As part of your next assignment for this course, you are to prepare another wiki page and a poster on a selected technical topic. After our brainstorming session, we arrived at the following subjects and allocation.
Alex - Accessibility, Mobility and Browser Compatibility
Nigel- Bandwidth, Load Balancing (and performace generally)
Malik - Architecture, Deep Linking, Reuse and APIs
Dariuz - Security, Authentication, Access Control, Secure Payment
Daniel - Data storage
Denis - Web Services
The first session next term 25th January will be devoted to these presentations.
A formal specification for the second coursework will be posted later, but this work will account for 20%.
Monday, December 18, 2006
The Website Manager's Handbook
The course text for the second term of this module is 'The Website Manager's Handbook' by Shane Diffily. In preparation for this, I suggest that you familiarise yourselves with the overall structure of the book and its contents and read two sections in Chapter 3 Website Development - Step 2 Website Content and Step 3 Website Design. These cover material which should be familiar to you from other modules, for example Software Technologies for the Web and the Internet Group Project as well this module.
Over the course of the next term, you will be expected to read the whole book, so any reading you do now will be beneficial.
This is a good place to make use of your blog to record what you have read and your own views on this material. Remember that the evalaution of this blog forms part of your overall assessment.
Over the course of the next term, you will be expected to read the whole book, so any reading you do now will be beneficial.
This is a good place to make use of your blog to record what you have read and your own views on this material. Remember that the evalaution of this blog forms part of your overall assessment.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Site Type reviews
In this session, each student presented their analysis of one type of website and their comparison of two example sites of that type.
The wiki pages for this work are:
* Alex - Video Sites
* Daniel -Government Sites
* Dariuz - Mapping Sites
* Malik - Shopping sites
* Nigel - Social Networks (pending)
The wiki pages for this work are:
* Alex - Video Sites
* Daniel -Government Sites
* Dariuz - Mapping Sites
* Malik - Shopping sites
* Nigel - Social Networks (pending)
Friday, December 01, 2006
Reading for 1 December 2006 - Search Engine Optimization
Reading for the class today on search engine optimization
Captology videos
B J Fogg at Stanford writes:
My Stanford students have created short videos (averaging 2 minutes) that show how Web 2.0 services persuade people and change their behaviors. The videos are interesting -- and sometimes funny. I'm inviting you to help evaluate some of these videos before December 4th. You can rate one video or twenty. The choice is yours. The videos with the highest rating will be featured in the Captology Film Festival on December 7th at Stanford. You're invited to join us at that event. For more info, see http://tinyurl.com/yap7fe .
To watch and rate the videos, go to:
http://captology.tv/reviewvideos
Have a look - they are very interesting
My Stanford students have created short videos (averaging 2 minutes) that show how Web 2.0 services persuade people and change their behaviors. The videos are interesting -- and sometimes funny. I'm inviting you to help evaluate some of these videos before December 4th. You can rate one video or twenty. The choice is yours. The videos with the highest rating will be featured in the Captology Film Festival on December 7th at Stanford. You're invited to join us at that event. For more info, see http://tinyurl.com/yap7fe .
To watch and rate the videos, go to:
http://captology.tv/reviewvideos
Have a look - they are very interesting
Monday, November 27, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
Shazam
Shazam is one of the few sites which makes my jaw drop. We've got used to instant responses to searches on Google but somehow, the ability to recognise any one of 3.2 million tracks from a noisy 20 second sample seems amazing. This is what Shazam does: when you hear a track you don't recognise, dial 2580 on your mobile; when Shazam answers, direct your phone to the sound source; Shazam hangs up after 20 seconds and about 30 seconds later it will text you back with the name of the Album and track [and take 50p from your account!]
