didn't seem to be working. I did some searching on the net and eventually found a screen shot site called ALOT Snapshots Toolbar which was free to download. It enabled me to take a snapshot of my web page, save it and enter it in my log. Like I said above though I don't think this is done correctly but I don't know any other way of getting it in here.

The difference I noticed between HTML and Blogging, (although I am not an experienced Blogger), I felt like I had more control over what I could potentially do in HTML. I think because you are writing the code for it rather than using instructions in the Blogging software, it would be more flexible. Both Blogging and HTML have been new experiences for me so it is hard for me to really pick what things I prefer about either of them.