Reflection 9

My favorite metaphor definitely has to be ' NOOB '.

Meaning - Someone who is new or lacks experience.

I thought EIR was supposed to be a super easy CDS, but i was wrong. Also when searching, i didnt know there was such a thing as boolean operators, google scholars, subject directories, meta search engines, invisible web, etc. It looks like super simple and easy, straight to the point, but actually, it is really in-depth. I did not know that researching had to be so detailed and specific. I think i am really a 'noob' at researching before this EIR.

The most important lesson that I have learnt is the correct way to search for information. Not just to go Google and type whatever you want to search, i.e. what is the difference between pear and apple, but rather, difference AND (pear AND apple) would produce a more accurate result, and would not show useless information that is not wanted.

Reflection 8

I think the significant learning experience from working in the wiki group is that there has to be trust. Trust that nobody else will copy your information, trust that nobody will delete your information, trust that nobody will plagiarize your information.

As a contributor, I have learned to trust other people with whatever information you post, and also search the other people's posts to see if they had already posted the same information you are going to post, so that the information will not be repeated, and new information would be inputted.

The most challenging experience is definitely finding new information, information that the other wiki-ers have not yet posted, as there were many predecessors before me, definitely a lot of people would have already posted all the information there is in the World Wide Web.

My advice to the next wiki group is to get information from many different sources, as some sources may not state the full information, like for example, my topic, the effect of eating disorders on teenagers, the first website i found only described the eating disorders, and not its effect on teenagers, whereas the second site i found, it described the effect on teenagers, but not what the eating disorders were. Therefore having more than one source would make your information complete.

I would definitely like to use wiki in my diploma, Game and Entertainment Technology, as using wiki I can get many information on how to program certain codes from the community, as certain codes people create may be a shorter version of the code i make, thus, wiki will be very useful especially in my diploma.

Reflection 7

I do not really like to use twitter... I think blogger is better.
Twitter has not enhanced my learning of EIR. Even after i did a search for my topic (effects of eating disorders on teenagers), there was no tweeter that discusses eating disorders.

However, using blogs, i found many blogs, one of them being http://www.eatingdisordersblogs.com, that have many posts about eating disorders, thus i conclude that blogs are better than twitter, because twitter is mostly used for personal reason, for example, a person can just tweet ' I AM EATING MY HOT-DOG NOW' and he can have like 100000 followers, however, if a blog were to write only that, it will surely have no followers at all, therefore, the followers count on twitter is not reliable to see whether the tweeter is credible.

However, blogs are different, the more the followers, we can tell that the blog has more substance.

Also, I think that emotions can at least be felt more in blogs, and the reader can connect to the blogger, rather than twitter, as the short tweets often do not show any emotions.
Blogs also can have a cumulative blog (http://www.eatingdisordersblogs.com). where many bloggers post to a single blog on a topic, which is really helpful, as we have a compilation of reflections of many people.

However, I think that the shortcoming of blogs is that some people may be diffuse oriented, thus they will beat about the bush, which means they won't be concise, and the blog posts will tend to be very long and draggy.

In conclusion, I think that Blogspot is better than twitter to increase my knowledge on certain topics and allows me to reflect about my life when reading other peoples reflection.

Reflection 6

My dream holiday is to visit Japan for each of all of the 4 different seasons, as there is so much to see and enjoy in each of the seasons! And also, they say that if you go to japan, for each season it is very memorable.

Japan Autumn

Japan Summer

Japan Spring

Japan Winter

I've always admired the beauty of Japan, as seen on TV, especially every Saturday at 7.30pm, i would tune in to Channel News Asia, as it would be broadcasting 'Japan Hour'. This 'Japan Hour' would take you around Japan and visit the various popular destinations and good places to eat and also good hotels to stay in. Every time i watch the show, i am mesmerized by Japan's beauty when they travel around Japan.

Also, i occasionally visit Japanese restaurants with my parents or friends, as i like Japanese food very much, especially the Sushi and Sashimi that only Japanese cuisine offers. I also often read Manga and watch Anime whenever the English versions of Manga are released at bookstores or the anime are shown on Cable vision.

