I love "L-O-V-E" !

Despite its laggy connection, I start to love singshot :) Hahaha.. Anyway, I entered this song to "Best performance" contest on singshot. So, do vote this song if you have time. Thanks! :)

Over the Rainbow - trial version

This is my first attempt... so, yeah... :P

Bonus Mission #2: Second Life, The Sims, World of Warcraft.

Second Life: Let's Get Started!

Second Life (SL) is an Internet-based virtual world which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007 ("Second Life", 2007). It is a 3D world which allows its users (its residents) to build their own house, properties, and even land. To build those kind of things, residents must have certain amount of money, named Linden dollars. Linden dollars can be obtained by converting your "real money" using your credit cards or PayPal account, or you can work in SL and start your own business. However, even if you don't have lindens, you still can get free stuffs that Linden Lab has offered, or even from other residents.

To get started, user has to choose an avatar. In cyber world (not only in SL), one can decide to be pseudonym by choosing avatar that does not represent one's true self. In the creation process, users can designed their avatars specifically, from the body shapes, eye color, make-ups, and the clothings.

Since SL is an online-based, users can communicate with others who are available (online) at that time. This feature enhances people to form online social networks through SL.

But why does Linden Lab explain SL as “virtual world”, rather than call it a game? To answer the question, we might want to compare SL to similar kind of “thing”, such as The Sims and World of Warcraft (WoW).

The Sims = Game; The Sims >< SL; Therefore, SL >< Game!

If you noticed, you will find that SL has quite much similarities as compared to The Sims. It also allows the players to create avatars and design it as how they want it. However, The Sims is not an online-based like SL (It is available in PC or Play Station). Thus, no actual interaction occurred in the game. You can talk to others by selecting phrases that are pre-designed as a 'template'.

In The Sims, one is given missions according to the aspiration that one chose at the beginning part, in order to complete the game. Aspirations that available in the Sims are knowledge, popularity, creative, and wealth. For example, when you choose knowledge as your aspiration, through the whole game you will be assigned to tasks such as working as scientist, reading books, and even exploring aliens.

Different from The Sims, SL does not have mission to be completed(not even the one in tutorial island!). It is just a virtual world to be explored (and there are a lot more you can do in SL! Keep reading and you will find out). In addition, The Sims is just a typical kind of 'game' where players can ONLY enjoy the world that Maxis (The Sims game developer) has created. In SL, you can even build your own world!

A Little about World of Warcraft (WoW)

WoW seems to be more similar to SL rather than The Sims because it is also an online-based. Since the popularity of WoW is on a rise, allow me to talk about it a bit more.

How to Play
In order to start playing, one has to get a blizzard account. One can get it directly via purchasing online, buying the game package, or getting a guest pass from friends. Online purchase is relatively cheaper compared to package purchase. Entering the game via guest pass requires a friend that already has an account. Once one receive a guest pass, he will be able to play for 10 days but won’t reach anywhere beyond level 20.
Expansion pack is an optional package. It cost S$ 45.00 to be purchased in the store or US$ 19.90 to upgrade online. Either way, the player needs to have a blizzard account and an installed World of Warcraft game. Expansion pack includes “ticket” to the all new world in Outland, flying mounts, and new races.

The Game
World of Warcraft is arguably the most popular online game currently in the planet. In a news release shortly before the announcement of their brand new expansion pack The Burning Crusade early this year, the game developer Blizzard announced that they have served a total of 8 million players over the years. With the new expansion pack selling fast, it is not a wonder if currently there are roughly 10 million people in the world who is or ever played the game.

Gameplay
Starting a game, one has to choose a server and a realm. Basically there are only two main servers. One is located in USA while the other is in Europe. There is no way for the player to interact between these two servers. Inside each server there are numerous realms. To describe the concept of realm, take this example. Player A which is currently standing inside City A in realm A will not be able to see or communicate with Player B which is also inside City A but playing in realm B. All realms are categorized based on the playing characteristic. One can choose to play in PvP realm (allows combat between players), PvE realm (disallows combat between players), or hybrid (disallows combat between players as a default setting but offer an option to enable that function).

After choosing the realm, one has to create a character. One account can contains more than one character. To create a character, one has to choose either playing as Horde or Alliance. This will affect their starting point and allegiance. Each of them has 4 default races and 1 expansion race. For the Horde, the default races are Orc, Tauren, Troll, and Undead while the expansion race is the Blood Elf. For Alliance, the default races are Human, Gnome, Dwarf, and Night Elf with Draenei as an option for those who have the expansion package.

Every race has a number of possible classes. Warrior, Paladin, Mage, Warlock, Druid, Hunter, and Shaman are among the classes that can be chosen. However, there is no single race that can play all this classes. Some races are good in magic using, some in melee attack and some in agile movement. Knowing the advantage and racial ability of each race could be pivotal in determining the class to be taken.

Upon creating a character, one will be able to start playing immediately. The game will start with an opening prologue telling about the races chosen. The aim of the game is determined by the player. It is similar to many other MMORPG games where there is no clear ending to the game. But the main activity of the players is leveling up. This can be achieved by either killing monster randomly (called “grinding”) or doing quest by either killing certain monster or collecting some items or even delivering items to a certain NPC (non-playable character).

Players can go form a group for a difficult quest or a raid for an even more difficult one, entering PvP arena to fight other player (it’s always Alliance Vs Horde), challenge others in duel, auctioning their loot, learning a profession etc.

