It’s not goodbye but till we meet again.

Hi lovelies! I hope you enjoyed our video! My key takeaways are mentioned in the video so I shall sum up my final summary with my self test and its scores in comparison to the scores before taking the module!

• Accessing, managing and evaluating online information: 3 → 4

Through this module, I did more in depth research which enhance my previous experience in Republic Polytechnic. I am being exposed to the wide information from open access and learnt to evaluate their reliability and make use of them for my blog posts.

• Participating in online communities: 2 → 4

Thanks to #MANG2049, I am able to participate in #MANG2049 community in Google hangout, WordPress and Twitter with my professors and fellow course mates. Moreover, I am able to learn and interact with #UOSM2033 who are also learning the same module as us!

• Building online networks around an area of interest: 2 → 3

After this module, I joined communities such as Big data, Advertising Age in Linkedin! I am connected with people who have the same interest as me! Looking forward to their updates and can’t wait to share my views with them in the future as well!

• Collaborating with others: 2 → 3

Collaborative learning is the objective of this module. I’ve learnt to collaborate and learn from each other through the web. Learning has never occurred to be so enjoyable and I hope other modules can adopt the same concept!

• Creating online materials (text, audio, images, video): 3 → 4

Adding audio or video materials help to enhance our blog posts! As a result, I’ve learnt to create and use Prezi and also collaborated with my peers to create a video for our final presentation for this module. It was an exciting experience!

• Managing your online identity: 3 → 4

Currently, I’ve managed my authentic professional profile through LinkedIn for future career and also I still believe in having one online identity so I ensure all my online profiles are consistent and well connected with each other!

• Managing your online privacy and security: 1 → 3

I’ve learnt to spot and switch off cookies and manage privacy settings on some information. But still,  “Nothing online is really private”, a sentence that I take away from this module, therefore, I will start to be extra careful and conscious on the information I posted online.

This module has definitely helped me in my digital skills and expose me to a whole new level of the internet world. I have obtained useful skills and knowledge which will aid me in my learning for my future modules and for my future career.

Thank you Lisa, Olja and those who helped me in my learning! Overall, it was a fresh and exciting journey with you. Have a good rest everyone and to my fellow course mates #MANG2049…

HAPPY CRAZY HOLIDAY!!!

Links to my online profiles are at the blog header 🙂

A beautiful ending for Topic 5

Open Access or Close Access? I believe many of us are strong supporters for Open Access, mainly because we are students. After reading Sylvia’s post, I feel that I am being really selfish and bias initially for my stand. I’ve learnt from Sylvia that I should also take into consideration the difficulties content producers face.

In Wei Seong’s post, he mentioned about a recent survey which shows that in the coming years as much as 90% of online content will find itself behind a paywall. (Lepitak, 2013) Before reading his post, I too came across this article and I had a strong feeling for it. From what I observed there is a huge population that support Open Access, wouldn’t this news create an uproar? To my relieved, he found another article that the government are developing plans to make publicly funded research results freely available to all (Ghosh, 2012). Open Access is not going to be “defeated” that easily after all.

Overall, I came to a realisation that there is no perfect type of Access, be it ‘Open’ or ‘Closed’, each has its benefit(s) and harm(s) for people in different role. It also depends on the intention of the authors and the publishers. As much as we know that scientists want their knowledge to be spread and talked about, there are some who just want to earn money and get rich out of it. As a result, ‘closed’ access model would be suitable for them in this case. Ultimately, we are in the digital era, the fast increasing trend of open access is inevitable and it is of great advantage to us, the students. Therefore, be grateful, behind every open access article is someone who “paid the price”.

Blogs I’ve commented on:

Sylvia’s

Wei Seong’s 

Open Access – Access to Knowledge

Hi lovelies, today’s post will be slightly changed in style. I will be presenting my topic via Prezi! This is my first time using it too! Hope you enjoy it 🙂

It’s just a click away!:

http://prezi.com/q9rqjehnegmt/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

References:

Open Access | PLOS. 2014. Open Access | PLOS. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.plos.org/open-access/. [Accessed 09 December 2014].

Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Access | Edanz. 2013. Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Access. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.edanzediting.com/blog/advantages_and_disadvantages_open_access#.VIcG-DGUf4J [Accessed 09 December 2014].

. 2014. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/268516/2/Citation_advantage_paper.pdf. [Accessed 09 December 2014].

Open Access increases citation? A brief overview of two reports. 2014. Open Access increases citation? A brief overview of two reports. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.socialsciencespace.com/2013/03/open-access-increases-citation-a-brief-overview-of-two-reports/. [Accessed 09 December 2014].

Gold or green: which is the best shade of open access? | General | Times Higher Education. 2014. Gold or green: which is the best shade of open access? | General | Times Higher Education. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/420454.article. [Accessed 09 December 2014].

Open Access: It’s not rocket science – YouTube. 2014. Open Access: It’s not rocket science – YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at:  [Accessed 09 December 2014].

A beautiful ending for Topic 4

Ethics is a very wide topic and after reading many blogs, they reveal to me the different types of ethical issues raised by educational and business use on social media. After much exposure, I reflected a lot. We all say that no one is perfect; it is irony that we still “hate” people for being “wrong”, people who go against our principles or values.

Aetiiqcaz mentioned in his reply to my comment that before uploading information on social media, one has to think twice and ask if it is worth it to be PUNISHED OVER A TWEET; and Angie’s post about an example of a negligence act from a social media manager who posted on a wrong account before HE WAS FIRED. It leads me to wonder that if people are so “ethical” and really cares about right or wrong, why do they “punished” people just by a single unethical tweet? Are the audience being unethical for judging people or companies sorely based on their single wrong doing? Is company itself being unethical to sack an employee just because of their single misconduct and forgetting their years of contribution in order to satisfy the audience and regain their company’s reputation? People only remember the “bad” and not the “good”, in another words, one unethical conduct online can easily tarnish a reputation built by many ethical conducts in the past. It sounds unfair but this is our human nature.

To me, the problem does not really lies with being right or wrong, moreover, there is no exact measurement of ethics as different people perceive ethics differently. As a result, personally, I feel that ultimately it all comes down to a very realistic subject: REPUTATION.

Every unethical conduct ruins reputation, be it for companies or individuals. People cares about their reputation. Reputation is crucial because for individuals, it equals FAME; for businesses, it equals MONEY. Therefore, any misconduct online is a double NO NO. This is the society we are living today. People are forced to conform to this society: Be good, be ethical. To me, they just forgot to include “always, for your reputation sake.” at the back. 

Blogs I’ve commented on:

Aetiiqcaz’s

Angie’s 

Freedom of Speech, for worse?

Social media is a great place for people to express themselves. Facebook status, Twitter updates, uploading of Youtube videos; they help to portray your views and can be used to transmit informal education for the audience.

“Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through story telling, discussion, teaching, training, and or research. Education may also include informal transmission of such information from one human being to another.” -Wikipedia

As compared to the real world, there are restrictions and limitations to social etiquette and manners. People feel a greater sense of freedom of speech and expression online. Of cause, it brings many advantages to individuals and even businesses. But what is the ethical issue raised up by the informal educational use of the internet?

Let’s take a look at a case study which I believe most of us are familiar with. A YouTube video titled “Why I am not proud to be Singaporean.” by Stephanie Koh

The video with over 1 million views has outraged many Singaporeans

Here’s another video on how parents react to her “nasty” comments on Singapore.

So, is there a place for ethics on the internet?  According to Roger Darlington,  we first need to understand the grand word ‘ethics’ means in this context.

Acceptance that the Internet is not a value-free zone

World Wide Web ≠ wild wild Web

It is a place where values should take a part in shaping content and services. The Internet is not something apart from civil society, but a fundamental component of it.

