Week #9: A Force To Be Reckoned With

The Internet is a potent force in politics today. But is it enough? Can it really bring about political change?

Let’s take a look at President Barack Obama’s 2012 Campaign Launch video:

I’m sure you remember his presidential campaign a few years back that extensively utilized social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube. This online venture was hugely popular among netizens and allowed for the younger generation to gain greater insights into his political campaign, further contributing to his eventual success. That was then, this is now: President Obama’s newly launched campaign has gained much flak from netizens, with many of them criticizing his supposed reforms and blaming him for the mounting debt the USA is currently in. 

In both of these campaigns, netizens were either inspired or turned off by Obama’s online rallies. Emotions were roused, knowledge of the different campaigns was increased, and people also became more aware of their ability to contribute to the future of their nation through voting. This was, and still remains, the Internet’s role in political campaigning. However, in spite of all the online hype, voters still have to respond, people still have to take action. Online campaigning comes to naught if the people who seem so fired up online are unable or do not act upon their declarations of support.

Also, what if the Internet is shut down by the ruling coalition? This was what happened during the recent Egypt revolution. Online political dissension, uprising and movements will come to an unceasing halt if Internet accessibility is not restored. If the Internet were the determining factor for political change, then revolutions would fail if the Internet were disabled. It wasn’t the case for Egypt.

The Internet, therefore, is a mere facilitator of political change. It can evoke emotions and motivate actions, but it cannot determine people’s responses. The onus for political change, and any other change that is crucial for progress worldwide, is on the people. They need to take action and act on their convictions. Thus, it is and always will be the role of the people, not an intangible and impersonal force like the Internet, to bring about political change in countries worldwide.

For more perspectives with regards to the influence of the Internet on politics, refer to:

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/The-Internet-Gains-in-Politics/Summary-of-Findings.aspx

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/04/iran-politics-blogging-internet

Week #10: A Website Full of Stories

Hello! In view of the current trends of Internet and journalism, I would like to discuss about this relatively new platform for citizen journalism, Storyful. As mentioned during my presentation two weeks ago, Storyful selects social media content from reputable sources all over the world on YouTube and Twitter and then compiles these bits of information into news. Storyful curators, who are responsible for editing and providing a context for the social media content, will then churn out stories that include a short description of the background of the news story, tweets, videos, photos and maps.

So…  You may be wondering: what exactly distinguishes Storyful from usual news websites or even other citizen journalism platforms, and what about it appeals to news readers?

Well, upon exploring the Storyful website (http://www.storyful.com), I found that there is this function called “Around the World in 18 Tweets”, which provides easy-to-digest summaries of the world’s top stories and is updated throughout the day. One of the posts reads:

Tibetan monk dies 'after torture'

Updated about 6 hours ago

International Campaign for Tibet says 37-year-old Jamyang Jinpa died of wounds received during torture.

Rights group says Tibetan monk dies after torture http://bit.ly/huIONT #Tibet #China

Tweet by @AsCorrespondent

Such bite-sized information enables readers to gain at least a superficial understanding of the global top stories, thus making it more convenient and time-saving. This presents a huge advantage over usual news websites.

Next, the curators filter the content posted to Storyful, playing a gatekeeping function in the dissemination of information. This makes Storyful much more reliable than other citizen journalism sites such as blogs because the content on these sites are usually not checked or reviewed.

Storyful even has real-time updates (at the left hand side of the main page) on tweets by Storyful contributors. Here is one of the tweets:

Such frequent and bite-sized updates are unprecedented in the area of citizen journalism.

Storyful even has a YouTube channel to itself (http://www.youtube.com/user/storyful). Indeed, the company lives up to its proclamation: Storyful will help you discover and share stories with value, meaning and resonance. It will find authentic voices amid the noise. It will be real life in real time.” Not only so, it also fulfills its company statement: Storyful uses the power of social networks to create an authentic, cooperative and socially useful journalism.

To conclude, here’s a Storyful video on the recent Cairo uprising.

Useful reference site:

http://newtechpost.com/2011/03/17/storyful-curating-news-for-a-new-generation

Week #5: The Future of Digital Classrooms - Second Life

Has it ever crossed your mind that the laptop you own right now will not just be a classroom tool to aid your learning, but THE classroom itself? With the continued advancement of technology, such a scenario would most probably be the future digital classroom. Let’s take a look at a video of the usage of Second Life in education.

Second Life can be used as a digital classroom, in which students are able to immersed in their own education: they can visit and explore virtual replicas of places mentioned in class or attend lectures in a virtual auditorium, thus enabling them to be “there” while being anywhere. Students and teachers are also able to connect visually online through illustrations, drawings and even construction of models, establishing interactivity among them.  

To further facilitate learning, outside experts from all parts of the world could be invited to speak to students in Second Life. This will enable the students to be in closer proximity with these renowned speakers and learn more from them. Second Life is also useful for increasing inter-faculty, inter-campus and intercultural exchanges. By setting up a venue in Second Life where the people from different areas can meet, the exchange of ideas, opinions, etc can take place, making the students’ education so much more interesting and experiential.

In addition to the utilization of Second Life, both instructors and students can use current platforms like Twitter to disseminate small chunks of information for receivers to act on immediately. For example, students could tweet short questions and either the instructors or fellow students could give an answer. Also, instructors could tweet their students to remind them of any upcoming quizzes or tests.

