Presentation+2+Discussion

These are the presentations for Week 13. Please view and add your comments at the respective sites as well as discuss the presentations in the 'discussion space' below.


 * T01**

[|**URL:http://gamedangers.blogspot.com**/] || [|URL:http://ifriendsi.blogspot.com/] || [|URL: http://friendstertrendsandissues.blogspot.com/] || URL:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwL2xJkrEo8 || URL: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v3083247nqcnWdNP or [|**http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzdu78BboSw**] || URL: http://vcommunication.wordpress.com/ || [|URL:http://newmedia-mooch.blogspot.com/] ||
 * **Presentation in week 13** ||  ||   ||   ||
 * 0608927J || KEVIN CHUA YEW CHYE || C0G || **Dangers of gaming**
 * 0608927J || KEVIN CHUA YEW CHYE || C0G || **Dangers of gaming**
 * 0605505G || LIM KOK CHUAN || C0G || Are online friendships real?
 * 0502927G || LIM ZHI KAI || C0G || Trends and issues in using Friendster amongst students
 * 0705282B || PEH KIM LENG PERRY || C0G || Uses and abuses of Second Life
 * 0705282B || PEH KIM LENG PERRY || C0G || Uses and abuses of Second Life
 * 0608089I || SERI BANUN BTE HARIS || C0G || Real vs online relationships
 * 0608188I || CHO TZE WEE || C0G || Real vs online communication
 * 0704541B || CHUA WEI YI || COE || Mooching

T01 discussion space:

Hey Eric! I believe friendster is just another lame trend in this world. I really dont like this trend of social networking. The reason is because there is millions of people connecting via friendster to millions of UNKNOWN people! this is very true because like the other time our teacher showed us an article of collecting friendster frens. One account got 1000 friends, plus its the only account the person have like 7 other accounts. So is that person trying to say that they have 7000 friends??What so great? Well i believe the person you interviewed is also my friend and from my class. You asked him whether he knows the people who adds him, and he REPLIED NO first! So that is so obivious for you that friendster is spoilt trend. Friendster is just and fake identy to some i guess but to some is just normal social geniune networking.

By G.Viknesh 0503861G =)

Yeah, he is our friend. Vik i agree with you too, those people were just trying to show off the amount of friends in their network maybe having lots of friends in their will make them look popular, i guess. It is being misused, instead of using it to get to know your friends better or keeping in touch with old friends and stuffs, they are just adding random people they do not even know for the purpose of increasing their amount of friends.

By Kai

Reffering to Perry's video i think having a 2nd life is really cool and amazing, When you are into this 2nd world we human naturally behave differently.<--that i dont know why, probably is just human nature i guess! I'm quite suprised to the various type shots you showed on your video, didnt know there were that many, my 2nd life interest would World of Warcraft, its really mind blowing and fun as well but i do agree that 2nd life games can be very addictive at times. Can you share with me some of the other 2nd life titles?

By G.Viknesh 0503861G =)

{ kevin, about the topic: turning agressive, do you think that this kind of game that you mention should be ban. if shloudnt ban, why? how do you make sure that maintain positive thinking while you are playing this type of violent game?

Perry: what method can you think of to stop these abuses in second life?

by: NenG }
 * i think that zhi kai blog has link wrongly to kok chuan blog (or is it only me?)

problem solved* by: Kai

(One method would be informing the public about the abuses and also shows the punishments for such offences of second life via publicity media such as broadcasting through television, radios and hold public talks and exhibitions to increase awareness. These way people will be more aware and think twice before they act.) by: Perry Peh T01

//**[Perry, interesting video with good visual and sound effects, but I'm not sure that all that's shown is what Second Life is about. Second Life refers to a specific virtual world and technically it's not a game and it doesn't have WOW, etc, or does it? -newmediascapes]**//

