CP1005 - Lecture Two - Strategic Decision Making

Decision Making

Reasons for the growth of decision-making information systems: People must:
Analyse large amounts of information, make decisions quickly, Apply sophisticated analysis techniques.

Types of Decion Systems - As you move up the 'business pyramid' users move from requiring transactional information to analytical information.

Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) - Basic business system that serves the operation level.
Online transaction processing (OLTP) - Capturing of transaction and event information using technology.

Online analytical processing (OLAP) - Manipulation of information to create business intelligence in support of strategic decision making.

Decision Support Systems model information to managers and business professionals during the decision-making process. There are three quantitative models; Sensitivity analysis, What-if analysis & Goal-Seeking Analysis.

EIS - A specialised DSS that support senior level executives within the organisation.

Most EISs offering the following capabilities; Consolidation, Drill-downs and SLide-and-dice.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Various commercial applications of artificial intelligence. It simulates human intelligence such as the ability to reason and learn.

Expert Systems computerized advisory programs that imitate the reasoning processes of experts in solving difficult problems. Neutral Network attempts to emulate the way the human brain works. Genetic Algorithm is an AI system that mimics the evolutionary, survival of the fittest process. Intelligent agent is a special-purposed knowledge based information system that carries out a specific task on behalf of its users.

Data Mining is the ability to sift instantly through information to uncover patterns and relationships. Data-mining systems include many forms of AI such as neural networks.

Business Process Modelling

Business Process is a standardised set of activities that accomplish a specific task such as processing a customer's order. Business Process Modelling or mapping the activity of creating a detailed flow chart or process map of a work process showing its inputs, tasks and activities in a structured sequence. Business process model a graphical description of a process, showing the sequence of tasks.

CP1005 - Lecture One

Information Technology's Impact on Business Operations

Information Technology has had an impact on many areas within a business that may include the way Accounting is ran, finance, Human Resources (HR), Sales, Marketing, Operation Management and the Management of Information Systems.

What is IT about - It's the field that's concerned with the managing and processing of information.

MIS - The business function and academic discipline covering the application of people, technologies and procedures.

Technology Basics

When talking about Data it is information and business intelligence - RAW facts that descrube the characteristic of an event.
Information - Data converted into a meningful and useful context - Rows of data in an excel spreadsheet with columns showing what the data represents.
Business Intelligence - Applications and technologies that are used to gather provide access to and analyses data.


To have a successful IT resourced business it involved the following - Information + People + IT = Business Success.

Some Roles you may encounter in IT - Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Knowledge Officer and Chief Privacy Officer.

Ways of managing how successful an IT process is include: 


KPI - Key Performance Indicators.
Metrics - Are detailed measures that feed KPIs.

Performance Metrics fall into an area that's covered by two parts within the business. Requires input from both IT and Business Professionals.

IT Metrics focus on technology and include; throughput, transaction speed, system availability, information accuracy, web traffic and response time.

Effectiveness can focus on the organizations goals and strategies -  Usability, Customer Satisfaction, Conversion rates and Financial.

Business Strategy - To survive and thrive and thrive an organization must create a competitive advantage.

There are two kinds of advantages - Competitive Advantage and First-Mover Advantage. The Competitive - a product or service that an organisation’s customers place a greater value on than similar offerings from a competitor. First-Mover Advantage - occurs when an organisation can significantly impact its market share by being first to market with a competitive advantage.

Porter's Five Forces Model allows us to determine the relative attractiveness of an industry through; Buyer Power, Supplier Power, Threat of Substitute Products or Services, Threat of new entrants and Rivalary among existing Competitors.

Buyer Power - High when buyers have many choices to buy from. Low with loyalty programs etc.
Supplier Power - High when one supplier has concentrated power over an industry. Buyers have few choices of whom to buy from.
Threat of Substitue Products - High when there are many alternatives to a product or a service.
Threat of new Entrants - High when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market. Low with significant entry barriers.
Rivalary among existing competitors - High when competition is fierce in a market and low when competition is more complacent.

Graphics

For bitmap images uncompressed, each pixel must be stored. Fore each pixel the colour value is stored.
The size of an image therefore is the total number of pixels, multiplies by the number of bits.

Resolution = 640*480 = 207 200.
Colour depth = 16bit (66 536).


Image filesize = resolution x colour depth = 307 200 8 16 = 4 915 200 bits. 


Divide by 8 to get bytes (B) = 614400 bytes.
Divide by 1024 to get kilobytes = 600KB. 

Anti-Aliasing

Used to smooth jagged edges, Dithers the colours around the edge.

Bitmap Applications are an image format suited for creation of Photo-Realistic images or complex drawings.


Two kinds of Complression: Lossy and Lossless

Lossy loses information upon decompression.
Lossless retains the image quality.

