Conceptual Research & Reflection Project

Concept 13: Privacy and Security
“The key to effective email management is to consistently and conscientiously respond to and act upon the email you receive, while recognising that others may not be as efficient as yourself.” (Allen, n.d)

A factor which has made the Internet extremely popular and successful is the way people are able to communicate with each other with such great ease. Someone can communicate with another person the other side of the world instantly. No longer is there a need to write letters and wait for them to arrive. Email forms the backbone of the vast majority of information exchange on the Internet and it is estimated that 183 billion emails are sent daily: more than 2 million a second (Tschabitscher, 2008). But with so many people using email to stay in touch and to conduct business, it is very easy to become overwhelmed with copious amounts of email traffic and it's often the situation that a lot of messages are overlooked and never replied to.

A growing trend with Internet users is the ever growing need for speed and volume. Mobile phone texting, instant chat, forums and social networking sites have embedded an expectation in users to expect more from technology. Also society in general is trying to fit more and more into less and less time. These two trends combined show a need for efficiency and promptness as anything else could be considered a “waste of valuable time”. Email is beginning to suffer as its is often used in a different manner to other forms of communication. It has a far more formal, business application where as other means are more for social purposes and often accompanied by media rich content.

Another major factor is how often email is checked and in what way. Joshua Tyler of Sun Microsystems discussed in the ECSCW journal that people only usually check their emails a couple of times a day, where as they would linger for large amounts of time on social network sites and instant chat programs (Tyler, 2003). Also the prevalence of spam email could be considered as a deterring factor for users to want to check email more often. It is estimated that over 70% of email is spam and that figure could even be higher (Tschabitscher, 2008).

The fact is that although emailing someone won't necessarily guarantee a response, it does have major advantages over other forms of communication and it is unlikely to see a downturn anytime soon. The context in which people decide to use email and the responsiveness of the recipient are factors that need to be taken into consideration. Although certain users might place more emphasis on checking their emails more often, it is unfair to expect everyone to be able to respond promptly. It might be a reason why a lot of businesses have email disclaimers that state that a response will be sent within 24 hours of receiving an email.

Site 1: When Can I Expect an Email Response? A Study of Rhythms in Email Usage
Tyler, J. (2003). When Can I Expect an Email Response? A Study of Rhythms in Email Usage. ECSCW. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://www.ecscw.org/2003/013Tyler_ecscw03.pdf

Tyler provides an in depth study into email use and user behavior and explores topics such as responsiveness, expectations and appropriateness. The report attempts to provide understanding as to why some people have great expectations on others to respond to email in a prompt fashion, and why timely replies may not always be possible. It also compares email with other forms on online communication in order to understand it's advantages and disadvantages and to establish the best ways to use it and respond to it. Over all, the journal is very detailed and unearths some very interesting points in regards to user perceptions, requirements and expectations.

Site 2: Getting Control of Your Email
Goodfellow, B. (2008) Getting Control of Your Email. CPA Tech Advisor. Retrieved May 16. 2009, from http://www.cpatechnologyadvisor.com/print/The-CPA-Technology-Advisor/Getting-Control-of-Your-E-mail/1$2163

Goodfellow attempts to simplify the often arduous task of organising email. He states that if a user does not keep on top of it, it will get out of hand and may lead to great time wasting and reduced productivity. He offers several ways of dealing with email, and uses a similar approach to what a lot of people use to organise their personal snail mail. Although not strictly a journal article exploring the conceptual nature of email, it does however provide a solution to overwhelming mail traffic and could provide a means of better email management, and responsiveness.


Concept 14: Cyberspace is informationally created 'space'
“The sense of space is essential for humans - or at least many humans - to be able to express their identities in special and rich ways.” (Allen, n.d)

Humans have always had a desire to experience life in many different and varied ways. Through stories, books, films, and plays, a desire to escape reality has become a major form of entertainment and for many, a life long hobby. It is no surprise then that as the first computers became available and as the Internet came into fruition, people were already looking for ways of being able to utilise such technologies for purposes of escapism and entertainment.

