Final Practical - Prac 9

I remembered a time when I was about 10, I need to check the internet for information required for my project. At that time I doesn't know how to find them and felt lost. It was until I was sec 1 that I truely know how to find information I needed from the net. I quickly found out how useful the internet was. Soon internet become part of my life, using it for entertainment, knowledge and other stuffs. I soon pride myself in able to find the needed things off the net. My family turn to me for information from the internet everytime.
It was not until I took UIR as a subject that I feel my searching skills are second to none to someone who doesn't know how to search. After taking UIR, I learned that there are different kinds of search engines that can be used. They sometimes return results I was very satisfied in. UIR brings forward my searching skills a few levels.

Prac 8 - TalkingCock

About TalkingCock.com.
URL: http://www.talkingcock.com/html/index.php

Purpose: The aim is to try and make fun of any latest news. And they did!

Coverage: The web is comprehensive only to those that knows Singlish and certain dialects. The material they used are the hottest news, politics in Singapore and some international news. The web have a random link to another site.

Authority: The creator is not known to public while the authors are largely Singaporeans that love to make fun at Singapore's politics and news.

Accuracy: This website is made solely for entertainment purposes, therefore the information it contains are pure opinions from the people who had posted. The grammar and spelling mistakes are all deliberate.

Currency: This website has been up-to-date. Regular posting of news by the webmaster can be seen. The latest post it has is from July 24, 2008.

Accessibility: The information are easily accessible and is free to all. No registration is needed unless one wants to voice his/her opinions. This website has not violated any copyright issues.

Presentation and Arrangement: The layout of the web is simplistic. Though it does not have the appeal, it has a search function that allows the reader to find the information they want. It has easy to read fonts and clear headings.

Usability: The links are categorized properly and can be found at each side of the website. It is easy to navigate to the link to locate information.

Overall: This serves as a good entertainment website for those who are familiar with Singapore's news and politics. Trusting the information in thie website is greatly discouraged.

Reflections:
How would you react to this website if you were :

· Singapore’s Prime Minister
· A Singaporean
· A Foreigner working / studying in Singapore

If I am the Singapore's Prime Minster, I would laugh about the parodies that they have come up with. I would not take those articles too seriously as it is made for entertainment purposes.

I AM a Singaporean. What I have done is bookmark the website and frequent there often to see the updates of the parodies. It serves as a good entertainment website.

If I am a foreigner working / studying in Singapore, I would try to understand the Singapore's politics through the website (though most of the time I wouldn't understand). I would laugh at some interesting and funny news while the others may left me confused.

Practical 7 - WIKI (Reflection)

This is mine and my group's consolidation of the WIKI: http://uir-rawkz.wetpaint.com/page/Teo+Chu+Ping%2C+Soh+Jun+Sian%2C+Leonard+Chin%2C+Ng+Cheng+Lai.

The consolidation makes the WIKI looks weird as this page consist of a lot of different topics which has no common point. Anyway, this week's practical let us experience the chance to post our own information in the web. While doing the practical, I had experienced problem, which is broken link from previous findings of results. To solve this, I used a link from previous practical and evaluate it.

Practical 6a & b

"Blogging’s a Low-Cost, High Return Marketing Tool"

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/business/smallbusiness/27sbiz.html?_r=1&fta=y&oref=slogin

Purpose: The aims of the website are clearly stated. It explains why blogging could be a good marketing tool and has analyzed that big business is not recommended to use blogging as a marketing tool.

Coverage: This article starts off by saying that recent people has turn to blogging to advertise their products. It also contains analysis by experts about the extend of influence on the market by blogging. This article has no link to other sites.

Authority and Accuracy: This is an online article from the New York Times so it has been checked for accuracy

Currency: This article is not up-to-date as it last published in 27 Dec 2007.

Accessibility: This website does not requires registration and the information is free for all people.

Presentation and Arrangement: It is logically and categorized. It has alot of information.

Usability: It is easy to use and navigate around.

Overall and Evaluation:
As this is an online newspaper website, the formatting of the webpage is clear and it categorises all their articles clearly on the top of the page for easy accessibility. Those categories are further broken down to smaller factions so reader can find articles they want specifically. This website is also updated everyday to let readers know about the latest news within U.S. and throughout the world. On the right side of the page are news that are under the same category as what you are reading. What amazes me is the helping tip at the bottom of the page. All the reader have to do is to double-click a word in the webpage then a window will appear with the definition of that word.

Reflections:
In the past, when I search for a specific information, I did not take these things into consideration. Usually, I will just take information that is necessary and use them. After going through this practical, I found that using Coverage, Authority, Accuracy and Currency can filter for accurate results easily.

