Week 5: Beyond pen & paper.

So in class we saw the video about using Second Life in E-learning. I was amazed.

I mean, what is that sorcery? 

I can actually enroll in a university of my choice and learn whatever I want and whenever I want and in that school I can choose to be whatever (avatar) I wanna be? HELL YEAH. That, is probably the coolest thing I've heard all week! (I really dig this idea)

Ok, for the benefit of others who have yet to watch this video, I present to you Duke University School of Nursing in Second Life:

I mean this is a nursing school man. It provides virtual learning to all the future nursing students. There's labs to do and they are definitely as close as to being real. If the nursing school can do it, we can do it too...Don't you think?

Maybe. Maybe not.

However, I doubt any of our professors will tap on this Second Life to do teaching. Sure there are (super cool) advantages, but I think the disadvantages prevents some profs to go in depth and explore second life.

1) Inconvenient.

The process of signing up and creating avatar will probably take a lot more time than creating and uploading lessons online. Besides the profs have to get about 100 students to sign up for Second Life and some may not be interested in it and may totally skip signing up for it. The prof has to make sure everyone is present and attendance taking may be hard. The prof has to manage his virtual world and his real world.
(and the list will go on and on and on)

2) Reluctant.
With every new technology, some profs might totally give up pursuing what this hype is all about. Some will be skeptical to try and some....won't even bother to try.

(Because they probably think it's just another "game")

3) Help?

Sure there are discussion boards and forums and threads to follow but what happens when the students need the prof there now to ask questions but the prof is not there? This puts the prof in a spot as he cannot oversee the students who do not understand and cannot read the students non verbal cues to check their understanding. It may not benefit the prof in the long run as he cannot check on the progress of his students.

3) Harder grading system, bleahhhh.
How is the prof going to base their grading system on? Attendance on virtual world? Assignments in virtual world?

How how how?

_____________________

I think the furthest professors in SIM will go is webcast lectures. That's what most schools are doing nowadays anyway.

However, in Singapore, the virtual classroom will be set to improve in the coming years. MOE has set up an inititiative to have an online portal for learning for Singapore by 2016. By then, it is hoped that all the students in the school have greater access to resources online, and a quality one at that, no less.

With all this happening, I wonder what is in store for me (or the future generation) in the future.

maybe next time they'll just log on to their laptops (or google glasses by then???) and then they'll be ready for school? Just like this:

Hmmm, not such a bad idea eh. 

Week 4: "I'm gonna pop some tags, only got 20 dollars in my pocket"

"Whoever said money can't buy happiness, simply didn't know where to go shopping" - Bo Derek

Fly money, fly.

This week in class, we were talking about E-commerce. I am sure most of us have used the internet to purchase something from an online shop, a blogshop, big retail companies, social media networks and the list goes on and on. There are so many avenues to get what you want, anywhere, anytime. Well, for me, I love shopping............

hahahhaha.

__________

Instead of focusing on the business perspective of E-commerce, I am going to look at the perspective of the consumers. In class, we learnt that there are 6's that makes the consumers want to shop online.
Let's recap. (and I'll explain to you further why)

1) Convenience

You can shop when it's convenient. Anywhere, anytime, always, all day everyday.

Why is it convenient?

• You can minus all the hassle of walking around and then feel tired afterwards. You SAVE energy.
• You can access online shopping ANYTIME. Remember those nights at 3am in the morning and you don't know what to do but you don't want to stay in bed and you don't want to go out because it's too creepy outside? yeahhhhh.....What can save you? Well, online shopping what else??
• You can pay digitally. Forget all the hassle of cash cash cash $.$
• You can wear pyjamas to shop. (personally, my favourite. actually you don't have to wear anything when you shop too. FREEEDOM~)

• You can SAVE time. 
• Avoid (the ever so annoying) crowd. 

2) Cost

You save cost when buying online because there's no middlemen involved.When there's no middlemen, you can get your things cheaper because you get your items direct from suppliers. Besides, more online businesses are now offering discount rebates, coupons, tying up with payment merchants and even free shipping to entice consumers to shop more with them.

One example is ASOS:

 or even Zalora:

We don't exactly use coupons when you shop outside, do you?
(ok I think there are some who do, but I don't. Carrying the coupons around? It'll probably get lost in the mess of my bag.)

3) Choice

There's a lot of variety on the internet. The possibilities are endless. One day you're looking for shoes and the next, you're looking at bags and then tops and then wallets and then you realised you were looking for shoes at first so you look for shoes again. (and then the whole entire cycle repeats)

There's just too many too many choices. Seriously.

Besides, most websites offer "What others who bought this may be interested in" section where they show what others who looked at the items bought and are interested in as well. Brilliant idea in my opinion.


Don't be too easy to get sucked in with these temptations. They can be evil.

