EIR Practical 3

EIR Practical 3 - Internet Search Facilities 1

What benefits do you get when using different

search facilities to search for resources related to your topic?

I have learnt how to use 2 type of search engine in this week. which is the Meta Search Engine and subject directory.

This is my first time using Meta Search Engine because I had never ever heard before Meta search engine until I joined EIR.

Yahoo Subject Directory is quite common I have used it a few times to do research on topic such as Sports, Games, Food and Entertainment.

I remember I read before something about subject directory. Someone wrote that a subject directory is best used when you do not really know what is the actual information that you wanted".

I feel that what he wrote actually makes sense after I used subject directory to do research on my topic. I personally think that the main categories which link us to other sub categories will help newbie in finding the information they want.

Search Engine

Meta Search Engine

Ixquick

• It also have a advance search system which help to refine the search result.
• Advanced Search Tips which show how to use those wildcards [" " , ( ) ,*] But anyway I have learn this feature before in EIR this only helps to recap what to do.
• Ixquick Protects our Privacy because no search data will be recorded. Personal information will not be saved. Personal information is good marketers, government officials, hackers, etc.
• I found the information that I want in my 1st attempts 1st page
• It can search the same information through 11 search engine at once therefore it is very efficient.

1. Ask/Teoma
2. Gigablast
3. Wikipedia
4. Bing
5. Open Directory
6. Yahoo
7. Blekko
8. Qkport
9. Yebol
10. EntireWeb
11. Statesman

Metacrawler

• is actually bout the same as Ixquick
• advance search system.
• Tools and tips - to teach you how to use Metacrawler.
• customized search preferences - E.g. Search Filter, Results will appear in a page, Etc.
• Recent Searches result - Very useful to find back previous search result
• It will also suggest other result that are similar to your search.
• It will use 4 search engine at 1 shot. those search engine are actually quite famous.

• I found the information that I want after changing some words on the search box. I notice that the search box cannot put in a lot of words.

Subject Directory

Yahoo Subject Directory

• Categories into different section result on same topic are put together. Therefore, result of the same topic can be found together get easily.
• Advanced Directory Search, Yahoo help.
• Result are relevant to what I want.
• Result that I get are very different from the ones I found in Meta Search Engine. Therefore more information on that topic.

Galaxy Subject Directory

• I prefer using Yahoo Subject Directory
• Top stories for different section E.g Business. A bit outdated by a few months but still usable
• Search feature
• 
  
• What's New Section - New things will be added there. Maybe relevant to the research that I am doing. New information will interest people more.
• Headlines - News around the world from different Newspaper. Relevant articles can be used and information are more likely to be trusted.

Go

I never use it for my research those category in this website are more to Entertainment...My topic was more to business, financial or economic.

Site Feeds

Convenience - just 1 click to link to web site

Updated - Will be updated immediately when they post the topic

Efficiency - A short summary on the content easy reference

Wiki

My topic is "Discuss the impact of financial crisis on spending habits and consumer market"

A lot of ideas can be shared because every people think differently and will come out with different ideas in the end.

But there are also disadvantage if the topic have been wrote by a lot of people is difficult to include any addition information.

Virtual Shopping on Second Life

Virtual Shopping on Second Life

Of all the virtual shopping islands on Second Life, I chose to go to Men in Action (MIA) because the name of the place sounds like Missing in Action (MIA). I would first introduce the scenery of the MIA.

Right Click on the Picture open new tab to Zoom+ in for better view.

Men in Action

Surrounded by water

Beautiful waves

Crystal clear water

Nice scenery and weather

Men in Action Front view

MIA sell a wide variety of products such as.

Outdoors:

Surfboard

Vehicles

ETC

Indoors:

Shoes

Apparel

Hairstyles

Accessories

Skin Colour

ETC

Different types of surfboard

Internal view of (MIA)

The wall is made up of brick and the floor is made up of wood.

I feel that it is similar to the 19th century building.

It is impossible to find a shopping centre in Singapore that looked like this.

Shoes placed in shelf

Clicking on the Shoes boxes to buy the shoes is about the same as purchasing shoes in real life.

These shoes have different types of colours.

I wish I can buy it but I do not have Linden (a currency used in Second Life).

Shopping for clothes

These clothes are hang nicely on the racks.

I have seen before the design of these clothes in Singapore

There's no fitting room around so theoretically-speaking shoppers can't try out the clothes.

Yet, the clothes will magically fit onto shoppers instantly. I wonder how? Haha.

Met someone when I am doing the Virtual Shopping on Second Life

She was a friendly and helpful girl.

I walked toward her and said hi to her and we started chatting.

There are more pictures below.

Asked her some question

what is she looking for?

Joking around

At first, I thought that she was joking with me.

I told her that I can turn into a werewolf.

