Remember the scene from Beauty & Beast? Where all the object is the house are alive and they can talk, plus serve you tea and even groom you? That all seems very magical and wonder doesn't it? Well, we live in an age where technological advancement is at its peak, and has made many advancement that we can only dream to see on a sci-fi film. The idea of communicating with objects sounds marvelous to me, is how I always picture the future to be. In fact, we are already communicating with objects, take for example our desktop computers and laptops, they are objects yet we communicate with them and spend so much of our time with them, possibly more time then any other device in our home or office.
In Julian Bleeckers article, "Manifesto of for Network Objects - Cohabiting with Pidgeons, Aprhids and Aibos in the Internet of Things", he highlighted the fact that the concept of "internet of things" has been well implemented through Blogjects. For now we can see that objects are starting to "communicate" with each other somehow, though they have to be connected first in order to do so. He also stated that there are a couple of common characteristic possessed by these objects.
Traces- Blogjects Known Where They Are
Most smartphones today has access to Facebook which allows people to do check in when there are at certain places, this works the same as the check in apps in Facebook as it acts as a tracking device telling people where are you currently. With the world becoming more and more dangerous, more and more gadget have been implemented with GPS technologies so that if the gadget was to be stolen or missing it can be found through its tracking device, other then tracking down object it can help track people too, which brings me to my question how sure are we that this would not lead to invasion of privacy issue? One may have good intention to have tracking devices implemented in their cars but the company who produce that tracking device could sell the information of your daily activities to other companies which could be a possibility. Not saying is not good thing, it is actually a wonderful advancement to up safety for the people, just that we can never be sure as invasion of privacy could be an issue to this.
History- Blogjects Known From Whence They Had Arrived
Just like having a memory of their own, they (blogjects) may soon be becoming more and more human as us. The idea that they know what you like just base on how you have utilize them seems too good to be true, but in reality it is happening, I remember I have to set the timer for my own air conditioner so it will turn and off at a specific time possibly in the future the air conditioner would be turn on and off by itself and thus saving you the electricity bill and the environment. But it's also creepy the fact that the gadgets and object know you so well to the point they know what time you will get home, and what your favorite meal, music and etc. is even possible they know more about you then you know about yourself.
Agency - They are assertive and soon to be human
This makes blogjects more human like, it gives them their own personalities and traits just like a normal human would have. Every blogject is different from the other with different designs as well as uniqueness and even capabilities. And blogject can be personalized to make themselves stand out from the others. Which if we take a look around us is very true, so many objects sports different vibes, different uniqueness and they all look different from one another. Take for example our mobile phones is different from others because of the design, is different from other similar design because it has been personalized by you to your own liking to be able to make it stand out from the other similar designs.
My take on this on communicating with objects is that, it will benefit us a lot in the near future, but the only worries that the blogjects gives to me is that we will be communicating with them much more then we would with people, the blogject can only do so much as to imitate the way humans, but in terms of communicating it can never top that of a human.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Clash of the Titans: Droid vs Fruit
Probably two of the most anticipated smartphone of this year belongs into one of the two categories as an Android and IOS, it was surprising to see that when the Samsung Galaxy SII was launched in Malaysia the bee line that people would make just to get their hands on the phone can compete with that of Apple when the launched the Iphone 4. However, Apple has since release its answer to the Samsung Galaxy SII with the new Iphone 4S which is yet to be launched in Malaysia. However, it is rather shocking isn't it? Since the start of the smartphone war, the Iphone seemed to be a runaway winner, and many other smartphones competitor just could not compete with it or pose much of threat to it. Well, it would remain that way unless one who has already read the article 'Google's Open Source Android OS will Free the Wireless Web' by Daniel Roth will get a much better insight as to how can Android pose so much of a threat to the IOS as well as many other brand OS.
Google has come a long way from being a simple search engine to one of the most widely used search engine today. And now Google brings the Android OS, partnered together with many well know mobile phone brands and carriers they created and OS which is OPEN. Yes, the Android OS is an open source software which means the source code of the Android can be obtained and modified by people. Which is what Google want the people to do. To personalize.
Let's take a step back into the past and look at smartphones, previously before the smartphone war Nokia was the crown king of the mobile phone industry and it was also was the first to have its own smartphone that ran own their very own OS, the Symbian OS, over time more and more smartphones came into the picture but there was one small problem, none of them could actually really satisfy the user when it comes to browsing the net, complaints comes pouring in about the poor performance of the smartphone but no one bother to up the ante, not until Apple came in with their IOS and very much over thrown Nokia from its comfortable throne.
The Iphone and its IOS were praised for its cutting edge and high tech advancement and I would agree to that, because i felt that the Iphone really set the bar for what a smartphone should be like. However, the Iphone was never completely user friendly, despite it superb capabilities, this smartphone comes out as a snobbish selfish phone that only seeks to attain to the like of themselves only and never bothering with the others (other phone brands). But what was severely lacking in the Iphone was the personalization bit, in this day and age, we love to personalize our things but no, Mr Jobs won't have that and made the Iphone pretty unable to customize at all in fear that their OS source code would be leaked out.
