Advantages and Disadvantages of the Exhibitions

Real World- Advantages
-you are able to talk about the various artworks with more people
-the artist can talk to the viewers and get their opinions straight away

Real World- Disadvantages
-it is harder to see some artworks in detail because of their positioning on the wall
-equity issues like amount of display time or more/better wall space
-it takes around 2 days to set up and it is hard to make sure the artworks don't clash
-the artworks may get vandalised
-there isn't as much storage space for other equipment
-there is a limited display life as it is still a classroom
-the teachers may keep the artwork for another exhibition but the students want to take it home and they move onto another artwork and forget to take home their original artwork.

Virtual-Advantages
-the artwork can be put on display for longer
-students can take their artwork home straight away
-people can see the artwork clearly, without obstruction
-easier to manage equity issues
-avaliable to a wider audience (not just students and teachers)
-background images and general GUI can enhance the theme
-more artworks can be put on display and you can randomly look through them or do a search
-it can include different types of media like videos
-it would be easy to tell people about any upcoming events or general announcements

Virtual-Disadvantages
-you can't control how public it will be
-the student may not want their artwork on the internet (because it's there forever) but they feel pressured to do so because of the teachers
-it's harder to control copyright issues
-if there are a lot of picture on the page it will take forever to load

Google Reader

It allows you to know about any recent updates to your favourite websites without having to actually go through all of them. If the website provides a feed then you can add it's URL to the reader by clicking 'add a subscription'.

You would know if it provides a feed by the following symbol.

All you need is a google account which is free. This allows you to easily keep up with recent events which is a benefit for certain subjects.

Google Calender

The first Google product I'm going to talk about is the Calender. You can create events with one click of the mouse and you can set it to repeat (eg. for a birthday) or add notes to remind you to take something or do something to help organise it. I haven't yet figured out how to put my school timetable on it but I am working on it. There are many different views so you can manage your schedule the way you want.

The first view is the day. The red line indicates what the time currently is.

 This is the week view. The highlighted column is the day you are viewing it and the red line indicates what the current time is.

This is the month view. It includes any public holidays as well as any events you have programmed into it. The yellow/orange cell is the day you are viewing it.

This is the agenda view. It is basically a list of public holidays and yopur events in chronological order with their date and time (if included) next to it.

Google Documents

You are able to create documents that can be shared with certain people, people who have been given the link or publish it on the internet for all to see. You can easily share your document with other people who have google docs by entering their email address in under the 'add people' heading. They can check their google docs account and see any shared documents and open it. You can also change the settings so people the document is either read-only or able to be edited.
When you can edit it you can see the changes as they happen so you don't need to refreash the page to see any updates.
By going to 'file' then 'see revision history' you can see who has made what changes to the document so if it is a group assignment you can see who is pulling their weight.
If you go 'file' then 'download as' you can download a copy of the document as a different file type such as PDF, Word or HTML.

It makes group work very easy as all you need is either a google account or the link to work on the document. It is also easy to email as an attachment. Just 'share' then 'email as attachment'. You don't have to just be stuck with documents but can also do presentations, spreadsheets, forms and drawings.
The upload limit is 1GB.For documents you can store around 100 pages. For presenations you can store around 200 slides.

iGoogle

It is handy because you can have different gadgets like a to do list which helps you to remember to do various things. I fouind a dictionary gadget but you can also use it as a thesaurus or search the web.  There are lot's of gadgets to chose from which can all help you to organise yourself. You can make different tabs to organise your different gadgets or subjects.

In the Links tab I got a bookmarks gadget so I can just click the link to go to certain websites. To add a website you click edit settings and add the URL of the website you want. It make it easier to quickly get to the right website.

When you go to the iGoogle settings and click the contacts tab you have a contacts list which includes any information you entered for the individual. With one click of the mouse you can easily email them and if you email someone it keeps their email address in case you need it later.



Term 4 Assignment Idea

If I was to do a database the problem could be a pet shop wants a database for thier website so people can look up different breeds or animals.