Introduction to the internet
Name: Felicia Goh
Class: B
Instructor: Abel Choy
A weekly blog about our journey with the internet
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Thursday, April 9, 2009
The final post for the semester.
Over the last lesson, we discussed the future of the internet. How the internet's revolution will change as time goes by and how it would influence and impact our lives.
Below is a video by Dr. Vinton G. Cerf, Google's vice president who shares his view on Google's perspective on the future of the internet.
Also, here's another video which im sure of you many of us have seen before, if not from other blogs but also in another class in school.
This video did indeed showcase on of the vast possibilities about the internet's future. But watching the video however, brought about a sense of fear within me. How is it that a gadget such as that could get a "6th sense?" that we'd then know EVERYTHING there is to know about ANYTHING around us? Isnt that scary?
It reminded me of that movie i Robot by Will Smith where Robots took over the world.
Would we one day be taken over by the future of the internet's technology? Would we one day be so over-reliant on technology that we can no longer depend on our own ability to make sound decisions? and with the internet, everything becomes virtual. With virtual reality coming closer and closer to our reality, one day, we might really mix that all up. Which is scary dont you think?
--
How quickly this module and this semster comes to an end. I've really learnt a lot from this class, about the origins of the internet, the social tools which the internet is able to provide us, the impacts of learning online through blooms taxomony, and everything else that is now done online like jounrlism, politics and shopping just to name a few.
This class was made so much more interesting through the presentations of our fellow classmates who shared their knowledge with us as well as the videos and sharings by the lecturer.
A class which I previouisly thought to be dull became one that was insightful and relavent to my life as well as my future after this course comes to an end. It proved to be relvant that many of us have taken for granted and this course has shown its relavance to us, the students.
With that, Thank You =)
Over the last lesson, we discussed the future of the internet. How the internet's revolution will change as time goes by and how it would influence and impact our lives.
Below is a video by Dr. Vinton G. Cerf, Google's vice president who shares his view on Google's perspective on the future of the internet.
Also, here's another video which im sure of you many of us have seen before, if not from other blogs but also in another class in school.
This video did indeed showcase on of the vast possibilities about the internet's future. But watching the video however, brought about a sense of fear within me. How is it that a gadget such as that could get a "6th sense?" that we'd then know EVERYTHING there is to know about ANYTHING around us? Isnt that scary?
It reminded me of that movie i Robot by Will Smith where Robots took over the world.
Would we one day be taken over by the future of the internet's technology? Would we one day be so over-reliant on technology that we can no longer depend on our own ability to make sound decisions? and with the internet, everything becomes virtual. With virtual reality coming closer and closer to our reality, one day, we might really mix that all up. Which is scary dont you think?
--
How quickly this module and this semster comes to an end. I've really learnt a lot from this class, about the origins of the internet, the social tools which the internet is able to provide us, the impacts of learning online through blooms taxomony, and everything else that is now done online like jounrlism, politics and shopping just to name a few.
This class was made so much more interesting through the presentations of our fellow classmates who shared their knowledge with us as well as the videos and sharings by the lecturer.
A class which I previouisly thought to be dull became one that was insightful and relavent to my life as well as my future after this course comes to an end. It proved to be relvant that many of us have taken for granted and this course has shown its relavance to us, the students.
With that, Thank You =)
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Journalism.
Gone are the days where paper and pen were what was needed to express ones thoughts and ideas.
In this day an age, all you need is a keyboard. With the computer, writing has become so much faster and convenient. Coupled with the internet, the audience reach has become so much more wide spread as compared to the paper.
Established newspapers such as the New York Times have caught on to the internet bandwagon and started posting their articles online and even have official blog segments for journalists to post blogs regarding issues. see: www.nytimes.com
Blogging is one form of informal journalism online. With tools such as BLOGGER and LIVEJOURNAL, blogging has never been any easier. users can blog about their day to day activities to share it with their friends and the rest of the world, or to write about issues that concern them so that others might come to know about it too, including pictures and videos as well.
With the internet, it is fascinating how it has allowed journalism to be taken to a whole new level and that anyone can now be a journalist.
Gone are the days where paper and pen were what was needed to express ones thoughts and ideas.
In this day an age, all you need is a keyboard. With the computer, writing has become so much faster and convenient. Coupled with the internet, the audience reach has become so much more wide spread as compared to the paper.
Established newspapers such as the New York Times have caught on to the internet bandwagon and started posting their articles online and even have official blog segments for journalists to post blogs regarding issues. see: www.nytimes.com
Blogging is one form of informal journalism online. With tools such as BLOGGER and LIVEJOURNAL, blogging has never been any easier. users can blog about their day to day activities to share it with their friends and the rest of the world, or to write about issues that concern them so that others might come to know about it too, including pictures and videos as well.
