Practical 10 as well as Tutorial 5 & 6

Practical 10

As part of the closure of this subject, we are required to post a metaphor to describe our journey of EIR.  I have posted this metaphor by Henry Adams into the UIR blogger- "Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of facts". 

Tutorial 5& 6

As for tutorial 5 & 6, we were asked to write mostly on our experience in doing the Wiki collaboration as well as the things that we have learnt throughout the whole project. 

1. What is the significant learning experience for you working in a group?

Working in a group during the tutorial class was quite a fun experience as we get to interact and learn how others do things differently.  Also, I get to learn things from other people’s point of views.  Our class picked lots to choose the question that each group will do for their Wiki collaboration and my group was assigned the “What is the opinion of your group? What are the opinions of the other groups?”  We began to think of innovative ways to successfully complete the project work.  We then came out with the idea of preparing a questionnaire so as to allow the other groups to complete it on the spot, as it may be hard to contact others through emails.  Afterwhich, we collate the opinions of our groups with the rest of the group and clearly state the reasons for the questions that we thought of.   We also split the group into two.  Two classmates start doing on the part on our opinions, while the other classmate and I started to think of questions to ask the rest of the class for their opinions on the article.  

Moreover, we are exposed to the ideas of our fellow classmates and we get to learn form their style of writing, ideas for future projects etc.  

2. As an individual contributor, what have you gained from this experience?

I have learnt to work with people of different courses and together we came out the idea of doing up a questionnaire, which I felt that it saves time because we are able to collate other groups’ opinions immediately and we do not have to contact the other groups over the holidays for their opinions.  I then realized the importance of planning and overseeing things beforehand so that we would roughly know how things will go on.  After splitting up the work, it is more suitable, since everyone starts to crack their brains on their assigned job.   Also, I have learnt other people’s style of writing and gain more knowledge as Wiki is a platform for students and professionals to share their views.  

3. What is the one most challenging experience you had?

I guess it would be going around asking for the other group’s opinions with one of my group mate, as I felt that we seem to be interrupting their discussions over their assigned question to be submitted.  They were also very cooperative and are willing to help to complete the questionnaires, allowing us to complete it within the stipulated time.  I got used to it after a while, as other groups begin to ask us for our opinions regarding their parts.  So, in a way we are helping out each other.  Also, it helps us to saves the trouble for both parties if we were to email them our questionnaires to be completed perhaps during their CNY holiday.  So, I felt that we did the right thing to us other groups to help us with the questionnaire.

Another challenging experience that I faced was that I do not exactly know if we were on the right track.  Furthermore, as our group was the first to post our completed project onto the Wiki, I was unsure if we are able to get the maximum mark.  Hope that my group is able to do well for this Wiki collaboration.  J   

4. What advice would you give to the next batch wiki groups as they start a similar project?

I would urge them not to be shy when giving their views, as different people have differing views on the project and hence different point of view would allow the group to generate more ideas so that they would have more pointers for their Wiki collaboration.  I would also advice them to try to finish up as much of the Wiki collaboration as possible so that they have ample of time to make final adjustments for the Wiki collaboration to be submitted. 

5. Would you use Wiki for research in your own Diplomas? Why?

If there is one Wiki for research on my Diploma, I would use it for revision purposes, as it would be useful to me when I come across any problems that I do not understand.  Wiki would help to inform me of the current business related information so that I would be aware of business related news etc.  This would allow me to be constantly updated with the recent news and activities relating to business.  It would be a platform for me to communicate and share my views or knowledge with others who are interested in business news.

In conclusion, I felt that it was a wonderful experience to complete the project work with group members, as everyone is able to contribute effectively and aid in finishing up the project within the time frame.  Also, my group coordinated well and we managed to finish most of the project in class and a few of us went home to edit a bit more to make it more complete.   

