Last seminar of TWC this week, also the week we finally got the chance to present on Technology and Terrorism.
Initially, I thought our web report was not bad. It covered the main points we wanted to cover (we didn't want the scope to be too wide, cause that would mean we would not be able to go very in depth into a certain topic). However, after the presentation, Dr. Shahi asked us quite a few questions, such as why we didn't include certain topics. Well, my answer to that is above. We didn't want to be too general. So we zoomed in on traditional terrorism (meaning guns and bombs), and researched on that. Hence we didn't get the chance to research on cyber terrorism etc.
It isn't that we were too lazy, but we genuinely thought that our scope was specific enough. Alas, Dr. Shahi didn't seem too impressed and I must say I was rather disappointed. But oh well, I suppose we all have different expectations! I just hope that we won't be penalized because our scope was too specific and we didn't really touch on other issues that Dr. Shahi had in mind.
The other groups who presented this week also did pretty well. I was left with a deep impression on the group which did on beauty. I suppose this goes to show that choosing a correct topic is very important. While I think that terrorism is interesting, I must say that I wish we had chosen something like Beauty cause that is a topic which would actually attract people's attention. Terrorism seemed very boring, was it? Cause I noticed that majority of the people weren't really paying attention. :( Maybe it was because we were the last group and people were getting restless already.
All in all, I really enjoyed myself in this TWC. The 13 weeks seem to have passed in a flash, and I have also submitted my individual report already. I spent really long on it, because I'm assuming we aren't exactly going to score well for the group report, based on Dr. Shahi's comments. I understand that he wants us to improve, and I'm grateful for his comments. :) I made a bunch of good friends during this course, and of course, I learnt a lot more about how technology has really changed the world we live in today. And I'm excited to see what technology would do to our future, based on everything that we have covered in the last few seminars! :)
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Week 12
Yesterday we had 4 groups presenting.
Personally, I liked the 3rd group's website. I found it really professional, and it was easy to navigate. The layout of the other groups' websites were also good though.
However, about engaging the rest of us, I think the 4th group did the best, they showed a lot of videos which they did themselves, which was entertaining, instead of a mere commentary on the websites as done by the rest of the groups. Furthermore, they included a roleplay at the beginning, which really captured my attention from the start.
A couple of things I remember from the presentation:
1. The group which did on photograhy mentioned quite a bit about the future of photography, such as 3D printing. I find 3D printing fascinating, cause it seems to mean that there would be no point shopping in future. You merely need to look for a picture of the item, print it, and voila!
2. The group which did on food talked about the bubblegum which would contain an entire meal. In my opinion, I wouldn't like an innovation like that! The joy of chewing and savouring my meal would be lost in one tiny piece of bubblegum/pill.
3. The last group which talked about commerce. They suggested that shopping in future would be instant, and we would even be able to buy things off the television simply by clicking on the advertisement. When I first heard about that, the first thought that came to my mind was "That is going to cause a lot of impulsive buying." Furthermore, the joy of shopping leisurely is lost! I personally prefer to shop at malls, run my hands through the clothes, and take my time choosing. I certainly would not like buying something based on its appearance on the tv. That would probably also explain why I don't really do online shopping. How would you know that particular item fits? You wouldn't know for sure unless you try it on, and you wouldn't be able to do that unless you went down to the shop!
Next week would be my group's turn to present. Pretty nerve-wrecking, I must say. :/
Personally, I liked the 3rd group's website. I found it really professional, and it was easy to navigate. The layout of the other groups' websites were also good though.
However, about engaging the rest of us, I think the 4th group did the best, they showed a lot of videos which they did themselves, which was entertaining, instead of a mere commentary on the websites as done by the rest of the groups. Furthermore, they included a roleplay at the beginning, which really captured my attention from the start.
A couple of things I remember from the presentation:
1. The group which did on photograhy mentioned quite a bit about the future of photography, such as 3D printing. I find 3D printing fascinating, cause it seems to mean that there would be no point shopping in future. You merely need to look for a picture of the item, print it, and voila!
2. The group which did on food talked about the bubblegum which would contain an entire meal. In my opinion, I wouldn't like an innovation like that! The joy of chewing and savouring my meal would be lost in one tiny piece of bubblegum/pill.
3. The last group which talked about commerce. They suggested that shopping in future would be instant, and we would even be able to buy things off the television simply by clicking on the advertisement. When I first heard about that, the first thought that came to my mind was "That is going to cause a lot of impulsive buying." Furthermore, the joy of shopping leisurely is lost! I personally prefer to shop at malls, run my hands through the clothes, and take my time choosing. I certainly would not like buying something based on its appearance on the tv. That would probably also explain why I don't really do online shopping. How would you know that particular item fits? You wouldn't know for sure unless you try it on, and you wouldn't be able to do that unless you went down to the shop!
Next week would be my group's turn to present. Pretty nerve-wrecking, I must say. :/
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Week 11
It’s been 10 weeks and it’s the last formal teaching session by Dr. Shahi today. Somehow I am kind of reluctant for the module to end. I’ve become so accustomed to attending TWC seminars on Tuesday afternoons already. I suppose it was planned that our last session would touch on forecasting for the future.
Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind – Benjamin Franklin
As usual, Dr. Shahi peppered this session with many quotes, but this quote jumped out at me among all the other quotes. It is indeed so true that we have to constantly look towards the future and plan for the future or we will inevitable find that we would be left behind in the dust.
A few drivers for why we need to assess technology and why we need to forecast where we might go in the future were mentioned by Dr. Shahi during this seminar and one of them included the need to prioritize, given limited resources, on whether and when to implement and use new innovations and technologies. As discussed in class, it can be hard to decide on when to make investments in new technologies, especially when new technologies are coming up so quickly. Technologies merely remain in the market for a short period of time before they are replaced by newer technologies.
One of the videos Dr. Shahi showed us included this list:
Fast moving world
Urbanized world
Tribal (New tribes in the world; of groups of people who have new and common interests)
Universal
Radical change
Ethical (Ethics in business is one of the key global trends)
Also, in another video which Dr. Shahi played had the speaker talking about how strategic foresight is the next frontier in business planning. Dr. Shahi then expanded on that concept by talking about strategic planning. He mentioned that we should not let ourselves be constrained by reality. We should remove that straitjacket and allow ourselves to envision what we want our future to be like. I understand where Dr. Shahi is coming from, especially because Singaporeans have been trained by our education system to think in a straight line. We tend to not think out of the box, and we tend to be more conservation and merely follow traditions. However, this may be a generalization because I admit that there are people out there who are able to think out of the box and push for their dreams to become a reality. (Although they may most likely meet skeptics who put them down)
However, like Dr. Shahi said, are we going to let these obstacles be our stumbling blocks and prevent us from dreaming, or are we going to let them be stepping stones so that we may learn and strive to achieve our dreams?
Our technologies today are possible because there were people who dared to dream in the past. If we do not dream, we will not be able to progress.
I would rate this last seminar 10/10. I thoroughly enjoyed myself during this last formal teaching lesson under Dr. Shahi, and I left the lesson pondering about the issues raised during class.
Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind – Benjamin Franklin
As usual, Dr. Shahi peppered this session with many quotes, but this quote jumped out at me among all the other quotes. It is indeed so true that we have to constantly look towards the future and plan for the future or we will inevitable find that we would be left behind in the dust.
A few drivers for why we need to assess technology and why we need to forecast where we might go in the future were mentioned by Dr. Shahi during this seminar and one of them included the need to prioritize, given limited resources, on whether and when to implement and use new innovations and technologies. As discussed in class, it can be hard to decide on when to make investments in new technologies, especially when new technologies are coming up so quickly. Technologies merely remain in the market for a short period of time before they are replaced by newer technologies.
One of the videos Dr. Shahi showed us included this list:
Fast moving world
Urbanized world
Tribal (New tribes in the world; of groups of people who have new and common interests)
Universal
Radical change
Ethical (Ethics in business is one of the key global trends)
Also, in another video which Dr. Shahi played had the speaker talking about how strategic foresight is the next frontier in business planning. Dr. Shahi then expanded on that concept by talking about strategic planning. He mentioned that we should not let ourselves be constrained by reality. We should remove that straitjacket and allow ourselves to envision what we want our future to be like. I understand where Dr. Shahi is coming from, especially because Singaporeans have been trained by our education system to think in a straight line. We tend to not think out of the box, and we tend to be more conservation and merely follow traditions. However, this may be a generalization because I admit that there are people out there who are able to think out of the box and push for their dreams to become a reality. (Although they may most likely meet skeptics who put them down)
However, like Dr. Shahi said, are we going to let these obstacles be our stumbling blocks and prevent us from dreaming, or are we going to let them be stepping stones so that we may learn and strive to achieve our dreams?
Our technologies today are possible because there were people who dared to dream in the past. If we do not dream, we will not be able to progress.
I would rate this last seminar 10/10. I thoroughly enjoyed myself during this last formal teaching lesson under Dr. Shahi, and I left the lesson pondering about the issues raised during class.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Week 10
Today’s lesson was pretty interesting, because it covered the topic of emerging and future technologies. As mentioned by Dr. Shahi, the “Why not?” mindset is essential in developing future technologies, because it broadens our perspectives. If we do not constantly question our capabilities to develop, it would be difficult for us to progress further than the current state of technology.
One of the other drivers brought up for the development of emerging and future technologies is the advances in science and technology. Because of these advances in technologies, we are forced to question how much further we can develop. In fact, there is no limit to the amount we can develop; it is a matter of how much we try; whether we put in the effort and are determined to achieve more than what we have currently achieved.
Dr. Shahi showed us a video on the Augmented Reality, and I was pretty awestruck by it, because it goes to show how far our technologies can go. The fact that these innovations have already been thought of, shows that there is a very great chance that it will be developed in the future.