With the internet, it is fascinating how it has allowed journalism to be taken to a whole new level and that anyone can now be a journalist.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
As many have pointed out, perhaps the latest link between politics and the internet was during the 08/09 Presidential Election Campaign in America which Obama won.
Some might wonder what made him stand out from the rest of the other candidates and win the hearts of many. Yes, it was his believes which he stood for, the believe that he could bring change to America.
However, the most crucial factor as to why he was able to reach out to so many, especially the younger audience was because of his ability to make use of the internet, mainly social media to reach out to the youths, who represent the future of the nation.
Of course, the most basic thing Obama has is his official website which keeps netizens up to date with what is happening in the White house.
Apart from that, Obama also has his own Facebook which he uses to keep internet users and facebook users updated with what he is doing.
He even has a Twitter account! Through all these, despite some critics saying that its trivial, having a president going onto the internet and showcasing irrelevant things about his life, it is a way to get young people interested, and in turn, yearn to know more about politics in their country and to hopefully, be more aware and involved.
Singapore has picked up this trend and is looking to use Social Media and the internet as a leverage to reach out to a wider audience for the upcoming General Elections, as you can see form the video below:
In conclusion, the internet is a powerful tool for reaching out to the younger generation who are more inclined to receiving information over the internet rather than through tradional mediums such as print and tv.
Some might wonder what made him stand out from the rest of the other candidates and win the hearts of many. Yes, it was his believes which he stood for, the believe that he could bring change to America.
However, the most crucial factor as to why he was able to reach out to so many, especially the younger audience was because of his ability to make use of the internet, mainly social media to reach out to the youths, who represent the future of the nation.
Of course, the most basic thing Obama has is his official website which keeps netizens up to date with what is happening in the White house.
Apart from that, Obama also has his own Facebook which he uses to keep internet users and facebook users updated with what he is doing.
He even has a Twitter account! Through all these, despite some critics saying that its trivial, having a president going onto the internet and showcasing irrelevant things about his life, it is a way to get young people interested, and in turn, yearn to know more about politics in their country and to hopefully, be more aware and involved.Singapore has picked up this trend and is looking to use Social Media and the internet as a leverage to reach out to a wider audience for the upcoming General Elections, as you can see form the video below:
In conclusion, the internet is a powerful tool for reaching out to the younger generation who are more inclined to receiving information over the internet rather than through tradional mediums such as print and tv.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
We are all now in a multimedia age where by we are exposed to all sorts of information online. Be it news reports, blog entries or even advertising.
There have been a lot of advertisements shown on various media - print, television and radio which can even be found online. The beauty of the internet is that users are exposed to every advertisement available around the world, so long as someone uploads them. We are even exposed to advertisements that do not reach Singapore due to censorship issues.
Take the following advertisement for example.
I stumbled on this advertisement a while back, upon a mention from a friend. This was a very good advertisement as it encompassed all the elements of a multimedia game.
The people involved in the train station all pretended to be involved in a shootout. It showed the effect games have on its users.
That's probably why multimedia is so effective. Games like World of Warcraft or any other Xbox game for that matter, bring users into another dimension and somtimes people get confused with reality. And I guess, it is because of the realism portrayed in reality (as in, in a train station), this advertisement was banned.
However, this did not stop netizens from posting the video online for the entire world to see.
And if you notice on youtube, this video garnered more than 2 MILLION hits, which goes to show the popularity this advertisement had on viewers.
Objectively, this advertisement was very well portrayed as it showed a new idea. It is probably due to the effect which advertisers were worried about that caused it to be banned. Futher proving the effect multimedia can have on us, the viewers.
There have been a lot of advertisements shown on various media - print, television and radio which can even be found online. The beauty of the internet is that users are exposed to every advertisement available around the world, so long as someone uploads them. We are even exposed to advertisements that do not reach Singapore due to censorship issues.
Take the following advertisement for example.
I stumbled on this advertisement a while back, upon a mention from a friend. This was a very good advertisement as it encompassed all the elements of a multimedia game.
The people involved in the train station all pretended to be involved in a shootout. It showed the effect games have on its users.
That's probably why multimedia is so effective. Games like World of Warcraft or any other Xbox game for that matter, bring users into another dimension and somtimes people get confused with reality. And I guess, it is because of the realism portrayed in reality (as in, in a train station), this advertisement was banned.
However, this did not stop netizens from posting the video online for the entire world to see.
And if you notice on youtube, this video garnered more than 2 MILLION hits, which goes to show the popularity this advertisement had on viewers.
