Comments!

Thank you to all readers of my blog who helped me to comment! If you have not, the following are the ones to be commented on.

1. Social Media
2. Perception
3. Unit 3
4. Unit 4
5. Unit 5

Once again, thank you and do comment if you haven't already!

Unit 5

Hands up, those of you who have a Facebook or Twitter account. I sure see many hands over there! Facebook and Twitter have is very popular among internet user especially teenagers and youths as a communication tool. They use it to keep in touch with each other and also to post small bits of information about their daily lives and activities. In fact, it has become so popular that you can see people using it in internet cafes, public domain computer stations, schools and even the work place!

Why do people use Facebook and Twitter to communicate over the tradition telephone. mobile phones or even text messages and what benefits do they offer? Well, for one, they are convenient and users can post not only text or audio clips but pictures and videos as well. They can also post links to other websites which they think their friends may find interesting. It is this convergence of voice, video and text that pulls users to utilise it. Compared to telephones which only allows voice to travel through and text messages which allows only text, Facebook allows users to communicate via many other means.

Telephones and landlines require the usage of a cable to transmit voice data between users and may be expensive to install and maintain. Facebook and Twitter can be accessed via mobile phones which do not require a fixed landline and only need a mobile signal for date transmission. In fact, it is also due to this convenient that allows the world to know the situation in Haiti after the earthquake struck and knocked out communication lines. It allowed humanitarian and disaster relief organisations to understand the situation and who or what to send in to aid the survivors and citizens.

However, Facebook and Twitter being forms of Computer Mediated Communication or CMC for short, have their downsides as well. Just like how we leave behind footprints when we walk through a field or snow, CMC users leave behind cyberprints in the cyberworld as well. These cyberprints are traceable and allows companies or even hackers to snoop on user's activities and internet habits. Sensitive information such as credit card details and personal details may also fall in the wrong hands and used for fraudulent and malicious activities like unauthorised purchases. Activities like these are being more and more common that laws have been amended to include these cyber crimes as well.

Another pull factor for CMC is that it allows users to assume a fake identity. In other words, people do not have be themselves and can be anyone they wish to be. A female that you see online in a chatroom or online game may actually be male in real life. Similarly, an introverted and reserve person may turn to CMC for solace as a cyber bully and bully others online or even become a hacker to vent their anger. This anonymity is a double edged sword. It allows people to seek help or even counselling services online anonymously for anything problems they may have ranging from addictions to just needing a listening ear as some people are shy about going to see a counsellor and talking about their problems face to face with a stranger. On the other hand, it also allows dubious characters like hackers to commit cyber crimes under the guise of someone else. In fact, cyber crimes has become so prevalent that authorities have amended laws to make cyber crimes illegal as well.

Despite all the negativity that CMC has brought along with it, it has other plus points as well and there is no doubt that it will continue to dominate and change the way that we communicate with one another as well. Now excuse me while I go and update my Facebook status about this blog entry.

Unit 4

Before there was Singapore Idol, there was Talentime, our very own homegrown reality contest where singing talents are sought out, crowned and groomed afterwards. It had a very simple format, the contestants just had to go onto stage, perform a song of their choice and the judges will judge on their performance. That was way back in 2001 and the winner was Cherry Chocolate Candy.

Fast forward to 2004, Singapore Idol was announced and aired over local television. It is a spin off from the Idol series, the most popular being the American Idol. What has started as a small reality television competition to find new solo singing talent has  since undergone horizontal expansion and is now a global name with at least 50% of the world having their own versions of Idol contests. Although the original idea started off as a British television series, it has since been popularised by the American spin-off which is American Idol. There is no denying the fact that with the series now showing in many countries, American culture is slowly seeping into their communities and changing their way of life, no matter how small it may seem.

Take Singapore Idol for example, the show's format follows that closely of the American Idol's. There are three judges and at least one of them have a caustic and blunt attitude towards the contestants and gives very "mean" comments on their performances. It seems as though they are trying to fit in a Simon Cowell. Even the types of songs used are mostly American songs. SMSes and phonelines votings are also used for voting for the audiences' favourite contestants. There is no doubt that Singapore Idol has become a large part of our lives especially during the first season when a lot of people tuned in and owing to that, there are a large handful who went on to follow American Idol as well and even keeping track of their winners as well.

