Activity 3 - Blog Reflections and EIR Closure - 1 Minute Autograph

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

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My favourite metaphor is "Life is a zoo in a jungle" by Peter De Vries. It actually refers life as something that is planned and organised like a zoo, however the zoo is located in a jungle, a place of chaos. I liked this metaphor a lot as it perfectly describes life. Life is so well-organised like a zoo, however there are the imperfect relationships with people/office politics/school stress that convey the chaos of the jungle. EIR is like a part of life, you feel its usefulness and essentiality only when you know about it. And when you come to know and learned about it, it has become a tool to guide yourself through this jungle. I like EIR as it helps me to learn more about the Internet that I use but have taken for granted. For example, Metasearch Engines, Subject Directories and Google Search Engine options. The best part that I enjoyed about EIR is evaluating a website as from there, we can analyse whether the website is effective for us or not. Previously, all I could tell if the website is good or bad was from its presentation and layout.

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

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To refresh every one's memories, my research topic is "Discuss the effects of tsunamis on society". Tsunamis are natural disasters, however they do not occur simply as large waves striking coastal places. They actually occur because of the impacts from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides etc, when the water can't resist these strong movements. As a tsunami move nearer to shallower waters near the coast, the waves can reach as high as 10 metres. The effects of tsunamis on society is definitely loss of homes and lives and needing the money to rebuild the destroyed community. If the affected place is a tourist region, it is harder to rebuild the economy as many tourists may not have the confidence in visiting these places again. As with many natural disasters, children may become orphans and require support and reliance from the government.

Activity 2 (Blog Reflections)

Briefly reflect on lessons learnt from this tutorial:

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

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Twitter allows me to give short and precise status updates, however Twitter markets itself as more of a playful kind of social interaction website, and moreover, Twitter updates have a maximum of 140 characters only, which makes it hard for people to take Twitter seriously. Therefore, I use Twitter more for socialising instead of an enhancement for learning. I prefer blogging via Blogspot as there is no limit to the amount of words per post and you can customise your Blog (like a personal website). It gives a more personal feel as people take you more seriously. You can also Blog about serious subjects like Politics to other stuff like Travel, food and your daily life. And its always a joy to read other people's Blogs too.

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b. How can you use Twitter and Blogspot for research purposes?

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To keep up with the trend, many organisations and companies have a "Follow us on Twitter" or "Follow us on Facebook" icons on their websites. So if I would like to know any updates on them, I can follow them on Twitter and Facebook. As Twitter and Facebook provides real time updates, I can ensure that the information I get is always the latest. As for Blogspot, some people tend to Blog on a certain topic, maybe like travel, fashion, food, design and politics etc. So if I would like to maybe get information on a holiday destination that I am traveling to next month, I can read Blogs that cater to the sole purpose of travel related stuff.

Activity 3 - Blog Reflections

Briefly reflect on lessons learnt from this practical:

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a. Update your Blog with magical pictures of your Dream Holiday destinations.

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My Dream Holiday destination is Thailand, its not really a Dream because I practically spend my holidays every year in Thailand. -___- But nevertheless, here goes the pictures of the places in Thailand that I would like to visit (or visit again)...

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Chiang Mai Night Safari, Chiang Mai Province

Its the 3rd Nocturnal Zoo in the World and its 2 times larger than Singapore's very own Night Safari. And some say, its the most beautiful Night Safari in the World. Its the current place I would like to visit right now in Thailand!

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Central World Plaza, Bangkok.

Its the largest mall in Thailand, 2nd largest mall in Southeast Asia, and the 3rd largest mall in the World. Can I shop till I drop?

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Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, Chiang Mai Province.

Chiang Mai is known for having a cool climate since its located in the hilly North, I think it will be very relaxing to walk along the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar when its especially chilly. And who doesn't like Night Bazaars? With stalls selling colourful trinkets and what nots blending in with the striking neon lights and the bargaining echoes in the air.

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Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok.

This is the MOTHER OF ALL OUTDOOR MARKETS. Chatuchak Weekend Market is the largest outdoor market in the world with more than 15, 000 stores occupying an area of about 1.13 km square. They sell literally anything, from your usual food, clothes, books, furniture to even endangered animal species! However like its name suggests, it only opens on the weekends.

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Yaowarat Road, Chinatown, Bangkok.

Yaowarat Road oozes an authentic Chinatown feel, unlike other Chinatowns around the World like in Singapore and Malaysia, where their Chinatowns are filled with touristy stalls selling souvenirs. Yaowarat Road is famous for its street hawkers that line along the busy road and the many neon bill boards that jostle with each other for attention.

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Maya Bay, Ko Phi Phi Leh, Krabi Province.

