Secondlife: Meeting the Hongkong students!

Individual Blog Activity : (Virtual Youths Meeting and Networking on Second Life (E-learning Activity)

1. At the end of your virtual meeting on Second Life, summarise your experience in a paragraph in response to the following questions:

i) What do you like best about this virtual experience which you cannot get in real-life?

ii) Do you have to observe special mannerisms/behaviours/ethics when meeting your new friend on Second Life?

I think this virtual experience to hold exchange programmes this way is fun in the way that we can save so much money, and with just an internet connection, we get to meet people at a stated time or maybe anytime, from another part of the world to exchange educational views and opinions. However, I feel that a exchange programme in real life would definitely beat this virtual one, hands down.

I would say this was the best experience playing Secondlife for me,and it was because my classmates were being funny and we were all very confused and trying to help one another. We can't really tell who was the students most of the time. At about 10.30, I met a hongkong student and I instantly stopped fooling around and talked politely and in a friendly casual way to him because I need his attention to help me with the question! If I were to approach my new friend in a rude manner by not saying hi, and stuff, I would maybe not get my answers. I shared with my friend about my experiences at hongkong and how much I liked hongkong when I visited last December.

2. Describe the experience you had virtually meeting and sharing about yourself and your research experiences with your new friend from Hong Kong.

I teleported to HKPoly UCampus and I was stuck in the sea, I communicated with my friend Rafie and he told me to fly up. Took me awhile to figure out and that's me swimming in the water, below the building. I can see the list of people near by and I'm excited that I got it right!!!! :)

Flew up and here we are!

Hanging around my classmates and just talking and laughing.

Another spot we hang out at:

Classmate Sufang's birthday!!!! Everyone wishing her a happy birthday ^^

Confusion: I thought my class mate Sure li was a hongkong student!

AT LAST, I found my new Hong Kong student friend who can help me. His name is Selok Millet. I told him I went to hongkong last year and disneyland too.

He told me to ask him at the private chat and so I got my answer, a famous landmark is the clock tower in front of us!

I asked him for his real name, it was Dick Yeung. Cool.

& here is the clock tower. :)

3. What have you gained from this e-learning experience?

I learnt how to play this game Secondlife and of course, meet hongkong students. :)

4. What is the one most challenging experience you had?

Flying up to the building when I was caught under the building in the sea. I was unsure the functions and had a hard time trying to fly up. Thanks to my classmate Rafie, I got it in the end. :)

5. Update your Blog with your friend’s avatar, all the screen captures and conversation of your virtual meeting and networking with your friend from Hong Kong on Second Life.

Practical 6

Activity 4 (Blog [and Twitter]Reflections)

Briefly reflect on lessons learnt from this practical:

a. Do you think it is more effective to search the invisible web (databases) than using search engines, meta-search or subject directories? Why?

Yes I think it's more effective. I log on to spark.tp to search our school's invisible web for data. I find it very mind boogling that the invisible web is about 500 times bigger than what we normally can find in general search engines.

(Activity 1)

I used LexisNexis Academic, Power Search.

This is the result page I got when I typed in my search query. I simplified my search query to be "Japan Anime Industry".

This was the article I chose:

b. Will you use the invisible web (databases) for research in your own respective Diplomas? Why?

Yes, I will. Before knowing that the invisible web, databases are about 500 times bigger than mainstream search engines, now I will try my luck if I'm doing research for future projects like for example my Final Year Project now. :)

c. What have you learnt from your wiki experience during this practical?

You can read more here.

I read through the other posts before me and I realised the students seem to mostly have a positive mindset about Japan's anime industry, or they are just reporting about the various kinds of anime there are and cool beans pictures.

I offered what I felt was lacking, more research about the negative issues faced by the Japanese anime industry and thus picked two articles about the "Future of anime industry in doubt" and "Lines are being redrawn for Japan's anime industry".

d. Comment on at least one of your classmate’s blog post.

Practical 8 & 9, Activity 3

Virtual Holiday on Second Life

As I am visiting Germany soon in December, why not go for a virtual one first? I searched 'Munich' in the World Map and this is where I was!

Muenchen SL, Munich SL, Oktoberfest, Munchen, Munich City - General

This is the train station in Munich and I can walk around happily at the maps and signages. At least I can get a vague idea how it looks like. I wonder whether it is built like this in real. Maybe, maybe not.

and so, if im not wrong, I am at the landmark of Munich, City Square. This is pretty cool, there were small shops and I can hear music and radio playing! I think it's a german radio station playing mainly mainstream english songs. It's so cooooool.

and check it out, I took a sexy picture of my character soniabee Chatterbox. It's quite a funny name, I picked it by random order.

