1.1 - Online Entertainment - Activity 21

Because i have a regular access to the internet; i have used many forms of online entertainment. The online entertainment i have used in the past three months have included: Playstation 3 online gaming, msn instant messaging, youtube.com video service, Playstation 3 music video viewer, online pc games, bbc iplayer.

PS3 Online Gaming: The purpose of this is to allow PS3 owners to play thier games online with other people all over the world or even just with friends. This service is targeted at PS3 owners with internet access who are usually 14-30 years old. There are not many limitations of this service but it still doesn't completely fill its full potential because Playstation makers have promised that there is a lot more to come.

MSN Instant Messaging: The purpose of this service is to allow people to communicate as a simulation of talking face to face. The messages are recieved instantly after typing them so it is a quick and easy way to chat online. I think it completely fills its potential/purpose because it does exactly what it is supposed to do.

YouTube.com: The purpose of this service is to allow internet users to view videos of all almost genres for free. The videos are often in HQ and buffer quickly. I think that it fulfills its purpose quite well but could increase potential by adding an on site download service to save all of your favorite videos.

PS3 Music Video: This viewers purpose is to allow PS3 users to watch free music videos of thier favorite artists. It fulfills what its purpose is but videos can take a while to buffer and doesn't yet have a large enough store of varied music.

PC Internet Games: These are made to allow internet users to play a quick and free online game.............

1.1 - Downloading Goods - Activity 20

Items I have downloaded:

• Songs (MP3)
• Movies (DivX)
• Programs (iTunes)
• Plug-Ins (For Firefox)

I downloaded these items rather than pphysically buying them because they are either; hard to find in shops, cheaper online, easier to download rather than go out and buy etc.

I think the download service fulfills its purpose well as there are so many websites and programs from which you can download almost anything, and you can download things very quickly and easily.

However there are problems with downloading. For example; downloaded items may be in the wrong format, downloads can carry viruses which decay your computers system, illegal items/images can be carried with downloads.

1.1 - Investigate Goverment Services Online - Activity 19

Note: Click on image to enlarge.

Note: The brown coloured boxes are the topics and all other colours come underneath them.

1.1 - Macromedia Virtual Classroom - Activity 16

The Macromedia (or Abobe as its now known)online training environment is a resource which allows the user to learn about how to use Adobe products.

An advantage of learning how to use these products online instead of in a book or a class is that it is more convenient for the user and you can re-start it and go back on it as much as you like. The tutorials are always accessible from the website so you can learn when it suits you, which could be any time that is most convenient to the user.

A disadvantages is that it is not accessible to everyone, what i mean is that not everyone has internet access. However in order to solve this problem the user could visit their local library which usually supply computers where you can rent an hour of internet use - usually for free. People with slower connections may suffer too, with some tutorials taking the form of data heavy streaming video.

1.1 - Use A Simulation - Activity 15

http://frog.edschool.virginia.edu/Frog1/menu.html is an online Frog Disection Simulation website. The website starts with an introduction which then leads into a practise brief to prepare you for the disection. The purpose of the online simulation is so that you can be sure that you are disecting properly and will not destroy any of the frogs organs which would jepordise further learning about the frogs anatomy. The other purpose of the site is for curious users to be able to use the site if they have left school/no longer have right equipment for the procedure so they can disect a frog with professional equipment (but online). Although, in theory, the site matches its purposes i was disapointed to find that there is no interactive tool to ACTUALLY disect the frog online. It wouldnt take much effort to upload a simple interactive animated frog to disect.

1.1 - Explore Learning Objects and Simulations - Activity 14

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/ is an online education site for students. Its purpose is to help AS/A Level Students with thier subjects by getting right to the point in an easy to use enviroment. The sites "Stories Timeline" is a useful resource which allows students to navigate thier way through a range of different stories throughout time related to the evolution of technology in science in our world.
Although one of the sites purposes is to provide a straight to the point summary of a topic, it is a very text laiden website. However, i still think that the website meets its purpose because although it is a lot of text, it still is quite straight to the point. Many sources include images to help the students. The layout of the site features many links to related topics and back to the home page on every single page which gives students many options to speed up thier learning.

1.1 - eBay - Activity 12

eBay is the most used and most famous online auction site in the world. The purpose of eBay is to provide a service where anyone (over 18) can buy or sell anything! One of eBay's goals is "to provide our users with not just an easy way to buy, but an easy way to find," eBay's user system allows people from all across the globe to sell almost anything so people can often buy things that have been discontinued or hard to find in shops. I see that the target audience is those who are 18 and over because under 18's are not allowed to join due to possibly being naive and careless with thier accounts, however because eBay can sell anything (as long as it's legal) i think that anyone can be the target audience, including those under 18.
The auction system on eBay is separated into two catagories (1) Shops (2) Private Sellars. The eBay shops provide mostly 'New Products' as they are coming from a shop or storage area straight from the factory, and the buying option is a "Buy It Now" option only, which means that the customer does not bid on the item and just pays for it immediatley at a set price via PayPal. The Private Sellars sell thier own personal items which are mostly 'Used Products' and are mostly "Auction Only" which means that items are bidded on over a selected amount of time.
eBay fulfils its purposes well as it is very efficiant and raises few problems. It has over 15 Million users in the uk alone, and 212 million worldwide. Around 105 million items on sale at one time, and aproximately 6 million added each day. eBay is the worlds biggest online market place. The benifits of eBay is that it is a cheap service to sell unwanted clutter, and you can find most hard-to-find items. The limitations are that you have to pay a fee to upload items, and because it is so big it atracts scammers.
eBay is so succsesful because it is very efficiant, gained a good reputation, is cheap to use, and allows people to find things that may usually be hard to buy.