If the show is slowly eroding some of our culture and introducing American's, why do people still tune in then? Well, a simple explanation for this would be the uses and gratification theory. What this means is that people follow the series as it represent a potential means of gratification for a basic human need - entertainment. That is right, for entertainment and owing to U.S big brother image, anything that comes from them must be good. It also happens that they are one of the world's largest exporter of media products with many buyers from all over the world.

American culture has inevitably seeped into our culture with most of our media products coming from them or inspired by them such as English language dramas and variety series. Another example would be "Just For Laughs Gags Asia". In the past, we had a similar show called "Gotcha". Most of the English songs and music that we hear are also sang by American artistes and even the usage of American English has slowly crept into our country, much to the dismay of educators because we are still a very strictly British English only country.

There is no denying the fact that U.S.A will continue to be the world's largest exporter of media products for years to come and people all over the world will be influenced by them. Meanwhile, I will continue to stick to my fare of local productions, while awaiting the return of Talentime to replace Singapore Idol and indulging in the occasional foreign media productions.

Unit 3

Tiger Woods and golf, what do they have in common? Hands up, those of you who do not know who Tiger Woods is. To be honest, I myself do not have a clear picture of him and only know more about him due to this recent scandal and affair which was publicly announced, on the news, in blogs, online and newspapers. Like golf, Tiger Woods relationship with his spouse boils down to communication, interpersonal communication to be exact. A golfer has to communicate with his caddie and establish a stable interpersonal communication relationship with each other.

The relationship can be viewed as an exchange.Just like how a couple enter a relationship and puts in their feelings and expects to get back the same feelings and love, a golfer and caddie enters a relationship where the golfer puts in his time and effort and expects the caddie to aid him in the games and to win the tournament much like a personal assistant of a boss helping to take down notes and appointments. The caddies puts in his time and skills and expects a share of the golfer's winnings and possibly fame if the golfer becomes a top player and wins in every major league. This relationship can be viewed as a form of transaction whereby both parties put in something and expects something back in return.

I am sure most of you would have heard about Tiger Woods and his wife and how she was going to leave and divorce after news of his alleged affair leaked and word got around. However, the recent news about the couple was that Elin Woods is calling off the divorce and is returning back to him. Using Knapp's Model of Relationship Development, we can study and understand the stages of their relationship. Before news of the scandal broke, the couple was at Stage 5 which is the Bonding stage. What happens at this stage is that significant public rituals are performed by the couple such as marriage and being committed to each other. This is also the peak of the Coming together phase which results in marriage. After news of the scandal broke and got around, the couple entered the Coming apart phase and was at Stage 9, or rather the Avoiding stage. Elin avoided Tiger at this point and withdrew herself physically and emotionally from the relationship while reeling in from shock from the news of the scandal. The model is not linear however and a couple may skip any steps and even go back a step or two instead of moving forward in a linear fashion. Take Tiger and Elin Woods for example, they are now at Stage 7 and Stage 8 which are the Circumscribing and Stagnation stages where they avoiding talking about very personal and sensitive issues and choosing to stick to safer topics and areas. For Stagnation, they are just going through the motions of a relationship and behave just like any other couples except that there may not be a deep emotional bond between both parties and either one or both of them are holding on to avoid the pain and heartbreak they would experience should they terminate the relationship.

Perception: Is it really that simple?

My friend showed me this music video and my initial reaction was that of shock(fast forward to 1:11 if you do not wish to see the introduction). How could that do that to a child? He's like only a few years old? He's only a toddler for god sake! How could they expose him to all that horror! Imagine being used an actor for a music and exposed to all that scary stuffs, what kind of childhood would you have? You would be traumatised and live in certain fear the fear and phobia stays with you as you grow up too.

You cannot really train a baby to be an actor. How do you teach him what to do and when to do what? Babies are very simple minded and innocent and they just express them freely for they are not exposed to a lot of things yet so their kinesics and expressions are very simple and truthful in most cases. Just look at the video and see how the baby cries when he sees those monsters and when put down on the ground and allowed to roam on his by his mother, he walks away from them while crying at the same time. Even oculesics come into play here, the baby eyes are all red from all that crying and there is this expression of fear in his eyes. When the policeman(monster in the policeman attire) is carrying him to return him to his mother, he is crying as well and he is clearly not comfortable at the close proximity that he is to the policeman(proxemics is being observed here). Are you, like me, filled with anger and disgust now after watching the video? That the producers could subject a poor and innocent baby to such horrors for the sake of a music video? If you are, then please watch the next video(skip to 2:24 and 5:52), you are about to be proven wrong.