I agree with the video producer that education needs to adapt and cater to the needs of today’s digital learners – the students who are so used to having technology incorporated into their daily activities. Who said that education could not be merged with entertainment? I personally believe that the merging of these two seemingly contradicting entities would greatly enhance learning, simply because the integration of entertainment would better meet the 3 educational objectives, especially that of the affective “domain”. When students are immersed in their own learning environment, they would take more ownership of their education and hence learn more effectively. However, platforms such as Second Life face the challenge of having real-time updates of events that are happening all over the world. Without these essential information, Second Life would become obsolete and lose its relevance in the rapidly-changing world of today.

Other informative videos:

Education in Second Life:

Science Learning Opportunities in Second Life: 

References:

The Digital Classroom: http://thedigitalclassroom.com/

Teaching With Technology: http://twt.wikispaces.com/Profile+of+a+Digital+Classroom

Week #4: Achieving E-Commerce Success

E-commerce success, as defined by A-K Strategies, refers to e-commerce websites that actively make a net profit. There are indeed many strategies to achieve e-commerce success, as can be seen by the number of websites available online, each of them emphasizing different avenues to obtain optimal success. After surveying 4 different websites, however, I have come to a conclusion as to what the top 3 strategies to achieve e-commerce success are.

Firstly, knowing your target audience and catering to their needs and preferences. This includes creating a website with a design and branding that is in tune with the customers’ likes and dislikes. In addition, online businesses need to know the level of technology available to their customers. For example, requiring Flash player to view the website when the customer is unable to or does not have the software will surely deter them from visiting the site again.

Secondly, the provision of customer service. This involves the active building of customer loyalty programs, and the usage of personalization and mass-customization in order to reach new customers and increase customer loyalty. Focusing on customer service in e-commerce is particularly important because online merchants will be doing business with people that they have never met; thus, the lack of personal contact can often be perceived to be impersonal and unsatisfactory service. The provision of good customer service can be achieved through the answering of customers’ queries quickly and personally, developing innovative ways to keep your customers updated regarding new products, and ensuring that massive orders are dealt with promptly.

Next, it is marketing. The Web has too many websites offering similar (or even identical) products and services. Thus, online merchants need increase brand awareness and hence product sales through avenues such as viral marketing. This can be achieved through the utilization of social networks and other high-traffic sites to spread the word. Online marketing can take place through appealing to specific interests of the customers, niche-marketing and also geo-targeting (different content delivered to the visitor based on his/her current location, country, region etc).

According to Juliana Nelson (1999), a senior analyst with International Data Corp’s Internet and E-Commerce Strategies Group, successful e-commerce is all about “reaching new customers and retaining them”. Through all the websites that I’ve read regarding successful e-commerce strategies, one thing is clear: in e-commerce, the customers are the most important. Everything, be it marketing, advertising, branding, product and website design etc., must be done with the customer in mind. Their needs and preferences have to be met and their demands have to be answered, simply because the huge plethora of choices available online entails that e-commerce sites need to have a unique selling point in order to achieve a comparative advantage over competitors and attract customers to purchase their products.

Here is a video that will help us understand more regarding what to take note of in the construction of an e-commerce website.

References:

http://www.goecart.com/support/online-business-success.aspx

http://www.akstrategic.com/ecommerce-success.php

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/stats/1704343/the-secrets-e-commerce-success

http://www.infinities.com/e-commerce-basics.cfm

Week #1: The PRE-History of the Internet

In class, we learnt about the history of the Internet. Now, let’s go back one more step further to the pre-history of this global networked environment.


The Internet is definitely a necessary invention given the needs of humans to communicate. For instance, oral communication has existed since the beginning of time. This was followed by the development of written communication, with the Sumerians in early Mesopotamian civilization giving us cuneiform. Stone, papyrus, wood, cave walls and even tortoise shells were some of humanity’s earliest recording instruments. Communication across vast distances was also an age-old aspiration – the usage of carrier pigeons, Morse code, smoke signals and lighthouses propelled humanity closer towards that dream. Further developments that transpired during the Industrial Revolution and the Information Age gave mankind new communication tools and technologies such as electricity and the telegraph. Next came the radio and the television, which further enhanced the mass broadcast of information (in the form of entertainment and news) all over the world. Inventions such as those mentioned above established a platform for a more complex and effective communication tool.


The development of electronic networks like the telephone (or telegraph system, as it was once called) was the precursor of the Internet. After the construction of the first line in 1844 from Washington to Baltimore, a transatlantic cable was installed in 1858. Following that, in 1861, telegraph wires covered the United States, allowing for one-way communication. This ushered in the development and usage of Morse code to transmit information. Subsequent improvements in technology led to the invention of the telephone, through which two people could communicate simultaneously. Starting from the 1980s, rapid advancements in the infrastructure led to it becoming a global networked environment, allowing for mass communication via cables, satellites, etc. Today’s swift transmission of information – news, music, thoughts and opinions and more – over mass distances is thus made possible by this infrastructure.


As the science-fiction writer and futurist Jules Verne once said while describing a future world, “photo-telegraphy allowed any writing, signature or illustration to be sent faraway - every house was wired”. His vision has indeed come to pass today, perhaps even beyond his wildest dreams. However, one needs to remember that this brilliant invention, the Internet, was not envisioned and created within a day but is instead a product of different people across different ages building upon each other’s ideas. Without the input of its predecessors, the Internet would be a nonentity today. The same goes for all our ideas: rarely are these ideas thought of out of nowhere; instead, they are constructed based on previous innovations, inspirations and even mistakes.


Reference:
http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/prehistory.html