I think kevin has listed the 4 great disadvantages of gaming especially game addiction.. He puts across the problems of game addictions very well by giving an example.. He also suggests others activities to do besides gaming which can be a solution to game addicts. by: Gabriel

NenG, refering to your questions on the topic mentioned about turning aggressive, my opinion is that these violent games shouldn't be banned. Reason being it's the maturity of a gamers' thinking to determine if he/she can handle the game properly. Hence what I suggest best is to enforce the law of the age limit for purchasing these violent games. For example, games with violent content are not allowed for 12? 16? 18? or more, according to the range of the content. To maintain a positive thinking of the game depends on the gamers, I can't control that, as mentioned, for a gamer to maintain positive thinking means that he/she has to know it's just a normal game. He/she must not be too into the game such that he/she wll turn the game into reality and consequences would be undesirable. Therefore, my message is to hope gamers out there would maintain a positive thinking while playing games. Thanks for the question.

by: Kevin T01

I am agree with Kok Chuan view that face to face friend are more reliable and treasured compared to online friend as they are the friends that know you well and your character. But however there still some of the people who have a rare online friend who is willing to share problem with you and give advise to you just like a face to face friends.

By: Yi Ling T01

Regarding Cho Tze Wee on the topic : Real vs online communication - i think his information is very detailed because he started by explaining the points he is going to cover so viewers will know what to expect, followed by a introduction on real and online communication and it's advantages and disadvantages which i think is very informative. In my opinion nothing beats coming face to face with each other because to get to see the person with your eyes but with cutting edge technology, nowadays communicating with each other is so much convenient and hassle free just like the discussion now.

By Perry Peh T01

Referring to Perry topic, I agree with him that Second life is an internet based virtual world which people socialize with one another using characters. But base on the youtube that displays some of the online games (Audition, Maple Story), how do you link that the online game to the abuses on second life?

Referring to Kevin’s podcast, I believe that a gamer must stay positive thinking when playing games that are rated for 18years old and above. For friend or foe section, I have to partially agree. Face to face friends and online friends whether they are trustworthy or have motive, have to depend on their maturity.

By: Wee Chai T01

My topic is not just on abuses of Second Life but also as well on the Uses of it, so i display a variety of games which is part of Second Life showing online users interacting through via online games.*

By Perry Peh T01

Refering to the topic on Online Friendship/Communication, I think there is no defination to the reliabiity of face to face friends or online friends. The fact that people do have online friendship that could last long. However many still prefer face to face because there is a stronger sense of security or trust. For my opinion, I think the topic can be brought out more clearly because people might have online friends in the first place, but soon after they meet out face to face, so where does this scenario fall into? Face to face or online. That's something to clarify. However I found the information for the classmates presentation quite interesting.

By: Kevin T01

Regarding to Kevin topic on Danger of Gaming. I agree to him that gaming do provides danger if you are being addicted to it. There are cases where teenagers are addicted and disrupt their social life because of game addiction.For my opinion, is important that school or the parents can help to prevent this by educating them. For parents they can keep a watch on them even thoght nowadays teenagers hardly listen to parents. But with extra effort to put in, i belive it can be done By Kok Chuan T01

Regarding Kevin's podcast, I think that regarding game addictions, there are many other articles that many people are addicted to games and as a result, their studies will be affected. As Kevin mention that going out with friends can help reduce addiction, so what if they go out with their friends and play games at lan shops. Wont that also be part of game addiction? Like movies thats has violent content, i think that games should also have violent content only if there is a age control to it. So i dont think it is a really a big problem to have violent games.

By Alaric. T01

I agree with Kelvin, there are some gamers who have intentional motive when getting close to you in online, getting to know your password and then hacking your account. Maybe can tell us more about these online friends asking you out to meet out, what are the dangers to it? I do not agree with Alaric, there is game rating which will only allows gamers of certain age to purchase games but I do not think that this will stop gamers to get the violent game they wanted as there is always alternative ways to get it like asking a friend who can buy the game I think if the gamers have correct mind-set in playing games this will not be a problem.