Objectively, this advertisement was very well portrayed as it showed a new idea. It is probably due to the effect which advertisers were worried about that caused it to be banned. Futher proving the effect multimedia can have on us, the viewers.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Singapore man faces 180 years in prison
By Frank Washkuch
Jan 9, 2007 5:57 PM
Tags: Singapore | man | could | face | 180 | years | in | prison | for | illegal | web | access, | also | charged | with | fake | bomb | threat
Lin Zhenghuang, 21, was charged last week with facetiously warning of a bomb at a local bus stop - just after the London subways and bus bombings. Other site users reported Lin's post to authorities, according to an Associated Press report.Jan 9, 2007 5:57 PM
Tags: Singapore | man | could | face | 180 | years | in | prison | for | illegal | web | access, | also | charged | with | fake | bomb | threat
Lin, who uses the online pseudonym "krisurf," also faces 60 charges of illegally accessing nine wireless networks between July 2005 and February 2006, according to the AP. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and US$6,500 in fines.
Lin has been charged with violating Singapore's Computer Misuse Act.
Garyl Tan Jia Luo, 17, was also charged with accessing the web via another person's internet connection in November of last year. A neighbor told authorities that Tan had accessed his web connection in May 2006.
source: http://www.securecomputing.net.au/News/70959,singapore-man-faces-180-years-in-prison.aspx
As you can see, cybercrimes happen everywhere, even in sunny Singapore! The above mentioned incident happened just after the London bombing, as well as another guy who was charged with "accessing the web" through someone else's connection.
Cybercrimes can happen in all sorts of ways, apart from viruses, trojans, worms and so on. Cybercrimes can affect the community as a whole (like the bombscare), by posting false information and causing grieviences.
But in a way, I guess viruses are the still most common form of a cybercrime as they happen on a very small scale and tracking the source is often a difficult task.
I remember getting a virus before and it was a traumatic experience due to my computer illiteracy in terms of its technicalities. A friend of mine, who did not know that he/she (i cannot remember) had the virus sent me one unknowingly. I guess that's what they do. they multiply without the user's knowledge and send themselves to other users. Being a naive user at that time, I happily accepted the file and before I knew it, I had a virus attack!
We are often so used to accepting files from friends that sometimes, it is an oversight on our part to not check the file and varify with the user if the file was really sent by him/her.
Thankfully, the problem was able to be resolved thanks to a friend of mine.
MSN and Facebook are also common places in which viruses thrive. As of the past week, ive had random people on my facebook chatlist sending me random messages which I knew thay would not have normally sent. The same goes to MSN.
I guess, it is really important that we all protect our computers using anti-virus softwares and update them regularly. We should also always varify with the sender if it was them who sent the file, especially if they look dubious.
At the end of the day, a little effort to protect our computers go a long way. Saves us a lot more trouble as compared to having to send our laptops/ computers for recovery if we really get hit by one.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
wow, I never knew that making a video on Windows Movie Maker was so easy! I had so much fun making the video of my family's vacation to Beijing, at the Great wall of China!
The video making process was a simple as ABC, all i had to do was to drag pictures I took from my trip and add them into a time line pre-set by Windows. I could add music, and even configure the transitions!
Creating the video was an enjoyable process and I probably will do more videos for the rest of my trip to China and show it to all my friends!
--
Google has a lot of tools which they have created for its uses to aid them in their daily lives. One tool which I chanced upon is Google Translator beta.
It is a wonderful tool which helps users to decipher another language!
I put the tool to the test to see if it really did work.
First, I did an English Translation to French, then to German, and a few other languages.
They seemed to work pretty fine! however i realized, how would I even know if the translations were correct or not? After all, I was translating phrases into languages which i did not know.
I then decided to do an English Chinese translation to see if it was correct, since as a singaporean, We know both English and mandarin
.
Viola! It worked and translated well!
So I guess, at the end of the day, Google translator is indeed a very useful tool for those who would like to know more about another language =D
Till next week!
The video making process was a simple as ABC, all i had to do was to drag pictures I took from my trip and add them into a time line pre-set by Windows. I could add music, and even configure the transitions!
Creating the video was an enjoyable process and I probably will do more videos for the rest of my trip to China and show it to all my friends!
--
Google has a lot of tools which they have created for its uses to aid them in their daily lives. One tool which I chanced upon is Google Translator beta.
It is a wonderful tool which helps users to decipher another language!
I put the tool to the test to see if it really did work.
First, I did an English Translation to French, then to German, and a few other languages.
They seemed to work pretty fine! however i realized, how would I even know if the translations were correct or not? After all, I was translating phrases into languages which i did not know.
