Searching online... Google & PageRank.

   Google and Wikipedia are easily couple of the most used search engines online.  How do they work?  It is quite interesting to know how these searching engines work.

   For Google they use crawlers/"Googlebots" to visit huge numbers of websites then they will have all these search results available.  Google wants to make sure the search engine has relevance, comprehensiveness, freshness, and speed.  They value that the results that the user is searching for is found easily, accurately, and fast.

The "Technology" section of "Corporate Information" filled the curiosity and answered questions that existed while using this search engine that is so widely used, popular, and not to mention, easy to use and very helpful.

  On "Wikipedia," it explains that "PageRanK" is a link analysis algorithm that was originally used exclusively by Google.

It basically scores each of most visited sites then the ones with most scores show up toward the top of search engine.

   Learning about "PageRank" helps understand the mechanism of search engines such as Google.  Also the fact that the system of how this work actually helps getting rid of harmful sites or less useful sites from the results is great to know.

As we learn more and understand what we use online all the time, we can be more careful and/or be more appreciative about things that we just took for granted until now.

   These articles are recommended for those who desire to be enlightened.

PageRank

Google - Technology

Facebook/Twitter: Is our privacy protected enough?...or NOT?

   The social networking websites have many features, they are useful and fun too but they are not completely safe and definitely not perfect.
   The users should really be careful and pay attention to what kind of information they are putting out there.
   "Facebook" has privacy settings for us to adjust privacy level for all the different components of one's profile.  However, everyone should be careful, pay attention, have the settings adjusted accordingly whenever they make a profile, a group, an event, and so on.
   "Twitter" is basically all or nothing when it comes to others' access to your stuff.  The people who "follow" each other can only see the "tweets" of the other.  The location/place feature is often advised not to be turned on if you don't want certain people to know where you are.  Not too much information and nothing too personal should be mentioned on the posts/"tweets."  There is also some option to make "tweets" private.  Also the user can select option to make Twitter ask the user before someone can follow you.
   The users of relatively "open" social networking websites such as "Facebook" and "Twitter," should make sure to know when, where, and how much information to open up and share.  Try to have only one genuine personal account, add only people you really know or at least can trust, and do not put up information that you don't want some strangers to know also.  Take advantage of whatever privacy setting options that are already available and make sure to be always careful.

Find "mind-mapping" online!

   People work better with visual aids a lot of times than without them.  Having something visual helps themselves and others see the point of idea(s) and presentations for example.  Visual aids are more tangible and more likely to be remembered in the future.  There are different tools that can be used as visual aid for self and/or others.  For example, for personal use, there is mind-mapping.
   Some websites online have the program for the mind-mapping.  To name a few, there are "bubble.us" and "freemind.sourceforge.net."
   "Bubbl.us" is a website that the user can sign up with name, username, email, and password, then form and save different mind-maps.  The user can start by filling out the center bubble, then keep branching out by forming other bubbles that branch out from the center bubble or keep going into subcategories in already branched out bubbles.
  For "Freemind," the user has to actually download the program and install it before using it.  It even kind of looks like "Paint" program with big white space, and tools and options across the top and on the left side.  The user types in the center bubble then click on the child node icon, while the targeted bubble is highlighted, then keep branching out.  Other options can also be used to add whatever features desired onto the mind-map.
  Both seem useful to map out the ideas for an assignment, a topic, a course, personal brainstorming, and so on.  Being able to save different maps under different names is pretty neat too.  One thing about "freemind" is that it looks a little bit confusing because all the tool icons are not quite straight-forward to understand so it takes awhile to figure everything out before being able to actually start anything.  "Bubbl.us" is simple and straight-forward enough to just get on and keep moving because while the cursor is on each bubble certain amount of tools show up automatically every time.
   Now that I know about these neat free tools, I think I will probably be using these to organize my thoughts and ideas better.  Mind-mapping programs like these that don't require sitting around, drawing and connecting every single line and circle/bubble, would help make them look good and easier to access again in the future.  And also it would save some time and make it look a whole lot neater as well.

Bubbl.us

                                                                                
 Freemind

Post #5: Wikipedia-is it completely reliable?

   "Wikipedia" is a visitor-editable encyclopedia that has thousands and thousands of pages/articles on many different subjects that can always be added, deleted, and edited.  "Wikipedia" may be useful on some occasions, but it is not a completely reliable official source for something.

   On "Wikipedia," there is no way to customize basic layout; it has list of varying subcategories on one topic and list of quick information on the top right side, and references and external links on the very bottom.  Also, there is not really any screening system for what can be added as an "Wikipedia" entry at the very beginning.

   Edits are possible on entries on "Wikipedia" but for "major edits" it has to go through some processes and any edit can be deleted without notice.  The information entered always have to be cited and if not cited, then it would be deleted.  That is another unreliable part about it because some would go off the radar somehow and stay up there anyways even if it is not cited, reliable, or relevant.

   "Wikipedia" can be fun and is somewhat useful information source for personal use but it has its own flaws and issues.

   Go check out Wikipedia!