Reflection #7

1) Using your favorite metaphor, describe the most important lesson that you had learnt in your EIR journey.

2) Write a paragraph summarizing your findings on your research topic.

Well, I guess my metaphor would be 'BOOMZ', come to think of it, its not even a word because it doesn't appear in the dictionary. But whatever the case is, I like this word because its full of meaning and of cause it a famous word in Singapore now. I would say the founder of this word is Ris Low! Basically this word is chosen because according to Ris Low, it means loud, strong and something that affect people, well all of the above mentioned sure happens on me during my journey in EIR.

Like what my earlier post had mentioned, I do not like research and findings before I came into EIR, and I always found myself stuck in a situation where I had to conduct hours and hours of research just to get a piece of information. All this resulted in time wastage and in hence affected my sleeping time. Therefore, I decided to force myself to pick up EIR as one of my CDS subject so that I can learn and apply them in the future and I would not have to torture myself with the late night sleep anymore.

When the whole EIR journey started out initially, I was pretty bored with Google because I had been using Google for years even though its really exciting to learn new stuff about Google features like the advance search and stuff like that. But as the lesson starts to progress on, I realised that there are so many things out there that I haven't been taught of. And this is the part where the 'BOOMZ' comes in. I feel that life is about learning and growing, therefore I took my lesson seriously and make sure that it becomes an impact in my life because I want to grow up remembering that I knew how to conduct research properly. And one important lesson I learnt from EIR is that we should not drag and allow our works to compile over days. Its not a really good idea to slack at the start of the block and rush at the end. Usually works that are produced this way is sloppy and I believe no one would love it even themselves. I am glad that I learn this valuable lesson fast and prevented it from happening, and I also can apply this lesson that I learn in EIR into other related studies as well! This is killing 2 birds with 1 stones!

Well the final assignment is the time where we put our 3 and a half weeks of research skills into action. My chosen topic is 'Role of design in the Go Green Movement' and personally I think its rather an easy task for me to handle. Being a design student myself, we are already train to be more conscious about our environment. But even so, I still managed to learn new things and had some self reflection from my research findings.

Sometimes, the smaller the things may seem to be weak, but when added to a huge quantity, the result can be devastating, some of the greatest threats to the future resources comes from the things that we throw away everyday, and these are usually those small little insignificant object that no one would have possibly thought of. We always put the blame on other for global warming but had failed to reflect on ourself that we are actually the cause of it. We are the consumers and when we dispose things that are made from our nature, we don't return them back the way it is. The things that we throw away becomes waste and in hence harm the environment than doing any good to it. Therefore, we should be self discipline to do our little part in protecting what we are left with so that we could still give something to our future generation.

Reflection #6

Tutorial 3 & 4

A) How has twitter (micro-blogging) enhanced your learning of EIR? Compare this with your blogging experience using Blogspot.

B) How can you use Twitter and Blogspot for research purposes?

Hi all!

Basically, I like to use twitter to a certain extent, but if it were to be in comparison to blogging using Blogspot, I would still prefer Blogspot.

But I must say, Twitter has indeed enhance my learning of EIR, take for example, when I was doing my research on my chosen topic, I chance upon Designboom.com which is a electronic magazine, it has daily updates and has a very good coverage of applications. The good thing that Designboom offers is a short updates of their daily post via twitter, and people can get access to them simply just by joining them on twitter.

And I had benefited from this as I can get updates on the latest design which they have posted up on their magazines and if I'm interested enough, I can then decide whether to look up for them and apply them into my assignment. And this is one thing that I found really useful and it really enhance my learning in EIR as I realise the good and effective use of twitter in academic wise.

Other than the application of Twitter in my academic, I believe Twitter can also create a certain impact in my personal life as well. I am currently a Twitter but not a regular one. Reason being, I feel that Twitter is a platform for shout outs, which many other application such as facebook and msn personal message had already. The shout out would also stay there so long as the user do not remove them, and I think they possessed the same function. However, I do not totally object the use of Twitter in my life as I am still a amateur, it might bring me great advantage one day in the near future when I finally get to realise the full potential of Twitter.

Blogspot is a platform where its being used by people to post about their daily reflection (most). And I think that the content of information is much more in comparison to the short twit that people twit. Firstly, Blogspot allows more characters and thus making the content richer.

Secondly, with a rich content, emotions can at least be felt in comparison to twits from twitter.

Thirdly, Blogspot can also be use as an electronic journal or magazine like Designboom.com which in hence give updates on certain information to people.

Fourthly, Blogspot had also been made use as a platform where bloggers starts their business and earning their revenue.