World of Warcraft Economy
The numerous players playing the game inadvertently created opportunities for some people to make real money out of the game. There are some side activities that involving real money and some of them are actually forbidden by the EULA (End-User License Agreement). Some activities are not actually forbidden but can be subjected to fraud. This involves gold selling, item selling, and character selling. Whilst the one that actually violate EULA involves power leveling or job leveling. These activities involves sharing account which is basically not allowed by blizzard and if caught can cause an account to be banned permanently.

WoW ??? Game; SL ??? WoW; Therefore ???

After reading a brief explanation about WoW, I guess we can answer the question whether WoW is a game, or it is not. When you play a game, there should be someone who wins, and other who loses. I am sure that you can find this in playing WoW (despite the fact that you can still live after you got killed, but you will have to find your dead body). Thus, we can say that WoW is game. But is WoW just barely a game?

Levy (2006) told us why WoW is not ONLY a game. Just like SL, players can interact with others and form online social networks. For example, Ross Mayfield confessed that he closed a deal with a company he met through WoW. The social networking through WoW also occurred when one of guild members died (in real life, not Azeroth) and his grieving friends decided to hold a funeral for him inside the game. However, the solemn affair was disrupted when a rival guild burst upon the unarmed mourners and slaughtered them mercilessly. In this case, WoW does not only serve people as an entertainment, but it also gives people the sense of respect and anger. This is the reason why WoW is not only a game.

Anything Else About SL?

What makes SL different from others is its economy system. SL residents are allowed to make business out of goods and services that they create. Using PayPal or major credit cards account, one can buy Linden dollars in order to start a business, from creating clothes, to building a real estate. Who are the customers? Other SL residents, for sure.

Very Brief Conclusion

SL are connected to the real world by its economy system and real communication among residents. So, do you still think that it is a game? Well, I don't think so.

References

Levy, S. (2006). World of Warcraft: It It a Game?. MSNBC.com Newsweek, Retrieved April 5, 2007, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098/

Second Life. (2007). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_Life&oldid=120268909

WoW Game Info. (2007). In World of Warcraft. Retrieved April 5, 200
7, from http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/

QotW10: Cheilla Forcella reporting from Cyberspace.

Hi, I'm Cheilla Forcella. I was born in Second Life (SL) on March 27, 2007. So, currently I'm 1-week-old. I was named after my creator's name, Cheilla. She thought "Forcella" would be a nice surname for me, because it sounded quite similar with the first name when you say it.

My creator actually tried to make me look exactly like her. Unfortunately, all the things that make us alike were not free. And I don't think that she was willing to spend her "real money" just to dressed me up. So, here I am, with all free stuffs on my body.

I might say that I was born premature. My "grand-creator", Kevin SuiSei, wanted me and my friends to be born in this week time, but I was created one week earlier. However, I guess that was an advantage for me! I am now independent in the world that Linden Research, Inc. has created. I own more free things than my newborn friends, and I have travel to so more beautiful places as compared to them as the newbies.

And now, I shall bring you to the most gorgeous place I've ever visited in SL world.

*sound effect* BEEP... BEEP... *teleporting to destination*



"Check mic.."
"Good morning. I'm Cheilla Forcella reporting from Star Trek Museum of Science. The time now is 7.23 AM according to SL time. This museum is located in the Star Trek space shuttle as you can see the shining stars and planets on my left. There's no significant activities currently, but I predict that the place will be more crowded later in the afternoon. So, let's explore this place before it's full of visitors."


*transporting object*......*loading*.......*transport succeed!*


"I am located in the Star Trek Collection Cinema. For Star Trek fans, this place will be an awesome movie treat. There are 10 Star Trek movies displayed, from the first shown to the last one. Just click on the "Now Showing" movie poster, and you can watch the movie that you selected. But remember, you have to get the Quicktime media player to view the movie."


*HEY! I am having my movie treat now! Can you switch to other channel while I'm having my treat?!*


"Hi. Welcome back here at Star Trek Museum of Science, with me Cheilla Forcella. If you've been wondering how it is like to be out in cyberspace, you can feel it here in the Institute. Since I always wanted to be an astronaut, so I should try it for myself, too."


"Before I end the show, let me show you one last spot in the museum . I called it 'Ponder wall'. There's a question on the wall that makes you ponder about "How has Star Trek changed your life". Do you really want to know? Type in the word "Museum" in the search panel, and you'll find Star Trek Museum of Science on the lists."

"That's the end of the show. Thank's for reading. Good morning."

p.s. For inquiries, add Cheilla Forcella as your SL friend :)

QotW9: Citizen Journalists = HEROES!

Knowledge is the only way to explore the world without having to go to every places in it. That is the reason why news exists, to give people information of what is actually happening within their own societies and even across the countries.

But after awhile, people get bored with the top-down model of information sharing through the news, where they are always being told, and not getting the chance of sharing information to others. They started to realize that they need conversation more than pronouncement given by the news (Gillmor, 2004). Moreover, people think that the media has not distributes full-transparent-news to people. Therefore, people want to contribute and participate in giving news which is not covered yet by the traditional media – the top-down information distribution.

The Birth of Citizen Journalism

In the late 90s, the Internet fulfilled people's needs by giving the easiness of contributing news to others. As the audience, citizens start to be actively participate in the creation and dissemination of news, with or without the help of mainstream news media. Therefore, the citizen journalism has born into the world of news sharing. Citizen journalism is described as the act of citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information ("Citizen Journalism", 2007). By engaging in citizen journalism, ordinary people, just like us, can be heroes by reporting news which has not been captured by the “real” journalists. The good thing about citizen journalism is that we are not limited by the newsroom horizon. Therefore, news reporters are everywhere in the society.

