Movie making

With programs such as Adobe Flash Professional and Windows Movie Maker, it has become much easier for an average person to produce a video by their own. Inspired by COM 125 lecture, (and of course, my lecturer) I decided to make two videos by my own. The first being a motion video, and the second a compilation of still images. Although, the quality may be far from perfect, still I'm contented with my efforts because these videos serve as a remembrance of my memories with my love one.

It is inevitable for even professional musicians to err while recording a piece. However, now with the help of movie editing programs, one can slowly record section by section, pressure free and then join them together to form a beautiful recording.

This second video is a compilation of still images, in addition to a song in the background. There it goes to show, even people who lack IT skills can produce a small video as a gift for their love ones with the help of Windows Movie Maker!

e-learning: Success?

Will e-learning be successful? I believe so.

There are many benefits of e-learning. E-learning provides users with a personal learning environment on the web and this individualized characteristic can accommodate the three distinct learning styles of auditory, visual and kinesthetic learners.

With individualized instructions, learning becomes a deeply personal act. As it is self-paced, advanced learners are able to speed up through eliminating information they deem as redundant while novices can slow their own progress, eliminating frustration with themselves and their fellow learners. With quick access to information, there is consistent delivery, therefore learners do not have to accommodate to the teaching pace of the instructors. This will help build the confidence within learners as they do not feel the pressure to hurry their learning pace.

E-learning is also particularly efficient when it comes to training globally disperesed audiences. Not only is the publishing and distribution cost reduced, this web-based education provides a personal and shared learning environment where learners can interact through a range of learning materials.

Opponents of e-learning may say that human interaction is neglected, and this can be a disadvantage. However, e-learning have indeed provided great learning opportunities for people all over the world, and with well-delievered synchronous distance education and technology such as message boards, chats, e-mails, and tele-conferencing, this potential drawback is reduced.

Technology can also help focus attention while attracting and maintaining a learners' interest by engaging users with the structure and organization of information and by the display and demonstration of procedures and operations. All of this can aid in making ones learning experience more memorable and help them relate this new information to what they have already known.

Now it is pretty clear. The more engaging the experience and the more intentional the results, the greater is the likelihood that learning will occur. This is the basic principle of increasing the retention rate in learners.

Thus, I believe the technology of e-learning will be a success in the future because even as of now, e-learning does not occur just in the course of academic education or in univeristies. E-learning has also become more prevalent in big companies whereby working adults engage actively in e-learning to pick up new skills relevant to their jobs.

Government, profit and non-profit sectors are also working towards a "new world order" of personalized learning. Hence, e-portfolios are becoming extremely important in gaining paid employment. This future trend is already evidently growing, therefore, I believe this technology will be a success.

Online Business

E-business is becoming more common with the rise of the Internet. However, conservatives may choose to say that doing business on the Internet is not safe as it is something which is not really tangible. They add on to saying that the world wide web is forever changing, therefore it is difficult to keep up with time. It seems, they fail to understand that as with the traditional business, doing business on the internet has both benefits and risks.

Drawback #1 -
It is difficult to have the product, website or storefront found by people that you want there and it takes tremendous amount of effort insuring that you lead your customers into your neighbourhood.

Counterargument #1 -
You get an unlimited customer base if advertising is done in the proper way. Indeed, the majority cost for doing business on the Internet is time and energy. However, this cost is balanced out as a much lower start up monetary capital is required in comparison to running a basic real world business.

Drawback #2 -
There are some customers who do not trust the Internet.

Counterarguement #2 -
There is the spread of consumer purchasing confidence especially with investments done to develop the commercial side of the Web. This makes buying and selling more secure.

Drawback #3 -
Some consumers do not enjoy shopping online as they want instant gratification and do not want to wait for their products to arrive.

Counterarguement #3 -
With the continuing growth and use of the Internet, many consumers now place a high importance on efficiency and convenience. Isn't it much simpler to sit back, relax at home while your shopping is done?

The so called drawbacks/ risks of doing business on the internet is really non-existent as the benefits outwiegh them. In addition to this 3 factors, they are many more advantages.

1) Doing business online increase the degree of personalized service to individual users.

2) The depth and number of business processes can also be animated and completed to satisfy not only the customers and suppliers, but the requirements of internal business process as well.

3) There is the connectivity across systems, new and old.

4) An increase in development of the web and deployment tools is also evident.

5) E-business gives us the advantage of high performance, scalability and availability options.

Aforementioned, there are countless of advantages to doing business on the Internet. However, if you are still feeling apprehensive about embarking on your E-business journey, why not go through this checklist to dispell some of your fears?

1) Get to know the Internet

2) Examine the classic Internet models (i.e, The Communications Model, The Advertising Model, The Niche Marketing Model etc...)

3) Understand the technology implications

4) Understand your audience (knowing your customers' buying habits etc...)

5) Buying and selling on the web (Finding the costs of electronic trading etc...)

6) Develop a strategy

7) Fulfill the lawful requirements

8) Obtain commitment and integrate

9) Assess resource requirements

10) Start small and KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Sounds too good to be true? Doing business on the Internet can be difficult for a start, but once you get the hang of it, e-business is simply like a walk in the park. Get going, and start your business now.