However, i feel that the cons about Blogspot is that is has a URL and usually people have to remember the URL to get to the web which can be a form a hassle to many.

Other than that, I think that Blogspot is still a better medium to enhance not only my academic but also personal life.

Reflection #5

A) Update your blog with magical pictures of your dream holiday destinations.

B)Which evaluation criteria did you used to evaluate the multimedia website for your dream holiday? Why?

C)Why did you choose to go to your dream holiday destination?

My dream holiday destination is very special and unlike others. It is a place where its full of danger and wonders and not many people get the chance to be there. Outerspace.

When I was young, I always love to look at the stars because I'll feel happy and satisfied, I would never forget the first time I got to see a night full of stars in one of the farm in Perth when I was in primary 5. That was the very first time I get to see such a beautiful night, on normal occasion, we don't get to see them in cities like Singapore due to the light pollution, and we can only see them in books and television.

Therefore, I treasure my experience I had when I was in Perth although I was just a 11 years old kid. Now, if I were to be given a choice, I won't want to visit other countries just to see the stars again. I want to travel to outer space so that I can see every stars purely with my naked eyes also other planet if possible.

Furthermore, I also feel that outer space is one of the purest place that is not affected by many humans activities and thats the beauty in mother nature. I want to see the earth below my feet and admire the beauty of this globe that we all lived in.

I would also like to see meteor close up, meteor occurs almost every time even in the day, usually it happens every 5 to 10 an hour. But due to the strong sunlight and light pollution at night, we don't really get to see them at all. Furthermore, most are as small as a pinhead and are very hard to spot, thus making it hard to see with our naked eyes. And I would be most happy to see one entering the earth atmosphere from outerspace. ^^

Black hole is another thing that interest me, I really wonder what happens to all the elements that got suck into it due to its magnificent gravitational pull, even light can't escape it. I would like to see one! From afar of cause!

Currently, space travelling is already made possible with the advance of technology. However, it would cost a bomb to travel. I had done some research and found a website which allows people to space travel. Click HERE for details of the web.

I have a video here to illustrate the new space craft which was created to allow space travelling.

However, going there would have cost a bomb, the ticket cost 200,000bucks and deposit starts at 20,000bucks.

And so, the website that I used is http://www.virgingalactic.com/. It is a website to market space travel with its new space craft.

Firstly, the evaluation criteria that I used to evaluate this website is clearly,

purpose - Because I got to find this website through my purpose of space travelling. And it is clear to me that the web is trying to market itself about its spacecraft. And they had included a safety link for people to view as safety is always one of the main concern for us. Therefore with that, I would say that its clear to everyone that their purpose is to market.

Accuracy - The website is managed by an organisation which is trying to advertise itself as the world first manned commercial spaceship. They involvement had attracted over 800 press and VIP guest gathered for a press conference . Therefore, their accuracy of information would not be doubted.

Coverage - Space travelling had been a dream to many for years and this organisation, Virgin Galactic had made it possible. And I'm very sure that this would be good news to many. The website provides vital information for those who are interested such as newsletter to keep people updated and an overview of what they are doing to keep them well inform and etc.

Accessibility - This website is accessible to anyone, and there is no need to register or log in require to view the whole web page. Unless visitor decides to book a ticket to outerspace, they need to fill in a form to book a place.

Presentation and arrangement - Information are very well structure in this website, visitor would not get lost while visiting.

Reflection #4

A) What criteria did you use to evaluate Stomp.com? Why did you choose this criteria? What lesson have you learnt from this activity?

B) How do you feel about sharing your views via Wiki?

Good day! Today's lesson was a blast! It was so much interactive than the other lessons that we had. We went into a very familiar website to most Singaporean who love gossips and interesting findings about our daily lives, Stomp.com.sg. However I totally had no idea that it was actually to be considered as a citizen journalism web. Or rather, I had no idea that citizen journalism was actually something like this. Thank god I took this subject. =)

Firstly, I would say that I evaluate Stomp using coverage and purpose. An interesting article with interesting scope would usually capture attention. Especially when its first hand from the public without any form of biasness towards a certain topic, which may be due to some restriction from the higher authority. These articles and events most probably happens not in the norm of our daily lives and therefore captures attention from the public and discussions are then held to discuss about the topic. It is also interesting to read about how other Singaporeans feel about it. And this spice up the whole coverage of the article and website. Sometimes, articles can also be of a purpose which is not seen in any form of other media like the newspaper or television maybe again, due to certain censorship or restriction. Therefore, Stomp was then made use of as a platform for that purpose. It could be to create awareness for certain stuff to even publicise something. And this then becomes another form of platform for the public to be aware of that particular purposes.

