Tutorial 3 & 4

1. What are the factors that lead to the extreme popularity of YouTube, especially with keen competition from other social network services like Wiki, Blogs and Facebook.

Youtube sets itself apart from the rest of it's competitor as one of the leading platform for free and userfriendly video sharing. Owned by google, YouTube have the financial back to host over 45 terabytes of data and still remain a free service. Although similar video hosting service have surfaced after the rise to popularity of YouTube, YouTube remains a popular icon as it have gained a strong foothold before the rest and probably still offers one of the largest archive of data.

2. The article discusses some downsides to YouTube. How would you deal with these issues?

On the issues of copyright infringement, I believed that all that is required is to enforce stricter control, although many still believe otherwise authority's are learning as time goes by and have shattered the perceived protection known as the internet. Copyrighted materials can, and are infact being properly dealt with, a big part of this is that people are beginning to realise that they are just as responsible for keeping the internet a healthy, and legal environment and have helped in reporting many illegal videos which leads to prompt actions on the enforcer's side. Although users have been resistant to the idea of being monitored, many have gotten used to it as compared to when the rules are first enforced and there should be no perceived impact on the popularity of the service.

On the fear about youtube going out of business, youtube have never actually been profitable, and there should be no foreseeable change. Although to counterbalance this, YouTube is now cooperating with many media companies, some even use YouTube as a distribution channel for their product, preferring a mutually beneficial cooperation to profiting uncontrolled and illegal piracy. This shows that youtube still has room to grow in its commercial value. The service's growing popularity would also guarantee that more attention be turned towards YouTube for publicity and advertisement.

As for protection of privacy and appropriate use, the internet itself is basically a public virtual space unless access are limited. Users should infact have the awareness of how much they are willing to reveal when they write their profile or upload videos of themselves. If YouTube is being used as a channel to upload illegally obtained information that infringe on privacy, they will be taken down the moment it is reported and found true, but the best that can be done otherwise is to block further access of said information. There's no way to take back what people have already seen and heard, with that said, users should still be aware that they should take the videos posted with a pinch of salt, and should judge for themselves what they believe to be true. It would be unfair, and irrational to put the blames YouTube in the case that viewers felt a particular video "cheated their feelings", so to speak.

3. What would be the future direction for YouTube?. Refer to the sections “Where is it going?” and “What are the implications for teaching and learning” for some ideas.

As mentioned above, it is foreseeable that YouTube would play a increasingly more important role in advertising and increasing public awareness. YouTube might also eventually end up as a distribution channel as prominent, or perhaps more so than television, besides record companies, many animation and drama producing companies are also looking to possibilities in distributing their products via YouTube. Many of them believes that the nature of YouTube make it easier to give the fans what they want, and faster than before, without the restricting of airing schdules that broadcasting on televisions have. A clear indication of YouTube's growing importance is the fact that the recent U.S 2008 Presidential Election uses YouTube for publicity. YouTube would probably eventually be seen as a tool to encourage creativity among the masses and promotes taking up an active role in voicing their opinions. Some recording companies have already seized on this chance and the dream of people that wish for their chance at fame by holding sponsored contest. The examples listed are definitely not exhaustive, and as people gets exposed to the unique culture of YouTube for a longer period of time, it is expected that new and innovative way of turning the service that YouTube provides into solid benefits would surface.

The last practical

Here's the last practical 9, I'll share what I have learned from UIR in a few sentence.

In the past I have never really cared much about how search facilities works beyond the fact that they search based on key words, but in UIR I'm exposed to the different method that they used to return search results. I have also used to never bothered with properly evaluating websites, and only judge them based on mostly coverage, presentation and accessibility. But now I'm faced with the reality that in a working world, things like accuracy, authorative and crediting(however hard it may be since so many websites are created anonymously) is important. Because otherwise even if you know and believed that whatever information you gathered from the website is reliable it'll never be accepted as a valid resource by anybody else.

Practical 8

Activity 2 – Individual & Group
Visit this website http://www.talkingcock.com/
Using the criteria for evaluating websites, comment and justify whether you think this website is sustainable.

Purpose
Starting out as a forum for friends to share jokes is, talkingcock.com is now a site committed to preserving and advancing the authentic voice of Singaporeans, in a humurous manner.

Coverage
The website covers wide range of topic about happenings and facts of singapore. There are also many assorted columns each covering a specific topic.
List of Topics:
News:
- Local News
- International News
- Politics
- Business
- Sports
- The Arts
- News in Brief

Columns:
- Alien Talent
- Another Day In Paradise
- Diary of the Dragon Prince
- Art with Fatt
- Dear Ah Beng
- Travel with Auntie
- Lim Peh Ka Li Kong
- Louie Chin Ooh Lui
- Poet's Corner
- We, The Citizens
- Interview

Authority
The website is neither formerly credited or from any authorative source. The authors are made up of a group of Singaporeans that writes article for their own amusement and for others, usually by poking fun at unique trends in Singapore. As the website is of humurous nature, there are no former source of information, and is largely opinionated, and therefore have low credibility and reliability.

Accuracy
The website employs heavy usage of dialects and urban slangs, as well as Singlish and although sometimes relevant, are usually not completely based on facts, or have twisted interpretation of the original information to achieve humurous effect.

