COMP6023 DCOM1A Timetable Change

COMP6023 Lab DCOM1A Monday 1600-1800 will be in C134x from now on. Students will discover Photoshop there.

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 18

SEO
Analytics

COMP6021 Class 20

the one with the thermometers

We looked at Digitisation and saw how both the number of quantization levels and the sample rate can affect the fidelity of the digital representation of the analogue values.

COMP6023 Interesting Job Ad

http://www.irishtimes.com/jobs/featured-position-cpl/digital-marketing-manager-1.1705239

Note the requirement for SEO knowledge in this current job ad.

COMP6021 Class 19 Lab

Students saved GIFs with various settings for use in the assignment.

COMP6021 Class 18

the one with the LZW

We looked at Lempel-Ziv-Welch coding.


Students worked on an LZW exercise. The answer was Ando Masahashi

I did a Huffman coding question on the board from a past exam paper.

COMP6023 DOM1B Classes 19 & 20

Students worked on generating the GIF data required for Assignment 2.

COMP6023 ITM1 Classes 19 & 20

Students worked on Assignment 2 by saving the images as GIFs with different numbers of colours, with and without dithering.

COMP6023 DNET1 Classes 19 & 20

Students saved the GIF images they needed for Assessment 2.

COMP6021 Class 17

the one with the Huffman coding

We began our look at compression. We discussed lossy vs. lossless compression. we took a look at Run Length Encoding, Difference Coding, and Huffman Coding.

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 18

We looked some more at SEO and I showed students Google Analytics data from my blog.

(We got up to Slide 64)

[No recording of this class because I can't record classes back to back]

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 17

We began our look at SEO.

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 17

We looked at Search Engine Optimization.

We stopped at Slide 37

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 17

We looked at Search engine Optimization (SEO)

Stopped at slide 41

COMP6021 Week 05 Preview

Next week we will begin our look at compression algorithms.

I expect we will see

• Run Length Encoding
• Relative Coding
• Variable Length Codes
• Huffman Coding
• Lempel-Ziv-Welch Coding

but that might be asking a lot for one week

COMP6021 Online lesson on Compression

Students should watch this video in advance of the next class.

There's a downloadable higher quality version here.
http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/pod/ISWD06a.mov

COMP6023 Review of Week 04 / Preview of Week 05

Review

This was a slow week I felt. We didn't do much technically, although maybe the conversations about privacy were worthwhile.

Hopefully those students who need to work on their writing skills are aware of that now.

Students should complete the NewsU online course and post some thoughts on that for the blog this week. Quite a number of students have yet to complete the course. Failure to do so by Sunday evening will very likely cost students some marks. We will return to some of the issues covered by the NewsU course later in the module.

Preview

Next week we will begin our look at Search Engine Optimization(SEO) in earnest.

I won't be able to make the DNET1/COM1c class on Tuesday at 1400 as I have a meeting I must go to.

For next week's blog post students must write a book review. (And not the book of the movie  reviewed last week)

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 14

I asked students to consider the privacy issues they had identified in the past, and see if they could classify and group them into 5 or 6 categories.

This was probably the most interesting class I've given this academic year so far. And allI had was a marker. I wonder is there something to be said for going commando and leaving the laptop in my office.

COMP6021 Class 16 Tutorial

This was a tutorial class. In general, for tutorials students must bring the questions. However I gave the students some UTF-8 coding/decoding exercises. I think everyone has got it now.

Attendance at tutorials will be optional. But attendance is recommended.

COMP6023 DWEB1 Class 15 & 16

I met with each student and discussed any language issues in the blog posts that needed to be addressed.

Class Recordings will Stop Soon

Making recordings of classes is becoming increasingly difficult and time consuming with the hardware I have. My machine is so slow that I'm not able to record to classes back to back anymore. My ability to properly record sound is starting to fail.

It's a pity that my experiments in putting classes online should end for money reasons. A lot of potential value is added to my teaching by making classes available online. It's hard to put a precise money value on it. But given how much I cost the taxpayers in a year, even a 1% increase in added value would justify the price of a new laptop every year.

The saddest part though is that it makes me feel like my efforts are not valued.

I'll continue to muddle through. But students should expect fewer classes to be available online from now on. Recordings from previous years will still be available. So they may be useful in filling in any gaps.

COMP6021 Classes 14 & 15

Today's classes are canceled.

I'm not feeling well so I'm going home.

COMP6023 DCOM1b Classes 15 & 16

I met with each student and discussed any language issues in the blog posts that needed to be addressed. Students are free to make corrections until the posts are actually assessed. (That will probably be at the end of Week 05)

COMP6023 ITM1 Class 15 & 16

Photoshop is working in C134x now, so students worked on the JPEG images for Assessment 2.

I met with each student and discussed any language issues in the blog posts that needed to be addressed. Students are free to make corrections until the posts are actually assessed. (That will probably be at the end of Week 05)

COMP6023 DNET1 Classes 15 & 16

Students worked on their blogs. Some took the NewsU course today. 

I met with each student and identified some issues with grammar and spelling that needed to be addressed. 