And personally, I'm thankful that such I was taught that there are even certain criteria as of to website evaluation. Usually we just use the website without acquiring the knowledge to what and why are we doing certain things on the net. And through this lesson, I finally realise that there are certain criteria to it.

Just some random thoughts about wiki regarding on citizen journalism, since we can edit the content off the post of others from wiki. Can we have something like Stomp.com in wiki? I think it would be interesting to see gossips, and out of the blue events happening in our daily lives being posted up, and then the public comments and edit according to the accuracy of that particular post.

Reflection #3

A) Do you think it is more effective to search the invisible web (database) than using search engine, meta-search or subject directories? Why?

B) Will you use the invisible web (database) for research in your own respective diplomas? Why?

C) What have you learnt from your wiki experience during this practical?

Well, I guess it all has to depend whether invisible web is more effective to using other search engines, because different search engines had their own uniqueness and search specialties. Likewise for the invisible web.

But I would like to comment that invisible web is really useful to a large extent as they contain content that we can never find with the normal search engines. The information that the internet contain is just like the ocean, whatever information that we can find on the typical search engine was just the surface of the ocean, the real treasure lies deep down inside. And the duty of the invisible web is to find them and those information would than be more accurate and precise.

Actually, I had learnt about the usage of invisible web before, but I took it for grunted until today. To me, it was just another kind of search engine but more complicated and troublesome. Therefore, it was chucked at the back of my head and I almost forgotten about it and its a pity that I only managed to see its 'good' side today as it would have made my research much more easier. And After today, I would definitely continue using it as a tool for my research!

And with this, New and better information would then be added into my research on wiki. A more solid information would then be made available to other fellow students who are doing on the same research topic as I am!

Reflection #2

We had lesson on Meta Search Engine and Search Directory today in class.

And again, everyday is a fresh day with new knowledge acquire.

I wasn't aware of this 2 search engine as I had been using the normal search engines like Google for years.

And in this lesson, it really expose me to them well.

Though I'm excited with the new facilities, I'm still not very comfortable with using them, especially with the different functions and interface that they had, since I had been been a good supporter of Google for years.

But I guess it would take time for me to get used to them, and gradually use them in the near future.

No doubt that these new Search engines which I had learn today were really good.

I believe all these new facilities that I learnt today will follow me not only for the rest of my academic years but also for my life.

Since internet is going to be around for many years to come.

And I am very glad that I took up this CDS. =)

A little bit of my opinion on the search engines I learnt today.

Firstly, I feel that Meta Search engine is good because it will search for the different web pages that was available on the different search engine with a single input of search query.

It doesn't only save my time from going to different search engines to get what I want but also help to narrow down my search which again help to save my time. But I also like to use the Search Directory facilities probably due to my type of search topic. I feel that my research topic is very broad and Search Directory really help to break down my search to the different categories which I am really thankful for. It would really help to speed up my search.

I feel that blog is a really wonderful creations and people had made use of blogs to a very big extent from online diary to making money aka blogshop. And site feeds help us to get connected to other websites and blogs as well. It can be a medium where you can get to other sites without really typing them out. Just a click of a button will do.

And another interesting platform of knowledge, Wiki, I really like this because it is a good platform to share informations and ideas depending on the users. I like the idea about able to exchange the informations between other students and changing the content inside. This would give us more pressure to a better input of information, since changing of the content is possible by other people. I hope that students who are sharing the same topic as me can learn from me and likewise, me learning from them through the useful informations that will be put up soon. ^^

Reflection #1

Google search engine is no stranger to me, I had been using it since I was in primary school until now. And as a design student, research plays a very heavy role in my academic. However, I knew that my research skills are not really up to standards and hence I would always end up struggling in modules which carries a heavier percentage on research. Therefore, this had become one of my main reason for taking this CDS, to get expose to the different kinds of search engines and skills on how to make a proper and narrowed search.

Like what I mentioned earlier on, Google is no stranger to me, but this is the first time I was so impress with Google's functions which existed probably since it was created but due to my ignorance, I wasn't aware of it.

An example of such functions is the advance search engine, it can easily narrow down my search results from more than a million to a hundred thousands hits. This function here is very useful especially to a design student like me.

Another thing that I learn in class is to participate in discussion forum. I think its a good way to get expose to what opinion other people had in mind and sometimes, it can enlighten you to some pointers which you might not have thought of. And our thinking caps would expand making us grow intellectually. At the same time when replying to their post, we will be more concern with the way we carry ourself since we are not present physically. We will be more cautious with our command of english and language in order to give a good impression to the people reading our post.