By Kenny Cheng.T01

Regarding Kok Chuan's blog about online friendships, i agree with him that online friends are much dangerous than face-to-face friends, because no one knows their real personalities. They are able to build up their friendship with you and when they feel that you have trust in them, they may begin to ask you for money or meet up with you. If they succeed in doing this, and they cheat your money and disappear or run away, you are unable to track them because you only know their cyber address and identity. However, if one has limits in making online friends, there is no harm in logging on to Internet Relay Chat or any online chatrooms to pass time and for the fun of it.

by Chua Wei Yi T01

As a reflection to Chua Wei Yi’s blog, I think we should constantly be on guard over what information goes out of us. We should avoid giving out our personal information and identity, any personal information we post on the net is literally announcing it to the whole world as the internet is a shared medium. “New media” certainly has the potential to become the “new media of stolen identities”. My own practice is always to keep a low profile on the internet. No harm is done in this way, and I get to protect myself from all potential harms that may come from leaking my personal information.

I think checks should be in place to keep racism, security breaches, and other harms from spreading to keep “new media” a safe platform for information sharing.

By Wei Yu, T01

I have to agree with Kok Chuan that it is very hard to know if whatever online friends said about themselves are true or not. I myself have also made friends online but I just refuse to meet them up because i still enjoy making friends in reality because I can feel them. They are real, you know.

And, I have to agree that there is always miscommunication online. I had my own misunderstandings incidents with my own real friends. What's more with online friends? ~ Seri, T01

Regarding zhi kai's blog, i believe Friendster is a place whereby it allows us to keep in touch with our real friends but whati know it was kind of misuse by alot of people nowsaday. Just like one of my friend who had more than 500 friends in one of her account, shehave to open 1 more account to add in more friends. She didnt even know more than half of it. So does friendster really helps us to stay in contact with your friends. Well on my view i think its a Yes if its being used in the right way.

Regarding KOK CHUAN's blog on online friendship, well personally i prefer to have a real friend who we can talk with face to face instead of me just sitting infront of the computer,typing to the 'friend' who i didnt even see before. So i think online friendship are not real to me.

== Tze Wee

Regarding Perry video on Second Life, I personally think that games that Perry showed like 2nd life, World of Warcraft, MapleStory, Audition and my personal favourite, Counter Strike are good example of famous games online that now adays is a **BIG** thing. Even recently, Singapore is trying to attract French firms in new sectors like digital media and video gaming. I think this is a good way for Singapore's very talented gaming fans to expand their abilities to not just locally but overseas. Second life is one game that you can really get addicted to because of the different things it has to offer to different user. It has a great strategy to keep the user coming back. However, on the other hand, it has its negative side which is currently difficult to avoid, similarly with other online games.

-Sharina,0701913F,T01 :)


 * //[I'm glad that more of you are exploring other forms of new media to get your message across. Some very useful points raised in the various presentations that provided much food for thought and discussion. Just be careful about defining some of the terms more accurately and supporting your views with more specific examples and case studies.]//**

http://blogging-n-money.blogspot.com/ || http://newmedia-socialite.blogspot.com/ || http://internetabuses.wordpress.com/ || [|**http://virtualromance.wordpress.com**/] || [|http://typing-nerds.blogspot.com] || [|http://newmedia-adverts.blogspot.com]** || http://itheftk.blogspot.com/ ||  ||   ||
 * **T02** ||  ||   ||   ||
 * **Presentation in week 13** ||  ||   ||   ||
 * 0704991I || LIM HONG WEI KELVIN || C0B || Blogging and money:
 * 0704991I || LIM HONG WEI KELVIN || C0B || Blogging and money:
 * 0607591E || NUR ASHIKIN BTE ISNIN || C0G || New media trends among students
 * 0608083B || RAPHAEL TAN YI WEI || C0H || Instant messaging, chatrooms and forums: security abuses
 * 0505214G || TEY WEI HSIEN BENJAMIN || C0B || **Online dating**
 * 0701442F || YEO AMOS || C0H || New Media and large corporations
 * 0701990D || ZURAIIN BTE MOHAMED YATIM || A0B || **Advertising using new media
 * 0702140E || TAN YINGTING KLEO || AOB || Online Identity Theft

T02 discussion space: Amos Yeo: I agree with Kleo post is that identity theft is a threat in the modern world. We should take the nesscary percautions when we go online.

