Last updated: 12/1/99
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Agenda for Computers, the Internet, and Society
Class #5 -- December 1, 1999

This agenda and class are for Computers, the Internet, and Society only

1. Notes
   1. Leroy Eaddy - please fill in the online information form
   2. Lakeesha Collins - please contact me as soon as possible
2. Reminder of what you should be doing online on a regular basis -- these are part of the grade
   1. Signin, from the lab, only on days for the class(es) you are taking
   2. Weekly course report (if you are taking both classes, a single report will do)
   3. Conference postings (one for eCommerce, two for Computers, the Internet, and Society, three if you are taking both)
   4. Not required, but do it anyway - check your email on at least a weekly basis. If you don't have email: use hotmail - it's easy and free. See me if you need help.
3. Quiz 2
4. Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET)
5. Final Exam
   1. No email option - in class only
   2. Wednesday, December 22 at normal class time (6 - 10 PM) in normal location (113 Rackham Building)
   3. Cumulative
   4. Opportunities for practice, Q&A
      1. Next week., Wednesday, December 8, 4 - 10 PM (If no one is in the lab at 9PM, I will leave then, but if anyone is there I will stay.) Telephone: 577-9705
      2. Two weeks, Wednesday, December 15, 4 - 6 PM.
      3. Phone, email, appointments, computer conference
6. Grades and finishing up
   1. All work to be counted in the normal final grade is due at the time of the Final Exam, Wednesday December 22 (but see C below for makeup and rework)
   2. On line grade reports are working.
      1. See me if you need to be reminded of the password you chose for this system, or if you need to activate your online grade reports, or if they are not working.
      2. This will also be the fastest way to get your final course grades. (At least one employer has accepted a printout of these reports for tuition reimbursement).
      3. I hope to have final grades done and posted during the week between Christmas and New Year's.
   3. Reminder: You can make up or redo work for this course up to one calendar year after the end of this semester, that is up until the end of the Winter 2000 semester. I will not accept a large amount of work during the last two months of this time, so if you have a lot of work to make up, space it out and send it to me as you go along. Get in touch with me for any questions about this policy, problems with scheduling, etc. If you intend to make up or redo work, you should file monthly online reports using the course reporting form on the course web site.
7. Finishing up Databases - Microsoft Access
   1. What will be on the Final
      1. (from last class) Create databases and tables, enter information into tables, edit tables
      2. Sort records, and create filters, queries and forms they way we will here
         1. Sort a Table
         2. Create a select Filter (including or excluding a selection)
         3. Convert a Filter to a Query
         4. Create a Relationship Query with a Join
         5. Create a Form using the Form Wizard
      3. Describe or define tables, relationship, join, fields, records, filters, queries, forms and reports, including what they are useful for
   2. What we do in class will parallel A.
      1. Review of databases and tables
      2. Download practice database using a web browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer)
         1. Start browser
         2. Go to course web site (see beginning of agenda if you need to be reminded about the URL)
         3. Go to section "for Computers, the Internet, and Society"
         4. Click on link to "download database"
         5. Select a place to save it that you will remember
      3. Open the database by doing ONE of the following:
         1. Start Access, and open the file
            OR
         2. Locate the file in Windows Explorer and double-click on it to start Access and open the file
      4. Notice that there are two tables. Open them up and look at them.
         1. AccessLog - the web server log for the CLL web server for a certain period in 1998. What are the fields? Notice that every file request is entered in the log, including requests for GIF and JPEG files
         2. Codes - the standard codes for web servers, with descriptions of their meanings. You may have seen 404 - not found - and maybe one or two of the others, but mostly they are exchanged invisibly by the web server and the web browser
      5. Sort the AccessLog table to find the largest file sent out, by
         1. Open the AccessLog Table and scroll right to display the Bytes field.
         2. Click on the Bytes field (column). If necessary, click right on the word Bytes. The whole column should be highlighted (selected).
         3. Click on the "Sort Descending" button.
            
         4. What is the name of the largest file? (Look in the Path field.) How many times was it sent out?
         5. Undo the Sort by choosing the menu item Records / Remove Filter/Sort
      6. A Filter will block out a class of records in a table. A web "hit" is a request for a web page, including any graphics. That is one hit is one request for a page, not counting the graphics files separately. We will filter out graphics requests, leaving legitimate hits. "Hits per month" is a common measurement of how popular and busy a server is. (If the boss doesn't know enough, some WebMasters will inflate the number of hits by including graphics requests, but that is asking for trouble later, if you plan to stay.)