http://www.ebay.com.au

1.1 - Plan a Journey - Activity 10

I used http://www.thetrainline.com/ to plan a train Journey from Fareham train station (nearest to my destination) to Paddington train station (nearest to Tottenham Court Rd). The date of the journey was set on 18/09/09 and the first train at Fareham leaves at 12.40 which travels for 15 minutes to arrive at Havant. At 13.04 the train leaves Havant and at 14.23, arrives at Waterloo in London. The final train leaves Waterloo at 14.23 and arrives at Paddington at 14.59. It is then a 10 minute walk to Tottenham Court Road.
The price for this journey for an adult one way at a standard day single is £30.70, reserving seats are free so the final total is £30.70 and the journey will take 2.19hrs.
I found the source (http://www.thetrainline.com/) very useful as it made the journey very easy to plan. I particuarly liked the 'Station Finder' tool which allowed me to find the nearest train station to both start point and destination.

1.1 - Weather in My Area - Activity 11

Friday 18th September:

BBC Weather: Cloudy With Sunny Intervals
Met Office: Clear Skies
Actual Weather: Cloudy
-------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday 19th September:

BBC Weather: Heavy Rain
Met Office: Heavy Rain
Actual Weather: Cloudy, Short spells of Rain
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Sunday 20th September:

BBC Weather: Sunny Intervals
Met Office: Sunny Intervals
Actual Weather: Sunny Intervals
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Monday 21st September:

BBC Weather: Sunny Intervals
Met Office: Sunny Intervals
Actual Weather: Sunny
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Tuesday 22nd September:

BBC Weather: Cloudy
Met Office: Cloudy
Actual Weather: Sunny

1.1 - Use Usenet Newsgroups - Activity 9

Hosted on google groups, a discussion on the digital divide decreasing. In my opinion i would be right in the ball park if i said that many people asume that the elderly and poor are the only ones who dont usually have access to digital equipment, however there is a wider range of people without it. This topc shows opinions on the digitaly anorexic side of the globe. These discussions are very usefull in giving students a chance to explore different areas of ICT that they may not have seen before. Google Groups purpose is to provdide a service where poeple with similar interests can discuss their chosen topics (e.g ICT). These forums come from groups all over the globe and will usually conatain the opinions from people all around the world. For an A Level student this is an extremely useful resource.

i used this forum: http://matadorchange.com/digital-divide-getting-smaller

1.1 - Haiku Messages - Activity 8

Haiku Message Example

Text: Nevr dmp bt wite
Sanka nos al ht cleerins
Angry he enchnts

Translation: Never damp, but white,
Sanka knows all hot clearings.
Angry, he enchants.

1.1 - Share Blog Adress - Activity 6

I sent this email to 4 people which includes my blog url, they also all sent me theirs.

1.1 - Conduct an Online Discussion - Activity 5

I had an online discussion with Victoria McCormack about email which show 3 questions.

1.1 - Adding Links To Blog - Activity 7

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm

1.1 - How Email Works - Activity 4

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1.5 - eBooks: Activity 1

Purpose:

The eBook; "Unleashing the killer app: digital strategies for market dominance" is about the progress technoligy is making. The book explains to reader the killer app which is something which takes over from an existing item by improving it .Examples of killer apps throughout history include the Welsh longbow, the pulley, the compass, moveable type, and the Apple Macintosh. The purpose of the eBook is to give readers 12 steps to appling killer apps to their own organisations to transform them into thriving business's which create their own.

Format:

The format of the eBook is HTML so it can be used on all internet enabled computers and PDA's alike.

Structure:

The structure of "Unleashing the killer app..." is a html page with all images and colours included in the paper back book. It is structured as a normal paperback but features interactive text.

Navigation:

The navigation is all scroll and click as it is only html. The scroll feature shows all pages going vertically down. There is also a links box, this has links to some key pages in the book.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

The strengths of the HTML is that everyone with access to the internet can view it, it is also very simply layed out thus making it easy to use. Its weaknesses is that it is HTML only so you cannot download it directly to an eBook reading device from the website.
Even though it...can only be viewed online it still fulfills its purpose as it gives readers an alternative way to read the book.

Starting the Applied ICT course

This blog has been created for my Applied ICT Course at Bay House Sixth Form. I chose the course because i have always had an intrest in ICT and believe it is a valuable and important part of the modern day. ICT is important to a lot of jobs so i chose ICT to get experience with different programs and techniques which may help me with future job choices. I rarely use ICT in the same way as at school, as i only use it for mail, music, and video. However my intrests in design will soon play a huge part of my ICT usage using CAD.