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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Reflection 8 (Final)
Ok... I said in my previous post that that was the last post. But guess what? I am required to do one last reflection .
Before all these started , I had no idea of what was going to happen in this course. I had no idea of how the lessons are like, I had no idea of what activity I was going to do. But when the class started, I realised that there was much to be learnt.
Through this subject, I am able to do research more efficiently. I've learnt about all the different techniques to do a proper research and the differences between search engines. Honestly, i never knew that there were so many type of search engine in the internet.
I believe that this course had benefitted me as I have been equipped with the skills to do a research and i believe that in the near future i will apply whatever i learn here to complete the lots of research that i will be required to do.
However all these will not be possible if Ms.Farida wasn't there to enrich our knowledge and clear all of our doubts. So I wish to use this blog post to thank her.
Thank You so very much Ms.Farida!
Reflection 7.
Oh god, my last reflection post in this blog is finally here! Time simply flies when we are busy huh... i can still remember struggling with my first post and here i am writing the last...
Anways here it is....
Yesterday, we started the day with another test. I scored 16/20 , better than the previous but no due to hard work but luck. Thank God that this will be the last test for this CDS.
After the test, i went on to touch on my Portfolio two. While i was trying to come up with a good report, i got stuck in phrasing and transfering information that can be found in the website that i was doing. Thus, i spent more than half the lesson doing this portfolio. I must repeat that writing a report is easy, but making it a good report requires lots of hard work.
Before lunch, we were required to do an assignment in wiki-wetpaint. Our research topic was the ethics on Social networking services. Within minutes after the start of the assignment, there were already chunks of information in the blank space provided. This shows how efficient the people in our class are! :P.
But due to all the citing, the whole page was in a mess and barely attractive. I tried to beutify it but the Wetpaint wiki functions was driving me crazy. All the work that i tried to edit remain unedited as too many people are saving their edits at the same time. Apart from that, i feel that wetpaint- wiki is very user unfriendly as they do not provide functions that make things more convenient. For instance, i tried to change the font colour of the keywords in the page. But because the colour i chose is a customized one, i do not have the option of selecting the colour from the table. I had to go to the colour each time i want to change the colour of the word. Frustrated, i recolour everything black and bold the words instead.
But then again, i have to agree that wiki is a useful software that allows people to share all the information in the world. The community spirit can truly be seen in wiki as we have to trust one another to provide accurate and relevant information.
Alright so that's basically what i did yesterday.
Till we meet again!
bye bye
Reflection 6.
For Yesterdays class, we completed lecture 7 and briefly went through lectures 8,9 and 10. With what we have learnt in lecture 7, we were required to evaluate a website. That is where Portfolio 2 comes in. For portfolio 2, we were required to evaluate a website, print out the discussion forum that we did last week, print out our blog reflections and Wiki group , complete the biblliography and do a presentation on our portfolio.
So basically, we were required to complete the first part of portfolio 2 - evaluating websites using the evaluation criterias. Along the way, while i was completing my report, I've gained much knowledge about the mentioned topic i am working on. While searching for the information needed to complete my report, i've found out a thing or two about the impact of alcoholism on youths. And these information reconfirms my stand on the negative effects of underage drinking.
Like portfolio 1, I was given a sample for reference. With the help of the reference, I had an idea of the rough outline of what i was suppose to do, and thus i started my work.
Later on in the day, we did the YouTube case study. The class were splitted into groups of four. We were suppose to discuss the factors that leads to the extreme popularity of Youtube, the downsights of Youtube( and the solution to it as we are supposedly the CEO of Youtube), and the future direction that youtube is heading towards.
Personally I feel that Youtube is a great website for sharing videos. A factor that leads to the extreme popularity of youtube has got to be it's free access to the many videos available in youtube. If Youtube were to charge a registration fee or membership fee, I am pretty sure that they will lose most of their users over midnight.
Another factor that might lead to the extreme popularity of youtube could be due to the variety of the videos that are available. From Movies to lectures, youtube is able to target people of all age group! Being able to do that, it will be weird if it is not popular among the people. I believe that anyone reading this blog would have viewed videos from youtube at least once.
As for the downsight of youtube, i believe that it would be the limit of the size of the video that can be uploaded. Competitors such as VEOH is catching up as their file size limit is relatively bigger than youtube. Like youtube, VEOH has a wide range of videos ranging from soap operas to music videos. With such strong competitors, Youtube has got to constantly come up with new ideas to attract its user.
The future directions for youtube? I believe that youtube might include social networking services in the future. With facebook up and rising, youtube and veoh will lack if they do not do something about this.
The next activity that we were suppose to do is to evaluate another website with regards to My Dream Holiday( which i have posted up in the blog already). If I am rich enough, I would explore the whole Japan. The virtual tour to Japan in the website stated had really brought me to many places with a click of button and a stretch of imagination. This activity had put a hold to my hunger of travelling to Japan. But the main purpose of this activity is to evaluate the website... so i had to include the evaluation criterias in my post.
That's about it. Sorry if im not making any sense... It is 1.40AM now, and im dead tired.
