I will be very honest.
At the very beginning I thought, "Introduction to the Internet? I took a Business IT diploma in Polytechnic, this module can't get too difficult can it?"
And gradually over the weeks I realized my folly.
It CAN be difficult beyond my initial imaginations, simply because there are so many more aspects to the Internet than one can grasp offhand.
Through the weeks, we have learnt of the Internet's prevalence in different aspects of our lives.
Youngsters have come to be highly reliant on social media to maintain their interpersonal relationships, we have seen how this can be beneficial yet detrimental to them at the same time. Through social media such as second life, we caught a glimpse of the future, when virtual worlds will likely rise in importance parallel to the real world.
In the working world, e-commerce have already carved a niche for itself by proving to be effective in bringing success to companies. Similarly, e-learning is proving itself a valuable asset to the education sector as students now learn through various other mediums that do not require them to be in a physical classroom setting.
We have learnt to create our own movies with Windows Movie Maker and come to appreciate the numerous tools of Google. Tools such as Google trends and Google scholar will serve us well as we continue our journey as students. We learnt about Bloom's Taxonomy and fixed and growth mindset, knowledge that would inspire us to keep ourselves geared towards the geared mindset so as to ensure constant mental growth.
We have been instructed on the various threats our poor computers face on a daily basis, and taught to arm and protect ourselves against these threats, a knowledge that will benefit us in the future years to come as reliance and dependence on the Internet grows.
Multimedia applications that we have been using often but taking for granted were highlighted to us as we witness how much multimedia can aid us in various aspects, in work, education and entertainment.
Finally, an apathetic me was introduced to the impacts Internet has on politics and journalism. I learned how traditional ways and methods were being overturned as the Internet proved itself more valuable in reaching out to the masses.
The future of the Internet is definitely something to look forward to, as intricate wonders made possible by this evolution in technology fills our minds and imaginations. However, it is worrying to see this growing dependence and reliance on the Internet as it brings to mind the inevitable question, "What if something should happen some day in the future that would cut humans off from the Internet and its likes totally?"
The course has been made enjoyable by the influx of videos shown in class and the various stories told to us by Mr Abel Choy. It was only as I struggled with the blog posts, as I tried to make sense of the complicated Bloom's Taxonomy definitions, as I read about the mind boggling ways Internet has influenced politics and journalism, that I realized I have learnt alot. =)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Looking Ahead: Future of the Internet
Having already lived with the Internet for so many years of our life, one can only envision the boundless potentials that could come in time for the Internet. Where is it all going?
In future, we can only imagine how everything can be made simpler and more convenient by the Internet.
In 2019, for students, the e-learning we are doing now would be a thing of the old. Perhaps even this scenario would be considered outdated.
Learning in the future might even consist of projections of each individual involved in the teaching and learning process right to the sides of each participant, where students from different countries and spanning different national boundaries could interact and learn from each other as though they were right beside each other.
In other aspects of everyday life, this could be what we will be seeing and using in the future.
Information about anyone and everyone can probably be easily obtained through the Internet in future as more and more of us as individuals get 'stored' in the everlasting database of the Internet. In current times, we have employers checking facebook accounts of their employees. In the future, anyone might be able to check up on details of every other person through the Internet, if the situation is not carefully controlled. Interpersonal relations may be affected beyond our recognition as social media essentially promotes interaction through a medium instead of in person.
The Internet will become a place where everyone is trying to grasp a piece of every Internet users attention, be it for commercial, political, or other purposes. The Internet will be like a free market where users are 'up for grabs'.
Privacy and Internet security issues will be abundant as despite any obvious risks, the importance of the Internet in our everyday lives will only increase with time as we ourselves, and the young children that come after us, are taught to be dependent on the convenience and functionality of the Internet.
In future, we can only imagine how everything can be made simpler and more convenient by the Internet.
In 2019, for students, the e-learning we are doing now would be a thing of the old. Perhaps even this scenario would be considered outdated.
Learning in the future might even consist of projections of each individual involved in the teaching and learning process right to the sides of each participant, where students from different countries and spanning different national boundaries could interact and learn from each other as though they were right beside each other.
In other aspects of everyday life, this could be what we will be seeing and using in the future.
Information about anyone and everyone can probably be easily obtained through the Internet in future as more and more of us as individuals get 'stored' in the everlasting database of the Internet. In current times, we have employers checking facebook accounts of their employees. In the future, anyone might be able to check up on details of every other person through the Internet, if the situation is not carefully controlled. Interpersonal relations may be affected beyond our recognition as social media essentially promotes interaction through a medium instead of in person.
The Internet will become a place where everyone is trying to grasp a piece of every Internet users attention, be it for commercial, political, or other purposes. The Internet will be like a free market where users are 'up for grabs'.
Privacy and Internet security issues will be abundant as despite any obvious risks, the importance of the Internet in our everyday lives will only increase with time as we ourselves, and the young children that come after us, are taught to be dependent on the convenience and functionality of the Internet.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Journalism Online
The Internet's easy usage by anyone and everyone has led to a change in journalism.
No longer do the public have to rely stoically on traditional news medium to get information.
Not only can news be read online, all the major and minor newspapers out there have their own websites, news of all sorts can be obtained through various sources on the Internet.
The Internet is the catalyst to the evolution and improvement of various branches of journalism. It has given rise to civic, civilian and community journalism, and even played a part in saving investigative journalism.
It is through the Internet that many investigative journalism organizations make themselves known and accessible to the public. For example: Center for Investigative Reporting
The easy methods of posting materials on the Internet has created an extreme ease whereby civilians are able to input their two cents worth on current matters and issues around them. In many cases, civilians are even encouraged to contribute their opinions on news matters.
On news websites such as Channel NewsAsia, viewers are encouraged to send in their own contributions.
And blogs are featured and highlighted to showcase civilian attempts at journalistic articles. These provide the public with not just views of professional journalists, but also views of average citizens just like themselves.
Furthermore, websites such as Hardwarezone forms journalism for a niche market as it provides reviews and articles on a particular area of interest, in this case, electronics.
In the main page itself, you will find news articles on various electronics and relevant incidences. There are features on product highlights and recommendations for viewers to pore over and consider.
Such information, which used to be gleaned from newspaper reviews, are now easily found online. Just like the blogs and online article contributions that provide more views and opinions than those featured in the traditional news medium.
However, the way Internet is contributing to Journalism might be detrimental as the credibility of these 'online journalists' can be hard to determine. Contributors to such online forms of journalism could be biased or have a hidden agenda, yet there are no editors to keep them in check and ensure the accuracy of news reported.
No longer do the public have to rely stoically on traditional news medium to get information.
Not only can news be read online, all the major and minor newspapers out there have their own websites, news of all sorts can be obtained through various sources on the Internet.The Internet is the catalyst to the evolution and improvement of various branches of journalism. It has given rise to civic, civilian and community journalism, and even played a part in saving investigative journalism.
