Technologial threat?

In the 21st century, our life is centred around various communication mediums. To date, I'm sure most of us are familiar with programs like MSN messanger, Facebook, Youtube etc. Being a netizen has never brought us so many opportunities to interact with one another, but have you wondered how dependant you are on technology?How much control does it have over your life?








Life has become more hectic with the emergence of newer communication technologies. What happened to the good old days when you could just laze in bed on Sundays and not bother about work? With Blackberry's to tie you down, one can almost hear their Boss's voice nagging through the email.Techonology has become so embedded in our society that most people will feel crippled if they have their mobile phone taken away from them. One might wonder if this is truely the direction we wish to head in.

Much of our privacy has been lost in this age too. When looking at online networking platforms like Friendster and Facebook, we see people putting personal information like their age, where they stay, which school they study in etc. This is enough for any Tom, Dick or Harry to press a few keys and run a google search on you. You never know if there is a virtual stalker leering at your picture.

Wait, there's more. How often do we receive junk mail or spam in the form of SMS's through unknown advertisers? When we visit a certain webpage you never know who is secretly collecting data about your preferences and selectively sending you advertisements that might perk your interest (most of the time they don't) This form of virtual harassment is probably happening every second despite the layers of firewalls that supposedly protects us.

The bottom line? The world is not what it was 20 years before. Technology has become part and parcel of our lives and it is up to us to discern how we should deal with it. Should we integrate ourselves with it fully or set up perimeters to safeguard against potential threats? What are your views? Let's hear them!

Stomp! A mass media. Is it good or bad?

Hey people, have you guys heard or came across with the website Stomp before? If yes good for you.

However, if you are unfamiliar with this website. You should check it out!

Stomp is categorized under a mass media tool and a place for mass communication to take place. It is a so called ‘online portal’ for citizen reporting and the prospect was promising. Finally, there is a platform for us Singaporeans to write and report without being bounded by red tape (although I DO suspect there are still some in place). Users, also known as Stompers, are allowed to upload pictures and include stories under the Singapore Seen section, afterwhich other Stompers can view and comment on.



There are pros can cons of course.

In my opinion:

PROS
Stomp Singapore seen can be informative and can become a useful tool to create public awareness over a certain problematic issue such as a report about the dangers of children playing on a 21st story rooftop and the leading consequences. It has somehow played a role as a surrogate parent educator for the public which is beneficial to the society.

CONS
However, there are reports that are overboard, ridiculous and also mostly insignificant. I think it's become more of a hip thing to report something there. Suddenly, everyone's turned into the paparazzi.

So what's your take on this?

American cultural imperialism.

Have you ever missed the newest episode of MTV's The Real World or the latest American idol season and SIGHHHHH so loudly, start complaining to the person beside you and start rolling on the floor to vent your frustrations?

If yes, it is normal. Don't worry. You are not the only one feeling this way!

Well, Singaporeans today tend to feel this way due to the process of American cultural imperialism which in my opinion is largely a byproduct of an inevitable globalization.

Sometimes I see young people huddling in flurry of baggy combat pants, skateboards, and slang along Orchard road. Be it be posers or kids that want to act cool, I believe that American culture has sipped into them and influence their perception of what's cool, thus resulting in the act above. Previously, skating was not that very popular in Singapore compared to today.

Popular fast food joints such as McDonalds are practically situated almost every corner of our island. Not forgetting Coca-Cola and Starbucks. We often patronise these franchises originated from America. Then, how can our local food franchises compete against these giants?

Also, I am studying an American degree programme and I feel that there is a need to learn the American culture and pick up their communcation techniques and various slangs as well as jargons. Perhaps this is also due to the American culural imperialism?

So what do you guys think? Should we embrace American cultural imperialism with all our hearts?

The importance of teamwork

TEAMWORK is defined as a cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of people acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause

Have you ever wondered what teamwork can do?

Here's a short clip of teamwork at work. I personally think it's pretty hilarious and cool as it's filled with lots of precision as well as creativity.



Notice that the song was sung by only 2 men and not 6?

The song depicted from the video was the famous Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel. As you know Cannon in D is not known to be sung individually but as a group. But why? Because the quality coming out from an individual is definately not as good compared to a group. For example, among men, there are basses, baritones and tenors, and among women, contraltos, mezzo-sopranos and sopranos. With a good combination of each vocal range, the tune will be enhanced and intesified.

Here's an extracted part of the main score sheet in Cannon in D.



Notice, the first 9 bars of the Canon in D: the violins play a three-voice canon over the ground bass which provides the harmonic structure. Colors are used above to differentiate and highlight the individual canonic entries. Hence, to satisfy that harmonic structure, a team of different voices have to work together to achieve that musical effect and create a lastful impact.

In all, the message of this video is to greatly remind us the importance of teamwork and the fundamental value behind it.

However, there are times whereby teamwork fails and individual work triumphs.

What do you think?

