Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 2:14 AM
The ocean's a nice place to be at...
Smooth Sailing.
That would be how I describe my EIR journey.
EIR was an easy subject to work
on, though I did experienced a few bumps along the way. But it was fun.
I definitely learnt a lot from this subject.
I have learnt to use search engines more effectively, and discovered new options
of the search engines that i did not know before going
through EIR lessons.
Now, I could definitely do searches more efficiently and get more varieties of search results since I was introduced to search engines such as mamma meta search, google scholar, and even subject directories like yahoo! directory. On top of that,
now I could even evaluate websites before I use it as a research material after learning the proper ways to identify useful sources.
2. Write a paragraph summarizing your findings on your research topic.
Going green in architecture has existed for quite a while as architects strive for
a more eco friendly living. From a certain point of view, how we ordinary people could start on a journey to living green and caring for our environment is by making sure that the environment, or home that we live in is based on saving and caring for the environment. Green buildings do not mean that the buildings are painted green or is filled totally with plants and greenery. But the idea of a green building is a building that is self sustainable and acts on green mechanisms that ensure minimal damage towards the environment. A green building also harnesses the natural elements of the environment such as making use of natural ventilation and maximizing the use of the environment such as replacing lights and light bulbs with sunlight during the day. Its easier to go green than we thought it would. So going that extra mile would just save our Earth, but also preserve our way of life.
~
As this chapter of
the journey ends, it will open up
Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 11:00 PM
Tweet Lika Birdie
Twitting became a 'daily' routine for me for this month. I didnt like it the first time i saw it 1 year ago. But, I'll make it an exception for this module. :D
Twitter to me seems so alike to facebook. That was one of the reason why I did not like to use Twitter as I already had Facebook as a platform for socialising.
Though for some reason, I start to Tweet once in a while, to let people know of what im doing, or what im feeling. Most of the time its the same post as what i posted in Facebook.
A) How has twitter (micro-blogging) enhanced your learning of EIR? Compare this with your blogging experience using Blogspot.
B) How can you use Twitter and Blogspot for research purposes?
Twitter has so called enhanced my learning of EIR by allowing conversations between classmates during classes. I believe that for a class to work, classmates has to be allowed to discuss on topics freely as that will allow maximum absorption of knowledge.
Compared to blogging, I prefer twitter as its very concise and short. It would look weird having just a few words in a blog,(even though I do that sometimes in my personal blog).
Other than your regular blogging and personal use of twitter and blogger, these can be used as a platform for research. What I could do for my research is to post a question for any passerby's to answer or discuss, just like how a forum works.
Thats that.
Hoep to see everyone again.
Monday, January 18, 2010, 10:01 AM
My Dream Holiday
My dream holiday will be a taking a trip to Germany. A land filled with culture and history, i have always wanted to go to Germany since I was in secondary school, in which I was deeply immersed into the history of that country.
Why Germany?
Well, one of my favorite bands is a German Metal band called, Rammstein.
I began to like the language itself and how the words are being pronounced are just simply astounding. I haven't met any German friends before, therefore going to Germany will not only be to enjoy the sights, but also educating myself of the culture of the German people. And I might catch Rammstein's Live performance!
Talking about the sights in Germany,
we can also mesmerize ourselves with the architecture in Germany.
Other than old gothic churches such as this, Germany also house early modernist masterpieces of the Bauhaus movement. As an architectural student, it brings me great honor laying my eyes on these architectural beauties.
Other than what you see,
you can also experience the wonderful tastes in Germany.
German sausages!
Germans from the capital city of Berlin eat potatoes with bacon and spicy sausage. Sauerbraten is a large roast made of pork, beef, or veal that is popular throughout Germany, and is flavored in different ways depending on the region. For example, in the Rhine River area, it is flavored with raisins, but is usually cooked with a variety of savory spices and vinegar.
Lastly,
before I leave Germany, I would visit...
The Jewish Museum in Berlin
One of my favorite buildings in the world, the Jewish Museum. The jewish museum was designed by Daniel Libeskind, an architect that I adored since the day design became part of mu life. Visiting this marvelous building of emotions would be a dream come true.
