conclusion

well as we come to the end of this mod., much of the work we have read and watched have been a real eye openers. i mean we all know what the internet is for but never really considered how many more things it can do right now and the things which we thought that were impossible.

For one i got to know more about the Google tools, which i think it's essential as i use it so often yet i don't know the full power of it! (hummm) it has made my researching work mush easier and finding places faster and helped me in exploring the globe without leaving the room.

Social networking and security is also another issue i could relate to. i mean right now almost everyone is connected to Facebook, my space, (very old) Friendster and so on. we all need to be more cautious with what we post up and we comment online cos online it's online, it can be anywhere.

So the next time i go online I'll look at this machine and have a better sense of it's history, it's power and it's influence on people. =D

Week 13 - Future of Internet

The internet... i think it's overrated. Yes it does brings lots of convenience and changes, and yes now we teens can't survive without the web and yes there are rampant virus and hackers out there to destroy the system for evil or just for fun.

But still, can we truly rely on the web for everything in the future? Will bedtime stories be just a Youtube video for our children? Will knowing someone means being friends with them on Facebook? Will having conversation is just by typing rather face to face?

They might happen. But i don't really think with all these changes, it will provide a better life for us all. Human are meant to communicate face to face. If we replace that with machines, i believe relationships will be less meaningful and fulfilling. I'm spending more time on the web than talking to my pals. And i can say this really harms my relationships with them sometimes.

So I'm not looking forward to the future to the internet as a form of replacing human communication. But i am interested in the interesting gadgets that are involved in our lives. =D Like TED - the future six sense?

Week 12 - Social Networking and Online community

"(Facebook) is set to increase social network, it is not defaulting to private, and letting you making it public. But we are defaulting it public and making you priviate"

Clay Shirky, NYU professor and social networking expert.

I'm sure everyone had the experience of having to at least trying to do a blog ( like this one) or be in a social network to join your friends. Well in my secondary school days, Friendster was the IN thing. And not just that, the MORE social networks you have, like High5, Tagged, Multiply, Who-Is-Your-Neighbour.com it shows you are more connected, more popular, more in demand. (Yes, i was in ALL of them, and this was considered tiny compared to my pals who were constantly updating their pictures to 7 or 8 different social networks).

But i made sure that all my info were private, that;s the funny thing. you are posting yourself online and making yourself 'private' instead of public where anyone can see your status, know your age, where you work and study and you past pictures of ex and embarrassing moments. What's the main purpose of doing all that then??!?!

And with companies looking you up on Facebook. it's frightening to be known that 'anything accessible to me means everything can be acceptable to me'. said by Clay Shirky. If you were clubbing and did something which you regretted, everyone knows, your BOSS knows. And anyone who knows you will see you in a different light (doesn't have to be a good one)

I do have Facebook. But i hardly post any pictures of myself, i usually get tagged along which i think it's fairly okie and comfortable with it. I do post some comments about myself but never reveal anything much and i don't do hate messages or rude remarks online. i think anything online can be turned against you if you used it the wrong way.

So social networks do bring people together. but when you are forced to know a stranger and to be introduced with all the nasty comments and deeds. It's disturbing and not the best way to know and judge people. So be more careful with social networking.

Week 11 - Journalism and the Internet

The internet has been a source for any information from news to DIY to entertainment. you name it, Google it and you can find it. If you don't, you can publish about it by yourself and share it with the world.

Now with all these voices in the internet, who can you trust? And with more and more people turning to the internet for news and updates of their own interest, what does the newspaper, the television, the journalist has become?

I personally think that news will definitely be around. but we will never know the real truth unless you saw it for yourself. the main reason is that everyone has their own opinion. just by listening to someone is listening to their opinion. So when the line blurred between the mainstream news with blogging news and updates, you tend to find it hard to know which source to rely on.

True, there are news organizations you can rely on. but they are also being supported by other companies and governments. and news coming out from them have to look good on the country and the companies that they support. it's biased and you are not getting the full picture.

Online journal on the other hand are personal, less formal and more in depth and opinionated. Which tends to be troublesome because you tend to get some people who has seen the real situation and provided you with a better account than news journalist. but you may get more extremest opinions which could influence your thoughts and believe in somethings which might not be completely true.