4) Customisation

Sure you can get customised service at a shop, but online shopping offers you more than that. You can personalise your own things and you don't have to come down personally to the shop. One example is may28th watches where there is an option for you to insert your own photo on the watch or you can choose the other default background that are already on sale. After all that is done, you can get it to be delivered to you to your doorstep, WITHOUT leaving the comfort of your own home.

Or you can even ask the sellers to package it nicely for you so the receiver can receive it at their doorstep just like a gift all wrapped in ribbons. (if not you can always address and deliver it to yourself in the super pretty packaging hahahah) One company that does this is Apple!

I love this idea!

5) Interactive Communication

If you had a bad experience and you need to complain OR you need to ask questions regarding a product, do not worry there will always be a way for you to find out the answers. There will usually be a feedback or query form on the site, or now, with the help of social media, there will always be someone on the other side manning the site. They will try to help you in any way possible. (and might even reimburse you if you are not happy with the products!)

One example is Scoot airlines where they have a live chat especially during one of the night sale. This was informed in social media.

 

Even Macdonalds have their own feedback area:

6) Control

You can have control on whatever content you want. You can restrict the things you want to appear on your Email. You can subscribe. Or unsubscribe. You can avoid certain sites. Or you can frequent certain sites. You can shop locally. You can shop worldwide.

Basically, you have the full control of what you want.

____________________________________

With all the 6 customer power, it is no wonder why people shop online. But beware of shopping online excessively, it can even lead you to the 7C......

Cramp (& probably broke too)

 

After endless hours of scrolling and searching for the right one and putting it all in your shopping cart and forgetting to eat, drink and sleep, you might suffer from cramps (and a bad one at that) So make sure you're always well rested, hydrated and full before going online shopping. (remember, the possibilities are endless)

Better to be aware. Prevention is better than cure. ;)

So before I end of, here's a little friendly advice from me to you:

1) Always remember to shop in moderation.
2) Check for the reputation of the business before buying (look at testimonials! & make sure it's a legit sites too)
3) Set aside money so can control how much you want to spend.
4) HAVE FUN!!!!!

This post was inspired by:

Till Then,

A.

Week 3: We found love in a virtual space.

Last week, I was just talking about social media. This week while browsing through the endless social media sites I have, I actually found this video about teenage romance in social media sites. It's actually a short film and it'a brilliant illustration of the things that are currently happening in search of a partner, especially for teenagers right now.

We're all happy in a relationship online and offline but what happens when it ends? In he real world, you're just ignored. In the virtual world, you're blocked, deleted and never to be contacted again. Sad isn't it?

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT AHEAD.

Are you guys guilty of doing anything in the video? For example, have you gone in someone's else profile without their information? Have you googled someone's question while they are online talking to you so you might appear smart? I admit, I have done the latter. Ooops.

Why do I not regret anything? Because by doing things like that, I was deemed more impressive and I felt smarter. HAHA. But don't worry, that was just a one-off thing so the possibility of it happening again is little.

Studies have shown that some people LIE or exaggerate (sidetrack: I wouldn't call what I did lying because I was just finding out information at that instant BUTTT back to the topic) on social media more often than in real life. Attitudes in social media differs from the real life. According to Warman, 1 in 10 social media users admitted that they told lies already and the men do it to maintain a cool persona while the women do it because of peer pressure. By doing so, they appear more interesting and are more likely would be able to attract potential partners.

Talking about finding potential partners online, I found an interesting article that states about love in social media. According to that article, most new relationships are formed on Twitter. Consider this:

On average, it takes 224 tweets, 163 text messages, 70 Facebook messages, 37 emails and 30 phone calls to successfully woo a partner. That may sound like putting in work, but the study revealed courting times have shrunk dramatically in the 21st Century, thanks in large part to social media

If it was the days of just texting and calling each other, forget it. I'll probably turn like this lady just to wait for someone to woo me, probably sucked in space cuz no one wants me and they need the space for lovebirds hahahha

But love has no boundaries, so there are success stories of how people met online of course. But there are also (STILL!) failed stories of how people met online. One example of a great show is called "Catfish" aired on MTV. This is the trailer:

People lie and they're not who they seemed to be.

Anyhoo here are some tips for you to avoid being the victim of catfish:

1) Do not give away your private information online. This gives easy access to the predators to use it against you.

2) Always do your homework before getting to know someone. (sounds creepy but check their fb timeline/twitter updates/google image) IF they are really genuine, ask for a video chat..you can't lie with videos!

3) Report the user if you think it's a fake profile!

SIMPLE AS 123 & ABC!

Till the next post,

A.

Week 2: Of power shifts & RSS.

This week, we learnt about social media and I think what caught my eye is the question asked on the introduction slide, "Do you feel the power shift?"

I said in my last post that we can do so many things with the internet (and now we know who to thank for it!) Our lives are so dependent on it that without it for a day, we are literally disconnected from the world. We feel lost. We feel that we cannot get things done because every information that we need cannot be accessed straight away. We feel less...smart?