Android on the other, just screams customize all you want, take my source code and make me better please! There is just so much possibilities with the Android. Fine if one isn't too into the technical area Android has the ability to allow you to customize and personalize your home screen, re-size widgets etc. The possibilities are unless and probably this is also the reason why many well known phone brands are willing to partner with Google to allow its Android OS to use on all their phones. I myself am privilege to be using an Android as well and the OS just keeps getting better and better everytime.
My take on this whole smartphone war and the Apple and Google war is that people today are always on the go now and they need something light and something the can use while really on the move. Mobile networking is definitely in the works already and we are beginning to see that around us. Thus, it all comes down to the OS, how far can it go to keep the users satisfy, user satisfaction is what both Apple and Google are trying to achieve that, users now want more and more things thus it depends on how can both these giants can keep up to please their users.
Google has come a long way from being a simple search engine to one of the most widely used search engine today. And now Google brings the Android OS, partnered together with many well know mobile phone brands and carriers they created and OS which is OPEN. Yes, the Android OS is an open source software which means the source code of the Android can be obtained and modified by people. Which is what Google want the people to do. To personalize.
Let's take a step back into the past and look at smartphones, previously before the smartphone war Nokia was the crown king of the mobile phone industry and it was also was the first to have its own smartphone that ran own their very own OS, the Symbian OS, over time more and more smartphones came into the picture but there was one small problem, none of them could actually really satisfy the user when it comes to browsing the net, complaints comes pouring in about the poor performance of the smartphone but no one bother to up the ante, not until Apple came in with their IOS and very much over thrown Nokia from its comfortable throne.
The Iphone and its IOS were praised for its cutting edge and high tech advancement and I would agree to that, because i felt that the Iphone really set the bar for what a smartphone should be like. However, the Iphone was never completely user friendly, despite it superb capabilities, this smartphone comes out as a snobbish selfish phone that only seeks to attain to the like of themselves only and never bothering with the others (other phone brands). But what was severely lacking in the Iphone was the personalization bit, in this day and age, we love to personalize our things but no, Mr Jobs won't have that and made the Iphone pretty unable to customize at all in fear that their OS source code would be leaked out.
Android on the other, just screams customize all you want, take my source code and make me better please! There is just so much possibilities with the Android. Fine if one isn't too into the technical area Android has the ability to allow you to customize and personalize your home screen, re-size widgets etc. The possibilities are unless and probably this is also the reason why many well known phone brands are willing to partner with Google to allow its Android OS to use on all their phones. I myself am privilege to be using an Android as well and the OS just keeps getting better and better everytime.
My take on this whole smartphone war and the Apple and Google war is that people today are always on the go now and they need something light and something the can use while really on the move. Mobile networking is definitely in the works already and we are beginning to see that around us. Thus, it all comes down to the OS, how far can it go to keep the users satisfy, user satisfaction is what both Apple and Google are trying to achieve that, users now want more and more things thus it depends on how can both these giants can keep up to please their users.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Socialize to revolutionize
"any and all instances in which a state or a political regime is overthrown and thereby transformed by a popular movement in an irregular, extra constitutional and/or violent fashion" - Jeff Goodwin
If you have read most of my previous posting for these past weeks, you would notice that i have describe the internet as if it was a godsend gift to humanity to be able to voice out the unheeded plea and opinions. Well after reading "Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go" by Evgeny Morozov, I realize that the internet has caused us to change, in a way that we could do so in the past. But in the article it stated that social networking sites today acts more of a new tool for us to voice out our dissatisfaction, is more of a place that we put up our emotions rather than a place where people keep in touch which originally intended. It seems to me that we as the users are trying new ways to be able to voice out and send a clear strong message to the authorities or just trying to create an awareness all through social networking site that was never originally intended to use that way.
Let's look at Facebook, Facebook was originally intended to a site where people can be kept connected with their friends and over time Facebook added in applications and games which was something new, it was a smart move in order to keep the existing users happy with things to do and thus getting more user migrating from various other social network. However, over time when you have 500 million and counting user in a social network site things tends to get really personal, emotions starts to flare and users are willing to fight over on Facebook now, Facebook itself is like a public area where people can see whatever you do, this proves one thing that users are becoming more daring now, in terms of expressing themselves and their emotions on social networking sites. However, in the article it talks about how Facebook and Twitter could stir up such a revolution and overthrow the government, which actually possible. Of course you can't start a revolution through your own Facebook wall, you will get arrested long before you could get a "Like" on it. The internet is crawling with the authorities keep an eye on almost every invidual, but the good news is about Facebook is the fact that you can create groups, groups which are private. And so that is where they can gather, that is where they can voice out their opinions. Many users believe that the internet is their hope for a freedom of speech as well as freedom of expression, because there are no real sets of rules when it comes to the internet, sure authorities may set laws for it but there was no rules to begin with.
