Closure

The most important number I had learned from EIR is the effective use of search queries. I think the search query is just like a robot where you have to input your commands into it for it to listen to your commands. A wrong command and you would get a wrong action given it back to you.

Just like in Google.
The wrong search query would results in wrong search results.

I feel this is the most useful lesson to me,
though some parts of the lesson is boring as hell,
overall I enjoyed EIR and I hope others around me enjoyed it as well.
Also learned how to RESEARCH on the INTERNET EFFECTIVELY.
Thank You EIR!

Dream Holiday

I would choose to go Japan, Tokyo for my Dream Holiday.
I choose Japan because I have always been very interested in Japanese culture. During my secondary school, I went on a school trip to Tokyo, it was really fun but the time given for me to roam around is too short and I couldn't enjoy myself fully. So this time I want to be able to go on an official holiday to Japan, Tokyo once more to really enjoy myself. Experience the culture and most importantly spend a few days in Akihabara, which is like paradise to anime/game lovers.


Akihabara


Asakusa Shrine


Shinjuku

The website i use to check out Japan is : http://www.japan-guide.com/
It is a website that give information about travelling and tourism in Japan.



For a travelling guide, the main criteria I need to check: coverage, accuracy and currency.
Then the 'not so important' criteria: accessibility, presentation and arrangement, usability.

Firstly the coverage has to cover enough information a tourist would need such as the transportation and sightings. It has to be simple enough for foreigners to understand what some information means.
Secondly, the accuracy of the information has to be accurate or else, we would receive the wrong information which could be disastrous.
Most importantly the currency, the website have to updated frequently as countries develop fast, which may have new attraction spots or changes in the country. If the information is not updated, there might be changes that we did not expect.

The website should definitely be accessed easily be anyone as it is suppose to share information with anyone interested. This website that I visited don't require one to sign up for an account to access, and even in the Q&A section, one can just post anonymously and ask questions. The presentation is slightly messy with lots of advertisements all over. Information is not PERFECTLY organized and presented, however it is clear enough to be able to navigate around which is somehow also the usability. For every keyword/key items the web mention, there would be a link to the description and information on it which I think is very useful.

Overall I think the website is good enough for me to be able to get lots of information before travelling to Japan.

2nd Reflection, Database research.

Today's exercide was to do a database research on my research topic I'm given.
I used the different databases provided from bottom to top.



I first went to IEEE Computer Society Pick5 Package only to realize the information needs to be puchase in order to view it. The title looks very tempting though...feels like there will be information that i will need...oh well.

Then next I looked at Lexisnexis Butterworth, however it doesn't seem to be the category I want to be looking for, so I skipped it just like many other database sites.



Next, I went to Worth Global Style Network, but even though it is a design related database, i couldn't find anything, weird huh.

Then I used WARC and got information I needed. Global issue in Context, GIC, also had information I needed. There I'm done.

I think that for using database website I could receive accurate and reliable information than from search engines, meta-search engines and directories. Because database sites are paid sites.
So I wouldn't rate the efective-vity because both type of sites have thier different pros and cons.
For example if I want personal opinions or more casual comments/information, I would use a search engine and look for personal websites.
On the other hand if I want accurate, reliable and concrete evidence or clear statistics, I would use database sites.

I would use WARC as it provides real life cases and information from "cutting-edge thinking in the areas of marketing, advertising and communications" (quoted from WARC description) for my research topic as my topic is about the 'benefits of combining technology and design' so looking for reports on such cases would help me with my research as I also need some case study of diffferent companies that incorporate designa nd technology together.



When studying in my course MOI(animation), looking for reference when animating is very important and that's why I think I would use Naxos Video Library to look for videos for reference on camera angles, lighting and stories etc...

I may also use Naxos Music Library as music is required in animation, and often, I would know what kind of music we want in our project, however I often do not know how to describe them or the genre. So i could search throught this database and pinpoint the kind of music i want is under which genre.

1st Reflection, E-shopping

It is important for researchers to know the purpose of different websites. For example if a researchers wants factual information, if he/she ventures into 9gag.com(entertainment site), they may receive the wrong information from it. They should however go to an informative or news website as it is USUALLY a more reliable source.