The advance of technology has supported citizen journalism, especially in the last two years. Citizens are now equipped with easy-to-use Web publishing tools, always on connections (wireless connections), and increasingly powerful digital and mobile devices. These things allow citizens as grassroots reporter to capture moments not only in-text, but with photos, audio-video, commentary and analysis, fact checking and watchdogging, and filtering and editing the ever-growing mass of information online (Bowman, 2005).

Pecquerie (2005) mentioned four categories of citizen journalism, such as:
- The citizen journalist who owns a digital camera or a camera phone and sends shootings to a news organisation during a major event (tsunami, London bombing…) or a local car accident
- The citizen journalist who wants to cover its local or virtual community and produce targeted content
- The citizen journalist who is a militant and campaigns for political reasons. How Eason Jordan was fired from CNN by infuriated bloggers in January 2005, was a good example of biased citizen journalism
- The citizen journalist who is eager to participate to a « conversation » with professional journalists and bloggers. « News is just the beginning » says Jeff Jarvis and, in some cases, it is true.

However, by the existence of these four categories, traditional news media have to deal with these new citizen journalists. Therefore, they use citizen journalists to gain information that they could not capture, and edit the information before it appears in the news column.
Pecquerie (2005) argued that by letting traditional news media edited the news, it means that citizen journalism is only part of the news reporting, but the true essence of citizen journalism is dead.

What about STOMP?

I explored www.stomp.sg yesterday, and I really think that this is the forum where people can talk about anything, from news to fun stuff. I don't see much politics talk in the forum, because I think that is quite a vulnerable topic to be talked about. But other than that, I like the truth that stomp.sg is a free-editing forum, so people can share their true thoughts. I found an interesting forum called “Camwhores”. This is the forum where people can post their photo snap (panveillance, i might say) and share funny and interesting story of the pictures. Other interesting forum that makes stomp.sg different from other forums are the forum where people can make confessions. In the past, who on earth will make a confession through a media where millions of people can actually read it? But on stomp.sg, people really “confess” their feelings through the forum. Two thumbs up for making people speak more!

Another thing is that stomp.sg is designed perfectly in “Singapore manner”. We can barely see that singlish is everywhere on the website. It's great that they make it so local, that every Singaporean would feel “at home” when they visit this website. Despite the fact that stomp.sg use singlish, you might want to explore the website more to find that “Speak Good English Movement” is on the list of “Friends of STOMP”. What do you think?

References
Bowman, S., Willis, C. (2005). Nieman Reports: The Future Is Here, But Do News Media Companies See It?. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from Hypergene Media Blog Web site: http://www.hypergene.net/blog/comments.php?id=327_0_1_0_C

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

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

Pecquerie, B. (2005). From citizen journalism myth to citizen journalism realities. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from The Editors Weblog Web site: http://www.editorsweblog.org/analysis/2005/12/from_citizen_journalism_myth_to_citizen.php

STOMP (2006) From Singapore Press Holdings, Retrieved March 28, 2007 from
http://www.stomp.com.sg/

QotW7: Twit... Twit... Twittero!

Online community is described as a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet (“Virtual Community”, 2007). It is a place where people can do as much actions they can do in the real world by using words on screen. You can share your thoughts through blogs, personal web page, or even through chat rooms. Conducting commerce is always possible in the Internet, eBay, for example. People can find friends from different part of the world, play games together, exchange information, or even fall in love with each other! The best question to picture an online community is: “Is there anything impossible in online community?”, rather than, “Is there anything else possible in online community?” Everything can be done through the Internet! It's just that in online community, you minus the physical presence in the interaction.

But is physical presence a big deal? I don't think so. Fernback (1995) wrote that people start to experience their life through dehumanizing technology rather than through human contact and intimacy. Therefore, the absence of physical presence is ignorable. If you re-read the last 3 weeks' readings from Kollock (1995), he stated that there are three main reasons why people engaged in online community: anticipated reciprocity, increased recognition, and sense of efficacy. As we can see, people are not looking for ANOTHER physical presence in online community. Why do you think they will look for something that has occurred in the real life? They are looking for something new in online community, something that is not exist in their real life. If physical appearance (in the real life) can somehow create judgment without even knowing the person well, they can simply omit this relationship myth and express their true self without any worries in online community. Smith (1992) said in his writing that communion, a sense of community, is also a motivation for people to engage in online community.

According to the definition of online community, I consider Twitter as one of them. Even though it does not really give you the picture of a second life (We will discuss about it in the next paragraph), but you can still share and communicate, create a community through twitter. Now that we can see our “COM 125 students' community” on twitter. It connects you with each other in the community (in this case, a friend list) even though you are apart. For example, that day during COM 300 class at computer lab, we could communicate each other in an extremely silent classroom, and Kevin could also join the interaction even though he was in the teacher's room :)

As I have mentioned before, Twitter is a bit different from other online community. Unlike friendster where you can put your details in the “about me” section, you cannot find the details of the person you are talking to in twitter. All you can see is the comment posted by people in your friend list. In twitter, the comments do not come all at once. You might get a very quick response if you are on MSN chat, but you will have to wait slightly longer for a new comment to be posted on Twitter. Somehow you will have to refresh the page to see new comments. One thing that I don't really like about twitter is the “rhetoric” question above the comment bar, asking “What are you doing?” I did not really answer the question when I posted my comment (Instead, I would love to call it a “message”). Try to imagine if people just barely answer the question. They would not get the conversation going on! One people might say, “I'm doing my blog assignment”, another one would say, “I am watching TV”, and others would say, “I'm doing this and that....” How are they going to start talking to each other if everyone only tell what are they doing right now? Thank God none of us do that, and we have a good flow of conversation going on Twitter. Mobile phone services can be used to receive updates from Twitter, but I guess none of us in Singapore use this service, because it costs a lot. Overall, Twitter is a new way of having FUN in online community. I really think that I will keep twittering after I have done the assignment.