However, I do not understand Japanese very much ( i only know a few words...), so if i were to go to Japan, i would probably visit a tour agency to go there.

The website that I used is http://www.jnto.org.sg/default.asp

Purpose - I found this website because it is the Japan National tourism Organisation of Singapore, it promotes travelling to Japan. The main purpose of this website is quite obvious, as the name itself already describes its purpose, it is to promote people to visit Japan.

Accuracy - The website is managed by an organisation that is approved by the Japan Tourism Board of Japan, thus the information is official and definitely will be accurate.

Coverage - The website covers everything that you need to visit Japan, from the hotels, foods, travel routes, travel durations, etc. The website is very comprehensive, with the index of the useful information at the top of the page. it also has many links to the official websites that are based in Japan, and written in Japanese, but have English translations.

Accessibility - This website is accessible to anyone, and there is no need to register or log in require to view the whole web page. Unless the person wants to apply for a visa to go to japan, no information is required to be given to the website.

Presentation and arrangement - The information is well arranged and structured neatly, thus any visitor would not be at a lost, but rather be more informed than before.

Reflection 5

I used the criteria of currency to evaluate Stomp.com

I chose this criteria because citizen journalism is always about the latest news, latest trends etc, and without currency in a citizen journalism website like stomp.com, it would be a total failure. I learnt from this activity more about citizen journalism, and about the different criteria, like coverage - which is the content and information provided, currency - how up-to-date the news is, authority - how reliable the information is and accuracy - how in-depth the information is.

I feel that sharing my views on the wiki is really a good way of sharing information with other people, as sharing with people will help them gain different views from different people, and they can, based on their own values and norms, evaluate the differences and choose whether which views they want to follow. Also, wiki is really good, as people can collaborate together and produce high quality information. However, i am worried that some people who do not like each other will defame each other's posts, thus resulting in accurate information or misleading information, and this is bad. But i do not think anyone will do something like that, as wiki is based on trust, we should not breach this trust just for trivial matters.

Reflection 4

Today i used the invisible web database at http://spark.tp.edu.sg/.

However, i did not use the one at http://library.books24x7.com/ as it does not have the information about my topic(the effects of eating disorders on teenagers) yet.

I think it is more effective to search the invisible web (databases) than using search engines, meta-search or subject directories, since it is a collection of information updated by professionals or non-profit organisations, their information is really accurate and specialised, as it is actual information, not tampered to become propaganda. it is also up-to-date and reliable as it is maintained by trustworthy organisations or governments. Also, the information here would be very unique, as it is not stored inside any other search databases in the web, like meta search engines.

I think I will use the invisible web (databases) for research in my Diploma, which is Game and Entertainment Technology (GET). This is because for my Diploma, it is very specialised in programming, using the programming languages JAVA and C++. I would not be able to get my information from normal means like search engines or meta search engines or subject directories, as programming is really specialised, and also, the invisible web is also written and reviewed by professionals in their respective specialties. Thus, the information would be very detailed, up-to-date and also very trustworthy.

However, one disadvantage about the invisible web is that the information is limited, since it is manually uploaded and written by a small pool of professionals. Some topics may not be available yet as the web administrators are busy with other articles.

I have also learnt something from my wiki experience. By wiki-ing, we can share information and resources with other people who are or will be doing the same topic as me, which is the effects of eating disorders on teenagers. This means that by adding more and more information on the wiki, there would be more knowledge gained when other people want to learn more on the subject, as for example, if an article contain only partial information, and another article contains the other part of the information, the 'gaps' would be 'filled', and thus the information would be complete.

Reflection 3

I think there are many benefits when using different search facilities to search for resources related to my topic. For example, certain search facilities may not have all the indexes of the web pages, therefore it is important to go through a few search facilities to find all the best and most related results. I think that the meta search is the best kind of search engine as it covers all the different search facilities. this means that it takes all the best links from the different search facilities, whereas if we were to go to a single search facility like Google, there would only be a few good links. I think that meta search directories are a quick and easy way to search multiple search engines simultaneously to get the top results indexed in each search engine. Subject directories are also really useful as for example, you are not sure exactly what the topic is, and you can use the hierarchical style, from A-Z indexes or subject categorized i.e. automobiles, animals, computers, etc.

