Week 6
For this week, we covered internet security. This is a topic which is rather important to me, as I have faced such issues in the past (which I will touch on later).
Class was certainly interesting as we went through these various terms:
1. Cybercrime
2. Virus
3. Worm
4. Trojan
5. Phishing
I will not list the definitions here as they were already explained in class. Among the above mentioned, I had gotten viruses before, but the worst I had experience has got to be phishing.
In the past, I used to keep a blog which only a few friends know about. Somehow it spread and before I know it, my account got cracked into, and the impersonator blogged as me fooling even my friends. I managed to get my password back in the end.
That incident taught me to be less complacent, especially when it comes to my password. Currently, I have changed all my passwords to be stronger. I have also done more research on cybercrime in Singapore itself. Look at this website for interesting information about the rules in Singapore.
Here is an interview I found on youtube with Jesse Hirsh in regards to online crime and computer security.
From my experience, I have learnt that it is better to be safe than sorry. It is truly a very scary experience having someone stealing your identity fooling even your friends. Thus I believe it is very important that we educate ourselves on internet security and even take measure to protect ourselves from them.
In an article I found, it states that the number of complaints about Internet crime soared by 33 percent since last year. (Click here for the full article) Therefore, people should not get complacent that it will never be them who become victims of such activities. I never thought I would have someone stealing my identity online!
Amid all the information and theories we learnt this week, my biggest lesson here will be to BE SAFE!
Week 5
For this week, we have to make a video from Windows Movie Maker.
This is the first video I have ever made. It is a story of
Other than the making of a video, we were also asked to explore a tool from Google. The tool that I want to share here is Google Blog!
I used it before when I was working. I shall not name the company here, but in the past, as I used to do events, I would often use this tool to search for response. As the events that I did targeted the youths, most of them have blogs. Thus via the Google Blog search, just enter any key word, and it will search out the blogs that contain that word!
It is really quite scary, as you can even google your name in, and look at blogs that talked about you. However in terms of my work, we used this tool to gather feedback from the youths' blogs.
I for one feel that Google is becoming very very powerful!
That's all for this week!
Week 4
For this week, we learnt about E-learning!
E-Learning has certainly came a long way. Today, anyone can even earn their degree online with the numerous online degree programs offered at websites such as www.elearners.com.Another interesting thing we learned during class is the growth mindset. People who hold the growth mindset believe that intelligence can be developed, that the brain is like a muscle that can be trained. This leads to the desire to improve.
The chart above (click on it to enlarge) shows the differences between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. It states that anyone with a growth mindset embraces challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery, learn from criticism, lastly they find lessons and inspiration from the success of others.I personally feel it is important to adopt the right mindset. What is the point in putting a person in the middle of a reservoir of knowledge when he or she is not thirsty for it. Therefore, to change a person, it starts with the mind. Once there is a renewal of mindset, your behavior and actions will also follow.
When I was in Temasek Polytechnic, my mindset of life was to have fun and enjoy the ride. Therefore, I played very hard, and did not bother putting much effort into my studies. Needless to say, my grades suffered and I regretted not working harder. Thus now that I am in University, my mindset about studying changed and you should see the difference in my GPA! It came to the point that my parents were puzzled as to why I suddenly become so 'smart'.
This video above is a rather odd claymation video that depicts the fixed mindset vs growth mindset. It is about two 'blobs' that enrolled into a superhero school. You will notice that the blue 'blob' has a growth mindset, whereas the red 'blob' has a fixed mindset.
That is all for this week!
Week 3
For this week, we talked about e-commerce. Today with sites like E-bay, or Amazon, e-commerce is made easy and available to each of us. It is not common in fact to find friends around us who have their own sites which sells items. However, have you ever wondered how did e-commerce started? There is no other better way to learn about that than from the man itself, here is a video on Alexander Randall and the Boston Computer Exchange - the world's first e-commerce company.
Quite interesting isn't it! For more information on the Boston Computer Exchange, look at this website.
As Alexander Randall mentioned in his video, e-commerce is made so easy now that any Tom, Dick and Harry can have their own e-commerce website. How many of us know at least one friend who have a blog or a site which sells items? I am sure majority of us here can raise our hand to that.
Above shows a very clear picture of how e-commerce works. We place an order via the website, charge it to our credit card, and when the order is completed, it will be sent over.Very importantly, e-commerce should not be confused with e-business.
E-business is to use information and communication technologies to support all of the activities of business. E-business is more than just e-commerce,while e-business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that occur using electronic capabilities, e-commerce is a subset of an overall e-business strategy.
Still find them confusing? I find this website very useful in explaining the difference between E-commerce and E-business. Do click on it for further information.That is all for this week!