 So do I feel the power shift? Yes, definitely. Do YOU feel the power shift? You tell me.

Just look at the amount of memes found on the internet about how some people feel without the internet for a day:

Look at the amount of memes! There are actually more actually but we can keep that for another day! And i found a brilliant ad (in Malay, with subtitles of course!!) about the internet. Love this ad, and it's so apt right now when we talk about how we are all so hooked to it that we forget the simple pleasures in life.

Very cheeky right the small boy, but really clever! I hope we'll not end up like that, only appreciating what's around us WITHOUT the internet. Take a breather right now and look at the things/people/scenery around you and be thankful for it.

Our lives doesn't revolve around the internet. #selfreminder.

___________________________________

So, moving on, for this week's lesson, there are several key definitions learnt especially about WEB 2.0, its characteristics and what web 2.0 has to offer.

I've always heard about the term RSS but not really knowing what it is about. I always see it at the sidebar or at the site address bar itself and I thought it was just something fancy to beautify the spaces at the side.

Of course I was wrong. Duh.

RSS or also known as Rich Site Summary is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever who wants it. 

Well, in summary, the browser will update the user if there are new contents published by the sites that they follow. Forget about the hassle of going news site and blogs countless times in a day just to check for new updates. With RSS, the content of the sites are given to you INSTEAD of you going to them.

EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY.

I think RSS is created for lazy people like me. We know we have to be constantly updated about the world and other people personal lives (lol) but it's always so annoying when you go to your favourite sites to see NOTHING. Instead of having that frustration, RSS saves the day! YAAAY

In class, we also went through several sites that you have to sign up in order for you to read the things you subscribed to your list. Instead of the usual Google or the other sites offered, I found another great site! This site has such a catchy name and I think I might start using it too! This site is called bloglovin'! Cool huh? click on it!

With bloglovin', I can subscribe to ANY kind of blogs and follow them. When there are new updates, I will get notified and I can start reading new content. Oh and if I don't know which blog to follow, they are several categories to choose from and I can choose the one that interest me the most and follow these cool blogs too! Some of the categories include fashion, family, beauty and even fitness! How interesting right.

Oh, and the best part of this site? Bloglovin' works on computer, Iphone, Android and Ipad! It's so convenient to have it on mobile! Whoop.

Whatchu waiting for? Sign up and start subscribing! (which i might start to do...in a bit hehe)

Till then,
A.

Week 1: "When in doubt, Google"

I had such a hard time finding out what to write on the first post of this week's blog entry but let's start when I told my friends that I was taking the class Introduction to Internet.

When I told her that I was taking this class, I saw the skeptical look on her face like this:

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"As serious as I can be." I replied.

I bet if I told other people about this class, I would probably get the same exact reaction. 

Well, of course I told her it's more than learning about the Internet, it's learning what the Internet can do for you. 

As a young adult, without the Internet, there's a thousand and one things I don't think I can do. I've been mindlessly sucked into the world of social media and the world of Google searching (aka Googling). Google has become such an important thing in my life and I live by the mantra "When in doubt, GOOGLE". I posted this on Facebook a while back and I don't think I am the only one this way looking at the amount of likes received.

With Google, I can find EVERYTHING.  You name it, there will definitely be something. I can find out about the history of something, find recipes, find things to buy, find information about a particular place and the list goes on. Then there's the hyperlink in each website that brings you to the next website and then the next and then the next................

You just keep going and going and there's no end of the road.

So who is this brilliant creator of the Internet? It's Tim Berners-Lee also known as TimBL (sidetrack: I actually googled Tim Benash because that was how it sounded like in class, but lo and behold the power of technology...I mean..Google. It redirected me to a page of Tim Bernes-Lee. Amazing right, ahh-mayyyy-zing)

Very handsome man as you can see...and smart as well.

He was born in 1955, therefore making him 58 years old now. He is known as the inventor of the internet and he was the first to write the first web client server in 1990. In 2008, he started World Wide Web Foundation and funded and coordinated efforts to further the potential of the Web to benefit humanity. Recently on March 18, 2013 Tim Berners Lee, along with Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn, Louis Pouzin and Marc Andreesen have been knighted by the Queen for "groundbreaking innovation in engineering that has been a global benefit to humanity" which led to the Internet and the World Wide Web. (Berners Lee)

Looking at his achievements, I am beyond impressed. He does his research not only for himself but for the benefit of humanity in the long run. The Internet and World Wide Web has created a revolution making communications, faster and easier than before.

Now we all know who to thank for the Internet. 


You know, remember I said earlier that there are actually thousand and one things I can do with the internet? Well, there are also thousand and one things I can do without the internet like having more sleep and more time to do my homeworks and lesser distractions but....we'll leave that for another day!


Till then,
A.