Apart from the assignment question about Twitter, do we really need an online community? If we are engaging in online community, what about our real life? I will put Sparks '(2004) theory displacement hypotheses as my argument, that the more time you spent on your second life, the less time you spent on your real life. So, are you willing to “trade” your real life with your second life?

I will use my own life as an example. I spent A LOT (probably too much) of my time in my second life. You name it, MSN, Yahoo messenger, Friendster, Multiply, IMVU, Blogger, and (not forgetting) Twitter. Sometimes I feel like I am lack of the real interaction with people! Everyday I go to school, have my real life goes on during the school hours, then I spend the rest of my time online. Is it “healthy”? I would say, yes it is. For me, I am still normal as long as I still have my real life goes on, so do people out there who spend their time more in online community rather than in their real life. However, I still go out with my “visible” friends every weekend! In my opinion, it's not about choosing one option at a time, it's about balancing both sides well. Don't you think it's even more fascinating if you have two lives, rather than just one? Therefore, a question by The Manicheans (Wellman,1996) whether the Internet will create wonderful new forms of community or will destroy community altogether is perfectly answered. Online community DOES create a really WONDERFUL new forms of community. Do I hear a good amen for that? :)

References

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

Smith, M. (1992). Voices from the WELL: The Logic of the Virtual Commons. UCLA Department of Sociology.

Sparks, G.G. (2004). Media Effects Research. Canada: Thomson Wadsworth.

Wellman,B. & Gulia,M. (1996). Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone:
Virtual Communities as Communities. Retrieved on March 16, 2007, from http://www.acm.org/~ccp/references/wellman/wellman.html

Wikipedia (2007). “Virtual Community”. Retrieved on March 16, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities

QotW6: Bonus Mission #1

I love when people get caught in the act for something that they should not do. That's why I often use my phone camera to capture people's embarrassing acts.



Above is one of the embarrassing acts that I and my friend caught in my dad's office. This poor guy is one of my dad's employee, and he was asleep during the office hour! He even snored very loud... :) I know that this guy will be in trouble if i show this video to my dad. That's why I just keep it as my own documentation (and thank God that my dad doesn't even know that youtube.com exists!)

A friend of mine caught another silly action when we were on the train.



In his study, Sullivan (2006) defined privacy as "to be left alone". In the era where phones are attached with built-in camera, people can no longer be "left alone". Now you can feel the danger of doing whatever things you feel like doing in front of public. There are people out there (including me :) ) who would love to caught our silly and stupid actions on their camera. In addition, there is a medium called youtube.com (I'm sure all people in the world know about this, except my dad :p) where you can upload the video to be seen by all the users!

However, this technology advance of built-in camera might also bring benefit to certain circumstances. Our classmate, Yepp, has posted a video as his bonus mission, showing two guys who did not park their vehicles at the right place, and another guy caught their face and their vehicles' number on the video. In this case, I can say that people can use the technology advance as a surveillance. Somehow it might be useful in case you see any crime act going on when you're on your way to school, or anything else that is useful to be caught.

But for the videos that I posted, it's just for fun. :)

Reference

Sullivan, B. (2006) “Privacy lost: does anybody care? MSNBC Interactive. Retrieved on 9 March 2007 from,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

QotW6: You don't know what you've got until you lost it

Do you ever feel afraid of the fact that somebody might be watching over you, and you don't know that you've been watched?

Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) is a thing that you always see everywhere, in your apartment, in the elevator, shops, shopping malls, and even in SIM's computer lab! The need of surveillance has been increased as people realized that security guards might not be so much efficient, because they can't really watch people doing so and so in certain hidden places.

When some people gain benefit from the existence of CCTV and other spy cameras, some might feel insecure knowing that they are being watched by somebody that they don't even know.

There were cases when people were offended by the presence of surveillance cameras. One of them was happened in 2003, when 3 innocent people were caught by ATM camera and suspected to perform a murder. They stayed for 3 weeks in prison, until it was discovered that the camera was set to the wrong time, so they had nothing to do with the murder case. (Sullivan, 2006)

We also deal with some privacy matters as those spying cameras are spread all over the place. We might become paranoid after reading news about hidden cameras in fitting rooms and toilets. Celebrities would be extra careful knowing that there are hundreds of paparazzi in in forms of pedestrians, hot dog sellers, taxi drivers, and anything else, try to capture their picture doing something that they don't usually do in public.

(Paris Hilton caught
in the act!)

In the rise of Internet era, people can easily get access to others' privacy. Therefore, we are experiencing the Omnipticon in which the many are watching the many, even though no one knows precisely who is watching or being watched at any given time (Rosen, 2004). It's not only about spy cameras and all that, but people can also get your private information through everything that you revealed online. It might be your personal identity, your interests, your email address, or even your house address. It is funny to figure out that we are afraid of letting others exceed the line of our privacy, yet we keep revealing our own private information through our blog, personal websites, or other sources that require you to mention some of your privacy. In other words, we are opening the gate for others to enter the stage of our privacy. So why are we still uncomfortable of the fact that our privacy are now being exposed to numbers of people?