Goodnights.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
My Dream Holiday -Japan Tokyo
Being able to set foot in Japan has always been my dream since I came to know of the country. For now, this place seems unreachable but believe me, i will be there one day, admiring the scenery of all these places. 
First Stop- Tokyo. Tokyo will be my first destination in Japan and my post will be based on the places in Tokyo.
Hotel New Otani Garden Tower, Tokyo.
This is the really cool hotel that i wish to stay in. I'm going to stay in the Presidential Suite "HIROSHIGE" which is described to be: "Sophisticated Japanese Simplicity of the Highest Quality Spacious living room and jacuzzi will help VIPs unwind, while the greenery outside the window offes a respite moment."
THE DAY SHALL COME!
Tokyo Disneyland
I've never set foot in any disneyland before (except the temporary one in Singapore ages ago) and i've decided that Tokyo Disney will be the first disneyland for me. I can't wait for the day when I get to meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy,Pluto, Donald and Daisy!
I simply love Disney characters :D.
Ueno Park
What's Japan without Cherry Blossoms?! I will make sure that I'll be there at the end of March or Start of April!
Sakura♫ Sakura♫
In Ueno Park there are three really cool museum: The National Museum, National Museum of Western Art and Tokyo National Science Museum.
The one i really want to go is the science museum as for i am curious to find out the lifeforms on Earth. It is said that the museum has all the life-sized representations of practically every life form the earth has ever seen, from the blue whale (outside the old building) to hundreds of exotic insects!Cool huh!
Shinjuku
is said to be an important central district of Tokyo for work or play which includes one of the major, skyscraper precincts of Tokyo in Nishi-shinjuku(skyscraper district) and further more, the busiest train station in the world is there!
Here there will be more sightseeing trip and... do you smell the S word????
SHOPPING!
Shinjuku stores are said to specialise in electronic and camera shops, cinemas, restaurants and bars.
So i must make sure i lose some calories before i go there!
HarajukuHarajuku is known for the patrons that visit the area every Sunday. Every Sunday, many young people dress in a variety of styles that include gothic lolita, visual kei, and cosplay, among others and spend the day in Harajuku socializing. ( from wikipedia) when i am there, i will definitely snap lots of pictures with all these daring people.
Mount Fuji
Legend says that demons, ghosts and goblins haunts the forest located at the base of the mountain. I would like to head there and explore it myself. More importantly It is a chance to get away from the buzzling city life and enjoy nature!
Mount Fuji! Wait for me!
All these wonderful information can be found here! :http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/The fun part is over now, allow me to evaluate the website that i got all these information from.PurposeThe purpose of this website is not clearly stated but I can see that this website serves the purpose of a travel guide. In the website, it shows all the different tourist attractions, accommodations, food, shopping areas, fashion and many others. I believe that this website intends to cover places all over Japan so that people who wishes to travel to Japan will find the information in the website useful.
Coverage
As stated, this website covers the highlights of Japan. Inclusive of that, the website also provides basic Japanese conversational tutorial and translation. The attractions of Japan are clearly stated and they are easy to understand. The history of the places were also included in this website. Pictorial sources were also use to attract more tourism in Japan. Within the website, there are links to many other websites such as the official websites of the hotel and the tourist attractions. In addition to that, a forum based on the experience of being in Japan is also created in the website. With regards to the information of the hotel, a "rate-check" calculator is placed in every hotel page. This allow users to calculate the hotel rates easily and conveniently.
Accuracy
I do believe that the information stated in this website is true as sources from many other website supports their content. The use of language in the official website is also accurate as there are no grammatical , spelling and typographical errors. The forum, being part of the website, is filled with shorthand languages/internet language, where the use of language is not perfect.
Accessibility
This website is accessible by all with no charges. However, the forum services are restricted to registered users. But the public can view the threads without registration. The registration for the forum is free. The information provided is copyrighted thus, restricting public sharing of information. The website is presented in a way where there are many different sections for all the different type of information provided. For instance, information of Japan is categorized into the main Cities/Parts of Japan. Under these places are the different activity(such as shopping, food, map, hotels, etc) and places of attractions.
Overall Quality
Overall, the quality of the website is not too bad as many information can be retrieved. However, the presentation of the website is a little messy and not all information can be found in this website.
Alright that's it for My Dream Holiday - Japan Tokyo. Anyone who wants to make a donation to fund my trip is much welcome to do so.
Soreja! Mata ne!
Reflection 5.
Hellos!
After much procrastination, here is my reflection for Friday's lesson.
So basically, the day started off with the test for lecture 1-5.
Well, everyone had different set of questions and I scored 14/20,which was below expectations. Now that i have a feel of how the test will be like, i will work hard for the next test. Hopefully i will be able to do better next time.
After the test, we went off to analyze www.talkingcock.com.
I've heard of this website for many times now. It is a website that makes spoofs out of anything, but mainly the Singapore parliament. Personally i feel that this website serves as a very good assessment for the government as not only does it serve as a source of feedback of how Singaporeans feel every time a decision is made, it also reminds the government that there are room for improvements.