Here are a couple of tracks to play to it if you can't think of your own:
and some links to papers and presentations on the technology behind Shazam:
Here are a couple of tracks to play to it if you can't think of your own:
and some links to papers and presentations on the technology behind Shazam:
- Avery Wang, "The Shazam Music Recognition Service", Comm. ACM Vol49 no8 August 2006
- Avery Wang, Presentation, ISMIR 2003
- Digital Music News - articles on Shazam
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Google technology
Google
- Google on wikipedia
- People
- Larry Page
- Larry Page Keynote, CES 2006 (Consumer Electrics Show)
- Google's Larry Page & Eric Schmidt Q&A session in London
- Sergey Brin
- Craig Silverstein
- Questions to Craig Silverstein
- Eric Schmidt
- Marissa Meyer
- "How Google Works"
- Google research papers
- Google engineer
- An insider look at Google - video
- A tour of Google - video
- The New Roommate
Technology
- Search
- Server farms
- Clusters
- Load balancing
- Cooling
- Custom Hardware
- Custom Software
- Failover
- Data storage
- Google File System (GFS)
- BigTable
- summary by Andrew Hitchcock
Friday, November 17, 2006
Coursework 1 - topics
Topics selected by group members
- Alex - Video sites
- Daniel - Corporate
- Dariuz - Mapping sites
- Dennis - Auction sites
- Malik - Shopping sites
- Nigel - Social Networks
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Video on Web 2.0
We did not get time and could not get the audio visual systems to work in class, but this video is short - around ten minutes - and its really interesting. Watch it.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Week 7
Please read this paper by Tim O'Reilly on Web 2.0 for Friday when we will discuss it.
I've prepared an agenda for the session.
I've also prepared some slides on digital identifiers.
I'm also going to hand out some more reading for next week.
I've prepared an agenda for the session.
I've also prepared some slides on digital identifiers.
I'm also going to hand out some more reading for next week.
Coursework 1 - Draft
Coursework 1 - Draft
Due date 7th December 2006
Overall Weighting 25%
Subject
Each student is to select a specific type of web site which is to be agreed with the tutor. For this assignment, the type of a web site is based on the main purpose of the site. For example, here are some typically web site types with some prime examples.
Research Questions
Students are required to research the site type, using one well know example site and one lesser known example
The following questions are indicative of the areas of interest but not exhaustive:
Due date 7th December 2006
Overall Weighting 25%
Subject
Each student is to select a specific type of web site which is to be agreed with the tutor. For this assignment, the type of a web site is based on the main purpose of the site. For example, here are some typically web site types with some prime examples.
- Shopping e.g. Amazon
- Auction : E-Bay
- Personal Multimedia : Flickr, YouTube
- Corporate information : BBC
- Travel Planning : TravelLine
- Mapping : Google Maps
Research Questions
Students are required to research the site type, using one well know example site and one lesser known example
The following questions are indicative of the areas of interest but not exhaustive:
- How did this type of site start? What was the first? What is the most successful now? How has this type of site evolved? What are the typical funding models?
- Who are the customers? Are there common stylistic features in the user interface? What additional facilities do sites of this type typically support?
- What technology is used to support this kind of site? What is the architecture? What are the specific challenges of this type of site and how are they handled?
- A wikipedia-style wiki entry of around 2000 words, with diagrams and links as appropriate. The aim of the entry is to provide an in-depth study of the site type, its use, development and construction. The entry is aimed at an audience of second year students with a general understanding of basic web architecture. Links should be provided to resources, such as Wikipedia, whose quality the student has assessed where additional supporting material is required. The entry is to be provided in both paper and as an entry in the CEMS wikipedia. This wiki will be used as a resource for other students.(80 %)
- A 10 minute presentation and discussion to the group on the key issues faced by the developers of this site. (20%)
Friday, November 03, 2006
Web tools
In the tutorial, various tools for checking and evaluating web applications were mentioned. Here are some relevant resources:
Hosts and IP addresses
Site and Page data
Validators and checkers
Test Suites
Hosts and IP addresses
Site and Page data
- IP address - IPChicken
- PageRank
- HTTP Request and Response - Web-sniffer
- Lynx text only browser
- SEO tools
Validators and checkers
Test Suites
- CSS
- SVG
- XQuery
Understanding the Browser
The Browser is a core component in a web application. Every web application for users has this component, but its uniquely not under the control of the web developer. Understanding the capabilities of the different Browsers and how to configure them is a core skill.
We will explore the browser territory by looking at 3 widely available browsers IE6, Firefox and Opera.
Exercise
In pairs, select a pair of browsers. Work together through the complete set of browser controls, identifying similarities and differences. Then look at a set of web pages and note any differences in the way each browser handles the page. Report back on your findings.
Resources
Firefox
IE6
IE7 (not available in CEMS)
Opera
We will explore the browser territory by looking at 3 widely available browsers IE6, Firefox and Opera.