Times are changing at a rather rapid pace now, back then to start a protest or a revolution was not an easy feat, but today is just like a push of a button. Facebook and Twitter, both were never intended to be revolution and protest starter kit, both were originally made to be keeping people connected and in touch with each other. So this leaves a big question mark as to whether or not is a good thing to have the social network around, what will happen in the future? Will users find new ways to utilize social network for more justice or injustice in the future? Will it disrupt the balance of the harmony? Whichever it is, is rather rhetorical. However, the internet is still a godsend gift to humanity to voice out their opinions and worries. If voicing out in public would lend themselves in prison, then the nest best thing is the internet. Besides it is the best way to garner the support of millions of user who uses the internet.
We live in an era where the people can no longer be contained like they do back then, technological advances has given many people hope that they can now voice out when they couldn't previously. Traditional media could allow them but new media like the internet gives instant connection to the world and thus enables them to express themselves more freely. From mere chat to organizing a protest and revolution, the internet has proven once again that it has so much capabilities that we should not take it too lightly, as well as the authorities. They can try all they want to silence the people but so long the internet exist the silence cannot be contained and the echoes of voices would be heard by the millions.
If you have read most of my previous posting for these past weeks, you would notice that i have describe the internet as if it was a godsend gift to humanity to be able to voice out the unheeded plea and opinions. Well after reading "Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go" by Evgeny Morozov, I realize that the internet has caused us to change, in a way that we could do so in the past. But in the article it stated that social networking sites today acts more of a new tool for us to voice out our dissatisfaction, is more of a place that we put up our emotions rather than a place where people keep in touch which originally intended. It seems to me that we as the users are trying new ways to be able to voice out and send a clear strong message to the authorities or just trying to create an awareness all through social networking site that was never originally intended to use that way.
Let's look at Facebook, Facebook was originally intended to a site where people can be kept connected with their friends and over time Facebook added in applications and games which was something new, it was a smart move in order to keep the existing users happy with things to do and thus getting more user migrating from various other social network. However, over time when you have 500 million and counting user in a social network site things tends to get really personal, emotions starts to flare and users are willing to fight over on Facebook now, Facebook itself is like a public area where people can see whatever you do, this proves one thing that users are becoming more daring now, in terms of expressing themselves and their emotions on social networking sites. However, in the article it talks about how Facebook and Twitter could stir up such a revolution and overthrow the government, which actually possible. Of course you can't start a revolution through your own Facebook wall, you will get arrested long before you could get a "Like" on it. The internet is crawling with the authorities keep an eye on almost every invidual, but the good news is about Facebook is the fact that you can create groups, groups which are private. And so that is where they can gather, that is where they can voice out their opinions. Many users believe that the internet is their hope for a freedom of speech as well as freedom of expression, because there are no real sets of rules when it comes to the internet, sure authorities may set laws for it but there was no rules to begin with.
Times are changing at a rather rapid pace now, back then to start a protest or a revolution was not an easy feat, but today is just like a push of a button. Facebook and Twitter, both were never intended to be revolution and protest starter kit, both were originally made to be keeping people connected and in touch with each other. So this leaves a big question mark as to whether or not is a good thing to have the social network around, what will happen in the future? Will users find new ways to utilize social network for more justice or injustice in the future? Will it disrupt the balance of the harmony? Whichever it is, is rather rhetorical. However, the internet is still a godsend gift to humanity to voice out their opinions and worries. If voicing out in public would lend themselves in prison, then the nest best thing is the internet. Besides it is the best way to garner the support of millions of user who uses the internet.
We live in an era where the people can no longer be contained like they do back then, technological advances has given many people hope that they can now voice out when they couldn't previously. Traditional media could allow them but new media like the internet gives instant connection to the world and thus enables them to express themselves more freely. From mere chat to organizing a protest and revolution, the internet has proven once again that it has so much capabilities that we should not take it too lightly, as well as the authorities. They can try all they want to silence the people but so long the internet exist the silence cannot be contained and the echoes of voices would be heard by the millions.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Somethings are best left unknown
Ever found yourself having a great time munching on something scrumptious and without a single care in the world of what is it until someone tells you what was stuffed inside that scrumptious meal you were happily chowing down? The truth can be harsh sometimes.
When the internet was created, it gave many internet users the freedom express themselves on the internet and it was sort of our freedom of speech, because we live in a time where the leaders want us to know less in order to maintain the harmony we have now. But they see the internet as a new form of media that can disrupt this harmony and thus has tried numerous time to attempt to limit the freedom that is bestow on us internet users to express ourselves freely.
The internet as I have stated before is like a vast universe that seems to span endlessly, and the amount of user that uses the internet increases at such ungodly speed. There is no possible way for anyone to be able to contain all that information from being distributed as long as the users keep using the internet there will be information. Thing is information is power and with that it can make or break others, depending on how the information is used, it definitely depends on the holder. Such a person or thing we speak of that has such an ability that politicians and corporate leaders tremble at its very name and cast their best efforts to bring down this fiend they fear so much, Wikileaks is the name.
As Benkler has highlighted in his article A free irresponsible press: Wikileaks and the battle over the soul of the networked fourth estate he stated that Wikileaks acts as a new model watchdog of today. There is no doubt we all have our little secrets that we won't want people to know such as our private lives, government sectors and huge corporation too will have their share of "dirty work" that they have done the best they could to possibly cover it up. And there's probably a good reason for the cover up because somethings are best kept unknown, for all we know what they are trying to do could benefit us just that there are some details they wish to leave out from the public eye. As citizens indeed we have our rights, but to what extends does our right state that we have to everything? Which is very rhetorical indeed.
