Cover Pg

Cover Pg Edited (Black & White + Some Color)

Second Life

Hawaii…. Here I Come!

Breath-taking view of the sea and the sand

Having a drink at the bar... with a friend of course!

Soaking up the sun

In Second Life (SL), my avatar’s name is Hema Nishi. Honestly, when I first started out with SL, I got totally lost! But with the help of some of the other players out there, I managed to get on the right track. Kind of like it now!

The clothing worn by my avatar brings out the laid back attitude I adopt when it comes to dressing. Though being a person who reads fashion magazines, I do not necessarily adopt those dressings. On normal days, dressing up in just a t-shirt and shorts gives me the most comfort.

I chose Hawaii on purpose because I’m a rather happy-go-lucky person who loves spending time under the sun’s rays, especially with friends around. Hawaii is one place I always wanted to go, because of the numerous beaches there. Listening to the sound of the waves does indeed create a relatively peaceful and tranquil feeling. Just like my dressing, most of the people in Hawaii are usually dressed-down, probably to the surfer attitude they adopt. From what I have heard so far, the people in Hawaii are extremely helpful and nice, and the scenery there is something one must not miss!

QotW9: Citizen Journalism

STOMP = Citizen Journalism

What Is Citizen Journalism?

Citizen journalism, also known as "participatory journalism," is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information" according to the seminal report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis. They say, "The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires." (Citizen Journalism, 2007). Unlike the common media journalism that we witness, citizen journalism involves user-generated content.

STOMP.sg

STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print) is a Singapore-based online portal by Singapore Press Holdings. Through the three platforms of online, mobile and print, STOMP enables Singaporeans to interact and engage in current affairs of Singapore. (STOMP, 2007).
STOMP delivers content which is interactive and which helps develop new communities of Singaporeans, bonding together by shared interests. The Straits Times Editor Han Fook Kwang explained, “In the new media environment, newspapers have to be more than just passive providers of news. They have to engage their readers in areas which appeal to them. We have to provide readers with new avenues to express themselves, to enable them to interact with us, and among themselves.” (Singapore Press Holdings, 2006). As Gillmor (2004) says, “The ability of anyone to make the news will give new voice to people who’ve felt voiceless”, and STOMP certainly provides an avenue for this.

STOMP = Citizen Journalism

It has been noticeably clear that over the years, Singaporeans have begun to speak up their minds and become more involved in sousveillance. Participating and leaving comments on STOMP.sg would have never been thought of about 10 years ago. Today, issues such as “Brother looking for long-lost sister”, “Ribena, Why So Little Vit C In Your Drink?”, and “Karang Guni Man’s Loot A Hazard” have surfaced. Technology, in the form of camera phones and video cameras have certainly helped Singaporeans express their concerns and “disgust” online with much more ease.

Though modern physically, Singaporeans are still conservative and cowardly at heart. For instance, Joyce, the person who took this photo, could have directly gone up to the teenager asking him to give up the seat to the pregnant woman. But no, she did not do that. Why? It could possibly be because she was afraid to speak up in public.

Hence, for people like Joyce (there are many others out there in Singapore), STOMP indeed proves to be an ideal form of citizen journalism.

Improving STOMP

As said earlier, the main purpose of STOMP is to get Singaporeans engaged with social issues, an example being inconsiderate commuters (something everyone can relate to). Issues such as these or any others need to be brought up and made aware that it is happening in Singapore.
Since STOMP is for us Singaporeans, in my opinion, the only way for STOMP to further improve itself is to get more people to join, post up pictures, videos, and create an online community of its own. In an attempt to attract more crowd, STOMP could perhaps provide incentives such as free movie tickets, to the top contributor of the month, or something along that line. At the moment, Kudos to STOMP!

References

1. “STOMP (online portal)” (February 14, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 14:42, March 28, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOMP_%28online_portal%29

2. “Citizen journalism” (March 28, 2006) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 14:59, March 28, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

3. Gillmor, D. “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People” (July, 2004). Retrieved March 28, 2007 from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tipe=text/html#chap9

4. “The Straits Times extends its reach with bold new platform STOMP” (June 14, 2006), From Singapore Press Holdings, Retrieved 15:16, March 28, 2007, from http://www.sph.com.sg/news/latest/press_060614_001.html

QotW7: Online Community

Twitter - "Micro Blogging"


What exactly is an online community?

While the entire global Internet is one online community, the term “online community” is more specifically applied to particular interest groups, trades, cultural genres and local neighborhoods. An online community is a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet. Online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other in real life. The dawn of the "information age" found groups communicating electronically rather than face to face. (Virtual Community, 2007). At present, some of the relatively popular online community sites are Friendster, MySpace.com, and Twitter, with the latter being the most current addition.