It is through the Internet that many investigative journalism organizations make themselves known and accessible to the public. For example: Center for Investigative Reporting
The easy methods of posting materials on the Internet has created an extreme ease whereby civilians are able to input their two cents worth on current matters and issues around them. In many cases, civilians are even encouraged to contribute their opinions on news matters.
On news websites such as Channel NewsAsia, viewers are encouraged to send in their own contributions.
And blogs are featured and highlighted to showcase civilian attempts at journalistic articles. These provide the public with not just views of professional journalists, but also views of average citizens just like themselves.
Furthermore, websites such as Hardwarezone forms journalism for a niche market as it provides reviews and articles on a particular area of interest, in this case, electronics.
In the main page itself, you will find news articles on various electronics and relevant incidences. There are features on product highlights and recommendations for viewers to pore over and consider.Such information, which used to be gleaned from newspaper reviews, are now easily found online. Just like the blogs and online article contributions that provide more views and opinions than those featured in the traditional news medium.
However, the way Internet is contributing to Journalism might be detrimental as the credibility of these 'online journalists' can be hard to determine. Contributors to such online forms of journalism could be biased or have a hidden agenda, yet there are no editors to keep them in check and ensure the accuracy of news reported.
Political Blues
Politicians have to reach out to the masses. Over the years, different forms of medium played different roles in helping politicians reach out to the people and garner support. After radio, after televisions, the Internet, if used efficiently, has the ability to help politicians along in their quest in campaigns.
“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” said Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post.
Here, is a politician who knew how to make use of a new medium to reach out to the masses and secure his own route to the white house.
The main advantage the Internet has over other mediums is the ability to reach out to the masses, people who voluntarily go around seeking for information, and people who unwittingly stumble on information whilst surfing online. Obama's efficient usage of the Internet helped him mobilize and organize his supporters, provide him with free advertising, drum his words and speeches into the ears of the public, and maintain a form of constant contact with potential voters.
Obama made use of his website to organize supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents.
On his website is also a link to a wide variety of website accounts of Obama, from popular websites like Facebook and Twitter, to other less known sites. All these sites are there to serve one purpose, to reach out to the masses, keeping the public in the loop and in the know.
Anyone can add Barack Obama to their friends list on facebook and keep themselves constantly updated with the political scene.
Obamas youtube page also serves as a form of free advertising for Obama. All videos related to Barack Obama's campaign can be found in this website to be viewed and reviewed by Internet users. According to a political consultant, Mr Joe Trippi, on New York Times, “The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours. To buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million.” My lecture mates and I can probably resonate most with this when an assignment we were given a few semesters back consisted of listening to Barack Obama's speech on race, A More Perfect Union, again and again on youtube just to pick out its main points and arguments for extra credit.
The downside to the prevalence in the Interenet's ability to aid in political campaigns would be that the Internet immortalizes everything. Every little mistake politicians make, every wrong move, every wrong word they say, will be logged somewhere on the Internet, to be viewed and reviewed by Internet users, to be broken down, analyzed and criticized. Also, the Internet reaches out to a certain audience demographic, excluding voters or potential voters which do not have Internet access or regularly use the Internet to acquire sources of information.
The Internet is thus a double edged sword which politicians can wield to their advantage, if wielded correctly, yet they should always be aware of the different repercussions and negative traits associated with every medium they try to use for their purpose.
Resources: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/
“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” said Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post.
Here, is a politician who knew how to make use of a new medium to reach out to the masses and secure his own route to the white house.
The main advantage the Internet has over other mediums is the ability to reach out to the masses, people who voluntarily go around seeking for information, and people who unwittingly stumble on information whilst surfing online. Obama's efficient usage of the Internet helped him mobilize and organize his supporters, provide him with free advertising, drum his words and speeches into the ears of the public, and maintain a form of constant contact with potential voters.
Obama made use of his website to organize supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents.
On his website is also a link to a wide variety of website accounts of Obama, from popular websites like Facebook and Twitter, to other less known sites. All these sites are there to serve one purpose, to reach out to the masses, keeping the public in the loop and in the know.
Anyone can add Barack Obama to their friends list on facebook and keep themselves constantly updated with the political scene.
Obamas youtube page also serves as a form of free advertising for Obama. All videos related to Barack Obama's campaign can be found in this website to be viewed and reviewed by Internet users. According to a political consultant, Mr Joe Trippi, on New York Times, “The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours. To buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million.” My lecture mates and I can probably resonate most with this when an assignment we were given a few semesters back consisted of listening to Barack Obama's speech on race, A More Perfect Union, again and again on youtube just to pick out its main points and arguments for extra credit.The downside to the prevalence in the Interenet's ability to aid in political campaigns would be that the Internet immortalizes everything. Every little mistake politicians make, every wrong move, every wrong word they say, will be logged somewhere on the Internet, to be viewed and reviewed by Internet users, to be broken down, analyzed and criticized. Also, the Internet reaches out to a certain audience demographic, excluding voters or potential voters which do not have Internet access or regularly use the Internet to acquire sources of information.
The Internet is thus a double edged sword which politicians can wield to their advantage, if wielded correctly, yet they should always be aware of the different repercussions and negative traits associated with every medium they try to use for their purpose.
Resources: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/
Monday, April 13, 2009
Leading in the Multimedia
Multimedia tools are being employed everywhere, at school, work, for entertainment, education, and a variety of other purposes.
Out of all these purposes, perhaps the usage of multimedia for education is most evidently seen in schools today.
Lead stands for LEArning eDvantage, a multimedia portal that primary schools employ to engage their students in interactive learning.
In the LEAD website, students are able to learn their various subjects through games, stories, and interactive learning materials.
For example, when learning about the Digestive System, students are directed to an animation where a professor explains the different aspects of the digestive system to his daughter. The explanations are accompanied by animated pictures and lively voiceovers that speak directly to the audience as well. Students are able to navigate back and forth between the different segments of explanations.
After learning through the animations, students are able to test their acquired knowledge through the quizzes and activity links provided. These quizzes and activities are designed like games to increase students' interests and engagement.
For subjects such as English and Chinese, the stories and texts found in the students' textbooks are also animated and read aloud to them through the LEAD portal.
Through stations such as the Story Corner, Game Station and Learn station, students' interests are sparked and maintained as they get to interact with the learning materials.
However, the downside of this multimedia function of learning is that students are unable to reflect to the 'instructors' when they do not understand the materials. The learning materials are fixed and inflexible, and even if students repeat the learning process, they will still be getting the same materials and explanations instead of further elaborations. Thus this form of multimedia still has to be monitored closely by teachers to ensure that students are gleaning the most out of this learning experience.
Out of all these purposes, perhaps the usage of multimedia for education is most evidently seen in schools today.
