The Past, the Present, and the Internet

Today's entry starts with an address from the 'Father of Internet', Sir Tim Berners-Lee, at the 4th Ministerial eGovernance Conference, in which he discusses the future of the internet.

Part 1


Part 2


Let us now discuss another 3 aspects the internet will change in the future.

Bandwidth
I recall my first modem in the early 1990s. It was slow, noisy, and provided me with 14.4 kbits/s of bandwidth. In the mid 1990's, i doubled my bandwidth with a 28.8kbits/s connection, and towards the end of that decade i again doubled my bandwidth with 56.6kbits/s. Fast forward to 2010, i now run a 10Mbits/s connection. However, this is still a far cry from the 100Gbits/s bandwidth currently available. At this rate, one can only wonder what kind of bandwidth awaits us in the future.

Integration
As the internet becomes more pervasive and an integral part of our lives, they will start to integrate with other technologies. Mobile phones, televisions, home appliances, portable digital assistants, and a range of other small hardware devices are just some examples. In fact, some of these integration can already be seen in examples like the iPhone and Internet Refrigerator.

Virtual Reality
As bandwidth increases at an exponential rate, a day will come where we will be able to replicate virtual reality over the internet. Gone are the days where online personae will be represented by an image. When that day arrives, James Cameron will be the new Nostradamus, and Avatars will live, through virtual reality.

Now that you have glimpse into the future of the internet, would you still be looking forward to it?

Social Networking, or Social Suicide?

Facebook. Twitter. MySpace. LinkedIn. Friendster. You must have heard of at least one of these websites, if not already having an account. With the plethora of such social networking sites being introduced on the internet, does building your social identity mean that you should have an account with EVERY website, or is that just social suicide? Well for some, it's just suicide. Literally.

In February 2009, a 30 year old aspiring model committed suicide, not before updating his Facebook status with his intended actions. His final status read, "born in San Francisco, became a shooting star over everywhere, and ended his life in Brooklyn. ... And couldn't have asked for more."

While a few of us may remember reading similar stories like these from around the world, there is one way you can commit suicide. Virtually.

Introducing the Web 2.0 suicide machine. This website allows you "kill" your online identity. It does so by deleting all your friends, followers, affiliations, pictures, video, tags, tweets, and any form of your online fingerprint before changing the password and closing the account. Yes, you can just close your account, but people can still see your "past life". Yes, you can delete/unfriend everything/everyone manually, but the beauty of this website is that it does all of that for you, automatically.

Not convinced? If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this video must have enough words for your online identity's eulogy. Commit now!

Internet Journalism: The mouse is mightier than the pen

With the increase in internet usage, everything has gone online. Businesses, politics, making friends, even news reporting. Owing to the ability to instantly transmit multimedia information, the internet has allowed people from all over the world to report the latest happenings in real time. In this entry, let us look at three aspects internet journalism cannot replace from print media.

Too much information to process
When is too much information TOO much information? With a newspaper, and article can range from a small credit card sized, to a full page report. When you're done reading it, you're done. However, reading news on the internet is like a slushpile. You finish a one-page article, but then there's a link to another report. You finish that, and find three more links. After reading close to 10 reports, you may then realise you have been reading the same information over and over again. Just written by someone else.

You cannot "turn off" print media
Unlike electronic devices, print media does not require boot-up time, does not require an internet connection, and does not require expensive hardware. You don't need to carry your laptop around in order to read the news at the coffee shop or in the doctor's waiting room.

You know you're getting NEWS
Anyone can be a journalist on the internet. You don't need any qualifications. Your opinionated friend, your grumpy neighbour, or your playful nephew can go online and create a post. However, how do you know you are reading an objective report, or a subjective one fuel by opinions and biases? Well, unless the author of the report states his credibility and declares no affiliation to any side, chance are you won't be reading the news.

So even though internest journalism is a growing trend, there are just some aspects of print media it can never replace. It looks like good'ol newspapers are here to stay!

iPolitics: A bed of roses?

