Personal Journal:10% of grade: A

Personal Journal:

A journal is to be created and maintained weekly by each student as a single MS Word Document. At the end of each week it is your responsibility to thoughtfully reflect on the week’s topics, activities, and discussions and record them in your journal. Completed Journals will be turned in electronically at the end of the course, NOT daily or weekly

Credibility on internet is always regarded one of the major concerns of the users. It is almost impossible to discriminate between the reliability and non reliability of any web portal unless it speaks about its credibility properly to the surfers. When internet was introduced to the people, it was seen as a medium for gaining as much knowledge as possible about anything. It became a vast source of understanding for people. However, the trend of attaining knowledge grew among people and malicious aspects of websites came into existence. The flood of websites made everything confusing for the web users because there were many sources regarding one event. Every source claimed that it had the most updated information about the subject while it had lacked a few things for sure. In such a case, users often used to get confused under this complex situation. They found it hard to negotiate between the sources to get the exact information.

This pattern lasted for a long time and gradually, users had to understand the fact that it was on them thoroughly to get the updated knowledge about anything on internet. The article presents a fine study about this conceptual understanding about gaining information and judging the credibility of websites on internet. In fact, users now believe that how many hits or likes any website is getting reckons its credibility. As far as the knowledge about the information science is concerned, users now function as the third party and they keep a middle source in between them and the website.

Further, keeping a middle source makes this entire scenario of credibility complex. The multiple sources have an expert team which judges how much the reliability can be credited in the account of the website. This expertise process helps to keep everything in control. In simpler words, users are now the choosers unlike the past where they were forced to accept things in their original format without making any complaint. The article takes into consideration the dominance of users which is the most significant part of internet phenomenon. They are kept at the top priority by the middle source and it prevents them from either presenting the half information that they get from a single source or doing a surface research because deeper sources are away from their approach. In this context, the importance of search engines like Google or Yahoo cannot be overlooked. For example, Google can be assumed as a search engine which filters between the reliable or non reliable source and makes the half job done for the user.

The online libraries have also taken a few precautions while adding information on their web portals. They need to look for the credible journals or books that are backed up by any renowned publisher. If they cannot provide efficiency of information through their portal, they are thrown out of the competition quite easily because options are always available for the users now days and they do not follow the ‘wait and watch’ policy anymore.

Overall, the concept of credibility has completely changed from the past which is proven through the research paper. It noticeable speaks of a lot of things that have altered the set up of credibility about websites. By keeping an expert middle source, any user can be sure of his findings because his job is just to make the scenario a multiple level where every party has to play his role with careful responsibility. If any party fails to provide his utmost output, the exact amount of information remains always under doubt.

Link 1: http://www.who.int/docstore/tobacco/ntday/ntday96/pk96_3.htm

The webpage on the website does not have an Author mentioned.
Similarly, it does not provide any in-text citations as well. (1/5)
Since there are no in-text citations, it cannot be validated.
Since there is no author’s name, his or her qualifications cannot be verified.
Again, since no author’s name is mentioned, his qualifications for the relevant piece of information cannot be verified.
Again, it cannot be ascertained as to his information is peer-reviewed since no name is mentioned.
It is mentioned that the Author of the information is affiliated to a sports organization, however no link is present.
The piece of information is linked to an organization, however not much information is present to pinpoint the particular organization.
There is minimum bias, as the Author is not advertising anything. (1/5)
The information present is not as detailed as it cites no research no publications or journals only facts in bullet points. (3/5)
There were no syntactical, grammatical or spelling errors in the piece of information
The webpage does not mention a date.
So it’s also not possible to verify the last update of the page
There are no links on the webpage (1/5)
The information is hosted on an .in domain, which is an intergovernmental treaty based organizational domain.

