When the natural disasters happened in Japan, people automatically knew right away; especially if they go online on sites such as Twitter and Tumblr.
Even without reading or watching the news, I knew what was going on. There were trends and hashtags such as #prayforjapan or #prayforasia or even #prayforworld.
Many of us phoned friends and relatives that are in Japan, while some of us wait for them to tweet out a status. Since I did not have my friend's number, I had to wait for her to update her Facebook status saying she was fine, even though the place was shaking really hard.
It's amazing how fast the internet can connect us. We have clips during the tsunami and earthquake flying around on the web.People are raising awareness through Twitter and Tumblr; they are also being informed of the various organizations that are looking for donations to help Japan. We don't have to watch TV and we will still be part of the loop.
Google also has created a "person-finder" where it will help find those who are still missing.
Hopefully the Internet can exceed our expectations and find these missing people more effectively and faster than before.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Bullying and Abuse on Facebook Solved?
According to a short article by BBC News, Facebook has allowed their users who are being bullied or abused online to report their problems to their friends. There is an option where the users can "get help from a trusted friend". They have included this function because they believe that by taking down the harassing comments will not necessarily solve this problem. Facebook has been "slow to respond to concerns about online safety", and they never revealed the number of staff who handles complaints about Bullying or abuse.So they included this option to improve it's safety.
Would this really help anti-Bullying? Would the ones being bullied really use this option? I understand that it is easier to message people about your problems than talking to them in person. If one usually keeps everything to himself, would he really ask for help even if it's a "trusted friend"?
I'm not saying that this is a bad idea, because I know change won't happen overnight, and this is a good start.
The strange thing is, I tried finding this option on Facebook, and I can't find it. The article also didn't tell us where it was located.
Would this really help anti-Bullying? Would the ones being bullied really use this option? I understand that it is easier to message people about your problems than talking to them in person. If one usually keeps everything to himself, would he really ask for help even if it's a "trusted friend"?
I'm not saying that this is a bad idea, because I know change won't happen overnight, and this is a good start.
The strange thing is, I tried finding this option on Facebook, and I can't find it. The article also didn't tell us where it was located.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
03/08/2011
So today during lecture, there was a presentation on Gaming.
And since I love to game myself, this topic definitely appealed to me.
What interested me was the fact that gaming was used by the military to recruit kids or young teens. It was discussed in class how some of the teens actually believe the army would be as exciting or as fun as it would be in a game like Call of Duty. However, obviously in reality, it is quite the opposite.
I don't like the idea of using video games to train because it is definitely different than being in action in real life. The argument ab55out guns as well. Just because someone might be extremely good with shooting and aiming on a game, might not necessarily be that great with a real gun. I find it strange that people think it's the same thing, when clearly it isn't. The game controllers aren't as heavy as the real guns nor will it recoil as hard when you shoot. The game controller might shake a bit because of the vibrating function built-in, but it won't budge as much as a real gun would. If one were not to hold the real gun properly, one can seriously injure oneself.
There was also an incident, which I don't really remember when it happened, but a kid, no more than 9 years old, decided to steal his grandmother's car and drive it down the road, hitting other cars as he goes. When his grandmother called the cops and found him, they asked the boy why he would do that. He said he wanted to be like Grand Theft Auto, the game.
Personally, the Grand Theft Auto Series are my absolute favourite game, so I understand how the kid thinks it's cool and exciting to copy what you can do in the game. However, I thought it was a bit dumb since just because the cops are slow and doesn't see to be smart enough to catch you in the game, doesn't mean, you can escape that easily in real life.
The official Website for GTA: http://www.rockstargames.com/grandtheftauto/
I think that the youth during the recent years are more aware that the virtual world is not real compared to the youth when video games first got popular.
And even though video games now have games where you can exercise both physically and mentally or even learn a new skill (eg. learn a new language). But because the older generation wasn't born in this virtual time, they think that gaming is a bad and useless thing.
And since I love to game myself, this topic definitely appealed to me.
What interested me was the fact that gaming was used by the military to recruit kids or young teens. It was discussed in class how some of the teens actually believe the army would be as exciting or as fun as it would be in a game like Call of Duty. However, obviously in reality, it is quite the opposite.
I don't like the idea of using video games to train because it is definitely different than being in action in real life. The argument ab55out guns as well. Just because someone might be extremely good with shooting and aiming on a game, might not necessarily be that great with a real gun. I find it strange that people think it's the same thing, when clearly it isn't. The game controllers aren't as heavy as the real guns nor will it recoil as hard when you shoot. The game controller might shake a bit because of the vibrating function built-in, but it won't budge as much as a real gun would. If one were not to hold the real gun properly, one can seriously injure oneself.
There was also an incident, which I don't really remember when it happened, but a kid, no more than 9 years old, decided to steal his grandmother's car and drive it down the road, hitting other cars as he goes. When his grandmother called the cops and found him, they asked the boy why he would do that. He said he wanted to be like Grand Theft Auto, the game.
Personally, the Grand Theft Auto Series are my absolute favourite game, so I understand how the kid thinks it's cool and exciting to copy what you can do in the game. However, I thought it was a bit dumb since just because the cops are slow and doesn't see to be smart enough to catch you in the game, doesn't mean, you can escape that easily in real life.
The official Website for GTA: http://www.rockstargames.com/grandtheftauto/
I think that the youth during the recent years are more aware that the virtual world is not real compared to the youth when video games first got popular.
And even though video games now have games where you can exercise both physically and mentally or even learn a new skill (eg. learn a new language). But because the older generation wasn't born in this virtual time, they think that gaming is a bad and useless thing.
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