This famous beach was made famous by the novel and the movie based it, both titled "The Beach". The novel depicts this beach as a Utopian paradise. From the picture alone, who are we to deny? Clear turquoise waters with fine white sand surrounded by majestic limestone cliffs. However, both the novel and the movie has made the place too popular, resulting in over crowding.

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Koh Nang Yuan, Koh Tao, Surat Thani Province.

This is my favourite place in Thailand as it is very relaxing and paradise-like. A beach connects the 3 islands and its like the main artery of Koh Nang Yuan. Tourists can relax on the beach, climb to the view point on the hill, snorkel in the shallow waters or just do nothing!

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Long Neck Karen Hill Tribe, Mae Hong Son Province.

Many of the tourists whom visit the Karen Hill Tribe for the sole purpose of seeing the Long Neck women say that they thought they were visiting the zoo due to tourist gimmicks with headlines like "See the Long Neck women now". However, they are actually helping these women. Many of these Karen Hill Tribe villagers actually reside in their native country, Myanmar, but due to the ongoing conflicts of the government, they are forced to take refuge in Thailand. So, actually they are considered as refugees and can only make a living by farming or selling handmade handicrafts to tourists whom visit them.

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b. Which evaluation criteria did you used to evaluate the multimedia websites for your dream holiday? Why?

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Firstly, the website that I have chosen is http://www.tourismthailand.org.sg/ Its the official Tourism Thailand website for Singapore.

Initial impressions: I like the website a lot! Especially its choice of colours. The colours were not too glaring and blended well with each other, which made it pleasing for my eyes. I particularly liked the pink coloured silhouettes of the Thai temple structures. I thought that it was pretty cool. The collage pictures of Thailand gave the website a more livelier feel and attracted me to further carry on exploring the website.

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Purpose: There is no aims or an "About Us" page mentioned in the website, however, ain't Tourism websites all about promoting/advertising their country to attract Tourists to visit?

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Coverage: The website is very comprehensive and covers most well known destinations in Thailand, however some destinations are not mentioned at all. I felt that there were too little related images to complement the destinations that the website mentioned about. The website also has a mini bulletin on the main page which mentions about the major events that are happening in which parts of Thailand soon and what promotions and discounts are going on. There are also various active external links with free e-Magazines to download, Thailand in 72 hours (Damn cool slogan) and other Thailand Tourism related websites.

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Authority and Accuracy: The website is managed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Royal Thai Embassy of Singapore. As they are official organizations, therefore I can trust the authority and accuracy of the information on the websites.

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Currency: The information on the website is up to date with the latest events listed and even a weather widget to display the weather conditions in Bangkok today.

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Accessibility: There is no need to register or to log in to use the website, therefore the website is easily accessible. Furthermore, there are external links to download e-Brochures and e-magazines for free.

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Presentation and Arrangement/Usability: The presentation and the arrangement of the website is very pleasing to the eyes and neat. Navigation are at the top, while current information is centered and external links on the right. The website is very user-friendly and does not contain any pointless advertisements.

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c. Why did you choose to go to your Dream Holiday destination?

Because Thailand is not just Amazing,

its Amazing Thailand, Amazing Value. 100 Thai Baht is about 4 Singapore Dollars. And a meal from a Street Hawker just costs less than 20 Baht, which is less than 1 Singapore Dollar!

Activity 2 (Blog Reflections)

Briefly reflect on lessons learnt from this practical:

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a. Which criteria did you use to evaluate Stomp.com? Why did you choose this criteria? What lessons have you learnt from this activity?

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The criteria that I use to evaluate Stomp.com is mainly the purpose and coverage. Because, personally I feel that these two are the most crucial elements in evaluating. The objective of the content is important as Stomp.com has many articles, but each article seeks a purpose, for example, the attention of the higher authorities or just us the public. The coverage is also important as some subject areas of Stomp.com's articles are plain pointless and some are important but did not have the chance to be published in major newspapers. What I have learnt from this activity is that to evaluate a citizen journalism website like Stomp.com, we can't evaluate the website without basic categories like purpose, coverage, accuracy, accessibility, usability and so on.

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b. How do you feel about sharing your views via Wiki?

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I enjoy sharing my views via Wiki, as I am able to see what others has share about their research topic or other factual information, and I myself also can share about my research topic. We can view and learn more about each other's research topic. This is a good thing as most of the time, we will only research solely on our own topic and not bother about the other topics. And we can also freely edit each other's information if they are inaccurate.

Discussion Forum (Tutorial 1&2) - E-learning (T02)

E-learning (Copy pasted my original post from the Effective Internet Research Discussion Forum)

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Briefly explain how Internet has enriched your social and academic life. Illustrate your answer using TWO Internet resources you had learnt in EIR.