Lead stands for LEArning eDvantage, a multimedia portal that primary schools employ to engage their students in interactive learning.
In the LEAD website, students are able to learn their various subjects through games, stories, and interactive learning materials.
For example, when learning about the Digestive System, students are directed to an animation where a professor explains the different aspects of the digestive system to his daughter. The explanations are accompanied by animated pictures and lively voiceovers that speak directly to the audience as well. Students are able to navigate back and forth between the different segments of explanations.
After learning through the animations, students are able to test their acquired knowledge through the quizzes and activity links provided. These quizzes and activities are designed like games to increase students' interests and engagement.
For subjects such as English and Chinese, the stories and texts found in the students' textbooks are also animated and read aloud to them through the LEAD portal.
Through stations such as the Story Corner, Game Station and Learn station, students' interests are sparked and maintained as they get to interact with the learning materials.
However, the downside of this multimedia function of learning is that students are unable to reflect to the 'instructors' when they do not understand the materials. The learning materials are fixed and inflexible, and even if students repeat the learning process, they will still be getting the same materials and explanations instead of further elaborations. Thus this form of multimedia still has to be monitored closely by teachers to ensure that students are gleaning the most out of this learning experience.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
War - from the comfort of our computer tables
Taking extra steps for what seems to be simple processes never feels good, no matter how necessary those steps are. (So says the true blue lazy bug.)
Regardless of the reasons for our computer usage, ultimately we want to use it to get somewhere, from Point A to Point B. Point B could be...a website, a successful transaction, a download, etc. It's so simple and fast to go straight from A to B, just like what the purple man did down there. *looks down*
...except he seems to be in a pretty bad shape at the end of it. (My condolences. *observes a minute of silence*)
And then we notice the little blue man, who took a much longer time to get where he is. En route he stopped to equip himself with an armor, sword, shield, bow and arrow, and I presume he utilized them effectively on the way. He also took pains to avoid the waiting monsters and navigate himself slowly but surely to point B, ending up well and alive and all the stronger for his efforts. *applause*
How tiring to do that you say... Well...it's YOUR privacy, money, identity, safety and data you're putting on the line. Your choice. *shrugs*
Let's start with simpler options...simply avoiding some of these dangers especially susceptible to youngsters.
When faced with the alternative of buying really expensive software, many of us might be tempted to simply download it from the Internet for free. But how safe are these illegal software copies (known as warez in Internet subculture)? These warez are offered on numerous warez-focused websites on the Internet. Don't be surprised to discover any amount of spyware on your computer after a visit to or a download from such sites.
After downloading such illegal software, serial numbers or keys are needed to crack the installation files. Some websites provide these keys, or sometimes key generators are used for the purpose. Unknown to most of us, key generators can install keyloggers on your computers, designed to record every keystroke you type, and subsequently send your passwords and personal information to third parties. *gasps*
The Internet is like a huge database where real time need not exist. This is best reflected in the uploading and downloading of videos. There really isn't much need for tv viewers to be glued to their television sets following television programs and dramas and such (and enduring all the advertisements and be confined to say an episode a day) these days. Much video content can be found on the Internet, to be watched on streaming sites, or even be downloaded to your computer for viewing at your own leisurely pace.
If you often download audio or video content from the web, you'll be pretty familiar with the usage of codecs. Codecs are "like a set of instructions your computer can use to allow you to watch and hear content". Video and audio programs usually kindly inform you when you are lacking specific codecs to play certain files, and internet search engines efficiently direct you to codec packs claiming to contain the codec you need. The downside is...you have no idea what else comes in the bundle. Trojans and adware can easily be hiding among the package, ready to be unzipped and unleashed on an unsuspecting you. *ouch*
A note to all the guys out there, websites containing pornographic material may tell you to download a plug-in codec to watch online videos. (Not that I would know...I read about it here!) Anyway, BEWARE! These codecs might be false, they'll simply open your computer's system up to harmful software. Okay let's be fair, these fake video codec sites, although often centered on pornography, could just as easily be found on any other type of website. So girls...beware too... *sounds ominous*
There are so many things to take note of and avoid... Pop-ups, rogue software, drive-by downloads, email attachments containing hidden surprises, etc. We definitely need that armor, sword, shield, and whatever other weapons are out there to protect ourselves from these dangers.
If you haven't already, go load up on those anti-spyware and anti-virus software. Don't just click on any pop-up claiming to have found viruses on your computer and asking if you want a free scan, those are most likely rogue software, waiting to wreck havoc once you click 'ok'. Make the effort, go hunt around a little for trusted providers. For UB students, the ubit website is there for a purpose, utilize it!
So you've already installed the software, you're suited up and brandishing those swords and shields, well, make sure your software is up to date. (i.e. upgrade those swords and shields to guns and rifles if that's what takes down the new forms of viruses)
Make sure THIS is what happens.
And lastly, ignorance is NOT always bliss. Keep yourself updated on the viruses and trojans and worms lurking around out there. Prevention is better than cure.
To everyone out there fighting this war with cyber-ill-doers, all the best!
Resources: http://stopbadware.org/home/trends2007
Regardless of the reasons for our computer usage, ultimately we want to use it to get somewhere, from Point A to Point B. Point B could be...a website, a successful transaction, a download, etc. It's so simple and fast to go straight from A to B, just like what the purple man did down there. *looks down*
...except he seems to be in a pretty bad shape at the end of it. (My condolences. *observes a minute of silence*)And then we notice the little blue man, who took a much longer time to get where he is. En route he stopped to equip himself with an armor, sword, shield, bow and arrow, and I presume he utilized them effectively on the way. He also took pains to avoid the waiting monsters and navigate himself slowly but surely to point B, ending up well and alive and all the stronger for his efforts. *applause*
How tiring to do that you say... Well...it's YOUR privacy, money, identity, safety and data you're putting on the line. Your choice. *shrugs*
Let's start with simpler options...simply avoiding some of these dangers especially susceptible to youngsters.
When faced with the alternative of buying really expensive software, many of us might be tempted to simply download it from the Internet for free. But how safe are these illegal software copies (known as warez in Internet subculture)? These warez are offered on numerous warez-focused websites on the Internet. Don't be surprised to discover any amount of spyware on your computer after a visit to or a download from such sites.
After downloading such illegal software, serial numbers or keys are needed to crack the installation files. Some websites provide these keys, or sometimes key generators are used for the purpose. Unknown to most of us, key generators can install keyloggers on your computers, designed to record every keystroke you type, and subsequently send your passwords and personal information to third parties. *gasps*
The Internet is like a huge database where real time need not exist. This is best reflected in the uploading and downloading of videos. There really isn't much need for tv viewers to be glued to their television sets following television programs and dramas and such (and enduring all the advertisements and be confined to say an episode a day) these days. Much video content can be found on the Internet, to be watched on streaming sites, or even be downloaded to your computer for viewing at your own leisurely pace.