As author Gary Selnow said in his book titled 'Electronic Whistle-Stops: The Impact of the Internet on American Politics', "Efficient and inexpensive, the Internet is becoming vastly popular among American voters -- and that’s good news for candidates. If it continues to grow as predicted, the Internet will soon stand alongside the conventional media and become an indispensable tool in political communication."

As employed effectively by US President Obama, using the internet as a campaign tool has it's advantages. However, just like a double edged sword, can this new trend cause more harm than good? In this entry, let us look at three ways how using the internet in politics may be detrimental to the politician's campaign.

The digital divide
Even though the internet is now an integral part of our life, some voters may not use the internet. Some, who live in rural ares with poor infrastructure or who do not own computers, will not even have access to the internet. This may mean that majority of the online voters is disproportionately represented by a younger, more affluent, and tech-savvy crowd.

Internet users don't visit candidate's websites
You can have the best program on television, but if nobody is going to tune in to your channel, how will anyone know? In this same light, many who go online may not visit the candidate's websites. These candidates spend large amounts of funds for their websites, but if they do not give people a reason to visit, then what difference does it make?

It all boils down to costs
With the advancements in technology, setting up a website is cheap and easy, but maintaining and updating them is not. Regular updates require man-hours. Digitizing pictures and videos require expensive software and hardware. Interacting with voters through online correspondences is tedious. Therefore, getting the website up is the simple part, but making it attractive enough to entice visitors is a whole new ballgame.

In conclusion, using the internet for political campaigning may not be all good. From an article in Channel News Asia, it is interesting to note that Singapore will allow internet campaigning in their next general election. Do you think it will work the candidates as well as it worked for President Obama?

Teaching and Multimedia

Being Jurassic in age, I remember a time where teaching was limited to dusty chalkboards and musky textbooks. However, advancements in technology has brought multimedia into the classroom. In this entry, let us take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of four types of popular multimedia often used in classrooms today.

Webpages
As students, we often surf webpages for information. While webpages have widespread ease of access and is easily modified, it is often not optimized for printing.

Print Document Format (PDF)
PDF is a popular format used to disseminate research papers. While it retains precise formatting and is easier to print compared with webpages, PDF requires specific software to open.

YouTube
YouTube is a popular online file sharing community where teachers source videos to augment their teaching experience. While YouTube allows large video files to start playing before it is fully downloaded, video quality is limited by bandwidth.

Powerpoint (PPT)
Powerpoint it probably THE most popular form of multimedia employed by teachers in their lectures. While it is a professional tool for classroom presentations, it requires time and effort to optimize in order for projector display.

While multimedia has been helpful in reaching out to tech-savvy students, let us remember that there are certain modules (e.g. Public Speaking), in which old fashion lecturing and actual hands-on works best. With that, let me leave you with a YouTube clip of the 'Top 10 Things Not to do with Powerpoint'!

The Internet is a dangerous place

This week's entry discusses four major types of computer security threats.

Malware
Malware is short for 'malicious software', and is any form of software that tries to gain control of a computer without the owners' permission. Malware can come in the form of computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, adware, and other types of unwanted software. An example of a famous malware is the 'Melissa virus'.

Computer Virus
Computer viruses are computer programs that can replicate itself. Just like a biological virus, it attacks a host body and starts to reproduce more of itself, until the host body falls ill. However, in the case of the computer virus, it replicates itself to be sent to other computers through the internet or other removable media. Computer virus cause harm to the computer by eating up valuable resources needed for the computer to function, therefore slowing it down, prevent a user from controlling the computer, or corrupt data in the hard disk.

Trojan Horse
Derived from Greek mythology, a computer Trojan horse is a program which looks like a legitimate program, but instead carries 'hidden functions' which compromises the security of the targeted computer. Users think they are downloading or accessing the program that they want, but are totally unaware that something else is running in the background.

Spyware
As the name suggests, Spyware is a software which collects information from a computer without the user knowing. Such information can be passwords, user habits, or websites visited. It is interesting to note that unlike computer virus and worms, spyware does not replicate itself. This means that the user will need to download the spyware and install it in order to be infected. Therefore, spyware can sometimes come under the guise of a trojan horse.