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The Internet has come a long way since its initial humble beginnings. Today, the Internet has drastically changed the way people communicate with each another. I suppose now a days, the younger generation talk more online rather than in real life, with the popular inventions of MSN, Facebook and Emails. However, as we are behind our computer screens, we tend to speak more openly as there is no form of eye contact with the other party.

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The Internet has enriched most of its users and my social life greatly. If there is no Internet in the world, people can only rely on telephones and frequent meet ups to socialize. MSN has allowed me to communicate with my friends and former classmates easier. There is no form of so called "barrier" between us, as there is no need for eye contact, body language or having to watch the way we speak. However, the only negative point is that there is no feelings in our communications. Sure, MSN has emoticons to express how we feel, but do you think the other party really feel the same when they use an emoticon?

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Academic wise, the Internet can really compete with books as a source of education. What ever you would like to find out about, the Internet has anything. I read about new species of animals discovered online and enjoy seeing images of airport architecture. Animals may have nothing to do with my course (Environment Design), but it improves my in depth knowledge towards animals.

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The Internet resource that I have learnt in EIR and is a part of my fondest memories is mainly Twitter. Twitter is quite cool on the social side of the Internet. It improves your social life as you can comment on other people's tweets and people can comment on your tweets. The best thing is, you can follow a celebrity on Twitter and there is somehow a form of connection between you and the celebrity. So, your social life not only revolves around you, your family, and friends, it also extends out to celebrities too.

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For research purposes, do you think Internet resources are the only resources that you can depend on for effective research? Justify your answer with an example.

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Internet resources are not the only resources that we can depend on for effective research as some content may be untrue or inaccurate. For example, my course is Environment Design, and most of the time, the lecturers encourage us to do our research by borrowing books instead of using the Internet. Personally, I feel that Internet resources are on par with books as effective research resources. However, sometimes, the best architectural images can only be found in books and not on the net. Moreover, using the Internet to reserve the book that you need from the library is much easier than scanning the net when all you get is a tiny bit of relevant information.

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However, slowly, we have come to ignore the presence of the usefulness of books as the overly convenience of the Internet has overpowered us.

Activity 3 (Blog [and Twitter] Reflections)

Briefly reflect on lessons learnt from this practical:

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a. Do you think it is more effective to search the invisible web (databases) than using search engines, meta-search, or subject directories? Why?

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The invisible web is actually a protected databases that needs a user to log in to utilise it. For me, I feel that it is a hassle having to log in and sign in to do my research. As online search engines and Meta-searches just requires a Internet connection and a few clicks of the mouse and you can get what you want. And also, some of the invisible web requires you to download the document to fully see it, which is even more of a hassle. Therefore, it is less effective to search the invisible web than using search engines, meta-search, or subject directories.

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b. Will you use the invisible web (databases) for research in your own respective Diplomas? Why?

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I will not use the invisible web (databases) for research in my own respective Diploma. Because since my course is Environment Design, we mostly deal in the architecture/design research area, and these information is best found from an Architect's official website or design related books. I personally feel that the invisible web is mainly for Business school students.

Activity 3 - Include Site Feeds into personal Blogs and Blog Reflections

2. Briefly explain on lessons learnt from this practical via your EIR Blog (and twitter):

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a. What benefits do you get when using different search facilities to search for resources related to your topic?

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The benefits we will get is of course a less repeated and broader range of search results, however this is not really true. Firstly, today I have learned quite a bit of new search facilities like Metacrawler, Mamma, Yahoo Directory, and Galaxy. Initially, I thought Metacrawler and Mamma was cool as they actually searches the databases of multiple search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask Jeeves. However, they disappointed me as their list of search results was mediocre as compared to Google's results of 8, 800, 000. If Metacrawler/Mamma searches Google databases too, why did their search results amount to 70 plus only? Secondly, some of their results were repeated and can be found by Google's search engine too. Moreover, their search results was more mainstream (Mainly about tsunamis and not specific towards my topic of the effects of tsunamis on society).

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b. How do you feel about using site feeds in your Blog?

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Site feeds is kind of useful. It allows me to see the latest updates of my classmate's Blogs and a preview can also be seen, which allows me the option "to further continue or not". Moreover, site feeds is very easy to maintain on a long term basis as its not like email subscription, where you will receive multiple emails now and then, which proves a hassle to some one's crowding email inbox.

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c. What do you like best about collaborating on Wiki with other students who share similar research topics as you?

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I am able to see and learn from what they post, and from there, I will take care to not post similar stuff as it will be deemed not useful to have the same pieces of information. If the other students or I myself post something that is inaccurate, we can freely edit each other's information.

Activity 4 - Blog Reflections

Briefly reflect on lessons learnt from this practical by answering questions below:

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a. Were you impressed by Google's search functions/features? Why?