Link2: http://www.ithaca.edu/library/research/AIDSFACTS.htm

The webpage on the website does have an Author mentioned.
It does not provide any in-text citations as well. (4/5)
The in-text citations cannot be validated.
The Author’s qualifications cannot be verified.
Since the author’s qualifications cannot be verified as a result the qualifications for the relevant piece cannot be verified.
Again, it cannot be ascertained as to his information is peer-reviewed since her qualification cannot be determined.
It is mentioned that the webpage is maintained by a library and affiliated to a university. However, the university cannot be determined and similarly the library makes no mention of this article.
The library is reputable, however the university is not.
There is minimum bias, as the Author is not advertising anything.
The information present is not as detailed as it cites research, publications which do not exist and cannot be verified. (1/5)
There were no syntactical, grammatical or spelling errors in the piece of information
The webpage does mention a date but not in the standard form.
It is possible to verify the last update of the page
There are links on the webpage and they work (5/5)
The information is hosted on a .edu domain which is an educational organization’s domain

Link 3: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/CustomsToday/2003/august/op_desert_safeguard.xml

The webpage on the website does have an Author mentioned.
For the articles it does not provide any in-text citations, however it does make mention of the original source of the photographs. (3/5)
Since there are no in-text citations, it cannot be validated.
The author’s name is mentioned and his qualifications can be verified.
His qualifications for the relevant piece of information can be verified as well.
It cannot be ascertained as to his information is peer-reviewed since no name is mentioned.
The website is a part of an organization.
The piece of information is linked to the organization and the organization is verifiable.
There is minimum bias, as the Author is not advertising anything.
The information present is detailed however there are not much references or citations (3/5)
There were no syntactical, grammatical or spelling errors in the piece of information
The webpage does mention a date.
However it’s not possible to verify the last update of the page
There are links on the webpage and they work (5/5)
The information is hosted on a .gov domain, which is a government based organizational domain.

Link 4: http://www.pinknoiz.com/coldwar/index.html

The webpage on the website does have an Author mentioned, however the articles within the site does have the name of the committee who prepared it.
The articles do provide in-text citations (5/5)
The in-text citations can be validated.
The author’s name or precisely in this case the committee’s name in the articles mentioned are verifiable.
Since it is a committee, it is not possible to know the actual authors or the qualification.
It cannot be ascertained as to whether the article is peer-reviewed since it is a news report made by a committee.
The website is not affiliated to any organization.
The piece of information is linked to the organization and the organization is verifiable.
There is minimum bias, as the Author is not advertising anything.
The information present is detailed and there are references and citations (5/5)
There were no syntactical, grammatical or spelling errors in the piece of articles
The webpage does not mention a date but the Articles do.
However it’s not possible to verify the last update of the page
There are links on the webpage and they work (5/5)
The information is hosted on a .com domain being a commercial domain.

http://www.martinlutherking.org/

The webpage on the website does not have an Author mentioned.

The articles do not provide any in-text citations (1/5)
The in-text citations cannot be validated since there is none.
The author’s name and qualifications are not verifiable.
Since there is no author, it is not possible to know the actual authors or the qualification.
It cannot be ascertained as to whether the articles are peer-reviewed since there is no name or credentials.
The website is not affiliated or part of any organization.
Since there is none, the organization cannot be verified.
There is an evident of bias and in addition to that, the Author is advertising.
The information present is not detailed, references and citations are misled as well (1/5)
There are some syntactical, grammatical or spelling errors in the piece of articles
The webpages does not mention a date but the Articles reference’s do.
However it’s not possible to verify the last update of the page
Some links on the webpage do not work (4/5)
The information is hosted on an .org domain being an organizational domain; however, the website is not part of an organization.

The site about Martin Luther king Jr is completely unreliable and untrustworthy. It aims to mislead students in spreading out information, which is wrong and biased. It cites information, which may seem too many as reliable sources but again those sources are unreliable.

In the web world, synchronous and asynchronous tools are used for making useful communication with people. These two types are categorized because they have their own significant criteria and drawbacks. While synchronous tools need real time conversations between people, asynchronous tools are totally dependent on the convenience of the individual. Here is a list with drawbacks of both the tools:

Synchronous Tools:

Tool	Useful for	Drawbacks
Audio conferencing	Discussions and dialogue	Cost, especially when international participation is involved
Web conferencing	Sharing presentations and information	Cost, bandwidth; may also require audio conferencing to be useful
Video conferencing	In-depth discussions with higher-touch interactions	Cost, limited availability of video conferencing systems
Chat	Information sharing of low-complexity issues	Usually requires typing, “lower touch” experience
Instant messaging	Ad hoc quick communications	All users must use compatible system, usually best for 1:1 interactions
White boarding	Co-development of ideas	Cost, bandwidth; may also require audio conferencing to be useful
Application sharing	Co-development of documents	Cost, bandwidth; may also require audio conferencing to be useful

Asynchronous Tools:

