Photo from: www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/2595497078/Concept # 33: Information & Attention"In the era of the ‘attention economy’, readers and users of Internet information must be carefully craft, in their own minds, the kind of metadata which will – almost instinctively – ‘fit’ with the metadata of the information sources they want, so that – in the few brief moments of initial exchange, when a seeker of information encounters information being sought, rapid, effective judgements are made that ‘pay off’ in terms of further reading, accessing and saving."(Allen, n.d)
Web Usage Mining“Getting information from the internet has been compared to drinking from a fire hydrant.”(Kapor,n.d) There are so many ‘things’ vying for our attention when we get online, from the site we’ve just opened to the emails being sent and received and then there are the ad’s on the site were browsing. Do they just appear there randomly? The site you’re viewing may have in fact undertaken
“Web usage mining”. The ad’s you’re viewing may have been specifically targeted to you, particularly if you’ve registered your details and/or purchased from this site before. Much like the customer loyalty cards shoppers are given offline, the items you purchase, the amounts you spend and how often you login in are all valuable information. It gives the site owner valuable information on what particular demographics are purchasing or viewing, no longer does he need to show the same ad to all the users viewing his site, he can specifically show the ones that will interest each user. Web usage mining is not limited to a marketing perspective, since 1990 The University of Arizona have housed
The Artificial Intelligence Lab which uses web mining techniques to spider the web looking for terrorist threats. It is important to note that Web mining is the gathering of Non personally identifying information, typically from a web server. In its simplest forms Web mining allows a sites creator to see; ·
“Domains and countries of site visitors
· Search engines, and keywords used to find the site
· Number of visits, and number of unique visitors
· Pages hits for each hour and day of week
· Most viewed, entry and exit pages
· Visits duration and last visits
· Operating system
· Browser used “(Jesus,M n.d)
Weather we realize it or not, chances are that your online actions have been analysed through Web Usage Mining. As an example,
My Yahoo!, offers the ability to customise their homepage. You can do this by initially registering, then selecting the features that you would like to add or remove. My Yahoo!‘s privacy policy states that they will use your personal information in three ways:
· “to customise the advertising and content you see on our pages
· to fulfill your requests for certain products and services
· to contact you about specials and new products “(Yahoo, 2009)
The advancement of the internet means more and more in this definite “Attention Economy”(Davenport and Beck, 2001) that consumers have the upper hand. Everyone wants us to use their product or service. Using web mining techniques, the advertisements that are offered to online viewers can be relevant to their demographic. There seems no sense to be advertising a sleek road bike, if your user is a 60 year old woman. But replace the useless object with one that her demographic has a history of using then perhaps you have a customer, at the very least a better relationship with your users.
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Allen, M (n.d )Concepts Document, Retrieved on July 28, 2009 from http://lms.curtin.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_18825_1%26url%3d
Davenport, T. H. & J. C. Beck (2001), The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business, Harvard Business School Press, ISBN 1-57851-441-X. Retrieved on July 28, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy#CITEREFDavenportBeck2001
Jesus, m(n.d) Web analytics: What, Who and How. Retrieved on July 28, 2009 from http://www.jesusmena.com/id61.htm
Mitch Kapor, variation of a quote by Jerome Weisner
(Getting an education from MIT is like taking a drink from a fire hose.) Retrieved on July 28, 2009 from http://www.quotegarden.com/internet.html
Yahoo!7 Privacy Policy; Information collection & use. Retrieved on July 208, 2009 from
http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/au/yahoo/Site # 1 LastFM LastFM http://www.last.fm/
The perfect example of Data mining. The banner on the front page states “Lastfm recommends music, video and concerts based on what you listen to”. Users have the ability to add music to their favourites list, each time this is done the song moves up the ‘Charts’. Users also have the ability to recommend music to their Lastfm friends, if their friends speak a language other than English, Lastfm is available in 12 languages. Members can create a widget to add to your social networking site to play the music you listen to. This is about as personal as you can get.
(Word count 104)
Site # 2 Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/Upon registering at Facebook, you can personalise just about everything. The photo(s) you ad, the friends you allow and the updates you enter. The data you enter when you register is then used to select the ad’s that are shown to you, members can even give the ad’s a “thumbs up” or “ thumbs down” indicating which ad’s the users prefers to see, then more like it are generated. The applications members use are placed on their profile, in turn gather their own information and urge “ friends” to add the application to their own profile.