Seeing that there are so many threats waiting for us on the internet, check the credibility of the websites you are visiting, don't open unsolicited emails, and beware of illegal downloads!

Internet Tools: Google search does more!

I was intrigued to learn in class that the Google search engine does more than er... search. These little 'easter eggs' are not widely highlighted, but they can prove to be useful when you need some quick information. Today, let us briefly go through some of the more interesting ones.

Weather
Tying "weather" will give you the weather of your current location, or you can add your desired location or ZIP code (US only) to see a weather forecast of that location!

Unit Conversion
How many times have you had to Google for websites which provided unit conversions between metric and imperial? With this quick short cut, you can do it directly through Google search!

Dictionary
Why take an extra step to visit Dictionary.com when you can just Google it?

Time
Gone are the days when you had to Google websites for time zones, because you can now do it directly in Google!

Calculator
You don't have to use Windows' inbuilt calculator (Start> All Programs> Accessories> Calculator) anymore. Just Google it!

Currency Conversion
This feature provides a quick link for you the next time you're wondering how much that dress(girls) or gadget(boys) in USD is going to cost you!

Wildcards
Have you ever tried to Google an answer to a specific question? Using the asterisk (*) as a wildcard will have Google search for the exact answer to fill in your blank!

Public Data
I'm sure we've all needed population statistics for our research papers at one point or another. While we have been used to trawling different census websites to gather the most updated data, we can now quickly gather this information through Google!

Now that you have seen the "easter eggs" of Google, do you know of any other? Or do you know any other "hidden functions" of other search engines?

eLearning with the Blackboard Learning System

With all the discussion on eLearning this week, we might not realise that it is more pervasive in our lives than we think it is. Recognise this logo?The Blackboard Learning System is one of the product lines under Blackboard Inc., which serves over 2200 education institutions in more than 60 countries.

Being the core system which the students at UB-SIM interact with their modules, let us take a look at two of their features.

Content
The Blackboard Learning System allows the student an overview to the modules they are currently taking. From the individual course module section, they can access the files uploaded by the instructor, assignments to be completed, or view their current grades of their progress.

Communication
Using the Blackboard Learning System, instructors can make announcements to all the students in their class, and their students can engage in discussions with each other. This system also allows students to contact all their other classmates via email. This provides an efficient method to disseminate information to a large class without having to collect the emails individually.

Having seen how the Blackboard Learning System is an effective one stop solution for eLearning, how much should we rely on it? Unfortunately, it seems that Florida State University, the City University of New York, and Utah State University have all experienced network issues which have caused system crashes and data loss.

So, what other forms of eLearning do you see in your life, and how reliable do you think it is?

eCommerce: To E or not to E?

In a recent report released by the US Census Bureau, statistics showed that consumers spent US$34 billion in retail eCommerce sales for the 3rd quarter of 2009. With that much money involved, should all businesses turn to eCommerce?

Just as Jacky Tai from the Marketing Institute of Singapore said in his article, "Good things no cheap, cheap things no good". So are we sure that moving your business into eCommerce is a cheap and good solution?

In this entry, let us look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of eCommerce.

Advantages

1. Conduct your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Having your business run off a servers means that you do not need your store front to be physically open in order for customers and suppliers to do business with you!

2. Reach out to the global market!
Because the internet brings the world closer to us, eCommerce will open up new markets previously hindered by physical distance!

3. Conduct business at light speed!
Electronic communication means that correspondences are exchanged almost instantaneously. Gone are the days of waiting for the contract to arrive by snail mail!

4. Reduce your costs!
As a seller, putting your business online means that you don't need a shop front. As a buyer, sourcing for goods direct from the supplier means that you bypass the middleman!

5. Allow your customer to help you, by helping themselves!
Your customers can interact with your business through the computer, allowing them to directly enter the data require for the transaction!

Disadvantages

1. Time is needed to deliver the physical product.
Unlike visiting a local store, your customer will not be able to walk out with their purchases once payment has been made.

2. There is level of uncertainty with your physical product and supplier.
When a customer makes a purchase at the local store, they can visually inspect the physical goods before deciding the purchase. Unfortunately, eCommerce means that they will have to trust what you're advertising.