Twitter?

Twitter is a social networking service that allows members to inform each other about what they are doing and what they think. It allows users to send messages via phone or instant messaging. (Twitter, 2007). Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where or what you are doing. Ross Mayfield (2007) says that Twitter is Continuous Partial Presence, mostly made up of mundane messages in answer to the question, "what are you doing?" A never-ending steam of presence messages prompts you to update your own. Messages are more ephemeral than IM presence – and posting is of a lower threshold, both because of ease and accessibility, and the informality of the medium.

Hence is Twitter an online community?

As said by Fernback and Thompson (1995), a community is an important aspect of life for most people. Cooley (1983) says that all normal humans have a natural affinity for community. He suggests that the primary factor inhibiting the formation of communities, no matter what their scale, is that they are difficult to organize. The structural process that is associated with community is communication. Without communication there can be no action to organize social relations. The intimate nature of this relationship is best illustrated in the words community and communications. Hence, the basis for the formation of an online community is MUTUAL COMMUNICATION.

However, I feel that it is rather hard to classify Twitter as proper online community. Online community is not just based on mere connections to people; it is formed more through mutual communication. However on Twitter, members can add anybody and almost everybody. Members would probably not be able to start proper conversations if they do not have any friends on Twitter to begin with. Hence members go around adding “others”.

As it is already known, nothing on the Internet is private. On Twitter, messages typed are displayed for all to see. The extreme lack of privacy on Twitter results in the breakdown of mutual communication, and thus is not feasible for developing personal relationships. Beniger (1987), Jones (1995), and Stoll (1995), have said that the comparatively low bandwidth of computer-mediated communication cannot sustain strong ties online. Wellman and Gulia (1996) argue that without physical and social cues or immediate feedback, email can foster extreme language, difficulties in coordination and feedback and group polarization. Perhaps the medium itself does not support strong, intimate relationships; or as neo- McLuhanites might say, the medium may not support the message (McLuhan 1965).

As blogger Mitch Joel (2007) puts it, Twitter also serves as a form of “micro-blogging”. Messages sent through Twitter are not reached or replied to immediately. Members will be notified of the messages they have received only after they have logged in, causing a delay in communication. The short messages posted replicate blogging, whereby bloggers post up their musings and rattle on and on about them.

Conclusion:

Twitter allows room for Internet messaging and conversations, just like an online community. However, it does not provide the liberty of forging close relationships online; one that is imperative to the building of an online community. In addition, Twitter somewhat likens to a blog, hence no mutual communication. Thus, Twitter cannot possibly be considered as an online community.


References:


1. Fernback, J., & Thompson, B. (1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? Retrieved March 16, 2007, from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

2. Wellman, B., & Gulia, Milena. (1996). Virtual Communities as Communities. Retrieved March 16, 2007, from http://www.acm.org/%7Eccp/references/wellman/wellman.html

3. Mayfield, Ross. (2007). Twitter Tips the Tuna. Ross Mayfield’s Weblog. Retrieved March 16, 2007, from http://ross.typepad.com/blog/2007/03/twitter_tips_th.html

4. “Virtual Community” (March 15, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 19:42, March 16, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community

5. “Twitter” (March 16, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 20:11, March 16, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

6. Mitch Joel (2007). Twitter Starts Here - The New Revolution Might Be Micro-Blogging. Retrieved March 16, 2007, from http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/000883.html

Bonus Mission #1

Are You One Of Them?



This particular video clip may induce laughter to many of us watching it (including me). But indeed we need to fully comprehend the meaning behind the video and the reason for which it was put up.

In the clip, Janet Lim, who is a Singapore Media Award winner, is also unfortunately a chronic flatulence sufferer. While the act of farting is generally considered to be an unfortunate (but sometimes intentionally contrived) occurrence in public settings, a flatus may, in casual circumstances, be used as either a humorous supplement to a joke, or as a comic activity in and of itself (Flatulence, 2007); however it is not a joke all the time.

Thanks to the invention of the video camera and the built-in cameras of the mobile phones, messages like these can be uploaded onto YouTube and MojoFlix, reaching the masses in a more subtle way.

Some of the flatulence sufferers out there may feel rather shy to come out in public, for fear of embarrassing themselves. As Sullivan (2006) puts it, “Privacy is to be left alone.” These people prefer to remain secluded, away from the public eye for fear of being made fun of, looked down upon or even sympathized with.