Ahh the power of free speech + internet = trouble for main stream news.

Week 10 - Politics

A video of how the internet has affected the 2008 election.

The internet has not only improved the medium of rallying for an election but also bring more people together in a faster and more effective way. But there's always ups and downs. Because, in the past, with newspapers and television, contents can be controlled and top information can be kept. However now with the internet, news and personal opinions (even extremest) can be heard and be shown to the world. So now days every political or famous people have to pay much more attention on their presentation, their speech, the body languages. Any jokes with hidden intention can be used against them and any classified information can be exposed on the internet.

So it's tough to be a politician now. Everyone is watching your every move...

Week 8 - XML + Multimedia

here's a short video of how to write a simple XML for your website.

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Multimedia.

i do know one thing about multimedia, its exciting and i think we are addicted to it. For Singaporeans, we are constantly looking out for the latest phone design, the best computer around and the coolest gadgets to show that we are hip and up to date with today's technology. Just look at the amount of people who went to the IT show this March!



There are those who do judge the price and quality over the branding. however there are also those who just pour in money on gadgets and buy any product that comes from a certain brand...like Apple.

Here is one funny example of the 'latest' Apple product: The Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard!






Will you buy it? Haa haa....

Week 7 - Cyber Crime

while most us know that there are people out there online trying to find loopholes or hacking into our computers, there is one area of people we have overlooked. Not all hackers are people who wants to find our personal information. Here's some vocab difference between theses hackers.

Black hackers. - A black hat hacker, also known as a cracker or a dark side hacker (this last definition is someone who uses his skills with a criminal intent.

White hackers. - White (hat) hacker uses their skills and knowledge as a way to defend someone from attackers.

This is fascination because theses people (white hackers) are trying to hack in and improve the security of the organization which prevents other hackers of ill intention to violate any information.

So if you do want to be a hacker, choose the right path... i mean being a white hacker, you get well paid for what you do and feel good about it. whereas black hackers do get money, maybe even more... but they destroy or take advantage of other people's information and money.

Week 6 - Google Tools =)

i've been using some of the applications from Google and right now, my favourate tool is the Google Map!

I won't say that that I'm a bad map reader but it's so much more easier if someone could just draw the fastest direction when ever I'm lost, and Google Map does this for me.


For example, if i wish to go to school and i need to know the fastest way to go there. They will give you a choice if you wish to travel by car or walking (which is highly unlikely =S). just write down the address of the starting location and the final destination and Voila! They will draw a line showing the route. Time estimation will also be provided as well as the specific roads to drive on and the detail information of which direction to go on the left column.

But if you are a more visual person, no fret, you can go and click on the right top corner where you have a choice of 'Map' 'Satellite' and 'Terrain' and pick 'Satellite'. You'll have a up close picture of your destination!



Picture of the school grounds =)

So here is my top pick for Goggle tools and I hope you enjoy using it too!

Here's a video of me playing my electone...

i never realised i look very weird/funny when i play it till now XD

It took me quite a while to practice this piece as i was pretty rusty....

hope you guys like it!

Week 5 - Education and the internet

Education isn't like what it use to be in the past. Learning now do not always have to be rigid and boring. It is now interactive, colorful and very digitalized.

Back when i was in Primary school, everything was done manually. we have to copy notes from the board, bring tonnes of books to class and practice our penmenship endlessly to make the grade.

Now in University, we don't copy notes but rather take pictures of the slides in our phones. We scan our books into our computer so we don't have to carry heavy books around. Who need a pen when we can type everything down in our laptop (and take pictures too!)?

Both virtural and E-learning has impacted so much in the way we learn, we interact with our lectures and how we do our work. It is not unusual to have online courses now where you can view your lessons any time of the day and where ever you fancy. if you want to learn anything now, you are glad to know that you are not confined to any classroom, and you are not judged by your race or gender but as long as you have a computer and internet connection, welcome to the new fronter of education!

