Wednesday, 18 November 2015

The Last Post

Before the commencement of this module, I was very excited, and also curious on how it was going to be taught. From this module, I have better understanding to the concepts of digital literacy.

To track my improvements, I used the self evaluation I did at the start for comparison.

Developing my Professional Profile Online
Overall, I have learnt the importance of my digital profiles and how to manage it as it is easily accessible. I make sure I have a clean and positive image by not uploading or commenting any that might give the wrong impression of me.
LinkedIn: I have created a LinkedIn account recently and I am very amazed by how it connects me to some of the professors that taught me in the past, and many friends that I have lost contact with. I can also follow updates, such as recruitment, about companies of my interest. Right now, I am still new to LinkedIn and will do more exploring on it! 

cr: hexjam.com
Instagram & Twitter: As I am aware that my digital profiles are all linked, I make sure I do not upload or comment anything negative directly about anyone. 

Justine Sacco tweeted a racist comment while she was on the plane to South Africa. Sacco revealed that she lost her job, her reputation, and social life. Even though she did not mean it literally, her tweet had angered thousands of people. Her incident is a reminder to all that we should be careful in what we say, especially on social media, as many people are following you. 

Facebook: I use Facebook to stay in touch with my old friends and relatives abroad as almost everyone has an account. However, I now follow updates about Singapore news and some event companies of my interest. I am more aware of the privacy settings and who I add as friends. Also, I make sure I uphold a positive image from my photo uploads, tags, and posts since recruiters might do a background check. 


 Apart from learning how to develop my professional profile online, I became a more independent learner who can better express myself through blogging.  
cr: google images
This online module does not have a proper guidebook so relevant information have to be looked up by myself. As this module is done alone at home for me, I have to find out what needs to be done if I ever miss a lesson. In school, I can ask around for updates easily, and the examination is usually based on our lecture notes and guidebook. 

In addition, I never liked the idea of posting my random thoughts on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook as I am a very private person, so expressing my thoughts through blogging was a huge challenge for me. For topic 1, my blog post was merely a summary of the topic. I did not know how to argue and have my own stand. I reviewed the comments for each topic from my marker and tried harder each time. The comments were really useful as I was told which parts in particular was I lacking on!

In conclusions, Living on the Web #MANG2049 has taught me skills, such as independence and interpersonal skills, that classes in school can never. I now also know how to manage my digital profiles for future professional use. As I have learnt some blogging skills, I can consider building a digital profile on a blog as well! This has been a very useful module.  Thank you Lisa, Sarah, and Nicholas for your guidance :)

 Referencing

 Jon Ronson (2015) How One Stupid Tweet Ruined Justine Sacco's Life. [Online]
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=3

Amelia Tait (2015) 11 People who had their careers ruined by Twitter. [Online]
http://www.hexjam.com/uk/careers-education/11-people-who-had-their-careers-ruined-by-twitter

Lucy Waterlow (2015) Justine Sacco reveals how destroyed  her life with 'racist' Twitter post before trip to Africa. [Online]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2955322/Justine-Sacco-reveals-destroyed-life-racist-tweet-trip-Africa.html


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Thursday, 12 November 2015

Topic 5: Reflection

Upon reading up a few of my classmates work, Pearlyn's post caught my attention, she mentioned that some online materials might not be freely accessible due to its high quality work. I used to have about 10,000 subscribers on YouTube before I revealed what software I was using and how I created my videos. After that incident, I thought that sharing is not always caring because people do not remember to give credits. However, I now feel that it is alright to share my knowledge to others as I do not think I would make those videos for life... But if any content producer feel that they do not want to allow free access to their materials, I feel that they could at least charge minimal amount or provide more detailed abstracts so that students or people with lower income can afford and would not purchase irrelevant articles online. 
cr: Lifehack Quotes
In my previous post, I focused on how open access materials would benefit the researchers and nation as scientific discoveries would be developed faster when ideas are exchanged. On the other hand, Jun Ning wrote on the benefits for the beginner publishers. With open access, beginners can publish their works online without any complications. The open access journals, such as, blogger, and YouTube, can help create awareness. Reputation is built as time goes by and more people share and like their work. Meejmuse is a YouTuber who vlogs on cosmetic reviews and make-up tutorials. She started out by recording her vlogs with her phone back then. Now, she has more than 200 thousand subscribers on YouTube and is even a TV reporter for ArirangTV.
Screenshot of Meejmuse's YouTube Channel
YouTube is free and accessible to most countries. But are those professional YouTubers really sharing knowledge for free? Play the video below by Shameless Maya to know how a YouTuber actually earns:

 Likewise, since YouTubers can earn through posting on open access journals, I believe scientists and researchers also earns enough from the government and tax-payers. So why are the prices of online materials increasing? 