GIF - Graphics Interchange Format .GIF.

Characteristics
Supports only 256 colours (8 bit)
Can show transparency
Can be animaged.
Uses lossless compression.

Uses
Used extesnsvily on the web, Used predominantly for line art such as cartoons.

JPEG
Supports true colour (24bit)
Cannot show transparency or animation.
Uses lossy compression.

Use
Used extensivly on the web.
Used predominantly for photo realism.

News Gathering - Reporting from various Sources

Deadlines:

• Breaking news posted almost immediately.
• Online = a new challenge.
• Deadlines MUST be met. 
• Articles are submitted online before print. 

Online and offline: 

•  Newspapers less reliant on breaking news stories.
• Online reports breaking news. 
• Do newspapers have more analysis and comment?

News gathering

• Difficulty proportional to value. 
• No difficulty = something to sell. 
• People who offer incentives to publish, or not publish something do not have the public interest at heart.

Journalism and PR

• PR a news-gathering obstacle or a great assistance to journalists?
• In 1996 Australian employed 7000 PR practitioners and 4200 mainstream journalists. 

 The editorial pecking order:

1. Managing editor or editor-in-chief.
2. Editor.
3. Deputy Editor or associate editor.
4. News editor.
5. Chief-of-Staff.
6. Journalists.

Should a story be pursued? 

Will it be useable/is it worth the effort/what about other story ideas not yet assigned? Legal risks? Will other media run the same story/has a similar story be done recently.

The process of reporting and writing has six steps: 

News thinking: Getting ideas, Collecting information: Reporting the story, News thinking II Focus: Thinking of stories, Order: Mapping the story, Revise: Rewriting for readers and viewers.

One of the ways in which a reporter may develop ideas is by participating in a brainstorming session held by most news organisations.

Organized by the editor earl in the morning. Reporters maintain an up-to-date contact book / diary of contacts in various fields.

A few rules

Strive for balance - all sides of the story. Be fair and give people a right of reply. Always carry a notepad, pens and a tape recorder and extra batteries.

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Check out the live stream that my church has setup that streams every Sunday morning and evening when the church services are on.

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Output Devices

A display device visually conveys text and graphics - LCD or LED. LED is the latest and is far more energy efficient.

Monitors are usually referred to being CRT which had a Cathode Ray Tube as there main source of displaying data in pixels.

The quality of an LCD Monitor or LCD screen depends primarily on: Resolution, Response Time, Brightness, Contrast Ratio.

Resolution is the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in a display device. A higher resolution uses a greater number of pixels.

Printers are another form of output devices that output to a hard storage medium that is archives or filed in some sort of human storage medium.

There are two types of Printers nonimpact printers forms characters and graphics on a piece of paper without actually striking the paper. Mobile Printers, plotters etc.

Ink-Jet Printers forms characters and graphics by spraying tiny drops of liquid ink onto a piece of paper. Color or black-and-white, Printers with a higher dpi (dots per inch) the better the image.

Laser Printers - High-Speed High-Quality, Color & Black & White. They also perform at a much higher speed than other types of printers.

Audio Output Devices produce music, speech or other sounds. Most computer users attach speakers to their computer to Generate higher-quality sounds for playing games, ineracting with multimedia presentations or viewing of movies.

Force Feedback - Sends resistance to the device in response to actions of the user. Tacticle output provides the user with a physical response from the device.

Brail Printers are important for people that are blind.

Basics of Reporting: Sources from an Interview

Why some find Interviewing Difficult: 

• The perception of being taught to respect their elders.
• They must now put themselves on equal footing with older people. 
• Some interviewees are scary. 
• They must ask challenging questions of people who do not like being challenged. 
• Some interviewees lie

How to interview as a new-gathering tool:

Interviewing is the most common news-gathering tool. Though sources need to be trustworthy. Interviewees often have an axe to grind while other interviewees lie or exaggerate. Some give true but misleading answers while others fear journalists.

Detecting Lies:

Becoming aware of body language. Listen for contradictory answers. Ask yourself if answers match facts as you know them. Develop your own lie detector! Ask difficult but well researched questions you already know the answers to.

Interviewing Skills:

When interviewing a journalist must: take legible notes, interpret comments, think of the next question(s), be alert for points that might make a good intro, maintain some eye contact, listen for hints (an interviewee knows more then they say), trust their intuition about an interviewee.

Getting an Interview:

• Be courteous and polite. 
• Develop a good telephone manner.
  
• Research so you are knowledgeable when requesting an interview. 
• Try to avoid PAs and PR minders and make direct contact with interviewees. 
• Explain why you need the interview.