Tutorial 3 & 4

From tutorial 3 and 4, I am able to have an in-depth knowledge about Twitter.  For example, Twitter is actually a combination of blog, social networking site, instant messaging tool and allows users to conveniently “tweet” about their daily happenings.  It enables users to be constantly connected with their friends and relatives and inform them about the activities around them, for example what have they encountered.  The case study also educates me about the disadvantages of using Twitter.  Some of which includes constantly checking the website for updates, which can be time-consuming and if we were to constantly check out the “tweets” of our friends, the SMS charges can accumulate rapidly, meaning that it may cause users to incur high phone bill charges.

Twitter enhances my learning of EIR, as my research topic requires me to have an in-depth knowledge about Twitter.  This is especially so, as during the first practical sessions, we were asked to create a Twitter account.  It is useful for my learning of EIR, as it is also a platform where I am able to ask for help from teachers, as I have became a “follower” of EIR’s Twitter page.  The teacher would post many inspirational quotes by famous people So, I am able to get answers to my queries almost instantly.   It fosters participation of students like me to write about our thoughts about Twitter.  The EIR teachers are also able to guide students through Twitter, which promotes interaction between students and teachers.  It also helps me in my learning, as it aids me to realize how twitter works and introduces me to a social networking cum blog site, which is what EIR is all about.  There is also Twitter activities which involves us to “tweet” our thoughts about one of the EIR lesson based on what we have learnt, allowing me to be updated with the latest technologies and trends to use such social tools to interact and learn from other classmates and even communicate with teachers. 

There is word limit of 140 when using Twitter.  On the other hand, blogspot allows me to type in as many words as possible.  This feature makes me think that blogspot is a better platform for students to write about their thoughts and feelings on EIR lessons.  If I were to use Twitter to write about the things that I have learnt during lessons would be very brief, as I would not be allowed to elaborate or give more examples about the week’s lesson.   This is due to the limitation of words that I can type (140), as compared to the boundless words that blogspot allows me to type.  Also, Twitter is also based on only one’s feelings on a particular topic, say on a disease, and mainly talks about how the patient is currently feeling etc, but would only have a brief explanation.  On a flip side,  blogspot would talk more about how it came about, the cures for the disease and perhaps the person’s daily meal, for example try not to take seafood etc. 

Also, from Ms Lian’s explanation on the week’s lecture slides, I have learnt that image-based and multimedia sources should have beautiful images accompanied with explanatory text.  A picture does not tell users more information about the picture of say, Japan, hence there should be text to describe more about the place, for example the location of the places of interest, how to get there etc.  Current awareness and alerting service requires users to subscribe to alerting services in particular to a topic that he or she likes to find out more about and this is a handy tool as it saves users the time to constantly check for latest updates. 

Lesson 8

The virtual experience of being able to travel to another country in Second Life is pretty amazing, as it allows me to fly across continents and explore new things outside of Singapore.  I am able to meet new friends during my “trip” and I can always talk to them if I feel bored.  If we were to talk to some random people whom we do not know in real life, the person may have the impression that we are weird.  However, this does not happens in Second Life, as I am able to interact with other people accessing to the game and we can actually “tour” around together, as it would be bored stiff if I were to travel alone. 

Upon reaching Japan...

It was a pretty fast trip to reach Japan, since I just have to type in the country that I would like to visit in the search box and it will automatically bring me to Japan within seconds.  As I arrived at Japan, the screen showed a map which depict a picture of where Japan is located. 

I then began to explore the shops available around the vicinity. 

The above picture shows me looking at the available Japanese-inspired slippers. 

I can even find kimonos, with photos of models wearing them.  This made me feel like buying one to wear!  Kawaii!! 

I can have such a fantastic shopping experience even in a virtual world. 

Also, I chanced upon an aeroplane like object and even sat on it to try. 

Besides the various facilities, I have also make new friends who are also exploring Japan.  It is always good to travel with people (although they may be people whom you don't know, they helped to kill the boredom of travelling alone in an unfamiliar surrounding.  )

Also, as we are chatting, they were talking in Japanese language which I do not understand, but realised after a while that there is a Google translator, which can help to translate to Japanese so that I can easily communicate with people around the world easily.  This is a useful tool, as there would always be a communication barrier if speaking to people from different countries.  This feature or service is not available in the real world, hence I felt that it comes in handy if we were to travel online virtually.  We can always make an enquiry with others and they can easily translate and reply to me. 