At every corner of the building lays the emotions and feelings that was experienced by the Jewish people of Germany, and during the holocaust.
Every plane, at every glance, houses deep meanings behind it. Experiencing it first hand would further educate me on how architecture and emotions come together to form something magnificent.
Evaluating the website~
Purpose-
The purpose of the site was straight forward; to promote tourism in Germany. Therefore, the website provides detailed information on what tourists can find, or what to expect in Germany.
Accuracy-
The website is manged by the tourism board in Germany, which is under the government. Information provided is up to date and are constantly updated to make sure that tourist get up to date information on the country, be it new events or old places that they can visit in their trip.
Coverage-
The website has only one purpose of promoting tourism in Germany, therefore it only covers on what Germany is all about. Tourists will never get lost in the website in terms of information as they are all about what one will find in the country.
Accessibility - This website is available to everyone on the internet, an in various languages. This helps as tourists could be from any part of the world.
This exercise was really fun to do and I hope this 'dream' holiday could come true one day!
Sunday, January 17, 2010, 2:06 AM
Practical Se7en!
For this practical,
we were to evaluate Stomp.com as a platform for citizen journalism in Singapore.
So, what is citizen journalism?
Well, its basically news report made by normal people like you and me, who weren't employed by any party to do the job. Read this article for more information.
(http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/09/your-guide-to-citizen-journalism270.html)
The idea of citizen journalism is that anyone without any professional journalism training can pass out news to anyone, anywhere. This can be in the means of the internet,, in which citizen journalism has grown in.
News forums which are open to the public serve as a platform for more 'in depth' analysis of a story, told from a more clearer perspective of a person who might have encountered with that certain situation.
Here, the flaw of citizen journalism, would be that the news could be brought up by unreliable sources, therefore, reliability of a news has to be taken care of, so false news wont be accepted as the truth.
STOMP.com.....
1)Which criteria did you use to evaluate Stomp.com? Why did you choose this criteria?
2)What lessons have you learnt from this activity?
Stomp.com is one example on how citizen journalism is done. And with a more entertaining variety of news reports. So, one the the criteria I used to evaluate Stomp.com was in terms of coverage.
Stomp.com covers mainly local news in Singapore, as it being part of Singapore Press Holdings, SPH.
As we can see, such news are based on happenings in Singapore. This was reported by fellow Stomper, Vivian. She met up with this incident while she was on the expressway.
Other than news such as this,
Stomp also covers a more whackier and humorous side of news reporting. Most of the stories are not serious or has got nothing to do with any serious issues whatsoever. This is just basically part of 'reading for entertainment'. But, this is makes Stomp unique as it covers basically everything, serious in nature or not, as long as it makes a good story to be heard.
Another criteria that I evaluated Stopm.com is with in terms of purpose.
First of all, the purpose of a news coverage is to let people know or to inform people, as well as to keep people updated with the current happenings in a particular place. In this, Singapore.
Stomp.com clearly have that criteria as it keeps people updated with every kind of happenings in Singapore, be it important news, or entertainment, Stomp.com covers them.
This exercise has really taught me the importance of evaluating websites to ensure its usefulness before I make use of it as a research material.
Goodbye then!
Friday, January 15, 2010, 12:17 PM
Practical 6
Invisible web databases such as EBSCO provides information on topics in terms of online journals written by professionals, specialising in their own field of work, or filings by companies, or even . These journals are chosen by indexes from EBSCO, and are kept up to date from time to time. This ensures that content written in these journals have a higher reliability. This would also mean that the content is usable for educational purposes. These topics are excerpts from books that can be retrieved from libraries such as the TP library.
Though, compared to search engines, invisible web databases as the name suggests, are only visible to certain people. This is so as only members such as educators and students are given access to these information. Unlike search engines, that can be used by anyone from any walks of life.
In terms search results, invisible web databases have a more reliable. It has a rather limited number of search results, but most of them have good enough content for my topic. The content is also rather short and most of the time do not have enough information regarding the topic.