Wikileaks like our beloved Wikipedia provides us with information, information that was never meant for our eyes. Wikileaks takes advantage of the internet free flow of information in order to obtain confidential information on government sectors and huge corporations. One would question Wikileaks as to why are they doing this, why do they want to obtain confidential information on government sectors and corporations? Are they trying to expose the truth for a reason or just expose it cause they can and they want to. There is a lot of questioning as to whether or not the act of Wikileaks should be seen as a good thing or a bad thing.
From my personal point of view, I say Wikileaks does has its purpose and definitely it is there for a good cause, providing us with the information that is hidden from us to hide the dirty deeds of government officials or the cut down in quality in corporate products. But sometimes there are deeper reasons for why certain information needs to be kept away from the public. Say for example if Wikileaks were to leak info that there is actually a cure for AIDS, what do you think will happen? The worst case scenario is that the percentage of protected sex would sky rocket, sexual assault cases will increase in ungodly speed, unwanted pregnancy and a string of uncontrollable chaos and calamity will occur. Is just a scenario but there are hundreds or thousands of possibilities that certain information are not meant to be know by the public for their safety and harmony sake.
When the internet was created, it gave many internet users the freedom express themselves on the internet and it was sort of our freedom of speech, because we live in a time where the leaders want us to know less in order to maintain the harmony we have now. But they see the internet as a new form of media that can disrupt this harmony and thus has tried numerous time to attempt to limit the freedom that is bestow on us internet users to express ourselves freely.
The internet as I have stated before is like a vast universe that seems to span endlessly, and the amount of user that uses the internet increases at such ungodly speed. There is no possible way for anyone to be able to contain all that information from being distributed as long as the users keep using the internet there will be information. Thing is information is power and with that it can make or break others, depending on how the information is used, it definitely depends on the holder. Such a person or thing we speak of that has such an ability that politicians and corporate leaders tremble at its very name and cast their best efforts to bring down this fiend they fear so much, Wikileaks is the name.
As Benkler has highlighted in his article A free irresponsible press: Wikileaks and the battle over the soul of the networked fourth estate he stated that Wikileaks acts as a new model watchdog of today. There is no doubt we all have our little secrets that we won't want people to know such as our private lives, government sectors and huge corporation too will have their share of "dirty work" that they have done the best they could to possibly cover it up. And there's probably a good reason for the cover up because somethings are best kept unknown, for all we know what they are trying to do could benefit us just that there are some details they wish to leave out from the public eye. As citizens indeed we have our rights, but to what extends does our right state that we have to everything? Which is very rhetorical indeed.
Wikileaks like our beloved Wikipedia provides us with information, information that was never meant for our eyes. Wikileaks takes advantage of the internet free flow of information in order to obtain confidential information on government sectors and huge corporations. One would question Wikileaks as to why are they doing this, why do they want to obtain confidential information on government sectors and corporations? Are they trying to expose the truth for a reason or just expose it cause they can and they want to. There is a lot of questioning as to whether or not the act of Wikileaks should be seen as a good thing or a bad thing.
From my personal point of view, I say Wikileaks does has its purpose and definitely it is there for a good cause, providing us with the information that is hidden from us to hide the dirty deeds of government officials or the cut down in quality in corporate products. But sometimes there are deeper reasons for why certain information needs to be kept away from the public. Say for example if Wikileaks were to leak info that there is actually a cure for AIDS, what do you think will happen? The worst case scenario is that the percentage of protected sex would sky rocket, sexual assault cases will increase in ungodly speed, unwanted pregnancy and a string of uncontrollable chaos and calamity will occur. Is just a scenario but there are hundreds or thousands of possibilities that certain information are not meant to be know by the public for their safety and harmony sake.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
I can write too
I still remember the day my niece came to me asking about journalism, as a mass comm student i was well aware of the ups and the downs of being a journalist and explained in detail to her about journalism. Did i managed to persuade not to go into journalism? No. Why? Because she's 14 and thinks that if you have a very good command in english and penchant for writing, journalism is for you. I will probably leave her with the benefit of doubt for now.
But really, if you look at it this way, we are living in a time where news is just about everywhere! Easily we can get news nowadays but the most important bit in a news is its credibility. A lot of news on the internet could be half truth but may not be the full picture therefore, credibility is a must for news. There are five elements that makes a news worthy and those five elements are proximity, human interest, time, prominence and oddity, these are what makes news worthy but seems to change nowadays isn't due to technology.
Dr Alex Bruns article 'News blogs and citizen jornalism: New Directions for e-journalism' suggest that times are changing for journalist due to social networking sites. But i beg to differ and i think we still need people to deliver us the "official" news. However, no doubt that citizen journalism is picking up fairly quickly by normal people.