The concept of creating or occupying “space” is the foundation for escapism. Being able to take on a role or be involved in an environment (virtual) is a very powerful ability and offers those participating the chance to experience something that they wouldn't normally be able to experience or would otherwise be impossible to achieve.

Technologies such as virtual reality and games enhance the experience further by stimulating a number of senses (primarily sight and sound), and enabling the participant to before absorbed into “another world”. Such environments can be very desirable, especially for people who's real life is highly stressful, boring or otherwise not very interesting. But sometimes this comes at a cost. People can become absorbed in “other worlds” so much, that all they want to do is maintain that experience to the point where real life is no longer as engaging. They “lose” themselves and become obsessed and addicted. “Gamer addiction” is becoming a growing problem worldwide to the point where gaming addiction clinics are appearing in China (Thorsen, 2005), and the occasional extreme case of people dying due to neglecting to eat, sleep and drink (Guttridge, 2005).

Escapism and ones sense of “space” is not restricted to games though. A trend that is currently growing at a phenomenal rate is blogging and social networking. The ability to have a “personal area” to create, interact and communicate is becoming extremely popular among young and old alike. Countless hundreds of millions of people worldwide take advantage of websites such as facebook, myspace and blogspot to express themselves, customise their own space and create an “identity” online. For some, such sites have allowed them to present their talents and as a result, have become extremely successful. People who may not be very popular or talented in real life, have gone on to be Internet superstars overnight.

In a more formal sense, the Internet is also a great tool to explore artistic talents. Many sites are popping up which showcase artwork, poetry and other creative means for the world to discover and enjoy.

In many ways, the Internet has become a sandbox for which the world uses to explore, create and contribute to. It isn't as though the Internet has created the concept of “space” and “identity” more or less it has become yet another, easily accessible means to vent to the world.

Site 1: Community and Identity in the Electronic Village
Foster, D. (1996). Community and Identity in the Electronic Village. Internet Culture. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://services.exeter.ac.uk/cmit/media/texts/porter1996/foster1996_community_and_identity.pdf

Although the article is somewhat dated, Foster provides an in depth insight into the increasing popularity of the Internet and how the interactions of people show signs of belonging and community. He demonstrates how people with similar interests and tastes converge and share their experiences, thereby interconnecting and developing close and complex personal relationships. The article offers an interesting view into the Internet boom and is a good source to reflect on what was being experienced over ten years ago considering what we know now.

Site 2: Internet Addiction: Symptoms, Evaluation, And Treatment
Young, K. (1999). Internet Addiction: Symptoms, Evaluation, And Treatment. Innovations in Clinical Practice. Retrieved May 16. 2009, from http://www.netaddiction.com/articles/symptoms.pdf

Young explores the emerging issue of mental illness and addiction among Internet users. She goes into great depth to explore the symptoms, cures, causes and possible future complications of such conditions. A major issue plaguing practitioners is the relative lack of knowledge about Internet related conditions and uncertainty in how to treat the condition. The author also identifies that a lack of self esteem, a desire for increased popularity and self worth, and escapism are somewhat responsible for bringing on the condition in Internet users and that it will only get worse as the Internet becomes more popular.


Concept 22: Public space and regulation
“Advanced Internet users are alert to regulatory processes in public discussion and ensure that they do not break them without good cause.” (Allen, n.d)

The Internet is very unique as it is one of the only communication media not to be heavily regulated. TV, newspapers, etc all have some sort of regulation and policy for use. Not only that, they are heavily monitored and policed in an attempt to catch unlawful and otherwise disruptive activities. The real decision to be made is whether to regulate or not to regulate? Should the Internet be policed by a global governing body which is assigned to crack down on antisocial behavior and protect innocent minds from unsavory content? Or should it be left to expand and prosper as a free and open space for people to have their say and to encourage collaboration and innovation? To a smaller degree, web masters have a tendency to establish and enforce policies that help to ensure equal opportunity and foster a more cooperative environment for their visitors. However, many websites do not. This lack of consistency is just one of many issues which are hampering global leaders’ efforts to establish suitable policies and maintain legislation to “maintain” the Internet.