Sensitivity to national and local cultures

We need to recognize that while most Internet users were white, male Americans originally, now the Internet BELONGS TO ALL. Therefore, it cannot be subject to only one set of values. We have to accommodate a multiplicity of values and cultures.

My Recommendations

Exercise sound judgement before uploading any information or sensitive opinions online.
Understand that everything that you post online may pose as a double-edge sword. It may work for or against you.
Be globally-aware.
Be ethical.

Ultimately, it is not about Star Wars, a battle between the good and the evil but a matter of the differences in values which can be resolved by education or debates.

What do you think?

References:

Devaney, L. (2014). Steps for successful classroom social media use | eSchool News | eSchool News. [online] Eschoolnews.com. Available at: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/02/04/successful-social-media-835/? [Accessed 5 Dec. 2014].

Internet Ethics. 2002. Internet Ethics. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.rogerdarlington.co.uk/Internetethics.html. [Accessed 05 December 2014].

Social Media and Freedom of Expression. 2014. Social Media and Freedom of Expression. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.wearesocialpeople.com/social-media-and-freedom-of-expression-for-better-for-worse/ [Accessed 05 December 2014].

Education – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2014. Education – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education. [Accessed 05 December 2014].

A beautiful ending for Topic 3

I own an account on LinkedIn and I regard that as my one and only professional profile. Why? Because I believe only on LinkedIn does my profile portray me as being formal, presentable, and everything that I regard as being “professional”. Yanyi’s post touched on creativity which led me to wonder if my LinkedIn profile is creative. Seems not. It’s yet another boring profile among the 330 million profiles. There are different ways to present ourselves. To stand out from the rest, one needs to be different, to be creative. Moreover, in Evan’s post, it broadened my view that my “personal” profile” on other social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or even blog can be part of my professional profile too.

Social Media sites such as Facebook, Instagram are undeniably a more creative platform to present ourselves. But Evan also pointed out that context is playing a huge role in developing a professional profile. As a marketing graduate in 2 years time, my future employers would access not only my LinkedIn profile but also my Facebook or Instagram to determine my creativity and marketing skills. As for someone who wants to apply for an accounting job, a LinkedIn profile is sufficient to determine their capabilities.

Personally, I feel that LinkedIn Profile is a fundamental digital professional profile because in any job industry, all employers need to know your achievements, skills, certificate, etc. LinkedIn is able to provide these information directly. But some industry require more, to know your character, your creativity, etc. Facebook, Instagram, blog are platforms that enable individuals to express these traits better than in LinkedIn.

Blogs I have commented on:

Yanyi’s 

Evan’s

Professional Profile – Yay or Nay?

Hello friends! Happy mid-week!

Let’s first talk about WHY we need an online professional profile.

There is an increasing trend of recruiters conducting employment background searches and searching for talent on the web. Your online presence is gradually replacing your resume. Employers are viewing your profiles to determine what kind of person you are, who your connections are and how you present yourself. In another words, they want to know the authentic you!

Alright! Now let’s take a look at HOW to develop your online professional profile:

1. Get the picture.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so what does your professional photo says about you?

“This KID probably just want to have FUN.”

“AH~ HA! This LADY is READY.”

A job site known as The Ladders uses their eye tracking heatmap to find out that recruiters spend 19% of the time on your online profile looking at your picture.

2. Show your star qualities.

Post your work history, key accomplishments, certificates etc which can provide the employers with a clear sense of your capabilities.

3. Talk the talk.

Bring in key industry terms: ‘Digital Marketing’, ‘Business Development’, ‘Human Resource Management’, etc to describe your skills, specialties, positions of interest so employers can find you online easily.

 4. Make the right connections.

 Be selective about who you are connected to because employers may contact these individuals for insights on you.

 5. Keep it fresh.

Update your profile regularly and be active. Post useful advice and comment on articles or any industry forums in the site.

