Week 6 Meta-Search ,Subject Directories Sitefeeds & EIR Wiki

Meta Search and Subject Directories

This week We were taught on the different Ways on Searching for our Topics. They Are Meta Search and Subject Directories. Meta-Search engine will get information from several search engines from the web and choose the best links to be return to the user. I personally had the chance to try one out.

I chose ix quick. My First impression of the GUI,very clean and easy to use.

My search Result on Cloning return me 40 links out of 11,359,645 matching results

I liked that the interface will Choose the best links And the indicate links with Stars.
More Stars means the link is more relevant.

The Meta-Search engine also does not return so many result so it much easier for me to choose from 40 links instead of browsing through  hundred of them using normal Search engine.

Subject Directories.
Same As normal Search engine but it is categorized and it is compiled by Humans.
I chose Google Directories to do my research.

Instead on just typing my Topic on the required field. I can make the Search more precise by choosing the right category. Since my topic is about cloning.I chose Science. The Science category is Separated into more subcategories example like bio, computer science etc. I did not really bother to choose the sub categories but just tried my luck and type my Topic in the Search Field.

It returned me Results 1 - 10 of about 599 within the category Science for Cloning [definition]. (0.09 seconds). The return links were relevant to my topic. I find that using Google directories was much more better than a normal Search engine. It lets me fine tune my research by searching it in the right directories.

 







Site Feed
I have Included my Friends Blogger links in my Blog. Visitors who frequent my blog will learn about my other friends who have blogs. Each of us have a different style of writing which makes it interesting for the viewers to see our different perspectives and opinions.

Eir Wiki

We Were encouraged to post our Research and findings on The EIR wiki page. I was curious and went to find out. When i reached my wiki page. I was quite disappointed with how the Page is being organised. They were no pictures or relevant diagrams. The Page was in a Mess. The contributors just posted their findings but did not even bother to align them nicely.The only thing Good that i find is that what they shared has mostly summarised what i have. So i did not post my findings but instead try to make the Wiki page more presentable.

What i Did was to include more diagrams and picture. Currently they are only two pictures. A picture paints a thousand words. Without proper images and diagrams it would make the read to generic and boring. With more time I might be able to customized the Whole page and make it more presentable to read.

I also replied to a discussion Started by

JoleenLeeTheGreat

on Ethical implications of Cloning.

I shared my opinions and views and hoped to get a reply.

OK That's ALL FOLKS... I better read the PPT slides for the EIR TEST!

Forum POsting....

We were tasked to Post our topics in A forum.

Posting and replying in a forum is a norm to me as i frequently read and post threads there. Getting replies from different people gives me a different perspective on the topic. Getting different opinions from other people matters to me as i can learn from them. Although Their opinion may not be relevant at times but it does add some humour in the thread. The forum posters Opinions are entitled as their own ,i do not have to consider them and sometimes debating with them would be interesting but in a friendly manner of course..

Here Are the Evidence of My Forum posting

I posted my Topic in  My usual Forum, Posted the topic in the chit chat corner and waited for their response.

 

This Is an example of a Humorous post by A fellow Member in the forum.. I believe Forum posting don't have to be so serious and generic. As long as the reply is relevant..

Here is the Forum Link Where I started my Thread.

BOB 
  
Citation and Bibliography. 

It is important to recognized other people contribution to the Internet, so if i were to take large chunks of information in the Internet and just put it in my report and submit. That would certainly count as plagiarism. If i were to contribute my own research on a given topic and post it online, i hope those who used my words in their presentation or report to at least give me some recognition. Previously when i did my report i did not really care about doing proper citations but after learning about citations and bibliography, it does put things in a new light.I try to put myself in the contributors shoes and that has made me change. I would surely do proper citations from now on so as to recognise the contributors work. Doing proper Bibliography in my report would also allow the reader to find out where i got my research from.

GOOGLE or GOOGLE Scholar Hmmmmmm....

We were tasked on determining which Search engine was better. Google Scholar Or Google.

Lets Compare both Search Engine

Google                                               

          

Google Scholar

As you can See both Have Different User Interface I find the Google Search interface more friendly then Scholar as Searching for my Topic was much simpler.

Now lets Compare Google And Scholar Different Functions

Google Advanced Functions

This Advanced Search Functions will enable me to fine tune my Searches So as to prevent the search engine from returning unwanted results. I can also Type in certain words that i do not want the Search engine to return. return.  I can also Search in different languages and get results in different files format. This are just some examples that i have tried out. There are various others functionalities that are available.

Google Scholar Advanced Functions

Google Scholar Advanced functions is much more precise compared to Google as I can Search My Topic In Articles from different Authors. based on their publication year. I can also Search Articles And patents from the different Category that is provided in the Advanced Search functions. There is also the functions to Search my topic from Legal opinions and journals from different Courts. I just need to choose the state that i want the search engine to search.

Usability in both Search Engine.

