a little insight into the technology that has changed the face of networking in this world..
and since its graded...... PLEASE SAY SOMETHING everyone. cheers. ((:
well, i think the internet is a huge step in journalism, basically because news can be updated every second!
in the past, journalism was all about finding a story of that day (newspaper) or week or month.. and creating and adding juice to it. Now, journalism is all about finding a story EVERY MOMENT! keeping and ear and eye out for every info, and the ability to churn a good story out of every tiny event. with the internet now, news that is yesterday is news that is considered history. people look forward to the most updated news, and they expect it.
in addition, the internet is pushing journalism to its further boundaries. for example, say a small newspaper like straits times. now that its online, it doesnt (can cannot) include just the write ups and pictures that they produce on paper. they need music, they need live feed, they need videos! multimedia is then included with the introduction of the internet into journalism. further more, now news can appeal to the younger crowd! (eg. stomp!)
i believe that the introduction of the internet to journalism was a very beneficial step to our society. i think the advantages far outweighs any limitations there may be..and i think this steps up the game of a journalist!
the advantages of using the internet as a political campaigning tool is tremendous! the power of the internet lies in the vast amount of people it can reach. basically, the whole world/country/state. whichever the politician is vying at. blog/website/video/speech. anything that they place available online is going to spread and can be seen by millions of people worldwide. therein lies the power. moreso, is the ability to craft the tools, the service, the input.. the possibility of a carefully thought out site that can reach out to even people who are opposing you. In addition, the internet can help generate funds for the campaign! just a simple button with a short respectful plea of a donation. and viola! no need for fundraising..
However there are limitations to campaigning online. (as there are for everything on the internet) 1stly, it's not so much a free world as we realized.. people have been sued and jailed for a slight remark in their blogs.. and so on. even in the US, there are people who could easily hack into your political site and create a virus linked to it. the worst thing i think, is the lack of personality. everyone knows that the site would not be created by YOU the politician. everyone knows that the words/tools/services up there were probably thought up by someone else in your campaign team. what is missing is the HUMAN TOUCH. ultimately, people want to see you. see if you're likable, and if you're reliable. and frankly, the cold vast internet is not going to show that.
i think generally us young people are just nonchalant about politics because it's so hypocritical. (well, i feel that way anyways) it seems like just a bunch of people vying to RULE! and for that they create a show, an act, make promises. and then the country is split into 2 or 3.. and they just fight it out, sometimes blackmarking each other, putting down each other. i dont think that's what a group/country should be about...
I think the coolest and best multimedia marketing was used by Nokia in Singapore.. for most of the communication companies, multimedia marketing is always used.. mostly on tv, or online. visual, and audio.. kiosks and booths here and there as well, every now and then. where they allow interaction, actual usage of the phone/tv etc. what really scored points for Nokia however was their Nokia Bus!! when I first saw it i was like whoah. what's happening....
here's a slideshow video thing i found of the buses..
There were pictures, there was music, there were videos for some, and the best were the chairs and flooring! a very club/bar chillout kinda feel that appeals to the youth which was their target consumer for this model.
i realized that the recent cybercrimes in singapore are really petty (or nerdy) things. well nerd in my own sense of course.. (:
the first that i read which happened 3 years ago is about a guy who sold gaming accounts online. after receiving the money, he will not change the email, but use it to reset the password after the other user has changed it. then he will sell it again! sounds childish, but he ripped in a lot of money through that avatar. he got caught after one of his buyers found the trend and used another friend to help catch him. he was fined $3K which i think is kinda lenient compared to my next news..
this is about a poor RJC boy who was just too overcompetitive and pressured i guess. he is a chinese national who came here to study (on scholarship i guess since hes in RJ) he did super well in his As, but felt the need to check his classmates results as well. so he hacked into the RJC databased and was just loading his schoolmates results when a techie caught him. Its sad that he was fined the max fine of 15K!! but due to his harmless deed, he was not jailed (which could've been up to 5 years..) really, i dont know how kids are falling into this pressure nowadays.. hacking into a schools system just to check your friends grades?!?! i would think hacking into it to change your grades seem more like a push factor... either way. its wrong of course... but yes. motive is really questionable here. haha.
