Tutorial 3 & 4

Assuming that you have been appointed as the new CEO of YouTube, discuss in your groups answers to these questions :

1. What are the factors that lead to the extreme popularity of YouTube, especially with keen competition from other social network services like Wiki, Blogs and Facebook.

I think one factor is the fact that YouTube was marketed primarily as a video sharing site. Other social network services, such as Facebook, focus on the social networking aspect of the internet, that is, to keep in touch with friends, and make new ones. Others like blogs focus on sharing your life with the people on the internet. Wikis help users create collaborative websites and power community websites. What makes YouTube stand out from the rest is that users can now express themselves through video, where, on a site that deals primarily in videos, it is sure to be viewed and opinions formulated about it. This revolutionary way of declaring one's existence in the world is more engaging than mini applications found in social networking services that lets users "poke" each other, thus generating far more response from other users.

Another contributing factor is that YouTube has the ability to function as a social network service as well. The way it is being used right now can be said to be social networking, where users share their opinions about others' videos, add other YouTube users as friends and meet them, and even reply to videos with their own videos. Users can post vlogs (or video logs) of their daily life by simply recording what they see and uploading it every day. The video could be a restricted video for friends only, or a public video for the whole world to see. The users could comment on the video, rate it, save it as a favourite, and reply with their own videos. There is so much interactivity on YouTube. A picture says a thousand words and videos definitely say much more, which is why YouTube is so successful.

Finally, I think that YouTube is so popular because of its ease of use. There is no need for a YouTube account to view YouTube videos, nor is there a need to convert videos to upload them (although you do need an account to upload). YouTube makes use of the Adobe Flash Player, which is cross-platform compatible and does not require the downloading of an external video player program. Because of the nature of Flash, users can also embed their videos in other sites for easy viewing.


2. The article discusses some downsides to YouTube. How would you deal with these issues?

Since videos are uploaded onto YouTube not by us, the company, but the whole world of users, the real responsibility lies with the users themselves. By uploading copyrighted content to YouTube, they are undermining our operation, but until we fold, they will not stop because some people just will not see the forest for the trees, and we cannot jeopardise our business and the support of the other non-violators for these people. This is why the only thing we can do is to have moderators online 24/7 to delete copyrighted content as quickly as possible. This is not a downside to YouTube, rather, a problem with the ideals of YouTube users.

Privacy is another issue that is solved by user morality. Most people do not care for the privacy of others if the end result is enjoyment for themselves. The only way we can deal with the issue is to allow an option to restrict profile viewing. However, this would greatly reduce the interactivity of YouTube as a social site but to curb these issues we may have no choice. As for privacy in real life, people have to learn to be more careful about where they do what.

3. What would be the future direction for YouTube? Refer to the sections “Where is it going?” and “What are the implications for teaching and learning” for some ideas.

The future direction of YouTube could be social networking, where YouTube has still so much to tap into. This allows for more interactivity between the users. Also, YouTube could be the host for video competitions, where people were previously required to send in their videos, they can instead upload them onto YouTube for an online panel of judges to decide winners.

Practical 9

Describe in a paragraph, the most important lesson that you had learnt in your UIR journey.

The most important lesson that I had learnt in my UIR journey was the different search facilities available and the different search techniques. In the past, I'd only search with Google, and I didn't know about the AND, OR, () search tools that were available to me and ended up digging through pages and pages for the exact information I required. Now that I've learnt about these tools (and others such as wildcards and stems), I am able to search more quicker and more efficiently. Also, now that I've found out about meta search engines and subject directories, I find it much easier to obtain the information I need. For example, I'd use search engines and meta search engines to find information on a specific keyword that I am sure of, while I can browse through related categories in the subject directories to find what I am looking for. Equipped with this knowledge of using the internet as a research tool, the best results come easier and quicker and my search time is greatly shortened.

Practical 8

Purpose
The purpose of talkingcock.com is for a bunch of Singaporeans (writers, journalists, cartoonists) to report the latest news in Singapore (completely in satire) and also to build a community of Singaporeans with a sense of humour and who enjoy life in all its complexity.

