TUTORIAL TASK THREE

SCAVENGER HUNT QUESTIONS

What is the world’s largest pumpkin?

1,502 pounds - weighed October 7, 2006
http://www.pumpkinnook.com//giants/record.htm#bigones

What is the best way to contact Grant Hackett?

His website
http://www.granthackett.com.au/

What is the length of a Giraffe’s tongue?

46 – 50 cm long and blue-black in colour
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/

How would you define "ontology"? In your own words, what does it mean?

It’s ‘the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence or being as such.’ Ontology seeks to describe the categories and relationships of existence.
http://www.dictionary.com/

What was David Lynch's first film?

His first film as a director was a short film called Six Figures Getting Sick in 1966. His first full length film as a director was Eraserhead in 1978. His first film as an actor was The Amputee in 1974 where he played a male nurse.
http://www.wikipedia.org/

When was the original "Hacker's Manifesto" written, and by whom?

It’s a small essay written January 8, 1986 by a hacker who went by the handle (or pseudonym) of The Mentor (born Loyd Blankenship). It was written after the author's arrest, and first published in the underground hacker ezine Phrack in Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10.
http://www.wikipedia.org/

What is the capital of Bhutan, and what language do the citizens speak?

Thimphu is the capital and the native language is dzongkha

What is the cheapest form of travel from Bergen, Norway to Ornskoldsvik, Sweden?

Walk

What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1972?

‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’

What punk band was Stephen Stockwell (head of the school of arts) in?

The Black Assassins

What is a search engine?

A software program that searches a database and gathers and reports information that contains or is related to specified terms.

A website whose primary function is providing a search engine for gathering and reporting information available on the Internet or a portion of the Internet.
www.dictionary.com

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?

They are listed in order of which results match the 'keywords' best.

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?

Relevence to your search. For example, you may be trying to find the website to something in particular like 'Radio Metro' and so hopefully the correct site will be at the top or somewhere very close to the top. On the other hand you may be searching for information on something like 'Budget Holidays in Thailand' and not have a specific site in mind. This way the sites that advertise or have something to do with this topic should be up the top.

What are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?

I'm a bit of a 'stick to what you know' type of person when it comes to computers and so I just stick with Google. I always seem to find what I need. Not always immediately but eventually in a round-about-way. Being a journalist student if I'm trying to find news stories or current affairs I usually search the ABC site as they archive all their stories and interviews from all their radio and television over the years.

Can you find some current news stories about search engines? (for example, Google has been in the technology news a bit lately).

I found quite a few stories regarding Google shares and a few about Google Earth discovering inland dunes in the shape of arrowheads that may be signs of mega-tsunamis. Also among others was a story on how doctors and clinicians use Google to diagnose disease.