i just realized i promised a video.. but i'm really up to my neck with work and SICK for that matter!!! since monday. ): so nevermind..
i think the google april fools jokes were all tools! so i guess i got that covered.
and on another note, i'm just amazed at how vast a database google has even for images.. yest i was searching for images of birds flying, and google had like a million pages (as usual) and i thought maybe i'll try another search engine cause they have different databases right. so i went to yahoo, and BOOM! only a measly 2 pages okayyy..... so yes. google! yippee. (:
a little digression here, was just studying about google tools, and trying out all their tools when i came across the history. in year 2000, they decided to be funny and launched an april fools joke. and it became a yearly tradition that i must say is absolutely HILARIOUS!!!!!! so remember to log on on april 1st this year to see what it is. (they're really good too! very detailed.. charts graph and everything..)
2001 - google home page was in language preference of a swedish chef.. (?) not so funny - http://www.google.com/intl/xx-bork/
2002 - under the technology link in the home page, they revealed their secret to a quick and good search engine: PIGEON POWER! - http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html
2003 - i think they missed that year.. haha.
2004 - they announced under their job opportunities linkGooglunaplex, a new research facility on the Moon. - http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html
2005 - they launched a drink! Google Gulp (BETA)™ which is proven help the drinker use the google search engi
ne more proficiently! - http://www.google.com/googlegulp/
2006 - launched google romance, a search engine to help find looovvvee.
http://www.google.com/romance/
2007 was a busy year for them.. - first they launched gmail in PAPER form! http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/index.html , then they had TiSP (Toilet Internet Service Provider) which i thought was funny - http://www.google.com/tisp/, then they actually lost and found a real snake in the office in NY! hahhahha. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/snakes-in-plain-old-office-building.html
2008 they featured 16 April Fool's jokes from our offices around the world - http://www.google.com/virgle/ , http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/04/introducing-adsense-for-conversations.html , wakeup call from google calender - http://www.google.com/googlecalendar/new_wakeup.html,
whooops! been so caught up with com 326 presentations.... (haha.)
anyways. internet tools.
i'm tired of talking and talking, cause nobody seems to be reading anyways, so i shall just post a video. (damn. i just realized i didn't save this video i did for a friends birthday and another one i did for my invitation to my party.. so i shall do a new one next week and hopefully it'll be good. (: ) using the iMovie is a lot more difficult than Windows movie maker.. movie maker is like idiot proof. but i shall support my mac family. look out for my video! i shall use final cut pro.
Let's look at the pros and cons of digital learning..
well, i think it has plenty of benefits, like if you're sick and your class is available as live feed online. that would be perfect! cause sometimes learning from the notes, or copying other's notes is not the same as listening to the lecturer cause what you pick up, or the way you can remember is different than others summarizing it. so yes, but unfortunately, none of my schools have that technology or availability so far. i think its good also when language learning can be done online. like my sisters when they were studying in Nanyang Poly, and they took up French. it was pretty funny and a lil annoying when they were practising and learning their "oui"s and "bonjours" in front of the computer while listening to the correct pronunciation. but i thought it was quite a good way to teach - online, instead of wasting valuable time and effort on the teacher to repeat himself or herself 2000 times over.
E-learning however done during E-learning break I think is totally useless. Especially in poly or some Uni.. unless its a research paper or experiment like our NTRs.. but other than that. eg. in poly during E learning week, we will have some online quizzes, some papers to hand in, some short answer questions online as well.. the best thing is that the questions are limited.. so we wait for a few people to do it, ask for the questions, and viola! a perfect score. the best quizzes (or i would say the worst since we dont learn much) is those that we can take as many times as we like. so we just keep trying for fun til we score full marks... ah. those were the days mann.
