The dark side of the web

Congratulations on reaching week twelve of learning 2.1.

This week we are looking at the dark side of the Internet and specifically how to be a street-wise Internet user.

Malware is defined as computer software that is malicious in nature. It is generally understood to be software created to disrupt, damage or collect information from you without your knowledge.

An example of malware that is disruptive is popup advertising. You have all seen the annoying ads for pharmaceuticals, mortgages or legal services that popup as you use the Internet. They are easily controlled by enabling the popup blocker in your browser.

Trojans and worms are examples of malware that can damage your computer. These programs get into your computer by attaching themselves to programs or files that are frequently downloaded. They can also attach themselves to web pages and email messages. Once in your computer, they can release a virus or gather up information and send it back to the hacker that wrote it. Reputable anti-virus software packages will effectively block worms and Trojans.

Keyloggers, spyware and phishing scams are examples of malware that is designed to collect information about your or from you, without your explicit knowledge. Once they have gathered your information, usually usernames and passwords to your financial accounts, they allow criminals to access your accounts and help themselves. Defending against keyloggers and spyware can be done primarily by not opening email attachments from unknown senders and using one of the commercially anti-spyware products. Websites that off "free" software or music downloads are great places to get infected with spyware - try to avoid them.

Phishing scams are much more difficult to defend against because their target is you and not a computer component or system. The hackers that create phishing scams are using psychology and social engineering to gather the information that they need. As a result, you have to be very aware and almost suspicious of every email you receive and website that you visit.

You can see a current state of virus and other threats here.

Blog points
Have you ever been the target of a phishing scam? Did you recognize it as a scam right away? What tipped you off? Blog about your experiences with malware or phishing attempts - do not provide any information which may lead to a phishing attempt.

Which web 2.0 tools would you like to find more about?

Before you finish please fill in this evaluation of this course.

Congratulations on finishing this course. There is just one more thing to do. Add this blog to your rss feeds as we plan on adding posts about other tools of interest in the coming weeks.

Ellen and Mylee

Mashups revisited

This week we are revisiting mashups, because they keep changing and expanding.

There are thousands of mashups out there. Popular services like Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and GoogleMaps have thousands of mashups.

Try a search on the name of one those services (or any other service you like) and use the name and mashup and you will have an avalanche of results.

Many Web 2.0 sites like those mentioned above encourage people to develop mashups. They make their Web development tools or APIs (Application Programming Interface) available to outside developers. Here are Flickr's and Twitter's.

Here are some other interesting mashups for you to explore:
Books
bkkeepr is a Twitter mashup that lets you track your reading and bookmark on the go, via the web and SMS.

BookTour makes finding when a favorite author is coming to your town (if you live in the US) as easy as checking the weather. Has features for authors, too.

LibWorm-Mashes up updates from 1400 RSS feeds+ from library sites. The contents of these feeds are then available for searching & search results can be output as an RSS feed that the user can subscribe to in his/her aggregator.

LibWorm is intended to be a search engine, a professional development tool, and a current awareness tool for people who work in libraries or care about libraries.

Photos/Flickr
Visual Headlines is a Flickr mashup that pulls in images that relate directly to current headlines from CNN.

Interestingness provides a daily dose of interesting photographic inspiration from Flickr.

Flickr Memari-Create, customize, and send a memory matching game from your Flickr images.

Google

Let Me Google That for You does what its says. Proably one not to use for library clients, as you are supposed to be helping them.

CrimeReports-A Google Maps mashup that lets you search crime reports by location in near real-time. Note this is US location data

Walkable-Find the "walkability" score of over 2500 neighborhoods. Note this is US location data


Australian mashups
Mashup Australia was a government competition held last year. Have a look at some of the winning mashups here.

1 Explore some of the mashups above and add one or more to your blog--or blog about it.

2. Search the Web and find a few more mashups that look useful.

3. Share what you've found.

4. Make a Mashup-These sites let you find and combine info to make a "custom" mashup. Embed it in your blog.


Ellen and Mylee