Getting Sophisticated

"A candidate who can master the Internet will not only level the playing field; he will level the opposition." - Larry Purpuro, RightClick Strategies

Steve Clift from Democracy Online once said this: "The Internet has become the main strategic communications tool behind the scenes in politics. It is not a medium to sway undecided voters. It is a medium to organize your supporters, feed them your message and get out your core vote. It may have an impact on new and less frequent voters some day, but that seems a long way off. No candidate that I am aware of has ever won because of the Internet."

But that was in 2006.

In 2008, current U.S. president Barack Obama proved Clift's statement wrong.

Joe Trippi, a political consultant, feels that Obama "used the Internet to organise his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organisers on the ground".

He used YouTube for free advertising and Trippi thinks the YouTube videos are more effective as compared to advertisements using traditional media because viewers chose to watch them instead of being forced to watch them during commercial breaks.

In addition, his website was "designed for common people"; individuals could view his websites the moments they typed in the link.

Hillary Clinton's website, on the other hand, gives the image of trying to force people to support her. It shows a picture of her, a quote, contact information, and a big icon that reads CONTRIBUTE in red. Other than that, there isn't a lot of information we can get out of the website as compared to Obama's.

A 2008 survey showed that "the internet is becoming an increasing part of the norm of political participation - people are using it to read the news, share their votes, or to participate in some other process to get others to take political action".

This is definitely evident in the fact that people are forwarding or writing their own political commentary, signing online petitions, and sharing online political videos among other things.

From all of these, we can see that the internet is no longer in its infancy in terms of the political arena.

However, there are certainly limitations to the internet for political campaigning, such as negative campaigning.

One example would be of PAP's youngest woman candidate Tin Pei Ling.

The 27 year-old is recently in the limelight for all the wrong reasons; her speech on her biggest regret, criticisms of her posing with her Kate Spade bag, and photos from her past.

All these was made possible with the internet; videos of her speech being viewed by many, photos taken from her Facebook page. There are even a few videos made just to mock her.

Such is the limitation of the internet.

I believe it does not just apply to politics, however.

No doubt this incident has reflected the impact of internet on political campaigning, of course in the negative sense, but more importantly it teaches us that the internet is a really scary thing; whatever has once been posted can always be dug out.

Already Here

"The future is already here, it's just that it's not so common." - Mr Abel Choy

Multimedia is a computer-based interactive communications process that incorporates text, graphics, sound, animation, and video. There are many major categories of multimedia application, such as entertainment, education, engineering and corporate communications.

Two examples are the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic multimedia presentation and the Official Apple iPhone 4 Video.

Comparing them both, I find the latter more impressive. Even though it is roughly five minutes longer than the Nokia presentation, already considered time consuming for some, I find that every bit of information of what the consumers should know is provided. From the functions of the iPhone to the material it is made of. This gives consumers full knowledge of the phone. It also shows consumers the iPhone has quality, and is not just a pretty little toy.

Although both presentations are well-structured, with the Nokia one even divided into the different types of functions, the iPhone 4 presentation is given a human voice, in that there is speech accompanying the video. This speech brings the audience through the video in a step-by-step basis. Further, authorities are used in the presentation - the vice-president of product marketing, senior vice-president of hardware, etc. This provides expert opinion, which is very useful in persuading people to buy the product. In this aspect, I think the Nokia presentation pales in comparison because there is only text and music. For someone like me who prefers audio as opposed to text, this presentation definitely does not appeal to me.

In addition, the mechanics of the phone is presented, showing consumers what they are getting themselves into. The public is even taught how to use the phone, such as the multi-tasking function, sorting of the icons and viewing their emails from multiple accounts in a single inbox.

Towards the end, the main ideas of the message is reiterated, summing up everything, while the Nokia presentation does not.

Hence I would say the iPhone 4 presentation impresses me more.

Even though both are multimedia presentations, there are many ways to go about doing it. I believe one way for companies to make the presentations better is to first do a formative research to check the preference of their target audience.

WiiFit with us

No Truly Secure System

“The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards.”– Gene Spafford

Now that technology is "as important as breathing", many more people are using the internet as compared to the past. However, the internet is both good news and bad news.

While it may be of help socially, politically, and economically, technology also allows hackers to take control of the whole system. Because of this, cyber crimes are on the rise.

There are three main programmes that causes damage to our computers: the virus, the worm, and the Trojan Horse. And even though most of us may mix them up thinking all are viruses, there are actually vast differences among them.

While worms do not require host files, viruses do. They have the ability to replicate themselves thereby infecting other programmes. They spread throughout the computer systems and are a "destructive payload".

Worms, on the other hand, spread through emails and replicates themselves without infecting other programmes.

Trojan Horses are a more serious kind of attack. "It's like putting spy on a computer". They may appear to be normal and useful softwares, but when downloaded onto the computers, they can do a lot of harm. While some may be harmless but annoying, such as changing desktop, others may not necessarily be so. In the worst cases, they may delete files and destroy information. This gives rise to phishing, a type of identity theft in which deceptive mails asking for personal information are sent.

I never used to bother a lot about such viruses, worms and Trojan Horses. I didn't even care about virus scans and getting computer protection such as anti-spyware. But now that I know about the damaging effects I guess it's time to start caring about my computer practices.

One way to start doing so is to always use the internet firewall. Another is to get computer updates and use up-to-date anti-virus software to detect and remove viruses. Never open attachments from strangers, and even if those are emails are friends or family, double-check the content if the title looks weird. I once opened the attachment from the email that said it contained my photos but it turned out to be a worm.