An old expression explains it well, “You don't know what you've got until you lost it.” Sullivan (2006) also mentioned in his article, “But it’s like health: When you have it, you don’t notice it. Only when it’s gone do you wish you’d done more to protect it.”

However, there are reasons behind the reality that we are exposing our own privacy. As I have mentioned before, there are few circumstances that require people to reveal some of their private identity. I will put myself as a VICTIM of the circumstance. I love to download free-trial games from different game sites: Yahoo games, MSN games, BigfishGame, PlayFirst, etc. The problem is that they always ask for my email address to verify whatever things that they mentioned – Just like everybody else, I did not really read the terms and conditions. I thought you can predict that I ended up of receiving too many spams everyday in my inbox. For this kind of situation, people usually do not hesitate of “trading” a little bit of their privacy for something which is more worthy according to what they think. People realize there could be future costs, but they decide not to focus on those costs. In fact, it might be dangerous of letting your little privacy slipped away. It may end up in people phishing your identity! Who knows what might happen?

While some people reveal their privacy “unconsciously”,there are also people who reveal their identity “on purpose” to seek attention from others. Narcissism, that is. Nowadays, more and more people try to define themselves, or maybe other than themselves – pseudonimity, in such a manner that others might put an extra attention to what they defined. For me, the most popular medium for narcissism is Friendster, as I also show my narcissistic through my account (visit me: www.friendster.com/cheillalala). However, revealing your privacy in a narcissistic manner brings some disadvantages, too. Besides the problem of phishing and identity theft, Assosciated Press (2007) wrote that the narcissists may have problem in terms of breakdown of close relationships with others. Personally, I don't agree with this statement. I am probably one of the most narcissistic people out there, yet I don't experience any relationship problem regarding this matter of being a narcissist.

Conclusion

The matter of privacy ends up with an argument: Nothing to hide VS No place to hide (Sullivan, 2006). On one hand, if we have nothing to hide, why should we afraid of our email being recorded by the gaming company, people know your life story by reading your self-defined identity through friendster or personal blog?

On the other hand, we might also say that there's no place to hide. When security becomes more important, we will see the presence of CCTV even more. Thus, every single thing that we do is caught on camera. When most company requires a little bit of your privacy, name, address, phone number, or email adress, for verification purpose, we have nothing less to hide.

References

Rosen, J. (July 19, 2004). The Naked Crowd: America's culture of self-revelation spells the end of privacy and the promotion of a smothering conformity. Retrieved on March 9, 2007 from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

Sullivan, B. (2006). Privacy Lost: Does Anybody Care? Retrieved March 9, 2007, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

The Assosciated Press, (2007, Febuary 27). Study: Vanity on the rise among college students. Retrieved March 9, 2007, from CNN.com Web site: http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/02/27/self.centered.students.ap/index.html

"God Went to Beauty School"

I read a book written by Cynthia Rylant, called "God went to beauty school"... It's a book consists of short poems, telling the reader how if God were living on earth.. The titles were so fascinating, like "God saw a movie" and "God went rollerblading". I liked the last one called "God died". This is it:

Sort of.
It's a long story.
But if you have time...
Okay-
God has been God for so long
even He doesn't have a clue where He came from.
FOr a while He wasn't even sure He was God,
until everything He said or thought or wanted to happen
happened.
That was a big tip-off.
So He didn't remember
where He came from
or why.
He just knew what He could do.
Oh, He wanted to be VERY careful with this.
This could be good.
This could be the biggest thing in the universe.
He just to be a really tip-top God.
Somebody who made no mistakes.
Who didn't show up late for work.
Who competed only against Himself.
He could do this.
He was God.
So He thought about everything
for a really really
really really really
long time.
Then He opened His mouth and said,
"Let There Be Light."
And it was so.
Good, said God.
And after that
no one could stop Him.
He said, "Let There Be"
a billion trillion zillion
times and when He was finished,
there were so many new things,
even He didn't know
what some of them were.
(Like grapefruit spoons.)
But it was all Good.
Really good, said God.

Then who knows what went wrong,
but one morning God woke up
and His right-hand angel
at the time (Sheila)
said, "You know those two brothers?
One just killed the other."
God could not believe this.
He could not believe this.
(It should be mentioned that this was way before Lucy
relocated to more southern regions.)
God, in fact,
did not even know exactly
what "killed" meant,
until Sheila explained it
very carefully to Him.
Even then, He had
to see for Himself.
And there He saw that boy-Abel was his name-
covered with blood
and not a hint of life in him.
Not a whiff.
God wanted to start all over again,
from scratch.
Make it so nothing in this world
could be "killed."
But Sheila said,
"You can't start over.
You'd have to kill everything to start over."
God hadn't considered this.
God lived purely in the moment
so He wasn't the greatest long-range planner.
But He stopped and thought about
what Sheila said,
and though there were some things
He could probably kill
and feel pretty okay about it
(He wasn't all that attached to the chicken pox virus for example),
there were other things
He could not ever let go.
Sea turtles, for one.
Spiders, for another.
Too beautiful, too beautiful,
He said.

What to do?
Od was like anybody else.
Everything was the first time for Him, too.
He didn't mean to make
what happened between Abel and his brother
happen.
He thought they'd be good buddies.
Like ducks.
Hadn't they learned
anything from ducks?
Apparently not.
God was stricken.
He did not know what to do.
If He left things as they were,
there was bound to be
more killing.
Could He bear this?
God's blood was love.
His bones were love.
His eyes, His heart,
His kidneys were love.
He didn't know
what He's done wrong
that caused a thing-the other brother-
to be born
without love.
A thing
that came from Him.
He asked Sheila
what she thought
He should do,
now that killing
was a part of things.
And Sheila said, "Die."
Just like that.
Sheila had always been
a very smart girl.

