Photos of places I went in Second Life- Group work Discussion

Advantages of Social Networking

I and BiJun worked on this sub –topic together and we split our workload. She touched on making new friends from all around the world and chatting with them in SL while I touched on connecting with other part of the world in SL.  I went to places like Korea, Japan, China Sichuan, Africa and Israel in Second Life of course. I think the best ‘country’ I went to is Israel and it is my dream holiday destination. I visited the key landmarks of the place, such as The western wall and The Dome of  the Rock. Looked very similar the real thing. Whereas, the worst ‘country’ I went was China Sichuan.  It was so boring, just a very small version of the China Great Wall and that’s it, nothing much to neither see nor go. So these are some of my experiences while travelling and connecting with the world in SL. For more details and log on the Wiki Wetpaint and view the topic forum, scroll all the way down and can see the pictures and posted along with my comments. 

Metaphor

The metaphor I am using is ‘research is creating new knowledge’ by Neil Armstrong. During this EIR journey, I learnt a lot of things by doing research and search for information to read and further understand it. The more I read, the more knowledge I gain. With research, comes exploration. I managed to explore the meta search engines, subject directories, databases, Second life and Twitter which I got hooked.  At first, it was very tough trying to get use to the different functions and tools of the internet resources and social platforms. But after being familiar with them, I am able to operate them smoothly and without much difficulty. Furthermore I am able to gain benefits through research and exploration for example, knowing the right internet facility to use to gain reliable and relevant information with the shortest amount of time.

My Research Topic

Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished). In 2008, about 19% of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.2% from hydroelectricity.New renewables (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) accounted for another 2.7% and are growing very rapidly. The share of renewables in electricity generation is around 18%, with 15% of global electricity coming from hydroelectricity and 3% from new renewable.

The mainstream forms of renewable energy are wind, hydro and solar power. Further elaborations are available in the wiki discussion forum. I will talk more about my favourite renewable source, call the biomass. Biomass is material produced by photosynthesis or organic byproduct from waste streams. It is also known as stored solar energy. Biomass includes forestry and agricultural wastes, tree barks, food processing wastes, oil-bearing plants, animal wastes, sewage, energy crops and the organic part of solid waste. Modern biomass energy uses waste that would go into landfill to product electricity with minimal carbon emissions. It can be also converted into a cellulosic ethanol to be included as biofuel. However the greatest problem of this renewable is waste disposal problems. The best solution for this problem is recycling, reducing the need for landfill disposal. So far this all I have, but I will continue to source for more information regarding Biomass.

As many of have heard of many renewable power projects in overseas, I am going to provide you with some examples of Singapore. BCA Zero Energy Building(ZEB)@ BCA Academy Singapore, is I can say the first of its kind in Singapore. The building is self-sustainable and they are able to reproduce energy due to the implementations added in the building design. The video I post there will provide you with more understanding of how the building works and stuff.

So now as the earth’s resources are depleting, people all over the world are starting or have started to come out with solutions to solve this issue. However before I end, I would like to ask, will earth’s resources be totally drained out even before the developments are full utilized?

Tweeting and Blogging

Twitter as a Learning tool?

I cannot remember Faridah going through this with us but I am still going to blog about this, just in case. Twitter is some sort of an online sms or msn tool which allows me to post instant messages of 140 words to any friends who have an account. I can write anything I want and post link of pictures, videos and information. This way we can keep up to date the latest trends and gossips with our friends.

After signing up an account due the requirements of the EIR class, I slowly got hooked to it as I can spam what I am feeling together with my thoughts but sadly, not sharing of information. I would either spam or stalk my friends (meaning checking updates of friends).

I felt that Tumblr-ing or blogging is better than twitter as I can write more words and post pictures and videos without having a link for them. Furthermore, I can edit my posts if I forgot to add or lack something for my post and even correction for my post. Therefore, Tumblr or blog makes a better platform in sharing information and at the same time expressing personal thoughts and views.

Twitter and Blogspot for research purposes?

Both have pros and cons.

Despite Twitter being more like random and personal social tool, I can follow  relevant websites on Twitter if I want to obtain more information as it is popular and user-friendly. While for Blogspot, even thought we can post more relevant stuff there but we only can collect updates of only specific topics based on what users have posted.

Virtual socialising through Second Life - Snap Shots 

BenBond003 Qork- Shek Blogger

Hey you from?

[05:59] BenBond003 Qork: hey*

[05:59] Shek Blogger: hk

[05:59] BenBond003 Qork: oh yeah.

[05:59] Shek Blogger: and u??

[05:59] BenBond003 Qork: I need to ask you some qn.

