Intranet
An Intranet is a computer network that uses the same technology and protocols as the Internet but is restricted to certain users. Intranets are fast, easy to use and don’t cost a lot to run, many tools are available and you can connect it to many systems too.
With the intranet you can have easy access to company data which employee’s might find useful to have, on a webpage manuals can be printed to whom may need them which is saving money, employees can communicate between large organisations.
Instant messaging (IM)
Instant messaging is used to send messages instantly to another user who is online at the same time as you, with instant messenger you can add the people you want, and when they send you a message you can also be alerted by changing your settings to how you would like them. Instant messenger is much faster and simpler to use, users respond quickly to questions and comments.
Instant messaging saves a lot of money compared to phone bills, it is good way in keeping in contact with family and friends.
When using IM if you are discussing work you can take screen shots to show you are doing collaborative working.
You can work with your friends anytime during the day or night; you don’t have to rely on anyone else.
With IM you can get viruses, worms and Trojan horses, these viruses can be sent when sharing files etc.
IM can be distractive when working also to use IM you need to have an internet connection and a computer to use instant messaging.
Online Whiteboards
Online whiteboard is a programme used to draw and write as well as that it has many tools that can be used to do much different stuff on it. It is efficient to use when having a meeting as ideas can be jotted straight on to a whiteboard and at the same time you will be working collaboratively in a team, later on the ideas could be emailed to many other people too.
This type of whiteboard is really popular and common amongst businesses and schools.
B.
Wikis
The wiki is a programme where you can add your work too and if another user wants he can edit your work depending on who you allow to access your work, they then can provide suggestions, leave comments to the work you have uploaded. When allowing other people to access your work you have a chance of your work being of a better quality and standard. Sometimes when using programmes such as wiki people decide to provide false information to the wok you have already done so it looks as if it has been done deliberately, your wok can look really bad. It is a good way to undertake any tasks which insure you work collaboratively, as it is a good way to keep in touch with other group members, you will know what work has been completed and what work could be done by you so all the group is updated with their work.
This is a wiki and the Wikipedia is one of the largest navigation, to provide information, it is a free encyclopaedia and you can search for about anything on it.
Blogs
Blogs are used a bit like a discussion, you can work collaboratively when using it, but if you don’t limit the bloggers then anyone can access your page and post answers your questions which could be wrong as you wont know the person who is giving you the answer. On a blog you could use it as a discussion board, a daily diary or anything you want that could interact with other bloggers too.
This is a blog, it is like a discussion board and anybody can join and put their views and comments across, so it’s a discussion and anybody can participate in it.
Content Management System
A Content management system controls who can access it to view files and data and those who cannot access such data. A content management system could also get back lost data which might have been deleted by mistake or has been lost.
On a CMS you can store videos, music, movies and many other large and various types of data.
A CMS is like a group of people working collaboratively, you can either do the through the computer and then CMS your work or you can do it by hand and then share it so other people that might need to see it will be able to do so.
Sharing and setting up diaries
Setting up diaries is a very common way of staying up-to-date with work such as deadlines, targets when using a diary you are more likely to hand in the work in on time. Diaries are easy to use, when using a diary the work is also more organised. There are lots of different types of software that allow you to schedule your events or activities on. Keeping a diary could help you working collaboratively as it is way of keeping in contact, this way you know which work needs to be handed in when and you will be motivated to hand it in on time and not let your team members down. With a diary it would allow access to the group members, if you are planning to meet up as a group and one of the members isn’t here then they could look at the diary and will be able to figure out their is meeting that needs to be attended.
Collaborative Editing
Collaborative working is a programme where you can edit each others work, a commonly known programme for doing such things is a Wiki, by editing someone’s work you can help by providing suggestions, telling them if there are any minor errors such as spelling mistakes and signifying rooms for improvement. If you are working collaboratively in a group you can also check each others work and help them if they need any more help.
Browser Based Conferencing
Browser based conferencing is a ideal way to get in contact with people overseas because when you travel overseas to a meeting the expenditure cost will be a lot. When using this type of conferencing you can have more then 2 people engaged in the same conversation so whatever is being said is herd by all the participants in the meeting. When using this software you don’t need to install it to use it, any body in the world could go online and join the conference.
Tele conferencing
Tele conferencing is commonly use to do meetings on if a candidate cant make it to the meeting because they live far away you could use Tele conferencing to work collaboratively, it works with a screen and when everyone is active then they could see each other from their current environment, it is used doing a screen and a projector. Communicating using this method is really easy and efficient as it saves travelling and other costs.
3A. Web crawlers
This is a search engine that is used to analyse words, so whatever you have searched for through the internet you get a result of data like and it creates like a index for the words that re being searched. There are many names for a web crawler such as a web robot, a crawler and automatic indexer. Search engines are associated a lot with the web crawler because they use it to find out information on what is out their on public web pages. They use it so when internet surfers type in a keyword they could find relevant information quickly.
Directories
A web directory is a similar to a book directly, mostly maintained by humans instead of software, normally it is done by a spider which is a crawler to search and create an index. Some directories are run by people around the world and some are collaboratively updated by many people by working together. Directories are not like search engines even though they kind of operate in the same way.
Hybrid search Engine
This is like a web crawler and a directory; it provides help with the search and analyzes the web page too. The directory uses other web directories to scan through the internet to find the correct topic which the users will find relevant for what they are searching for.
Meta Search
This is a search engine that collects different search engines and databases; this then finds the relevant information that has been provided by the engine. Meta Search engine was previously known as a Meta crawler but after it was bought by a space network the name had been changed to what it currently stands at. The Meta search engine was a very well known and successful search engine such as Google, Askjeeves, Msn and Yahoo.
Part 3B:
Keywords
Keywords are words that are used when searching for something on a search engine. They are important key phrases but a keyword doesn’t have to be a word it can be which help decide what the search is about and what the search results will come up, especially if the word is a 2 part word then it will bring the search up for both of the words.
Advanced search pages
An advanced search page is a search page which gives you a lot of options to make the search more specific about what you want to look for.
Boolean operators
Boolean operators help with the search by using connectives to combine a different search together or to combine 2 questions together, by adding a connective the search will be more quicker to find, it will be more specific and more easier than finding 2 different answers to the same question.
Wildcards
A wildcard is a card that replaces a character which can satisfy the search condition. For instance a m* could refer to all the files that start with a m, it will make it quicker to find.
m*.doc refers to all the files that start with m and end with .doc.
Part C:
I will be doing research on mobile phones but from the future.
Keyword-Future of mobile phones
The keywords have been recognised but it wasn’t what I expected, so this shows my results came up according to what I typed in the search bar.
Advanced search technique
This is an advanced search that I carried out
These are the results I got for “future of mobile phones”, this matches my search exactly and it’s what I would have expected.
Wildcards:
“futu?e of mob*ile phones'”
On this search I have carried out, I got 2 searches according to mobile phones and the other searches are not relevant to what I am looking for.
Boolean operators- And search
Future of mobile and phones, this is the AND search I carried out I got and I got these results:
I got some relevant searches and some of them were not relevant to what I thought I would get, so according to me the results were poor.
Web crawler (Google) searching through keywords:
I have entered this in the Google search engine and the results that I got were:
These are the results I got for my search and they are relevant to my search, I am happy with the results.
I got this search result, which is a lot in 0.17 seconds
Now when I type in Google, “future of new mobile phone technology”
For the search results theirs about 43,800,000 results show up, but when I typed in a single keyword and made the search simpler more results showed up.