Hohoho, I can't think of any else I want to go now, other than Germany. I am dying to go there so badly, after my graduation next year but before next year arrives, I think I would die of waiting. That's why I am going in December for 3 weeks. YAYYYYY.

So, this adds on to the list of advantages for Secondlife. If there is a place you would like to visit you can try searching on Secondlife and see if it's available and go have a look yourself.

Things are looking up. :)

(picture taken from http://www.iaphomepage.org/int208/DSC_4887.jpg )

Munich overview

Munich is a city of palaces and public parks, art and coats of arms, Oktoberfest and oompah bands. Olympiapark, site of the 1972 Olympic games, can't be missed. You can actually skate on the Olympic ice rink and swim in the Olympic pool. Kids and their parents will like the puppet museum, the historical toy collection and the marionette theater that performs Mozart operas. And no Munich visit would be complete without meeting strangers while drinking the local brew at a beer garden.

b. Which evaluation criteria did you used to evaluate the multimedia websites for your dream holiday? Why?

I use accuracy to evaluate the website which is (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g187309-Munich_Bavaria-Vacations.html) because the information must be as accurate as possible to let me understand my holiday destination more and give me tips. Trip advisor is a reliable website and I like the way the website offers their information. Those 'Top ten' way of suggesting.

SecondLife Virtual Shopping!

Honestly, I find secondlife very confusing and not so fun but I am trying my best to do what is required. Okay, see I went to the Orientation Island Public here, but I can't find the shopping places! It's just all hills and mountains, sea surrounding and a bridge and there was a talking parrot who asked me whether I want a kiss.

And slightly before that, I read a notecard on how to change my appearance on secondlife, but after meddling awhile with the functions, I feel that my current look is okay so I didn't make any changes. But here are the evidence I did try! :)

Okay, back to shopping assignment. I visited some super random shops which I have no idea how I got there and I bought a penguin, for free! Seriously, I'm not kidding you. Here are the snapshots to prove. Well, at least I did sort of shopped.

& at this point of time after I bought my happy new penguin, my hand started to twist in a very awkward and weird way.... I wonder what happened.

and I sat on the floor with my legs in the ground..

I feel that the game functions are not easy to understand at first when trying it out on my own. As I'm using the mac version, Ive got to figure things out different eg. the "Map" tool, for mac, is on the top left hand corner "World" then click on "World Map". That took some trying out to find out.

Alrighto, the last two points about my arm being twisted and my feet being in the ground when I'm sitting down is not just for fun. I have a point there. What?! Okay, I can't really explain myself but you get it.

I'm not a person who plays alot of these graphic games but honestly I think the appearance and these avatar of the character is not appealing to me. I would definitely not play this game on my own accord as I don't have the patience. But welllll, school is important, work is important so let's move on.

QUESTIONS TIME:

1. How does this experience compare with your E-Shopping Spree on Internet you did in Practical 1&2?

I think E-Shopping Spree was easier to understand as it is a real doable thing and we could choose anything online. :) As I have mentioned above, the shopping in Secondlife got me very confused to the extent that I bought a penguin for 0 dollars, so which means I got a free penguin.

On secondlife, buying non-realistic items is possible. (Ever heard of someone buying a penguin online in real?)

2. What have you gained from this e-learning experience?

I gained the experience of shopping online in Secondlife.

3. What is the one most challenging experience you had?

I think the challenging part was trying to find the shopping place in the Orientation Island. I spent about half an hour walking around, then I flew up and around and realized it's just a island with rocks and sea around.

My wiki-wetpaint research topic contribution! :)

Here is my wiki-wetpaint contribution to my research topic on:"Discuss the trends and developments on animation industry in Japan."

Taking a look at the future aspects of the anime industry

Future of 'anime' industry in doubt
Money, success elude; outsourcing, piracy abound

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The Japan Times

ByALEX MARTIN
Staff writer


The deepening recession and rapid shift in the overall landscape surrounding the industry have caused many to fear for the future of one of the nation's most prized cultural exports.
"The global fan base for Japanese 'anime' is increasing, but with the old business model crumbling it isn't translating into profits," said Yasuo Yamaguchi, executive director of the Association of Japanese Animations.
For the past decade, the industry has been hammering out average annual sales of ¥200 billion in what experts described as an "animation bubble."
Yamaguchi predicted, however, that the industry's proceeds for fiscal 2008 — which have yet to be calculated — would be lower than 2007, when total sales dropped almost ¥20 billion from 2006, a record high year, according to AJA statistics.