When things are not going well:

• Try to contact a prospective interviewee at home, at another work number, on a mobile telephone. 
• Try a third party.  They might recognise an interview's importance and convince a prospective interviewee to speak. 
• 'Door stop' the person.

Before an Interview: 

• Conduct a thorough background research. 
• Prepare a list of key questions.
• Dress appropriately. 
• Check your sound recorder, also ensure you have a notebook and spare pens. 
• Plan to arrive on time without rushing.
• Turn off your mobile phone! 

The Interview:

Ask open ended questions which require more than 'yes/no' responses.
Listen carefully for throw-away lines.
Do not be afraid to ask questions.

Telephone and email interviews:

• Telephone interviews tend to be superficial and brief, but sometimes that is all that is needed. 
• Email interviews have a place too - specially for interviewing people in different time zones - but there is no one tone of voice and no spontaneity. 

Common interview problems:

• Compulsive talkers. 
• Minders who answer for the talent. 
• People who answer questions which were not asked.
• Interviews with more than one person at once - for example, at accidents.
• Interviewees who switch between on an off record responses.

Remember a direct quote can be directed into a paraphrased quote. 

Storage Devices

There are two types of storage primary and secondary. Main memory is usually a permanent storage device. However main memory is also sometimes referred to as memory as it is a requirement of the system.

Secondary storage is usually external devices such as a printer or filing cabinet. 

A 1956 IBM 305 RAMAC Hard Disk Drive with 5 MB of storage - weighed in at over 1 ton. Annual lease cost was about $35,000

A storage device is the computer hardware that records and / or retrieves items to and from storage media.

Hard disks can store date using longitudinal recording or perpendicular recording.

Hard Disks - The harddisks circuit board controlls the head actuator and a small motor, The motor spins the platters while the computer is running, Software requests disc access by going through the read/write head (determines the current or new location of the data), The head actuator positions the read/write head arms over the correct location to access the data.
 
A head crash occurs when a read/write head touches the surface of a platter. This will then usually destroy the disk - Always keeping a backup of your data on a disk.

Backing Up - RAID - Redundant Array of Independtent disks is a group of two or more integrated hard disks. A network attached storage (NAS) device is a server connected to a network with the sole purpose of providing storage.

Hard disk Controllers consist of a special-purpose chip and electronic circuits that control the transfer of data, instructions and information from a disk to and from the system bus. Types of controllers include - SATA, EIDE, SCSI and SAS.

Flash Memory Storage have chips are a type of solid state media and contain no moving parts. Solid State Drives (SSDs) have several advantages over magnetic hard disks. No moving parts, faster speeds.

Flash Memory Storage - CompactFlash, Secure Digital, Micro SD, SDHC, MicroSDHC, xD Picture Card, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stic Micro (M2)

Cloud Storage - Is an internet service that provides storage to computer users who use the internet.

Optical Discs start data by lasering data into the grooves on a disc. It then reads the data by interpreting the pits and lands (1s and 0s). Don't let your discs suffer from - BitRot.

Allot of data are stored on Tabe, Magnetic Stripe cards and smart cards. The only issue with these older storage devices is

Other Types of Storage are huge volumes of servers. where special hardware for heavy use, maximum availability, and maximum efficiency are used.

NM1202 What's expected on the Assignment

What’s expected on the Assignment

Some misunderstandings about assessment:

The work has to be technically perfect. 

That we a re looking for something specific.

That you have to know everything.

That are and design is a matter of subjective opinion, and impossible to mark.

That if you try, you can fail.

Risk is rewarded - Takings risks is a good thing. Playing it safe leads to boring work. I like to be suprised.

    Has no idea what the best work will be like... Show me something I haven't seen before. 

You are the entertainment. Trying to think of what an audience would get from this subjective work. Have to excite people about your work and it's meaning. 

How to fail in an arts subject: 

Do bugger all work, Not attend workshops, Blatantly plagiarise. 

Use references from art history and creatively alter them.

Use ideas from other media… film, music, literature.

Hardware in a Comptuer

The main box of your computer is reffered to as a System Unit.

• The inside of the system unit on a desktop consists of most of the following components; 

A Motherboard, RAM, Video Card, CPU, FAN and Ethernet Cards.

Processors - The processor, also called the central processing unit (CPU), interpretes and carries out the instructions given by the software. Contains a Control Unit and an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU).

Processor -> Memory -> Output Devices (Information), Input Devices (Data) -> Storage Devices.

The control unit is a component of the processor that directs and coordinates most of the operations in the computer.

For every instruction, a processor repeats a set of four basic operations which comprise a machine cycle (Fetch, Decode, Execute, Store).

Determine how you plan to use a new computer before selecting a processor. i.e. An Internet Browser who checks emails daily wouldn't need an i7 that is used by Video Production serivces.