So the story goes
that God took on
the blood, the bones,
the eyes, the heart,
the kidneys of a man.
And He made real friends.
And He loved a real family.
And He prayed real prayers.
He didn't go unnoticed.
Ever after, religions were made
that insisted that God
had been this guy or that guy
or the other.
But one thing happened
for sure.
God died.
No one knows precisely how.
But sure enough,
He did it.
Because it was the
only way He could
find out what it is
to love
a drink of water,
sleep,
a warm coat,
a mother,
a father,
morning,
evening,
a really good joke.
And pain.
God saw so much pain
and He was sorry for it.
He didn't know it would
happen quite that way,
but He finally saw
how pain caused
one of two things;
A reverence for life.
Or killing.
Both grew from the same seed.
The one that He had planted.
So God went back to being God,
finally comfortable
with being called
All-Knowing
because now
He actually was.
And after that,
He made sure
He ate popcorn and
watched a movie
every Friday night.
Petted the cats.
Fed the birds.
And played the jukebox.
God needed to remember
what a cool thing
it was to be a guy.
Or a girl.
An eagle.
To be life.
God went to beauty school.
He went there to learn how
to give a good perm.
But what He was really there for
was the hands.


The book gives a very unique side of viewing God, but it's so beautiful. I hope the poem could give you as much blessings as it did to me.

God bless!! :)

QotW4: Better to Give than to Receive?

In few years back, McLuhan prophesied (Whittenburg, 1999) that electronic media would retribalize the human race, as people could easily get connected to others in the different part of the world, best described in a term called global village.

Now we aware that we are living in two different worlds, the real world, and another one called cyberspace, which is the fulfillment of McLuhan's prophecy.

In cyberspace, people are engaged in economic activities as well in the real world. There are lots of site which allow them to buy things online. However, there are also much economic activities which do not need any money, but as valuable as if they spent their money on it. It's the gift economy, something that people share public good on the Internet to numbers of recipient for free (Rheingold, 1993). Recipients do not feel too-obligated as if they receive a gift in a real world. However, they can “pay back” by sharing other public goods in the future. Quid-pro-quo (latin terms for 'a favor for a favor') does not certainly fit this kind of economy, as people do not have to pay back immediately.

“... What a miracle, then, that you receive not one thing in value in exchange - indeed there is no explicit act of exchange at all - but millions of unique goods made by others!" (Ghosh, 1998)

There are two characteristics which make public goods different from 'ordinary' goods. First, the value keeps the same regardless of how many people have consumed the good, which is called indivisible. The second characteristic is non-excludable, everybody has the same chance to benefit from the good. These two characteristics are the the main reason of why people nowadays like to access public goods more than the 'usual' good. For example, rather than going to a reparation centre, people find solutions of how to repair a computer at home by asking questions in a computer engineer forum. Further details will be given in the later paragraph.

Knowing that recipients do not have to pay anything for the thing that they accessed to, some people use it greedily. They just receive public goods without any contribution of sharing anything. This issue may lead to social dilemma – individually reasonable behavior (gathering but not offering information) leads to collective disaster (Kollock, 1999). If more and more people were tempted to be greedy, there would be less people who want to share public goods on the Internet. Thus, the benefit of having a gift economy would no more be enjoyed by the rest of the users.

Forum is the most commonly-used of a gift economy. In a forum, people with the same interests usually share public goods (information, file, etc.) within their community. One forum that I am involved in is Lowyat.net, which was introduced to me by my elder brother.

Lowyat.net (http://www.lowyat.net/v2/) is a forum created by so-called "Malaysian tech enthusiasts". Named after Malaysia's largest IT shopping centre Lowyat Plaza (KL), lowyat.net has a forum populated by more than a thousand users. Some of them are regular users who has reached thousands of posts while the other are occasional users who come and go as they need it.

Being dubbed as "tech forum" doesn't makes lowyat.net solely hosts topic regarding computer and technology which often being associated with guys. It has some other forums with range of topics from female matters to soccer and from love matter to jokes. No pornographic images or story is allowed though.

One of the most popular forum inside is the technical support where users who has problem with their computer can post their problem and see if there's any other users who could help them. Sometimes the help given could worth a few hundred Ringgit Malaysia if the problem is brought to the service center. Yet, inside the forum the troubled users can get it for free if only they are willing to wait for some time.

In conclusion, a gift economy is a REAL gift for us who live in the global village. Let's be responsible to maintain its existence. We might be familiar with what the elders said, “It's better to give than to receive.” In order to maintain economy, let's say, “It's okay to receive, but don't forget to give.”

References

Ghosh, R. A. (1998). Cooking Pot Markets: an Economic Model for the Trade in Free Goods and Services on the Internet. First Monday, 3 (3), Retrieved February 8, 2007, from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_3/ghosh/index.html

Kollock, P. (1999). The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace. Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier.
New York: Addison-Wesley.

Whittenburg, S. (1999). The Electronic Age: The Global Village. Retrieved February 8, 2007, from Technological Determinism of Marshall Mcluhan Web site: http://www.usm.maine.edu/com/techdet/sld013.htm

www.lowyat.net/v2/

QotW3: File-sharing Era

Introduction

Even though copyright has existed in few decades back, the importance of it just came to the surface since the beginning era of file-sharing through the Internet.