Exercise
In pairs, select a pair of browsers. Work together through the complete set of browser controls, identifying similarities and differences. Then look at a set of web pages and note any differences in the way each browser handles the page. Report back on your findings.
Resources
Firefox
IE6
IE7 (not available in CEMS)
Opera
Thursday, November 02, 2006
ITMB lecture Nov 7th 16.45 - 18.00 in 1N5
The third lecture in this sequence is to be given by Amanda Chessell of IBM. Mandy is the joint holder of some 15 patents and active in the professional community.
"Mandy Chessell, FREng CEng FBCS has worked for IBM since 1987. She is a Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM), Master Inventor and member of the IBM Academy of Technology. Currently, she is the chief architect for IBM's Enterprise Master Data Solutions."
IBM's position on patents is an interesting topic. According to their web site, IBM for the 13th consecutive year have been awarded more patents than any other company (2,974 in 2005). It has a portfolio of some 23,000 patents from which it earnt some $1 billion from licenses on these patents - but spent $7 billion on reseach (and an estimated $10,000 onlegal fees per patent) . Some are released for general use since IBM recogises the need for open systems. However it also owns some extemely broad patents and is currently agressively pursuing Amazon Some see this as Amazon's come-upance since Amazon itself has very agressive over its one-click patent. Others see this as the exposure of the problem of software patenting generally. Taken at face value, it would appear that IBM patents apply to every E-Commerce site in the world - for example - US 7,072,849 - Presenting Advertising in an Interactive Service.
"Mandy Chessell, FREng CEng FBCS has worked for IBM since 1987. She is a Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM), Master Inventor and member of the IBM Academy of Technology. Currently, she is the chief architect for IBM's Enterprise Master Data Solutions."
IBM's position on patents is an interesting topic. According to their web site, IBM for the 13th consecutive year have been awarded more patents than any other company (2,974 in 2005). It has a portfolio of some 23,000 patents from which it earnt some $1 billion from licenses on these patents - but spent $7 billion on reseach (and an estimated $10,000 onlegal fees per patent) . Some are released for general use since IBM recogises the need for open systems. However it also owns some extemely broad patents and is currently agressively pursuing Amazon Some see this as Amazon's come-upance since Amazon itself has very agressive over its one-click patent. Others see this as the exposure of the problem of software patenting generally. Taken at face value, it would appear that IBM patents apply to every E-Commerce site in the world - for example - US 7,072,849 - Presenting Advertising in an Interactive Service.
Week 6
We had two more presentations this week.
This will be followed by a group discussion on the coursework and agreement on some core questions to be addressed in the wiki entry.
Finally a workshop on Browser capabilities.
- Dariuz on RSS
- Denis on Folksonomy
This will be followed by a group discussion on the coursework and agreement on some core questions to be addressed in the wiki entry.
Finally a workshop on Browser capabilities.
Week 5 - Presentations
This week the sessions were led by students:
- Daniel on Podcasts
- Alex on Wikis
- Malik on IRC and IM
- Nigel on Social Bookmarks
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Character Pronunciation
Pronunciation Guide
One of the pronunciations for . (PERIOD or dot) is 'put' from Victor Borge's Phonetic Pronunciation. Now we have to pronounce all these odd characters whenever we explain what to type to help someone on the phone or when we read out some code in a lecture or tutorial. Finding this guide reminded me that different people pronounce these characters differently - I love all the different names for # especially pig-pen!
One of the pronunciations for . (PERIOD or dot) is 'put' from Victor Borge's Phonetic Pronunciation. Now we have to pronounce all these odd characters whenever we explain what to type to help someone on the phone or when we read out some code in a lecture or tutorial. Finding this guide reminded me that different people pronounce these characters differently - I love all the different names for # especially pig-pen!
Friday, October 20, 2006
Week 4
I presented a lecture showing the development of a simple calculator using PHP for server programming. slides. Several versions of the application are developed with increasing complexity, finishing with a version that can be invoked by an SMS message.
An index page for the calculator. I will add links to the code itself.
This application raises the question of where the calculation should be performed - on the server or on the client. Add your views on this issue as comments please.
I also handed a further lecture on web application architecture( slides )
which you should read through please.
An index page for the calculator. I will add links to the code itself.
This application raises the question of where the calculation should be performed - on the server or on the client. Add your views on this issue as comments please.
I also handed a further lecture on web application architecture( slides )
which you should read through please.
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