There is also sign boards around , just like those in the real world, which aids me in finding the direction of places of interest that I would like to visit. 


Other than Japan, I have even explored another country- Australia. 

Above shows the map of Australia.

The outside of a shopping centre.

It sells many products, ranging from clothings to even scenery pictures, as shown below. 

The shop sells more westernized clothings for all ocassions, be it swimming or casual smart.  It would be good to be able to buy clothings from parts of the world so easily. 

It also allows SecondLife users to know what are the things that Australia is famous for, for example Dingo are Aussie birds, which I initially do not know.  Hence, this virtual experience is actually meaningful, as it teaches me more information about various countries.  Also, it allows users to fly around and teleport on countries easily.  This experience allows me to visit various countries within seconds.  I will be able to access to the different cultures and products available.  Best of all, it's FREE of charge to travel across countries.  Hence, we do not have to think twice to travel to other countries.  There are no boundaries to the countries that you can visit, as we do not have to pay for travelling to other countries, which is the advantage of travelling in virtual world.  It allows us to be able to travel around the world, even if we are unable to afford or do not have the spare time to visit other countries. 

The multimedia websites that I have visited are as follows: http://www.serbia.travel/nature/national-parks/ and http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/.  Enjoy some of these beatiful pictures featured on both the websites:

If you were to visit the above websites, you can actually view these pictures which are moving (ie. these magical and mystical pictures are moving images and graphics which moves by itself, creating a nice  visual effect). 

The evaluation criteria for the multimedia websites for my dream holiday is presentation and arrangement, as the website should be of neat and easy to navigate for the potential tourists to find out more information on their holiday destination.  The website should be aesthetically pleasing for their readers, so that they would not have a hard time finding the correct navigation.  In addition, the images or graphics should help to enhance the appearance of the website and not make it confusing or distracting, ie. They are placed at the appropriate places and not out of nowhere.  Another feature that it should have is easy to read text.  For example, if the font size of text of information provided in the website is too small, it makes it hard for the readers to decipher what information the website is trying to inform the tourists.  I would also consider presentation and arrangement, as it is quite crucial for websites to use frames, as users will have a clear indication as to where to navigate.  The text or information given should also be well written, as it would indirectly tell me if it is a credible website, ie the information that it has given me is quite reliable.  It should also be consistent in the presentation and arrangement, as it would be somewhat impractical or peculiar if the website is of different format whenever you navigate.  In conclusion, the arrangement of the website should be of logical and properly categorized for me to look for the information that I am searching on and it should be easy to navigate, ie I can clearly see the navigational icons eg homepage etc.  

I have never been to Japan before, but I have heard from friends and relatives that it is a very beautiful place, where the people are very polite and friendly.  Also, Japan is known for its wonderful creations of various everyday appliances and this reminds me that Daiso is also from Japan and there are a lot of interesting things that you would not be able to find from other parts of Singapore.  From the multimedia images and graphics, it further prompts me to choose Japan as a holiday destination.  Besides, the advertisements on the website look very appealing and it contains many itineraries of exciting places that I can visit if I were to go on a trip to Japan. 

I would like to comment on Syafiqah's blog this time around, and as I read her blog, I realised that we are both from Business School.  What a coincidence! :)  And I learnt that she would love to Maldives.  From the pictures featured in her blog, I would also like to visit this country next time, as it has beautiful reefs and she did a great job in finding such pictures, as they captured the beauty of Maldives. 

Lesson 7

It is already the 7th lesson of EIR, and this week's lesson teaches me about what Citizen Jornalism and how does it works.  According to what I have read, it is a platform for people to contribute ideas or information.  Anyone can share their views, and it is not limited to only the professionals.  Anyone and everyone are able to comment or contribute information or commentary about news events.  Citizen journalismen compasses content ranging from user-submitted reviews on a Web site about movies to wiki-based news.  Users can then discuss about subjects, such as the their thoughts about a movie.  For example, if I have just watched a recent movie called "Tron Legacy", I would then inform other users about the movie, by stating if it is worth the monet to watch this movie or give a brief summary about the movie to encourage others to watch it if it is a fantastic movie. 