If you often download audio or video content from the web, you'll be pretty familiar with the usage of codecs. Codecs are "like a set of instructions your computer can use to allow you to watch and hear content". Video and audio programs usually kindly inform you when you are lacking specific codecs to play certain files, and internet search engines efficiently direct you to codec packs claiming to contain the codec you need. The downside is...you have no idea what else comes in the bundle. Trojans and adware can easily be hiding among the package, ready to be unzipped and unleashed on an unsuspecting you. *ouch*A note to all the guys out there, websites containing pornographic material may tell you to download a plug-in codec to watch online videos. (Not that I would know...I read about it here!) Anyway, BEWARE! These codecs might be false, they'll simply open your computer's system up to harmful software. Okay let's be fair, these fake video codec sites, although often centered on pornography, could just as easily be found on any other type of website. So girls...beware too... *sounds ominous*
There are so many things to take note of and avoid... Pop-ups, rogue software, drive-by downloads, email attachments containing hidden surprises, etc. We definitely need that armor, sword, shield, and whatever other weapons are out there to protect ourselves from these dangers.
If you haven't already, go load up on those anti-spyware and anti-virus software. Don't just click on any pop-up claiming to have found viruses on your computer and asking if you want a free scan, those are most likely rogue software, waiting to wreck havoc once you click 'ok'. Make the effort, go hunt around a little for trusted providers. For UB students, the ubit website is there for a purpose, utilize it!
So you've already installed the software, you're suited up and brandishing those swords and shields, well, make sure your software is up to date. (i.e. upgrade those swords and shields to guns and rifles if that's what takes down the new forms of viruses)
Don't let this happen to you.
Make sure THIS is what happens.
And lastly, ignorance is NOT always bliss. Keep yourself updated on the viruses and trojans and worms lurking around out there. Prevention is better than cure.
To everyone out there fighting this war with cyber-ill-doers, all the best!
Resources: http://stopbadware.org/home/trends2007
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Pseudo Professional Movie Producer and More Tools for the Lazymen
I've only ever created two fanvideos in my life, a few years back when I was still a fan of certain Japanese idols and just discovering the wonders of Windows Movie Maker.
The first one was produced in the school library. I was bored and got to fiddling around with whatever I had on hand and before I knew it, I was creating something new out of my favorite episode of a particular drama.
I had everything I needed right in front of me: my friend's external hard disk (filled with the episode of the drama I wanted to work on and a mini selection of music), a lot of time to kill, my overactive imagination and pretty commendable patience for slow tasks, and...Windows Movie Maker on the library computer.
After installing the required codecs and stuff, I was good to go. I selected the episode, tweaked and made up the storyline in my mind, went through the songs and found one that seemed appropriate for what I wanted, dumped everything into Windows Movie Maker and started playing around.
From a one hour long episode, I ended up with a five minutes plus music video with a mini storyline of its own. I added in subtitles of my own, played with the fading and transitions effects to make it look relatively smooth, and by the time my friends returned, I had my very first fanvideo for them to comment on and edit.
(Pardon the song's crappy English, I would have gladly corrected the singers but they neglected to seek my opinion whilst writing the lyrics. And if the song sounds weird, I blame Veoh, my original version sounds a lot better.)
Just for the fun of it, my second fanvideo was more lighthearted. I was watching a variety segment and felt kind of sad for what happened in the end to the girl in the video, the original video was kinda mean. So I played around a little and gave the video a new purpose, (less mean more sweet)...and hey, judging from the comments, I think I fulfilled quite a few fangirls' dreams. ^^V
Windows Movie Maker had allowed me the thrill of creating my own videos, of 'producing' a clip that features some of the finest young actors in Japan at the moment, of solidifying the thoughts I had in my mind whilst watching the original dramas and shows and presenting them to others. In a warped sense of the word, I could say, "Hey I produced a clip that insert actor's name here acted in!"
It was an undoubtedly thoughtful and gratifying process, juggling and blending the original video's audio and the overlaying music to best bring the story across; deciding when to kill the music to emphasize on the significance of certain scenes; cutting and adding extra scenes in so that emotional parts of the scene matched with the emotional parts of the music, so on and so forth.
And at the end of it, viewing the resulting video, the only word that came to mind was...satisfaction. =) A pity I no longer have time to play with it.
Now to the more serious stuff.. Google Tools.. o.o
Yes Google has introduced a mind boggling amount of tools that greatly aid people in their search for information. It's kind of led to our reliance on Google for information, be it the frequent abuse of Google Scholar for research, Google Maps for directions, etc. I've taken to responding to questions that I can't answer with, "Google it!"
With such a wide array of tools to use, Simply Google, is a useful application that nicely consolidates all of Google’s specialized searches in one easy-to-use page.
Simply type in your keywords in the respective search boxes you were aiming for, the whole list is laid out there for you to choose from. Simply Google is regularly updated and maintained so it's pretty up to date.
Another application that I found very interesting and useful would be Babelplex. Of all the things Mr Choy showed us in class, I think I was most impressed by the amount of languages Google features. That list was simply...impressive! Searching for particular subjects in different languages churn up whole new results at times, and then again there are those times when you've forgotten what a certain word should be in another language.
Babelplex acts as a cross between a search engine (Google) and a translation tool for 35 language combination. Think of a collision of Google and Babelfish. Select the function to translate English to perhaps Chinese, type in your keywords and you'll be returned a screen that is split into half, with the results for your keyword in English on one half, and results in Chinese on the other half.
If you ever found the need to, you could even select the option to translate English to English, and then search for two different subjects on each half of the page to compare them or speed up your search process.
With these tools, there is, simply put, less of the possibility that anyone can get away with claiming they couldn't find any research on the Internet.
Just Google it!
The first one was produced in the school library. I was bored and got to fiddling around with whatever I had on hand and before I knew it, I was creating something new out of my favorite episode of a particular drama.
I had everything I needed right in front of me: my friend's external hard disk (filled with the episode of the drama I wanted to work on and a mini selection of music), a lot of time to kill, my overactive imagination and pretty commendable patience for slow tasks, and...Windows Movie Maker on the library computer.
After installing the required codecs and stuff, I was good to go. I selected the episode, tweaked and made up the storyline in my mind, went through the songs and found one that seemed appropriate for what I wanted, dumped everything into Windows Movie Maker and started playing around.
From a one hour long episode, I ended up with a five minutes plus music video with a mini storyline of its own. I added in subtitles of my own, played with the fading and transitions effects to make it look relatively smooth, and by the time my friends returned, I had my very first fanvideo for them to comment on and edit.
(Pardon the song's crappy English, I would have gladly corrected the singers but they neglected to seek my opinion whilst writing the lyrics. And if the song sounds weird, I blame Veoh, my original version sounds a lot better.)