Some interesting and new emerging technologies brought up by Dr. Shahi include biotechnologies, robotics, nanotechnologies, surveillance technologies and knowledge-management technologies.
Surveillance technology isn’t a new technology. In fact, it has been around for quite long. What is new is how it has developed. In the past, it used to be merely satellite surveillance technology, mainly used by governments. However, today, it has developed to be much more sophisticated. It can track so much information that our personal data are at risk. This can be seen by counter-surveillance technology that people are developing as well.
For the oral presentations, Dustin and Selene talked about the same topic, Brain Computer Interface. This was one of my biggest takeaways during this lesson. It touches on the concept of us interacting with objects using our minds. As stated by Selene, this could be revolutionary in terms of the help it would bring to the disabled. On the other hand, Dustin focused more on how this technology can be used in the gaming industry. One of the comments mentioned in class included how this technology would definitely profit in the gaming industry, and I agree with this viewpoint. I think that this technology would open up new horizons for gamers, and I look forward to seeing this technology being used in the industry.
In conclusion, I would rate this lesson 10/10, because I find that I really gained a lot of new ideas on the future possible technologies from this lesson.
One of the other drivers brought up for the development of emerging and future technologies is the advances in science and technology. Because of these advances in technologies, we are forced to question how much further we can develop. In fact, there is no limit to the amount we can develop; it is a matter of how much we try; whether we put in the effort and are determined to achieve more than what we have currently achieved.
Dr. Shahi showed us a video on the Augmented Reality, and I was pretty awestruck by it, because it goes to show how far our technologies can go. The fact that these innovations have already been thought of, shows that there is a very great chance that it will be developed in the future.
Some interesting and new emerging technologies brought up by Dr. Shahi include biotechnologies, robotics, nanotechnologies, surveillance technologies and knowledge-management technologies.
Surveillance technology isn’t a new technology. In fact, it has been around for quite long. What is new is how it has developed. In the past, it used to be merely satellite surveillance technology, mainly used by governments. However, today, it has developed to be much more sophisticated. It can track so much information that our personal data are at risk. This can be seen by counter-surveillance technology that people are developing as well.
For the oral presentations, Dustin and Selene talked about the same topic, Brain Computer Interface. This was one of my biggest takeaways during this lesson. It touches on the concept of us interacting with objects using our minds. As stated by Selene, this could be revolutionary in terms of the help it would bring to the disabled. On the other hand, Dustin focused more on how this technology can be used in the gaming industry. One of the comments mentioned in class included how this technology would definitely profit in the gaming industry, and I agree with this viewpoint. I think that this technology would open up new horizons for gamers, and I look forward to seeing this technology being used in the industry.
In conclusion, I would rate this lesson 10/10, because I find that I really gained a lot of new ideas on the future possible technologies from this lesson.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Individual Topical Paper: Journalism and the Social Media Revolution
Introduction
Journalism, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is the activity or profession of writing for newspapers or magazines or of broadcasting news on radio or television. However, in today’s context, journalism encompasses more than just the broadcasting of news and events via the print media, or on the radio or television. The Internet, in particular the social media, has become a commonly used medium for broadcasting news as well. With the News and broadcasting organizations have been greatly impacted as a result of the social media revolution. There is a new wave of journalism with the increase in the use of the social media for broadcasting news. Thus, this has caused news and broadcasting organizations to rethink their strategies so as to not be overtaken by the rise of the social media in the world of journalism.
We live in an information society today, and the social media revolution has caused a large extent of change in the face of journalism. The social media provides people with tools to disseminate news. Furthermore, people today are unlike people in the past. People today do not merely accept the news as told by news agencies or government organizations. Instead, with the rise of the social media, people are now exposed to different viewpoints and are forced to filter and critically think about the issues being reported.
In this paper, I will discuss how journalism has changed with the social media revolution. Citizen journalism is on the rise, and readers are getting more involved in the dissemination of news. This paper will be broken into three main parts, firstly, the history of journalism (before the rise of the social media), the current situation, and lastly the future of journalism. Also, I will examine how the dissemination of news has changed, and how people are responding to the use of the social media for dissemination of news. While it may seem like news and broadcasting companies are facing a crisis with regards to the demise of traditional journalism, this is not true. The emergence of the social media will only lead to the possible demise of print news in the future. This will be further elaborated on in the paper.
Before I begin delving into the main topic of how the emergence of social media has changed the forms of journalism, I will introduce the main terms I will be using throughout my paper.
Social Media
As defined by Webster, social media is a form of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content. Communication has been refined through the use of web-based and mobile technologies. There are many different forms of social media, such as social networking sites (Facebook, blogs and microblogs (Twitter), content communities (Youtube), internet forums etc. Due to the onslaught and increased popularity of the social media in recent years, traditional journalism has been forced to take a back seat.
Journalism
Journalism, as defined above by the Oxford Dictionary, can be taken to be the gathering and development of news. News is not only broadcasted to the public via newspapers, but also through magazines, the television, the radio, and as seen recently, the Internet and the social media. Journalism does not only cover national and international political news. It also covers the arts, as well as business aspects and crimes. Journalists broadcast information regarding these aspects to the general public via different means.
Journalism in the Past
Traditionally, journalism was more of a one-way form of communication. Journalist told the readers what they needed to know, and readers merely read and accepted these news reports. The journalists were responsible for transmitting information, not only from the authorities to the public, but also other important information such as recent crimes and the happenings around the world.
Censorship and Opaque Journalism
In addition, governments tend to control and restrict what journalists can report. This was especially so in the past. Journalists were restricted by boundaries set by the government, with regards to governmental information in relation to protecting the national interest.
Traditional journalism tended to be opaque in nature, with information being manipulated by the government or groups of authority. Information was often tampered with so as to portray the government or its policies in a particular light. The lack of transparency in journalism is due to an abuse of power, and corruption in certain areas has been high due to this reason.
One example of such an area would be North Korea. North Korea strictly controls its press, and has only one state news agency, the Korean Central News Agency, which is the only source of information for all media agencies in North Korea. The broadcast media in North Korea actively promotes its beliefs and ideologies, and because the people are not exposed to other ideologies and perspectives, they have to simply accept the government’s ideologies. This has resulted in a high level of corruption in North Korea, preventing its progress as a nation.
Journalism Today
Citizen Journalism
Currently, with the emergence of the social media, there has been an influx of citizen journalists. Citizen journalism occurs when people who used to be on the receiving end of the media spectrum, and who have not received any professional journalism training, are able to collect, process, analyze, and disseminate information and news.
As mentioned by Mark Glaser, a freelance journalist, “The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others.”
This can be seen when people post news via social media outlets. For instance, by taking a video of Tim Cook unveiling the iPhone 5 and uploading it on Youtube, or by posting the latest features of the iPhone 5 as released by Apple on your Facebook wall. Likewise, in times of crisis and devastation, such as during the tsunami that struck Indonesia and many other regions in 2004, it can be difficult to keep track of the regions which are affected. Hence, journalists would not be able to convey such news efficiently and the only way for people to remain informed of the devastation in different places was through social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. Besides updating their statuses and tweets about the state of devastation, photos of the disaster can also be uploaded and shared via these websites using mobile devices. This would in its own way be like live-time reporting, which is practically impossible to be done by reporters or journalists during such live-threatening circumstances.
Increased Speed in Reporting
Furthermore, in recent years, it has been noticed that people are posting news via social media outlets faster than news agencies. One example is the reporting of the death of Osama Bin Laden. Before the news agencies received the news of his death, the news was already broken by a Twitter user:
@ReallyVirtual Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).
Following that tweet, there was a real time report of the unfolding of the events which led to Osama Bin Laden’s death.
Another example of when the news agencies were slower than the people on social media in reporting the news was during the Mumbai attacks in 2008. The Mumbai attacks were first reported by Twitter and Flickr users before the news agencies. It was also reported by The Telegraph that there were around 70 eyewitnesses’ tweets every 5 seconds. Flickr users also uploaded live photos from the scene of the attacks.
The rise of the social media had aided citizen journalism and created an emphasis for real-time reporting because of the rapid speed of the social media. Tweets, posts, and photos can be uploaded almost instantaneously and hence for news agencies to keep up with this speed, many news organizations have begun live blogging. This can be seen when the BBC News team put together a live blog on Osama Bin Laden’s death by collating resources from the Internet. Besides allowing readers to comment on the blog posts, news agencies are encouraging readers to contribute to the reporting of the news stories by uploading pictures and videos. News agencies are also seeking out material from the social media to aid in their reporting. This also goes to show that news organizations are turning to social media outlets for their source of news.
Journalists’ New Focus
Moreover, the social media is being valued by journalists, because they are supplementary to their work. As Martin Nisenholtz of the New York Times says of the social media “We see these things as being highly complementary to what we do.”
It is acknowledged that when there is a huge story, journalists are not able to turn up at the scene immediately. Hence, they are now more dependent on people who are at the scene to provide them with pictures, videos, sources and information. Besides, with the prevalence of the social media, people are now faster than professional journalists in breaking news to public. Thus, news agencies and journalist no longer attempt to be the first to break the news to the public. Instead, they focus on ensuring that their reports are up-to-date.
Critical Thinking in Progress
Additionally, with the convenience the social media has brought about, news are now originating not mainly from reporters and journalists, but from an array of sources made up of journalists, readers, and users of the social media. Due to the vast amount of information and news being posted on the Internet via social media outlets, readers have to filter through this information and are forced to think critically about different issues. The large amount of information made available to the readers also exposes them to different perspectives on different issues. Editors are not available to filter through the information available on the social media outlets and thus it is on the onus of the readers to decide which viewpoint they choose to support. Furthermore, readers are also able to share this information with their friends, and are more inclined to discuss their personal opinions with regards to the issue.