 Overall, I still strongly believe in open access as I cannot live without them myself. Sharing knowledge is good but because of lack of quality control, we must be careful of which resources to trust as some information might not be correct. Always remember to reference a few sources before coming up with a conclusion!

 Blogs I commented on:

Referencing

Shameless Maya (2015) How YouTubers Make MONEY$?! [Online]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftspl_75nos
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Wednesday, 11 November 2015

Topic 5: Open Access to Online Materials

Explain the advantages and disadvantages to a content producer of making their materials freely available online
With the internet becoming more accessible, materials and data are easily attainable online. But the question is, should online materials be accessed for free? As a student, I often do researches and download articles for classes. However, some articles requires me to purchase for the full access which I did not, because there were alternate sources that are free. Those articles might be better, but I rather not take the risk as they cost a lot. 

PhDTV mentioned in the video that he paid for dozens of materials, but most gone to waste as he does not know which materials are relevant until he paid for them as brief abstracts was not clear of what they contain.  In addition, there are no return policies for online materials. Furthermore, if researchers were paid by taxpayers and the government to do research to distribute the research data, why are journals are collecting money? I understand that money-making is important in this competitive society, but increasing the prices by 250% over the past 30 years is too much. According to Simon-Kucher and his partners, 90% of online content are expected to be behind paywalls in the next 3 years. 


Let's review the advantages of open access. Basically, it benefits almost everyone; researchers, research funders, schools, businesses, and the public. When ideas are shared and exchanged, it accelerates the pace of scientific discoveries, encourages innovations, and enriches education according to SPARC. I agree with Mike Taylor that scientists should bring knowledge into the world, and it is immoral to hide it. Also, knowledge can be passed down to the less developed countries where scientists have lower income. This creates opportunities for them to participate in international research communities. In addition, investors would be aware of the research and there would be more funds for research. Eventually, all these lead to a better society. 

On the other hand, I agree with George Chiverton in saying that accessible online materials will lead to free education. I think e-learning would be widely used within the next century and lecturers can simply use the resources available online for the students to refer to, and this saves a lot of cost for the institutes and the government. While Chiverton thinks that open access may to free education, I believe that 'real education' will never be free because we still would have to pay school fees and have teachers to guide us along. Open access will only broaden our knowledge of our interest as it is up to us to look up for information online.  Many people share their knowledge through videos on YouTube these days. For example, I learnt basic Korean from 99korean and watching step-by-step cooking guides! 

However, the disadvantage is the lack of quality control as anyone can upload materials online. All those information obtained from open access journals such as YouTube, Wikipedia, and other sites may not be 100% right as they were not reviewed. With reference to Claire Shaw's article, it reported that hundreds of open access journal accepted fake science paper. These false information can cause people to have wrong concept about a subject. Furthermore, it might lead to exponential growth of the number of people having the false information. 

In conclusions, I do support open access as I believe that 'sharing is caring'. However, we must be careful of wrong information posted. Thus, we should refer to a few sources before using them. 


Referencing

Stephen Lepitak (2013) 90% of online content to be held behind paywalls in 3 years media company survey suggests. [Online] 

SPARC (2013) Why Open Access? [Online]

Alma Swan and Leslie Chan (2009) Open Access Scholarly Information Source Book. [Online]

Mike Taylor (2013) Hiding your research behind a paywall is immoral. [Online]

PhD Comics (2012) Open Access Explained! [Online]

George Chiverton (2014) Explain the Advantages and Disadvantages to a content producer of making their materials freely available online. [Online]

Edanz (2013) Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Access. [Online]

Wiley (2014) Understanding Open Access. [Online]

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Tuesday, 10 November 2015

Topic 4: Reflection

In my previous post, I mentioned about social media marketing potentially being an ethical issue. I discussed two cases about social media stars being paid to promote products.

While my blog post talked about the bloggers and celebrities who do reviews on almost anything, Clinton's post focused on food bloggers. I am shock to know that ladyironchef has been paid SGD$3,800 to promote a restaurant for a food operator. I feel kind of 'cheated' to know that he is being paid so much to write a 'fake' review...I also agree with Clinton that social marketing is not wrong but those bloggers should state if the review has been sponsored at least.

I often visit danielfooddiary.com to check out food reviews and most of the time, the food served at the cafe or restaurant is not as good as mentioned. However, it is alright for me as his "must try" recommendations are usually one of the best in the restaurant. Without his reviews, I would have no idea what to order. Thus, we can read the reviews, but knowing that they could be sponsored advertorials, we must decide what to 'trust'.