What is copyright?

Copyright is meant to give creators exclusive rights to their creations. However, it is only applicable for tangible creations (Ovalle, 2005). It means, no idea can be copyrighted. There are few exemptions of how copyright can be applied. Private use and education purpose are examples of how people can use things without no worry of being sued because of the copyright issue.

The Phenomenon

In the late 90s, there was a big phenomenon of a case which is said as against the law of copyright. Remember Napster, a file-sharing software which was brought to the Internet by Shawn Fanning in June 1, 1999. It allowed people to share their file within all Napster users, using the system of P2P (peer to peer). It means people can download from many sources rather than just one. Downloading became faster, easier, and the most important that it was free. Everybody started using Napster just in few weeks after it was launched.

Despite its popularity among its users, artists and creators did not happy about its existance. In the year 2000, a band called Metallica sent a lawsuit to Napster regarding of copyright issue. Their demo song, 'I Dissapear', had been circulating among Napster users before they actually released it to the public. And the worst thing was that it was also played in several radio stations. After the band Metallica, Napster also being sued by several artists. Finally in July 2001, Napster shut down its network regardless of the disappoinment of its users.

Questions!

How often do we see pirated CDs, DVDs, or any pirated goods being sold for the public? Do we own one of them? Are you one of them who prefer buying pirated goods rather than the original?? How much do you value copyright?

Copyright Issue in Our Society

I found a lot of cases where people burn CDs and sell it for the sake of their own. In my point of view, this is certainly against the law of copyright. It is stated that no commercial use can be used for copying things which are copyrighted. As we can see in its "fair use" exemption, we can use it for private use. So, how about downloading songs from limewire, a look-like-napster software which is available now?

People are still debating about this copyright issue. Some of them think that it is useless since people can still get access to it. And the fact is that original things cost a lot! Creators themselves still think that if their customers value copyright by not buying pirated goods, they also gain benefits by giving creators a chance to express their creativeness in the future creations. I do think that creators need copyright, but i also think that even though there are many people out there buy pirated goods, the fact is that the creators still producing some creations. So, what can we do now?

Solution

The only way I can think about it to let creators discussed this issue to the "download server" like limewire or something like that. They can use this medium as the way they advertise their creations. Maybe not the access to download all songs, just one or two. So it's like the teaser for people to buy the original CD. In this way, both sides can gain benefit.

References:

Copyright. In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2.24, February 3, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org

Napster. In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10.37, February 3, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org

Ovalle, Carlos. (2005). “An Introduction to Copyright". Retrieved on February 2, 2007
from http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/%7Ei312co/1.php

A break please?? :)

Hello people...

Guess what? When Mr. Lim said, "Ohh... the more creative you are in asking for a break, the longer time i will give to you", we really took it seriously. Yes, we. Us. *Whatever* Sangheetha, Mariani, Maria, Eunice, and I. We created sort of "cheerleader" scene, so we hold letters that spelled like a B, an R, an E, an A, and a K, and planned to lift it up right after the 46th minutes after the class started. We took a picture, well... pictures actually, before we did the actual thing. And... BOO! Mr. Lim walked into the class when we were taking pictures! CRAP! "NOW he knows what we're doing!" But I guess he really pretended not to know anythingm and just let us do our action. It was nice anyway :) We'll take it as an appreciation of our hard work!

During the 45th minutes, the lesson was really tough that we really had to catch up with what Mr. Lim's saying while highlighting our textbook. So we decided to postpone our "cheerleader's yell" until 12.30 PM. But.... the problem was that there were not much unity in lifting those thing up, so we got it a bit "quiet"... Well, take that as the first learning experience, and we'll do CRAZIER things later in class :)

Anyway, here's the pictures!!!






Hmm... I guess we were too afraid of getting sued by Mr. Lim because of the disturbance in his class, so we posed for these look-like-prisoner style. Hahaha... Do we look like one? If we do, then call us the "break prisoners".

Nope. I'm just joking. Please call us by our names when you meet us.

Hahahaha...

Media effects in my perspective... What do you think?

I post this to continue my comment on how media impacts the mind of its consumer that I posted on com242.wordpress.com ...

I am a gamer! I admit it. I play different kind of games in PS2 and computer and online games. For me, game is a form of relaxation even though sometimes i found myself get stress about it. But the way I feel might not the same as some other people. Others might use it as the way they express about what they feel inside, especially for those introvert people, or people who just simply afraid of showing their true-self in front of others. Even worse, there are game-addicts, I called them "fragile people", who want to make their life as what they are playing in the game! Here's my personal story...

My younger brother, aged 12 now, used to play GTA on PS2, which is certainly rated for people 18 and above. For your information (for you who completely don't know what's the game about), it contains a lot of violence, harsh words, and a bit of sexual content. The character that you're playing should rob and shoot people on the street, take their vehicles, hit people using your car, and don't ever get caught by the police. After a while since my lil' bro played this game, i found him start talking nonsense when there were people jaywalking, and cars overtaking while i was driving my car. He would say things like, "Oohh, just hit 'em!!", or "Shit! These people really don't know how it feels to be killed by our car!" I was so shocked that he said such things, cos he used to be a very polite and sweet-type of boy. Then i found this game in our play room, and that's how I started to play GTA. For me, it was just a game, but for him, the whole game was fuly penetrated to his mind, and change the way he thinks. Well, I guess I was a bit selfish, that I finished the game myself, and after that I told my mom that my brother played harsh game on PS2, so my mom took and threw it. At least I DID save my lil' bro from getting more bad impact from the game.