2. Will you use the invisible web (databases) for research in your own respective Diplomas? Why?
Invisible webs are a little too troublesome to use as there are log ins required and most of the content are very limited.
3.What have you learnt from your wiki experience during this practical?
Wikis are rather useful, ONLY if your discussion topic is responded to. A wiki page may become irrelevant when the page is not constantly updated.
I will look forward to our next class!
Friday, January 8, 2010, 10:02 AM
Practiacal 4n5, Mamma and her Yahoo! Directory
Two days ago...
We were introduced to two search facilities, Mamma Meta Search and Yahoo! Directory. These sites actually have been in the internet for quite some time, though,
i guess im too oblivous to even notice of their existence.
Anyways, I was really impressed with how these sites work and are really different from the normal search engines that i normally use, such as Google and MSN search engine. This, because of the slightly more precise search results that we get from the mentioned search facilities.
First of all, Mamma.com. It was established in the year 1998 and is one of the most commonly used meta search engine on the planet. 'The mother of all search engines' as it calls itself, meta searches are different from other normal search engines as their search results are made of results retrieved from other search engines. For example, Mamma can retrieve search results from Google. That is the nature of Meta searches as it does not work on its own database, but on others.
For Yahoo! Directory, or any other subject directories, they are actually a compilation of search topics neatly organised in different subjects so that users are able to find answers to their search query fast.
Subject directories are also made up of articles or written information done by professionals, specialising in that paritcular field. Therefore, the reliabilty rate for subject directories are higher and are more accurate.
From this, I have actually found out that the combination of meta searches and subject directories are more effective for my reseach for my final portfolio. Wtih higher relevance, and reliability, this will better aid me in my research.
That would be all for now. See you later!
Monday, January 4, 2010, 11:08 AM
Practical 3 and Google IT!
TODAY.
A) Were you impressed by google’s search functions/features? Why?
We were tasked to find out the effectiveness of the Google search engine and
Google Scholar search engine. My first opinion was that both were by Google, so what
difference do they have other than having different names?
Google Search Engine
+Resources provided are diverse and of varieties.
One source leads to another.
Google Scholar
+Search results are from a diverse variety of sources written by everyone. Resources are relevant to keyword and topic. Search results are only based on articles or abstracts written by academic publishers or professional societies. Resources are relatively relevant to keywords.
So, after collating a few criteria on both search engines, in my opinion, the original Google search engine still works best for me. Even though most of the time, a few of the resources are unreliable and require further searching, I would still be bound to find the information I would be looking for.
On top of that, there are more variety of articles found in Google search than the scholar. Google scholar provides professional articles at most of the time, but the Google search provides a wider source of search results from blogs, to electronic journals and even forums. Most of the content provided by Google search might be short, but from that short content, I can go on finding the more relevant content from other sources.
The relevance of Google search better than of Google scholar as more than 4 of the first few sources provided includes the searched topic given, compared to scholar that only has less than 2.
b) How do you feel about participation in discussion forum? Is it helpful for your research? Do you feel anxious about talking to others you do not know?
I have tried participating in a discussion forum from SGforum. I didnt get any immediate response to the thread created, but hopefully it might grow.
Other than this, I have participated in a gaming forum before. To me, forums arent really the best way of finding reliable answers or immediate answers.
First of all, forum threads can be replied by anyone, and might have an unreliable source. Therefore, we cant believe whatever written in a thread before confirming its reliable or true.
Secondly, some forums might only havve access to certain members or people, therefore might have limited number of people looking at our threads. Therefore, response might be slow. That, or there arent many people who share the same interests as we do, so our questions and discussions might not be responded to.
c) Why must you do citation and bibliography?
We have also learnt the importance of making citations. It is basically to state the source of a particular research material found on the net that we have retrieved, since the material is an intellectual property belonged to the author. Citations acts as sort of a commendation to the author; a way to respect his work.
If we dont cite people's work, people wont cite ours. So, put them citations down!
Well, today was a really fruitful day and I have learnt new things especially about using keywords for searches.
See everyone tomorrow!
hzq2.bs.com
Muhammad Haziq B Zaid
Environment Design Year 2
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