Most importantly, be AUTHENTIC. You wouldn’t want to face difficulty in meeting the expectations set out by your boss.

  Now, WHERE can we have a professional profile?

There is an increasing number of social networking sites that are focused on business users. Such networking sites are Plaxo, Ecademy, Fast Pitch, and the most discussed of them all – LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 330 million members in over 200 countries and territories. Many of these employers or hiring managers access directly to LinkedIn to source for candidates.  Even when they google about you, they will end up in your LinkedIn page because most likely your profile will appear at the top of the search results. LinkedIn never actually call themselves a ‘social network’, they prefer the term ‘professional network’.

LinkedIn is not only for the professionals who are high up there, mostly the adults (as I’ve always thought it is), but it’s for us, the young people, the next generation as well!

Having an online professional profile creates job and network OPPORTUNITIES especially in the digital age. Start your professional story now!

References:

Schawbel, D. (2011). 5 Reasons Why Your Online Presence Will Replace Your Resume in 10 years. [online] Forbes. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2011/02/21/5-reasons-why-your-online-presence-will-replace-your-resume-in-10-years/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

Officeteam.rhi.mediaroom.com, (2014). OfficeTeam Survey: One-Third of Managers Believe Online Profiles Will Replace Resumes – Feb 10, 2011. [online] Available at: http://officeteam.rhi.mediaroom.com/OnlineProfiles [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

Forbes, (2014). 8 Things Today’s College Students Must Invest In To Get Hired. [online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2014/05/12/8-things-todays-college-students-must-invest-in-to-get-hired/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

Asghar, R. (2014). Your LinkedIn Profile: Go Big Or Go Home. [online] Forbes. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/robasghar/2014/02/12/your-linkedin-profile-go-big-or-get-lost/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

Sundberg, J. and Sundberg, J. (2012). Why LinkedIn is More Important than Facebook or Twitter. [online] Undercover Recruiter. Available at: http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/why-linkedin-more-important-facebook-or-twitter/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

Press.linkedin.com, (2014). LinkedIn – About. [online] Available at: http://press.linkedin.com/about [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

SitePoint, (2012). 20 Social Networking Sites for Business Professionals. [online] Available at: http://www.sitepoint.com/social-networking-sites-for-business/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2014].

A beautiful ending for Topic 2

I realized that there are many strong arguments on both stands – one or multiple identities. Reason being that both have their pros and cons; and the difference in the level of sensitivity of each individual. After much reading on different blog posts, I still stand strong on having only one identity.

My belief is reinforced by Khairul’s post where he pointed out that having separate accounts to deal with personal and work is an “illusion’ which was created to make ourselves feel secured. People who have sensitive or private information online needs to feel secured that it won’t and never be leaked out. Therefore, multiple identities are created but how far can it bring us? People can still find out about us through “involuntary” information posted by people who know us such as tagging of one’s photos by others on Facebook or Instagram, for example. There is really no total control of our identity online.

In addition to Khairul’s post, Rochelle presented a quote by Current Google CEO Eric Schmidt, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” I second that. If we do not want others to know certain information, then we should not input it online in the first place. Keep your privacy to yourself and not online. Nothing online is really private. Together with Rochelle, I believe in being myself and being genuine before people. In relation to employment, I feel that career is for the long term, therefore it is crucial to find a boss who not only accept your professional side but also your personal side: your past, personality, hobbies. In another words, find a boss that accept you for who you are.

Blogs I’ve commented on:

Khairul’s

Rochelle’s 

Online identity: One or more?

Most of us who live in a digital world have at least one online identity. Internet has became part of our life and we use the internet for various purposes such as for personal stuff or professional work, etc. I believe the need for people to have more than one online identity is due to privacy and security.

Below is an interesting video which shows how easy it is for people to intrude into your privacy.

