Twitter Practical Reflections

How has Twitter (micro-blogging) enhanced your learning of EIR? 

• Keeps me updated about my classmates' activities
• Helps me keep in touch with the tutor
• Allow me to check for updated information about EIR lessons

Compare this with your blogging experience using Blogspot.

• Word limit of 140 words keeps posts short and summarized easy for users to read (Twitter)
• Blogspot allows longer posts, therefore, allowing users to create more detailed posts
• Since Twitter post are shorter, usually users blog about their current activities and have to be updated more regularly compared to Blogspot
• Twitter does not store all of the user's previous posts compared to Blogspot which archives all the user's previous posts

How can you use Twitter and Blogspot for research purposes?

Twitter:

• Leave messages on my twitter to ask for research sources
• Follow classmate's twitter to check for any updates on related topics
• Search for twitters discussing about related topics

Blogspot:

• Use Google Reader to search for blogs that post on related topics
• Follow Classmates'/related blogs on my dashboard control
• Dashboard will then update me on any new posts from those I have added

Dream Holiday Part 2: Hokkaido, Japan

Ice Hotel in Hokkaido

Lavender Fields

Hokkaido Scenery

Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four main islands, has a landscape strikingly different from that of any other place in Japan. With more than 77,700 sq. km (30,000 sq. miles) and accounting for 22% of Japan's total landmass, it has only 5% of its population.

Above are some places, I would like to visit when i go to Hokkaido in Japan. The breathtaking scenery there must be experienced first hand and I would love to visit there sometime soon. Probably with my family and friends as we wander from different places taking in the sights around us. Of course who can forget about the mouth-watering cuisine.

MOUTH-WATERING HOKKAIDO CUISINE

Dream Holiday Part 1: Website Evaluation

Dream Vacation Website

Using Google, I came across this website that helps you in achieving your dream vacation.
Leisure Options - Welcome to Dream Vacations

Authority

The homepage contains links to "About Us", "Reports" and "Contact Us"

About Us

• Describes what the company does
• What Features the club offers (Point System)

Reports

• How the company is doing (Financial Statements etc.)

Contact Us

• Full Contact Details

Based on those links provided, I have concluded this website is from a company that sells time-shares and provide their clubs members with resorts in different countries.

Time-share is a form of ownership or right to the use of a property. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each sharer is allotted a period of time (typically one week, and almost always the same time every year) in which they may use the property. Units may be on a part-ownership or lease/"right to use" basis, in which the sharer holds no claim to ownership of the property.

Presentation and Arrangement

The website displays their information in a very neat and organised fashion with attractive vacation images that  draws your attention. The design of the site is very simple and pleasing to the eye and their information are also very well organised with their resort details being categorized alphabetically.

Accessibility

The site provides a user-friendly interface where navigating to your desired page is a breeze. They also provide the details of their available resorts worldwide. However, to book the location, registration is required and one is required to be one of their time-share holders.

Most Important Evaluation Criteria

Authority. I have to be sure that the site and the company is a existing legal company before doing anything. Since I may be purchasing their time-share, I have to be certain that I am not being cheated or wasting my time.

Practical 7 Reflections (STOMP)

STOMP Homepage

What criteria did you use to evaluate Stomp?

Three criteria used:
1) Accuracy
2) Purpose
3) Coverage

STOMP stands for: Straits Times Online Mobile Print.

Accuracy

STOMP provides e-mail, contact address and phone number and The Straits Time is the standard news resource in Singapore so it is considered as a trustworthy source.

However, the videos and articles posted on STOMP are by the users, most of them amateurs and may not be qualified reporters, therefore, the information may not be reliable or correct in that sense.

Purpose

As I read up on STOMP's purpose in their "About Us" page, STOMP seems to describe itself as a news websites that focuses on connecting citizen through the sharing of "news" information and providing their users with a resource to share their "collected" information.

