e-learning - week 6

I vaguely remembered i was introduced to e-learning in 2003, that was when i was in secondary 3. The decision for the use of an e-learning platform was merely because school has been closed for a period of 2 weeks? And that was all because of the SARS epidemic that took place then.

I guess during that time then, e-learning hasn't been very well conceptualised yet, or at least for me, it was the first time i have heard of something like that. And upon my first interaction with it, i really didn't like it, and i felt it was NOT user friendly. And if i didn't assume wrongly, even the teachers who were using it must not have liked it, as i remembered only one of our teacher assigned and uploaded work onto the platform. The rest probably didn't managed to figure out in time how to use it or found it too troublesome.

It was about another 2 years later that i gotta use it, intensively this time. And i did learn how to use it then, because it was a compulsory thing to in polytechnic. All our lecture and tutorial notes were uploaded there.So meaning if you didn't know how to access it, you can forget about passing your course. The other things we used it for were for online topic discussions which our lecturer gave us as assignments or extra work which could give us bonus points, or for some weekly quizzes. Although i feel that the platform and interface for elearning tools or blackboard(the elearning application's name) has become more user-friendly and easier to use, i don't really see much use for it, maybe perhaps it did contributed to the environment by being more environmental friendly because we no longer have to print out notes on papers. But other than that, so far, even as i use it in university today, the use of these tools were mainly for uploading of lecture notes.

Maybe it facilitates and aids in learning, in case we missed out some points that were being mentioned in class. Or maybe i did not see the big picture of it, or simply did not have the chance to experience it. Perhaps in the future if classes were conducted virtually, or if we could ask a virtual lecturer questions anonymously which feeling embarrased, it could really be more of a use. I've seen videos of lectures being conducted via online, but maybe it just isn't something that has taken off over here yet, probably because we lack the discipline needed for such convenience to take off.

Success E-commerce Web - Week 5

These days, many businesses have ventured into the online market in order to remain competitive and to stay ahead of time. Venturing online has extended many businesses market and has also helped bring in more revenue. However, whether one is successful in the e-commerce industry will also be dependent on the e-commerce web each business has set up.

Firstly, i feel that it is very important to have an accessible site. Simply because if the web is not accessible, it will cause users to be very irritated. Sites with many broken links or incorrect link will cause its potential buyers to hunt for the many other alternative available on the world wide web today, and thus losing businesses. It has been researched that many users these days do not have patience to browse through inaccessible sites.

Secondly, I feel that the interface or design of the website has to be of quality, simple and straight forward. Because if a site is too complicated, it will cause users to lose their attention span. People will not want to waste time navigating through complicated sites to find what they want. One of the purposes of turning to buy things from online is to save time, hence if the e-commerce website does not help a user to save their time, users will not ever want to consider visiting it again.

Thirdly, the credibility and security of an e-commerce web is very important, because users will be revealing their personal information here, and they will not be pleased to know when their credit card numbers or personal information have been hacked or retrieved by unauthorized third parties. An e-commerce site with "Verisign" or "Safe Secure" guarantees will help to put customers' minds at ease and therefore, commit a transaction with you.

Next, positive testimonials of previous buyers will also help to prompt and encourage prospective clients to make purchases with you, as these testimonials will help to cast your business in a favorable limelight. Prospective buyers who see that your business is well respected and received by others will be more keen to buy from you, as it gives them a sense of predictability and security.

Social Networking Sites - Week 4

More and more social networking sites are emerging every day, and so said that their primary purpose is to connect the world together despite of the geographical distances. But underlying that primary purpose, critics have revealed that social networking sites are not only benefiting users but creators, businesses and etc as well.

The most popular and well known social networking site as of today is probably Facebook, with millions of users logging onto it every single day and the number is still growing at a tremendous speed. After the success of facebook and its predecessors, more of such sites are being created everyday. Each of these sites hope to gain as many members as they can, in doing so, they are also establishing and archiving valuable database and information of these members. These databases are often said to be private, but it has been revealed that some of these databases are also being sold to 3rd parties which uses these database to their advantages such as being able to send their advertisements to users who have interests related to their products.

Then come my question, is it really a must for one to be one a social networking site? In my opinion, i am on a social networking site mainly because i am just following the trend, i don't want to be seemed as some outdated or old fashion person who is lost in transition. But if u were to really ask if it has benefited me, i would be less sure. True it has helped killed time when i'm bored, and helped kept me updated about my friends' statuses but i'm just not too sure whether it has helped bring me closer to my friends.

And recently, I've came to know of this app called FourSquare on iphone. It's a location-based social networking website that allow your friends to know and track your whereabouts.Users check-in at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application by running the application and selecting from a list of venues that the application locates nearby.Each check-in awards the user points and sometimes "badges". As of December 2010, the company reported it had 6 million registered users. The difference between this and facebook is that facebook currently do not have the ability to track users' whereabout unless manually updated by the users themselves. At the same time, facebook also do not have "objectives" for the user to fulfill, thus making FourSquare seemed like a objective/role playing game at the same time, generating the interests of users.

To me, i do agree that social networking sites are powerful and can be powerful for businesses, as it can help to create awareness, free publicity to a large group of people over a short span of time. However, it must have many features and abilities, and must be constantly improved so that users will not grow sick of it and to keep track of changing demands. A social networking site can be powerful by itself, but if it is incorporated together with other forms of media such as phones, the impact of it can be even more powerful, which is why many social networking sites are developing apps to be compatible on different phones and platforms. But sometimes, the impact can be so powerful it may even be undesirable. Pros and cons, as always.