Currency
The website is well-maintained and updated regularly with information consisting of articles and post that .

Accessibility
The website is easily accessible with no restricted areas and do not require any log-in or registration procedures, with the exception of when one wishes to post in the forum.

Presentation and Arrangement
The website is designed more with practicality than aesthetic insight, with a simplistic layout that focusses on proper structuring of links and content. They also have a local search engine that allows people to quickly search for whatever information they desires.The presentation of the information and layout is consistent through out the website and the fonts used are readable with clear distinction between the heading and body of a post.

Usability
The website is strong in usability with properly structured navigation and side bars, as well as search engine and is designed in a manner that all the archived information can be accessed quickly and efficiently.

Overall
The website is entertaining and humurous, and the fact that it is regularly updated pulls vistor back to frequently check the website for update. Although the content is largely irrelevant to anyone that has not lived in Singapore before, it has a unique pull to Singaporeans as it gives them a platform to share their opinions about their country.

3. How would you react to this website if you were :
Singapore’s Prime Minister
A Singaporean
A Foreigner working / studying in Singapore

If I am the Singapore's Prime Minister, I would casually read through the jokes and humour unique to Singapore content, and perhaps post a reply or two myself anonymously to engage with my fellow citizens

In the case of being a Singaporean, that would be me, I would bookmark the page and frequent it for my daily amusement.

If I am a foreigner/student working in Singapore, I would find the way that Singaporeans poke fun at themselves to be hilarious or even laughable. I might not, however, understand where all these complaints and problems come about.


Reflections

From my experience in practical 6, I had this mindset that a website that are an authoritative source, or one that is accurate are the better website. But this week we look at a website with entertainment in mind, it is neither from an authoritative source, nor does it use proper language. It is neither outstanding in its layout, nor is it properly credited. The website just focus on poking fun at Singapore, yet it is updated regularly, has a large support base, and is a genuinely interesting website. This taught me that although we evaluate a website based on the same set of criteria, depending on the purpose of the website, certain criterias are less important.

Practical 7 reflection

Although we are doing a wiki, it feels rather out of sort as we don't have a common topic, and it feels much more like an assorted jumble of article than it resembles a wiki. Still, it gave me a rough experience of what editing a writing a wiki feels like, in that different people are allowed to edit the same content. The user generated contents are also what make wiki so special.

Practical 6a & b

Purpose Are the aims of the website clearly stated? The purpose of the article is clearly stated and focus extensively on both structures and trends of the adult entertainment industry.

Coverage What is the coverage of the site? Is it comprehensive? What subject areas and materials are covered? Are there any pointers to further information that enhance the coverage of the site? Are the links to other sites useful? The article provided historical background on representations of sexuality in everyday life, describes the emergence of mass markets for both soft- and hard-core pornography, and acknowledges the mutual shaping of Eros and technology. It also identifies a number of developing trends in the adult entertainment industry. Reviews on some of the frequently cycled statistics on the dimensions of the adult market and its constituent parts and discussion on the pyramid-like structure of the industry and the factors that seem to confer competitive advantage are also included. There are link to the personal webpage of the author, Blaise Cronin, and the link is fairly helpful for seeking out his other articles. As well as a seperate link to the abstract of a related article.

Authority Is this an authoritative source? Are there any reviews about this site or has it been included in any gateways or virtual libraries? The article is from an authoritative source, the author; Blaise Cronin is an established professor in his field and is concurrently a Visiting Professor in the School of Computing, Napier University, Edinburgh. From 1985-1991, he held the Chair of Information Science in the Strathclyde University Business School, Glasgow. The article is included in the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics web site, which is an information gateway created for resources relating to Social Informatics. The author of the article can be reached through email, and information about him can be found on his website.

Accuracy Are the facts accurate? Does it use research as a basis? Is there political, ideological, or biasness in the source? Is it a factual site or one that contains an opinion? Are the references stated clearly? Is it free from grammatical, spelling and typographical errors? The facts are accurate; it uses research from a number of publicly traded and privately held bellwether companies. There exists no biasness in the source. The site is factual and is free from grammatical, spelling and typographical errors.

Currency Is the information up-to-date? Is it well-maintained? The article is up-to-date for the time of its release. However, aging 2 years, there might be some unforeseen development not included in the article.

Accessibility Is the site easily accessible? Does it require registration and log-ins? Are all the information accessible for FREE? The site is easily accessible and does not require registration or log-ins, all the information are freely accessible as well. The information is well presented and arranged, the information are clearly, consistently and logically presented and arranged.

Presentation and Arrangement Is the information well presented and arranged? Is the information clearly, consistently and logically presented and arranged? Are there any features such as site map, an index or a search facility? How effective are the search features in helping users to find information? There’s proper indexing and the search engine for the site is effective in helping users to find information. On the whole the site is easy to navigate and fairly well made, with a simple but practical design.

Usability Is it easy to use and navigate around? Are there user support facilities? The website is easy to navigate with clear links and layout.

Overall What is your overall impression of the quality of the website? On the whole the site is easy to navigate and fairly well made, with a simple but practical design.

Reflection

I learned that there are many criterias to consider when evaluating a website, usually I would just look at the content's relevance and quantity, as well as the web layout. But now I'm exposed to a whole different set of criteria to consider so as to better my judgement on a website's usefulness.