Coverage
The site covers many topics, mainly satirical interpretations of the latest news about Singapore. There are columns talking about specific topics as well:

- Local News
- International News
- Politics
- Business
- Sports
- The Arts
- News in Brief

Columns:
- Another Day In Paradise
- Diary of the Dragon Prince
- Art with Fatt
- Dear Ah Beng
- Travel with Auntie
- Lim Peh Ka Li Kong
- Louie Chin Ooh Lui
- Poet's Corner
- We, The Citizens
- Interview

Authority
The site is not an authoritative source as it basically injects humor into real-life happenings in Singapore. The authors are anonymous, and thus have low credibility and authority.

Accuracy
The facts seen on the site are not accurate at all, as the news articles on this site are not meant to be taken seriously. The articles were written to poke fun at local events and happenings, and contain much Singlish and dialects.

Currency
The information on the site is up-to-date and well-maintained. It is updated regularly with the latest (humour-injected) news from Singapore.

Accessibility
The website is easily accessible, no log-ins or registration required and all the information are free and easily reached. However, the forums would require one to register before posting.

Presentation and Arrangement
There is consistency in the site's webpages. The information is formatted properly and presented clearly. As the site deals primarily in news and text-based articles, there is a lot of text on every page. However this does not make the site any harder to read as the text is spaced appropriately. The site also has a search engine and a list of their articles so that users can search the site easily.

Usability
The site is easy to navigate as most of the links bring you to the page that you need in three clicks or less. The search tool is also very easy to use, and the headings are very clear.

Overall
Overall, my impression of this site was a good one. It is a good read as the articles are funny and light-hearted, but still manage to voice out the opinion of the public clearly. As a result this site is highly popular among locals. The site is also well maintained and up-to-date.

How would you react to this website if you were :
Singapore’s Prime Minister
As the Prime Minister, I would support the website and encourage the Singaporean public to continue humouring themselves, as this is a better way of getting your point across than being angry. There are more ways to voice opinions than being loud after all. I'd rather look at the concerns of Singaporeans via this website than an overly-serious/aggressive letter sent by ONE Singaporean.

A Singaporean
I'd laugh and join in. This site is good fun and it is a relief to know that other Singaporeans feel the same way about issues.

A Foreigner Working / Studying In Singapore
The first impression I'd get is that Singaporeans are a funny bunch of people, as they can find ways to humour themselves. However, the site also tells me that Singaporeans are generally a dissatisfied bunch, as they have so many things to complain about. It brings to mind two conclusions: Either the gonvernment is not doing a swell job, or Singaporeans love to complain.

Practical 6

Name: Hong Yeu Wing
Class: P05
Title of Internet Resource: Animal Rights
URL: http://animalrights.about.com/

Purpose
Are the aims of the site clearly stated?
The aims of the site are clearly stated in the title.

Coverage
The site deals primarily with animal rights. The site covers subjects like basic animal rights, animal laws, organisations and activists, companies and their animal-related activities, and how you can get active to help animals. It contains the latest news about animal rights and its own newsletter and RSS feed which you can sign up for. The links to other sites are advertisements ad sponsored links so they are not very useful.

Authority
The site is a part of a respectable company: The New York Times Company and are written by reputated people or authorities in the field. The author can be contacted for clarification.

Accuracy
The articles are written by an authority in the field so there is some accuracy. There are no political biasness detected in the articles. There are no spelling or grammatical errors.

Currency
The information on the site is up-to-date and well-maintained. They have a blog that is frequently updated.

Accessibility
The website is easily accessible, no log-ins or registration required and all the information are free and easily reached. However, the forums would require one to register before posting.

Presentation and Arrangement
The information is formatted properly and presented clearly. As the site deals primarily in news and text-based articles, there is a lot of text on every page. However this does not make the site any harder to read as the text is spaced appropriately. The site also has a search engine and a list of their articles so that users can search the site easily.

Usability
The site is easy to navigate as most of the links bring you to the page that you need in three clicks or less. The search tool is also very easy to use, and the headings are very clear.

Overall
Overall, my impression of this site was a good one. There is constantly updated information on the site, and are presented clearly and neatly. The site has a blog that is updated regularly, but the articles are not.