Just for the fun of it, my second fanvideo was more lighthearted. I was watching a variety segment and felt kind of sad for what happened in the end to the girl in the video, the original video was kinda mean. So I played around a little and gave the video a new purpose, (less mean more sweet)...and hey, judging from the comments, I think I fulfilled quite a few fangirls' dreams. ^^V
Windows Movie Maker had allowed me the thrill of creating my own videos, of 'producing' a clip that features some of the finest young actors in Japan at the moment, of solidifying the thoughts I had in my mind whilst watching the original dramas and shows and presenting them to others. In a warped sense of the word, I could say, "Hey I produced a clip that insert actor's name here acted in!"
It was an undoubtedly thoughtful and gratifying process, juggling and blending the original video's audio and the overlaying music to best bring the story across; deciding when to kill the music to emphasize on the significance of certain scenes; cutting and adding extra scenes in so that emotional parts of the scene matched with the emotional parts of the music, so on and so forth.
And at the end of it, viewing the resulting video, the only word that came to mind was...satisfaction. =) A pity I no longer have time to play with it.
Now to the more serious stuff.. Google Tools.. o.o
Yes Google has introduced a mind boggling amount of tools that greatly aid people in their search for information. It's kind of led to our reliance on Google for information, be it the frequent abuse of Google Scholar for research, Google Maps for directions, etc. I've taken to responding to questions that I can't answer with, "Google it!"
With such a wide array of tools to use, Simply Google, is a useful application that nicely consolidates all of Google’s specialized searches in one easy-to-use page.
Simply type in your keywords in the respective search boxes you were aiming for, the whole list is laid out there for you to choose from. Simply Google is regularly updated and maintained so it's pretty up to date.
Another application that I found very interesting and useful would be Babelplex. Of all the things Mr Choy showed us in class, I think I was most impressed by the amount of languages Google features. That list was simply...impressive! Searching for particular subjects in different languages churn up whole new results at times, and then again there are those times when you've forgotten what a certain word should be in another language.
Babelplex acts as a cross between a search engine (Google) and a translation tool for 35 language combination. Think of a collision of Google and Babelfish. Select the function to translate English to perhaps Chinese, type in your keywords and you'll be returned a screen that is split into half, with the results for your keyword in English on one half, and results in Chinese on the other half.
If you ever found the need to, you could even select the option to translate English to English, and then search for two different subjects on each half of the page to compare them or speed up your search process.
With these tools, there is, simply put, less of the possibility that anyone can get away with claiming they couldn't find any research on the Internet.
Just Google it!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Classrooms (Real and Imagined)
Sometime last week, my little sister happily announced over dinner that her class had an extra free period during Maths that day.
Me: Free period? Maths? Orhhh.. Teacher absent is it?
Sis: Nope. The internet connection in the computer lab was down. =)
Me: o.o?!?!
It turned out that her Maths lessons now consists of having each pupil sit in front of a computer in the computer lab, navigating themselves around learning websites which has interesting programs teaching and allowing students to practise their mathematics skills through engaging games. The teacher then walks around facilitating students' usage of the computer.
About a decade ago, the age whereby I myself was in Pri 4, classrooms looked something like that...
Teachers still used chalkboards and each student relied mainly on their textbooks and exercise books.
In my secondary school, classrooms started to look like this.
Chalkboards were substituted with whiteboards. Teachers started to rely more on overhead projectors and a little bit of computers. Once in a blue moon,
we were taken to the computer labs for certain lessons. A rare treat!
At that time, our imagined classrooms of the future would probably be what we have now.
Currently, for certain schools or subjects, some classrooms already look like this...
Where each student sits in front of a computer and interacts more with the computer than the teacher. 'Blackboard' now refers to a provider of products that enable universities, schools, and corporations to host their classes on the World Wide Web.
At first I naively thought such technological advances in the classroom came with age. I'm growing up and progressing up the educatinal ladder and thus with each advancement, classrooms are more well-equipped! Until I realized that children in Primary schools or even pre-school have classrooms that are very well-equipped technological-wise. *Cue the awe and disappointment.*
Before long, we can expect to see...
And nope, this is not the farthest we could go with integrating digital wonder into the classrooms.
Imagine a future where the desks and seats have been substituted by workstations such as the RM Delta (click to read more about it, it's pretty interesting), specially designed for future classrooms.
The high utility of technology in classrooms may or may not be beneficial to the essential act of teaching and learning, as can be seen in this article questioning the wiseness of schools that have spent too much money digitalising the classroom with gadgets and technology, but the thought of a tech-savvy classroom filled with jawdropping gadgets that people of the older generation could only dream of is still an ideal that people are working towards.
At the rate we are going down the path of technological advancements, the future digital classroom is indeed something worth beholding. As far as imaginations go, a good guideline would be the government's vision for 2015.
Every student will own a slim tablet of their own, containing everything they need to succeed in the classroom.
Or perhaps there wouldn't even be future digital classrooms. With technology, learning is becoming very much an individualised process, so what's to stop it from being such that students of the future can all learn at home using their own computers and laptops and tablets and whatnots?
Classes will be taught through interactive web programs, e-learning where virtual lecturers provide students with information needed and best of all, these lectures can be repeated as and when needed (e.g. when studying for exams!) Assignments can be submitted online, students' usage of 'class hours' can be monitored online, etc.
Seems like in future, instead of teachers, we'll be needing more IT experts to ensure that all these technology function properly, cuz by then, the malfunction of the computer or an Internet downtime wouldn't mean just a free period, it'll mean a whole free day void of learning.
Me: Free period? Maths? Orhhh.. Teacher absent is it?
Sis: Nope. The internet connection in the computer lab was down. =)
Me: o.o?!?!
It turned out that her Maths lessons now consists of having each pupil sit in front of a computer in the computer lab, navigating themselves around learning websites which has interesting programs teaching and allowing students to practise their mathematics skills through engaging games. The teacher then walks around facilitating students' usage of the computer.
About a decade ago, the age whereby I myself was in Pri 4, classrooms looked something like that...
Teachers still used chalkboards and each student relied mainly on their textbooks and exercise books.
In my secondary school, classrooms started to look like this.
Chalkboards were substituted with whiteboards. Teachers started to rely more on overhead projectors and a little bit of computers. Once in a blue moon,
we were taken to the computer labs for certain lessons. A rare treat!
At that time, our imagined classrooms of the future would probably be what we have now.
Currently, for certain schools or subjects, some classrooms already look like this...
Where each student sits in front of a computer and interacts more with the computer than the teacher. 'Blackboard' now refers to a provider of products that enable universities, schools, and corporations to host their classes on the World Wide Web.
At first I naively thought such technological advances in the classroom came with age. I'm growing up and progressing up the educatinal ladder and thus with each advancement, classrooms are more well-equipped! Until I realized that children in Primary schools or even pre-school have classrooms that are very well-equipped technological-wise. *Cue the awe and disappointment.*
Before long, we can expect to see...