Memory - Consits of electronic components that store instructions waiting to be executed by the processor, data needed by those instructions, and the results of processing the data.

Stores three basic categories of information: The OS, Drivers and Settings.

Each location in memory has an address. Memory size is measured in kilobytes (KB or K), Megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB) or terrabytes (TB).

KB = 1024 Bytes, MB = 1,048,576, GB = 1, 073, 741, 824, TB = 1,099, 511, 627, 776.

Two types of memory Volatile Memory (Loses its contents when power is turned off) and Nonvolatile Memory (Does not lose contents when power is removed).

There are three different types of RAM chips that exist:

Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Static RAM (SRAM) & Magnetoresistive (MRAM).

RAM chips usually reside on a memory module and are inserted into memory slots.

Read-Only Memory (ROM) refers to memory chips storing permanent data and instructions.

Flash Memory - can be erased electronically and rewritten.

Access time is the amount of time it takes the processor to read from the memory. This is measured in nanoseconds. 

Expansion Slots and Adapter Cards

- An expansion slot is a socket on a motherboard that can hold an adapter card.
- An adapter card enhanced the functions of your computer (i.e. Extra Ethernet cards, Videocards, Sound Cards)


Plug and Play is a feature where the computer can automatically configure the adapter cards and other peripherals as you install them.

Ports and Connectors

Firewire ports, HDMI ports, audio in port, network port, composite video in.

A USB Port can connect up to 127 different peripherals together with a single connector. You can attach multiple peripherals using a single USB port with a USB hub.

Buses - A Bus allows the various devices both inside and attached to the system unit to communicate with each other; Data Bus, Address bus. Word size is the number of bits the processor can interpret at any one time.

What are input Devices? An input device is any hardware that allows a computer to receive data. These include; keyboards, mice, joysticks, guitars, remotes, pen inputs, voice input etc.

Digital Cameras:

Two factors affect the quality of digital camera photos:

Resolution, Number of bits stored in each pixel.

Voice input:
Voice input is the process of entering inpt by speaking into a microphone.
Voice recognition is the computer's capability of distinguishing spoken words.

Video input - is the process of capturing full-motion images and storing them on a computer's torage medium.

Scanners and Reading Devices - The image resolution and DPI plays a part in how good the scanned document / image is. Optical character recognition (OCR involves reading characters from ordinary documents. A turnaround document is a document you return to the company that creates and sends it.

Magnetic Stripe Card Readers - Read the magnetic stripe on the back of cards such as: Credit Cards, Entertainment Cards, Bank Cards.

Biometric Inputs such as Iris Recognition System and Fingerprint Reader.

Physically Challenged Users; Devices - keyboards with larger keys, head-mounted pointer, on-screen keyboard.

Linking Words

The objective writing scale for Journalists.

• News reporting (hard news stories)
• Fature articles (story containing more than the spot news)
• Interpretive reporting (background and analyis)
• Reviews or Critique (judgement on quality of art work)
• Editorial Writing (analysis, arguments and opinions)
• Syndicated Columns (opinion and musing by good writers)

Factors than can affect a journalist may include; cultural, organisational, technological, political, socio-economic constraints; and the journalist's own belief system.

Writing hard news is different as the structure starts like an essay; introduction, argument, conclusion.

A news story is written in a logical manner; answering questions and giving details as it goes along.

Angles

Journalists call the anges different 'takes' on a story; the choices you as the reporter may have for your lead; as an angle.

Example:

Angle 1 - Two children were reunited with their fateher yesterday...
Angle 2 - A relieved father of two children...
Angle 3 - A new law against wicked stepmothers was passed yesterday...

The angle is determined by you and what the editor would like.

Linking words for focus:



Linking Words:

The arrows and coded words reveal how existing information introduces or connects with new information.

Every part is ‘attached’ or connected to the one preceding it.

All succeeding pars contain an element of the story the reader has already met.

Sourcing of Attribution:

The reporter needs to put this person's title position before their name when introducing them in the story unless the person is very, very well known.

If you have the form of attribution places before name of the oranization before the person's title, you do not use commas before and after the person's name.

Almost all stories contain a reference to someone saying something.

Even if you were a first-hand witness, you may still use another person’s words as an ‘expert.’

The person’s AUTHORITY to make the comments he/she made is very important.

The reporter needs to put this person’s title or position before their name when introducing them in the story unless the person is very, very well known.

If the form of attribution places the title of the person you are quoting ahead of the name of the organization the person represents, then you will need a comma before and after the name of the person.

e.g. President of the National Council of Trade Unions (NCTU), Sean Burnett, …

NCTU President Sean Burnett said...
Note: Second style is preferred by most because it saves space.

The second style is preffered by most news agencies.