(Word count 96)
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Concept # 11 The relationship of data to meta-data“Advanced Internet users learn to intuitively conceive of any document, file, message or communication as consisting of metadata and data. They then can explore the functions of various communications/information software looking for how that software can assist them in using metadata to enable sorting, processing or otherwise dealing with that data.”(allen, n.d)
Social Bookmarking & TaggingWeb 2.0 has been defined by
Bart Decrem, one of the founders and former CEO of
Flock, as the
[1] “participatory Web”. Tagging is one of those participatory actions. The information we seek gets harder and harder to locate. User generated tagging hopes to improve our search results. Just as legitimate sites wish to improve their visibility in search results, spammers also seek this. This then becomes Meta Tag Abuse. In 2000, nearly 12,000 websites, some pornographic, were found to be “stuffing” their meta tags with trademarked product names which had nothing to do with the sites they were on. These were used to get traffic to their site.
[2]“Where a web site without permission includes in its meta tags the trademarks of third parties, there is infringement of the trade marks”.
Does this mean that the current options of user generated tagging, where users can freely choose the tags they wish to use and a controlled vocabulary, where the
[3]vocabulary is predefined by the author should be re-considered? Instead of allowing both, should there only be one option. Definite advantages exists for both methods, however I see a combined method as the better option. The trouble is, Not everyone sees things the same way,
[4]“there is more than one way to describe something” , a user uploading photos of streetscape filled with vehicles, buildings & people may just tag it as “street”, perhaps a more useful set of tags may include types of vehicles (cars, trucks etc), buildings, people (walking, adult, child) . This then allows it to be filed in many categories. Delicious.com allows users to select from user generated tags & suggested tags. It allows for the use of tags that the user had not thought of, that would give the document more visibility. What then of the honest, unbiased opinions users tag their content with? I think this is an essential part of tagging that would be lost if only a controlled vocabulary existed. The most effective use of tagging is when all participants who access the content agree on the words & terms being used. This is particularly true when talking about users who speak a language other than English, user generated tagging or a combination of, still allows them to tag content in a way they that is useful to them. A controlled vocabulary system of tagging certainly has its place; however a combined method seems to have more use. In 2001, Cory Doctorow wrote a piece called “Metacrap: Putting the torch to the seven straw men of the meta – utopia.” He lists 7 reasons why he thinks user generated tagging won’t work:
1. People lie
2. People are lazy
3. People are stupid
4. Mission: Impossible -- know thyself
5. Schemas aren't neutral
6. Metrics influence results
7. There's more than one way to describe something
I’m certain 8 years later that this article is still current and the perfect example of why a combined system would have more effect and use.
(Word Count 557)
____________________________________________________________________
1 Bart Decrem (2006-06-13). "
Introducing Flock Beta 1".
Flock official
blog.
http://www.flock.com/node/4500.%20Retrieved%20on%202007-01-13 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0#cite_ref-decrem_13-0
2
2 Out-Law.com. Retrieved on July 30, 2009 from http://www.out-law.com/page-1165
[3] Wikipedia. Retrieved on July 30, 2009 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_vocabulary[4] Doctorow, c August 26, 2001” Metacrap: Putting the tourch to the seven straw men of the meta – utopia” Retrieved on July 31, 2009 from
http://www.well.com/~doctorow/metacrap.htm[5] Allen, M n.d "Concepts Document", Retrieved on July 28, 2009 from
http://lms.curtin.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_18825_1%26url%3d____________________________________________________________________
Site #1 Delicious
http://delicious.com/Delicious is a social Bookmarking site. It’s free to join and very easy to use. It’s useful in the fact that it offers a combination approach to the tags that members use, users have the option to select system suggested tags or create the tags them self. Users can access their bookmarks from any computer in any country; they can share all, or some or none of their bookmarks. Users have the ability to search other users tags for content that interests them.The front pages shows the most recent bookmarks, and a list of popular tags is featured on the right hand side of the page. This site is very useful.