However, I do not see it as a bad thing entirely. I believe the marketers use this way to track down customers’ information to bring relevant advertisements and offer helpful guidance to them.

Jeff Jarvis said: “Those are the two identities we are trying to manage—not our work selves and our home selves, not our party selves and our serious selves, but our inner, real selves and our outer, show selves… the great unspoken fear: that we’re not who people think we are, and we’ll be found out. ” (Jeff, Jarvis, 2011)

Our personal online identity is usually displayed on social platforms, our “real selves” might not be desirable in portraying ourselves to the working society; you certainly do not want your future employer(s) to see you getting tagged on a photo of your drunken state, for example. As a result, people chose to create another online identity, “show selves” that they want people to view themselves as and which are better fitting to the professional world.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook has no sympathy for people who have more than one identity. “Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.” (Mark Zuckerberg, 2010) It seems that having two identities online can be viewed as being unethical.

I personally agree with Mark Zuckerberg that the days of one having different images for work friends and for the other people they know are probably coming to an end soon. According to my experience, I access many social networks on a daily basis. It became too comfortable for me that I share many information about myself online and came to a state that I do not mind different groups of people knowing me as that one identity from social sites or other sources. Having one identity is easier to maintain but it still depends on individuals if they are comfortable to show up as one identity to different groups of people. Moreover, many websites and accounts are able to integrate and form connections to one another such as Facebook, Instagram, etc; which shows that in general, people are gradually changing from having many online identities into one.

In the marketing context, I feel that it will be of great advantage to the marketers if people are having one online identity. Information such as consumers’ interests and habits will be more accurate and reliable.

Last but not least, here is a group photo of us that you requested during the Hangout! 🙂

References:

Webopedia.com, (2014). What is virtual identity? – A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer Dictionary. [online] Available at: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/V/virtual_identity.html [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].

Dark Reading, (2014). Online Privacy: We Just Don’t Care. [online] Available at: http://www.darkreading.com/risk-management/online-privacy-we-just-dont-care/d/d-id/1110535? [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].

BuzzMachine, (2011). One identity or more? — BuzzMachine. [online] Available at: http://buzzmachine.com/2011/03/08/one-identity-or-more/ [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].

SFist, (2014). Zuckerberg Has Always Believed That We’re Only Entitled To One Identity. [online] Available at: http://sfist.com/2014/09/19/zuckerberg_has_always_believed_that.php [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].

YouTube, (2014). Internet Privacy Prank. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLWmjpPoJHk [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].

Img.wonderhowto.com, (2014). [online] Available at: http://img.wonderhowto.com/img/original/60/92/63479609513566/0/634796095135666092.jpg [Accessed 1 Dec. 2014].

A beautiful ending for Topic 1

“Digital Residents” and “Digital Visitors”… The very first thought that came to my mind when I saw it on the study guide was “HUH? WHAT IS THAT?!” Something that used to be so alien is now at my fingertips. Like what I’ve mentioned in my previous post, it is a little “revelation” I gained.

It was interesting and I enjoyed reading on different perspectives on the topic through my course mates’ blogs. It really leads me to challenge my own assumptions and dwell in it for quite some time. I like how Kelly pointed out on her realization that the difference between visitors and residents is the type of platform one is using. How being resident or visitor got to do with the design and functions of a particular platform one is using. It makes me ponder in relation to marketing, if a company can design their website and functions in a way that makes one a resident when visiting the web. Much research is needed to find that out.

Moreover, I like how Charmaine pointed out that the biggest issue in this topic is not on exact definitions but rather in what ways do we categorize people into the groups most accurately. I believe there is still some confusion due to the initial concept of “Digital Natives” and “Digital Immigrants” which is still commonly accepted by people. For example, marketing companies still subconsciously link it back to the generation their target market is in when deciding on the ways to reach them or on the methods to advertise their products etc.

Overall, it was a great reflection, looking forward to many more interesting topics to come (:

Till then! ❤