With regard to Raphael's post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_kADup_wZw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBlyAxdvBfo ... and many more. I truly applaud how Chris Hansen and his team have contrived to bring online predators to the mercy of the law even with chicanery, and it’s quite heartening indeed to see how such videos alacrify the masses with a sense of righteousness. But this sense of salvation is fleeting if you could only comprehend the preponderance of [|child pornography] (CP) made available in [|underground trades]. Or ‘child sex tourism' where men from wealthier countries are drawn to less developed countries where they are able to take advantage of economically vulnerable children and the respective tenuous criminal justice systems. So really, there’s no efficacious method to completely stifle their existence or bowdlerize the internet of related presences. - Syl

about amos' post, I think that it's a good thing that companies banned the access of facebook. Staff are hired to work, not to 'poke' people or doing something else. Without facebook as distraction, staffs are able to work in a more efficient manner. -SuPing

Regarding Kelvin's blog about blogging and money. I have a friend who also sells her things on a blog. And she makes pretty good profit from the sales. Therefore, i think that blog shops are a good way for students to earn a little pocket money. My friend usually sells things that she buy outside and finds out that she doesn't really like it, so she just sells it on the blog. So its rather interesting to see that nowadays, people can start their own small business at home. I would not be surprise that in the near future, people do not go to shopping centers anymore and just stay home and get on surfing through different blogs to buy things. -charles

With regards to raphel's post i agree that spamming, online predators , verbal abuse are the 3 most common internet abuse these days. As most users believe they are safe by being annoymous and think they wont be caught so they feel that they are free to do what they want. But i believe enough education to prevent people from being victims of this threats should be done sufficiently so we wont have to fear all these especially online predators for girls... - Jianlin

With regards to Zuraiin's post, its interesting to know how companies, organizations and so use social networking sites like Facebook to advertise their products or whatsoever. Good plan though, certainly has a better success rates than your usual pop-ups. Haha And I have to compliment Ashikin for her blog post. Not to mention the details, there's videos, personal opinions and even surveys to back her topic up. Nice reading that. Regarding Kleo's post, I agree that identity theft is on the rise nowadays considering the technology and all. It's shocking to know how people resort to identity theft just to gain more attention or popularity. I'll just have to say that, we do have to be extra careful when playing with our social networking sites online. - Tey Wi Hsien Benjamin

After reading [|Online Identity Theft], I'm inclined to say that it's more common for one to do it for the lulz, with seeking to gain notoriety as the secondary motivation. To digress, [|here's some 'underground' activity on CP] which I had failed to include earlier. Also, to elucidate, with reference to what Jianlin had said - for over two millennia worth of 'advancing' human civilization have we educated our young on the sin of stealing and various wrongdoings, yet there's a veritable abundance of theft in the modern society. That being said, can one truly justify a mere approximation of 'enough education' as suffice to stultify this otherwise exigently exacerbating issue? Will educating an upkeep in prudence, an equivocal measure already as proven through generations before, serve to break this indefinite, vicious cycle of rogue perpetrators? Furthermore, considering how the veil of anonymity is playing a supporting role to the utility of the internet, I don't think I'm erroneous to conclude, despairing as it may be, that the hope of deliverance has been, or will be, scorched by the flame of futility. - Syl