“Resources were a touch higher overnight, but oil was a touch weaker, so they didn't get any help from oil stocks,"  

CMC Markets dealer Josh Whiting said.NOTE:  “said”  comes AFTER the name or personal pronoun.

Indirect Speech

Indirect Speech also called ‘reported’ speechspeech that is summarised or paraphrased by the writerused without quotation marksmust keep the meaning of the original.

Indirect Speech Example:

 “I’d rather be in the hands of the RAAF than anyone else in a situation like that,” Mr. Smith said.

As Indirect speech:

Mr. Smith said he would rather be in the hands of the RAAF than anyone else in a situation like that.

Other Points: 

Do not be afraid to repeat "said". Avoid other version such as "claimed", "expressed", "stressed".

Avoid using "according to".

Do not use Adverbs.

Don’t make your new writing colourful. Leave that to your novel.
“ I was not scared.” Mr. Smith said   thoughtfully.

Some examples of adverbs:

emphatically, angrily, sympathetically, rudely, loudly, carefully, quickly, etc.

What tense to use? 

As a rule, electronic media use present tense and printed media use past tense.

In some case, to convery immediacy, present perfect is used:

The government has warned that interest rates will...

Quotation marks - Use double quotes ("")

The closing of quote mark comes after the punctuation mark that indicates a stop or a pause.

Example: 

“ Can it be true?” Mark said. (correct)
“Can it be true”? Mark said. (wrong)

The basics of a news lead...

1. Write simply. Simple words in the right combination can be powerfully evocative.
2. First things first. News writing starts with a bang and then explains itself.
3. Always attribute what you say to an authoritative voice.
4. A good introduction is everything.

Do not start a lead with a qualifying clause
While on a routine patrol, a police officer discovered that burglars had pried open the back door of a liquor store on Collins Street and had stolen more than 100 cases of whisky last night.

Instead, write:
Burglars pried open the back door of aliquor store on Collins Street and stole more than 100 cases of whisky last night.

Other things to remember: 

Don't forget the impact of the story.
Don't forget the local angle.
Don't forget the unusual information in your story.
Don't forget your audiences interest.
Strive for simplicity.
Don't forget to be objective.

Ransom Note Photoshop Activity

Below is an image creationg that was created during my Third tutorial for The Digitised Image NM1202 subject at James Cook Univesity in Townsville.

Just a quick job however I was stuck for ideas and thinking about other assignments.

Uni work is starting to stack up now. Just as well a few subjects I think I've got a grasp of.

Writing the Lede (Lead)

A "led"e is the first sentence of your writing. It is also spelled, "lead" - both are accepted spellings and pronounced, "LEED."

Depending on whether you are writing a hard or soft story, a lede should reflect the content of your article.

Remember: Always write in the active, and not passive voice! Something happening to someone is not news. Someone doing something is news. 


Passive: The sandwich was eaten by the boy.


Active: The boy ate the sandwich.


The lead sentence is constructed in the following form, Subject, Verb, Object. Think SVO when constructing your lead sentence and following sentences where points are outlined. 


Write a lead of between 20-25 words:

You are writing for a newspaper near this accident. 

• Whow: QR’s train called the  Queensland Surfer 
• What:  Collided with a train loaded with sugar cane 
• When: 5:50am today 
• Where: at the crossing near Innisfail 
• Why:  John Bloke, QR spokesperson: The sugar cane train loaded with sugar cane as well as QR’s train were both northbound. The sugar cane train run a stop sign. 
• Other Information: At least 1 in serious condition (QR passenger), sugar cane driver in shock brought to hospital, and at least 12 passengers with minor injuries, treated at site.

A serious accident involving a Queensland Rail (QR) train and Suger Cane train on a crossing near Innisfail has caused at least 1 serious injury and 12 minor injuries on QR passengers. ~~~ Too many adjectives. 

• Who:  7 year old boy missing for 2 years
• What: found
• Where: Crocodile Creek
• When: Last night, around 8:30
• Why: unknown as of press time
• How: A neighbour recognized the child’s picture when it was shown on Crimestoppers ‘have you seen them? Segment in last night’s WIN News program at 6. 
• Other information: Police arrested the boy’s mother, Ellen Lynn Conner, 27; she faces Victorian charges of kidnapping and interference with a custody warrant.

A boy has been found after two years near Crocodile Creek after a neighbor recognised the boy's face. ~~~ Too Vague.

• Who: 40 passengers
• What: evacuated from a Virgin Blue Airlines jet, Flight 428
• Where: at Cairns International Airport
• When: Wednesday following a flight from Perth to Cairns
• Why: A landing tower employee spotted smoke near the wheels
• How: unknown
• Other information: There was no fire or injuries; the smoke was caused by hydraulic fluids leaking onto hot landing brakes, according to Bob Gibbons, a Virgin Blue spokesperson.

