Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Practical 9

uir is coming to an end, marking the start of the end of this semester too. throughout the journey of learning, i feel that the most important lesson i learned is the one where i learned how to differentiate a reliable website and a not-so-reliable website. that is through the evaluation of a webpage(Practical 6a &b) where we go into detail of evaluating the purpose, coverage, authority, accuracy, currency, accessibility, presentation and usability of a site. the reason why i feel that this is the most important lesson i've learned is because i knew how to do online search before attending uir, but not how to determine the reliability of a website. so now, i know which site to trust and which site not to via its reliability.

jessyphua 3:13 PM

Practical 8

in practical 8 itself, we've to do a reflection upon reading talkingcock.com. i've read and found the articles really hilarious. if i'm assuming the role of a typical singapore citizen, i'll be nodding my head furiously, agreeing with it. however, if i were to assume the role of a foreigner, i might mock at Singapore for having its own citizens making comments like this. i wouldn't like the idea of a foreigner reading articles off that site. if i'm assuming the role of Singapore's prime minister, i might have different perspectives. if i'm a kind one, i might take it as an opportunity to know what the people are really thinking. however, on the other hand, if i do not take it too well, i might end up suing that site owner, forcing it to close down as it contains certain phrases which might be offensive to others.

jessyphua 2:47 PM

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Practical 7

Basically, I have to do a reflection for wiki in this practical 7. And the following was what I have posted under my group's link:

Topic: Developments in the Area of World Fashion Design
DONE BY: JESSY PHUA

Introduction
Fashion design is the applied art dedicated to clothing and lifestyle accessories created within the cultural and social influences of a specific time.

During the late twentieth century fashions began to criss-cross international boundaries with rapidity. Popular Western styles were adopted all over the world, and many designers from outside of the West had a profound impact on fashion. Synthetic materials such as Lycra, Spandex, and viscose became widely-used, and fashion, after two decades of looking to the future, once again turned to the past for integration. Currently, modern fashion has seen a reference to technology such as designers Hussein and Miuccia Prada who have introduced industrial textiles and modern technology into their fall collections.

Resources Used
Amber McNaught. (September, 2006). The Fashion Police: Fighting Crimes of Fashion. Retrieved May 17, 2008 from http://www.thefashionpolice.net

Summary of Resource
A well known website based in New York, with articles written using fashion as main topic, taking in reviews, thoughts of editors, and feedbacks of readers that made it popular with ladies, intriguing thoughts. A good place for ladies to visit for tips on how and how not to dress to be more glamorous.

This website majors in a collection of personal opinions about various items of clothing and celebrity fashion style. It is claimed to be a site that stimulate debates with opinions and perspectives, minoring with little statistics and facts.

Brief Evaluation of Resource
The purpose of the website is to provide fashion lovers with different perspectives on the different styles of dressing, be it good or bad. The main target audiences for this website are ladies. To be specific, ladies who shop online. The coverage of the site includes the different types of outfits such as dresses, jeans, skirts, etc. There are also articles on dressing tips for casual reading, such as dress of the day, wear or die, ebay fashion, etc. All these are covered under reviews on latest products, submission of thoughts by readers, evaluation of outfits, replies to readers' questions, news on celebrities wears, and a lot a lot more. Personally, I think the coverage would be a lot enhanced, if only the opinions, editors or readers, are supported in the articles with more professional views. On the side note, the links in the site are mostly unimportant advertisements for online fashion shopping purposes. There are however, a few useful ones which allow readers to navigate to more substantial pages, such as the credits, which supports the gist of their articles.

The Fashion Police is an authoritative website published by Midas Media, with help of many other producers. It was established in late 2006 and has been receiving approximately 200,000 page views per month since. It has also been featured and highlighted by other media sources such as The New York Times, DaveBarry.com and The Vanessa Feltz Show.

All the facts stated are accurate and reliable, though research is not used as a basis. This is because most of the information provided in the site is not regarding statistics or numeric facts, but perspectives by editors and thought-intriguing statements which gives readers more rooms for thinking and personal opinions. However, when there are references stated, they are clearly highlighted as the sources of articles gist. There are also neither political, ideological, or biasness in the source, nor grammatical, spelling and typographical errors. The website is very current, having been updated every weekday, high maintenance, yet well-maintained.