From there I interpreted their purpose as collecting information and providing normal people with a chance to express their individual view on different topics by writing and reporting current incident in the form of articles.
Although it may be good thing encouraging the citizen to share their knowledge, the downsides are that there may be a loss of privacy for those people in the images and video posted online.

Hence in conclusion, there is always the matter of Freedom of Speech vs Intrusion of Privacy. I believe that the users should learn how to have a good balance of both, before posting their articles online.

Coverage

STOMP allows the posting of many different types of articles ranging from World Politics to Celebrity gossip. The site categories the posted articles properly into their respective genres and also will mention well-written or popular articles on their homepage. Their main includes many different types of advertisements as well as the latest "Hot" topics.

Why did you choose these criteria? What lessons have you learnt from this activity?

In my opinion I think that my chosen criteria are the most fundamental rules of judging a website before trusting or taking any information. Therefore, using the chosen criterion I have managed to come to a conclude how reliable a site is in terms of resources and information. 

From this activity I have learnt that not everything feature on a webpage is trustworthy, and one should learn how to research and compare from different sources rather than believing everything that is said online.

Practical 6 Reflections

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

I feel that all of them definitely have their own good and bad points.

Using search engines/meta search/subject directories provide me with a wider range of resources and information. They are also more constantly update and their information are usually "fresh". However, the resources and information provided may not be as reliable or may lack detail. Searched Results may also contain information unrelated to the topic. Search Results also may contain links to malicious sites and other such "unsafe" links.

Using invisible web(databases) are definitely more safe and reliable in terms of information and search results.

However the scope and number of results are definitely lesser than using a search engine. Therefore, its always best to use both types of research methods to increase your knowledge scope of the wanted topic, by comparing and compiling the results.

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

Yes. My research have always contained and combined the results from different search methods and that definitely includes results from invisible web (databases) as they contain useful and reliable information from people that have researched on similar topics in the past. 

Using their previous experiences as a guide, I was able to widen my information scope on the topic involved and was able to gain a deeper understanding before starting to look into other sources of information.

What have you learnt from your wiki experience during this practical?

Since I am the only one posting on my topic : Development in Renewal Energy Sources Around the World, I have compiled some of my research findings and topic in discussion forums. I posted my updated views and opinions and finally came to my own personal conclusion about the topic. This experience taught me how to use any online research methods available to me in order to learn more about my topic and share my opinions on wiki.

Sharing individual research findings online (EIR class wiki)

When I checked on my discussion topic, I found out that I was the only one working on this respective topic of 

discussing Developments on Renewal Energy Resources in the World. As the current class for EIR is pretty small, I was not surprised to find that I was the only one. I posted my views on my selected topic with a images and a video. Since I was the only one doing this topic, I also post general information on Renewable Energy Sources. Of course I also included their Development trends and how they are affect the world's energy resources. It was fun researching and reading up on information pertaining to my topic.

If anyone is interested in finding out more, please refer to the link below. Thank you.

Link to my Discussion Topic on EIRRawks:
http://eir-rawkz.wetpaint.com/page/Research+36+-+Developments+on+Renewal+Energy+Sources+in+the+world

Practical 3 Reflections

Google Advanced Search

Google Search Results

One of the website shown in Google Search Results

Topic Discussion in a Forum

Were you impressed by google’s search functions/features? Why?

Yes, I was impressed by google's search functions and features. The advanced search provided helpful search filters to allow the user to search for detailed results with ease. User can enter and set their search preferences accordingly in order to narrow down the results. There is also the age filter where unsuitable results will not be displayed to those below the age limit.

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

I feel more involved when participating in the forum as I can share my opinions and view what others have to say about the topic. I have include a screenshot of a forum topic discussion above based on my research topic. As you can see in the screenshot, the contributed opinions of every individual help to give a general idea of what the topic is about and also widens my scope of knowledge based on the discussed topic.

Why must you do citation and bibliography?

Doing citation and bibliography is simply to acknowledge the source of information, the author or contributor of the respective information. Not doing so results in plagiarism, which is actually considered as stealing someone else's work, which can be a quite a serious issue.