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 14

I asked student to discuss in group what 5 or 6 categories privacy concerns might fall into.

It didn't really go well.

COMP6021 Class 13

the one with the 日本語

[sound recording failed half way though. so video not posted]

We concluded our look at representing text. I explained how writing works in Japanese and we looked very briefly at HTML.

Aside:
Students who found this interesting might enjoy this radio programme on the story of written Cherokee.
http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/lexicon_valley/2012/12/lexicon_valley_on_sequoyah_a_native_american_who_invented_an_alphabet_for.html

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 14

I asked students to work on groups on figuring out headings of themes for privacy concerns.

I felt like students didn't really get into it. Perhaps I didn't make it clear what I was asking.

We put come ideas on the whiteboard.

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 13

We looked some more at how search engines work.

I asked students to consider and discuss what Google might now about them.

We looked at advanced searches using Google's syntax

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 13

We looked a bit more at how search engines work.

I asked students to discuss for a few minutes the kinds of things Google might know about them. But of course many of those things are not things that one shares in class.

We looked at advanced searches using Google's syntax.

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 13

We continued our look at how search engines index sites.

I asked students to discuss for a few minutes the kinds of things Google might know about them. But of course many of those things are not things that one shares in class.

We looked at advanced searches using Google's syntax.

[No recording of today's class]

COMP6023 Week 03 Summary

The plan to do an olde school FTP session to a UNIX machine didn't work. The Windows security systems thought we were trying to bypass the local firewalls. We might try again another time.

Students got the images they needed for Assignment 2. Some were able to make a start on gather the data using Photoshop. Others had problems with Photoshop. Those issues should be resolved in those labs by next week.

Students should write a movie review for the blog this week.

Some students have completed the NewsU course. I have marked those students with a 1 on the blog list. I'm aware that the links to the student blogs are acting strange. I haven't been able figure out what's up with the PDF. In the source document they are fine.

The most popular essay choices are booked up now. Students shouldn't take too long to decide. I may have to consider a deadline soon to move that along.

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 10

We looked at Internet Directories and began our exploration of how search engines work.

[Stopped at Slide 42]

COMP6021 Class 12

the one with the UTF-8

We reviewed the data from our experiments in the lab when we saved English & Japanese text using different formats.

I reviewed the UTF-8 variable length coding system. (screen capture failed)

Exercise
I gave students a UTF-8 message to decode. 49 E2 99 A5 E6 97 A5 E6 9C AC
Students were given copies of the relevant areas of the Unicode code points.
http://www.rikai.com/library/kanjitables/kanji_codes.unicode.shtml
http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/miscellaneous_symbols.html


Although they got off to a slow start, I was very pleased that by the student all students had figured it out. This is the kind of thing that would make for a good exam question.

Solution
01001001 11100010:10011001:10100101 11100110:10010111:10100101  11100110:10011100:10101100

I  11100010:10011001:10100101 11100110:10010111:10100101  11100110:10011100:10101100
remove markers for leading and continuation bytes

I  0010011001100101 0110010111100101  0110011100101100

I 2665 65E5 672C

I ♥日本

COMP6023 DWEB1 Classes 11 & 12

Students got the images they needed for Assignment 2. I showed them how to save the images in Photoshop using the different JPEG quality settings. I recommended to students that they just gather the data for now.

When they were done student worked on their blogs or took the NewsU course.

COMP6021 Class 11 Unicode Lab

the one with the text files

I asked students to download a English-language book, paste it into Notepad, and save it using each of the four formats available: ANSI, Unicode, Unicode big endian, UTF-8.

I then asked them to do the same with a Japanese book. But some students' machines lost the plot.

I asked students to generate a 1000 character English-language document and save it with the four formats.

I then asked them to replace 200 of the characters with Japanese and do the same. Again some machines freaked out.




The values Colin got are shown in the table below. What conclusions can we draw? In particular, consider what happened in the mixed English & Japanese text.

If you have another text editor on your own machine try the same experiments with different formats.

Document	ANSI	Unicode	Unicode BE	UTF-8
Hounds of the Baskervilles	320,692	641,386	641,386	326,691
Rashomon	6,315*	12,632	12,632	18,222
Thousand English	1,080	2,162	2,162	1,083
Thousand Mixed	1,080*	2,124	2,124	1,274

* Japanese text not preserved. Displayed jibberish


Feel free to leave comments below


At the end of class I got each student to download the three images needed for the assignment. More about that another time.

COMP6021 Class 10 Unicode

the one with the Unicode

We looked at standard tables for storing text. We started with ASCII and then saw some of the various extensions, DOS Code Pages, and various ISO formats before arriving at Unicode. We started to look at some of the ways Unicode code points can be represented with bits. UTF-7, UTF-23 were easy. We ignored UTF-16. UFT-8 started easy but got more complicated. We will continue with UTF-8 in the next class.

COMP6021 Characters, Symbols and the Unicode Miracle - Computerphile

COMP6023 DCOM1 B Class 11 & 12 labs

We looked at Save for Web in Photoshop. Each student downloaded the three images needed for Assigment 2 and began work on saving JPEGs with different quality settings.