On the other hand, Pearlyn talked about how grammar could be an ethical issue caused by social media. Twitter has a word limit of 140 words and it could a possible reason we cut our sentences short which leads to poor grammar. I am guilty of shortening my sentences, for example, 'What time should we meet tomorrow?' to 'Tomorrow meet what time" Furthermore, bad grammar and spelling mistakes on advertisements can cause damage for the company's reputation. Would you trust a brand that speaks bad English?
Would you send your child to this school? (cr: http://thesignfail.tumblr.com/)
Upon reading other blog posts, I realised there are many possible ethical issues of social media. However, I strongly believe that social media is only a tool and how it is being used depends on us.

Comments by me!
Pearlyn

Luna
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Monday, 9 November 2015

Topic 4: Ethical Issues of Social Media

Discuss ONE of the ethical issues raised by educational or business use of social media that you consider to be particularly significant.
(cr: http://www.viraloptimized.com/)
Social media is widely used by everyone today for interaction. With reference to WeAreSocial, 42%(approx. 3billion) of the world population have access to the internet with a variety of different devices. Some popular networking sites include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Advertising and Marketing has shifted from traditional ways of printed ads to online marketing. Social media tools are free, or low cost, and because it can reach out globally, many businesses use it for marketing. I believe that ethical issues might be raised in social media marketing.

 These days, bloggers and celebrities are highly influencial and companies look for them to influence the public. Back in March 2015, Singapore social marketing firm, Gushcloud, asked their bloggers to write negative comments about telecommunication companies M1 and Starhub's services to promote Singtel's mobile plan for students. I feel that this is ethically wrong as negative comments of the competitors were posted merely to promote Singtel. The bloggers' readers or supporter would actually believe that Singtel provides the best service and would most likely buy the phone from Singtel due to the influence. 

 On the other hand, it is also unfair for M1 and Starhub as they did nothing wrong. However, it is a relieve that Gushcloud and Singtel's actions were exposed when some of the bloggers apologised for posting the wrong information about M1 and Starhub.  
(cr: theweemarketingagency)

Furthermore, Instagram star, Essena O'Neil quits social media claiming that they are all lies. The 18 year old Australian teenager with more than half of million followers on Instagram exposed the "dark truth" of social media. She revealed that she was paid to promote products and companies would tell her what to include in her post, and when to post it in a 17 minute video she uploaded on YouTube. She also mentioned that she hardly eats before shoots to look at her best in photos. 

Below are edited posts from her Instagram: 

                                        Click to enlarge    (cr: theguardian)
Honestly, I do not think O'Neill had to resort to 'quitting' social media because she could still use it to interact with her friends and family. Social media is just an online interaction tool and people control it. Zack James, a former YouTuber and social media CEO responded on Facebook saying "Essena O' Neill is wrong; Social Media isn't a lie." I agree with Zack James that social media is not a lie because it depends on the way we use it. 

I think O'Neill did not mean that social media was lie, but she was referring to her posts on social media and how she can use social media to reach out to people to get to know about her "fake" life. However, Portraying a 'perfect life' is not right to me as in my opinion, it makes many girls to envy the 'perfect life' and they might have unrealistic dreams.
(cr: thedailymail)

I feel that social media marketing is an ethical issue as it:
  1. Unfair - Many of us refer to reviews online before purchasing a product these days as we may lack of product knowledge. For me, because of the lack in product knowledge, I would easily be convinced by the bloggers or celebrities who promotes the product. However, it is unfair because the reviewer was biased towards the product they were promoting.
  2. Frauds and Misleading information - A good example would be the Gushcloud x SingTel campaign which told their bloggers to complain and write false information about their competitors. It could also be when only the good information is shared to make the product seem perfect. 
In conclusions, I feel that social media marketing is an ethical issue if misused. As consumers, we can play our part by looking up for more reviews and information instead of relying on one or a few reviews. In the end, it is still our decision whether to believe in them or not. So make your decisions wisely! 

 Lastly, I hope these bloggers and celebrities would give more honest reviews about products after these incidents. 

Referencing

 Institute of Business Ethics (2011) The Ethical Challenges of Social Media. [Online]
https://www.ibe.org.uk/userassets/briefings/ibe_briefing_22_the_ethical_challenges_of_social_media.pdf

 Simon Kemp (2015) Digital, Social & Mobile in 2015. [Online]
http://wearesocial.sg/blog/2015/01/digital-social-mobile-2015/

 Lim Yi Han (2015) Gushcloud bloggers apologise for negative Singtel marketing campaign. [Online] 
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/gushcloud-bloggers-apologise-for-negative-singtel-marketing-campaign







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Friday, 6 November 2015

Topic 3: Reflection

Realised I missed out a lot of points after reading the blog posts by my classmates...

