Archive for 'Education'
A 100-year-old vision-impaired woman gets her first computer – an iPad:
Did you know that the open web – the part you can search using Google et al – is 167 terabytes, while the Invisible Web – the part of the WWW that’s not indexed by the search engines, including password-protected library sites, private networks etc – is estimated at 91,000 terabytes!
So how do you access the Invisible Web. There are a number of websites that will allow you to search these sometimes invaluable resources. One in particular that is an excellent service for students is Infomine. Infomine has been built by a pool of libraries in the United States. Some of them are University of California, Wake Forest University, California State University, and the University of Detroit. Infomine ‘mines’ information from databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other resources.
You can search by subject category and further tweak your search using the search options. Infomine is not only a standalone search engine for the Deep Web but also a staging point for a lot of other reference information. Check out its Other Search Tools and General Reference links at the bottom.
We would like to congratulate Sonru who last Wednesday won the Bank of Ireland National Bright Ideas Challenge with a prize of a €100,000 interest free loan and the title of the National Bright Ideas Winner. With 85 initial applications Bank of Ireland had their work cut out to whittle the competition down to the final four regional finalists.
Alexandra College has been using Sonru’s online interviewing software this year to assist Leaving Certificate students with preparation for their modern languages oral exams.
Dublin Regional Winners Rendezvu, Galway Regional winner Eventovate and Cork Regional winner ResourceKraft, all provided stiff competition to the Waterford Regional winners Sonru. Notably, all four finalists are to a large degree web based businesses, highlighting the way the digital world has changed the way Irish business is carried out.
Sonru is just another example of the entrepreneurial opportunities that the Internet can create. If any future budding entrepreneur would like to find out more about this competition please click here.
On March 3rd, 2010, Alex TY students attended a seminar entitled “Three Hazards – Child Protection In The Electronic Age”. In conjunction with ChildWatch.ie, the authors of a recent Barnardos report entitled “Three Hazards – Child Protection In The Electronic Age”, the Komplett-sponsored free seminar deals with internet threats and safety and is aimed at senior cycle students.
The seminar dealt with cyber bullying, the use (and misuse) web and mobile phone cams, identity theft and the serious threat of internet predators.
The seminars, which have been given in a number of schools all over Ireland, aim to “to get past the ‘net nanny syndrome’ (kids switching off when they feel they’re being lectured at) by discussing the real threats that are out there on the internet in an adult manner.” Undoubtedly, the one hour seminar caught the attention of the TY students and made them aware of the serious nature of the issues discussed.
Click here for more info