And nope, this is not the farthest we could go with integrating digital wonder into the classrooms.
Imagine a future where the desks and seats have been substituted by workstations such as the RM Delta (click to read more about it, it's pretty interesting), specially designed for future classrooms.
The high utility of technology in classrooms may or may not be beneficial to the essential act of teaching and learning, as can be seen in this article questioning the wiseness of schools that have spent too much money digitalising the classroom with gadgets and technology, but the thought of a tech-savvy classroom filled with jawdropping gadgets that people of the older generation could only dream of is still an ideal that people are working towards.
At the rate we are going down the path of technological advancements, the future digital classroom is indeed something worth beholding. As far as imaginations go, a good guideline would be the government's vision for 2015.
Every student will own a slim tablet of their own, containing everything they need to succeed in the classroom.
Or perhaps there wouldn't even be future digital classrooms. With technology, learning is becoming very much an individualised process, so what's to stop it from being such that students of the future can all learn at home using their own computers and laptops and tablets and whatnots?
Classes will be taught through interactive web programs, e-learning where virtual lecturers provide students with information needed and best of all, these lectures can be repeated as and when needed (e.g. when studying for exams!) Assignments can be submitted online, students' usage of 'class hours' can be monitored online, etc.
Seems like in future, instead of teachers, we'll be needing more IT experts to ensure that all these technology function properly, cuz by then, the malfunction of the computer or an Internet downtime wouldn't mean just a free period, it'll mean a whole free day void of learning.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
E(volved)-Marketing
With technology, everything around us is evolving.
The Internet has led to evolved models of e-business, e-commerce, so on and so forth. Most (if not all) aspects of setting up and maintaining a business are being shifted online. Marketing joined in along with the shift and now, online marketing is an essential ingredient that no company should lack in the recipe to being successful.
The evolution in marketing has resulted in Internet Marketing—The End of Traditional Marketing as We Know It. Building on to WEB 2.0, it's also called Marketing 2.0.
So what determines the success of E-Marketing?
The most important key to any form of successful marketing is personalisation. There are little details to take note of to remind your customers (or potential customers) that you acknowledge them as individuals and are reaching out to them not as part of a nameless group of strangers but as unique people with a possible interest in what you have to offer. It is to your benefit that you build and maintain relationships with clients through the Internet.
- If possible, include names on all e-mails sent to current and potential clients. It would definitely be a lot more personal than a mass sent email addressed to 'whomever it may concern.'
- Make sure your e-marketing content (newsletters, etc) makes sense. Sending out ill-thought of materials merely annoys clients. Ensure that the tone of your materials is warm and perhaps even appropriately humorous. Make these materials something that your clients look forward to receiving.
- Make clients feel welcomed at your website. To the virtual visitor, your website is your office. It must be friendly and easy to navigate. Make clients feel at home.
- Focus on getting customers to come back. Never be tempted to trick customers into dealing with you by using unorthodox methods like misleading offers or coercion. You could earn a few dollars that way, but in the long term, never forget that on the Internet, it is so much easier for dissatisfied customers to spread complaints and ruin the name of your company.
- Clearly identify the actions you would like the visitors to take. For a primary goal of selling a product, your call to action would probably be 'Buy this product now...' or something similar.
This evolved form of marketing could possibly make or break a company so it would be wise to pay attention to the little intricate details and not bank on old methods that worked fine with traditional marketing.
Never be too awed by an evolution not to work it for the best. =)
Resources:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Simple-Ways-to-Ensure-eMarketing-Success&id=1909268
http://www.phoneplusmag.com/articles/241echannel2.html
http://www.thewisemarketer.com/features/read.asp?id=19
The Internet has led to evolved models of e-business, e-commerce, so on and so forth. Most (if not all) aspects of setting up and maintaining a business are being shifted online. Marketing joined in along with the shift and now, online marketing is an essential ingredient that no company should lack in the recipe to being successful.
The evolution in marketing has resulted in Internet Marketing—The End of Traditional Marketing as We Know It. Building on to WEB 2.0, it's also called Marketing 2.0.
So what determines the success of E-Marketing?The most important key to any form of successful marketing is personalisation. There are little details to take note of to remind your customers (or potential customers) that you acknowledge them as individuals and are reaching out to them not as part of a nameless group of strangers but as unique people with a possible interest in what you have to offer. It is to your benefit that you build and maintain relationships with clients through the Internet.
- If possible, include names on all e-mails sent to current and potential clients. It would definitely be a lot more personal than a mass sent email addressed to 'whomever it may concern.'
- Make sure your e-marketing content (newsletters, etc) makes sense. Sending out ill-thought of materials merely annoys clients. Ensure that the tone of your materials is warm and perhaps even appropriately humorous. Make these materials something that your clients look forward to receiving.
- Make clients feel welcomed at your website. To the virtual visitor, your website is your office. It must be friendly and easy to navigate. Make clients feel at home.
- Focus on getting customers to come back. Never be tempted to trick customers into dealing with you by using unorthodox methods like misleading offers or coercion. You could earn a few dollars that way, but in the long term, never forget that on the Internet, it is so much easier for dissatisfied customers to spread complaints and ruin the name of your company.
- Clearly identify the actions you would like the visitors to take. For a primary goal of selling a product, your call to action would probably be 'Buy this product now...' or something similar.
This evolved form of marketing could possibly make or break a company so it would be wise to pay attention to the little intricate details and not bank on old methods that worked fine with traditional marketing.
Never be too awed by an evolution not to work it for the best. =)
Resources:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Simple-Ways-to-Ensure-eMarketing-Success&id=1909268
http://www.phoneplusmag.com/articles/241echannel2.html
http://www.thewisemarketer.com/features/read.asp?id=19
Monday, January 26, 2009
Life...Second to None...
*I know it's a long post. So if you have no patience with the intro, click here to jump straight to the main part.*
*Flashback to somewhere in 2006*
On the large projected image on the wall, my avatar flew around idly, drawing gasps of surprise from the batch of Secondary School students who had just stepped through the door. My partner took the chance to gather them around us and begin our well-memorized presentation.
We were midway through the second day of Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Open House. To promote our course, my partner and I were in charge of demonstrating Second Life on some of the many laptops hooked up to the projector, explaining how such programs could serve to benefit businesses.
I had done my homework (sort of). I had...
1) browsed around the Second Life website.
2) got myself an account with a not too cheesy username.
3) tried downloading Second Life on my own laptop (and giving up because it made my computer lag very badly).
4) spent a fair bit of time exploring Second Life on the school computers.
5) created my avatar.
6) attempted to make it look as much like me as possible, (long and tedious process, so I decided to be contented with the default avatar).
7) been wowed by the teleporting and flying abilities.
On the lecturer's orders, I had also...
1) familiarized myself with Anshe Chung (the lady from China who became a millionaire selling virtual property on Second Life).