One of the key issues is whether or not the Internet can in fact be regulated. Due to its immense size, decentralised nature, and rate of growth, is it at all possible to regulate even a small portion of it? Just say the “governing body” decided that a particular website contravened regulations due to its content and subsequently blocked it. It’s more than likely that a large number of people have already seen the content and may have already distributed it further through the web. It's also a strong possibility that even if that site was taken down, several others like it would appear just as quickly.

Clearly site-blocking alone is not the answer. A level of uncertainty and apprehension would be instilled in the Internet community as to what exactly would be blocked. Would it be limited to just “inappropriate” content deemed unfit for children, or could that be expanded to include other material such as political views or opinions? And the risk of false positives would make the Internet unusable and plagued with problems. An Internet regulation gathering in Colorado this year brought together academics and industry experts to try to address some of the issues associated with policing the web. One thing was clear, it's not practical for government to “...outlaw every possible thing that could go wrong on the Internet”, rather regulators should address “real” problems (Anderson, 2009).

As to what those “real” problems are, the conference was unable to clarify, but one large step in the right direction is the concept of “network management”; putting the onus on service providers to take responsibility for their users actions and to take measures to limit illegal activity and inappropriate content from filtering through. But such an arrangement is likely to be inconsistent on a case by case basis as certain providers will have greater needs than others, which according to Professor Jim Speta will leave the regulations “open to … political decision-making” (Anderson, 2009).

It is clear that currently, officials are unable to decide on the correct measures to take in setting up Internet regulation. Until governments around the world are able to agree on a set of terms and appropriate legislation, it is unlikely that Internet regulation will be able to achieve the intended goals and even less likely that a global authority will be established to police such matters.

Site 1: Current Internet Regulation Issues
Current Internet Regulation Issues. (2004). EURIM - The European Information Society Group. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://www.eurim.org/briefings/IWF_eurim2.htm

The report outlines a number of fundamental issues that need to be addressed in order to successfully implement a comprehensive yet flexible scheme for Internet regulation. It stipulates that a worldwide effort is required to ensure consistency and coverage. The EURIM's stance is that if an action is illegal in the real world then it is online, and that a multifaceted approach is required which can adapt and change with the growth and innovation of the Internet. The report does a good job of providing a thorough break down of the issues and concepts surrounding the topic, and outlines the foundation for developing a successful and accepted scheme.

Site 2: Internet Censorship: Law & policy around the world
Internet Censorship: Law & policy around the world. Electronic Frontiers Australia. Retrieved May 16 2009, from http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens3.html

The report contains a detailed summary of all the censorship and regulatory schemes, policies and legislation being put forward by a number of countries around the world. The contrast between leader opinions and government agendas is rather startling and demonstrates a significant lack of cohesion between industry experts and politicians in formulating sustainable and reasonable policy. The article also acts as a good source of links to detailed government documents as well as acts and reforms that have been designed specifically to combat child pornography and other illegal activities on the Internet.


Concept 26: Privacy and Security
“The Internet is a profoundly ‘open’ system and advanced Internet users are cautious about either accepting or sending material from and to unknown sources and are careful in releasing information about themselves in any form. Conceptually, the Internet challenges us to take greater responsibility for the protection of privacy and security than perhaps we are used to when dealing with the media.” (Allen, n.d)

The Internet has seen a remarkable explosion in popularity largely because of its versatility as a medium for delivering information, but also due to its users’ ever increasing demand for innovation and integration into everyday life. Physical, social and religious boundaries continue to be blurred as the universal structure and decentralised nature of the Internet continues to rapidly expand.