I just searched on the future on E-learning and i came across this research paper (http://www.gse.uci.edu/person/warschauer_m/docs/paradox.pdf). what's interesting is that it checks out some of the paradoxes of digital learning, and one of it was about how these learning are quite autonomous, anyone can really learn from anywhere (in a broad online sense) and that these out of school learning may lead to the downfall in formal education.. but i quote "The paradox here is that, at the same time that new opportunities increase for powerful out-of-school learning, formal education is actually rising rather than falling in its impact on people’s lives"and they went on with examples and support and all that. but yeah, that's pretty cool. that maybe digital learning is actually PUSHING people to want to study further or get further formal education.
I think in the future, we would probably be able to get a degree/masters/doctorate from a well known overseas Uni.. (lets say oxford just for the fun of it) while still in hot sunny sweaty singapore, in the comfort of my own aircon room (although i dont have aircon) and all done online! maybe everyday there's a 2-3 hours lecture.. or for the week the lecture is put up and you can enter it virtually.. maybe all the students are IMing online, and the lecturer is also online with us at a certain time so we can discuss any questions we have! that'd be pretty cool in terms of social networking as well! i know some degrees ARE available online now, but i dont believe those are really educational. i think that's just for those who want the cert. but yes. this online way of going to the school might allow those that cannot afford to enrol or fly over there to enter. (maybe they can cap a certain amount of seats for them etc..)
fun ah! maybe few years down the road with web 3.0 i'll get my doctorate this way. FWAHHAHA.
E commerce is the boom these days mann. okay the past years.. some of my friends are into it, and some enjoy spamming my mail to advertise their blogshops, trying to get me to advertise them... life has been much easier since i've blocked those. seriously, i dont think mass emailing or spam messaging helps in advertising one's business site. i think what matters most is credibility and word of mouth. and of course, most imptly, an idiot proof, easy to use, no frills site that anyone can use!
he listed 17 'must-have' in an e-commerce site. and it's not anything dramatic or special of out of the world. but instead very simple, and allows skeptical anti-online-shopping people like me to feel comfortable and want to try! (actually the only reason i dont is not having a credit card... but yes..)
what i agree most is pictures. for e-commerce, the item on sale is not in reality. its just an image on the net. the less i can see of the product, the less i can decide whether i want it. of course a 3d thingy would be cool.. but! prob expensive if i can do it myself as the business person. so the more pictures the merrier.
i guess the reason ecommerce can succeed if it has credibility. whether the website is super cool, or there are many products or whatever. if it doesn't meet the IMMEDIATE needs of the people... that's byebye to the site. in the near future, it would be great also if the site could narrow down my 'likes' and 'dislikes' and actually promote through emails or such if there's a new product that i might like.
the reason ecommerce can fail is basically the survival of the fittest. with the millions of sites around, there's DEFINITELY a site that is already selling what you're selling or something of the same 'family' anyways. so yes. there's always that competition. which means if you're a new business person, you'll need to have a pretty attractive site to draw customers! however, for a site to be attractive enough, you must either be a web designer yourself, or hire one. and then comes the problem of spending before you start earning.. and from the site my lecturer Abel Choy sent us, i thought it was hilarious how this company started expanding and growing across several states (U.S.) before it even started earning much! that's like... straight road to bankruptcy please. but yes. i also thought it was funny when the pet shop offered delivery service for their cat litter and took a while to send it.. the poor cat must have pooped all over the house.
i think what's worse though is the security of an online shop. not just for the seller, but the consumer! a classmate from this class was telling me how her friend got cheated after transfering her money already.. and it got me thinking.. yeah.. for an e-business to launch. that's the hard part. because before you have your ratings, before you have credibility under your belt, there needs to be a start. but who's gonna give you the start if there are sites cheating them? hmmmm.
that's my thoughts on e-business. if i did have a credit card, i would def buy stuff online. but only from sites that are established.. (APPLE.) ahhaha. but yes. i dont think i'll have a small blogshop thing because i think its a drag.. getting the stock, trying to sell it, trying to attract customers. but when i do have my own business when i'm older, i'll def push my services/products online. nothing reaches out better than the internet.
this is just an article i came upon in the Lancaster University alumni mag. how did i get it i have no idea. but anyways..taken from 994 youths aged 16-24, the stats are:
75% couldnt live without the net
45% feels happiest when online
32% believes they can access all info online and that there's no need to speak to a real person about their problems
82% turn to the net to look for advice/info for themselves and 60% for others
37% would use the info online to give advice to others.
