English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

In this blog, I wanted to look specifically at the firewall features for a router. The routers we’re comparing support several different kinds of firewall features, so I wanted to be sure we had information on the differences of each of them for the introduction.

• Network Address Translation (NAT)

This week I finished up the last two of my three research blogs. In the first, I researched the manufacturer’s website for use of the specifications of the D-link router. Things such as firewalls, size, and warranty information were found. The second article that I used was an online review of the router by PC world. The reviewer is a third party and put the item through various functionality tests. I plan to use most of the information given. Specifically they give information on the speeds of transfer depending on how far away a computer is from the wireless router.

For my third research blog I decided to look to see what was wrong with using SharePoint. All programs have their flaws and I am certain this one is no exception. By reviewing the flaws we can be prepared for a couple of things. For one, we can review them to make sure that they are credible complaints and not something someone said to bring the image of Microsoft down. The second is that if they are creditable there might have been an update to the program in case someone asks.

For my second research blog I had found more information about SharePoint. The Microsoft Office website has a lot of demo videos for users to browse through to help them with any trouble they might have. This would definitely help train employees as well as get a feel on how to use Microsoft SharePoint. I watched a few of the “getting started” videos and felt that they were helpful. The voice in the video sounded nice to the ear as well as helpful. He talked slowly so that the actions on screen could match up with the user at home trying to duplicate the results.

Well for my first research blog I decided to see what SharePoint had to offer the consumer. Since I had never used it before I figured this would be a good start. The one piece of information I found was an Excel spreadsheet listing the features of the different versions of SharePoint. It seems that the 2007 version is the best. They added new features and improved on just about all of the current features offered in the 2003 version. Just by reading through the descriptions it seems like this product would really help people in the business world.

This research blog will give a summary of information found on the third party review of the D-link DIR-615 router by PC world. The review is online, found at http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/networking_wireless_voip/d-link/dir.... In their tests of this router they were able to establish that it averages 5.62 MBps while one meter away and it could average 4.39 MBps while thirteen meters away with two double-brick walls as an obstacle.

The website http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/nuc_reactors/reactsum.html will be the main source of information for the nuclear power section of the white paper project. This website contains summaries of official energy statistics from the United States Government for up to the past 10 years. Since this website is a government run page, the information should be completely factual and unbiased. It will also give credibility to our white paper.