The criteria that my group used to evaluate Stomp.com are purpose, coverage, authority and usability.  I have learnt that it is important to evaluate a website based on certain criteria, such as those mentioned above to make sure that it is a credible one.  The purpose of a website is important, as it allows users like me to understand the nature of this website, for example I will able to know if the website is selling its products to users and for Stomp, my group felt that it was meant for creating awareness to citizens about the recent happenings around us.  It includes gossips and scandals, as well as unusual happenings, hence members informs each other about happenings that revolve their daily lives.  The intended audience includes local Singaporeans, students and people who love entertainment news.  Foreigners can also access Stomp if they love entertainment news.  It also includes the About Us section of Stomp, as it informs users what the website does.  Also, from authority, I will be able to judge if a website is trustable, by looking at the authors of the website.  If the authors are of unknown background, the website is most likely of low authority.  Another thing on authority is that one can tell from the level of security of a particular website.  For example, if users can easily access and comment or post related videos or pictures, it may imply that the authority of the website is low, as people can easily make comments without factual proves or may be biased.  As for Stomp, it is an award-winning website and it is being managed by SPH, so it is quite an authorised website.  Lastly, my group did usability, which we felt that it was easy to use, as we are able to navigate around easily.  Hence, it is user-friendly.  However, we felt that it is quite troublesome if we want to find an article that is dated long before, as Stomp does not have facilities that helps us to search for articles that are back-dated. 

If I were to create my own version of Stomp, I would create a channel or platform for students and/or teachers to post of their experience of using Twitter in education, such as if they have benefitted significantly after their teacher introduced Twitter in education.  I would include various topics, such as education and technology, which my research topic - development and usage of Twitter in education- falls under.  I would include other topics such as food and entertainment too, so as to have a wider coverage and include a wide variety of subject topics and materials.  As Citizen Journalism is a platform for people to contribute ideas, I may write few artcles about what I personally think and include various evidence, whether Twitter has indeed helped in students' education system.  I would also create frames in my website to make it neat and user-friendly, so as to allow for better navigations to other web pages.  One thing that I qould keep in mind is that I will make sure that there is a moderator, ie. the ideas generated will not be one-sided and also make it more relevant, so that my version of Stomp will not be focusing on people argueing on who is right and who is wrong or the comments wre only one-sided. 

Lesson 6

In Practical 6, we were asked to use invisible web (Also known as deep web or dark matter) to search for information based on our research topic.   One thing that invisible web stands out from search engines is that  text pages, files, or other high-quality authoritative information available via WWW that general search engines such as Google cannot due to technical limitations or will not (due to deliberate choice ) add to their indices of web pages. 

 

However, there are also quite a number of disadvantages for using insvisible web to search for information, as they often require us to log in using password and username or else we would not be able to access or make use of its facilities.  There are also other disadvantages which will be discussed in the following paragraph.

If I were to choose from invisible web or search engines, meta search or subject directories, I would prefer to use search engines, meta search annd subject directories, as I would not have to log in and the information is readily available in the web, whereby I do not have to log in to access information that I require.  Also, some of the invisible web are commercialized, ie. users have to pay to be able to gain access to information.  One such example is Lexis-Nexis.  In addition, it must be used in conjunction with other information resources and users cannot solely rely on only invisible web. 

Despite all the banes to using invisible web, I would use such invisible web for my own diploma course, as it is able to search for text pages, files, or other high-quality authoritative information available that normal search engnies cannot or will not find.  Or, to put simply, it is not searchable by Internet search engines.  Also, it is ddesigned in such a way that it provides specialized categories for users to select, one of which that include business is Research Gateway.  It provides other various databases, such as Applied Science, Design, Engineering etc, such that Temasek Polytechnic students can always look up for information regarding their diplomas using such invisible web.     Another relevant invisible web would be Business Source Premier, which caters to my need of constantly having to find information of my core subjects in my diploma, especially when it comes to subjects like economics, whereby I have to search for up-to-date news articles.  TP's database E-book ITPRO also covers many topics which includes that of my diploma  Also, it has more comprehensive results and are often quite accurate and reliable. 

