Week 5 Entry: E-learning

SPRING 2011 COM 125: Introduction to the Internet

Quote of the Week: "To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge." - Socrates

Blog Entry 4: Do you think E-learning will be a success in the future?

I had my first dose of E-learning when I entered secondary school in 2003. I was excited to try out the school site and found it highly interactive.

I guess it's every student's dream to be rid of school. No more classes, scary teachers, or time taken from daily schedules. In recent years, the idea of E-learning has become more and more popularly recognized by many students. Now, there is a way to skip school and still, catch up on what you've missed. Furthermore, if you are unclear of some information given, you can immediately check up answers on the internet. While it is highly convenient, it has a higher chance for a student's complacency as well.

The technology is here now, and functioning properly. The question of it being a success in future is a different story altogether. It is hard to determine if people would actually do better in schools via E-learning. If that is the case, people in the teaching profession are in danger of losing their jobs. I do not think that E-learning could possibly replace physical schools in future. Indeed, there are online degrees that are now offered, but I think that there are still people who doubt the credibility of such courses.

E-learning takes away one very important element in education and upbringing. And that is, face-to-face interaction. In the working world, a person cannot just be expected to sit behind his or her computer all day and not meet a single soul. Employers still like conducting face-to-face interviews, and the skill of interacting cannot simply be learnt via E-learning.

All in all, the success of E-learning technology is dependent on how the individual defines 'success'. Because, like I mentioned earlier, the technology is working properly, which is already a success.

Week 4 Entry: E-commerce failure

SPRING 2011 COM 125: Introduction to the Internet

Blog Entry 4

E-commerce failure

Top 10 reasons why e-commerce fails (by www.bwired.com.au):

1) Lack of Strategic direction – No focus!

2) Poor user interface – Sites that are hard to use or navigate prevents people from searching any further. Solution: Have a “Site Map”!

3) Lack of Trust – Are there security settings put in place?

4) Payment gateway issues – Inaccessible payment methods.

5) Poor technology – When your site is not up-to-date.

6) Lack of Transparency – When information is not readily provided.

7) No personalization – Make sure your product promotions fit all. Not just certain groups of people.

8) Failure to manage customers – Not asking for feedback, which is very much needed especially on online sites.

9) No incentives – Lack of promotions or guarantees and so forth.

10) Poor product/service offering – When expectations are not met – like poor product quality – and thus, poor testimonies are given.

Based on the video that we watched in class the other day, there are 6 important things that need to be on any e-commerce website.

- Have an information page – “About us” page. This page tells people what exactly your company does, and what your company is all about.

- Have a “Contact us” page – with the email addresses, physical addresses, contact numbers, and times to call etc.

- Have a “Site Map” – this page allows users to easily navigate from page to page, without having to search too hard for page links.

- Have a “Why buy from us” page – the page that states incentives, guarantees, and other unique qualities and services that are offered.

- Have a “Legal information” page – this protects your business by laying out all the terms and rules.

- Finally, have a “Testimonial” page – the best things you can get out of products are stated in a black and white. If people love the product, their testimony would be one that is incredibly powerful.

Reflections on "The Social Network"

“The Social Network” depicts the beginning of one of the most popular social networking sites used in the world today. The main character Mark Zuckerberg is a brilliant, but socially-estranged young man who creates a program for the revolutionary, worldwide phenomenon Facebook.com. While he rises in fame and fortune, he loses the people who matter most to him in a series of court orders, neglect, back-stabbing and public humiliation.

I find that the movie had an interesting new concept to it as it was based on an ongoing success story from less than a decade ago. While the movie may be based on actual events in the life of Mark Zuckerberg, the script was romanticized and exaggerated to meet the demands of the audience today. The movie showed no real conclusion, which leaves it open for audience interpretation. This lack of finality might represent how constant changes are being made in our technological world, to a point that “nothing is definite”. Advancements are always being made within seconds.

I haven’t come across a person in Singapore who would actually say “Facebook me!” like shown in the movie. Even so, people of all ages in Singapore use this site daily to share thoughts, music, pictures and more in the most convenient method possible. That said, we still need to be weary of what we say or put on the Internet as everything is “recorded”, shared worldwide and can come back to haunt us - particularly in places where free speech is not tolerated.

My favorite part is where Zuckerberg sits alone in the Facebook and lawyer’s offices. The scenes emphasize his loneliness and the curse of being overly-active on the virtual platform - losing the ability to socialize in the real world. It doesn’t matter if you have a million friends on Facebook. It’s the actual interpersonal interaction that counts.