UIR practical 4 & 5

Activity 1:
Based on our research topics, we are required to choose relevant keywords to use it in search engines.
The keywords I use are: Impact, Blogging, Business
As for the variations, the sentence is: Influcence of blogging in commercial uses.

Search Engine: google.com
Result: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/ideas/bal-id.blog08jun08,0,7999052.column (For some reason, this does not return to the webpage i've seen)
No. of results: 764,000

Meta Search Engine: metacrawler.com
Result: No results revelant to topic
No. of results: 52

Subject Directory: Yahoo Directory
Result: No results revelant to topic
No. of results: 84

Comparison and Evaluation on search effectiveness
Using the same keywords in 3 different search facilities, they yields different amount of results and their revelance. The differences of the 3 search facilities are that search engines does not uses invalid keywords, like and, of, for, etc. Meta search engines and subject directories include those keywords into their result and there will be alot of irrevelant results.
Search engines yields more results than meta search engines and subject directories.

The strength/weakness of each of them, in terms of search capabilites are search engines provides other suggestions of the keywords and it will yields different results. Meta search engines include alot of multiple search engines.

Overall, I tink that search engines best meets my searching needs. I have been using them alot of times and are quite familiar with the engines. It might be that my keywords are rephrased very badly and it yields results not related to my topics.

New York Times about blogging in business

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/business/smallbusiness/27sbiz.html?_r=1&fta=y&oref=slogin
It states that blogging is only effective for small business. Read more from the link.

Practical 3

Resource 1: Information
Website: www.ornl.gov/hgmis/home.shtml
Reason: Provides factual information that explains what the project is all about

Resource 2: Business
Website: http://www.sony.com.sg/
Reason: They advertises and sell their products

Resource 3: News
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Reason: News from New York Times

Resource 4: Personal
Website: http://blog.makezine.com/
Reason: Provides information about DIY

Resource 5: Entertainment
Website: http://www.gamefudge.com/
Reason: Casual Games

Reflection:
I have learnt the meaning of each purpose of resources. They are:

Information: This is a type of resource that provides facts.

Advocacy: These are created to influence the public.

Business/marketing: Construct to advertise their product or service.

News: Created to provide current events.

Personal: Provided by individual that shows the individual's information.

Entertainment: Established to provide enjoyment.

E-Shopping Spree - If I have $500...

Woohoo! Though $500 is not a lot, it's still money. I would be happy to buy a good model kit for around $250. Then probably spend on some trousers and clothes. Mangas will also be in my list. By now I should have left around $50. Maybe i will save them in the bank. To me, this amount of money is well-spent. LOL.

3rd post for UIR

http://www.slideshare.net/swamicrm/business-impact-of-blogs/

This is a web that shows the impact of blog in Europe and statistics of some survey that has been done in Europe. The survey is to find which media can gain the Europeans' trust to purchase the products in the market. At the end of the slideshow, there is a conclusion about the impact of blog on business.

UIR Practical 2

http://rallenhome.com/essays/essay5.html
This website is about a personal essay about the impact of blogging in business.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931001_mz001.htm
This website is a magazine article about the impact of blogging in business.

Bibilography:
1. R.Allen(2005, Dec). "The Impact of Blogging". Retrieved May 13, 2008 from World Wide Web:
http://rallenhome.com/essays/essay5.html

2. Retrieved May 13, 2008 from World Wide Web:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931001_mz001.htm

3. Retrieved May 08, 2008 from World Wide Web:
http://www.businessleader.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34075

4. Retrieved May 08, 2008 from World Wide Web:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2004/tc2004089_3601_tc024.htm

5. Retrieved May 08, 2008 from World Wide Web:
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/online-marketing/blogging-for-business-7-tips-for-getting-started.aspx#Bloggingforbusinesstipsforgettingstarted

Reflection:
From the previous 2 practicals, I have learnt that there are a variety of types of information source. Before this, I did not have the thought to classify them under different categories. After doing this practical, I discovered that different search engines returns different results, and I need to sort out the necessary information before using them.

UIR practical 1

Categories: Discussion forum

Resource Name /URL:
http://www.businessleader.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34075

Description:
What Is You Favorite Small Business Blog?

Categories: Electronic journals and magazine

Resource Name / URL:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2004/tc2004089_3601_tc024.htm
With readers flocking to their Web postings, execs are finding blogs useful for plugging not just their products but their points of view

Description:
With readers flocking to their Web postings, execs are finding blogs useful for plugging not just their products but their points of view

Categories: WWW site

Resource Name / URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/online-marketing/blogging-for-business-7-tips-for-getting-started.aspx#Bloggingforbusinesstipsforgettingstarted

Description:
Blogging for business: 7 tips for getting started