//With reference to Kelvin's blog on making money through blogs I think it's a really good way and lucrative business. However I think there would be again an issue of trust especially if you are a foreign buyer. Also how would we know if the picture is a stock pic? However It's great to know that New media has evolved so much that even purchasing stuffs are done online, Great job. Also I liked Ashikin's post on New media trends amongst students. It explains much about students using sociaL networking sites, how it evolved from Friendster to mySpace then to Facebook and did an interview on her friends. However I feel that she has concentrated too much just on Social Networking sites and left out on blogging and watching videos. I think students also like spending their time on these other areas too, so work on that! I also loved Raphael's post questioning the security of new media. The video at the bottom of the page was interesting as it is an interrogation of a 30 year old teacher who tried to lure a 13 year old and got caught. I think security of these social networking sites and IRCs remains as a contain danger unless the user's info can be verified. Eg scanning of IC to Facebook and verified before using of account.//


 * Aaron Alexander Lim T02~**

__Chew Kia Liang 0605794G__

With reference to LIM HONG WEI KELVIN on Blogging and money

The world of new media is really awesome; blogging is something like wrting diary in the

past. But now, its like a selling media, or even discussion media, not just a place which

talks about personal staff.

With reference to NUR ASHIKIN BTE ISNIN on New media trends among students

New media is really something that exsists in every single student. Just pick a student on

the road and ask what is he going to do at home. Most probably he is going to reply "Oh, I

am going to msn to find my friends and ask when to play the game!"

With reference to RAPHAEL TAN YI WEI on Instant messaging, chatrooms and forums: security

abuses

New media comes with pros and cons as usual. Spamming is always happening all around new

media, and there is actually nothing we could do anything about it. Some say we could block

or do watever methods to stop receive the spam, but you could not possibility stop every

single company from spamming. Thats bad news.

With rerference to TEY WEI HSIEN BENJAMIN on Online dating

This is interesting. And i agree on what you say "I’d like to think that chemistry and

physical interaction is very important". This is really an important factor. Dating is not

just a game, and it should be took seriously. Online daters might have some serious people,

but personally i feel that there are a lot out there who meant to play; sudden find it

boring to be alone and wanted to have a mate (but does not want it to be a permanent); or

some who just want to have the bedroom fun.

With reference to YEO AMOS on New Media and large corporations

Yeah i agree that reading in computer is tiring. Large corporations could actually post in

BOTH blogs and newspapers. That would be great.

With reference to ZURAIIN BTE MOHAMED YATIM on Advertising using new media

This relates to what Amos has wrote. It is similar, and again, advertising could be used

through various measures.

---

With reference to TAN YINGTING KLEO on Online Identity Theft

It is a common thing to actually find such people in the net. Again, new media has a lot of

cons which no one could actually do anything about it to stop them.

__It is certainly possible to earn money using blogs, as written in Kelvin's post. I may be wrong, but I've heard that the advertisements on xiaxue's blog generates so much money that she's able to live solely on the income from these advertisments. However one must be gained a large amount of readers before advertising on blogs can be considered a lucrative business.

I'll admit that I've lost interest in social networking sites since secondary 3(still the friendster era), so its interesting to see the developments on social networking sites in Ashikin's post. It seems that Facebook now offers lots of features that attracted alot of people to make the transition from friendster/mySpace to Facebook . Also, it seems that alot of people are still unaware of the dangers of posting information of themselves online. Come to think of it, one of the reasons I stopped using social networking sites is precisely because it is so easy to dig out information of others from such sites.

Well I've heard of online dating sites before, but I've never really knew how it works, so Benjamin's post has opened by eyes. Also to note, I've played afew online games to see online romances here and there. I've even met with couples who got met each other online, got married and had a family together. So yeah, I also think that online dating as both pros and cons, as you can meet a wider range of people, but you can't get the experience that traditional real-world dating feeling(hand-in-hand, flowers, etc).