Journalism in the Future
Short-Run Outlook
Looking to the future in the short term, it is not possible that print media would reach its end. Although it is inevitable that news and broadcasting companies face a smaller market with regards to the print media, the print media will merely face a decline in readership volumes. Less people would refer to newspapers or magazines for news reports due to the easy access to news on the Internet as well as the social media. Smaller news agencies may find themselves out of business as the demand for their printed news decline. However, larger news agencies that were able to adapt to technological changes, and had tapped into the social media market on top of continuing its print media, would be able to survive.
Long-Run Outlook
However, in the long run, who is to say that the print media would definitely survive this digital age? It is highly probable in the next 20 to 30 years that print media would reach its end due to the rapid advances in technology. While news and broadcasting agencies and organizations may find themselves in a fix with regards to the demise of the print media, since it is highly possible that print media would to come to an end, I would not expect news and broadcasting agencies to shut down indefinitely. Although continued rampant citizen journalism will be observed, news and broadcasting agencies would still manage to survive as long as they change their attitudes. Due to the rising of the social media these days, news and broadcasting agencies should be more inclined towards making use of the social media for the reporting of news.
As mentioned above, news agencies such as BBC News and The Guardian have already used live blogging to report breaking news. The Straits Times in Singapore has a Twitter account in which users who follow them are able to catch the latest news through their tweets.
Furthermore, as mobile phones are now an integral part of our lives and it allows us to easily access social media sites, it is inevitable that mobile phones will also play a huge role in journalism in the future. In fact, mobile phones part of the reason why citizen journalism is becoming a fad. Mobile phones enable us to be connected at all times, hence when something newsworthy occurs, bystanders merely take a picture or upload a comment in relation to that event, and it sparks a whole thread of perspectives.
Shift of Responsibility of News Agencies
News agencies can also move from being providers/producers of news to being facilitators of news. This can be seen through a project by the New York Daily News, which allows fans who like their Facebook page to upload photos real-time. These photos then also made available to the general public as the photos are simultaneously uploaded onto New York Daily News’ main site. Similarly, other news agencies could also make use of this application to engage readers and encourage them to participate in the provision of news. It could be taken a step further such that not only can photos be uploaded, but readers can also upload articles of their views on certain issues, or articles behind the photos they uploaded. The public would be allowed to view these photos and articles uploaded, as well as comment on them, which may spark further discussion on the issue.
Possible Dangers
There is, however, a downside to this. Misinformation is one main danger of citizen journalism. While we are all busy producing the news, we may be inclined to exaggerate, or report something that is not a fact, especially since we are not bound by news companies’ policies or the ethics of journalists. The perspectives of others might be taken to be accurate news because there are no editors to check the accuracy of these photos and reports uploaded by consumers.
One example of misinformation which was misleading to the public was the first news about the Ford Hood shootings, which was provided by Tearah Moore, a soldier from Linden, Michigan who is based at Fort Hood. She used her Twitter account to update reports about the situation, although complying to military procedure, the base was supposed to be in lock-down. In one of her many tweets, she reported that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was killed at the scene. Furthermore, her reports were picked up by mainstream news agencies as well, which based on her tweets, also reported that Hasan was killed. However, it was soon realised that this was untrue. Thus, this proves that citizen journalism via social media outlets are not entirely true and cannot be relied on completely due to the lack of editing on these reports.
Possible Measures
One way to get around having misinformation on the main news sites would be by having news agencies using applications similar to that being used by the New York Daily News use editorial control for content being uploaded by consumers onto their site. The news agencies could delegate an editor to edit the reports being uploaded onto their site by consumers. The editor could proof read and confirm the accuracy of these reports and photos before uploading them onto the main site. This would prevent inaccuracy and misreporting, which might severely affect the news agency’s reputation especially since these reports and photos are uploaded directly onto their main site. However, due to the extensiveness of social networking sites, it would be of great difficulty trying to edit information being posted on to sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Hence, editorial control may only be available to a certain extent, and cannot fully prevent misinformation being reported on such sites.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is indeed a fairly difficult task to catch up with the developments of technology, given that it is advancing at such a rapid rate. As discussed in this paper, the social media revolution is not leading to the death of journalism in the near future, but merely leading to the possible death of print news. Additionally, citizen journalism will become more widespread given the numerous avenues available with the increase in social media outlets. People will have more avenues for news and are exposed to more viewpoints. They will also be better able to filter and respond to the different perspectives as they practice verifying the reliability of the news available on the social media outlets. After all, with the prevalence of the social media and the easiness of fabricating news, we have learnt not to trust everything that is available on the Internet.
In future, as technology advances further, no one can safely say that news and broadcasting agencies would be able to sustain themselves as journalism faces more changes and challenges. Just as technology is slowly starting to replace printed books, printed media will also be gradually replaced, and the news and broadcasting companies may face turmoil as journalists are unable to hold on to their jobs with the onslaught of the different types of journalism evolved with advancements in technology. However, while this may be so, it is essential to note that traditional journalism will not die. News agencies need to recognise the need for change in today’s world, and should make use of the social media outlets to move forward. Once they acknowledge that social media is here to stay, and manage to successfully make full use of these social technologies to their advantage, they would be able to survive. Therefore, the social media revolution is not leading to the death of journalism. It is simply allowing a new type of journalism to emerge.
References
Ruth A. Harper. Published 11 March 2010. The Social Media Revolution: Exploring the Impact on Journalism and News Media Organizations. Retrieved 8 September 2011 from http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/202/the-social-media-revolution-exploring-the-impact-on-journalism-and-news-media-organizations
Social Media Technology is Changing Journalism. Published 18 July 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011 from http://www.businesstimes.co.tz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1227:social-media-technology-is-changing-journalism&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=57
Woody Lewis. Published 7 April 2009. Social Journalism: Past, Present, and Future. Retrieved 8 September 2011 from http://mashable.com/2009/04/07/social-journalism/
Deborah Mackay. Published n.d. Social Media and the New Wave of Journalism. Retrieved 5 October 2011 from http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/07/27/social-media-and-the-new-wave-of-journalism/
Emma Rathbone. Published 15 March 2011. Can Social Networking Spur a Revolution? Retrieved 10 October 2011 from http://uvamagazine.org/only_online/article/can_social_networking_cause_revolution/
Lauren Fisher. Published 5 September 2011. New Project Shows the Future of Outsourced Journalism. Retrieved 10 October 2011 from http://www.simplyzesty.com/social-media/new-project-shows-the-future-of-crowdsourced-journalism/
Paul Carr. Published 7 November 2009. NSFW: After Fort Hood, another example of how 'citizen journalists' can't handle the truth. Retrieved 10 October 2011 from http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/07/nsfw-after-fort-hood-another-example-of-how-citizen-journalists-cant-handle-the-truth/
Laurie Ure. Published 7 November 2009. Officials: Fort Hood shootings suspect alive; 12 dead. Retrieved 10 October 2011 from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/texas.fort.hood.shootings/index.html
Introduction
Journalism, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is the activity or profession of writing for newspapers or magazines or of broadcasting news on radio or television. However, in today’s context, journalism encompasses more than just the broadcasting of news and events via the print media, or on the radio or television. The Internet, in particular the social media, has become a commonly used medium for broadcasting news as well. With the News and broadcasting organizations have been greatly impacted as a result of the social media revolution. There is a new wave of journalism with the increase in the use of the social media for broadcasting news. Thus, this has caused news and broadcasting organizations to rethink their strategies so as to not be overtaken by the rise of the social media in the world of journalism.
We live in an information society today, and the social media revolution has caused a large extent of change in the face of journalism. The social media provides people with tools to disseminate news. Furthermore, people today are unlike people in the past. People today do not merely accept the news as told by news agencies or government organizations. Instead, with the rise of the social media, people are now exposed to different viewpoints and are forced to filter and critically think about the issues being reported.
In this paper, I will discuss how journalism has changed with the social media revolution. Citizen journalism is on the rise, and readers are getting more involved in the dissemination of news. This paper will be broken into three main parts, firstly, the history of journalism (before the rise of the social media), the current situation, and lastly the future of journalism. Also, I will examine how the dissemination of news has changed, and how people are responding to the use of the social media for dissemination of news. While it may seem like news and broadcasting companies are facing a crisis with regards to the demise of traditional journalism, this is not true. The emergence of the social media will only lead to the possible demise of print news in the future. This will be further elaborated on in the paper.
Before I begin delving into the main topic of how the emergence of social media has changed the forms of journalism, I will introduce the main terms I will be using throughout my paper.
Social Media
As defined by Webster, social media is a form of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content. Communication has been refined through the use of web-based and mobile technologies. There are many different forms of social media, such as social networking sites (Facebook, blogs and microblogs (Twitter), content communities (Youtube), internet forums etc. Due to the onslaught and increased popularity of the social media in recent years, traditional journalism has been forced to take a back seat.
Journalism
Journalism, as defined above by the Oxford Dictionary, can be taken to be the gathering and development of news. News is not only broadcasted to the public via newspapers, but also through magazines, the television, the radio, and as seen recently, the Internet and the social media. Journalism does not only cover national and international political news. It also covers the arts, as well as business aspects and crimes. Journalists broadcast information regarding these aspects to the general public via different means.
Journalism in the Past
Traditionally, journalism was more of a one-way form of communication. Journalist told the readers what they needed to know, and readers merely read and accepted these news reports. The journalists were responsible for transmitting information, not only from the authorities to the public, but also other important information such as recent crimes and the happenings around the world.
Censorship and Opaque Journalism
In addition, governments tend to control and restrict what journalists can report. This was especially so in the past. Journalists were restricted by boundaries set by the government, with regards to governmental information in relation to protecting the national interest.