2) navigated my way around Dell island (pretty interesting concept, not so much the virtual PCs part but the part where you get to test out their products in the virtual world and purchase one to be delivered to you in the real world.)
3) visited IBM island (apparently IBM holds employee meetings there, and there's their virtual health island).
4) generally acquainted myself with Second Life's world, creations and most interestingly the marketplace.
I was good to go, all prepared to seriously impress the students. Except...
That particular day, the teleportation function was down and I was stuck at landing area. To maximize my demonstrations, I started a conversation with a friendly female character in the area whom I dubbed Green (due to her striking bright green ponytail).
Before long,, a young man with long spiky hair (thus unoriginally dubbed Spiky) walked over to Green. In the bottom left corner, where chat messages usually appeared, rows after rows of words started appearing. I squinted a little at the words, unsure as to what I was seeing...and then it hit me.
Spiky was actively engaging Green in...virtual sex?
My partner was blissfully oblivious, his back to the screen, animatedly explaining Anshe Chung's unique business to the group, and in my shocked state, I spotted a few students turning their heads around to look at the screen...
I hurriedly directed my avatar into the air and away from the engrossed pair, tried and failed (again) to teleport myself away, attempted to call up different windows, and then the whole program seemed to hang when I tried to log out...yet the rows of detailed descriptions kept appearing.
In desperation, I held the power button down.
The laptop went out with a noisy whirl that ceased abruptly, and that, combined with the sudden lack of image projected on the wall, drew all attention to me. My partner gave me a bewildered look and the students began nudging and whispering to each other.
"Tech...technical glitch..." I mumbled, red-faced as someone, somewhere, burst out laughing.
*End of Flashback*
I never ventured into Second Life again after that fateful Open House.
I had no reason to.
The idea of virtual reality sounds awesome enough. If you imagine yourself literally in another world, with abilities one can only dream of, meeting people from all walks of life, living an alternate lifestyle in contrast to what might be a dreary real life, virtual reality ought to blow your mind away.
Yet, at the risk of sounding like a brainless buffoon, at that time, Second Life seemed very much to me (the average layman stripped of coding skills and business inclinations) like a highly glamorized chatroom doused with gimmicks. The thrill and excitement of having an avatar flying and teleporting around wore off after awhile and certain aspects of it just seemed kinda dumb.
What really killed the excitement for me, apart from that virtual sex incident, was when my avatar flew past this brightly colored patch on the beach and landing on it suddenly equipped me with 'dancing' abilities. As I watched my avatar twisting and gyrating away to the music, I wondered what joy I was supposed to derive from that. In the chat area, the other dancing characters were going on and on about how, "This is so fun!" and "Your dance moves are amazing!" and I'm like "RIGHT~!"
Presuming the other people were like myself, sitting down somewhere in front of a computer screen and directing avatars using keyboard and mouse, I don't get the thrill of watching an animated character dance when the only part of my body I could claim to be dancing at the same time were my fingers.
Social media such as Second Life and Skype have brought us so much convenience: work and project meetings conducted beyond space and time IN a different world altogether; the ability to meet new people and keep in contact with old friends all within the comfort of your home; the wonders of acquired abilities that we'll never have in a lifetime; the miracle of financing yourself through jobs in the virtual world, etc.
But what of real life?
In class we heard about how there are embassies being set up for Second Life and how people sue or get sued over Second Life. The thought running through my mind was: are humans so far removed in their search for better, ideal lives where they are in control of everything that they would much rather live a second life staring after an animated representation of themselves?
Social Media is all good and amazing, I don't deny my reliance on and enjoyment of the various forms of social media. But when it gets in the way of real life, when you begin to think its something you can't live or function properly without, (think addiction), then its high time to hold down the power button like I did that day and shut it all down manually.
And at least I know that in real life, no real people are ever gonna walk by when I'm talking to a bunch of students and attempt to educate them in certain matters beyond their school curriculum. I'll gladly be inconvenienced to keep things that way.
*Flashback to somewhere in 2006*
On the large projected image on the wall, my avatar flew around idly, drawing gasps of surprise from the batch of Secondary School students who had just stepped through the door. My partner took the chance to gather them around us and begin our well-memorized presentation.
We were midway through the second day of Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Open House. To promote our course, my partner and I were in charge of demonstrating Second Life on some of the many laptops hooked up to the projector, explaining how such programs could serve to benefit businesses.
I had done my homework (sort of). I had...
1) browsed around the Second Life website.
2) got myself an account with a not too cheesy username.
3) tried downloading Second Life on my own laptop (and giving up because it made my computer lag very badly).
4) spent a fair bit of time exploring Second Life on the school computers.
5) created my avatar.
6) attempted to make it look as much like me as possible, (long and tedious process, so I decided to be contented with the default avatar).
7) been wowed by the teleporting and flying abilities.
On the lecturer's orders, I had also...
1) familiarized myself with Anshe Chung (the lady from China who became a millionaire selling virtual property on Second Life).
2) navigated my way around Dell island (pretty interesting concept, not so much the virtual PCs part but the part where you get to test out their products in the virtual world and purchase one to be delivered to you in the real world.)
3) visited IBM island (apparently IBM holds employee meetings there, and there's their virtual health island).
4) generally acquainted myself with Second Life's world, creations and most interestingly the marketplace.
I was good to go, all prepared to seriously impress the students. Except...
That particular day, the teleportation function was down and I was stuck at landing area. To maximize my demonstrations, I started a conversation with a friendly female character in the area whom I dubbed Green (due to her striking bright green ponytail).
Before long,, a young man with long spiky hair (thus unoriginally dubbed Spiky) walked over to Green. In the bottom left corner, where chat messages usually appeared, rows after rows of words started appearing. I squinted a little at the words, unsure as to what I was seeing...and then it hit me.
Spiky was actively engaging Green in...virtual sex?
My partner was blissfully oblivious, his back to the screen, animatedly explaining Anshe Chung's unique business to the group, and in my shocked state, I spotted a few students turning their heads around to look at the screen...
I hurriedly directed my avatar into the air and away from the engrossed pair, tried and failed (again) to teleport myself away, attempted to call up different windows, and then the whole program seemed to hang when I tried to log out...yet the rows of detailed descriptions kept appearing.
In desperation, I held the power button down.
The laptop went out with a noisy whirl that ceased abruptly, and that, combined with the sudden lack of image projected on the wall, drew all attention to me. My partner gave me a bewildered look and the students began nudging and whispering to each other.
"Tech...technical glitch..." I mumbled, red-faced as someone, somewhere, burst out laughing.
*End of Flashback*
I never ventured into Second Life again after that fateful Open House.
I had no reason to.
The idea of virtual reality sounds awesome enough. If you imagine yourself literally in another world, with abilities one can only dream of, meeting people from all walks of life, living an alternate lifestyle in contrast to what might be a dreary real life, virtual reality ought to blow your mind away.
