Introduction to Information &

Communication Technologies
Lab Manual (Lab 02)

Session: Fall 2019

School of Systems and Technology

UMT Lahore Pakistan

LAB INSTRUCTOR: AYESHA MAJID

Objectives:
This workshop will introduce how to incorporate social media tools into learning activities. When used
properly, social media tools can boost student engagement; link students to content experts, find online
classroom lessons, and help them establish an online body of work/establish their brand. In this we will
also learn how to use the mails and what their core features are.

Social Media:
 Consumer generated media It is media that is designed to be shared, sharing means that it is easy
to comment on, that it is easy to send, there are no costs associated with viewing the media and
last but not least it is always available.

 Social media enables people to share information with friends and colleges using the Internet.

Why do colleges invest in Social Media?

 For many of the same reasons they invest in more traditional marketing and advertising

 Create awareness

 Encourage connection
  Inspire loyalty

 Create ambassadors

 Recruit best fit students

 Build powerful relations with alumni

 Create stronger reputations

The most popular Social Medias are:

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. LinkedIn
4. Slide Share

A Guide to Better Google Search Techniques

The Internet is so full of information that it’s nearly impossible to check its limits. That’s why, search engines were
developed to maintain a search-able database of the web’s content. People employ the use of search engines to
look up for information on the web.

In the midst of all search engines lies Google, the most popular and powerful search engine. You type in the
query, and the search engine provides you with the search results. In most cases you’re satisfied but sometimes,
you’re not. This is where learning the proper techniques to type in your search query come in handy and this is what
we’ll explore in this article.

Why The Need To Learn Proper Search Techniques?

Everyone including students, researchers, writers, etc. requires information, and they use search engines for that
very reason. People spend most of their time continuously looking for the right information because they’re not
aware of the proper search techniques. Learning and using good search techniques will help you in the following
ways:

 Better search results

 Saves your time

Basic Search Techniques

1. Keep It Simple
Keep your search simple and web-friendly. Start by entering one or two words, and gradually adding relevant or
important words, if you’re unsatisfied with the results. Less is more for a search engine; meaning the less words you
query for, the more results the search engine provides as output.

For example:

Query: [who is the president of America?]

Better query: [president of America]

 2. Order of Keywords
Select the right keywords to make your search. Search results completely depend on the given keywords, and if
keywords are chosen wisely, then results are more efficient.

Put yourself in the shoes of the author, and think of what words he/she would use to write/describe what you’re
trying to find. If you’re looking for a phrase or quote, then keep the order of the words as accurate as possible to
get the optimum search results.

For example:

 Query: [itself divided house cannot stand]

 Better query: [A house divided against itself cannot stand] (part of a quote by Abraham Lincoln)

3. Synonym Search
You can use the synonym search feature to tell Google to even search for synonyms of a specified word in the
search query. This is helpful for when you want to search for a word and all its similar words without having to
spend time looking for them individually.

Using the tilde symbol (~) before a word tells Google to search for the words and its synonyms too. Type your
search query in the format of [~synonym Word other Words] to search for the word and its synonyms in a single
search.

For example: [~sweet fruit]

What is email?

 short for electronic mail

 send & receive messages over the internet

Choosing an email provider

Most common are Hotmail (Microsoft), Gmail (Google), Yahoo Mail (Yahoo!)

For this class, we’ll be using Gmail

The parts of an email

 To : enter the exact email address of your recipient (remember: name@provider.domain)

 For multiple recipients, separate each address with a comma.
 CC : carbon copy
 BCC : BLIND carbon copy – is anonymous
 Subject : the topic of your email – very important
 Body : the message of your email
 Attachments : the paperclip symbol
Replying to an email

Reply vs Reply All

 When you click on Reply, your message will automatically be sent to the person who sent you the email
(FROM field in header.)
 When you click on Reply All, your message will automatically be sent to the person who sent you the
email AND everyone in the TO and CC fields in the header.

Forwarding an email
 When you click on FORWARD, you may share the email you’ve received by sending it to others.
 You may add your own message before sending.

Privacy, viruses, & spam

 Privacy: CC vs BCC
 Viruses: Never open attachments from unknown senders.
 Safety: Never send personal financial information via email, even if it looks like a legitimate request from
your bank or financial institution.
 Spam: unsolicited commercial email
o Delete
o Click on Report Spam
o SPAM BOX on Gmail

Important – Sign Out!

Always sign out after you have completed the work with your email id.

Online Learning (E-Learning)

E-Learning stands for Electronic learning.

These days E-Learning has become the hottest area of learning. Anybody interested in learning any
technique can easily become expert in that particular area with the help of online learning systems.

Some of the E-learning websites where you can enroll yourself in free as well as paid courses are as
follow;

https://www.coursera.org/

https://www.udacity.com/

https://www.udemy.com/
And many more such sites which are going to help you in your skill enhancement.

Tasks:
Your today’s tasks are:

a. Create an account on any of the mail service provider account.

b. Create an account on Coursera and enroll in any of the course of your interest.