Wednesday, November 24, 2010,
FOURTH LESSON!
FOURTH LESSON!
Helloooooo! It’s the time of the week again! It’s time . . . for me to update! :D
Today’s lesson was enriching for me! Why do I say so? Because we were introduced to 2 new search facilities! These two search facilities are; Meta search engine and Subject Directory. There were many examples to select from each search facilities and we were task to only select one and compare between the two selected. And it’s time for Round 2 from the previous Round 1 (Google vs. Google Scholar)! This time it’s Metacrawler vs. Yahoo Directory.
I will start off by sharing the 2 new search facilities' features and drawbacks:
Metacrawler
Metacrawler allows users to conduct a single search and receives a number or results from different search engines. In a simpler way of describing it would be 'search the search engines'. This saves time for searching on different search engines. The results shown for my search was only 3 pages long, picking the most relevant materials from each search engines.
With Metacrawler it searches from 4 different search engines or at least for my search "recreation trends among youth"
Using the Metacrawler search, users will not be able to use the strategy search used in Google or other individual search engines. In addition, the Metacrawler search bar has a character limit of 53 characters (I counted).
Yahoo Directory
Yahoo Directory allows user to search on their compiled directory. These directory is compiled by a team of human who makes the decision to classify each materials into categories.
Not only can you do search on the directory itself you can basically browsed the the different category it has.
For Yahoo Directory it currently has 16 different categories to browse from.
After clicking the chosen topic out of the 16, they are furthered categorised into more specific topics.
With the directory organised in such a way, it makes browsing more effective for the user.
Drawbacks:
Since it is human compiled directory, the available results are limited. The search that you might want to search on might not have a category. The user must classify their search into these categories and might not know which it falls under. The searches are also limited to only web and cannot search on images, videos etc.
In conclusion, the prevailing search facility for me is . . . (drum rolls) Metacrawler! The reason being was that it has the relevant searches that I wanted and it only has 3 pages for me to look through (less time consuming). I could do many different searches changing the key words and I had better results. I did not prefer Yahoo Directory because I didn't knew which category did my topic falls under and had a hard time figuring that out and the results were very limited and most of the time it led me to a non-relevant results to what I am searching for.
9:26 PM
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Wednesday, November 17, 2010,
SECOND LIFE!
SECOND LIFE!
Bonjour! It’s time for me to post again! Today it will be on a post on Second Life (SL)! :D
First off, do you know that Temasek Polytechnic is in SL? Yes it is! Isn’t it cool?
Can you recognise the mushroom? :)
What do you like best about this virtual experience which you cannot get in real-life?
What I like best about SL has got to be the teleporting and flying
from places to places!
These 2 features, teleporting and flying gives me the freedom and convenience in exploring SL the quickest and most efficient way. Hmmmm... wouldn't it be great if this 2 features are present in real-life, it will definitely benefit everyone in the world!
In addition, SL has also given me a platform to meet and interact with new people. And I've done so and even made a new friend from another country, Thailand. I couldn't have done it in real-life approaching a total stranger and it allows me to expose to a larger different group of people in SL.
And of course I've met a local friend as well! He's from EIR too, and he's from P06.
And most importantly the users in SL are all friendly and very sociable.
Lastly, you are given the ability to change the appearances of your avatar! Now everyone can look beautiful! :)
In addition, SL has also given me a platform to meet and interact with new people. And I've done so and even made a new friend from another country, Thailand. I couldn't have done it in real-life approaching a total stranger and it allows me to expose to a larger different group of people in SL.
Yokky Quinzet
And of course I've met a local friend as well! He's from EIR too, and he's from P06.
Shanshan Faintree
And most importantly the users in SL are all friendly and very sociable.
Lastly, you are given the ability to change the appearances of your avatar! Now everyone can look beautiful! :)
How does this experience compare with your E-Shopping Spree on Internet?
Virtual E-Shopping Spree is so much vibrant and lively in SL as compared to the Internet! Each shopping sites has their own uniqueness and has different ambiance.
As you can see from the above screenshots all the shops are beautifully decorated and each has a different themes. Not only is it visually pleasing, it also has music played when you enter the shops just like the ones in real-life.
They have a whole lot of products available and all ranging from different colours, styles, and cost. And what is different from internet E-shopping is that you will definitely have your size and once you purchased you can immediately put it on! :D The cost of the clothings are reasonable as its cheaper compared to internet E-shopping, however you are not entitled to put it on but your avatar instead. :( Well, there is always a price to pay if you want to look good even in SL. The best thing is you can ask for recommendations and opinions from another user!
What have you gained from this e-learning experience?