3. Perishable goods can't be sold.
Unless you're shipping a refrigerator with the ice cream your customer orders, there are some perishables which you won't be able to deliver.

4. Returning of faulty goods is tricky.
Unlike walking in to a store to return a faulty product, somebody will have to incur the delivery costs for the return of the item.

5. Security and privacy is an issue.
Credit card fraud and identity theft plague eCommerce users, and prove to be it's Achilles' heel.

So now that you've seen some of the advantages and disadvantages of eCommerce, would you move your business online?

Faceout Facebook

This week, we look at Social Media, and the shifts in power. What power am I talking about here?

With about 350 million active users, Facebook boasts a population which exceeds that of America. Having that many people on one social media site, where does the power lie? Do we control Facebook, or does Facebook influence us?

Most Facebook users would be familiar with the many functions and applications that keep us entertained, but how many of us have tried the 'Deactivate Account' feature? Well, I have, and this experience has provided me a glimpse of this social media site's influence on us.

To access this "hidden" function, you would need to click on 'account settings' under 'settings'. The last option of your 'settings' page is where you will find the 'deactivate account' function.


Disclaimer: The following section contains The Truth. If you cannot live without your Facebook account, please click here now!

This is the page which separates you from total freedom. Let's discuss how Facebook influences you to remain with the dark side.


1. 'Your 222 friends will no longer be able to keep in touch with you"
Note the use of strong language to persuade you. If my friends are 'no longer able to keep in touch' with me, be it in person or over the phone, does this mean I will loose all my friends once I deactivate my account?

2. "Jian will miss you. Peh will miss you. Lynn will miss you..."
What if I see these people everyday? Will they still 'miss' me even though we share classes but I don't have Facebook?

3. "Why are you deactivating?"
In this section, Facebook gathers feedback to the reasons users may have in deactivating their account. This is a common practice for websites to improve their services. But wait! Facebook offers 'solutions' in order to keep you!

I. This is temporary. I'll be back.
Remember, you can reactivate at any time by logging in with your email and password, although you must have access to your current login email address. Also note that your admin status in any groups or events will not be automatically restored after activation.

II. I don't find Facebook useful.
You may find Facebook more useful by connecting with more of your friends. Check out our Friend Finder to see who you know on the site. Also, check out the Getting Started Guide to get an overview and tips on using Facebook. Don't find the Wall or Groups particularly useful? Besides our core features, you can also find additional functionality built by outside developers. Check out our Application Directory to find what else we have to offer.

III. I spend too much time using Facebook.
One way to control your interaction with Facebook is to limit the number of emails you receive from us. You can control what emails you receive here.

IV. I have a privacy concern.
Please remember that you can always control the information that you share and who can see it. Before you deactivate, please take a moment to learn more about how privacy works on Facebook. If there is a specific question or concern you have, we hope you'll let us know so we can address it in the future.

V. I get too many emails, invitations, and requests from Facebook.
You can control what email you receive from us here.

VI. I don't feel safe on Facebook.
You can alter your privacy settings to make sure you are more protected. We also allow you to organize your friends in different Friend Lists in order to share certain information with select people. Additionally, you can block certain people from seeing your profile and contacting you altogether.

VII. I don't understand how to use Facebook.
Learn the basics with the Getting Started Guide. You can also find answers from us, as well as other users, in our Help Center.

In conclusion, it is interesting to note how Facebook applies the persuasion techniques of Pathos(item 1 & 2) and Logos(item 3) in order to convince potential "quitters" that Facebook is good for them. So, where does the power lie now?

Taking the plunge

"Getting information from the internet is like taking a glass of water from Niagara Falls" -Arthur C. Clarke

Marshall McLuhan once said, 'I don't know who discovered water, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a fish.' As we continue to accelerate through the 21st century, the internet will always be a part of our life; so pervasive that we may not even realise its presence.

In the next 15 weeks, let me guide you on a journey through the internet- the technology, its impacts, issues and controversies. Will you take the plunge with me?