Wiki collaberation was pretty much a breeze and I have learnt a lot from fellow course mates who have also contributed their thoughts in it.  This is because I am exposed to more ideas generated by other course mates and able to gain more knowledge on my research topic. 

However, there are also some limitations that Wiki have, that is, there is a high chance for biasness to occur, as people tend to write about what they perceived on a topic, rather than what the topic actually is about. 

Also, as part of this practical, we were asked to comment on a classmate's blog.  For today, I shall comment on Amira's blog, as I find that she often updates her blog with regular posts.  From her shopping experience, she mentioned about buying Espirit clothings from its website, as it was quite affordable.  Maybe I can try shopping online on this established brands one of these days. :)

5th lesson

This week, we learnt how to create site feed for our blog.  Initially, I thought that it was quite tedious to do so, as this is my first blog and I did not really know much about creating links, but found that it was actually a breeze to do two of it for my blog.  I found that it was very useful to me, if I were to create another blog for personal use.  I have seen such "links" from my friends' blog previously, and was curious how to create one.  So, after this week's tutorial, I have learnt a new thing, which is to create site feeds, which enables me to view my friends' blog instantly with just a click. :) It is useful in the sense that if I have say, 100 friends and I like to view their blogs regulaarly, it would be tedious for me to memorise all of their blog URL.  Hence tthis feature allows me to "save" the blog links of my friends in my blog and as and when I feel like taking a look at a friend's blog, I can always search for their names in my blog and open a new tab for easy viewing of their blogs.
Also, from this week lesson, we were introduced to two different search engines, Metacrawler as well as Yahoo Directory.

I felt that Metacrawler is more of an effective tool when researching for my research topic, as Yahoo Directory tends to give me irrelevant search results.  Out of the 592 search results that Yahoo Directory shows, none of it is related to the development and usage of Twitter in education in a way or another.  Hence, Metacrawler is of better use to me.  However, there is also a disadvantage of Metacrawler, as users cannot type too many words in the search box.  As for the advantage of Metacrawler, or its feature, the teacher explained to us that Metacrawler is actually a website which brings us to the search results from other search engines such as Yahoo and Google search, Bing and Ask. 

Above shows the results that Yahoo directory gave me which are irrelevant.  It also depicts the fact that the related categories that it suggested to me is not really true ie. Twitter is not related to Peace Corps and American counseling association.  However, from the lecture nnotes, I understand that subject directories contain human-compiled categories, such as education.  Hence, they tend to be of the right category, since the tendency to categorise wrongly is limited.

For the practical activity for last week and this week, we are required to add in information that we have searched for previous practical activities and then present our findings in the EIR wiki page.  I find it very useful, as I am exposed to many other people's point of view and also anle to acquire more knowledge as others share their views in the wiki page.  In this manner, I am not only able to find out more information from other fellow course mates, I can also get to see the various photos or videos that others posted relating to my research topic, whic helps to broaden up my knowledge about it.  Of course, we must not forget to cite the author of the source for his or her work at the end of the sharing of ideas.

4th lesson - E-learning

HI everyone, here's my 4th post for this blog.  This week is E-learning, hence we are supposed to complete E-learning activity as well as practical 3. 

For Practical 3, we are required to describe the differences between Google search and Google Scholar.  Personally, I feel that Google Scholar is more suitable for my research as it gives me a more accurate picture.  Due to its higher credibility, I find that it gives a more precised idea of my project topic.  I am impressed of the various search facilities that are available, for example we are able to extract websites based on the year that we prefer.  Also, it is possible for us to choose the topic area that we want, such as Business, Science etc.