Regarding Amos' post, personally, I think corporate blogs are a good idea to grasp the interest of their [potential] customers online, as they allow for discussion and short/quick up-to-date information on what's going on in their company. Indeed, long passages of text on a computer screen can be hard on the eyes, but I think that short 1-2 paragraph updates would keep the reader interested. One of the "corporate" blogs i read is http://www.majornelson.com/, created by the director of programming of Microsoft's Xbox Live platform. I haven't really seen a company making use of social networking sites for work purposes with my own eyes, but I guess they'll need to explore more on the pros and cons of using these sites to promote interactivity between their employees.

I, for one, tend to ignore advertisements on websites, be it pop-up or embeded ones. I seldom take notice of them unless they cover half the length of the screen or to that effect. Facebook's Social Ad's as noted in Zuraiin's post, seem to be using pesonal information (like your picture) on the advertisement itself, which makes one question if the advertising company(or other entities) would also keep that information for other purposes? THis also brings up the question on how much information do we wish to reveal just to get a quick buck from advertizers.

I think the issue that Kleo touched on, Online Identity theft, has been much talked about since the advent of the use of internet in homes. And yes as she mentioned, it is on the rise with more and more people posting their information on social networking sites nowadays. I agree with Sylvester in saying that many people nowadays (some whom are teenagers), steal online identities from mySpace and Facebook accounts just "for the lulz", and not taken seriously. These people usually steal the online identities of others to say/post things that others would not have imagined. Then they spread it around, posting Anonymously in forums, or other websites just to have a laugh at the reactions of others online.

- Raphael, T02__

__Emily Sng, T02.

After reading Benjamin's blog, my mindset about online dating remains intact - online dating never worked. Personally, i've not tried online dating before and never will. First of all, you will never know who exactly you are talking to. Secondly, you never know whats on their mind. Its definitely is not advisable for females to do online dating, unless you are already an expert in it. But for males, maybe they have got lesser disadvantages compared to the females, in another words, they've got nothing to lose. :)

Regarding NUR ASHIKIN BTE ISNIN's blog, i believe everyone knows about Facebook and how addictive it can be. Still, it's a moment's thing(i think). With such large amount of applications, of uncountable varieties, it would be very troublesome having so many things going on at the same time. Not logging in for a long period of time would meant increasing amount of jobsfor you the next time you log in. This is the reason why i deactivated Facebook and also why i prefer Friendster. Only testimonials and messages, but somehow things have changed and Friendster is creating applications and stuffs. =/

Kelvin's blog has cleared my doubt about how online bloggers actually made money- enough to last them, enough to make blogging their career. About selling clothes online, yes it's cheap- thats for sure. This is because no shop, no rental fees, no bills, no nothing. Bad part about it? you never know if it fits you. I wouldnt prefer online shopping, unless it's something really worth the shot, or rather something that it's not found in Singapore. I wouldn't mind online shopping for accessories or makeups, but i would think twice about clothings. :) About Kleo's blog, i believe identity theft is something common nowadays. Everyone wants to be Someone, and they'll do anything for it. Well you do see people in auditions trying really hard to gain attention from everyone, even if it costs them their name. So why not do it through new media? Thanks Kleo for the ways to prevent identity theft! :)

I think everyone is definitely expose to the two types of common abuses(spamming and verbal abuses). Personally, i have not seriously considered much about Online Predators. I never thought much about it, and how big a consequence it will be if im the online "prey" but after reading Raphael's blog, i certainly have known more about it and how to i prevent it from happening. Thanks for sharing! :__

Regarding Kelvin's blog about making money online, he talk about allowing people to start their very own business and train their entrepreneurship skills through blogging, I think that’s very true. In fact I and my friend have started a small business through this way. This way of starting a business will allow people to reduce the capital they need to start a business hence it will benefits students like us.

Also i think Raphael’s blog make us aware of online predators and the type of damage they can do. Now we all can learn to take some precaution and prevention so that we wouldn’t become a prey of these predators.

