Monday, November 30, 2009

Tutorial task 3

Part 1 - Scavenger Hunt questions
1. What did Alan Turing wear while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park?
The search engine I used was AltaVista. I plugged in “Alan Turing and riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park”. The first result on the first page of results was a link to a short biography for Alan Turing on a Generic Universal RolePlaying System Game software for WWII website.

Answer: Alan Turing use to wear a gas mask while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park to prevent hay-fever symptoms.
2. On what date did two computers first communicate with each other? Where were they?
Using AltaVista again, plugged in “computers AND communicate AND 1969″. According to Communication and Computer Network, the Department of Defence in the USofA started a network called Advanced Research Projects Administration Network, or ARPANET.

Answer:The first computers talked to each other in 1969 through a network called ARPANET. The computers were located in California and Utah.

3. What is Bill Gates’ birthday and what age was he when he sold his first software?
To search for this,I plugged in “what age was Bill Gates when he sold his first software” and the fourth result down was for his biography on Answers.com. This told me that Bill Gates had sold his first commercially developed software for $3,000 in 1975. With a little bit of math, I was able to determine what age Bill Gates was when this happened.

Answer: Bill Gates was born on the 28th of October, 1955. So if Bill Gates first sold his software in 1975, that would make him 20 years old.
4. Where was the World Wide Web invented?
I plugged the question into AltaVista and the first link is what I want.

Answer:The World Wide Web was invented at CERN.

5. How does the power of the computer you are working on now compare with the power of a personal computer from 30 years ago?
I first find out the power of a computer made 30 years ago by using the AltaVista, come up with a link called "a timeline for the history of computers". This told me that in 1979, Intel released the 8088 8-bit processor to the public in June. Then, I went to the Lenovo website ,and fins my laptop, which told me that an Inspiring computer had a up to Intel® Core™2 Duo T9300 processor (2.50GHz, 6MB L2, 800MHz FSB)

Answer: A computer in 1979 had a 8088 8-bit processor.

6. What is the weight of the largest parsnip ever grown?
Using AltaVista I found the Guinness world records website. No answer there so I searched for “giant parsnip” on AltaVista. The second result was for the Port Lincoln Times. This told me that a man by the name of Ken Holden picked a giant parsnip from his garden in July of this year.

Answer: Ken Holden grew a parsnip that weighed 2.3 kilograms. Mr Holden has also previously grown a cauliflower weighing 3.2 kilograms and carrots weighing 2.7 kilograms.

7. When did Queensland become a state and why is the Tweed River in New South Wales?
I searched for the history of Queensland in AltaVista and the second result was for the "Queensland Government’s website of Queensland history". It says “Queen Victoria gave her approval and signed Letters Patent on June 6 1859 to establish the new colony of Queensland.” For the second part of the question, I did a search in AltaVista for the “history of the border between QLD and NSW”. It did not come with an actually answer.

Answer:Queensland separated from New South Wales and thus became a state in 1859.

8. What was the weather like in south-east Queensland on 17 November 1954?
can't find the answer even I tried several words in the searching engine.
9. Why is is Lord Byron still remembered in Venice?
I did the search in AltaVista for this one. I plugged in “Lord Byron AND Venice history” and came up with a "BBC History website"as the forth result.
Answer: Lord Byron is remembered in Venice because he wrote some of his most famous works including ‘Don Juan’ in Venice.

10. What band did Sirhan Chapman play in and what is his real name?
For this question, I plugged in “Sirhan Chapman” into AltaVista and the third result was for the "The Black Assassins". This told me the bands name, The Black Assassins, but not Sirhan Chapman’s real name.
I can't find Sirhan Chapman's real name.
Answer: Sirhan Chapman plays in The Black Assassins.
Part 2
(1) How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
Answer:Based on information gathered off www.searchengine-guy.com.au, I have determined that search engines base their rankings primarily on content. For instance, a link is more likely to have a high ranking if the keyword search is in:
+The title tag
+Regular text
+Links
+image file names
+meta tags
+alt tags
+comments
So basically, the links wherein the keyword appears most often are more highly ranked.
(2.) Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
Answer: This is answered within question one. The page appears at the top if it contains the keyword in a number of places. In some cases though, a link may appear at the top because it is a "Sponsered ad", and therefore has paid to be at the top.

(3.) What are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
Answer:My most favourite one is Google, and I also use Baidu (Chinese), Altavista.
Why? Simply because it is easy to.
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