         1. Open the AccessLog table. Notice the number of records listed down near the bottom left corner.
         2. Find a record where the path is a GIF and select the .gif (including the "dot") by dragging over it and highlighting it.
         3. Leave the highlight on. Choose the menu item Records / Filter / Filter by Excluding Selection. All of the requests for GIF files disappear from the screen (they are not deleted, just not displayed). they have been filtered out.
         4. Repeat b and c for JPG. Now there are no records with graphics requests at all, leaving only "hits". How many records are left? See the record count down near the bottom of the screen. This is the count of hits for the period covered by the file.
         5. You COULD remove the filter and see all of the records again by choosing the menu item Records / Remove Filter/Sort. If you do this, apply the filter again.
         6. A Filter can be saved and applied again (we will not do that here) but the effects of a filter are not permanent. That is, fi the table is closed and reopened, it is not filtered.
      7. Now convert the Filter to a Query. A Query is also a table, but altered by "asking a question" (a query). (A Query can also be filtered, so it acts a lot like a table.) The question is stated in terms of the fields in Tables, or in other Queries. Queries can (a) filter out records, (b) compute new fields based on existing fields, with an identical calculation for each field, and (c) combine information for different tables, or even for different databases (a Join, or Relationship). To convert the filter to a Query,
         1. Choose the menu item Records / Filter / Filter by Form. A new table will appear. Notice the filter description in the Path field.
         2. Save the Filter as a Query by choosing the menu item File / Save As Query. You will be asked to name the Query; choose "Hits" (omit the quotation marks). (If you choose another name, you will have trouble following the directions later on.)
         3. Close the table, click on the Queries tab and open Hits. Note that the number of records is the same as the number in AccessLog with the Filter applied. There are no graphics file requests in the Query. The effect of the filter on this Query is permanent and intrinsic.
      8. Now we are going to create a Relationship by doing a Join. Both the AccessLog Table and the Codes Table have a field named Code. We can combine the information from both Tables into one virtual Table by creating a Relationship between the fields with the same name and Join the two table stogether. This is the most powerful aspect of databases. Information from different sources can be combined together using Relationships and Joins. The two databases can be Joined ofver a network, or over the Internet. To create the Relationship,
         1. Close the Hits Query and click on the Tables tab. Unselect any selected Table by clicking elswhere (a dotted box is OK, but not a highlight)
         2. Choose the menu item Insert / Query. On the New Query dialog, make sure that Design View is seleted and then click OK
         3. On the Show Table dialog, the Table AccessLog should be selected; if not, click on it to select it.
         4. Click the Add button. An AccessLog dialog should appear in the grey top area of the Query1 dialog. This dialog displays the field names for the AccessLog table.
         5. Also select and Add the Table Codes. A Codes dialog should appear in the grey top area of the Query1 dialog, displaying the field names for the Codes table. Close the Show Table dialog
         6. On the Query1 dialog, scroll down the AccessLog dialog until the field name Code show.
         7. Click on  "Code" in one of the dialogs and drag to the other.  Don't let the "Circle and Bar" mouse icon bother you when the mouse is in between the two dialogs. When you are done, a thin black line with bumps on the end should be displayed, joining the two Code field names. That creates the Join or Relationship.
         8. Now add some fields to the Query. Click at the right of the "Field" box at the bottom left of the Query1 dialog. Click on AccessLog.* to add all of the fields (*) from that Table to the Query.
            
         9. Similarly, in the second column, add only the Description field from the Codes table.
         10. Close the Query1 dialog. Choose to save the changes, and name the Query anything you want.
         11. Click on the Queries tab and open the new Query. Notice that the Description field from the Codes Table is present, along with all of the fields from the AccessLog table. To get ready for the next section, close the Query.
      9. Now we will create a Form. Forms are often called "Screens" by people who work with databases a lot, without necessarily being aware of what is going on behind the scenes. Forms can be used to display and enter information into a Table. To create a simple form, using the form Wizard,
         1. Click on the Forms tab and then click on the New button.
         2. On the New Form dialog, select Form Wizard. Where you are asked to "Choose the Table or Query", select the Table AccessLog. Then click Next.
         3. Add all of the Fields to the Form by clicking on the Right-pointing double-headed arrow. Click Next
         4. On the next step, leave the selection at Columnar and click Next
         5. For the style step, leave the selection at Clouds and click Next
         6. On the step showing the Finish flag, leave the selections as they are and click the Finish button.
         7. Your new Form should appear. All of the information for one record is displayed on one screen, without scrolling. You can change the information in a field. You can cycle through the fields by using the arrow button at the bottom left of the Form. You can go to the end and enter a new record. Forms can also be used to make sure that information entered is valid (Data Validation) by performing a variety of checks. (Access is not reading your mind here - you have to tell it what you mean by "Valid", e.g. "five numbers no letters" for a zip code.)