Now remember i said i told my niece everything i knew about journalism? Journalism is the one job one has to to really be serious about. Everything pen down by a journalist can make or break a person reputation and this could spell disaster for any journalist. Therefore, it is their job to get solid evidence of what they are writing is true facts and not rumors picked up by the coffee shop. Plus, they have to be on the spot to gather true facts on the scene which means interviewing witnesses, officials etc. As for citizen journalist half the time, you are at a certain location coincidentally.
Also, here's an interesting bit, a lot people today are sort of abandoning conventional newspaper because according to them the papers are filled with news that covers up the government thus, a lot are moving into online news specifically those that runs online news portal on Malaysia. Because to them that is real news. But to me it is rhetorical, is hard to say who is being bias honestly, let's just i as a journalist wants to write a purely non bias article about anything (preferably political) but the editor edits and published the articles changing more then 50% of it, what can i do as a journalist? Am i to be blame for my editor's doing? Same goes for those online news portal such as Malaysia Today, how sure are we they are not being bias as well? However, i am certain about one fact and that is journalist still needs proof to back up what they write and usually they leave out their own opinions. This cannot be said of citizen journalist, while some may take the trouble to make their news credible, others are just pounding the "my opinion about this incident" button when writing the news. Usually this comes in the form of blogs, but blogs today seems to be a source of news to people and therefore, false news too can be troublesome. Indeed it is your personal blog, you can type whatever you want but... so long is able to be read by the public you best think twice before posting up anything.
Although all is not bad when it comes to citizen journalism, in fact i say citizen journalism gives rise to the voices of the unheard. For example many cases of viral videos posted on Facebook, they were taken by passerby or cctv but posted online and became viral! When that happens it becomes a sensation and people would want to know more about it prompting journalist to actually go and check out what is all the buzz about to report it. Remember the video of the poor two year ago girl who was ran over by 2 vans and no one bothered to helped her for a full 10mins? Exactly my point there, nobody knew about the news or the video until it went viral on Facebook prompting big news agency like BBC to even look in to the case. So all is not bad for citizen journalism again.
In my opinion i think both journalism and citizen journalism has their own role to play. But surely nothing can replace journalist we need them to provide us solid news and citizen journalist to keep fighting for those whose voices could not be heard. As much as we need to know what is going on around the world we also need to know what is going on around us.
But really, if you look at it this way, we are living in a time where news is just about everywhere! Easily we can get news nowadays but the most important bit in a news is its credibility. A lot of news on the internet could be half truth but may not be the full picture therefore, credibility is a must for news. There are five elements that makes a news worthy and those five elements are proximity, human interest, time, prominence and oddity, these are what makes news worthy but seems to change nowadays isn't due to technology.
Dr Alex Bruns article 'News blogs and citizen jornalism: New Directions for e-journalism' suggest that times are changing for journalist due to social networking sites. But i beg to differ and i think we still need people to deliver us the "official" news. However, no doubt that citizen journalism is picking up fairly quickly by normal people.
Now remember i said i told my niece everything i knew about journalism? Journalism is the one job one has to to really be serious about. Everything pen down by a journalist can make or break a person reputation and this could spell disaster for any journalist. Therefore, it is their job to get solid evidence of what they are writing is true facts and not rumors picked up by the coffee shop. Plus, they have to be on the spot to gather true facts on the scene which means interviewing witnesses, officials etc. As for citizen journalist half the time, you are at a certain location coincidentally.
Also, here's an interesting bit, a lot people today are sort of abandoning conventional newspaper because according to them the papers are filled with news that covers up the government thus, a lot are moving into online news specifically those that runs online news portal on Malaysia. Because to them that is real news. But to me it is rhetorical, is hard to say who is being bias honestly, let's just i as a journalist wants to write a purely non bias article about anything (preferably political) but the editor edits and published the articles changing more then 50% of it, what can i do as a journalist? Am i to be blame for my editor's doing? Same goes for those online news portal such as Malaysia Today, how sure are we they are not being bias as well? However, i am certain about one fact and that is journalist still needs proof to back up what they write and usually they leave out their own opinions. This cannot be said of citizen journalist, while some may take the trouble to make their news credible, others are just pounding the "my opinion about this incident" button when writing the news. Usually this comes in the form of blogs, but blogs today seems to be a source of news to people and therefore, false news too can be troublesome. Indeed it is your personal blog, you can type whatever you want but... so long is able to be read by the public you best think twice before posting up anything.
Although all is not bad when it comes to citizen journalism, in fact i say citizen journalism gives rise to the voices of the unheard. For example many cases of viral videos posted on Facebook, they were taken by passerby or cctv but posted online and became viral! When that happens it becomes a sensation and people would want to know more about it prompting journalist to actually go and check out what is all the buzz about to report it. Remember the video of the poor two year ago girl who was ran over by 2 vans and no one bothered to helped her for a full 10mins? Exactly my point there, nobody knew about the news or the video until it went viral on Facebook prompting big news agency like BBC to even look in to the case. So all is not bad for citizen journalism again.
In my opinion i think both journalism and citizen journalism has their own role to play. But surely nothing can replace journalist we need them to provide us solid news and citizen journalist to keep fighting for those whose voices could not be heard. As much as we need to know what is going on around the world we also need to know what is going on around us.