Traditional journalism tended to be opaque in nature, with information being manipulated by the government or groups of authority. Information was often tampered with so as to portray the government or its policies in a particular light. The lack of transparency in journalism is due to an abuse of power, and corruption in certain areas has been high due to this reason.
One example of such an area would be North Korea. North Korea strictly controls its press, and has only one state news agency, the Korean Central News Agency, which is the only source of information for all media agencies in North Korea. The broadcast media in North Korea actively promotes its beliefs and ideologies, and because the people are not exposed to other ideologies and perspectives, they have to simply accept the government’s ideologies. This has resulted in a high level of corruption in North Korea, preventing its progress as a nation.
Journalism Today
Citizen Journalism
Currently, with the emergence of the social media, there has been an influx of citizen journalists. Citizen journalism occurs when people who used to be on the receiving end of the media spectrum, and who have not received any professional journalism training, are able to collect, process, analyze, and disseminate information and news.
As mentioned by Mark Glaser, a freelance journalist, “The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others.”
This can be seen when people post news via social media outlets. For instance, by taking a video of Tim Cook unveiling the iPhone 5 and uploading it on Youtube, or by posting the latest features of the iPhone 5 as released by Apple on your Facebook wall. Likewise, in times of crisis and devastation, such as during the tsunami that struck Indonesia and many other regions in 2004, it can be difficult to keep track of the regions which are affected. Hence, journalists would not be able to convey such news efficiently and the only way for people to remain informed of the devastation in different places was through social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. Besides updating their statuses and tweets about the state of devastation, photos of the disaster can also be uploaded and shared via these websites using mobile devices. This would in its own way be like live-time reporting, which is practically impossible to be done by reporters or journalists during such live-threatening circumstances.
Increased Speed in Reporting
Furthermore, in recent years, it has been noticed that people are posting news via social media outlets faster than news agencies. One example is the reporting of the death of Osama Bin Laden. Before the news agencies received the news of his death, the news was already broken by a Twitter user:
@ReallyVirtual Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).
Following that tweet, there was a real time report of the unfolding of the events which led to Osama Bin Laden’s death.
Another example of when the news agencies were slower than the people on social media in reporting the news was during the Mumbai attacks in 2008. The Mumbai attacks were first reported by Twitter and Flickr users before the news agencies. It was also reported by The Telegraph that there were around 70 eyewitnesses’ tweets every 5 seconds. Flickr users also uploaded live photos from the scene of the attacks.
The rise of the social media had aided citizen journalism and created an emphasis for real-time reporting because of the rapid speed of the social media. Tweets, posts, and photos can be uploaded almost instantaneously and hence for news agencies to keep up with this speed, many news organizations have begun live blogging. This can be seen when the BBC News team put together a live blog on Osama Bin Laden’s death by collating resources from the Internet. Besides allowing readers to comment on the blog posts, news agencies are encouraging readers to contribute to the reporting of the news stories by uploading pictures and videos. News agencies are also seeking out material from the social media to aid in their reporting. This also goes to show that news organizations are turning to social media outlets for their source of news.
Journalists’ New Focus
Moreover, the social media is being valued by journalists, because they are supplementary to their work. As Martin Nisenholtz of the New York Times says of the social media “We see these things as being highly complementary to what we do.”
It is acknowledged that when there is a huge story, journalists are not able to turn up at the scene immediately. Hence, they are now more dependent on people who are at the scene to provide them with pictures, videos, sources and information. Besides, with the prevalence of the social media, people are now faster than professional journalists in breaking news to public. Thus, news agencies and journalist no longer attempt to be the first to break the news to the public. Instead, they focus on ensuring that their reports are up-to-date.
Critical Thinking in Progress
Additionally, with the convenience the social media has brought about, news are now originating not mainly from reporters and journalists, but from an array of sources made up of journalists, readers, and users of the social media. Due to the vast amount of information and news being posted on the Internet via social media outlets, readers have to filter through this information and are forced to think critically about different issues. The large amount of information made available to the readers also exposes them to different perspectives on different issues. Editors are not available to filter through the information available on the social media outlets and thus it is on the onus of the readers to decide which viewpoint they choose to support. Furthermore, readers are also able to share this information with their friends, and are more inclined to discuss their personal opinions with regards to the issue.
Journalism in the Future
Short-Run Outlook
Looking to the future in the short term, it is not possible that print media would reach its end. Although it is inevitable that news and broadcasting companies face a smaller market with regards to the print media, the print media will merely face a decline in readership volumes. Less people would refer to newspapers or magazines for news reports due to the easy access to news on the Internet as well as the social media. Smaller news agencies may find themselves out of business as the demand for their printed news decline. However, larger news agencies that were able to adapt to technological changes, and had tapped into the social media market on top of continuing its print media, would be able to survive.
Long-Run Outlook
However, in the long run, who is to say that the print media would definitely survive this digital age? It is highly probable in the next 20 to 30 years that print media would reach its end due to the rapid advances in technology. While news and broadcasting agencies and organizations may find themselves in a fix with regards to the demise of the print media, since it is highly possible that print media would to come to an end, I would not expect news and broadcasting agencies to shut down indefinitely. Although continued rampant citizen journalism will be observed, news and broadcasting agencies would still manage to survive as long as they change their attitudes. Due to the rising of the social media these days, news and broadcasting agencies should be more inclined towards making use of the social media for the reporting of news.
As mentioned above, news agencies such as BBC News and The Guardian have already used live blogging to report breaking news. The Straits Times in Singapore has a Twitter account in which users who follow them are able to catch the latest news through their tweets.
Furthermore, as mobile phones are now an integral part of our lives and it allows us to easily access social media sites, it is inevitable that mobile phones will also play a huge role in journalism in the future. In fact, mobile phones part of the reason why citizen journalism is becoming a fad. Mobile phones enable us to be connected at all times, hence when something newsworthy occurs, bystanders merely take a picture or upload a comment in relation to that event, and it sparks a whole thread of perspectives.
Shift of Responsibility of News Agencies
News agencies can also move from being providers/producers of news to being facilitators of news. This can be seen through a project by the New York Daily News, which allows fans who like their Facebook page to upload photos real-time. These photos then also made available to the general public as the photos are simultaneously uploaded onto New York Daily News’ main site. Similarly, other news agencies could also make use of this application to engage readers and encourage them to participate in the provision of news. It could be taken a step further such that not only can photos be uploaded, but readers can also upload articles of their views on certain issues, or articles behind the photos they uploaded. The public would be allowed to view these photos and articles uploaded, as well as comment on them, which may spark further discussion on the issue.
Possible Dangers
There is, however, a downside to this. Misinformation is one main danger of citizen journalism. While we are all busy producing the news, we may be inclined to exaggerate, or report something that is not a fact, especially since we are not bound by news companies’ policies or the ethics of journalists. The perspectives of others might be taken to be accurate news because there are no editors to check the accuracy of these photos and reports uploaded by consumers.
One example of misinformation which was misleading to the public was the first news about the Ford Hood shootings, which was provided by Tearah Moore, a soldier from Linden, Michigan who is based at Fort Hood. She used her Twitter account to update reports about the situation, although complying to military procedure, the base was supposed to be in lock-down. In one of her many tweets, she reported that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was killed at the scene. Furthermore, her reports were picked up by mainstream news agencies as well, which based on her tweets, also reported that Hasan was killed. However, it was soon realised that this was untrue. Thus, this proves that citizen journalism via social media outlets are not entirely true and cannot be relied on completely due to the lack of editing on these reports.
Possible Measures
One way to get around having misinformation on the main news sites would be by having news agencies using applications similar to that being used by the New York Daily News use editorial control for content being uploaded by consumers onto their site. The news agencies could delegate an editor to edit the reports being uploaded onto their site by consumers. The editor could proof read and confirm the accuracy of these reports and photos before uploading them onto the main site. This would prevent inaccuracy and misreporting, which might severely affect the news agency’s reputation especially since these reports and photos are uploaded directly onto their main site. However, due to the extensiveness of social networking sites, it would be of great difficulty trying to edit information being posted on to sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Hence, editorial control may only be available to a certain extent, and cannot fully prevent misinformation being reported on such sites.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is indeed a fairly difficult task to catch up with the developments of technology, given that it is advancing at such a rapid rate. As discussed in this paper, the social media revolution is not leading to the death of journalism in the near future, but merely leading to the possible death of print news. Additionally, citizen journalism will become more widespread given the numerous avenues available with the increase in social media outlets. People will have more avenues for news and are exposed to more viewpoints. They will also be better able to filter and respond to the different perspectives as they practice verifying the reliability of the news available on the social media outlets. After all, with the prevalence of the social media and the easiness of fabricating news, we have learnt not to trust everything that is available on the Internet.
In future, as technology advances further, no one can safely say that news and broadcasting agencies would be able to sustain themselves as journalism faces more changes and challenges. Just as technology is slowly starting to replace printed books, printed media will also be gradually replaced, and the news and broadcasting companies may face turmoil as journalists are unable to hold on to their jobs with the onslaught of the different types of journalism evolved with advancements in technology. However, while this may be so, it is essential to note that traditional journalism will not die. News agencies need to recognise the need for change in today’s world, and should make use of the social media outlets to move forward. Once they acknowledge that social media is here to stay, and manage to successfully make full use of these social technologies to their advantage, they would be able to survive. Therefore, the social media revolution is not leading to the death of journalism. It is simply allowing a new type of journalism to emerge.