Speed Dating

Today, speed dating is becoming increasingly popular, trendy and fun.

Why?

Due to the concerns about the falling fertlity rate in many advanced Asian countries, it is gaining popularity in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong too. Also, in our modern society, more single people are working longer hours, leaving less time for socialising. Speed dating fulfills that lack of socialising time and at the same time broadens your social network.

What is speed dating?

The basic idea is that an equal number of men and women attend a venue; each person spends between 5 and 10 minutes chatting to each member of the opposite sex, and then decides which people they would like to see again. The organizers facilitate an exchange of details if there is a match.

I managed to download a video from Stomp which illustrates a scenario of a speed dating. Watch what happens during the speed dating with masks event at Traders’ hotel.

During conventional speed dating events, first impressions are usually based on appearance and looks. "People are initially attracted to someone, based on their looks" says the experts. However, in this particular speed dating event, the need to put on masks removes that element. This is good because it prevents the dates to be based superficially but other alternatives such as personaility and style will be taken into consideration as part of first impressions.

This week's com's lesson focused on two types of communication.
1. Interpersonal communications
2. Communication in Relationships

From here, you can see interpersonal communication being utilized in the conversations between 12 men and 12 ladies. Messages are exchanged within a certain time limit and one must select their words properly in order to impress the other party. According to Knapp Model of Relational Development, this process can be catergorized under stage 1 (Initiating) and stage 2 (Experimenting).

And if both parties are rather impressed with one another and feel that there might be a spark or chemistry between them, they may want to proceed further in their relationship which takes them further to a stage 3(Intensifying), stage 4(Integrating) and stage 5(bonding).

On another note, some people stereotype people that turn to speed dating in search for a possible partner tend to be single, CMI(cannot make it) and desperate.

How much do you agree with this?

If you are given an invitation to attend a speed dating event, will you show up? (Assuming that you are single!)

And if you do, will appearance be of importance to you when you meet new people?

PDA (Public Display Of Affection)

Recently,

Public Display of Affection (PDA) has become a popular and debatable issue among Singaporeans due to its uprising ocurrence in public.

Here's a short clip of various PDA examples that was captured by the public.

In this week's coms lesson we have focused on the term perception.

Every individual perceive our surroundings, experience and communication differently.

It is due to the spectre of contrasting perceptions that we have, resulting in dissimilar views and variant actions that becomes a source of generating PDA acts.

In this case, we should ask ourselves...

Should PDA be tolerated in public?

What level of PDA should be accepted and should not be?

Where is the limit to PDA?

Should the government educate our people to behave discretely in public to share the same perception as those that believes PDA is wrong?

Is it wrong to invade people's privacy space by taking pictures or videos about their indiscrete act? By doing so, will it solve the issue?

Personally, I feel that PDA should be tolerated in public as people have their own rights and freedom to do what ever they want as long as they are not breaking the law. However, couples should have a limit to how they can show affection to one another. To me, hugging and kissing is my limit. Further than that is of course not accepted by me as i believe in discretion in public. Discretion is also another form of perception. In this case, both perceptions(PDA & Discretion) are linked to one another. I seriously believe that the government cannot do much about excessive PDA because as i said people have their individual rights. But if we invade their private space by capturing their indiscrete act of PDA in public, it might inform them that our society do not tolerate their actions and it might trigger a change in their perception.

What do you think?

Singlish kills English language

Language has become our basic medium of communication among us. Living in a multi-racial Singapore society, we are being exposed to different languages daily which are English, Malay, Mandarine and Tamil. These are the official languages that are recognised by the Singapore government.

However,

What about Singlish?

Does these words like "Lah", "Loh", "Meh", "Hah", "Siah" seem familar to you?

Should Singlish be made an offical language as well?

Here's a recent short video of a radio teleconversation between our local 98.7fm DJs and a catering auntie.

Personally when i was watching this video, I couldn't stop laughing at their hilarious conversation. Some of the typical Singlish terminology were expressed in this video. If you notice, she loves to use the word "ah" at the end of her sentence. Also, fried rice was pronounced as "Fly Rice" and the coke we drink everyday was pronounced as "Cock".

Yes, Singlish can be at times funny and comical as it adds spice and laughter in our everyday lives. Some even say that Singlish has evolved into a form of identity among Singaporeans.

Nonetheless,

I regard Singlish as a form of Noise in the transactional communication model.

Noise = environment (physical,psychological and social factors that surround and influence communication)

Environment may exert negative and positive influence.

In our case, Singlish has probably become a social stigma in our environment. Most did not consider the detrimental effects it carries and continue to use Singlish excessively in our speech. It not only manipulates our proper usage of English but also degrade our English proficiency.

The Singaporean government currently discourages the use of Singlish in favour of Singapore Standard English as it believes in the need for Singaporeans to be able to effectively communicate with the other English users in the world. The government runs the Speak Good English Movement to emphasise the point.

Are you doing your part?