Sunday, 2 October 2011
It's a longtale from the past
What's a long tail if you may ask, a long tail basically means finding everything and anything for everyone and anyone. Picture this, say five years ago you found an interesting book on the shelf of a local book store but you didn't have enough money to purchase it, thus you left it there and hope that in a months time you will be able to purchase it after saving enough money. Then came the day when you finally saved enough money to purchased the book only to your horror it has been sold out of the publication of the book is discontinued. Fast forward, five years from then you are surfing the net for books and you came across that interesting book you wanted then and is now made available whilst it was discontinued then. Basically, the internet now offer more then just information, in fact it has gone way beyond just providing us text of info, it is now our treasure chest, never knowing what we will come across it just surfing the net.
Back then whenever we need something, we will have to head down to the local mall to get it and only to be disappointed that the item is sold out, the shop is close for break or close for the day or worst the shop has closed down because you were their only customer. But now, we have online stores they never have excuses to close the store (unless for maintenance) and their items range has more variety then that of a physical store in the mall. Even if they do have an item sold out there's a chance that you can make a request for them to bring in that item just for you.
It definitely sound good the fact that we can now most of our entertainment from online stores but there's a bit of a catch here. Noticed that everything here seems to be going digital? Remember back then when you purchase an item you get to touch it and feel it and not to mention inspect it for defects. Kind of makes you skeptical now doesn't it? An article title Better than Free by Kevin Kelly explains that there are 8 main points that makes digital material valuable.
1. Immediacy
Don't we all want things fast nowadays? In fact who doesn't? I can bet right now there is probably and possibly millions of Iphone fans just waiting for any news on the latest soon-to-be release Iphone5, especially the press. Remember when before Iphone4 was release its prototype was stolen in a bar and sold to a blogger who was willing to pay a hefty price for it? All for just to be the first to have the phone and to leak out information about the phone. See? That's how immediate people are willing to go in the physical world, and in the digital world is no different, when a new block buster movies comes out I can see people asking whether there's a download for the movie despite the movie being just release in the cinema. Everyone wants to be the first to get something, to try something.
2. Personalization
It seems to be a trend nowadays for people to personalize their belongings, whether is their mobile phones, cars, shoes or room the will personalize to tell the world "Hey this is my!". And we like that don't we? Imagine getting an Iphone4 from your parent with the your name engrave at the back of it wouldn't it make your Iphone4 more special than your friends' Iphone which has no engraving? This isn't different from online as well, we all personalize our blogs, so that it will look different from others and stand out and hopefully be pleasing enough to attract more readers to your blog.
3. Interpretation
Remember the time your parent bought you a brand new car and you were so excited that you just leap into the car without even bothering with the instruction booklet provided. Reason being is too wordy and we have very short attention span to read while we rather be test driving the new ride right? Same thing for online users, we hate going though the instruction unless it is interactive (hey at least it has audio and some graphics). I remember before buying my current smart phone, I visited their web site and was treated to a fully interactive web site, every bit of explanation was accompanied by some sort of interactivity and that made me wanted to the product even more just cause of the interactivity they added in.
4. Authenticity
Like what i mention above, back then when we used to buy our stuff from the mall we can actually check the items whether they are in good condition or not. And there is a warranty as well so if they are any defects within the time period the item can be replaced. This cannot be said for online then, as there were many cases of fraud and people paying for the goods and not getting it and got their money stolen instead. But today we can say it is safer to shop online now thanks to some well established website such as amazon.com, hlj.com etc.
5.Accessibility
One of the best thing about the Internet is its accessibility. We can access to our blog, facebook account anywhere in any given time. Plus, don't you just hate it when you lose something precious? Well this is rather difficult to happen in the virtual world (provided you have backup) for example i remember my friend accidentally deleted all of her photos in her picture album on her desktop, but fortunately for her she did upload majority of it on her Facebook thus, make it her back up.
6. Embodiment
I remember downloading a much anticipated movie from the internet in blu ray quality and just was I about to watch it on my LCD tv it showed that the file was not readable, it was readable on my laptop but not on the LCD tv. Fortunately the problem can be fixed by converting the file to a readable one for the tv. Somethings are just not as nice to be seen on a 15" laptop but should be watched on a 42" LCD tv. This flexibility is very important as people like to have to ability to convert files to fit to their system.
7. Patronage
To what extend of patronage exactly can we expect from the internet? Though it may not be face to face but given the advancement of technology and the internet we can communicate with the creator and the creator can communicate with the fans. Such as in Youtube viewers can comment on the video and sometime the creator would ask for suggestion from the viewers and they can get involve with the user. This type of bonds helps create a better connection between users and creator.
8. Findability
Making your product easy to find will help people to find it easier. As we know the internet is filled with so many things if we are no specific we will get something else. And sometimes people are just too lazy to use the advance search thus relying on normal search. Therefore, is always better to entitle the product properly so that it will be easy for people to find.
There you go all 8 points for you to consider when moving your stuff to the digital platform. The internet may seem like the future market place but yet again it is as crowded as in the physical world the only thing about this the internet and online shopping is the convenience but we should never forget that about the physical contact we have with the physical world.