A Virgin Blue aircraft was evacuated yesterday at Cairns International Airport after a landing tower employee spotted smoke near the aircraft's wheels.

The 40 passengers of flight 428 were evacuated from the Virgin Blue flight that originated from Perth.


Investigations into the incident found the cause of the smoke was a result of leaking hydraulic fluid. 
Virgin Blue spokesperson, Bob Gillons believes that the smoke was caused by hydraulic fluids leaking onto the hot landing brakes.       (Don't make up direct quotes)

Computer Security

A computer security risk is any event or action that could cause a loss of or damge to computer hardware, software, data, information or processing. A cybercrime is an online or Internet-based illegal act.

Hackers, Crackers, Script Kiddies, Corporate Spies, Unethical Employees, Cyberextortionists, Cyberterrorists.

The I love you Virus in Action 

Internet & Network Attacks

Information transmitted over networks has a higher degree of security risk than information kept on an organization's premises.

An online security service is a Web site that evaluates your compuer to check for Internet and e-mail vulnerabilities.

Popular Online Security Services include; Audit My PC, McAfee FreeScan, Symantec Security Check, Trend Micro House Call, Panda Freescan, Bitdefender.

Internet and Network attacks can come in the form of Computer Viruses, Worms, Trojans and Rootkits.

An infected computer has one or more of the following symptoms: Operating system runs slower than usual, files become corrupt, screen displays an unusual message, system properties change.

Tips for preventing Viruses: 

• Install a personal firewall program. 
• Never open an e-mail attachment unless you are expecting it and it is from a trusted source. 
• Install a antivirus program on all of your computers. Update the software and the virus signature files regularly. 
• Stay informed about new virus alerts and virus hoaxes. 
• Be Proactive about stopping security responses - Threatlists up to date ones to protect against. 

Intrustion Detection Software: 

• Analyzes all network traffic
•  Assesses system vulnerabilities
• Identifies any unauthorized intrusions
• Notifies network administrators of suspicious behavior patterns or system breaches

Honeypot

• Vulnerable computer that is set up to entice an intruder to break into it

Did you Know? 

Unauthorised Access and Use
Organizations take several measures to prevent unauthorized access and use such as; acceptable use policy, disable file and printer sharing, firewalls and intrusion detection software. 

Digital forensics is the discovery, collection, and analysis of evidence found on computers and networks. Many areas use digital forensics for; Law enforcement, Criminal prosecuters, military intelligence. 

Hardware Theft and Vandalism
Hardware theft is the act of stealing computer equipment. Hardware vandilism is the act of defacing or destroying computer equipment.

Software Theft
Software theft occurs when someone steals software, intentionally erases programs, illegally copying or registers and or activates a program obtained illegally.

Popular security techniques to protect against information theft include; Digital Certificates, Transport Layer Security (TLS), Secure HTTP and VPN.

System Failure

A system failure is the prolonged malfunction of a computer. A variety of factors can lead to a system failure, including: aging hardware, natural disasters, electrical power problems, noise, undervoltages, overvoltages and errors in computer programs.

Backing Up - The Ultimate Safeguard

A backup is a duplicate of a file, program, or disk that can be used if the original is lost, damaged, or destroyed. To back up a file means to make a copy of it.

Offsite backups are stored in a location separate from the computer site.

For backing up their are two categories of backups such as full backups and selective backups. Three-Generation backup policy. The three levels is where three backups are kept - Grandparent, Parent, Child.

Writing for print, broadcast and online

Is it what the editors say is news? But this view suggests only senior journalists have the capacity to determine what news is.

At the core of writing is news judgment which is a valuable asset a journalist should have, is it news worthy.

News writing is disciplined writing which involves using exactly the right words to convey specific meanings. Words are able to convey moods and feelings as well as facts. News writing once mastered is an extremely valuable skill and never forgotten.

Remember News writing is more than telegraphic, but less than a short-story.

Broadcast Journalism - Came after tradition print journalism. Old definitions of BJ only referred to news coming from radio and television. Today it includes online news, news delivered to mobile phones and personal digital devices, datacasting, interactive television and radio. Broadcast journalism like in networking is a distribution / delivery system.

Broadcast News is made up of the following

• Broadcast news is telling. 
• No array of facts - especially figures - can be thrown at a listener.
• Each sentence ideally should contain only one idea or image. 
• Sentences generally should be brief.
• Natural.

What is a news lead?
A news lead unlike a novel is based on one main idea - this main focus is the lead.The reporter decides what the lead of his/her story is. The editor can also help decide on the lead. It is the first paragraph ('par') of the news story.