An advocacy website I choose is http://www.stopextinction.org/, a website to stop exticntion of endangered species. The difference between this site and the site which I did my E-shopping from(different topics on both sites) is that one is an advocacy site while the other is a business/marketing site. Next is an advocacy site takes a stand while the business/marketing site does not. Last but not least, advocacy sites tend to persuade the audience into taking the same stand as them, however business/marketing sites only states positive factual information about their product but not persuasive in a sense, just trying to sell them.


My E-shopping activity is actually quite a new experience, because I have never tried simulating myself spending money so carefreely on the net. Shopping on the net is more limited in a sense that we don't get to test out the product and could only search for more images other than the ones provided by the online shop.

First, I went to eBay, but after browsing through awhile, I realized items sold in eBay are sold by different individuals and the way information are given is based on how the seller wants to portray it. I personally didn't quite like it because the information is all over the place.

Secondaly, I went to Play-asia.com to look for the PSVita, but they did not ahve the model I wanted. Continue to browse through anyway! I realized it is good that they have a 'comment' feature because it is more convenient to just continue scrolling down to look at comments about the product. I like this feature alot.

Lastly, I went to amazon.com. It is actually quite picture heavy, which i think is good, so i don't have to trouble myself by searching for more pictures. The search engine not only display results from the search query that I type in, it also shows related items and categories, probably for promoting purposes? I guess. They have a different method for discussing about the products, a forum. But I didnt like forum's to begin with. just a personal opinion, because i don't like they way things are seperated, though I could just serach for them.


The 2 most meaningful lesson I learned in Practical 1&2 is:
1)How to identify the category and purpose of the site
2)Identify the origin of the online shop to identify the currency, then convert to our own currency. We may make a big mistake by not converting the currency, believing the price is of our local currency.

E-Shopping

Initially I went to E-bay, but I realized many items from E-bay is being sold by users themselves rather than the shopping site itself, which is the reason I prefer not to shop there.

I wanted to buy the Playstation Vita which will be released very soon, and is already up for pre-order at approximately $386.532 SGD. The website I went to is amazon.com as they have a pre-order of this product. I initially went to play-asia.com but I could not find the model I wanted.









I wanted to buy this as I love to play games and this is the latest gaming console, and it also have applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Skype which is the second reason why I would like to buy this. I tend to use Facebook and Twitter very often to receive updates from friends or maybe even discount for various products such as the recent MacDonald offer. It has a front touch screen and a back touchpad which I think is a new experience.

Of course, I need to have a game if I have the console, and that's why I would choose "Little Big Planet" which is a game that looks interesting. If requires interactive motions from the player in order to play. It cost roughly $51.55 SGD



I realized most online shopping sites uses their local currency. which is why the prices I stated is not an exact amount. I used XE Currency Converter to convert the amount from USD to SGD.
With the leftover money I have, I would probably keep it or buy yet another game.

Introduction

Hi everyone, my name is Benjamin Ho, you can just call me Ben.
I am from MOI, Moving Images (animation).
I studied at Changkat Changi Secondary School before I entered poly.

My favourite past-time activity is playing games and watching anime. Japanese animation to be exact.
Even though I'm so old already, I still can't deny I like anime like Pokemon and Digimon.
My favourite music band is Vistlip as it is a Japanese visual kei rock band.
I don't watch TV so i don't have a favourite TV programme.
Internet sites that I frequent are: 9gag.com and Twitter. 9 gag.com brings laughter to me and people around me as it's an entertainment site. Lots of jokes, some offensive though...

One of my hobby is to do 3D Animation.
I use Autodesk Maya to work. It's a 3D animation program and it allows me to create anything and it's very versatile. I want to be an animator for a game company and slowly work my way up and hopefully one day I could be an animation director. I also hope to be able to master 3D animation and do achieve one that would look as awesome as one such as Final Fantasy XIII.
One useful tip: try to work on a big screen as it doesn't strain your eyes as much as small screens.
An example of a website that teaches you 3D Animation: http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/tutorials/

You can try Youtube as well but some of them are quite blurry and difficult to follow.