Back then whenever we need something, we will have to head down to the local mall to get it and only to be disappointed that the item is sold out, the shop is close for break or close for the day or worst the shop has closed down because you were their only customer. But now, we have online stores they never have excuses to close the store (unless for maintenance) and their items range has more variety then that of a physical store in the mall. Even if they do have an item sold out there's a chance that you can make a request for them to bring in that item just for you.
It definitely sound good the fact that we can now most of our entertainment from online stores but there's a bit of a catch here. Noticed that everything here seems to be going digital? Remember back then when you purchase an item you get to touch it and feel it and not to mention inspect it for defects. Kind of makes you skeptical now doesn't it? An article title Better than Free by Kevin Kelly explains that there are 8 main points that makes digital material valuable.
1. Immediacy
Don't we all want things fast nowadays? In fact who doesn't? I can bet right now there is probably and possibly millions of Iphone fans just waiting for any news on the latest soon-to-be release Iphone5, especially the press. Remember when before Iphone4 was release its prototype was stolen in a bar and sold to a blogger who was willing to pay a hefty price for it? All for just to be the first to have the phone and to leak out information about the phone. See? That's how immediate people are willing to go in the physical world, and in the digital world is no different, when a new block buster movies comes out I can see people asking whether there's a download for the movie despite the movie being just release in the cinema. Everyone wants to be the first to get something, to try something.
2. Personalization
It seems to be a trend nowadays for people to personalize their belongings, whether is their mobile phones, cars, shoes or room the will personalize to tell the world "Hey this is my!". And we like that don't we? Imagine getting an Iphone4 from your parent with the your name engrave at the back of it wouldn't it make your Iphone4 more special than your friends' Iphone which has no engraving? This isn't different from online as well, we all personalize our blogs, so that it will look different from others and stand out and hopefully be pleasing enough to attract more readers to your blog.
3. Interpretation
Remember the time your parent bought you a brand new car and you were so excited that you just leap into the car without even bothering with the instruction booklet provided. Reason being is too wordy and we have very short attention span to read while we rather be test driving the new ride right? Same thing for online users, we hate going though the instruction unless it is interactive (hey at least it has audio and some graphics). I remember before buying my current smart phone, I visited their web site and was treated to a fully interactive web site, every bit of explanation was accompanied by some sort of interactivity and that made me wanted to the product even more just cause of the interactivity they added in.
4. Authenticity
Like what i mention above, back then when we used to buy our stuff from the mall we can actually check the items whether they are in good condition or not. And there is a warranty as well so if they are any defects within the time period the item can be replaced. This cannot be said for online then, as there were many cases of fraud and people paying for the goods and not getting it and got their money stolen instead. But today we can say it is safer to shop online now thanks to some well established website such as amazon.com, hlj.com etc.
5.Accessibility
One of the best thing about the Internet is its accessibility. We can access to our blog, facebook account anywhere in any given time. Plus, don't you just hate it when you lose something precious? Well this is rather difficult to happen in the virtual world (provided you have backup) for example i remember my friend accidentally deleted all of her photos in her picture album on her desktop, but fortunately for her she did upload majority of it on her Facebook thus, make it her back up.
6. Embodiment
I remember downloading a much anticipated movie from the internet in blu ray quality and just was I about to watch it on my LCD tv it showed that the file was not readable, it was readable on my laptop but not on the LCD tv. Fortunately the problem can be fixed by converting the file to a readable one for the tv. Somethings are just not as nice to be seen on a 15" laptop but should be watched on a 42" LCD tv. This flexibility is very important as people like to have to ability to convert files to fit to their system.
7. Patronage
To what extend of patronage exactly can we expect from the internet? Though it may not be face to face but given the advancement of technology and the internet we can communicate with the creator and the creator can communicate with the fans. Such as in Youtube viewers can comment on the video and sometime the creator would ask for suggestion from the viewers and they can get involve with the user. This type of bonds helps create a better connection between users and creator.
8. Findability
Making your product easy to find will help people to find it easier. As we know the internet is filled with so many things if we are no specific we will get something else. And sometimes people are just too lazy to use the advance search thus relying on normal search. Therefore, is always better to entitle the product properly so that it will be easy for people to find.
There you go all 8 points for you to consider when moving your stuff to the digital platform. The internet may seem like the future market place but yet again it is as crowded as in the physical world the only thing about this the internet and online shopping is the convenience but we should never forget that about the physical contact we have with the physical world.
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Convergence: A Time for an Evolution
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”- Charles Darwin
As wise Charles Darwin has stated nothing in this world can survive completely on its own without conforming to changes or convergence. Today we are surrounded by technology that are ever evolving, take for example the cassette tapes they were useful once but now they have become items of vintage collection, today the cassette tapes has been replaced by the likes of CDs, but the CD themselves maybe the thing of the past thanks to mp3 file formats, mp3 players and illegal downloads. It has dawn on us that everything is moving into a more cybernetic age soon where technology will pretty much replace many conventional and traditional media. Our newspapers used to only come in the form of hard copy papers filled with news and ads now we have got news portal that updates more frequently then newspaper and are more briefer to read. It is stated by Jenkins in his article The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence, he stated that media convergence is more than a technical shift.