The ability for a user to instantly chat with someone on the other side of the world while listening to a new song from an upstart band and reading a live news feed from another country is completely unparalleled. No other medium of communication and information has been able to reach out and touch the world in such a profound way. In a sense it has “liberated” people and enabled them to change the world not only by providing access to an unlimited supply of information, but also by empowering anyone to contribute and make their views and ideas visible for the world to see.

With such great freedom and openness comes a degree of risk and the potential for abuse and exploitation. As the Internet becomes more and more integrated with the real world, this risk will continue to grow. Viruses, spy software, identity theft, stalkers and fraud are just some of the numerous risks associated with the use of the Internet. All these threats have one thing in common: privacy, and people’s right to protect their personal information and identity. In a study conducted in America, 84% of the participants said they were concerned with businesses and people they don't know being able to obtain personal information about them and/or their family. Furthermore, 54% surveyed stated that online tracking (such as cookies, and use of personal data) was potentially more harmful than useful and that 94% of the respondents wished to see those caught violating the privacy of others, disciplined in some manner (fox, 2000). In another survey conducted by TRUSTe, 57% say they take measures to protect their privacy (“Web users,” 2007). This represents a rather high degree of awareness and concern of users for their personal privacy and security while using the Internet.

What is rather surprising though is that despite such vigilance, a significant number of Internet users surveyed don't take measures to ensure their privacy, or just “hope” that something bad won't happen to them. In the TRUSTe survey, only 28% check website privacy statements “most of the time” (“Web users,” 2007). Even some of the most basic ways of protecting one’s identity online are only used by a minority. Techniques such as creating multiple email accounts (45% (“Web users,” 2007)), or faking personal details (24% (fox, 2000)) can go a long way to protecting details.

What might be behind the trend are the varied “perceived” risks associated with using the Internet. Individuals consider certain threats to be of greater or lesser concern than others and so some people are more likely to put themselves in harm’s way. A statement that sums it up nicely is “Individuals make choices based on trade offs in which they surrender a certain degree of privacy in exchange for benefits that are perceived to be worth the cost of information disclosure” (Dinev, n.d). Sometimes it's just far more attractive to ignore the obvious in order to benefit from the rewards!

Site 1: Privacy Concerns And Internet Use – A Model Of Trade-Off Factors
Dinev, T. (n.d). Privacy concerns and Internet use – A model of trade-off factors. Florida Atlantic University. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://www.ebusinessforum.gr/old/content/downloads/Privacy%20Concerns%20And%20Internet%20Use%20_A%20Model%20Of%20Trade-Off%20Factors.pdf

Investigating one of the most important issues plaguing the Internet today, Dinev explores with great detail the measures people take to protect their privacy, and the risks others take to make full use of the Internet and its many benefits. The author utilises data collected from a survey of 369 people to develop a theoretical model that can help to explain certain behaviors and how they can influence e-commerce based industry. The author goes to great lengths to develop a comprehensive understanding of the risks, benefits and influences that privacy of information can have on business, customers and society in general.

Site 2: Information Privacy On the Internet Cyberspace Invades Personal Space
Clarke, R. (1998). Information Privacy On the Internet Cyberspace Invades Personal Space. Xamax Consultancy. Retrieved May 16 2009, from http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/IPrivacy.html

Clarke provides an examination of all the issues, positive and negative, associated with information privacy and its relevance for users on the Internet. The author’s approach is somewhat unorthodox as it isn't a direct analysis, nor is it an overview. Rather a thorough breakdown of a large range of topics that surround the issue, with a significant number of references which provide a means to extend the exploration. Even so, it is a great starting resource that is easy to use and links to a variety of links and articles that are of great interest.