She was not joking and she turned into a Lycan.

Transformed back to human

Tips and tricks about Shopping

She taught me how to preview the items sold here.

You can only try out certain items.

E.g. The shirt that I showed just now? It can't be tried out.

Side view of my new hairstyle

I changed to a female character.

Because a female character is much more beautiful than male character.

Noticed that I changed my hairstyle?

The second picture will be much more clearer.

Back view of my hairstyle

Back view is much more beautiful than side view.

Noticed that there is a Demo sign on top of my head?

Well, it is just temporary.

Fly up to second floor.

Too lazy to climb up the stairs.

I wish I could fly in real life, it is so efficient and convenient.

Problems encountered

I wanted to make friend with them but they don't seem to be interested.

Kimmy Pitts Laughed and that is why she is on the floor.

They don't seem to be friendly.

Problem encountered

She asked me to buy her clothes but

I don't have any Linden with me.

They are much more richer than me.

After that, they went to other places.

Other problems

System Model: HP ProBook 4310s

Memory: 3036MB RAM

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9600 @ 2.80GHz

Graphic Card :ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4300 Series

Graphic Card lower than the recommend specification =(

Photo with bug

• Business lab loading was much more slower than my computer so I never do the E-Learning at there.
• It takes about 20sec to Load a full set of clothes.
• Camera view difficult to adjust I spend a lot of time adjusting the camera view.
• The angle, zoom in and out so that the Picture wont stretch.
• A bit laggy.
• Spent a lot of time and effort taking photos.
• If not the photo will look like this.

Things that I like in virtual experience which I will not do it reality.

• In Second Life I can teleport to anywhere I wan in few seconds.
• "Flying around" mentioned previously.
• Asking stranger for suggestion about which product to buy. I would not dare to do this in real life.
• Able to change the looks of the character. Such as the height, skin colour, face, hair, even gender!

Different between E-Shopping Spree and Virtual Shopping on Second Life

• For the E-Shopping is not 3D.
• Virtual shopping is much more similar to shopping in real life.
• What I did in E-Shopping is to browse through different webpage compare the prices and products.
• No virtual character moving around to shop for products that I want in E-Shopping.
• Items cannot be tried on a character if we use E-shopping.
• Item brought in Virtual Shopping will not be able to use in real life but E-shopping item can be used in real life.
• Products that are show in E-Shopping are more realistic than virtual shopping.

What I gained from this E-learning experience

• I have learnt how to use the features on Second Life.
• Comparing the different between E-shopping and virtual shopping.
• Meeting new friends.
• Looking for different product and service that I wanted in different shop.

EIR Practical 2 - Internet Search facilities

EIR Practical 2 - Internet Search Facilities

Google’s Search Features

I'm impressed by Google search function.

In the past, I used to enter the whole sentence into google search, hoping that I will get the results that I want. Sometimes I will spend 1-2 hours just to find an article that I want for my project.

I only know how to change the category and the dates of the article.

I have learnt more about the google’s search functions. Therefore, the results that I want became more refined. I will also be able to save more time in finding the articles that I want.

Listed below are some of the functions that I have learnt:

• Change the keyword instead of just copying and pasting the whole sentences and press search.

• Use thesaurus to look for the Synonyms of the word to replace the sentences.

• Some words may have the same meaning as what I want to find but google search is not so intelligent to know that it is the same meaning therefore the search result may be invalid.

• Do not simply just enter one single word in Search Engine, it will result in a large number of irrelevant result.

• Prepositions and conjunction can be left out. E.g. (but, with, above) and etc.

• Using of wildcards E.g. [" " , ( ) ,*]

• “Financial crisis” (impact* or affect*) “consumer spending” is one of the examples that i used to do research on google.

• Usage of (AND, OR)

• E.g. (impact* OR effect*) AND “financial crisis” AND consumer spending

Discussion Forum

World Economic Outlook - Recovery, Risk, and Rebalancing

Is good to participate in a discussion forum. I can obtain Information easily from people that are expert in this area. I feel that participate in forum is better than researching in the internet. Those answer given by others are short and sweet because it answer my question in just a few sentences. I have also participated several times in the other forums to discuss about gaming tips. Therefore, I do not feel shy talking to others that I do not know in the internet.

Citation and bibliography

The main purpose of citation and bibliography is to avoid plagiarism.

If a certain source is obtain without acknowledgement, it will be a serious offence.

Citation helps in the creditability of an article and it provides addition reference for viewers.

Temasek Polytechnic uses American Psychological Association (APA) style to do citation:

(Name of Author)(Date)(Title of Article)

Also, it must be in Alphabetical order and Punctuation must be precise.

All these problems can actually be solved by using Microsoft Word to do referencing.

EIR Practical 1 - E Shopping Spree!!