Now, what are your thoughts on watching the second video? It does not seem like what it is anymore does it? Just look at the baby, whom we know now as baby Zachary, plays with the fingers of the monster and is very fascinated by it. He even looks happy as he plays with the fingers as well. For the part where he cried in the cot, it seems that he is trained to cry at the prompting of his mother and is really harmless for she immediately comforts him after the filming for the part is done. As for the part at 5:52, he can even play with and laughs at the policeman who carried him and returned him to his mother. It is a stark contrast to the music video where he cried while being carried by the same said policeman.

Sometimes, what we perceive something to be may not be the truth in reality. Things may not be that simple and if we do not make an effort to get the whole picture, we will be looking at only one side of it and will look at it or treat it fairly. We will then be biased towards it and think badly of it. Take a court for example, if the judge and jury do not listen to both sides of the stories, wouldn't that be unfair for the accused? He or she may then be sentenced unjustly which is not a good thing. What are your sentiments on this? Are you guilty of omitting vital info when you are presented with a new fact and choose to only look at it from one perspective or do you make an effort to get the whole picture before passing judgement?

Abusing a useful tool

I refer to the above report(click on the post title). In my previous post, I wrote about how Social Media is a the new upcoming form of media that people will turn to and how it revolutionised our lives and will continue to do for years to come. It is a very useful tool and helps to make people lives easier.

However, there are some people out there who choose to abuse it by using it for vices. The report is about a teen gang who recruits members using a blog. They post details about their gang which they call a 'brotherhood' on the blog and even provide contact details. Now, that is scary for the people that they are targeting are between the ages of 13-15 year olds and teens in this age range are very impressionable and most of them use social networking sites in one way or another and some of them will come across the blog.

I feel that a blog is used for expressing one thoughts, like an online diary but there are people out there who choose to abuse it by using it for vice or illicit purposes such as gambling, selling illegal goods such as drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods. There are even blogs offering social escort services. It is a very convenient way of advertising their services or merchandises but the people whom they are targeting may not just be the group that are mature enough to understand what is going on. Can you imagine kids stumbling upon gambling websites or blogs or even the teen gang recruitment one? How would the kid react? And what would he or she grow up thinking? That it's ok to engage in such vices because they are easily available?

That is scary for the internet is not regulated as strictly as traditional media and it is very hard to filter what is good or bad and as a result, many people are exposed to such dangerous sites daily.

 PS. This is not a unit's post, just another additional post.

Rise of a new power: Social Media

What are your thoughts after watching the video? If you agree with the video, then you probably believe that social media will overtake our traditional media as the new media by which people communicate. Just take a look around you, how many of the people around you that you know use social networking sites like Facebook, Friendster, Twitter or even blogs? Many do nowadays and more are turning to them as a new and easier way to communicate then the traditional snail mail or email.

Sharing an idea or thought is as simple as logging in and publishing a new post. Within minutes, a group of people will know what you are broadcasting if they happen to come across your posts or tweets (as they called on Twitter). Information and pictures can be shared easily within minutes as compared to days back in the past.

Social media has changed the way that people communicate with each other now. Like mentioned in the video, we no longer search for the news, the news find us now and in the future, we will no longer need to go around searching for products and services, they will find their way to us via social media. The reason being that social media is a form of media whereby information is meant to be disseminated through social interaction.

Social media allows for inexpensive means to broadcast information to anyone anywhere. There are accessible tools that enable anyone, even home users to utilise them to access or publish information. Many social networking sites only require users to sign up for free accounts to start using them. It is also cheaper to advertise your products or services on social media mediums than to use traditional means like newspapers, radio or the television. Another great benefit is that social media can reach a global audience as the contents are hosted on the internet. What this means is that a user can read the news anywhere in the world as long as they have access to the internet unless traditional print media where they would either have to bring the whole stack of papers along when they travel or get the news firm to deliver it to them. Alterations can be done easily and instantly on social media by means of comments or editing whereas traditional means like papers, magazines and the television would involve more work like recalling the previous edition and reprinting the newer corrected edition.

The current benefits of social media far out weight the cons of it and I strongly believe that social media is not just a fad but will overtake modern means of communication and become the way that people commuicate in future. What do you guys think? Is social media just a fad and will it evolve into something more powerful and able to reach a wider audience with the half the effort?