COMP6023 ITM1 Class 11 & 12 Labs

The lab didn't cooperate. Photoshop wouldn't work. So students worked on their blogs and sme took the NewsU online course.

I asked student to read the blogs of the other students in the group and advise the author of any issues they identified.

COMP6023 DNET1 Classes 11 & 12

My plan to do an FTP session didnt' work out because the firewalls on the machines wouldn't allow it. Some students found a workaround using FTP browser plugins.

I got students to make a start on Assignment 2. Students downloaded their images and saved them using Photoshop as JPEGs with quality settings from 0 to 100 in steps of 10.

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 10

I talked about Directories and we began our look at Search Engines.

We stopped at Slide 35
 
(I was a bit rushed because I was in the queue at the blood bank)

COMP6021 Class 09 Representing Text

the one with the sailor

We completed our look at our post zombie apocalypse communication system and looked at some features of students' designs. We discussed some things to consider, and looked at Braille and Flag Semaphore

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 10

I talked about Directories and we began our look at Search Engines

We got as far as slide 46

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 09

We looked at some of the issues surrounding web hosting and domain names.

Apple - iPad Air - TV Ad - Your Verse

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 09

We looked at some of the issues surrounding web hosting and domain names.

COMP6023 DNET1 Class 09

We looked at some of the issues surrounding web hosting and domain names.

COMP6023 Week 03 Plan

This week I plan to

• discuss uploading a website to a server 
• get students to upload using FTP during the lab
• look at ways to promote a webiste

This week students should

• read the 10 blogs after theirs on the list and highlight any issues in a comment
• post a movie review on the blog
• start the NewsU course Online Media & the Law

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 05

I talked about some of the suggested essay topics. For all the available information on the assessments students should check out the COMP6023 Assessment Information page over there ---->

COMP6021 Class 08 Representing Text

the one with the zombies

We considered how to represent text using bits. I asked students to devise a text transmission system using traffic lights for use after the zombie apocalypse. I asked students to work in groups and email their solutions to me.

At the end of class I pointed out that someone has already devised a very similar system. But that it doesn't use lights. Quite the contrary in fact.

Outpost 19 Report day 256/Bad week/Surprised us at dawn day 253/ Lost 3/Lost Irish nerd/Told us morse code on stop lights inefficient/Can't decipher notes/know what 23x23=64 means?/OP19 out

COMP6021 Class 07 Lab Intro to Photoshop

the one with the penguins

We had a very brief introduction to Photoshop. But we are mostly interested in its ability to save images with different settings. We won't be doing much else with Photoshop. But it is the industry standard tool for image editing and the secret to celebrities looking good.

COMP6021 Class 06 Represnting Negative Integers

the one with the binary bingo

We played binary bingo. But the person with the winning card didn't figure it out, so we shared the bag of jellies between us.

We looked at representing negative numbers with bits. I mentioned the IEEE format is used for floating point numbers, but we didn't look at it in detail.

Next up we will consider how to represent text using bits.

COMP6023 DCOM1b Class 07 & 08 lab

Students worked on their blogs.

I recommended that they take the NewsU course Online Media & the Law today if they have time.

I showed students where to find quality sources in the CIT Library. The ACM and IEEE databases are the most useful for computing students.

COMP6023 ITM1 CLASS 07 & 08 Lab

Students worked on their blogs.

I recommended that they take the NewsU course Online Media & the Law today if they have time.

COMP6023 DNET1 Class 05 & 06 Lab

Students worked on their blogs. Students should get the blog up and running and have posted the first entry by the end of this week.

Check the blog list over there ----->
in assignments to ensure that I have your blog URL

May student left early because the weather was really bad

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 06

I has asked student to find out about blogs. I asked students to discuss in groups the main features of blogs that make them different from other websites.

I talked about blogs.

COMP6021 Class 05 The humble mighty bit

The one with the sock on the door

This was our first class. But I'm calling it Class 05 because I want to keep my numbering consistent with the weeks. I apologize for the late start, and the last minute room change.

I asked students to watch this video in advance of class. I don't believe that many did.

We looked at bits and combinations of bits, and how they can be assigned meaning. We looked at how bits can be used to represent integers.

COMP6023 DWEB/ITM Class 06

I talked students through the assignment specification.

COP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 05

Last week I asked students to find out a about blogs. At the start of class students met in groups and identified the main features of a blog.

Then I talked them through some of the features and we looked at some examples.

COMP6023 how much to share online

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 05

Last week I asked students to find out everything they could about blogs. I asked a few students at the start of class what they had learned. Students got into groups to share what they had figured out. How is a blog different from a regular web page?

I talked about blogs and walked through some of the settings in Blogger

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1C Class 05

This was our first lecture actually.

I introduced myself. I talked about Podcasting and asked student to sign up to One The Media and NPR Technology. Links over there --->

By the end of this week students should have set up their blogs and e-miles me the URL. Students should post about themselves this week.

Week 02 Blog Post:
Post a bit about yourself and some thoughts on your privacy preferences