References
Ruth A. Harper. Published 11 March 2010. The Social Media Revolution: Exploring the Impact on Journalism and News Media Organizations. Retrieved 8 September 2011 from http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/202/the-social-media-revolution-exploring-the-impact-on-journalism-and-news-media-organizations
Social Media Technology is Changing Journalism. Published 18 July 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011 from http://www.businesstimes.co.tz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1227:social-media-technology-is-changing-journalism&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=57
Woody Lewis. Published 7 April 2009. Social Journalism: Past, Present, and Future. Retrieved 8 September 2011 from http://mashable.com/2009/04/07/social-journalism/
Deborah Mackay. Published n.d. Social Media and the New Wave of Journalism. Retrieved 5 October 2011 from http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/07/27/social-media-and-the-new-wave-of-journalism/
Emma Rathbone. Published 15 March 2011. Can Social Networking Spur a Revolution? Retrieved 10 October 2011 from http://uvamagazine.org/only_online/article/can_social_networking_cause_revolution/
Lauren Fisher. Published 5 September 2011. New Project Shows the Future of Outsourced Journalism. Retrieved 10 October 2011 from http://www.simplyzesty.com/social-media/new-project-shows-the-future-of-crowdsourced-journalism/
Paul Carr. Published 7 November 2009. NSFW: After Fort Hood, another example of how 'citizen journalists' can't handle the truth. Retrieved 10 October 2011 from http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/07/nsfw-after-fort-hood-another-example-of-how-citizen-journalists-cant-handle-the-truth/
Laurie Ure. Published 7 November 2009. Officials: Fort Hood shootings suspect alive; 12 dead. Retrieved 10 October 2011 from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/texas.fort.hood.shootings/index.html
Week 9
Today is already the 8th seminar for TWC. Time flies really fast, just like how the recess week flew past pretty quickly too! Anyway, today the topic was mainly on moving from a fossil fuel-based energy intensive economy to using sustainable clean and green approaches.
Some key points that came out to me during the course of the whole seminar:
1. The sun provides more energy to the Earth in one hour than humankind currently uses in an entire year.
As mentioned by Dr. Shahi, this means that there is a lot of potential that the sun has but which we have not made full use of. To me, this was a pretty surprising statistic because I never thought the Sun would be capable of being able to provide such a large amount of energy. True, the sun is our primary source of light, but it never struck me that it would be able to provide so much energy! However, one drawback to this would be that a large number of solar panels would be required. While this may be feasible in other countries such as Germany, since they have land available to house these solar panels, this is not feasible in Singapore, which is already currently facing space constraints.
2. From the video Dr. Shahi showed us, titled “300 Year History of Renewable Energy”, it states that renewable energy cannot supply the intensive amount energy we require. Fossil fuels are able to supply our energy needs much more efficiently.
This is one of the reasons why humans gradually stopped using renewable sources of energy, which were being used extensively in the past. Instead, we turned to fossil fuels to meet out energy supply needs. One other problem mentioned during the seminar as a reason for us not turning to renewable sources is the high cost of renewable sources of energy. Infrastructure needed to provide us with energy from renewable sources such as solar panels are very expensive. This acts as a disincentive for governments and organizations to turn to renewable sources of energy.
3. Educate students, so as to lead the next generation to continue increasing the use of renewable sources of energy.
This is pretty straightforward, and this idea really struck me because it is important to reach out to the next generation, and ensure that they are proficient in using renewable sources of energy. After all, our future depends on them, and it is essential that they know where to turn to when we eventually run out of fossil fuels. Besides that, they may be able to come up with new ways of providing energy such that they are not that costly, and are more efficient.
Two presentations which stood out to me and left a rather deep impression on me were the last two presentations, one on anti-matter, and one on the use of tornados to generate electricity. It was fascinating to learn how the weather and similar phenomena are being used to generate electricity. Also, the topic on anti-matter was entirely new to me, and hence I found Luke’s presentation pretty informative!
All in all, I would rate this lesson a 7/10, because it was very informative, and the topic on renewable sources of energy is very relevant to us currently, especially now that our use if energy is increasing, while our fossil fuels are depleting at an exponential rate.
Some key points that came out to me during the course of the whole seminar:
1. The sun provides more energy to the Earth in one hour than humankind currently uses in an entire year.
As mentioned by Dr. Shahi, this means that there is a lot of potential that the sun has but which we have not made full use of. To me, this was a pretty surprising statistic because I never thought the Sun would be capable of being able to provide such a large amount of energy. True, the sun is our primary source of light, but it never struck me that it would be able to provide so much energy! However, one drawback to this would be that a large number of solar panels would be required. While this may be feasible in other countries such as Germany, since they have land available to house these solar panels, this is not feasible in Singapore, which is already currently facing space constraints.
2. From the video Dr. Shahi showed us, titled “300 Year History of Renewable Energy”, it states that renewable energy cannot supply the intensive amount energy we require. Fossil fuels are able to supply our energy needs much more efficiently.
This is one of the reasons why humans gradually stopped using renewable sources of energy, which were being used extensively in the past. Instead, we turned to fossil fuels to meet out energy supply needs. One other problem mentioned during the seminar as a reason for us not turning to renewable sources is the high cost of renewable sources of energy. Infrastructure needed to provide us with energy from renewable sources such as solar panels are very expensive. This acts as a disincentive for governments and organizations to turn to renewable sources of energy.
3. Educate students, so as to lead the next generation to continue increasing the use of renewable sources of energy.
This is pretty straightforward, and this idea really struck me because it is important to reach out to the next generation, and ensure that they are proficient in using renewable sources of energy. After all, our future depends on them, and it is essential that they know where to turn to when we eventually run out of fossil fuels. Besides that, they may be able to come up with new ways of providing energy such that they are not that costly, and are more efficient.
Two presentations which stood out to me and left a rather deep impression on me were the last two presentations, one on anti-matter, and one on the use of tornados to generate electricity. It was fascinating to learn how the weather and similar phenomena are being used to generate electricity. Also, the topic on anti-matter was entirely new to me, and hence I found Luke’s presentation pretty informative!
All in all, I would rate this lesson a 7/10, because it was very informative, and the topic on renewable sources of energy is very relevant to us currently, especially now that our use if energy is increasing, while our fossil fuels are depleting at an exponential rate.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Week 7
Once again the lesson started with a question which had me thinking about our future. Dr. Shahi asked this question: Will we be more sustainable if we grow our own resources?
In my opinion, of course! If we grew our own resources, we would be less reliant on other factors, especially the non-renewable sources which are bound to run out one day. Furthermore, as Dr. Shahi mentioned, by growing our own resources, we would also be able to generate more income.
The main topic today was on biotechnology. Dr. Shahi said that biotechnology is nothing different from what humans have been doing all along. It is merely the pin-pointing and targeting of our entire approach.
Dr. Shahi played several videos during lesson time today, but the one that I gained the most insight from was “Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment”. The video focused on how as the world population continually gets larger, our ecosystem becomes at risk because the amount of resources we have available are decreasing. Farmers are being introduced to agri-biotechnology, which helps to increase the production of food. Furthermore, agri-biotechnology can also be used to cope with the increase in global energy use we are going to face due to the growing world population.
Lenard’s presentation also showed how such technology is going to drastically change the way crops are being grown and how positively we have progressed with the aid of these technologies.
He also showed us 2 videos on Vertical Farming which was really interesting! It seems like a pretty feasible idea, especially for Singapore, since we are not self-sustainable with respect to crops. With this system, we are able to produce 5 times more crops than a normal farm. This saves us space as well, which has proved to be a huge problem for us, since we are such a small island.
One last issue I would like to address is regarding the reading for this week. In the reading entitled “Ending World Hunger” by Norman Borlang, the issue of global hunger and scarcity of food in future are identified. While we need to increase the supply of food in order to effectively face this problem, it is a problem getting the new forms of technology to reach the farmers, especially those in the rural areas. Thus, it is my view that even as technology advances such that we are capable of producing enough food to meet the growing population, we need to ensure that these technologies are being put to good use by all farmers. Furthermore, by producing a greater supply, we are bringing greater revenues to the farmers.
I would rate this lesson 8/10 because the lesson was clear-cut, and I was able to clearly understand the points being made by the oral presenters as well as by Dr. Shahi. However, I agree with Dr. Shahi that all 5 presentations today touched on agriculture and technology; there was little on industrial biotechnology. I suppose it is because industrial biotechnology is still a rather new concept and hence people are not that confident about presenting on such a topic.
In my opinion, of course! If we grew our own resources, we would be less reliant on other factors, especially the non-renewable sources which are bound to run out one day. Furthermore, as Dr. Shahi mentioned, by growing our own resources, we would also be able to generate more income.
The main topic today was on biotechnology. Dr. Shahi said that biotechnology is nothing different from what humans have been doing all along. It is merely the pin-pointing and targeting of our entire approach.
Dr. Shahi played several videos during lesson time today, but the one that I gained the most insight from was “Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment”. The video focused on how as the world population continually gets larger, our ecosystem becomes at risk because the amount of resources we have available are decreasing. Farmers are being introduced to agri-biotechnology, which helps to increase the production of food. Furthermore, agri-biotechnology can also be used to cope with the increase in global energy use we are going to face due to the growing world population.
Lenard’s presentation also showed how such technology is going to drastically change the way crops are being grown and how positively we have progressed with the aid of these technologies.
He also showed us 2 videos on Vertical Farming which was really interesting! It seems like a pretty feasible idea, especially for Singapore, since we are not self-sustainable with respect to crops. With this system, we are able to produce 5 times more crops than a normal farm. This saves us space as well, which has proved to be a huge problem for us, since we are such a small island.
One last issue I would like to address is regarding the reading for this week. In the reading entitled “Ending World Hunger” by Norman Borlang, the issue of global hunger and scarcity of food in future are identified. While we need to increase the supply of food in order to effectively face this problem, it is a problem getting the new forms of technology to reach the farmers, especially those in the rural areas. Thus, it is my view that even as technology advances such that we are capable of producing enough food to meet the growing population, we need to ensure that these technologies are being put to good use by all farmers. Furthermore, by producing a greater supply, we are bringing greater revenues to the farmers.