When talk about technological shift, is just like evolution of writing, from cave paintings, to written scrolls and papyrus, to writing on paper and now typing on computer. How even the simplest form of communication has evolve from the usual face to face interaction, to telephone conversation to text messaging. We are in an age where technology can be utilize in just about any way. For instance, before the internet ads were limited to just tv ads, radio ads, billboards and print ads, but with the introduction to internet advertiser see it as a place filled with potential and have fully utilize the space available on the internet.
Creative Industries
What is duty of a creative person in the creative industry? Obviously is to find the best way to connect and communicate with the audience. Today, it seems that consumer seems to be able to voice out their opinions even more now and as the saying goes "customer is king" thus, we should comply to what they so desire in their product. Problem is, is it possible to jam every possible thing imaginable into a certain spot? Take for example the Iphone, it was the most wanted product by many mainly because it can do so much, s o much that a normal cell phone would explode from all its content. But the question is, is more always better? What happen to the minimalist approach? And even if technology do provide the ability to jamed packed a certain gadget with just about everything would it actually make it any better?
Media Conglomerates
The big guns always calls the shots, huge corporation today are keeping their competitor to a minimal by buying over them. By doing so, they get bigger and bigger and would be virtually impossible to compete with. By taking full advantage of media convergence they pretty much gobble up all other medias to minimize their competitor. This is a real concern for small businesses who is trying to survive in this harsh dog eat dog world. As the saying goes the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer.
Consumer
Jenkins also stated that media convergence impact the way we consume media, which is true we are greatly influenced by killing two birds with one stone aka multi-tasking. I have seen it with my own eyes many friends of my on social network complaining they can't concentrate on assignment due to Facebook yet at the same time it through Facebook that we get updates about our assignment on how to overcome the assignment. Its rhetorical actually whether to say multi-tasking is a good thing or a bad thing but many employers however find multi-tasking a very important skills they wished that all their employees would have.
Thus, media convergence has been around for quite some time now and is paving the way of how we see traditional media today. Traditional media today focus more on getting involve with the audience as audience wants to be heard too. And that is what media industries seem to be doing nowadays, giving what the audience want by listening.
As wise Charles Darwin has stated nothing in this world can survive completely on its own without conforming to changes or convergence. Today we are surrounded by technology that are ever evolving, take for example the cassette tapes they were useful once but now they have become items of vintage collection, today the cassette tapes has been replaced by the likes of CDs, but the CD themselves maybe the thing of the past thanks to mp3 file formats, mp3 players and illegal downloads. It has dawn on us that everything is moving into a more cybernetic age soon where technology will pretty much replace many conventional and traditional media. Our newspapers used to only come in the form of hard copy papers filled with news and ads now we have got news portal that updates more frequently then newspaper and are more briefer to read. It is stated by Jenkins in his article The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence, he stated that media convergence is more than a technical shift.
When talk about technological shift, is just like evolution of writing, from cave paintings, to written scrolls and papyrus, to writing on paper and now typing on computer. How even the simplest form of communication has evolve from the usual face to face interaction, to telephone conversation to text messaging. We are in an age where technology can be utilize in just about any way. For instance, before the internet ads were limited to just tv ads, radio ads, billboards and print ads, but with the introduction to internet advertiser see it as a place filled with potential and have fully utilize the space available on the internet.
Creative Industries
What is duty of a creative person in the creative industry? Obviously is to find the best way to connect and communicate with the audience. Today, it seems that consumer seems to be able to voice out their opinions even more now and as the saying goes "customer is king" thus, we should comply to what they so desire in their product. Problem is, is it possible to jam every possible thing imaginable into a certain spot? Take for example the Iphone, it was the most wanted product by many mainly because it can do so much, s o much that a normal cell phone would explode from all its content. But the question is, is more always better? What happen to the minimalist approach? And even if technology do provide the ability to jamed packed a certain gadget with just about everything would it actually make it any better?
Media Conglomerates
The big guns always calls the shots, huge corporation today are keeping their competitor to a minimal by buying over them. By doing so, they get bigger and bigger and would be virtually impossible to compete with. By taking full advantage of media convergence they pretty much gobble up all other medias to minimize their competitor. This is a real concern for small businesses who is trying to survive in this harsh dog eat dog world. As the saying goes the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer.
Consumer
Jenkins also stated that media convergence impact the way we consume media, which is true we are greatly influenced by killing two birds with one stone aka multi-tasking. I have seen it with my own eyes many friends of my on social network complaining they can't concentrate on assignment due to Facebook yet at the same time it through Facebook that we get updates about our assignment on how to overcome the assignment. Its rhetorical actually whether to say multi-tasking is a good thing or a bad thing but many employers however find multi-tasking a very important skills they wished that all their employees would have.
Thus, media convergence has been around for quite some time now and is paving the way of how we see traditional media today. Traditional media today focus more on getting involve with the audience as audience wants to be heard too. And that is what media industries seem to be doing nowadays, giving what the audience want by listening.
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