One easy way of determining your lead is to use the "tell-a-friend" technique. The response should be one succinct sentence that captures the essence of the story.

By this point, your reader asks themselves, Do I want to read on?

Think of the news lead as a baited hook that lures the reader into the story. Think economicall leads are usually no more than 20 - 25 words. It is like a summary or conclusion, except it appears at the start of the news story and not at the end.

To arrive at lead you ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is the story’s main point?
2. What was said or done about this point or issue? – this is the action of the story
3. What are the recent developments in the story – today – a few hours ago or yesterday?
4. Which facts are going to affect people or interest them most?
5. Which facts are unusual?

Words by themselves don't mean anything but it's the words around that bring meaning.

JCU Student Website

http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/libcomp/az/JCUPRD_039123

http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/libcomp/JCUPRD_017466

http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/libcomp/az/JCUPRD_039123
http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/libcomp/az/JCUPRD_034197

Critical use of the Overlay

There are two types of collages based upon the following; seamless and cut’ n’ paste. One is more obvious than the other. Seamless is where every attempt is made to hide the joins and make it a convincing reality. Cut’ n’ Paste is exactly the way it sounds these collages reveal torn edges, shadows, glue and tape, they foreground the mechanism of their own construction.

Dada is mostly associated with establishing an  Anti-Art or incorporate a political aspect. One known Dada artist is John Heartfield who made a piece known as, “Through Light to Night 1933.” A website with Dada images can be found at Sites.google.com.

Lomography came about from cheap cameras with cheap engineered lenses. They amplify the colours and smear the focus. Creating a image that leads you to believe you were there. An example can be found on Flickr under the title, “Low down in the souks.” For a good tutorial of Lamography refer to the following Photoshop tutorial - PhotoshopTutorials.ws.

Francis Galton perfected the art of Photo Composites where a series of images of the same subject are blended together, in which photographs of different subjects were combined, through repeated limited exposure, to produce a single blended image.  Galton perfected the technical details of the method by repeated trial-and-error over many years, using apparatus of his own design.

He was especially interested in the use of these composites to test if there was a recognizable criminal type revealed by them, but his experiments in this direction proved that, within the range of data available to him, no such type revealed itself. The portraits of criminals tended to blend away into normality.

See the below composites of convicted criminals. 

Idris Khan used images taken by Every Berndt and Hillder Becher of gas sperhical cylinders and blended these together into a composite. This created a composite of what most gas tanks that are spherical look like at a gas station.

Christian Staebler invented the art of scanographie which is taking an object and placing on a flatbed scanner to create an image. The skill can be learnt in a few minutes but perfecting the art takes practice. Below is an image of work by Mary C Miller.

Exquisite Corpse - Group Creation

The second practical or well the first practical for me as I turned up to the wrong class last week was quite a fun class. A group of five students from the class myself and four others were required to get into groups and each create a body part that included; The Head, Torso, Abdomen, Legs and feet Feet.

Below is the image creation that I came up with though sadly mine wasn't chosen for the Server.

Application Software

Application Software consists of programs designed to make users productive and / or assist with personal tasks.

Application Software is used in business to make activities more efficient.

An example of Application Software is outlined by:

Business - Word Processing, S Access, Databases.
Graphics and Multimedia - CAD, Photo Editing, Web Page Authoring.
Home/Personal/Educational - Paint / Image Editor, Games, Family Tree Software.

Application Software are available in a variety of forms; Packaged Software, Customer Software, Web Application, Open Source Software, Shareware, Freeware, Public-Domain Software. 

System Software serves as the interface between the user, the application software and the computer's hardware - Utility Programs.

Business Software is application software that assists people while performing business activities - Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Database, Presentation, Note Taking, Personal Information Manager etc.

Spreadsheet Software allows for data to be turned into information. This Information can also be changed into graphically appealing representations of the information. 

Presentation Software acts as a visual aid to support a presenter.

Applicaiton Software for Communication - Web Browser, E-Mail, Instant Messaging, ChatRoom, RSS Aggregator, Blogging, Video Conferencing, FTP, VOIP. 

The Movement of Portable Devices

With a wide range of business software and the popularity of PDAs in the 21st century it has become a must for cut down versions of a software applications to be scalled down or made avalible for PDAs.

Production tools specialize in a certain type of media. For Example, Audio Editing and the other production tool would be a Video Editor.

Software Piracy

Professional Ethics

Professional ethics govern the way moral issues that arise because of a specialist knowledge that a professional attains. It governs how the use of this knowledge should be governed when providing a service to the public.

Discipline is the area of expertise that you happen to be working in or studying. The arts, social science, economics, journalism are all examples of discipline. 

Ethics may include the following: Moral codes, Morality & Ethics.