EIR Practical 1 - E Shopping Spree!!

Frankly speaking, this is the first time I'm doing E Shopping. I went to various websites to shop for the products that I want and compared the prices of different products.

These are some of the websites that I came across:-

Amazon was better than most of the E shopping websites as it provides a wide variety of products from different suppliers. These products are usually sold cheaper than its competitors. Amazon provide information such as consumers' feedback and ratings which accounts for the credibility of sellers. There are also descriptions about the product with images and videos.

Imaging Resource has the most comprehensive and informative digital camera reviews. If you wish to buy a camera or any camera accessories, I would recommend you to visit this website as it is much more advance than the other E shopping websites. It provides product details, average prices, cheapest supplier and many more.

Crucial sells computer hardware but mainly RAM. Crucial has a system scanner tool which is capable of checking the details of the RAM you are currently using. Also, it provides information on the type and size of RAM suitable for your computers. You simply do not need to worry about buying the wrong RAM. It provides free Shipping, free support and limited lifetime warranty.

Products that i will buy With $500

• Starcraft Wing of liberty
• Nikon Coolpix S80 Price
• 2GB, 200-pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module

Exchange rate on Friday, November 5, 2010

1 US Dollar = 1.28432 Singapore Dollar

1 Singapore Dollar (SGD) = 0.77862 US Dollar (USD)

StarCraft II: Wing Of Liberty

This game cost SGD$109

Amazon provide the cheap deals!

This is a new CD

+Free Shipping

US$54.99 = SGD $70.60

cheaper than the IAHGames by $38.40

Feedback and rating

So that I can check the reliability of the seller before buying from them

Nikon Coolpix S80

Front view slider closed

Front view slider open

Side view

US$259 = SGD $ 332.64

2GB, 200-pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module

Ram in the package

Package removed

US $42.99 = SGD $ 55.21

Items Brought	Amount
StarCraft II: Wing Of Liberty	$70.60
Nikon Coolpix S80	$ 332.64
2GB, 200-pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300	$ 55.21
Total	$ 458.45

Reason for buying:

StarCraft II: Wing Of Liberty:

Finally after 12 Years StarCraft II is out. I played before StarCraft I those campaign are very addictive. Last time spent hours completing all the campaign. My friends said that StarCraft II is the best real time strategy game that they have played before and they recommend me to try out they game. Since it is cheaper to buy it from Amazon than buying it in Singapore I decided to buy it. Looking forward to play this game.

Nikon Coolpix S80:

I need a camera to capture memorable moments such as F1 racing, Fireworks, Events and many more. Imaging Resource provide specific detail so I decided to buy from them.

I choose this camera because of its

• stylish design
• 14.1 Megapixels
• touchscreen
• light weight just 133g
• 5x zoom
• optical image stabilization.

2GB, 200-pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module

I Need to buy a new Ram to upgrade the speed of my laptop because it is too slow for gaming but I do not know what type of Ram will fit into my laptop and the amount of Ram that I can put into my laptop. So I decided to buy from Crucial since they got the Scanner which will recommend what type of Ram can fit into my laptop.

I have learn:

• Develop and use effective search strategies for research purposes
• Evaluate and compare the effectiveness of different Internet search facilities
• The effectiveness of using different Internet information resources for research purposes
• Identify the different types of Internet search facilities

My topic is:
"Discuss the impact of financial crisis on spending habits and consumer market".

I'm supposed to research on this topic and look for the following internet search facilities.

Organisational website - I used Google

Blog - I used Google

Magazine/journal - Lexis Nexis academic

Discussion Forum - I used Google

Ice-Breaker (Knowing Me Knowing You)

Ice-Breaker

While some call me Yu Chen, I'm also known as Louis. I am a Year 1 student from the Business Study Group.

Basketball is perhaps my favourite past time activities, I used to play with my secondary school friends.

I hardly watch TV programs so there isn't any favourite TV programme to mention about. I prefer watching movies especially those horror, action or fantasy ones. E.g: 2012, Twilight, Transformers and many more.

My favourite Singer would be Girls Generation.

Sometimes I will hang out with friends to places such as Bugis, Marina, AMK hub, Tampines Mall, Sentosa, around Hougang and Seng Kang area or even friends' house.

Favourite internet sites: Facebook and some gaming websites.

I like to play those Massive multiplayer online game. Websites such as MMORPG which provides a wide variety of online games. Games from IJJI and ASIASOFT are relatively addictive too.

Games have forums and gamers that are good in that game will post walkthrough, tips and guilds in the forum. All you need is patience where you spend about 10-15 minutes reading a section and you will understand more about the game. A wikipedia website is better than forum because it is organised into different category. Thus, it is easier to find the information that I want.

Asiasoft Forums

Mousehunt Wiki