Practical 4 & 5

Relevant keywords: Animal, Cruelty, Prevention
Variations:
- Animal: n/a
- Cruelty: Barbarity, Brutality, Inhumanity
- Prevention: Determent, Deterrence, Forestallment

Search Phrases: (Animal*) AND (Cruelty OR Barbarity OR Brutality OR Inhumanity) AND (Prevention* OR Determent OR Deterrence OR Forestallment)

1.)
Search Engine used: http://www.google.com.sg/
Keyword(s) used: (animal*) AND (cruelty OR brutality) prevention
URL of the resource: http://www.aspca.org/
Number of hits: 1,130,000
Comments: Searching animal cruelty gave me 3,160,000 hits so the proper search technique has helped me cut down the websites to a third of the original number, which is a fair amount. This makes the resources more relevant to what I am searching for.

2.)
Meta Search Engine used: http://www.metacrawler.com/
Keyword(s) used: animal cruelty
URL of the resource: http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/animal_cruelty.php/
Number of hits: 66
Comments: Metacrawler has assisted in finding resources that were not in the first few pages of Google, but in other search engines.

3.)
Subject Directory used: http://dir.yahoo.com/?skw=yahoo+directory/
Keyword(s) used: n/a (browsed the categories)
URL of the resource: http://www.inhumane.org/
Number of hits: 23
Comments: The subject directory helps a lot by categorising the topics. Under the topic Animal Abuse, all of the sites there are related to animal abuse or animal cruelty, so the search becomes much more efficient for me as I can browse through all of the sites due to their relevance.

Comparison and evaluation of search effectiveness:
2 characteristics that make all 3 search facilities similar or different:
1. Search engines and meta search engines are machine compiled, while subject directories are human compiled. The human compiled search facility is more reliable. It needs time to be approved however, so it will take more time than a machine compiled search facility.

2. The difference between a search engine and the meta search engine is how it searches for information. A meta search engine searches for the most relevant results from many search engines, which makes it more efficient.

Strength/Weaknesses:
The search engine returns a large amount of hits, so the user has a wider choice. However, these choices may or may not be relevant.

The meta search engine returns only the most relevant choices from many search engines, but there are very few hits, so the user has very little to choose from.

The subject directory is human compiled, so the information there is more relevant than the search engine or the meta search engine. Unfortunately, the links need to be reviewed before posting, so there is a significantly larger lag time in link posting or uploading.

Overall:
The search engine meets my needs best. I need many choices to choose from so that I can decide the ones I need to keep. At the very most, I can edit the search keywords myself to narrow the search.

Practical 3

Resource 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_cruelty
Purpose: Information
Reason: Provides factual information.

Resource 2: http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/animal_cruelty.php
Purpose: Advocacy
Reason: This site promotes the protection of animals and the prevention of animal abuse. They campaign for people to support them, through donations and through volunteering.

Resource 3: http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/archive/ALL///
Purpose: News
Reason: This site contains the latest news about animal cruelty and animal aid.

Resource 4: http://acnmee.blogspot.com/
Purpose: Personal
Reason: This is a personal blog where the author shares her thoughts on animal cruelty.

Practical 2

Personal Website

• maintained by an individual
• relates to his/her personal interests
• include material on specific subject
• may be part of an organisational page

URL: http://acnmee.blogspot.com/
Description: This is a personal blog where the author shares her thoughts on animal cruelty.

Organisational Website

• a collection of www pages which are created and maintained by a particular organisation
• include company and university sites, sites of professional groups, society or organizations
• contains extensive materials on the subject

URL: http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer
Description: This is the site for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. I hardly need to explain what they do.

I used Google.com to search for the websites, and found them with the keywords "animal cruelty". The results were very relevant already.


Bibliography:

Animal Rights Community Online :: Index - Animal Rights Community Online. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2008, from http://www.animalsuffering.com/forum/.

ASPCA: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2008, from http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer/ .

Cruelty to animals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_cruelty/.

Downing, A. (1999). Animal Abuses. Retrieved May 14, 2008, from http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/animal_cruelty/24830/.

snbg. (2005, July 24). My thoughts on Animal Cruelty. Message posted to http://acnmee.blogspot.com/.