However, they might change their minds and attitudes to wards their situation, after watching how Janet delicately handled such situations. She has made her mark to such an extent that now her friends who used to call her ‘Janet the farter’, have now switched it to ‘Janet, the Singapore Media Award winner’.

On the other hand, in an attempt to get across the intended message, Janet has lost her privacy, because now everybody who watches that video clip will know that she suffers from chronic flatulence. Since nothing is free on the Internet, “More than ever before, the details about our lives are no longer our own” (Sullivan, 2006).

References:

1. Sullivan, Bob., “Privacy Lost: Does anybody care?” (October 17, 2006) From MSNBC.com. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

2. “Flatulence” (March 9, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 14:06, January 10, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatulence

QotW6: Privacy

Appreciate While You Have It

Introduction:

As British Sociologist puts it, “citizens in a risk society can no longer rely on tradition or fixed hierarchies to establish their identity or to give them reliable guidance about whom to trust in a society of strangers. Confused and anxious about status in a world where status is constantly shifting, we feel increasing pressure to expose details of our personal lives to strangers in order to win their trust, and we demand that they expose themselves in order to win our trust in return.” (The Naked Crowd, 2004).

So where exactly is the world heading to with the Internet, not forgetting the lack of privacy that comes together with it?

Internet privacy consists of privacy over the media of the Internet: the ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over the Internet, and to control who can access that information. (Internet Privacy, 2007). Using the Internet can leave a trail of information about one's activity. The reason is that the Internet is a collection of privately and publicly owned servers and computers, all of which being able to save data. Thus, when you enter a search term into the searchbox of any search engine (e.g., Yahoo, Google, even Wikipedia), not only is the search engine capable of returning relevant results to the keyword you entered, it is able to save or retain the fact that the keyword was entered in the first instance. (Privacy, 2007).

After all, how private is the Internet?

As mentioned earlier, privacy refers to the degree of control that you have concerning who can access your personal information, and whether and how they may use it. Most email and Internet users assume that personal information will not be used without permission and that information exchanges are private and secure. The reality is very different. Every time you access a website or send email, you leave information about yourself that could include your physical, and computer address, telephone and credit card numbers, consumer pattern data and much more. If you use the Internet or email without taking safety measures you have probably given up your right to privacy. (Council of Europe, 2007).

Risks to Internet privacy:

Those concerned about Internet privacy often cite a number of privacy risks — events that can compromise privacy — which one may encounter through Internet use.

Cookies

HTTP cookies, sometimes known as web cookies or just cookies, are parcels of text sent by a server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server. HTTP cookies are used for authenticating, tracking, and maintaining specific information about users, such as site preferences and the contents of their electronic shoppin carts. Cookies have been of concern for Internet privacy, since they can be used for tracking browsing behavior. While cookies are only sent to the server setting them or one in the same Internet domain, a Web page may contain images or other components stored on servers in other domains. Cookies that are set during retrieval of these components are called third-party cookies. (HTTP Cookies, 2007).

Data logging

Many programs and operating systems are set up to perform data logging of usage. This may include recording times when the computer is in use, or which web sites are visited. If a third party has sufficient access to the computer, legitimately or not, this may be used to lessen the user's privacy. This could be avoided by disabling logging, or clearing logs regularly. (Internet Privacy, 2007).

Conclusion:

One way of understanding privacy is not whether we choose to expose personal information in public - we all do at different times and places - but the ease with which we can return to being private. (The Naked Crowd, 2004). As Sullivan (2006) says, people may think that their cell phone is unlisted, but if they have ever ordered a pizza, it might not be. Merlin is one of many commercial data brokers that advertises sale of unlisted phone numbers compiled from various sources -- including pizza delivery companies.

Nothing on the Internet or even in the world comes for free. We are always engulfed in “the lack of privacy” bubble whether it be at home or in school. Personally, I feel that further improvement in technology will only serve to complicate our “ability to negotiate the boundary between public and private, making it hard to recover a private self that has been voluntarily exposed.” (The Naked Crowd, 2004).

References:

1. Jeffrey, R., “The Naked Crowd” (July 19, 2004) From Spiked Essays. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

2. Sullivan, Bob., “Privacy Lost: Does anybody care?” (October 17, 2006) From MSNBC.com. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

3. “How Private Is The Internet?” (January 10, 2007) From Council Of Europe. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.coe.int/t/e/integrated_projects/democracy/02_activities/03_internet_literacy/internet_literacy_handbook/16_privacy.asp

4. “Privacy” (March 9, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 20:15, January 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy#Internet_privacy

5. “Internet Privacy” (March 8, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 20:21, January 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_privacy

6. “HTTP cookie” (March 7, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 21:31, January 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie