Monday 28 October 2019
Social Media and Social Networking
Social Media
Social media are the online tools and technologies that help us to create, share and exchange information in various formats via virtual communities and network. We make use of the social media for interaction, collaboration and content-sharing. Social media is a very broad term that includes different types of media like videos, wikis, blogs, pictures etc.Social media facilitate the development of online social networks. Social media plays an important role in enhancing education by making access to information quick and easy.Social Networking
Social networking aims to connect you with other people. It is a service that provides yo a platform to build social relations with other people. You do social networking on social media websites like facebook.Social Media Tools
Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. Facebook was launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook has more than 2.2 billion monthly active users as of January 2018. The issues on Facebook include internet privacy, fake information and shadow profiles. Statistics says Internet users within the United States spend more time on Facebook than any other website.Twitter founded in 2006, is a micro-blogging service which provides facility to broadcast short messages/posts. These posts are called tweets. Tweets were originally restricted to 140 characters, but on November 7, 2017, this limit was doubled for all languages except Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. The user can be tagged in a post by typing '@' before his username, also called 'handle'. The users can follow each other on Twitter. Individual tweets can be forwarded by other users to their own feed, a process known as a "retweet". Users can group posts together by topic or type by use of hashtags – words or phrases prefixed with a "#" sign.
Tuesday 22 October 2019
Information Literary: Evaluating Internet Resources
The Internet has become the major source of information today. Information is easily available in different formats on the Internet. There is no doubt that the Internet is a boon for students and educators, but finding quality and authentic information from the Internet is a difficult task because of the sheer volume of information available. Unlike the traditional information sources like books, newspapers, magazines or television, information available on the Internet is not verified for accuracy or quality. Anyone can publish almost anything on the Internet and it may not be possible to verify the authenticity of the publisher or the information.
Though there are no standard set of rules available to assess the reliability and authenticity of Internet resources, the following criteria are suggested to ensure the authenticity of a web resource.
Authority
It is important to check the authority of the person or organisation who is responsible for the content your are accessing. If the information regarding the person or institution who have created the content is available, we may try to ascertain the authenticity of the information based on the reputation and credibility of the person or institution concerned. If no information is available about the creator of the information, then the information may be considered as unreliable.
In general, the following questions are to be answered to confirm authority of information
- Is the name of the author/creator provided?
- Are his/her credentials listed (occupation, years of experience, position or education)?
- What are the qualification and affiliations of the author?
- Are there contact information like a postal address, phone number or email id available?
- Is it a standalone page or a comment on a site?
- Is there any link to the organisation to which the author belong and is the information posted on the institutional website?
- Are there citations/references to other works?
- What about the domain name/URL of the web resource? Do they provide any clues regarding the authenticity of the web resource as mentioned below?
Sources like Wikis cannot be considered as authentic, as anyone can modify the information with reviewing.
Accuracy
Look whether the information is provided on on online magazine or journal or similar platforms. If the resource is an online magazine or journal the content will be accurate as they have a system of peer-review before accepting materials for publication.
An authentic resource will have its sources listed clearly so that the factual information provided can
be verified. Also check whether there are any spelling or grammatical errors in the resource. Any such errors shows lack of care and it also indicates that there is no quality control or proof reading done before publishing information
Objectivity
The objectivity of a resource is important in evaluating an Internet resources. Objectivity means the content of the resources is based on facts and not influenced by personal feelings or prejudices or bias of the author. Some authors may project their personal views as facts.
Currency
Consider the date of publication of the resource. See whether the information is up-to-date checking when the information was first published and when was it last updated. Depending on the nature of the information provided, the currency of information is very important.
Coverage
Coverage means the extend to which the topic is dealt with. Does the author cover the topic at hand comprehensively and cites accurate and current sources?
See the style of presentation of the content and the purpose of the site or resource. The information provided with a commercial purpose like selling a product may not be trustworthy.
Appearance
This concerns with the general look and feel of the web resource. See whether the site appears to be well organised with proper navigation and the links working or not. A well maintained site with proper links to resources cited for further reading will be more reliable that a badly presented web resource.
Remember, a web resource may not reliable just because it has presented the information in an attractive manner with charts and pictures.
Ask yourself these questions before using resources from the World Wide Web:
Author
Is the name of the author/creator on the page?
Are his/her credentials listed (occupation, years of experience, position or education)?
Is the author qualified to write on the given topic? Why?
Is there contact information, such as an email address, somewhere on the page?
Is there a link to a homepage?
If there is a link to a homepage, is it for an individual or for an organization?
If the author is with an organization, does it appear to support or sponsor the page?
What does the domain name/URL reveal about the source of the information, if anything?
If the owner is not identified, what can you tell about the origin of the site from the address?
Purpose
Knowing the motive behind the page's creation can help you judge its content.
Who is the intended audience?
Scholarly audience or experts?
General public or novices?
If not stated, what do you think is the purpose of the site? Is the purpose to:
Inform or Teach?
Explain or Enlighten?
Persuade?
Sell a Product?
Objectivity
Is the information covered fact, opinion, or propaganda?
Is the author's point-of-view objective and impartial?
Is the language free of emotion-rousing words and bias?
Is the author affiliated with an organization?
Does the author's affiliation with an institution or organization appear to bias the information?
Does the content of the page have the official approval of the institution, organization, or company?
Accuracy
Are the sources for factual information clearly listed so that the information can be verified?
Is it clear who has the ultimate responsibility for the accuracy of the content of the material?
Can you verify any of the information in independent sources or from your own knowledge?
Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
Is the information free of grammatical, spelling, or typographical errors?
Reliability and Credibility
Why should anyone believe information from this site?
Does the information appear to be valid and well-researched, or is it unsupported by evidence?
Are quotes and other strong assertions backed by sources that you could check through other means?
What institution (company, government, university, etc.) supports this information?
If it is an institution, have you heard of it before? Can you find more information about it?
Is there a non-Web equivalent of this material that would provide a way of verifying its legitimacy?
Currency
If timeliness of the information is important, is it kept up-to-date?
Is there an indication of when the site was last updated?
Links
Are links related to the topic and useful to the purpose of the site?
Are links still current, or have they become dead ends?
What kinds of sources are linked?
Are the links evaluated or annotated in any way?
Note: The quality of Web pages linked to the original Web page may vary; therefore, you must always evaluate each Web site independently.
Source for the above questions:
https://www.library.georgetown.edu/tutorials/research-guides/evaluating-internet-content
Social Media
The credibility of the information available on social media cannot be assessed as easily as on the Internet because the misinformation and rumours can be spread quickly on social media like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc.
The practice of using social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to disseminate false information is bringing in a dangerous trend. There have been numerous instances of fake news misleading people, spreading false propaganda or maligning people as well as entire communities. Most of the users forward the information received without verifying the authenticity of information.
India now has the second highest number of internet users in the world after China. About 27% of Indian population are Internet users.
The criteria listed above can also be applied in verifying the reliability of information on social media.
When you get a email or a social media message you find doubtful, do a Google search and the truth can be found out.
Do not forward or spread any such messages without verifying its authenticity.
The following sites will be useful in verifying the email or social media hoaxes
http://hoax-slayer.com/
http://www.hoaxorfact.com/
If you have completed this lesson, please see the tasks given to assess a web resource finding answers to the questions listed above.
Information Literacy: How to Find Information
What is Information Literacy
Finding Information
Search Engines
Web Directories
Google Search Tips
Other Search Engines
Kiddle is a safe visual search engine for kids.
Multimedia Search
Desktop Search Tools
Monday 21 October 2019
Internet basics
History of Internet
• 1960 – ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)
• 1970’s – TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol
• 1990 – World Wide Web (WWW)
The complete history and origin of Internet
Internet V/s World Wide Web
• A network, in computing, is a group of devices that can communicate each other and share resources.
• Internet is a network of networks. It is a global network of billions of computers and many other electronic devices.
How the Internet Works?
IP Address
• Every computer connected to a network has its own unique number, called an IP address.
• IPv4 address is 32 bits (4 bytes) long and consists of two components: network component and host component.
• Each of the 4 bytes is represented by a number from 0 to 255, separated with dots.
• For example in 216.52.1.250.
• IPv6 creates more complex newer alphanumeric IP addresses such as 2400:cb00:2048:1::c629:d7a2.
TCP/IP
TCP/IP, or the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, is a suite of communication protocols used to interconnect network devices on the internet. TCP/IP can also be used as a communications protocol in a private computer network like an Intranet
Request and Response
In a typical WWW example, you type in a URL in your browser’s location window, and press enter.
Your browser then sends a message (request) to a web server, requesting for a given HTML page.
The web server sends back the page, or a response if the page cannot be found
Domain Name System
• The Domain Name System (DNS) assigns recognizable and easy to remember host names instead of IP address
• www.wikipedia.org - IP address 103.102.166.224
• The first-level set of domain names are the top-level domains (TLDs)
• Generic Domain - .com, .biz, .gov, .org
• Country Level Domain - .in, .uk, .us
• Below this are the second-level and third-level domain names. They appear directly left to TLDs
• The registration of the domain names is usually administered by domain name registrars
• Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) authorises domain name registrars
.IN Domains
• .IN is India's top-level domain on the Internet. Like .COM, .IN can be used for e-mail, Web sites, and other applications. But unlike other domains, .IN is a unique symbol of India and its role in the world.
• .IN domains are easy to buy, easy to use, fast and reliable! Anyone can register an .IN domain
• INRegistry is the official .IN registry. It was appointed by the government of India, and is operated under the authority of NIXI, the National Internet eXchange of India.
.NIC.IN, .EDU.IN & .GOV.IN
• The Domain name 'NIC.IN' is owned by National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the same can be allocated ONLY to Indian Government Entities
• NIC is the authorised registrar for 'GOV.IN' Domains and it is advised to all Government Departments (Central & State) to host their websites under 'GOV.IN' Domain names
• ERNET (Education and Research Network) is the exclusive registrar for the AC.IN, EDU.IN & RES.IN Domain names.