Fox, S. (2000). Trust and Privacy Online: Why Americans want to rewrite the rules. The Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2000/PIP_Trust_Privacy_Report.pdf.pdf

Web users ignore their own privacy knowledge. (2007). Collector, 72, 7, pg. 19. Dinev, T. (n.d). Privacy concerns and Internet use – A model of trade-off factors. Florida Atlantic University. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://www.ebusinessforum.gr/old/content/downloads/Privacy%20Concerns%20And%20Internet%20Use%20_A%20Model%20Of%20Trade-Off%20Factors.pdf

Clarke, R. (1998). Information Privacy On the Internet Cyberspace Invades Personal Space. Xamax Consultancy. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/IPrivacy.html

Allen, M. (n.d). Internet Communications Concepts Document. Curtin University of Technology. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://lms.curtin.edu.au/webapps/portal

Anderson, N. (2009). The Future of the Internet is... Regulation?. Ars Technica. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/the-future-of-the-internet-is-regulation.ars

Current Internet Regulation Issues. (2004). EURIM - The European Information Society Group. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://www.eurim.org/briefings/IWF_eurim2.htm

Internet Censorship: Law & policy around the world. Electronic Frontiers Australia. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens3.html

Tyler, J. (2003). When Can I Expect an Email Response? A Study of Rhythms in Email Usage. ECSCW. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://www.ecscw.org/2003/013Tyler_ecscw03.pdf

Tschabitscher, H. (2008). How Many Emails Are Sent Every Day? About.com. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://email.about.com/od/emailtrivia/f/emails_per_day.htm

Goodfellow, B. (2008) Getting Control of Your Email. CPA Tech Advisor. Retrieved May 16. 2009, from http://www.cpatechnologyadvisor.com/print/The-CPA-Technology-Advisor/Getting-Control-of-Your-E-mail/1$2163

Thorsen, T. (2005). China opens game addiction clinic. CNET.com.au. Retrieved May 16. 2009, from http://www.cnet.com.au/china-opens-game-addiction-clinic-240055783.htm

Guttridge, L. (2005). Korean StarCraft gamer dies. Play.tm. Retrieved May 16. 2009, from http://play.tm/news/6353/korean-starcraft-gamer-dies/

Foster, D. (1996). Community and Identity in the Electronic Village. Internet Culture. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from http://services.exeter.ac.uk/cmit/media/texts/porter1996/foster1996_community_and_identity.pdf

Young, K. (1999). Internet Addiction: Symptoms, Evaluation, And Treatment. Innovations in Clinical Practice. Retrieved May 16. 2009, from http://www.netaddiction.com/articles/symptoms.pdf

Let off??

Well last Friday I was made redundant...

Two more weeks and then I'm let off.

I wasn't really phased at all. It turned out to be a great opportunity to finally get a chance to move in with my gf and get a better job in the big smoke.

Turns out that the recession is hurting the Uni's badly as well and she is unable to leave res, even if financial difficulties were taken into consideration! They say they have 70 vacancies (apparently 14 is really bad and means they aren't doing their job...) so even if she could leave, she would need to pay for the rest of the year :s

So yeah, that's thrown a spanner in the works. Now I'm really not sure whether it's best to try and stay where I am and get a job, or move closer to her and try and find one there.

Hard to say how long my savings will last if i move. Rent in Melbourne is shocking.

Even if i could find a job in my current location, I would probably only be in it for 6 months before moving to Melbourne when my gf can leave the uni residence...i doubt employers would agree with that.

Then when i tried to get the ball rolling to get on benefits today, they told me that they can't do anything until THE day I leave the job...not a day less or a day over as that means I wouldn't be able to apply?? Makes no sense to me either. Hate for something to happen and I'm unable to attend the local Centrelink on THAT day.

Decisions, decisions...

Refine, Define

Now to improve the chances of getting the best possible results.

for starters "the smallest dinosaur" is a little broad and could be refined a bit more. It's fairly specific, but can be interpreted in a lot of different ways which can lead to varied results.