         8. Close your Form to prepare for the next step.
      10. We will look at a Report. A database Report lists the records in a given Table or Query, with Filters and Sorts applied to the Table or Query. Charts can be added. Calculations can be performed. For example, for a sales database, the sales for various regions can be added (summed) or counted (if the regions and sales information is in fields, of course.) Here we will look at a Report that lists the Hits for each Path (file or web page) and see how it is constructed, without holding you responsible for constructing a report on the Final Exam.
8. Detroit's online business community of web professionals
   A story in the Detroit Free Press on November 23, 1999 titled "City Cyber-Culture" (Page 1) describes a mini Silicon Valley in Detroit. The story describes more than a dozen new internet companies in lofts on the edge of Greektown. The only company described in any detail is Rootlevel, founded in 1997 by John Lauer. Rootlevel apparently has many small projects, one of which is a web-pased system for paging from several companies on one web page. Also, a system called ToiletScript scans several web sites for news, then flashes it on monitors. Lauer also has a web site, www.detroitlofts.com (beware the hyphen in the newspaper!), to promote loft living in Detroit. Other companies mentioned in less detail are Noirtech, and an artist/technologist named Elizabeth Neumaier.
9. Globalization and World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle
   1. My understanding of what the WTO can do is:
      1. Provide a forum for national representatives to discuss lowering barriers to international trade such as tarrifs, import quotas and regulations, and to sign treaties or other agreements
      2. Decide if a trade treaty or agreement is being broken in a specific case
      3. Give the offended nation permission to retaliate
   2. If trade barriers are lowered (lower tarrifs, increasing or removing quotas, loosen or remove regulations), international trade increases
   3. As Friedman says, the ability to slow down either international trade, or to slow down the movement to lower trade barriers, is now the equivalent of a nuclear weapon - very few nations will risk triggering this.
10. Computer viruses
    1. A computer virus is a computer program that can (a) damage information on a computer, and (b) spread from computer to computer. Simple documents or email messages are not programs and cannot be viruses. Viruses can be spread via email executable attachments such as *.exe files; the virus is not activated by saving the executable, but by executing or running the file, for example by double-clicking on it in Windows Explorer. Macros contained in a Word, Excel or Access file are executable programs and can also be viruses. Modern versions of these Office programs detect macros and ask if you want to disable macros before opening files with macros. MS Outlook has also had many virus problems, because (a) it has a macro language and (b) as an email client it usually has access to the Internet and can spread itself that way. Macro viruses are more often nuisances than outright destructive programs, because macro languages are generally not able to do a whole lot. Of course, overloading a network by flooding it with email.
       messages can be pretty bad. I do not know the current state of MS Outlook's being made virus-safe.
    2. Virus hoaxes are false warnings about computer viruses. Why do this? Creating a good virus can be difficult and can land you in jail. Creating a virus hoax is easy, and you probably would not go to jail if caught. And you can write a good scary email and sit back and watch it spread. Many virus hoax messages simply make small changes in a previous hoax and resend. I have gotten several virus hoax notices in these classes; hence this topic. A virus that destroys its host computer, or deletes all the files on its hard drive, cannot spread itself after it does that. Any notice of a virus that will destroy all of the files, destroy the computer, or something like that, is probably a hoax. A favorite phrase is that IBM, or AOL, or IBM and AOL, have verified that this hoax does all of those terrible things.
    3. Viruses can damage or delete files, and cause other grief. The best defense is a good anti-virus program and up-to-date virus definition data files for that program. McAfee, IBM and Norton are all well-recognized. A program that reminds you periodically to update data files and will update at no cost, over the Internet makes updating much easier. A good virus program should check email messages, documents, and Internet downloads as they are happening, in addition to periodically scanning all disks. It is important to update both the virus detection program ("engine") and its data files regularly.
    4. To check out notices of viruses and hoaxes, I like the following web sites:
       http://www.av.ibm.com/BreakingNews/VirusAlert/
       http://www.av.ibm.com/BreakingNews/HypeAlert/
       http://www.mcafee.com/centers/anti-virus/default2.asp
       http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp
11. Turning the lab computers off
    1. Click on Start button
    2. Select Shut Down..., click OK
    3. When message appears saying it is OK to turn power off, turn off red bench switch. Leave monitor and base unit switched on
    4. THIS IS PART OF THE CLASS!