Google

 

The Ability To predict What i want to Search is A Great Feature in Google. I can just choose the right one from the drop down menu. There is also a feature for me to choose to make searches in Singapore or the web which is located in the left menu. I can also get results which are latest or from past years. I can also get similar Searches by just clicking on the similar button to get the same result.

This are just some of the features that i have explored in Google.

Google Scholar

Strangely The ability To predict what I type in the Search engine is missing here although Google scholar in also Google search engine. Some features that are in Google Scholar is the drop down menu that makes the search more precise. I can just choose to search in articles etc from which year since 1991 to 2010 and include citations or in summaries. There is also a feature to get the same result by clicking the related articles.

Based on my findings both have their different functions and it depends on the user preference and what kind of searches is made on both search engines to decide which one is better. For my liking I would rather use Google to search for my topic as it was able to return the result .Google Scholar although with its different features was far too complicated to me.

SecondLife Shopping Virtual Shopping

This Week We are tasked to PLay Second Life and try out the Virtual Shopping. This will be my first time attempting virtual shopping, so this would be somewhat intriguing. Being a noob, at first i did not know where to go shopping. So since Secondlife has a large community of people, i decided to chat up with a stranger and ask about shopping. She told me to use the Places tab and just Search Shopping. I just chose a random Place and teleported there.

The Place That i Teleported to

I loved the Name of the Place Something Estate Mall but Don't be fooled by the name because to my surprised this mall is very big and there was a Variety of Shopping Places to explore. The best thing is that there is music playing in the background  thus the shopping experience was not a bore.

As You can see from this picture, it explains the variety of choices.

The First thing i Spot was Cars in the Menu.Curious I Click on it and was teleported to the Car region. I think its the Best Region Ever as it is populated with Cars and Bikes. There I can Shop for Cars and bikes. I can even try them out. This was so fun as i am able to sit in luxury cars and try out their systems when i touch them. I can only do this in Virtual Shopping.  In the real world one can only dream of owning a luxury sport car.

Here are the pictures of me in the Car region.

Here I am Trying Out One of the Luxury Sports car.

I found a Place Where You can Try out Their Bikes. I thought Trying A bike mean just sitting on it.Little did i know that trying means being able to ride. I had so much fun riding the bike Making my Experience in Virtual Shopping easier as i am able to travel around in a bike but once i get off the bike. The BIKE DISAPPEARED HA HA. I guesss since the bike have not been purchased yet.

I Decided to Try out the other Regions  I went to Furniture Region there is a variety of furniture shops There. I went in A+ Lok's Low Prim Furniture ~ Lower Prims. The Name is Funny So i decided to check it out.

There is a lot of furniture to choose from I was spoilt for choice.

I Can Sit on them to to see how i look on the sofa.

Finally I decided it was time to check out their Men Clothes Region.

The Shop that interest me in that region was this Shop

The Clothes in the shop Was my kind of style. If only I can buy them for my Avatar but i needed Virtual Money which i did not have, So I can only just window shop for now.

The User Interface is Easy When i Click the Arrow Navigator I can Browse through the different Colours and types of Clothes that are available.

Here Are the Other Apparels On display.

 FEDORA!!!

 SHOES!!!!

Lastly I found a Shop That Sells Skins Shapes And Clothes, Here I can shop and will be able to Change the Physique and appearance of my Avatar.

Overall my experience in Attempting Virtual shopping was A Blast. It was a Challenging at first but i managed to get a hang of it. The experience of virtual shopping differ from window shopping in real life. First of all the ability to fly everywhere haha and the limitless Customized options in Second Life.  Second the clothes in Second Life has much more variety and it is even cheaper than buying real clothes. The Graphics and user interface is also very friendly. When i first use Second Life i was quite appalled at the complexity of the options, but after going through the options i realised it is not that hard after all. If i have Second Life Money I am Sure I will put it to Good use and Change my Avatar Appearance Completely but for now i can only window shop hehe. I would recommend this Second Life to my friends just to let them try it out since its free also. I am sure they will enjoy it, if given the opportunity. Oh Well this is the end of my blog, time to get myself back in Virtual Land.

E-Shopping Spree If only I have $500.

Woots $500 to spends..Its like a no brainer... Where else will i go other then Ebay there is like a variety of products that i can choose from.
Well as You can see from my previous post i am a Gamer and a avid cyclist so my purchase will have to do with my interest.
My first purchase will have to be this 
                 BAD BOY!!

Xbox 360 with Kinect

The reason i want to get this, is to replace my old 360,











 

The new 360 is so much better then the old one. It has a 250GB drive to store more game data, music and movies.The console itself is much quieter and runs cooler, Built in WiFi so no requirement for a wifi adapter like the old one. Best of all the new 360 is much sleeker smaller and the colour is more appealing and easier to maintain then its predecessor. Oh did i mention that with the Kinect Adapter i will be able to play certain games without controllers!!! now that would be interesting isn't it. Well the damage of this bad boy is $499 Singapore dollars, that means i will only be left with $1 change LOL. 