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Today was the first lesson after a long weekend of new year holiday and no doubt, to answer the question, I am very impressed by Google's search functions and features. All along, I started using Yahoo! search engine at first as Yahoo! provided some daily trivia news on their website which was quite interesting to read, however after that I became a Google convert as the Google search results was more accurate and had a better variety and their interface was very simple and user-friendly. I am also very impressed by how you can filter your search results to just solely searching Blogs, images, news and articles etc. Furthermore, I have learned about the "formula" that we can input into the search engine. for example, the formula is something like this, (impact OR effect*) AND (tsunamis* OR tidal wave*) AND (society OR civilization). This formula is something like how Google searches for you. Before that, I only assumed Google search as typing what you want to search and clicking your mouse. I did not knew anything about this "formula". I think that its kind of cool. I have also come to know of another type of search engine by Google called Google Scholar. Before that, I only knew about the normal Google search engine. I feel that Google Scholar is more of searching a specific type of document rather that a whole long list of results that the normal Google search engine produces. However, I think that the normal Google search engine is better as Google Scholar is kind of new and complicated to me.

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b. How do you feel about participation in discussion forum? Is it helpful for your research? Do you feel anxious about talking to others you do not know?

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I feel that discussion forum is a quick and easy way to get answers to whatever you need to know. A discussion forum is a good way for participation as although you may not know, but people from different walks of life may be frequent members of these forums. The different answers from these different people provides many kind of approaches to your questions. The varied opinions from the forum members gives a wide range of knowledge. Forums is helpful to my research to a small extent, as most of the forum members reply in short and too generalised answers. I do not feel anxious about talking to others that I do not know as before this activity, I am already a frequent visitor of forums. Moreover, we are talking to people behind their computer screens instead of real life communication, so there is no need to be anxious.

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c. Why must you do citation and bibliography?

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We must do citation and bibliography so that the original author's hard work will not be taken for granted. Moreover, we may be accused for plagiarism. For whatever images, videos, materials, or even a length of text that we changed after reading a website, we have to do citation and bibliography.

E-Learning Activity 2: "E-Shopping Spree"

Part 1. "E-Shopping Spree"

I have $500 and I would like to spend on a Singapore Airlines one way ticket to Hong Kong. I would like to spend a whole new one year in a foreign place as 18 years of living and celebrating the new year in Singapore is getting rather mundane. Singapore is really boring as a long term residential place, you can't go anywhere except malls and more malls. Although the one way air ticket is rather pricey at $442, but it leaves me with $58 left. (I shopped at http://www.singaporeair.com/)

I have always wanted to buy a pack of Monopoly Deal Cards but I am a very protective person where by each card is not allowed to have bent corners, therefore buying the cards and not allowing it to be utilised is kind of pointless. However I have $58, so why not? The sad thing is the cards have increased its price from $8.90 to $11.90, which leaves me with $46.10. That's quite a lot left, what else should I buy? (I shopped at http://www.toysrus.com.sg)
Ah.....Lonely Planet guide books are on sale at 30% off, I guess I shall buy the guide book that features my favourite city: Bangkok. The books costs only $18.68 online as compared to the ridiculous prices quoted from local bookstores like Borders/Kinokuniya and so on. As so I am left with $27.42. (I shopped at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/)
I have a new hobby that I have recently picked up, which is collecting keyrings. My favourite brand is Ralph Lauren and yet I do not own anything from them. Therefore, I will get a keyring from them, moreover its also on sale at $28. However, I have exceeded my given amount of $500 by 68 cents. But its ok, I can fork out the extra amount, I don't mind. (I shopped at http://www.ralphlauren.com)

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Part 2c. briefly explain what you had learnt today.

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For the past 2 days of EIR lessons, I have learnt how to use twitter (Which I don't really get the huge phenomenon about it at first and can't really be bothered about having an account) and I think its quite cool and provides a form of familiarity between yourself and the other party. For example, you follow a celebrity on twitter and you will be able to see his/her updates, and it feels rather personal in my opinion.

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I have also learnt how to identify the different purposes of websites, whether they are informative/provide news/a source of entertainment/an advocacy/a business.

Introduction

Hi,

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My name is Low Weng Guan and currently, I am pursuing a Diploma in Environment Design with 1 more year left. I am child-like, secretive, shy, stubborn, and observant. My hobbies are reading, especially browsing for free at Borders. I want to get a new book, but the thought of browsing freely overpowers my buying power.

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My second hobby is reading Wikipedia. I like clicking an unfamiliar url link from an article to another. Wikipedia improves your general knowledge a lot.

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I enjoy traveling overseas as a new foreign place allows me to taste their food, feel their culture, see their sights and experience how its like to live life in their land.

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My favourite animal is the Malayan Tapir.

My favourite dish is tom yum soup.

Thank you.