Moral Codes - Rules that establish the boundaries of generally accepted behaviour.
Morality - Refers to social conventions about right and wrong human conduct.
Ethics - Are beliefs regarding right and wrong behaviour.
Virtues - Habits that incline us to do what is acceptable.
Vices - Habits that incline us to do what is unacceptable.

Age can play a part in the ethics for instance what may have been politically correct in the early 19th century may not be politically correct with the younger generation of Australia today.

Social & Ethical Responsibilities

ICT systems and applications:

Moral
Ethicial - Professional Ethics, Code of Ethics.
Legal - Software Piracy.
Health Related Problems.
Social Political.

The Code of Conductthat Australian IT Professionals are governed by are produced by the Australian Computer Society. Their code of ethics can be found on the following link as a PDF file.

There are six main values of the ACS.

1. The Primacy of the Public Interest
You will place the interests of the public above those of personal, business or sectional interests.
2. The Enhancement of Quality of Life
You will strive to enhance the quality of life of those affected by your work.
3. Honesty
You will be honest in your representation of skills, knowledge, services and products.
4. Competence
You will work competently and diligently for your stakeholders.
5. Professional Development
You will enhance your own professional development, and that of your colleagues and staff.
6. Professionalism
You will enhance the integrity of the Society and the respect of its members for each other.

Questions to determine the ethics of an Action

Is it honourable, Is it honest, Does it avoid any possibility of conflict of interest, Is it wihin your competence, Is it fair, Is it considerate (i.e. not wasteful of time & resources)

What is Journalism for?

During week one we looked at three definitions for what is a journalist. We found that Splichal and Sparks (1994) had three definitions that vary significantly. Click here for the lesson notes and a quick review.

Journalism is for:

• Spreading / Sharing useful information.
• Building community.
• Promoting Democracy. 

Journalism was found to be a way of providing citizens with the information they need to be informed and self-governed.

A Brief History of Newspapers

• First newspapers are believed to have been published in China from 618 to 907AD.
• The middle Ages ended, news came in the form of a song and story; news ballads from wandering minstrels.
• Newspapers appeared in Europe from the mid-15th century. 
• The first reqularly published English newspaper is thought to have been the Weekly News, which appeared in 1622. 
• 1609 - oldest and first newspapers evolved. 
• Newspapers led to a rise in 'public opinion'.
• In 1720, two London newspapermen writing under the name of 'Cato' introduced the idea that truth should be spread.
• In 1735 - The birth of the free press in US when John Peter Zenger was acquitted of charges of criticizing the royal governor of New York. 

Australian Press 

The first Australian newspaper was produced in Sydney; weekly called the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. The editor George Howe was a previously a convict and he was the first Australian editor, poet and early printer.

The only locally owned newspaper company in Australia is John Fairfax Holdings Limited (Fairfax).

The other major player, News Limited, controls around 70 percent of newspaper circulation in Australia, moved its corporate headquarters from Adelaide to new York in 2004. 

Capital cities including Brisbane and Adelaide have no locally owned daily newspapers.

Journalism in Society

'Journalism is the first rough draft of history' (Bradlee in Hough 1984: 60)

A Definition of 'News'

US journalism education Melvin Mencher says there are two general guidelines when trying to define news:

1. 'News is information about a break from the normal flow of events, an interruption of the expected'
2. 'News is informed people need to make sound decisions about their lives'

Another way of thinking about news is John B Bogart, city editor of the New York Sun, provided a classic description of news a century ago, "When a dog bites a man it's not news, but when a man bites a dog. That's news"

Six Fundamental Questions

When reporting on a news story six fundamental questions should be answered at some point in order for readers to understand the full situation. 

• What?
• Why?
• When?
• How?
• Where?
• Who? 

The 5 W's and H 

Who, When, What, Where, Why & How.

News values: 

News has several values that include; Impact,  Conflict, Timeliness, Proximity, Prominence, Currency, Human Interest and The Unusual.

Impact - Everything that has a great effect on a large number of people. Though the news may be big in one part of the world but not in another area of the world.
Conflict - After all we go to war therefore good news may also be a clash between people or institutions in other words conflict.
Timeliness - News needs to be immediate and recent.
Proximity - Events geographically or emotionally close to the reader, viewer or listener.
Prominence - Events involving well-known people or institutions and organisations.
Currency - Events and situations that are being talked about, sometimes known as water cooler stories because they spark office gossip.
Human Interest - The people factor people want to know about other people.
The Unusual - Events that deviate sharply from the expected and the experiences of everyday life. (one of the strongest news values). When investigating unusual stories it's best to check your sources are credible.

Remember news can never be perfect.

Practive news stems from investigative reports, exposes, exclusive interviews, and unique photographs or vision.