Our teacher showed us this blog in class and after looking through quite a few other videos, I still find this to be the most comprehensive (and cute) video explaining what blogs are. So here it is. ((:



I also found another video! But this is on trends in online journalism.

So is journalism on the internet here to stay? Well the majority thinks so.

"Citizen journalism and social media also have important roles to play, and in one form or another they are here to stay. The power of social media to spot and report news in real time is well illustrated by the Austin airplane incident. Beyond news, social media and blogs provide a deep reservoir of information and a wide range of opinion that we could not have imagined even 10 years ago. Citizen journalists and commentators enhance the richness and diversity of expression and keep professional journalists on their toes. Tools like Twitter promote free expression and make it available to people who would otherwise be heard. Finally, social media have demonstrated an amazing ability to engage and motivate large numbers of people, as we saw during the recent Haitian relief effort."

"It was citizen journalists using new media who directed mainstream news organizations to [the plane's pilot] Joe Stack’s anti-government note, which turned the story from a local tragedy to one of national and international importance. Our news policy prevents us from spreading information we haven’t confirmed, so we sat on the note until we confirmed Stack owned the [website on which the note was found]. And even then, we talked about how to report on the note’s contents. With everything we tweeted, we stayed committed to being respectful, factual, and sensitive."

"Aggregating and curating content with attribution should become part of a BBC journalist’s assignment; and BBC’s journalists have to integrate and listen to feedback for a better understanding of how the audience is relating to the BBC brand."

The fact that I am now blogging for my school assignment should also be indicative that blogging news or twittering it, will be here to stay in future.

The 2008 U.S. presidential campaign drew the attention of the world. In the aftermath, the Obama campaign's use of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were widely credited with helping secure the historic victory of President Barack Obama.








Mr. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organizers on the ground. Mr. Obama’s campaign took advantage of YouTube for free advertising. And those videos were more effective than television ads because viewers chose to watch them or received them from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted.

I then read from the New York times that:

“The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours,” Mr. Trippi said. “To buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million.”

There has also been a sea change in fact-checking, with citizens using the Internet to find past speeches that prove a politician wrong and then using the Web to alert their fellow citizens.

The John McCain campaign, for example, originally said that Governor Sarah Palin opposed the so-called bridge to nowhere in Alaska, Ms. Huffington said. “Online there was an absolutely obsessive campaign to prove that wrong,” she said, and eventually the campaign stopped repeating it.

“In 2004, trust me, they would have gone on repeating it, because the echo chamber would not have been as facile,” Ms. Huffington said.

The Internet also let people repeatedly listen to the candidates’ own words in the face of attacks, Mr. Huffington said. As Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s incendiary words kept surfacing, people could re-watch Mr. Obama’s speech on race. To date, 6.7 million people have watched the 37-minute speech on YouTube.

So since the internet has been changing the way politics works in America, perhaps one day soon, Singapore would be in the same position. Political candidates will upload their campaign videos on youtube, set up facebook and twitter accounts, instead of a few "meet the MP" sessions where they shake some people's hands (preferably some old couple and then some little kids), and ask them (and thank them in advance) for voting for them.

Using the internet has been proven effective in aiding ones political campaign so I sincerely hope that the Singapore government might start to allow a little more freedom in this area to allow the various political views to be aired, shared and commented on.

For many people in the technologically savvy crowd, fantasy role-playing has evolved from D&D-style board games to "Might & Magic"-esque linear narratives to immersive virtual worlds like "EverQuest." The number of subscribers to online computer games like "World of Warcraft" has skyrocketed over the past couple of years. There's an entire underground economy where people can buy and sell the in-game currency and items. The graphics and artificial intelligence have reached exciting new levels. It's all enough to get people hooked on paying that monthly fee. But when does that passion for simulated adventure turn into an addiction?



I do not want anybody I know turning into that boy. So i checked it out and if you have the following symptoms, you, I am afraid, are addicted to online gaming.

Signs of Online Gaming Addiction

1. Inability to stop the activity
2. Neglect of family and friends
3. Lying to employers and family about activities
4. Problems with school or job
5. Carpal tunnel syndrome
6. Dry Eyes
7. Failure to attend to personal hygiene
8. Sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns
9. Feeling empty, depressed, irritable when not at the computer
10. Craving more and more time at the computer

But all is not lost! As i read up on online gaming addiction articles online, most websites actually state the causes of this addiction and how to help one get out of it.

So if u ticked off most or worse, all of the above symptoms, please try to stop playing so much. Go and make more friends, enjoy an evening walk with your dog, take up a sport or a hobby like cooking!