I feel that using site feeds in the blog creates accessibility. for example, if i wanted to visit yan zhangs blog, i can just click the link on my blog page, and i would be directed immediately, without having to type the web address into the address bar.

I think the best think about collaborating on wiki with other students working on the same topic is an excellent idea as sharing information is vital in our growing society today. If we share with each other, we would fill in the gaps in each other's information, thus making the final work complete, and everything would link up nicely. This means that whoever reads the wiki would learn better from our combined efforts.

Reflection 2

We learnt the search engine more intricately. The main thing was Boolean Operators, which are 'AND', 'OR' and 'AND NOT'. We broke down our main topic, mine was Discuss the effect of eating disorders on teenagers, into keywords, and also put in keyword variations. So i broke mine up into Keywords: Effects, Eating, Disorder and Teenagers. Keyword variations: Impacts, Consuming and Teens.

My end result was:

(Impact* OR effect*) AND (eating OR consuming) AND disorders AND (teenager OR teen*)

The ' * ' indicates the wild card option, or truncation, which for example, 'teen*', the search widens up to 'teens', 'teenagers', 'teenage', etc.

I tried the above search at google.com search engine.

I was impressed by the Google's search function and features, as it gives u total control of your search, and produces many results in just under 1second!

i feel that participating in discussion forum is fun, as you can learn from many other people who are more experienced, and i do not feel so anxious as it is not real life, but rather, we are behind a computer screen.

I think doing citation and bibliography is important as it is important to credit people who have racked their brains to produce valuable information for people to learn, and it is also important as they would not be able to accuse you of plagiarism as you have credited them.

Reflection 1

Today, we've learnt quite a lot of things.... that i can't really remember anything much... ugh... its like stuffing 10GB of stuff into a 5GB thumb drive. Hopefully... by the end of this CDS... i can master it...! However... i can still recall some things. We will be doing some research topics... and i chose the effects of eating disorders in teenagers. I found all the 3 different sources of information, a blog, a website and a forum! This is great, as i can have a large flow of information from these websites.

I think the purpose of the shopping website I had visited was to buy and sell second hand items, or maybe new items sold by online vendors. I think this website is useful to get cheaper goods than you would normally find in shops, and also it can bring out the entrepreneurship skills in people!

Shopping Spree

So sleepy... it like 11.30pm right now.

If i had 500$$$... i would buy these stuff (500 is not enough!!)




This is a super awesome gaming mouse from Razer... called the Mamba, since gaming is so fun. It also looks very amazing... hehe. It costs about S$200 at http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/RAZER-MAMBA-WIRELESS-GAMING-MOUSE-5600-DPI-NEW_W0QQitemZ370346103521QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMice?hash=item563a5912e1

And of course... with a mouse... you need a keyboard!



This is also another great keyboard from razer, it has a mirror(reflective) surface. Its very sensitive so, awesome for playing games that requires fast reflexes. Its called the Razer Lycosa Mirror Gaming Keyboard. It can be bought at S$120 at http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/Razer-Lycosa-Mirror-Gaming-Keyboard_W0QQitemZ280478003884QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_216?hash=item414dcab2ac#shId

And lastly... An antique!



This is a JVC MX-D2T 7-in-1 Midi component system, it can play old cassette recorders, which i have tons of them, because my dad used to buy lots of them, like black sabbath and so on... so this great machine can play these old cassettes, yea.

It can be bought at S$180 at http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/JVC-MX-D2T-7-in-1-MiDi-Component-SYSTem-180-OnLy_W0QQitemZ380216130113QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_216?hash=item5886a5ba41

Ice Breaker

Justin Tay (JT)
im a GETer
who plays DOTA during his free time
who listens to T.M. Revolution
who watches The Mentalist, Heroes, FlashForward, Supernatural, etc

I think i am like a baguette...
Hard on the outside, soft on the inside


I like programming.... can't wait to learn more about it
Erm... dont give up as it can be quite challenging.
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/