I would rate this lesson 8/10 because the lesson was clear-cut, and I was able to clearly understand the points being made by the oral presenters as well as by Dr. Shahi. However, I agree with Dr. Shahi that all 5 presentations today touched on agriculture and technology; there was little on industrial biotechnology. I suppose it is because industrial biotechnology is still a rather new concept and hence people are not that confident about presenting on such a topic.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
ICT and World Change is probably a topic close to our hearts, or at least for me, because it’s a topic that deeply interests me. Thus I chose to present my oral presentation during this week, and the topic I chose was on E-books. One other reason why I chose this topic (and I didn’t mention this during my presentation; I was too shy) is that I love books. My heart beats faster each time I step into a library and see the huge number of books waiting for me. So it saddens me to think that with the advancements of technology, printed books might become a thing of the past. In my opinion, although e-books and printed books are both still books, I find printed books more appealing. The rustle when you flip the pages gives me a different emotion as when I swipe at my electronic device to “flip” the page of the e-book. Other cons of e-books were mentioned during my presentation and so I shan’t be long-winded as to repeat it again.
Dr. Shahi started the lesson with a video which was amazingly fascinating - Project Natal Milo Demo from E3. Milo was very interactive, and that he had such human instincts was fascinating to me.
Dr. Shahi stated this one line which I agreed with. “It is very easy for us to create emotional relationships with inanimate objects.” I am a very emotional person, and I agree that it’s indeed easy for me to create emotional relationships with inanimate object. Also, while I feel that at the rapid pace technology is advancing at today, it is possible that characters like Milo might be a norm one day. However, I do not think it is advisable that such characters become the norm. We are already having problems with maintaining relationships today, with the pervasiveness of the internet and social media. By adding Milo and similar characters into the picture, we might become more detached from our personal human relationships.
People might start spending more time with these interactive characters instead of their human friends, which would adversely impact their social skills in the long run. Human relationships are already strained because of the social media, and we continue to worsen them by continuously developing newer technology, which more often than not bring us away from our human relationships instead of mending them.
This question was asked during the lesson: What will it take to capture the full potential of the ICT/ Knowledge Revolution. This question spurred me into thinking. What is the main problem right now? What is hindering us from capturing the full potential? Then it struck me. We should learn how to manage the new forms of technology. Before we even learnt how to effectively manage a certain technology, new technologies are pouring into the market. Developments are occurring at a much faster pace than we are adapting. Perhaps what we can do is to effectively manage the current technologies we have, before trying to embrace the new technologies. If we simultaneously try to manage too much at one time, we find that we are not able to effectively cope with everything.
Furthermore, during the lesson, Dr. Shahi also talked about the potential dangers of ICT, which just goes to tell us that not all technologies are beneficial, especially in terms of ICT. For ICT, we tend to touch on the positive and negative impacts it has on us in terms of our human relationships etc. But we tend to overlook the fact that ICT is not as secure as we believe it to be. While we may think that our facebook profile is locked and very secure, there is still the chance that someone is able to hack into your account. Or, while your personal profile may be locked (good for you), your friend’s profile may not be locked and hence strangers are still able to access information about you through your friends’ profiles.
Also, there is the exposure to corrupting influences, which is going to be a negative influence on the younger generation as they are more widely exposed to such corruption (pornography, cyber bullying). This further emphasizes my point that we should learn how to manage technology so that we can teach the younger generation how to adapt and manage such technology effectively as well.
In general, I would rate this lesson a 9/10 because I thoroughly enjoyed myself during this lesson, and I learnt many key points about ICT, and how we should be coping with it. (Also because this was a very interesting topic in my opinion (: )
Dr. Shahi started the lesson with a video which was amazingly fascinating - Project Natal Milo Demo from E3. Milo was very interactive, and that he had such human instincts was fascinating to me.
Dr. Shahi stated this one line which I agreed with. “It is very easy for us to create emotional relationships with inanimate objects.” I am a very emotional person, and I agree that it’s indeed easy for me to create emotional relationships with inanimate object. Also, while I feel that at the rapid pace technology is advancing at today, it is possible that characters like Milo might be a norm one day. However, I do not think it is advisable that such characters become the norm. We are already having problems with maintaining relationships today, with the pervasiveness of the internet and social media. By adding Milo and similar characters into the picture, we might become more detached from our personal human relationships.
People might start spending more time with these interactive characters instead of their human friends, which would adversely impact their social skills in the long run. Human relationships are already strained because of the social media, and we continue to worsen them by continuously developing newer technology, which more often than not bring us away from our human relationships instead of mending them.
This question was asked during the lesson: What will it take to capture the full potential of the ICT/ Knowledge Revolution. This question spurred me into thinking. What is the main problem right now? What is hindering us from capturing the full potential? Then it struck me. We should learn how to manage the new forms of technology. Before we even learnt how to effectively manage a certain technology, new technologies are pouring into the market. Developments are occurring at a much faster pace than we are adapting. Perhaps what we can do is to effectively manage the current technologies we have, before trying to embrace the new technologies. If we simultaneously try to manage too much at one time, we find that we are not able to effectively cope with everything.
Furthermore, during the lesson, Dr. Shahi also talked about the potential dangers of ICT, which just goes to tell us that not all technologies are beneficial, especially in terms of ICT. For ICT, we tend to touch on the positive and negative impacts it has on us in terms of our human relationships etc. But we tend to overlook the fact that ICT is not as secure as we believe it to be. While we may think that our facebook profile is locked and very secure, there is still the chance that someone is able to hack into your account. Or, while your personal profile may be locked (good for you), your friend’s profile may not be locked and hence strangers are still able to access information about you through your friends’ profiles.
Also, there is the exposure to corrupting influences, which is going to be a negative influence on the younger generation as they are more widely exposed to such corruption (pornography, cyber bullying). This further emphasizes my point that we should learn how to manage technology so that we can teach the younger generation how to adapt and manage such technology effectively as well.
In general, I would rate this lesson a 9/10 because I thoroughly enjoyed myself during this lesson, and I learnt many key points about ICT, and how we should be coping with it. (Also because this was a very interesting topic in my opinion (: )
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Individual Topical Paper Review Outline
Individual Topical Paper Review Outline
1. Specific Innovation of Interest: The increased use of social media has started to affect news and broadcasting organizations. News organizations are rethinking their strategies as a result of the social media revolution.
2. Rationale for Choosing this Revolution: People today are not like people in the past. They do not merely accept the news as told by the news agencies or government organizations. Instead, with the rise of the social media, people have greater access to different viewpoints and are forced to filter and critically think about the issues reported, instead of merely accepting the perspective of the news media. Social media has in this way, caused a large extent of change in the face of journalism.
3. Proposed Approach to Development of Paper:
a) Executive Summary
How the social media revolution has led to the rise of citizen journalism, and has caused readers to be more involved in the distribution of news
b) Background/Introduction
Social media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue (Defined by Wikipedia)
Comes in many different forms – Social networking sites, blogs, forums etc.
Only in recent years has social media caused traditional journalism to take a back seat
Caused by the onslaught and increased popularity of social media
c) Historical Perspective
Journalism is the gathering and development of news
Journalists were sent out to gather news, then report their findings, which would then be sent to their editors before the reports are published in newspapers or magazines
Readers merely read and accepted these news reports
d) Current Situation
Influx of citizen journalists
People are posting news via social media outlets faster than news agencies
Real-time reporting more common
People are not merely reading and accepting the reports; They are questioning and voicing out their viewpoints via social media outlets
Journalists are also turning to social media outlets for their source of news
e) Future Considerations
In the short-term, print news (newspapers, magazines) are not expected to die off
Continued rampant citizen journalism will be observed
In the long-term, we might see the demise of print news and news agencies
Journalists may mainly be freelance and not under a particular company
News would be dependent on citizen journalism
f) Conclusions
Technology is developing at such a rapid rate that it is difficult to catch up
Social media revolution is not leading to the death of journalism
Merely leading to the death of print news
Citizen journalism will become widespread
People have more avenues for news and are better able to filter and respond to different perspectives
g) References
Ruth A. Harper. Published 11 March 2010. The Social Media Revolution: Exploring the Impact on Journalism and News Media Organizations. Retrieved 8 September 2011 from http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/202/the-social-media-revolution-exploring-the-impact-on-journalism-and-news-media-organizations
Woody Lewis. Published 7 April 2009. Social Journalism: Past, Present, and Future. Retrieved 8 September 2011 from http://mashable.com/2009/04/07/social-journalism/
1. Specific Innovation of Interest: The increased use of social media has started to affect news and broadcasting organizations. News organizations are rethinking their strategies as a result of the social media revolution.
2. Rationale for Choosing this Revolution: People today are not like people in the past. They do not merely accept the news as told by the news agencies or government organizations. Instead, with the rise of the social media, people have greater access to different viewpoints and are forced to filter and critically think about the issues reported, instead of merely accepting the perspective of the news media. Social media has in this way, caused a large extent of change in the face of journalism.
3. Proposed Approach to Development of Paper:
a) Executive Summary
How the social media revolution has led to the rise of citizen journalism, and has caused readers to be more involved in the distribution of news
b) Background/Introduction
Social media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue (Defined by Wikipedia)
Comes in many different forms – Social networking sites, blogs, forums etc.