Yet, at the risk of sounding like a brainless buffoon, at that time, Second Life seemed very much to me (the average layman stripped of coding skills and business inclinations) like a highly glamorized chatroom doused with gimmicks. The thrill and excitement of having an avatar flying and teleporting around wore off after awhile and certain aspects of it just seemed kinda dumb.
What really killed the excitement for me, apart from that virtual sex incident, was when my avatar flew past this brightly colored patch on the beach and landing on it suddenly equipped me with 'dancing' abilities. As I watched my avatar twisting and gyrating away to the music, I wondered what joy I was supposed to derive from that. In the chat area, the other dancing characters were going on and on about how, "This is so fun!" and "Your dance moves are amazing!" and I'm like "RIGHT~!"
Presuming the other people were like myself, sitting down somewhere in front of a computer screen and directing avatars using keyboard and mouse, I don't get the thrill of watching an animated character dance when the only part of my body I could claim to be dancing at the same time were my fingers.
Social media such as Second Life and Skype have brought us so much convenience: work and project meetings conducted beyond space and time IN a different world altogether; the ability to meet new people and keep in contact with old friends all within the comfort of your home; the wonders of acquired abilities that we'll never have in a lifetime; the miracle of financing yourself through jobs in the virtual world, etc.
But what of real life?
In class we heard about how there are embassies being set up for Second Life and how people sue or get sued over Second Life. The thought running through my mind was: are humans so far removed in their search for better, ideal lives where they are in control of everything that they would much rather live a second life staring after an animated representation of themselves?
Social Media is all good and amazing, I don't deny my reliance on and enjoyment of the various forms of social media. But when it gets in the way of real life, when you begin to think its something you can't live or function properly without, (think addiction), then its high time to hold down the power button like I did that day and shut it all down manually.
And at least I know that in real life, no real people are ever gonna walk by when I'm talking to a bunch of students and attempt to educate them in certain matters beyond their school curriculum. I'll gladly be inconvenienced to keep things that way.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
First Words (the coughing post below doesn't count as one)
A few minutes ago, I went to Google and searched for images for the word 'web', expecting to find pictures of spiderwebs. Albeit unrealistic in present day and time, for me, the word 'web' brings to mind this:
Instead, I got pages after pages of pictures depicting the Internet and its various technicalities, such as this:
I suppose it's easy to see the resemblance between the two, but whilst one is an intricate wonder of nature, the other is a man-made phenomenon that has seeped so thoroughly into each and every one of our lives that we dare not imagine life without it.
I won't pretend to understand the technical terms wikipedia and various other websites are throwing at me now, just like I can't pretend I've retained a lot of information from my poly days. *rolls up my Business IT Diploma and locks it away regretfully* So I'm going to look at this from my own layman point of view.
With the Internet, information, entertainment, contact, obligations and work all comes at the click of the mouse (and yes perhaps some clicking on the keyboard but let's keep things simple for now and leave it at the mouse, Douglas Engelbart didn't invent something so marvelous for it to be overlooked).
At this insane hour when normal human beings are supposed to be sound asleep but I'm unfortunately quite awake, I'm heartened to be able to :
1) turn on my computer
2) connect to the Internet through wireless RIGHT AWAY
3) go on MSN to chat with other nocturnal creatures (but no I'm not one)
4) google up information about the Internet and the likes
5) login to blogger to attempt to do my weekly blog assignment
6) check up on words that I'm unsure of on the dictionary
7) entertain myself with music from haoting and imeem
All of the above, and perhaps many more unmentioned, are things that you and I do in our everyday lives. We've gotten so used to it that it all comes without thinking. Our generation have grown up WITH the Internet, and the next generation will grow up knowing next to nothing before the web 2.0 we've all embraced and grown reliant on.
The reason for the significance of the Internet? Humanity's needs for immediacy, convenience and contact. We no longer have the patience to slowly wait out the obligatory processes of everyday life, we want results and gratification at the snap of our fingers, and above it all, we need to be in constant contact with the outside world at all times if only to convince ourselves that we are not alone.
And yes the Internet does ensure that we are not alone. What with blogs and social networking sites and MSN and Skype providing their services to ensure that everyone stays connected (and get connected to even more people), with geographical boundaries and limitations of time overcomed, the Internet is therefore very much a huge gigantic virtual spiderweb spanning the surface of Earth and beyond, with every point a bookmark linking everyone and everything together.
Just in case you were wondering, I finally found one picture of a spiderweb on page 7 of the Google Image search results for the word 'web'.
Humanity is not totally lost to nature...yet.
=)
Instead, I got pages after pages of pictures depicting the Internet and its various technicalities, such as this:
I suppose it's easy to see the resemblance between the two, but whilst one is an intricate wonder of nature, the other is a man-made phenomenon that has seeped so thoroughly into each and every one of our lives that we dare not imagine life without it.
I won't pretend to understand the technical terms wikipedia and various other websites are throwing at me now, just like I can't pretend I've retained a lot of information from my poly days. *rolls up my Business IT Diploma and locks it away regretfully* So I'm going to look at this from my own layman point of view.
With the Internet, information, entertainment, contact, obligations and work all comes at the click of the mouse (and yes perhaps some clicking on the keyboard but let's keep things simple for now and leave it at the mouse, Douglas Engelbart didn't invent something so marvelous for it to be overlooked).
At this insane hour when normal human beings are supposed to be sound asleep but I'm unfortunately quite awake, I'm heartened to be able to :
1) turn on my computer
2) connect to the Internet through wireless RIGHT AWAY
3) go on MSN to chat with other nocturnal creatures (but no I'm not one)
4) google up information about the Internet and the likes
5) login to blogger to attempt to do my weekly blog assignment
6) check up on words that I'm unsure of on the dictionary
7) entertain myself with music from haoting and imeem
All of the above, and perhaps many more unmentioned, are things that you and I do in our everyday lives. We've gotten so used to it that it all comes without thinking. Our generation have grown up WITH the Internet, and the next generation will grow up knowing next to nothing before the web 2.0 we've all embraced and grown reliant on.
The reason for the significance of the Internet? Humanity's needs for immediacy, convenience and contact. We no longer have the patience to slowly wait out the obligatory processes of everyday life, we want results and gratification at the snap of our fingers, and above it all, we need to be in constant contact with the outside world at all times if only to convince ourselves that we are not alone.
And yes the Internet does ensure that we are not alone. What with blogs and social networking sites and MSN and Skype providing their services to ensure that everyone stays connected (and get connected to even more people), with geographical boundaries and limitations of time overcomed, the Internet is therefore very much a huge gigantic virtual spiderweb spanning the surface of Earth and beyond, with every point a bookmark linking everyone and everything together.
Just in case you were wondering, I finally found one picture of a spiderweb on page 7 of the Google Image search results for the word 'web'.
Humanity is not totally lost to nature...yet.
=)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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