For this assignment, I was required to role-play(not quite) as Singaporeans. About how we feel about the website and it's sustainability. To many people, this website is inappropriate in many areas for its use of language and contents. But to me, it actually serves as a wake up call to many people.
The reason to why the website is able to sustain for such a long period of time is due to the fact that there is truth behind every false account they make. For example, in the website, there will be many posts that includes the phrase " Escape from toilet". For an example "Bukit Gorblok Town Council has come clean about exactly where all the money it has collected from residents has gone – out the window. Specifically, a toilet window." Sounds familiar? All these posts actually links back to the mistake of the government regarding the light security in the prison that allowed Mas Selamat to escape.
Other than that, i've realised that posts in talkingcock.com often links to Singapore news. Although they might make fun of the problem at the end of the post, they actually pointed out the problem that Singaporeans are facing. I am not very sure if i am allowed to post the things found in talkingcock.com thus i will go without the more precise examples that can be found there. But anyway, i feel that talkingcock.com points out very real problems with alot of entertainment value that in a sense, should not be put to heart but then again, should not be neglected.
Yeap that is my review for what we did on Friday.
I will stop here for reflection 5.
See you soon
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Reflection 4.
Alright! It's time to get moving!
The day started with a sharing session discussing about the forum postings that all of us were required to do as part of our research. Like everyone else, i shared my experience. After getting banned in "Soberrecovery" forum, i posted in a health-related forum called " Steadyhealth" in hope to get some response from fellow forumers there. To my surprise, nobody had even bothered to my topic. As i continued observing the forum, i realised that there were many other posts in the forums that are left unresponded. In reality, this is the first time i am not getting any answers for my post in the forums. Unwilling to give up, I created another thread in another forum called the "Flowerpod" forum. I do hope that I am able to get some reply to my question some time soon.
After this mini-sharing session, we started working on our portfolio. Reports like these were never easy to do. Every time i had to do one of these, i would get stuck as soon as i start. But Thanks to the sample portfolios done by students before us and Ms Farida's patience of answering my question, i was able to visualise and come up with a skeleton for my report. I began working in a systematic way and was able to complete about 3/4 of the report before it was time to stop. I hope that the informations that i included are relevant and that I am able to do well for this 30%.
After this, the class was required to participate in a discussion forum in OLE. The topic was about how Internet had enriched our academic life and thus i started reflecting on how the internet had helped me in my years of schooling. Indeed, the internet had helped me in many ways. No matter what subject i was taking, there would be a need to use the internet. From P.E to History lessons, there will be a time when we are required to do research in a way or another. Other than researching, i pointed out to my classmates that the school Educational E-portal had helped me alot when i was preparing for my examinations. I would say that the Internet had provided me with many learning opportunities and had enriched my knowledge massively. I do not know if this is exaggerating, but i feel that the internet is a life saver.
After we are done with posting and commenting, we continued to lecture 7 . In this lecture, i was taught to evaluate a website. By evaluating websites, i will be able to know the quality of the information resources that a website will provide.The criteria to evaluate a website includes the purpose and coverage of the website, the reputation and authority of the creator, the accuracy of the information provided, the currency of the post, the accessibility of the website, the Presentation and arrangement of the website, how user-friendly the website is, and the Overall Quality of the website.
I would be having a mini mcq test tomorrow and i guess i will go to bed now.
Oyasuminasai~ :)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Reflection 3.
Waking up early for school today was no easy task. The thought of having to attend a seven hours class made me more restless than i already was. But with the thirst of knowing what will happen later in the day, i headed for school to meet the other zombies.
Today, was indeed a fruitful day. I was introduced to the Meta Search Engine and Subject Directory which again, i never knew existed. The functions of these search facilities varies from engine to engine and the Meta Search Engine is one of my favourite. Reason being, its ability to searches various search engines such as Ask.com, Google.com, yahoo.com,etc, simply amazes me. Instead of having to do my searches on all various engines and having to go through the whole load of junk that i am provided with, all i have to do to get useful information was to use the Meta Search engine which provides me with the best results from the various search engines with a click of a button. So basically, it works like a All-in-One system that does the choosing of websites for you.
However, my experience with the Subject Directory was not a good one. Although i might be able to dig out a few useful information here and there, the results they provide me are mostly irrelavant and useless. But one thing about the Subject Directory that simply amazes me is its ability to compile the databases and categorize them in subjects of matter. With that, I was able to browse through the results very quickly and not waste anymore time digging for information.
To top it up, I've been introduced to various Invisible web such as Medline and the databases that can be found in TP, naming EBSCOHOST,ITPRO and many others. I found out that through these databases, i am able to find out more as the documents they provided me are more indepth. Most Invisible webpages are not accessible to everyone as most of them requires a pay type account or a privilege account. Unlike visible web, they cannot be found in the search engines.
As long as the day might be, it was a fruitful one. I do not know how the others feel, but i have definitely enjoyed myself. I am glad to be here with everyone else and am most definitely grateful for the knowledge that I am able to acquire. So other than the long draggy hours that i have to sit through,there really is nothing to complain about the lesson.
Let's all have fun throughout the remaining days of DPA PPP!
See you all tomorrow!
tata!