76% believed the internet is a safe place "as long as you know what you're doing" and believe that they have the skills to sense and know if there is misrepresentation of any info.
the article however makes it sound like the internet is fantastic the way it plays a vital role in the young generations lives and how the online population have become the confidant for those who are struggling.
its odd however that they don't bring up the fact that their are still so many young people falling prey cheaters online. just that day a classmate told me about how her friend got cheated by a blogshop.. (ok that's next chapt but yes..) furthermore, the advices/infos on the internet can be put up by practically anyone, unless its an established website, but knowing the younger generation, wiki suffices for all info. in what way can these 'advices' help any of the troubled teens? no way. the fact that the internet has become their 'confidant' is really saying how they are isolating themselves and going into recluse as they reinforce the brick wall surrounding them. because on the net, i can pour out my troubles to... nobody actually. but psychologically i feel better. the problem however doesnt go away and when i go offline, it all comes back in a reality punch. what happened to human touch? what happened to humanity? what happened to listening? what happened to loving? nothing. everything is now virtual for them... i think it's quite a waste and feel quite sad for them.
social media, www, internet. all these are REALLY useful tools/technologies. but if overused/abused. say byebye to your personality and humanity.
this is the question that our lecturer posted to us last week.. and before i answer it, i shall give a lil overview on what social media is exactly.. the following clip is a really cute and simple version of what social media is..
basically, social media is the boom of web 2.0.. with the technology on the internet for anyone and everyone to give or share their input, information, or even entertainment.
i of course agree that Social Media is a very useful and helpful thing.. the benefits are really uncountable. with Skype, i can talk and even see my friends in australia easily! FREE!!! haha. that really amazes me all the time. Instant messaging isnt that fantastic to me, cause skype kinda just blows them all away. unfortunately, not everyone has skype, and a lot of people are not comfortable talking face to face now.. (i'll get to that later)
then we have blogs, where we can jabber on about what goes on in our lives, bore other people or entertain them, have a place to rant about our problems etc.. but what's great about the blog to me, is that it's an avenue for me to post my experiences (about my faith) to share with others. cause i believe that it's only when we share that we can grow spiritually.
next we have podcasts. which i think is a very good source of music/videos that can be downloaded, created, and definitely shared. however i dont use this because no $$$. hahaha. it's cheap really, just that you need a credit card to have a itunes account to dwld these podcasts. so yes.
i would think that the social networking sites are considered social media as well since they do allow posting of thoughts/insights, media, songs etc. everything really, and can post your blog's posts as it updates. i'm not exactly a fan of networking sites like Facebook and all. because i dont see why there's a need to have 'friends' that i really don't care for, and whom i would never speak to if i see them. but of course a friend of mine decided i needed one and set it up for me. and now i only log in once in a while to get photos and that's it. so i guess it's good cause if not the photos that are taken by others will always be lost and i would never receive them. there are other bonuses of course, eg. to keep in touch with new acquaintances that i made in Philippines when i there.. to really net work and ask for help if needed.
so these are all the benefits that social media has created and given to us nicely. however.. the thought of the increasing social media and the extend of its use giving more problems does make sense. in fact, i do believe strongly that social media can be used in a degratory way for mankind. its like a double edged sword.