Web Browsers
• A web browser is a software application for accessing information on the World Wide Web.
• The first web browser, called WorldWideWeb, was created in 1990 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee
• Mosaic (1993) is credited as "the world's first popular browser“
• Popular browsers
• Google Chrome
• Apple Safari
• Opera
• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
Websites
• A website is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. (Wikipedia)
• It will have a homepage and many related pages/files
• Homepage refers to the main page that provides access to all the other pages or information on the site
• A Web Page is the basic unit of every website
• It may contain text and multimedia
Hyperlink
• A hyperlink or link is a word, phrase or image clicking on which you can get access to a resource on the Internet.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
• Uniform Resource Locator uniquely identifies a document over the internet.
• Domain name is component of URL
• We access a resource through the URL
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
Hypertext Markup Language is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. Developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, HTML provides for the structure of a web page.
You can learn HTML through this tutorial
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
An Internet service provider is an organisation that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. As we know, Internet is a network of networks. We get connected to the Internet through the ISPs.
• ISP is a company like BSNL that offers its customer access to the Internet.
• ISP’s allot your computer an IP Address and provides access DNS server.
• ISPs in India:
• BSNL, MTNL
• Airtel
• Reliance Jio
• Idea
• Vodafone etc.
Who Controls the Internet?
• The Internet is a public, cooperative, and independent network. The following bodies controls some aspects of the Internet.
• Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): Its task is to manage the logistics of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and domain names.
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): Its task is to develop and tests advanced Internet technologies.
Sunday 13 October 2019
Saturday 12 October 2019
Four Rules for Real-world Safety - NetSmartKidz
NetSmartzKids-KnowTheRules from NCMEC on Vimeo.
Check first; take a friend; tell people "NO"; tell a trusted adult; now you're ready to go! Watch Clicky rap his way into teaching you the 4 rules for real-world safety.
Information Literacy: Sources of Information
An information source is a person, thing, or place from which information comes, arises, or is obtained. The information source can be a person, an article, a website, a documentary, an organisation etc.. That source might then inform a person about something or provide knowledge about it.
- Documentary Sources - published or recorded documents of knowledge
- Non-documentary sources - are not recorded or published. Include the information received from interacting with researchers, colleagues, consultants and various other sources like organisations.
Documentary sources are divided into separate distinct categories, primary, secondary, and tertiary
Primary sources provide first hand and latest information on any topic. A subject becomes a discipline in its own right when independent primary sources begin to be produced in that area.
- Literary creation: novels, short stories, poems, etc.
- Artifacts (e.g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture, tools, clothing, all from the time under study);
- Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs)
- Diaries;
- Internet communications on email, listservs;
- Interviews (e.g., oral histories, telephone, e-mail);
- Journal articles published in peer-reviewed publications;
- Letters;
- Newspaper articles written at the time;
- Original Documents (i.e. birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript);
- Patents;
- Photographs
- Proceedings of Meetings, conferences and symposia;
- Records of organizations, government agencies (e.g. annual report, treaty, constitution, government document);
- Speeches;
- Survey Research (e.g., market surveys, public opinion polls);
- Video recordings (e.g. television programs);
- Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (e.g., paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems).
- Web site.
The secondary sources provide digested information and serve as a pointer to the primary source of information.
- Bibliographies (also considered tertiary);
- Biographical works;
- Commentaries, criticisms;
- Dictionaries, Encyclopedias (also considered tertiary);
- Histories;
- Literary criticism such as Journal articles;
- Magazine and newspaper articles;
- Monographs, other than fiction and autobiography;
- Textbooks (also considered tertiary);
- Web site (also considered primary).
- Almanacs;
- Bibliographies (also considered secondary);
- Chronologies;
- Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (also considered secondary);
- Directories;
- Fact books;
- Guidebooks;
- Indexes, abstracts, bibliographies used to locate primary and secondary sources;
- Manuals;
- Textbooks (also be secondary).
Friday 11 October 2019
Let's be Cyber Smart - Welcome
Today we cannot think about a world without Internet, computers and smart phones. Internet is a valuable source for information and entertainment. Unfortunately, Internet has got its dangers also to offer. Malware, spams, online predators, identity thieves, false information, cyber bullying and other treats are waiting there online. If we are not careful, we may fall prey to these dangers which ahve have unforeseen consequences. Most of us are not aware of these cyber threats ro do not care much to keep ourselves safe online.
The project aims to make you aware of the cyber world better and to equip you to learn the tips and tricks to be safe online and be responsible netizens. The project will make you familiarise with various cyber safety issues and how to safeguard against them. You will in turn be able to guide other students on how to be safe online.
At the end of the project, we aim to select some "Cyber Ambassadors" for our school who will spread awareness among the students on cyber safety measures.
What will you learn?
Basic for Internet
Cyber Threats and How to be Safe Online
Phase I: Introduction to Cyber Security and Internet Safety
Phase II: Expert Talks and Interaction
Phase III : Spreading Awareness
Phase IV: Final Assessment and Selection of Cyber Ambassadors