(Word Count 111)
Site # 2 Faviki
http://www.faviki.com/Faviki , a social bookmarking site, uses
Common Tags, “... are references to unique, well-defined concepts, complete with metadata and their own URLs”.For instance, saving a site about “twins” to my Faviki, I type in twins as the tag, I am then prompted to the type of twins (two babies), Twins (the movie), Minnesota twins (sport team). As I mouse over each option, I see a description from Wikipedia allowing me to select the correct tag. Next time I search for a tag, I know that I will get exactly what I am looking for because everyone is using the correct meaning of the tag. This site is extremely useful.
(Word Count 110)
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Concept # 2 . Your audience's use of communication
“
Informational exchange consists in the content of messages but also the uses (intended or unintended) to which the information is put”. (allen n.d)
Facebook & Identity theftAccording to the Facebook.com
[1]press room (Facebook Press Room 2009), of their 250 million registered users, more that 120 million users log into the profiles once a day. Each of those 250 million users has an average of 120 friends. The potential for your identity to be stolen is growing by the day. Facebook profiles can include information such as real names, the name of the city you live in, marital status & date of birth. In conjunction with the ‘flippant’ comments left in user’s wall comments a lot can be known about a person. In 2007,
[2]Sophos research created a fake profile (Messmer,E 2007). The profile sent out 200 friend requests, of those requests they received:
· 82 responses
· 72 percent of those respondents divulging one or more e-mail address;
· 84 percent listing their full date of birth
· 87 percent providing details about education or work
· 78 percent listing their current address or location
· 23 percent giving their phone number
· 26 percent providing their instant messaging screen name
The everyday information you place in your profile can have great ramifications in the hands of the wrong person. Users should be careful with the types and amounts of information they let out. Users are lulled into a false sense of security because their profile is switched to allow only friends to see. However what if a “Friend” on your list had their account hacked into, the hackers has the information for (on average) 120 other “friends”.
[3]In January 2009, Bryan Rutberg's wall status changed to “Bryan NEEDS HELP URGENTLY!!!". Bryans account had been hacked; he was safe at home and in no danger. His entire friends list saw the plea, all were very concerned. One particular friend received a direct reply stating that Bryan had been “robbed at gun point in London and needed the money to get back to the United states”. Unfortunately the friend sent the money, $1143.00, to London. Never to be seen again.
Does this mean that we should remove all our details from Facebook? Or should we all exercise a little more caution when posting anything online. A quick check of my 39 friends (including myself) reveals that none were aware they could use current Facebook.com privacy setting to enhance their personal security or safety and that of their “friends” list. Facebook has taken steps to increase security; however it is up to us as advanced internet users to take precautions to protect our self.
(Word Count 465)
Site # 1 All Facebook – the unofficial Facebook Resource.
http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/I’m really pleased I found this
[1]resource. It brought to light a lot of security that I had not thought of, the author Nick O’Neil steps out all the settings that users can implement. It is usually not until something happens that we all think about security .This article really highlights those dangers before they occur. Readers are invited to take some or all of the security measures. The comments further down the page ask great questions too, and one user points out that the default Facebook security is different in each country.
(Word Count 110)
[1] O’Neil, N(Febuary 2,2009) 10Privacy settings every Facebook user should know. Retrieved on August 2, 2009 from http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/
Site # 2 Cybersmart
http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Cybersmart is produced by the Australian Government. It targets young kids, kids, teens and parents and their online safety. Each section has tips related to the age group and includes games that further enhance the Cybersmart message. The parents section includes a section about the technology of today’s youth, resources to help parents understand online safety. This site provides an excellent resource for all internet users and should be referred to over time, as a refresher. This site also offers the opportunity to report online child exploitation, which has not been so easy in the past.