Week 2 Entry: Social Media - Boon or Bane?

SPRING 2011 COM 125: Introduction to the Internet

Blog Entry 2

A.C. Joke of the Week: “Do people snigger at the mention of Friendster because it sounds like… hamster?”

Social Media: What exactly is it? The first thing that comes to my mind is – Facebook!

Facebook is a social networking phenomenon that gathered over 150 million members in the short span of only 5 years. I observed some close friends over the past few months and realized that the first page people usually open is none other than, Facebook, with the exception of Twitter, Gmail, SIM portal and UBlearns of course.

We started off the week discussing the definition of social media and the differences between social and traditional media. Social media are media that are designed for social interaction, and are highly interactive, accessible and scalable on a global network. Traditional media, on the other hand, is static, has a physical limit and has short-lived value, mainly surviving on advertising.

With social media, I can check up on my friends and family members and their daily activities. Through social media, I can find out about happenings in the world, and I can make my mark in web history just by commenting on it. Furthermore, there are a variety of social medium, where one can express his or herself in a myriad of ways.

SO, the BIG question is: Is social media a BAD idea?

I would say that I agree to a certain extent.

Over the years, as social media grew in popularity, there has been more news of cases of people in the younger generation getting addicted to the internet. Along with this addiction came other problems such as – “social isolation and the invasion of privacy”. However, whether or not we know the exact numbers of cases is a different story altogether.

No doubt, the people who use social media mainly lie within the younger generation. As my father as says, “You young people are lucky. Lucky to have cell phones, the internet, your own computers. Lucky that now, you don’t have to go through the trouble of face-to-face interaction… Especially in situations where you want to get to know a person of potential romantic interest!”

What my dad said was quite true. With the internet and social media, people “forget” how to behave in real social situations. Some would rather make all the “noise” they can on a social networking site. And still, there are others known as “page stalkers” that wouldn’t mind checking out another person’s profile page, thus invading the person’s privacy. Of course, privacy settings are now in popular use, but are they really effective in keeping a webpage ‘private’?

That aside, I believe that some parental control, guidance, and maybe even restrictions, in internet use is important. Adolescents should try to use some discretion when using social media because what you say on the internet will never disappear.

Is social media good or bad then? Well. It’s a conundrum in itself.

Week 1 Entry: COM 125 Lesson ONE

SPRING 2011

COM 125: Introduction to the Internet

Well we had our first lesson on the Internet with Mr Abel Choy (: We started off the lesson with a few jokes and a guessing game: "How much is Facebook worth today?" and; "Rank the top few websites". Turns out that Google ranks number one and is worth about US$199.7 billion. My uncle made a joke of Google once. He said, "If Google were to give shares to all their employees - I wouldn't mind working as their cleaner."

Aside from all the jokes, I found out that there's more to the internet than just clicking links and typing things into the search engines. Everything we see on the internet are actually packets of codes that are translated to give us whatever we see on-screen. I never knew there was a Internet and "Intranet" - a compilation of computers connected together to form a networked environment inside an organization. So technically, some of us have an intranet of our own right in the comfort of our own houses.

Over the years, the internet has penetrated many different forms of social media. One of the most common devices we see people using to access the internet, is none other than our mobile phones. Also known as "smart phones" today, people can easily upload pictures, download files and chat with their friends without having to drag around a heavy laptop. "Smart phones" can be used anywhere as long as there is a wireless or "wifi" connection, or a data plan.

Another interesting revelation was that of the the Web Versions: Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. From what I gathered from the class, a Web 2.5 should exist since a lot of the websites we see today are caught between versions 2.0 and 3.0.

Our first lesson ended off with a discussion on browsing and popular browsers. My personal favorite is Google Chrome. I like this browser because it is fast. And I mean. Really fast. You'll see what I mean right here in the video that I have posted. Google Chrome is also easy to use and it allows me to gain easy access to my Gmail account. Most importantly, Google chrome remembers the pages that I frequent, and it has not yet given me much trouble so far (:

Link for video:http://www.youtube.com/user/googlechrome#p/c/6C464642AA716B69/0/nCgQDjiotG0

During our second lesson, I heard some really familiar stuff that I learnt about in CSE 111. I honestly didn't think that COM 125 was going to be a module that looked into much technicalities. But I'm glad that the first two lessons have been good so far, and I really like the videos shown in class. They are highly informative.