"The financial crisis is forcing sponsors to cut down on television advertisement fees, and this in turn is shrinking the budgets for animations, pressuring everyone involved in the production," Yamaguchi said.
"I think we'll see a major decrease in the number of anime programs broadcast. Agencies dependent on television as a primary financial source will need to search for alternatives."
Besides the gloomy economy, the overwhelmingly adult content of recent television animation — many featuring violent or highly sexual material and broadcast during late-night hours — has played a part in limiting the audience and making both marketing and merchandising of anime-related products difficult.
Yoshihiko Noda, director of the media content division for ad agency Asatsu-DK, buys TV time slots for popular family programs such as "Doraemon" and "Crayon Shin-chan." He said these trends were a relatively recent phenomenon.

"Animation isn't free. It's the product of hard work and a lot of money, and we cannot continue producing quality content without the financial help from fans," Kawasaki said. "We are seriously concerned that the industry will not survive if things go on like this," he said, acknowledging that whether their new plan succeeds or not, the structural issue undermining the industry will still exist.

"You've got to really love animation to be in this trade," said Takeo Ide, chief animator for the popular television series "One Piece."


Biblography of this source:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090304f1.html
The Japan Times

Lines are being redrawn for Japan's anime industry
August 19, 2010|Yuriko Nagano

As production houses cut costs by sending animation jobs to South Korea, India and Vietnam, the number of experienced workers in Japan is shrinking. Competitors in China are another threat to Japan's cultural icon.

The problems plaguing the industry are numerous. Seeking lower costs, production companies for decades have been outsourcing the work to animation companies in South Korea, India, Vietnam and elsewhere, where scores of trade schools have cropped up and artists can be hired more readily.
More recently, competitors in China are cranking out their own lines of films and anime shows, in an effort to draw business away from Japan. Piracy is also on the rise, as bootlegging flourishes on YouTube and other Internet sites. And the popularity of the art form is cooling at home in Japan, as video games and the Web compete for consumers' time and money.
The domestic industry oversaturated the TV market, which led to fewer hits and more shows being cancelled. (The number of anime TV series being created in Japan has been cut by almost half since 2007, according to the trade group Japan Animation Creators Assn.)

As a result, experts say, the Japanese cultural icon that became well-known through hits such as Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy" — and the generations of artists behind it — is in peril.

"Japan risks losing its cultural icon, and part of the reason is because we are losing animators," said Yasuki Hamano, media professor at the University of Tokyo.


Biblography of this source:
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/19/business/la-fi-japan-anime-20100819
Los Angeles Times


Done by: Sonia Yip

I feel that wiki-wetpaint is actually very simple to use. The only slight bump I met was that safari window, can't support the editting tool bar but I can easily settle that problem by using mozilla firefox.

Look at the simple tools here. I can constantly save my work and upload pictures. I find it useful that it is very straight-forward and even as a first time user, I can easily understand which are the tools to use.

Practical 8 & 9

Let's play some games on olive now!

I tried playing the games on olive, and here are some pictures of it. This was Game 1,

Then I tried other games, crossword puzzles. I like crossword puzzles! :)

Practical 7- Evaluate stomp.sg

Which criteria did you use to evaluate Stomp.com? Why did you choose this criteria? What lessons have you learnt from this activity?

I used the criteria of purpose, presentation, accessibility and usability to evaluate Stomp.com. I chose purpose, because I feel that the purpose of this Stomp is to benefit our society in a not so usual way, to encourage us to be more polite and properly behaved in public. The presentation of this website and the purpose as I said before, is enticing with all the easy to understand everyday gossip links in bright neon colours. Accessibility and usability are kind of tied together because they are very easy to access with internet and the usability of this website have so many various ways, for example the iphone app to send 'information' (gossip) to them.

How do you feel about sharing your views via Wiki?

Sharing views on wiki would help me improve myself when I read my friends' views and they will be able to see what I think of too. :)

Add a comment/remarks on any one of your classmates EIR Blogs.

I would like to comment on (http://chickenchopallfries.blogspot.com/) Rongyi's blog. From his works, you can tell he is not a guy who is lazy with his work, and does it with thought. His evaluation of stomp sg, have alot of screen grabs and his language used is casual which makes reading interesting.