[1]Facebook.com(2009) Press room. Retrieved August 2, 2009 from http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
[2] Messmer, e (August 14, 2007) “Study; Facebook users easy targets for identity theft”. Retrieved on August 2, 2009 from http://www.macworld.com/article/59488/2007/08/facebook.html
[3] Sutter, j Carroll, j Febuary 6, 2009 “Fears of imposter increase on Facebook”. Retrieved on August 2, 2009 from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/05/facebook.impostors/index.html
[4] O’Neil, N(Febuary 2,2009) 10Privacy settings every Facebook user should know. Retrieved on August 2, 2009 from http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/
[5]Cybersmart (2009) Australian Communications and Media Authority. Retrieved on August 3, 2009 from
http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/[6] Allen, M n.d "Concepts Document", Retrieved on July 28, 2009 from
http://lms.curtin.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_18825_1%26url%3d====================================================================
Concept # 6. Reading the difference between 'surface' metadata and 'implied' metadata
Metadata and Computer Forensics“While the header contains the 'surface' metadata, understanding email messages may require you to interpret the implied, hidden metadata cued into the body of email messages”. (Allen n.d)Surface and implied metadata are now another tool in Computer forensics. Simply put, any document created, or application installed has its own metadata about the author, the computer it was created upon and the file type. If it is then re written, sent or saved on another computer it brings with it all of the aforementioned metadata and each secondary action creates and attaches the new metadata. Cyber crimes are illegal actions, typically perpetrated through a computer &/ network, and fall under such headings as fraud, blackmail, theft, forgery or embezzlement, child pornography and copyright infringement. What does this mean for you and I, who do not condone or conduct illegal activity?
In 2004, a 16 year old boy, Matt Bandy was charged with 9 counts of possessing child porn. Yahoo! had reported an instance when images classed as child pornography that was uploaded to a Yahoo! Group. The upload was claimed to have originated from the boys ip address.
Forensic examiner, Tami Loehrs accessed the computer and as detailed in a seven page report, listed (Bernstein, J 2006) the hard drive contained 200 viruses, a disabled antivirus software, no firewall, Trojan type spyware and suspicious "executable" program files that started running around the time images were transmitted. They now referred to the computer as a “zombie”, one that is actively controlled by others. And indeed,what better place to store your illegal content.
So if this can happen to innocents such as Matt Bandy, what does that mean for the real criminals?
[1]In 2007, a registered sex offender posing as a 14 year old girl on MySpace started a chat to a young girl. After being found out and reported to police his computer was seized. Computer forensics revealed 257 child pornography still images & 37 movies files. Further forensics on the images and their metadata showed that the images had been sourced from the internet in May, 2007. This enabled the prosecution to prove that the images were not connected with previous child pornography charges, and thus he was convicted and jailed on new charges. Metadata was also used in the unfair dismissal charge.
[2] The employee believed she has been sacked because she made a sexual harassment complaint, however metadata contained on an electronic internal memo showed that her name was included on a list of planned redundancies dated prior to the complaint and her being stood down.
Fortunately we have metadata, both surface and implied on our side. Computer forensics is helping to track down everything from spam, Nigerian scams to online child predators using the
[3]DNA of the internet. Just as DNA at the scene of a crime can convict a criminal, it can equally prove their innocence.
(Word Count 511)
Site # 1 Australia Federal Police
http://www.afp.gov.au/national/e-crime/forensics.htmlThe Australian Federal Police is host to the Australian High Tech Crime Centre and is combined with the Virtual Global Task Force. The site outlines the directives of each of the units, certain outcomes and other agencies that are involved. The Australian Federal Police are at the forefront of Australia’s defences both online and off. The site is helpful in that it outlines each of the area’s it’s involved in and the laws pertaining to it. It also provides information on how to deal with crimes encountered online, and where to report it.
(Word Count 93)
Site # 2 Microsoft Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS)http://www.microsoft.com/industry/publicsector/government/programs/CETsabout.mspxIn 2003, a Canadian police officer overwhelmed by in excess of 2 million child porn images sent an email directly to Bill Gates asking for his assistance. Seeing the need, Bill Gates forwarded the email onto Microsoft Canada. The end result was The Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS).The system and its updates are donations from Microsoft and are now in the hands of the Australian Federal Police along with a dozen other countries. This allows law enforcement in other countries to access the content seized during other arrests to continue the hunt.
(Word Count 92)
[1]Department of Justice(March 23, 2009) MT. Washington man sentenced to 27 years imprisonment for violating federal child exploitation laws. Retrieved on August 4, 2009 from http://louisville.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/lo032309.htm
[2] Nagle, S (July 2004) Embedded Information in Electronic Documents: Why Metadata matters. Retrieved on August 4, 2009 from http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/articles/ftr07044.html
[3] Howard, F ( August 28, 2008) Digital DNA. Retrieved on August 4, 2009 from
http://www.it-director.com/content.php?cid=10694[4] Allen, M n.d "Concepts Document", Retrieved on July 28, 2009 from
http://lms.curtin.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_18825_1%26url%3d