[05:59] Shek Blogger: ok

[06:00] BenBond003 Qork: ok wait arh.

[06:03] You have offered friendship to Shek Blogger

[06:03] Shek Blogger accepted your friendship offer.

[06:06] BenBond003 Qork: hey,

[06:07] BenBond003 Qork: you there.

[06:07] Shek Blogger: yep

[06:07] BenBond003 Qork: ok here is the qn.

[06:07] BenBond003 Qork: a. How do you protect yourself from the bad effects of the undesirable aspects (eg cyber sex, gambling, bullying etc) of using Second Life

[06:09] Shek Blogger: I think i just ignore the undesirable aspects if I couter any of it.

[06:09] Shek Blogger: or block the people who starts it

[06:09] BenBond003 Qork: ok.

[06:10] BenBond003 Qork: and what if people approach you?

[06:11] Shek Blogger: there is a blocking function which I could use

[06:11] BenBond003 Qork: anyway, you know anyone who is from hk in this place?

[06:12] BenBond003 Qork: thanks so much.

[06:12] Shek Blogger: welcome

[06:12] BenBond003 Qork: can i ask, are you forced to use this shit?

[06:12] Shek Blogger: yep

[06:12] BenBond003 Qork: yah, any hk friends you know here?

[06:13] BenBond003 Qork: can tell me their name.

[06:13] Shek Blogger: they are not online, but u can public chart and have a look

[06:13] BenBond003 Qork: where is public chat?

[06:14] BenBond003 Qork: anyway aren’t you suppose to ask me some qns?

[06:15] Shek Blogger: ok please tell me a landmark and food which i must visit and try in singapore

[06:21] BenBond003 Qork: hey ,

[06:21] BenBond003 Qork: sorry,

[06:23] BenBond003 Qork: Esplanade. MUst try food is Indian rojak, because you will literally die from eating it.

[06:23] Shek Blogger: nice

[06:23] BenBond003 Qork: some  more?

[06:26] Shek Blogger: what course u r studying??

[06:39] BenBond003 Qork: Environment Design.

[06:39] Shek Blogger: what things you have to study in Environment Design?

[06:40] BenBond003 Qork: I do landscape and urban planning.

[06:40] BenBond003 Qork: and alittle of architecture.

[06:41] Shek Blogger: that is very interesting.

[06:42] BenBond003 Qork: you?

[06:43] Shek Blogger: information systems

BenBond003Qork – Selok Millet

you from where?

[06:37] Selok Millet: HK

[06:37] You have offered friendship to Selok Millet

[06:37] Selok Millet accepted your friendship offer.

[06:37] Selok Millet is Online

[06:37] BenBond003 Qork: heycan ask you some qn?

[06:38] Selok Millet: Ok

[06:38] BenBond003 Qork: a. How do you protect yourself from the bad effects of the undesirable aspects (eg cyber sex, gambling, bullying etc) of using Second Life

[06:38] Selok Millet: Just Ignore It

[06:40] Selok Millet: Finish?

[06:40] BenBond003 Qork: ermm,

[06:41] Selok Millet: Ok

[06:41] BenBond003 Qork: can explain more?

[06:43] Selok Millet: If any bad effects of these happen to me….I can get offline It doesn’t make me unhappy anyway…

[06:44] Selok Millet is Offline

The thing I like best is the ability to fly in Second Life. If I was able to fly in the real world, I can fly above places and buildings while enjoying the beautiful views from the top. Furthermore my leg will not sore from all the walking if I can fly. Another thing I like is teleportation. I can go to anyway, no matter how far the place with just a click of a button. If  this is available in the real world, I can save some much on transportation fee and reduce the amount of carbon monoxide released by the vehicles, vastly. This can make the world a much cleaner and healthier place to live in.

I feel that it is a courtesy to be polite and friendly when you get to meet new friends, be it in the virtual world or the real one. So definitely we have to observe special mannerism/behaviours/ethics when meeting new friends o second life.

There weren’t many HK students available on that night; however, I still managed to talk to two of them. I am just surprised that they can read our ‘singlish’ handwriting and they managed to introduce themselves back to us when we did so. They are also very nice and patient with us when we ask them the required questions. There was a moment when I have to go to the toilet and I asked one of the HK students to wait. He waited for me and answered my questions. However the system was very lag when I talked to them.

I gained many friends and got to talk to those classmates I have never talked to in class.

The most challenging experience was to find HK polyU students as there wasn’t many of them online or in the campus.

My comment on Yun Xi’s blog regarding Stomp

Discussion Forum

Went to this forum website- http://www.energeticforum.com/renewable-energy/6622-renewable-energy.html

You can check it out. You can find many people talking about science and energy.