week 13, session 12

1) E-books

I feel that there's alot of new improvements that technology can offer us as we progress in technological developments. Even books can be electronized these days. Its benefits include us not having to carry around heavy loads of books to school and it'll free our hands, making things so much more convenient for us. I notice that school children these days are carry really heavy loads to school, even for primary schoolers, it'll have cause potential harm to their bones in the long run like bad postures etc. E-books are also able to store many stories into a device and we could have access to many books at one time! I think that with the introduction of e-books, reading can be more fun where animation is possible and it'll illustrate messages the author would like to convey more easily. My thoughts are being brought back to scenes of Harry Potter movies where their newpapers'images can magically move. I'm not sure if the use of e-books would ever escalate to that point but we're definitely one step closer to something similar.

I think that there's a need to somewhat change the way books are read. No doubt many would still enjoy the conventional methods of reading, perhaps changing the way we bring stories to people can change their mentality about reading. I mean, if reading could be made fun for people who hate reading, then more people would be engaged and motivated to learn more on their own through the potentials of e-books.




Interesting presentations:

The group's presentation on e-books was a very good effort made on the teams part considering they had come up with a story line to take us through the benefits of e-books through the use of videos. I do think that e-books is the way to go. However, we have to remember that e-books would require the use of batteries. We can have all the convenience in the world with the many books we have in stored the device, but the moment the batteries are used up, it'll be troublesome to get them charged up wherever we are. Also, battery life-spans may not be that long.

2) weather control
I have always been fascinated by the weather and how they can change in mere seconds. The weather is something we all have to go through. Hot, sunny, humid in Singapore and cooling elsewhere. I would personally feel that if Singapore could be cooler in its temperature, it'll be the best place in the world to live in. As much as I would love to change Singapore's weather, I think that nature has its way of doing things and we should not reverse the flow of nature. I think that everything in a place is adapted to the weather and such, so the end result of changing the weather if possible, would result in possible loss of certain plant or animal species.

Overall, I feel that the last session had ended really well with the remaining groups giving their presentations. It was insightful and many other interesting topics were touched on. It'd give the session a 10.

week 12, session 11

The Internet has certainly revolutionised the world, shaping peoples' lives all around. I can barely think of anyone who is not hooked on to the Internet and even my mom who's a computer illiterate is becoming more and more fascinated.

Sure, the Internet has become our source of massive information, entertainment, way of life and all...But how much of a threat is the Internet to us? To what extent has the Internet posed more as a threat to us? Let's take Facebook for example. It's a hugely popular social networking site that has practically everyone (if not, most)at the palm of its virtual hands. While posting on peoples' walls or talking to friends through Facebook chatrooms may be seemingly innocent, we unknowingly become vulnerable to the things we cannot see. Out there, there's always people who are on the prowl to get just about anyone's information and use it to their advantages. I would think that for such social networking sites, one should never reveal too much details about oneself. Not even when you've been given the option to limit your accounts to friends only. Professional hackers out there are becoming so sophisticated in their ways, they'd probably be able to extract information about what happened to you years ago. Even the security a site may offer is vulnerable to breaches when in the hands of the wrong people.

I feel that,just like humans, technology can fail us too. That's why we must never place our lives in the hands of anyone or anything. In particular, Internet because we'll never know how people behind the computers may be manipulating our information right this very moment plus the fact that the Internet has connections to everywhere else around the world.

Even things like Internet phishing is on the rise. Online shoppers would have to be wary of how hackers can extract their important information. I feel that with the Internet, no one is safe anymore. Governments all over should start Internet education and ethics as a subject even for primary schoolers. Yes, children these days are starting to use the Internet at a very tender age so such education should be put in place fast.

It's hard to draw limits when you're talking about the Internet. Many know the dangers but then again, you can't live without them. It all boils down to the people using the Internet, whether their the sheeps or wolves. Goes back to the first quote from class of "Technology is easy,peopl are hard".