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Learning occurs every single day of our lives, from the moment your awake to the time you tuck in to bed. For example, i had a bad hangover this morning (knowledge) and i realised that i must had drank too much the previous night (comprehension). Then i decided to head down to the pharmacy and grab some pills to cure the handover (application). when i do get better, i will take note how effective the medicine was (analysis) and reflect why i did drink the previous night. I'll recall it was my friend's birthday party (synthesis) and would make a mental note to buy more of such pills along just in case when i go out and party (evaluation).

well i know this example is not the BEST one to explain about Bloom's Taxonomy. But it gives a main idea how each single level of learning is done in order to climb up the next learning system. Throughout this whole example, i could have used the internet for search for more information on the pills which i should take to cure hangovers, or learn how to control my liquor. ( i don't usually drink that much anyway..... haa haa )

So we now do know that learning or getting information does not just limit to books and lectures, literaly everything can be found online. =D

Week 4 - E-commerce and online shopping...

My dad worked in IBM before so I have heard of the term e-commerce. when i asked him what it was, he told me it was were they do business online. I was 12 at that time. I had no idea what the internet is and how powerful it was going to be. Most of the time i would use the computer to type out my work or play games.

But NOW... e-commerce is well know all around the world. Recently US eCommerce and Online Retail sales projected to reach $204 billion, an increase of 17 percent over 2007. ( "The State of Retailing Online 2008". Forrester Research, Inc.). you can now purchase goods online from anywhere and anytime. B2B or B2C , these are pretty common phenomenon and now has revolutionized the shoppers style of shopping. Here are some of them :



Other than these, we also have the C2C e-commmerce. This is more like consumer to consumer business. shops like Ebay and own mini online shops that sells second hand items.



For me I'm now a frequent online shopper. It ranges from clothes to stickers ( i know XD ) to books and i think it requires a lot of trust because frankly you'll never know if the seller is just someone trying to rip you off. =(

But as long as you have some solid communication and invest money on the delivery, it's a easier way to shop and most of the time things are cheaper online =D

Video Feature... - History of the Internet

Week 2 - Social Media

'I can't live without the internet' that is just an understatement to how much I rely on it to get my life going. I check my mails daily and watch videos from Youtube and Veoh. I need the internet to do research for my projects ranging from articles to pictures to videos. And i get my daily dose of news from the internet too. it has replaced my traditional ways of reading from a book, newspapers or watching from television. And sometime i find it too tedious to go to every single website to check if they have updated any articles, so i use RSS ( Rich Site Summary ) to list down the latest updates without me going through every one of them.

I'm still pretty new to Podcast and the first time i heard it was from the Mr. Brown Show. It was the Prime Minister's speech and he turned it to a different phrase, 'Mai Hum'. haa haa... actually i find it troublesome to listen to Podcast. why do i have to go all the way to download their conversation just to listen to their views when i can hear these from the radio or from the news? Now i only listen to podcast once in a while for movie reviews like flimjunk and that's about it. ____________________________________________________________________

Here's a video about how the Internet has impacted the people during the 1990's. This news report was in 1993, but it is still relevant today as explains how it has connected people from all over the world together.

Week 1 - History of Internet.

I've been introduced to the internet when i was Pri 5 when i had to go and find pictures of birds for my Young Scientist Card. My dad taught me and showed me around Google and Yahoo. i was fasinated but did not really bother where do these information come from. Now i rely it everyday for my mail, work and entertainment. For me internet was just a 'fun box' till i got to know more about it in this module.



Here is a brief History of the internet.








as complicated as internet is now, it started out just as a defensive tool for USA then to scholars and researchers, finally for public usage.



Internet and Intranet.



the main difference between these two terms are the way it spreads it's information. Intranet is like a sub-set of Internet. it does have the same function, have the same softwares. Just that the information shared are within a certain group of people like school or office computers, where as for the internet, information is passed on to anyone around the globe.

Internet address and domains.




Internet domains and address are as important as out own names. It makes them unique and also makes it easier for one to track down a certain website when needed. From this video i realised that we can also try trying out the IP address instead of the actual domain name to go in a certain website. So i tired it out and here is this webpage's IP address : 64.233.189.191

Try it! =D

hi there world!