Dream Holiday

My dream holiday destination is... Paris!

Paris is the capital and largest city in France. It is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe and has been ranked among the three most important and influential cities in the world. It is also the world's most expensive city to live in. Paris and its region are the most popular tourist destination in the world containing numerous iconic landmarks, particularly the Eiffel Tower, as well as world-famous institutions and popular parks.

Here is a multimedia website of Paris: http://en.parisinfo.com/
This is how the website looks like...

I have used 3 criteria to evaluate the website. Namely, coverage, currency and presentation and arrangement.

The coverage of the site is important as it needs to satisfy the needs of the audience. In this case, the website provides user with information on the type and place of accommodation, restuarants and cafes to dine in, famous museums & monuments and even the maps and transport in Paris. These information are important for tourists as it helps them to decide and plan their whole trips and tours.

They also provides photographs of Paris!

The website provides up-to-date information as one can see from the "currently in Paris" section which provides information about current events happening in Paris which tourists should not missed. For example, they have a De Stijl et Mondrian (The Style and Mondrian) exhibitions from December 1 2010 to March 21 2011 in Centre Georges Pompidou.

It also has a neat layout and the presentation and arrangement of information is consistent throughout. It has graphics and moving images which enhances the overall look of the site and most importantly capture attention. Informations are logically arranged and categorized at the top of the page which include hotels & accommodation, restaurants & cafes, museums & monuments, maps & transport and shopping & fashion. It has navigational icons such as "Home" and is easy to read. As such, users are able to navigate easily and more efficiently.

More pictures of Paris found in the web:

Paroramic view over the western side of Paris, at dusk, from the top of the Tour Montparnasse

Panorama of Paris which shows some of its landmarks

After looking at the above photos, you must be in awe by the scenaries in Paris like me! And yes, the romantic scenaries is the reason why Paris has become my dream holiday! And to be able to live in this largest city in France and touring the iconic landmarks would definitely be a dream come true for me!

Citizen Journalism and Stomp

During EIR lesson, the class has come out with a list of words that describe what citizen journalism meant. I have recorded it down:

a) User-submitted/ citizen/ public
b) Non-professional reporting
c) No privacy (invasion)
d) Sharing/ contribution
e) Freedom of views
f) subjective/bias/unbiased
g) Blogs/educational/reviews/news/wikis

Next, we were asked to evaluate Stomp based on 2 out of 9 criteria assigned to us. They are 'currency' and 'assessibility'. After evaluating the site, we have concluded that Stomp provides up-to-date information as the date of the source produced is within this week. Also, users do not need to register or log in to access the articles. However, registration is required to comment on a post. Large amount of pictures and videos is also available in Stomp and it is best viewed with IE 6.0 or Firefox 1.0 or above. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd has the copyright ownership.

So, what do I think of citizen Journalism and Stomp?

Basically, Stomp provides reporting from professionals such as The Straits Times as well as user-submitted reports and comments about anything under the sun. Most often than not, these contributions are public and the netizens' opinions and views of certain topics or subjects. The reports and articles can ve subjective, biased or unbiased and it ranges widely from socially important news to sharing of displeases about random people on the streets. For example, one can submit an entry to Stomp about a ransom student couple holding hands outside school premises. In addition, photos or videos are taken and uploaded into Stomp which could easily invade into others' privacy. Most of the times, the author of these articles would not use their real name . Thus, it is difficult to track them down. Hence, you would not know if one day an article written about you could end up in Stomp!

CS's blog!

Today, I would like to comment on Chao Siang's blogpost..

To start with, Chao Siang's blog has a neat layout. The black and white contrast of the font and the background make it aesthetically pleasing. He even has a tagboard, music and and clock placed at the right side of his blog.

Chao Siang has a blog post on "Virtual Shopping Spree on Second Life (E-learning Activity)" which I find interesting. His avatar went on to Man in Action (MIA) for a shopping trip. It seems like he enjoyed the whole activity. The part where he found a jail during the spree was amusing.

Moreover, I agree with Chao Siang that shopping in a real online shopping is much more convenient than in Secondlife as we can easily choose our items with just a few clicks instead of 'walking' our avatar to the different shops and select the items we want which can be time consuming.

His other post is as interesting too. Chao Siang has definitely put in great effort in maintaining his blog. So, keep it up Chao Siang!

Invisible Web

Most information resides in online databases (also known as the invisible or deep web). Hence, search engines can only find information on the visible web. Compared to other search engines like Google, the invisible web contains actual data or information such as articles, abstracts and citations, census data, patents, etc. Most importantly, it gives reliable, up-to-date information.

Similar to most search engines, the invisible web supports Boolean operators, phrase and proximity searches, Advanced search and truncation.

Hence, I think the invisible web is as effective as other search engines such as Google. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. As such, the effectiveness of each of them depends on the information you are looking for!

If you are researching on a familiar topic, a search engine or meta search engine is recommended. If you are researching on an unfamiliar topic, use a subject directory as it allows you to browse through relevant links. And if you are researching for specialized information, use invisible web (databases like EbscoHost) or intelligent agents.

Another example of invisible web commonly known to Temasek Polytechnic students would be the TP’s Digital Library Portal site (http://spark.tp.edu.sg/). I have been using the invisible web (TP’s Digital Library Portal site) to collect articles as required for one of my module. It is definitely a convenient way to look up for data.