* To obtain the largest number of hits, adding some logic to the search term will help.

With that in mind, dividing the string with OR operands will yield the largest number of results.

ie. "the smallest dinosaur" becomes "smallest OR dinosaur" which in tern, yields 63,100,000 results in Google! Big difference from the original 188,000 results.

* To refine the search more, the AND operand will make the search a little more specific by only including results which contain all terms

ie. "smallest AND dinosaur" yields 315,000 which is less than "smallest dinosaur" which yields 409,000

* To refine the search even more and only include results from Universities, add "AND university"

ie. "smallest AND dinosaur AND university" which produces 168,000 results.


These results are best if using operands to refine, but I still think that the best method to refine and define is to ask a question.

"what is the smallest dinosaur"

138,000 results. smallest number so far. funny enough, the first result was the first from my original search, but the rest of the results are a lot more specific.

Organising the web

Copernicus was right; the Earth does revolve around Google...um i may have miss paraphrased that...

One thing is for sure, Google has boomed and all due to an endeavor to organise the vast amounts of data on the Web.

To be honest, I can't remember the last time I used a search engine other than Google to find stuff. It has so many things going for it. Simple interface, Quick loading, great results, customisable.

For the purpose of this blog, I visited a couple of other alternatives I used years ago. MSN and Yahoo and was shocked to see so much advertising :S

Yes Google does have advertising, but it is far more subtle and not so in-your-face. It doesn't appear to be as commercialised as other search engine alternatives either.

Now for the tute.

Pick my fav search engine and search. easy.

Google: "the smallest dinosaur"

First Result:
1. What Was the Biggest Dinosaur? What Was the Smallest?
17 May 2001 ... The smallest dinosaurs were just slightly larger than a chicken; Compsognathus ("pretty jaw") was 1 m (3 ft) long and probably weighed about ...
pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dinosaurs/sizes.html

Total Results: 188,000 (0.26 seconds)


Now the comparison. I picked Copernic from the list.

My first impression? ewww. any piece of software that requires me to give out my name, email etc before i can even install it gets a big thumbs down from me.

The concept though is interesting. A do-it-all program that covers net and desktop search.

My first search was exciting! lots of status bars! lists of search engines the search term was being matched against! Only downside was the speed...or lack there of. It was a pretty slow search, but I wasn't too fused as it was very much like a cross referencing meta engine.

Copernic: "the smallest dinosaur"

First Result:

1. Dinosaure. Ask.com. 98% relevance.

Total Results: 30


Ouch, that was disappointing. Only 30 results, and the first result was a "sponsored link" which in reality was a link to the ask.com engine...with the misspelled term "dinosaure" (come to think of it, it's actually the french spelling...but odd none the less)

At this time, I think ill stick with Google ;)

Reader

Well, the tute said to pick two i hadn't used before, but I've come across most on the list before, so I decided to pick a couple I wasn't particularly familiar with.

Adobe Reader. Pretty common, but I couldn't really tell you what its good for other than easily printing PDF documents lol.

First thing first. Installing it. I didn't need to as i already had the latest version, but from memory it is a pretty decent sized installation file considering what the program does; view and print PDF's...

The good thing is it's propriety and free. The catch comes when you want to be a little more adventurous and want to change or create a PDF document...then you need to purchase the proper writer version. Either that or use a program like Cute PDF :P

Despite the limited file types it can open and the limited operations it can handle, it's still pretty handy as a lot of formal documents on the web these days are in PDF format.


The other program I've picked is Apple Quicktime.

Usually i have nothing to do with Apple products as they are always lacking in some vital way, and always promote to be updated which is annoying.

The only reason i have Quicktime installed is for viewing .mov files. Other media players can achieve the same goal, but i find that it is also good for viewing file formats that other programs just can't handle. Or even for files which have some odd audio encoding that only really works for Quicktime.