In my post, I only focused mostly on what to include in the online profile but missed out on how to make it attractive. I came across Jasmine's blog post and the video on "How to keep your social media attractive to employers", it stated that one way is to be strategic with whom you allow in your network. I can use social media to make connections and interact with professionals. Depending on career goal or path, there are many ways to use social media strategically! For example, if i want a promotion, I could interact more with the higher management. 

 On the other hand, make connections with professionals to discuss and talk to them about their expert field and gain knowledge about it, and decide if I want a career change. Also, mentioned on Ryan's post, we use social media about 4 hours a day which is half of our normal 8-hour office shift. Since we spend so much time on social media, it means we are good at it and we use make it to full use to increase our employability.  

I mentioned about being yourself in my post but it was not detailed enough. More thoughts came to my mind after reading several blog posts. I agree with Nicole that there will be trust if one portray his online and offline without much deviation. If the personality is very different, it could shock my employers during the face-to-face interview. Usually, it would fall below their expectations because you are not what they were looking for and whom they expected to be. It could also create an impression of being "fake" or "two-sided" even if you do not mean it. 

Furthermore, being yourself makes an individual stand out - it could be positive or negative, but it will definitely attract attention. A good example would be Xia Xue, a Singapore blogger. She voices out all her unique opinion bravely; some feels that she is honest but the rest thinks that she is being too noisy. She has also garnered attention by being one of the first Singaporean bloggers to admit undergoing plastic surgery and discussing her experience online. 

To summarize this topic having a personal brand is the best way to stand out among the others. Social media is a powerful tool for building an online professional profile. I have to manage my profile and connect with others strategically, and most importantly, my profile has to be authentic.

My comments:
Nicole Chin
Vanna Chong


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Thursday, 5 November 2015

Topic 3: Developing an authentic online professional profile

Discuss the ways which an authentic online professional profile can be developed.

 Due to globalisation, competition among companies are more intense, hence, they want to source for the best talents. Companies noticed that recruiting the right people is the key to success. To achieve that, companies look for talents online to reach out to more potential candidates globally.
Online Recruitment in China (cr: IResearchChina)

 LinkedIn and blogs are platforms where a person can set up a professional profile.

 I just signed up for LinkedIn and the only information I provide was my name, email, and school. It was very impressive as under the "People you may know" tab, they have listed profiles of whom I have contacted in the past. This shows how powerful LinkedIn is as I can connect with friends, bosses, or professors that I have lost contact with. 

 With reference to TheEmployable, I realised blogging is not simply an online diary but could be used to state professional opinions about the things you are interested in as well. Blogging can help us get employed because it allows the employer to know more about the candidate. The information on the CV or application form does not show the person's full potential. From a person's writing style, the employer can have a rough gauge of his personality, passion and abilities.

 I agree with Michael Weiss that we have to brand ourselves to portray a desired image. Before that, the individual must be aware of his own strengths and weakness. Tips given by Mr. Weiss includes that a person should include the passion, and skills he have on his profile. For example, a link of the digital portfolio should be be included to showcase his works. . However, be mindful not to write too much bur focus on the interesting stuff only. These tips could be a check-list for my own professional profile.

 On the other hand, I asked myself what expect from a person I would recruit. So here's my requirements:
  1. Passion in the field related to the job
  2. Could be very skilled, but never stops learning
  3. Decent English
  4. Presentable looks
  5. Good management in time and stress
  6. Good team player
Work Experience seems like a necessity for most companies , but I feel that potential in the candidate is more important as it can be developed through training and experience. 

 In conclusion, I feel that the most important point on setting up an online professional account is to be yourself. From the employer's point of view, I would prefer an employee who is genuinely  passionate and motivated to work hard for the company; he may not possess the best skills or academic achievements. One should not try to impress employers by trying to deliberately fit into the companies culture. Otherwise, he would not be happy even if he is employed.

 On the final check, ask yourself: "Do you think you will hire yourself if you were the employer?"

Referencing

 BCC News (2013) Job hunting: How to Promote yourself online. [Online]
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-25217962

 Jobvite (2014) Social Recruiting Survey. [Online]
https://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf

 TheEmployable (2014) How blogging can help you get a job. [Online]
http://www.theemployable.com/index.php/2014/10/28/blogging-can-help-get-job/

 Peter Harris (2015) The top three things that employees want to see in your social media profiles [Online]. 
http://www.workopolis.com/content/advice/article/the-three-things-that-employers-want-to-find-out-about-you-online/

Dave Fecak (2014) Tips from a Recruiter: Don't make me read your resume. [Online]
http://lifehacker.com/tips-from-a-recruiter-dont-make-me-read-your-resume-1520083351
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