Only in recent years has social media caused traditional journalism to take a back seat
Caused by the onslaught and increased popularity of social media
c) Historical Perspective
Journalism is the gathering and development of news
Journalists were sent out to gather news, then report their findings, which would then be sent to their editors before the reports are published in newspapers or magazines
Readers merely read and accepted these news reports
d) Current Situation
Influx of citizen journalists
People are posting news via social media outlets faster than news agencies
Real-time reporting more common
People are not merely reading and accepting the reports; They are questioning and voicing out their viewpoints via social media outlets
Journalists are also turning to social media outlets for their source of news
e) Future Considerations
In the short-term, print news (newspapers, magazines) are not expected to die off
Continued rampant citizen journalism will be observed
In the long-term, we might see the demise of print news and news agencies
Journalists may mainly be freelance and not under a particular company
News would be dependent on citizen journalism
f) Conclusions
Technology is developing at such a rapid rate that it is difficult to catch up
Social media revolution is not leading to the death of journalism
Merely leading to the death of print news
Citizen journalism will become widespread
People have more avenues for news and are better able to filter and respond to different perspectives
g) References
Ruth A. Harper. Published 11 March 2010. The Social Media Revolution: Exploring the Impact on Journalism and News Media Organizations. Retrieved 8 September 2011 from http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/202/the-social-media-revolution-exploring-the-impact-on-journalism-and-news-media-organizations
Woody Lewis. Published 7 April 2009. Social Journalism: Past, Present, and Future. Retrieved 8 September 2011 from http://mashable.com/2009/04/07/social-journalism/
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Week 4
Dr. Shahi started the lesson today with this quote by Charles Robert Darvin: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one the one that is most adaptable to change”
I was struck by this quote, because I never taught of change in this way. I have always assumed that the ones who survive are always the fittest and the smartest. But this quote set me thinking. I realized that even if you are the strongest and smartest, if you are rigid and not adaptable to change, you will not be able to survive in this ever-changing world. As the world continues to develop and we continue to come up with new forms of technology, we should be able to adapt the changes brought about by technology. If we insist on sticking to our traditional ways, we will never be able to progress.
I find that this point is linked to another point made in the second half of the lesson, with the quote by Robert F Kennedy: “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly”
This is highly true because if we dare not fail we will not dare to take risks. As the world progresses and new technology is developed, our ways of living change, and hence the way we lead our lives should also change. We should not be sticking to the old mindset of thinking, but instead we should embrace the changes that come along with the new developments to our society. To effectively embrace these changes, we should think deeper and be willing to take risks in order to achieve greater things.
While this might be easy to say, I understand that it is not easy to carry out. Many of us, including myself, are not particularly delighted about change. I find that change disrupts my life, and I personally would like to continue living my life the way I am used to. However, I know that this mindset is not ideal, and I am working on changing my mindset to one that is able to effectively embrace change.
One other major issue that Dr. Shahi touched on in today’s lesson was the two kinds of change – evolutionary and revolutionary. Evolutionary change is change which occurs in small steps, it is the continuous improvement in our lives. On the other hand, revolutionary change is sudden and can be seen as disruptive innovation. I like how the word ‘disruptive’ is used in this context, because it perfectly explains how I feel towards change. I feel that change is disruptive to my life, and if I had the choice, I would like to avoid chance. However, change cannot be avoided. It is everywhere in our lives and is happening all the time.
As much as I dislike change, I concede that certain change can be beneficial to us, and if we are able to manage the change, we would be able to make full use of the change.
This lesson was thought provoking and I would rate it 8/10.
P.S. I would have liked to elaborate more on the issue of journalism and the social media, but as I am doing it for my individual written report, I shall leave my thoughts for the report.
I was struck by this quote, because I never taught of change in this way. I have always assumed that the ones who survive are always the fittest and the smartest. But this quote set me thinking. I realized that even if you are the strongest and smartest, if you are rigid and not adaptable to change, you will not be able to survive in this ever-changing world. As the world continues to develop and we continue to come up with new forms of technology, we should be able to adapt the changes brought about by technology. If we insist on sticking to our traditional ways, we will never be able to progress.
I find that this point is linked to another point made in the second half of the lesson, with the quote by Robert F Kennedy: “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly”
This is highly true because if we dare not fail we will not dare to take risks. As the world progresses and new technology is developed, our ways of living change, and hence the way we lead our lives should also change. We should not be sticking to the old mindset of thinking, but instead we should embrace the changes that come along with the new developments to our society. To effectively embrace these changes, we should think deeper and be willing to take risks in order to achieve greater things.
While this might be easy to say, I understand that it is not easy to carry out. Many of us, including myself, are not particularly delighted about change. I find that change disrupts my life, and I personally would like to continue living my life the way I am used to. However, I know that this mindset is not ideal, and I am working on changing my mindset to one that is able to effectively embrace change.
One other major issue that Dr. Shahi touched on in today’s lesson was the two kinds of change – evolutionary and revolutionary. Evolutionary change is change which occurs in small steps, it is the continuous improvement in our lives. On the other hand, revolutionary change is sudden and can be seen as disruptive innovation. I like how the word ‘disruptive’ is used in this context, because it perfectly explains how I feel towards change. I feel that change is disruptive to my life, and if I had the choice, I would like to avoid chance. However, change cannot be avoided. It is everywhere in our lives and is happening all the time.
As much as I dislike change, I concede that certain change can be beneficial to us, and if we are able to manage the change, we would be able to make full use of the change.
This lesson was thought provoking and I would rate it 8/10.
P.S. I would have liked to elaborate more on the issue of journalism and the social media, but as I am doing it for my individual written report, I shall leave my thoughts for the report.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Week 3
During the course of the 3rd lesson, Dr. Shahi mentioned the US Love Canal. It sounded pretty interesting, so I did a bit of research on it.
The Love Canal was actually a kilometer-long pit meant to be part of the canal. However, after it was purchased by the City of Niagara Falls, it was decided that this pit was an ideal location for a chemical-dumping site. For protection, the canal was lined with clay and covered with dirt. However, the effects of the chemical substances were soon felt and in 1978, the areas around the Love Canal were declared hazardous.
This example perfectly illustrates how industrial development is not necessarily beneficial. Thus we have to be mindful of the consequences of our actions. As Dr. Shahi mentioned, for sustainable industrial development, we have to maximise value creation without reducing options for future generations.
In the case of the Love Canal, due to the misuse of the pit for dumping of chemicals, much of the place today has been sectioned off, preventing the land from being put to good use.
During Indra's presentation, his question for discussion caught my attention: Sustainable development, is it a 'pernicious fad' or a real prospect?
In my opinion, it is currently, in today's time, a fad. This can be seen from the actions of corporations, which aim to promote sustainable development, and claim to eco-friendly, in their bid to appeal to consumers.
Sustainable development is a much talked about topic nowadays, but how many are genuinely concerned about meeting our needs now without diminishing the capacity of future generations to meet theirs? I doubt many are genuinely interested about ensuring that future generations are looked out for.
In the second half of the lesson, we talked about Technology and Innovation Management.
Dr. Shahi brought up an interesting point: In general, the people who have access to technology do not require them. On the other hand, the people who require these technologies have no access to them.
So the problem comes. How do you get the technology to reach those who really need it?
This issue stuck in my mind, and made me ponder over it. This issue is linked to the issue we first talked about in Week 1, when Yali asked "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people had little cargo of our own?"
Of course, I thought about the issue closer at hand, such as the rural areas in China, where many people are still living in poverty, despite the more developed cities such as Shanghai acheiving great economic growth. Is no one going to help these rural areas develop as well?
While we are moving from PCs to laptops to iPads, the people in these rural areas are still suffering from illiteracy. While we worry about whether our vegetables are organic, the people in the rural areas worry about whether they have enough food to go round.
While we continue developing new technology, who is going to help the less developed areas catch up? The gap between the developed and less developed areas is just going to get wider as a result. What we should do is to introduce technology to the less developed areas, so that they get an opportunity to catch up with us.
Although I gained new knowledge from this lesson and was made to ponder over several issues, I felt that this topic was a tad bit dry, and hence I would rate it 6/10. However, I'm looking forward to the next lesson tomorrow! :)
The Love Canal was actually a kilometer-long pit meant to be part of the canal. However, after it was purchased by the City of Niagara Falls, it was decided that this pit was an ideal location for a chemical-dumping site. For protection, the canal was lined with clay and covered with dirt. However, the effects of the chemical substances were soon felt and in 1978, the areas around the Love Canal were declared hazardous.
This example perfectly illustrates how industrial development is not necessarily beneficial. Thus we have to be mindful of the consequences of our actions. As Dr. Shahi mentioned, for sustainable industrial development, we have to maximise value creation without reducing options for future generations.
In the case of the Love Canal, due to the misuse of the pit for dumping of chemicals, much of the place today has been sectioned off, preventing the land from being put to good use.
During Indra's presentation, his question for discussion caught my attention: Sustainable development, is it a 'pernicious fad' or a real prospect?
In my opinion, it is currently, in today's time, a fad. This can be seen from the actions of corporations, which aim to promote sustainable development, and claim to eco-friendly, in their bid to appeal to consumers.
Sustainable development is a much talked about topic nowadays, but how many are genuinely concerned about meeting our needs now without diminishing the capacity of future generations to meet theirs? I doubt many are genuinely interested about ensuring that future generations are looked out for.
In the second half of the lesson, we talked about Technology and Innovation Management.
Dr. Shahi brought up an interesting point: In general, the people who have access to technology do not require them. On the other hand, the people who require these technologies have no access to them.
So the problem comes. How do you get the technology to reach those who really need it?
This issue stuck in my mind, and made me ponder over it. This issue is linked to the issue we first talked about in Week 1, when Yali asked "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people had little cargo of our own?"
Of course, I thought about the issue closer at hand, such as the rural areas in China, where many people are still living in poverty, despite the more developed cities such as Shanghai acheiving great economic growth. Is no one going to help these rural areas develop as well?
While we are moving from PCs to laptops to iPads, the people in these rural areas are still suffering from illiteracy. While we worry about whether our vegetables are organic, the people in the rural areas worry about whether they have enough food to go round.