I've learnt that the internet has grown and allows us to get sociable through not only facebook, twitter and other social network but a second virtual life. Where we can create a whole new life, building a dream house and doll up frequently and socialise with different people. Second life is like an another social network incorporated in a virtual game. However, I feel that no doubt this all that I've mentioned are positive but we can never live in a world like that forever and spent hours on SL and neglecting the real-life. It is pleasing to live your dream once a while. I also learned that SL can be a platform for promoting something in the real-life. When I visited TP, I went to the ENG school and guess what I've found!
It is my Diploma!
I'm very impressed that the TP in SL was designed and decorated so well. It has links ready for you too if you ever want to enquire more about a particular diploma.
What is the one most challenging experience you had?
It would be navigating around SL! Initially I had a hard time finding the Map to teleport and such. But after 2-3minutes I got the hang of it and "BAM!" everything was a breeze. Teleporting and flying here and there! Haha. I had so much fun playing in SL. I guess I'm going back to SL now and chill!
6:48 AM
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010,
THIRD LESSON!
THIRD LESSON!
Greetings to all! It’s time for my reflection on my third lesson of EIR! Today we were tasked to compare between 2 Google Search Engines! Google vs. Google Scholar! To be frank, I didn’t know Google Scholar exist! :x
Both Search Engines has their own unique characteristics and in my own opinion Google is a better Search Engine for me as compared to Google Scholar. Below are some of their unique features:
Google
This feature allows user to view a preview of the website and highlighting the related search.
This feature allows user to search related resources but in a foreign languages and it translates to English.
This feature allows user to view the results in a timeline.
This feature allows user to search pages from Singapore with just a click at the left hand side panel.
Google Scholar
This feature allows user to search articles from 1991 to the current dated 2010.
This feature allows user to view the resources with its citations or with a choice of summaries.
This feature allows advanced search for users who knows some info of the articles.
Overall I am impressed with both the Search Engines. However, prior to what I said earlier about Google being my choice, I was able to find resources that was pertaining to what I was searching for as compared to Google Scholar results. Because I was able to search pages from Singapore which I found articles relating to my topics and it also allows me to find resources that weren’t in English with the function ‘Translated foreign pages’.
Discussion Forum
I have participated in discussion forum and started a new thread ‘Discussion on the leisure trends among youths in Singapore’ at SgForum. The purpose of doing so is to communicate with Singaporean of all ages to find out what are their views on it. Initially I was very anxious as it was my first time starting a thread and I was afraid there weren’t any reply. I waited and monitored and finally there were some response! :D Following are some of the screenshots showing the discussion:
It was really helpful as I got to see different people’s responds and view someone’s own perspective regarding the discussion topic. I found it hilarious as one of the replies was ESS (Eat, Sleep, and Shit). I was very grateful that they replied to my discussion topic and I was able to express my opinion on their response. This gave me a wider perspective to my topic and learns things that were beyond my knowledge capability.
We as a class too had engaged in a Facebook forum discussion and it was intriguing to see everyone’s point of view of the topic. Everyone express their views very differently and uniquely and I spent the time after the class to read each and everyone’s comment. I found this activity very meaningful and fun.
Citation and Bibliography
Why do we do citation and bibliography? Well firstly it is very important to do citations as without it, it constitutes to plagiarism. I feel that it is essential as we should respect and acknowledge the work of others and at the same time you will receive the recognition of your work of doing so. I definitely wouldn’t be happy if someone uses my work as their own without giving credits to me. Thus, we need to learn to do so and the proper way to do citations. Creating a bibliography means providing a list of resources used as reference for your work. In a simpler way which also means where all the citations are listed accordingly. This is important as it gives the reader the idea or evidence of where you have gotten the information from. This also gives the reader to read the information that cited. It also gives us a better form of retrace the resources that we have used for easier reference.
With today’s lesson I’ve learn the importance of citation and bibliography and learnt how to express myself in context and learn new how to utilize the internet to gather information. Here, I conclude my blog entry and look forward for my next lesson! :D
12:16 AM
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Wednesday, November 3, 2010,
E-Shopping Spree!
E-Shopping Spree!
Teacher: CLASS IT’S TIME FOR E-SHOPPING! AND YOU HAVE A CREDIT OF S$500!
Peter: YEAH!! HOORAY! YAHOOO!
John: It’s virtual shopping for goodness sake!
Peter: Awwwww. . . Damn it! OTL
Yup! It’s E-Shopping time! Well, to start off I don’t really have much E-Shopping experiences. The only time I got something through the internet was through my friend and it was apparels that I got. I don’t go through the process of E-Shopping like using a credit card etc. The reason why I don’t have such experiences is because firstly I don’t have the resources to do so and I don’t really rely and trust internet goods as you aren’t able to inspect the goods. Giving a common example would be apparels, I’m sure people face the same problem from time to time as the apparels that they purchased online is either not to their fit or the design may differ from what it’s shown on the web or maybe even worse the goods were lost in shipment or something similar.