The first thing i noticed was the amount of advertising for the "new and improved" pro version...gah I hate that. Especially when they offer menu options, only to be directed to a page advertising the other premium version...

The good thing about Quicktime is the clean interface. It's pretty straight forward and not too cluttered. Opens a large number of file types too.

Utilising utilities

Something that I have overlooked in recent times is the value and convenience utilities can provide.

I was once a nut for utilities. I had hundreds of MB's of useful/useless programs.

My biggest problem was keeping them all up to date, keeping track of what I had and didn't have, and the occasional case of finding a utility that screwed my computer up big time :S

After hoarding so many across several computers, I knew it was time to stop and just let it go *sob*

As it turned out, it was around such time that I finally got my own (and fast) internet connection. The days of installing small programs was over. Everything I needed I could get online, or as a plugin.

However, I do have a small collection which i always use, and i was pleased to see a few of them in a list of utilities we are to test out in the week 4 tutes.

Web next

Web 2.0 is interesting as it isn't so much a "new" computer language rather a technology. A use of existing methods in a way that is different.

I guess the biggest and most well known use is that of Google and it's affiliates. Youtube, Gmail, iGoogle, Google maps, etc etc. they all make extensive use of Web2.0 technology.

The ability to dynamically update pages on the fly without a postback (ie. a reload of the page) is typically what Web2.0 is all about.

Not only does it look cool, but makes the overall web experience more fluid and quicker. Of course, it isn't perfect and is limited to the capabilities of Javascript, and that of the users computer and browser settings.

Broken record

By now its pretty clear what i think about blogs and social networking...

Needless to say, i don't really want to explain again why...even for a tute question.

I do agree there is a purpose and use eg. technical guide, Q&A, medical guide, status update. But some of the other applications are useful for a lot of people (millions it seems) but just not for me.

No go

According to the discussion board, the ftp tute isn't working as intended, so I might just skip over it and hope either a) it is fixed, or b) i won't get in trouble for not doing it!

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

Copyright laws are interesting. It's a topic which makes people recoil, and others lash out.

Ask anyone whether they have broken copyright laws, and they will say never! Yet they somehow possess an extensive collection of movies, music and images on their computer...

So a discussion on Copyright on the web is often dismissed and not deemed to be particularly important.

The reality of such laws had quite and impact on me recently. A new client wanted to have their website remade. It turns out that they had been nailed for Copyright infringement! The majority of the images on the site had been stripped as they happened to have been lifted from another site, the the owners weren't happy and threatened legal action.

I'd have to say it's the first time I've heard of such a thing happening. I for one have not breached copyright on the test website i created. Having no images made that easier (and in hindsight i probably should have added one anyway...).

Something as innocent as adding the University logo to a page would be seen as a breach of Copyright. The logo is the intellectual and trading property of the organisation and is what they use to represent themselves. For someone else to use that what add an assumption that they are somehow speaking or acting on behalf of the organisation and so is not right without the explicit permission of the owner.

Did you get stimulated? I sure did!

Yup, K Rudd stimulated me. $900 in the bank. Came through last week.

Interesting policy to say the least. Nearly impossible to gauge the magnitude of the effect it will make on the economy.

Locally though, it seems it has made quite an impact already. A client who happens to be a butcher was telling me that since the recent tax payments, business has gone through the roof. A lot of people have been buying meat in bulk as well as more gourmet options.

It seems that with a little money in the pocket, people DO want to buy scotch fillets!

Windows Screensho7s

With all the hype going around about Microsoft's new addition, Windows 7, I have been tempted to download it and give it a shot, but I'm just too lazy :P

I was able to find a comprehensive list of screenshots outlining some of the features of the new OS.

It looks snazzy, but i feel it doesn't make good use of space. I'm not going to comment much more than that as i haven't had a good look at the functionality.

If the preliminary comments made by beta users are anything to go by, it seems promising...