The Fashion Police website is very easily accessible, with no registrations or log-ins required. If the site goers are only there to read the articles, the information and articles are all there, available for reading, for free. In the case where any readers feel like providing any feedback or submitting any questions, or personal individual reviews, they can reach the editors via the email addresses provided.

All the information and articles are well presented and arranged, according to the date of publish. There is an index available for users to search for the topic they want to focus on though there is no site map available. The search facility provided by the site is very effective in helping the users to find the information they want, without having to go through much hassles. The reason why it is effective is because it filters all other unnecessary information that are not needed, and focuses only on the information related to the keyword(s) provided by the user.

There is no user support facility available, but I do not think it is needed anyway. Reason being that the navigation method throughout the site is simple and clear, very user-friendly. The 4 main tabs that accesses all the information available in the site are displayed on the top of the page, and there is a archive section for searching through past articles below the tabs. Above these, the search feature is at the bottom of the page, so if there are too much hassles to go through during the search, the user can key in the keyword and every related information, filtered and cleared will be displayed.

In term of overall review on the website, my impression is that it has a good quality of information and graphic display, with a right user of colour matching. There are however, still rooms for improvement when it comes to substantial article writting. More information, backed up by reliable and professional sources and views are needed to make it a better site for reference.

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Now, as for what I really think about wiki. Initially, I thought wiki wouldn't be a user-friendly site as I've heard a lot of negative comments from my friends in their block teaching uir. However, when I'm really into using it, with my hands on, I think it's not really that bad. I don't see any of the bad things such as difficulty in logging in or alignment problem as they've mentioned. In fact, everything was posted successfully. Above that, they're all successful in all my attempts of post edition. There's another good point in using wiki, and that is I can read other classmates' work and get reference.

There is, however a negative point, which is a very horrible flaw! That is, we can edit anybody's works! Even when I'm not supposed to be authorized, but somehow everyone's 'authorized' to edit any other people's works. And above that, registration is free there, so any tom, dick or harry can just create a new account and read our post, or even edit and delete our work as and when they like it.

So all-in-all, there are good and bad points in using wiki that I like and dislike a lot.

jessyphua 1:04 PM

Practical 6a & b

MY DREAM HOLIDAY!!

I'm always going to the same destination for holiday every year.. every single year.. EVERY SINGLE YEAR!! I'm such a poor pauper=.= So anyway.. My dream holiday would be a trip to Paris~ France~ Eiffel Tower~ Oh pull me back to earth please.

As I said, Eiffel Tower!! I must visit that! I heard a lot from my friends who just returned from a trip there. Seems like they visited at the right time! It was national day and the Eiffel Tower is like this
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CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?! IT'S BLUE!!
*credit: from her blog, not my picture*

alright, so anyway, for this practical 6, I've gotta blog about my dream destination via a tourism/travel related websites. So, I found this, with the help of yahoo search.

The keywords I used is "(holiday or tour) and (Paris or France)". The design of the website is not very attractive, but plain. However, the information are useful and substantial. Layout is also very neat and tidy, guiding my eyes smoothly to what that are necessary for me to read before I decide on the trip. The site provides me with a lot of information with regards to all the places of attraction to visit in Paris, and essentials such as tours, transportation, cuisines, etc.

The most important factor that I need while getting information on the destination for my dream holiday is, of course nothing but pictures!! This is because I've never been to the place before, hence there ought to be a lot of pictures to serve as an 'appetizer', before deciding on whether a trip there would be worth the money.

The reason why I chose Paris varies. Firstly, it's because I've always thought of Paris as a place of romance and holiness, with a lot of cathedrals where marriages are held. Secondly, it's due to the recent return of my friends. Their comments stirred up my curiousity and interest. Thirdly, it's because I've always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower!! I only get to see it in movies=( Well, so that's as simple as that. Now, it's pictures time..!

Chateau Fontainebleau :