It's not only games, few TV shows also give a bad impact for its consumer, especially children and those "fragile people" that I have mentioned before.
We all know "The Simpsons" show, how it views a kinda WEIRD family life, how's Bart being naughty and rebellious to Homer, how Homer treats his children, etc.

Celebrity death match, which is shown on MTV, shows a very disgusting bloody scene of death match by celebrities.

And last but not least, Russel Peters "Stand-up comedy" show. I'm sure you must be confused now, why Russel Peters? For you who have seen this show, you should pay attention to the last part of the comedy, the scene about beating the kids. Those of you who are completely lost about it, I'll tell you a bit of the story. Russel, an Indian guy, had a Caucasian friend named Ryan. He was trying to explain how people from different culture treat their parents in different ways. Here's the brief conversation to give you a lil' picture about it:

Russel : ... We walked to his (Ryan's) house after school one day, his mom goes, "Ryan go clean your room!"
Ryan : F**K YOU BI**H!!
Ryan's mom : What am I gonna do with him?
Russel : I go, "Ryan, you can't talk to your mom like that!"
Ryan : Yes I can. She's a jacka**!
Russel : Don't say that, man! She will hit you!
Ryan : No, she won't. She's not allowed to.
Russel : What the hell are you talking about, man? My parents hit me...
Ryan : Yeah. But next time they try it, you tell them to f**k off!

To shorten it, Russel went home and tried it to his dad...

Russel's dad : Russel, come and do the dishes!
Russel : F**k you, dad!!
Russel's dad : What the hell did you say to me? Do I look like Ryan's mom?!

Well, this scene is ridiculous, but can you imagine what will happen if kids and teenagers watch the show without any parental guide? They might do the same thing as what they have been told in the show!

So, is there anything we can do to solve these problems? We all need media! Do we have to "isolate" ourselves from it? Cos' i don't think media ratings really work. The fact is that my 12 years old brother got an easy access to buy a rated-18+ game. Parental guide is also not applicable at any time. How many parents out there really have time to spend with their kids, watching TV shows and playing games??

Have you come out with any solution? Do share with me.... :)

p.s. this is the Russel Peter's video that i was talking about. Have fun watching, and don't try it at home ;p

2nd class...

Since i didn't come for the 1st class, i'm gonna comment on the 2nd class of com 125...

I think the lesson is so interesting since the use of internet is a common thing for most of us. I always love lessons about today's technology. I did computer science subject in the last few semesters, and i really loved playing around with the html codes!

Today's lesson is about the blogging thing, and it kinda gives me a good picture in the mind of how's the lesson gonna look like. Some of my friends think that it's boring, but I LOVE IT!!!

till then... =)

p.s. Thank's to Mr. Lim for giving great informations about the web.

SORRY.... =(

I am so sorry that the font size used in my previous post was too small. Sorrryyyy........

First post: Me, Myself, and I...

Yuhuuuuwww...........!!!!!!! Hi everyone =)

First of all, please don't tell me that this blog should be written like a formal essay, because i seriously couldn't do it!!! Well, i could, actually, but i believe it will take forever just to write a five-short-sentences posting. Hahahahaaa....

What can i say about myself?

I'm CHEILLA (FYI, It's pronounced as "Shilla"). I really think that's my real name, because people have been calling me with that name since... i can't remember! My dad gave me a quite complicated name when i was born, and it sounds like GRACEILLA YVONNE ANDRIES, if I'm not mistaken. I use it just for for formal documentations, like identity card, licenses, passport, and of course the class register. The most ridiculous about my complicated name is that both of my parents can't even spell my name correctly until NOW! My dad assumes that it's spelled GRACIELLA, and my mom always think that it's GRACHEILLA. For me? I'm.... whatever they want to call me. =)

I'm certainly not a Singaporean (and I'm really sure about that!). I originally from Indonesia, a supposedly-rich-and-beautiful country, but in fact it's ruined by the greedy people inside the government system. Sometimes i feel so bad about this painful truth. Indonesia has a lot of natural resources, like gold, copper, tin, timber, oil, and many other things, but we can't even pay our debts to other countries! There are also millions of poor people in the country. Where does all the money go?! That's a question that should be answered by the government.

Anyway, if it seemed like I have interest in politics in the previous paragraph, it is absolutely not right. I hate politics! Hahaha.... My basic interest is just like most girls on earth: SHOPPING! \(^o^)/

Nope. I'm kidding.

I love music A LOT. I really mean it. My mom dragged me for a piano lesson when i was 5, and i screamed like crazy when it happened. Now, I thank her for doing that in the past, and for keep supporting me during those hard times understanding music scales. I also play several music instruments beside piano, such as bass guitar, drums, and violin. I'd love to go for a harp lesson SOON!

Other than that, I also have so much interest in entertainment business. I have plenty of activities regarding that matter back in my hometown, Batam. I used to be a presenter in a local TV station, and now I'm still doing my job as a radio DJ in a radio station called GFan FM. I'm glad that Batam is only a one-hour-long trip from Singapore, so I can still do my work every weekend.

A friend of mine set up an event organizer company named NO BOUNDARY, and I work for him as the PR. So far we have held few concerts and various charity programs. I really enjoy my work, and again, I am happy that i can always return to Batam whenever I have things to work on, because Batam is very near to Singapore =)

I think that's what I'm going to say about myself. I know it's a bit long (much, actually =p ....), but thank you for reading.

See you on the next post (^-^)/"

p.s. I'd love to share stories with all of you. Send me stories and comments, okay???