While we continue developing new technology, who is going to help the less developed areas catch up? The gap between the developed and less developed areas is just going to get wider as a result. What we should do is to introduce technology to the less developed areas, so that they get an opportunity to catch up with us.
Although I gained new knowledge from this lesson and was made to ponder over several issues, I felt that this topic was a tad bit dry, and hence I would rate it 6/10. However, I'm looking forward to the next lesson tomorrow! :)
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Week 2
I never really knew about the effects technology has on the world at large, I merely accepted the fact that technology is progressing at an extremely fast rate. However, I brought away several new ideas from the lesson on Tuesday.
One of the main points of discussion was on whether China would be overtaking US in the future. Personally, I do think that China has the capabilities to overtake the US. It seems that China is progressing in the right direction, in terms of economic output. However, detractors argue that China will not overtake US because of the large percentage of its population living in poverty. Furthermore, China has not caught up with the US in terms of military power, innovation and technology. Thus, it would take China much longer before she overtakes US.
In my opinion, I feel that China has seen great economic growth in the past few years, and this has translated to higher standards of living for the people and greater opportunities for employment/trade/investment etc. Also, China has a large manufacturing industry which many countries, including the US, depend on. As this manufacturing industry flourishes, China's economy will boom.
Yet, at the same time, while I agree that China will overtake the US, this is not my main concern. What I am concerned about is how the people in China will benefit from this. Despite China's economy currently experiencing a boom, it remains a fact that the majority of the people in China are still living in poverty. High GDP figures are calculated using the incomes of the people living in the more developed areas in China such as Shanghai and Hongkong. What about those living in the rural areas and still depending on agriculture for a living? They do not seem to be benefitting from China's progress. Instead, it may seem that they may end up suffering as China continues to advance, as the cost of living rises but their income levels remain stagnant.
Thus, I feel that more attention should be given to these peasants living in the rural areas; More aid should be provided for them to make a better transition from their lives as peasants to lives that are more up-to-date with the progress of China.
One other point that struck me most during the lesson was the video Dr. Shahi showed us towards the end of the lesson, "The Joy of Stats".
It was amazing, watching Hans Rosling use augmented reality animation to show how the countries developed over the years. It left a deep impression on me, how some countries such as Italy and Shanghai developed so much. It goes to show how much development is related to world change. As the world develops, with the numerous advances in innovation, technology, the development of cultures etc, the world changes greatly as well. We should be more aware of the developments that have brought us to the world which we live in today.
Some examples of the developments the world has gone through which Dr. Shahi brought up include industrial development (how machines have lessened our workload), cultural development (the preservation of traditional cultures and the evolution of new cultures) and economic development (the creation of jobs and the increase in income and cost of living).
Without such developments, would the world have been able to evolve to the state it is in today? I doubt.
The second lesson of TWC was just as captivating as the first lesson, perhaps even more, because I was able to learn more from this second lesson. However, because the lesson seemed a bit rushed, I would rate it 6/10. I would have preferred more time for Dr. Shahi to expand on his topics.
One of the main points of discussion was on whether China would be overtaking US in the future. Personally, I do think that China has the capabilities to overtake the US. It seems that China is progressing in the right direction, in terms of economic output. However, detractors argue that China will not overtake US because of the large percentage of its population living in poverty. Furthermore, China has not caught up with the US in terms of military power, innovation and technology. Thus, it would take China much longer before she overtakes US.
In my opinion, I feel that China has seen great economic growth in the past few years, and this has translated to higher standards of living for the people and greater opportunities for employment/trade/investment etc. Also, China has a large manufacturing industry which many countries, including the US, depend on. As this manufacturing industry flourishes, China's economy will boom.
Yet, at the same time, while I agree that China will overtake the US, this is not my main concern. What I am concerned about is how the people in China will benefit from this. Despite China's economy currently experiencing a boom, it remains a fact that the majority of the people in China are still living in poverty. High GDP figures are calculated using the incomes of the people living in the more developed areas in China such as Shanghai and Hongkong. What about those living in the rural areas and still depending on agriculture for a living? They do not seem to be benefitting from China's progress. Instead, it may seem that they may end up suffering as China continues to advance, as the cost of living rises but their income levels remain stagnant.
Thus, I feel that more attention should be given to these peasants living in the rural areas; More aid should be provided for them to make a better transition from their lives as peasants to lives that are more up-to-date with the progress of China.
One other point that struck me most during the lesson was the video Dr. Shahi showed us towards the end of the lesson, "The Joy of Stats".
It was amazing, watching Hans Rosling use augmented reality animation to show how the countries developed over the years. It left a deep impression on me, how some countries such as Italy and Shanghai developed so much. It goes to show how much development is related to world change. As the world develops, with the numerous advances in innovation, technology, the development of cultures etc, the world changes greatly as well. We should be more aware of the developments that have brought us to the world which we live in today.
Some examples of the developments the world has gone through which Dr. Shahi brought up include industrial development (how machines have lessened our workload), cultural development (the preservation of traditional cultures and the evolution of new cultures) and economic development (the creation of jobs and the increase in income and cost of living).
Without such developments, would the world have been able to evolve to the state it is in today? I doubt.
The second lesson of TWC was just as captivating as the first lesson, perhaps even more, because I was able to learn more from this second lesson. However, because the lesson seemed a bit rushed, I would rate it 6/10. I would have preferred more time for Dr. Shahi to expand on his topics.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Week 1
The first Technology and World Change lesson was indeed insightful, considering that I came into the Seminar Room not knowing what to expect. When we had to give a brief introduction of ourselves and include what we knew about Technology and World Change, I was stumped. I had no idea what this whole course was about.
Yet, as the lesson progressed, my interest in the subject grew. I have to say that videos catch my attention more than anything else, and hence, I was most enthralled by the various videos Professor showed, including “Did You Know” and “Guns, Germs and Steel”.
These two videos were most thought-invoking for me, and I was amazed by the progression of information technology as shown by the video “Did You Know”. Throughout the years, we have indeed progressed tremendously. But yet at the same time, with such rapid progression, we have started to become overly dependent on technology. This brings me to a point which was brought up briefly during lesson time. Are we becoming too connected such that we are no longer connected? I do think so. Perhaps 5 years ago, our parents would have complained about us being glued to our mobile phones 24/, and not leaving any time for proper communication with them. Today, even our parents are becoming our friends on Facebook, and posting status updates every hour. It is not merely the younger generation who is becoming more dependent on the new forms of information technology. Even the older generation is starting to catch up with these advances.
Well, if this is the case now, what about 5 or 10 years later? What would the world be like when technology continues to advance even more? Would our emotional relationships fail? How different would we be from robots then, if we continue to distant ourselves from emotional relationships, choosing to merely depend on the social media or technology to build our relationships and expect them to last?
To add on, “Guns, Germs and Steel” addressed an issue which I feel should be a point of greater concern in today’s world.
"Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people had little cargo of our own?" –Yali, 1974
While we continue developing at such a fast pace, what about the other parts of the world? The less developed areas? Who is helping them to keep up with times? Few people actually take an interest in the development of these less developed areas, and hence, as we continue to progress so rapidly, the people living in the rural areas are left behind in the wake of our progress. Wouldn’t this result in greater global inequality? Instead of spending all our resources on finding new and faster ways to develop our information technology, why not put aside some resources to aid the people in the less developed areas to advance, such that they might be able to live more comfortably, instead of having to work twice as hard as us. Considering the amount of work they have to do compared to us (we have machines to help us, they depend on manual labour), who are we to complain that we are burned/stressed out?
All in all, I learnt a great deal during this first lesson. It was intriguing and I am already looking forward to the next lesson. I would rate this lesson 7/10.
Yet, as the lesson progressed, my interest in the subject grew. I have to say that videos catch my attention more than anything else, and hence, I was most enthralled by the various videos Professor showed, including “Did You Know” and “Guns, Germs and Steel”.
These two videos were most thought-invoking for me, and I was amazed by the progression of information technology as shown by the video “Did You Know”. Throughout the years, we have indeed progressed tremendously. But yet at the same time, with such rapid progression, we have started to become overly dependent on technology. This brings me to a point which was brought up briefly during lesson time. Are we becoming too connected such that we are no longer connected? I do think so. Perhaps 5 years ago, our parents would have complained about us being glued to our mobile phones 24/, and not leaving any time for proper communication with them. Today, even our parents are becoming our friends on Facebook, and posting status updates every hour. It is not merely the younger generation who is becoming more dependent on the new forms of information technology. Even the older generation is starting to catch up with these advances.
Well, if this is the case now, what about 5 or 10 years later? What would the world be like when technology continues to advance even more? Would our emotional relationships fail? How different would we be from robots then, if we continue to distant ourselves from emotional relationships, choosing to merely depend on the social media or technology to build our relationships and expect them to last?
To add on, “Guns, Germs and Steel” addressed an issue which I feel should be a point of greater concern in today’s world.
"Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people had little cargo of our own?" –Yali, 1974
While we continue developing at such a fast pace, what about the other parts of the world? The less developed areas? Who is helping them to keep up with times? Few people actually take an interest in the development of these less developed areas, and hence, as we continue to progress so rapidly, the people living in the rural areas are left behind in the wake of our progress. Wouldn’t this result in greater global inequality? Instead of spending all our resources on finding new and faster ways to develop our information technology, why not put aside some resources to aid the people in the less developed areas to advance, such that they might be able to live more comfortably, instead of having to work twice as hard as us. Considering the amount of work they have to do compared to us (we have machines to help us, they depend on manual labour), who are we to complain that we are burned/stressed out?
All in all, I learnt a great deal during this first lesson. It was intriguing and I am already looking forward to the next lesson. I would rate this lesson 7/10.
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