For last week's in-class lesson, one of the activity was to participate in a discussion question given to our class.  I find it helpful, as different people have different views about things.  We are able to hear from other people about their views about different topics and be exposed to new things such as other's experience.  When I first saw the discussion question, I did not really understand the meaning of it, but Ms Lian explained to us in layman's term.  I started to pondered deeply about the question and it took me quite a long time to finally post my views.  I have to read at least twice to see if there is any grammatical errors or misleading phrase etc.  I feel that although discussion forums are very useful, be it to students finding out more about their schoolwork or to working adults to enquire more about certain products, we have to be cautious of what we say in such forums, as we should not post anything that would harm others.  We should not post provacative remarks about others or defame others, as we would not want others to do the same to us.  However, I would not feel anxious to talking to other people that I do not know, as they do not really know about my identity.  I think I would continue to participate in forums, especially when I faced problems in my schoolwork or areas in projects which I am unfamiliar with.

Why is citation and biblography important?  This is because we must give credit to authors of the original work, as they are the ones who produce them.  Hence, we must cite the authors of their views and sayings.  Moreover, it helps to prevent plagarism, which is taking other people's work and treating them like it is our work.  It is always important to cite authors and provide biblography, as failure to do so may lead to serious implications, as authors may sue them for plagarism of their work.  Biblography is important, as it allows the person reading a project to understand more about a topic.  For example, I complete a project about SARS.  And if I provide biblography, others would be interested where I got my information from, say from Lifestyle magazine and on page 6. 

As for the SecondLife activity, I have chosen Port Seraphine for my shopping island.  During my shopping experience, I realised that there are many goods and service that this virtual world allows me to do. 

For example, there is numerous apparels to choose from, from gorgeous dinner dress to casual shirts and jeans.

Dinner dresses-Awesome !!

Swimwears of different designs

There is even makeups for us ladies to select how our makeup would look like.

Eye makeups are shown above

These are the models portraying how the various makeups would look like.

I am amazed that there are even men's department in Port Seraphine.

This shows the portrays of how men would like their abs to look like, perhaps when they go for a swim.

This is very creative and it would be impossible for real life human to select how masculine they prefer in a shopping centre, hence this is one of the advantages that we have in virtual world.  :)

As for the service provided, there's a redelivery service which I took a snapshot of.

Not only that, there is also prizes to be won and sales going on, just like the real world experience.

For the shopping experience, I feel that it is very real, as we are able to sit on stairs or even lie on the sofa bed available in the virtual world.

                                    Resting and replenishing energy after a long shopping trip.

                                        Sitting by the stairs to rest, while viewing clothes around.

Unfortunately, in Port Seraphine, the items sold there are chargeable, which must be paid using L$(money in SecondLife), so I did not make any purchase as I did not have any.

The snapspot above shows the amount of monet which I have to pay (in US$) if I were to buy one of these dresses.

All the prices are clearly stated when you put your mouse on top on the item that you are interested in.

For my shopping trip, I am able to walk, run and even fly.  In the real world, we are unable to fly to speed up our movement. 

I am also able to change my clothes that I am in very quickly, so as to suit the occassion that I am in.

I changed into a lovely dress half-way through my shopping experience. Happy :P

Also, during the experience, the speed of access is very fast, despite the many users in SecondLife. 

As I shopped in Port Seraphine, I found many users also touring in Port Seraphine.

We can even make friend with other users that we meet during the shopping experience in SecondLife.

I feel that this virtual shopping is very interesting and fun, as we do not have to travel physically to buy the various items sold in SecondLife.  With just a click, we are able to purchase the clothes and makeups what we would like how we look like.  It is indeed very special to be able to choose the fantastic bodylines, be it for the females or males, which we are unable to in real life.  Imagine everyone being able to purchase the bodyline they we yearn to have, ie. how slim they are or how masculine they would like to be.  We are able to fly in the virtual world, which in real life we are unable to.  Shopping was so easy and there would not be situation such as crowded places, as we are able to teleport to different places if the place that we would like to go is crowded.  Also, we do not have to bump into other people while shopping in a crowded place in the virtual world, as we are able to fly past objects to reach the destination that we would like to go.  We are also able to choose how we would look like in Secondlife, which is pretty amazing to be able to do so, because in actual life, how we look like would depends on our parents' genes.  There are also different services offered, one of such would be the redelivery service.  In conclusion, the virtual shopping experience was certainly a total new experience for me, as it was my first time buying beautiful clothes and makeups in virtual world.