Regarding to Benjamin's blog about online dates, i personally thing that online dates are quite dangerous but if the relationship remains as online friends or buddy, I think that is still quite safe. However what we have to take note is that when you are talking to someone online and you do not know that person, most of the time you r assuming thing. So in the end the person might not be exactly the way you assume him to be!

Gin Yan 0608151G

Reply to Alex's comment-Yes,the topic on trust will naturally pops out as you don't even know or see the seller before and would not know whether it is a scam, so maybe if you are a person who loves purchasing things online, it's better to stick to 1 seller, maybe you start talking to him or her first then get to know her more, when you feel safe then start purchasing from her or him.

Kelvin 0704991I

Regarding Kelvin's blog about blogging and money,i think that blog shops are a good way for students to earn a little pocket money.I also heard from one of my relatives told me that the advertisements on xiaxue's blog generates so much money that she's able to live solely on the income from these advertisments. -Tang Ziwei

--

Regarding Raphael's article on Internet abuse, I actually found that most of what happens in the internet can be avoided or curtailed. Verbal abuse, or 'flaming'/'trolling', is just much easier to be ignored than replied to. Best advice for these flamers or trollers is to ignore them and move on. As for ad-spamming, it can be easily managed by good moderators or by banning the accounts the advertisers set up and, for the smaller forums, have the accounts be enabled to post by only the moderators and the admins. Post-count spamming is easily mitigated - just don't give rewards for post-count. As for the darker side of the internet such as online predators, it's all very easy to avoid if the would-be victim were more informed. The first and most important part is -not- to give your photo to anyone, much less nude ones. I'm actually drawn to conclude, though, that the blackmailed subject you mentioned should actually get what she deserved for being downright stupid. The same goes for the younger ages, though for them, the PARENTS, most importantly, MUST, and I stress, MUST know what the child is doing on the internet, and what he or she does. This does not mean watching him or her 24/7 - which some parents do - but educating him or her about the internet. Nobody else is responsible for the child's growth but her parents, and this means even for those who are computer illiterate. This may be a bit of a fatalistic viewpoint, but I believe that if you're getting your child a computer and internet access, it becomes your business to know what exactly your child is doing with it. Otherwise you have no business getting it until you know how to use the intarnets as well.

Fareedz, 0607321G

Referring to Benjamin's blog on Online dating and it's pros and cons. I feel that the blog itself properly explains why Online Dating would appeal to most young people, particularly the shy ones. It also highlights the hidden traps of Online Dating. Personally, I feel that the cons of online dating outwrigh the pros in terms of relationships. Up to today, I have heard many rumors about online dating which usually involve young girls being duped by older men into blind dates and sexual harrassment by oppurtunistic stalkers who use dating websites to pinpoint their next victim. Sometimes, these stories turn out ot be true and actually make it onto the news. The problem wiht online dating is that anonymity offered by being online gives you the ability to create a very different impression from the one you have in real life. There is absolutely no way to determine a person's real personality online. From there arises the problem of discernment. How do you know your partner is trustworthy? Will you even like him when you meet face-to-face? Therefore, I say that the only way to get into a true relationship is to meet face-to-face rather than on an online chatroom.

Ken 0606601c

I'm amazed by Kelvin's blog on Blogging and money. I didnt know there's so many other ways to earn money online other than puting advertisement on blogs. The online e-shop caught my attention as I think it is a very good way of earning some pocket money for us. Not only that, online users can just order their stuffs online and save the time of travelling to shopping malls to do their shopping.

Tee Ming, 0702822H

//**[I'm glad to see that more of you are exploring other forms of new media to get your message across. Some of you have added a multi-dimensional element to your presentations by incorporating various forms of media and data - I'm sure you can see the effects of that in Shikin's presentation, amongst others. Some very useful points raised in the various presentations that provided much food for thought and discussion. It's always helpful to support your views with more specific examples and case studies.]**//