Lecture3

Today, the lecture talked about the social media.

New media contains virtual community and individual identity. Virtual Community was defined that when people carry on with sufficient human feeling to form webs of personal relationships. Generally, people use internet to share their interests with other people who have the same hobbies. People use internet to exchange emotion, some people use internet to look for friend or pictures or profiles. Ego-certric social network was mentioned in the lecture. It focus has moved way form groups of people with common interest (people are no individual any more, people are net work). Here comes ’web 2.0’. It was a new era in the web’s history. It is kind of marketing strategy and creates the community. Web 2.0 is mostly a technical definition design a new technology to do with the creation of web services with emphasis on the user experiences. It had three features: follsonomy, the idea of user-generated content and open API.

Social media describes web blog (twitter), social network servos (my space, face book) and content sharing communities (youtube).

1. What did Allen Turing wear while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park?
The search engine I used was AltaVista. I used a Boolean search and plugged in “Alan Turing AND bicycle AND Bletchley Park”. The last result on the first page of results was a link to a short biography for Alan Turingon a Generic Universal Role Playing System Game software for WWII website.
Alan Turing use to wear a gas mask while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park to prevent hay-fever symptoms.

2. On what date did two computers first communicate with each other? Where were they?
Using AltaVista again, I typed in the entire question into the search engine. The fifth result down was to a page with a timeline for the history of computers. This only gave me the year in which two computers “talked to each other” so I went back to AltaVista, plugged in “computers AND communicate AND 1969″. Still no luck because the website,I was referred to only gave the year. It did, however, give a location. According to Communication and Computer Network, the Department of Defence in the USofA started a network called Advanced Research Projects Administration Network, or ARPANET.
The first computers talked to each other in 1969 through a network called ARPANET. The computers were located in California and Utah.

3. What is Bill Gates’ birthday and what age was he when he sold his first software?
To search for this, I plugged in “Bill Gates biography”. The first result was Bill Gates’ biography on the Microsoft website. This told me his birthday. To find out when he sold his first software, I plugged in “what age was Bill Gates when he sold his first software” and the fourth result down was for his biography on Answers.com. This told me that Bill Gates had sold his first commercially developed software for $3,000 in 1975. With a little bit of math, I was able to determine what age Bill Gates was when this happened.
Bill Gates was born on the 28th of October, 1955. So if Bill Gates first sold his software in 1975, that would make him 20 years old.

4. Where was the World Wide Web invented?
I know that the WWW was invented at CERN. I found out in Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. But I had to double check. I plugged the question into AltaVista and the first result confirmed my answer.
The World Wide Web was invented at CERN.

5. How does the power of the computer you are working on now compare with the power of a personal computer from 35 years ago?
So I figured for this one I would have to do two searches. One to find out the power of a computer made 30 years ago and one for the power of a computer made today. I first went back to the timeline for the history of computers. This told me that in 1979, Intel released the 8088 8-bit processor to the public in June. Back at AltaVista, I knew that finding the average power of computers in 2009 would render with lots of results so I went to the Dell Computers website for a little Window shopping (stop cringing, that was a good pun). This told me that an Inspiron computer had a “Intel(R) Pentium(R) Processor E5300 (2.60GHz, 800FSB, 2MB)”. I don’t know what that means.
• A computer in 1979 had a 8088 8-bit processor.
• A computer in 2009 has a 2.60GHz, 800FSB, 2MB processor
• You decipher what that means and work out the power differences

6. What is the weight of the largest parsnip ever grown?
. Using AltaVista I found the Guinness world records website. No answer there so I searched for “giant parsnip” on AltaVista. The second result was for the Port Lincoln Times. This told me that a man by the name of Ken Holden picked a giant parsnip from his garden in July of this year. This isn’t a record but I can’t find any other large parsnips.
Ken Holden grew a parsnip that weighed 2.3 kilograms. Mr Holden has also previously grown a cauliflower weighing 3.2 kilograms and carrots weighing 2.7 kilograms.

7. When did Queensland become a state and why is the Tweed River in New South Wales?
It’s Queensland’s 150 birthday so I am assuming that Queesland became a state 150 years ago, in 1859. To double check this, I searched for the history of Queensland in AltaVista and the second result was for the Queensland Government’s website of Queensland history. This confirmed that “Queen Victoria gave her approval and signed Letters Patent on June 6 1859 to establish the new colony of Queensland.” For the second part of the question, I did a Boolean search in AltaVista for the “history of the border between QLD and NSW”. This lead me to another Queensland Government website, this time for Mapping and Surveying.
Queensland separated from New South Wales and thus became a state in 1859. There were many reasons for why the boarders between states are the way they are and these reasons can be found on the Queensland Government Mapping and Surveying website.

8. What was the weather like in south-east Queensland on 17 November 1954?
For this question, I was pretty sure that the Bureau of Meteorology would have this information so in AltaVista I plugged in ”History of Meterology in QLD” and the first result was for the BOM website, History of Floods in QLD. I followed a few links and came to the BOM page for the history of floods in the 1950s in QLD. This told me that in the first half of November, 1954, the southeast of Queensland experienced heavy rain and thunderstorms.
I can only presume from the information from the BOM page for the history of flooding in southeast Queensland that on the 17th of November 1954, it was raining in southeast Queensland.

9. Why is Lord Byron still remembered in Venice?
I did a Boolean search in AltaVista for this one. I plugged in “Lord Byron AND Venice history” and came up with a BBC History website as the first result. This was a particularly easy question to search for.
Lord Byron is remembered in Venice because he wrote some of his most famous works including ‘Don Juan’ in Venice.

10. What band did Sirhan Chapman play in and what is his real name?
For this question, I plugged in “Sirhan Chapman” into AltaVista and the fourth result was for the Revolution Rock Oral History of Brisbane Music website. This told me the bands name, The Black Assassins, but not Sirhan Chapman’s real name. To find his real name, I searched for “The Black Assassins biography” in AltaVista. The first result was for The Black Assassins’ 10th Birthday Bash CD Launch Party 2005 website. Looking through the photographs of said band, Sirhan Chapman looked suspiciously like the lecturer for New Communication Technologies, Stephen Stock well.