 

The other purchase that i would get if i don't get the new 360 will have to be new bike accessories. I guess its time to upgrade my bike to better gear. When  I ride my bike i can feel that my gears are not performing as it should.

Things that i will get for my bike

Shimano SLX Shifter 9 speed

Shimano 105 Pedals

 

Fox Big seat Bag

Fox Racing MTB Freeride Cycling Glove

All this purchase will set me back around $200 and would allow me to upgrade my bike so that my ride will be much more thrilling!!!

I believe that Ebay is a Great Website to purchase stuffs from. I Always find searching my items on ebay hassle free as i will always get what i want. Ebay user interface is also friendly.Ebay does not only allow me to search items in singapore but also overseas thus i love that ebay as it is able to extend my search. Comparing  ebay to other shopping website, i find that ebay is still the best as i not only can buy stuffs but  can also sell my stuffs online. In fact i have bought some of my items on ebay that were much cheaper than their retail price.

Why dont u Try using it for Yourself

Ebay

Well its time Again

Hey miss me... Well its time again to blog about my EIR Reflections. Second week of EIR was interesting as i learn about the use of different Internet search facilities.I learn on where and how to do research on my given topic.Different websites have various ways on how they interpret their information. One such example is wikipedia. Usually when i do my research on any given topic, the first place i go is wikipedia because its fast and reliable. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia though some of the sources in there is questionable as anybody can just sign up and put in their input .So based on what i learn wikepedia may not be so reliable as i  had thought.

They are various internet resources, such examples include blogs,online forums, online newspaper, Database and www sites. Each of them is unique. This would would help me in writing a paper on my given topic. My initial topic of choice was the impact on global warming on wild life. I chose that topic as its very current and would be much easier for me to do my research but seeing that the topic was very popular and i did not want any conflict with my classmates. I decided to choose another topic instead. After much careful considerations i chose the topic on ethical implications of cloning on society.I find the topic interesting and challenging at the same time.

Doing my research on the given topic was quite challenging at first as i needed to get used to the new way of doing my research. I can't just rely on one website to do my research. I realised that organizational websites tend to contained extensive materials on the subject.Online News Magazines website have more current news articles on my given topic. Examples include such as what kind of experiments that they are working on in the cloning industry. The effect of eating a clone animal, is it safe?  News websites makes it more interesting to read as it has pictures rather then just words .Other Internet resource that i did my research on was online forums. Online forums tend to have more of people opinion on the given topic. There will be debates and some of the facts shared on the forum is sometimes valid. I cannot really consider their opinions as relevant facts but i can put it into consideration when i write my paper. Comparing the Internet resource's that i have mentioned i prefer the newspaper journals or magazines as it has current news on my given topic, but i could be wrong as i have not tried other resource's yet like online databases.

I believe by expanding my research option's on other Internet resources, it will help me in writing my paper later and as well as contributing my information in the EIR wikipedia. I will be looking forward to the next EIR CLASS!

LInks that i did my research on

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news /science/topics/cloning/index.html 

http://www.sythe.org/showthread.php?t=328206 

STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES :P

Forced To Create My own Blog LOL

Welcome to My VERY FIRST BLOG!!! Please bear with me as i am new in this blogging scene. Well here goes, My Name is Muhammad Khir FAzli bin Mohamed Ramli, got to thank my parents for giving me this name. If my name is too long u can just call me Faz, Fazzle, Fuzzle.I am currently majoring Diploma in Info communications. My Hobbies include Gaming, well more of console gaming XBOX 360 FTW!!!!, Cycling is my DRUG!!! 

Thats bout it i am not really an active or sporty person, got to thank my parents again for their overprotective parenting LOL. 

Activities that i enjoy are going to movies,window shopping and hanging with my peeps. Since i started in TP my hangouts can be under a void deck or better places would be Starbucks. Most of the time would be spent chatting or playing monopoly deal which i Suck at!. Hmmmm what else can i share....Oh my all time favourite singer has to be  Freddie mercury, u know the singer of QUEEN" We Are the Champion My friend....".

Freddy Mercury!

My fav Tv programme has to be Smallville,Chuck,Glee,Braniac.

Internet sites that i frequent are stated below

http://www.gamespot.com/?tag=stitialclk

http://www.ign.com/

http://www.bob.com.sg/forum/forum.php?s=19a637e6b36af76c4c40ec05b4f6ccbf

Well if u have read my blog u would know that i am passionate about cycling if not SHAME ON YOU!. Basically riding the bike is all about balance, for first timers it would be a challenge as they will be afraid to fall,but falling is part of the learning process because if u fall a lot u will be much more careful. One tip for beginners would be just balanced themselves on the bike and look straight. Well i cant really teach much over here. I give u links to bike sites instead.

http://www.wikihow.com/Ride-a-Bicycle

 http://www.ehow.com/how_2002837_ride-bicycle.html

http://www.cyclelicio.us/2008/10/how-to-ride-bicycle.html


Here are my recent expeditions with my friends

How To Ride A Bike