I then decided to do an English Chinese translation to see if it was correct, since as a singaporean, We know both English and mandarin
.Viola! It worked and translated well!
So I guess, at the end of the day, Google translator is indeed a very useful tool for those who would like to know more about another language =D
Till next week!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Post FOUR!
My apologies beforehand for this short post because I am feeling SICK. =( my nose has been runny the entire weekend and now my eyes feel a little swollen =(
This week we were learning about E-learning as well as multiple intelligence. Both aspects were familiar to me but the concept of e-learning hit closer to home.
I remember vividly, while studying in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, every module we took had an e-learning segment. We would get one week off from the class room, and just read the notes and readings posted online.
To ensure that we participated and learnt from the whole experience, we were made to complete assignments based on the knowledge we gained from that week.
Looking back, though e-learning is indeed something for the future, it does have a few loopholes, in my opinion.
But first, let's look at the positives.
1. E learning SAVES TIME. We are able to gain knowledge without having to sit down and be surrounded by the four walls of the classroom. we are able to learn something from the comfort of our own home or at any comfortable venue.
2. E learning SAVES paper. With knowledge being made available online, there is a decreased need for the printing of notes and hence, less tress will be cut down =)
3. E learning is COST EFFECTIVE. This is for both lecturers as well as students. Students save more money on school fees and schools save money on having to hire that many lecturers because everything is online.
HOWEVER. There is always the dark side to the internet, hence, e-learning is no exception.
1. E learning can be RISKY. why do I say so? Because learning occurs on the internet, there is no moderator. We are picking up information from many sources and if we are not careful, we might be learning the wrong things.
2. E learning reduces PHYSICAL INTERACTION. Indeed, even though we can say that e learning does give us more freedom of time, I'll have to mention that after having gone through periods of E-learning in polytechnic, I feel that it is not as useful as a the traditional face to face learning because then, who is going to answer your questions or hold discussions about topics in relation to the course of study?
some might say that discussions and questions can be posted online but..
3. E learning produces a TIME LAG. when we post questions and queries online, we have to wait for a period of time before someone gets back to us with an answer.
4. also, E Learning, like the internet, gives rise to MISUNDERSTANDINGS. With learning and communication going on just through the internet, miscommunication will arise because there will always be a different perception of meaning when we are just typing words. There is the lack of emotion.
I guess, at the end of the day, though e-learning is something which will probably grow to take a bigger place in our lives, I strongly believe that it cannot and should not replace classroom education. If anything, it should complement and aid learning.
Till next week!
This week we were learning about E-learning as well as multiple intelligence. Both aspects were familiar to me but the concept of e-learning hit closer to home.
I remember vividly, while studying in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, every module we took had an e-learning segment. We would get one week off from the class room, and just read the notes and readings posted online.
To ensure that we participated and learnt from the whole experience, we were made to complete assignments based on the knowledge we gained from that week.
Looking back, though e-learning is indeed something for the future, it does have a few loopholes, in my opinion.
But first, let's look at the positives.
1. E learning SAVES TIME. We are able to gain knowledge without having to sit down and be surrounded by the four walls of the classroom. we are able to learn something from the comfort of our own home or at any comfortable venue.
2. E learning SAVES paper. With knowledge being made available online, there is a decreased need for the printing of notes and hence, less tress will be cut down =)
3. E learning is COST EFFECTIVE. This is for both lecturers as well as students. Students save more money on school fees and schools save money on having to hire that many lecturers because everything is online.
HOWEVER. There is always the dark side to the internet, hence, e-learning is no exception.
1. E learning can be RISKY. why do I say so? Because learning occurs on the internet, there is no moderator. We are picking up information from many sources and if we are not careful, we might be learning the wrong things.
2. E learning reduces PHYSICAL INTERACTION. Indeed, even though we can say that e learning does give us more freedom of time, I'll have to mention that after having gone through periods of E-learning in polytechnic, I feel that it is not as useful as a the traditional face to face learning because then, who is going to answer your questions or hold discussions about topics in relation to the course of study?
some might say that discussions and questions can be posted online but..
3. E learning produces a TIME LAG. when we post questions and queries online, we have to wait for a period of time before someone gets back to us with an answer.
4. also, E Learning, like the internet, gives rise to MISUNDERSTANDINGS. With learning and communication going on just through the internet, miscommunication will arise because there will always be a different perception of meaning when we are just typing words. There is the lack of emotion.
I guess, at the end of the day, though e-learning is something which will probably grow to take a bigger place in our lives, I strongly believe that it cannot and should not replace classroom education. If anything, it should complement and aid learning.
Till next week!