Well not all E-Shopping experiences are bad as long as you’re able to find a reliable and can be trusted websites. A tip to shop online is to shop at secure web sites. And how do you identify them? Look at the top of your screen where your web site address is displayed, you should see https://. The “s” indicates that the web site is secure or you see a closed padlock displayed at the bottom of your screen or and even an unbroken key symbol indicates that you are on a secure site.
S$500 is a large sum of money, anyways I long to get my hands on this item since its launch.
I'll give you a clue!
I mentioned I love music in my first entry!
It has got to do with music!
And it’s no other than . . . . . . . . . . TA DA!
The new iPod touch 32GB (4th Generation)!
It cost a whopping S$428.00
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| Credits: Apple.com.sg |
The reason why I chose to get an iPod touch was that it falls within the budget of S$500 and the plus point of getting the iPod touch online is that you get a free laser engraving! And it’s only available at the online Apple store. This means I get to personalise my iPod touch by engraving my initials or name on it! AWESOME MUCH! And lastly the Apple store is a recognised reliable, trusted and secure web site to purchase your apple products from! With the remainder money, I would purchase accessories for my iPod touch. :D
10:47 AM
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Second Lesson!
HAROWL! I’m back from my second lesson of EIR! I came back and got a little wiser from today’s lesson. Do you want to know why? You really want to know? Really really want to know? Then you got to continue reading. Hahaha. :D
First off, we were tasked to select a research topic from a list to our preference when our names were called out. There were a total of 22 questions to choose from. I was so stressed out the minute I saw the research topics. Initially, I had set my eyes on 7. Discuss the impact of peer pressure on youth’s behaviour. However, as the task proceeds questions were stroked out and the topic I wanted was chosen by another classmate. I panicked and asked advice from my friend, Jing Yi who was seated next to me during the lesson and she recommended 12. Discuss the leisure trends among youths. Come to think of it, it was still on the topic on youths which I could relate about which is an interest to me and hopefully it will spur me on to do more research on it.
The first thing that came to my mind about my research topic was the newly built *Scape in Singapore. I’ve been there not long ago and was quite impressed by the facilities they had and the impressive large infrastructure. There have been many activities going on there an example would be the YOG whereby the basketball match is held at. And my favourite radio station 98.7fm is situated there! It was so endearing to watch my favourite DJs, Justin and Vernon LIVE! You can check *Scape here and look out for exciting activities!
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| Credits: Google Images |
After which, we had to start our very first Activity 1! We had to research on the topics that we had selected and search for 4 different categories of internet resources that was in the table; Organisational Website, e-Magazine/journal, Blog, Discussion Forum. I thought it would be a breeze since I’ve been researching for my projects and assignments. But I was wrong and it has imposed as a challenge to me as to finding a particular different category internet resources is difficult. Because it was difficult to differentiate these websites against one another and sometimes the websites can come in a form of a mixture of these categories. And I never knew these different internet resources have different CRQA (credibility, reliability, quality and accuracy) degrees or levels that can be evaluated.
After much researching I’ve learned to identify and grade these 4 different categories of internet resources. So here it goes:
Organisational Website provides official information and it does have a certain high level of CRQA as it belongs to an organisation and usually such releases are meant for the general public therefore it must be of that certain level and it has a reputation to sustain in that sense. And in such websites usually they are well organised and decorated and credentials, citations, credits, authors are well portrayed on the article itself.
E-Magazine/journal is another resources that is high in CRQA and it’s usually based by an author’s accounts of its point of view and it is usually published therefore these articles must contain factual information from reliable sources and it usually comes with statistics and pictures put up for better understanding of the topic. The webpage also contains many other different hot topics and are classified by categories.
Blog has a mild CRQA as this is purely based on an author’s account and point of view with not much of credible sources and sometimes information may not be accurate. A blog is very useful if you are looking from someone’s perspectives be it from a professional, student, Chinese, Malay, wealthy, poor etc. Everyone’s opinion is different and therefore it’s good to ponder on what they have written and deduce your own opinion and draw a conclusion from it as these sources tends to be bias in a way or another. And comments are usually encouraged from blogger to debate their different opinions.
Discussion forums are a good platform for getting answers and opinions where people from different walks of life share their experience, knowledge, profession, speciality skills and advices from the discussion forum community which is much alike to a blog but open to a wider immediate community. However, we could not be certain that this information is factual as we cannot be sure of the background of the author to be true therefore the CRQA are very low. Therefore it is very important to cross reference to another reliable source that supports the author’s statement when using the discussion forums. This is also seen as a platform for helping the other community members by sharing your views and opinions.
That is all folks! So have I gotten any wiser? Hahaha. Sharing is learning! So do share your opinions! Look out for my next post about my E-Shopping Spree! :D
9:02 AM
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