1stly, there is a WHOLE LOT of people now addicted to FB. always needing (let me emphasize the NEEDING) to log on just to plant their farms, feed their animals, cook their food whatever. and really, if these games are educational, or they just wanna waste 10 mins of their time while resting or waiting that's fine. but these people are really addicted to this! wanting to play every moment they can, rushing home to play and playing for hours in a row! even playing at work. of course they say it's not an addiction and that it's fun... but really. bejewelled has been around for ages, only now that it's on FB and they can compete with their friends in terms of points every adult wants to play it. it just doesn't make sense.
and remember when i talked about how people are uncomfortable talking on skype cause its face to face and voice to voice and real time and everything. i work with a lot of youth. and i think its so odd how a lot of them cannot open up to me (or any of my friends) face to face but they can if its online. they don't know how to explain their feelings, they are not even in touch with their feelings because everyone posts their thoughts and nobody really cares about the other person online. not really anyways because if there's real care, it wouldn't be on a public network like FB or blog comments. so yes, in this way social media is promoting the self centeredness that we already have and are just encouraging everyone to try to outshine the other with the highest ratings, or most friends or whatever.
i dont think that social media is an invasion in privacy because those who delve into it or use it, knows that it is opening up some part of their lives. so yeah.. its the users who are giving up their privacy.. not the cause of the technology. however, i strongly believe that social media is degrading the human brain and just making the younger generation more and more stupid. because now they dont know how to express themselves OUTSIDE a blog. now they have a free 'world' where noone (ie their parents) can touch them, and the can cuss the F-word every other sentence or so. and now they have a channel that not only invites but promotes gossip. it's really sad to see the younger generation stumbling over words as they come out of their mouth and not being able to think of a witty comeback in a word battle because online, you can wait and think (or check online) for a good comeback! its really quite sad.
in conclusion. i'm not a fan of social media. the only thing i like is skype but nobody skypes as much. and of course im' okay with blogs if its for a good use/cause. other than that, i think IM is a total waste of time because you don't even vaguely care about any person that you can only speak to online and not face to face.
well, one of the things i learnt this week is about the beginnings of the internet..
1stly, the internet originated from some defense thing for the americans! so it basically started as a tool to keep them safe.. used by the army i think. but yes, thought it was classic that america invented the internet because it's all about freedom.. on the internet, you can do plenty of things that you may be restricted from in reality. eg. vent your frustrations via a blog.. or make new friends from across the world thru social net working sites.
another thing i learnt is that there are different 'versions' or 'types' of internet. there's web 1.0 which is basically a webpage that is a read-only, very passive type. in other words something that is one way, no interaction or communication except for maybe a simple feedback form. very HTML and javascript based.. like an informational web site! eg, my church website..
then there's web 2.0, 2nd generation of the internet, which uses syntax.. which is a programming thing that is actually a combination of symbols, and characters that creates the site. ( a little lost in the understanding here.. even though i researched more into it..) but yes. a lot of internet programming Jargon here. no worries. its simply a site where you can upload and maybe download stuff. whole lot of interaction, information sharing, collaborations, and really a more active and less limited platform where you can actually change the face of the site.
eg. this blog! hahahaa. or let me show you my personal reflection blog..
then last of all there's web 3.0 which is obviously the 3rd and predicted generation for the internet..known also as a semantic web.. where the computer itself can analyze, compute and compare data.. where it will become a world where machines and communicate with machines without human intervention (except maybe to fix the machines in times of breakdown...) but yes. sounds like a vision into the new vision but yet, not a very promising future.. (think iRobot...)
My views on these different generations are rather contradicting.. there is of course the numerous advantages of these different platforms and the advancements.. with web 3.0, it would be a lot less tedious to search for things that have been searched by other people before.. it would be a whole lot easier to search for information and to share videos and interact with people. it might be in fact so easy that it would evolve til our lives can be fully lived just by logging on to the net!
but then again, it's during the long and tedious searching of something that hone my skills and scanning, understanding, summarizing, and filtering a long article. it is when i slowly find for the video i want or music i want that i stumble across music (that may not be in the same category) that i happen to like!
i guess though there are plenty of perks with the web 2.0, and i love that we can interact and network and the global communication system isnt so 'global' anymore.. really, my friend in europe can be in the unit next to me, from the speed and way we communicate.... sometimes, the slow way filled with obstacles help mould and challenge (in a good way) the growth in me mentally.