Lastly, do not leave your password around or use easy passwords. My cousins always tease me that my passwords are easy to remember and are universal. I guess it's time to change my password.

Like what Chris Pirillo said, “Passwords are like underwear: you don’t let people see it, you should change it very often, and you shouldn’t share it with strangers."

Too Diversified

"Many people have been complaining that Google is too diversified, they do not have any focus" - Mr Abel Choy

Indeed, Google alone has only too many tools: webs, images, videos, maps, alerts, ...

From a business perspective, it is difficult to survive without a focus, I have to admit, however, that Google has helped me in many different ways.

The web and images alone help me in my research and assignments. News allow me to read online and on the go. The list will go on, but the purpose of the entry today is to talk about Google Maps.

I was supposed to go to ADL building at Toh Guan Road East to run an errand, and asked my friend for the directions. Her immediate response was, "just go to google map". And so I did.

There are directions by car, by public transit, and by walking.

On the left of the page, several suggested routes and even the timings are shown. It even tells the user how many stops the buses will take.

On the right side, a map is shown. You can zoom in to get a better view and there are two different types of views - the satellite version and the earth. Click on the satellite icon and you can see just what's happening in the vicinity. In addition, there are pop-ups on where you are supposed to take the buses from.

Using Google Maps, I got to my destination without any difficulty. Who's to say that diversification is not good?

The Now Big Thing

"Online learning is not the next big things, it is the now big thing." - Donna J. Abernathy

E-learning is defined as learning that is facilitated by the use of digital tools and content. Typically, it involves some form of interactivity, which may include online interaction between the learner and their teacher or peers.

This phenomenon is very much prevalent in today's society. We see people uploading videos teaching others how to play a type of instrument, we hear students having a week off from school "because it is e-learning week".

As can be seen, e-learning has now become part of the classroom activity.

There is now e-learning even on Second Life, an online virtual world in which people interact using avatars. A "3D virtual world that can provide and deliver a unique educational setting", "Second Life is being adopted as a platform by more and more institutions of learning". It allows users to be imaginative, without any physical boundaries.

Second Life users, also known as residents, can practise role-playing and "interact with other characters". There is virtual replica of history too. Residents can learn while playing as well, using the concept of scavenger hunt to locate information relevant to their field of study". Students can even go into the "inside of a Dell computer". Language barriers are also broken down with the use of a language translator. And this is just some of the many educational experiences Second Life provides.

One video states that in Second Life, "you can take what's difficult or impossible to do in real life and recreate it here". Examples are defying gravity - flying and creating cities in the clouds. This is certainly "a wonderful place to experiment" should one be teaching astronomy, physics, atmospheric science or even geography. It works users' creativity and imagination and perhaps even brings them to a higher level. Obviously, activities are designed for other aspects of education too - computer science, multimedia, business, marketing, accounting, and architecture among others.

As the narrator mentioned, Second Life has a platform and potential of allowing educators to create a "truly experiential opportunity for students". They can interact with one another, collaborate and to show their knowledge and expertise with one another.

I would agree with this. And from the above-mentioned, Second Life definitely is a totally different type of learning experience from the traditional methods of teaching. However, in a century which is seeing increasing numbers of people being dehumanized by the virtual world, I'm not sure if this is the best method to encourage learning.

As one YouTube user had pointed out, "second life is ok, as long as you remember it isn't your 1st life".

Videos used:

Education in Second Life: Explore the Possibilities

Educational Uses of Second Life

As important as breathing

"Any company, old or new, that does not see this technology as important as breathing could be on its last breath." - Jack Welch, US former chairman and CEO of General Electric.

E-commerce, as we have learnt in lecture, involves digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organisations and individuals. This would mean the exchange of value across organisational or individual boundaries in return for products or services mediated by digital technology.

More simply put, 'e-commerce is the function of creating exchange (i.e., buying and selling) over digital media." (Kalakota and Robinson, 1999)

As of 1995, the growth of business to consumers (B2C) e-commerce has increased almost exponentially. The same can be said for business to business (B2B) e-commerce since 2001. Many companies have certainly been drawn to e-commerce.

So, how do we ensure success in e-marketing?

I think the most important factor would be search marketing, either via Pay Per Click (PPC) or organic search marketing (Search Engine Optimisation - SEO). Now that near to everything is digitalized, almost everyone uses the search engine. With search marketing, a list of websites appear with the click of a button. Of course, they are things to take note of even with search marketing. Keywords and content should be chosen wisely so that they are relevant. Especially with PPC, each click by consumers costs a certain amount of money. Companies definitely do not want to spend money on those who do not want to buy their products.

Customization is also important. This is one of the 6C's of customer power. Just as most of us want personalisation, customers want things to belong uniquely to them as well. This applies even to e-commerce. If customers are able to specify product categories of interest and are exposed only to those categories, this saves them a lot of time which makes their shopping experience a lot more enjoyable.

Navigational structure should be convenient and easy to use as well to ensure the well-functioning of the site.

Details about their companies should be included so that consumers know that they are trustworthy. "Allow customers to like you by knowing more about you."

There should be contact details too, so that consumers can contact the companies should they have any queries. This would mean office numbers, email addresses and even physical addresses. Include the time that you're able to take calls so that customers do not call at inappropriate times.

It would be best if testimonials from existing customers are provided so that they act as "proof that you deliver". This is very useful to a company's reputation. Guarantees, price matches and free returns can also be added so that consumers do not have to compare the prices with other websites manually.

Legal information is important so that terms and conditions, and privacy policies are reflected in black and white. Should there be any legal disputes, such information act as back-up.