Tool	Useful for	Drawbacks
Discussion boards	Dialogue that takes place over a period of time	May take longer to arrive at decisions or conclusions
Web logs (Blogs)	Sharing ideas and comments	May take longer to arrive at decisions or conclusions
Messaging (e-mail)	One-to-one or one-to-many communications	May be misused as a “collaboration tool” and become overwhelming
Streaming audio	Communicating or teaching	Static and typically does not provide option to answer questions or expand on ideas
Streaming video	Communicating or teaching	Static and typically does not provide option to answer questions or expand on ideas
Narrated slideshows	Communicating or teaching	Static and typically does not provide option to answer questions or expand on ideas
“Learning objects” (Web-based training)	Teaching and training	Typically does not provide option to answer questions or expand on ideas in detail
Document libraries	Managing resources	Version control can be an issue unless check-in / check-out functionality is enabled
Databases	Managing information and knowledge	Requires clear definition and skillful administration
Web books	Teaching and training	Not dynamic and may lose interest of users
Surveys and polls	Capturing information and trends	Requires clear definition and ongoing coordination
Shared Calendars	Coordinating activities	System compatibility
Web site links	Providing resources and references	May become outdated and “broken”

While visiting one of the kinds as ‘College Chat’, it was observed that users treat guest as someone stranger and do not believe in interacting too much. The guests often receive an unfriendly welcome and they have to move ahead and introduce themselves in the chat rooms like college chat and to receive any valuable information, they have to share their own identity in person. It simply means that they are not treated as the trustworthy people because they are using the guest identity. Sometimes, as it was observed through the chat of the other users, guests were asked to have a complete account to know the details of the room and to have friends.

The internet has completely changed our way of looking at things in general. In fact, in the world of virtual happenings, it feels like we are someone different from our own personality. People behave and determine their course of actions through what they perceive or assume through their social networks. The concept of social media is like creating entirely different world from what we have observed and followed traditionally. In traditional outlook, it is important to meet and interact with people physically to gain access to public communication. It has been a part of our normal social activity that we go ahead and make relations apart from our sanguinary. However, in the world of virtual, it has become an essential part of daily routine that people make friends and create their own social circle. It has reduced the possibilities of having physical interactions. Moreover, the virtual world has made people think differently regarding their attitude towards life. Websites like facebook or twitter has been added to the normal activities of life of every individual who knows how to operate the internet.

In fact, social media has changed the thinking of people completely. Now days, it is important for someone that what he shares on facebook or how he reacts to some common issue on twitter because this is how he adds or gets likes in the virtual phenomenon. The virtual scene has dominated people’s lives to the extent that if they do not view the notifications every day, they feel like they have not done anything special and they grow uncomfortable about life and its happenings. It is also important to note how the generations are under control of the effect of social media these days.

The issues related to social media are many and they can be judged through an unbiased perspective. Actually, social media provides people enough space to talk, share and communicate even with those whom they might not see ever in their personal life. As a matter of fact, we are influenced by the ideas of others and the virtual world of social networks allows us to think, analyze and react according to the thoughts of others. Especially in the reference of young people, social media plays a vey decisive role in the day to day happenings of life.

The videos or the websites like Second Life create an immense amount of pressure in the lives of people. The videos fairly analyze how far the social media has made an approach in our drawing rooms without which, the life would seem incomplete to people. The websites like Second Life has taken a step further to make people think according to their imagination. These websites create a fancy world where people may act and perform what they have just thought. For example, if someone looks ugly and he is often mocked at public places, he will be charged by the inferiority complex forever if he just continues living in the physical world however, in the world like Second Life provides, he can pick his own avatar and he can look prettiest than ever. He can have lady friends with whom he can go on the dates, one of the often thoughts out of his imaginations. These platforms make people think according to their fancies and thus, people can satisfy their desires.

Like all other inventions, social media has also the input of vice in it because it makes people dull and their responses rely heavily upon how people think about them. Moreover, any addicted guy would be transformed through the world of social media because it makes him feel and think just according to his fancies only. Some people get so much obsessed with the concept of social media that they cannot even imagine without it to live in the real world. It is significant that people should have belief in the physical world too because several times, the concepts of social media thinking are way beyond the practical aspect of life.

Abdulla Al Ali

Synchronous Tools:

Tool	Useful for	Drawbacks
Audio conferencing	Discussions and dialogue	Cost, especially when international participation is involved
Web conferencing	Sharing presentations and information	Cost, bandwidth; may also require audio conferencing to be useful
Video conferencing	In-depth discussions with higher-touch interactions	Cost, limited availability of video conferencing systems
Chat	Information sharing of low-complexity issues	Usually requires typing, “lower touch” experience
Instant messaging	Ad hoc quick communications	All users must use compatible system, usually best for 1:1 interactions
White boarding	Co-development of ideas	Cost, bandwidth; may also require audio conferencing to be useful
Application sharing	Co-development of documents	Cost, bandwidth; may also require audio conferencing to be useful

Asynchronous Tools:

Tool	Useful for	Drawbacks
Discussion boards	Dialogue that takes place over a period of time	May take longer to arrive at decisions or conclusions
Web logs (Blogs)	Sharing ideas and comments	May take longer to arrive at decisions or conclusions
Messaging (e-mail)	One-to-one or one-to-many communications	May be misused as a “collaboration tool” and become overwhelming
Streaming audio	Communicating or teaching	Static and typically does not provide option to answer questions or expand on ideas
Streaming video	Communicating or teaching	Static and typically does not provide option to answer questions or expand on ideas
Narrated slideshows	Communicating or teaching	Static and typically does not provide option to answer questions or expand on ideas
“Learning objects” (Web-based training)	Teaching and training	Typically does not provide option to answer questions or expand on ideas in detail
Document libraries	Managing resources	Version control can be an issue unless check-in / check-out functionality is enabled
Databases	Managing information and knowledge	Requires clear definition and skillful administration
Web books	Teaching and training	Not dynamic and may lose interest of users
Surveys and polls	Capturing information and trends	Requires clear definition and ongoing coordination
Shared Calendars	Coordinating activities	System compatibility
Web site links	Providing resources and references	May become outdated and “broken”

Abdulla Al Ali

Begins 1/9 until end of day 1/10

Today in the class, we talk about the ‘Identity theft’. We understand that our consciousness is the best weapon to protect from unwanted harms. This modern world is also known as the technological era. This age concise the world and provide comforts to the man. Now he has no need to wait for a conversation to his loved one or to see them because video calling bring them near. This technological era provide the comforts to the people. Now people can travel from one country to another with in some hours with comforts and ease. This age make the people high tech in each and every aspects of his life. As goodness always comes with evil, in the same way comforts come with drawbacks in it. This technological age provides lots of facilities like shopping, money transaction, and online banking. It saves time as well as labor. But this facilities increase the crime also like account hacking and identity theft.

Identity theft is a crime in which a person steals the identity of another person and uses his credits and debits card without his permission. He steals his money and the victim suffers mentally as well as financially because of that. At first the thief steals the identity of the victim and then misuses account. The particular should block his debits or credits card at random in this condition.

As we know that precaution is better than cure so our precaution is a better way to secure our money. We should be aware due to online shopping and we should not use cyber café for money transaction because the hacker can peep out the personal detail of someone from cyber café easily. We should help the FCP for the assistance. The IP address is play an important part in this reference. In the condition of identity theft awareness, patience and action is very important to deal with this problem. In this way we can secure our money, our family as well as society.

Abdulla Al Ali

Begins 1/5 – ends 1/6

As this session we learn about the technology and its works. In this class we learn about the ‘connected glass technology’. Technology has completely covered the life of the modern man. Now the technology affects every scenario like in his office, in his home and in his fun time as well. Now a day our whole life depends on technology. Technology makes our life comfortable like online shopping and internet banking. Connected glass technology is another technological invention which is also affects the life of the humans. It makes the shopping more comfortable and joyful. Now costumers can enjoy shopping from his destination with new experiences.

Customers can browse every product that in on the connected glass and buy it. The touch screen of the connected glass sends all information on the mobile about the purchasing. Customers can pay through their debit and credit cards and customers get it on their preference time and destination. It is very advanced technology. Many companies like Sony and Toms. This technology makes the shopping enjoyable because this technology gives the feeling of virtual and real world. It gives the information about the behavior of shoppers. Companies can keep eye on them. It needs not so much space like stores. It can be easily installed. It is gainful technology for the company. It is very secure because the customers get all the information about transaction of the money via message on the mobile and they need not to press his credit card number on the touch screen.

It is also useful for interior because it is a big connected glass. ebay has already filled many patents on the glass technology. It is very high- tech process that makes all the things more enjoyable. It will become the future of malls and stores in the coming time but it has some loops in it also like the absence of physical touch experiences and the returning of products will be in high rate. Even then, this technology is an essential part for products purchasing.

Abdulla Al Ali

There is a very interesting topic that we discuss in this class and it is ‘Cloning’. In this week, we learn about the technology and its effects on the human beings but cloning is the most important and interesting topic in this session. Technology develops day by day and it has no limits because every idea is an inspiration of a new invention. As human’s imagination is unbounded so he thinks something unusual or unpredictable. Science develops many inventions but cloning is something that challenges the god’s creation. God creates the man and now man wants to create himself. Cloning is the invention of man because science is beyond the thinking or imagination.

The objective of cloning stem cell and organ propagation is to cure the disorders and incurable illness. Since it is only for the curing the illness or for the welfare of mankind it was good but now the objective has changed now. By the cloning a new man is created who will look like the original man. With this invention the question is arises that is cloning well for human races?

Now the birth of a man is possible by cloning but it cannot reduce the death rates of the human beings. Though cloning is an amazing invention even than it is not good for human race because it will reduce the value of a man. Moreover cloning can create a person who is same in physics but not in emotion and mental abilities. It will disturb the natural order of birth and death. Cloning should be appreciated for curing the sickness but not to create a new man. It is good for who has not a child but now by embryo twinning and somatic cell nuclear transfer they can get their child. But if it will allow parents will make a list of attributes for their willing baby. Therefore, cloning should be restricted in some extent.

Abdulla Al Ali

In this class, I learned about the ‘Human population and its effects.’ It is very relevant topic in the reference or modern world for discussion. In this class I came to know about the nature, its process and how human hurts its process. The Almighty create everything with its particular actions or process in the same way this world is also create by God and has its particular process. Everything should be in balance for the proper running process of the nature. Our mistakes like pollution and population growth disturb the process of the nature. When human growth is more than available resources and birth rate is higher than death rate, this state is called population growth.

This nature fulfills our requirements as much as possible but today this rapid growth of population has become the one of the main cause of misbalance of nature. They do not use it but exploit the nature. Human beings misuse the natural resources like the fuel, electricity and water. As population increases, the use of natural resources also increases rapidly. Nature is not a man-made thing so he cannot use it according his will because its misuses corrupt its whole system.

Our small efforts can contribute to stop this misbalance on nature like we can use fuel in our car and bikes in a proper manner. Just like this we should not waste water and electricity. When we do not need them, we should close tap and switch off our electrical equipments.

This population explosion is affects not only the society but also the whole nature. It has become the cause of unemployment, profound poverty, hunger and economical crisis. Flood or natural disasters are the results of misbalance of the nature and disturb its order. Everyone should be contribute in this revolution otherwise it will affect the whole world not only some particulars. In this class, I understand that natural resources are limited and our consciousness can help to fix the problem of human population growth.

Abdulla Al Ali

In his article ‘Five Things We Need to Know about Technological changes’, Postman analysis the importance of technology in the modern world. In his article, he evaluates the merits and demerits of technology in the reference of modern man and in his life. He tells about technology, it is something that turns the imagination of the man into reality because of that it has become the necessary part of the life of modern man. He needs his phone and his car always with him as his basic needs. Technology enforces a man to do something better than he has in his hand at present. Technology gives wings to the thinking of a man that is limitless and his unbound thoughts make the world so concise or small.

Technology is the result of an innovative and eager mind. It is something that is developed by an innovative person for the welfare and comfort of human kind. It came in existence when a man got fed up and thought about to change his surroundings. His inconvenience leads him to comfort and technological developments like the journey from letters to phone and then phone to video calling is the result of technological development. Every new invention leaves a sign for the modification and for a new invention. Man is very ambitious so he cannot be satisfied with whatever he has in his hand. He always wants better and advanced than that. It affects human life completely and its effects remain on the human life for a long time.

But it is also a true fact that to get something we have to pay in return also. Technology is not only profitable but it has consists some demerits also in it. Even than it plays an important part in human life. Technology is another name of advancement. It always has some new extent to reach and give a new height to an old invention

Personal Journal:10% of grade: A

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Personal Journal:10% of grade: A

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